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It is Still an Ill Wind that Blows When You Leave the Hairdresser, Guilty of Spiritual Arson!

August 10, 2020 4:19 am

Cordelia, then, is her name! Cordelia! It is a beautiful name, and that, too, is important, since it can often be very disturbing to have an ugly name together with the most tender adjectives. I already recognized her a log way off; she was walking with two other girls on her left. The movement of their walking seemed to indicate that they were about to stop. I stood on the corner and read the posters, while I continually kept my eye on my strangers. They parted. The two presumably had gone a little out of their way, for they went in a different direction. She came along toward my corner. When she had walked a few steps, one of the young ladies came running after her and cried loudly enough for me to hear it: Cordelia! Cordelia! Then the third one joined them; they put their heads together for a privy council meeting whose secrets I futilely strained my ears to hear. Thereupon they all three laughed and hurried away at a somewhat quicker pace in the direction the two had taken. I followed them. They entered a house on Stranden. I waited for a while, since there was a strong probability that Cordelia would soon come back alone. However, that did not happen. Cordelia! That is really a splendid name—indeed, the same name as that of King Lear’s third daughter, that remarkable girl whose heart did no dwell on her lips, whose lips were mute when her heart was full. #RandolphHarris 1 of 23

So also with my Cordelia. She resembles her, of that I am certain. However, in another sense her heart does dwell on her lips, not in the form of words but in more heartfelt way in the form of a kiss. How ripe with health her lips! I have never seen lips more beautiful. That I actually am in love I can tell partly by the secrecy with which I treat this matter, almost even with myself. All love is secretive, even the faithless kind, if it has the appropriate esthetic element within it. It has never occurred to me to wish for confidants or to boast of my adventures. Thus is almost makes me happy that I did not come to know where she lives but the place where she frequently visits. Perhaps I thereby may also have come even closer to my goal. I can make my observations without arousing her attention, and from this firmly established point it will be difficult for me to gain admission into her family. However, should this situation turn out to be a difficulty—eh bien [well, now]!—then I will put up with the difficulty alone. Everything I do I do con amore [with love] and o I also love con amore. In the realm of human destiny, the depth of human’s questioning is more important than one’s answers. Most of God’s children are, in fact, barely presentable. The most common error made in matters of appearance is the belief that one should disdain the superficial and let the true beauty of one’s soul shine through. If there are places on your body where this is a possibility, you are no attractive—you are leaking. #RandolphHarris 2 of 23

James, the Lord’s brother, understood this as well as any man in history, and through the use of graphic analogies he has given us the most penetrating exposition of the tongue anywhere in literature, sacred or secular: “When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts,” reports James 3.3-5. The horse is an incredibly powerful animal. Takes 550 pounds (as much as puffing Olympic heavyweight lifter can hoist overhead), set it on a horse’s back, and it will barely snort as it stands breathing easily under the burden. The same horse, unburdened, can sprint a quarter-mile in about twenty-five seconds. A horse is half a ton of raw power! Yet, place a bridle and bit in its mouth and a 100-pound woman on its back who knows what she is doing and the animal can literally be made to dance. James observed the same phenomenon in ancient ships, as ships small and large were steered by an amazingly small rudder. Today it is still the same, where it be an acrobatic ski boat or the USS Enterprise. One who controls the rudder controls the ship. #RandolphHarris 3 of 23

So it is with the mighty togue, that “movable muscular structure attached to the floor of the mouth” (Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary). “The tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts,” says James (v. 5). Or as Phillips has helpfully paraphrased it, “the human tongue is physically small, but what tremendous effects it can boast of.” Though it weighs only two ounces, it can legitimately boast of its disproportioned power to determine human destiny. This lives of Adolph Hitler and Winston Churchill bear eloquent testimony to the dark and bright sides of the to the dark and bright sides of the tongue’s power. The Fuhrer on one side of the Channel harangued a vast multitude with his hypnotic cadences. On the other side, the Prime Minister’s brilliant, measured utterances pulled a faltering nation together for its “finest hour.” However, we need not to look the drama of nations to see the truth of James’ words. Our own lives are evidence enough. Never doubt the power of the tiny tongue—and never underestimate it. James’ principal concern is with the destructive power of the tongue, and this produces a most provocative statement: “Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a World of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell,” (vv. 5,6). #RandolphHarris 4 of 23

The tongue has awesome potential for harm, as the forest fire analogy suggests. At 9.00 one Sunday evening, October 8, 1871, poor Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicked over the lantern as she was being milked, starting the great Chicago Fire. That disaster blackened three and one half miles of the city, destroying over 17,000 buildings before it was checked by gunpowder explosions on the south line of fire. The fire lasted two days and cost over 250 lives. However, ironically that was not the greatest inferno in the Midwest that year. Historians tell us that one the same day that dry autumn a spark ignited a raging fire in the North Woods of Wisconsin, a blasé which burned for an entire month, taking more lives than the Chicago Fire. A veritable firestorm destroyed billions of yards of precious timber—all from one spark! The tongue has that scope of inflammatory power in human relationships, and James is saying that those who misuse the tongue are guilty of spiritual arson. A mere spark from an ill-spoken word can produce a firestorm that annihilates everyone it touches. Furthermore, because the tongue is a “World of evil,” it contains and conveys all the World system’s wickedness. It is party to every evil there is and actively intrudes its evil into our lives. #RandolphHarris 5 of 23

What is the effect of the tongue’s cosmic wickedness? “It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire” (v.6). “Course of life” is literally “the wheel of our genesis,” “genesis” referring to our human life or existence. What an apt description of human experience! About nine-tenths of the flames we experience in our lives come from the tongue. Having grabbed our imaginations with his graphic language, James adds the final touch: “and is itself set on fire by hell.” Here the language means continually set on fire. James used the same word for Hell that his brother Jesus used—“Gehenna”—derived from the perpetually burning garbage dump outside Jerusalem, a place of fire and filth where, as Jesus said, “their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9.48). Can anyone miss the point? The uncontrolled tongue has a direct pipeline to Hell! Fueled by Hell, it burns our lives with its filthy fires. However, it also, as Calvin says, an “instrument for catching, encouraging, and increasing the fires of hell.” Taking James’ word seriously, we recognize that the tongue has more destructive power than a hydrogen bomb, for the bomb’s power is physical and temporal, whereas the tongue is spiritual and eternal. The female spider is often a widow for embarrassing reasons—she regularly eats those who come her way. #RandolphHarris 6 of 23

Lonely suitors and visitors alike quickly become corpses, and her dining room is a morgue. A visiting fly, having become captive, will appear to be whole, but the spider has drunk his insides so that he becomes his own hollow casket. Not a pleasant thought, especially if you have a touch of arachnophobia, as I do! The reason for this macabre procedure is that she has no stomach and so is incapable of digesting anything with her. Through tiny punctures she injects her digestive juices into a fly so that his insides are broken down and turned into warm soup. This soup she swills, even as most of us swill souls of one another after having cooked them in various enzymes: guilt, humiliations, subjectivities, cruel love—there are a number of fine, acidic mixes. And some among us are so skilled with the hypodermic word that our dear ones continue to sit up and to smile, quite as though they were still alive. This is a gruesome but effective metaphor to describe the destructive power of evilly intended words. Words do not dissolve mere organs and nerves but souls! This World is populated by walking human caskets because countless lives have been dissolved and sucked empty by another’s words. #RandolphHarris 7 of 23

Significantly, James does not tell us how the tongue’s destructive power is manifested in human speech. He knows that the spiritual mind, informed by the Scriptures, will have no problem in making the connections. This is also the same message Mrs. Winchester left behind in her spider web, art glass, and Shakespearean windows. It is also why Mrs. Winchester did not tolerate gossip and would let an employee go in a heartbeat for violating her will. The tongue’s destructive power in gossip lead the list, of course. A neighbour was jealous of Mrs. Winchester’s house and she fell victim to disgruntled town’s folks, who tried to ruin her professionally through rumor, and almost did. Several years later the gossiper had a change of heart and wrote Mrs. Winchester asking for her forgiveness, and she forgave her. However, there was no way the story could be erased. As Solomon wisely observed, “The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down into a human’s inmost parts,” Proverbs 18.8. Gossip is greedily picked up and stored away by the hearers like tasty tidbits of filet mignon en croute au foie gras. Vigorous denial would only bring more suspicion—“So and so protests too much!” The damage was done. Hereafter the innocent Mrs. Winchester would always look into certain eyes and wonder if they had heard the story—and if they believed it. #RandolphHarris 8 of 23

Gossip often veils itself in acceptable conventions such as “Have you hear?” or “Did you know?” or “They tell me…” or “Keep this to yourself, but…” or “I do not believe it is true, but I heard that…” or “I would not such rationalization in Christian circles is, “I am telling you this so you can pray.” This seems so pious, but the heart that feeds on hearing evil reports is a tool of Hell, and it leaves flaming fires and dead bodies in its wake. Oh, the heartache that comes from the tongue. A cousin of gossip is innuendo. Consider the ship’s first mate who after a drunken binge was written up by the captain on the ship’s log: “mate drunk off some Amsterdam and Hennessy today.” The mate’s revenge? Some months later he surreptitiously wrote on his own entry, “Captain sober today.” So it goes with the word unsaid, the awkward silence, the raised eyebrows, the quizzical look—all freighted with the misery of Hell. Gossip involves saying behind a person’s back what you would never say to one’s face. Flattery means saying to a person’s face what you would never say behind one’s back. The Scriptures warn us repeatedly against flatterers, for they are destructive people who carry a legion of unwholesome motives: “Whoever flatters one’s neighbour is spreading a net for one’s feet,” reports Proverbs 29.5. “A lying togue hates those it hurts, and a flattering mouth works ruin,” reports Proverbs 26.28. #RandolphHarris 9 of 23

Fault-finding seems endemic to the Christian Church. Perhaps this is because a taste of righteousness can be easily perverted into an overweening sense of self-righteousness and judgmentalism. Once while William Wirt Winchester was preaching, he noticed a lady in the audience who was known for her critical attitude. All through the service she sat and stared at his new tie. When the meeting ended, she same up to him and said very sharply, “Mr. Winchester, the strings on your tie are much too long. It is an offense to me!” He asked if any of the ladies present happened to have a pair of scissors in their purse. When the scissors were handed to him, he gave them to his critic and asked her to trim the streamers to her liking. After she clipped them off near the collar, he said, “Are you sure they are all right now?” “Yes, that is much better.” “Then let me have those shears a moment,” said Mr. Winchester. “I am sure you would not mind if I also gave you a bit of correction. I must tell you, madam, that your tongue is an offense to me—it is too long! Please stick it out…I would like to take some off.” On another occasion someone said to Mr. Winchester, “My talent is to speak my mind.” Mr. Winchester replied, “That is one talent God would not care a bit if you buried!” This is good advice for all Christians. “May the Lord cut off all flattering lips and every boastful tongue that says, ‘We will triumph with our tongues…’” reports Psalm 12.3, 4. #RandolphHarris 10 of 23

Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of systems of thought. A theory however elegant and economical must be rejected or revised if it is untrue; likewise laws and institutions no matter how efficient and well-arranged must be reformed or abolished if they are unjust. Each person possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of society as a whole cannot override. For this reason justice denies that the loss of freedom for some is made right by a greater good shared by others. It does not allow that the scarifies imposed on a few are outweighed by the larger sum of advantages enjoyed by many. Therefore in a just society the liberties of equal citizenship are taken as settled; the right secured by justice are not subject to political bargaining or to the calculus of social interests. The only thing that permits us to acquiesce in an erroneous theory is the lack of a better one; analogously, an injustice is tolerable only when it is necessary to avoid an even greater injustice. Being first virtues of human activities, truth and justice are uncompromising. These propositions seem to express our intuitive conviction of the primacy of justice. No doubt they are expressed too strongly. In any event I wish to inquire whether these contentions or others similar to them are sound, and if so how they can be accounted for. #RandolphHarris 11 of 23

To this end it is necessary to work out a theory of justice in the light of which these assertions can be interpreted and assessed. I shall begin by considering the role of the principles of justice. Let us assume, to fix ideas, that a society is a more or less self-sufficient association of persons who in the relations to one another recognize certain rules of conduct as binding and who for the most part act in accordance with them. Supposed further that these rules specify a system of cooperation designed to advance the good of those taking part in it. Then, although a society is a cooperative venture for mutual advantage, it is typically marked by a conflict as well as by an identity of interests. There is an identity of interests since social cooperation makes possible a better life for all than any would have if each were to live solely by one’s own efforts. There is a conflict of interests since persons are not indifferent as to how the greater benefits produced by their collaboration are distributed, for in order to pursue their ends they each prefer a larger to a lesser share. A set of principles is required for choosing among the various social arrangements which determine this division of advantages for underwriting an agreement on the proper distributive shares. These principles are he principles of social justice: they provide a way of assigning right and duties in the basic institutions of society and they define the appropriate distribution of the benefits and burdens of social cooperation. #RandolphHarris 12 of 23

Now let us say that a society is well-ordered when it is not only designed advance the good of its members but when it is also effectively regulated by a public conception of justice. That is, it is a society in which (1) everyone accepts and knows that the others accept the same principles of justice, and (2) the basic social institutions generally satisfy and are generally known to satisfy these principles. In this case while human may put forth excessive demands on one another, they nevertheless acknowledge a common point of view from which their claims may be adjudicated. If human’s inclination to self-interest makes their valiance against one another necessary, their public sense of justice makes their secure association together possible. Among individuals with disparate aims and purposes a shared conception of justice establishes the bonds of civic friendship; the general desire for justice limits the pursuit of other ends. One may think of a public conception of justice as constituting the fundamental character of a well-ordered human association. Existing societies are of course seldom well-ordered in this sense, for what is just and unjust is usually in dispute. Humans disagree about which principles should define the basis terms of their association. Yet we may still, despite this disagreement, that they each have a conception of justice. #RandolphHarris 13 of 23

That is, they understand the need for, and they are prepared to affirm, a characteristic set of principles for assigning basic rights and duties and for determining what they take to be the proper distribution of the benefits and burdens of social cooperation. Thus it seems natural to think the conception of justice as distinct from the various conceptions of justice and as being specified by the role which these different sets of principles, these different conceptions, have in common. Those who hold different conceptions of justice can, then, still agree that institutions are just when no arbitrary distinctions are made between persons in the assigning of basic rights and duties and when the rules determine a proper balance between competing claims to the advantages of social life. Humans can agree to this description of just institutions since the notions of an arbitrary distinction and of a proper balance, which are included in the concept of justice, are left open for each to interpret according to the principles of justice that one accepts. These principles single out which similarities and differences among persons are relevant in determining rights and duties and they specify which division of advantages is appropriate. #RandolphHarris 14 of 23

Clearly this distinction between the concept and the various conceptions of justice settles no important questions. It simply helps to identify the role of the principles of social justice. Some measures of agreement in conceptions of justice is, however, not the only prerequisite for a viable human community. There are other fundamental social problems, in particular those of coordination, efficiency, and stability. Thus the plans of individuals need to be fitted together so that their activities are compatible with one another and they can all be carried through without anyone’s legitimate expectations being severely disappointed. Moreover, the execution of these plans should lead to the achievement of social ends in ways that are efficient and consistent with justice. And final, the scheme of social cooperation must be stable: it must be more or less regularly complied with and its basic rules willingly acted upon; and when infractions occur, stabilizing forces should exist that prevent further violations and tend to restore the arrangement. Now it is evident that these three problems are connected with that of justice. In the absence of a certain measure of agreement on what is just and unjust, it is clearly more difficult for individuals to coordinate their plans efficiently in order to ensure that mutually beneficial arraignments are maintained. #RandolphHarris 15 of 23

Distrust and resentment corrode the ties of civility, and suspicion and hostility tempt humans to acts in ways they would otherwise avoid. So while the distinctive role of conceptions of justice is to specify basic rights and duties and to determine the appropriate distributive shares, the way in which a conception does this is bound to affect the problems of efficiency, coordination, and stability. We cannot, in general, assess a conception of justice by its distributive role alone, however useful this role may be in identifying the concept of justice. We must take into account its wider connections; for even though justice has a certain priority, being the most important virtue of institutions, it is still true that, other things equal, one conception of justice is preferable to another when its broader consequences are more desirable. Recognizing God helps you define the Universe as you see it. I who stand before you, I who come into your presence, I who am your worshipper, call out to you, Dear God in Heaven. You are unlimited, and are vastly greater than we are. Sweet-songed God, hear me. I come before you, Lord of the Bow, whose arrows bring healing. I ask that you help me, please heal the wounded in this planet, as their wounds vary from spiritual, financial, physical and/or mental. #RandolphHarris 16 of 23

King Lamont supposes that Ammon is the Great Spirit—Ammon teaches the king about the Creation, God’s dealings with humans, and the redemption that comes through Christ—Lamoni believes and falls to the Earth as if dead. About 90 years Before Christ. “And it came to pass that king Lamoni caused that his servants should stand forth and testified to the things which they had seen, and he had learned of the faithfulness of Ammon in preserving his flocks, and also of his great power in contending against those who sought to slay him, he was astonished exceedingly, and said: Surely, this is more than a man. Behold, is not this the Great Spirit who doth send such great punishments upon this people, because of their murders? And they answered the king, and said: Whether he be the Great Spirit or a man, we know not; but this much we do know, that he cannot be slain by the enemies of the king; neither can they scatter the king’s flocks when he is with us, because of his expertness and great strength; therefore, we know that he is a friend to the king. And now, O king, we do not believe that a human has such great power, for we know cannot be slain. And now, when the king heard these words, he said unto them; Now I know that it is the Great Spirit; and he has come down at this time to preserve you lives, that I might be your brethren. #RandolphHarris 17 of 23

“Now, this is the Great Spirit of whom our father have spoken. Now this was the tradition of Lamoni, which he had received from his father, that there was a Great Spirit. Notwithstanding they believed in a Great Spirit, they suppose that whatsoever they did was right; nevertheless, Lamont began to fear exceedingly, with fear lest he had some wrong in slaying his servants; for he had slain many of them because their brethren had scattered their flocks at the place of water; and thus, because they had had their flocks scattered they were slain. Now it was the practices of these Lamanites to stand by the waters of Sebus to scatter the flocks of the people, that thereby they might drive away many that were scattered unto their own land, it being a practice of plunder among them. And it came to pass that king Lamoni inquired of his servants, saying: Where is this man that has such great power? And they said unto him: Behold, he is feeding they horses. Now the king has commanded his servants, previous to the time of the watering of their flocks, that they should prepare his horses and chariots, and conduct him forth to the land of Nephi; for there had been a great feast appointed at the land of Nephi, by the father of Lamoni, who was king over all the land. #RandolphHarris 18 of 23

“Now when king Lamoni heard that Ammon was preparing his horses and his chariots he was more astonished, because of the faithfulness of Ammon, saying: Surely there has not been any servant among all my servants that has been so faithful as this man; for even he doth remember all my commandments to execute them. Now I surely know that this is the Great Spirit, and I would desire him that he come in unto me, but I durst not. And it came to pass that when Ammon had made ready the horses and the chariots for the king and his servants, he went in no the king, and he saw that the countenance of the king was changed; therefore he was about to return out of his presence. And one of the king’s servants said unto him, Rabbanah, which is, being interpreted, powerful or great king, considering their kings to be powerful; and thus he said unto him: Rabbanah, the king desireth thee to stay. Therefore Ammon turned himself unto the king, and said unto him: What wilt thou that I should do for thee, O king? And the king answered him not for the space of an hour, according to their time for he knew no what he should say unto him. And it came to pass that Ammon said unto him again: What desirest thou of me? But the king answered not. And it came to pass that Ammon, being filled with the Spirit of God, therefore he perceived the thoughts of the king. #RandolphHarris 19 of 23

“And he said unto him: Is it because thou hast heard that I defended thy servants and thy flocks, and slew seven of their brethren with the sling and with the sword, and smote off the arms of others, in order to defend thy flocks and thy servants; behold, is it this that causeth thy marvelings? I say unto you, what is it, that they marvelings are so great? Behold, I am a man, and am thy servant; therefore, whatsoever thou desirest which is right, that will I do. Now when the king had heard these words, he marveled again, for he behold that Ammon could discern his thoughts; but notwithstanding this, king Lamoni did open his mouth, and said unto him: Who art thou? Art thou that Great Spirit, who knows all things? Ammon answered and said unto him: I am not. And the king said: How knowest thou the thoughts of my heart? Thou mayest speak boldly, and tell me concerning these things; and also tell me by what power ye slew and smote off the arms of my brethren that scattered my flocks—and now, if thou wilt tell me concerning these things, whatsoever thou desirest I will give unto thee: and if it were needed, I would guard thee with my armies; but I know that thou art more powerful than all they; nevertheless, whatsoever thou desirest of me I will grant it unto thee. #RandolphHarris 20 of 23

“Now Ammon being wise, yet harmless, he said unto Lamoni: Wilt thou hearken unto my words, if I tell thee by what power I do these things? And this is the thing that I desire of thee. And the king answered him, and said: Yea, I will believe all thy words. And thus he was caught with guile. And Ammon began to speak unto him with boldness, and said unto him: Believest thou that there is a God? And he answered, and said unto him: I do no know what the meaneth. And then Ammon said: Believest thou that there is a Great Spirit? And he said, Yea. And Ammon said: This is God. And Ammon said unto him again: Believest thou that this Great Spirit, who is God, created all things which are in Heaven and in the Earth? And he said: Yea, I believe that he created all things which are in the Earth; but I do not know the Heavens. And Ammon said unto him: The Heavens is a place where God dwells and all his holy angels. And king Lamoni said: Is it above the Earth? And Ammon said: Yea, and he looked down upon all the children of humans; and he knows all the thoughts and intents of the heart; for by his hand were they all created from the beginning. And king Lamoni said; I believe all these things which thou hast spoken. Art thou sent from God? Ammon said to him: I am a man; and man in the beginning was created after the image of God, and I am called by his Holy Spirit to teach these things unto this people, that they may be brought to a knowledge of that which is just and true. #RandolphHarris 21 of 23

“And a portion of that Spirit dwelleth in me, which giveth me knowledge, and also power according to my faith and desires which are in God. Now when Ammon had said these words, he began at the creation of the World, and also the creation of Adam, and told him all the things concerning the fall of man, and rehearsed and laid before him the records and the holy scriptures of the people, which had been spoken by the prophets, even down to the time that their father, Lehi, left Jerusalem. And he also rehearsed unto them (for it was unto the king and to his servants) al the journeyings of their fathers in the wilderness, and all their sufferings with hunger and thirst, and their travail, and so forth. And he also rehearsed unto them concerning the rebellions of Laman and Lemuel, and the sons of Ishmael, yea, all their rebellions did he relate unto them; and he expounded unto them all the records and scriptures from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem down to the present time. However, this is not all; for he expounded unto them the plan of redemption, which was prepared from the foundation of the World; and he also made known unto them concerning the coming of Christ, and all the work of the Lord did he make known unto them. #RandolphHarris 22 of 23

“And it came to pass that after he had said all these things, and expounded them to the king, that the king believed all his words. And he began to cry unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, have mercy; according to thy abundant mercy which thou hast had upon the people of Nephi, have upon me, and my people. And now, when he had said this, he fell unto the Earth, as if he were dead. And it came to pass that his servant took him and carried him in unto his wife, and laid him upon a bed; and he lay as if he were dead for the space of two days and two nights; and his wife, and his sons, and his daughters mourned over him, after the manner of the Lamenting his loss,” reports Alma 18.1-43. Look down from Heaven, O Christ, on Thy flock and lambs, and bless their bodies and souls. Please grant those who have received Thy sign, O Christ, on their foreheads, to be Thine own in the day of judgment. A Desto, Domine, supplicationibus nostris; et me, qui etiam misericordia Tua primus indigeo, clementer exaudi; et quem non election emeriti, sed dono gratiae Tuae, constituisti hujus operis ministrum, da fiduciam Tui muneris exsequendia, et Ispse in nostro ministerio quod Tuae pietatis est operare. #RandolphHarris 23 of 23

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MOVE IN READY: HOME SITE 74

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Moving Continually Like the Waves in the Ocean, the Surface of Our Existence Changes and is Delusive!

August 6, 2020 12:07 am

If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. Communists have been reproached with the desire of abolishing the right of personally acquiring property as the fruit of a person’s own labour, which property is alleged to be the groundwork of all personal freedom, activity and independence. Hard-won, self-acquired, self-earned property is what inspires people to work. The American Dream is the idea that the government should protect each person’s opportunity to pursue their idea of happiness. This protection extends to private enterprise, allowing a free market economy. A market economy is a system where the laws of supply and those of demand direct the production of goods and services. Supply includes natural resources, capital, and labour. Demand includes purchases made my consumers, businesses, and the government. Businesses sell their wares at the highest price consumers will pay. At the same time, shoppers look for the lowest prices for the goods and services they want. Workers bid their services at the highest possible wages that their skills allow. Employers seek to get the best employees at the lowest possible price. Therefore, capitalism is part of the American Dream and is what has made America great. People can work hard and earn money to buy luxury cars, big trucks, McMansions, and send their child(ren) to the best colleges. #RandolphHarris 1 of 21

Capitalism requires a market economy to set prices and distribute goods and services. Socialism and communism need a command economy to create a central plan that guides economic decisions. Market economies evolve from traditional economies. Most societies in the modern World have elements of all three types of economies. That makes them mixed economies. America’s economy depends on the free flow of information to function. It also supports free trade agreements and foreign direct investment. The form of capitalism that has made America so successful is why many other nations want to copy America’s development. The government protects the rights of you and every other American citizen to find their path to economic prosperity. Unlike many other countries, you are not required to follow your father’s profession. Your destiny is not legally determined at birth by caste, religion, or gender. There is still discrimination, but the law protects your right to pursue a better life. How is the American Dream protected by law? The Declaration of Independence states the principles that underlie this American Dream. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men (and women) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” #RandolphHarris 2 of 21

To be capitalist, is to have not only a purely personal, but a social status in production. Capital is a collective product, and only by the united action of many members, nay, in the last resort, only by the united action of all members of society, can it be set in motion. Capital is, therefore, not a personal, it is a social power. When, therefore, capital is converted into common property, into property of all member of society, personal property is not thereby transformed into social property. It is also the social character of the property that is changed It loses its class-character. Let us now take wage-labour. The average price of wage-labour is the minimum wage, id est, that quantum of the means of subsistence, which is absolutely requisite to keep the labour, merely suffices to prolong and reproduce a bare existence. We by no means intend to abolish this personal appropriation of the products of labour, and appropriation that is made for the maintenance and reproduction of human life, and that leaves no surplus wherewith to command the labour of others. All that we want to do away with, is the miserable character of this appropriation, under which the labourer lives merely to increase capital, and is allowed to live only in so far as the interest of the ruling class requires it. #RandolphHarris 3 of 21

People need to be able to afford to live and earn a wage that will sustain their lifestyles because if selling and buying disappear, free selling and buying disappears also. The moment when labour can no longer be converted into capital, money, or rent, is the moment individuality vanishes. We cannot take from the people what they do not have. The American Dream and Manifest Destiny will put to an end the exploitation of one nation by another by providing a universal standard of living by allowing labour and supplies to be harvested and land to be developed and protect to maintain a comfortable life for everyone. So everyone can own an attractive home, the home they have always dreamed of, the happiest investment one will ever make. When people buy a home, at last, they have all the space they need. Big floor to ceiling closets for each member of the family. Large, comfortable bedrooms. Zoned living areas, a feature in the homes, assure convince and privacy for various family activities. Distinctive architectural details create a lovely setting that enhance the pleasure of entertaining. People have opportunity for individual expression throughout their houses in their selections of things such as wall and floor covering, and the accent colouring of fixtures and appointment. #RandolphHarris 4 of 21

The patio, easily reached through sliding glass doors, provides an outdoor living room ideal for separate activities. At the center of the family activity area, an efficient kitchen saves countless steps and needless effort in the preparation and serving of meals. From the wide selection of components available, one can plan one’s kitchen just the way one wants it with an abundance of work and cabinet space, and large countertops for eating at and serving meals from, there are counter top cooking units, build-in ovens, dishwashers microwaves, garbage disposals, and other handy and helpful features. Some prefer a separate dining room because it delights them and permits them to enjoy their guests, while entertaining graciously. This is how American families are living in their Cresleigh Homes, and that is why capitalism, private property, and the American dream are so attractive to so many. However, some people are superior to others physically or mentally and so supplies more labour in the same time, or can labour for a longer time; and labour, to serve as a measure, must be defined by duration or intensity, otherwise it ceases to be a standard of measurement. This equal right is an unequal right for unequal labour. #RandolphHarris 5 of 21

Labour recognizes no class differences, because everyone is only a worker like everyone else; but in tacitly recognizes unequal individual endowment and thus productive capacity as natural privileges. It is therefore a right of inequality in its content, like every right. Right by its very nature can only consist in the application of an equal standard; but unequal individuals (and they would not be different if they were not unequal) are only measurable by an equal standard in so far as they are brought under an equal point of view, are taken from one definite side, exempli gratia, in the present case are regarded only as workers, and nothing more seen in them, everything else being ignored. Further, one worker is marred, another is not; one has more children than another and so on and so forth. Thus with an equal output, and hence an equal share in the social consumption fund, one will in fact receive more than another, one will be richer than another, and so on. To avoid all these defects, right, instead of being equal, would have to be unequal. However, an empathic way of being can be learned from empathic persons. Empathy is clearly related to an optimistic outcome. #RandolphHarris 6 of 21

From schizophrenic patients in psychiatric hospitals to pupils in ordinary classrooms, from client of a counseling center to teachers in training, from neurotics in Sacramento to neurotics in Nashville, the evidence is the same: it indicated that the more sensitively understanding others are, the more likely are constructive learning and change to take place. This is why capitalistic America set up unemployment insurance, welfare programs, disability insurance, and affordable rents to accommodate those who have been displaced or cannot equally compete in the labour market. Empathy dissolves alienation. For the moment, at least, the recipient finds oneself a connected part of the human race. Although it may not be articulated clearly, the experience goes something like this: “I have been talking about hidden things, partly veiled even from myself, feelings that are strange—possibly abnormal—feelings I have never communicated to another, nor even clearly to myself. And yet, another person has understood, understood my feelings even more clearly than I do. If someone else knows what I am talking about, what I mean, then to this degree I am not so strange, or alien, or set apart. I make sense to another human being. So I am in touch with, even in relationship with, others. I am no longer isolated.” #RandolphHarris 7 of 21

That is basically the same way people feel when they are not excluded from society and allowed to draw on some of the benefits that are part of our economy. No one, economically nor socially, want to feel that their existence is in the hands of a slave driver. Perhaps this explains one of the major findings of our study of psychotherapy with schizophrenics. We found that those patients receiving from their therapists a high degree of accurate empathy as rated by unbiased judges, showed the sharpest reduction in schizophrenic pathology as measured by the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventor. This suggests that the sensitive understanding by another may have been the most potent element in bringing the schizophrenics out of their estrangement, and into the World of relatedness. Schizophrenics cease to be schizophrenic when they meet other persons by whom they feel understood. Our study provides empirical evidence in support of that statement. Other studies, both of schizophrenics and of counseling center clients, show that a low level of empathy is related to a slight worsening in adjustment and pathology. Here, too, the findings make sense. It is as though the individual concludes: “If no one understands me, if no one can grasp what these experiences are like, then I am indeed in a bad way—more abnormal that I thought.” #RandolphHarris 8 of 21

Therefore, the American Dream gives people a sense of inclusions. People are all working together to achieve some goal, and that goal may help to alleviate mental illness. Another consequence of empathic understanding is that the recipient feels valued, cared for, accepted as the person that one is. It might seem that we have here stepped into another area, and that we are no longer speaking of empathy. However, this is not so. It is impossible to accurately sense the perceptual World of another person unless you value that person and one’s World—unless you, in some sense, care. Hence, the message comes through to the recipient that “this other individual trusts me, think I am worthwhile. Perhaps I am worth something. Perhaps I could value myself. Perhaps I could care for myself. Perhaps I can find a way to achieve the American Dream.” The way of leaning upon a guide, or being carried by one, is a way which of itself can never lead to the goal. It can only lead in the end to the superior way of struggling to one’s own knees again and again until one is strong enough to walk to the goal. The master must not stand in the way, must not direct attention to oneself unduly and at the expense of seekers’ own attraction to one’s central inner self. A direct relationship between one spiritual being and another, with respect to the essential truth, is unthinkable. #RandolphHarris 9 of 21

If such a relationship is assumed, it means that one of the parties has ceased to be spirit. This is something that many a genius omits to consider, both when one helps people into the truth en masse, and when one is complaisant enough to think that acclamation, willingness to listen the affixing of signatures, and so forth, is identical with the acceptance of the truth. Precisely as important as the truth, and if one of the two is to be emphasized, still more important, is the manner in which the truth is accepted. It would help very little if one persuaded millions of people to accept the truth, if precisely by the method of their acceptance they were transferred into error. Hence it is that all complaisance, all persuasiveness, all bargaining, all direct attraction by means of one’s own person, reference to one’s suffering for the cause, one’s weeping over humanity, one’s enthusiasm—all this is sheer misunderstanding, a false note in relation to the truth, by which, in proportion to one’s ability, one may help a job-lot of human beings to get an illusion of truth. Sokrates was an ethical teacher, between teacher and pupil, because the truth is inwardness, and because this inwardness in each is precisely the road which leads them away from one another. It was presumably because he understood this, that he was so happy about his unfavourable outward appearance. #RandolphHarris 10 of 21

The relation between a pupil and one’s teacher can be based upon complete submission and dependence on authority, or it can be based on a reasonable freedom and moderate self-reliance. “For God sent not his Son into the World to condemn the World; but that the World through him might be saved. One that believeth on Him is not condemned: but one that believeth is not condemned already, because one hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the World, and human loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest one’s deeds should be reproved. However, one the doeth truth cometh to the light, that one’s deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God,” reports John 3.17-21. One that does the truth! This is a very surprising combination of words. We may recognize and know the truth, and we may act sometimes according to our knowledge, but how can we do the truth? The truth is given to us in a true theory. We may or we may not follow that theory in our practice. Theory and practice seem to be two different things, and it is difficult to understand the phrase “doeth the truth.” #RandolphHarris 11 of 21

Perhaps the phrase “doeth the truth,” should not be taken too seriously. Perhaps it should simply be interpreted as “actin according to the truth.” However, if such an interpretation were correct, what about the statements, also to be found in the Fourth Gospel, “I am the truth,” “the truth has become,” and that which speaks of people “who are of the truth?” If the truth were a matter of theory alone, none of these statements would have meaning. People sometimes say, “This is right in theory but it does not work in practice.” They ought to say, “This is wrong in theory and consequently it is wrong in practice.” There is no true theory which could be wrong in practice. This contrast between theory and practice is contrived by people who want to escape hard and thorough thinking. They like to abide in the shallowness of accustomed practices, on the surface of a so-called “experience.” They will accept nothing but a repeated confirmation of something they already know or believe. Only those questions for truth which have challenged and disturbed centuries of practice have brought about a fundamental transformation of practice. This is true of the history of science, morals, and religion. When the prophet Amos questioned the theory of all pagan religions, that the being and power of God is in some way identified with the being and power of a special country, the pagan practice all over the World was undermined. #RandolphHarris 12 of 21

When the prophet of the exile questioned the theory that the suffering of a nation is the punishment for its own sins, and explored the theory that the suffering of the servant of God serves all nations, the history of humankind received a new character. When the Apostles questioned the theory that the Messiah is an Earthly ruler, and explained the Cross of Christ in terms of salvation, the whole system of ancient values was shaken. When Augustine challenged the theory that God and humans work together for salvation; when Luther attacked the theory that there is no salvation without the sacramental meditation of the Church; and when modern historical science destroyed the mechanistic and superstitious doctrines of inspiration, the practice of large section of humankind was changed. The emphasis laid on truth in the Fourth Gospel should prevent us from being taken in by the misleading contrast between theory and practice. And it should give an urgent impetus toward more thorough thinking to those who are especially concerned with the truth of Christianity. The Greek word for truth means: making manifest the hidden. Truth is hidden and must be discovered. No one possesses it naturally. It dwells in the depth, beneath the surface. The surface of our existence changes, moving continually like the waves in the ocean, and it is therefore delusive. The depth is eternal and therefore uncertain. #RandolphHarris 13 of 21

In using the Greek word, the Fourth Gospel accepts the Greek concept, but at the same time it transforms it. “Doing the truth,” “being of the truth,” “the truth has become,” “I am the truth”—all these combinations of words indicate that truth in Christianity is something which happens, something which is bound to a special place, to a special time, to a special personality. Truth is something new, something which is done by God in history, and, because of this, something which is done in the individual life. Truth is hidden, truth is mystery—in Christianity as well as in Greek thought. However, the mystery of truth in Christianity is an event which has taken place and which takes place again and again. It is life, personal life, centered in Christ, actualized in everybody who is connected with Him, organized in the assembly of God, the Church. In Greek thought truth only can be found. In Christianity truth is found if it is done, and done if it is found. In Greek thought truth is the manifestation of the eternal, immovable essence of things. In Christianity truth is the new creation, realizing itself in history. Therefore, in Christianity the opposite of truth is lie, and not—as it was in Greece—opinion. #RandolphHarris 14 of 21

The decision for or against truth is the life-and-death decision, and this decision is identical with the decision in which Christ is accepted or rejected. You cannot have opinion about the Christ after you faced Him. You can only do the truth by following Him, or do the lie by denying Him. Therefore, it is impossibly to make Him a teacher of truth among—or even above—other teachers of truth. This would separate the truth from Him, and the decision for truth from the decision for Him (just as the decision for Plato’s teaching is not the same thing as the decision of Plato). However, just this separation is denied by the Fourth Gospel, when it calls Christ the truth “which has become,” and when it calls his followers those who are of truth, and who, therefore, are able to do the truth. Christian theology is rooted in the concept of truth in which no cleavage between theory and practice is admitted, because this truth is saving truth. Theology should be like a circle in which the most peripheral elements of the historical, educational, and philosophical theories are directed toward the center, the truth, which is the Christ. No statement is theological which does not contain, directly or indirectly, saving truth. And “saving truth” means that truth which is done; saving truth is in “one that does the truth.” #RandolphHarris 15 of 21

A sacred space is one cut off from normal space in some way. Purification encourages detaching from the distractions of everyday life and coming into the divine presence. One can create a sacred pace by putting one’s self in the center of the Universe and then organizing it around you in the way envisioned your dream. Putting yourself at the center of the Universe has a number of effects. First, it tells you who you are and where you are. Any relationship, including those with the divine, must start from that place. By expressing this awareness in a prayer, one establishes it ritually, and one can then slide right into the rest of one’s prayers. Another advantage of centering one’s self in this way is that it an be very calming. It can remove distractions, allowing one to concentrate on what one is about to do. Finally, the sacred center is the place at which the divine power enters the Universe. That is why the home is such an important part of the American dream, it is a hub about which all the rest turns. It is where God can be approached. By locating yourself there, you increase your chances of being able to commune with God in peace. Perhaps God can talk to you wherever you are, but can you talk to Him? #RandolphHarris 16 of 21

This is a centering prayer that can be used: I place myself in the center of the World, where Heaven and Earth are joined, overflowing, continually pouring over, and sending waves of existence out into the World. Before I perform acts of worship, I take you into myself, that what I do might be equally productive and out of me might flow wonders. To the east, to the south, to the west, to the north, to above and below, I send my words flying. From the east, from the south, from the west, from the north, from above and below, may blessings come flying. The water support and surround me. The land extends abouts me. Thy sky reached out above me. At the center burns a living flame. Heaven above, with order overflowing, please bring true creation into my life, with order and beauty, with power and grace. World above, far-flung Heavens, ordering the World with might and law, please bring true stability into my life, with law and structure, with clarity and reason. World about me, far-extending, with land well-set, please bring true being into my life, with help and love, with health and prosperity. God who lives in the depths of this Universe, I sit and think of you and honor you as you deserve to be honoured. #RandolphHarris 17 of 21

There is a common belief that a spiritual leader must take over our minds and our lives, that theory is welcomed by the weak or misinformed. However, it forms no part of philosophical teaching, practise, and training. The rule of absolute submission to a master, beside God, may be unsafe to follow. The problem is one of reconciling the giving of complete faith to the teacher and the keeping alive of one’s inner freedom to think for oneself and to receive intuition from oneself. Listen to your inner voice and appreciate the beauty of the expression, even if you do not understand its meaning. “And it came to pass that Alma and Amulek were commanded to depart out of that city; and they departed, and came out even into the land of Sidom; and behold, there they found all the people who had departed out of the land of Ammonihah, who has been cast out and stoned, because they believed in the words of Alma. And they related unto them all that happened unto their wives and children, and also concerning themselves, and of their power of deliverance. And also Zeezrom lay sick at Sidom, with a burning fever, which was caused by the great tribulations of his mind on account of his wickedness, for he supposed that Alma and Amulek were no more; and he supposed that they had been slain because of his iniquity. #RandolphHarris 18 of 21

“And this great sin, and his many other sins, did harrow up his mind until it did become exceedingly sore, having no deliverance; therefore he began to be scorched with a burning heat. Now, when he heard that Alma and Amulek were in the land of Sidom, his heart began to take courage; and he sent a message immediately unto them, desiring them to come unto him. And it came to pass that they went immediately, obeying the message which he had sent unto them; and they went in unto the house uno Zeezrom; and they found him upon his bed, sick, being very low with a burning fever; and his mind was also exceedingly sore because of his iniquities; and when he saw them he stretched forth his hand, and besought them that they would heal him. And it came to pass that Alma said unto him, taking him by the hand: Believes thou in the power of Christ unto salvation? And he answered and said: Yea, I believe all the words that thou hast taught. And Alma said: If thou believest in the redemption of Chris thou canst be healed. And he said: Yea, I believe according to thy words. And then Alma cried unto the Lord, saying: O Lord our God, have mercy on this man, and heal him accord to his faith which is in Christ. And when Alma had said these words, Zeezrom leaped upon his feet, and began to walk; and this was done to the great astonishment of all the people; and the knowledge of this went forth throughout all the land of Sidom. #RandolphHarris 19 of 21

“And Alma baptized Zeezrom unto the Lord; and he began from that time forth to preach unto the people. And Alma established a church in the land of Sidom, and consecrated priests and teachers in the land, to baptize unto the Lord whosoever were desirous to be baptized. And it came to pass that they were many; for they did flock in from all the region round about Sidom, and were baptized. However, as to the people that were in the land of Ammonihah, they yet remained a hard-hearted and a stiff-necked people; and they repented not of their sins, ascribing all the power of Alma and Amulek to the devil; for they were of he profession of Nehor, and did not believe in the repentance of their sins. And it came to pass that Alma and Amulek, Amulek having forsaken all his gold, and silver, and his precious things, which were in the land of Amonihah, for the word of God, he being rejected by those who were once his friends and also by his father and by his kindred; therefore, after Alma having established the church at Sidom, seeing a great check, yea, seeing that the people were checked as to the pride of their hearts, and began to humble themselves before God, and began to assemble themselves together at their sanctuaries to worship God before the altar, watching and praying continually, that they might be delivered from Satan, and from death, and from destruction. #RandolphHarris 20 of 21

“Now as I said, Alma having seen all these things, therefore he took Amulek and came over to the land of Zarahemla, and took him to his own house, and did administer unto them in his tribulations, and strengthen him in the Lord. And thus ended the tenth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi,” reports Alma 15.1-19. How lovely are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul yearns, yea, even pines for the courts of the Lord; my heart sings for joy unto the living God. One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the graciousness of the Lord, and to enter His sanctuary. Please teach me Thy way, O Lord, and please lead me in an even path. With Thee is the fountain of life, in Thy light do we see light. Almighty God, we have come into Thy sanctuary to commune with Thee. Be Thou our strength, our hope, our guide. Please give purpose to our work, meaning to our struggle and direction to our striving. Please cause us to understand that only through human betterment, true fellowship and deeds of kindness can we feel Thy presence. Many this, our Sabbath worship, being peace to our hearts and strengthen our desire to live in peace with all our fellow humans. Amen. #RandolphHarris 21 of 21

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When I trust in the Lord for my Sacrament, His enduring grace is constantly wiping away the stains of sin and is constantly instructing me to carry out the job of studying His scripture, which enables me to learn. May the reception of this Sacramento, O Lord, efface the stains of my sins, and render me capable of the discharge of the office laid upon me; through the Lord, our God in Heaven, may these blessings come true.

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Our Present Knowledge is Like the Perception of things in a Mirror, and therefore Concerns Enigmas and Riddles!

August 5, 2020 1:03 am

The fastest way to succeed is to look as if you are playing by other people’s rules, while quietly playing by your own. The spiritual counsellor who takes personal advantage of the dependence placed upon one or of the trust shown in one, thereby renders oneself unfit for such a high position. Therefore in one’s dealing with disciples it is best for one to maintain an independence in practical affairs and Worldly relationship as well as a cool detachment in social contact and personal intercourse. It is inevitable that the disciples should feel hurt at such impersonality and such objectivity, but therein lies a protection both for themselves and for the teacher until such time as they are more developed, better balanced, more controlled, and farther seeing. Then and then only is it possible for the teacher to revise the relationship and make it not only a warmer one but even a more personal one, with safety to both sides. Disciples who are not well-balanced and are somewhat neurotic often try to get the teacher personally involved in their lives. For they want to be set free from the need of developing themselves, the duty of improving their characters, the burden of accepting their responsibilities, and the painfulness of working out emotional problems which are merely the result of their own egoism. #RandolphHarris 1 of 21

If the teacher succumbs to their appeals, then they remain unevolved and the relationship itself remains unpracticable. However, if one firmly resists them one may, by such resistance, force a change in their attitude and consequently an increase in their wisdom. In doing so however one courts misunderstanding on the part of one’s disciples, who may first become bewildered and later resentful. Affection may turn to anger for a time, and the disciple may even withdraw altogether. If they are so foolish as to do this their development will not only be stopped but also, what is worse, set back for months or years. It is also an error to believe that one disciple must necessarily associate with the other disciples of the same teacher. Only where there is real temperamental harmony and personal affinity should disciples associate together. Where these are lacking, it is much wiser and safer not to do so. For then the evil forces take advantage of the chance to develop disharmony, quarrels, ill-feeling, and even worse. This spoils the progress of both. The real business of any disciple is with the teacher, not with the other disciples. Such a situation cannot be helped and must be accepted. Human beings are all born with different characters and dispositions. Only the self-actualized can harmonize with all; other must recognize limitations. #RandolphHarris 2 of 21

If one cannot be happy with certain students, one must wish them well and then go one’s own way. One must never allow oneself to be drawn into quarrels for then the evil forces become active. The relationship between them is a beautiful but free one. If the disciple takes a possessive attitude and tries to annex the teacher, if one betrays jealousy of other disciples or demands as much attention as they get, one substitutes an egotistic for an impersonal relationship, fails to understand its distinctively and uniquely free nature, and thus spoils it. One must insist on getting the same freedom from one’s disciples that one allows to them. Whether physically together or physically apart, that is a true relationship between master and disciple, husband and wife, friend and friend, which refusing to be tightly possessive or personally demanding, is satisfied by the silent fact that the other exists at all. If one is attached to the role as an authority figure, no self-actualized can lead anyone to enlightenment, nor can any disciple ever receive enlightenment if one wants to play the role of disciple forever. Both are suffering from attachments which prevent enlightenment. This is why the whole thing becomes a stage play, whether serious or comical, in which the actors are performing their personal parts. #RandolphHarris 3 of 21

Even if they babble about the necessity of not getting attached to the World, they are still attached to what they are supposed to be, that is, questing. A truly enlightened human has no such attachment and unless one is invested by God with a special apostleship, or with a special mission, one would not consider oneself self-actualized, nor anyone else as a disciple. Listening to feelings and reflecting them is a vastly complex process. Research evidence has kept piling up, and it points strongly to the conclusions that a high degree of empathy in a relationship is possibly the most potent factor in bringing about change and learning. And so I believe it is time for me to forget the caricatures and misrepresentations of the past and take a fresh look at empathy. For still another reason it seems timely to do this. In the United States of America during the past decade or two, many new approached to therapy have held center stage. Gestalt therapy, psychodrama, primal therapy, bioenergetics, rational-emotive therapy, and transactional analysis are some of the best known, but there are more. Part of their appeal lies in the fact that in most instances, the therapist is clearly the expert, actively manipulating the situation, often in dramatic ways, for the client’s benefit. If I am reading the signs correctly, I believe there is a decrease in the fascination with such expertise in guidance. #RandolphHarris 4 of 21

With behaviour therapy, another approach based on expertise, I believe interest and fascination are still on the increase. A technological society has been delighted to have found a technology by which people’s behaviour can be shaped, even without their knowledge or approval, towards goals selected by their therapists or by society. Yet even in this case, much questioning by thoughtful individuals is springing up as the philosophical and political implications of “behaviour mod” become more clearly visible. So I have seen a willingness on the part of people that locate power in the person, no the expert, and this brings me again to examine carefully what is meant by the term “empathy” and what we have come to know about it. Perhaps the time is ripe for its value to be appreciated. The sate of empathy, or being empathic, is to perceive the internal frame of reference of another with accuracy and with the emotional components and meanings which pertain thereto as if one were the person, but without every losing the “as if” condition. Thus is means to sense the hurt or the pleasure of another as one senses it and to perceive the causes thereof as one perceives them, but without ever losing the recognition that it is as if I were hurt or pleased and so forth. If this “as if” quality is lost, then the state if one of identification. #RandolphHarris 5 of 21

With the concept of experiencing, at all times there is going on in the human organism a flow of experiencings to which the individual can turn again and again as a referent in order to discover the meaning of those experiences. An empathic therapist points sensitively to the “felt meaning” which the client is experiencing in this particular moment, in order to help one to focus on that meaning and carry it further to its full and uninhibited experiencing. An example may clarify both the concept and its relation to empathy. A person in an encounter group has been making vague negative statements about his father. The facilitator says, “It sounds as though you might be angry at your father.” The man replies, “No, I do not think so.” “Possibly dissatisfied with him?” “Well, yes, perhaps” (said rather doubtfully). “Maybe you are disappointed in him.” Quickly the man responds, “That is it! I am disappointed that he is not a strong person. I think I have always been disappointed in him ever since I was a boy.” Against what is the man checking these terms for their correctness? Well, he is checking them against the ongoing psychophysiological flow within himself to see if they fit. This flow is a very real thing, and people are able to use it as a referent. In this case, “angry” does no match the felt meaning at all; “dissatisfied” comes closer, but is not really correct; “disappointed” matches it exactly, and encourages a further flow of the experiencing, as often happens. #RandolphHarris 6 of 21

With this conceptual background, let me attempt a description of empathy that would seem satisfactory to me today. I would no longer be terming it a “state of empathy,” because I believe it to be a process, rather than a state. Perhaps I can capture that quality. An empathic way of being with another person has several facets. It means entering the private perceptual World of the other and becoming thoroughly at home in it. It involves being sensitive, moment by moment, to the changing felt meanings which flow in this other person, to the fear or rage or tenderness of confusion or whatever one is experiencing. It means temporarily living in the other’s life, moving about in it delicately without making judgments; it means sensing meanings of which one is scarcely aware, but not trying to uncover totally unconscious feelings, since this would be too threatening. It includes communicating your sensing of the person’s World as you look with fresh and unfrightened eyes a elements of which one is fearful. It means frequently checking with the person as to the accuracy of your sensings, and being guided by the responses you receive. You are a confident companion to the person in one’s inner World. By pointing to the possible meanings in the flow of another person’s experiencing, you help the other to focus on this useful type of referent, to experience the meanings more fully, and to move forward in the experiencing. #RandolphHarris 7 of 21

To be with another in this way means that for the time being, you lay aside your own views and values in order to enter another’s World without prejudice. In some sense it means that you law aside your self; this can only be done by persons who are secure enough in themselves that they know they will not get lost in what may turn out to be the strange or bizarre World of the other, and that they can comfortably return to their own World when they wish. Perhaps this description makes clear that being empathic is a complex, demanding, and strong—yet also subtle and gentle—way of being. In operational empathy, one appreciates what your experience feels like to you. One understands what you say from a detached, objective point of view. One understands your words but not the way you feel. Qualitatively it (empathic understanding) is an active process of desiring to know the full, present and changing awareness of another person, of reaching out to receive one’s communication and meaning, and of translating one’s words and signs into experienced meaning that matches at least those aspects of one’s awareness that are most important to one at the moment. It is an experiencing of the consciousness “behind” another’s outward communication, but with continuous awareness that this consciousness is originating and proceeding in the other. #RandolphHarris 8 of 21

Then there is the Accurate Empathy Scale, devised by Truax (1967) an others for use by raters. Even small portions of recorded interviews can be reliably rated by this scale. The nature of the scale may be indicated by giving the definition of Stage 1, which is the lowest level of empathic understanding, and Stage 8, which is a very high (though not the highest) degree of empathy. Here is Stage 1: Therapist seems completely unaware of even the most conspicuous of the client’s feelings. One’s responses are not appropriate to the mood and content of the client’s statements and there is no determinable quality of empathy, hence, no accuracy whatsoever. Therapist may be bored and disinterested or actively offering advice, but one is not communicating an awareness of client’s current feelings. Stage 8 is defined as follows: Therapist accurately interprets all the client’s present acknowledged feelings. One also uncovers the most deeply shrouded of the client’s feeling areas, voicing meanings in the client’s experience of which the client is scarcely aware. One moves into feelings and experiences that are only hinted at by the client and does so with sensitivity and accuracy. The content that comes to life maybe new but is not alien. While the therapist in Stage 8 makes mistakes, mistakes do not have a jarring note but are covered by the tentative character of the response. #RandolphHarris 9 of 21

Also the therapist is sensitive to one’s mistakes and quickly alters or changes one’s responses in midstream, indicating that one more clearly knows what is being talked about and what is being sought after in the client’s own explorations. The therapist reflects a togetherness with the [client] in tentative trial and error exploration. One’s voice tone reflects the seriousness and depth of one’s empathic grasp. Although what is indicated by these examples is that the empathic process can be defined in theoretical, conceptual, subjective, and operational ways, but we have not reached the limits of its base. We have developed a helping-community enterprise called “Changes,” which has many implications for dealing with the alienated and counter-culture members of the chaos which we called living. Of particular interest is the “Rap Manual,” which has been developed to assist the ordinary person in learning “how to help with the other person’s process.” Then Manual starts out with a section on “Absolute Listening.” Some excerpts give the flavour: This is not laying trips on people. You only listen and say back the other person’s thing, step by step, just as that person seems to have it at that moment. You never mix into it any of your own things or ideas, never lay on the other person anything that person did not express. #RandolphHarris 10 of 21

To show that you understand exactly, make a sentence or two which gets exactly at the personal meaning this person wanted to put across. This might be in your own words, usually, but use that person’s own words for the touchy main things. The explanation continues in this same vein, with many detailed suggestions, including ideas on “how to know when you are doing it right.” So it seems clear that an empathic way of being, although highly subtle conceptually, can also be described in terms which are perfectly understandable by contemporary youth or citizens of a beleaguered inner city. It is a broad-ranging conception. And now let us consider our existence, and the knowledge that we possess. Paul says that all our present knowledge is like the perception of things in a mirror, that it therefore concerns enigmas and riddles. This is only another way of expressing the fragmentary character of our knowledge. For fragments out of the context of the whole are only riddles to us. We may surmise the nature of the whole; we may approach the whole indirectly; but we do not see the whole itself; we do not grasp it directly face to face. A little light and much darkness; a few fragments and never the whole; many problems and never a solution; only reflections in the mirrors of our souls, without the source of truth itself: that is the situation of our knowledge. And it is the situation of our love. #RandolphHarris 11 of 21

Because of the love which is perfect and lasting lies not within us, perfect knowledge is denied us. Since, as beings, we are separated from each other, and therefore from this ultimate unity, the community of knowledge among single beings is made impossible, as it is also, then, between beings and the Ground of Being Itself. A great philosopher has said that our knowledge reaches as far as our creative will reaches. That is true for a certain realm of life. However, it is not true for the whole of our life. The fact that our knowledge reaches as far as our uniting love reaches is valid for the whole human existence. Humankind has always tried to decipher the puzzling fragments of life. That attempt is not just a matter for the philosophers or priests or prophets or wise humans in all periods of history. It is a matter for everyone. For every human is a fragment oneself. One is a riddle to oneself; and the individual life of everyone else is an enigma to one, dark, puzzling, embarrassing, exciting, and torturing. Our very being is a continuous asking for the meaning of our being, a continuous attempt to decipher the enigma of our World and our heart. Before children are adjusted to the conventional reactions of adults and have grown out of their creative individuality, they show the continuous asking, the urgent desire to decipher the riddles they see in the primitive mirror of their experiences. #RandolphHarris 12 of 21

The creative human, in all realms of life, is like a child, who dares to inquire beyond the limits of conventional answers. One discovers the fragmentary character of all these answers, a character darkly and subconsciously felt by all humans. One may destroy, by means of one fundamental question, a whole, well-organized system of life and society, of ethics ad religion. One may show that what people believed to be a whole is nothing but a fragment of a fragment. One may shake the certainty on which centuries lived, by unearthing a riddle or an enigma in its very foundation. The misery of humans lies in the fragmentary character of one’s life and knowledge; the greatness of humans lies in one’s ability to know that one’s being is fragmentary and enigmatic. For humans are able to be puzzled and to ask, to go beyond the fragments, seeking the perfect. Yet, in being able to do so, one feels at the same time the tragedy implicit in one’s being, the tragedy of the riddle and the fragment. Humans are subject, with all beings, to the law of vanity. However, humans alone are conscious of that one. One is therefore infinitely more miserable than all other beings in the servitude to that law; on the other hand, one is infinitely superior, because one alone knows that there is something beyond vanity and decay, beyond riddles and enigmas. #RandolphHarris 13 of 21

That statement is felt by Paul when he says that the creation itself shall be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. Humans are fragments and riddles to themselves. The more one experiences and knows that fact, the more one is really human. Paul experienced the breakdown of a system of life and thought which one believed to be a whole, a perfect truth without riddle or gaps. One then found oneself buried under the pieces of one’s knowledge and one’s morals. However, Paul never tried again to build up a new, comfortable house out of the pieces. One dwelt with the pieces. One realized always that fragment remain fragments, even if one attempts to reorganize them. The unity to which they belong lies beyond them; it is grasped through hope, but not face to face. How could Paul endure life, as it lay in fragments? He endured it because the fragments bore a new meaning to him. The pictures in the mirror pointed to something new for one: they anticipated the perfect, the reality of love. Through the pieces of one’s knowledge and morality, love appeared to one. And the power of love transformed the tormenting riddles into symbols of truth, the tragic fragments into symbols of the whole. #RandolphHarris 14 of 21

When we pray, we talk to divine beings. They are our spiritual friends, guardians Angels, God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, or parents, or cousins. We talk to our human friends and parents and cousins, so it only makes sense to talk to their divine counterparts as well. The most common form of prayer is purification. With the power of the sea, that washes the shores, I am purified. May I be pure, may all my impurities be burned away, carried away by the grace of God. May I be pure, fit to approach God. I am encircled with the sacred, girded about, encompassed, that my actions here today might be within the sacred way. The sacred covers me, I am surrounded by the pure. God, I offer you my worship. Watch over me today as I go about my affairs; keep me safe, keep me happy, keep me healthy. God of truth, be with me today. As I wear your blessings, guard my words and deeds. May what I say and what I do be in accord with your sacred law. The elements are joined with the power of spirit. May I be blessed by the four. May I be blessed by your spirit. May I be blessed my you only Begotten Son. “And it came to pass after he had made an end of speaking unto the people many of them did believe on one’s words, and began to repent, and to search the scriptures. #RandolphHarris 15 of 21

“However, the more part of them were desirous that they might destroy Alma an Amulek; for they were angry with Alma, because of the plainness of his words unto Zeezrom; and they also said that Amulek had lied unto them, and had reviled against their law and also against their lawyers and judges. And they were also angry with Alma and Amulek; and because they had testified so plainly against their wickedness, they sought to put the away privily. However, it came to pass that they did not; but they took them and bound the with strong cords, and took them before the chief judge of the land. And the people went forth and witnessed against them—testifying that they had reviled against the law, and their lawyers and judges of the land, and also of all the people that were in the land; an also testified that there was but one God, and that he should send his Son among the people, but he should not save them; and many such things did the people testify against Alma and Amulek. Now this was done before the chief judge of the land. And it came to pass that Zeezrom was astonished at the words which had been spoken; and one also knew concerning the blindness of the minds, which one had caused among the people by one’s lying words; and one’s soul began to be harrowed up under a consciousness of one’s own guilt; yea, one began to be encircled about by the pains of hell. #RandolphHarris 16 of 21

“And it came to pass that one began to cry unto the people, saying: Behold, I am guilty, and these men are spotless before God. And he began to plead for them from that time forth; but they reviled one saying: Art thou also possessed with the devil? And they spit upon one, and cast one out from among them, and also all those who believed in the words which had been spoken by Alma and Amulek; and they cast them out, and sent humans to cast stones at them. And they brought their wives and children together, and whosoever believed or had been taught to believe in the word of God they caused that they should be cast into the fire; and they also brought forth their records which contained the holy scriptures, and cast them into the fire also, that they might be burned and destroyed by fire. And it came to pass that they took Alma and Amulek, and carried them forth to the place of martyrdom, that they might witness the destruction of those who were consumed by fire. And when Amulek saw the pains of the woman and children who were consuming in the fire, he also was pained; and he said unto Alma: How can we witness this awful scene? Therefore let us stretch forth our hands, and exercise the power of God which is in us, and save them from the flames. #RandolphHarris 17 of 21

“However, Alma said unto him: The Spirit constraineth me that I must not stretch forth mine hand; for behold the Lord recieveth them up unto himself, in glory; and he doth suffer that they may do this thing, or that the people may do this thing unto them, according to the hardness of their hearts, that the judgements which he shall exercise upon them in his wrath may be just; and the blood of the innocent shall stand as a witness against them, yea, and cry mightily against them at the last day. Now Amulek said unto Alma: Behold, perhaps they will burn us also. And Alma said: Be it according to the will of the Lord. However, behold, our work is not finished; therefore they burn us no. Now it came to pass that when the bodies of those who had been cast into fire were consumed, and also the records which were cast in with them, the chief judge f the land came and stood before Alma and Amulek, as they were bound; and he smote the with his hand upon their cheeks, and said unto them: After what ye have seen will ye preach again unto this people, that they shall be cast into a lake of fire and brimstone? Behold, ye see that ye had not power to save those who had been cast into the fire; neither has God saved them because they were of Thy faith. And the judges smote them again upon their cheeks, and asked: What say ye for yourselves? #RandolphHarris 18 of 21

“Now this judge was after the order and faith of Nehor, who slew Gideon. And it came to pass that Alma and Amulek answered him nothing; and he smote them again, and delivered them to the officers to be cast into prison. And when they had been cast into prison three days, there came many lawyers, and judges, and priests, and teachers, who were of the profession of Nehor; and they came in unto prison to see them, and they questioned them about many words; but they answered them nothing. And it came to pass that the judge stood before them, and said: Why do ye not answer the words of this people? Know ye not that I have power to deliver you up unto the flames? And he commanded them to speak; but they answered nothing. And it came to pass that they departed and went their ways, but came again on the morrow; and the judge also smoke them again on their cheeks. And many came forth also, and smote them, saying: Will ye stand again and judge this people, and condemn our law? If ye have such great power why do ye not deliver yourselves? And many such things did they say unto them, gnashing their teeth upon them, and spitting upon them, and saying: How shall we look when we are damned? And many such things, yea, all manner of such things did they say unto them; and thus they did mock them for many days. #RandolphHarris 19 of 21

“And they did withhold food from them that they might hunger, and water that they might thirst; and they also did take from them their clothes that there were naked; and thus they were bound with strong cords, and confined in prison. And it came to pass after they had thus suffered for many days, (and it was on the twelfth day, in the tenth month, in the tenth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi) that the chief judge over the land of Ammonihah and many of their teachers and their lawyers went in unto the prison where Alma and Amulek were bound with cords. And the chief judge stood before them, and smote them again, and said unto them: If ye have the power of God deliver yourselves from the bands, and then we will believe that the Lord will destroy this people accord to your words. And it came to pass that they all went forth and smote them, saying the same words, even until the last; and when the last had spoken unto them the power of God was upon Alma and Amulek, and they rose and stood upon their feet. And Alma cried, saying: How long shall we suffer these great afflictions, O Lord? O Lord, give us strength according to our faith which is in Christ, even unto deliverance. And they broke the cords with which they were bound; and when the people saw this, they began to flee, for the fear of destruction had come upon them. #RandolphHarris 20 of 21

“And it came to pass that so great was their fear that they feel to the Earth, and did not obtain the outer door of the prison; and the Earth shook mightily, and the walls of the prison were rent in twain, so that they fell to the Earth; and the chief judge, and the lawyers, and priests, and teachers, who smoke upon Alma and Amulek, were slain by the fall thereof. And Alma and Amulek came for the out of the prison, and they were not hurt; for the Lord had granted unto them power, according to their faith which was in Christ. And they straightway came forth out of the prison; and they were loosed from their bands; and the prison had fallen to the Earth, and every soul within the walks therefore, save it were Alma an Amulek, was slain; and they straightway came forth into the city. Now the people having heard a great noise came running together by multitudes to know the cause of it; and when they saw Alma and Amulek coming forth out of the prison, and the walls thereof had fallen to the Earth, they were struck with great fear, and fled from the presence of Alma and Amulek even as a goat fleeth with her young from two lions; and thus they did flee from the presence of Alma and Amulek,” reports Alma 14.1-29. Rejoicing, O Lord, in the richness of Thy gifts, we humbly pray that as Thou hast given us power to hold this ministry, so Thou wilt give us sufficient grace to fulfil it; through our Lord. Amen. #RandolphHarris 21 of 21

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How goodly are your tents, O Jacob, your dwelling places, O Israel. O Lord, through Thine abundant kindness I come into Thy house, ad reverently I worship Thee in Thy holy sanctuary. I love the habitation of Thy house, the place where Thy glory dwelleth. Here I bow down and worship Thee, my Lord and Maker. Accept my prayer, O Lord, and answer me with Thy great mercy and with Thy saying truth. Amen.

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I Felt the Power of the ‘Life Force’ that Infuses Each of Us—Whatever this is!

August 4, 2020 12:36 am

There is no good in arguing with the inevitable. The only argument available with an east wind is to put on your overcoat. What part does our awareness have in the formative function of the consciousness in human beings? I believer that consciousness has a small but very important part. The ability to focus consciousness attention seems to be one of the latest evolutionary developments in our species. This ability can be described as a tiny peak of awareness, of symbolizing capacity, topping a vast pyramid of nonconscious organismic functioning. Perhaps a better analogy, more indicative of the continual change going on, is to think of the pyramid as a large fountain of the same shape. The very tip of the fountain is intermittently illuminated with the flickering light of consciousness, but the constant flow of life goes on in the darkness as well, in nonconscious as well as conscious ways. It seems that the human organism has been moving toward the more complete development of awareness. It is at this level hat new forms are invented, perhaps even new directions for the human species. It is here that the reciprocal relationship between cause and effect is most demonstrably evident. It is here that choices are made, spontaneous forms created. We here see perhaps the highest of the human functions. #RandolphHarris 1 of 20

Some of my colleagues have said that organismic choice—the nonverbal, subconscious choice of way of being—is guided by the evolutionary flow. I agree; I will even go one step further. I would point out that in psychotherapy we have learned something about the psychological conditions that are most conducive to increasing this highly important self-awareness. With greater self-awareness, a more informed choice is possible, a choice more free from introjects, a conscious choice that is even more in tune with the evolutionary flow. Such a person is more potentially aware, not only of the stimuli from outside, but of ideas and dreams, and of the ongoing flow of feelings, emotions, and physiological reactions that one senses from within. The greater this awareness, the more surely the person will float in a direction consonant with the directional evolutionary flow. When a person is functioning in this way, it does not mean that there is a self-conscious awareness of all that is going on within, like the centipede whose movements were paralyzed when it became aware of each of its legs. On the contrary, such a person is free to live a feeling subjectively, as well as be aware of it. The individual might experience love, or pain, or fear, or just live in these experiences subjectively. #RandolphHarris 2 of 20

Or, one might abstract self from this subjectivity and realize in awareness, “I am in pain;” “I am afraid;” “I do love.” The crucial point is that when a person is functioning fully, there are no barriers, no inhibitions, which prevent the full experiencing of whatever is organismically present. This person is moving in the direction of wholeness, integration, a unified life. Consciousness is participating in this larger, creative, formative tendency. But some go even further in their theories. Researchers such as Grof and Grof (1977) and Lilly (1973) believe that persons are able to advance beyond the ordinary level of consciousness. Their studies appear to reveal that in altered states of consciousness, persons feel they are in touch with, and grasp the meaning of, this evolutionary flow. They experience it as tending toward a transcending experience of unity. They picture the individual self as being dissolved in a whole area of higher values, especially beauty, harmony, and love. The persons feels at one with the cosmos. Hard-headed research seems to be confirming the mystic’s experience of union with the universal. For me, this point of view is confirmed by more recent experience in working with clients, and especially in dealing with intensive groups. #RandolphHarris 3 of 20

I describe earlier those characteristics of a growth-prompting relationship that have been investigated and supported by research. However, recently, my view has broadened into a new rea which cannot as yet be studied empirically. When I am at my best, as a group facilitator or as a therapist, I discover another characteristic. I find that when I am closet to my inner, intuitive self, when I am somehow in touch with the unknown in me, when perhaps I am in a slightly altered state of consciousness, then whatever I do seems to be full of healing. Then, simply my presence is releasing and helpful to the other. There is nothing I can do to force this experience, but when I can relax an be close to the transcendental core of me, then I may behave in strange and impulsive ways in the relationship, ways which I cannot justify rationally, which have nothing to do with my thought process. However, these strange behaviours turn out to be right, in some odd way: it seems that my inner spirit has reached out and touched the inner spirit of the other. Our relationship transcends itself and becomes a part of something larger. Profound growth and healing and energy are present. #RandolphHarris 4 of 20

This kind of transcendent phenomenon has certainly been experienced at times in groups in which I have worked, changing the lives of some of those involved. One participant in a workshop put it eloquently: “I found it to be a profound spiritual experience. I felt the oneness of spirit in the community. We breathed together, felt together, even spoke for one another. I felt the power of the ‘life force’ that infuses each of us—whatever this is. I felt its presence without the usual barricades of ‘me-ness’ or ‘you-ness’-it was like a meditative experience when I feel myself as a center of consciousness, very much a part of the broader, universal consciousness. And yet with that extraordinary sense of oneness, the separateness of each person present has never been more clearly preserved.” Again, as in the description of altered states of consciousness, this account partakes of the mystical. Our experiences in therapy and groups, it is clear, involve the transcendent, the indescribable, the spiritual; I am compelled to believe that I, like many others, have underestimated the importance of this mystical, spiritual dimension. #RandolphHarris 5 of 20

Here many readers, I am sure, will part company with me. What they wish to know, has become of logic, of science, of hard-headedness? However, before they leave me entirely, I would like to adduce some surprising support for such views, from the most unexpected quarters. Fritjof Capra (1975), a well-known theoretical physicist, has shown how present-day physics has almost completely abolished any solid concepts of our World, with the exception of energy. In a summarizing statement, he says, “In modern physics the Universe is thus experiences as a dynamic, inseparable whole which always includes the observer in an essential way. In this experience the traditional concepts of space and time, of isolated objects, and of the cause and effect lose their meaning. Such an experience, however, is very similar to that of the Eastern mystics (p.81).” He then goes on o point out the astonishing parallels of Zen, Taoism, Buddhism, and other Old World views. His own conviction is that physics and Eastern mysticism are separate but complementary roads to the same knowledge, supplementing each other in providing a fuller understanding of the Universe. #RandolphHarris 6 of 20

Recently, the work of chemist-philosopher Ilya Prigogine (Ferguson, 1979) offers a different perspective, which also throws new light on what I have been discussing. In trying to answer the basic question of how order and complexity emerge from the process of entropy, he has originated an entirely new theoretical system. He has developed mathematical formulas and proofs which demonstrate that the World of living nature is probabilistic, rather than solely deterministic. His views apply to all open systems in which energy is exchanged with the environment. This obviously includes the human organism. Briefly, the more complex the structure—whether a chemical or a human—the more energy it expends to maintain that complexity. For example, the human brain, with only 2 percent of body weight, uses 20 percent of available oxygen! Such a system is unstable, has fluctuations or “perturbations,” as Prigogine calls them. As these fluctuations increase, they are amplified by the system’s many connections, and thus drive the system—whether chemical compound or human individual—into a new, altered state, more ordered and coherent than before. This new state has still greater complexity, and hence, even more potential for creating change. #RandolphHarris 7 of 20

The transformation from one state to another is a sudden shift, a nonlinear event, in which many factors act on one another at once. It is especially interesting to me that this phenomenon has already been demonstrated by Don (1977-1978) in his investigation of Gendlin’s concept of “experiencing” in psychotherapy (Gendlin, 1978). When a hitherto repressed feeling is fully and acceptantly experienced in awareness during the therapeutic relationship, there is not only a definitely felt physiological change, as a new state of insight is achieved. Prigogine’s theory appears to shed light on meditation, relaxation techniques, and altered states of consciousness, in which fluctuations are augmented by various means. It gives support to the value of fully recognizing and expressing one’s feelings—positive or negative—thus permitted the full perturbation of the system. Prigogine recognizes the strong resemblance between his “science of complexity” and the views of Eastern sages and mystics, as well as the philosophies of Alfred North Whitehead and Henri Bergson. His view points, he says, toward “a deep collective vision.” Rather amazingly, the title of his latest book is From Being to Becoming (1979), a strange label for a volume by a chemist-philosopher. His conclusion can be stated very briefly: “The more complex a system, the greater its potential for self-transcendence: its parts cooperate to reorganize it” (Ferguson, 1979). #RandolphHarris 8 of 20

Thus, from theoretical physics and chemistry comes some confirmation of the validity of experiences that are transcendent, indescribable, unexpected, transformational—the sort of phenomena that I and my colleagues have observed and felts as concomitant of the person-centered approach. As I try to take into account the scope of the various themes I have presented, along with some of the available evidence that appears to support them, I am led to formulate a broad hypothesis. In my mind, this hypothesis is very tentative. However, for the sake of clarity, I will state it in definite terms. I hypothesize that there is a formative directional tendency in the Universe, which can be traced and observed in stellar space, in crystals, in microorganisms, in more complex organic life, and in human being. This is an evolutionary tendency toward greater order, greater complexity, greater interrelatedness. In humankind, this tendency exhibits itself as the individual moves from a single-cell origin to complex organic functioning, to know and sensing below the level of consciousness, to a conscious awareness of the organism and the external World, to a transcendent awareness of the harmony and unity of the cosmic system, including humankind. #RandolphHarris 9 of 20

What I have been saying is that in our work as person-centered therapists and facilitators, we have discovered the attitudinal qualities that are demonstrably effective in releasing constructive and growthful changes in the personality and behaviour of individuals. Persons in an environment infused with these attitudes develop more self-understanding, more self-confidence, more ability to choose their behaviours. They learn more significantly, they have more freedom to be and become. The individual in this nurturing climate is free to choose any direction, but actually selects positive and constructive ways. The actualizing tendency is operative in the human being. It is still further confirming to find that this is not simply a tendency in living systems but is part of a strong formative tendency in our Universe, which is evident at all levels. Thus, when we provide a psychological climate that permits persons to be—whether they are clients, students, workers, or persons in a group—we are not involved in a chance event. We are tapping into a tendency which permeates all of organic life—a tendency to become all the complexity of which the organism is capable. #RandolphHarris 10 of 20

And on an even larger scale, I believe we are tuning in to a potent creative tendency which has formed our Universe, from the smallest snowflake to the largest galaxy, from the lowly amoeba to the most sensitive and gifted of persons. And perhaps we are touching the cutting edge of our ability to transcend ourselves, to create new and more spiritual directions in human evolution. This kind of formulation is, for me, a philosophical base for a person-centered approach. It justifies me in engaging in a life-affirming way of being. “Love never faileth; but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. However, when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known,” reports 1 Corinthians 13.8-12. Paul speaks, in the famous words of our text, of things which are perfect, or complete. #RandolphHarris 11 of 20

The fragmentary things shall vanish away; the complete things shall abide. The former are temporal; the later are eternal. The fragmentary, temporal things are not merely material; they are some of the highest gifts of the Divine Spirit: prophecy, which is the interpretation of our time and history; tongues, which are our ecstatic feeling and speaking; and knowledge, which is the understanding of our existence. Even those spiritual goods shall disappear with all the material and intellectual goods. They are all fragmentary, temporal, transitory. Love alone does not disappear; it endures forever. For God Himself is love, according to John who carries through the thought of Paul. However, there is another consideration in our text which seems to contradict the words about love. Paul singles out knowledge, and points to the difference between our fragmentary, indirect and darkened knowledge, and the full, direct and total knowledge to come. He compares the childish imaginations with the mature insight of the adult. He speaks of something, which, besides love, is perfect and eternal—namely, the seeing of the truth, face to face; the knowledge which is as full as God’s knowledge of us. #RandolphHarris 12 of 20

How are these two considerations united? Did Paul forget that he had just predicted the perfection and eternity of love alone? No, he did not forget; for he closes this part of his letter by re-emphasizing he abiding character of love as the greatest thing of all. Or are the words about knowledge inserted without thought of a definite connection with the rest of the passage? They are not merely inserted; for there is a link, one of the most profound phrases in this great chapter: “even as also I am fully known”—fully known, that is, by God. However, there is only one way to know a personality—to become united with that personality through love. Full knowledge presupposes full love. God knows me, because He love me; and I shall know Him face to face through a similar uniting, which is love and knowledge at the same time. Love lasts; love alone endures, and nothing else besides love, nothing independent of love. Yet, in love, the seeing face to face and the knowledge of the center of the other I are implied. It is not blind love that is the enduring love, the love that God Himself is. It is a seeing love, a knowing love, a love that looks through into the depth of the Heart of God, and into the depth of our hearts. There is no strangeness to love; love knows; it is the only power of complete ad lasting knowledge. #RandolphHarris 13 of 20

There is a Greek word which can designate both knowledge and sensual love. It can designate both, because both meanings express an act of union, an overcoming of the cleavage between beings. Knowledge shall be done away with in so far as it is different from love; knowledge shall become eternal in so far as it is one with love. Therefore, the standard of knowledge is the standard of love. For Paul, the difference between knowledge and love, between seeing and acting between theory and practice, exists only when fragmentary knowledge is our concern. Full knowledge does not admit a difference between itself and love, or between theory and practice. Love overcomes the seeming opposition between theory and practice; it is knowing and doing at the same time. Therefore, it is the greatest thing of all; therefore, God Himself, the “life force” that infuses all of us, is love; therefore, the Christ, as the manifestation of the Divine Love, is full of grace and of truth. That is what Paul means; and that is the standard of knowledge he gives. “And again, my brethren, I would cite your minds forward to the time when the Lord God gave these commandments unto his children; and I would that ye should remember that the Lord God ordained priests, after his holy order, which was after the order of his Son, to teach these things unto the people. #RandolphHarris 14 of 20

“And these priests were ordained after the order of his Son, in a manner that thereby the people might know in what manner to look forward to his Son for redemption. And this is the manner after which they were ordained—being called and prepared from the foundation of the World according to the foreknowledge of God, on account of their exceeding faith and good works; in the first place being left to choose good or evil; therefore they having chosen good, and exercising exceedingly great faith, are called with a holy calling, yea, with that holy calling which was prepared with, and according to, a preparatory redemption for such. And thus they have been called to this holy calling on account of their faith, while others would reject the Spirit of God on account of their hearts and blindness of their minds, while, if it had not been for this they might have had as great privilege as their brethren. Or in fine, in the first place they were on the same standing with their brethren; thus this holy calling being prepared from the foundations of the World for such as would not harden their hearts, being in and through the atonement of the Only Begotten Son, who was prepared. #RandolphHarris 15 of 20

“And thus being called by this holy calling, and ordained unto the high priesthood of the holy order of God, to teach his commandments unto the children of humans, that they also might enter into his rest. This high priesthood being after the order of his Son, which order was from the foundation of the World; or in other words, being without beginning of days or end of years, being prepared from eternity to all eternity, according to his foreknowledge of all things—now they were ordained after this manner—being called with a holy calling, and ordained with a holy ordinance, and taking upon them the high priesthood of the holy order, which calling, and ordinance, and high priesthood, is without beginning or end—thus they become high priests forever, after the order of the Son, the Only Begotten of the Father, who is without beginning of days or end of years, who is full of grace, equity, and truth. And thus it is. Amen. Now, as I said concerning the holy order, or this high priesthood, there were many who were ordained and because high priests of God; and it was on account of their exceeding faith and repentance, and their righteousness before God, they choosing to repent and work righteousness rather than to perish; therefore they were called after this holy order, and were sanctified, and their garments were washed white through the blood of the Lamb. #RandolphHarris 16 of 20

“Now they, after being sanctified by the Holy Ghost, having their garments made white, being pure and spotless before God, could not look upon sin save it were with abhorrence; and there were many, exceedingly great many, who were made pure and entered into the rest of the Lord their God. And now, my brethren, I would that ye should humble yourselves before God, and bring forth fruit meet for repentance, that ye may also enter into that rest. Yea, humble yourselves even as the people in the days of Melchizedek, who was also a high priest after this same order which I have spoken, who also took upon him the high priesthood forever. And it was this same Melchizedek to whom Abraham paid tithes; yes of one-tenth part of all he possessed. Now these ordinances were given after this manner, that thereby the people might look forward on the Son of God, it being a type of his order, or it being his order, and this that they might look forward to him for a remission of their sins, that they might enter into the rest of the Lord. Now this Melchizedek was a king over the land of Salem; and his people had waxed strong in iniquity and abomination; yea, they had all gone astray; there were full of all manner of wickedness. However, Melchizedek having exercised might faith, and received the office of the high priesthood according to the holy order of God, did preach repentance unto his people. #RandolphHarris 17 of 20

“And behold, they did establish peace in the land in his days; therefore he was called the prince of peace, for he was the king of Salem; and he did reign under his father. Now, there were many before him, and also there were many afterwards, but none were greater; therefore, of him hey have more particularly made mention. Now, I need not rehearse the matter; what I have said may suffice. Before, the scriptures are before you; if ye will wrest them it shall be to your own destruction. And now it came to pass that when Alma has said these words unto them, he stretched forth his hand unto them and cried with a mighty voice, saying: Now is the time to repent, for the day of salvation draweth nigh; yea, and the voice of the Lord, by the mouth of angels, doth declare it unto all nations; yea, doth declare it, that they may have glad tidings of great joy; yea, and he doth sound these glad tidings among all his people, yea, even to them that are scattered abroad upon the face of the Earth; wherefore they have come unto us. And they are made know unto us in plain terms that we may understand, that we cannot err; and this because of our being wanderers in a strange land; therefore, we are his highly favoured, for we have these glad tidings declared unto us in all part of our vineyard. #RandolphHarris 18 of 20

“For behold, angels are declaring it unto many at this time in our land; and this is for the purpose of preparing the hearts of the children of human to receive his word at the time of his coming in his glory. And now we only wait to hear the joyful news declared unto us by the mouth of angels, of his coming; for the time cometh, we know not how soon. Would to God that it might be in may day; but let it be sooner or later, in it I will rejoice. And it shall be made known unto just and holy humans, by the mouth of angels, a the time of his coming, that the words of our father may be fulfilled, according to that which they have spoken concerning him, which was according to the spirit of prophecy which was in them. And now, my brethren, I wish from the inmost part of my heart, yes, with great anxiety even unto pain, that ye would hearken unto my words, and cast off your sins, and not procrastinate the say of your repentance; but that ye would humble yourselves before the Lord, and call on his holy name, and watch and pray continually, that ye may not be tempted above that which ye can bear, and thus be led by the Holy Spirit becoming humble, meek, submissive, patient, full of love and long-suffering. Having faith n the Lord; having a hope that ye shall receive eternal life; having the love of God always in your heart, that ye may be lifted up at the last day an enter into his rest. #RandolphHarris 19 of 20

“And may the Lord grant unto you repentance, that ye may not bring down his wrath upon you, that ye may not be bound down by the chains of hell, that ye may not suffer the second death. And Alma spake many more words unto the people, which are not written in this book,” reports Alma 13.1-31. Please attend, O Lord Jesus Christ our God, from Thy holy habitation, and from the glorious throne of Thy kingdom, and come to sanctify us, Thou Who sittest above with the Father, and art here invisibly present with us; please vouchsafe with Thy mighty hand to impart Thine immaculate Body and Thy precious Blood to us, and by us to all Thy people. Possessive love is natural. We want to have and keep what we love. However, when an object is another human being, there is an inevitable desire for the return of our love, for the restriction of their affection to us alone, so that we give is not given in purity but in extended selfishness. Hence when other love you they want to deprive you of your freedom. But when the disciple loves you, one must give you freedom. #RandolphHarris 20 of 20

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Love is Full of as Many Mysteries as the Winchester Mansion, it Can be Beautiful and Bizarre!

August 1, 2020 12:27 am

How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty World. Why then the World is mine oyster, which I with sword will open. How beautiful it is to be in love; how interesting it is to know that one is in love. This, you see, is the difference. I can become furious at the thought that she disappeared before me the second time, and ye in a certain sense I am glad of it. The image I have of her hovers indefinitely somewhere between her actual and her ideal form. I now have this image before me, but precisely because either it is actuality or actuality is indeed the occasion, it had a singular magic. I feel no impatience, for she must live here in the city, and at this moment that is enough for me. This possibility is the condition for the proper appearance of her image—everything will enjoyed in slow drafts. And should I not be calm—I, who can regard myself as a favourite of the gods, I, whose lot was the rare good fortune of falling in love again. This is something that cannot be elicited by skill or study—I is a gift. However, if I have succeeded in stirring up an erotic love again, I do want to see how long it can be sustained. I coddle this love as I never did my first. The opportunity falls to one’s lot rarely enough—therefore the point is truly to utilize it if it does come along, for it is dismaying that it is no art to seduce a young lady but it is a stroke of good fortune to find one who is worth seducing. #RandolphHarris 1 of 19

Love is full of as many mysteries as the Winchester mansion, it can be beautiful and bizarre, and this falling in love is also a mystery, even though a minor one. Most people rush ahead, become engaged or do other unwise things, and in a turn of hand everything is over, and they know neither what they have won nor what they have lost. Two times she has appeared before me and has disappeared; that means she will appear more often. When Joseph had interpreted Pharaoh’s dream, he added: But the fact that you dreamed twice means that it will be fulfilled soon. Yet, if one could discern somewhat ahead of time the forces whose emergence forms the content of life, it would be interesting. At present she is living in all her tranquil peace; she does not have even an inkling of my existence, even less of what is going on within me, to say nothing of the assurance with which I gaze into her future, for my soul is demanding more and more actuality, and it is becoming stronger and stronger. If at first sight a young lady does no make such a deep impression on a person that she awakens the ideal, then ordinarily the actuality is not especially desirable; but if she does, then no matter how experienced a person is he usually is rather overwhelmed. #RandolphHarris 2 of 19

I always advise the person who is not sure of one’s hand, his eye, and his victory to venture the attack in this first state, in which, precisely because he is overwhelmed, he has supranatural powers—for being overwhelmed is a curious mixture of sympathy and egotism. He will, however, miss out on an enjoyment, for he does not enjoy the situation since he himself is wrapped up in it, hidden in it. Which the more beautiful is difficult to decide—which is the more beautiful is difficult to decide—which is the more interesting is easy. It is, however, always best to come as close as possible to the line. This is the real enjoyment, and what others enjoy I do not know for sure. Mere possession is very little, and the means such lovers use are usually paltry enough; they do not even reject money, power, alien influence, sleeping positions, excreta. However, what pleasure is there in live if absolute is not intrinsic to it, that is, from the one side—but ordinarily that takes spirit, and such lovers generally do not have that. I am not alone in seeing such an actualizing tendency as the fundamental answer to the question of what makes an organism “tick.” This tendency involves a development toward the differentiation of organs and functions; it involves enhancement through reproduction. #RandolphHarris 3 of 19

Szent-Gyoergyi says that he cannot explain the mysteries of biological development without supposing an innate drive in living matter to perfect itself. The organism, in its normal state, moves toward its own fulfillment, toward self-regulation and an independence from external control. However, is this view confirmed by other evidence? Let me point to some of the work in biology that supports the concept of the actualizing tendency. One example, replicated with different species, is the work of Hans Driesch with the sea urchins many years ago. Driesch learned how to tease apart the two cells that are formed after the first division of the fertilized egg. Had they been left to develop normally, it is clear that each of these two cells would have grown into a portion of a sea urchin larva, the contributions of both being needed o form a whole creature. So it seems equally obvious that when two cells are skillfully separated, each, if it grows, will simply develop into some portion of a sea urchin. However, this assumption overlooks the directional growth. It is found that each cell, if it can be kept alive, now develops into a whole sea urchin larva—a bit smaller than usual, but normal and complete. #RandolphHarris 4 of 19

I have chosen this example because it seems so closely analogous to my experience in dealing with individuals one-to-one therapeutic relationships, in facilitating intensive groups, in providing freedom to learn for students in classes. In these situations, I am most impressed with the fact that each human being has a directional tendency toward wholes, toward actualization of one’s potentialities. I have not found psychotherapy or a group experience effective when I have tried to create in another individual something that is not already there; I have found, however, that if I can provide the conditions that allow growth to occur, then this positive directional tendency brings about constructive results. The scientist with the divided sea urchin egg was in the same situation. He could not cause the cell to develop in one way or another, but when he focused his skill on providing the conditions that permitted the cell to survive and grow, the tendency for growth and the direction of growth were evident, and came from within the organism. I cannot think of a better analogy for therapy or the group experience, where, if I can supply a psychological amniotic fluid, forward movement of a constructive sort will occur. #RandolphHarris 5 of 19

I would like to add one comment which may be clarifying. Sometimes this growth tendency is spoken of as though it involved the development of all the potentialities of the organism. This is clearly not true. As one of my colleagues pointed out, the organism does not tend toward developing its capacity for nausea, nor does it actualize it potentiality for self-destruction, nor its ability to bear pain. Only under unusual or perverse circumstances do these potentialities become actualized. It is clear that the actualizing tendency is selective and directional—a constructive tendency, if you will. Those who favour the view of an actualizing tendency does not need to be inhibited by the belief that it is in conflict with modern science or theories of knowledge. It is now theorized that the genetic code necessary to specify the characteristics of the mature organism. Instead, it contains a set of roles determining the interactions of the dividing cells. Much less information is needed to codify the rules than to guide every aspect of maturing development. Thus information can be generated within the organism system—information can grow. Hence, Driesch’s sea urchin cells are doubtless following the coded rules and, consequently, are able to develop in original, not previously or rigidly specified ways. #RandolphHarris 6 of 19

All this goes deeply against the current (and possibly outdated) epistemology of the social sciences, which holds that a cause is followed in a one-way direction by an effect. In contrast, Murayama and others believe that there are mutual cause-effect interactions which amplify deviations and permit new information and new forms to develop. This morphogenetic epistemology appears to be basic to understanding of all living systems, including all growth processes in organisms. Murayama states that an understanding of biology “lies in the recognition that biological processes are reciprocal causal processes, not random processes.” On the other hand, as he points out elsewhere, an understanding of biology does not emerge from an epistemology based on one-way cause-effect systems. Thus, there is great need to rethink the stimulus-response, cause-effect basis on which most of social science rests. The work in the field of sensory deprivation shows how strong is the organismic tendency to amplify diversities and create new information and new forms. Certainly, tension reduction, or the absence of stimulation, is a far cry from being the desired state of the organism. Dr. Freud could not have been more wrong in his postulate that “The nervous system is an apparatus which would even, if this were feasible, maintain itself in an altogether unstimulated condition.” #RandolphHarris 7 of 19

On the contrary, when deprived of external stimuli, the human organism produces a flood of internal stimuli, sometimes of the most bizarre sort. Lilly was one of the first to tell of his experiences when suspended weightless in a soundproof tank of water. He speaks of trancelike states, mystical experiences, the sense of being tuned in on communication networks no available to ordinary consciousness, and ever experiences that can only be called hallucinatory. It is very clear that when a person is receiving an absolute minimum of external stimuli, one is opened to a flood of experiencing at a level far beyond that of everyday living. The individual most certainly does not lapse into homeostasis, into a passive equilibrium. This occurs only in diseased organisms. Thus, to me it is meaningful to say that the substratum of all motivation is the organismic tendency toward fulfillment. This tendency may express itself in the widest range of behaviours and in response to a wide variety of needs. To be sure, certain basic wants must be at least partially met before other needs become urgent. Consequently, the tendency of the organism to actualize itself may at one moment lead to the seeking of food or satisfaction in pleasures of the flesh, and yet, unless these needs are overpoweringly great, even these satisfactions will be sought in ways that enhance, rather than diminish, self-esteem. #RandolphHarris 8 of 19

And the organism will also seek other fulfillment in its transactions with the environment. The need for exploration of and producing change in the environment, the need for play and for self-exploration—all of these and many other behaviours are basically expressions of the actualizing tendency. In short, organisms are always seeking, always initiating always “up to something.” There is one central source of energy in the human organism. This source is a trustworthy function of the whole system rather than of some portion of it; it is most simply conceptualized as a tendency toward fulfillment, toward actualization, involving not only the maintenance but also the enhancement of the organism. There are many who criticize this point of view. They regard it as too optimistic, not dealing adequately with the negative element, the evil, the dark side in human beings. Consequently, I would like to put this directional tendency in a broader context. There appears to be a formative tendency at work in the Universe, which can be observed at every level. This tendency has received much less attention than it deserves. Physical scientists up to now have focused primarily on “entropy,” the tendency toward deterioration, or disorder. They know a great deal about this tendency. Studying closed systems, they can give it a clear mathematical description. They know that order tends to deteriorate into randomness, each stage les organized than the last. #RandolphHarris 9 of 19

We are also very familiar with deterioration in organic life. The system—whether plant, animal, or human—eventually deteriorates into a lesser and lesser degree of functioning organization, or order, until decay reaches a stasis. In one sense, this is what one aspect of medicine is all about—a concern with the malfunctioning or deterioration of an organ or the organism as a whole. The complex process of death of the physical organism is increasingly well understood. So a great deal is known of the universal tendency of systems at all levels to deteriorate in the direction of less and less orderliness, more and more randomness. When this system operates, it is a one-way street: the World seems to be a great machine, running down and wearing out. However, there is far less recognition of, or emphasis on, the even more important formative tendency which can be equally well observed at every level of the Universe. After all, every form that we see or know emerged from a simpler, less complex form. This is a phenomenon which is at leas as significant as entropy. Examples could be given from every form of inorganic or organic being. Let me illustrate with just a few. In appears that every galaxy, every star, every planet, including our own, was formed from a less organized whirling storm of particles. Many of these stellar objects are themselves formative. #RandolphHarris 10 of 19

In the atmosphere of our Sun, hydrogen nuclei collide to form molecules of helium, which are more complex in nature. It is hypothesized that in other stars, even heavier molecules are formed by such interactions. I understand that when the simple materials of the Earth’s atmosphere which were present before life began—hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, in the form of water and ammonia—are infused by electrical charges or by radiation, heavier molecules begin to form first, followed by the more complex amnio acids. We seem only a step away from the formation of viruses and the even more complex living organisms. A creative, not disintegrative process, is at work. Another fascinating example is the formation of crystals. In every case, from less ordered and less symmetrical fluid matter there emerges the startlingly unique, ordered symmetrical and often beautiful crystalline form. All of us have marveled at the perfection and complexity of the snowflake. Yet it emerged from formless vapour. When we consider the single living cell, we discover that it often forms more complex colonies, as in coral reefs. Even more order enters the picture as the cell emerges into an organism of many cells with specialized functions. #RandolphHarris 11 of 19

I do not need to portray the whole gradual process of organic evolution. We are all familiar with the steadily increasing complexity of organisms. They are not always successful in their ability to cope with the changing environment, but the trend toward complexity is always evident. Perhaps, for most of us, the process of organic evolution is best recognized as we consider the development of the single fertilized human ovum through the simplest stages of cell division, then the aquatic gill stage, and on to the vastly complex, highly organized human infant. There is a manifest and increasing order in evolution. Thus, without ignoring the tendency toward deterioration, we need to recognize fully what Szent-Gyoergyi terms “syntropy” and what Whyte calls the “morphic tendency,” the ever operating trend toward increase order and interrelated complexity evident at both the inorganic and the organic level. The Universe is always building and creating as well as deteriorating. This process is evident in the human being, too. The Nephite monetary system is set forth—Amulek contends with Zeezrom—Christ will not save people in their sins—only those who inherit the kingdom of Heaven are saved—all humans will rise in immortality—there is no death after the Resurrection. About 82 Before Christ. #RandolphHarris 12 of 19

“Now it was in the law of Mosiah that every human who was a judge of the law, or those who were appointed to be judges, should receive wages according to the time which they laboured to judge those who were brought before them to be judged. Now, if a human owed another, and one would not pay that which one did owe, one was complained of to the judge; and the judge executed authority, and sent forth officers that the human should be brought before him; and he judged the man according to the law and the evidences which were brought against him, and thus the man was compelled to pay that which he owed, or be stripped, or be cast out from among the people as a thief and a robber. And the judges received from one’s wages according to one’s time—a senine of gold; and this is according to the law which was given. Now these are the names of the different pieces of their gold, and of their silver, according to their value. And the names are given by the Nephites, for they did not reckon after the manner of the Jews who were at Jerusalem; neither did they measure after the manner of the Jews; but they altered their reckoning and their measure, according to the minds and the circumstances of the people, in every generation, until the reign of the judges, they having been established by king Mosiah. #RandolphHarris 13 of 19

“Now the reckoning is thus—a senine of gold, a seon of gold, a shum of gold, and a limnah of gold. A senum of silver, an amnor of silver, an ezrom of silver, and an onti of silver. A senum of silver was equal to a senine of gol, and either for a measure of barely, and also for a measure of every kind of grain. Now the amount of a seon of gold was twice the value of a senine. And a shum of gold was twice the value of a seon. And a limnah of gold was the value of them all. And an amnor of silver was as great as four senums. And an onti was as great as them al. Now this is the value of the lesser numbers of their reckoning—a shibion is half of a senum; therefore, a shiblon for half a measure of barely. And a shiblum is a half of a shiblon. And a leah is the half of a shiblum. Now this their number, according to their reckoning. Now an antion of gold is equal to three shiblons. Now, it was for the sole purpose to get gain, because they received their wages according to heir employ, therefore, they did stir up the people to riotings, ad all manner of disturbances and wickedness, that they might have more employ, that they might get money according to the suits which were brought before them; therefore they did stir up the people against Alma and Amulek. #RandolphHarris 14 of 19

“And this Zeezrom began to question Amulek, saying: Will ye answer me a few questions which I shall ask you? Now Zeezrom was a man who was expert in the devices of the devil, that he might destroy that which was good; therefore, he said unto Amulek: Will ye answer the questions which I shall put unto you? And Amulek said unto him: Yea, if it be according to the Spirit of the Lord, which is in me; for I shall say nothing which is contrary to the Spirit of the Lord. And Zeezrom said unto him: Behold, here are six onties of silver, and all these I will give thee if thou wilt deny the existence of a Supreme Being. Now Amulek said: O thou child of hell, why tempt ye me? Knowest thou that the righteous yieldeth to no such temptations? Believest thou that there is no God? I say unto you, Nay, thou knowest that there is a God, but thou lovest that lucre more than him. And now thou hast lied before God unto me. Thou sadist unto me—Behold these six onties which are of great worth, I will give unto thee—when thou hadest it in thy heart to retain them from me; and it was only thy desire that I should deny the true and living God, that thou mightest have cause to destroy me. And now behold, for this great evil thou shalt have they reward. And Zeezrom said unto him: Thou sayest there is a true and living God? #RandolphHarris 15 of 19

“And Amulek said: Yea, there is a true and living God. Now Zeezrom said: Is there more than one God? And I answered, No. Now Zeezrom said unto him again: How knows thou these things? And he said: An angel hath made them known uno me. And Zeerom said again: Who is he that shall come? Is it the Son of God? And he said unto him, Yea. And Zeezrom said again: Shall he save his people in their sins? And Amulek answered and said unto him: I say unto you he shall not, for it is impossible for him to deny his word. Now Zeezrom said unto the people: See that ye remember these things; for he said there is but one God; yet he saith that the Son of God shall come, but he shall not save his people—as though he had authority to command God. Now Amulek saith again unto him: Behold thou hast lied, for thou sayest that I spake as though I had authority to command God because I said he shall not save his people in their sins. And I say unto you again that he cannot save them in their sins; for I cannot deny his word, and he hath said that no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of Heaven; therefore, how can ye be saved, except ye inherit the kingdom of Heaven? Therefore, ye cannot be saved in your sins. Now Zeezrom saith again unto him: Is the Son of God the very Eternal Father? #RandolphHarris 16 of 19

“And Amulek said unto him: Yea, he is the very Eternal Father of Heaven and of Earth, and all things which in them are; he is the beginning and the end, the first and the last; and he shall come into the World to redeem his people; and he shall take upon him the transgressions of those who believe on his name; and these are they that shall have eternal life, and salvation cometh to none else. Therefore the wicked remain as though there had been no redemption made, expect it be the loosing of the bands of death; for behold, the day cometh that all shall rise from the dead and stand before God, and be judged according to their works. Now, there is a death which is called a temporal death; and the death of Christ shall loose the bands of this temporal death, that all shall be raised from this temporal death. The spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form; both limb and join shall be restored to its proper frame, even as we now are at this time; and we shall be brought to stand before God, knowing even as we know now, and have a bright recollection of all our guilt. Now, this restoration shall come to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the wicked and the righteous; and even so much as a hair of their heads be lost. #RandolphHarris 17 of 19

“However, every thing shall be restored to its perfect frame, as it is now, or in the body, and shall be brought and be arraigned before the bar of Christ the Son, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, which is one Eternal God, to be judged according to their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil. Now, behold, I have spoken unto you concerning the death of the mortal body, and also concerning the resurrection of the mortal body. I say unto you that this mortal body is raised to an immortal body, that is from death, even from the first death unto life, that they can die no more; their spirits uniting with their bodies, never to be divided; thus the whole becoming spiritual and immortal, that they can no more see corruption. Now, when Amulek had finished these words the people began again to be astonished, and also Zeezrom began to tremble. And thus ended the words of Amulek, or this is all that I have written,” reports Alma 11.1-46. Sovereign Lord, Thy will is supreme in Heaven and Earth, and all beings are creatures of Thy power. Thou art the Father of our spirits; Thy inspiration gives us understanding, Thy providence governs our lives. However, O God, we are sinners in Thy sight; thou hast judged us so, and if we deny it we make Thee a liar. #RandolphHarris 18 of 19

Yet in Christ Thou art reconciled to Thy rebellious subjects; please give us the ear of faith to hear him, the eye of faith to see him, the hand of faith to receive him, the appetite of faith to feed upon him; that we might find him light, riches, honour, eternal life. Thou art the inviting one, may we hearken to Thee; the almighty instructor, teach us to live to Thee; the light-dweller, inaccessible to humans and angels, hiding Thyself behind the elements of creation, but known to us in Jesus; possess our minds with the grandeur of Thy perfections. Thy love to us in Jesus is firm and changeless, nothing can separate us from it, and in the enjoyment of it nothing can make us miserable. Preserve us from hypocrisy and formality in religion; enable us to remember what thou art and what we are, to recall Thy holiness and our unworthiness; help us to approach Thee clothed with humility, for vanity, forwardness, insensibility, disorderly affection, backwardness to duty, proneness to evil are in our hearts. Let us never forget Thy patience, wisdom, power, faithfulness, care, and never cease to respond to Thy invitations. O LORD GOD, there is no blessing we implore but Thou art able to give hast promised to give, hast given already to countless multitudes, all unworthy and guilty like ourselves; make us willing to receive the supply of our need from Thy bounty. #RandolphHarris 19 of 19

Cresleigh Homes

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For your bounty, to this end, please convince us of sin, soften our hard hearts, to bewail our folly, ingratitude, pride, unbelief, rebellion, corruption. Through the law may we die to the law, then look with wonder, submission, delight, to the provision Thou hast made for the glory of Thy name in the salvation of sinners. Please give us a hope that makes us not ashamed, a love that excites to holy obedience, a joy in Thee that is our strength, a faith in Thy Son who loved us and died for us. May we preserve in duty when not fully conscious of Thee, wait upon Thee and keep Thy way, be humble and earnest suppliants at Thy feet, live continually as on the brink of eternity. #CresleighHomes

Please let us be at Thy disposal for the duties and evens of life, submit our preferences to Thy wisdom and will, resign our enjoyments if Thou shouldest require it as our absolute Proprietor and best Friend. In our unworthiness and provocations please make us grateful for the means of grace ad the ordinances of religion and please teach us to profit by them more than we have done. Please help us to be in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, to enter upon the sabbath mindful of its solemnities, duties, privileges, setting all things Worldly aside while we worship Thee. May we know the blessedness of humans whose strength is in Thee, and in whose hearts are the highway to Heaven.

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An Ocean Dim, Sprinkled with Many an Isle, Spreads Awfully Before Me!

July 29, 2020 1:28 am

Good name in man and woman, dear my Lord, is the immediate jewel of their souls; who steals my purse, steals trash; ‘tis something, nothing; ‘Twas mine, ‘its his and has been slave to thousands; but one that filches from me my good name robes me of that which not enriches one, and makes me poor indeed. However, love is blind, and lovers cannot see the pretty follies themselves commit. Osmosis, the principle of absorption as a result of being with or near a thing or person, is active here as elsewhere. If the disciple sits relaxed in body and emptied in mind, one’s silent influence can lift up the other person’s inner being much more easily. With election season coming up, socialism has been an intensely debated topic, which most do not seem to truly understand, and most its principles do not represent American values. Socialism is a political value or ideology which places central value on equality or egalitarianism among persons and that is a good thing. However, socialism goes even further concerning issues of income or material wealth, and socialism does not preclude democracy. Essentially socialism is redistribution of wealth, which takes income from the wealthy and gives it to the less affluent. Wealth redistribution because institutionalized a century ago on the revenue side of the Federal budget with the passage of the 16^th Amendment allowing income taxation. #RandolphHarris 1 of 23

As money flooded in to governments from higher, broader and more progressive income taxation, wealth redistribution spread to the expenditure side of Federal and state budgets in the form of government welfare programs and payments. Many people believe that is acceptable because it is the government’s job to help those who cannot help themselves, and with the COVID-19 crisis so many people are living in fear and wondering how they will afford their mortgage, rent, food, electric bills, auto maintenance and other living and travel related expenses. However, another goal of socialism is end private property, the community would own the property. They also want to regulate the wages people get paid so that everyone can have a living wage by equalizing pay. That would mean essentially a doctor and a cashier might earn the same wage to ensure that someone with less skill can support themselves. And it does not stop there, government would own and control all factors of production and like they are doing right now, force your business to close at a certain hour because it seems like a reasonable thing to do. They could also mandate a mandatory curfew and establish a dictatorship which strips the public of their vote and appoints leaders into office. #RandolphHarris 2 of 23

Socialism has mainly become a democratic agenda. Our youth are being taught that economic freedom leads to wealth inequality and that wealth inequality and income inequality leads to poverty. However, everyone should have the option to earn money and become rich. There are measures at place in the system to make sure that people have a chance at equality. Not only do we have laws to outlaw discrimination, but education is a key factor that helps people generate more wealth because it allows them to get higher paying jobs. People can also learn skills and trades and becoming really good at what they do and get ahead in life. Karl Marx and his lifelong collaborator Friedrich Engels are commonly seen to be the founding fathers of communism, one form of socialism based upon the elimination of private property and thus the supposed material inequalities which stem from that. For Marx and Engels, the economic resources of society should be produced in accordance with the skills, abilities, or talents of each individual contributing to their best effort, and then distributed according to what each individual “needs.” This is usually captured by the slogan, “From each according to one’s ability, to each according to one’s needs.” #RandolphHarris 3 of 23

That slogan means that individuals would not work because of self-interest or the incentive to maximize the “profit” from their labour, but would maximize their efforts for the collective good, even if this means that those who work less will receive more, presumably because their “needs” are greater than others. However, I am sure you could imagine how making everything equal would disrupt lives in America. People would have to demolish houses and build them all the same size, depending on the size and composition of families. The same would go with office space, it would all have to be equal. I guess cars would be assigned to people depending on their need, but while the public is giving up their rights and freedoms, you could be that appointed leaders would still be making more than everyone else. Today the countries in Western Europe and the United States of America have mixed economics, where there is a combination of private and state property, a mixture of free and state- or politically-controlled markets, a relatively greater recognition of the rights of women, First Nations people, racial and ethnic groups, and a range of welfare services or resources allotted to those considered in need of them. #RandolphHarris 4 of 23

We use the term “welfare states” to refer to these mixed economics, because they usually combine private property, some relatively free markets, and regulation of fair trading or business practices along with providing various “welfare rights” or “entitlements” to various groups designated for them by the political process in society. In the reading, “The Nonexistence of Basic Welfare Rights,” libertarian Tibor Machan calls into question whether there should be such welfare rights or entitlements, even for those who are poor, mentally or physically disabled, or elderly. Machan says that libertarians agree that such groups deserve their impoverished or disadvantaged condition because they have made significant contributions to their plight by choices they have made earlier in their life. This position is countered in John Rawls’ 1971 book, A Theory of Justice, which tries to combine the ideas of capitalism, socialism, libertarianism, utilitarianism, and contract theory into a comprehensive theory of liberty and social justice. Rawls says that, if one stops to think and reflect, it is really in our best interests to support some basic welfare right or entitlements, because it is entirely possible that we or our beloved family members may find themselves in one of these less fortunate conditions. #RandolphHarris 5 of 23

The views of Machan and other libertarians are commonly taken to advocate a position for a limited or minimal state, that is, they would recognize the legitimacy of state powers only for doing those things which we cannot do for ourselves (such as national security or protecting national/coastal borders). Rawls and other like-minded liberals feel more comfortable with legitimizing state powers for various kinds of welfare right or entitlements. What these should be, and what should be the relative responsibilities for paying the costs of these services or entitlements is being hotly disputed in the United States of America as various partisans prepare for the 2020 national elections. The issues raised in these readings are still very much alive in our culture, and current politics are informed by these important ideas of the recent centuries. Nonetheless, some people think that no matter how you look at it, the World is being used as a weapon. Countries that are rich in natural resources of oil, gas, wood, coffee, beef, corn, tamarind, honey, lithium, diamonds, gold, and other resources are having these products extracted and exported. Corporate globalization, as a result, is producing considerable ecological destruction and agricultural plunder. #RandolphHarris 6 of 23

And many of the resources being harvested, like in the Congo, a portion of the rainforest the size of Mississippi with trees hundred of years, was illegal logged because the government is poor and unable to enforce regulation, are leaving only a small portion of this vast wealth behind. The rest of the sizeable profits are being taken by the various levels of people who play an economic role intermediate between producer and retailer or consumer and the higher level investors and financiers. So global emphasis on economic growth leads to the disenfranchisement and disposability of local peoples. The power of corporate glocalization is the power to command the extraction of natural and human resources outside of its own domain; and this process, imposed on the rest of the World through current political structures and arrangements, creates vast economic injustices and material inequalities. Humans cannot be reduced to their material interests, incentives, or desires, their lives are actually multifaceted, multilayered, and deeply complex. Just as our Human Genome Project has only managed to raise many more questions about human biological and physical nature, so do these researcher and theories of human social and economic nature raise new questions and issues about human complexity. #RandolphHarris 7 of 23

Organizations—whether governmental, industrial, educational, or medical—have traditionally been administered through a hierarchical distributive of power. At the top is one person, as in a corporation or in the Catholic Church, or a small group, as in the Communist party. Though in various ways power flows to the top from those who are governed, the organization is usually experienced as a process of control flowing down from the top. This may be through the medium of others and regulations, or through selectively given rewards such as promotions and salary increases. In recent years many large American corporations have been modifying this extreme hierarchical control. They have endeavoured to diffuse authority, responsibility, and initiative throughout the organization, especially in all levels of management. In other countries—notably Sweden—experimentation is being carried further to the worker level. In all these efforts, those in control have tried to increase open communications in all directions: from below upward; from top management downward; horizontally from department to department, from skilled specialist to skilled specialist. Constructive effects have been felt in certain industries. Much has depended upon the genuineness of the desire of top management to create opportunities for individuals in the organization to maximize their personal development. #RandolphHarris 8 of 23

Such constructive trends, however, are often neutralized or contradicted by two elements. One is the fact that almost without exception management retains the “right” to hire and fire. The second is the fact that increasing profits, rather than the growing of persons, is seen as the primary goal. A few years ago, I had the opportunity to present to the heads of large corporations the possibility of a person-centered approach to administration. I distributed to the group in advance of our meeting some noes to provoke a discussion. These notes represent my personal view of the meaning of a person-centered administration. When it comes to leadership there are two extremes: Influence and Impact, and Power and Control. When it comes to Influence and Impact what donates them is giving autonomy to persons and groups, freeing people to do their thing, expressing own idea and feelings as one aspect of the group data, facilitating learning, stimulating independence, in thought and actions, accepting the unacceptable innovative creations that emerge, and delegating, giving full responsibility, offering feedback, and receiving it, encouraging and relying on self-evaluation, finding rewards in the development and achievements of others. #RandolphHarris 9 of 23

What denotes power and control is making decisions, giving orders, directing subordinates’ behaviour, keeping own ideas and feelings reserved and secretive, exercising authority over people and organization, dominating when necessary, coercing when necessary, teaching, instructing, advising, evaluating others, giving rewards, being rewarded by own achievements. Here are my personal preferences, convictions, and experiences, which focus on the left end of the leadership continuum. I want very much to have influence and impact—by influencing and impact I mean behaviour on my part which makes a difference in the behaviour of others, but not through imposing my views on them, or exercising control over them—but I have rarely desired to, or known how to, exercise control or power. My influence has always been increased when I have shared my power or authority. By refusing to coerce or direct, I think I have stimulated learning, creativity, and self-direction. These are some of the products in which I am most interested. I have found my greatest reward in being able to say “I made possible for this person to be and achieve something he or she could not have been or achieved before.” In short I gain a great deal of satisfaction in being a facilitator of becoming. #RandolphHarris 10 of 23

By encouraging people’s ability to evaluate themselves, I have stimulated autonomy, self-responsibility, and maturity. By freeing people to do their thing, I have enriched their life and learning, and my own as well. The element in myself I prize most is the degree of ability I have to create a climate of real personal freedom and communication around me. I love to be in contact with younger people, with their capacity for fresh thought and creative action, or with the fresh and growing portion of a person of any age. These were not simply theoretical ideas. They had grown out of a revolution in my own way of being as an administrator, of course, healthy and safety of employees is also in the forefront. In my establishment, for nearly twenty years, I have had administrative responsibility for staff groups of one sort or another. I had developed ways of handling administrative problems—ways which had become fairly well fixed. Certainly as I became more and more deeply interested in a client-centered type of counseling, it was furthest from my mind that it would ever affect the way in which I dealt with organizational problems. It is only in the las two or three years that I have been really aware of the revolution in administrative procedure which it might bring about. #RandolphHarris 11 of 23

The effectiveness of a client-centered approach in counseling means that these concepts continually force themselves into other areas where one had not thought of using them. “For myself, I have found it both difficult and rewarding to attempt to apply these concepts in administration.” I did indeed find it both puzzling and difficult to practice a person-centered administration at the Counseling Center. We followed many directions in our attempts, and even some of those which seemed blind alleys at the time later proved to have value. In a staff group which grew to approximately fifty, there was always excitement and change and personal growth. I never seen such dedicated group loyalty, such productive and creative effort, as I saw during those twelve years. Working hours meant nothing, and at all hours of the day, far into the night, and on weekends and holidays, staff members were working because they to. I learned many strange things from the experience at the Counseling Center. It was quite dismaying to me at first that we never seemed to be able to finish the right way of operating the Center. First all decisions were made by consensus. That was too burdensome. We delegated decision-making to a small group. That proved slow. #RandolphHarris 12 of 23

We chose a coordinator, and agreed to abide by her decisions, though like a prime minister she could be given a vote of no confidence. Only gradually did I realize that there is no right way. The life and vitality and growing capacity of the Center was closely bound up with its lack of rigidity, with its continually surprising capacity to change its collective mind, and to utilize a new mode of operation. When power was distributed, I have found that is was no big thing to be the coordinator or chairman of the budget committed or whatever. Consequently administrative tasks were very often sought by the newest members of the staff, because I was an avenue of becoming acquainted with the workings of the operation. An intern might chair a group making up next year’s budget. The newest staff member might head a planning group, or a group to pass on membership or promotions. We never did do away entirely with distinctions between secretarial staff, graduate students in training, interns, and staff members. Senior members of the group were freed to spend more time on research and therapy, knowing that if the various administrative task groups failed accurately to represent the sentiment of the members, their decisions would be rejected by the staff as a whole. #RandolphHarris 13 of 23

I found the enormous importance of personal feeling sin administrative matters. Often the staff would spend hours (or so it seemed) in arguing some trivial issue, until a perceptive member would see and state the feelings underlying the issue—a personal animosity, a feeling of insecurity, a competition between two would-be leaders, or just the resentment of someone who had never really been heard. Once the feelings were out in the open, the issue which had seemed so important became a nothing. On the other hand when the staff was in open communication with one another, heavy issues such as the allocation of the budget for the following year, the election of a coordinator, the adoption of an important policy might take only minutes to decide. In a working group with close and often intimate communication, it is very difficult to terminate a member of the group. Only one in the twelve years was a person fired, and that after any many attempts to help the individual, and after several warnings that one’s questionable work and practices simply could not be tolerated by the group. On the other hand many of our appointments were to one-year internships, and we could not take all of these people onto our staff. Consequently in this area it might be a problem of selecting two people, and terminating four or five. #RandolphHarris 14 of 23

For the staff, when we had to terminate people, it too was a very painful experience, and many were the compromises in the way of nominal and unpaid appointments, or part-time assignments, in order to find a human solution to a potentially hurtful termination. We developed quite effective ways of dealing with crises. When the threat or crisis arose from outside the group—a drastic budget cut back or an attack by the department of psychiatry, for example—the group tended to coalesce immediately and to delegate full authority to a member or members to deal with the crisis on the basis of their best judgment. When the crisis was internal—a smoldering feud between two staff member’s actions—then the tendency was always to call special meetings of the whole staff to air the personal feelings involved and to facilitate some sort of acceptable interpersonal solution. It is very rare for the impact of a person-centered approach to move upward in the organization. Our way of working in he Counseling Center did not change the administrative practices of the dean under whose supervision we operated. Certainly we had no effect on the total administration of the university, which was decidedly hierarchical. I believe this learning is simply one of the facts of life. #RandolphHarris 15 of 23

An individual with a person-centered philosophy can often carve out an area of freedom of action, as I did in my relationship with the dean, and then implement this philosophy to the full with those who are, in the organization chart, “under” him or her. However, it is not likely that this approach will seep upward in the organization unless there is a high degree of receptiveness to innovation among those in the top posts. There is one other learning which comes partially from my experience at the Counseling Center, but even more from experience with other groups. If I am somewhat insecure, not quite willing to share power and authority with the group, feeling some need to control, then I must be open about it. If it knows, clearly and unequivocally, those behaviours which will be controlled by the one in power and those areas in which the individual or the group is free to choose, it is perfectly possible for an organization or a group to function with some freedom and some control. This may not be an ideal situation, but it is a perfectly viable one. I have found, however, from bitter experience, that to grant to the group pseudo-control, which I may take from them in a crisis, is a devastating experience for all concerned. I have learned my wish to vest authority in the group must, above all else, be genuine. #RandolphHarris 16 of 23

In Chapter 8 of The Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi, Francis gives his friend Leo a teaching about what “perfect joy” is. They are trudging through the snow from Perugia to the home of their group at St. Mary of the Angeles. For their brotherhood to give a great example of holiness and edification in all lands would not be perfect joy, Francis says. Nor would a great ministry of healing and raising the dead. Nor would possession of all languages and all science, nor all understanding of prophecy and Scripture, and insight into the secrets of the soul. Nor would even the conversation of all unbelievers to faith in Christ! By this point brother Leo is amazed, and he begs Francis to teach him “wherein is perfect joy.” The reply is that if, when they come to their quarters—dirty, wet, and exhausted from hunger—they are rejected, repeatedly rebuffed, and finally driven away by force, then “if we accept such injustice, such cruelty, and such contempt with patience, without being ruffled and without murmuring,” and “if we bear all these injuries with patience and joy, thinking of the suffering of our Blessed Lord, which we would share out of love for Him, write O Brother Leo, that here, finally, is perfect joy.” #RandolphHarris 17 of 23

A master may give out one’s teachings, methods, and instructions. Sooner or later some among one’s followers—if not one’s opponents—will twist them, reinterpret then, modify them, or even deform them. This process even starts during one’s lifetime, but becomes considerable and important only after that—when one is no longer present to attend to needed corrections. This shows that not all who hear one understand what they hear, and that there are different levels of capacity among the followers. “And now it came to pass that Alma returned from the land of Gideon, after having taught the people of Gideon many things which cannot be written, having established the order of the church, according as he had before done in the land of Zarahemla, yea, he returned to his own house at Zarahemla to rest himself from the labours which he had performed. And thus ended the ninth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi. And it came to pass in the commencement of the tenth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi, that Alma departed from thence and took his journey over into the land of Melek, on the west of the river Sidon, on the west by the borders of the wilderness. And he began to teach the people in the land of Melek according to the holy order of God, by which he had been called; and he began to teach the people throughout all the land of Melek. #RandolphHarris 18 of 23

“And it came to pass that the people came to him throughout all the borders of the land which was by the wilderness side. And they were baptized throughout all the land; so that when he had finished his work a Melek he departed thence, and traveled three days’ journey on the north of the land of Melek; and he came to a city which was called Ammonihah. Now it was the custom of the people of Nephi to call their lands and their cities, and their villages, yea, even all their small villages, after the name of him who first possessed them; and thus it was with the land of Ammonihah. And it came to pass that when Alma had come to the city of Ammonihah he began to preach the word of God unto them. Now Satan had gotten great hold upon the hearts of the people of the city of Ammonihah; therefore they would not hearken unto the words of Alma. Nevertheless Alma laboured much in the spirit, wrestling with God might prayer, that he would pour out his Spirit upon the people who were in the city; that he would also grant that he might baptize them unto repentance. Nevertheless, they hardened their hearts, saying unto him: Behold, we know that thou art Alma; and we know that thou art high priest over the church which thou hast established in many parts of the land, according to your tradition; and we are not of thy church, and we do not believe in such foolish traditions. #RandolphHarris 19 of 23

“And now we know that because we are not of thy church we know that thou hast no power over us; and thou hast delivered up the judgment seat unto Nephihah; therefore thou art not the chief judge over us. Now when the people had said this, and withstood all his words, and reviled him, and caused that he should be cast out of their city, he departed thence and took his journey towards the city which was called Aaron. And it came to pass that while he was journeying thither, being weighed down with sorrow, wading through much tribulation and anguish of soul, because of the wickedness of the people who were in the city of Ammonihah, it came to pass while Alma was thus weighed down with sorrow, beheld an Angel of the Lord appeared unto him, saying: Blessed art thou, Alma; therefore, lift up thy head and rejoice, for thou hast great cause to rejoice; for thou hast been faithful in keeping the commandments of God from the time which thou receivedst thy first message from him. Behold, I am he that delivered it unto you. And behold, I am sent to command thee that thou return to the city of Amonihah, and preach again unto the people of the city; yea, preach unto them. Yea, say unto them, except they repent the Lord God will destroy them. #RandolphHarris 20 of 23

“For behold, they do study at this time that they may destroy the liberty of thy people, (for this saith the Lord) which is contrary to the statues, and judgments, and commandment which he had given unto his people. Now it came to pass that after Alma had received his message from the Angel of the Lord he returned speedily to the land of Ammonihah. And he entered the city by another way, yea, by the way which is on the south of the city of Ammonihah. And as he entered the city he was an hungered, and he said to a man: Will ye give to an humble servant of God something to eat? And the man said unto him: I am a Nephite, and I know that thou art a holy prophet of God, for thou art the man whom an angel said in a vision: Thou shalt receive. Therefore, go with me into my house and I will impart unto thee of my food; and I know that thou wilt be a blessing unto me and my house. And it came to pass that the man received him into his house; and the man was called Amulek; and he brought forth bread and meat and set before Alma. And it came to pass that Alma ate bread and was filled; and he blessed Amulek and his house, and he gave thanks unto God. And after he had eaten and was filled he said unto Amulek: I am Alma, and am the high priest over the church of God throughout the land. #RandolphHarris 21 of 23

“And behold, I have been called to preach the word of God among all this people, according to the spirit of revelation and prophecy; and I was in this land and they would not receive me, but they cast me out and I was about to set my back towards this land forever. However, behold, I have been commanded that I should turn again and prophesy unto this people, yea, and to testify against them concerning their iniquities. And now, Amulek, because thou hast fed me and taken me in, thou art blessed; for I was an hungered, for I had fasted many days. And it came to pass that the people did wax more gross in their iniquities. And the word came to Alma, saying Go; and also say unto my servant Amulek, go forth and prophesy unto this people, saying—Repent ye, for this saith the Lord, except ye repent I will visit this people in mine anger; yea, and I will not turn my fierce anger away. And Alma went forth, and also Amulek, among the people, to declare the words of God unto them; and they were filled with the Holy Ghost. And they had power given unto them, insomuch that they could not be confined in dungeons; neither was it possible that any human could slay them; nevertheless they did not exercise their power until they were bound in bands and cast into prison. Now, this was done that the Lord might show forth His power in them. #RandolphHarris 22 of 23

“And it came to pass that they went forth and began to preach and to prophesy unto the people, according to the spirit and power which the Lord had given them,” reports Alma 8.1-32. O Lord God, Thou art our preserver, governor, Saviour, and coming judge. Quieten our souls to call upon Thy name; detach us from the influence of the flesh and the senses; impress us with the power of faith; promote in us spirituality of mind that will render our services acceptable to Thee, and delightful and profitable to ourselves. Please bring us into that state which attracts thine eye, and prepare us to receive the proofs of Thy love. Please show us our danger, that we may fly to Thee for refuge. Please make us sensible of our sin’s disease, that we may value the good Physician. Placard to us the cross, that it may slay the enmity of our hearts. Please help us to be watchful over our ways, jealous over our tempers, diligent over our hearts. When we droop, revive us when we loiter, quicken us, when we droop, revive us, when we loiter, quicken us, when we go astray, restore us. Possess us with more of that faith which is the principle of all vital Godliness. May we be rich in Faith, strong in faith, live by faith, walk by faith, experience the joy of faith, do the work of faith, hope through faith. Perceiving nothing in ourselves, may we find in the Saviour wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. #RandolphHarris 23 of 23

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O God, the Fountain of goodness, and Source of kindness, Who dost not straightway condemn the sinner, but compassionately waitest for one’s repentance; I pray Thee to wipe away the foulness of my offences, and make me meet to preform the office laid upon me; and that I who have unworthily undertaken, and tremblingly execute, the ministration of Thine altar, may be rendered strong to perform it, and be found justified among those who have pleased Thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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Lie to Me, I Promise I Will Believe, but Please Don’t Leave Even if this Results in the Destruction of the Human Heart!

July 28, 2020 12:55 am

Neither a borrower nor a lender be; for a loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any human. Economic theories and ideologies are important perspectives on justice, especially since the eighteenth century in Europe, when revolutions and counter-revolutions eventually destroyed feudal economies and their monarchies. Capitalism and socialism emerged as central ideologies from the ashes of these profound social and cultural changes. These revolutions raised the question of the role of justice in society, whether to insure a certain level of economic parity between the social classes (what is called distributive justice) or to provide for the peace and security of all persons in society? What is the role of private property, and what should be the rules of its fair exchange? As early as 1690 John Locke argued that private property was a natural right, that al persons should be able to buy and sell whatever they had or could produce, and in his classic 1776 work, The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith argued that the system of free markets was superior for both producing the greatest prosperity in society as well as reducing he inequalities between the social classes. #RandolphHarris 1 of 20

A right is considered to be a universal claim which any of all individuals may legitimately makes upon society. These were important works in the development of utilitarianism, initially proposed by various British theorists, which held that justice was that which produced the greatest good for the greatest number (not necessarily all) persons in society. These early British and Scottish thinkers had a very important effect on the United State of America’s funding fathers who wrote the United States of America’s Declaration of Independence and the United States of America’s Constitution, which give legal force and standing to the ideal of liberty, private property, and the protection of some political rights, for some people. What we call “capitalism” is a political value or ideology which promotes the relative freedom of persons to do what they wish with their labour, as long as it does not bring hard to others, and to enjoy or invest in the “fruits of their labours.” If individuals are fortunate enough to produce a relative excess or “profit” from their labours, then they should be free to invest these “profits” in whatever manner they decide. If reinvested, these “profits” become “capital,” from which the capitalism is derived, and using profits in such a manner potentially grows and expands the overall economy. #RandolphHarris 2 of 20

According to many promoters of capitalism, this freedom or liberty to work as one will, and consume or reinvest the products of one’s labour, is not only consistent with ideal of liberty, but it additionally reduces the potential for conflict between the social classes, and this makes for a more harmonious or peaceful social order. Trust lays the cable and trust keeps it in place. Doubt serves the cable and mistrust destroys it altogether. Therefore it is prudent and proper for an individual to clear one’s doubts and answer one’s questions before choosing the lifestyle which one is to approach as one’s faith, and not after the choice has been made. It is essential for people to realize that in life it is the mental attitude, especially the faith and devotion—rather than outward association and physical contact—that is of true importance. Faith is not concerned with details of Christ’s existence, but with its meaning. The center of history is not central through accidental happenings, but through its essential purport. Under the conditions of existence, however, meaning is made obscure by it very medium itself. Existence is ambiguous. It is abyss and depth, negation and affirmation. The individual contradicts the universal. The concrete opposes the abstract. #RandolphHarris 3 of 20

The message of the final revelation must be both concrete and universal; it must be set in an existential situation if it is to reach people who are caught in the snare of existence; and it must be universal, above existence, if it is to reach people outside of the small circle of the intimates of Jesus of Nazareth during his Earthly life. The criterion of the final revelation will therefore be given when its bearer negates oneself as a limited and limiting being to affirm the eternal. A revelation is final if it has the power of negating itself without losing itself. The same thought is beautifully expressed in an important passage which epitomizes this doctrine on the Christ as the medium of the final revelation: The question of the final revelation is the question of a medium of revelation which overcomes its own finite conditions by sacrificing them, and itself with them. One who is the bearer of the final revelation must surrender one’s finitude—not only one’s life but also one’s finite power and knowledge and perfection. In doing so, one affirms that one is the bearer of the final revelation (the “Son of God” in classical terms). One becomes completely transparent to the mystery one reveals. This gives us one characteristic of the medium of the final revelation: self-negation. #RandolphHarris 4 of 20

However, who can negate oneself so completely that only the eternal shines through one? One can give up only what one has mastered. Hence a second characteristic: the bearer of the final revelation must be perfect, that is, perfectly united to the power to be, in living communication with the ground of being, in constant communion with being-itself. However, in order to surrender oneself completely, one must possess oneself completely. And only one can possess—and therefore surrender—oneself completely who is united with the ground of one’s being and meaning without separation and disruption. This is precisely what we find in the Christ: complete surrender because of complete self-possession in the power of the ground of being. In the picture of Jesus as the Christ we have the picture of a man who possesses these qualities, a man who, therefore, can be called the medium of final revelation Nowhere is the picture clearer than in the symbol of the Cross, where Jesus sacrificed himself as Jesus to himself as the Christ, himself as finite to himself as he bearer of the New Being. The Christological affirmation may also be expressed in terms of Kairos. Christology claims to provide the ultimate meaning of history. Or, rather, it claims that in Jesus as the Christ the ultimate meaning of history was revealed. What is that mean? #RandolphHarris 5 of 20

In Jesus as the Christ a decision was made which decided the orientation of history. Jesus the Christ, accepting his self-effacement, affirmed ultimate being. He unveiled the ultimate truth. He pronounced an ultimate judgment on which the destiny of humankind and history depends. The Catholic Middle Ages developed an objective, “super-rational and static” conception of knowledge. In contrast, there is no Protestant conception of knowledge. This absence results from the difficulty of elaborating a conception of knowledge which is “irrational and dynamic.” Yet this is what knowledge is. The knowledge that is reached in the intense experience of Kairos, the knowledge that reveals the basic meaning of a historical period, is relative to a decision, namely to the “yes” which accepts the meaning of Kairos. If the even of Jesus as the Christ is truly the universal Kairos, the acceptable time in which the meaning of all history is achieved by the self-transcendence of the Christ, then the knowledge which derives from it must have a universal character. It must be a “knowledge of knowledge,” to which every other knowledge must be referred, the criterion of every judgment. There is precisely a judgement that underlies all others. It is the expression of the relation of knowledge to the Unconditional. #RandolphHarris 6 of 20

The judgment that is removed from ambiguity, the judgment of absolute unequivocal truth, can be only the fundamental judgment about the relationship of the Unconditioned and the conditioned. This absolute standpoint, or absolute judgment, is the content of the message of the Christ; it judges every other judgment and is the criterion of every other knowledge. The content of this judgment is just this—that our subjective thinking never can reach the unconditioned truth, that it must always remain in the realm of ambiguity. This judgment is plainly the absolute judgment which is independent of all its forms of expression, even of the one by which it is expressed here. It is the judgment which constitutes truth as truth. In these somewhat abstract terms, the human condition never is the Unconditional; only self-negation, the knowledge of one’s ambiguities, does justice to the Ultimate. Jesus is the Christ only because he transcends himself. The Unconditional appears under the conditions of existence only by pointing out the vanity of existence. The supreme Kairos was precisely a moment of time when this absolute judgment on humans was pronounced. The Kairos, the fateful moment of knowledge, is absolute insofar as it places one at this moment before the absolute knowledge. #RandolphHarris 7 of 20

The Cross has shown it as the self-transcendence of Christ, which he affirmed in the waste of an uncalculated self-surrender, in the most complete and the most holy waste. In all this we may recognize an old friend. In a word, the meaning of history, as manifested in the Cross of the Christ, is the Protestant principle. In the Cross we find a resolution of the tension between the conditioned and the Unconditional: the one shines through the other. If every religious word is an interpretation of the tension between the conditionally and the unconditionally real, between realism and self-transcendence, the word from the Cross is self-transcendent realism. The Christ exhibits no mark of estrangement between oneself and God, because He conquers estrangement; yet He displays the marks of finitude and he participates in the tragic element of existence. In spite of this, His permanent unity with God is evident. Into this unity he accepts the negatives of existence without removing them. This is done by transcending them in the power of this unity. This is the New Being as it appears in the biblical picture of Jesus as the Christ. The Protestant principle teaches that negativities must be accepted because they are already transcended in the power of God. #RandolphHarris 8 of 20

It asserts that no created channel can convey the meaning of being-itself; yet precisely because it cannot and insofar as it cannot, it does. Being-itself is affirmed in the self-negation of created being. There is no other way of speaking of the ground of being than in the breakdown of our self-satisfied existence. No judgment is removed from ambiguity, expect the judgment is equivocal. All judging, questioning, answering indirectly posits an absolute judgment concerning the Unconditional: the Unconditional is, and is true, in spite of human’s conditioned attempt to reach it. Thus the absolute standpoint is a position which can never be taken. If it were ever taken by a human, it would be conditioned by that human’s estranged existence. Only the One who is unestranged from the power of being takes it: Jesus the Christ self-transcending oneself on the Cross. The Protestant principle also says—and this is another form of the negation of the finite—that every institution and event has demonic possibilities. That is, its power and meaning may be distorted from the ground of power and meaning. Yet the Christian confession contains the certainty that the demonic has been overcome. The overcoming of the demonic is another form of the Protestant principle: not even the ben and the distorted place ultimate hurdles in the path of grace. #RandolphHarris 9 of 20

In contrast to the day-by-day experience of demonic domination, of estrangement, the Protestant principle affirms what has been experienced in the revelatory event of the Cross: There is only one certainty, that the demonic is overcome in eternity, that in eternity the demonic is depth of the divine and in unity with divine clarity. The ultimate meaning of history, as manifested in the Cross of the Christ and formulated in the Protestant principle, is therefore to accept estrangement as a contrasted participation in the divine unity: “to say ‘yes’ to one’s own life and life in general, in spite of the driving forces of fate, in spite of the insecurities of daily existence, in spite of the catastrophes of existence and the breakdown of meaning. Hopes may disappoint, dreams may fade away, what we thought ours may be taken from us, life may be threatened, what we had planned may fail; yet through our choices and decisions, whether right or wrong, through our doctrines and beliefs, whether true or false, there runs a unifying thread: Protestantism points to one who is the truth that liberates to being of one whose being is the truth. Once again, we reach the principle of justification by faith. We reach the meaning of the Cross, which stands at the heart of history. #RandolphHarris 10 of 20

The cross is an instrument of death, of “losing your life.” The teaching here is exactly the same as in the statements about losing and finding our lives. It is one of comparative costs, as the verses that follow in Luke 14 show. “If you come to me, and do not prefer me over (do not ‘hate’) your own father, mother, wife, children, brothers and sisters—yes, and your very own life (soul)—you cannot be my apprentice,” reports Luke 14.26. And then he uses an absolutely shocking image—one all too familiar to his hearers, but rather hard for us fully to appreciate today. It was that of a man carrying on his back the lumber that would be used to kill him when he arrived at the place of execution. “Whoever does not come after me carrying his own cross cannot by my apprentice,” reports Luke 14.27. Those who are not genuinely convinced that the only real bargain in life is surrendering ourselves to Jesus and his cause, abandoning all that we love to him and for him, cannot learn the other lessons Jesus has to teach us. They cannot proceed to anything like total spiritual transformation. Not that he will not let us, but that we simply cannot succeed. If I tell you that you cannot drive an Ultimate Driving Machine unless you can see, I am not saying I will not let you, but that you cannot succeed even if I do. #RandolphHarris 11 of 20

Still, from within the life that remains “lost” to God, the teaching of the Cross and of abandoning all that is “first” in ordinary human life seems repulsive and impossible. And it has often been disastrously misinterpreted, resulting in the destruction, not the renovation, of the human heart and life. It remains a dangerous half-truth if left to sand on its own. It is a negation that in practice can only rest on affirmation. Thus in Jesus’s own ministry he came proclaiming access to the kingdom of God: to God’s present care and supervision, available to all through confidence in himself. “Repent, for life in the kingdom of the Heavens is now available to you,” was what he said. And his presence, actions, and teachings manifested and explained the kingdom. He made “disciples” by presenting them with the kingdom and introducing them into it by reaching their hearts, changing their vision of reality and their intentions for life. Consider one of his “parables of the kingdom”: “The kingdom of the Heavens is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a human found ad concealed it. He was ecstatic. He sold everything he had and bought the field” reports Matthew 13.44. #RandolphHarris 12 of 20

Imagine that you discovered gold or oil in a certain property and no one else knew about it. Can you see yourself being sad and feeling deprived for having to gather all your resources and sacrifice them in order to buy that property? Hardly. Now you know what it is like to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus! Some pain is included, no doubt, because the old attachments are still there in our hearts and lives. They never all disappear at once. And we may experience some uncertainty from time to time especially at the start. However, the progress of spiritual formation will soon take care of that. The new vision becomes an attachment and takes on an ever greater reality as we progress; and that, in turn, pushes the old attachments toward the exits of our lives—which we then are not sad to see go. Indeed we are happy about it. We come to want to not want what we now want, and to want to not think of what now lives before our minds; and we come to want to be made willing for what we are not really willing. Chris will be born of Mary—He will loose the bands of death and bear the sins of His people—those who repent, are baptized, and keep the commandments will have eternal life—filthiness cannot inherit the kingdom of God—humility, faith, hope, and charity are required. About 83 Before Christ. #RandolphHarris 13 of 20

It is not only needful to link up with the guide in a general way by a right attitude of faith and devotion towards one but also to link up in a special way by a daily meditation which seeks to put the disciple’s mind in rapport with the guides. “Behold my beloved brethren, seeing that I have been permitted to come unto you, therefore I attempt to address you in my language; yea, by my own mouth, seeing that it is the first time that I have spoken unto you by the words of my mouth, I having been wholly confined to the judgment-seat, having had much business that I could not come unto you. And even I could not have come now at this time were it not that the judgment-seat hat been given to another, to reign in my stead; and the Lord in much mercy hath granted that I should come unto you. And behold, I have come having great hopes and much desire that I should find that ye had humbled yourselves before God, and that ye had continued in the supplicating of his grace, that I should find that ye were blameless before him, that I should find that ye were not in the awful dilemma that our brethren were in Zarahemla. However, blessed be the name of God, that he hath given me to know, yea, hath given me to know, yea, hath given unto me the exceedingly great joy of knowing that they are established again in the way of his righteousness. #RandolphHarris 14 of 20

And I trust, according to the Spirit of God which is in me, that I shall also have joy over you; nevertheless I do no desire that my joy over you should come by the cause of so much afflictions an sorrow which I have ad for the brethren at Zarahemla, for behold, my joy over you should come by the cause of so much afflictions and sorrow which I have had for the brethren at Zarahemla, for behold, my joy cometh over them after wading through much affliction and sorrow. However, behold, I trust that ye are not in a state of so much unbelief as were your brethren; I trust that ye are not lifted up in the pride of your hearts; yea, I trust that ye have not set your hearts upon riches and the vain things of the World; yea, I trust that you do not worship idols, but that ye do worship the true and the living God, and that ye look forward for the remission of your sins, with an everlasting faith, which is to come. For behold, I say unto you there be many things to come; and behold, there is one thing which is of more importance than they all—for behold, the time is not far distant the Redeemer liveth and cometh among his people. Behold, I do not say that he will come among us at the time of his dwelling in his mortal tabernacle; for behold, the Spirit hath not said unto me that this should be the case. #RandolphHarris 15 of 20

“Now as to this thing I do not know; but this much I do know, that the Lord God hath power to do all things which are according to his word. However, behold, the Spirit hath said this much unto me, saying: Cry unto this people, saying—Repent ye, and prepare the way of the Lord, and walk in his paths, which are straight; for behold, the kingdom of Heaven is at hand, and the Son of God cometh upon the face of the Earth. And behold, he shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers, she being a virgin, a precious and chosen vessel, who shall be overshadowed and conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost, and bring forth a son, yea, even the Son of God. And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and his that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sickness of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon hem their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities. Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me. #RandolphHarris 16 of 20

“Now I say unto you that ye must repent, and be born again: for the Spirit saith if ye are not born again ye cannot inherit the kingdom of Heaven; therefor come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye may be washed from your sins of the World, who is mighty to save and to cleanse from all unrighteousness. Yea, I say unto you come and fear not, and lay aside every sin, which easily doth beset you, which doth bind you down to destruction, yea, come and go forth, and show unto your God that ye are willing to repent of your sins and enter into a covenant with him to keep his commandments, and witness it unto him this day by going into the waters of baptism. And whosoever doeth this, and keepth the commandments of God from thenceforth, the same will remember that I say unto him, yea, he will remember that I said unto him, he shall have eternal life, according to the testimony of the Holy Spirit, which testifieth in me. And now my beloved brethren, do you believe these things? Behold, I say unto you, yea, I know that ye believe them; and the way that I know that ye believe them is by the manifestation of the Spirit which is in me. And now because your faith is strong concerning that, yea, concerning the things which I have spoken, great is my joy. #RandolphHarris 17 of 20

“For as I said unto you from the beginning, that I had much desire that ye were not in the state of dilemma like your brethren, even so I have found that my desires have been gratified. For I perceive that ye are in the paths of righteousness; I perceive that ye are in the path which leads to the kingdom of God; yea, I perceive that ye are making his paths straight. I perceive that it has been made known unto you, by the testimony of his word, that he cannot walk in crooked paths; neither doth he vary from that which he hath said; neither hath he s shadow of turning from the right to the left, or from that which is right to that which is wrong; therefore, his course is one eternal round. And he doth not dwell in unholy temples; neither can filthiness or anything which is unclean be received into the kingdom of God; therefore I say unto you the time shall come, yea, and it shall be at the last day, that one who is filthy shall remain in one’s filthiness. And now my beloved brethren, I have said these things unto you that I might awaken you to a sense of your duty to God, that ye may walk after the holy order of God, after which ye have been received. #RandolphHarris 18 of 20

“And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive. And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works. And Lord bless you, and keep your garments spotless, that ye may at last be brought to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the holy prophets who have been ever since the World began, having your garments spotless, in the kingdom of Heaven to go no more out. And now my beloved brethren, I have spoken these words unto you according to the Spirit which testifieth in me; and my soul doth exceedingly rejoice, because of the exceeding diligence and heed which ye have given uno my word. And now, may the peace of God rest upon you, and upon your houses and lands, and upon your flocks and herds, and all that you possess, your women and your children, according to your faith and good works, from this time forth and forever. And thus I have spoken. Amen,” reports Alma 7.1-27. #RandolphHarris 19 of 20

Creator, Upholder and Proprietor of all things, we cannot escape from Thy presence and control, nor do we desire to do so. Our privilege is to be under the agency of Thy omnipotence, righteousness, wisdom, patience, mercy and grace; for Thou art Love with more than parental affection. We admire Thy goodness, stand in awe of Thy power, abase ourselves before Thy purity. It is the discovery of Thy goodness alone that can banish our fear alure us into Thy presence, please help us to bewail and confess our sins. We review our past guilt and are conscious of present unworthiness. We bless Thee that Thy steadfast love and attributes are essential to our happiness and hope; Thou hast witnessed to us Thy grace and mercy in the bounties of nature, in the fullness of Thy providence, in the revelations of Scripture, in the gift of Thy Son, in proclamation of the gospel. Please make sus willing to be saved in Thy own way, perceiving nothing in ourselves but all in Jesus. Please help us not only to receive Him, but to walk in Him, depend upon Him, commune with Him, follow Him, follow Him as dear children, imperfect, but still pressing forward, not complaining of labour, but valuing rest, not murmuring under trials, but thankful for our state. And by so doing please let us silence the ignorance of foolish humans. #RandolphHarris 20 of 20

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O God, please grant me your fondness and grace me with your goodness. Lord, you are the CHURCH’S ORIGIN, and one who does not at once stop the transgression before the judges, may seek your pity, but has to repent as you have been waiting for; we ask that the guilt of our misery is enough to cause us to do righteousness and polish us for to do the job worthy of your name. The ministry of the altar is a major responsibility, and those who have taken upon the calling sometimes feel unworthy of your blessing. In our bewilderment, shall we become strong and may you place mercy and endurance in our hearts. I will be found among those who have been justified.

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War is an Invention of the Human Mind, but the Mind Can Also Invent Peace!

July 25, 2020 12:34 am

There is a silence which soothes and a silence which disturbs. With a genuine adept the first is felt, but with the other kinds, the second. It is only for the sensitive that one’s bland serenity and benevolent smile will hold a distinct attraction, for it is only they who will feel the subtle unusual emanation from one’s person. People come to the self-actualized with a head full of questions, but they find themselves struck with vocal dumbness in one’s presence. They come to one expectant of wonderful revelation, but hey find that one takes care to seem and speak like other human and to keep one’s fee solidly planted on the ground of common sense. They may draw near to the self-actualized and cross one’s orbit for only a few minutes in a whole lifetime but it proves enough to inspire and irradiate the rest of their day. They now have not only the feeling that this being knowns whereof one speaks but also the assurance that God is utterly real and that the quest of it is the most worthwhile of all enterprises. In one’s presence all that is best in a human receives stimulation and one comes closer to one’s true self. The significance of the meeting will emerge still more in after years. One will be so quiet in one’s daily bearing, so calm in one’s dealings with others, that they will begin to sense despite one’s unfailing modesty that here, in one’s presence, there is a living echo from a higher World of being. #RandolphHarris 1 of 24

In the self-actualizer’s presence the shadows of depression or fear vanish. For then the disciple can look out on life with clearer eyes, seeing the Perfect which already exists beyond its imperfections. Certain kinds of sensations, feelings, and thought are automatically repelled from the field of blessed consciousness in which the illumined human lives. All negative and destructive, egotistic and unruly ideas—certainly all those that the best conscience of the human race has stamped as “wicked” and generative of “evil-doing”—are not compatible with one’s purified state of mind and accordingly cannot enter in. If one lets them, many will come to one in search of guidance, help, comfort or healing. Some will place their problem before one humbly and candidly, but others will be too afraid, or too proud, to do so openly. Whether there is an actual transference of one’s power and light, or whether one’s actual presence and desire to help set up vibrations in the subconscious mind of the seeker, or whether one is merely a medium for higher forces, it is not easy to determine. The truth may well be a combination of all these three factors. Constant contact with such an exalted personage is likely to influence others, but it is not possible to say when this influence will rise up into the conscious mind. The time will always be different with different individuals. #RandolphHarris 2 of 24

One’s silences maybe exasperating to those who are insensitive and uncomprehending, but they will be exhilarating to those who have begun to learn how the Spirit operates. In the presence of such a human, one instinctively feels that there are tremendous reserves of knowledge, virtue, and power within one, that one has so much more to give than is apparent. One’s presence calls out the good, the true, and the beautiful in others. The sensitive will quickly become aware of the hidden strength that is in one, the strength which kindles assurance in one’s own heart and confidence in others’ hearts. As if borne on telepathic waves, benign influence diffuses itself from one and is felt by the sensitive. Even when surrounded by dangers or beset by troubles, this peace which one seems to diffuse is really there, is a central characteristic that never leaves one. A meeting with such a being, by those who are sensitive enough to register more finely than the gross senses can register, is always a benediction; the remembrance of one is always an exaltation. By a principle of symbiosis, what one is, being now at the source of human power, spreads out and ripples its influence on the human group, which at the least keeps it from becoming worse than it is, and at the most lights up inspiration in certain individual minds and makes them benefactors of the race. #RandolphHarris 3 of 24

One’s goodness acts as a silent reproach to those who are unwilling to give up their badness: hence their discomfort. One’s presence is a silent rebuke to them; one stands there in all one’s integrity and spiritually—an embarrassment, for it makes such a contrast with their own Worldliness. In the presence of an illuminate, all criticism is charmed to antlike littleness. What can our broken thoughts do to injure or belittle one who is safely above all thought? And how dull seem these strict and rigid doctrines which we have brought into the neighbourhood of one who has liberated oneself from all strict and rigid doctrines! If “dead” illuminati can help the World as readily as those who are among us in the flesh, I would like to ask those who believe this is why Ramakrishna uttered the following pathetic plaint as he lay dying in Cosipore: “Had this body been allowed to last a little longer, many more people would have become spiritually awakened.” No, it is more rational to believe that a living illuminate is needed, that one who as flung off the physical body has no further concerns with the physical World, and that one whose consciousness is in the Real, uses the World (in the form of a body) to save those whose consciousness is in the World. In the personal aura of such an adept, the sensitive person gets a feeling first, of peace, second, of security, and safety. #RandolphHarris 4 of 24

Why do sensitive people feel protected and secure in one’s presence? It is because one knows and obeys the universal laws, invokes and attracts superhuman power. “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in Thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no human knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and one to whomsoever the Son will reveal one. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light,” reports Matthew 11.25-30. When I was the age to receive confirmation and full membership in the Church, I was told to choose a passage from the Bible as the expression of my personal approach to the Biblical message and to the Christian Church. Every confirmee was obliged to do so, and to recite the passage before the congregation. When I chose to words, “Come unto me all ye that labour and are Heavy laden,” I was asked with a kind of astonishment and even irony why I had chosen that particular passage. #RandolphHarris 5 of 24

For I was living under happy conditions, and, being only fifteen years old, was without any apparent labour or burdens, so I could not answer at that time to why that was my favourite bible passage. I felt a little embarrassed, but basically right. And I was right, indeed; every child is right in responding immediately to those words; every adult is right in responding to them in all periods of one’s life, and under all the conditions of one’s internal and external history. These words of Jesus are universal, and fit every human being and every human situation. They are simple; they grasp the heart of the primitive as well as that of the profound, disturbing the mind of the wise. Practically every word of Jesus had this character, sharing the difference between Him as the originator and the dependent interpreters, disciples and theologians, saints and preachers. Returning for the first time in my life to the passage of my early choice, I feel just as grasped by it as at that time, but infinitely more embarrassed by its majesty, profundity and inexhaustible meaning. Our task in the face of words like these is obvious: we must point to the ground of their power over our souls; we must explain why, in their emotional force, the force of an ultimate truth is involved; and we must attempt to view our human situation in their light. #RandolphHarris 6 of 24

Three questions, aroused by the words of Jesus, shall be asked, and the answer implied in His words shall be asked, and the answers implied in His words shall be interpreted. What is the labour and burden from which we can find rest through Him? What is the easy yoke and the light burden which He will put upon us? Why is He and He alone able to give such rest to our souls? “All ye that labour and are heavy laden…”: his is addressed to all humans, although not all humans feel it in the same way. It is the general human situation to be heavy laden and to labour restlessly under a yoke too hard to be endured. What kind of burden is this? We may think first of the burdens and labours that daily life imposes upon us. However, this is not indicated in our text. Jesus does not tell us that He will ease the labours and burdens of life and work. How could He, even if He wanted to? Whether or not we come to Him, the threats of illness or unemployment are not lessened, the weigh of our work does not become easier, the fate of being refugee, driven from one country to another, is not changed; the horror of ruins, wounds, and death falling from Heaven is not stopped; and the sorrow over the passing of friends or parents or children is not overcome. Jesus cannot and does not promise more pleasure and less pain those whom He asks to come to Him. #RandolphHarris 7 of 24

On the contrary, sometimes Jesus promises them more pain, more persecution, more threat of death—the “cross,” as He calls it. All his is not the burden to which He points. Nor is it the burden of sin and guilt, as somebody educated in the traditional Christian interpretation of the work of Christ might assume. Nothing like that is indicated in the words of Jesus. Taking upon oneself His easy yoke does not means taking sin more easily or taking guilt less seriously. Jesus does not tell those who comes to Him that their sins are not so important as they seemed to be. He does not give them an easier conscience about their failures and trespasses. On the contrary, He sharpens their conscience to the highest possible degree in practically every one of His words. He condemns sins which the traditional theology of His time did no even consider as sins. This is not the burden to which Jesus points. The burden He wants to take from us is the burden of religion. It is the yoke of the law, imposed on the people of His time by the religious teachers, the wise and understanding, as He calls them in our words, the Scribes and Pharisees, as they are called usually. Those who labour and are heavy laden are those who are sighing under the yoke of the religious law. #RandolphHarris 8 of 24

And Jesus will give them the power to overcome religion and law; the yoke He gives them is a “new being” above religion. The things they will learn from him is the victory over the law of the wise and the understanding, and the law of the Scribes and Pharisees. How does this concern us? Why does this concern all humans, in all situations? It concerns us because, with all human beings, we are sighing under the law, under a law which is religion and a religion which is the law. This is the depth of the word of Jesus; this is the truth, implied in the emotional power of His words. Humans labour and toil, because they are those beings which know about their finitude, about their transitoriness, about the danger of living, and about the tragic character of existence. Fear and anxiety are the heritage of all people, as Paul knew when he looked at the Jews and the Pagans. Restlessness drives humans during their whole life, as Augustine knew. A hidden element of despair is in every human’s soul, as the great Danish Protestant, Kierkegaard, discovered. There is no religious genius, no keen observer of the abyss of the human soul, nobody capable of listening to the sounds of one’s heart who would not witness to this insight into human nature and human existence. #RandolphHarris 9 of 24

Splits and gaps are in every soul: for instance, we know that we are more than dust; and yet we know also that we are going to dust. We know that we belong to a higher order than of our animal needs and desires; and yet we know that we shall abuse the higher order in the service of our lower nature. We know that we are only small members of the spiritual World; and yet we know that we shall aspire to the whole, making ourselves the center of the World. This is human; and because this is human, there I a religion and laws The law of religion is the great attempt of humans to overcome one’s anxiety and restlessness and despair, to close the gap within oneself, and to reach immortality, spirituality and perfection. So one labours and toils under the religious law in thought and in act. The historical relevance of Christology may be expressed in terms of revelation. Revelation is the reception of an insight into the ground of being. These insights are many; many factors may occasion or convey them. The concept of revelation, then, is not a necessarily Christian concept. However, we are soon confronted with the exclusive claims of Christianity: Christianity claims to be based on the revelation of Jesus as the Christ as the final revelation. Final in this context is not tantamount to last. Revelatory situations are not exhausted by the coming of Christ. #RandolphHarris 10 of 24

We do not assert that there can be no ecstasy and no faith after the Christ. On the contrary, the ground of being are constantly piercing the crust of existence and making itself experienced in the depths of our being. What is true of humankind is equally true of the Church: Christianity often has affirmed, and certainly should affirm, that there is continuous revelation in the history of the Church. The whole meaning of preaching the word of God consists in announcing a revelatory message. Yet if this is true of Christian preaching, it is equally true that the mission of the whole Church must be referred back to the event of the Christ. No preaching can be revelatory unless it is grasped by the power of Christ. No word of humans becomes word of God unless the Christ takes it, so to say, in charge. The final revelation in the Christ, therefore, does not mean simply “last.” Rather it means last genuine. There can be no revelation in the history of the Church whose point of reference is not Jesus as he Christ. Secondly, it means that we do not refer to the last genuine revelation as to a past event; we refer to it as to an even by whose power we are still grasped. Thus, the final revelation means the decisive, fulfilling, unsurpassable revelation, that which is the criterion of all others. #RandolphHarris 11 of 24

A necessary mark of this final revelation is its universal contemporaneity. Revelation is revelation to me in my concrete situation, in my historical reality. Christianity does not ask anyone to make an impossible leap two thousand years back. Such a journey through historical documents may provide erudite knowledge of an obscure past event, but it can in no way reveal the power to be which was present in the Christ. To be present in Palestine when Jesus was here is impossible. And yet the Christ will not be revelatory to me unless I experience him. He is not an abstraction, but a revelatory person. He can be known only through a person-to-person relationship. Something, in the revelatory situation of Jesus as the Christ, must be permanently present and thus become contemporary o me and to all humans. One who is the Christ is contemporaneous, or one is not the Christ. To gain salvation, humans must repent and keep the commandments, be born again, cleanse their garments through the blood of Christ, be humble and strip themselves of pride and envy, and do the works of righteousness—the Good Shepherd calls His people—those who do evil works are children of the devil—Alma testifies of the truth of huis doctrine and commands humans to repent—the names of the righteous will be written in the book of life. About 83 Before Christ. #RandolphHarris 12 of 24

In the presence of such greatness, a feeling of humility comes into a sensitive heart. “Now it came to pass that Alma began to deliver the word of God unto the people, first in the land of Zarahemla, and from thence throughout all the land. And these are the words which he spake to the people in the church which was established in the city of Zarahemla, according to one’s own record, saying: I, Alma, having been consecrated by my father, Alma, to be a high priest over the church of God, he having power and authority from God to do these things, behold, I say uno you that he began to establish a church in the land which was in the borders of Nephi; yea, the land which was called the land of Mormon; yea, and he did baptize his brethren in the waters of Mormon. And behold I say unto you, they were delivered out of the hands of the people of king Noah, by the mercy and power of God. And behold, after that, they were brought into bondage by the hands of the Lamanites in the wilderness; yea, I say unto you, they were in captivity, and again the Lord did deliver them out of bondage by the power of his word; and we were brought into this land, and here we began to establish the church of God throughout this land also. And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, you that belong to this church, have you sufficiently retained in remembrance the captivity of your fathers? #RandolphHarris 13 of 24

“Yea, and have you sufficiently retained in remembrance his mercy and long-suffering towards them? And moreover, have ye sufficiently retained in remembrance the he has delivered their souls from hell? Behold, he changed their hearts; yea, he awakened them out of a deep sleep, and they awoke unto God. Behold, they were in the midst of darkness; nevertheless, their souls were illuminated by the light of the everlasting word; yea, they were encircled about by he bands of death, and the chains of hell and an everlasting destruction did await them. And now I ask of you, my brethren, were they destroyed? Behold, I say unto you, Nay, they were not. An again I ask, were the bands of death broken, and the chains of hell which encircled them about, were they loosed? I say unto you, Yea, they were loosed, and their souls did expand, and they did sing redeeming love. And I say unto you that they are saved. And now I ask of you on what conditions are they saved? Yea, what grounds had they to hope for salvation? What is the cause of their being loosed from the bands of death, yea, and also he chains of hell? Behold, I can tell you—did not my father Alma believe in the words which were delivered by the mouth of Abinadi? #RandolphHarris 14 of 24

“And was he not a holy prophet? Did he not speak the words of God, and my father Alma believe them? And according to his faith there was a mighty change wrought in his heart. Behold I say unto you that this is all true. And behold, he preached he word unto your fathers, and mighty change was also wrought in their hearts, and they humbled themselves and out their trust in the true and living God. And behold, they were faithful until the end; therefore they were saved. And now behold, I ask of you, y brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received His image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts? Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of Him who created you? Do you look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption, to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body? I say unto you, can you imagine to yourselves that ye hear the voice of the Lord, saying unto you, in that day: Come unto me ye blessed, for behold, your works have been the works of righteousness upon the face of the Earth? Or do ye imagine yourselves that ye can lie unto the Lord in that day, and say—Lord, our works have been righteous works upon the face of the Earth—and that he will be save you? #RandolphHarris 15 of 24

Or otherwise, can ye imagine yourselves brought before the tribunal of God with your souls filled with guilt and remorse, having remembrance of all your guilt, yea, a perfect remembrance of all your wickedness, yea, a remembrance that ye have set a defiance the commandments of God? I say unto you, can ye look up to God at that day with a pure heart and clean hands? I say unto you, can you look up, having the image of God engraven upon your countenances? I say unto you, can ye think of being saved when you have yielded yourselves to become subjects of the devil? I say unto you, ye will know at that day that ye cannot be saved; for there can no being be saved except one’s garments are washed white; yea, one’s garments must be purified until they are cleansed from all stain, through the blood of one whom it has been spoken by our fathers, who should come to redeem his people from their sins. And now I ask you, my brethren, how will any of you feel, if ye shall stand before the bar of God, having your garments stained with blood and all manner of filthiness? Behold, what will these things testify against you? Behold will they not testify that ye are murderers, yea, and also that ye are guilty of all manner of wickedness? #RandolphHarris 16 of 24

“Behold, my brethren, do ye suppose that which and one can have a place to sit down in the kingdom of God, with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, and also all the holy prophets, whose garment are cleansed and are spotless, pure and white? I say unto you, Nay; except ye make our Creator a liar from the beginning, or suppose that he is a lair from the beginning, ye cannot suppose that such can have place in the kingdom of Heaven; but they shall be cast out for they are the children of the kingdom of the devil. And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now? Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God? Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem His people from their sins? Behold, are ye stripped of pride? I say unto you, if ye are not ye are not prepared to meet God. Behold ye must prepare quickly; for the kingdom of Heaven is soon at hand, and such and one hath not eternal life. Behold, I say, is there one among you who is not stripped of pride? I say unto you, if ye are not ye are not prepared to meet God. #RandolphHarris 17 of 24

“Behold ye must prepare quickly; for the kingdom of Heaven is soon at hand, and such and one hath not eternal life. Behold, I say, is there one among you who is not stripped of envy? I say unto you that such an e is not prepared; and I would that one should prepare quickly, for the hour is close at hand, and one knoweth no when the time shall come; for such an one is not found guiltless. And again I say unto you, is there one among you that doth make a mock of one’s brother, or that heapeth upon one persecutions? Wo uno such an one, for one is not prepared, and the time is at hand that one must repent or one cannot be saved! Yea, even wo unto all ye workers of iniquity; repent, repent, for the Lord Good hath spoken it! Behold, He sendeth an invitation unto all humans, for the arms of mercy are extended toward them, and He saith: Repent, and I will receive you. Yea, He saith: Come unto me and ye shall partake of the fruit of the tree of life; yea, ye shall eat and drink of the bread and the waters of life freely. Yea, come unto me and bring forth works of righteousness, and ye shall not be hewn down and cast into the fire—for behold, the time is at hand that whosoever bringeth forth not good fruit, or whosoever doeth not the works of righteousness, the same have cause to wail and mourn. #RandolphHarris 18 of 24

“O ye workers of iniquity; ye that are puffed up in the vain things of the World, ye that have professed to have known the ways of righteousness nevertheless have gone astray, as sheep having no shepherd, notwithstanding a shepherd hath called after you and is still calling after you, but ye will no hearken unto His voice! Behold, I say unto you, that the good shepherd doth call you; yea, and in His own name He doth call you, which is the name of Christ; and if ye will not hearken unto the voice of the good shepherd, to the name by which ye are called, behold, ye are not the sheep of the good shepherd. And now if ye are not the sheep of the good shepherd, of what fold are ye? Behold I say unto you, that the devil is your shepherd, and ye are of his fold; and now, who can deny this? Behold, I say unto you, whosoever denieth this is a liar ad a child of the devil. For I say uno you that whatsoever is evil cometh from the devil. Therefore, if a human bringeth forth good works one hearkeneth unto His voice, and doth follow him. And whosoever doeth this must receive one’s wages from one; therefore, for one’s wages one recieveth death, as to things pertaining unto righteousness, being dead unto all good works. And now, my brethren, I would that ye should hear me, for I speak in the energy of my soul; for behold, I have spoken unto you plainly that ye cannot err, or have spoken according to the commandments of God. #RandolphHarris 19 of 24

“For I am called to speak after this manner, according to the holy order of God, which is in Christ Jesus; yea, I am commanded to sand and testify unto this people the things which have been spoken by our fathers concerning the things which are to come. And this is not all. Do ye not suppose that I know of these things myself? Behold, I testify unto you that I do know that these things whereof I have spoken are true. And how do ye suppose that I know of their surety? Behold, I say unto you they are made known unto me by the Holy Spirit of God. Behold, I have fasted and prayed many days that I might know these things of myself. And now I do know of myself that they are true; for the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by His Holy Spirit; and this is the spirit of revelation which is in me. And moreover, I say unto you that it has thus been revealed unto me, that the words which have been spoken by our fathers are true, even so according to the spirit of prophecy which is in me, which is also by the manifestation of God. I say unto you, that I know of myself that whatsoever I shall say unto you, concerning that which is to come, is true: and I say unto you, that I know that Jesus Christ shall come, yea, the Son, the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace, and mercy, and truth. #RandolphHarris 20 of 24

“And behold, it is He that cometh to take away the sins of the World, yea, the sin of every human who steadfastly believeth on one’s name. And now I say unto you that this is the order after which I am called, yea, to preach unto my beloved brethren, yea, and every one that dwelleth in the land; yea, to preach unto all, both old and young, both bond and free; yea, I say unto you the aged, and also the middle aged, and the rising generation; yea, to cry unto them that they must repent and be born again. Yea, thus saith the Spirit: Repent, all ye ends of the Earth, for the kingdom of Heaven is soon at hand; yea, the Son of God cometh in His glory, in His might, majesty, power, and dominion. Yea, my beloved brethren, I say unto you, that the Spirit saith: Behold the glory of the King of all the Earth; and also the King of Heaven shall very soon shine forth among all the children of humans. And also the Spirit saith unto me, yea, crieth uno me with a mighty voice, saying: Go forth and say unto this people—Repent, for except ye repent ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of Heaven. And again I say unto you, the Spirit saith: Behold, the ax is laid at the root of the tree; therefore every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be hewn down and cast into the fire, yea, a fire which cannot be consumed, even an unquenchable fire. Behold, and remember, the Holy One hath spoken it. #RandolphHarris 21 of 24

“And now my beloved brethren, I say unto you, can ye withstand these sayings; yea, can ye lay aside these things, and trample the Holy One under your feet; yea, can ye be puffed up in the pride of your hearts; yea, will ye still persist in he wearing of costly apparel and setting your hearts upon the vain things of the World, upon your riches? Yea, will ye persist in supposing that ye are better one than another; yea, will ye persist in the persecution of your brethren, who humble themselves and do walk after the holy order of God, wherewith they have been brought into church, having been sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and they do bring forth works which are meet for repentance—yea, and will your persist in turning your backs upon the poor, and the needy, and in withholding your substance from them? And finally, all ye that will persist in your wickedness, I say unto you that these are they who shall be hewn down and cast into the fire except they speedily repent. And now I say unto you, all you that are desirous to follow the voice of the good shepherd, come ye out from the wicked, and be ye separate, and touch not their unclean things; and behold, their names shall be blotted out, that the names of the wicked shall not be numbered among the names of the righteous, that the word of God may be fulfilled, which saith: The names of the wicked shall not be mingled with the names of my people. #RandolphHarris 22 of 24

“For the names of the righteous shall be written in the book of life, and unto them will I grant an inheritance at my right hand. And now, my brethren, what have ye to say against this? I say unto you, if ye speak against it, it matters not, for the word of God must be fulfilled. For what shepherd is there among you having many sheep doth no watch over them, that the wolves enter no and devour his flock? And behold, if a wolf enter his flock doth he not drive him out? Yea, and at the las, if he can, he will destroy him. And now I say unto you that the good shepherd doth call after you; and if you will hearken unto his voice he will bring you into his fold, and ye are his sheep; and he commandeth you that ye suffer no ravenous world to enter among you, that ye may not be destroyed. And now I, Alma, do command you in the language of him who hath commanded me, that ye observe to do the words which I have spoken unto you. I speak by way of command unto you that belong to the church; and unto those who do not belong to the church I speak by way of invitation, saying: Come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye also may be partakers of the fruit of the tree of life,” Alma 5.1-61. #RandolphHarris 23 of 24

LORD of Heaven, Thy goodness is inexpressible and inconceivable. In the works of creation Thou art almighty, in the dispensations of providence all-wise, in the gospel of grace all love, and in Thy Son Thou hast provided for our deliverance from the effects of sin, the justification of our persons, the sanctification of our natures, the perseverance of our souls in the path of life. Though exposed to the terrors of Thy law, we have a refuge from the storm; though compelled to cry, “Unclean,” we have a fountain for sin; through creature-cells of emptiness we have a fullness accessible to all, and incapable of reduction. Grant us always to know that to walk with Jesus make other interests a shadow and a dream. Please keeps us from intermittent attention to eternal things; please save us from the delusion of those who fail to go far in religion, who are concerned but not converted, who have another heart but not a new one, who have light, zeal, confidence, but not Christ. Please let us judge our Christianity, not only by our dependence upon Jesus, but by our love to him, our conformity to him, our knowledge of him. Please give us a religion that is both real and progressive, that hold on its way and grows stronger, that lives and works in the Spirit, that profits by every correction, and is injured by no carnal indulgence. #RandolphHarris 24 of 24

Cresleigh Homes

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I pray to Thee, the Almighty, O God, please let me be more righteous than I have been and allow me to be clothed, that I may rejoice in the joy of Thy Saints, Please may I be worthy; in so far as the filth of him to be cleansed of sins; and for sharing with all, of them that please thee, I acquire the company of priests; put off the things of Thy mercy from me and to all the defects, which are burdened by the guilt of one’s own conscience. Please make me, I beseech Thee, Almighty God, to be so arrayed in righteousness, that I may be enabled to rejoice in the gladness of Thy Saints; so that being cleansed from all filthiness of sin, I may attain the fellowship of the Priests who are pleasing unto Thee; and that I, who am burdened by the guilt of my own conscience, may be delivered by Thy mercy from all vices; through our Lord Jesus Christ. #CresleighHomes

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We are Just Illusion Makers and the Sun Will Always Shine and the Sky Will Always be Blue!

July 23, 2020 12:11 am

Spring is here. Everything is burgeoning, the young women also. Their cloaks are laid aside; presumably my green one, too, has been hung up. This is the result of making a young lady’s acquaintance in the street, not in society, where on e is immediately told her name, her family, where she lives, whether she is engaged. The last is extremely important information for all sober and steady suitors, to whom it would never occur to fall in love with an engaged young lady. Such an ambler would then be in mortal distress if he were in my place; he would be utterly demolished if his efforts to obtain information were crowed with success and with the bonus that she was engaged. This, however, does not bother me very much. An engagement is nothing but a comic predicament. I fear neither comic nor tragic predicaments; they only ones I fear are the langweilige [boring] ones. So far, I have not come up with a single bit of information, although I certainly have left nothing untried and many times have felt the truth of the poet’s words: Nox et hiems longaque viae, saevique dolores mollibus his castris, et labour omnis inest [Night, storm, long journeys, cruel pains all kinds of pains are in his dainty camp]. Perhaps she does not live here in the city at all; perhaps she is from the country, perhaps, perhaps—I can fly into a rage over all these perhapses, and the angrier I become, the more the perhapses. #RandolphHarris 1 of 20

I always have money at hand in order to be able to set out upon a journey. In vain do I look for her at the theater, at concerts, at dances, on the promenades. In a certain sense, I am pleased; a young woman who participates in such amusements a great deal is usually not worth conquering; she most often lacks the originality that for me is and remains the conditio sine qua non [indispensable condition]. It is not as incomprehensible to find a Preciosa among the gypsies as in the market places where young women are offered for marriage—in all innocence—good Heavens, who says otherwise! However, it is not right for the would-be disciple to take the new relationship as an excuse for releasing oneself from all personal responsibilities, all personal decisions. One should not expect the teacher to take entire charge of one’s entire life for one. Nor is it right for a teacher to accept such a position, to play a role consisting of father and mother and God combined into a single person toward an individual who has reached adult life. It will not help a disciple to let one evade one’s responsibilities and shrink one’s decisions. If the atmosphere between them is surcharged with emotion alone without the restraining balances of reason and common sense, this is the kind of situation which is likely to be brought about. #RandolphHarris 2 of 20

A wise teacher will try to meet disciples upon the proper ground between accepting such helpless dependence and rebuffing it brusquely altogether. Any other meeting would be unhealthy emotionally and unsound intellectually. Why insist on rash personal relations with your friend? Why go to one’s house, or know one’s mother and brothers and sisters? Why be visited by one at your own? Are these things material to our covenant? Leave this touching and clawing. Let one be to me a spirit. A message, a thought, a sincerity, a glance from one I want, but not news pottage. I can get politics and chat, neighbourly conveniences from cheaper companions. Should not the society of my friend be to me poetic, pure, universal and as great as nature itself? In a social system animated by competition for property, the human personality was metamorphosed into a form of capital. Here it was rational to invest oneself only in properties that would produce the highest return. Personal feeling was a limitation since it distracted the individual from calculating one’s best interest and might pull one along economically counterproductive path. Although human personality remains a medium of competition, the competition is no longer confined to individuals. Institutional purposes are now tied to the workers’ psychological arts. #RandolphHarris 3 of 20

It is not simply individuals who manage their feelings in order to do a job; whole organizations have entered the game. The emotion management that sustains the smile in a real estate representative competes with the emotion management that upholds the smile on other home builders. What was once a private act of emotion management is sold now as labour in public-contact jobs. What was once a privately negotiated rule of feeling or display is not set by the company’s Standard Practice Division. Emotional exchanges that were once idiosyncratic and escapable are now standardized and unavoidable. Exchanges that were rare in private life become common in commercial life. Thus a customer assumes a right to vent unmanaged hostility against a real estate representative who has no corresponding right—because one is paid, in part, to relinquish it. All in all, a private emotional system has been subordinated to commercial logic, and it has been changed by it. It does not take capitalism to turn feeling into a commodity or to turn our capacity for managing feeling into an instrument. However, capitalism has found a use for emotion management, and so it has organized it more efficiently and pushed it further. #RandolphHarris 4 of 20

And perhaps it does take a capitalist sort of incentive system to connect emotional labour to competition and to go so far as to actually advertise a “sincere” smile, train workers to produce such a smile, supervise their production of it, and then forge a link between this activity and corporate profit. When people like you, they like the company you work for, too. It takes considerable sophistication for a company to make this into an ordinary, trivial thought for a worker to be urged to bear in mind. Massive people-processing—and the advanced engineering of emotional labour that makes it possible—is a remarkable achievement. It is also an important one, for a good part of modern life involves exchange between total strangers, who, in the absence of countermeasures and in the pursuit of short-term self-interest, might much of the time act out of suspicion and anger rather than trust and good will. The occasional lapses from the standard of civility that we take for granted remind us of the crucial steadying effect of emotional labour. However, like most great achievements, the advanced engineering of emotional labour leaves new dilemmas in its wake, new human costs, and I shall focus now on these. For without a clear understanding of these psychological costs, we can hardly begin to find ways of mitigating or removing them. #RandolphHarris 5 of 20

These are three stances that workers seem to take toward work, each with its own sort of risk. In the first, the worker identifies too wholeheartedly with the job, and therefore risk burnout. In he second, the worker clearly distinguishes oneself from the job and is less likely to suffer burnout; but one may blame oneself for making this very distinction and denigrate oneself as “just an actor, no sincere.” In the third, the worker distinguishes oneself from one’s act, does not blame oneself for this, and sees the job as absolutely requiring the capacity to act; for this worker there is some risk of estrangement from acting altogether, and some cynicism about it—“We are just illusion makers.” The first stance is potentially more harmful than the other two, but the harm in all three could be reduced, I believe, if workers could feel a greater sense of control over the conditions of their work lives. The first kind of worker does not see one’s job as one of acting. One has little or no awareness of a “false self.” One is likely to offer warm, personal service, but one is also warm on behalf of the company—“when people like you, they like the company too.” One offers personalized service, but one one’s self become identified with the ized part of it. One is not so good at depersonalizing inappropriately personal behaviour toward one. For these reasons, one is more likely to suffer stress and be susceptible to burnout. #RandolphHarris 6 of 20

Instead of removing the idea of a “self” from the job either by will or by art, such a person often reacts passively: one stops caring and becomes remote and detached from the people one serves. Some real estate representatives who describe themselves as poor at depersonalizing reported periods of emotional deadness: “I was not feeling anything. It was like I was not really there. The guy was talking. I could hear him. However, all I heard was dead words.” This sense of emotional numbness reduces stress by reducing access to the feelings through which stress introduces itself. It provides an exit from overwhelming distress that allows a person to remain physically present on the job. Burnout spares the person in the short term, but it may have a serious long-term cost. The human faculty of feeling still “belongs” to the worker who suffers burnout, but the worker may grow accustomed to a dimming or numbing of inner signals. And when we lose access to feeling, we lose a central means of interpreting the World around us. As a precaution against burnout many experienced workers develop a “healthy” estrangement, a clear separation of self from role. They may sometimes feel “phony”—because at a given moment they feel that they should not be acting at all or that they are not acting well enough. However, by differentiating between an acting and a nonacting side of themselves, they make themselves less vulnerable to burnout. #RandolphHarris 7 of 20

Now when the company institutes a speed-up—when it maintains its call for emotional labour but sets up conditions that make it impossible to deliver—the worker may become estranged from the acting itself. One may refuse to act at all, thus withdrawing one’s emotional labour altogether. Since the job itself calls for good acing, one will be seen as doing the job poorly. One may respond to the constantly negative consequences of this by trying not to take any consequences at all, by trying not to be there. If in the first stance the worker is too much present in the role, in the third stance, one is not present enough. In all three, the essential problem is how to adjust one’s self to the role in a way that allows some flow of self into the role but minimizes the stress the role puts on the self. In all three cases, the problem of adjusting self to role is aggravated by the worker’s lack of control over the conditions of work. The more often “tips” about how o see, feel, and seem are issued from above and the more effectively the conditions of the “stage” are kept out of the hands of the actor, the les one can influence one’s entrances and exits and the nature of one’s acting in between. The less influence one has, the more likely it is that one of two things will occur. Either one will overextend oneself into the job and burn out, or one will remove oneself from the job and feel bad about it. #RandolphHarris 8 of 20

Worker control over the conditions of good acting boils down, in the end, to practical politics. The company wanted to take two real estate representatives off two of their sites, but the union was adamantly opposed, and they won. Now that is a multimillion-dollar decision. However, it is a good thing they won. They thought they could have some control over that decision. It was not just money they wanted. They wanted some say over their work lives so they could do the job like they wanted. However, even such actions by organized workers cannot solve the whole problem. For whenever people do acting for a living, even if they have some control over the stage, they inhabit their own stage faces with caution: behind the mask, they listen to their own feelings at low volume. Cheerfulness in the line of duty becomes something different from ordinary good cheer. This applies much more to the real estate representatives, who must try to be genuinely friendly to a line of strangers, than to the commissary worker, who can feel free to hate packing the three-hundredth vanilla Jell-O pudding cup onto a lunch tray. Yet, whoever entrusts oneself to a maser or one’s mind to a teaching, cannot escape one’s own personal responsibility for what one does. #RandolphHarris 9 of 20

This is not to absolve either the self-actualized or the author of the teaching from one’s own responsibility, which they also have, but it is to make clear that the followers are it too. If history is seen as time between a beginning and an end, we can say that not beginning and end determine the center, as is the case in spatial measurements, but that he center of history determines its beginning and end from the meaning of an historical process. This means that history lasts as long as he revelatory power of its center is experienced, first by anticipation, then by participation. Before this here may be a pre-history, a meaningless time or, rather, a time whose meaning was unperceived. After it, one could conceive of a post-history, another stretch of time deprived of a center and which itself perhaps would be a pre-history before another center is expected. All this, however, is mere speculation; such a possibility is purely abstract. It helps us to see, nevertheless, that the important point of history is that which gives it meaning, its center. Everything else revolves around it. Properly speaking, the center of history is constitutive of it: the meaning of a period arises out of a revelatory situation. History is constituted by the fact that is center is constituted, or—since this is not an arbitrary act—by the fact that its center is constituted, or—since this is not an arbitrary act—by the fact that a center proves to be a center through creating history. #RandolphHarris 10 of 20

By a series of well-timed steps, we have led the audience to the brink of the Christological affirmation. First, we have defined history as the meaning of time. Second, we have shown that his meaning comes to light in moments of intense experience of which one may say, “This is the acceptable time, the Kairos.” At that precise moment, the eternal invades he temporal. Third, we have shown that while each period of history may receive it only from a universal Kairos which will be its center. The fourth step, to which we are now coming, is that Jesus as the Christ is the center of history, the point where salvation manifests itself as the content of history. Before explaining this, I should mention an intriguing point. The center of history cannot be conceived of as future: It cannot be sought for in the future, for the meaning of the future is determined by it. We think that the future will be meaningful only on the basis of a principle which we already possess. However, this is not all: The center cannot lie in the present either. For the present has no historical meaning unless it explains the past too. It has such a meaning only if it is the point in which are joined the historical fate which is born in the past, and the historical decision which provides the future. This is to say that the present must itself refer to some meaningful point in the past, to a past Kairos in the light of which the present is meaningful. #RandolphHarris 11 of 20

No present can be a historical center for itself. As a matter of fact, every center of history in any religion or culture has always been seen as a point of reference in the past. If we remember in our analysis of time, the present is, in a sense, both the past and the future, this remark on the past character of the center of history is not as striking as it may seem. At any moment when we are grasped by the power of Kairos, we are in contact with a super-historical reality, and experience the presence of the past in the present. The conclusion which this imposes on Christology does not affect our conscious of the center of history in Jesus as the Christ. However, it does affect our view of the self-consciousness of the Christ. For if the advent of the Christ in Jesus is the center of history for us, it cannot have been the center of history for Jesus. The implications of this will claim our attention later. In 1899 four reporters from Denver, Colorado, met by chance on a Saturday night in a Denver railroad station. Al Stevens, Jack Tournay, John Lewis, and Hal Wilshire worked for the four Denver papers: The Post, the Times, the Republican and the Rocky Mountain News. Each had the unenviable task of finding a scoop for the Sunday edition. They hoped to spot a visiting celebrity arriving that evening by train. #RandolphHarris 12 of 20

However, none showed up, so the reporters wondered what on Earth they would do. As they discussed options in a nearby saloon, Al suggested they make up a story. The other three laughed—at first. However, before long they were all agreed—they would come up with such a whopper that n one would question it and their respective editors would congratulate them on their find. A phony local story would be too obvious, so they decided to write about someplace far away. They agreed on China. “What if we say tha some American engineers, on their way to China, told us they are bidding on a major job: the Chinese government is planning to demolish the Great Wall?” Harold was not sure the story would be believable. Why would the Chinese ever tear down the Great Wall of China? “As a sign of international goodwill, to invite foreign trade.” By 11 P.M. the four reporters had worked out the details, and the next say all four Denver newspapers carried the story—on the front page. The Times headlines that Sunday read: “Great Chinese Wall Doomed! Peking Seeks World Trade!” Of course, the story was a ridiculous tall tale made up by four opportunistic newsmen in a hotel bar. However, amazingly their story was taken seriously and soon ran in newspapers in the Eastern United States of America and even abroad. #RandolphHarris 13 of 20

When the citizens of China heard that the Americas were sending a demolition crew to dismantle the Great Wall, most were indignant, even enraged. Particularly angry were members of a secret society made up of Chinese patriots already against any kind of foreign intervention. Moved to action by the news story, they attacked the foreign embassies in Peking and murdered hundreds of missionaries from abroad. In the next two month twelve thousand troops from six countries, working together, invaded China to protect their country people. The bloodshed of that time, born out of a journalistic hoax fabricated in a saloon in Denver, was the time of violence known ever since as the Boxer Rebellion. What power the written or spoken word has! The Great Wall is very precious to the people of China, it is a sacred monument, much like a church, and natives often get dressed up like they are going to church to visit the spiritual center. It is also a major tourist attraction. The Great Wall of China receives more than 10 million visitors per year. So it is never good to threaten World Wonders. Nations have risen and nation have fallen to the tongue. Lives have been elevated and lives have been cast down by human speech. Goodness has flowed like a sweet river from out mouth, and so has the cesspool. The tiny tongue is a mighty force indeed. #RandolphHarris 14 of 20

Words have the power to hurt or to heal, to bring down, or to raise up. And the words we say to ourselves are quite possibly the most powerful words of all. We need to watch ourselves, and our thoughts, and our words, and our deeds, especially as followers of Christ. “And it came to pass that the Nephites who were not slain by the weapons of war, after having buried those who had been slain—now the number of the slain were not numbered, because of the greatness of their number—after they had finished burying their dead they all returned to their lands, and to their houses, and their wives, and their children. Many women and children had been lain with the sword, and also many of their flocks and their herds; and also many of their fields of grain were destroyed, for they were trodden down by the hosts of humans. And now as many of the Lamanites and the Amlicites who had been slain upon the bank of the river Sidon were cast into the waters of Sidon; and behold their bones are in the depths of the sea, and they are many. And the Amlicites were distinguished from the Nephites, for they had marked themselves with red in their foreheads after the manner of the Lamanites; nevertheless they had not shorn their heads like unto the Lamanites. #RandolphHarris 15 of 20

“Now the heads of the Lamanites were shorn; and they were naked, save it were skin which was girded about their loins, and also their armour, which was girded about them, and their bows, and their arrows, and their stones, and their slings, and so forth. And the skins of the Lamanites were dark, according to the mark which was set upon their fathers, which was a curse upon them because of their transgression and their rebellion against their brethren, who consisted of Nephi, Jacob, and Joseph, and Sam, who were just and holy men. And their brethren sought to destroy them, therefore they were cursed; and the Lord God set a mark upon them, yea, upon Laman and Lemuel, and also the sons of Ishmael, and Ishmaelitish women. And this was done that their seed might be distinguished from the seed of their brethren, that thereby the Lord God might preserve his people, that they might not mix and believe in incorrect traditions which would prove their destruction. And it came to pass that whosoever did mingle his seed with that of the Lamanites did bring the same curse upon his seed. Therefore, whosoever suffered himself to be led away by the Lamanites was called under that head, and there was a mark set upon him. #RandolphHarris 16 of 20

“And it came to pass that whosoever would not believe in the tradition of the Lamanites, but believed those records which were brought out of the land of Jerusalem, and also in the tradition of their fathers, which were correct, who believed in the commandments of God and kept them, were called the Nephites, or the people of Nephi, from that time forth—and it is they who have kept the records which are true of their people, and also of the people of the Lamanites. Now we will return again to the Amlicites, for they also had a mark set upon them; yea, they set the mark upon themselves, yea, even a mark of red upon their foreheads. Thus the word of God is fulfilled, for these are the words which he said to Nephi: Behold, the Lamanites have I cursed, and I will set a mark on them that they and their seed may be separated from thee and Thy seed, from this time henceforth and forever, except they repent of their wickedness and turn to me that I may have mercy upon them. And again: I will set a mark upon him that mingleth his seed with thy brethren, that they may be cursed also. And again: I will set a mark upon him that figheth against thee and thy seed. And again, I say he that depareth from thee shall no more be called thy seed; and I will bless thee, and whomsoever shall be called thy seed, henceforth and forever; and these were the promises of the Lord unto Nephi and to his seed. #RandolphHarris 17 of 20

“Now the Amlicites knew not that they were fulfilling the words of God when they began to mark themselves in their foreheads; nevertheless they had come out in the open rebellion against God; therefore it was expedient that the curse should fall upon them. Now I would that ye should see that they brought upon themselves the curse; and even so doth every human that is cursed bring upon oneself one’s own condemnation. Now it came to pass that not many days after the battle which was fought in the land of Zarahemla, by the Lamanites and the Amlicites, that there was another army of the Lamanites came in upon the people of Nephi, in the same pace where the first army met the Amlicites. And it came to pass that there was an army sent to drive them out of their land. Now Alma himself being afflicted with a wound did not go up to battle at this time against the Lamanites; however, he sent up numerous army against them; and they went up and slew many of the Lamanites, and drove the remainder of them out of the borders of their land. And then they returned again and began to establish peace in the land, being troubled no more for a time with their enemies. Now all these things were done, yea, all these wars and contentions were commenced and ended in the fifth year of the reign of the judges. #RandolphHarris 18 of 20

“And in one year were thousands and tens of thousands of souls sent to the eternal World, that hey might reap their rewards according to their works, whether they were good or whether they were bad, to reap eternal World, that they might reap eternal happiness or eternal misery, according to the spirit which they listed to obey, whether it be a good spirit or a bad one. For every human receiveth wages of one whom one listeth to obey, and this according to the words of the spirit of prophecy; therefore let it be according to the truth. And thus endeth the fifth years of the reign of the judges,” reports Alma 3.1-27. The disciple’s reverence for the Master can still hold room for sight of the latter’s failings and imperfections. If one gets enough inspiration from the Master to help one’s spiritual life, it would be a foolish decision to leave one because of those failings and imperfections. Graciously cast Thy light, O Lord, upon go on and prosper, and its pastors, by Thy governance, may become acceptable to Thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Most High God, the Universe with all its myriad creatures is Thine, made by Thy word, upheld by Thy power, governed by Thy will. However, Thou art also the Father of mercies, the God of all grace, the bestower of all comfort, the protector of the saved. #RandolphHarris 19 of 20

Thou hast been mindful of us, hast visited us, preserved us, given us a goodly heritage—the Holy Scriptures, the joyful gospel, the Saviour of souls, we came to Thee in Jesus’ name, make mention of His righteousness only, plead His obedience and sufferings who magnified the law both in its precepts and penalty, may we be justified by His blood, saved by his life, joined to His Spirit. Let us take up His cross and follow Him. May the agency of Thy grace prepare us for Thy dispensations. Makes us willing that Thou shouldest choose our inheritance and determine what we shall retain or lose, suffer or enjoy; if blessed with prosperity may we be free from its snares, and use, not abuse, its advantages; may we patiently and cheerfully submit to those afflictions which are necessary. When we are tempted to wander, hedge up our way, excite in us abhorrence of sin, wean us from the present evil World, assure us that we shall at last enter Immanuel’s land where none is ever sick, and the Sun will always shine. Many have a lack of compassion. Almighty please give service to our successful course and people like you are in your heart pleasing because Thou art holy. May the President that commands the nation keep society in their right mind. #RandolphHarris 20 of 20

Cresleigh Homes

Our homes in our latest community at #PlumasRanch took influence from modern design trends, like patterned tile and spacious center work islands. The end result is definitely drool-worthy. 🤤

We have TWO homes in the Riverside community that are move-in ready! Check them out on our website. Link in bio. 🙌 https://cresleigh.com/cresleigh-riverside-at-plumas-ranch/move-in-ready-home-site-77/

O merciful God and eternal King, please give a prosperous course to our service; and that we may become pleasing in Thy sight by means of the devotion of Thy people, do Thou preside over Thy holy flock; and guide Thou the wills of all into the observance of Thy commands. During your church, O Lord, thy goodness, shine; and the flocks are everywhere, and to Thy I guarantee my heart. #CresleighHomes

As the Stars Fade Before the Rising Sun, Thou Hast Eclipsed All these Benefits in the Wisdom and Grace of Redemption!

July 22, 2020 1:26 am

Cursed chance! Never have I cursed you because you made your appearance; I curse you because you do not make your appearance at all. Or is his perhaps supposed to be a new invention of yours, you incomprehensible being, barren mother of everything, the only remnant remaining from that time when necessity gave birth freedom, when freedom let itself be tricked back into the womb again? Cursed chance! You, my only confidant, the only being I deem worthy to be my ally and my enemy, always similar to yourself in dissimilarity; always incomprehensible, always an enigma! You whom I love with all the sympathy of my soul, in whose image I form myself, why do you no make your appearance? I do no beg, I do not humbly plead that you will make your appearance in this manner or that; such worship would indeed be idolatry, would not be pleasing to you. I challenge you to a fight—why do you not make your appearance? Or has the balance wheel in the World structure stopped, is your enigma solved, and so you, too, have plunged into the sea of eternity? Terrible thought—then the World will come to a halt out of boredom! Cursed chance, I am waiting for you! I do not want to vanquish you by means of principles or what foolish people call character—no, I shall be your poet! I do not want to be a poet for others; makes your appearance, and I shall be your poet. #RandolphHarris 1 of 20

I shall eat my own poem, and that will be my food. Or do you find me unworthy? Just as a temple dancer dances to the honor of the god [Guden], so I have consecrated myself to your service; light, thinly clad, limber, unarmed, I renounce everything. I own nothing; I desire to own nothing; I love nothing; I have nothing to lose—but have I not thereby become more worthy of you, you who long ago must have been tired of depriving people of what they love, tired of their craven pleading. Surprise me—I am ready. No stakes—let us fight for honour. Show her to me, show me a possibility that seems to be an impossibility; show her to me among the shades of the underworld, and I shall bring her back. Let her hate me, scorn me, be indifferent to me, love someone else—I do not fear; but stir up the water, break the silence. To starve me this way is mean of you, you who nevertheless fancy yourself strong than I. The average aspirant does not find the true teachers because one would not behave oneself correctly with them if one did. Sooner or later one would abuse the lofty character of the relation of discipleship and seek to force it to become a half-Worldly one. It is probably true to say that even imperfect teachers, who are all that the public is likely to know, often receive from their followers frantic appeals for this or that personal intervention or frenzied outpouring concerning this or that personal problem for which immediate help is demanded. #RandolphHarris 2 of 20

However, even when the aspirant has linked oneself up with an embodied master or invisible adept, a scriptural personage or one’s own high self (God), one may start to assume that the higher power (Jesus Christ) or person is henceforth going to settle all one’s personal troubles without one’s own exertions being called for. This is a piece of wishful thinking. If one were to be deprived of the opportunity of tackling one’s problems and troubles for oneself, they very purpose of evolution would be defeated. The purpose of independence is only so that one’s capacities can stretch out and one’s understanding enlarge itself. We may sympathize with the need of troubled disciples, but a wrong notion of what constitutes the teacher-disciple relation will not help them. It will lead to false hopes and the anguish of subsequent disappointment. For what is it that they are really trying to do. They are not merely using the teacher as a spiritual guide, which is quite correct, but also as a material guide, leaning-post, and father-mother, which is quite wrong. They want to shunt their own responsibilities and shift their personal burden onto back of a master or at least to share them with one. Such a conception of disciple is a wrong one. #RandolphHarris 3 of 20

Also it is an unfair one. Instead of using the master as a source of principles and inspirations to be applied by themselves in practical life, they try to exploit one, to avoid he responsibility for making their own decisions by saddling it upon one’s shoulders. The master cannot solve all their personal problems or carry all their burdens. This task rests with disciples themselves. To seek to shift their responsibility for it onto the master’s shoulders is to demand the impossible, the unfair, and the unwise. If successful, I would defeat the very purpose of their incarnation. It would rob them of the benefit of the experience to which they have been led by God. Such excessive reliance on the guide makes them more and more incapable of independent thought and judgment. However, it should be the object of a competent guide to help them develop these very things and grow in spiritual strength, as it should be the aim of a sincere one not dictatorially to rule their conduct but suggestively to elevate it. If they are to advance to higher levels, disciples must learn to rely on their own endeavours. No masters can relieve them of his responsibility. It is no the work of a philosophic teacher to save students from having to make decisions for themselves. It is, on the contrary, one’s duty to encourage them to face up to rather than to flee from the responsibility and profit of working out their own solutions. The prudent master will leave them to work out for themselves how to apply philosophy to their personal situations. #RandolphHarris 4 of 20

For one to manage their lives, settle their problems, and negotiate their difficulties might please their egos but would weaken their characters. Hence, one does not wish to interfere in their lives nor assume responsibility for forming decisions on those personal, domestic, family, employment, and business problems which they ought to arrive at for themselves. At best one can point out the general direction for travel, not supply a definite map; he can point out the general direction for travel, not suppl a definite map; one can lay down the general principles of action and it is for them to find out the best way of applying these principles. The agony of coming to a right judgement is part of the educative process in developing right intuitions. Each experience looked at in his way brings out their independent creative faculty, that is, makes them truly self-reliant. The principles of such solutions are partially in their hands; practical horse-sense must be harnessed to shrewd reason and guided by ethical ideals and intuitions. If the contact stimulates one before one is ready for it, then it will help one’s spiritual growth in some ways but hinder it in other ways. It may give one greater enthusiasm conviction and determination, but also will inflate rather than abnegate the ego. This is another reason why adepts are hard to approach. #RandolphHarris 5 of 20

The passion for philosophy, like that for religion, seems liable to this inconvenience, that, though it aims at the correction of our manners, and extirpation of our vices, it may only serve, by imprudent management, to foster a predominant inclination, and push he mind, with more determined resolution, towards that side, which already draws too much, by the biass and propensity of the natural temper. It is certain, that, while we aspire to the magnanimous firmness of the philosophic self-actualized, and endeavour to confine our pleasures altogether within our own minds, we may, at last, render our philosophy like that of EPICTETUS, and other Stoics, only a more refined system of selfishness, and reason ourselves out of all virtue, as well as social enjoyment. Stoicism, the school of philosophy that spanned at least five centuries, from the third century Before Christ to the second century After Death, had as its main ethical tenet that a human must live in harmony with nature; nature is construed as inherently rational and humans must be rational as well. Epictetus (circa 50- circa 130 After Death), an illustrious later Stoic, maintained that living in harmony with nature is a matter of distinguishing those things within our power from those which are not, and seeking to control only the formers. This involves purging oneself of desires and strong feelings concerning the latter. #RandolphHarris 6 of 20

As Epictetus noted, “Humans are disturbed not by things, but by the view which they take of things.” While we study with attention the vanity of human life, and turn all out thoughts towards the empty and transitory nature of riches and honours, we are, perhaps, all the while, flattering our natural indolence, which, hating the bustle of the World, and drudgery of business, seeks a pretence of reason, to give itself a full and uncontrolled indulgence. There is, however, one species of philosophy, which seems little liable to this inconvenience, and that because it strikes in with no disorderly passion of the human mind, nor can mingle itself with any natural affection or propensity; and that is the ACADEMIC or SCEPTICAL philosophy. Academical or skepical philosophy, the title of Section XII of the Enquiry, refers to the philosophy of the Greek Academy founded by Plato, more specifically, to the philosophy of the Academy in the second and third centuries Before Christ, in which a form of moderate skepticism was espoused. For instance, Carneades (circa 213-128 Before Christ), one of the leading members of the school, is said to have challenged Stoic doctrines concerning the infallibility of our perceptions and claimed that no perception is infallible or an object of knowledge. All we can be sure of is the nature of the “appearances.” #RandolphHarris 7 of 20

Sill, the academic skeptics, unlike the Phyrrhonians, formulated a theory of credible belied according to which some things are more probable than others, and did not advocate a suspension of judgment on all things. Hume is often taken to be advocating a theory of academic or moderate skepticism in the Enquiry. The academics always talk of doubt and suspense of judgment, of dander in hasty determinations, of confining to very narrow bounds the enquiries of the understanding, and of renouncing all speculations which lie not within the limits of common life and practice. Nothing, therefore, can be more contrary than such a philosophy to the supine indolence of the mind, its rash arrogance, its lofty pretensions, and its superstitious credulity. Every passion is mortified by it, except the love of truth; and that passion never is, nor can be carried to too high a degree. It is surprising, therefore, that this philosophy, which, in almost every instance, must be harmless and innocent, should be the subject of so much groundless reproach and obloquy. However, perhaps, the very circumstance, which renders it so innocent, is what chiefly exposes it to the public hatred and resentment. By flattering no irregular passion, it gains few partizans: By opposing so many vices and follies, it raises to itself abundance of enemies, who stigmatize it as libertine, profane, and irreligious. #RandolphHarris 8 of 20

Nor need we fear, that this philosophy, while it endeavours to limit our enquires to common life, should ever undermine the reasonings of common life, and carry its doubts so far as to destroy all action, as well as speculation. Nature will always maintain her rights, and prevail in the end over any abstract reasoning whatsoever. Though we should conclude, for instance, as in the foregoing section, that in all reasonings from experience, there is a step taken by the mind, which is not supported by any argument or process of the understanding; there is no danger, that these reasonings, on which almost all knowledge depends, will ever be affected by such discovery. If the mind be not engaged by argument to make this step, it must be induced by some other principle of equal weight and authority; and that principle will preserve is influence as long as human nature remains the same. What that principle is, may well be worth the pains of enquiry. Supposed a person, though endowed with the strongest faculties of reason and reflection, to be brought on a sudden into this World; one would, indeed, immediately observe a continual succession of objects, and one event following another; but one would not be able to discover any thing farther. #RandolphHarris 9 of 20

One would not, at first, by any reasoning, be able to reach the idea of cause and effect; since he particular powers, by which all natural operations are performed, never appear to the senses; nor is it reasonable to conclude, merely because one event, in one instance, precedes another, that therefore he one is the cause, the other the effect. Their conjunction may be arbitrary and casual. There may be no reason to infer the existence of one from the appearance of the other. And in a word, such a person, without more experience, could never employ one’s conjecture or reasoning concerning any matter of fact, or be assured of any thing beyond what was immediately present to one’s memory and senses. Suppose again, that one has acquired more experience, and has lived so long in the World as to have observed similar objects or events to be constantly conjoined together; what is the consequence of this experience? One immediately infers the existence of one object from the appearance of the other. Yet one has not, by all one’s experience, acquired any idea or knowledge of the secret power, by which the one object produces the other; nor is it, by any process of reasoning, one is engaged to draw this influence. #RandolphHarris 10 of 20

However, still one finds oneself determined to draw it: And though one should be convinced, that one’s understanding has no part in the operation, one would nevertheless continue in the same course of thinking. There is some other principle, which determines one to form such a conclusion. On the job, the acceptance of a division between the “real” self and the self in a company uniform is often a way to avoid stress, a wise realization, a saving grace. However, this solution also poses serious problems. For in dividing up our sense, in order to save the “real” self from unwelcome intrusions, we necessarily relinquish a healthy sense of wholeness. We come to accept as normal the tension we feel between our “real” and our “on-stage” selves. More women than men go into public-contact work in which status enhancement is the essential social-psychological task. Blood, sweat, tears, sleepless night, lengthy stares at blank sheets of paper, unproductive days when everything gets dumped into the trash, and periodic moments when inspiration and insight flow is the blessing of God’s compassion as it streams into one’s soul. In the Lord’s presence, the disciple with true affinity feels an infinite test. Others may avoid the self-actualized after the first meeting because they cannot endure the uneasy feeling of guilt which arise in one’s presence. #RandolphHarris 11 of 20

For the self-actualized, their most secret sins and most hidden weaknesses are suddenly displayed into their mind’s eye by the mere fact of one’s propinquity. It is an involuntary and mysterious experience. Sometimes the interrogation in the eyes of an illuminate will prove fatal to the Worldly foolishness we bring into one’s presence. There is a silence which soothes and a silence which disturbs. With a genuine adept the first is felt, but with the other kind, the second. Like a looking-glass, one shines back the image of what their diviner self is silently pointing toward. Those who feel this deep peace in the atmosphere around and between them, do not feel any need of words. The soothing stillness is their best communication and indeed gives the latter a quality of sacred communion. Sometimes the more we write about the subject of personal holiness, the less holy we see in ourselves. Just keep this in mind on your path to God, “Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given to me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,” reports Ephesians 3.8. It may seem that we do no deserve to communicate God’s messages because they are such awesome subjects of holiness, but we are doing so by the grace of God—by His free, unmerited, unearned, and undeserved favour. #RandolphHarris 12 of 20

Paul never ceased to be amazed that God chose him, the foremost persecutor of the Church, to be the apostle to the Gentiles and to proclaim to them the unsearchable riches of Christ. “For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God,” reports 1 Corinthians 15.9. Not only did Paul consider himself the least of the apostles, to the Ephesians he referred to oneself as “less than the least” is actually a “superlative comparative” coined by Paul to express the depth of his genuine amazement that God would call him to be an apostle. “And it came to pass in the commencement of the fifth year of their reign there began to be a contention among he people; for a certain man, being called Amlici, he being a very cunning man, yea, a wise man as to the wisdom of the World, he being after the order of the man that slew Gideon by the sword, who was executed according to the law—now this Amlici had, by his cunning, drawn away much people after him; even so much that they began to be very powerful; and they began to endeavour to establish Amlici to be a king over the people. Now this was alarming to the people of the church and also to all those who had not been drawn away after he persuasions of Amlici; for they knew that according to their law that such things must be established by the voice of the people. #RandolphHarris 13 of 20

“Therefore, if it were possible that Amlici should gain the voice of the people, he, being a wicked man, would deprive them of their rights and privileges of the church; for it was his intent to destroy the church of God. And it came to pass that the people assembled themselves together throughout all the land, every human according to one’s mind, whether it were for or against Amlici, in separate bodies, having much dispute and wonderful contentions one with another. And thus they did assemble themselves together to cast in their voices concerning the matter; and they were laid before the judges. And it came to pass that the voice of the people came against Amlici, that he was not made king over the people. Now this did cause much joy in the hearts of those who were against him; but Amlici did stir up those who were in his favour to anger against those who were not in his favour. And it came to pass that they gathered themselves together, and did consecrate Amlici to be their king. Now when Amlici was made king over them he commanded them that they should take up arms against their brethren; and this he did that he might subject them to him. Now the people of Amlici were distinguished by he name of Amlici, being called Amlicites; and the remainder were called Nephites, or the people of God. #RandolphHarris 14 of 20

“Therefore the people of the Nephites were aware of the intent of the Amlicites, and therefore they did prepare to meet them; yea, they did arm themselves with swords, and with cimeters, and with bows, and with arrows, and with stones, and with slings, and with all manner of weapons of war, of every kind. And thus they were prepared to meet the Amlicites a the time of coming. And there were appointed captains, and higher captains, and chief captains, according to their numbers. And it came to pass that Amlici did arm his men with all manner of weapons of war of every kind; and he also appointed rulers and leaders over his people, to lead them to war against their brethren. And it came to pass that the Amlicites came upon the hill of Amnihu, which was east of the river Sidon, which ran by the land of Zarahemla, and there they began to make war with the Nephites. Now Alma, being the chief judge and the governor the people of Nephi, therefore he went up with his people, yea, with his captains, and chief captains, yea, at the head of his armies, against Amlicites to battle. And they began to slay the Amlicites upon the hill of east of Sidon. And the Amlicites did contend with the Nephites with great strength, insomuch that many of the Nephites did fall before the Amlicites. #RandolphHarris 15 of 20

“Nevertheless the Lord did strengthen the hand of the Nephites, that they slew the Amlicites with great slaughter, that they began to flee before them. And it came to pass that the Nephites did pursue the Amlicites all that day, and did slay them with much slaughter, insomuch that there were slain of the Amlicites twelve thousand five hundred thirty and two souls; and there were slain of the Nephites six thousand five hundred sixty and two souls. And it came to pass that when Alma could pursue the Amlicites no longer he caused that his people should pitch their tents in the valley of Gideon, the valley being called after that Gideon who was slain by the hand of Nehor with the sword; and in this valley the Nephites did pitch their tents for the night. And Alma sent spies to follow the remnant of the Amlicites, that he might know of their plans and their plots, whereby he might guard himself against them, that he might preserve his people from being destroyed. Now those whom he had sent out to watch the camp of the Amlicites. And it came to pass that on the morrow they returned into the camp of the Nephites in great haste, being greatly astonished, and struck with much fear, saying: Behold, we followed the camp of the Amlicites, and to our great astonishment, in the land of Zarahemla, in the course of the land of Nephi, we saw a numerous host of the Lamanites; and behold, the Amlicites have joined them. #RandolphHarris 16 of 20

“And they are upon our brethren in that land; and they are feeling before them with flocks, and their wives, and their children, towards our city; and except we make haste they obtain possession of our city, and our fathers, and our wives, and our children be slain. And it came to pass that the people of Nephi took their tents, and departed out of the valley of Gideon towards their city, which was the city of Zarahemla. And behold, as they were crossing the river Sidon, the Lamanites and the Amlicites, being as numerous almost, as it were, as the sands of the sea, came upon them to destroy them. Nevertheless, the Nephites being strengthened by the hand of their enemies, therefore the Lord did hear their cries, and did strengthen them, and the Lamanites and the Amlicites did fall before them. And it came to pass that Alma fought with Amlici with the sword, face to face; and they did contend mightily, one with another. And it came to pass that Alma, being a man of God, being exercised with much faith, cried, saying: O Lord, have mercy and spare my life, that I may be an instrument in Thy hands to save and preserve this people. Now when Alma had said these words he contended again with Amlici; and he was strengthened, insomuch that he slew Amlici with the sword. #RandolphHarris 17 of 20

“And he also contended with the kind of the Lamanites; but the king of the Lamanites; but the king of the Lamanites fled back from before Alma and sent his guards to contend with Alma. However, Alma, with his guards, contended with the guards of the king of the Lamanites until he slew and drove them back. And thus he cleared the ground, or rather the bank, which was on the west of the river of Sidon, throwing the bodies of the Lamanites who had been slain into the waters of Sidon, that thereby his people might have room to cross and contend with the Lamanites and the Amlicites on the west side of the river Sidon. And it came to pass that when they had all crossed the river Sidon that the Lamanites and the Amlicites began to flee before them, notwithstanding they were so numerous that they could not be numbered. And they fled before the Nephites towards the wilderness which was west and north, away beyond the borders of the land; and the Nephites did pursue them with their might, and did slay them. Yea, they were met on every hand and slain and driven, until they were scattered on the west, and on the north, until they reached the wilderness, which was called Hermounts; and it was that part of the wilderness which was infested by wild and ravenous beast. #RandolphHarris 18 of 20

“And it came to pass ha may died in the wilderness of their wounds, and were devoured by those beasts and also the vultures of their air; and their bones have been found, and have been heaped up on the Earth,” reports Alma 2.1-38. Who can be worthy of this office, unless one is first fitted for it by Thy preventing grace and compassion? Since then it is of Thy gift, not of our merit, Thou must also interpose Thy guidance, that it may not prove the everlasting punishment of our negligence, but rather become in due order the cause of an eternal reward for our having discharged it. Thou great and only Potentate, Thou hast made Summer and Winter, day and night; each of these revolutions serves our welfare and is full of Thy care and kindness. Thy bounty is seen in the relations that train us, the law that defend us, the homes that shelter us, the food that builds us, the raiment that confronts us, the continuance of our healthy, members, senses, understanding, memory, affection, will. However, as stars fade before the rising Sun, Thou hast eclipsed all these benefits in the wisdom and grace that purposed redemption by Jesus Thy Son. Blessed be Thy mercy that laid help on one that is mighty and willing, one that is mighty and willing, one that is able to save to the uttermost. #RandolphHarris 19 of 20

Please make us deeply sensible of our need of His saving grace, of the blood that cleanses, of the rest He has promised. And impute to us that righteousness which justifies the guilty, gives them a title to eternal life, and possession of the Spirit. May we love the freeness of salvation, and joy in its holiness; give us faith to grasp Thy promises, that are our hope, please provide for every exigency, and prevent every evil; please keep our hearts from straying after forbidden pleasures; may Thy will bind all our wishes; please let us live out of the World as to its spirit, maxim, manners, but live in it as the sphere of our action and usefulness; may we be alive to every call of duty, accepting without question Thy determination of our circumstances and our service. Sitting in the aura of greatness that exudes from the self-actualized, a sensitive person absorbs some vitalizing element which gives one the impetus to nurture the quality of greatness in oneself. The pretensions of the ego must collapse. In this person’s presence others feel inadequate, often become acutely aware of their own deficiencies. Why is this? It is because they abruptly find themselves measured against one’s breadth of soul and height of wisdom. They become ashamed of their own littleness when it is shown up by one’s greatness. #RandolphHarris 20 of 20

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When it comes into being, who is worthy of this office, except by the grace of Thy ministry and has been anticipated by the evenly formed? Therefore, of Thy gift, it is not as we are humans are of merit. Nonetheless, your government will take part in, so that its negligence maybe the penalty of perpetual light, and may become the cause of eternal reward for those carrying out God’s will in a becoming manner. #CresleighHomes

Randolph Harris II International Institute

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