Home » Sleep (Page 21)

Category Archives: Sleep

Business Underlies Everything in Our National Life, Including Our Spiritual Life!

May 13, 2020 10:32 pm

Some humans are more careful of the breed of their horses and dogs than of their children. To be conscious that you are unaware of the true facts is a great step toward knowledge. What The Real Advantages Are Which American Society Derives From The Government of The Democracy: The political institutions of the Untied States of America appear to me to be one of the forms of government which a democracy may adopt: but I do not regard the American constitution as the best, or as the only one which a democratic people may establish. In showing the advantages which the Americans derive from the government of democracy, I am therefore very far from meaning, or from believing, that similar advantages can be obtained only from the same laws. General Tendency of The Laws Under The Rule of The American Democracy, And Habits of Those Who Apply Them: Defects of a democratic Government easy to be discovered.—Its Advantages only to be discerned by long Observation.—Democracy in America often inexpert, but general Tendency of the Laws advantageous.—In the American Democracy public Officers have no permanent interest distinct from those of the Majority.—Result of this State of things. The defects and the weaknesses of a democratic government may very readily be discovered; they are demonstrated by the most flagrant instances, while it is beneficial influence is less perceptibly exercised. #RandolphHarris 1 of 23

A single glance suffices to detect the defects and weaknesses of a democratic government and its evil consequences, but its good qualities can only be discerned by long observation The laws of the American democracy are frequently defective or incomplete; they sometimes attack vested rights, or give a sanction to others which are dangerous to the community; but even if they were good, the frequent changes which they undergo would be an evil. How comes it, then, that the American republics prosper, and maintain their position? In the consideration of laws, a distinction must be carefully observed between the end at which they aim, and the means by which they are directed to that end; between their absolute and their relative excellence. If it be the intention of the legislator to favour the interests of the minority at the expense of the majority, and if the measure one takes are s combined as to accomplish the object one has in view with the least possible expense of time and exertion, the law may be well drawn up, although its purpose be bad; and the more efficacious it is, the greater is the mischief which it causes. Democratic laws generally tend to promote the welfare of the greatest possible number; for they emanate from a majority of the citizens, who are subject to error, but who cannot have an interest opposed to their own advantage. #RandolphHarris 2 of 23

The worth of a State, in the long run, is the worth of the individuals composing it. The laws of an aristocracy tend, on the contrary, to concentrate wealth and power in the hands of the minority, because an aristocracy, by its very nature, constitutes a minority. It may therefore be asserted, as a general proposition, that the purpose of a democracy, in the conduct of its legislation, is useful to a greater number of citizens than that of an aristocracy. This is, however, the sum total of its advantages. Aristocracies are infinitely more expert in the science of legislation than democracies ever can be. They are possessed of a self-control which protects them from the errors of a temporary excitement; and they form lasting designs which they mature with the assistance of favourable opportunities. Aristocratic government proceeds with the dexterity of art; it understands how to make the collective force of all its laws converge at the same time to a given point. Such is not the case with democracies, whose laws are almost always infective or in inopportune. The means of democracy are therefore more imperfect than those of aristocracy, and the measures which it unwittingly adopts are frequently opposed to its own cause; but the object it has in view is more useful. #RandolphHarris 3 of 23

Let us now imagine a community so organized by nature, or by its constitution, that it can support the transitory action of bad laws, and that it can await, without destruction, the general tendency of the legislation: we shall then be able to conceive that a democratic government, notwithstanding its defects, will be most fitted to conduce to the prosperity of this community. This is precisely what has occurred in the United States of America; and I repeat, what I have before remarked, that the great Advantage of the Americans consist in their being able to commit faults which they may afterward repair. An analogous observation may be made respecting public officers. It is easy to perceive that the American democracy frequently errs in the choice of the individuals to whom it intrusts the power of the administration; but it is more difficult to say why the sate prospers under their rule. In the first place it is to be remarked, that if in a democratic state the governors have less honesty and less capacity then elsewhere, the governed on the other hand are more enlightened and more attentive to their interests. As the people in the democracies is more incessantly vigilant in its affairs, and more jealous of its right, it prevents its representative from abandoning that general line of conduct which its own interest prescribes. #RandolphHarris 4 of 23

In the second place, it must be remembered that if the democratic magistrate is more apt to misuse one’s power, one possesses it for a shorter period of time. However, there is yet another reason which is still more general and conclusive. It is no doubt of importance to the welfare of nations that they should be governed by people of talents and virtue; but it is perhaps still more important than the interests of those humans should not differ from the interests of the community at large; for if such were the case, virtues of a high order might become useless, and talents might be turned to a bad account. I say that it is important that the interests of the persons in authority should not conflict with or oppose the interests of the community at large; but I do not insist upon their having the same interests as the whole population, because I am not aware that such a state of things ever existed in any country. No political form has hitherto been discovered, which is equally favourable to the prosperity and the development of all the classes into which society is divided. These classes continue to form, as it were, a certain number of distinct nations in the same nation; and experience has shown that it is no less dangerous to place the fate of these classes exclusively in the hands of any one of them, than it is to make one people the arbiter of the destiny of another. #RandolphHarris 5 of 23

When the rich alone govern, the interests of the less affluent is always endangered; and when the less affluent makes the laws, that of the rich incurs very serious risks. The advantage of democracy des not consist, therefore, as has sometimes been asserted, in favouring the prosperity of all, but simply in contributing to the well-being of the greatest possible number. The humans who are intrusted with the direction of public affairs in the Untied States of America, are frequently inferior, both in point of capacity and of morality, to those whom aristocratic institutions would rise to power. However, their interests are identified and confounded with that of the majority of their fellow-citizens. They may frequently be faithless, and frequently mistake; but they will never systematically adopt a line of conduct oppose to the will of the majority; and it is impossible that they should give a dangerous or an exclusive tendency to the government. The mal-administration of a democratic magistrate is a mere isolated fact, which only occurs during the short period for which one is elected. Corruption and incapacity do not act as common interests, which may connect humans permanently with one another. #RandolphHarris 6 of 23

A corrupt or an incapable magistrate will not concert one’s measures with another magistrate, simply because that individual is as corrupt and as incapable as oneself; and these two humans will never unite their endeavours to promote the corruption and inaptitude of their remote posterity. The ambition and the maneuvers of the one will serve, on the contrary, to unmask the other. The vices of a magistrate, in democratic states, are usually peculiar to one’s own person. However, under aristocratic governments public humans are swayed by the interest of their order, which, if it is sometimes confounded with the interests of the majority, is very frequently distinct from them. This interest is the common and lasting bond which unites them together; it induces them to coalesce, and to combine their efforts in order to attain an end which does not always ensure the greatest happiness of the greatest number; and it serves not only to connect the persons in authority, but to unite them to a considerable portion of the community, as well as by the government of which one is a member. The common purpose which connects the interest of the magistrates in the aristocracies, with that of a portion of their contemporaries, identifies it with that of future generations; their influence belongs to the future as much as to the present. #RandolphHarris 7 of 23

The aristocratic magistrate is urged at the same time toward the same point, by the passions of the community, by one’s own, and I may almost add, by those of one’s posterity. Is it, then, wonderful that one does not resist such repeated impulses? And, indeed, aristocracies are often carried away by the spirit of their order without being corrupted by it; and they unconsciously fashion society to their own ends, and prepare it for their own descendants. The English aristocracy is perhaps the most liberal which ever existed, and no body of humans has ever, uninterruptedly, furnished so many honourable and enlightened individuals to the government of a country. It cannot, however, escape observation, that in the legislation of England the good of the poor has been sacrificed to the advantage of the rich, and the rights of the majority to the privileges of the few. The consequence is, that England, at the present day, combines the extremes of fortune in the bosom of her society; and her hands perils and calamities are almost equal to her power and her renown. In the United States of America, where the public officer have no interests to promote connected with their caste, the general and constant influence of the government is beneficial, although the individuals who conduct it are frequently unskillful and sometimes contemptible. #RandolphHarris 8 of 23

There is, indeed, a secret tendency in democratic institutions to render the exertions of the citizens subservient to the prosperity of the community, notwithstanding their private vices and mistakes; while in aristocratic institutions there is a secret propensity, which, notwithstanding the talents and the virtue of those who conduct the government, leads them to contribute to the evils which oppress their fellow-creatures. In aristocratic governments public humans may frequently do injuries which they do not intend; and in democratic states they produce advantages which they never thought of. Ethical norms are given by God. Moral commandments are expressions of a divine will, which is sovereign and without criteria. It cannot be measured in terms of adequacy to human nature. It must be obeyed as it is given through revelation. However, the question then is: Why should anyone obey the commandments of this divine lawgiver? How are they distinguished from the commands given by a human tyrant? He is stronger than I am. He can destroy me. However, is not that destruction more to be feared which would follow the submission of one’s personality center to a strange will? Would not this be just the denial of the moral imperative? #RandolphHarris 9 of 23

The other way of the theological foundation of the moral imperative is the theonomous one. It avoids the destructiveness of the heteronomous way. However, just for this reason it become ontological. It assets (in agreement with the predominant trend of classical theology) that the law given by God is human’s essential nature, put against one as law. If humans were not estranged from oneself, if one’s essential nature were not distorted in one’s actual existence, no law would stand against one. The law is not strange to humans. It is natural law. It represents one’s true nature from which one is estranged. Every valid ethical commandment is an expression of human’s essential relation to oneself, to others and to the Universe. This alone makes it obligatory and its denial self-destructive. This alone accounts for the unconditional form of the moral imperative, however questionable and conditioned the contents may be. The theonomous solution leads inescapably to ontological problems. If God is not seen as a strange an arbitrary lawgiver, if His authority is not heteronomous but theonomous, ontological presuppositions are accepted. Theonomous ethics include ontology. And they also verify the ontological foundations on which they rest. #RandolphHarris 10 of 23

The ontological statements about the nature of love, power, and justice are verified if they are about to solve the otherwise insoluble problems of the ethics of love, power, and justice. To show that his is the case we must consider the ethical functions of love, power, and justice in the spheres of personal relations, of social institutions and of the holy. In the first sphere, justice is leading, in the second sphere, power, and in the third sphere, love. However, all three principles are effective in each sphere. And the sphere of the holy is a quality in the other spheres, and only in some respects a sphere of its own. So we shall speak first of justice, love, and power in human relations, then of power, justice, and love in social institutions, then of love, power, and justice in relation to the holy. Our treatment of the Fall is superior to many others in trying to meet the philosophers half way. It duly recognizes that philosophical intuition opens insights into sin. It happily borrows from psychology its description of a state before the Fall as dreaming innocence, distinguished from awakeness and from experience. However, the dreaming innocence is not anterior to a subsequent event which would give the acquired knowledge of good and evil. It is the psychological background of all human acts. #RandolphHarris 11 of 23

Human actions mark a passage from the dreaming innocence of one who has not been subjected to the conditions of human existence to the wide-awake experience of humans in existence. In other words, the state before the Fall corresponds, in mythological language, to what philosopher call essence. The choice between good and evil corresponds to existence itself. This leap from essence to existence ins universal fact, but is not a fact distinct from creation. Every human being, by the very fact that one is created, is in existence. As such one is in a state of wide-awake experience; one has the experiential knowledge of good and evil as soon as one is able to act humanly. Original sin is not original in the sense that the first man sinned and that from this we derived the fact that we are born sinners. The notion of a moment in time in which humans and nature were changed from good to evil is absurd, and it has no foundation in experience or revelation. There is a danger of this identification of sin and creation; critics has voiced the justified fear that sin may become a rational necessity. The Fall of man is the transition from uncreated essence, or non-being, to created existence, or being. This happens to every human. #RandolphHarris 12 of 23

Every person is caught in the following tragedy: no exercise of one’s faculties is possible without the experience of estrangement from one’s essence in God, that is, without sin. Now, the trouble with this is that it certain is not the meaning of Revelation. That a theologian should argue against the Fall as a primordial catastrophe of the human race on the basis that it has no foundation in experience is disconcerting, for no supporter of this classical Christian belief has ever claimed that we have experience t. It would be as absurd to base the Fall of the First Man on present-day experience as it would be childish to deny that Fall arguing from the absence of a direct experience of it by humankind today. The original Fall has no foundation in revelation. It is significant that the account is exclusively based on Genesis and on the story of Adam and Eve’s eating of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. Yet it is recognized by exegetes that if Genesis tells a story of the first sin, it does not speak of transmission of that sin. The Old Testament had no notion of original sin as taught by Christianity. It has no notion of the sin of Adam and that of his descendants, imitating their forefathers, have also sinned, but it never suspected that there could be a causal link between Adam’s sin and man’s being born in sin. #RandolphHarris 13 of 23

On the contrary, rabbinical tradition taught, and still teaches the humans are born without sin. It is not on Genesis, but on St. Paul, that the Christian view is founded. “As the fault of one has brought condemnation of all humans, so the righteousness of one brings on all a lifegiving righteousness,” reports Romans 5.18. St. Paul knows the Fall in the light of the Redemption. They are two correlative events. The historicity of Redemption stands facing the historicity of the Fall. One who would deny the latter would by implication negate the former. These words are not obscure: that several are justified through the obedience of Christ, as they have been constituted sinners through the disobedience of Adam; and accordingly, that just as Adam, enfolding us in his ruin, has caused our perdition, likewise Christ brings us back to salvation through his grace. I do not think that a longer proof is needed in such a clear light of truth. Whereas the contents of the personal unconscious are acquired during the individual’s lifetime, the contents of the collective unconscious are invariably archetypes that were present from the beginning. Their relation to the instincts has been discussed elsewhere. #RandolphHarris 14 of 23

The archetypes most clearly characterized from the empirical point of view are those which have the most frequent and the most disturbing influence on the ego. These are the shadow, and the anima, the animus. The most accessible of these, and the easiest to experience, is the shadow, for its nature can in large measure be inferred from the contents of the personal unconscious. The only exceptions to this rule are those rather rare cases where the absolute qualities of the personality are repressed, and the ego in consequence plays an essentially negative or unfavourable role. The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involved recognizing the dark aspects of the personality are present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge, and it therefore, as a rule, meets with considerable resistance. Indeed, self-knowledge as a psychotherapeutic measure frequently requires much painstaking work extending over a long period. Closer examination of the morbid characteristics—that is, the inferiorities constituting the shadow—reveals that they have an emotional nature, a kind of autonomy, and accordingly an obsessive or, better, possessive quality. #RandolphHarris 15 of 23

Emotion, incidentally, is not an activity of the individual but something that happens to one. Affects occur usually where adaption is weakest, and at the same time they reveal the reason for its weakness, namely a certain degree of inferiority and the existence of a lower level of personality. On this lower level with its uncontrolled or scarcely controlled emotions one behaves more or less like a primitive, who is not only the passive victim of one’s effects but also singularly incapable of moral judgment. Although, with insight and good will, the shadow can to some extent be assimilated into the conscious personality, experience shows that there are certain features which offer the most obstinate resistance to moral control and prove almost impossible to influence. These resistances are usually bound up with projections, which are not recognized as such, and their recognition is a moral achievement beyond the ordinary. While some traits peculiar to the shadow can be recognized without too much difficulty as one’s own personal qualities, in this case both insight and good will are unavailing because the cause of the emotion appears to lie, beyond all possibility of doubt, in the other person. No matter how obvious it may be to the neutral observer that it is a matter of projections, there is little hope that the subject will perceive this oneself. #RandolphHarris 16 of 23

One must be convinced that one throws a very long shadow before one is willing to withdraw one’s emotionally-toned projections from the objects. Let us suppose that a certain individual shows no inclination whatever to recognize one’s projections. The projection-making factor then has a free hand and can realize its object—if it has one—or bring about some other situation characteristic of its power. As we know, it is not the conscious subject but the unconscious which does the projecting. Hence one meets with projections, one does not make them. The effect of projection is to isolate the subject from one’s environment, since instead of a real relation to it there is now only an illusory one. Projections change the World into the replica of one’s own unknown face. In the last analysis, one dreams a World whose reality remains forever unattainable. The resultant sentiment d’incompletude and still worse feeling of sterility are in their turn explained by projection as the malevolence of the environment, and by means of this vicious circle the isolation intensified. The more projections are thrust in between the subject and the environment, the harder it is for the ego to see through its illusion. #RandolphHarris 17 of 23

A forty-five-year-old patient who had suffered from a compulsion neurosis since he was twenty and had become completely cut off from the World said to me: “But I can never admit to myself that I have wasted the best twenty-five years of my life.” We can all blame Adam for or problems or recognize that Jesus is or Redeemer. It is often tragic to see how blatantly a person bungles one’s own life and the lives of others yet remains totally incapable of seeing how much the whole tragedy originates in oneself, and now one continually feeds it and keeps it going. Not consciously, of course—for consciously one is engaged in bewailing ad cursing a faithless World that recedes further and further into the distance. Rather, it is an unconscious factor which spins the illusions that veil one’s World. And what is being spun is a cocoon, which in the end will completely envelop one. One might assume that projections like these, which are so very difficult if not impossible to dissolve, like being caught in Satan’s web of sins, would belong to the realm of the shadow—that is, to the negative side of the personality. This assumption becomes untenable after a certain point, because the symbols that then appear no longer refer to the same but to the opposite gender, in a man’s case to a woman and vice versa. #RandolphHarris 18 of 23

The source of projections is no longer the shadow—which is always of the same gender as the subject—but a contrasexual figure. Here we met the animus of a woman and the anmia of a man, two corresponding archetypes whose autonomy and unconsciousness explain the stubbornness of their projections. Though the shadow is a motif as well known to mythology as anima and animus, it represents first and foremost the personal unconscious, and its content can therefore be made conscious without too much difficulty. In this it differs from anima and animus, for whereas the shadow can be seen through and recognized fairly easily, the anima and animus are much further away from consciousness and in normal circumstances are seldom if ever realized. With a little self-criticism one can see through the shadow—so far as its nature is personal. However, when it appears as an archetype, one encounters the same difficulties as with anima and animus. In other words, it is quite within the bounds of possibility for humans to recognize the relative evil of their nature, but it is a rare and shattered experience for one to gaze into the face of absolute evil. The stem of Jesse (Christ) will judge in righteousness—the knowledge of God will cover the Earth in the Millennium—the Lord will raise an ensign and gather Israel—Compare Isaiah 11. About 559-545 before Christ. #RandolphHarris 19 of 23

“And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; and shall makes him quick understanding in the fear of the Lord; and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears. However, with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth and he shall smite the Earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reigns. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the Earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. #RandolphHarris 20 of 23

“And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek; and his rest shall be glorious. And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the Earth. The envy of Ephraim also shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim also shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. However, they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines towards the west; they shall spoil them of the east together; they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them. And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind he shall shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make humans go over dry shod. And there shall be a highway for the remnant of his people which shall be left, from Assyria, like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt,” reports 2 Nephi 21.1-16. #RandolphHarris 21 of 23

Lord God, of might inconceivable, of glory incomprehensible, of mercy immeasurable, of benignity ineffable; do Thou, O Master, look down upon us in Thy tender love, and show forth, towards us and those who pray with us, Thy rich mercies and compassions. O God, Thou art very great, my lot is to approach Thee with Godly fear and humble confidence, for Thy condescension equals Thy grandeur, and Thy goodness is Thy glory. I am unworthy, but Thou dost welcome; guilty, but Thou art merciful; indigent, but Thy riches are unsearchable. Thou hast sown boundless compassion towards me by not sparing Thy Son, and by giving me freely all things in him; this is the foundation of my hope, the refuge of my safety, the new and living way to Thee, the means of that conviction of sin, brokenness of heart, and self-despair, which will endear to me the gospel. Happy are they who are Christ’s, in Him at peace with Thee, justified from all things, delivered from coming wrath, made heirs of future glory; give me such deadness to the World, such love to the Saviour, such attachment to his house, such devotedness to his service, as proves me a subject of his salvation. My every part of my character and conduct make a serious and amiable impression on others, and impel them to ask the way to the master. #RandolphHarris 22 of 23

Let to no incident of life, pleasing or painful, injure the prosperity of my soul, but rather increase it. Please send me Thy help, for thine appointments are not meant to make me independent of Thee, and the best means will be vain without super-added blessings. The self-actualized may tell of truth, as one knows it, by refraining from speech and entering the Stillness. However, if one’s interlocutors have not been preciously prepared to understand what lies behind one’s silence, they may not benefit by it. Serving humanity in one’s secret way, drawing benediction for all from this divine source, it would seem to be an unrequited activity; but one is included as recipient and beneficiary. Some come to illuminate, not to instruct. Some who have attained true wisdom make no special attempt to communicate it through speech or writing, or to express it in action. Does this mean the World never benefits from them, as it benefits by the existence and work of even the humblest primary school teacher? It does not. For their contribution, though quite noiseless, is not at all valueless. It is to let the silent influence of their presence among us touch those who can receive it, even though they do so unwittingly. Business underlies everything in our national life, including our spiritual life. Witness the fact that in the Lord’s Prayer, the first petition is for daily bread. No one can worship God or love one’s neighbour on an empty stomach. #RandolphHarris 23 of 23

HOME SITE 78

New Homes Brighton Station at Cresleigh Ranch HOME SITE 78

4-5 Bedrooms – 3.5 Bathrooms – 3,501 square feet – $589,854

Gorgeous two-story home located in the growing Cresleigh Ranch community! This sleek and modern home is an entertainer’s dream! The California Room directly off the Great Room offers an indoor/outdoor living experience while the extended kitchen island is perfect for large gatherings or busy households. A contemporary kitchen with stained recessed cabinetry, quartz counters, and single basin sink!

There is a bedroom on the first floor, located off the entry, with its own bathroom making it ideal for a guest suite or multi-generational living. The formal dining room provides ample space for entertaining and has convenient access to the kitchen via Butler’s Pantry. The kitchen comes fully equipped with a large eat-in island, stainless steel appliances, and quartz counters and opens onto the spacious great room. Upstairs you’ll find the master retreat, two bedrooms, and the loft perfect for a game room or TV lounge. The master retreat is spacious and inviting with a large bedroom and spa like bathroom featuring a free-standing soaking tub, walk-in shower, dual vanities, and two walk-in closets. https://youtu.be/TikCeN8MlLA

https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/

Truth Shall March–We Shall Not, I Believe, be Obliged to Alter Our Policy of Watchful Waiting!

May 13, 2020 1:11 am

I do not divine the World into the weak and the strong, or the success and the failures, those who make it and those who do not. I divine the World into learners and non-learners. We live under a government of humans and morning newspapers. However, one, on God’s side is a majority. The gulf that exists between partners may be due to old hurts. Pierce Thorndyke III and Bianca Dupree-Thorndyke have been married for fifteen years, have worked out many difficulties due to differing religious and cultural backgrounds, and their relationship now seems quite stable. Yet in an interview she reveals that she has held back much of her affection, and is not now freely giving toward him, because of an old resentment. During the early years of marriage, Bianca felt she did 90 percent of the giving, Pierce 10 percent. She has never talked out her resentment, and has carried evidence of this old scar into her present relationship with him. Both of them are now sad that she did not express her feelings much earlier—the partnership might have been much improved. Another effect is that communication becomes more open, more real, with more mutual listening. One can sometimes see the exact moment in which this process is taking place. #RandolphHarris 1 of 22

In a couples group a husband and wife were constantly attacking each other. The group tried to help them to listen more, to express their own feelings, not their judgments. The husband seemed to absorb something of this, and took the risk of stating, rather poignantly, the trap he felt he was in. The moment he ceased speaking, his wife took off in her attack on his motives and his behaviour toward her. The facilitator interrupted her, “Did you hear what your husband was trying to tell you?” “Of course I did.” The facilitator said, “Would you just tell him the essence of what he said, so that he know you heard him?” She fell silent, obviously searching her memory. She began to look very embarrassed. Finally she said to her husband, in the softest voice she had used since the group began, “What did you say?” It was the beginning of more listening. In the climate of a person-centered approach the partners come to recognize the value of separateness. Larke and Radley, a wealthy couple with a seemingly happy marriage, had all the external trappings imaginable. Both were well educated. Eighteen years earlier, Radley, a student at Harvard Law School, meets Larke Tanner at an auction in Nantucket, were they bid on the same antique. Radley Rose chats Larke up and they become friends. #RandolphHarris 2 of 22

When Larke misses her ferry home, the two end up spending the night together. Things went well for them. Eventually the two marry and have two children and settle an opulent suburban home, in Cresleigh Ranch, and own impressive new Ultimate Driving Machine. They did everything together, and over the years, the Roses grow richer. Everyone regarded theirs as a very successful marriage. Inwardly they both found the marriage uninteresting and frustrating. They were disillusioned and angry—at each other, but especially at life. They attended a couples group, and began to realize that they had stopped growing when they married, and more important, that they were not communicating. Finally Radley risked revealing himself and told Larke of the affairs he had been having Empress, Fifi, Jett, Jillian, Nikki Darling, and Tara Belle. Larke was frightened and jealous. She had assumed that there was security in her World, and now that World had collapsed. Her marriage was out of control, and she was very threatened. However, even in her fright there was a dawning realization, “If he can separate, perhaps I can too.” She became much more open in the group, and hence was seen as more lovable. Yet, to see that she was lovable in the eye of the group members was scary to Radley. He in his turn felt threatened and hurt. #RandolphHarris 3 of 22

However, his courage in being open about his affairs led Larke to be more courageous. Soon they were talking all night, each discovering new and interesting facets of the other. More and more each became aware of their separateness. They now can permit each other to date and pursue other relationships. Larke especially has dropped her “nice” image and become more of a real self, a self in which she feels much more confidence. For Larke and Radley both, a growth-promoting climate has meant a complete alteration in the politics of their marriage. No longer are they controlled by society’s expectations—that they must do everything together, must follow a conventional pattern, must submerge their lives in each other. They are becoming unique and separate persons, pursuing differing paths, and bound together by communication and mutual love, not by some imagined conventional pattern from outside. Another result such a climate is that the woman’s growing independence is recognized as valuable in the relationship. This is another example of the separateness we have just been noting, but it is such an important part of modern partnership that it deserves special mention. Troy Jeffries recently experienced what he called a “blockbuster” in his marriage. He has been preoccupied with his work. Bianca has carried the difficult task of raising their son, not without buried resentment. #RandolphHarris 4 of 22

As Bianca’s time became more free with the passing years, she returned to the university for further education, being exposed to several person-centered influences. She decided that she wanted to take a professional position in the town where they had formerly lived. She told Troy, but he simply could not take it seriously. When it did hit home that she meant it and that he would either have to give her up or change jobs himself, it was, as he says, a “blockbuster.” The family discussions were heated, and Bianca fortunately talked out some of her resentment, becoming more willing to make accommodation. However, the family is moving, Troy is changing jobs, and the dynamics of their relationship has altered dramatically. Troy has more respect for his wife; he seems more clearly the role he has played of being married to his job; and the ability of each of them to share their feelings has been markedly increased. Even in regard to their relationship in the pleasures of the flesh, which have never been ideal, there is more communication and hope. Part of the problem is that successful intimacy in pleasures of the flesh has been difficult when Bianca has been harbouring a buried resentment toward her husband. The problem of where to live, when both husband and wife are working and have attractive opportunities in different communities, is an increasing one. #RandolphHarris 5 of 22

Solving marital differences demands the utmost of shared feelings, exploration of all the options, and willingness to reach a solution that may not be ideal for either. Such problems are certain to occur more frequently as marriage is seen as an equalitarian partnership, with each spouse being respected as able to make important choices. However, negotiation implies that something negative is happening to both side in order to reach a mutual agreement that also accommodates the demands of both parties. This new trend is often especially threatening to the husband of the developing professional woman. Her increased independence makes him feel unneeded as a provider, his old role. There is always the possibility that she may earn more than he. Where both are in the same or similar professions, competition becomes implicit in their relationship. As a consequence the quality of their pleasures of the flesh, the degree to which each is growing, the extent to which they are developing mutual interests—all of these become far more important than in conventional marriages. Inevitably, in person-centered situation, there is increasing recognition of the importance of feelings, as well as reason, of emotions as well as intellect. A feeling is an emotionally tinged experience, together with its personal meaning. #RandolphHarris 6 of 22

Thus, a feeling includes the emotion but also the cognitive content of the meaning of that emotion in its experiential context. [They are] experienced inseparably in the moment. Including as it does both emotion and meaning, feeling is the broader term. The stress that recent centuries have placed upon reason, thinking, and rationality is the attempt to divorce the two actually inseparable components of experience, to the detriment of our humanity. This divorce of reason from feeling is one of the first myths to disappear in a person-centered approach. Individuals find themselves communicating with their whole beings, expressing their experiences, not some desiccated intellectual representation of them. This is one of the major reason why a person-centered approach has been so valuable to married couples and those living together in relationships. “Pure” reason and “objective” evaluation are not a basis on which two human beings can effectively live together. It means that they are attempting to exclude half of their experience (and perhaps the most important half) from their communication. Through intensive groups, student-centered classes, books, couples groups, and other sources more and more persons are learning the folly of such pseudo-communicate themselves as they are. #RandolphHarris 7 of 22

I will not attempt to deal here with the ways in which such real communication can be thwarted by jargon or by an encounter-group ritual. “I want to know what you really feel,” can be as much a pseudo-communication as any other, if it is not based on what the speaker is experiencing at the moment. Our American culture has been so corrupted by the fictional TV News media that anything can be turned into a “gimmick.” There is no doubt that this has often happened in the encounter groups and in the training of parents to be “real.” These false notes do not, however, change the importance of true communication, which is also on the increase. Exposure to a person-centered approach means that there is a thrust toward the experiencing of greater mutual trust, personal growth, and shared interests. The partners tend to develop more trust in each other as they are more real with each other. Being more real, they take more risks in being open, and thus enhance their growth as persons. As they communicate more deeply, they are likely to discover, and to wish to develop, more interest that they do or can share. #RandolphHarris 8 of 22

Experience in a person-centered psychological atmosphere has another result. Roles, and role expectations, tend to drop away and are replaced by the person, choosing her own way of behaving. Here are the expected roles of the male in the partnership. The man is head of the family. He is the sole provider. He is the stronger, the superior individual in the pair (and most women let their husbands believe this because they want a happy marriage and a confident man), though helped by “the little woman.” His life is governed by intellect, not by emotion. He alone may occasionally have need of an “affair.” He takes the lead in pleasures of the flesh. He is the stern disciplinarian of his children. All these roles and expectations collapse in a person-centered experience. The focus becomes the man as an individual person—human, fluctuating, behaving in the light of his immediate feelings and his long-range goals. The expectations for the woman are likewise open to challenge. The wife is submissive to her husband. She finds complete satisfaction in her home and children. She doe all the task of making and keeping a home happy, healthy, clean and fresh. She is the nest-builder. In comparison with her husband she is physically not as strong and usually allows him to act as ultimate authority. #RandolphHarris 9 of 22

The woman of the house plays an important role, she is capable of feelings, but usually what the husband says is the rule of law. She subordinates her interest to those of her spouse. Her pleasures of the flesh are usually subdued. She is not to engage in extramarital pleasures of the flesh. Again, the behaviour that is expected in playing these roles collapses in an encounter group or in person-centered therapy or in women’s consciousness-raising group. The individual woman emerges, with a sharply defined personality that is hers alone, behaving in the way that suits her needs and her choices. The sociological role loses its force in a person-centered experience. The male and female roles are rarely put forward so bluntly in today’s culture. They have already been weakened by social forces. However, we find them implicit in our social structure. Why are men paid more than women for the same job? Why are women permitted to weep when hurt, but not men? These roles are still very much alive and functioning, even though weakened. However, they lose their force completely in a person-centered encounter group. Here we find a man weeping, and a woman with the strength to help him find his way out of sorrow. Here we find a man who feels secure only in his present nest, with an adventurous wife to takes steps to a new life. #RandolphHarris 10 of 22

We find all of the usual role expectations being contradicted in the experience of men and women struggling to be their own experiencing. This leads to behaviour that is sometimes in line with role expectations, and sometimes not, but at no time is the behaviour governed by the role the person is expected to play. There is a more realistic appraisal of the needs each can meet in the other. When a man is thinking of his partner as a person, it becomes apparent that it is most unlikely that he can meet all of her needs—social, in pleasures of the flesh, emotional, intellectual. With equal force it strikes the woman that she cannot be everything to this man. When we are thinking not just of today but of years of being together, these statements become especially true. So it become only realistic to recognize that each partner will need to grant the other more living space for outside interests, outside relationships, time alone—all of the elements that enrich life. This in no way contradicts the continuing search for a wider and deeper mutual life. It simply means that, as Pierce and Bianca learned, they do not have to do everything together. Experiencing that greater freedom leads them to a more rewarding life together. #RandolphHarris 11 of 22

A general disturbance is symptomatic and relevant here and is known as inertia. Patients suffering from it sometimes accuse themselves of being lazy, but actually they cannot be lazy and enjoy it. They may have a conscious aversion to effort of any kind, and may rationalize it by saying tat it is up to others to carry out the “details”—that is, do the work. The aversion to effort may also appear as a fear that effort would be injurious to them. This fear is understandable in view of the fact that they know they tire easily; and it may be enhanced by the advice of physicians who take the exhaustion at its face value. Neurotic inertia is a paralysis of initiative action. Generally speaking, it is the result of a strong alienation from self and a lack of goal-direction. Long experience of strained and unsatisfactory effort leaves the neurotic with a fairly pervasive listlessness—although periods of hectic activity sometimes intervene. Of the single contributing factors the most influential are the idealized image and sadistic trends. The very fact of having to make a consistent effort may be felt by the neurotic as humiliating evidence that he is not his idealized image, while the prospect of doing something that might be only mediocre is so deterring that he prefers not to do it at all but perform magnificently in fantasy. #RandolphHarris 12 of 22

The gnawing self-contempt that invariably follows from the image robs him of the assurance that he can do anything worth while, thereby burying as in quicks all incentive and joy in activity. Sadistic trends, particularly in their repressed form (inverted sadism), make a person lean over backward from anything resembling aggression, with the result that a more or less complete psychic paralysis may ensure. Since it covers not only action but feelings as well, general inertia is of particular significance. The amount of energy that is wasted in consequence of unresolved neurotic conflicts is unfathomably great. Since neuroses are ultimately a product of the particular civilization, such a thwarting of human gifts and qualities stands as a serious indictment of the culture in question. Living with unresolved conflicts entails not only a diffusion of energies but also a split in matters of a moral nature—that is, in moral principles and all the feelings, attitudes, and behaviour that bear upon one’s relations with others and affect one’s own development. And as in the case of energies division leads to waste, so in moral question it leads to a loss of moral wholeheartedness, or in other words to an impairment of moral integrity. Such impairment is brought about by the contradictory positions assumed as well as by the attempts to conceal their contradictory nature. #RandolphHarris 13 of 22

Incompatible sets of moral values appear in the basic conflict. Despite all attempts to harmonize them, all of them keep operating. This means, however, that none is or can be taken seriously. The idealized image, for all that it includes elements of true ideals, is essentially a counterfeit, and as difficult for the person oneself or for the untrained observer to distinguish from the real thing as a counterfeit bank note from a valid one. The neurotic, as we have seen, may believe—in good faith—that one follows ideals, may castigate oneself for every apparent lapse, thus giving an impression of over conscientiousness in pursuit of one’s standards; or one may intoxicate oneself with thinking and talking about values and ideals. My assertion that one nevertheless does not take one’s ideals seriously means that they do not have obligating power for one’s life. One applies them when it is easy or useful for one to do so, while at other times one conveniently blots them out. We have seen instances of this in our discussion of blind spots and compartmentalizing—instances that would be inconceivable in the case of persons who took their ideals seriously. Nor if the ideals were genuine could they be thrown overboard as easily as they are—for instance in a person who, again in good faith, claims ardent devotion to a cause, but when exposed to temptation turns a traitor like the mutineers from Mutiny on the Bounty (1935). #RandolphHarris 14 of 22

Closely associated with governing ideas are images that occupy our minds. Images are always concrete or specific, as opposed to the abstractness of ideas, and are heavily laden with feeling. They frequently present themselves with the force of perception and have a powerful emotional and sensuous linkage to governing idea systems. They mediate the power of those idea systems into the real situations of ordinary life. Every idea system is present among us as a life force through a small number of powerful images. In recent American and European history, hair (long, short, skinhead; green, blue, yellow, orange, purple) undershirts (or the absence of burning thereof) flags (and their desecration) rock music, and hipster clothes have provided powerful images and symbols of conflicting idea systems and the attached ways of life. Images sustaining traditional cultural authority—“The Establishment” it was called—have, by contrast, lost power. In many Christian churches today the services have divided into “traditional” and “contemporary,” primarily over imagery and the explosive feelings attached thereto. The guitar and pipe organ are no longer just musical instruments, they are powerful symbols. This is not to say that such divisions are either unimportant or sinful. However, in order to act responsibly in relation to them, one does have to understand what drives such divisions. #RandolphHarris 15 of 22

Jesus Christ of course understood the great significance of images and has, indeed, become one Himself. Intentionally. He also carefully selected an image that brilliantly conveys Himself and His message; the cross. The cross presents the lostness of a person as well as the sacrifice of God and the abandonment to God that brings redemption. No doubt it is the all-time most powerful image and symbol of human history. Need we say he knew what he was doing in selecting it? He planned it all and is also the Master of images. For their own benefit, his followers need to keep the image of the cross vividly present in their mind. However, ideas and images are also a primary stronghold of evil in the human self and in society. They determine how we “take” the things and events of ordinary life. They control the meanings we assign to what we deal with, and they can even blind us to what lies plainly before us. Again, this is seen over and over in biblical and in Christian history, and in human life generally. Their power for evil cannot be overestimated and is constantly at play in most human governments and media organizations. Ideas and images are, accordingly, the primary focus of Satan’s effort to defeat God’s purposes with and for humankind. When we are subject to his chosen ideas and images, he can take nap or holiday. #RandolphHarris 16 of 22

Thus Satan undertook to draw Eve away from God, he did not hit her with a stick, but with an idea. It was with the idea that God could not be trusted and that she must act on her own to secure her own well-being. This is the basic idea back of all temptation: God is presented as depriving us by his commands of what is good, so we think we must take matters into our own hands and act contrary to wat he has said. This image of God leads to our pushing him our of our thoughts, as discussed in previous lectures, and putting ourselves on the throne of the Universe. The condition of the ruined soul and World naturally results. The single most important thing in our mind is our idea of God and the associated images. That our idea of God corresponds as nearly as possible to the true being of God is of immense importance to us. Compared with out actual thoughts about Him, our creedal statements are of little consequence. Our real idea of God may lie buried under the rubbish of conventional religious notions and may require an intelligent and vigorous search before it is finally unearthed and exposed for what it is. Only after an ordeal of painful self-probing are we likely to discover what we actually believe about God. A right conception of God is basic not only to systematic theology but to practical Christian living as well. #RandolphHarris 17 of 22

It is to worship what the foundation is to the temple; where it is inadequate or out of plumb the whole structure must sooner or later collapse. I believe there is scarcely an error in doctrine or a failure in applying Christian ethics that cannot be traced finally to imperfect and ignoble thoughts about God. The destruction of Assyria is a type of the destruction of the wicked at the Second Coming—few people will be left after the Lord comes again—the remnant of Jacob will return in that day—compare Isaiah 10. About 559-545 Before Christ. “Wo unto them that decree unrighteous degrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed; to turn away the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless! And that will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory? Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is their indignation. I will send him against a hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like mire of the streets. #RandolphHarris 18 of 22

“Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but in his heart it is to destroy and cut off nations not a few. For he saith: Are not my princes altogether kings? Is not Calno as Carchemish? Is not Hamath as Arpad? Is not Samaria as Damascus? As my hand hath founded the kingdoms f the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria; shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so to do to Jerusalem and to her idols? Wherefore it shall come to pass that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon Mount Zion and upon Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. For he saith: By the strength of my hand and by my wisdom I have done these things; for I am prudent; and I have moved the borders of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man; and my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people; and as one gathereth eggs that are left have I gathered all the Earth; and there was none that moved the wings, or opened the mouth, or peeped. Shall the ax boast itself against him that heweth therewith? Shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? As if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up itself as if it were not wood! #RandolphHarris 19 of 22

“Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of Hosts, send among his fat ones, leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire. And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame, and shall burn and shall devour his thorns and his briers in one day; and shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body; and they shall be as when a standard-bearer fainteth. And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them, but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant shall return, yea, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return; the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness. For the Lord God of Hosts shall make a consumption, even determined in all the land. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God of Hosts: O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian; he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt. For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction. #RandolphHarris 20 of 22

“And the Lord of Hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; and as his rod was upon the sea so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt. And it shall come to pass in that day that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing. He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages. They are gone over the passage; they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramath is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled. Lift up the voice, O daughter of Gallim; cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth. Madmenah is removed; the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee. As yet shall he remain at Nob that day; he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. Behold, the Lord, the Lord of Hosts shall lop the bough with terror; and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down; and the haughty shall be humbled. And he shall cut down the thickets of the forests with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a might one,” reports 2 Nephi 20.1-34. Holy, Most High, Awful, Who dwellest in the holy place, make us holy, and bring us near to Thee, and cleanse us from all defilement, that we may perform the worship of our fathers in Thy fear; for Thou art He that blesses and hallow all things. #RandolphHarris 21 of 22

Thou Maker and Sustainer of All Things, day and night are tine, Heaven and Earth declare Thy glory; but I, a creature of Thy power and bounty, have sinned against Thee by resisting the dictates of conscience, the demands of Thy law, the calls of Thy gospel; yet I live under the dispensation of a given hope. Deliver me from Worldly dispositions, for I am born from above and bound for glory. May I view and long after holiness as the beauty and dignity of the soul. Let me never slumber, never lose my assurance, never fail to wear armour when passing through the enemy land. Fit me for every scene and circumstances; stay my mind upon Thee and turn my trials to blessings, that they may draw out my gratitude and praise as I see their design and effects. Render my obedience to Thy will holy, natural, and delightful. Rectify all my principles by clear, consistent, and influential views of divine truth. Let me never undervalue or neglect any part of Thy revealed will. May I duly regard the doctrine and practice of the gospel, prizing its commands as well as its promises. Sanctify me in every relation, office, transaction and condition of life, that if I prosper I may not be unduly exalted, if I suffer I may not be over-sorrowful. Please balance my mind in all varying circumstances and help me to cultivate a disposition that renders every duty a spiritual privilege. Thus may I be content, be a glory to Thee and an example to others. #RandolphHarris 22 of 22

Cresleigh Homes

The best part of a Cresleigh home is making it your own! This #MillsStation Residence 2 floor plan comes with an upstairs loft that’s perfect for a play area, study space, or even just a spot to relax. That couch does look pretty inviting.

Go on a virtual walkthrough of this plan on our website. Link in bio. https://cresleigh.com/mills-station/move-in-ready-home-site-61/

#CresleighRanch
#CresleighHomes

Well, if I Called the Wrong Number, Why Did You Answer the Phone?

May 12, 2020 12:36 am

All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. The aim of education should be to convert the mind into a living fountain and not a reservoir. That which is filled by merely pumping in, will be emptied by pumping out. A social condition is commonly the result of circumstances, sometimes of laws, oftener still of these two causes united; but wherever it exists, it may justly be considered as the source of almost all the laws, the usages, and the ideas, which regulate the conduct of nations: whatever it does not produce, it modifies. It is, therefore, necessary, if we would become acquainted with the legislation and the manners of a nation, to begin by the study of its social condition. The striking characteristic of the social condition the Anglo-Americans is its essential democracy. The first Emigrants of New England.—Their Equality.—Aristocratic Laws introduced in the South.—Period of the Revolution.—Change in the Law of Descent.—Effects produced by this Change.—Democracy carried to its utmost Limits in the new States of the West.—Equality of Education. Many important observations suggest themselves upon the social condition of the Anglo-Americans; but there is one which takes precedence of all the rest. The social condition of the Americas is eminently democratic; this was its character at the foundation of the colonies, and is still more strongly marked at the present day. #RandolphHarris 1 of 19

Great equality existed among the emigrants who settled on the shores of New England The germe of aristocracy was never planted in that part of the Union. The only influence which obtained there was that of intellect; the people were used to reverence certain names as the emblems of knowledge and virtue. Some of their fellow-citizens acquired a power over the rest which might truly have been called aristocratic, if it had been capable of invariable transmission from father to son. This was the state of things to the east of the Hudson: to the southwest of that river, and in the direction of the Floridas, the case was different. In most of the states situated to the southwest of the Hudson some great English proprietors had settled, who had imported with them aristocratic principles and the English law of descent. I have explained the reasons why it was impossible ever to establish a powerful aristocracy in America; these reasons existed with less force to the south west of the Hudson. In the south, one man, assisted by enslaved people, could cultivate a great extent of country: it was therefore common to see rich landed proprietors. However, their influence was not altogether aristocratic as that term is understood in Europe, since they possessed no privileges; and the cultivation of their estates being carried on by slaves, they had no tenants depending on them, and consequently no patronage. #RandolphHarris 2 of 19

Still, the great proprietors south of the Hunsdon constituted a superior class, having ides and tastes of its own, and forming the center of political action. This kind of aristocracy sympathized with the body of the people, whose passions and interests it easily embraced; but it was too weak and too short-lived to excite either love or hatred for itself. This was the class which headed the insurrection in the south, and furnished the best leaders of the American revolution. At the period of which we are now speaking, society was shaken to its center: the people, in whose name the struggled had taken place, conceived the desire of exercising the authority which it had acquired; its democratic tendencies were awakened; and having thrown off the yoke of the mother-country, it aspired to independence of every kind. The influence of individuals gradually ceased to be felt, and custom and law untied together to produce the same result. However, the law of descent was the last step to equality. I am surprised that ancient and modern jurists have attributed to this law a greater influence on human affairs. I understand by the law of descent all the laws whose principal object it is to regulate the distribution of property after the death of its owner. The law of entail is of this number: it certainly prevents the owner from disposing of one’s possession before one’s death; but this is solely with a view of preserving them entire for the heir. #RandolphHarris 3 of 19

It is true that these laws belong to civil affairs: but they ought nevertheless to be placed at the head of all political institutions; for, while political laws are only the symbol of a nation’s condition, they exercise an incredible influence upon its social state. They have, moreover, a sure and uniform manner of operating upon society, affecting, as it were, generations yet unborn. Through their means humans acquire a kind of preternatural power over the future lot of their fellow-creatures. When the legislator has once regulated the law of inheritance, one may rest from one’s labour. The machine once put in motion will go on for ages, and advance, as if self-guided, toward a given point. When framed in a particular manner, this law unites, draws together, and advance, as if self-guided, toward a given point. When framed in a particular manner, this law unites, draws together, and vests property and power in a few hands: its tendency is clearly aristocratic. On opposite principles its action is still more rapid; it divides, distributes, and disperses both property and power. Alarmed by the rapidity of its progress, those who despair of arresting its motion endeavour to obstruct by difficulties and impediments; they vainly seek to counteract its effect by contrary efforts; but it gradually reduces or destroys every obstacle, until by its incessant activity the bulwarks of the influence of wealth are grounded down to the fine and shifting sand which is the basis of democracy. #RandolphHarris 4 of 19

When the law of inheritance permits, still more when it decrees, the equal division of a father’s property among all his children, its effects are of two kinds: it is important to distinguish them from each other, although they tend to the same end. In virtue of law of partible inheritance, the death of every proprietor brings about a kind of revolution in property: not only do one’s possessions change hands, but their very nature is altered; since they are parceled into shares, which become smaller and smaller at each division. This is the direct, and, as it were, they physical effect of the law. It follows, then, that in countries where equality of inheritance is established by law, property, and especially landed property, must have a tendency to perpetual diminution. The effects, however, of such legislation would only be perceptible after a lapse of time, if the law was abandoned to its own working; for supposing a family to consist of two children (and in a country peopled as France is, the average number is not above three), these children, sharing among them the fortune of both parents, would not be poorer than their father or mother. However, the law of equal division exercises its influence not merely upon the property itself, but it affects the minds of the heirs, and brings their passion into play. These indirect consequences tend powerfully to the destruction of large fortunes, and especially of large domains. #RandolphHarris 5 of 19

Among the nations whose law of descent is founded upon the right of primogeniture, landed estates often pass from generation to generation without undergoing division. The consequence of which is, that family feeling is to a certain degree incorporated with the estate. The family represents the estate, the estate the family; whose name, together with its origin, its glory, its power, and its virtues, is thus perpetuated in an imperishable memorial of the past, and sure pledge of the future. When the equal partition of property is established by law, the intimate connexion is destroyed between the family feeling and the preservation of the paternal estate; the property ceases to represent the family; for, as it must inevitably be divided after one or two generations, it has evidently a constant tendency to diminish, and must in the end be completely dispersed. The sons of the great landed proprietor, if they are few in number, of it fortune befriend them, may indeed entertain the hope of being as wealthy as their father, but not that of possessing the same property as he did; their riches must necessarily be composed of elements different from his. Now, from the moment when you divest the land-owner of that interest in the preservation of his estate which he derives from association, from tradition, and from family pride, you may be certain that sooner or later he will dispose of it; for there is a strong pecuniary interest in favour of selling, as floating capital produces higher interest than real property, and is more readily available to gratify the passions of the moment. #RandolphHarris 6 of 19

Great landed estates which have once been divided, never come together again; for the small proprietor draws from his land a better revenue in proportion, than the large owner does from his; and of course he sells it at a higher rate. (I do not mean to say that the small proprietor cultivates his land better, but he cultivates I with more ardour and care; so that he makes up by his labour for his want of skill.) The calculations of gain, therefore, which decided the rich man to sell his domain, will still more powerfully influence him against buying small estates to unite them into a large one. What is called family pride is often founded upon an illusion of self-love. A man wishes to perpetuate and immortalize himself, as it were, in his great-grandchildren. Where the esprit de famille ceases to act, individual selfishness comes into play. When the idea of family becomes vague, indeterminate, and uncertain, a man thinks of his present convenience; he provides for the establishment of the succeeding generation, and no more. Either a man gives up the idea of perpetuating his family, or at any rate he seeks to accomplish it by other means than that of a landed estate. Thus not only does the law of partible inheritance render it difficult for families to preserve their ancestral domains entire, but it deprives them of the inclination to attempt it, and compels them in some measure to co-operate with the law in their own extinction. #RandolphHarris 7 of 19

The law of equal distribution proceeds by two methods: by acting upon things, it acts upon persons; by influencing persons, it affects things. By these means the law succeeds in striking at the root of landed property, and dispersing rapidly both families and fortunes. (Land being the most stable kind of property, we find, from time to time, rich individuals who are disposed to make great sacrifices in order to obtain it, and who willingly forfeit a considerable part of their income to make sure of the rest. However, these are accidental cases. The preference for landed property is no longer found habitually in any class but among the poor. The small land-owner, who has less information, less imagination, and fewer passion, than the great one, is generally occupied with the desire of increasing his estate; and it often happens that by inheritance, by marriage, or by the chances of trade, he is gradually furnished with the means. Thus, to balance the tendency which leads men to divide their estates, there exists another, which incites them to add to them. This tendency, which is sufficient to prevent estates from being divided ad infinitum, is not strong enough to create great territo rial possessions, certainly not to keep them up in the same family.) Most certainly it is not for us, Frenchmen of the nineteenth century, who daily behold the political and social changes which the law of partition is bringing to pass, to question its influence. #RandolphHarris 8 of 19

It is perpetually conspicuous in our country, overthrowing the walls of our dwellings and removing the landmarks of our fields. However, although it has produced great effects in France, must still remains for it to do. Our recollections, opinions, and habits, present powerful obstacles to progress. In the Untied States of America it has nearly completed its work of destruction, and there we can best study its results. The English laws concerning the transmission of property were abolished in almost all the states at the time of the revolution. The law of entail was so modified as not to interrupt the free circulation of the property. The first having passed away, estates began to be parceled out; and the change became more and more rapid with the progress of time. At this moment, after a lapse of little more than sixty years, the aspect of society is totally altered; the families of the great landed proprietors are almost all commingled with the general mass. In the state of New York, which formerly contained many of these, there are but two who still keep their heads above the stream; and they must shortly disappear. The sons of these opulent citizens have become merchants, lawyers, or physicians. Most of them have lapsed into obscurity. The last trace of hereditary tanks and distinctions is destroyed—the law of partition has reduced all to one level. #RandolphHarris 9 of 19

I do not mean that there is any deficiency of wealthy individuals in the United States of America; I know of no country, indeed, where the love of money has taken stronger hold on the affections of men, and where a profounder contempt is expressed for the theory of the permanent equality of property. However, wealth circulates with inconceivable rapidity, and experience shows that it is rare to find two succeeding generations in the full enjoyment of it. This picture, which may perhaps be thought overcharged, still gives a very imperfect idea of what is taking place in the new states of the west and southwest. At the end of the last century a few bold adventurers began to penetrate into the valleys of the Mississippi, and the mass of the population very soon began to move in that direction: communities unheard of till then were seen to emerge from their wilds: states, whose names were not in existence a few years before, claimed their place in the American Union; and in the western settlements we may behold democracy arrived at its utmost extreme. In these states, founded off hand, and as it were by chance, the inhabitants are but of yesterday. Scarcely known to one another, the nearest neighbours are unaware of each other’s history. #RandolphHarris 10 of 19

In this part of the American continent, therefore, the population has not experienced the influence of great names and great wealthy, not even that of natural aristocracy of knowledge and virtue. None are there to wield that respectable power which men willingly grant to the remembrance of a life spent in doing good before their eyes. The new states of the west are already inhabited; but society has no existence among them. It is not only the fortunes of men which are equal in America; even their acquirements partake in some degree of the same uniformity. I do not believe there is a country in the World where, in proportion to the population, there are so few uninstructed, and at the same time so few learned individuals. Primary instruction is within the reach of everybody; superior instruction is scarcely to be obtained by any. This is not surprising; it is in fact the necessary consequence of what we have advanced above. Almost all the Americans are in easy circumstances, and can therefore obtain the first elements of human knowledge. In America there are comparatively few who are rich enough to live without a profession. Every profession requires an apprenticeship, which limits the time of instruction to the early years of life. At fifteen they enter upon their calling, and thus their education ends at the age wen ours begins. #RandolphHarris 11 of 19

Whatever is done afterward, is with a view to some special and lucrative object; a science is taken up as a matter of business, and the only branch of it which is attended to is such as admits of an immediate practical application. What is meant by the remark, that “at fifteen they enter upon a career, and thus their education is very often finished at the epoch when ours commences,” is not clearly perceived. Our professional men enter upon their course of preparation for their respective professions, wholly between eighteen and twenty-one years of age. Apprentices to trades are bound out, ordinarily, at fourteen, but what general education they receive is after that period. Previously, they have acquired the mere elements of reading, writing, and arithmetic. However, it is supposed there is nothing peculiar to America, in the age at which apprenticeship commences. In England, they commence at the same age, and it is believed that the same thing occurs throughout Europe. It is feared that the author has not expressed himself with his usual clearness and precision. In American most of the rich men were formerly poor: most of those who now enjoy leisure were absorbed in business during their youth; the consequences of which is, that when they might have had a taste for study they had no time for it, and when the time is at their disposal they have no longer the inclination. #RandolphHarris 12 of 19

There is no class, then, in America in which the taste for intellectual pleasures is transmitted with hereditary fortune and leisure, and by which the labours of the intellect are held in honour. Accordingly there is an equal want of the desire and the power of application to these objects. A middling standard is fixed in America for human knowledge. All approach as near to it as they can; some as they rise, others as they descend. Of course, an immense multitude of persons are to be found who entertain the same number of ideas on religion, history, science, political economy, legislation, and government. The gifts of intellect proceed directly from God, and man cannot prevent their unequal distribution. However, in consequence of the state of things which we have here represented, it happens, that although the capacities of men are widely different, as the Creator has doubtless intended they should be, they are submitted to the same method of treatment. In American the aristocratic element has always been feeble from its birth; and if at the present day it is not actually destroyed, it is at any rate so completely disabled that we can scarcely assign to it any degree of influence in the course of affairs. #RandolphHarris 13 of 19

The democratic principle, no the contrary, has gained so much strength by time, by events, and by legislation, as to have become no only predominant but all-powerful. There is no family or corporate authority, and it is rare to find even the influence of individual character enjoy any durability. American, then, exhibits in her social state a most extraordinary phenomenon. Men are there seen on a greater equality in point of fortune and intellect, or in other words, more equal in their strength, than in any other country of the World, or, in any age of which history has preserved the remembrance. The political consequences of such a social condition as this are easily deducible. It is impossible to believe that equality will not eventually find its way into the political World as it does everywhere else. To conceive of men remaining forever unequal upon one single point, yet equal on all others, is impossible; they must come in the end to be equal upon all. Now I know of only two methods of establishing equality in the political World: Every citizen must be put in possession of one’s rights, or rights must be granted to no one. For nations which have arrived at the same stage of social existence as the Anglo-Americans, it is therefore very difficult to discover a medium between the sovereignty of all and the absolute power of one person: and it would be vain to deny that social condition which I have been describing is equally liable to each of these consequences. #RandolphHarris 14 of 19

There is, in fact, manly and lawful passion for equality, which excites men to wish all to be powerful and honoured. This passion tends to elevate the humble to the rank of the great; but there exists also in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to attempt to lower the powerful to their own level, and reduces men to prefer equality in slavery to inequality with freedom. Not that those nations whose social conditions is democratic naturally despise liberty; on the contrary, they have an instinctive love of it. However, liberty is not the chief and constant object of their desires; equality is their idol: they make rapid and sudden efforts to obtain liberty, and if they miss their aim, resign themselves to their disappointment; but noting can satisfy them excent equality, and rather than lose it they resolve to perish. On the other hand, in a sate where the citizens are nearly on an equality, it becomes difficult for them to preserve their independence against the aggressions of power. No one among them being strong enough to engage singly in the struggle with advantage, nothing but a general combination can protect their liberty: and such a union is not always to be found. From the same social position, then, nations may derive one or the other two great political results; these results are extremely different from each other, but they may both proceed from the same cause. #RandolphHarris 15 of 19

The Angelo-Americans, are the first who, having been exposed to this formidable alternative, have been happy enough to escape the dominion of absolute power. They have been allowed by their circumstances, their origin, their intelligence, and especially by their moral feeling, to establish and maintain the sovereignty of the people. Isaiah speaks messianically—the people in darkness will see a great light—unto us as a child is born—he will be the Prince of Peace and will reign on David’s throne—compare Isaiah 9. About 559-545 Before Christ. “Nevertheless, the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun, and the land of Naphtali, and afterwards did more grievously afflict by the way of the Red Sea beyond Jordan in Galilee of the nations. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. Thou hast multiplied the nation, and increased the joy—they joy before Thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. For thou hast broke the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor. For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire. #RandolphHarris 16 of 19

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of government and peace there is no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will Perform this. The Lord sent his word unto Jacob and it hath lighted upon Israel. And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart: the bricks are fallen down, but we will build when hewn stones; the sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars. Therefore the Lord shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, and join his enemies together; the Syrians before and the Philistine behind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the Lord of Hosts. Therefore will the Lord cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush in one day. The ancient, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail. For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed. #RandolphHarris 17 of 19

“Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows; for every one of them is a hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. For wickedness burneth as the fire; it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forests, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke. Through the wrath of the Lord of Hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire; no person shall spare one’s brother. And one shall snatch on the right hand and be hungry; and one shall eat on the left hand and they shall not be satisfied; they shall eat every person the flesh of one’s own arm—Manasseth, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh; they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still,” 2 Nephi 19.1-21. O Life-Giving Master, and Bestower of good things, Who hast given unto people the blessed Hope of everlasting life, our Lord Jesus Christ; grant us to perform this Divine service unto Thee in holiness, that we may enjoy the blessedness to come; and being evermore guarded by Thy power, and guided into the light of truth, may continually render unto Thee all glory and thanksgiving. #RandolphHarris 18 of 19

Gracious God, my heart praises Thee for the wonder of Thy love in Jesus; He is Heaven’s darling, but is for me the incarnate, despised, rejected, crucified sin-bearer; in him Thy grace has almost out-graced itself, in him Thy love to rebels has reached its height; O to love Thee with a love like this! My heart is locked, let Thy love be the master key to pen it; O Father, I adore Thee for Thy great love in the gift of Jesus, O Jesus, I bless Thee for resigning Thy life for me, O Holy Spirit, I thank Thee for revealing to me this mystery; Great God, let Thy Son see in me the travail of His soul! Please bring me away from my false trusts to rest in Him, and Him only. Let me no be so callous to his merit as not to love him, so indifferent to His blood as not to desire cleansing. Lord Jesus, Master, Redeemer, Saviour, come and take entire possession of me; this is Thy right by purchase. In the arms of love enfold and subdue my willful spirit. Take, sanctify, use my every faculty. I am not ashamed of my hope, nor has my confidence led me into confusion. I trusted in Thee regarding my innumerable sins, and Thou hast cast them behind my back. When evils encompassed me, I trusted in Thee, and Thou broughtest me out into a wealthy place. I trusted in Thee in an hour of distress, and Thou didst not fail me, though faith trembled. O God of the eternal choice, O God of the restored possession purchased on the tree, O God of the effectual call, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, I adore Thy Glory, honour, majesty, power, dominion forever. #RandolphHarris 19 of 19

Cresleigh Homes

Find everything you need to keep your furry friend feeling their best at @HUBApts! 🐶 Our pet-friendly facilities include a dog park and pet wash area to keep your dog fit and squeaky clean! ✨Explore a (long!) list of other amenities on HUB’s website. Link in bio. 👉 https://www.hub-folsomapts.com/

#CresleighHomes

The Health of Nations is More Important than the Wealth of Nations!

May 11, 2020 2:08 am

The people’s judgment is not always true; the most may err a grossly as the few. The primary purpose of goal setting is to pull change in the direction you have chosen—one which fits your expertise and overall plan. Governance is more than just the structure and administration of a nation’s government. It is the rules and rulers, the law, and the bureaucracy embedded in the system of that government, it is about the relationship between the state and the individual. The various theories of justice, including the polity, law, structure, communication, and administration of governance are rooted in democracy as a governance system that emphasizes the “rule by the people” and citizenship, participation, and communication. A republic is a governance system in which the constitution is seen as an essential document organizing the collective will and rule of law. Governance systems of anarchy promote the idea that humankind should have the individual liberty to act in accordance to their own will and absent of constraint. Communism and theocracy are both governance ideas which emphasize a government that is “absolute” in rule and regulation in order to maintain a stronger communal liberty. Equality in the United States of American is supposed to be so great in both fortune and intellect that the strength of democracy will spread throughout the World. #RandolphHarris 1 of 19

Within this democratic republic are core theories of justice, such as contractarianism and egalitarianism. This view holds that a social contract is assembled by the collective will of the people, along with guiding principles of equality and joint responsibility. Integration of differing theories of justice intersect and work in agreement toward a stronger and fairer governance structure of democratic republic, and this self-governance is the goal of justice. However, at times, the law can be guilty of the very iniquity which it was its mission to punish! All people have a right of defending, even by force, one’s person, one’s liberty, and one’s property. However, much like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “We believe in law and order. We are not advocating violence. We want to love our enemies. Hate begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness. We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love. Our aim must never be to defeat or humiliate, but to win one’s friendship and understanding.” Systems of justice within governance must reflect the goal of equality of basic conditions for everyone. One cannot dismantle the master’s house with the master’s tools. The tools may allow us temporarily to beat one at one’s own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change. #RandolphHarris 2 of 19

To consider the consequences of unresolved conflicts is to enter a seemingly limitless territory and one that has been little explored. We could, perhaps, approach it by embarking on a discussion of certain symptomatic disorders like depression, alcoholism, epilepsy, or schizophrenia, hoping thereby to gain a better understanding of particular disturbances. I prefer, however, to examine it from a more general vantage point and to pose the question: What do unresolved conflicts do to our energies, our integrity, and our happiness? I adopt this approach because it is my conviction that we cannot grasp the significance of any symptomatic disorder without an understanding of its fundamental human basis. The tendency in modern psychiatry to reach for a handy theoretical formulation to account for existing syndromes is not unnatural in view of the need of the clinician whose job it is to deal with them. However, to do so is as little feasible, let alone scientific, as for a construction engineer to build the top floors of a building before laying the foundation. Some of the elements that enter into our question have already been mentioned and need only be elaborated here. Others are implicit in our previous discussions; still other will have to be added. #RandolphHarris 3 of 19

Our aim is to leave the reader not with some vague notion that unresolved conflicts are injurious but to convey a fairly clear and comprehensive picture of the havoc they inflict on the personality. Living with unresolved conflicts involves primarily a devastating waste of human energies, occasioned not only be the conflicts themselves but by all the devious attempts to remove them. When a person is basically divided one can never put one’s energies wholeheartedly into anything but wants always to pursue two or more incompatible goals. This means that one will either scatter one’s energies or actively frustrate one’s efforts. The former is true of persons whose idealized image, like Peer Gynt’s, lures them into believing that they can excel in everything. A woman, in this case, want to be an ideal mother, a perfect cook and hostess, dress well, play a prominent social and political role, be a devoted wife, have affairs outside marriage and do productive work of her own to boot. Needless to say, this cannot be done; she will be bound to fail in all these pursuits, and her energies—no matter how potentially gifted she is—will be wasted. Of more general relevance is the frustration of a single pursuit where incompatible motivations block each other. A man may want to be a good friend but be so domineering and demanding that his potentialities in this direction are never realized. #RandolphHarris 4 of 19

Another wants his children to get on in the World, but his drive for personal power and his insistent rightness interfere. Someone want to write a book but get a splitting headache or is seized with a deadly fatigue whenever he cannot immediately formulate what he wants to say. In this instance it is again the idealized image that is responsible: since he is the mastermind, why should not brilliant thoughts flow from his pen like rabbits from a magician’s hat? And when they do not, he bursts with rage at himself. Someone else may have an idea of real value that he wants to present at a meeting. However, one wishes not only to express it in a way that will be impressive and put others in the shade; one also wants to be liked and to avoid antagonizing, and at the same time anticipates ridicule because of this externalization of one’s self-contempt. The result is that he cannot think at all and the pertinent thought he might have produced never reaches fruition. Still another could be a good organizer but by reason of one’s sadistic trends antagonizes everyone around one. If we look at ourselves and those about us, it is hardly necessary to give further examples because all of us can find plenty of them. There is an apparent exception to this lack of clear direction. #RandolphHarris 5 of 19

Sometimes neurotic persons show a curious single-mindedness of purpose: men many sacrifice everything including their own dignity to their ambition; women may want nothing of life but love; parents may devote their entire interest to their children. Such persons give the impression of wholeheartedness. However, as we have shown, they are actually pursuing a mirage which appears to offer a solution of their conflicts. The apparent wholeheartedness is one of desperation rather than of integration. It is not the conflicting needs and impulses alone that consume and dissipate energies. Other factors in the protective structure have the same effect. There is the eclipse of whole areas of the personality due to the suppression of parts of the basic conflict. The parts eclipsed are still sufficiently active to interfere, but they cannot be put to constructive use. The process thus constitutes a loss of energy that might otherwise be used for self-assertion, for co-operation, or for establishing good human relationships. There is, to mention only one other factor, the alienation from self that robs a person of one’s motor force. One can still be a good worker, one may even be able to make a considerable effort when put under external pressure, but he collapses when left to his own resources. This does not only mean that he cannot do anything constructive or enjoyable with his free time; it means nothing less than that all his creative forces may go to waste. #RandolphHarris 6 of 19

For the most part, a variety of factors combine to create large areas of diffuse inhibition. In order to understand and eventually remove a single inhibition, we usually have to come back to it again and again, tackling it from all the angles we have discussed. Waste or misdirection of energy can stem from three major disturbances, all symptomatic of unresolved conflicts. One of these is a general indecisiveness. It may be prevalent in everything, from trifles to matters of greatest personal importance. There may be an endless wavering whether to eat this dish or that, whether to buy this or that suitcase, whether to go to the movies or listen to the radio. It may be impossible to decide on a career or on any step within a career; to decide between two women; to decide whether or not to get a divorce; whether to die or to live. A decision that must be made and that would be irrevocable is a real ordeal and may leave a person panic-stricken and exhausted. Though their indecisiveness may be marked, people are often unaware of it because they unconsciously exert every effort to avoid decision. They procrastinate; they allow themselves to be swayed by chance or else leave the decision to someone else. They may also becloud issues to a degree that leaves no basis upon which to make a decision. The aimlessness that follows from all this is likewise not usually apparent to the person oneself. #RandolphHarris 7 of 19

The many unconscious devices employed to cover up pervasive indecision account for the comparative rarity with which analysts hear complaints about what is actually a common disorder. Another typical manifestation of divided energies is a general ineffectualness. I do not have in mind here an inaptitude in a particular field, which might be due to lack of training or interest in the subject. Nor is it a question of untapped energies such as William James describes in a most interesting paper pointing to the fact that a reservoir of energy becomes available when one does not succumb to the first sigh of fatigue, or under pressure of external circumstances. In effectualness in this context is that which results from a person’s incapacity to exert one’s best efforts by reason of one’s inner crosscurrents. It is as if one were driving a care with the brakes on; inevitably the car is slowed down. Sometimes this is literally applicable. Everything a person attempts may be done much more slowly than either one’s abilities or the inherent difficult of the task would warrant. Not that one makes insufficient effort; on the contrary, one must put in an inordinate amount of effort into anything one does. It may take one hours, for instance, to write a simple reports r master a simple mechanical device. #RandolphHarris 8 of 19

What exactly impedes one suffering from ineffectualness of course varies. One may unconsciously rebel against what one feels as coercion; one may be driven to perfect every minute detail; one may be furious at oneself—as in an example above—for not acquitting oneself superbly at the first attempt. The ineffectualness does not only manifest itself in slowness; I may also appear in awkwardness or forgetfulness. If one secretly feels it is unfair, gifted as one is, a domestic worker or a housewife will not do one’s work well because it is beneath one to do such menial work. And one’s ineffectualness will usually not be confined to this particular activity but will pervade all one’s endeavours. From the subjective standpoint this means working under strain, with the inevitable consequences of becoming easily exhausted and needing much sleep. Any kind of work under these conditions is bound to take more out of a person, just as if a car is drive with locked brakes, it will suffer. The inner strain—and the ineffectualness as well—is present not only in work but also to a very marked degree in dealing with people. If someone wants to be friendly but at the same time resent the idea because one feels it to be ingratiating, one will be stilted; if one wants to ask for something but also feels one should command it, one will be ungracious; if one wants to assert oneself but also to comply, one will be hesitant. #RandolphHarris 9 of 19

Similarly, if one wants to make contact people but anticipate rejection, one will be sky; if one wants to have pleasures of the flesh but also wants to frustrate the partner, one will be frigid—and so on. The more pervasive he countercurrents, the greater the strain of living. Some persons are aware of such inner strain; more often they become aware of it only if under special conditions it is increased; sometimes it strikes them only by contrast with the few occasion when they can relax, feel at ease, and be spontaneous. For the resulting fatigue they usually hold other factors responsible—a weak constitution, an overdose of work, a lack of sleep. Any of these, it is true, may play a role, but a much less significant one than is ordinarily believed. In contrast, a self-actualized person’s state will not be easily discernible to others, unless they happen to be the few who are themselves sufficiently advanced and sufficiently sensitive to appreciate it. Yet it is one’s duty to announce the glorious news of its discovery, to publish the titanic fact of its existence. However, one will do so in one’s own way, according to one’s own charactertistics and circumstances. One will not need to announce it in a speech, or print in it a book; one will not publish the fact in daily newspapers or shout it from the housetops. #RandolphHarris 10 of 19

One’s whole life will be the best announcement, the grandest publication. Without oneself being a priest, one performs the true priestly office. The strange and sweet spell flung forever over sensitive, ripe, and ready minds by the self-actualized, when one uses one’s wisdom and goodness, is like a caduceus to enchant them into becoming seekers after truth. One is a prophet without a church, a teacher without a school, a reformer without an institution. The adept can do much more through the prestige of true ideas set down in writing than through the mechanical efforts of any formal organization, more by helping individuals than by creating a collective body which would one day exploit them. One is the abstract, far-off ideal, but embodied visibly for our benefit and put near us for our inspiration. Can one person transfer spiritual grace to another? If by grace if meant here can one give a glimpse of God to another, the answer is Yes!—if the other is worthy, sensitive, and above al karmically ready. Ne can if the other person is capable of absorbing the stimulus radiated to one. In the case of those who are ready for it or who have affinity with one, a master may be able to bring about a temporary illuminating glimpse through one’s inner contact with the other person by the power of one’s spiritual force. This force can be expressed through the Master’s spoken words or in silent meditation. #RandolphHarris 11 of 19

Traditional subjective faith results from a divine light which is freely accepted. It formally constitutes the saving element of faith. However, this subjective faith cannot be analysed alone, for it never exists without an object. This object, as we have said, comes from the Church: we are told what the Church believes and, enlightened by God, we believe it too. In scholastic terms, subjective and objective faith are likened to form and matter; and as philosophers know, there is neither form without matter, nor matter without form. The Reformation, with its dislike of scholasticism, avoided these terms; but it maintained their purpose: subjective faith was essentially correlative to objective belief. Where a distinction existed, one sees a separation. Admittedly, faith always has a concrete content. The content matters infinitely for the life of the believer, but does not matter for the formal definition of faith. We thus face a strange paradox: what matters infinitely for the believer does not concern the nature of one’s faith. How can this be, if faith is infinite concern? Subjective faith could stand by itself, without a concrete content. There is nothing in faith but faith itself: what is called absolute faith is the accepting of the acceptance without somebody or something that accepts. Those who are always hoping to receive full enlightenment from a master, exaggerate the service one can render. #RandolphHarris 12 of 19

The most that a master can give is a glimpse, and that not to everyone. Those who penetrate into the holy of holies bless the World when they bring forth the treasures they find therein. What they achieve and accomplish mentally in the period of prayer, they will later express automatically in action during the days that follow. Theirs is the balanced life which is true sanity, so lacking in modern existence. Neither the Unconditioned nor something unconditional is meant as a being, not even the highest being, not even God. Yet faith cannot exist without a person believing something, without a subject and an object. Unless one is bidden from the higher power (and one is sure of the source) to become an apostle, one will not take on the task of making available to others in such a public fashion, truths which most are not ready enough to recognize, which would create bewilderment or scorn in their minds. Nor, again, will one communicate privately without the inner command and thus become a leader to others. The awareness that one existed on this planet made its grievous and troubled life more bearable, gave a little meaning to what seemed otherwise quite chaotic. For one’s own higher development reminded, nay assured, us that there was some sort of an evolution going on, that there was a goal and a purpose behind it all. Thus, merely to know that this being was alive, even though we might never again meet one and could never hope to become intimate with one, sustained our faith in Life itself and helped us to live. #RandolphHarris 13 of 19

The prayers of such a being are not lightly uttered nor egotistically born. Therefore they are always heard and generally answered. One can communicate to others something of one’s mystical enlightenment through words and something of one’s mystical serenity through silence. One carries with one a perpetual blessing, although it is seldom possible for those who identify themselves with their fleshly bodies to receive this unheralded gift with their conscious minds. Faith is the true reading of human’s existential estrangement as a relating estrangement, as a healing wound. This means that one has given faith a preliminary content distinct from its concrete content. Thus faith appears on three levels: as subjective it is ultimate concern; as content of this concern, it is reunion in estrangement, forgiveness in guilt, ground of being in separation from this ground; as objective, related to a concrete content, it is still a third phenomenon. The Fall of Man is the existential condition that inspired human’s desire for salvation—the quest for Christ. The Christian document of original sin is a theological explanation of estrangement. As such it belongs to Christology: Christ, by hypothesis, will bring salvation from this basic anguish of existence. It belongs a fortiori to a theology of faith. #RandolphHarris 14 of 19

If faith implies awareness of estrangement and courage to endorse and bear estrangement, it also implies knows of “original sin” and rests on the experience of the fall of man. What the legend of the Fall tells humankind in general, faith discovers in each person: that existence is tragic this tragic element, if accepted, becomes a way to holiness and peace. In such a perspective, faith experiences the Fall. Christ will be as a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense—seek the Lord, not peeing wizards—turn to the law and to the testimony for guidance—compare Isaiah 8. About 559-545 Before Christ. “Moreover, the word of the Lord said to me: Take thee a great roll, and write in it with a human’s pen, concerning Maher-shalal-hash-baz. And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zecharish the son of Jeberechiah. And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived and bare a son. Then said the Lord to me: Call his name, Maher-salal-has-baz. For behold, the child shall not have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, before the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king Assyria. The Lord spake also unto me again, saying: Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son; Now therefore, behold the Lord bringeth upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria and all his glory; and he shall come up over all his banks. #RandolphHarris 15 of 19

“And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel. Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear all ye of far countries; grid yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it shall come to naught; speak the word, and it shall not stand; for God is with us. For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying: Say ye not, A confederacy, to all whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of Hosts himself, and let hum be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken. Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. And I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. Behold, I am the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of Hosts, which dwelleth in Mount Zion. #RandolphHarris 16 of 19

“And when they shall say unto you: Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep and mutter—should not a people seek unto their God for the living to hear from the dead? To the law and to the testimony; and if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. And they shall pass through it hardly bestead and hungry; and it shall come to pass that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward. And they shall look unto the Earth and behold trouble, and darkness, dimness of anguish, and shall be driven to darkness,” reports 2 Nephi 18.1-22. We sinners do beseech Thee, please hear us. That it may please Thee to defend and exalt Thy Church; we beseech Thee, Lord Jesus, to please hear us. That is may please Thee to grant to Thy Church the tranquility of peace; that it may please Thee to put down the enemies of God’s Holy Church; that it may please Thee to defend us from dangerous enemies; that it may please Thee to preserve the people, and our pastor and chief, and the flock committed to him; that it may please Thee to preserve the Queen in perpetual prosperity; that it may please Thee to preserve all orders of the Church, the clergy and laity, and the whole people; that it may please Thee to make us persevere in good works. #RandolphHarris 17 of 19

Furthermore, that it may please Thee to give us celestial armour against the devil; that Thy mercy and pity may keep us safe; that Thou wouldest give us the will and the power to repent in earnest; that it may please Thee to give us pardon of all sins; that it may please Thee to give us right faith, firm hope in Thy goodness, and perfect live, and constant fear of Thee; that it may please Thee to remove evil thoughts from us; that it may please Thee to pour in our souls the grace of the Holy Spirit; that it may please Thee to give us perpetual light; that it may please Thee to give us a happy end; that it may please Thee to bring us to everlasting joys; that it may please Thee to hear us; Son of God; O Lamb of God, please give us pardon. O Lamb of God, please hear us. Please give perfection to beginners, give intelligence to the little ones, give us assistance to those who are running their course. Please give compunction to the negligent, give fervour of spirit to the lukewarm, give to the perfect a good consummation. O Lover of the loveless, it is Thy will that I should love Thee with heart, soul, mind, strength, and neighbour as myself. However, I am not sufficient for these things. There is by nature no pure love in my soul; every affection in me is turned from Thee; I am bound, as slave to lust, I cannot love Thee, lovely as Thou art, until Thou dost set me free. #RandolphHarris 18 of 19

By grace I am Thy freeperson and would serve Thee, for I believe Thou art my God in Jesus, and that through Him I am redeemed, and my sins are forgiven. With this freedom I would always obey Thee, but I cannot walk in liberty, anymore than I could first attain it, of myself. May Thy Spirit draw me nearer to Thee and Thy ways, please. Thou art the end of all mean, for if they lead me not to Thee, I go away empty. Please order all my ways by Thy holy word and please make Thy commandments the joy of my heart, that by them I may have happy converse with Thee. May I grow in Thy love and manifest it to humankind. Spirit of love, make me like the loving Jesus; please give me His benevolent temper, His beneficent actions, that I may shine before people to Thy glory. The more Thou doest in love in me and by me, please humble me the more; keep me meek, lowely, and always ready to give Thee honour. May hope spring eternal in the human heart; people never is, but always to be blessed. To err is human, to forgive is divine. If thou must love me, let it be for naught except for love’s sake only. God’s gifts put humans best gifts to shame. Education makes a people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern but impossible to enslave. My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight for the ends of Being and ideal Grace. The night has a thousand eyes, and the day but one; yet the light of the bright World dies with the dying Sun. #RandolphHarris 19 of 19

CRESLEIGH MEADOWS AT PLUMAS RANCH

Plumas Lake, CA | from the mid $300’s

Now Selling!

Cresleigh Meadows is now selling! Found just north of Feather River Boulevard, Cresleigh Meadows is home of the largest neighborhood in Plumas Ranch as well as the popular Bear River Park. With four floor plans available, ranging from approximately 2,000 – 3,500 square feet offering, three to five bedrooms, we are certain you will find the home that fits your needs and lifestyle.

Popular design elements include open floor plans, large kitchen islands, and flex spaces are staples in Cresleigh homes. Multi-generational living options also available in select homes. https://cresleigh.com/cresleigh-meadows-at-plumas-ranch/residence-4/

Respect for God Demands that the Face, the Hands and the Feet be Washed One a Day!

May 9, 2020 12:53 am

A thing of beauty is a joy forever: its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness. Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today. However, let us speak about the colonized. I see clearly what colonization has destroyed: the wonderful Native American civilizations—neither Deterding nor Royal Dutch nor Standard Oil will ever console me for the Aztecs and the Incas. I see clearly the civilizations, condemned to perish at a future date, into which it has introduced a principle of ruin: the South Sea islands, Nigeria, Nyasaland. I see less clearly the contributions it has made. Security? Culture? The rule of law? In the meantime, I look around and wherever there are colonizers and colonized face to face, I see force, brutality, cruelty, sadism, conflict, and in a parody of education, the hasty manufacture of a few thousand subordinate functionaries, “boys,” artisans, office clerks, and interpreters necessary for the smooth operation of business. I spoke of contact. Between colonizer and colonized there is room only for forced labour, intimidation, pressure, the police, taxation, theft, assault by physical force, compulsory crops, contempt, mistrust, arrogance, self-complacency, swinishness, brainless elites, degraded masses. #RandolphHarris 1 of 18

With colonization, there is no human contact, but relations of domination and submission which turn the colonizing being into a classroom monitor, an army sergeant, a prison guard, a slave driver, and the indigenous person into an instrument of production. My turn to state an equation: colonization = “thingification.” I hear the storm. They talk to me about progress, about “achievements,” diseases cured, improved standards of living. I am talking about societies drained of their essence, cultures trampled underfoot, institutions undermined, lands confiscated, religions smashed, magnificent artistic creations destroyed, extraordinary possibilities wiped out. They throw facts at my head, statistics, mileages of roads, canals, and railroad tracks. I am talking about throughs of people sacrificed to the Congo-Ocean. I am talking about those who, as I write this, are digging the habour of Abidjan by hand. I am talking about millions of people torn from their gods, their land, their habits, their life—from life, from the dance, from wisdom. I am talking about millions of people in whom fear has been cunningly instilled, who have taught to have an inferiority complex, to tremble, kneel, despair, and behave like flunkeys. They dazzle me with the tonnage of cotton or cocoa that has been exported, the acreage that has been planted with olive trees or grapevines. #RandolphHarris 2 of 18

I am talking about natural economics that have been disrupted—harmonious and viable economies adapted to the indigenous population—about food crops destroyed, malnutrition permanently introduced, agricultural development oriented solely toward the benefit of the metropolitan countries, about the looting of products, the looting of raw materials. They pride themselves on abuses eliminated. I too talk about abuses, but what I say is that on the old ones–very real—they superimposed others—very detestable. They talk to me about local tyrants brought to reason; but I note that in general the old tyrants get on very well with the new ones, and that there has been established between them, to the detriment of the people, a circuit of mutual services and complicity. They talk to me about civilization, I talk about proletarianization and mystification. For my very part, I make a systematic defense of the non-European civilizations. Every day that passes, every denial of justice, every beating by the police, every demand of the workers that is drowned in blood, every death from COVID-19, every scandal that is hushed up, every punitive expedition, every police van, every gendarme and every militiaman, brings home to us the value of our old societies. #RandolphHarris 3 of 18

They were communal societies, never societies of the many for the few. They were societies that were not only ante-capitalist, as has been said, but also anti-capitalist. They were demonstrative societies, always. They were cooperative societies, fraternal societies. I make a systematic defense of the societies destroyed by imperialism. They were the fact, they did not pretend to be the idea; despite their faults, they were neither to be hated nor condemned. They were content to be. In them, neither the word failure not the word avatar had any meaning. They kept hope intact. Whereas those are the only words that can, in all honesty, be applied to the European enterprises outside Europe. My only consolation is that periods of colonization pass, that nations sleep only for a time, and the peoples remain. For my part, I search in vain for the place where I could have expressed such views: where I ever underestimated the importance of Europe in the history of human thought; where I ever preached a return to any kind; where I ever claimed that there could be a return. The truth is that I have said something very different: to wit that the great historical tragedy of Africa has been not so much that it was too late in making contact with the rest of the World, as the manner in which that contact was brought about. Europe began to propagate at a time when it had fallen into the hands of the most unscrupulous financiers and captains of industry. #RandolphHarris 4 of 18

It was our misfortune to encounter that particular Industrialization on our path, and Industrialization is responsible before the human community for the highest heap of corpses in history. In another connection, in judging colonization, I have added that Europe has gotten on very well indeed with all the local feudal lords who agreed to serve, woven a villainous complicity with them, rendered their tyranny more effective and more efficient, and that it has actually tended to prolong artificially the survival of local past in their most pernicious aspects. I have said—and this is something very different—that colonialist Europe has grafted modern abuse onto ancient injustice, hateful racism onto old inequality. That if I am attacked on the grounds of intent, I maintain that colonialist Europe is dishonest in trying to justify its colonizing activity a posteriori by the obvious material progress that has been achieved in certain fields under the colonial regime—since sudden change is always possible, in history as elsewhere; since no one knows at what stage of material development these same countries would have been if Europe had not intervened; since the technical outfitting of Africa and Asia, their administrative reorganization, in a word, their “Europeanization,” was (as is proved by the example of Japan) in no way tied to the European occupation. #RandolphHarris 5 of 18

This is because Europeanization of the non-European continents could have been accomplished otherwise than under the heel of European occupation. Since the Europeanization of the non-European continents could have been accomplished otherwise than under the heel of Europe; since this movement of Europeanization was in progress; since it was even slowed down; since in any case it was distorted by the European take over. The proof is that at present it is the indigenous peoples of Africa and Asia who are demanding schools, and colonialist Europe which refuses them; that it is the African who is asking for ports and roads, and colonialist Europe which is insufficiently on this score; that it is the colonized person who wants to move forward, and the colonizer who holds things back. Another fear born of the protective structure is a fear of exposure. Its sources lies in the many pretenses that go into the development and maintenance of the structure itself. These will be described in connection with the impairment of moral integrity brought about by unresolved conflicts. For our present purpose we need only point out that a neurotic person wants to appear, both to oneself and others, different from what one really is—more harmonious, more rational more generous, or powerful, or ruthless. It would be hard to say whether one is more afraid of being exposed to oneself or to others. #RandolphHarris 6 of 18

Consciously, it is others one is most concerned about, and the more one externalizes one’s fear the more anxious one is that others should not find one out. If only others can be kept in the dark, one may say in that case that what one thinks of oneself does not matter; one’s own discovery of one’s failings can take in one’s stride. That is not so, but it is the way one feels consciously and indicates the degree to which externalization is present. Fear of being exposed may either appear as a nebulous feeling that one is a bluff or may be attached to some particular quality only remotely associated with what one is really bothered about. A person may be afraid that one is not as intelligent, as competent, as well educated, as attractive as one is believed to be, so shifting the fear to qualities that do not reflect on one’s character. Thus a patient recalled that in his early adolescence he was haunted by the fear that his being at the head of his class was due entirely to bluffing. Each time he changed schools he was sure that this time he would be found out, and the fear persisted even when again he captured the top rank. His feeling puzzled him, but he was unable to put his finger on the cause of it. He could not gain an insight into his problem because he was on the wrong track: his fear of exposure did not at all concern his intelligence but had merely been shifted to that sphere. #RandolphHarris 7 of 18

In reality it concerned his unconscious pretense of being a good fellow who did not care about grades, whereas the fact was that he was obsessed by a destructive need to triumph over others. This illustration leads to a pertinent generalization. Fear of being a bluff is always related to some objective factor, but it is usually not the one the person oneself thinks it is. Symptomatically, its outstanding expression is blushing or a fear of blushing. Since it is an unconscious pretense that the patient fears will be disclosed, the analyst will make a serious mistake if, noting the patient’s fear of being found out, he searches for some experience that he thinks the latter is ashamed of and is hiding. However, the patient may not be holding back anything of the ort. What happens then is that one becomes more and more fearful that there must be something particularly bad in one which one is unconsciously loath to reveal. Such a situation is conductive to self-condemnatry scrutiny but not to constructive work. One will perhaps go into further detail about episodes of pleasures of the flesh or destructive impulses. However, the fear of exposure will remain so long as the analyst fails to recognize that the patient is caught in a conflict and that one oneself is working on only one aspect of it. #RandolphHarris 8 of 18

Fear of exposure can be provoked by any situation which—to the neurotic—means being out to a test. This would include starting a new job, making new friends, entering a new school, examinations, social gatherings, or any kind of performance that might make one conscious even if it is no more than taking part in a discussion. Frequently what is consciously conceived as a fear of failure actually has to do with exposure, and hence is not allayed by success. The person will merely feel that one “got by” this time, but what about the next? And if one should fail, one will only be the more convinced that he has always been a bluff and that this time one was caught. One consequence of such a feeling is shyness, particularly in any new situation. Another is wariness in the face of being liked or appreciated. The person will think, consciously or unconsciously: “They like me now, but if they really knew me, they would feel otherwise.” Naturally this fear plays a role in analysis, whose explicit purpose is to “find out.” Every new fear requires a new set of defenses. Those erected against fear of exposure fall into opposite categories and hinge on the whole character structure. On the other hand, there is a tendency to avoid test situations of any kind; and if they cannot be avoided, to be reserved, self-controlled, and wear an impenetrable mask. #RandolphHarris 9 of 18

On the other than, there is an unconscious attempt to become so perfect a bluff that exposure need not be feared. The latter attitude is not defensive alone: magnificent bluffing is also used by individuals of the aggressive type who live vicariously, as a means of impressing those whom they wish to exploit; any attempt to question them, then, will be met by a wily counterattack. I refer here to openly sadistic persons. We shall see later how this trait fits in with the entire structure. We shall understand the fear of exposure when we have answered two questions: What is a person afraid to disclose? and, What is it that one fears in case one should be exposed? The first we have already answered. In other to answer the second we must deal with still another fear emanating from the protective structure, the fear of disregard, humiliation, and ridicule. While the ricketiness of the structure is responsible for the fear of disturbed equilibrium, and the unconscious fraudulence involved breeds fear of exposure, the fear of humiliation comes from an injured self-esteem. We have touched on this matter in other connections. Both the creation of an idealized image and the process of externalization are attempts at repairing damaged self-respect, but as we have seen, both only injure it still further. #RandolphHarris 10 of 18

If we take a bird’s eye view of what happens to self-esteem in the course of a neurotic development, we come upon two pairs of seesaw processes. While the level of realistic self-esteem falls, up comes an unrealistic pride-pride in being so good, so aggressive, so unique, so omnipotent or omniscient. On the other seesaw we find a dwarfing of the neurotic’s actual self counterweighted by the raising of others to the stature of giants. Through the eclipse of large areas of the self by repression and inhibition as well as by idealization and externalization, the individual loses sight of oneself; one feels, if one does not actually become, like a shadow without weight or substance. And meanwhile one’s need of others and one’s fear of them make them not only more formidable to one but more necessary. Hence one’s center of gravity comes to rest more in others than in oneself and one concedes to them prerogatives that are rightly one’s own. Its effect is to give their evaluation of oneself undue important, while one’s own self-evaluation loses significance. This lends to the opinion of others an overwhelming power. The above sets of process taken together account for the neurotic’s extreme vulnerability to disregard, humiliation and ridicule. And these processes are so much a part of every neurosis that hypersensitivity in this respect is most common. #RandolphHarris 11 of 18

If we are cognizant of the manifold sources of the fear of disregard we can see that to remove or even diminish it is no simple task. It can recede only to the extent that the entire neurosis recedes. In general, the consequence of this fear is to set the neurotic apart from others and make one hostile to them. However, more important is its power to clip the wings of those afflicted with it so any strong degree. They do not dare to expect anything of others or to set high goals for themselves. They do not dare to approach people who seem superior to them in any way; they do not dare to express an opinion even though they may have a real contribution to make; they do not dare to exercise creative abilities even when they have them; they do not dare to make themselves attractive, to try to impress, to seek a better position, and so on and so on. When tempted to reach out in any of these directions the ghastly prospect of ridicule holds them back and they take refuge in reserve and dignity. More imperceptible than the fears we have described in one that may be regarded as a condensation of all of them as well as of other fears that arise in a neurotic development. This is the fear of changing anything in oneself. Patients react to the idea of changing by adopting either of two extreme attitudes. #RandolphHarris 12 of 18

The two attitudes range from they either leave the whole subject nebulous, feeling that a change will occur by some sort of miracle at some hazy future time, or they attempt to change too rapidly, with too little understanding. In the first instance they harbour a mental reservation that catching a glimpse of a problem or admitting a frailty should be enough; the idea that in order to fulfill themselves they must actually change their attitudes and drives comes as a shock to them and makes them uneasy. They cannot help seeing the validity of the proposition, but unconsciously they reject it all the same. The reverse position amounts to an unconscious pretense of changing. It is in part wishful thinking, growing out of the patient’s intolerance of any imperfection in oneself; but it is also determined by one’s unconscious feeling of omnipotence—the mere wish to have a difficulty disappear should be enough to dispel it. Behind the fear of changing are qualms about changing for the worse—that is, losing one’s idealized image, turning into the rejected self, becoming like everybody else, or being left by analysis an empty shell; terror of the unknown, of having to relinquish safety devices and satisfactions hitherto gained, particularly those of chasing after phantoms that promise solution; and finally a fear of being unable to change—a fear that will be better understood when we come to discuss the neurotic’s hopelessness. #RandolphHarris 13 of 18

All these fears spring from unresolved conflicts. However, because we must expose ourselves to them if we want eventually to find integration, they also stand as a hindrance to our facing ourselves. They are the purgatory, as it were, through which we must wander before we can attain salvation. The faith of both the New and the Old Testament is selective, subtracting people from the kingdom of this World and adding them to that of Heaven. It leaves people in the World but takes care to make one not of the World where one lives as a stranger and pilgrim inhabiting no permanent city. It united one to the holy community of the World. In this Church there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither male nor female, but only if one has abandoned a World where Jews and Gentiles are foes, and male and female try to dominate each other. Faith implies separation: a person from one’s brother, a daughter from her mother. However, we also focus on a different type of faith. A faith where instead of erecting the holy community out of the World, it sees the whole World as already being the holy community. Nobody escapes it. All, even unawares, belong to it. Is this still the Christian faith? Ephraim and Syria wage war against Judah—Christ will be born of a virgin—Compare Isaiah 7. About 559-545 Before Christ. #RandolphHarris 14 of 18

“And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it. And it was told the house of David, saying: Syria is confederate with Ephraim. And his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind. Then said the Lord unto Isaiah: Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou and Shearjashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller’s field: and say unto him: Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be faint-hearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah. Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have taken evil counsel against thee, saying: Let us go up against Judah and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of it, yea, the son of Tabeal. Thus saith the Lord God: It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass. For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus, Rezin; and within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken that it be not a people. And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son. If ye will not believe surely ye shall not be established. #RandolphHarris 15 of 18

“Moreover, the Lord spake again unto Ahaz, saying: Ask thee a sigh of the Lord thy God; ask it either in the depths, or in the heights above. But Ahaz said: I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord. And he said: Hear ye now, O house of David; is it a small thing for you to weary people, but will ye weary my God also? Therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign—Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and shall bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil and to choose the good. For before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kinds. The Lord shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father’s house, days that have not come from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah, the king of Assyria. And it shall come to pass in that day that they Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. And they shall come, and shall rest all of them in the holes of the rock, and upon all thorns, and upon all bushes. In the same day shall the Lord have with a razor that is hired, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet; and it shall also consume the beard. #RandolphHarris 16 of 18

“And it shall come to pass in that day, a man shall nourish a young cow and two sheep; and it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk they shall give he shall eat butter; for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land. And it shall come to pass in that day, every place shall be, where there were a thousand wines at a thousand silverlings, which shall be for briers and thorns. With arrows and with bows shall people come thither, because all the land shall become briers and thorns. And all hills that shall be digged with the mattock, there shall not come thither the fear of briers and thorns; but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and the treading of lesser cattle,” reports 2 Nephi 17.1-25. Almighty Lord our God, direct our steps into the way of peace, and strengthen out hearts to obey They commands: may the Day-spring visit us from on high, and give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death; that they may adore Thee for Thy sweetness, Who are the blessed Lord God of Israel. Father of Jesus, dawn returns but without thy light within no outward light can profit; give me the saving lamp of thy Spirit that I may see thee, the God of my salvation, the delight of my soul, rejoicing over me in love. #RandolphHarris 17 of 18

I commend my heart to Thy watchful care, for I know its treachery and power; guard its every portal from the wily enemy, give me quick discernment of His deadly arts, help me to recognize His bold disguise as an Angel of light, and bid Him begone. May my words and works allure others to the highest walks of faith and love! May loiterers be quickened to greater diligence by my example! May Worldlings be won to delight in acquaintance with thee! May the timid and irresolute be warned of coming doom by my zeal for Jesus! Cause me to be a mirror of Thy grace, to show others the joy of Thy service, may my lips be well-tuned cymbals sounding Thy praise, let a halo of Heavenly-mindedness sparkle around me and a lamp of kindness Sunbeam my path. Teach me the happy art of attending to things temporal with a mind intent on things eternal. Send me forth to have compassion on the ignorant and miserable. Help me to walk as Jesus walked, my only Saviour and perfect model, His mind my inward guest, His meekness my covering garb. Let my happy place be amongst the poor in spirit, my delight the gentle ranks of the meek. Let me always esteem others better than myself, and find in true humility an heirdom to two Worlds. #RandolphHarris 18 of 18

Cresleigh Homes

Welcome to #BrightonStation! In today’s blog post we want to reacquaint you all with our community at #CresleighRanch. Pictured here is Home Site 78, a Residence 4 home that is available for move in! 🏡 Read more about it on today’s post. Link in bio. 👉 https://cresleigh.com/brighton-station/home-site-78/

#CresleighHomes

So Please Do Not Draw the Conclusion: Thou Shalt Not Go to the Beach!

May 4, 2020 1:36 am

Education is learning what you did not even know you did not know. We spoke several times about distributive justice, a concept taken from Aristotle, who distinguishes it from retributive justice. In order to discuss this distinction we must see it within the larger context in which the different levels of justice appear. The basis of justice is the intrinsic claim for justice of everything that has being. The intrinsic claim of a tree is different from the intrinsic claim of a person. The claim for justice based on different forms in which the power of being actualizes itself are different. However, if they are adequate to the power of being on which they are based, they are just claims. Justice is first of all a claim raised silently or vocally by a being on the basis of its power of being. It is an intrinsic claim, expressing the form in which a thing or a person is actualized. If this claim is uttered by one who makes it, it may be adequate to one’s intrinsic claim or it may not be. Whether oneself or others give voice to one’s intrinsic clam for justice, the voice can be just and it can be unjust. One of the injustices in the transformation of the intrinsic claim for justice into practical judgements is the suppression of the dynamic element in the actualization of being. The opposite injustice is the denial of the static structure within which the dynamic element can be effective. #RandolphHarris 1 of 19

The second form of justice is the tributive or proportional justice. It appears as distributive, attributive, retributive justice, giving to everything proportionally to what it deserves, positively or negatively. It is a calculating justice, measuring the power of being of all things in terms of what shall be given to them or of what shall be withheld from them. I have called this form of justice tributive because it decides about the tribute a thing or a person ought to receive according to one’s special powers of being. Tribute is given by conquered nations to the rulers of the victorious nations. It is given to outstanding persons or groups by grateful adherents. It is given to representatives of power as a symbol of the acknowledgement of their function by those who are subject to their power. Attributive justice attributes to beings what they are and claim to be. Distributive justice gives to any being the proportion of goods which is due to one; retributive justice does the same, but in negative terms, in terms of deprivation of goods or active punishment. This latter consideration makes it clear that there is no essential difference between distributive and retributive justice. Both of them are proportional and can be measured in quantitative terms. In the realm of law and law-enforcement the tributive form of justice is the norm. However, there are some exceptions, and they point to a third of form of justice. #RandolphHarris 2 of 19

I suggest that this third form be called transforming or creative justice. It is based on the fact to which I have already referred that the intrinsic justice is dynamic. As such it cannot be defined in definite terms, and therefore the tributive justice is never adequate to it because it calculates in fixed proportions. One never knows a priori what the outcome of an encounter of power with power will be. If one judges such an encounter and its outcome according to previous power proportions, one is necessarily unjust, even if one is legally right. Examples of this situation are a matter of daily experience. They include all trespasses of the positive law in the name of a superior law which is not yet formulated and valid. They include struggles for power which are in conflict with indefinite or obsolete rules, and the outcome of which is an increase in the power of being in both the victor and the conquered. They include all those events in which justice demands the resignation of justice, and act without which no human relation and no human group could last. More exactly one should speak of the resignation of proportional justice for the sake of creative justice. What is the criterion of creative justice? In order to answer this question one must ask which is the ultimate intrinsic claim for just in a being? #RandolphHarris 3 of 19

The answer is: Fulfilment within the unity of universal fulfilment. The religious symbol for this is the kingdom of God. The classical expression of the third form of justice is given in the Biblical literature of both Testaments. It is not quite right to say that justice in the Bible is the negation of proportional justice. There are innumerable places in both Testaments where the symbol of the judge is applied to God or the Christ; and there are other places where the injustice of human judges is exposed and more seriously condemned than almost any other sin. Nevetheless, the main emphasis goes in another direction. The zadikim, the just ones, are those who subject themselves to the divine orders according to which everything in nature and history is created and moves. However, this subjection is not the acceptance of the commandments as such, but it is the loving obedience to one who is the source of the law. Therefore, the concept of the zadik unites subjection to the law with piety towards one who gives the law. Under the personalistic terminology of the Old Testament a profound awareness of the ontological character of the law is hidden. In later Judaism it came into the open and helped to prepare the ontological interpretation of Christ as the Logos in the early Church. As in its application to humans, so in its application to God justice means more than proportional justice. #RandolphHarris 4 of 19

It means creative justice and is expressed in the divine grace which forgives in order to reunite. God is not bound to the given proportion between merit and tribute. He can creatively change the proportion, and does it in order to fulfil those who according to proportional justice would be excluded from fulfilment. Therefore, the divine justice can appear as plain in justice. In the paradox of the “justification by grace through faith,” as stated by Paul, the divine justice is manifest in the divine act which justifies one who is unjust. This, like every act of forgiveness, can only be understood though the idea of creative justice. And creative justice is the form of reuniting love. No Worldly advantage can tempt the self-actualized into desertion of one’s sacred task of serving humanity, nor can any egoism lead one into betrayal of those who trust one. The goodwill which one shows to all people is devoid of any self-seeking motive, is a natural expression of the love which one finds in the innermost chambers of one’s soul. The World play is but an illusion of the mind, but the integral vision of the self-actualized enables one to act one’s part perfectly in the very heart of the World’s tumult. The knowledge that all action is ultimately illusory does not prevent one bring dynamically active. Supreme calm and silence reigns in one’s center, but one’s harmony with Nature is such that one joins the World-movement spontaneously. #RandolphHarris 5 of 19

If one holds before the aspirant a prophetic picture of human’s higher possibilities, and ideal that transcends the commonplace trivialities of everyday, one’s service is sufficient. However, in actuality one does very much more than that. There are two way in which an enlightened person may help humanity. The first is individual, therefore one becomes a teacher and accepts disciples. The second is general and may be entirely inward as in meditation, or quite outward, affecting the welfare of groups—whether small in number or as large as an entire nation. In rare cases this generalized help may even extend internationally. A sense of group identity, as is offered by some schools of therapy may have values, but some wonder will it not be difficult for a student to transcend one’s school theories and techniques? If the student in one’s postgraduate work-setting does not grow, the blame lies with the settings, one’s teachers, or the new practitioner oneself. A teacher of some art presents beginning know-how to one’s students. However, one knows that this is by no means the final answer to producing desires outcomes. The responsible teacher has two tasks. First, one must guide the pupil in the ways of basic discipline. However then, one must not be satisfied until one sees one’s pupil is ready, responsibly, to surpass one’s training in any responsible way that seems relevant in that moment to accomplish some therapeutic objective. #RandolphHarris 6 of 19

I mentioned, the last time I was here, an occasion when I got down on the floor and competed with a patient in doing push-ups. At that point in our dialogue, it became very relevant for me to do five more push-ups than the patient did, because he was an out-of-conditioned “slob.” It was important for this patient to do something physical. He asked me if I could do push-ups, and I said I could. He said, to prove he was in shape, “I will match you push-up for push-up.” He could not. That is not very Rogerian, and I was not doing it for the sake of doing it. It was an “emergent” from the relationship as it existed at that moment. A moment may come when the thing for a therapist to do is to hold one’s patient’s hand, when one sits there in absolute despair. One may feel oneself called upon just to establish contact. One’s impulse is to reach out and hold one’s hand, but one’s discipline and one’s training say, “There must be no body contact. To touch a patient is irresponsible acting-out. The patient may be a psychopath. You will get into a lawsuit and be sued for seduction or sexual assault, and God knows what all.” So one does not do it. Possibly, all those reasons for not holding your patient’s hand are sound. However, they may not be, at least not in all cases. The taboo on touching is one of those rules for conduct people seek. #RandolphHarris 7 of 19

You know people are always looking for an absolute rule that will relieve them of the responsibility of evaluating each situation on its own unique merits, and then risking an action. Well, I think training should teach you rules, but then your trainer should encourage you or prod you to go beyond the rules in response to the call of the immediate therapeutic situation. This is where masters of the Zen way can teach psychotherapists and teachers of psychotherapy something. A Zen master presumably is an expert at getting someone to master some techniques and then tricking one, bulldozing one, so one will forget technique and respond unself-consciously and spontaneously. The response is most likely then to be relevant and appropriate, with head and heart in congruence. This seems to apply to painting, archery, tea-ceremonial; and I do not see why it does not apply in psychotherapy. Some people wonder is psychotherapist are supposed to be “accepting” people. They want to know if I accept my patients as they are? I do not accept or reject a patient as one now is, because “acceptance” implies approval, and that is not relevant. What I do is acknowledge to myself and to one that I confirm one as the person one is, and I invite the individual to take the freedom to reveal and be whoever and whatever one is—what one thinks, what one feels, and so on. #RandolphHarris 8 of 19

I also grant myself the same freedom to be and to respond, to be this very person. What does this mean? It means I try to provide one with what I hope is a free milieu within which one can dare to express and disclose more of one’s being. This being that one disclosed does not vanish into a swamp or quagmire; nor does it hit a mirror, then to bounce back. Rather, it is received by a real person—me—and responded to by a real person—me. I feel that an environment in which people can grow is one where both parties have the freedom, the responsibility, to be and to respond one to the other. I think Rogers, who is responsible for this formulation about providing the atmosphere is responsible for this formulation about providing the atmosphere in which a person can grow, has oneself discovered an is reporting that it is not enough just to be a wonderfully permissive and “reflecting” individual. Most of the time a person wants some response from you besides “clarification” or a confirming “reflection.” You can only clarify and confirm so long; then, the patient gets the idea you understand him or her. To go on beyond this point is redundant even boring and ridiculous. There is more a therapist can say besides, “You feel….” #RandolphHarris 9 of 19

Every faith may be seen from two angles. As existential commitment, unconditional or ultimate concern, all faith coincide; they are faith. Insofar as they try to identify the Unconditional, they differ. The two standpoints should be carefully distinguished. For a faith which interprets the Unconditional, even if it distorts its own interior dynamics, is valid insofar as it is a total commitment. With this total commitment we are not concerned. If we do not complete the statement by answering the questions: “commitment to what?” to speak of commitment makes no sense. It infuriates some readers when we speak of things like: total commitment, unconditional concern, infinite passion without being told what one is committed to, what the concern is about, and what the passion aims at. And it is little wonder: systematic shunning of the objective questions (commitment to what?) leaves a bewildering after-states of word-juggling. Once the great words Unconditioned, Ultimate, Absolute, and the like, have been spoken, there are those who sick back and admire. As you know, there is no faith without a content toward which it is directed. However, classical theology, whether Catholic or Protestant, would next proceed to identify this object, or content, of faith would be distinct from the human act of assent or acceptance. #RandolphHarris 10 of 19

Even when theology insists that faith is “infused,” as a free gift from God, it distinguishes the content, or object, of faith from that infusion. In the words of St. Paul, “faith comes by hearing.” In scholasticism, faith comes from God’s intervention, though its object is perceived through the Church’s ministration. In classical Protestantism, faith likewise remains distinct from its object, salvation by Christ. Striking on a new path, the distinction between subject and object in faith disappears in theology. The dichotomy between the believer and the Revelation shrinks. In terms like ultimate, unconditional, infinite, absolute, the difference because subjectivity and objectivity is overcome. The ultimate of the act of faith, and the ultimate that is meant is the act of faith are one and the same. There takes place a disappearance of the ordinary subject-object scheme in the experience of the Ultimate, the Unconditional. In the act of faith that which is the source of this act is present beyond the cleavage of subject and object. It is present as both and beyond both. This at least is clear, the act of faith is both subject and object. We have faith that we have faith: if this is believed unconditionally, if we are to surrender totally to this experience of having fait in faith, of believing belief, then we truly have faith. #RandolphHarris 11 of 19

If our surrender is not total, then our faith is false, our commitment hypocritical. This borders on the absurd. However, we should remember that language is always inadequate to express the Unconditioned. Faith is unconditional surrender, and as such it can only be expressed paradoxically, or symbolically. The paradox is that faith is its own object. The symbol says that we believe in God, meaning that what we believe is a newly discovered dimension of self, a trans-self, the eternal ground of self. Here subject and object are no longer distinct. If this is faith, there must be an element in humans which faith has unveiled; hence this impression of assenting to something new, of Revelation. Because it looks new, it assumes the function of an object towards which we reach. It conveys a mysterious sense of the holy. In this context faith is ecstatic, hungering after the ecstatic attraction and fascination of everything in which ultimacy is manifested. Because they had this experience the prophets of the Old Testament described God as the creative ground of everything and in everything, who is always present, always creating and destroying, always experienced as nearer to ourselves than we ourselves are, always unapproachable, holy, fascinating, terrifying, the ground and meaning of everything. #RandolphHarris 12 of 19

This is the living God, dynamic in himself, life as the ground of life. Yet, let us not be mistaken. An experience of the holy is not an experience of otherness. The holy is not outside of us. Faith does not tie us to some extrinsic deity above and beyond us. The holy was there before we discovered it. It belongs to the structure of our existence. The Pharisees were desperately determined to not break the laws of God. Consequently they devised a system to keep them from even coming close to angering God. They contrived a “fence” of Pharisaic rules that, if humans would keep them, would keep them, would guarantee a safe distance between oneself the laws of God. The “fence” or “hedge” laws accumulated into hundreds over the years and were passed around orally. Soon it became apparent that they were far from optional. These laws became every inch as important as the scriptural laws in and in some instance far more crucial. We still practice this today. We build fences to keep ourselves from committing certain sins. Soon these fences—instead of the sins they were designed to guard against—become the issue. We elevate our rules to the level of God’s commandments. When my children were barely teenagers, our family went on vacation to a different part of the country to enjoy the beach and the ocean. #RandolphHarris 13 of 19

Since my Navy days, I have had a fascination for the ocean and its waves, so I was eager to take the family to the beach. When we got there, however, I discovered the beach was swarming with scantily clad young women. (I am not talking about ordinary swimsuits. When I say scanty, I mean scanty.) Now like Job, I had “made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young lady” (Job 31.1). I know I have not been as diligent as Job to stay faithful to that covenant, but at least I work at it. After about twenty minutes of continuously diverting my eyes, I said to my wife, “You and the kids stay as long as you like. I am going to the car.” Why did I do that? Because I knew myself well enough to know that after a while my commitment to visual purity would wear thin. I knew that—given the continual temptations passing before me—in due time, I would succumb to the temptation to indulge a lustful look “just once” (which, of course, it never is.) So I built a “fence” for myself that day. I left the beach. Now suppose, because of my experience, I concluded that going to the beach would always lead to sin. I could have said to my son, “You are not to go to the beach anymore.” I could have begun to look down my religious nose at others who went to the beach. I would have built a permanent fence: “Thou shalt not go to the beach.” #RandolphHarris 14 of 19

In due time that fence would have had almost the same force in my thinking as the Ten Commandments, especially as I would use it to judge or influence others. That is the way a lot of human-made “do’s” and “do nots” originate. They begin as a sincere effort to deal with real sin issues. However, very often we begin to focus on the fence we have built instead of the sin it was designed to guard against. We fight our battles in the wrong places; we deal with externals instead of the heart. If I had said to my son, “You may not go to the beach,” I would have failed him. He could have concluded that it was a sin to go to the beach (though he would not understand why), and nothing would have been said about looking lustfully at the young ladies at school, or a dozen other places for that matter. Now that fence I could have built for my son (though I am happy I did not) may sound ridiculous to you, but I have seen almost the same fence built with the exact same neglect of the real issue. Incidentally, the next time my wife and I went to the beach it was in another part of the country. We stayed almost a week and had a thoroughly enjoyable time. So please do not draw the conclusion: “Thou shalt not go to the beach.” Now, Christian spiritual formation is inescapably a matter of recognizing in ourselves the idea system (or systems) of evil that governs the present age and the respective culture (or various cultures) that constitute life away from God. #RandolphHarris 15 of 19

The needed transformation is very largely a matter of replacing in ourselves those idea systems of evil (and their corresponding cultures) with the idea system that Jesus Christ embodied and taught and with a culture of the kingdom of God. This is truly a passage from darkness to light. Isaiah sees the latter-day temple, gathering of Israel, and millennial judgment and peace—the proud and wicked will be brought low at the Second Coming—compare Isaiah 2. About 559—545 Before Christ. “The word that Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem: And it shall come to pass in the last days, when the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for our of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plow-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks—nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. #RandolphHarris 16 of 19

“O house of Jacob, come ye and let us walk in the light of the Lord; yea, come, for ye have all gone astray, every one to one’s wicked ways. Therefore, O Lord, thou hast forsaken Thy people, the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and hearken unto soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers. Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots. Their land is also full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made. And the mean man boweth not down, and the great man humbleth himself not, therefore, forgive him not. O ye wicked ones, enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for the fear of the Lord and the glory of his majesty shall smite thee. And it shall come to pass that the lofty looks of humans shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of humans shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of Hosts soon cometh upon all nations, yea, upon every one; yea, upon the proud and lofty, and upon every one who is lifted up, and they shall be brought low. Yea, and the day of the Lord shall come upon all the cedars of Lebanon, for they are high and lifted up; and upon all the oaks of Bashan; #RandolphHarris 17 of 19

“And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills, and upon all the nations which are lifted up, and upon every people; and upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall; and upon al the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures. And the loftiness of humans shall be bowed downed, and the haughtiness of humans be made low; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols he shall utterly abolish. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the Earth, for the fear of the Lord shall come upon them and the glory of his majesty shall smite them, when he ariseth to shake terribly the Earth. In that day a person shall cast one’s idols of silver, and one’s idols of gold, which one hath made for oneself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rock, for the fear of the Lord shall come upon them and the majesty of one’s glory shall smite them, when one ariseth to shake terribly the Earth. Cease ye from humans, whose breath is in one’s nostrils’ for wherein is one to be accounted of?” reports 2 Nephi 12.1-22. Grant, O Lord, to those who have lost the grace of the Font, that they may again be adorned with the gifts of faithful repentance; through Jesus Christ our Lord. #RandolphHarris 18 of 19

Thou Great I Am, I acknowledge and confess that all things come of thee—life, breath, happiness, advancement, sight, touch, hearing, goodness, truth, beauty—all that makes existence amiable. In the spiritual World also I am dependent entirely Upon Thee. Give me grace to know more of my need of grace; show me my sinfulness that I may willingly confess it; reveal to me my weakness that I may know my strength in Thee. I thank Thee for any sign of penitence; give more of it; my sins are morbid and deep, and rise from a stony, proud, self0righteous heart; help me to confess them with mouring, regret, self-loathing, with no pretence to merit or excuse; I need healing; Good Physician, here is scope for Tee, come and manifest Thy power; I need faith; Thou who hast given it me, maintain, strengthen, increase it; center it upon the Saviour’s work, upon the majesty of the Father, upon the operations of the Spirit; work it in me now that I may never doubt Thee as the truthful, mighty, faithful God. Then I can bring my heart to Thee full of love, gratitude, hope, joy. May I lay at Thy feet these fruits grown in Thy garden, love Thee with a passion that can never cool, believe in Thee with a confidence that never staggers, hope in Thee with an expectation that can never be dim, delight in Thee with a rejoicing that cannot be stifled, glorify Thee with the highest of my powers, burning, blazing, glowing, radiating, as from Thy own glory. #RandolphHarris 19 of 19

BRIGHTON STATION AT CRESLEIGH RANCH

Rancho Cordova, CA |

Now Selling!

Located off Douglas Road and Rancho Cordova Parkway, the residents of Cresleigh Ranch will enjoy, being just minutes from shopping, dining, and entertainment, and quick access to Highway 50 and Grant Line Road providing a direct route into Folsom. Residents here also benefit from no HOA fees, two community parks and the benefits of being a part of the highly-rated Elk Grove Unified School District.

Gorgeous two-story home, 3,501 square feet, priced at $589,854, and located in the growing Cresleigh Ranch community! This sleek and modern home is an entertainer’s dream! This home has up to 5 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. The California Room directly off the Great Room offers an indoor/outdoor living experience while the extended kitchen island is perfect for large gatherings or busy households. A contemporary kitchen with stained recessed cabinetry, quartz counters, and single basin sink!

There are Times that Try Human’s Soul—Do Not Look Back! Something Might be Gaining on You!

May 2, 2020 12:21 am

There are people who learn, who are open to what happens around them, who listen, who hear the lessons. When they do something that is not wise, they do not do it again. And when they do something that works a little bit, they do it even better and harder the next time. The question to ask is not whether you are a success or a failure, but whether you are a learner or non-leaner. All of us do not have equal talent, but all of us should have an equal opportunity to develop our talents. Contemporary radical criticisms of the liberal paradigm of justice carry less weight than they might because they fail to offer absolute alternative framework for reasoning about justice. Some authors do indeed offer principles of justice or images of the just society which they claim will help justify a political practice aiming to alter fundamentally the basic institutions, especially the economic institutions, of our society. Such efforts, however, lack grounding in a critically oriented framework of reasoning about justice. Lacking such grounding, proposals for radical egalitarian or socialist conceptions of justice constitute little more in the way of an alternative absolute theory of justice than do mere criticisms of the dominant framework. I argue that formulation of questions of justice exclusively in distributive terms tends toward conceptual confusion and fails to be basic enough. #RandolphHarris 1 of 20

I also argue that the sort of criticism of traditional theories of justice that Milton Fisk, who believed justice is relative to the different interests of dominant and subordinate classes, leaves us with apparently impossible task of developing a theory which can make universalistic claims without abandoning or disguising the historical embeddedness of its origins and application because it collapses into something that is unacceptable and appeals to brute interest. This is because he cannot say which justice we should choose as the right one, or perhaps, indeed, that we choose at all. As Fisk argues, dominant and subordinate classes will tend to accept different principles of justice because of their conflicting interest. To solve these problems with traditional theories of justice, I offer some suggestions for alternative framework for theorizing about justice. To outline a theory of justice, I develop certain elements of the communicative ethics which Jurgen Habermas has proposed. Human rationality is a necessary outcome of successful communication. There are intuitively mastered rules for reaching an understanding and conducting argumentation, possessed by subjects who are capable of speech and action. The goal is to transform this implicit “know-how” into explicit “know-that,” for instance, knowledge, about how we conduct ourselves in the realm of moral-practical reasoning. #RandolphHarris 2 of 20

In particular, I take up Habermas’s unelaborated suggestion that the ideal speech situation, which he argues any act of speaking presupposes, expresses the ideal of justice. I argue that the ideal speech situation offers the potential foundation for a framework of theorizing about justice which focuses not primarily on distribution, but on more fundamental questions of institutional relations and domination. I argue, further, that the application of the ideal speech situation to particular social configurations constitutes a means for solving the problem of how to construct an objective and critical conception of justice which does not merely reflect actual social circumstances at the same time that it remains historically specific. Since Adam Smith, almost every theory of social justice has focused primarily on questions of how social benefits should be allocated among members of the society. Insofar as it entails a theory of justice, utilitarianism is a paradigm of this distributive focus. Utilitarian methodology calls for treating all values as greater or lesser “bundles” of goods and comparing alterative distributions of bundles. Contemporary criticisms of classical utilitarian theory as ignoring the most important questions of justice—merit, desert, rights, and so forth—many be apt. #RandolphHarris 3 of 20

Most contemporary critics of utilitarianism, however, continue to formulate the question of justice primarily as a question of distribution. This distributive paradigm of questioning about justice so dominants philosophical thinking that even critics of the traditional liberal framework continue to formulate the focus of justice in exclusively distributive terms. A distributive focus on theorizing about justice is so much a part of our moral conceptualization that it does not appear possible to have any other to find. To such another focus we must look back to the ancient conception of justice, in particular that enunciated in the Platonic dialogues. For the ancients, justice refers to the whole of virtue insofar as it concerns relations with others. For Plato the question of justice does not concern primarily the proper distribution of social benefits and burdens. Rather, justice concerns first the organization of the community as a whole. We develop a conception of justice by constructing a vision of the organization of social positions and relations which will produce a harmonious and cooperative whole. I do not wish to adopt the Platonic conception of justice, for there is much in it that is inappropriate for us, or indeed absolutely pernicious. #RandolphHarris 4 of 20

I will argue, however, that a theory of justice which takes as its primary question the structural and institutional relations of the society in its totality is better than one which focuses exclusively or primarily on questions of distribution. There are, in particular, two objections to the distributive orientation. First, formulation of many apt questions of justice in distributive terms tends to render them conceptually confused. Second, a distributive orientation tends to focus on the evaluation of the effects of given institutional forms and relations, instead of evaluating the institutional structures themselves. Questions about the principles and procedures according to which a society ought to distribute the material benefits of social production obviously constitute crucial questions of social justice. By no means all questions about the rights and liberties a society ought to protect for its members, the structure of power and decision-making, and so on. Here are some example of such questions of justice that are not distributive in any immediate sense: Is a division between mental and manual labour just? Is it just to raise taxes without the mandate of popular referendum? Is marriage just? #RandolphHarris 5 of 20

True to the utilitarian tradition, most modern theories of justice answer questions like these in terms of the relatively quantity of benefits that accrue to persons. They conceptualize questions of rights liberties, the justice of institutionalized positions, decision-making procedures, relations of authority, and so on, as questions of the proper distribution of bundles of non-material goods. Such distributively oriented treatment of questions of rights, liberties, power, and so on, however, tends to obscure the meaning of those concepts. I shall concentrate on the examples of rights and power. Talk of distribution of power within society is perhaps the most common way political theories wrongly construe questions f social justice in distributive terms. Democratic arrangements are frequently held to entail an equal distribution of power, while more hierarchical arrangements are defined by an unequal distribution of power. The conceptual confusion here may ultimately lie in an equivocation on the term “equality.” Equality in the distribution of goods refers to sameness of quantity or value, whereas equality in relations of power and powerlessness means something like “peership.” #RandolphHarris 6 of 20

Discussion of power as some kind of “stock” which can be distributed obscures the fact that power, unlike wealthy, for example, does not exist except through social relations. Having social power means standing in relation with others such that one can control their actions or the conditions of their actions. One can have a plot of land without being related to anyone else, but having the power to levy rent on it essentially entails specific relations to others and a whole supporting set of institutions. It is thus misleading to conceptualize relations of power on analogy with the distribution of an amount of goods. If the social relations of power change in such a way that a person or group gains autonomy, this does not mean that some quantity of power has been redistributed. It means, rather, that a relation of power has been eliminated. This criticism that a distributively oriented theory of justice distorts the meaning of important social and political concepts, however, does not reach to the core of the problem with distributively oriented theories. The main criticism of a distribytively oriented theory of justice is that it tends to focus on patterns of distribution without even bringing into direct theoretical focus the structure of the institutional relations and the movement of social processes which bring this pattern of distribution about. #RandolphHarris 7 of 20

Like nearly all other modern theories of justice, then, John Rawls’s approach avoids asking about the justice of specific institutional structures themselves, along with the relations of power, exploitation and dependency they can produce. Several writers have argued, for example, that Rawls fails to focus on the institutional relations which underlie economic classes, and fails to justify his assumption that class inequality is inevitable. In his theory Rawls implicitly assumes many institutions as given, moreover, such as competitive markets, political bureaucracies, and monogamous heterosexual families, without every raising questions about whether the positions and relations these institutions entail are just. In sum, distributively oriented theories conceptualize questions of justice, whether of particular actions or practices, or of the pattern of rights and inequalities of a whole society, primarily as questions concerning the fair allocation of social goods, including non-material goods, among individuals. The approach advocated here, on the other hand, focuses on the structures of social organization that allow some individuals to have power over others, on the structure of decision making within and among institutions, and on the definition of social positions themselves. #RandolphHarris 8 of 20

I am no arguing, of course, that questions of distribution are not important to a theory of justice, only that these questions of institutional structure should be considered first. On the basis of an ontology of love it is obvious that love it the principle of justice. If life as the actuality of being is essentially the drive towards the reunion of the separated, it follows that the justice of being is the form which is adequate to this movement. The further principles to be derived from the basic principle mediate between it and the concrete situation in which the risk of justice is demanded. There are four principles which perform this mediation. The first principle is that of adequacy, namely the adequacy of the form to the content. There is a complaint, as old as human laws, that laws which were adequate in the past are still in force, although inadequate in the past are still in force, although inadequate in the present. They do not give the form in which creative encounters of power with power are possible and a definite power of being results. They prevent such encounters from becoming creative, or, in terms of the ontology of love, from reuniting the separated. Laws, governing the family structure of another period or its economic relations, may destroy families and disrupt the class unity of this period. #RandolphHarris 9 of 20

The possibility for such discrepancies between law and actual encounter is based on the fact that forms which once expressed the power of being, have a tendency towards self-continuation beyond the point of their adequacy. This is so even in nature, as the remnants of former biological stages in later stages of development show. It is confirmed by the conservatism of institutions in human’s cultural and social existence. In both cases it is the risk of self-transcendence which keeps life in the bondage of tested institutions. However, the price paid for the safety in the old form is paid in terms of injustice. And injustice in terms of the inadequacy of the form ultimately undermines safety, so that the price was paid in vain. The second principle of justice is that of equality. It is implicit in every law, in so far as the law is equally valid for the equals. However, the question is: Who are the equals? In what sense is equality meant? In Plato’s Republic, the central concern of which is the idea of justice, a large group of human beings, for instance, those enslaved, are excluded from full humanity and the corresponding justice. Amongst the three groups who are equals as citizens and as such fully human, great inequalities do exist with respect to their claims for distributive justice. #RandolphHarris 10 of 20

Christianity has reduced the fundamental inequality of the ancient World, namely that between human beings with full humanity and those with limited humanity. There is ultimate equality between all people in the view of God and His justice is equally offered to all of them. Hierarchy and aristocracy are irrelevant for the ultimate relation. However, they are very relevant for the inner human relations. Slavery was not abolished in the early Church and the medieval order was feudal, establishing qualifications of justice according to the claim for justice of each grace of social standing. The principle of equality was restricted to the equals within the same ontological degree, inside and outside the human society. Justice is based on a cosmic hierarchy. It is the form in which this hierarchy actualizes itself. The principle of equality can be understood in the opposite way. It can be applied democratically to every human being. If this is done, one points to the possession of reason in everyone who deserves the name “human.” It is their potential rationality which makes all humans equal. If real equality is to be created, this potentiality must be actualized. #RandolphHarris 11 of 20

However, in the process of actualization innumerable differences appear, differences in the given nature of the individual, differences in one’s given social opportunity, differences in one’s given creativity, differences in all sides of one’s power of being. These differences entail differences in one’s social power and consequently in one’s claim for distributive justice. However, these differences are functional and not ontological, as in the systems of hierarchical thinking. They are not unchangeable. Nevertheless they prevent an egalitarian system of society. Actually there is no egalitarian structure in any society. The relation of equality and justice depends on the power of being in a human and one’s corresponding intrinsic claim for justice. The definition of this claim is rather diverse. It is one thing if one is posited on a grade of a hierarchical stairway and one expects to receive the justice which fits one’s grade. It is another if one is considered a unique and incomparable individual and one expects a special justice which is adapted to one’s particular power of being. It is still another if one is considered a potential bearer of reason and one expect the justice which is claimed by one’s dignity as a rational being in different states of development. In all these cases equality is present, but a qualified equality, never an egalitarian one. #RandolphHarris 12 of 20

Every solution of the problems of human’s freedom can be accepted in the context of the present discussion. What is decisive is only that humans are considered as a deliberating, deciding, responsible person. Therefore one had probably better speak of the principle of personality as a principle of justice. The content of this principle is the demand to treat every person as a person. If people are dealt with as if they were things, justice is always violated. This has been called “reification” (Verdinglichung) or “objectivation” (Vergegenstandlichung). In any case it contradicts the justice of being, the intrinsic claim of every person to be considered a person. This claim includes and circumscribes the relation of freedom to justice. Freedom can mean the inner superiority of the person over enslaving conditions in the external World. The Stoic slave and the Christian slave were equal in their independence of the social conditions which contradicted external freedom but which were not necessarily in conflict with their spiritual freedom, with their persons and with their claim to be considered as persons. The Stoic participates in the justice of the Universe and its rational structure; the Christian expects the justice of the Kingdom of God. An enslavement of the personal center is not implied in one’s social destiny. Spiritual freedom is possible even “in chains.” #RandolphHarris 13 of 20

In contrast to this ideal of non-political spiritual freedom, liberalism tries to remove the enslaving conditions. The transition from the one to the other idea of freedom is the awareness that there are social conditions which prevent spiritual freedom either generally or for the great majority of people. This was the argument of the revolutionary Anabaptists in the Reformation period. It was the argument of many social reformers in all periods of Christianity, and it was the argument of humanistic and religious socialists in our time. However, more than this is involved in the liberal fight for political freedom. “Liberty” is considered to be an essential principle of justice because the freedom of political and cultural self-determination is seen as an essential element of personal existence. Even if both the master and the slave can participate in a transcendent freedom, slavery in all forms contradicts justice. This liberal doctrine of justice is an exception in the total history of humankind, and it is today receding in influence. Does our ontological analysis give an answer to the question of freedom in liberalism? And is there an answer to the previous question of the aristocratic and the democratic idea of equality in connexion with it? #RandolphHarris 14 of 20

The ontology of love gives the answer. If justice is the form of the reunion of the separated, it must include both the separation without which there is no love and the reunion in which love is actualized. This is the reason why frequently the principle of fraternity or solidarity or comradeship or, more adequately, community has been added to the principles of equality and liberty. This addition has, however, been rejected in the name of a formal concept of justice, and under the assumption that community is an emotional principle adding nothing essential to the rational concept of justice—on the contrary, endangering its strictness. The decision of all these interwoven problems is dependent on the qualities of justice and the relationship of justice to power and love. Ideas are very general models of or assumptions about reality. They are patterns of interpretations, historically developed and socially shared. They sometimes are involved with beliefs, but are much more than belief and do not depend upon it. They are ways of thinking about and interpreting things. They are so pervasive and essential to how we think about and how we approach life that we often do not even know they are there or understand when and how they are at work. #RandolphHarris 15 of 20

Our idea system is a cultural artifact, growing up with us from earliest childhood out of the teachings, expectations and observable behaviours of family and community. Anthropologists observe that the World occupied by a human being comprises not only the surrounding land, water, sky, plant and animal life, human beings and works of human hands, but also a “symbolic reality,” which is superimposed upon material reality. Our idea system is shareable by many—perhaps by entire social systems, such as nations or families—and it develops and changes through time and historical process, often without it being noticed that it has in fact changed. Examples of ideas are freedom, education, happiness “The American Dream,” science, progress, death, home, the feminine or masculine, the religious, “Christian,” “Muslim,” church, democratic (form of government), fair, just family, evolution, God, the secular, and so on. If you wish to see ideas in action, look closely at artistic endeavours in their various forms (especially today, movies and music, which encapsulate most of what is called “pop culture”), and at efforts to persuade (especially today, politics and commercials). Look, for example, at the place, freedom, a major idea now, plays in automobile ads and rock lyrics. And look at our now largely paralyzed public education system to see what ideas are dominant in students and teachers. #RandolphHarris 16 of 20

Now, for all their importance to human life, ideas are never capable of definition or precise specification; and yet people never stop trying to define them, in their vain efforts to control them. They are broadly inclusive, historically developing ways of interpreting things and events, which, for all their power, often do not emerge into the consciousness of the individual. Therefore, it is extremely difficult for most people to recognize which ideas are governing their life and how those ideas are governing their life. This is partly because one commonly identifies his or her own governing ideas with reality, pure and simple. Ironically, it is often people who think of themselves as “practical” or as “humans of action”—both, of course, major ideas—who are most in the grip of ideas: so far in that grip that they cannot be bothered to think. They simply do not know what moves them. However, ideas govern them and have their consequences anyway. Another illustration of “idea grip” would be how most people think of success in life in terms of promotions and possessions. One’s culture is seen most clearly in what one thinks of as “natural” and as requiring no explanation or even thought. #RandolphHarris 17 of 20

Beware the fury of a patient person. Jacob saw his Redeemer—the law of Moses typifies Christ and proves He will come. About 559-545 Before Christ. “And now, Jacob spake many more things to my people at that time; nevertheless only these things have I caused to be written, for the things which I have written sufficeth me. And now I, Nephi, write more of the words of Isaiah, for my soul delighteth in his words. For I will liken his words unto my people, and I will send them forth unto all my children, for he verily saw my Redeemer, even as I have seen him. And my brother, Jacob, also has seen him as I have seen him; wherefore, I will send their words forth unto my children to prove unto them that my words are true. Wherefore, by the words of three, God hath said, I will establish my word. Nevertheless, God sendeth more witnesses, and he proveth all his words. Behold, my soul delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ; for, for this end hath the law of Moses been given; and all things which have been given of God from the beginning of the World, unto humans, are the typifying of him. And also my soul delighteth in the covenants of the Lord which he hath made to our fathers; yea, my soul delighteth in his grace, and in his justice, and power, and mercy in the great and eternal plan of deliverance from death. #RandolphHarris 18 of 20

“And my soul delighteth in proving unto my people that save Christ should come all human must perish. For if there be no Christ there be no God; and if there be no God we are not, for there could have been no creation. However, there is a God, and he is Christ, and he cometh in the fulness of his own time. And now I write some of the words of Isaiah, that whoso of my people shall see these words may lift up their hearts and rejoice for all humans. Now these are the words, and ye may liken them unto you and unto all humans,” reports 1 Nephi 10.1-8. God of my end, it is my greatest, noblest pleasure to be acquainted with Thee and my rational, immortal soul; it is sweet and entertaining to look into my being when all my powers and passions are untied and engaged in pursuit of thee, when my soul longs and passionately breathes after conformity to Thee and the full enjoyment of Thee; no hour pass away with so much pleasure as those spent in communion with Thee and with my hearts. O how desirable, how profitable to the Christian life is a spirit of holy watchfulness and Godly jealousy over myself, when my soul is afraid of nothing except grieving and offending Thee, the blessed God, my Father and friend, whom I then love and long to please, rather than be happy in myself! #RandolphHarris 19 of 20

Knowing, as I do, that this is the pious temper, worthy of the highest ambition, and closet pursuit of intelligent creatures and holy Christians, may my joy derive from glorifying and delighting Thee. I long to fill all my time for Thee, whether at home or in the way; to place all my concerns in Thy hands; to be entirely at Thy disposal, having no will or interest of my own. Help me to live to Thee forever, to make Thee my last and only end, so that I may never more in one instance love my sinful nature. O God, our Refuge in pains, our Strength in weakness, our Help in tribulations, our Solace in tears; spare, O Lord, spare Thy people, give not up to beasts the souls that praise Thee. O God of Heavenly powers, fulfill Thy promised mercy; that the hearts of the rebellious may be subdued to the truth of the Gospel; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Almighty and everlasting God, Who savest all humans, and willest not that any should perish; look upon the sols which have been deceived by the fraud of the devil; that all heretical perversity may be driven away, and the hearts of the erring may repent, and return to Thine unshaken truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Dissolve, O Christ, the schisms of heresy, which seek to subvert the faith, which strive to corrupt the truth; that as Thou art acknowledged in Heaven and in Earth as one and the same Lord, so Thy people, gathered from all nations, may serve Thee in the unity of faith. #RandolphHarris 20 of 20

Cresleigh Homes

Plenty of space to create in this #MillsStation Residence 2 home! We love the modern design of this backyard. But you know what would make it perfect? Some citrus trees! 🍋 Check out today’s blog post to learn why citrus is a great addition to every backyard. 😍🌳 Link in bio. https://cresleigh.com/mills-station/move-in-ready-home-site-61/

#CresleighRanch
#CresleighHomes

The Greatest thing in the World is to Know How to be Self-Sufficient!

April 30, 2020 11:26 pm

I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there by any kindness I can show or any good things I can do to follow human beings, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again. People do not live by bread alone. They need buttering up once in awhile. We all need it. The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated. Too often we underestimate the power of respect, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. Hegemony, which is the social, cultural, ideological, or economic influence exerted by a dominant group, in any political context is indeed fragile. It requires renewal and modification through the assertion and reassertion of power. It is crucial to the concept that hegemony is not a “given” and permanent state of affairs, but it has to be actively won and secured; it can also be lost. Ideological work is the winning and securing of hegemony over time. Ideology is composed of text that are not closed, and counter-tendencies regularly appear in the seams and cracks of dominant forms. Mediated communications ranging from popular television shows to rap and rock music, even graffiti scrawled over surfaces of public spaces, all inscribe messages that challenge central political positions and cultural assumptions. #RandolphHarris 1 of 20

Counterhegemony, which is defined as the way people develop ideas and discourses to challenge dominant assumptions, beliefs and established patterns of behaviour, and is employed to explain some of the criticism of, and mobilization against, globalization, is the intellection foundation for much of the anti-globalization movement. These tendencies are not solely inherent in texts. They are formulated in processes of communication—in the interpretations, social circulation, and uses of media content. As with the American soldiers’ use of military gas masks as inhaling devices to heighten the effect of marijuana smoke, or the homeless’s transformation of supermarket shopping carts into personal storage vehicles, ideological resistance and appropriation frequently involved reinventing institutional messages for purposes that differ greatly from their creators’ intentions. Expressions of the dominant ideology are sometimes reformulated to assert alternative, often completely resistant or contradictory messages. Furthermore, resistance to hegemony is not initiated solely by media consumers. Texts themselves are implicated. Ideology can never be stated purely and simply. Ways of thinking are always reflexive and embedded in a complex, sometimes contradictory, ideological regress. #RandolphHarris 2 of 20

Audience interpretations and uses of media imagery also eat away at hegemony. When dominant ideology is weaker than social resistance, hegemony fails. Gay subcultures, feminist organizations, environmental groups, radical political parties, music-based formations such as punks, B-boys, Rastafarians, hairography (which Britney Spears and Beyonce are both very famous for), metal heads all use media and their social networks to endorse counter-hegemonic values and lifestyles. Indeed, we have only just begun to examine the complex relationship between ideological representations and social action. The thought of the burden that the self-actualized has taken on oneself may seem dreadful, but one has one’s consolations even thought they are intangible. One has found unbroken peace and ultimate truth. One does not ask for more, not even the ecstatic bliss which delights the mystic, but which is necessarily intermittent. One knows that the whole creation is moving onwards to self-discovery which means it is moving onwards to find the same things one has found. The process is low and painful, but it will surely be successful. The self-actualized has conquered separativeness in one’s mind and realized the spirit of God in oneself. #RandolphHarris 3 of 20

The logical consequences are tremendous. It follows that there is no liberation from the round of spiritual births and rebirths for the self-actualized; one has to go through it like the others. Of course, one does this with full understanding whereas they are plunged in darkness. However, if one identifies oneself with the spirit of God, then, one cannot desert but must go on to the end, working for the liberation of others in turn. This is one’s crucifixion, that being able to save others one is unable to save oneself. “And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, ‘And he (or she) was numbered with the transgressors.’” Why? Because compassion rules one, not the ego. Nobody is likely to want such a goal (until, indeed one is almost ready for it) so it is usually kept secret or symbolized. Again: “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” What is the self-actualized reaction to the cosmos? It is very different from that of the unenlightened who have never asked the question, “What am I?” The self-actualized had no sense of conflict, no inner division. One has expanded one’s notion of self until it has embraced the Universe and therefore rightly one may say “the Universe is the Spirit of God.” This means that one has expanded the understanding of one’s minds. Less enlightened individuals only say “the Universe is an idea.” #RandolphHarris 4 of 20

All these sufferers come to one in their need and expect so much from one, but one must expect and ask nothing from them; one is to be content with this one-way transaction. If one wishes anything in return—even an acknowledgment of service rendered, much less a payment in any mental, emotional, or physical form—the ego has reared its head and the service is impure. If one helps them, it is out of natural good will to all humans. The self-actualized approaches them with compassion balanced by comprehension. No mother asks why she should help her child or concern herself with the well-being of her husband (or domestic partner). She identifies herself with them and takes it for granted that their interests are her own. Similarly, the illuminate takes it for granted that the interest are her or his own. Similarly, the illuminate takes it for granted that the interest of all humankind are one’s own and others are one’s family. Progress, therefore, is not an accident, but a necessity. It is part of nature. No one can be perfectly free till all are free; no one can be perfectly moral till all are moral; no one can be perfectly happy till all are happy. “There will be no more delay! But in the days when the seventh Angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets,” reports Revelations 10.7. #RandolphHarris 5 of 20

Situations involving persons, change in the behaviour of the persons, and the effects of different qualities of interpersonal relationships exist in almost every human undertaking. As client begin to realize how imprisoning their usual choices and responses have been and how capable they are of transcending them, they develop new ways of standing in the World and new conceptions of who they will become. They develop a sense of aha, or resonance, within themselves that clearly apprises them of their predicaments. They may say things like, “I never realized how deeply these feelings affected me and how strongly I want to experience them again in my life,” or “Now I see how so much of my life had been wasted on shame—and it is time I broke the cycle.” The ingredient that gives these realizations substance is intentionality, which precedes that which is traditionally referred to as insight. While insight is conceptual and schematic, intentionality is spontaneous and bodily and comprises one’s total orientation to the World at that time. Another precondition for insight is what is referred to as inner vision—which is a vital sense of one’s own powers in directing one’s own life. Inner vision is not to be capture in words. #RandolphHarris 6 of 20

Those who equate a verbal account of the inner sight with the inward vision itself make the familiar semantic error of mistaking the map for the territory. What can be said about an inner sight is always less tan the sight itself and is always relatively impotent in brining about true life changes, especially when compared with the power of one’s own liberating inward realization. It is the inward realization, them the intentionality, that give experiences meaning. The chief question, of course, is, How do we as therapists, help clients to consolidate these meanings—what tools or inspirations can we provide? The answer is, No tools or inspirations are needed other than those they have already gleaned form our being present with them and from their discovering (internalizing) the ability to be present with themselves. Yet it is of vital importance that we reinforce these developments, especially toward the close of treatment. For example, I often invite clients to explore their specific values toward the end of therapy—which values they hold dear and how they plan on implementing those values. I also find it helpful to reflect back to clients, not merely what they say, but what I hear them intending: “You seem to be excited about getting out there and doing what you felt you could not do all those years. #RandolphHarris 7 of 20

“I feel exuberance when you speak about marrying your fiancée, a sense that you are deeply ready to be involved; “I sense that you no longer need to be the flashiest guy on the block, tat you can now enjoy quiet moments at home;” “I do not get the sense of you walking on eggshells anymore—you no longer downplay your power;” or “You are not going to let physical disabilities disable you mentally—this is the message that you have declared to me today.” It is important that people know that if they cannot get outer freedom, they can get inner freedom, of mind and heart. No Worldly advantage can tempt the self-actualized into desertion of one’s sacred task of serving humanity, nor can any egoism lead one into betrayal of those who trust one. The goodwill which one shows to all people is devoid of any self-seeking motive, is a natural expression of the love which one finds in the innermost chambers of one’s soul. The World play is but an illusion of the mind, but the integral vision of the self-actualized enables one to act one’s part perfectly in they very heart of the World’s tumult. The knowledge that all action is ultimately illusory does not prevent one being dynamically active Supreme calm and silence reigns in one’s center, but one’s harmony with Nature is such that one joins the World-movement spontaneously. #RandolphHarris 8 of 20

One does not fall into the error of a certain kind of ascetic who assumes a callous indifference to the sufferings of others as part of one’s plan to render oneself invulnerable. Such a person is truly a Christ-like one, inasmuch as one seeks to open the door of the kingdom of Heaven for others as well as oneself. One may or may not know in advance that one’s efforts will avail little, but if the Power bids one say what must be said, one will accept the result calmly. When there is no feeling of separateness from others, there can be no resultant feeling of doing good when helping them. What is the basis for such holistic reorientations? Perhaps it can be described as follows: The freer that people feel to experience themselves, the less panic they harbour; the less panic, the less urgency they feel to rearrange and hence dysfunctionally distort themselves. To the degree that people can draw upon this strength, the more fully they can subsist. Intuition may also be expressed in this way: human’s unconditional concern is the subjective response to the Protestant call to protest. An analysis of religion, of literature, of philosophy, of culture, of love, would reveal that people experience an unconditional concern. Whatever they believe or disbelieve, they touch a realm of in their self-awareness which escapes doubt or belief. #RandolphHarris 9 of 20

If justification is an act of God, human’s unconditional concern is the acceptance by humans of their justification even in the midst of questionings and doubts. For questions belong to the intellect, but this concern lies beyond the intellect, in what we call the depths of reason. We are saved neither by merit nor by belief, but by the Unconditional. This term point to that element in every religious experience which makes it religious. It characterizes that which is our ultimate and consequently unconditional concern, whether we call if “God” or “Being as such” or “the Good as such,” or “The True as such,” or whether we give it any other name. Unconditional is a quality which we experience in encountering reality, for instance, in the unconditional character of the voice of conscience, the logical as well as the moral. This description of the Unconditional as a quality, and not a being, brings us to an important fact: “Nobody can have the ultimate, nothing conditioned can possess the Unconditional. This undercuts every attempt to identify the Unconditional directly. The Unconditional is not a God; it is not a being. It is, rather, some quality of the self which we have an indirect experience. #RandolphHarris 10 of 20

Were the Unconditional only a quality of the self, it would be ours, yours and mine, but as we, you and I, are conditioned and, as such, unable to possess the Unconditional, the fact that we experience total commitment, ultimate devotion, unconditional concern points to a complementary aspect of existence: that the Unconditional is both in us and beyond us. Grace is not a possession; it is only received through faith. Likewise, human’s unconditional concerns, in as far as they are truly unconditional, reach both the rock bottom of self and a transcendental element which dominates the self. Two Worlds touch at this point. Jesus Christ praises the less affluent in so far as they live in two Worlds, the present World and the World to come. And he threatens the arrogant affluent in so far as they live in one World alone. This makes for the unchanging greatness of the Psalms. For what the Psalmist expresses is that the Presence of the center of all life within the center of one’s life implies both a radical attack on one’s existence, and the ultimate meaning of one’s existence. We are known in a depth of darkness through which we ourselves do not even dare to look. And at the same time, we are seen in a height of a fullness which surpasses our highest vision. Nothing matters; yet everything is supremely important if it has an unconditioned means, an unconditioned depth, an unconditioned reality. #RandolphHarris 11 of 20

Unconditional concern implies this infinite tension between the conditions of our existence and the commitment to an unconditional element; it entails daring and risk. This is faith: Faith is the state of being ultimately concerned. The principle of justification by faith alone contains more than strikes the eye. As understood, it means faith in Christ as the Saviour. The Greater Catechism reads: “I believe that Jesus Christ, the true Son of God, has been made my Lord, that through his blood he has liberated me from my sins, from the Devil, from death and from all misfortune.” Faith cannot be pinned down to one set of beliefs or identified with one emotional experience. These distortions of faith are corrected by the Protestant principle that nothing condition may vehicle the Unconditional. Rather, faith underlies every belief and every emotion: it is the total commitment f humans to ultimacy, the total surrender of one who accepts this claim [of ultimacy], the concern about our existence in its ultimate whence and wither. Should one ask, “What is the Ultimate?,” an answer may be sought in he fact that people have devised a multitude of faiths; they have identified the Ultimate with this God or that; they have worshipped symbols of the ultimate. Through perhaps mutually exclusive, all these tend to the same point: total commitment. #RandolphHarris 12 of 20

Jacob explains that the Jews will crucify their God—they will be scattered until they begin to believe in Him—American will be a land of liberty where no king will rule—reconcile yourselves to God and fain salvation through His grace. About 559-545 Before Christ. “And now, I Jacob, speak unto you again, my beloved brethren, concerning this righteous branch of which I have spoken. For behold, the promises which we have obtained are promises unto us according to the flesh; wherefore, as it has been shown unto me that many of our children shall perish in the flesh because of unbelief nevertheless, God will be merciful unto many; and our children shall be restored, that they may come to that which will give them the true knowledge of their Redeemer. Wherefore, as I said unto you, it must need be expedient that Christ—for in the last night the Angel spake unto me that this should be his name—should come among the Jews, among those who are the more wicked part of the World; and they shall crucify him—for it behooveth our God, and there is none other nation on Earth that would crucify their God. For should the mighty miracles be wrought among other nations they would repent, and know that he be their God. However, because of priestcrafts and iniquities, they at Jerusalem will stiffen their neck against him, that he be crucified. #RandolphHarris 13 of 20

“Wherefore, because of their iniquities, destructions, famines, pestilences, and bloodshed shall come upon them; and they who shall not be destroyed shall be scattered among all nation. However, behold, this saith the Lord God: When the day cometh that they shall believe in me, that I am Christ, then have I covenanted with their fathers that they shall be restored in the flesh, upon the Earth, unto the lands of their inheritance. And it shall come to pass that they shall be gathered in from the isles of the sea, and from the four parts of the Earth; and the nations of the Gentiles shall be great in the eyes of me, saith God, in carrying them forth to the lands of their inheritance. Yea, the kings of the Gentiles shall be nursing fathers unto them, and their queens shall become nursing mothers; wherefore, the promises of the Lord are great unto the Gentiles, for he hath spoken it, and who can dispute? However, behold, this land, said God, shall be a land of thine inheritance and Gentiles shall be blessed upon the land. And this land shall be a land of thine inheritance and the Gentiles shall be blessed upon the land. And this land shall be a land of liberty unto the Gentiles, and there shall be no kings upon the land, who shall rise up unto the Gentiles. And I will fortify this land against all other nations. And one that frighteth against Zion shall perish, saith God. #RandolphHarris 14 of 20

“For one that raiseth up a kind against me shall perish, for I, the Lord, the king of Heaven, will be their king, and I will be a light unto them forever, that hear my words. Wherefore, this cause, that my covenants may be fulfilled which I have made unto the children of humans, that I will do unto them while they are in the flesh, I must needs destroy the secrets works of darkness, and of murders, and of abominations. Wherefore, one that frighteth against Zion, both Jew and Gentile, both bound and free, both male and female, shall perish; for they are they who are the whore of all the Earth; for they who are not for me are against me, saith our God. For I will fulfill my promises which I have made unto the children of humans, that I will do unto them while they are in the flesh—wherefore, my beloved brethren, thus saith our God: I will afflict thy seed by the hand of the Gentiles; nevertheless, I will soften the hearts of the Gentiles, that they shall be like unto a father to them; wherefore, the Gentiles shall be blessed and numbered among the house of Israel. Wherefore, I will consecrate this land unto thy seed, and them who shall be numbered among thy seed, forever, for the land of their inheritance; for it is a choice land, saith God unto me, above all other lands, wherefore I will have all humans that well thereon that they shall worship me, saith God. #RandolphHarris 15 of 20

“And now, my beloved brethren, seeing that our merciful God has given us so great knowledge concerning these things, let us remember him, and lay aside our sins, and not hang down our heads, for we are not cast off; nevertheless, we have been driven out of the land of our inheritance; but we have been led to a better land, for the Lord has made the sea our path, and we are upon an isle of the sea. However, great are the promises of the Lord unto them who are upon the isles of the sea; wherefore as it says isles, there must needs be more than this, and they are inhabited also by our brethren. For behold, the Lord God has led away from time to time from the house of Israel, according to his will and pleasure. And now behold, the Lord remembereth all them who have been broken off, wherefore he remembereth us also. Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, reconcile yourselves to the will of God, and not to the will of the devil and the flesh; and remember, after ye are reconciled unto God, that it is only in and through the grace of God that ye are saved. #RandolphHarris 16 of 20

“Wherefore, may God raise you from death by the power of the resurrection, and also from everlasting death by the power of the atonement, that ye may be received into the eternal kingdom of God, that ye may praise hm through grace divine. Amen,” 2 Nephi 1-25. It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest, that I go to, than I have ever known. I question not but Your Honors d to the utmost of your powers in the discovery and detecting of witchcraft and witches, and would not be guilty of innocent blood for the World. But, by my own innocency, I know you are the wrong way. O God Most High, Most Glorious, the thought of thine infinite serenity cheers me, for I am toiling and moiling, troubled and distressed, but thou art forever at perfect peace. Thy designs cause Thee no fear or care of unfulfillment, they stand fast as the eternal hills. Thy power knows no bound, Thy goodness no suit. Thou bringest order out of confusion, and my defeats are Thy victories: The Lord God omnipotent reigneth. I come to Thee as a sinner with cares and sorrows, to leave every concern entirely to Thee, every sin calling for Christ’s precious blood; revive deep spirituality in my heart; le me live near to the great Shepherd, hear his voice, know its tones, follow its calls. #RandolphHarris 17 of 20

Keep me from deception by causing me to abide in the truth, from harm by helping me to walk in the power of the Spirit. Give me intenser faith in the eternal verities, burning into me by experience the things I know; let me never be ashamed of the truth of the gospel, that I may bear its reproach, vindicate it, see Jesus Christ as its essence, know in it the power of the Spirit. Lord, help me, for I am often lukewarm and chill; unbelief mars my confidence, sin makes me forget Thee. Let the weeds that grow in my soul be cut at their roots; grant me to know that I truly live only when I live to Thee, that all else is trifling. Thy presence alone can make me holy, devout, strong and happy. Abide in me, gracious God. We beseech Thee, O Lord, give strength to the weary, assistance to the sufferers, comfort to the sad, help to those in tribulation. That it may please Thee to look upon and to relieve the miseries of the poor and of captives: We beseech Thee, hear us. How great is Thy mercy, O Lord, in succouring the captives, sparing the wretched, forgiving the sinners, supporting travelers, relieving the oppressed, hearing prayers, giving to the destitute what they need, converting barbarous nation to the calling upon Thy Name! Be pleased, O loving and merciful God, to hear us when we implore that mercy. #RandolphHarris 18 of 20

Essential to our effective petitionary prayer is a prayer list. I say this first because of my own repeated experiences. For example, I may be praying for my mother, and as I pray for her I see our old family homes at 3609 Victor Avenue. In front is parked my dad’s Arctisblau arctic metallic blue 1990 BMW 750iL. It had front and rear spoilers, tinted windows, and custom wheels. Suddenly I am a kid again, wearing my black leather jacket, sitting in the passenger seat, and heading down Shore Line Drive to Alameda Beach. I can smell the ocean and cocoa butter. So much for my “prayers for Mother!” This is why I need a prayer list. To be sure, even using a list, my mind still wanders. However, when it does, I always have my list to bring me back. And when I am especially prone to distraction I can place my index finger on her name and pray with my eyes wide open—moving from name to name in this way. Every Christian person should have a prayer list which listen among other things, the names of one’s family and, if married, spouse and children. Moreover, the list ought to be detailed, featuring personal items under the names of those closet to one. I have found that small “Post-its” placed under headings help keep my list updated. #RandolphHarris 19 of 20

My daily prayer list carries the following headings, each with several details under it: Family, staff, secretaries, and custodians, ill, grieving, important events, present problems, ministries, weekly worship, never believers, missions list. In addition to my daily list, I have four other lists which I try to go through once a week. List 1 has: Ongoing ill, personal requests from others, evangelism, spiritual warfare. List 2 has: World, USA, personal life, needed personal qualities. List 3 has: Christian leaders, pastors, upcoming ministries and vision. List for has: Government leaders (federal, state, and local), the fire department and others. Quite frankly, I could not get on at all without a prayer list, not only because it tames my wandering mine, but also because it insures that I will not neglect things that are important. O God, Who are the Author of love, and the Lover of pure peace and affection, heal the diseases of all Chrisitans who are sik, and let all who are terrified by fears, afflicted by poverty, harassed by tribulation, worn down by illness, given over to punishments, and all prisoners, and wayfarers, be set free by Thine indulgent tenderness, raised up by amendment life, and cherished by Thy daily compassion. #RandolphHarris 20 of 20

BRIGHTON STATION AT CRESLEIGH RANCH

Rancho Cordova, CA |

Now Selling!

NOW SELLING! Brighton Station at Cresleigh Ranch is Rancho Cordova’s newest home community! This charming neighborhood offers an array of home types with eye catching architecture styles such as Mid-Century Modern, California Modern, Prairie, and Contemporary Farmhouse. And currently, Home Site 84 is Move In Ready and has up to a $35,000 incentive! https://cresleigh.com/brighton-station/move-in-ready-home-site-84/

A big, open entryway to embrace you every time you walk in the door. 🤩 Every #BrightonStation home gives you plenty of room to roam!

Lot 84 is ready for immediate move-in! A Residence 1 floor plan, it’s designed with an open layout, plenty of natural light, and a fully landscaped backyard! We are now offering a $30,000 incentive to move in, with up to $5,000 extra when using a preferred lender! 🙌 Check out our website to learn more! Link in bio. https://cresleigh.com/brighton-station/home-site-78/

#CresleighRanch
#CresleighHomes

To Understand All is to Forgive All and Let a White Lily Emerging Unsullied from a Bog

April 28, 2020 10:40 pm

We seldom attribute common sense except to those who agree with us. Be kind to unkind people—they need it the most. Tranquility can be reached by simply allowing the mind to become quiet. From tranquility emerges a person brimming over with self-reliance and contentment. An alcoholic patient, A, complained of the inconsiderateness of his mistress. As far as I could see, the complaint was not warranted, or at any rate not nearly to the extent that A implied. He himself suffered from a conflict, quite obvious to an outsider, of being compliant, good-natured, and generous on the one hand and domineering, demanding, and arrogant on the other. Here, then, was a projection of aggressive trends. However, what made the projection necessary? In his idealized image, aggressive tendencies were merely a natural ingredient of a forceful personality. The most prominent feature, however, was goodness—there had not been anyone so good as he since St. Francis, and never had there been such an ideal friend. Was the projection, then, a sop to his idealized image? Certainly! However, it also permitted him to live out his aggressive trends without becoming aware of them and so being confronted with his conflicts. Here was a person caught in an unsolvable dilemma. He could not relinquish his aggressive trends because they were of a compulsive nature. #RandolphHarris 1 of 21

Neither could he abandon his idealized image, for it was what held him together. The projection was a way out of the dilemma. It thus represented an unconscious duplicity: it enabled him to asset all his arrogant demands and to be at the same time the ideal friend. The fact was that he himself was given to transitory affairs which he kept secret. One might think here of a retaliatory fear growing out of his judging others by himself. Certainly a need to justify himself was involved. Consideration of a possible projection of homosexual tendencies did not help to clarify the situation. The clue lay in his peculiar attitude toward his own unfaithfulness. His affairs were not forgotten, but in retrospect they did not register. They were no longer a live experience. The alleged unfaithfulness of the woman, on the other hand, was quite vivid. Here, then, was an externalization of experience. Its function was the same as that of the previous example: it allowed him to maintain the idealized image and also do as he pleased. Power politics, as played among political and professional groups, may serve as another instance. Frequently such maneuvering is motivated by a conscious intention to weaken a rival and fortify one’s own position. #RandolphHarris 2 of 21

However, such maneuvering may also spring from an unconscious dilemma similar to the one presented above. In that case it would be an expression of unconscious duplicity. It would permit one all the intrigue and manipulation involved in this kind of attack without blemishing the idealized image, while at the same time affording an excellent way of pouring all one’s anger and contempt for oneself upon another person—better still, upon one who it is desirable to defeat in the first place. I shall conclude by pointing out a common way in which responsibility may be shifted to others without investing them with one’s own difficulties. Many patients, as soon as they are made aware of certain of their problems, jump immediately to their childhood and pin all their explanation on that. They are sensitive to coercion, they say, because they had a domineering mother. They are easily humiliated because humiliations were suffered in childhood; they are vindictive because of their early injuries; they are withdrawn because nobody understood them when they were young; they are inhibited in pleasures of the flesh because of their puritanical upbringing, and so on and so on. #RandolphHarris 3 of 21

I do not refer here to interviews in which both analyst and patient are seriously engaged in understanding early influences but rather to an overeagerness to explore childhood which leads to nothing but endless repetition and is accompanied by an equally great lack of interest in exploring the forces operating in the patient at present. Inasmuch as this attitude is supported by Dr. Freud’s overemphasis on genesis, let us carefully examine how much of it is based on truth and how much on fallacy. It is true that the patient’s neurotic development started in childhood and that all the data one can provide is relevant to an understanding of the specific kind of development that has taken place. It is true also that one is not responsible for one’s neurosis. The impact of circumstances was such that he could not help developing as he did. For reasons that will be discussed presently, the analyst must make this point very clear. The fallacy lies in the patient’s lack of interest in all the forces that have been built up in one on the basis of one’s childhood. These, however, are the forces that are operating in one now and that lie behind the present difficulties. One having seen so much hypocrisy around oneself as a child may have played a part, for instance, in making one cynical. #RandolphHarris 4 of 21

However, if one relates one’s cynicism to one’s early experience alone, one ignores one’s current need to be cynical—a need that springs from one’s being divided between divergent ideals and so having to throw all values overboard in an attempt to solve that conflict. Moreover, one tends to assume responsibility where one cannot, and to refuse to assume it where one should. One keeps referring to early experiences in order to reassure oneself that one really cannot help having certain failings, and at the same time feels that one should have come out of one’s early calamities unscathed—a white lily emerging unsullied from a bog. For this one’s idealized image is partly to blame, since it will not permit one to accept oneself with flaws or conflicts past or present. However, more important, one’s harping on childhood is a particular kind of evasion of self which still allows one to maintain an illusion of eagerness for self-scrutiny. Because one externalizes them one does not experience the forces operating within one; and one cannot conceive of oneself as an active instrument of one’s own life. Having creased to be the propellant one thinks of oneself as a ball that once pushed downhill must keep on rolling, or as a guinea pig, once conditioned forever determined. #RandolphHarris 5 of 21

The one-sided emphasis a patient may put on childhood is so definite an expression of one’s externalizing tendencies that whenever I meet this attitude I expect to find a person who is thoroughly alienated from oneself and who continues to be driven centrifugally away from oneself. And I have not yet been mistaken in this anticipation. The tendency to externalize operates in dreams as a jailer, if the husband slams the doors through which the dreamer wants to pass, if accidents occur or obstacles interfere with reaching a much desired destination, these dreams constitute an attempt to deny the inner conflict and to ascribe it to some external factor. A patient with a general tendency to externalize offers peculiar difficulties in analysis. One comes to it as one would go to a dentist, expecting the analyst to perform a job that does not really concern one. One is interested in the neurosis of one’s wife, friend, brother, but not in one’s own. One talks about the difficulty circumstances under which one lives and is reluctant to examine one’s share in them. If one’s wife were not so neurotic or one’s work so upsetting, one would be quite all right. For a considerable person one has no realization whatever that any emotion forces could possibly be operating within oneself. #RandolphHarris 6 of 21

The individual is afraid of ghost, burglars, thunderstorms, of vindictive persons around one, of the political situation, but never of oneself. One is at best interested in one’s problems for the intellectual or artistic pleasures they afford one. However, as long as one is, so to speak, psychically nonexistent, one cannot possibly apply any insight one may gain to one’s actual living, and therefore in spite of one’s greater knowledge about oneself can change very little. Externalization is thus essentially an active process of self-elimination. The reason for it being feasible at all lies in the estrangement from the self that is inherent in the neurotic process anyhow. With the self eliminated, it is only natural that the inner conflicts, too, should be removed from awareness. However, by making the person more reproachful, vindictive, and fearful in respect to others, externalization replaces the inner conflicts with external ones. More specifically, it greatly aggravates the conflict that originally set in motion the whole neurotic process: the conflict between the individual and the outer World. Relationships between and among the major information-diffusing, socializing agencies of a society and the interacting, cumulative, socially accepted ideological orientations they create and sustain is the essence of hegemony. #RandolphHarris 7 of 21

The American television industry, for instance, connects with other large industries, especially advertising companies but also national and multinational corporations that produce, distribute, and market a wide range of commodities, which could influence behaviour on an unconscious or even conscious level. Commercial TV networks no longer buys original children’s television shows. Network executives only want new program ideas associated with successful retail products already marketed to children. By early 2000 more than 20 toy-based TV shows appeared on American commercial TV weekly. Television also has the ability to absorb other major social institutions—organized religion, for instance—and turn them into popular culture. The TV industry also connects with government institutions, including especially the federal agencies that are supposed to regulate telecommunications. The development of American commercial broadcasting is a vivid example of how capitalist economic forces assert their power. Evacuation of the legislative mandated public service ideal could only have taken place because the Federal Communications Commission stepped aside while commercial interest amassed power and expanded their influence. Symptomatic of the problem is the fact that government regulators typically are recruited from, and return to, the very industries they are supposed to monitor. #RandolphHarris 8 of 21

Transmedia and transgenre intergrations with mutually reinforcing ideological consequences are also commonplace. Popular radio and video songs, for example, can also be commercials. Commercial logos become products themselves and are reproduced on tee-shirts, posters, beach towels, and other informational media. The rhetoric of TV commercials and programs is recycled in the lyrics of rap music and in the routines of stand-up comedians performing live and on television. There are films made for television, magazines published about television, and television news magazines. The most well-known national newspaper in the Untied States of America, USA Today, is sold nationwide in vending boxes that resemble TV sets. Television commercial appear on Channel One, and educational news channel shown to students in American elementary school classrooms. Logos that advertise only national gasoline, food, and motel chains appear on government highway signs, advising travelers of their availability at upcoming freeway exists. Expensive public relations campaigns of major corporations distribute “informational” supplementary textbooks to elementary and secondary school systems. #RandolphHarris 9 of 21

Major business organizations send digests of their annual reports and other promotional materials to college instructors, hoping their biased information will be incorporated into teaching and research. Similar materials are sent to political and religious leaders so they will pas the information along to their constituencies and congregations. In the United States of America, advocacy of alternative political ideologies, parties, and candidates, or suggestions of viable consumer alternatives to the commercial frenzy stimulated and reinforced by advertising and other marketing techniques, are rarely seen on the popular media. Radical ideas typically appear only on underfinanced, non-commercial radio and TV stations and in low-budget print media. These media have tiny public followings compared to commercial television and video outlets, metropolitan daily newspapers, and national magazines. When genuinely divergent views appear on mainstream media, the information is frequently shown in an unfavourable light or is modified and co-opted to surrender to the embrace of mainstream thought. The mass media helped create an impression that even society’s roughest edges ultimately must conform to the conventional contours of dominant ideologies. #RandolphHarris 10 of 21

Hegemony has been central to the management of ideology in communist nations too, though it develops differently. Central ideological planning and the creation of propaganda to advise “the people” represent the same intention—to protect the interests of ruling elites. The collapse of political authority in some counties is the breakdown in political party’s ideological hegemony. Conflict between culture producers and young audiences is usually what happens before a country undergoes a shift in political power. Young rock musicians and their enthusiastic audiences led a cultural and political struggle against the repressive institutions and the ideology behind them. Trying to contain and control rebellious youth, the former communist governments attempted in sinister ways to defuse politically charged musical and cultural activity of youth by incorporating and sponsoring them. Young people and other dissenter saw through the strategy, however, challenged the hegemony, and stimulated policy changes that later contributed to the dramatic downfall of the European communist governments. In resistance among the country’s disaffected urban population. Recent popular revolutions in communist countries developed from widespread discontent with an interacting spectrum of economic, political, and cultural conditions. #RandolphHarris 11 of 21

Ironically, the workers’ uprising that Marx and Engels theorized would take place in repressive, class-based capitalist economies developed instead in communist nations which had proven in many respects to be even more repressive. No person, for any considerable period, can wear one face to oneself and another to the multitude without finally getting bewildered as to which may be true. It is conformity to how other people think we should live instead of how the Bible tells us to live. More often than not, these rules have no valid biblical basis. Like the Pharisees of Jesus’ time, we have tried to “help” God by adding out humanmade rules to His commands. Jesus’ charge against the Pharisees, recorded in Mark 7.6-8, is still valid today: “’These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’ You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of humans.” This may seem like a rather severe charge to bring against contemporary Christianity, but it is true today. There are far too many instances within Christendom where our traditions and rules are, in practice, more important than God’s commands. #RandolphHarris 12 of 21

More often than not, we try to earn favour with God in the area of humanmade rules, or we feel guilty because we have failed in keeping them. We do or do not do a particular thing because someone, or some group, or our cultural background tells us we ought or ought not to do it. And these “oughts” or “ought nots” are usually communicated by people in such a way that the favour or frown of God is tied to our compliance. However, we can do nothing to earn favour with God, His favour is given solely by His grace through Christ. I realize in our practice may lag behind our understanding, but we cannot begin to practice the truth until we understand it. Jacob explains that the Jews will be gathered in all their lands of promise—The Atonement ransoms man from the Fall—the bodies of the dead will come forth from the grave, and their spirits from hell and from paradise—they will be judged—the Atonement saves from death, hell, the devil and endless torment—the righteous are to be saved in the kingdom of God—penalties for sins are set forth—the Holy One of Israel is the keeper of the gate. About 559-545 Before Christ. “And now, my beloved brethren, I have read these things that ye might know concerning the covenants of the Lord that he has covenanted with all the house of Israel. #RandolphHarris 13 of 21

“That he has spoken unto the Jews, by the mouth of his holy prophets, even from the beginning down from generation to generation, until the time comes that they shall be restored to the true church and fold of God; when they shall be gathered home to the lands of their inheritance, and shall be established in all their lands of promise. Behold, my beloved brethren, I speak unto you these things that ye may rejoice, and lift up your heads forever, because of the blessings which the Lord God shall bestow upon your children. For I know that ye have searched much, many of you, to know of things to come; wherefore I know that ye know that our flesh must waste away and die; nevertheless, in our bodies we shall see God. Yea, I know that ye know that in the body he shall show himself unto those at Jerusalem, from whence we came; for it is expedient that it should be among them; for it behooveth the great Creator that he suffereth himself to become subject unto humans in the flesh, and die for all people, that all humans might become subject unto him. For as death hath passed upon all people, to fulfill the merciful plan of the great Creator, there must needs be a power of resurrection, and the resurrection must needs come unto humans by reason of the fall; and the fall came by reason of transgressions; and because humans became fallen they were cut off from the presence of the Lord. #RandolphHarris 14 of 21

“Wherefore, it must needs be an infinite atonement—save it should be an infinite atonement this corruption could not put on incorruption. Wherefore, the first judgment which came upon humans must need have remained to and endless duration. And if so, this flesh must have laid down to rot and to crumble to its mother Earth, to rise no more. O the wisdom of God, his mercy and grace! For behold, if the flesh should rise no more our spirits must become subject to that Angel who fell from before the presence of the Eternal God, and become the devil, to rise no more. And our spirits must have become like unto him, and we become devils, Angels to a devil, to be shut out from the presence of our God, and to remain with the father of lies, in misery, like unto himself; yea, to that being who beguiled our first parents, who transformeth himself nigh unto an Angel of light, and stirreth up the children of humans unto secret combinations of murder and all manner of secret works of darkness. O how great the goodness of our God, who prepereth a way for our escape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster, death and hell, which I call the death of the body, and also the death of the spirit. And because of the new way of deliverance of our God, the Holy One of Israel, this death, of which I have spoken, which is the temporal, shall deliver up its dead; which death if the grave. #RandolphHarris 15 of 21

“And this death of which I have spoken, which is the spiritual death, shall deliver up its dead; which spiritual death is hell; wherefore, death and hell must deliver up its captive spirits, and the grave must deliver up its captive bodies, and the bodies and the spirits of humans will be restored to one to the other; and it is by the power of the resurrection of the Holy One of Israel. O how great the plan of our God! For on the other hand, the paradise of God must deliver up the spirits of the righteous, and the grave deliver up the body of the righteous; and the spirit and the body is restored to itself again, and all humans become incorruptible, and immortal, and they are living souls, having a perfect knowledge like unto us in the flesh, save it be that our knowledge shall be perfect. Wherefore, we shall have a perfect knowledge of all our guilt, and our uncleanness, and our nakedness; and the righteous shall have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment, and their righteousness, being clothed with purity, yea, even with the robe of righteousness. And it shall come to pass that when all humans shall have passed from the first death unto life, insomuch as they have become immortal, they must appear before the judgment-seat of the Holy One of Israel; and then cometh the judgment, and then must they be judged accord to the holy judgment of God. #RandolphHarris 16 of 21

“And assuredly, as the Lord liveth, for the Lord God hath spoken it, and it is his eternal word, which cannot pass away, that they who are righteous shall be righteous still, and they who are filthy shall be filthy still; wherefore, they who are filthy are the devil and his Angels; and they shall go away into everlasting fire, prepared for them; and their torment is as a lake of fire and brimstone, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever and has no end. O the greatness and the justice of our God! For he executeth all his words, and they have gone forth out of his mouth, and his law must be fulfilled. However, behold, the righteous, the saints of the Holy One of Israel, they who have believed in the Holy One of Israel, they who have endured the crosses of the World, and despised the World, and despised the shame of it, they shall inherit the kingdom of God, which was prepared for them from the foundation of the World, and their joy shall be full forever. O the greatness of the mercy of our God, the Holy One of Israel! For he delivereth his saints from that awful monster the devil, and death, and hell, and that lake of fire and brimstone. O how great the holiness of our God! For he knoweth all things, and there is not anything save he knows it. #RandolphHarris 17 of 21

“And he cometh into the World that he may save all people if they will hearken unto his voice; for behold, he suffereth the pains of all men, yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam. And he suffereth this that the resurrection might pass upon all human, that all might stand before him at the great and judgment day. And he commandeth all humans that they must repent, and be baptized in his name, having perfect faith in the Holy One of Israel, or they cannot be saved in the kingdom of God. And if they will not repent and believe in his name, and be baptized in his name, and endure to the end, they must be damned; for the Lord God, they Holy One of Israel, has spoken it. Wherefore, he has given a law; and where there is no low given there is no punishment and where there is no punishment there is no condemnation; and where there is no condemnation the mercies of the Holy One of Israel have claimed upon them, because of the atonement; for they are delivered by the power of him. For the atonement satisfieth the demands of his justice upon all those who have not the law given to them, that they are delivered from that awful monster, death and hell, and the devil, and the lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment; and they are restored to that God who gave them breath, which is the Holy One of Israel. #RandolphHarris 18 of 21

“However, wo unto one that has the law given, yes, that has all the commandments of God, like unto us, and that transgresseth them, and that wasteth the days of one’s probation, for awful is one’s state! O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of humans! When they are learned they think they are wsie, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish. However, to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God,” reports 2 Nephi 1-29. O God the Father, of Heaven; have mercy upon the soul of Thy servants. O God the Son, Redeemer of the World; O God the Holy Ghost; O Holy Trinity, One God; Have mercy upon his soul. Thou Who art Three and One; O God the Holy of Holies; by Thy holy Incarnation; by Thy holy Nativity; By Thy holy Circumcision; by Thy holy Epiphany; by Thy holy Baptism; by Thy holy Passion; by Thy holy and most loving Death; by Thy holy Descent into hell; by Thy glorious Resurrection; by Thy wonderful Ascension; by the Coming of the Holy Ghost the Comforter; by the majesty of Thy Coming; we sinners do beseech Thee to hear us. That it may please Thee to deliver the soul of Thy servant from the princes of darkness, and the place of punishment; we beseech Thee to hear us, O Lord. #RandolphHarris 19 of 21

That it may please Thee to put all their sins out of remembrance forever; that it may please Thee mercifully to pardon whatever guilt they hath contracted by the fraud of the devil, or by one’s own sinfulness and weakness; that one may be enabled by Thy bounty to receive that remission of one’s sins which one has ever longed for; that it may please Thee to give to this our brother, returning to Thee out of Egyptian bondage, a place of refreshment, and light, and everlasting blessedness; that it may please Thee to give one joy and gladness in Thy kingdom, with Thy Saints and elect; that they may with confidence wait for the Day of Judgment; that it may please Thee to show them that sight of full of loveliness, Thy holy and gracious Face looking on them with benignity; that it may please Thee to hear us; Son of God; O Lamb of God, That takest away the sins of the World; have mercy of their souls. O Lamb of God, That takest away the sins of the World; give them peace, and eternal happiness, and everlasting glory. Lord, please have mercy on them. “The seventh Angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in Heaven, which said: ‘The kingdom of the World has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever,’” reports Revelation 11.15. #RandolphHarris 20 of 21

My dear Lord, I can but tell Thee that Thou knowest I long for nothing but Thyself, nothing but holiness, nothing but union with Thy will. Thou hast given me these desires, an Thou alone canst give me the thing desired. My soul longs for communion with Thee, for mortification of indwelling corruption, especially spiritual pride. How precious it is to have a tender sense and clear apprehension of the mystery of Godliness, of true holiness! What a blessedness to be like Thee, as much as it is possible for a creature to be like its creator! Lord, give me more of Thy likeness; enlarge my soul to contain fullness of holiness; engage me to live more for Thee. Help me to be less pleased with my spiritual experiences, and when I feel at ease after sweet communings, teach me it is far too little I know and do. Blessed Lord, let me climb up near to Thee, and love, and long, and plead, and wrestle with Thee, and pant for deliverance from the body of sin, for my heart is wandering and lifeless, and my soul mourns to think it should ever lose sight of its Beloved. Please wrap my life in divine love, and keep me ever desiring Thee, always humble and resigned to Thy will, more fixed on Thyself, that I may be more fitted for doing and suffering. #RandolphHarris 21 of 21

MILLS STATION AT CRESLEIGH RANCH

Rancho Cordova, CA |

Now Selling!

Mills Station at Cresleigh Ranch is Rancho Cordova’s newest home community! This charming neighborhood offers an array of home types with eye catching architecture styles such as Mission, Mid-Century Modern, California Modern, and Contemporary Farmhouse.

Up to a $15,000 incentive avaliable on this Fully finished, 2,317 sqaure foot, two-story, 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom home. Priced at $475,734, this delightful home is located in the growing Cresleigh Ranch community! This sleek and modern home features a contemporary kitchen with painted white cabinetry, quartz counters, tiled back splash and stainless steel appliances! The open floor plan is full of natural light and durable LVP flooring throughout the main floor. The Master Suite is located on the first floor and has direct access to the covered patio and rear yard. The high ceilings is a must see in this home! Secondary bedrooms and loft are located upstairs. https://cresleigh.com/mills-station/move-in-ready-home-site-61/

But the Flower-Fed Buffaloes of the Spring Left Us Long Ago!

April 25, 2020 12:31 am

Plant the seeds of expectation in your mind; cultivate thoughts that anticipate achievement. Believe in yourself as being capable of overcoming all obstacle and weaknesses. There are high spots in all of our lives and most of them come about through encouragement from someone else. Encouragement is oxygen for the soul. There was a brief two-day seminar with Otto Rank, and I found his therapy (not in his theory) he was emphasizing some of the things I had begun to learn. I felt stimulated and confirmed. I employed a social worker, trained in Rankian “relationship therapy” at the Philadelphia School of Social Work, and learned much from her. So my views shifted more an more. At Ohio State University, I was greatly enriched as I presented my views of clinical work to bright and questioning graduate students. Here too, I began to realize that I was saying something new, perhaps even original, about counseling and psychotherapy. My dream of recording therapeutic interviews came true, helping to focus my interest on the effects of different responses in the interview. This led to a heavy emphasis on technique—the so-called nondirective technique. #RandolphHarris 1 of 24

However, I was finding that this new-found trust in my client and this capacity for exploring and resolving his problems reached out uncomfortably into other areas. If I trusted my clients, why did I not trust my student? If this was fine for the individual in trouble, why not for a staff group facing problems? I found that I had embarked not on a new method of therapy, but a sharply different philosophy of living and relationships. Controversies over the multiculturalism have been bitter and divisive. Proponents claim that a multicultural curriculum, for example, can facilitate an appreciation for diversity, increase tolerance, and improve relations between and among racial and ethic groups. Opponents claim that multicularualists devalue or relativize core national values and beliefs, shamelessly promote “identity politics,” and unwittingly increase racial tensions. Multiculturalism is often posed as the celebration of “differences” and unique form of material culture expressed, for example, in music, food, dance, and holidays. Such an approach tends to level the important differences and contradictions within and among racial and ethnic groups. Different groups possess different forms of power—the power to control resources, the power to push political agenda, and the power to culturally represent themselves and other groups. #RandolphHarris 2 of 24

Different groups also have distinct perceptions of group position, which are related to, and implicated, in the organization of power. Some scholars and activists have defined racism as “prejudice plus power.” Using this formula, they argue that people of colour cannot be racist because they do not have power. However, things are not that simple. In the post-Civil Rights era, some marginalized racial groups have carved out a degree of power in select urban areas—particularly with respect to administering social services and distributing economic resources. This has led, in cities like Oakland and Miami, to conflicts between different ethnic groups over educational programs, business opportunities, and political power. We need to acknowledge and examine the historical and contemporary differences in power that different groups possess. White Americans do not experience their ethnicity as a definitive aspect of their social identity. Rather, they perceive it dimly and irregularly, picking and choosing among its varied strands that allow them to exercise an “ethnic option.” Ethnicity is flexible, symbolic, and voluntary for most White respondents in ways that it is not for non-White. #RandolphHarris 3 of 24

The loose affiliation with specific European ethnicities does not necessarily suggest the demise of any coherent group consciousness and identity. In the twilight of ethnicity, White racial identity may increase in salience. Indeed, in an increasingly diverse workplace and society. Whites experience a profound racialization. The racialization process foe White is evident on many college/university campuses as White student encounter a heightened awareness of race, which calls their own identity into question as every culture in America tries to define what is the true American race. With national security debates and security measure being put in place, Latino are trying harder to assert their heritage as the true Americans. Some Whites are feeling isolated because they have been taught to be more accepting of other cultures, while they see their heritage being stripped away with antique statues being ripped down and destroyed. Other White see this as a time to ban together and assert their supremacy by joining law enforcement and targeting other ethnic groups to ensure their demise. Blacks feel they never had the choice to be American or not and have been used to support and build this country and are being replaced by preferred immigrants who get treated better and more government support than anyone else. #RandolphHarris 4 of 24

For many Blacks, they have always felt like an outside group, while they understand that Britney Spears is the American Dream. She represents the true American with her blonde hair, blue eyes and red blood. In fact, the colours of the flag establish White identity, the red is for their blood, the white for their blonde hair and the blue for the colour of their eyes. And due to the fact that Britney Spears is one of the most influential and noticeable Americans Worldwide, many believe this is why she has suffered so many hardships. People are mad at Americans and America and took their frustration out of her. However, it is not only because of her heritage, but also because she achieved the American Dream at a young age by working hard, while other face oppression they cannot seem to overcome. Asians are kind of an outlier because their test scores, incomes, and educational levels, on average, tend to the be the highest of any group and their families tend to support each other, which creates a level of envy and people blame them for disasters they may not be responsible for. However, Eastern Europeans are becoming known for appealing to Japan for their IT skills. While America borrows heavily from China, if we are so concerned about national security, would it not make more sense to print our own money and potentially face hyperinflation, than to sell out and give other countries influence in our government? #RandolphHarris 5 of 24

Focus group interviews with White students at the University of California, Berkeley, reveals many of the themes and dilemmas of White identity in the current period: the “absence” of a clear culture and identity, the perceived “disadvantages” of being White with respect to the distribution of resources, and the stigma of being perceived as the “oppressors of the nation.” Such comments underscore the new problematic meanings attached to “White,” and debates about the meaning will continue, and perhaps deepen, in the years to come, fueled by such social issues as affirmative action, English-only initiatives, and immigrations policies. President Trump is having such a hard time keep the nation together because democrats are playing the victim cards and trying to seem like they are the saviour or our nation by pretending to care about people who have illegally immigrated to America. When the only reason they are supporting people, who have illegally immigrated, is to get more votes and stay in office. It is the same reason American had its first “Black” president and why Joe Biden is running with a woman. These are gimmicks to appeal to marginalized groups to stay in power. #RandolphHarris 6 of 24

Racial meanings are profoundly influenced by state definitions and discursive practices. They are also shaped by interaction with prevailing forms of gender and class formation. An examination of both these topics reveals the fundamental instability of racial categories, their historically contingent character, and the ways they articulate with other axes of stratification and “difference.” Extending this understanding, it is crucial to relate to racial categories and meanings to concepts of racism. The idea of “race” and its persistence as a social category is only given meaning in a social order structured by forms of inequality—economic, political, and cultural—that are organized, to a significant degree, along racial lines. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object is persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Power is a collective. The individual only has power in so far as one ceases to be an individual. Alone—free—the human being is always defeated. However, if one can make a complete, utter submission, if one can escape from one’s identity, if one can merge oneself to a political party so one is that party, the one is all-powerful and immortal. #RandolphHarris 7 of 24

Power is power over human beings. Over the body—but, above all, over the mind. Obedience is not enough. Unless one is suffering, how can you be sure he or she is obeying your will and not one’s own? Power is inflicting pain and humiliation. Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing. Do you begin to see, then, what kind of World we are creating? It is the exact opposite of the Utopias that the old reformers imagined. It is a World of fear, social distance, treachery, and torment. A World of trampling and being trampled upon, a World which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself. Progress in our World will be progress toward more pain. The ancient civilizations were founded upon justice and love. Ours is founded upon hatred. In our World there will be no emotions except fear, rage, triumph, and self-abasement. Everything else we shall destroy—everything. Already we are breaking down the habits of thought which survived from before the Revolution. We have cut links between child and parent, and between man and man, and between man and woman. No one dares trust a wife or a child or a friend any longer. Are you beginning to realize what that World will be like? The fictional news media is already playing ticks with reality. #RandolphHarris 8 of 24

The process of creating an unreal reality is conscious, or else it would not be carried out with sufficient precision, but it also has to be unconscious, or it would bring with it a feeling of falsity and hence of guilt. The media and many politicians use conscious deception while retaining the firmness of purpose that goes with complete honesty. To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies—all this is indispensably necessary. The lie is always a leap ahead of the truth. All past oligarchies have fallen from power either because they ossified or because they grow soft. This is why democrats make illegal immigration seem like it is about helping innocent women and children, but with people coming into this nation without being screened, you have no idea what diseases or viruses they may be carrying nor what their true purposes are. And the same people that support illegal immigration and the same exact people that want to keep Americans locked in their homes to “flatten the curve,” of economic prosperity. #RandolphHarris 9 of 24

Governments fail because either they become stupid and arrogant or fail to adjust themselves to the changing circumstances, and were overthrown, or they became liberal and cowardly, made concessions when they should have used force, and once again were overthrown. They fell, that is to say, either through consciousness or through unconsciousness. If one is to rule, and to continue ruling, one must be able to dislocate the sense of reality. For the secret of rulership is to combine a belief in one’s own infallibility with the power to learn from past mistakes. World-conquest is believed in most firmly by those who know it to be impossible. Manifest destiny tells us that the World will be one big American Dream, and do you want it to be a World with too many government restrictions and social policies or one of Capitalism, where people are allowed to have freedom, work, earn money and achieve success? Or do you want the government to limit your success and make you shared the fruits of your labour with people who sit around eating, sleeping, rolling around in the bed gossiping, and partying all night? Some of these issues I worked out while at Ohio State, and when I was given an opportunity to start a new Counseling Center at the University of Chicago, setting my own policies and selecting my own staff, I was ready to formulate and act on what was for me a new approach to human relationships. #RandolphHarris 10 of 24

I have come to trust the capacity of persons to explore and understand themselves and their troubles, and to resolve those problems, in any close, continuing relationship where I can provide a climate of real warmth and understanding. I am going to venture to put the same kind of trust in a staff group, endeavouring to build an atmosphere in which each is responsible for the actions of the group as a whole, and where the group has a responsibility to each individual. Authority has been given to me, and I am going to give it completely to the group. I am going to experiment with putting trust in students, in class groups, to choose their own directions and to evaluate their progress in terms of their own choosing. The depth of thought is a part of the depth of life. Most of our life continues on the surface. We are enslaved by the routine of our daily lives, in work and pleasure, in business and recreation. We are conquered by innumerable hazards, both good and evil. We are more drive than driving. We do not stop to look at the height above us, or to the depth below us. We are always moving forward, although usually in a circle, which finally beings us back to the place from which we fist moved. #RandolphHarris 11 of 24

We are in constant motion and never stop to plunge into the depth. We talk and talk and never listen to the voices speaking to our depth and from our depth. We accept ourselves as we appear to ourselves, and do not care what we really are like. Like a tidal wave, we injure our souls by the speed with which we move on the surface; and then we rush away, leaving our bleeding souls alone. We miss, therefore, our depth and our true life. And it is only when the picture that we have of ourselves breaks down completely, only when we find ourselves acting against all the expectations we had derived from that picture, and only when an Earthquake shakes and disrupts the surface of our self-knowledge, that we are willing to look into a deeper level of our being. Rage at oneself is externalized in three main ways. Where giving vent to hostility is uninhibited, anger is easily thrust outward. It is turned then against others and appears either as irritability in general or as a specific irritation directed at the very faults in others that the person hates in oneself. An illustration may make this clear. A patient complained of her husband’s indecision. Since the indecision concerned a trivial matter, her vehemence was directly out of proportion. #RandolphHarris 12 of 24

Knowing her own indecision, I suggested that she had revealed how mercilessly she condemned this in herself. Whereupon she suddenly felt an insane rage, with her impulse to tear herself to pieces. The fact that in her idealized image she was a tower of strength made it impossible for her to tolerate any weakness in herself. Characteristically enough, this reaction, in spite of its highly dramatic nature, was completely forgotten at the next interview. She had seen the externalization in a flash but was not yet ready to relinquish it. The second way takes the form of an incessant conscious or unconscious fear or expectation that the faults which are intolerable to oneself will infuriate others. A person may be so convinced that certain behaviour on one’s part will arouse profound hostility that one may be honestly bewildered if no hostile response is encountered. A patient, for instance, whose idealized image contained elements of wanting to be as good as Prince Lestat in Anne Rice’s Blood Canticle, was greatly astonished to find that whenever she took a firm stand or even expressed anger, people like her better than when she acted like a saint. As one would guess from this kind of idealized image, the patient’s predominant tend was compliance. Issuing originally from her need for closeness to others, it was greatly reinforced by her excitation of hostile response. #RandolphHarris 13 of 24

Increased compliance is in fact one of the major consequences of this form of externalization, and illustrates how neurotic trends continually augment each other in a vicious circle. Compulsive compliance is increased because the idealized image, containing in this configuration elements of saintliness, drives the person to greater self-effacement. The resulting hostile impulses then arouse rage against the self. And the externalization of the rage, leading to an increased fear of others, in turn reinforces compliance. The third way of externalizing rage is to focus on bodily disorders. Rage against the self, when not experienced as such, apparently created physical tensions of considerable severity, which may appear as intestinal maladies, headaches, fatigue, and so on. It is illuminating to see how all these symptoms disappear with the speed of lightening as soon as the rage itself is consciously felt. One may be in doubt whether to call these physical manifestations externalization or to regard them merely as physiological consequences of repressed rage. However, one can hardly separate the manifestations from the use patients make of them. As a rule they are more than eager to ascribe their psychic troubles to their bodily ailments and these in turn to some external provocation. #RandolphHarris 14 of 24

There is nothing psychically wrong with them, they are interested to prove; they just suffer from intestinal trouble due to wrong diet, or from fatigue due to overwork, or from rheumatism due to damp air, and so on. As to what the neurotic accomplishes by externalizing one’s rage, the same may be said here as in the case of self-contempt. One additional consideration should, however, be mentioned. The lengths to which such patients go will not be fully understood unless one is cognizant of the real danger attached to these self-destructive impulses. The patient cited in the first example had only a momentary impulse to hear herself to pieces, but psychotics may really carry it through and mutilate themselves. There is a self-destructive instinct. If not for externalization, it is probable that many more suicides would occur. It is understandable that Dr. Freud, being aware of the power of self-destructive impulses, should have postulated a self-destructive instinct (death instinct)—though by this concept he barred the way to a real understanding, and so to an effective therapy. The wisdom of all ages and of all continents speaks about the road to our depth, not the road to our death. It has been described in innumerably different ways. #RandolphHarris 15 of 24

However, all those who have been concerned—mystic and priests, poets and philosophers, simple people and educated people—with that road through confession, lonely self-scrutiny, internal or external catastrophes, prayer, contemplation, have witnessed to the same experience. They have found that they were not what they believed themselves to be, even after a deeper level had appeared to them below the vanishing surface. That deeper level itself became surface, when a still deeper level was discovered, this happening again and again, as long as their very lives, as long as they kept on the road to their depth. All things are said to be seen in God and all things are judged in Him, because by the participation of His light, we know and judge all things; for the light of natural reason itself is participation of the divine light; as likewise we are said to see and judge of sensible things in the Sun, for example, by the Sun’s light. The lessons of instruction can only be seen as it were by their own Sun, namely God. As therefore in order to see a sensible object, it is not necessary to see the substance of the Sun, so in like manner to see any intelligible object, it is not necessary to see the essence of God. Intellectual vision is of the things which are in the soul by their essence, as intelligible things are in the intellect. #RandolphHarris 16 of 24

And thus God is in the souls of the blessed; not this is He in our soul, but by presence, essence and power. Jacob recounts Jewish history: the Babylonian captivity and return; the ministry and crucifixion of the Holy One of Israel; the help received from the Gentiles; and the Jews’ latter0day restoration when they believe in the Messiah. About 559-545 Before Christ. “The words of Jacob, the brother of Nephi, which he spake unto the people of Nephi: Behold, my beloved brethren, I, Jacob, having been called of God and ordained after the manner of his holy order, and having been consecrated by my brother Nephi, unto whom ye look as a king or a protector, and on whom ye depend for safety, behold ye know that I have spoken unto you exceedingly many things. Nevertheless, I speak unto you again; for I am desirous for the welfare of your souls. Yea, mine anxiety is great for you; and ye yourselves know that it ever has been. For I have exhorted you will all diligence; and I have taught you the words of my father; and I have spoken unto you concerning all things which are written, from the creation of the World. And now, behold, I would speak unto you concerning things which are, and which are to come; wherefore, I will read you the words of Isaiah. #RandolphHarris 17 of 24

“And they are the words which my brother desired that I should speak unto you. And I speak unto you for your sakes, that ye may learn and glorify the name of your God. And now, the words which I shall read are they which Isaiah spake concerning all the house of Israel; wherefore, they may be likened unto you, for ye are of the house of Israel. And there are many things which have been spoke by Isaiah which may be likened unto you, because ye are of the house of Israel. And now, these are the words: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people; and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers; they shall bow down to thee with their faces towards the Earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord; for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me. And now I, Jacob, would speak somewhat concerning these words. For behold, the Lord has shown me that those who were at Jerusalem, from whence we came, have been slain and carried away captive. Nevertheless, the Lord has shown unto me that they should return again and again. #RandolphHarris 18 of 24

“And he also has shown unto me that the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, should manifest himself unto them in the flesh; and after he should manifest himself they should scourge him and crucify him, according to the words of the Angel who spoke unto me. And after they have hardened their hearts and stiffened their necks against the Holy One of Israel, behold, the judgments of the Holy One of Israel shall come upon them. And the day cometh that they shall be smitten and afflicted. Wherefore, after they are driven to and fro, for thus saith the Angel, many shall be afflicted in the flesh, and shall not be suffered to perish, because of the prayers of the faithful; they shall be scattered, and smitten, and hated; nevertheless, the Lord will be merciful unto them that when they shall come to the knowledge of their Redeemer, they shall be gathered together again to the lands of their inheritance. And blessed are the Gentiles, they of whom the prophet has written; for behold, if it so be that they shall repent and fight not against Zion, and do not unite themselves to the great and abominable church, they shall be saved; for the Lord God will fulfill his covenants which he has made unto his children; and for this cause the prophet has written these things. #RandolphHarris 19 of 24

“Wherefore, they that fight against Zion and the covenant people of the Lord shall lick of the dust of their feet; and the people of the Lord shall not be ashamed. For the people of the Lord are they who wait for him; for they still wait for the coming of the Messiah. And behold, according to the words of the prophet, the Messiah will set himself again the second time to recover them; wherefore, he will manifest himself unto them in power and great glory, unto the destruction of their enemies, when that day cometh when they shall believe in him; and none will he destroy that believe in him. And they that believe not in him shall be destroyed, both by fire, and by tempest, and by Earthquakes, and by bloodsheds, and by pestilence, and by famine. And they shall know that the Lord is God, the Holy One of Israel. For shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? However, thus saith the Lord: Even the captives of the might shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered; for the Mighty God shall deliver his covenant people. #RandolphHarris 20 of 24

“For thus saith the Lord: I will content with them that contendeth with thee—and I will feed them that oppress thee, with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood as with sweet wine; and all flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob,” reports 2 Nephi 6.1-18. Lord, have mercy upon your children. Christ, have mercy upon your people. Lord, have mercy upon humanity. O Christ, hear us. Be merciful, please Spare us, O Lord. Be merciful, Deliver us, O Lord. From all evil, O Lord, deliver us. From our sin; from unholy thoughts; from pain and anguish; from the snares of the devil; from the power of demons; from all tribulation at this time; from everlasting damnation; from Thine exceedingly dreadful wrath; by the mystery of Thy holy Incarnation; by Thine Advent; by Thy Nativity; by Thy Baptism; by Thy Passion and Cross; by Thy glorious Resurrection; by Thy wonderful Ascension; by the grace of the Holy Ghost the Comforter; in the hour of his departure; we sinners do beseech Thee to hear us; that Thou remove from us Thy wrath; We beseech Thee to hear us, O Lord. That it may please Thee to give us a humbled and contrite heart; that it may please Thee to give us a fountain of tears, that it may please Thee to give us perfect faith, hope, and love. #RandolphHarris 21 of 24

We beseech thee that Thou wouldest take away from us all murmuring and impatience; that it may please Thee mercifully to raise us from the bed of sickness; that it may please Thee to restore us in health and safety to Thy holy Church; that it may please Thee to give us pardon of all sins; that it may please Thee to give us Thy grace; that it may please Thee to give us eternal life; that it may please Thee to bless us with Thy holy right hand; Son of God; O lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the World; have mercy upon us, and upon the Earth, O Lord. O Lover of Thy people, Thou hast placed my whole being in the hands of Jesus, my redeemer, commander, husband, friend, and carest for me in Him. Keep me holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners; may I not know the voice of strangers, but go to Him where He is, and follow where He leads. Thou hast bathed me once for all in the sin-removing fountain, cleanse me now from this day’s defilement, from its faults, deficiencies of virtue, harmful extremes, that I may exhibit a perfect character in Jesus. O Master, who didst wash the disciples’ feet, please be very patient with me, be very condescending to my faults, go on with me till Thy great work in me is completed. #RandolphHarris 22 of 24

I desire to conquer self in every respect, to overcome the body with its affections and lusts, to keep under my flesh, to guard my humahood from all grosser sins, to check the refined power of my natural mind, to live entirely to Thy glory, to be deaf to unmerited censure and the praise of humans. Nothing can hurt my new-born inner human, it cannot be smitten or die; nothing can mar the dominion of Thy Spirit within me; it is enough to have Thy approbation and that of my conscience. Keep me humble, dependent, supremely joyful, as calm and quiet as a nursing child, yet earnest and active. I wish not so much to do as to be, and I long to be like Jesus; if Thou dost make me right I shall be right; Lord, I belong to Thee, make me worthy of Thyself, please. Our natural knowledge begins from sense. Hence our natural know can go as far as it can be led by sensible things. However, our mind cannot be led by sense so far as to see the essence of God; because the sensible effects of God do not equal the power of God as their cause. Hence from the knowledge of sensible things the whole power of God cannot be known; nor therefor can His essence be seen. #RandolphHarris 23 of 24

However, because they are His effect and depend on their cause, we can be led from them so far as to know of God, whether He exits, and to know of Him what must necessarily belong to Him, as first cause of all things, exceeding all things caused by Him. Hence we know that God’s relationship with creatures so far as to be the cause of them all; also that creatures differ from Him, inasmuch as He is not in any way part of what is caused by Him; and that creatures are not removed from God by reason of any defect on His part, but because He superexceeds them all. Reason cannot reach up to simple form, so as to know “what it is,” but it can know “whether it is.” God is known by natural knowledge through the images of his effects. As the knowledge of God’s essence is by grace, it belongs only to the good; but the knowledge of Hum by natural reason can belong both good and bad; and hence Augustine says, retracting what he had said before: “I do not approve what I said in prayer, ‘God who willest that only the pure should know truth.’ For it can be answered that many who are not pure can know many truths,” for example by natural reason. #RandolphHarris 24 of 24

Cresleigh Homes

The best part about living in a Cresleigh home is the #FlexSpace because it’s just that—flexible! 🙌 So while we continue to shelter-in-place, we want to give you some tips to easily use this space as a home gym! 🏋️‍♀️ Check out our blog post to get all the details. Link in bio! https://linktr.ee/cresleighhomes

Catch them doing something right! If you can catch people doing something well, no matter how small it may seem, and beneficially reinforce them for doing it, they will continue to grow in a righteous direction.
#CresleighHomes

Randolph Harris II International Institute

Category Archives: Sleep

Post navigation