Randolph Harris II International

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O Thou whose Face Halt Felt the Winter’s Wind, One is Nearest unto Heaven’s Quiet Coves!

Let us not look back in anger or forward in fear, but around in awareness. You can never under estimate the power of fear. I have seen athletics bring out the very best and the very worst in people. The satisfaction one feels after a hard-fought tennis match, the thrill of sinking a long putt, or the shared sense of triumph when a local team wins a championship are all examples of how sports can uplift us. Unfortunately, however, sometimes athletic enthusiasm veers over the line and these programs do not run as smoothly as they ought. Problems with sportsmanship sometime arise, problems which hamper the effectiveness of sports activities. When a fan starts screaming at the referee, or a tennis player calls one’s opponent’s close shot our when it is really in, or a golfer spends so much time on the course that one neglects one’s responsibilities at home—then sports can have the opposite effect of what they are intended for: They start to interfere with our ability to get along with people around us. In the heat of the “athletic moment,” we sometimes forget that our behaviour, both as participants and spectators, reflects on us in general. #RandolphHarris 1 of 26

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Some people shrug these problems off as “just human nature,” which seems to imply that nothing can be done about it. The fact is, what you do and how you act during an athletic contest will influence other people’s opinions of you. There are ways to improve sports activities. We need to move vigorously to promote every aspect of sportsmanship. We need to keep in mind that a major purpose of sports programs is the development of character and Christlike qualities. With proper planning and preparation, this can be achieved. Athletics are competitive: The issues of winning, losing, and competing become emotionally charged—that is part of human nature. When we get so wrapped up in the moment that we forget our on-the-field behaviour, that is when the problem starts because it can eventually affect our careers and relationships off the field. I am talking about more than merely yelling at refs. I am talking about what happens when we become so consumed with the game that we ignore the people around us. (Sports widows everywhere are cheering right now—can you hear it?) I am talking about what happens when we become so consumed with winning that we cheat in order to win. #RandolphHarris 2 of 26

I am talking about what happens when competition becomes more important than people. Sportsmanship is no different from fair play in life. When someone crowds into line at a grocery store, that person is a poor sport. We need to discipline ourselves and control our reactions in similar situations as sports. While many people play a game for the enjoyment of playing, some people have an appetite for competition and a desire to win that takes precedence over anything else. They are so occupied with winning that they put their emotions on the front burner, and courtesies go to the back. We need to continually remind team members that a major purpose of sports programs is to offer a wholesome opportunity to participate in a wide variety of activities that involve play and competition. While we need to problem a high level of play, we also must remember we can still keep the goal of playing well, and do it gracefully and within the rules. I admit it: I care about winning. I enjoy pocketing a trophy from my weekly golf game. I like being on the winning side in a tough tennis match. #RandolphHarris 3 of 26

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I revel in the University of Alberta’s hockey team’s victories and suffer with them in defeat (lately I could do with a little less suffering and a little more reveling). We all love the Golden Bears. It is sad that they will be carrying less players this year. Still we all look forward to Tyler Mckinney-Preziuso, Ryan Hughes, Dylan Plouffe, Taz Burman, Ethan Sakowich and others joining the Bears. We all care about how spors are played. If I am not “on” this particular week in golf and I play poorly, I may kick myself, or even sign up for a lesson to figure out what the heck has gone wrong. However, I do not kick my ball to give it a better lie, or “forget” a couple of shots in the rough. I enjoy winning, and I care about how I play the game. Strong leadership in sports programs, sportsmanship incentive programs, and training capable officiators and teaching players the rules can help set the stage for success in strengthening character and developing qualities patterned after the Saviour’s example. The best sports programs always reflect the support of the priesthood leadership. #RandolphHarris 4 of 26

On every level, whether ward, stake, or region, the best programs are found where priesthood leaders are actively involved and supportive. They listen to their sports directors and give them the support they need. Our regional sports directors have been very successful in helping establish good feelings of sportsmanship in our regional tournaments. Everybody feels good about the games, even those who have lost. The fate of the World does not rest on the outcome. We make sure what started out as a friendly game does not quickly degenerate into an argument or worse. It is important to make sure our friendships do not end in ruins. How you play the game is very important. Being a goo competitor matters. People respect people who play by the rules. Either you were touched or you were not. Either the shot was in or it was out. Call the play fairly, accept the other person’s opinion gracefully, and move on. No one likes a whiner or a cheat. On the other hand, I have often heard people talk admiringly about friends and competitors who play the game not only by the rules, but also by the spirit of the rules. Our philosophy is to prevent a problem, not solve it when it occurs. #RandolphHarris 5 of 26

To prevent problems, challenges in the sports program and decisions that need to be made must be brought to the attention of the stake activities committee chairman. All players have to be interviewed t make sure that they are worthy to participate in the sports programs and that they understand the rules. Do not be late. For weekend athletes, time is precious. It is irritating for three people to be left standing on the first tee, wondering if a number four is going to make it. Do not miss appointments. There is nothing more frustrating than having thee people show up to play doubles tennis at 6.00am. If you cannot make the scheduled match, it is your job to find a substitute. Be a responsible borrower. Borrow my skis, borrow my surfboard, borrow my racquet. No problem. Break my skis, break my surfboard, break my racquet? Replace the borrowed piece of equipment with a new one of the same or comparable model. It is that simple. “Yeah, but the one I borrowed was about to break,” you say. “Why should I have to replace it with a new one?” Answer: When you borrow, you become responsible for what you borrow, dings and all. #RandolphHarris 6 of 26

If you do not want the responsibility or if the if the equipment you want to borrow is not in the best condition, do not borrow the stuff. Also, do not borrow someone’s equipment and tear it up to create financial hardship for them or to upset them on purpose. That is evil. This also goes for your neighbour’s tools or anything else you borrow. Once it is in your possession, you are the caretaker for the item. Lose it or break it? The replace it of fix it like new. You will stay good neighbours and good friends and happy family members. Leave your athletic venue in better condition than you found it. After your weekly game, before you leave the gym check the area for all your belongings and for any garbage you or prior groups may have left behind. When you walk onto the putting green, repair your ball marks (the depressions left when your ball first lands on the green) and any others you happen to see. When you finish playing tennis on a clay court, take a few minutes to sweep the court and clean off the lines for the next players. “Wait a minute,” you say. “If the humans before us did not clean up, then why should be?” #RandolphHarris 7 of 26

Whenever I talk to people about etiquette, they want to know why they should be considerate, respectful, and honest when the people around them are not. If you are going to be responsible for a decision, you need to be involved in it. We do not do these things to get anything in return—we do them because we believe in their inherent value. Also, nothing in this World is ever going to change until someone starts the ball rolling. We arrive on time, we pick up after ourselves, and we treat others with consideration, respect, and honesty because it is the right thing to do. Lead by example—others will follow, and we will all be better off for it. That way the emphasis is on coming out, playing together, and having fun, not on winning or losing. A team member must participate in 80 percent of the games. The responsibility for good feelings lies clearly with each participant. Among these approaches are honour calls, no officials at games, and team scores given for sportsmanship as well as for points earned in a game. Honour calls take place when a player acknowledges to the game official that one has broken a rule of the game—fouls and other infringements of the rules are called by each play on oneself. #RandolphHarris 8 of 26

Make it a better place. A candy wrapper on the ground, an empty bottle courtside—when you see a piece of litter fouling your playing field, do not leave it for the next person. Toss in the waste or in recycling bin (which ever is appropriate). Furthermore, there is no greater problem in sports than the person who says to oneself, “Cheating is okay as long as I get away with it.” You know who I mean: Cheatin’ Chumps always shaves a few strokes off one’s game—until it is club championship time. Now every stroke counts, and players keep score for each other. Suddenly, Cheatin’ Chump, who is entered some pretty low scores, has to post a ninety-eight. Or maybe one will quit halfway and post a DNF (Did Not Finish). One will blame the playing conditions, one’s playing partners, or anything else one can think of—anything except the real cause of one’s problems: oneself. At the other end of the spectrum is Sandbagger Sinister. This miscreant puts in scores higher than his handicap. The result: One can play significantly better than one’s handicap indicates. So when a net tournament is on the line one has a cheating advantage. Or when one is in a betting game, one increased the chance one will walk away with the money. #RandolphHarris 9 of 26

One will also soon learn one has no friends and the tournament committee is onto one and changes one’s handicap of refuses one entry in the tournament. Nobody wants to play with Sandbagger Sinister. The coach’s role in preparing the team for using honour calls is important to the success of the system. One needs to take the time to help train the team about the riles, so the team will know which situations are appropriate for honour calls. For example, in volleyball, touching the net or touching the ball before it goes out of bounds is appropriate for the call; in basketball, causing the ball to go out of bounds; in softball, balls and strikes. The coach is also responsible for announcing that honour calls are being used in a game. Officials should recognize honour calls by the players, and may overrule such calls when it is necessary because of circumstances involving other players. The coach helps set the mood of good sportsmanship in a game. The coach should be complimentary for the achievement of one’s own players, as well as the opponents. If a leadership is strong in ward sports, honour calls can work. #RandolphHarris 10 of 26

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One reason sportsmanship improves in a game in which players are using honour calls is that players are not blaming the officials for calling a foul one time and not another. Paul recently posed the following question: “Every Thursday morning for the past four years we have played tennis with Justin. However, lately Justin has become the weak link. We want to ask Leo to join us instead. How do we tell Justin we do not want him to play with us anymore without hurting his feelings?” Poor Paul. He and his buddies know that their proposed switch will hurt Justin’s feelings and will probably cost them their friendship with Justin off the court as well. Ditching a regular member of your sporting group for any reason is a very dicey thing to do. Ditching him because he is not quite up to your caliber of play is simply not acceptable. Before kicking him out, it is important to inform Justin of the group’s decision. Maybe Justin is the cause of the breakup of another member’s marriage. Not that would rise to the level of a legitimate reason for Justin to get kicked out of the group. The transgression had better be something pretty outrageous, though—because the decision to dump a playing partner, whatever the reason, is likely to cost a friendship. #RandolphHarris 11 of 26

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Generally, a clinic should be held before initiating any system, to teach the rules of the game as well as principles of the gospel related to integrity, fellowshipping, love, and excellence. Ground rules should be established, such as a team calls infractions on its own team members but not on the opponent’s team. Teams cannot question an opponent’s play or call. If situations arise where there is not enough background or knowledge to make a decision, the two coaches or captains should discuss the situation and resolve it. If no decision can be reached, they may either consult the tournament director for a decision, or replay the point. We also provide incentives for our players to be god sports by giving sportsmanship evaluations as well as game points for each game. A team must earn a certain number of sportsmanship points to be able to progress in the tournament. If a member is not playing that well, other team members can play, for fun, with that member to increase their skill level. It does not have to be brought to anyone’s attention, it can be done as a weekend hobby, out of the goodness of one’s heart. At then end of each tournament, awards are given for the team with the best sportsmanship, the most valuable player, and the all-tournament team. #RandolphHarris 12 of 26

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I think people tend to underestimate how much a person can actually improve with a little one-on-one coaching. Every 20 minutes to an hour, once a week may lead to vast improvements. Sometimes it is all about building up one’s confidence and making one feel comfortable enough to absorb the skills in a group setting. There is a proper spirit present so other things can happen that are more important than the game—fellowshipping and applying other gospel principles. When rooting for your favourite team, how do you know where to draw the line? Simple. You should feel free to shout as much encouragement for your team as you can possibly muster. However, when your yelling shifts from being encouraged to derogatory—that is when you have stopped playing a supportive role as a spectator. Any time you shout encouragement, the players on the field will feed off that energy. On the other hand, if your comments or cheering turn negative and you start berating or putting down the players, coaches, or referees, the effect will not only be counterproductive, but you will also make people around you (who may or may not agree with you) feel uncomfortable. #RandolphHarris 13 of 26

Bottom line: Cheer all you want, but keep it helpful and optimistic. In a revelation the Lord said, “Blessed is my servant Hyrum Smith; for I, the Lord, love him because of the integrity of his heart, and because he loveth that which is right,” reports Doctrine and Covenants. I personally know of no higher praise that any human could receive. Integrity means always doing what is right and good, regardless of the immediate consequences. It means being righteous from the very depth of our soul, not only in our actions but, more importantly, in our thoughts and in our hearts. Personal integrity implies such trustworthiness and incorruptibility that we are incapable of being false to a trust or covenant. We all have within us the ability to know what is right and good. “It is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night. For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every human, that one may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for everything which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is God. #RnadolphHarris 14 of 26

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“However, whatsoever thing persuadeth humans to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not god, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no human to do good, no, no one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him,” reports Mormon 7.15-17. Unfortunately, there have been incidents, where a fan of one team found oneself surrounded by fans for the other team. Perhaps one pushed too far or maybe one did not, but shouts turned to actions and in the end nobody won. If you are near fans of the other team, please keep the cheering thoughtful, helpful, and optimistic and let everyone enjoy the game. Also, keep in mind that referees are people, too. This is one point that is often lost amid all the jeering at sports events is the fac the referees are humans, too. Basically, they want to make the right calls just as much as the players, coaches, and fans want them to, Referees are faces with a daunting task. A baseball umpire, for instance, might have to make 150 calls or more in a single game. If the baseball umpire makes three calls that could be considered questionable, that means one is still making 98 percent of the calls successfully. #RandolphHarris 15 of 26

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For the umpire, however, the 2 percent of the calls one makes that may be considered questionable, could mean that one is doomed to be on the receiving end of a torrent of abuse. It gets worse. You will also have perfectly sensible players, fans, and coaches who see a call one way while the ref sees it another. The ref is right, but that does not stop the fans from grousing about how they would have would if it had not been for one. They forget all about their team’s missed plays, strikeouts, or blown shots and focus only on the one call they claim “cost them the game.” It is time for these complainers to grow up. The ref did not cost them the game—their own team’s players did. Having received the Spirit of Christ to know good from evil, we should always choose the good. We need not be misled, even though fraud, deception, deceit, and duplicity often seem to be acceptable in our World. America was supposed to be “One Nation Under God,” and the country has steered vastly away from its motto. Being One Nation Under God is what made America great and people refuse to accept that. Now, America is “One Nation Under the Drug of Television,” and everything is going wrong. #RandolphHarris 16 of 26

If America returned to its original mission, being “One Nation Under God,” it would be interest to see how our lives, nation, and communities would improve. It seems everyone references the Statue of Liberty with her promises about immigration, but no one is pursuing the “One Nation Under God with such intensity. As a result, lying, stealing, and cheating have become commonplace. Integrity, a firm adherence to the highest moral and ethical stands, are essential to life of a true Christian. All churches are not going to be perfect, and we have to accept than, but they do love the Lord and do their best to provide their members with soul food. Many Americans spend two hours a day watching TV, but most do not even spend one hour a week in church. Imagine if we spend even 20 minutes a day reminding ourselves of the Scriptures in the Bible. Truth, honesty, and good will might spread like a pandemic. If we have communities that believed in attending church services, it would be fascinating to see how much better life in their region is. A person’s true greatness is not in what one says one is, nor in what people say one is; but really in what one is. Our integrity determines what we really are. #RandolphHarris 17 of 26

The Lord expects us to live lives of integrity and to be obedient to his commandments. “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven; but one that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven,” reports Matthew 7.21. “For one unto much is given much is required; and one who sins against the greater light shall receive the greater condemnation,” reports Doctrine and Covenants 82.3. Americans have been given much, indeed: the gospel of Jesus Christ. That blessing carries a risk. We have been warned, “Therefore to one that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to one it is sin,” reports James 4.17. The World desperately needs humans of integrity. Nearly every day we hear of fraud, misapplications of fund and tax dollars, or other dealings designed to obtain gain by cheating or deception. The Lord abhours such practices. “If thou borrowest of thy neighbour, thou shalt restore that which thou hast borrowed; and if thou canst not repay then go straightway and tell thy neighbour, lest one condemn thee,” reports Doctrine and Covenants 136.25. The World-Idea is embodied in the World itself. “God had planned something better for us so that only together with us they would be made perfect,” report Hebrews 11.40. #RandolphHarris 18 of 26

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All that we perceive of the Universe in which we live incarnates some part of the World-Idea. The Universe is a system of geometric forms. The connection between number and form is easy to see: the multiplicity of forms makes the Universe. The harmony of all three is their divine ordering—a part of the World-Idea. The two elements become the five, the five become the seven, the seven become the twelve. And so the Universe grows up. There is a mathematical order in the cosmos, a divine intelligence behind life, an Idea for human, animal, plant, and mineral existences. We see the entire cosmos is ruled by rhythm; its operation are cyclic: consequently this must be expressed through number and order. Both mathematics and metaphysics deal with abstract concepts. Neither a point nor a line is more than an idea; the points and lines we see are different from the mathematical definitions of them. Pythagoras gave a prominent place to mathematics in his philosophy and claimed that the Universe was built on Number. The geometrical orderliness of the World-Idea gives us assurance, restores meaning the external Universe, and extracts the hope that the anguish of these decades will be amply compensated. #RandolphHarris 19 of 26

Pythagoras pointed out that the Universe is based on number. This would mean there is a mathematical foundation to the cosmic order. The most important of the happenings was the 26,000-year cycle whereby the celestial pole moves in a complete circle around the ecliptic pole. The World-Idea must not be regarded as something inert, nor only as a pattern, but also as a force through which the World-Mind acts, and through which it moves the Universe. “Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because one who has suffered in one’s body is done with sin. As a result, one does not live the rest of one’s Earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins,” reports 1 Peter 4.1-2 and 7-8. If it is regarded as something dynamic and not static, the World-Idea would be more correctly understood for what it is. It is a mental wave, forever following, rather than a rigid pattern. The World-Idea is all one projection containing countless different forms and stages of itself undergoing countless changes. It is not a single static rigid thing. #RandolphHarris 20 of 26

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It is the paradox of the World-Idea that it is at once a rigid pattern and, within that pattern, a latent source of indeterminate possibilities. This seems impossible to human minds, but it would not be the soul of a divine order if it were merely mechanical. The archetypes of the World-Idea are ever-new yet basically ever-ancient. The states of development, function, consciousness, appearing as mineral, plant, and human repeat themselves without end but the detail within them is less rigid. The World-Idea contains within itself, like a seed, all the elements and all the properties of a Universe which subsequently appear. In this sense they are predestined to recur eternally even when they dissolve and vanish. The ancient Egyptian text puts it: “I become what I will.” The World-Idea is thus the pre-existing Type of all things and all beings. There is an Order in the Universe to which it has to conform. Yet it is not so rigid as the carrying out of an architectural plan. Nor like an architect-built World does it allow only for creation and maintenance; for it allows for destruction too. I call it the World-Idea. If this Universe was built, like a mansion, on a plan, its own life and the life of all things in it would be fated within iron walls. #RandolphHarris 21 of 26

If, on the contrary, its course was an extempore and spontaneous ne, with each phase freshly decided by the situation of the moment, it would be too much a matter of chance and fortuitus happenings. That would be as dreadful as the other. It would be a mistake to believe that the World-Idea is a kind of solid rigid model from which the Universe is copied and made. One the contrary, the theory in atomic physics first formulated by Heisenberg—the theory of Indeterminacy—is nearer the fact. When Plato described his theory of Ideas as referring to eternally existent Forms, but mentalism does not at all liken them to goods laid up on shelves in warehouses, it does not seem that he meant the same thing. Here they are simply the infinitude of possibilities, varieties, permutations, and combinations of elements though which the Infinite Mind can express itself in an infinite Universe without ever exhausting itself. The notion that the Universe is laid out on an architectural plan holes some truth but more error. Its truth appears in the geometrical patterns of the World-Idea, its error in the same building materials theoretically involved. For of Matter there is none. #RandolphHarris 22 of 26

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 “And now I, Moroni, proceed to give an account of those ancient inhabitants who were destroyed by the hand of the Lord upon the face of this north country. And I take mine account from the twenty and four plates which were found by the people of Limhi, which is called the Book of Ether. And as I suppose that the first part f this record, which speaks concerning the creatin of the Word, and also of Adam, and an account from that time even to the great tower, and whatsoever things transpired among the children of men until that time, is had among the Jews—therefore I do not write those things which transpired from the days of Adam until that time; but they are had upon the plates; and whoso findeth them, the same will have power that one may get the full account. However, behold, I give not the full account I give, from the tower down until they were destroyed. And on this wise do I give the account. He that wrote this record was Ether, and he was a descendent of Coriantor. Coriantor was the son of Moron. And Moron was the son of Ethem. And Ethem was the son of Ahah. And Ahah was the son of Seth. And Seth was the son of Shiblon. And Shiblon was the son of Com. And Com was the son of Coriantum. #RandolphHarris 23 of 26

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“And Coriantum was the son of Amnigaddah. And Amnigaddah was the son of Aaron. And Aaron was a descendent of Heth, who was the son of Hearthom. And Hearthom was the son of Lib. And Lib was the son of Kish. And Kish was the son of Corom. And Corom was the son of Levi. And Levi was the Son of Kim. And Kim was the son of Morianton. And Morianton was a descendant of Riplaskish. And Riplaskish was the son of Shez. And Shez was the son of Heth. And Heth was the son of Com. And Com was the son of Coriantum. And Coriantum was the son of Emer. And Emer was the son of Omer. And Omer was the son of Shule. And Shule was the son of Kib. And Kid was the son of Orihah, who was the son of Jared; which Jared came forth with his brother and their families, with some others and their families, from the great tower, at the time the Lord confounded the language of the people, and swore in his wrath that they should be scattered upon all the face of the Earth; and according to the word of the Lord the people were scattered. And the brother of Jared being a large and might man, and a man highly favoured of the Lord, Jared, his brother, said unto him: Cry unto the Lord, that he will not confound us that we may not understand our words. #RandolphHarris 24 of 26

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“And it came to pass that the brother of Jared did cry unto the Lord, and the Lord had compassion upon Jared; therefore he did not confound the language of Jared; and Jared and his brothers were not confounded. Then Jared said unto his bother: Cry again unto the Lord, and it may be that he will turn away his anger from them who are our friends, that he confound not their language. And it came to pass that the brother of Jared did cry unto the Lord, and the Lord had compassion upon their friends and their families also, that they were not confounded. And it came to pass that Jared spake again unto his brother, saying: Go and inquire of the Lord whether he will drive us out of the land, cry unto him whither we shall go. And who knoweth but the Lord will carry us forth into a land which is choice above all the Earth? And if it so be, let us be faithful unto the Lord, that we may receive it for our inheritance. And it came to pas that the brother of Jared did cry unto the Lord according to that which had been spoken by the mouth of Jared. And it came to pass that the Lord did hear the brother of Jared, and had compassion upon him, and said unto him: #RandolphHarris 25 of 26

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“Go to and gather together thy flocks, both male and female, of every kind; and also of the seed of the Earth of every kind; and thy families; and also thy friends and their families, and the friends of Jared and their families. And when thou hast done this thou shalt go at the head of them down into the valley which is northward. And there will I meet thee, and I will go before thee into a land which is choice above all the lands of the Earth. And there will I bless thee and thy seed, and raise up unto me of thy seed, and of the seed of thy brother, and they who shall go with thee, a great nation. And there shall be none greater than the nation which I will raise up into me of thy seed, upon all the face of the Earth. And thus I will do unto thee because this long time ye have cried unto me,” reports Ether 1.1-43. Lamp of the night, guide my way. Shine from above me, a light in the darkness. As is Thy name, O God, so is Thy praise unto the ends of the Earth; Thy right hand is full of righteousness. Let Mount Zion be glad, let the cities of Judah rejoice, because of Thy judgments. Walk about Zion, and go around about her; count her towers. Mark well her ramparts, traverse her palaces, that you may tell it unto a later generation. For such is God, our God, forever. He will guide us eternally. #RandolphHarris 26 of 26

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Then Living Earth, with Labouring Thought Won from the Gaze of Many Centuries!

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Many great things indeed have been achieved by those who choose not to leap into the mainstream. Although the World is very full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it. I do not see myself as a preacher on television at all….I see myself as a doctor in an emergency ward, and those people who are flipping their dials are in pain and dying….I heal through offering what American needs on TV—a philosophy of self-esteem that will make us great once more. The more I see her, the more convinced I am that she is an isolated person. This a man ought never to be, not even a young man, because, since his development depends essentially upon reflection, he must have contact with others. Therefore, a young woman should not be interesting either, for the interesting always involves a reflecting on oneself, just as for the same reason the interesting in art always includes an impression of the artist. A young woman who wants to be pleased by being interesting will, if anything, please herself. From the esthetic side, this is the objection to all kinds of coquetry. It is quite different with what is inappropriately called coquetry, which is nature’s own gesture—for example, feminine modesty, which is always the most beautiful coquetry. #RandolphHarris 1 of 26

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An interesting young lady may very well be successful in pleasing, but just as she herself has surrendered her womanliness, so also the men whom she pleases are usually just as unmasculine. Such a young lady first becomes interesting in her relation with men. The woman is usually the more delicate of the two genders, and yet it is much more important for her to stand alone in her youth than for the man; she must be sufficient unto herself, but that by which and in which she is sufficient unto herself is an illusion; it is this dowry with which nature has endowed her like a king’s daughter. However, it is precisely this resting in illusion that isolates her. I have often pondered why it is that there is nothing more corrupting for a young lady than associating a great deal with other young women. Obviously the reason is that this association is neither one thing nor another; it unsettles the illusion but does not clarify it. The woman’s fundamental qualification is to be company for the man, but through association with her own gender she is lead to reflection upon it, which makes her a society lady instead of company. The language itself is very suggestive in this respect; the man is called “master,” but the woman is not called “maidservant” or anything like that—no, a definition of essence is used: she is company, not companymaid. #RandolphHarris 2 of 26

If I were to imagine an ideal young lady, she would always stand alone in the World and thereby be assigned to herself, but mainly she would not have friends among the young ladies. It is certainly true that the Graces were three, but it certainly never occurred to anyone to think of them as talking together; in their silent trinity they form a beautiful feminine unity. In this respect, I could almost be tempted to recommend the virgins’ bower (any of several usually small-flowered and climbing clematises, which is a leather flower within the buttercup family) again, if this constraint were not in turn damaging in its effects. It is always best that a young lady be allowed her freedom, but that the opportunity not be provided. She thereby becomes beautiful and is rescued from becoming interest. To give a virgin’s veil or a bridal veil to a young lady who spends much time in the company of other young women is futile, but one who has sufficient esthetic sensitivity will always find that an innocent young lady in the deeper and best sense of the word is brought to him veiled, even if it is not the custom to use a bridal veil. #RandolphHarris 3 of 26

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She has been brought up strictly; I honour her parents in their homes for that; she leads a very reserved life, and in thanks I could hug her aunt for that. She has not become acquainted with Worldly delights, has not become jaded through indulgence. She is proud; she spurns what delights other you ladies, and this is as it should be. It is a falseness that I shall know how to turn my advantage. Frills and finery do not appeal to her as they do to other young women; she is somewhat polemic, but this is necessary for a young lady with her romanticism. She loves in a World of fantasy. If she fell into the wrong hands, it might bring out something very unwomanly in her precisely because there is so much womanliness in her. You may believe in miracles—like those the scripture tell about—but do you believe the Lord can work miracles in your own life? If you do your part, God can and will. A miracle is an extraordinary event caused by the power of God. miracles are an important element in the work of Jesus Christ. They include healings, restoring the dead to life, and resurrection. Faith is necessary in order for miracles to be manifested. Do you have some challenges in your life that seem overwhelming at times Would a miracle help you? How can a miracle come about? #RandolphHarris 4 of 26

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The passion of surprise and wonder, arising from miracles, being an agreeable emotion, gives a sensible tendency towards the belief of those events, from which it is derived. And this goes so far, that even those who cannot enjoy this pleasure immediately, nor can believe those miraculous events, of which they are informed, yet love to partake of the satisfaction at second-hand or by rebound, and place a pride and delight in exciting the admiration of others. “For if there be no faith among the children of humans God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, one showed not oneself until after their faith,” reports Ether 12.12. We must have faith to have miracles, specifically faith in Jesus Christ. “And ither at any time hath any wrought miracles until after their faith; wherefore they first believed in the Son of God,” reports Ether 12.18. Trust in God is vital, as is confidence that He will do what He says He will do. For example, we pay tithing with faith. He says that He will open the windows of Heaven, and we have confidence that He will. “And all nation shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of host,” reports Malac 3.11. This is our natural way of thinking. #RandolphHarris 5 of 26

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Faith implies enough confidence to act on your belief and to conform your life to truth. The pleasure of telling a piece of news so interesting, of propagating it, and of being the first reporters of it, spreads the intelligence. Prodigies, omens, oracles, judgments, quite obscure the few natural events, that are intermingled with them. Having faith means doing our best to bring about a miracle, but it also requires having the patience to realize the Lord understands His eternal timetable better than we do. There is a memorable story related by Cardinal de Retz, which may well deserve our consideration. When that intriguing politician fled into Spain, to avoid the persecution of his enemies, he passed through Saragossa, the capitol of Arragon, where he was shown, in the cathedral, a man, who has served seven years as a door-keeper, and was well known to every body in town, that had ever paid his devotions at that church. He has been seen, for so long a time, wanting a leg; but recovered that limb by rubbing of holy oil upon the stump; and the cardinal assures us that he saw him with two legs. The use of medical science is not at odds with our prayers of faith and our reliance on priesthood blessings. #RandolphHarris 6 of 26

This miracle was vouched by all the canons of the church; and the whole company in town were appealed to for a confirmation of the fact; whom the cardinal found, by their zealous devotion, to be thorough believers of the miracle. And the cardinal cannot be suspected of any holy fraud. If we are sick, and ask the Lord to heal us, and to do all for us that is necessary to be done, according to my understanding of the Gospel of salvation, I might as well ask the Lord to cause my wheat and corn to grow, without my plowing the ground and casting in the seed. It appears consistent to me to apply every remedy that comes within the remedy that comes within the range of my knowledge, and then to ask my Father in Heaven to sanctify that application to the healing of my body. Of course we do not wait until all other methods are exhausted before we pray in faith or give priesthood blessings for healing. In emergencies, prayers and blessings come first. Most often we pursue all efforts simultaneously. This follows the scriptural teachings that we should “pray always” and that all things should be done in wisdom and order. This is one way we seek the way to transports ourselves into some new World. #RandolphHarris 7 of 26

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You have yourself heard many supernatural and marvellos relations. “Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for you good, if ye walk uprightly and remember the covenant wherewith ye have covenanted one another,” reports Doctrine and Covenants 90.24. Human’s inclination to the marvellous has full opportunity to display itself. And thus a story, which is universally exploded in the place where it was first started, shall pass for a certain at a hundred thousand miles distance, maybe even light years. It is reported that January 1600, there was total darkness over the whole Earth for eight days. It was also reported by historians who treat of England, that on the first of January 1600, Queen Elizabeth died; both before and after her death she was seen by her physicians and the whole court, as is usual with persons of her rank; that her successor was acknowledged and proclaimed by the parliament; and that, after being interred a month, she again appeared, resumed the throne, and governed England for three years: I must confess that I should be surprised at the concurrence of so many odd circumstances, but should not have the least inclination to believe so miraculous an event. #RandolphHarris 8 of 26

I believe that all of us can bear witness to these miracles. With Moroni of old, I believe in a God of miracles. Moroni wrote to the people of our dispensation, “Behold, I will show unto you a God of miracles, and it is that same God who created the Heavens and the Earth, and all things that are in them are,” reports Mormon 9.11. Moroni proclaimed that Jesus Christ did many mighty miracles, that many mighty miracles were wrought by the hands of the Apostles and that a God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever must be a God of miracles today. “And if there were miracles wrought then, why has Gd ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God and is a God of miracles,” report Mormon 9.19. The World-Idea provides secret invisible patterns for all things that have come into existence. These are not necessarily the forms that our limited perceptions present to us but the forms that are ultimate in God’s Will. #RandolphHarris 9 of 26

The deeper thinkers among our astronomers see no beginning and no end to the Universe; it is t them a process and not a static thing. To this view a philosopher would echo assent, but in accordance with the World-Idea. Just as the wave of life prepares, enters, and leaves our human bodies, so does it prepare, enter, and leave each of the numerous Universes. The World-Idea permeates all existence, patterns all forms, and expresses itself in all evolution. When the revelation of the World-Idea came to religious mystics they could only call it “God’s Will.” When it came to the Greeks, they called it “Necessity.” The Indians called it “Karma.” When its echoes were heard by scientific thinkers, they called it “the laws of Nature.” What we call here the World-Mind’s master image is not quite different from, although not quite the same as, what Plato called the eternal idea and what Malebranche called the archetype of the Universe. Mahat, the divine ideation of the Egyptian teachings, may possibly be correlated with the World-Idea, but I have not examined the doctrine. Nor do I know whether Plato’s divine archetypes meet exactly the same definition. However, I do know that all three constitute the World as seen by the Universal Mind. #RandolphHarris 10 of 26

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Plato’s doctrine of a timeless World of archetypal ideas which are copied imperfectly in the physical one may be compared with the doctrine of the World-Idea stated elsewhere in this teaching. Jung’s archetypes, as far as I know his thought, apply to the unconscious of the human being. If you wish to call them by this name, the archetypes of the World-Idea apply universally and are not concerned with the human species alone. The Stoics pointed to Reason (Logos) as the divine spirit which orders the cosmos. Plato pointed to Mind (Nous) in the same reference. There is a universal order, a way which Nature (God) has of arranging things. This is why what we see around us as the World expressed all-pervading meaning, intelligence, and purpose. However, we catch only a mere hint of these veiled qualities—they mystery which recedes from them is immeasurably greater. The intelligence displayed by Nature is an infinite one. This fact, once recognized, forces us to concede that there is a deeper meaning and a wiser purpose in life than our puny intellects can adequately fathom. The World-Idea is secret, its activity is silent, but its effects are everywhere visible and audible to us. #RandolphHarris 11 of 26

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Immanuel Kant referred to “the hidden plan of Nature.” Thus, without benefit of any mystical revelation but with that of acutely concentrated deep thinking to guide him, he sensed the presence of the World-Idea. It is safe to assert that nearly all the activities of the cosmos are beyond ordinary human sense observations. Without the assistance of special apparatus or thinking power we are unaware of them. Just as important as these might miracles are the smaller private miracles that teach each of us to have faith in the Lord. These come as we recognize and heed the prompting of the Spirit in our lives. When we are trying to serve Him and do His will, the Lord will help us in every aspect of our lives. I believe that all of us can bear witness to these mighty and modest miracles. We know children who have prayed for their parents to get a new job and buy a home, and they have. We have seen children who pray for toys for Christmas and get them. We have seen adults who pray for a special phone call and it comes in. The World-Idea contains the pattern, intention, direction, and purpose of the cosmos in a single unified thought of the World-Mind. #RandolphHarris 12 of 26

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Human understanding is too cramped and too finite to comprehend how this miraculous simultaneity is possible. The World-Idea is the whole idea that no human mind can grasp in its time-long entirety and its spiralled cyclers. In some way that the limited mind of human cannot understand by its ordinary processes, the Universe exists in the World-Idea out of passing time and in an unbroken Now. The World-Idea manifests itself by degree but the Idea itself is a perfect whole. The World-Idea not only includes everything existent but also everything which is yet to exist. We may think of the World-Idea as a kind of computer which has been fed with all possible information and therefore contains all possible potentialities. Just as its progenitor the World-Mind is all-powerful, all-present, and all-knowing, it is also possible to think of the World-Idea as being this all-knowing, omniscient aspect of the World-Mind. What is most extraordinary about the cosmos is that although it is a coherent Whole, yet it is one that is greater than, and different from, the sum of is parts. The World-Idea forever realizing itself in the actual, a process which is ceaseless and infinite, without known beginning or known end. #RandolphHarris 13 of 26

Life is in the highest degree properly in God. In proof of which it must be considered that since a thing is said to live in so far as it operates of itself and not as moved by another, the more perfectly this power is found in anything, the more perfect is the life of that thing. In things that move and are moved, a threefold order is found. In the first place, the end moves the agent: and the principal agent is that which acts through it form, and sometimes it does so through some instrument that acts by virtue not of its own form, but of the principal agent, and does no more than execute the action. Accordingly there are things that move themselves, not in respect of any form or end naturally inherent in them, but only in respect of the executing of the movement; the form by which they act, and the end of action being alike determined for them by their nature. Of this kind are plants, which move themselves according to their inherent nature, with regard only to executing the movements of growth and decay. The World-Idea is works itself out in time, which is the form wherein the thoughts appear, and in history, which is the record of time. In the larger workings of the World-Idea we may see the rise and fall of entire culture, civilizations, religions, and even whole continental areas with their inhabitants and races. #RandolphHarris 14 of 26

The World-Mind’s World-Idea unfold with absolute regularity and perfect sequence. The World-Idea is slowly expanding itself on Earth, incarnating itself. My hope is that this rather lengthy discussion of the place of the body in our life and of how the apostle Paul understood its transformation will make very clear why spiritual formation requires the transformation of the body. The proper retaining and nurturing of the body is absolutely essential to Christlikeness. The body is not just a physical thing. As it matures, it increasingly takes on the quality of “inner” life. That is, the body increasingly becomes a major part of the hidden source from which our life immediately flows. The outcome of spiritual formation is, indeed, the transformation of the inner reality of the self in such a way that the deeds and words of Jesus become a natural expression of who we are. However, it is the nature of the human being that the inner reality of the self settles into our body, from which that inner reality then operates in practice. Formed in sin, our character and its body is set against God and God’s ways, and as we look about us, we find it pretty much on its own—at least for a while. #RandolphHarris 15 of 26

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When our heart (will, spirit) comes to new life in God, the old “programs” are still running contrary to our new heart, and for the most part they are running in our body and its parts or members. “So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! However, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out,” report Romans 7.12-18. “For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit of death,” reports Romans 7.5. Because my identity before God has been shifted over to another life that is also now in me as God’s gift, my soul has been cleansed. #RandolphHarris 16 of 26

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While the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, I may find myself doing the things I have. However, it really is no longer I who is doing it, but the sin still functioning as a living force in the members of my body. Nonetheless, this is only a transitional state for those who can say with David, “My soul follows hard after you,” reports Psalm 63.8. The law or force of the Spirit of life that is in Christ Jesus is now also a real presence in my body and it opens the way to liberation from the force of sin in my bodily parts. “Therefore, humans, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeed of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of God. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory,” reports Romans 8.12-17. #RandolphHarris 17 of 26

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My soul follows after God. The law or force of the Spirit life that is in Christ Jesus is now also a real presence in my body and it opens the way to liberation from the force of sin in my bodily parts. “Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin,” reports Romans 7.25. By not walking in terms of the flesh but in terms of the Spirit, we are increasingly able to do the things that Jesus did and taught. “And so he condemned sin in sinful humans, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature,” reports Romans 8.4. We move toward the place where both the spirit is willing and the flesh is strong for God because the Spirit has now occupied it. We have presented the members of our body “as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification,” reports Romans 6.19. To deny the reality of miracles on the ground that the results and manifestations must be fictitious simply because we cannot comprehend the means by which they have happened is arrogant on the face of it. #RandolphHarris 18 of 26

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Genuine miracle is the miracle worked though the power of faith, without specifically invoking the power of the priesthood. Most of us are acquainted with miracles that have occurred in our personal lives and the lives of those we love, such as miracles involving births and deaths and miraculous healings. All of these are fulfillments of the Lord’s modern promise to “show miracles, signs, and wonders, until all those who believe on my name,” reports Doctrine and Covenants 35.8. “And now, I speak also concerning those who do not believe in Christ. Behold, will ye believe in the day of your visitation—behold, when the Lord shall come, yea, even that great day when the Earth shall be rolled together as a scroll, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, yea, in that great day when ye shall be brought to stand before the Lamb of God—then will ye say that there is no God? Then will ye longer deny the Christ, or can ye behold the Lamb of God? Do ye suppose that ye shall dwell with him under a consciousness of your guilt? Do ye suppose that ye could be happy to dwell with that holy Being, when your souls are racked with a consciousness of guilt that ye have ever abused his laws? #RandolphHarris 19 of 26

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“Behold, I say unto you that ye would be more miserable to dwell with a holy and just God under a consciousness of your filthiness before him, than ye would to dwell with the damned souls in hell. For behold, when ye shall be brought to see your nakedness before God, and also the glory of God, and the holiness of Jesus Christ, it will kindle a flame of unquenchable fire upon you. O then ye unbelieving, turn od who ye unto the Lord; cry mightily unto the Father in the name of Jesus, that perhaps ye may be found spotless, pure, fair, and clean, having been purified by the blood of the Lamb, at that great and last day. And again I speak unto you who deny the revelations of God, and say that they are done away, that there are no revelations, nor prophecies, nor gifts, nor healing, nor speaking with tongues, and the interpretation of tongues; behold I say uno you, one that denieth these things knoweth not the gospel of Christ; yea, one has not read the scriptures; if so, one does not understand them. For do we not read that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and in him there is no variableness neither shadow of changing? And now, if ye have imagined up unto yourselves a god who doth vary, and in whom there is shadow of changing, then have ye imagined up unto yourselves a god who is not a God of miracles. #RnadolphHarris 20 of 26

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“However, behold, I will show unto you a God of miracles, even the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and it is that same God who created the Heavens and the Earth, and all things that in them are. Behold, he created Adam, and by Adam came the fall of man came Jesus Christ, even the Father and the Son; and because of Jesus Christ came the redemption of man. And because of the redemption of man, which came by Jesus Christ, they are brought back into the presence of the Lord; yea, this is wherein all humans are redeemed because the death of Christ bringeth to pass the resurrection, which bringeth to pass a redemption from an endless sleep, from which sleep all humans will be awakened by the power of God when the trump shall sound; and they shall come forth, both small and great, and all shall stand before his bar, being redeemed of death, which death is a temporal death. And then cometh the judgment of the Holy One upon them; and then cometh the time that he that is filthy shall be filthy still. #RandolphHarris 21 of 26

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“And one that is righteous still; one that is happy shall be happy still; one that is unhappy shall be unhappy still. And now, O all ye that have imagined up unto yourselves a god who can do no miracles, I would ask of you, have all these things passed, of which I have spoken? Has the end come yet? Behold I say unto you, Nay; and God has not ceased to be a God of miracles. Behold, are not the things that God hath wrought marvelous in our eyes? Yea, and who can comprehend the marvelous works of God? Who shall say that it was a miracle that by his word the Heaven and the Earth shall be; and by the power of his word man was created of the dust of the Earth and by the power of his word have miracles been wrought? And who shall say that Jesus Christ did not do many mighty miracles? And there were many mighty miracles wrought by the hands of the apostles. And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles. #RandolphHarris 22 of 26

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 “And the reason why he ceaseth to do miracles among the children of men is because that they dwindle in unbelief, and depart from the right way, and know not the God in whom they should trust. Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever one shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the Earth. For behold, thus said Jesus Christ, the Son of God, unto his disciples who shall tarry, yea, and also to all his disciples, in the hearing of the multitude: God ye into all the World, and preach the gospel to every creature; and one that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but one that believe not shall be damned; and these signs shall follow them that believe—in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover; and whosoever shall believe in my name, doubting nothing, until one will I confirm all my words, even unto the ends of the Earth. And now, behold, who can stand against the works of the Lord? #RandolphHarris 23 of 26

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“Who can deny his sayings? Who will rise up against the almighty power of the Lord? Who can deny God’s sayings? Who will rise up against the almighty power of the Lord? Who will despise the works of the Lord? Who will despise the children of Christ? Behold, all ye who are despisers of the works of the Lord, for ye shall wonder and perish. O then despise not, and wonder not, but hearken unto the words of the Lord, and ask the Father in the name of Jesus for what things so ever ye shall stand in need. Doubt not, but be believing, and being as in times of old, and come unto the Lord with all your heart, and work out your own salvation with fear and trembling before him. Be wise in the days of your probation; strip yourselves of all uncleanness; ask not, that ye may consume it on your lusts, but ask with a firmness unshaken, that ye will yield to no temptation, but that ye will serve the true and living God. See that ye are not baptized unworthily; see that ye partake not of the sacrament of Christ unworthily; but see that ye do all things in worthiness, and do it in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God; and if ye do this, and endure to the end, ye will in nowise be cast out. #RandolphHarris 24 of 26

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“Behold, I speak unto you as though I spake from the dead; for I know that ye shall have my words. Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, neither my father, because of his imperfection, neither them who have written before him; but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our own imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been. And now behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech. And if our plates had been sufficiently large we should have written in Hebrew; but the Hebrew hath been altered by us also; and if we could have written in Hebrew, behold, ye would have no imperfection in our record. However, the Lord knoweth the things which we have written, and also that none other people knoweth our language; and because that none other people knoweth our language, therefore one hath prepared means for the interpretation thereof. And these things are written that we may rid our garments of the blood of our brethren, who have dwindled in unbelief. #RandolphHarris 25 of 26

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“And behold, these things which we have desired concerning our brethren, yea, even their restoration to the knowledge of Christ, are according to the prayers of all the saints who have dwelt in the land. And may the Lord Jesus Christ grant that their prayers may be answered according to their faith; and may God the Father remember the covenant which he hath made with the house of Israel; and may he bless them forever, through faith on the name of Jesus Christ. Amen, reports Mormon 9.1-37. Queen of Night, your silver wheels roll silently through the darkness from sunset to sunrise on this night when you are full. I look on you in awe, and praise you. I look to you in love, and honor you. God in her palaces hath made Himself known as a tower of strength. For lo, the kinds assembled themselves, they came onward together. They saw, straightway they were amazed; they were affrighted, they hasted away. Trembling seized them there, shaking, as a woman in travail, as the east wind that breaks the ships of Tarshish. As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God—God establish forever. We have meditated on Thy lovingkindness, O God, in midst of Thy Temple. #RandolphHarris 26 of 26

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Cresleigh Homes

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Residence Two at Mills Station is a two story home that has all the conveniences of a single story! At 2,317 square feet, this home features the Owner’s suite on the first floor with two secondary bedrooms on the “pop top” second story. Take advantage of the vaulted ceilings offered in this plan! The open floor plan includes three bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, Home Hub, Loft and more! Walk into the great room and feel the height of the ceilings and all the light brought in from the high windows.
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Your backyard should be an extension of you. Create a tranquil space to meditate, or maybe use it as extra room for your pup to run around. No matter what your backyard goals are, they’re sure to come true when you live #CresleighHomes.

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O Golden Tongued Romance, with Serene Lute! Leave Melodizing on this Wintry Day!

Everybody else is talking about how hard life is, and here I am singing about how good it is to be alive. You can destroy your now by worrying about tomorrow. If the Universe were obviously based on mere chance, if it were in a state of complete disorder, if the Moon, the Sun, and the Earth wandered about at their individual will, and if no sign of organization appeared anywhere in it, then we might justly assert that there was no Mind behind it. However, because we see the very contrary of these things all around us, because the energy out of which the Universe is made is everywhere inseparable from thought, we can definitely assert that a World-Mind must exist. Events may seem to happen at random, but it is not really so. They are connected with our own thinking and doing, with the pattern of the World-Idea and with the activity of the World-Mind. Whatever we call it, most people feel it in their heart and soul—whether vaguely or strongly—that there must be a God and that there must be something which God has in view in letting the Universe come into existence. This purposed is called the World-Idea, because God is the World’s Mind. This is a thrilling conception. It is an ancient revelation. #RandolphHarris 1 of 26

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This ancient revelation came to the first cultures, the first civilizations, of any importance, as it has come to all others which have appeared, and it is still coming today to our own. With this knowledge, deeply absorbed and properly applied, humans come into harmonious alignment with their Source. If it ignores the facts, truths, laws, and principles of cosmogony, all spiritual study is incomplete. To attempt to justify this neglect with the accusation that they belong to the World of illusion is an unenlightened disposition. For the accuser must still continue to live in an illusory body and use an illusory self governed by those laws. After every such attempt and for each violation of those laws—upon which the order and harmony of the Universe depend—which one’s neglect brings about, one must pay the penalty in suffering.  “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves, teachers to suit their own passions, and they will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths,” 2 Timothy 4.3-4. Everything around us and every event that happens to us is an expression of God’s will. #RandolphHarris 2 of 26

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The forces in the Universe and the figures on the Universal scene are all connected with each other and are all related with the World-Mind. Nothing stands alone except in its illusory belief. In living things, to live is to be. Our intellect, which takes cognizance of the essence of a thing as its proper object, gains knowledge from sense, of which the proper objects are external accidents. Hence from external appearances we come to the knowledge of the essence of things. And because we name a thing in accordance with our knowledge of it, as it is clear from what has already been said, so from external properties names are often imposed to signify essences. Hence such names are sometime taken strictly to denote the essence itself, the signification of which is their principal object; but sometimes, and less strictly, to denote the properties by reason of which they are imposed. And so we see that the word “body” is used to denote a genus of substances from the fact of their possessing three dimensions: and is sometimes taken to denote the dimensions themselves; in which sense body is said to be a species of quantity. The same must be said of life. #RandolphHarris 3 of 26

The name is given from a certain external appearance, namely, self-movement, yet not precisely to signify this, but rather a substance to which self-movement and the application of itself to any kind of operation, belong naturally. To live, accordingly, is nothing else than to exist in this or that nature; and life signifies this, though in the abstract, just as the word “running” denotes “to run” is the abstract. Hence “living” is not an accidental but an essential predicate. Sometimes, however, life is used less properly for the operations from which its name is taken, and thus the Philosopher says (Ethic. ix, 9) that to lice is principally to sense or to understand. The Philosopher here takes “to live” to means an operation of life. Or it would be better to say that sensation and intelligence and the like, are sometimes taken for the operations, sometimes for the existence itself of the operator. For one says (Ethic. ix, 9) that to live is to sense or to understand—in other words, to have a nature capable of sensation or understanding. Thus, then, one distinguishes life by the four operations mentioned. For in this lower World there are four kinds of living. #RandolphHarris 4 of 26

 It is the nature of some to be capable of nothing more than taking nourishment, and, as a consequence, of growing and generating. Others are able, in addition, to sense, as we see in the case of shellfish and other animals without movement. Others have the further power of moving from place to place, as perfect animals, such as quadrupeds, and birds, and so on. Others, as humans, have the still higher faculty of understanding. By vital operations are meant those whose principles are within the operator, and in virtue of which the operator produces such operations of itself. It happens that there exist in humans not merely such natural principles of certain operations as are their natural powers, but something over and above these, such as habits inclining them like a second nature to particular kinds of work in which a human takes delight, so that one is bent is towards it, one’s time is spent in it, and one’s whole life ordered with a view to it, is said to be the life of that human. Hence some are said to lead to life of self-indulgence, others a life of virtue. In this way the contemplative life is distinguished from the active, and thus to know God is said to be life eternal. #RandolphHarris 5 of 26

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If God expresses His will through, and in, the Universe then why are the horrors we find there unbeatable by any of the tortures perpetrated by humans? The wanton malignancy of certain parasites, ants, worms; the poisonous bites and stings of certain insects and reptiles; the dreadful fish like piranhas which strip unfortunate wretches to a skeleton in a few minutes; the infectious germs in jungle and city alike; the intimidating hordes of vermin which threaten to multiply and destroy other forms—are they all God’s goodness? Even believers may sometimes ask themselves the question: “Is God blind and unseeing to human suffering—so small an item in the vastness of His Universe—or callous and indifferent to it?” Those who see no sign of God in the Universe, and leave it at that, are at least in a better position than those who think they can detect an underlying hostility in the Universe. The absurdity of life and the insanity of humans cast doubt upon the sanity of their Source. However, this is a surface point of view. The order which has been established throughout the cosmos is a perfect one. #RandolphHarris 6 of 26

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If the human mind fails to see this fact, it is partly because human feelings, prejudices, aversions, and attractions sway it and partly because the World-Idea unveils itself only to those who are ready. The Universe is perfect because God is perfect. However, for each human to find and see this perfection for oneself otherwise the trouble and tragedy in life may obstruct one’s vision and obscure one’s path. If the Mind behind the Universe is perfect, then the pattern of the Universe itself must be perfect too. And if we muster up the heroism needed to cast out our feeble, sentimental and emotional way of looking at things, if we put aside for a few minutes our personal and human demands that the Universe shall conform to our wishes, so it will show itself to be perfect. The more intellectual they are, the more they feel that God has somehow blundered, that they could have made a better or kindlier job of the Universe than one has, and that too much unnecessary suffering falls upon his creatures. The self-actualized, however, with one’s deeper insight and one’s serener mentality, finds the contrary to be the cause and is set free from such bitter thoughts. It is preposterous presumption to look in the divine Intelligence for what can only be found in the limited and little human one. #RandolphHarris 7 of 26

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 Humans judge the World without knowing the World-Idea, certainly without conscious contact with the World-Mind. The moment we establish a right relation with the Mind behind the Universe, in that moment we begin to see as ultimately good certain experiences which we formerly thought to be evil, and we begin to see as dreamlike many sufferings which we formerly saw as real. The answer to this enigma but simple religious trust for the shallow multitude and movement to another level by mystical experience for the serious seekers. In the first case there is the hope that in a God-governed World all is arranged for the best, while in the second there is the overwhelming feeling that it is so. The philosopher is also a possessed of hope and feeling but, venturing int a wider area, adds knowledge. We see the underside of the pattern only—and merely a par of it at that—and inevitably judge Nature to be cruel, “red in tooth and claw.” If we could see the upper side and the whole of it, the pattern would show itself perfect. From this ultimate point of view there are no sins, only ignorance; there are no clumsy falls, only steps forward to heart’s wiser levels; there are no misfortunes, only lessons in the art of disentanglement. #RandolphHarris 8 of 26

Pain and suffering belong only to this physical World and its shadow-spheres. There is a higher World, where joy and happiness alone are human’s experience. The structure and working of the Universe may not be stamped with “goodness” as we understand it, nor with “perfection” as we envisage it. Consider them from all aspects, however, in a philosophical manner and you will find the essentially “right.” Because there is a Divine Mind back of the Universe, there are Divine Wisdom and Goodness in the Universe. The Universe of our experience is governed by justice and wisdom, by ultimate goodness and infinite power. The Universe has infinitely more intelligence behind it than the humans who live in it. This remains true even though there is much that seems unnecessarily brutal and unacceptable to compassionate believers in a divine order. Let evil appearances be what they are, the revelation of insight contradicts them and shows the divine presence throughout the whole Universe and behind all happenings. Even the violent, sudden, and unwanted deceased of such a multitude of persons in war, pestilence, famine, epidemic, pandemic, or eruption has beneficial meaning in the divine World-Idea and is not at all vain or useless. #RandolphHarris 9 of 26

The truth about cosmic laws is sometimes terrifying to our human fears, sometimes repulsive to our human feeling. It may fitly be called ugly at such times. However, the infinite power behind those laws is always beautiful. In spite of contrary appearances this is still God’s World. We live in an orderly World but not in a humane one. We must find faith and some of us even the certitude that if it has been possible to think a better cosmos into being, the World-Mind’s infinite wisdom would have done so. We cannot believe in God without accepting God’s Universe also. We must accept and submit to the World-Idea with its ascending hierarchy of creatures and pre-established order of things. If we do not know why we are here, the Universal Mind does. We may and must trust it. The Supreme Essence nurtures all things with care and love. There is an infinite number of possibilities in the evolution of humans and the Universe. If only certain ones out of them are actually realized, this is because both follow a pattern—the World Idea. All the activity of this entire Universe is God’s activity. Everything is being carried on according to the pattern and the rhythm set by the divine World-Idea. #RandolphHarris 10 of 26

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All the forms and developments, the creatures and objects which make the never-ending picture of the cosmos derived from the World-Idea; everything conforms to it. But often the parts or members that “are upon the Earth” are also very nice. This is generally true among religious people, and it is a deadly trap. When Paul explained to the Philippians what “flesh” he could have confidence in he lists: “Circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless,” reports Philippians 3.5-6. One can easily translate this into modern-day terms by listing the things religious people are apt to present as “good qualifications.” However, Paul actually regarded all this “nice flesh” as loss, and even as feces, compared to the real treasure of the resurrection life of Christ moving in him. “For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—though I myself have reasons for such confidence. #RandolphHarris 11 of 26

“If anyone else thinks one has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. However, whatever was to my profit I now consider loss of the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead,” reports Philippians 3.3-11. That is why he said to the Colossians: “Therefore kill off your parts (members) that are of the Earth.” The “therefore” refers back to the fact he had just cited in this passage, that Christ’s people have received a different life, one not “of Earth” but of Christ himself, raised up beyond natural death. “You have died,” he said, “and your real life is now concealed along with Christ in God,” reports Colossians 3.1-3. #RandolphHarris 12 of 26

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This, as is well known, is a theme developed at many other points in Paul’s writings, but at greatest lengths in Romans chapter 5 through 8. There Paul had been describing how sin (and therefore death) has reigned over (governed) human life. However, now as he comes toward the end of chapter 5, a new kind of “reign” emerges. Death had reigned because of sin, which came into the human World by one man and one woman (Adam and Eve). Yes, but “much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign [govern] in life through the One, Jesus Christ,” reports Romans 5.17. Sin indeed has flourished. However, grace (life from above) has and will flourish all the more, “that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness into eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord,” reports Romans 5.21. Now we must emphasize that the grace in question is not merely a judicial action, though it involves that too. It is above all a presence and power in life, which provides an alternative to the merely natural forces (flesh) accessible to the individual in and through the body without any specific divine intervention from above. #RandolphHarris 13 of 26

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So now Paul lays out the alternative open to the one already born from above and therefore experiencing a life that is not of the flesh. Such a one is given the option of walking in the new, different life that is already “doing things,” in them. “Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father,” Paul said, “so we too might walk in newness of life,” reports Romans 6.4. Walk in it, as a steadily moving force, not just feel it in spurts and starts! However, because we are now in the grip of grace it is up to us—though never on our own—to “not let sin have dominion in our death-bound (mortal) body to obey Sin’s desires,” reports Romans 6.12. And this we do by refusing to surrender our body parts to sin as weapons of wickedness. Instead, having been invaded by a life beyond death, and hence by one that is not of the body or flesh, we “present our body parts (members) to Christ as weapons of righteousness,” reports Romans 6.13. Because we are in the grip of grace, sin does not exercise control over us except insofar as we allow it. And, with divine assistance provided, we can break whatever strict control remains to it in every aspect of our life,” reports Romans 6.14. #RandolphHarris 14 of 26

So, just as once—while “dead in…trespass and sins,” reports Ephesians 2.1—we surrendered our body parts to be servants of impurity, and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now we are to “present our body parts to be servants of righteousness leading to sanctification,” reports Romans 6.19. Now, these words of Paul refer precisely to the process and outcome of spiritual formation, of which we have spoken. “Now that you have been released from slavery to sin and enslaved to God by your dependence on him for your new kind of life, the benefit you get is sanctification, and the outcome is eternal life,” Romans 6.22, “the life that really is life,” reports 1 Timothy 6.19. The parts of our death-bound body are not mere physical things, but now carry in them a life that is not of them. He who raised Jesus from the dead now dwells in us and “will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you,” reports Romans 8.11. After the forty years of wandering, it came about on the plains of Moab that, according to Numbers 26.65, “not one of them was left except Caleb son of Jephunneth and Joshua son of Nun.” #RandolphHarris 15 of 26

 It was time for Joshua’s commissioning: “So the Lord said to Moses, ‘Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him; and have him stand before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation; and commission him in their sight,” reports Numbers 27.18-19. Notice that the Spirit, capital S—that is, the Holy Spirit—was upon and in Joshua. He had the indispensable qualification for all spiritual leadership. Spiritual leadership is not a matter of superior spiritual power, and it can never be self-generated. There is no such thing as a self-made spiritual leader. The New Testament agrees: “Brothers, choose seven people from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” They chose Stephan, a mand full of faith and of the Holy Spirit (Acts 6.3,5). There is no spiritual leadership apart from the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it follows that is we aspire to leadership in the Church, we must be full of the Holy Spirit. #RandolphHarris 16 of 26

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Practically, this means that we must continually confess our sins, keep ourselves in God’s Word, and continually submit to God, asking the Spirit to fill us. The telltale sign of this will be that we effervesce Christ. “Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get inebriated on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ,” reports Ephesians 5.17-21. As we walk and serve in the Spirit, the Spirit will ordain us to specific tasks in the Church, and these will be tasks of leadership at all levels, be it waiting tables or heralding the gospel. “The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused t love the truth and so be saved,” report 2 Thessalonians 2.9-10. “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ,” reports Romans 10.17. #RandolphHarris 17 of 26

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Each individual is a Spirit child of Heavenly Father and existed as a spirit before this life on Earth. During this life, the spirit of the individual is housed in a physical body, which was born of mortal parents. The scriptures teach that at the time of physical death, the Spirit does not die. It separates from the body and lives in the postmortal Spirit World. At the time of resurrection, the spirit is reunited with the body, “never to be divided; thus the whole becoming spiritual and immortal,” reports Alma 11.45. The Scriptures also teach about the nature of spirits. Through the Prophet Joseph Smith, the Lord revealed that “all spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes,” reports Doctrine and Covenants 131.7. The Lord also revealed that “the spirit of Humans is in the likeness of one’s person, as also the spirit of the beast, and every other creature which God has created,” reports Doctrine and Covenants 77.2. Just as the World-Idea is both the expression of the World-Mind and one with it, so the Word (Logos) mentioned in the New Testament as being with God is another way of saying the same thing. #RandolphHarris 18 of 26

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The World with its form and history is the embodiment of the Word and the Word is the World-Idea. “Behold I, Moroni, do finish the record of my father, Mormon. Behold, I have but few things to write, which things I have been commanded by my father. And now it came to pass that after the great and tremendous battle at Cumorah, behold, the Nephites who had escaped into the country southward were hunted by the Lamanites, until they were all destroyed. And my father also was killed by them, and I even remain alone to write the sad tale of the destruction of my people. However, behold, they are gone, and I fulfill the commandment of my father. And whether they will slay me, I know not. Therefore I will write and hide up the records in the Earth; and whither I go it mattereth not. Behold, my father hath made this record, and he hath written the intent thereof. And behold, if I had room, I would write it also upon the plates, but I have not; and ore I have none, for I am alone. My father hath been slain in battle and all my kinsfolk, and I have not friend nor wither to go; and how long the Lord will suffer that I may live I know not. #RandolphHarris 19 of 26

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“Behold, four hundred years have passed away since the coming of our Lord. And behold, the Lamanites have hunted my people, the Nephites, down from city to city and from place to place, even until they are no more; and great has been their fall; yea, great and marvelous is the destruction of my people, the Nephites. And behold, it is the hand of the Lord which hath done it. And behold also, the Lamanites are at war one with another; and the whole face of this land is one continual round of murder and bloodshed; and no one knoweth the end of the war. And now, behold, I say no more concerning them, for there are none save it be the Lamanites and robbers that do exist upon the face of the land. And there are none that do know the true God save it be the disciples of Jesus, who did tarry in the land until the wickedness of the people was so great that the Lord would not suffer them to remain with the people; and whether they be upon the face of the land no human knoweth. However, behold, my father and I have seen them, and they have ministered unto us. And whoso receiveth this record, and shall not condemn it because of the imperfections which are in it, the same shall know of greater things than these. #RandolphHarris 20 of 26

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“Behold, I am Moroni; and were it possible, I would make all things known unto you. Behold, I make an end of speaking concerning this people. I am the son of Mormon, and my father was a descendent of Nephi. And I am the same who hideth up this record unto the Lord; the plates thereof are of no worth, because of the commandment of the Lord. For he truly saith that no one shall have them to get gain; but the record thereof is of great worth; and whoso shall bring it to light, one will the Lord bless. For none can have power to bring it to light save it be given one of God; for God wills that it shall be done with an eye single to his glory, or the welfare of the ancient and long dispersed covenant people of the Lord. And blessed be one that shall bring this thing to light; for it shall be brought out of darkness unto light, according to the word of God; yea, it shall be brought out of the Earth, and it shall shine forth out of darkness, and come unto the knowledge of the people; and it shall be done by the power of God. And if there be faults they be the faults of a human. However, behold, we know no fault; nevertheless God knoweth all things; therefore, one that condemneth, let one be aware lest one shall be in danger of hell fire. #RandolphHarris 21 of 26

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“And one that saith: Show unto me, or ye shall be smitten—let one beware lest one commandeth that which is forbidden of the Lord. For behold, the same that judgeth rashly shall be judged rashly again; for according to one’s works shall one’s wages be; therefore, one that smiteth shall be smitten again of the Lord. Behold what the scripture says—humans shall not smite, neither shall one judge; for judgment is mine, saith the Lord, and vengeance is mine also, and I will repay. And one that shall breathe out wrath and strifes against the work of the Lord, and against the covenant people of the Lord who are the house of Israel, and shall say: We will destroy the work of the Lord, and the Lord will not remember his covenant which he hath made unto the house of Israel—the same is in danger to be hewn down and cast into the fire; for the eternal purposes of the Lord shall roll on, until all his promises shall be fulfilled. Search the prophecies of Isaiah. Behold, I cannot write them. #RandolphHarris 22 of 26

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“Yea, behold I say unto you, that those saints who have gone before me, who have possessed this land, shall cry, yea, even from the dust will they cry unto the Lord; and as the Lord liveth he will remember the covenant which he hath made with them. And he knoweth their prayers, that they were in behalf of their faith, for in his name could they remove mountains; and in his name could they cause the Earth to shake; and by the power of his word did they cause prisons to tumble to the Earth; yes, even the fiery furnace could not harm them, neither wild beasts nor poisonous serpents, because of the power of his word. And behold, their prayers were also in behalf of him that the Lord should suffer to bring these things forth. And no one need say they shall not come, for they surely shall, for the Lord hath spoken it; for out of the Earth shall they come, by the hand of the Lord, and none can stay it; and it shall come in a day when it shall be said that miracles are done away; and it shall come even as if one should speak from the dead. And it shall come in a day when the blood of saints shall cry unto the Lord, because of secret combinations and the works of darkness. #RandolphHarris 23 of 26

“Yea, it shall come in a day when the power of God shall be denied, and churches become defiled and be lifted up in the pride of their hearts, even to the envying of them who belong to their churches. Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be heard of fires, and tempests, and vapours of smoke in foreign lands; and there shall also be heard of wars, rumors of wars, and Earthquakes in divers places. Yes, it shall come in a day when there shall be great pollutions upon the face of the Earth; there shall be murders, and robbing, and lying, and deceivings, and whoredoms, and all manner of abominations; when there shall be many who will say, Do this, or do that, and it mattereth not, for the Lord will uphold such at the last day. However, wo unto such, for they are in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity. Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be churches built up that shall say: Come unto me, and for your money you shall be forgiven of your sins. O ye wicked and perverse stiffnecked people, why have ye built up churches unto yourselves to get gain? Why have ye transfigured the holy word of God, that ye might being damnation upon your souls? #RandolphHarris 24 of 26

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“Behold, look ye unto the revelations of God; for behold, the time cometh at that day when all these things must be fulfilled. Behold, the Lord hath shown unto me great and marvelous things concerning that which must shortly come, at that day when these things shall come forth among you. Behold, I speak unto you as if ye were present, and yet ye are not. However, behold, Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me, and I know your doing. And I know that ye do walk in the pride of your hearts; and there are none save a few only who do not lift themselves up in the pride of their hearts, unto the wearing of very fine apparel, unto envying, and strifes, and malice and persecutions, and all manner of iniquities; and your churches, yea, even every one, have become polluted because of the pride of your hearts. For behold, ye do love money, and your substance, and your fine apparel, and the adorning of your churches, more than ye love the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted. O ye pollutions, ye hypocrites, ye teachers, who sell yourselves that which will canker, why have ye polluted the holy church of God? #RandolphHarris 25 of 26

“Why are ye ashamed to take upon you the name of Christ? Why do ye not think that greater is the value of an endless happiness than that misery which never dies—because of the praise of the World? Why do ye adorn yourselves with that which hath no life, and yet suffer the hungry, and the needy and the naked, and the sick and the afflicted to pass by you, and notice them not? Yea, why do ye build up your secret adominations to get gain, and cause the windows should mourn before the Lord, and also orphans to mourn before the Lord, and also the blood of their fathers and their husbands to cry unto the Lord from the ground, for vengeance upon your heads? Behold, the sword of vengeance hangeth over you; and the time soon cometh that he avengeth the blood of the saints upon you, for he will not suffer their cries any longer,” reports Mormon 8.1-41. From out of the brightness, God who marks the passing of the days, with your sharp edges, cut out this month from the time before and the time after. Measure it out to fit the pattern laid out for you. Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised, in the city of our God, His holy mountain; beautiful in elevation, the Earth’s joy is Mount Zion in the far north, the city of great King. #RandolphHarris 26 of 26

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Redemption Sparkles and Will Mingle Kindly with the Meadow Air!

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When a person points a finger at someone else, one should remember that four of one’s fingers are pointing at oneself. I have never met anyone who believed in democracy. I have met many who prefer it to any other form of government and who are willing to die for it. I have met many who are willing to abide by majority opinion, but I have never met anyone who believed in mass judgment. That is what democracy is. Also, it seems, indeed, that there are two behaviour patterns that might have been genetically programmed through hunting behaviour: cooperation and sharing. Cooperation between members of the same band was a practical necessity for most hunting societies; so was the sharing of food. Since meat is perishable in most climates except that of the Arctic, it could not be preserved. Luck in hunting was not equally divided among all hunters; hence the practical outcome was that those who had luck today would share their food with those who would be lucky tomorrow. Assuming hunting behaviour led to genetic changes, the conclusions would be that modern humans have an innate impulse for cooperation and sharing, rather than for killing and cruelty. #RandolphHarris 1 of 26

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Unfortunately, humanity’s record of cooperation and sharing is rather spotty, as the history of civilization shows. One might explain this by the fact that hunting life did not produce genetic changes, or that the impulses for sharing and cooperation have become deeply repressed in cultures whose organization discouraged these virtues and instead encourages ruthless egotism. Nevertheless, one might still speculate whether the tendency to cooperate and to share which we find in many societies today outside of the modern industrialized World do not point to the innate character of these impulses. In fact, even in modern warfare, in which the soldier by and large does not feel much hate against one’s enemy, and only exceptionally indulges in cruelty, we find a remarkable degree of cooperation and sharing. While in civilian life most people do not risk their lives to save another human’s life or share their food with others, in war this is a daily occurrence. Perhaps one might even go further and suggest that one of the factors which make war attractive is precisely the possibility of practising deeply buried human impulses which our society when at peace, considering—in fact, although not ideologically—to be foolish. #RandolphHarris 2 of 26

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Modern society, with its almost limitless readiness for destruction of human lives for political and economic ends, can best defend itself against the elementary human question of its right to do so by the assumption that destructiveness and cruelty are not engendered by our social system, but are innate qualities in humans. Fortunately, our knowledge of hunting behaviour is not restricted to speculations; there is a considerable body of information about still existing primitive hunters and food gatherers to demonstrate that hunting is not conducive to destructiveness and cruelty, and that primitive hunters are relatively unaggressive when compared to their civilized brothers. There are certain direct data on the life of the prehistoric hunter to be found in animal cults which point to the fact that they lacked the alleged innate destructiveness. The cave paintings associated with the life of prehistoric hunters did not exhibit any fighting between humans. Colin Turnbull, a specialist in this study, has reported: “In the two groups known to me, there is almost total lack of aggression, emotional or physical, and this is borne out by the lack of warfare, feuding, witchcraft, and sorcery. #RandolphHarris 3 of 26

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“I am also not convinced that hunting is itself an aggressive activity. This is something that one must see in order to realize; the act of hunting is not carried out in an aggressive spirit at all. Due to the consciousness of depleting natural resources, there is actually a regret at killing life. In some cases, this killing may even bear an element of compassion. My experience with hunters has shown them to be very gentle people, and while it is certainly true that they lead extremely hard lives, this is not the same thing as being aggressive.” The most obvious and probably most crucial characteristic of the hunting-gathering societies is their nomadism, required by the foraging economy which leads to loose integration of families into a “band” society. As for their needs—in contrast to modern humans who require a house, an automobile, clothing, electricity, and so on—for the primitive hunter food, and the few devices employed by obtaining it, is the focus of economic life…in a more fundamental sense than it is in more complicated economies. Anything we are capable of experiencing cannot, in and of itself, be pathogenic. #RandolphHarris 4 of 26

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Rather, it is the suppression of the experience that gives rise to distortions in consciousness that we associate with psychopathology. Hence anything that we are called upon to experience must have a purpose. We are accustomed, because of the nature of our own economy, to think that human beings have a natural propensity to truck and bater, and that economic relations among individuals or groups are characterized by economizing, by maximizing the result of effort or by selling dear and buying cheap. Primitive peoples do none of these things, however; in fact, most of the time it would seem that they do the opposite. They give things away, they admire generosity, they expect hospitality, they punish thrift as selfishness. And the strangest of all, the more dire the circumstances, the more scarce (or valuable) the goods, the less “economically” will they behave and the more generous do they seem to be. We are considering, of course, the form of exchange among persons within a society and these persons are, in band society, all kinsmen of some sort contrasts directly with the principles ascribed to the formal economy. We “give” food, do we not, to our children? We “help” our brothers and “provide for” aged parents. Others do, or have done, or will do, the same for us. #RandolphHarris 5 of 26

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At the generalized pole, because close social relations prevail, the emotions of love, the etiquette of family life, the morality of generosity all together condition the ways goods are handled, and in such a way that the economic attitude toward the goods is diminished. Anthropologists have sometime attempted to characterize the actual transaction with words like “pure gift” or “free gift” in order to point up the fact that this is not trade, but barter, and that the sentiment involved in the transaction is not one of a balanced exchange. However, these words are not quite evocative of the actual nature of the act; they are even somewhat misleading. Once Peter Freuchen was handed some meat by an Eskimo hunter and responded by gratefully thanking him. The hunter was cast down, and Freuchen was quickly corrected by an old man: “You must not thank for your meat: it is your right to get parts. In this country, nobody who gives or gets gifts, for thereby you become dependent. With gifts you make slaves just as with whips you make dogs.” #RandolphHarris 6 of 26

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The word “gift” has overtones of charity, not of reciprocity. In no hunting-gathering society is gratitude expressed, and, as a matter of fact, it would be wrong even to praise a human as “generous” when one shares one’s game with one’s campmates. On another occasion one could be said to be generous, but not in response to a particular incident of sharing, for then the statement would have the same implications as an expression of gratitude: that the sharing was unexpected, that the giver was not generous simply as a matter of course. It would be right to praise a human for one’s hunting prowess on such an occasion, but not for one’s generosity. Of particular importance, both economically and psychologically is the question of property. One of the most widespread cliches today is that the love for property is an innate trait in humans. Usually the confusion is made between property in instruments one needs for one’s work and in certain private items like ornaments, et cetera, and property in the sense exclusive possession other people can be made to work for oneself. Such means of production in the industrial society are essentially machines or capital to be invested in machine production. In primitive society the means of production are land and hunting areas. #RandolphHarris 7 of 26

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In no primitive band in anyone denied access to the resources of nature—no individual owned these resources. The natural resources on which the bands depend are collective, or communal, property, in the sense that the territory might be defended by the whole band against encroachment by strangers. Within the band, all families have equal right to acquire these resources. Moreover, kinsmen in neighbouring bands are allowed to hunt and gather at will, at least on request. The most common instance of apparent restriction in rights to resources occurs with respect to nut or fruit-bearing trees. In some instances, particular trees or clumps of trees are allocated to individual families of the band. This practice is more a division of labour, however, then a division of property, for its purpose seems to be to prevent the waste of time and effort that would occur if several scattered families headed for the same area. It is simply to conventionalize that allotted use of the several groves, inasmuch as trees are much more permanently located than game or even wild vegetables and grasses. At any rate, even if one family acquired many nuts or fruits and another failed, the rules of sharing would apply so that no one would go hungry. #RandolphHarris 8 of 26

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Things that seem most like private property in prehistoric society are those that are made and used by individual persons. Weapons, knives and scrapers, clothing, ornaments, amulets, and the like, are frequently regarded as private property among hunters and gathers. However, it could be argued that in primitive society even these personal items are not private property in the true sense. Inasmuch as the possession of which things is dictated by their use, they are functions of the division of labour rather than an ownership of the means of production. Private ownership of such things is meaningful only if some people possess them and others do not—when, so to speak, an exploitative situation becomes possible. However, it is hard to imaging (and impossible to find in ethnographic accounts) a case of some person or persons who, though some accident, owned no weapons or clothing and could not borrow or receive such things from more fortunate kinsmen. A true guide wills surely serve one’s disciples, sometimes without the title of teacher, certainly without the pay for one’s work for self. One will teach a small number so that, after attaining a certain degree of mystical understanding and practical achievement, they in turn may become helpful guides of others. #RandolphHarris 9 of 26

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In modern times, neurosis is the consequence extremely personal secrets that we somehow hide from ourselves. These secrets are repressed from consciousness because they concern terrible disappointments we experienced early in our development. Suppressing our knowledge of these experiences by “forgetting” them temporarily relives the anguish and frustration they originally elicited. So, yes, you can forget a person whom caused a painful situation and/or memory. The suppression of painful experiences produces psychical conflicts which, in turn, may give rise to psychopathology, symptomatic expressions of pain that was being denied. That is why it is important to be completely candid with one’s therapist during the analytic hour. If carried out sincerely, the exercise of candour should reverse the conflicts that have been caused by repression. Our tendency to conceal painful experiences from ourselves could be compounded by families who keep secrets from each other: I know what you are thinking, but you deny it and pretend to think the opposite; or I know how I feel, but you insist that I really believe the opposite. This kind of mystification can become so extreme that a child does not know what one thinks.  #RandolphHarris 10 of 26

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One’s sense of reality becomes so compromised that one seeks refuge in a psychotic—rather than merely neurotic—withdrawal from an intolerable situation. However, experience cannot be reduced simply to one’s subjective awareness of or involvement in an event, in the sense that I have an experience of writing this sentence. When I truly experience something, I am affected by it. It comes as a shock. It changes everything. My experience of something confronts me with the unexpected. It violates my familiar view of things by forcing something new into consciousness. Due to its intrinsically unsettling nature, experience elicits despair because it disturbs my cozy accommodation to reality. On the other hand, despair lead so to something new because experience always occasions a transformation of some kind. In other words, since experience displaces what is familiar to me, it does not simply cause change: It is change. Experience is not simply subjective. It is also transcendental because it takes me outside myself and places me inside a situation that alters my perspective. The effect that my experience has over me changes, to some degree, who I am.  #RandolphHarris 11 of 26

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This dialectical process which consciousness executes on itself—n its knowledge as well as on its object—in the sense that out of it the new and true object arises, is precisely what is termed Experience. There are revelatory aspects of experience as well as transformative ones. In other words, experience does not merely change the World inhabit, it also reveals things to me that I had not known. Consequently, experience elicits truth. One’s experience could be nudged in a certain direction for a specific purpose so long as one prepared oneself for it. In other words, by anticipating my experiences purposefully, deliberately, and thoughtfully, I can make use of experience to gain knowledge about myself. There are degrees to which I experience things; it is not all or nothing. Experiences do not just fall on me whether I want them to our not. I am capable of resisting experience. In turn, the degree to which I am able to experience something is determined by how willing I am to submit to whatever it is that I was to experience. To undergo an experience with something—be it a thing, a person, or a god—means that this something befalls us, strikes us, overcomes us, overwhelms and transforms us. #RandolphHarris 12 of 26

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When we talk of “undergoing” an experience, we mean specifically that the experience is not of our own making; to undergo here means that we endure it, suffer it, receive it as it strikes us and submit to it. It is this something itself that comes about, comes to pass, happens. The extent to which I am able or willing to listen to what my experience tells me will determine how fully I experience that I am doing, whether I am eating a meal, solving a problem, or undergoing psychoanalysis. Because experience is transformative, I am afraid of it and resist it by holding it back. I am perfectly capable of suppressing my experiences (if they happen to be painful) and even repressing the significance or memory of experiences I have had in order to “forget” them. In other words, I can resist change by suppressing experience, just as I can elicit change by being open to it. Sometimes, however, when one attempts both to escape the experience of an unlivable situation and hold on to that which one is escaping this is what is known as a “psychotic breakdown.” In other words, the psychotic individual is simply trying to be true to one’s experience. Because of the opposition that one encounters in one’s environment, one is compelled to withdraw from the reality that one is in order to protect what experience tells one. #RandolphHarris 13 of 26

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This “compromise” comprises one’s psychosis. The psychotic gets stuck in one’s psychosis and cannot find one’s way out of it. “Are you unaware that your body is a shrine to the Holy Spirit from God, Who is within you? And that you are not your own property? A price has been paid for you. So make your body a showplace of God’s grace,” reports 1 Corinthians 6.19-20. “No longer present the parts of your body to sin as weapons of wickedness, but present yourselves to God like people, who coming out of death, have eternal life; and present your bodily part to him as weapons of righteousness,” reports Romans 6.13. Although it is seen as just a mental process the mind is the brain, and the brain is physical. Therefore, it is also part of our body and it is important are our brains are functioning at their best. There are so many problems in society today because people lack mental fitness. Mental health challenges can impact anyone, regardless of education, geography, faith, calling, or family. They are nothing to be ashamed of and should be met with love. Spiritual transformation into Christlikeness is the process of forming the inner World of the human self in such a way that it takes on the character of the inner being of Jesus himself. #RandolphHarris 14 of 26

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The result is that the “outer” life of the individual increasingly becomes a natural expression of the inner reality of Jesus and of his teachings. Doing what he said and did increasingly becomes a part of who we are. However, for this to happen our body and mind must increasingly be poised to do what is good and refrain from what is evil. The inclinations to wrongdoing that literally inhabit its parts must be eliminated. The body must come to serve us as a primary ally in Christlikeness. For good or for evil, the body lies right at the center of the spiritual life—a strange combination of words to most people. One can immediately see all around us that the human body is a (perhaps in some cases even the) primary barrier to conformity to Christ. However, this certainly was not God’s intent for the body and mind. It is not in the nature of our being as such. (The being is not inherently evil.) Nor is it caused by the body or mind. However, still it is a fact that the body and mind usually hinders people in doing what they know to be good and right. Being formed in evil it, in turn, fosters evil and constantly runs ahead of our good intentions—but in the opposite direction. #RandolphHarris 15 of 26

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Still our total being is a good thing. God made if for good. That is why the way of Jesus Christ is so relentlessly incarnational. The complete being should be cherished and properly cared for, not as our master, however, but as a servant of God. For most people, on the other hand, their body governs their live and they ignore their conscience. And that is the problem. Even professing Christians, by and large, devote to their spiritual growth and well-being a tiny fraction of the time they devote to their body, and If we include what one worries about, it is an even tinier fraction. What is going on here? Can our holistic being truly become our ally in Christlikeness? It can and it must, but its essential role in spirituality is the one thing most likely to be overlooked in understanding and practicing growth in grace. We find an aspect of Joshua’s preparation for leadership in Exodus 33, where we glimpse his growing devotion to God. He was serving in the Tabernacle with Moses while the pillar of the cloud towered above the tent. Verse 11 tells us: “The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friends. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young assistant Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.” #RandolphHarris 16 of 26

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 Though he was not privileged, like Moses, to speak with God face to face, Joshua was so overcome by God’s presence that he would not leave the Tabernacle! There is such passion in this picture. “Lord, You are so wonderful, I cannot leave this room. I beg You, let me stay.” Joshua’s New Testament counterpart is Mary of Bethany, who would not leave the room where Jesus was as she sat enraptured at His feet despite her sister’s scolding. And she was so right! As we have it from the Lips of our Lord, “Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her,” reports Luke 10.42. It was this same Mary who poured a year’s fortune on Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair and of whom Jesus said, “She has done a beautiful thing to me,” report Mark 14.6. True spiritual leadership is born for devotion and demands to be closeted with God. We cannot name one great leader in the Church who has not made personal worship a top priority. Such were the lives of Luther, Bunyan, Edwards, Wesley, Muller, Lloyd-Jones, and every other truly spiritual leader. There is no spiritual leadership apart from passionate devotion. Such is the grace of God that it inspires humans of the most different types to arise and help their fellow. #RandolphHarris 17 of 26

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One hundred years ago the great C.J. Vaughn said, “If I wished to humble anyone, I should question one about one’s prayers. I know nothing to compare with the topic for its sorrowful confessions.” Humans, leaders, how would you answer such a question? Humans as widely apart as General Booth, who founded the Salvation Army, and the late Lord Haldane, who sought to translate his philosophical vision into unselfish public service were inspired by the grace of God. Thus, even in the darkest epochs someone eventually appears to help the most unenlightened, the most sinful, and the most illiterate, even as someone eventually appears to guide the virtuous, educated, and intellectual. Inability to comprehend the highest truth or inability to live up to the loftiest ethics is not made by true self-actualized beings a bar to bestowing help. They assist the undeveloped from where they now stand. And such is the wisdom of the self-actualized that they know just how much to give and in what form it can best be assimilated, even as they know when it is better to convey material assistance only and when ethical, religious, mystical, or philosophical instruction should also be given. #RandolphHarris 18 of 26

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Human ruin comes from placing oneself at the center of one’s Universe, in place of God. If not inevitable, this naturally leads to worship of the body and to the life of sensuality that results. If not the only instrument, the body becomes our primary source of gratification and the chief for getting what we want. That is perversion of the role of the body in life as God intended it; and it results in “death,” in alienation from God and the loss of all we will have invested our lives in. “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A human reaps what one sows. The one who sows to please one’s sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to tall people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers,” reports Galatians 6.7-10. The capacity to receive truth is limited by the moral, intellectual, and intuitional limitations of the receiver. The first work of the self-actualized is to plow up the field of one’s pupil’s mind, to make it fit to receive fresh seed.  One has no desire to get humans interested in one’s own personality, to have them turn to, and rely on, oneself but would rather turn them toward their own higher nature. #RandolphHarris 19 of 26

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The master who gives truth is a greater creator of values and contributor to humanity than the greatest music composer. When eloquence is untied with enlightenment, we may expect sentences which pierce us with their rightness, which are rich in truth and stimulating to goodness. One’s statements make truth clearer; one’s declarations are like a sparkling glass of eternal water. “And it came to pass in that same year there began to be a war again between the Nephites and the Lamanites. And notwithstanding I being young, was large in stature; therefore the people of Nephi appointed me that I should be their leader, or the leader of their armies. Therefore it came to pass that in my sixteenth year I did go forth at the head of an army of the Nephites, against the Lamanites; therefore three hundred and twenty and six years passed away. And it came to pass that in the three hundred and twenty and seventh year the Lamanites did come upon us with exceedingly great power, insomuch that they did frighten my armies; therefore they would not fight, and they began to retreat toward the norther countries. And it came to pass that we did come to the city of Angola, and we did take possession of the city, and make preparations to defend ourselves against the Lamanites. #RandolphHarris 20 of 26

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“And it came to pass that we did fortify the city with our might; but notwithstanding all our fortification the Lamanites did come upon us and did drive us out of the city. And they did also drive us forth out of the land of David. And we marched forth and came to the land of Joshua, which was in the borders west by the seashore. And it came to pass that we did gather in our people as fast as it were possible, that we might get them together in one body. However, behold, the land was filled with robbers and with Lamanites; and notwithstanding the great destruction which hung over my people, they did not repent of their evil doings; therefore there was blood and carnage spread throughout all the face of the land, both n the part of the Nephites and also on the part of the Lamanites; and it was one complete revolution throughout all the face of the land. And now, the Lamanites had a kind, and his name was Aaron; and he came against us with an army of forty and four thousand. And behold, I withstood him with forty and two thousand. And it came to pass that I beat him with my army that he fled before me. And behold, all this was done, and three hundred and thirty years had passed away. #RandolphHarris 21 of 26

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“And it came to pass that the Nephites began to repent of their iniquity, and began to cry even as had been prophesied by Samuel the prophet; for behold no man could keep that which was his own, for the thieves, and the robbers, and the murderers, and the magic art, and the witchcraft which was in the land. Thus there began to be a mourning and a lamentation in all the land because of these things, and more especially among the people of Nephi. And it came to pass that when I, Mormon, saw their lamentation and their mourning and their sorrow before the Lord, my heart did begin to rejoice within me, knowing the mercies and the long-suffering of the Lord, therefore supposing that he would be merciful unto them that they would again become a righteous people. However, behold, this my joy was vain, for their sorrowing was not unto repentance, because of the goodness of God; but it was rather the sorrowing of the damned, because the Lord would not always duffer them to take happiness in sin. And they did not come unto Jesus with broken hearts and contrite spirits, but they did curse God, and wish to die. Nevertheless they would struggle with the sword for their lives. #Randolphharris 22 of 26

“And it came to that my sorrow did return unto me again, and I saw that the day of grace was passed with them, both temporally and spiritually; for I saw thousands of them hewn down in open rebellion against their God, and heaped up as dung upon the face of the land. And this three hundred and forty and four years had passed away. And it came to pass that in the three hundred and forty and fifth year the Nephites did begin to flee before the Lamanites; and they were pursued until they came even to the land of Jashon, before it was possible to stop them in their retreat. And now, the city of Jashon was near the land where Ammaron had deposited the records unto the Lord, that they might not be destroyed. And behold I have gone according to the word of Ammaron, and take the plated of Nephi and did make a record according to the words of Ammaron. And upon the plates of Nephi I did make a full account of all the wickedness and abominations; but upon these plated I did forbear to make a full account of their wickedness and abominations, for behold, a continual scene of wickedness and abominations has been before mine eyes ever since I have been sufficient to behold the ways of man. #RandolphHarris 23 of 26

“And wo is me because of their wickedness; for my heart has been filled with sorrow because of their wickedness, all my days; nevertheless, I know that I shall be lifted up at the last day. And it came to pass that in this year the people of Nephi again were hunted and driven. And it came to pas that we were driven forth until we had come northward to the land which was called Shem. And it came to pass that we did fortify the city of Shem, and we did gather in our people as much as it were possible, that perhaps we might save them from destruction. And it came to pass in the three hundred and forty and sixth year they began to come upon us again. And it came to pass that I did speak unto my people, and did urge them with great energy, that they would stand boldly before the Lamanites and fight for their wives and children, and their houses, and their homes. And my words did arouse them somewhat vigour, insomuch that they did not flee from before the Lamanites, but did stand with boldness against them. And it came to pass that we did contend with an army of fifty thousand. And it came to pass that we did stand before the with such fairness that they did flee from us. And it came to pass that when they had fled we did pursue them with our armies, and did meet them again, and did beat them. #Randolphharris 24 of 26

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“Nevertheless the strength of the Lord was not with us; yea, we were left to ourselves, that the Spirit of the Lord did not abide in us; therefore we had become weak like unto our brethren. And my heart did sorrow because of this great calamity of my people, because of their wickedness and their abominations. However, behold, we did go forth against the Lamanites and the robbers of Gadianton, until we had again taken possession of the lands of our inheritance. And the three hundred and forty and ninth year had passed away. And in the three hundred and fiftieth year we made a treaty with the Lamanites and the robbers of the Gadianton, in which we did get the lands of our inheritance divided. And the Lamanites dud give unto us the land northward yea, even to the narrow passage which led into the land southward. And we did give unto the Lamanites all the land southward,” reports Mormon 2.1-29. When the proper time has passed, the womb of night will give birth to day. Though I long for day, in my heart I know that the way things are is done rightly. Here in the dark, I remember this and rest in the sure concern of the Holy Ones. O Lord our God, please grant that we all and Thy people, the house of Israel, find delight in the study of the Scripture. #RandolphHarris 25 of 26

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May we and our children and all the future generations of the house of Israel know Thy name and learn Thy Scripture for its own sake. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, who Teachest the Scripture to Thy people Israel. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of Universe, who hast chosen us from among all peoples by giving us Thy Scripture. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, Giver of the Scripture. The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make His countenance shine up thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord turn His countenance unto thee, and grant thee peace. May the gifts of your fruits guide you on your pilgrimage, offering sanctuary, and deeds of lovingkindness. May you enjoy your fruits while in this life, and may the principal remain for you to all eternity. Be sure to honour your mother and father, and perform deeds of lovingkindness towards them. May God make peace between all humans. God’s spirit will guide us through the darkness and stand as a wall, and protect us from all terrors. The soul which God has blessed you with is pure and will bring peace into the lives of others. “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commanded,” reports Hebrews 11.1-2. #RandolphHarris 26 of 26

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Would Come No Mystery? For Me, Dark, Dark, and Painful Vile Oblivion Seals My Eyes!

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Truth is where the truth is, and it is sometimes in the candy store. You are THAT reality which you seek: give up the ego and know it. The easiest way to get into the meditative state is to begin by listening. If you simply close your eyes and allow yourself to hear all the sounds that are going on around you, just listen to the general hum and buzz of the World, as if you were listening to music. Allow them to play with your eardrums, it is all just sound. You do not have to try to understand anything, just listen to the sound. Look at your own thoughts as just noises, and soon you will find that the so called outside World and to so called inside World come together. They are happening, and everything is simply a happening, and all you are doing is watching it. It is so easy to forget who you are. Just take a shovel and go bury your hears. Why did you hold on to all of the hate? Be believing. Be happy. Do not get discouraged. Things will work out.  Cynics do not contribute, skeptics do not create, doubters do not achieve. Do not waste time pondering the past or fretting about the future. And preserve in spite of adversity. Even when many people are negative and pessimistic, we can cultivate a spirit of happiness and optimism. #RandolphHarris 1 of 26

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There is a terrible ailment of pessimism in the land. It is almost an endemic. We are constantly fed a steady and sour diet of character assassination, faultfinding, evil speaking of one another. We must stop seeking out storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight. It is important that we accentuate the optimistic. Look a little deeper for the good, still that voice of insult and sarcasm, and more generously compliment virtue and effort. While we must never ignore all criticism, since growth comes with correction, strength comes with repentance. Wise is the one who, committing mistakes pointed out by others, changes one’s course. One who is to direct the steps of others along this path needs not only to be high in character and consciousness and teaching ability, but also to be learned in the comparative history and comparative doctrines of Christianity. It is true that nobody can get sufficient data to determine the solutions of the riddle of a single person’s status, nobody can penetrate fully into any other person’s motives. I do not judge anyone and I ought not to judge. Nevertheless, one’s teaching alone is insufficient to testify to the true worth of a human; one oneself is a testimony of equal value. If one has nth inspiration and technique one’s message will carry authority, power, enlightenment, and hope to those who can receive it. #RandolphHarris 2 of 26

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The teacher’s work will have to endure the malice of satanic human instruments and the misunderstanding of the superficial and ignorant. If parties wish to express this notion visibly in the basic structure of their society in order to secure each human’s rational interest in one’s self-respect, which principles should they choose? Now it seems that the two principles of justice achieve this aim: for all have an equal liberty and the difference principle explicates the distinction between treating humans as a means only and treating them also as ends in themselves. To regard persons as ends in themselves in the basic design of society is to agree to forgo those gains which do not contribute to their representative expectations. By contrast, to regard persons as a means is to be prepared to impose upon them lower prospects of life for the sake of the higher expectations of others. Thus we see that the difference principle, which at first appears rather extreme, has a reasonable interpretation. If we further suppose that social cooperation among those who respect each other and themselves as manifest in their institutions is likely to be more effective and harmonious, the general level of expectations, assuming we could estimate it, may be higher when the two principles of justice are satisfied than one might otherwise have thought. The advantage of the principle of utility in this respect is no longer so clear. #RandolphHarris 3 of 26

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The principle of utility presumably requires some to forgo greater life prospects for the sake of others. To be sure, it is not necessary that those having to make such sacrifices rationalize this demand by having a lesser appreciation of their own worth. It does not follow from the utilitarian doctrine that it is because their aims are trivial or unimportant that some individuals’ expectations are less. Yet this may often be the case, and there is a sense, as we have just noted, in which utilitarianism does not regard persons as ends in themselves. And in any event, the parties must consider the general facts of moral psychology. When we must accept a lesser prospect of life for the sake of others, surely it is natural to experience a loss of self-esteem, a weakening of our sense of the value of accomplishing our aims. When social cooperation is arranged for the good of individual, this is particularly likely to be so. That is, those with greater advantages do not claim that they are necessary to preserve certain religious or cultural values which everyone has a duty to maintain. We are not here considering a doctrine of traditional order nor the principle of perfectionism, but rather the principle of utility. #RandolphHarris 4 of 26

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In this instance, then, human’s self-esteem hinges on how they regard one another. If the parties accept the utility criterion, they will lack the support to their self-respect provided by the public commitment of others to arrange inequalities to everyone’s advantage and to guarantee an equal liberty for all. In a public utilitarian society  humans will find it more difficult to be confident of their own worth. The utilitarian may answer that in maximizing the average utility these matters are already taken into account. If, for example, the equal liberties are necessary for human’s self-respect and the average utility is higher when they are affirmed, then of course they should be established. So far so good. However, the point is that we must not lose sight of the publicity condition. This requires that in maximizing the average utility we do so subject to the constraint that the utilitarian principle is publicly accepted and followed as the fundamental character of society. What we cannot do is to raise the average utility by encouraging humans to adopt and apply non-utilitarian principles of justice. If, for whatever reasons, the public recognition of utilitarianism entails some loss of self-esteem, there is no way around this drawback. #RandolphHarris 5 of 26

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It is an unavoidable cost of the utilitarian scheme given our stipulations. Thus suppose that the average utility is actually greater should the two principles of justice be publicly affirmed and realized as the basis of the social structure. For the reasons mentioned, this may conceivably be the case. These principles would then represent the most attractive prospects, and on both lines of reasoning just examined, the two principles would be accepted. The utilitarian cannot reply that one is now really maximizing the average utility. In fact, the parties would have chosen the two principles of justice. We should note, then, that unilateralism, as I have defined it, is the view that the principle of utility is the correct principle for society’s public conception of justice. And to show this one must argue that this criterion would be chosen in the original position. If we like, we can define a different variation of the initial situation in which the motivation assumption is that the parties want to adopt those principles that maximize average utility. The preceding remarks indicate that the two principles of justice may still be chosen. #RandolphHarris 6 of 26

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However, if so, it is a mistake to call these principles—and the theory in which they appear—utilitarian. The motivation assumption by itself does not determine the character of the whole theory. In fact, if they would be chosen under different motivation assumptions, the case for the principles of justice is strengthened. This indicates that the theory of justice is firmly grounded and not sensitive to slight changes in this condition. What we want to know is which conception of justice characterizes our considered judgments in reflective equilibrium and best serves as the public moral basis of society. Unless one maintains that this conception is given by the principle of utility, one is not a utilitarian. The advocate of utility can maintain, however, that this principle also gives sense to the Kantian idea, namely, the sense provided by Bentham’s formula “everybody to count for one, nobody for more than one.” This means that one person’s happiness assumed to be equal in degree to another person’s is to be counted exactly the same. The weight in the additive function that represent the utility principle are identical for all individuals, and it is natural to take them as one. #RandolphHarris 7 of 26

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The principle of utility, one might say, treats persons both as ends and as means. It treats them as end by assigning the same (positive) weight to the welfare of each; it treats them as means by allowing higher life prospects for some to counterbalance lower life prospects for others who are already less favourably situated. The two principles of justice give a stronger and more characteristic interpretation to Kant’s idea. They rule out even the tendency to regard humans as means to one another’s welfare. In the design of the social system we must treat persons solely as ends and not in any way as means. The preceding arguments draw upon this more stringent interpretation. The conditions of generality of principle, universality of application, and limited information as to natural and social status are not enough by themselves to characterize the original position of justice as fairness. The reasoning for the average principle of utility shows this. These conditions are necessary but not sufficient. The original position requires the parties to make a collective agreement, and therefore the restrictions on valid undertakings as well as the publicity and finality conditions are an essential part of the argument for the two principles. #RandolphHarris 8 of 26

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I have discussed the role of these constraints in connection with the strains of commitment and the problem of stability. Once these considerations are established the doubts about the reasoning for the average principle become more serious. The tentative conclusion, then, is that the balance of reasons clearly favours the two principles of justice over the principle of average utility, and assuming transitivity, over the classical doctrine as well. Insofar as the conception of the original position is used in the justification of principles in everyday life, the claim that one would agree to the two principles in everyday life, the claim that one would agree to the two principles of justice is perfectly credible. There is no reason offhand to think that it is not sincere. In order for this profession to be convincing, it is not necessary that one should have actually given and honoured this undertaking. Thus it is able to serve as a conception of justice in the public acceptance of which persons can recognize one another’s good faith. #RandolphHarris 9 of 26

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If the predatory quality of human’s hominid ancestors cannot be made responsible for their aggressiveness, can there be a human ancestor, a prehistorical Adam who is responsible for human’s “fall”? This “Adam” may be man, the hunter. Humans have lived during 99 percent of their history as hunters, we owe our biology, psychology, and customs to the hunters of the time past: In a very real sense our intellect, interest, emotions, and basic social life—all are evolutionary products of the success of the hunting adaption. When anthropologist speak of the unity of humankind, they are stating that the selection pressures of the hunting and gathering way of life were so similar and the result so successful that populations of Homo sapiens are still fundamentally the same everywhere. The crucial question, then, is: What is this psychology of the hunter? It struck me that a certain kind of father-complex has a spiritual character, so to speak, in the sense that the father-image gives rise to statements, actions, tendencies, impulses, opinion, et etcetera, to which one could hardly deny the attribute spiritual. In men, a positive father-complex very often produces a certain credulity with regard to authority and a distinct willingness to bow down before all spiritual doctrines and covenants. #RandolphHarris 10 of 26

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While in women, the father-complex induces the liveliest spiritual aspirations and interests. The invisibility of this source is frequently emphasized by the fact that it consists simply of an authoritative voice which passes final judgements. Mostly, therefore, it is the figure of a “wise old man” who symbolizes the spiritual factor. Sometimes the part is played by a “real” spirit, namely the ghost of one dead, or, more rarely, by grotesque gnomelike figures or talking animals. The dwarf forms are found, at last in my experience, mainly in women; hence it seems to me logical that in Ernst Barlach’s play Der tote Tag (1912), the gnomelike figure of Steissbart (“Rumpbeard”) is associated with the mother, just as Bes is associated with the mother-goodness at Karnak. In both genders the spirit can also take the form of a boy or a youth. In women he corresponds to the so-called “positive” animus who indicates the possibility of conscious spiritual effort. In men his meaning is not so simple. He can be positive, in which case he signifies the “higher” personality, the self or filius regius as conceived by the alchemists. However, he can also be negative, and then he signifies the infantile shadow. #RandolphHarris 11 of 26

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In both cases the boy means some form of spirit. Graybeard and boy belong together. The pair of them play a considerable role in alchemy as symbols of Mercurius. Mercurius is a major god in Roman religion and mythology, being one of the 12 Dii Consentes  (a list of twelve major deities, six gods and six goddesses) within the ancient Roman pantheon. He is the god of financial gain, commerce, eloquence, messages, communication (including divination), travelers, boundaries, luck, trickery and thieves; he also serve as the guide of souls. It can never be established with one-hundred-percent certainty whether the spirit-figures in dreams are morally good. If not of outright malice, very often they show all the signs of duplicity. I must emphasize, however, that the grand plan on which the unconscious life of the psyche is constructed is so inaccessible to our understanding that we can never know what evil may not be necessary in order to produce good by enantiodromia (the tendency of thing to change into their opposites, especially as a supposed governing principle of natural cycles and of psychological development), and what good may very possible lead to evil. #RandolphHarris 12 of 26

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Sometimes the probate spiritus with the best will in the World, be anything other than a cautious and patient waiting to see how things will finally turn out. Humans have a carnivorous psychology fully developed by the Middle Pleistocene, around 500, 000 years ago or even earlier. The World view of the early human carnivore must have been very different from that of their vegetarian cousins. Some scientists believe that the carnivorous psychology is because humans have a drive for and pleasure in killing. It is believed that humans take pleasure in hunting other animals. Unless careful training has hidden the natural drives, humans enjoy the chase and the kill. In most cultures torture and suffering are made public spectacles for the enjoyment of all. Humas have a carnivorous psychology. It is easy to teach people to kill, and it is hard to develop customs which avoid killing. Many human beings enjoy seeing other human beings suffer or enjoy the killing of animals…public beatings and torture are common in many cultures. What are the arguments in favour of this alleged innate joy in killing and cruelty? One argument is killing as a sport. #RandolphHarris 13 of 26

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Perhaps this is most easily shown by the extent of the efforts devoted to maintain killing as a sport. In former times royalty and nobility maintained parks where they could enjoy the sport of killing, and today the United States government spends many millions of dollars to supply game for hunters. Some people even use the lightest fishing tackle to prolong the fish’s futile struggle, in order to maximize the personal sense of mastery and skill. And until recently war was viewed in much the same way as hunting. Other human beings were simply the most dangerous game. War has been far too important in human history for it to be other than pleasurable for the people involved. It is only recently with the entire change in the nature and conditions of war, that this institution has been challenged, that the wisdom of war as a normal part of national policy or as an approved road to personal social glory has been questioned. The extent to which the biological bases for killing have been incorporated into human psychology may be measures by the ease with which boys and modern girls, in many cases, can be interested in hunting, fishing, fighting, and games of war. #RandolphHarris 14 of 26

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It is not that these behaviours are inevitable, but they are learned, satisfying, and have been socially rewarded in most cultures. The skills for killing and the pleasures of killing are normally developed in play, and the patterns of play prepare the children for their adult roles. Many people enjoy killing and cruelty is true as far as it goes, but all it means is that there are sadistic individuals and sadistic cultures; but there are others that are not sadistic. One will find, for instance, that sadism is much more frequently to be found among frustrated individuals and social classes who feel powerless and have little pleasure in life, for example the lower class in Rome who were compensated for their material poverty and social impotence by sadistic spectacles, or the lower middle class in Germany from whose ranks Hitler recruited his most fanatical following; it is also to be found in ruling classes that feel threatened in their dominant position and the property or in suppressed groups that thirst for revenge.  However,  idea that may hunting produce pleasure in torture is an unsubstantiated and most implausible statement to apply to all human beings. All hunters as a rule do not enjoy the suffering of the animal, and in fact a sadist who enjoys torture would make a poor hunter; nor do all people who fish like to see the fish suffer. #RandolphHarris 15 of 26

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There also may not be real evidence that primitive hunters were motivated by sadistic or destructive impulses. On the contrary, there is some evidence to show that they had an affectionate feeling for the killed animals and possibly a feeling of guilt for the kill. Among the Paleolithic hunters, the bear was often addressed as “grandfather” or was looked upon as the mythical ancestor of humans. When the bear was killed, apologies were offered; before he or she was eaten, a sacred meal took place with the bear as an “honoured guest,” before whom were placed the best dishes; finally the bear was ceremoniously buried. The psychology of hunting, including that of the contemporary hunter, calls for extensive study, but a few observations can be made even in this context. First of all, one must distinguish between hunting as a sport of ruling elites (for instance, the nobility in a feudal system) and all other forms of hunting, such as that of primitive hunters, farmers, protecting their crop or chickens, and individuals who love to hunt. “Elite hunting” seems to satisfy the wish for power and control, including a certain amount of sadism, character of power elites. It tells us more about feudal psychology than about the psychology of hunting. #RandolphHarris 16 of 26

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Among the motivations of the primitive professional and the modern passionate hunter, at least two kinds must be distinguished. The first have their roots in the depth of human experience. In the act of hunting, a human becomes, however briefly, part of nature again. One returns to the natural state, becomes one with the animal, and is freed from the burden of the existential split: to be part of nature and to transcend it by virtue of one’s consciousness. In stalking the animal one and the animal become equals, even though humans eventually show their superiority by the use of their weapons. In primitive humans this experience is quite conscious. Through disguising oneself as an animal, and considering an animal as one’s ancestor, one makes this identification explicit. For modern humans, with their cerebral orientation, this experience of oneness with nature is difficult to verbalize and to be aware of, but it is still alive in many beings. Of at least equal importance for the passionate hunter is an entirely different motivation, that of enjoyment in one’s skill. It is amazing how many modern authors neglect this element of skill in hunting, and focus their attention on the act of killing. #RandolphHarris 17 of 26

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After all, hunting requires a combination of many skills and wide knowledge beyond that of handling a weapon. Hunting has placed a premium upon inventiveness, upon problem solving, and has imposed a real penalty for failure to solve the problem. Therefore it has contributed as much to advancing the human species as to holding it together within the confines of a single variable species. Hunting is obviously an instrumental system in the real sense that something gets done, several ordered behaviours are preformed with a crucial result. The technological aspects, the spears, clubs, hand axes, and all other objects suitable for museum display, are essentially meaningless apart from the context in which they are used. They do not represent a suitable place to begin analysis because their position in the sequence is remote from the several preceding complexes. The efficiency of hunting is to be understood not on the basis of the advancement of its technical bases, but by the increasing skill of the hunter: There is ample documentation, though surprisingly few systematic studies, for the postulate that primitive humans are sophisticated in their knowledge of the natural World. #RandolphHarris 18 of 26

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This sophistication encompasses the entire macroscopic zoological World of mammals, marsupials, reptiles, birds, fish, insects, and plants. Knowledge of tides, meteorological phenomena generally, astronomy, and other aspects of the natural World are also well developed among some variations between groups with reference to the sophistication and extent of their knowledge, and to the areas in which they have concentrated. Humans, the hunters are learning animal behaviour and anatomy, including their own. They domesticated themselves first and then turned to other animals to plants. In this sense, hunting is the school of learning that made the human species self-taught. In short, the motivation of the primitive hunter was not pleasure in killing, but the learning and optimal performance of various skills, id est, the development of humans themselves. Today, when almost everything is made by machines, we notice little pleasure in skill except perhaps the pleasure people experience with hobbies like carpentry of the fascination of the average person when one can watch a goldsmith or weaver at one’s work; perhaps the fascination with a performing violinist is not only caused by the beauty of the music one produces but by the display of one’s skill. #RandolphHarris 19 of 26

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In cultures where most of the production is by hand and rests on skill, it is unmistakably clear that work is enjoyable because of the skill involved in it, and to the degree to which this skill is involved. The interpretation of the pleasure in hunting as pleasure in killing, rather than in skill, is indicative of the person of our time for whom the only thing that counts is the result of an effort, in this case killing, rather than the process itself. Boys can be easily induced to any kind of pattern that is culturally accepted. Furthermore, it should be noted that there are a number of sports—from Zen sword fighting to fencing, judo, and karate—in which it is quite obvious that their fascination does not lie in the pleasure to kill, but in the skill they allow to be displayed. We will continual exploring humans as hunters, but perhaps some humans are learning primitive ways and do not truly understand what they are doing. That is why so many people are encouraging others to use the skill of discovering God. Cultivate a spirit of optimism. Walk with faith, rejoicing in the beauties of nature, in the goodness of those you love, in the testimony which you carry in your heart concerning things divine. #RandolphHarris 20 of 26

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The Lord’s plan is a plan of happiness. If we cultivate a spirit of happiness, the way will be lighter, the worries will be fewer, the confrontations will be less difficult. How magnificently we are blessed! How thankful we ought to be! Cultivate a spirit of thanksgiving for the blessing of life and for the marvelous gifts and privileges each of us enjoy. The Lord has said that the meek shall inherit the Earth. (See Matthew 5.5.) I cannot escape the interpretation that meekness implies a spirit of gratitude as opposed to an attitude of self-sufficiency, an acknowledgment of a greater power beyond oneself, a recognition of God, and an acceptance of His commandments. This is the beginning of wisdom. Walk with gratitude before Him who is the giver of life and every good gift. “And now I, Mormon, make a record of the things which I have both seen and heard, and call it the Book of Mormon. And about the time that Ammaron hid up the records unto the Lord, he came unto me, (I being about ten years of age, and I began to be learned somewhat after the manner of the learning of my people) and Ammaron said unto me: I perceive that thou art a sober child, and art quicky to observe. #RandolphHarris 21 of 26

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“Therefore, when ye are about twenty and four years old I would that ye should remember the things that ye have observed concerning this people; and when ye are of that age go to the land Antum, unto a hill which shall be called Shim; and there have I deposited unto the Lord all the sacred engravings concerning this people. And behold, ye shall take the plates of Nephi unto yourself, and the remainder shall ye leave in the place where they are; and ye shall engrave on the plates of Nephi all the things ye have observed concerning this people. And I, Mormon, being a descendant of Nephi, (and my father’s name was Mormon) I remembered the things which Ammaron commanded me. And it came to pass that I, being eleven years old, was carried by my father into the land southward, even to the land of Zarahemla. The whole face of the land had become covered with buildings, and the people were as numerous almost, as it were the sand of the sea. And it came to pass in this year there began to be a war between the Nephites, who consisted of the Nephites, who consisted of the Nephites and the Jacobites and the Josephites and the Zoramites; and this war was between the Nephites, and the Lamanites and the Lemuelites and the Ishmaelites. #RandolphHarris 22 of 26

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“Now the Lamanites and the Lemuelites and the Ishmaelites were called Lamanites, and the two parties were Nephites and Lamanites. And it came to pass that the war began to be among them in the borders of Zarahemla, by the waters of Sidon. And it came to pass that the Nephites had gathered together a great number of men, even to exceed the number of thirty thousand. It is came to pass that they did have in this same year a number of battles, in which the Nephites did beat the Lamanites and did slay many of them. And it came to pass that the Lamanites withdrew their design, and there was peace settled in the land; and peace did remain for the space of about four years, that there was no bloodshed. However, wickedness did prevail upon the face of the whole land, insomuch that the Lord did take away his beloved disciples, and the work of miracles and of healing did cease because of the iniquity of the people. And there were no gifts from the Lord, and the Holy Ghost did not come upon any, because of their wickedness and unbelief. And I, being fifteen years of age and being somewhat of a sober mind, therefore I was visited of the Lord, and tasted and knew of the goodness of Jesus. #RandolphHarris 23 of 26

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“And I did endeavour to preach unto this people, but my mouth was shit, and I was forbidden that I should preach unto them; for behold they had willfully rebelled against their God; and beloved disciples were taken away out of the land, because of their iniquity. However, I did remain among them, but I was forbidden to preach unto them, because of the hardness of their hearts; and because of the hardness of their hearts the land was cursed for their sake. And these Gadinaton robbers, who were among the Lamanites, did infest the land, insomuch that the inhabitants thereof began to hide up their treasures in the Earth; and they became slippery, because the Lord had cursed the land, that they could not hold them, nor retain them again. And it came to pass that there were sorceries, and witchcrafts, and magics; and the power of the evil one was wrought upon all the face of the land, even unto the fulfilling of all the words of Abinadi, and also Samuel the Lamanite,” reports Mormon 1.1.19. I speak of darkness from out of darkness, of night from out of night. Night I praise, the first of all things, the blackness within which World are formed. #RandolphHarris 24 of 26

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In the encompassing embrace of the arms of night, everything was held that has existence. From under the blanket that God lays over us, everything came forth that has existence. Birthplace of all, to you I pray: Worthy are you to be praised. The living God O magnify and bless, transcending time and here eternally. One Being, yet unique in unity; a mystery of Oneness, measureless. Lo! form or body He has none, and man no semblance of His holiness can frame. Before Creation’s dawn He was the same; the first to be, though never He began. He is the World’s and every creature’s Lord; His rule and majesty are manifest, and through His chosen, glorious sons expressed in prophecies that their lips are poured. Yet never like to Moses rose a seer, permitted glimpse behind the veil divine. This faithful prince of God’s prophetic line received the Law of Truth for Israel’s ear. The Law God gave, He never will amend, nor ever by another Law replace. Our secret things are spread before His face; in all beginnings He beholds the end. The saint’s reward He measures to his meed; the sinner reaps the harvest of his ways. Messiah He will send at end of days, and all the faithful to salvation lead. #RandolphHarris 25 of 26

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God will the dead again to life restore in His abundance of almighty love. Then blessed be His name, all names above, and let His praise resound forevermore. Judaism teaches us that even the routine functions of life reveal the wisdom and goodness of the Creator. Hence were introduced the following blessings which were originally not part of the public Synagogue service. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who hast sanctified us with Thy precepts and enjoined on us the washing of the hands. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who hast fashioned humans in wisdom, and hast created within them life-sustaining organs. If but one of these function improperly, it is revealed and known before Thy glorious throne that it would be impossible for humans to survive before Thee. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, who endowest humans with health and doest wonders. Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who hast sanctified us with Thy precepts and enjoined on us to occupy ourselves with the study of the Torah. Even if it is scattered to a few, such a concept of life is too precious to die out. Be assured that they will take the greatest care to preserver its existence within the mind and memory of the race. #RandolphHarris 26 of 26

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Cresleigh Homes

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Residence Two at Mills Station is a two story home that has all the conveniences of a single story! At 2,317 square feet, this home features the Owner’s suite on the first floor with two secondary bedrooms on the “pop top” second story. Take advantage of the vaulted ceilings offered in this plan! The open floor plan includes three bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, Home Hub, Loft and more! Walk into the great room and feel the height of the ceilings and all the light brought in from the high windows.
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Ever wondered what it would look like to have your future in front of you? Well, this #MillsStation Residence 2 kitchen is painting us a pretty picture of stew simmering on the stove and the pleasant aroma greeting you at the dining table.

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View virtual tours of the #CresleighRanch homes on our website. Link in bio. https://youtu.be/1Rpm_C0hXkY

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The kitchen opens directly to the dining room allowing for perfect flow. The large kitchen island makes food prep and entertaining easy while the walk in pantry provides ample storage. The kitchen comes fully equipped with a large eat-in island, stainless steel appliances, and quartz counters.

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The great room is spacious and full of natural light with a covered patio! The Owner’s suite is located on the first floor of this home providing easy access and eliminating the hassle of climbing stairs daily. The Owner’s bathroom is spacious and tranquil including a large free standing soaking tub, walk in shower and large walk-in closet. https://cresleigh.com/mills-station/residence-2/

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This home is designed with Universal Design concepts meaning that its well equipped for life’s transitions and aging in place. Learn more about this unique feature by speaking with a sales associate today!
#CresleighHomes

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Adults All Too Easily Engage in these Conspiracies of Silence!

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Do not wait for the last judgement. It takes place everyday. Anger is often felt during bereavement and is then a part of separation anxiety. At first sight, it appears to serve no useful function. The reason that is occurs so often nonetheless, even after a death, is that during the early phases of grieving a bereaved person usually does not believe that the loss can really be permanent; one therefore continues to act as though it were still possible not only to find and recover the lost person but to reproach one for one’s actions. For the lost person is not infrequently held to be at least in part responsible for what has happened, in fact to have deserted. As a result, anger comes to be directed against the lost person, as well as, of course, against others thought to have played a part in the loss or in some way to be obstructing reunion. Grief is the emotional, and often physical response we have when we experience loss. The more profound the loss, the more profound the grief will be. Grief can involve virtually every emotion or can leave us feeling numb and disconnected from the World around us. Manifestations of grief may include hopelessness, anxiety, anger, denial, guilt, incapacitating fatigue, difficulty in controlling emotions, lack of concentration, loss of interest in people or activities, and feelings of being overwhelmed. #RandolphHarris 1 of 23

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Anxiety is a species’ reaction to the absence of the attachment figure when one is still needed for the well-being of the infant (or of the infant in us all). The protest which follows such an absence is meant t bring the needed person back (or at least bring someone) so that there may be some protection from the threat of predators or whatever is experienced as threatening by the infant. What happens when the needed person never comes back? Anxiety eventually ceases, and is replaced by pain, grief, and mourning, and perhaps despair. We may never get over the pain of the loss. Worse, sometimes a loss leads to an apparently lasting inability to make any new relationship in which another person could become an important attachment figure. Others do find the concept of successful, healthy, mourning. The successful effort is depicted by the individual’s effort to accept both that a change has occurred in their external World and that they are required to make corresponding changes in their internal World, and to recognize and perhaps re-orient their attachment behaviour accordingly. If they persisted, in the course of this effort, there may be reactions which seem neurotic and in which certainly would not lead to well-being. #RandolphHarris 2 of 23

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Some behaviours that we want to avoid so we do not become neurotic are: persistent disbelief that the loss is permanent, a repeated urge to call for, search for, and recover the lost person, prolonged yearning for the lost person, a sense of reproach against the lost person, combined with unremitting self-reproach, and compulsive caring for other people. Any of these reactions may be conscious or unconscious. If unconscious, the consequent behaviour, feelings, and mood swings may seem very puzzling both to the mourners and to their friends, thus adding the pain. The irrationality of some reactions may be obvious, and yet the feelings are sincerely felt; for “healthy mourning,” they need to be expressed and recognized, understood and accepted by those around, as part of the process of accepting the loss. It is because of this that we warn against the dangers of preventing people from expressing the anguish they feel. Particularly, in the present context, children should not be prevented from doing so: they should not be told that they should not cry, or need not cry, or are silly to cry, or that they will be “if they do not stop crying, they will given something to cry about.” #RandolphHarris 3 of 23

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We also must not tell youth that they should not cry in order to spare other people’s feelings. If they have been made to deny their own fears and griefs, adults all too easily engage in these conspiracies of silence. Denial and detachment are characteristics of a badly mourned loss. These reactions are comparable to scar-tissues which prevents and distorts the development of later healthy growth. The detachment consequent upon badly mourned losses does seem very like what some autistic children do when they turn away from people. It is as though the autistic child is experiencing a loss—actually called a hole—where it should (constitutionally) experience an attachment figure. The anxiety is traced back to the unattached infant’s fear of predators and has real echoes. The unsuccessfully mourning person is left with a deep sense of helplessness and vulnerability. Small wonder. In most forms of depressive disorder, including that of chronic mourning, the main issue about which a person feels so terrible is the impossibility (as it seems) of ever again finding someone to love who will love them and make them feel safe, when the most important one has slipped from their grasp without their having been able to prevent it. #RandolphHarris 4 of 23

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Some people may question their Heavenly Father because the pain is so overwhelming. They find it difficult to recognize the help the Lord is extending. Reassuring is the promise from Isaiah: “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows,” reports Isaiah 53.4. Sometimes the hardest part about grief is simply not understanding what is happening. Knowing a few principles can help us successfully make our own journey through grief. Grief hurts, but when it is allowed to do its work appropriately, grief can be the salve that helps us heal. The first step in handling grief is to recognize that the pain is a normal part of the process. It needs to be acknowledged, not avoided. Grieving is not a brief process. Be patient with it and give it time. As with a physical wound, the pain of losing a loved one requires time to heal. The Saviour has said, “Thou shalt live together in love, insomuch that thou shalt weep for the loss of them that die,” reports Doctrine and Covenants. When a loved one passes from this side of the veil to the other, they continue to be just as important to us as when they were with us. Because we really love them, we cannot really expect to completely “get over” losing them. #RandolphHarris 5 of 23 

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Sometimes the veil between this life and the life beyond becomes very thin. Our loved ones who have passed on are not far from us. “Is any one of you in trouble? One should pray. Is any one happy? Let one sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? One should call the elders of the church to pray over one and anoint one with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise one up. If one has sinned, one will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective,” reports James 5.13-16. Now, the primary source of our entanglement is our desires—really, not just our desires themselves, but our enslavement to them and confusion about them. Temptation to sin always originates in desire. “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Do not they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but do not get it. You will and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures,” reports John 4.1-3. #RandolphHarris 6 of 23

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We have set our hearts on too many different things, some of which are wrong or evil, and wall of which are in conflict with some other. “Blessed is the one who preserves under trial, because when one has stood the test, one will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be temped by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by one’s own evil desire, one is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Do not be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift from above, coming down from the Father of the Heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first-fruits of all he created,” reports James 1.12-18. Here, perhaps, we need to add that habitual following of a desire leads to strengthening like the power of inertia in the physical realm. It is easier to do what you have done. You tend to keep on doing what you have done; and the more so, the more you have done it. That is spiritual inertia. #RandolphHarris 7 of 23

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We may come to identify our will with our desire, and a powerful desire may throw us into something like a hypnotic state in order to achieve its satisfaction—often in horrible deeds. In addition when the will is enslaved to a desire, it will in turn enslave the mind. To justify itself in satisfying the desire, the will enlists the intellect to provide rationalizations, frequently so bizarre that they amount to selective insanity. Then of course the individual in question does and says things that make no sense to anyone. They are hypnotized by their evil desires. That is where the entanglements of the will with desire can lead and do lead. The “news” and the media keep cases of this constantly before us, and we need to understand what we are looking at. Otherwise we too will stand at a loss with those who say, “How could people do such things?” We need to realize that the less sensational entanglements of ordinary lives—perhaps Christian lives—are precisely what keep well-intentioned people from following Christ into the depths and heights of spiritual transformation. Our primary, practical aim in stepping free from “entanglements” must be to overcome duplicity. And to overcome it we must become conscious of it, confront it, and take appropriate steps to forsake it. #RandolphHarris 8 of 23

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The point of reference in all of this is the explicit teaching of the Bible concerning the will of God. He that “has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me,” reports Jesus in John 14.21. The person who intends to will what God wills—to identify one’s will with God’s—begins with what God has said he wills. And we do not need to know all he has said, though under New Testament teaching that is not as difficult as it sounds. “If it is serving, let one serve; if it is teaching, let one teach; if it is encouraging, let one encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let one give generously; if it is leadership, let one govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let one do it cheerfully. Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honour one another above yourselves,” reports Romans 12.8-10. “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for one who loves one’s fellow human has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covert,” and whatever the other commandments there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbour as yourself. Love does no harm to its neighbour. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law,” reports Romans 13.8-10. We can begin with what we know he has said. Let us firmly decide to do that. This will quickly lead us into the depth of spiritual transformation, including adequate knowledge of all of his will for us. #RandolphHarris 9 of 23

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Who does not know, for example, that it is God’s will we should be without guile and malice? Then let us decide never to mislead people and never to do or say things merely to cause pain or harm. Let us decide that today, right now, we will not do such things. One might think that this is a very small part of identifying with God’s will. However, in fact lying and malice are foundational sins. They make possible and actual many other sins. If one removed them, the structure of evil in the individual and in society would be very largely eliminated. From family fights and breakups to warfare, the human landscape would be transformed beyond recognition. Of course when we begin to implement our decision, we discover that it is no simple task. We discover what a grip duplicity and malice have on us in every dimension of our being. Our thoughts and feelings and our usual routines of action, and perhaps even forces beyond our conscious grasp or understanding, have an influence over our choices that is much more powerful and complicated than we ever imagined while we simply went along with them. We can never sufficiently emphasize the fact that spiritual formation cannot be a matter of just changing the will itself. That is central, of course, but it cannot be accomplished except by transformation of the other dimensions of the self. #RandolphHarris 10 of 23

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We discover that mere intention or effort of will is not enough to bring about the change in us that we have hoped for and to free us from duplicity and malice. Still, we must hold to that intention and sincerely make the effort, and then we will find that help is available. In Exodus 24, in the midst of the account which describes Moses’ ascent of Mount Sinai to receive the Law. That chapter tells us that Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy elders of Israel (of whom Joshua was one) were called up the mountain. After climbing some distance and seeing a far-off vision of God’s glory, the seventy remained behind, and Joshua and Moses went further up (v.13). Here Joshua was with Moses six days when the glorious cloud covered Sinai (v.16). However, on the seventh day Moses went on alone, leaving Joshua alone on Sinai for forty days (v.18). The Sinai experience left its mark on Joshua. His initial vision of God majestically standing over a pavement of sapphire (v.10), and his subsequent forty days of solitary meditation—while Moses, up the glowing, thundering cloud of Sinai, received the Law—branded his heart with a deep sense of God’s glory, holiness, and power. The Christian leader’s vision of God makes all the difference in one’s life. #RandolphHarris 11 of 23

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There is a grand visionary chain which links the great leaders in God’s work Consider Moses amidst the thunderings and lightnings of Sinai as God hides him in the cleft of a rock and makes His glory pass by him (Exodus 33.21-23). Joshua not only sat below Moses on Sinai viewing God’s glory, but later, on the eve of the battle for Jericho, he met God—“the captain of the Lord’s hosts”—as a warrior in full battle dress, his sword bare and gleaming in the moonlight—and Joshua worshipped (Joshua 5.13-15). Young David’s vision of God grew so great as he shepherded under the stars and contemplated God’s vastness that when he saw Goliath challenging leaderless Israel he cried, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (1 Samuel 17.26) and charged headlong into battle. Isaiah “saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple,” and this immense vision launched him into spectacular leadership and service—“Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6.1, 8). Peter, James, and John saw Jesus transfigure, so that His glory shone as the sun—and they went forward as key leaders in the apostolic Church (Mark 9.2-8). #RandolphHarris 12 of 23

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Paul, who was not a part of the apostolic band, became the missionary leader of the Church, fueled by being caught up to the third Heaven and hearing and seeing things e could not describe (2 Corinthians 12.1-6). An immense, growing vision of God is the sine qua non, the grand distinction, the continental divide of spiritual leadership. It is said that Robert Dick Wilson, the celebrated Old Testament scholar who served at Princeton Seminary at the beginning of this century, upon hearing that an alumnus was returning to preach would slip into the back of Miller Chapel and listen only once saying, “When my boys come back, I come to see if they are big godders or little godders and then I know what their ministry will be.” One’s vision of God, his visio Dei, is everything! However, at the same time do not put putt off or sell your leadership potential short because you have had no beatific vision. You do not need such a vision because you have two great books of vision, the book of Scripture which repeatedly reveals God’s glory—and the book of creation, which continuously witnesses to God’s greatness. Take for example, the stars—“Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard,” reports Psalm 19.2, 3. #RandolphHarris 13 of 23

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The massive vision is always before you—if you will just look. Read the great Bible passages to enlarge your vision of God’s greatness. Look up at the stars and around at creation. Pray for a growing revelation of God’s vastness and for the grace to believe what you read and see. The affection of the sense is its sensation itself. Hence, from the fact that sense reports as it is affected, it follows that we are not deceived in the judgment by which we judge that we experience sensation. Since, however, sense is sometimes affected erroneously of that object, it follows that it sometimes reports erroneously of that object; and thus we are deceived by sense about the object, but not about the fact of sensation. Falsity is said not to be proper to sense, since sense is not deceived as to its proper object. Hence in another translation it is said more plainly, “Sense, about its proper object, is never false.” Falsity is attributed to the imagination, as it represents the likeness of something even in its absence. Hence, when anyone perceives the likeness of a thing as if it were the thing itself, falsity results from such an apprehension; and for this reason the Philosopher says (Metaph. v, 34) that shadows, pictures, and dreams are said to be false inasmuch as they convey the likeness of things that are not present in substance. #RanolphHarris 14 of 23

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This argument proves that the false is not in the sense, as in that which knows the true and false. The persuasive influence of an enlightened person’s mind and the pellucid truth of one’s sentences do not register with many people. Nor is one going to reveal everything one knows at the first few meetings even with those who want to find the truth. Unlike insane self-titled “Messiahs,” the enlightened individual has no program of saving the whole World from its sinfulness, for the chances of such an enterprise are microscopic; but one has a program of finding one’s own kindred—those whose aspiration thought and prenatal relationship with one make them one’s natural followers. Such a person may have many acquaintances, may make a modest number of friends, but one is unlikely to find more than a few intimates. One sees that there is nothing one can do for people whose point of view is so undeveloped, so materialistic, so concerned with surfaces and appearances. One does not engage in the futile task of meddling with their lives. One does not attempt the impossible task of changing them suddenly. One leaves them to the natural process of growth and to the cosmical forces responsible for their past and future course. #RandolphHarris 15 of 23

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One is the silent background counsellor for a few humans who have the opportunity and capacity to serve humankind. These adepts help the few who are in a position and attitude to help a multitude. One seeks no personal devotees but is glad over each person who becomes a follower of impersonal Truth. The illumined human becomes a channel of the Holy Ghost, a chalice of the Prophet’s Wine. Yet even one cannot turn the absolute mystical silence into finite comprehensible speech for more than a sensitive few. With most people one finds oneself utterly dumb because they are themselves utterly deaf. This is the tragic pity of it, that just because one’s words have a value far beyond that of other human’s there is no audience for them, so few ears to receive them. “And it came to pass that as the disciples of Jesus were journeying and were preaching the things which they had both heard and seen, and were baptizing in the name of Jesus, it came to pass that the disciples were gathered together and were united in mighty prayer and fasting. And Jesus again showed himself unto the, for they were praying unto the Father in his name; and Jesus came and stood in the midst of them, and said unto them: What will ye that I shall give unto you? #RandolphHarris 16 of 23

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“And they said unto him: Lord, we will that thou wouldst tell us the name whereby we shall call this church; for there are disputations among the people concerning this matter. And the Lord said unto them: Verily, verily, I say unto you, why is it that people should murmur and dispute because of this thing? Have they not read the scriptures, which say ye must take upon you the name of Christ, which is my name? For by this name shall ye be called at the last day; and whoso taketh upon him in my name, and endureth to the end, the same shall be saved at the last day. Therefore, whatsoever ye shall do, ye shall do it in my name; therefore ye shall call the church in my name; therefore ye shall call the church in my name; and ye shall call upon the Father in my name that he will bless the church for my sake. And how be it my church save it be called in my name? For if a church be called in Moses’ name then it be Moses’ church; for if it be called in my name then it is my church, if it so be that they are built upon my gospel. Verily I say unto you, that ye are built upon my gospel; therefore ye shall call whatsoever things ye do call, in my name; therefore if ye call upon the Father, for the church, if it be in my name the Father will hear you. #RandolphHarris 17 of 23

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“And if it so be that the church is built upon my gospel then will the Father show forth his own works in it. However, if it be not built upon my gospel, and is built upon the works of human, or upon the works of the devil, verily I say unto you they have joy in their works for a season, and by and by the end cometh, and they are hewn down and cast into the fire, from whence there is no return. For their words do follow them, for it is because of their works that they are hewn down; therefore remember the things that I have told you. Behold I have given unto you my gospel, and this is the gospel which I have given unto you—that I came into the World to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me. And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all humans unto me, that as I have been lifted up by humans even so should humans be lifted up by the Father, to stand before me, to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil—and for this cause have I been lifted up; therefore, according to the power of the Father I will draw all humans unto me, that they may be judged according to their works. #RandolphHarris 18 of 23

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“And it shall come to pass, that whoso repenteth and is baptized in my name shall be filled; and if he endureth to the end, behold, him will I hold guiltless before my Father at that day when I shall stand to judge the World. And one that endureth not unto the end, the same is one that also hewn down and cast into the fire, from whence they can no more return, because of the justice of the Father. And this is the words which he hath given, and he lieth not, but fulfilleth all his words. And no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into his rest save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end. Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the Earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day. Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel; and ye know the things that ye must do in my church; for the words which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do; for that which ye have seen me do even that shall ye do; therefore, if ye do these things blessed are ye, for ye shall be lifted up at the last day. #RandolphHarris 19 of 23

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 “Write the things which ye have seen and heard, save it be those which are forbidden. Write the works of this people, which shall be, even as hath been written, of that which hath been written, of that which hath been. For behold, out of the books which have been written, shall this people be judged, for by them shall their works be known unto humans. And behold, all things are written by the Father; therefore out of the books which shall be written shall the World be judged. And know ye that ye shall be judges of this people, according to the judgment which I shall give unto you, which shall be just. Therefore, what manner of humans ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am. And now I go unto the Father. And verily I say unto you, whatsoever things ye shall ask the Father in my name shall be given unto you. Therefore, ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; for one that asketh, recieveth; and unto one that knocketh, it shall be opened. And now, behold, my joy is great, even unto fullness because of you, and also this generation; yea, and even the Father rejoiceth, and also all the holy angels, because of you and this generation; for none of them are lost. #RandolphHarris 20 of 23

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“Behold, I would that ye should understand; for I mean them who are now alive of this generation; and none of them are lost; and in them I have fulness of joy. However, behold, it sorroweth me because of the fourth generation from this generation, for they are led away captive by him even as was the son of perdition; for they will sell me for silver and for gold, and for that which moth doth corrupt and which thieves can break through and steal. And in that day will I visit them, even in turning their works upon their own heads. And it came to pass that when Jesus had ended these sayings he said unto his disciples: Enter ye in at the strait gate; for the strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it; but wide is the gate, and broad the way which leads to death, and many there be that travel therein until the night cometh, wherein no human can work,” reports 3 Nephi 27.1-33. As I go to bed, I pray to the High God. I offer you my worship, and ask you to bless my family. I ask if I have done anything today to offend you. If I have, I ask for forgiveness and for guidance, that I might walk the sacred path in peace and in beauty. As I go to bed, I pray to God of my household. I offer you my worship and ask you to bless my family. #RandolphHarris 21 of 23

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I ask if I have done anything today to offend you. If I have, I ask for forgiveness and for guidance, that I might walk the sacred path in peace and in beauty. As I go to bed, I pray t the Ancestors. I do you honour and ask you to please bless my family. I ask if I have done anything today to offend you. If I have, I ask for forgiveness and guidance, that I might walk the sacred path in peace and in beauty. As I go to bed, I pray to the Land Spirits. I do you honour and ask you to bless my family. I ask if I have done anything today to offend you. If I have, I ask for forgiveness and for guidance, that I might walk the sacred path in peace and in beauty. As I go to bed, I pray to all numinous being. I do you honour and ask that you please extend your blessings over me and mine. Before I go to sleep, I extend my thoughts to all in my house and ask that we might live together in peace. Before I go to sleep, I extend my thoughts to the human community, and ask that we might live together in peace. Before I go to sleep, I extend my thoughts to all living creatures, and ask that we might live together in peace. Before I go to sleep, I extend my thoughts to all living creatures, and ask that we might live together in peace. #RandolphHarris 22 of 23

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Before I go to sleep, I extend my thoughts to the Holy Ones, and ask that we might live together in peace. Shining ones, whose care extends over the whole World, bless the World with peace. May the Lord and Holy Ghost protect me as I lie in the bed. May they bring me dreams of pleasure and guidance. May they wake me in the morning rested and refreshed. Almighty and eternal Father, in adversity as in joy, Thou, our source of life, art ever with us. As we recall with affection those whom Thou hast summoned unto Thee, we thank Thee for the example of their lives, for our sweet companionship with them, for the cherished memories and the undying inspiration they leave behind. In tribute to our departed who are bound with Thee in the bond of everlasting life, may our lives be consecrated to Thy service. Comfort, we pray Thee, all who mourn. Though they may not comprehend Thy purpose, keep steadfast their trust in Thy wisdom. Do Thou, O God, give them strength in their sorrow, and sustain their faith in Thee as they rise to sanctify Thy name. “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in Heaven, for in the same way they persecute the prophets who were before you,” reports Matthew 5.11-12. #RandolphHarris 23 of 23

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Cresleigh Homes

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Residence One at Brighton Station holds 2,054 square feet of single story living. The open concept design includes three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a two car garage plus workshop. Through the charming front porch enter into the foyer, where two secondary bedrooms lead off to a Jack and Jill bathroom.
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Hang a wreath on the pantry door, pop a turkey in the oven, maybe grab a table and some chairs, and your #BrightonStation Residence 1 home is ready for #Thanksgiving!

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We have multiple Home Sites available in this floor plan! Give us a call at 916-333-1919 or email us at Brighton@Cresleigh.com to set up a private tour. https://cresleigh.com/brighton-station/residence-1/

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Enjoy sophisticated, peace and quiet, privacy and relaxation living in this Cresleigh Homes community.
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When there are No Dinosaurs to be Caught and Cooked, a Dinosaur-Hunting School Loses Relevance!

Like a magic show, speak your dreams into existence. Abra kadabra, alakazam! A person is not finished when one is defeated; one is finished when one quits. The World goes on—reality is like a projective test. Humans can construe it in myriad ways. The World discloses itself ceaselessly to human consciousness, which refract it, and attach meaning to this disclosure in ways that vary from time to time, and place to place. A given World view gains dominance in each society. This is a way to structure the World, to attach value and meaning to it. “Worlds” are structure by projects, or goals, and values. Change these and “Worlds” collapse, to be replaced by new ones. All this is elementary existential phenomenology. The “World” most us of us in America share is a World that once was haunted by European memories of poverty and material scarcity. The aim was to get rich, and we actually have the productive means available whereby everyone can be rich, at least in a material sense. As automation, powered with nuclear and natural sources of energy proceeds, we can in principle feed, clothe and shelter the World, even a World with a more fully exploded population than the one Malthusians prophets of doom say we have now. Our past and current patterns of childrearing, our aims and methods of schooling, even our ways of playing in leisure hours all gain their relevance and intelligibility from the fact of scarcity—scarcity that long since has ceased to exist. #RandolphHarris 1 of 18

In a way, as we socialize and train to a nonexistent reality, we can say that our very socialization and training is mad. It is akin to training people in the art of stalking, capturing and cooking dinosaurs. When there are no dinosaurs to be caught and cooked, the values, skills, ways of relating to others that make up the curriculum of a dinosaur-hunting school somehow loses relevance. However, “Worlds” die hard. Each of us lives in a World that I can best liken to an envelope, capsule, or bubble with semi-permeable walls. These walls screen off much of what is, and admit to our consciousness only as much of being as is relevant to our projects. The World beyond the capsule is filled, according to folklore and popular imagination with bogeymen, snakes, slime, and everything hideous. Shatter the membrane, and let this World in, and people become terrified. Rather than face the prospect of posing new projects and values, in order to construct new “Worlds,” people patch the rents in walls of their present “World.” Seeing becomes a way of being, blind, blind to other possibilities that the World embodies. In American, young people, mature women, and marginalized men all are in process of awakening—some with delight, but more with anger, and rage at the dirty joke that has been played upon them. They are breaking out of their capsules. #RandolphHarris 2 of 18

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The World is not necessarily what humans have told them it is. It has not been ordained by God that people should be uneducated, employed in menial tasks, and housed in bedbug infested slums with portly people who otherwise look like members of a death camp. Nor did God necessarily demand that women should die of boredom and overeating in automated households. And young people—below the age of 18—are wondering if Go want them to put on gray flannel suits to become professional consumers, or to go into the army. Young people especially, as I encounter them in the halls of training and learning, are beginning to demand inspiration and enlightenment, not stupefaction at the feet of their instructors. They are beginning to look at instructors as entire humans, not solely as repositories of alienated skill or knowledge, and they are wondering if they are to become like these humans. Increasing numbers of young men and women are dropping out. They are finding that schools and colleges, instead of enlightening them as to how things are now, or turning them on to challenging new projects and possibilities are training them for a slot in professions or corporate enterprise, which support a way of life and experience they find meaningless. And so they turn to the Internet and start blogging to obtain sponsorships so they can promote products and live free and happy. #RandolphHarris 3 of 18

Nonetheless, I still believe a college education and corporate job is the best way to freedom and to overcome poverty. Humans can dissect nature in order the better to control it. They can build machines to work for them. They extend their sense organs and muscles with machinery—but then lose their capacity to see, hear, smell, and move. All these things are done for them, in the name of efficiency, by the very machines they have created. Not only are the various media—extensions of humans leaching humans of their power; but in order that humans might not notice the loss of their wholeness and their creative possibilities, they are stupefied more deliberately. Radio, television, social media, movies, books all help keep people in a stupor. If a person begins to sicken, and suffer boredom, pain, or anxiety—those signs that all is not well in the way one is living one’s life—the medical profession then steps in with some pharmaceutical product that enables the person to continue living the meaningless life, but without feeling the pain and suffering. We effect those praxes upon our own consciousness which constrict our World. We repress, distort, close off entire sensory channels, banalize our imaginations, and end up helpless to live in a social and material World we made ourselves and helpless to change it. We only endure it with the help of religion, therapy, and medication. #RandolphHarris 4 of 18

The institutions of education are becoming increasingly automated. “Teaching machines” are being incorporated into more schools, as a desperate response to overcrowding and an insufficiency of instructors. Indeed, desperate instructors try to program themselves—their lectures and demonstrations—so that students will be able to blacken the correct spaces on an IBM sheet at the end of a term. However, this is not education and it is not desirable. Automation will release human energy from the necessity to spend it making goods essential to life. However, it will not thereby make life more livable, challenging, and rich in experience. Education must be the liberation of human consciousness in its various modes (especially imagination) from the bonds imposed by simply training. The salvation of humans, with the hope one will invent better forms of economic, social, political and interpersonal existence, is education, not training. And education requires teachers, people who awaken and enliven consciousness, not constrain it, like trainers do. Teachers are hard to find. They are as scarce as white whales. Teachers illuminate what is; they are existential explorers, groping for new meaning as they challenge old ones. They are not solely repositories of skill or corpus of information. #RandolphHarris 5 of 18

Teachers are people who have been awakened from the illusion that there is only one sane, right and legal way to experience the World and behave in it. One has become turned on such that one’s imagination is vivid. One can perceive the World as others see it, and more: liberated from convention as one is, one sees what others are blind to. The walls of one’s capsule have been shattered, and rebuilt so that more World is included in one’s consciousness. One feels, thinks, imagines, and remembers more fully than the average human. One can, perhaps, dance, feel one’s body, move it and live in it. If such a human, a teacher, discloses the wonder of life as it is for one to pupils, some will indeed flip. They will be turned on. Their old “World” will explode, or better, implode, when more being is admitted, under the guidance of the teacher. If this teacher is oneself committed to responsibility for some corner of the World—not for money and fame, but for authentic concern and love—then one’s pupils may be ready to take over when one dies, or extend one’s vision and responsibility while one still lives. Where do we find such teachers? How can we disseminate their expanded consciousness of some aspect of the World? It is for the lack of such teachers that young people turn to drugs and liquor. #RandolphHarris 6 of 18

By being what one is, there is nothing to impede the flow of pure consciousness from one to those the teacher contacts. The ego does not intervene, the lower nature does not interrupt, and without one’s making any deliberate effort something passes through and from one to benefit them. Without one’s trying to influence others, one’s influence will still appear whether they know its true source or not, and whether it is after the lapse of many years or not. Nor does one ask any credit for this result for one gives that to the World-Mind whose World-Idea is being realized in this and many other ways. Quite often one does not need to do anything; it is enough if one beneficently remembers the person before emerging from one’s own periods of contemplation. Sometimes, even merely being present may act as a catalyst for remedial forces. If however one goes father than this, and performs a specific act, the result must come. Such a power is like a catalyst in chemistry. Itself invisible, it inspires others to visible deeds. As the light of truth passes into one, one in turn refracts it to others, although only some will let the enlightenment in. Grace flows from such a being as light flows from the Sun; one does no have to give it. It will suffice for one to be what one is and thirty seekers will draw from one in a mysterious, silent way what they need of one’s power and wisdom, one’s love and serenity. #RandolphHarris 7 of 18

It is the lives like the stars, which simply pour down on us the calm light of their bright and faithful being, up to which we look, and out of which we gather the deepest calm and courage. One can take no credit of one’s own for the service rendered, and calls no attention to oneself. How could the teacher honestly do so when one is fully aware that it is only be ceasing from one’s own activities, by being inwardly still, and by abandoning one’s own ego that the power which really renders the service manifests itself? Where do these phenomena originate? Not always from oneself, but more often from out outside oneself, from the mysterious and unknown mind which is the soul of the Universe and the ground in which all individual minds are rooted. Teachers of this kind are needed more, today, than anther cadre of astronauts, or more riot police, psychiatrists, narcotics agents or school counselors. Society has this great ability and so many facilitators in place at training, mystifying, and stupefying masses of people. This possibility is made possible through TV, social media, news, and other media, of getting even better at it. However, we also have the possibility of turning on and awakening more people to expanded perspectives on the World, new challenges, possible ways to experience the World and our own embodied being than ever has been possible before. #RandolphHarris 8 of 18

I do not believe that there is an insoluble educational crisis before us. I believe rather that we need to sort out our values, to see if we are as serious about educating our population as we have been about training them for the status quo. We equate training with education, and mistakenly assume that we are giving the people public education when we are really giving them public training. When consuming more goods, getting richer, or getting ahead in the corporation cease to be viable goals, what will be the point of much of our child-training practices—which inspire children to be greedy and bottomless consumers, competitive, false, role dominated, and upwardly mobile? And what will we do wit out time? Watch TV? We will have to learn to enter into dialogue with one another—but there is nobody there. Our dilemma is unparalleled in human history. If we are not to die of boredom, or of invasion by the envious, we have two tasks—first, to help the rest of the World solve its material problems, and then to explore how to live, learn and find meaning when there is no work to be done. If colleges and universities are to fulfill their function of education and enlightenment as effectively as they train people into unquestioning conformity, they must encourage teachers to stand forth, and declare themselves in any ways that time, money, versatility, and electronic hardware have made possible. #RandolphHarris 9 of 18

Let teachers disclose, not just the techniques for chemical analysis, or the rules for declining verbs—but also what all this means, how it challenges them in the meaningful pursuit of their lives. Let education approximate to dialogue, and not shaping. Let a college community of fellow seekers, not a place where we, the faculty, train them, the students. Let the students have contact with heroes with a small “h”—humans who are truly seeking enlightenment and wholeness, finding challenges and new values when old ones have worn out. Training will never become obsolete, and we can always find trainers. The social system at large is well protected with safeguards to insure that any change in the fabric of society will be orderly, and not violent or arbitrary. If the is true, and I believe it is, then schools from kindergarten up through university can be places where explorers and trainers cohabit and coexist, where there is a place for learning necessary roles and skills and knowledge, and a place for enlivening and embodying the creative imagination. It is of first importance to recognize that God’s very nature is that of spiritual beings. God is an immaterial, spiritual being, not a material object. Since material objects like idols are located at specific places, it makes sense to localize worship where those idols are. #RandolphHarris 10 of 18

However, since God is an omnipresent spirit, He is not confined to one place and, thus, geographical location is not crucial for worship, given God’s spiritual nature. As David reminds us in Psalm 139.7-12, there is nowhere we can go where God is not present. Another meaning of spirit is more relevant to our topic. Throughout the Old Testament, when God is referred to as spirit it is often to emphasize that He is a living, active being who initiates towards His creatures and gives them life. Thus, in Genesis 1.2 it is the Spirit of God who hovers over the waters. In John’s writings, this same meaning is frequently associated with God as a spirit. For example, in John 6.63 it is the Spirit who gives life, and in John 7.37-39 it is the Spirit who produces rivers living water in the lives of God’s children. What does this have to do with worship? Simply this: Worship is not under the control of human beings, nor is the form it takes up to their whims. Rather, worship is a response to a God who initiates toward His people, give them life, and shows Himself active on their behalf. We should use our minds more carefully in supplication before God. In supplication we strengthen prayer and make it effectively by a certain form of persuasion. #RandolphHarris 11 of 18

Supplication is a form of reasoning with God. The Scriptures regularly depict supplication as a way of approaching God in which the worshiper brings one’s “case” before God (Jeremiah 12.1, 20.12). The Hebrew word for “case” is rib, and it means a reasoned legal case brought before a judge and the reasons for them before we approach God. We then reason that case before His throne and truth the He will take our case into consideration. Individual devotion, adoration, and praise are enriched by intellectual engagement no less than is corporate worship. Much could be said about the development of intellectual engagement in personal worship. It is therefore, important to learn how to read well. There are two different types of reading, each with its own style and characteristic effects: devotional and intellectual reading. The distinction between these is not one of different types of books rad, but of different ways of reading. In devotional reading, one reads quietly, slowly, and with a sense of spiritual attentiveness and openness to God. The goals of devotional reading is not so much gathering new information or mastering content, though that may indeed happen. The goal is to deepen and nourish the soul by entering into the passage and allowing it to be assimilated into one’s whole personality. #RandolphHarris 12 of 18

Certain steps are required in order to enter correctly into the process of devotional reading. First, one must get int a position of being ready to listen with the heart to the Holy Spirit as His quiet voice speaks to you about what you are reading. Sit quietly, confess any sin that comes to mind (and promise to make reconciliation if that is needed), and express tender devotion to God with whatever sincerity you can muster at this stage of the process. Then invite God to speak to your heart about what you are reading. Secondly with a spirit of expectancy and an attitude of openness and vulnerability, read the selected text slowly, calmly, and with an open, vulnerable heart. The goal here is not to read a lot of material, but to enter into a small portion of a boo or of the Scripture. While reading, seek to monitor what is happening inside your own soul. Do not try to master the passage, but allow the passage to master you. Third, throughout the process of reading, you may sense the need to stop, to meditate and contemplate a specific meaning in the text, and to enter into a dialogue with God about that meaning. Finally, it is important to recognize that this type of slow, contemplative reading will frequently be met with hindrances that distraction or discourage. Especially discouraging is the sense that the text is not as moving as you have hoped. #RandolphHarris 13 of 18

The proper response to deal with text when it is not meeting your expectations is to stop reading, allow yourself to feel whatever is going on inside, offer the situation to God, and rededicate yourself to continuing to learn how to get better at this type of reading. With practice and persevering dedication, one will benefit deeply from such contemplative openness before God. Often, it takes several chapters for an idea to be developed with sufficient care and depth to offer something to apply to one’s life and thought. Sometimes you need to be patient and stay with a line of thought for several weeks before things get clear to you. Intellectual reading is never a quick fix, and its value is measures in the long-term maturity that comes from practicing this type of reading. Also, get into the habit of reading books that are somewhat beyond your ability too grasp. If you spend all of your time reading material that requires little intellectual effort, you will not stretch your mind and grow appreciably. Furthermore, when you undertake to read a book seriously, you cannot treat that book as a novel to be read for recreation. #RandolphHarris 14 of 18

Compared to intellectual reading, recreational reading is fairly passive, can be done quickly, and does not require a great deal of work or engagement on the part of the reader. In intellectual reading, you simply must have a better grasp of the flow of argument in what has been read, or you have not practiced intellectual reading successfully. God is constantly seeking and always monitoring hearts. And as for those whose heart is at its core completely given to him, who completely relies on and hopes in him, “The eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the Earth that He may strongly support” them (2 Chronicles 16.9). And “the eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry,” reports Psalm 34.15. Little children, whose hearts are not fully formed are especially cared for by God. “Their Angels in Heaven are always in direct contact with my Father in the Heavens,” reports Matthew 18.10. Knowing what happens to little children in this World, how could one keep their sanity without such an assurance? Jesus assure us that children are cared for by God, no matter how things appear to our senses. “And now, behold, I say unto you, that ye ought to search these things. Yea, a commandment I give unto you that ye search these things diligently; for great are the words of Isaiah. #RandolphHarris 15 of 18

“For surely he spake as touching all things concerning my people which are of the house of Israel; therefore it must needs be that he must speak also to the Gentiles. And all things that he spake have been and shall be, even according to the words which he spake. Therefore give heed to my words; write the things which I have told you; and according to the time and the will of the Father they shall go forth unto the Gentiles. And whosoever will hearken unto my words and repenteth and is baptized, the same shall be saved. Search the prophets, for many there be that testify of these things. And now it came to pass that when Jesus had said these words he said unto them again, after he had expounded all the scriptures unto them which they had received, he said unto them: Behold, other scriptures I would that ye should write, that ye have not. And it came to pass that he said unto Nephi: Bring forth the record which ye have kept. And when Nephi had brought forth the records, and laid them before him, he cast his eyes upon them and said: Verily I say unto you, I commanded my servant Samuel, the Lamanite, that he should testify unto this people, that at the day that the Father should glorify his name in me that there were many saints who should rise from the dead, and should appear unto many, and should minister unto them. And he said unto them: Was it not so? #RandolphHarris 16 of 18

“And his disciples answered him and said: Yea, Lord, Samuel did prophesy according to thy words, and they were all fulfilled. And Jesus said unto them: How be it that ye have not written this thing, that any saints did arise and appear unto many and did minster unto them? And it came to pass that Nephi remembered that this thing had not been written. And it came to pass that Jesus commanded that it should be written; therefore it was written according as he commanded. And now it came to pass that when Jesus had expounded all the scriptures in one, which they had written, he commanded them that they should teach the things which he had expounded unto them,” reports 3 Nephi 23.1-14. The eagle ends his flight and goes to his well-earned sleep in one’s western aerie. So too will I go to mine when the time is right, that I mist rise again tomorrow and take flight with God. We therefore hope in Thee, O Lord our God, that we may soon behold the glory of Thy might, when Thou wilt remove the abominations from the Earth and when all idolatry will be abolished. We hope for the day when the World will be perfected under the kingdom of the Almighty, and all humankind will call upon Thy name; when Thou wilt turn unto Thyself all the wicked of the Earth. #RandolphHarris 17 of 18

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May all the inhabitants of the World perceive and know that unto Thee every knee must bend, every tongue vow loyalty. Before Thee, O Lord our God, may they bow in worship, giving honour unto Thy glorious name. May they all accept the yoke of Thy kingdom and do Thou rule over them speedily and forevermore. For the kingdom is Thine and to all eternity Thou wilt reign in glory; as it is written in Thy Torah: The Lord shall reign for ever and ever. And it has been foretold: The Lord shall be King over all the Earth; on that day the Lord shall be One, and His name One. The Lord is the spirit of the imperishable in humans, because He is eternal, He refuses to acknowledge death as triumphant, because He permits the withered blossom, fallen from the tree of humankind to flower and develop again in the human heart, the Lord possesses sanctifying power. To know that when one dies there will remain those who wherever they may be on this wide Earth, whether they be affluent of unaffluent, will send prayers after you, to know that they will cherish your memory as their dearest inheritance—what more satisfying or sanctifying knowledge can you ever hope for? And such is the knowledge bequeathed to us by the Scripture. “Everyone must submit oneself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God,” reports Romans 13.1. #RandolphHarris 18 of 18


Cresleigh Homes

Residence Four at Cresleigh Meadows is one of the largest homes available in the market! At just under 3,500 square feet we are sure you’ll have enough room for the entire family here! The open concept design includes four bedrooms, three and one half bathrooms and a three car garage.
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When entering this expansive home, take note of the two story ceiling height at the entry. There is a bedroom on the first floor, located off the entry, with its own bathroom making it ideal for a guest suite or multigenerational living. The formal dining room provides ample space for entertaining and has convenient access to the kitchen via Butler’s Pantry.

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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 Owner’s retreat, two bedrooms, and the loft perfect for a game room or TV lounge. The Owner’s retreat is spacious and inviting with a large bedroom and spa like bathroom featuring a large soaking tub, walk-in shower, dual vanities, and two walk-in closets.

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Already feeling the desire to relax in a cozy home for the holidays? Check out today’s blog post to learn all about how to “quiet” your home. Link in bio! https://cresleigh.com/blog/

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Best of all, each Cresleigh home comes fully equipped with an All Ready connected home! This smart home package comes included with your home and features great tools including: video door bell and digital deadbolt for the front door, connect home hub so you can set scenes and routines to make life just a little easier. Two smart switches and USB outlets are also included, plus we’ll gift you a Google Home Hub and Go.

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#CresleighHomes

How Long Must I Remain in Jeopardy of Blank Amazements that Amaze No More?

The pain of leaving those you grow to love is only a prelude to an understanding of yourself and others. Finding out what your real desires and characteristics are, and being able to live in a way that expresses them is how one finds one’s identity. One learns to be authentic, to be honest in the sense of allowing one’s behaviour and one’s speech to be the true and spontaneous expression of one’s inner feelings. Survey of efforts at self-analysis, self-therapy and self-growth uncovered that dreams are psychological symbols; peak, spiritual and psychedelic experience; archaic and prerational cognition. Recovery of the preconscious. That is why it is important to become an expert on one’s self. Think of yourself as a collaborator in an enterprise in which one wants to learn as much as one can learn so that one can pass this on to other people. The goal of therapy and self-discovery is the recovery of experiences—in particular, the recovery of feelings, emotions, subtle impulses and inner voices. They are believed to be the essential part of human nature and yet are so easily forgotten, denied or suppressed in the course of socialization. To be experientially alive means to renew a contact with our essential nature, and the first step in that direction is to pay greater attention to the concrete, pre-abstract, preverbal and the unconscious. #RandolphHarris 1 of 23

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There are two aspects of the unconscious. The unconscious is said to be the seat of drives and needs—especially irrational needs—whereas the preconscious has more to do with the ways of sensing (id est, primary process cognition). It has often been said that a map is not a territory and a label (words and concepts) must not be confused with the reality it stands for. However, if we can use the map in the exploration of an external environment, why cannot we use words and concepts for the discovery of inner space? We find that thoughts, feelings, and affects are alive in us which would never have believed possible. Naturally, possibilities of this sort seem utterly fantastic to anyone who had not experienced them oneself, for a normal person “knows what one thinks.” Such an immature attitude on the part of the “normal person” is simply the rule, so that no one without experience in this field can be expected to understand the real nature of their being. With these reflections one gets into an entirely new World of psychological experience, provided of course that one succeeds in realizing it in practice. Those who do succeed can hardly fail to be impressed by all that the ego does not know and never has known. #RandolphHarris 2 of 23

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This increase in self-knowledge is still very rare nowadays and is usually paid for in advance with a neurosis, if not something worse. The tension that arises from lack of self-understanding is so profound that it can be harmless until it is confronted in the conscious mind in personified form and behaves rather like systems split off from the personality, or like part souls. The most important tasks of psychic hygiene is to pay continual attention to the symptomatology of unconscious contents and processes, for the good reason that the conscious mind is always in danger of becoming one-sided, of keeping to well-worn paths and getting stuck in blind alleys. The complementary and compensating function of the unconscious ensures that these dangers, which are especially great in neurosis, can in some measure be avoided. It is only under ideal conditions, when life is still simple and unconscious enough to follow the serpentine path of instinct without hesitation or misgiving, that the compensation works with entire success. The more civilized, the more unconscious and complicated living conditions and the influence of one’s environment are so strong that they drown the quiet voice of nature. #RandolphHarris 3 of 23

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Opinions, belief, theories, and collective tendencies appear in its stead and back up all the aberration of the conscious mind. Deliberate attention should then be given to the unconscious so that the compensation can set work. Hence it is especially important to picture the archetypes of the unconscious not as a rushing phantasmagoria of fugitive images but as constant, autonomous factors, which they indeed are. The archetypes are universal symbols such as The Great Mother (a mother goddess who is a personification of the natural World), the Wise Old Man (a profound philosopher distinguished for wisdom and sound judgment), the Shadow (everything of which a person is not fully conscious of, the unknown side), the Tree of Life (representing sacred life, religion, spirituality, the divine), the Tower (an extension of consciousness achieved in maturity), and Water (valley of the spirit). This is why education is a lifelong process. There is evidence that the materials we learn and insight we gain are not likely to dissipate easily, since participation in gaining lifelong knowledge involves a change in attitude, beliefs, values, and even a radical change in the fundamental outlook on life. The goal of education is to refocus itself on the joy of personal discovery, the sense of awe and mystery in life. #RandolphHarris 4 of 23

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When education regains an accurate objective, the process of learning can then become as meaningful and exhilarating as those moments wen we are having peak-experiences. Do you remember how exciting it was as a kid in elementary when at the beginning of the school year, the teacher handed out those big, colourful, glossy books. How they made you feel excited and curious to know what was inside. Well, that is how learning is supposed to be for adults also. Many of those authors are writing as communication to future generations. It is an expression of love for them, giving them the tools required to improve their lives and the World. In effect, the textbooks are affectionate notes, bits of counsel, lessons others have learned that might help us. Imaginative activity is joined with belief of that which is to come. Take the case of two images, one involving the idea that humans will cause their own destruction and the other the idea that Zeus hurled thunderbolts when he was displeased with human’s doings. Both images, one purely verbal, the other pictorial, are due to the power of imagination. However, does the pictorial image more readily secure or enhance belief than the verbal image? If it does, what property or feature of it is responsible? #RandolphHarris 5 of 23

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The phenomenon is referred to as the power and act imagination intensive, and is also called by a more intriguing name, Fascination. Belief in the imagination intensive is rational because there is an observed phenomenon and these participate in the power of things in fact. According, those effects which are wrought by the percussion of the sense, and by things in fact, are produced likewise in some degree by the imagination. The image of a man eating a sour pickle may be just as effective in setting one’s teeth on edge as does the act of eating the pickle itself. The effect is due not only to the figure but to the force and intensity of it. This is very close to an ideo-motor theory of voluntary movement and to the role imagination plays in it. Indeed, the imagination is as it were the director and driver of this motion [voluntary motion], insomuch that when the image which is the object of the motion is withdrawn the motion itself is immediately interrupted and stopped (as in walking, if you begin to think eagerly and fixedly of something else, you immediately stand still). Again, stamping, and bending of the fist, are caused by an imagination of the act of revenge. If the image thus affects action, why should it not be a belief? And would not a striking feature of the experience be responsible for its impact? Indeed it would. #RandolphHarris 6 of 23

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Force or intensity are recognized as a special property or dimension of the image and this is nowhere more evident than when we talk of strengthening or exalting or fortifying the imagination. To strengthen the imagination is not to help in the making of images but to increase the effectiveness of them. Authority, for example, will fortify an image, whether verbal or pictorial, but it will do nothing to produce the image. If a person believes that a ring or charm will bring one good luck, one may hold to that belief—and act upon it—because of one’s faith in the art of magic, or a practitioner thereof, not because of experience or of logic. Authority carries weight, as it were, and impart weight. Various kinds of objects enhance imagery in the same way, and one can form a list of them drawn from natural magic. Rituals and ceremonies are not only imageful but they carry the authority of their sources. Scriptural words have the authority of God. Words of similitude—that is, pictorial images produced through words—are stronger than verbalizations without pictures. There is another quality of the image, possibly associated with intensity and certainly contributing to the strength of imagery. It is called a binding or limiting effect. #RandolphHarris 7 of 23

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When speculating about the ways of strengthening the memory, we find in the art of memory, that images visible work better than other conceits; as if you would remember the word philosophy, you shall more surely do it by imagining that such a human (for humans are best places) is reading upon Aristotle’s Physics; than if you could imagine one to say, I will go study philosophy. The reasons are two: the more lustrous the imagination is, it filleth and fixeth the better, and there is a binding of thoughts. One has to aim to prepare the way and clear the ground, and one would uncover directions and hints for systematic and experimental investigation into the phenomenon of the imagination. If serious study undertaken the chief problem would be that of disentangling a maze of cause and effect. It would be proper to focus on two matters: the effects of imagery on the imaginant oneself, and the effect of one human’s imagery on another. However, the whole enterprise has been confounded and confused by those who merely desire to exploit it for the end of magic, witchcraft, myth and mystery, dreams and visions. #RandolphHarris 8 of 23

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If they would, three established studies could make contributions, for those sciences which have had been intelligence and confederacy with the imagination of humans than with their reason, are three in number: Astrology, Natural Magic, and Alchemy; of which sciences the ends or pretenses are noble. The imagination may become hyperactive in eloquence. It is no small dominion which imagination holds in persuasions that are wrought by eloquence; for when by arts of speech human’s minds are soothed, inflamed, and carried hither and hither, it is all done by stimulating the imagination till it becomes ungovernable, and not only sets reason at nought, but offers violence to it, partly by blinding, partly be incensing it. Such effects may be due in part to the agitation of the spirit or of the affections. There is no doubting that both imagination and vehement affection work greatly upon the body of the imaginant. Emissions of the spirits and their affects is connected to the operations of the spirits of the mind of humans upon other spirit. Imagination may be the instigator of both spirit activity and emotional behaviour. Such a monstrous imagination was attributed to the school of Pythagoras for it was cultivated by Platonists, and made the basis of Paracelsian magic that exalting the imagination with the power of miracle-working faith. #RandolphHarris 9 of 23

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If there be communication between the spirit of the World and the spirit of humans, it is probably directly from spirit to spirit. An imaginant can be primarily influencing oneself: If a person carrying a planet’s seal, or a ring, or some part of a beast, believing strongly that it will help one to obtain more active and industrious, and again more confident and persisting than one would otherwise be. Imagination is the power of representing thought. It is the power of reproducing and creating images, verbal, and pictorial, from the products of sensory experience and the products of the understanding and reason. Its images have a kind of force or strength that can stir the human spirit and rouse the affections. By and large, the imagination serves rational life. It illuminates and illustrates abstract thought in much the same way it lights up divine spirit and grace in moments of revelation and inspiration. If understanding and reason may be said to form experience, imagination may be said to give it shape. “If this World were mine, I’d make you a king with wealth untold, you could have anything. If this World were mine, I’d give you each day so sunny and blue. If you wanted the moonlight, I’d give you that too. If this World were mine, I’d give you anything.” #RandolphHarris 10 of 23

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The lyrics above are from a duet by Luther Vandross and Cheryl Lynn called If this World were Mine. They are singing a beautiful ballot and used imagery to express how in love they are with each other. The imagery is more powerful than say, “I love you,” because one had to put their thought and heart into those eloquent lyrics and they are more likely to have much more of an impact because it causes the imagination to ponder how much one is loved. Reason and imagination join in creative activity that bears the marks of both faculties, reason rendering the product plausible, imagination rendering it sensible. Together they give rise to the fitting and the appropriate. Yet in their creativity, neither reason nor imagination works independently. Imagination is not merely processing the work of reason; it is not translating. Rather, there is a sort of transmutation, perhaps transtantiation, going on between them. The colour of imagination and the colour of reason are present, but one sees neither distinctly; they are blended in any creative product that humans judge to be fitting and appropriate. In rhetorical and poetical creativity, as distinguished from scientific creativity, the imagination is responsible for, is the immediate cause of, that quality of argument, example, and style that we label “appropriateness.” #RandolphHarris 11 of 23

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Imagination always has something to work with, whether the sayable simply made the work of understanding and reason accessible to sense or was the product of reason and imagination’s creating something appropriate. What should be distrusted and feared are the imaginations of bad people, practitioners of artificial magic and alchemy. The content aspect of a sign or statement is due to the imagination and the formal aspect of the understanding. The denial of equal liberty, for example, can be defended only if it is necessary to raise the level of civilization so that in due course these freedoms can be enjoyed. The maximin rule uses the imagination, for a solution to the problem of social justice, tells us to rank alternatives by their worst possible outcomes: we are to adopt the alterative the worst outcome of which is the superior to the worst outcomes of the others. The original position is designed to be a fair and impartial point of view that is to be adopted in our reasoning about fundamental principles of justice. The persons in the original position do not, of course, assume that their initial place in society is decided by a malevolent opponent. However, if parties were forced to protect themselves against such a contingency, the maximum rule explains the sense in which this conception is the maximin solution. #RandolphHarris 12 of 23

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In business and life, decisions have to be made and they must be rational. The maximin rule is not, in general, a suitable guide for choices under uncertainty. However, it is attractive in situations marked by certain special features. The aim, then, is to show that a good case can be made for the two principles based on the fact that the original position manifests these features to the fullest possible degree, carrying them to the limit, so to speak. A gain-and-loss table represents the gains and losses for a situation which is not a game of strategy. There us no one playing against the person making the decision; instead one is faced with several possible circumstances which may or may not obtain. Which circumstances happen to exist does not depend upon what the person choosing decides or whether one announces one’s moves in advance. The numbers in the gain-and-loss table below are monetary values (in millions of dollars) in comparison with some initial situation. The gain (g) depends upon the individual’s decision (d) and the circumstances (c). Thus g = f (d, c). Assuming that there are three possible decisions and three possible circumstances, we might have this gain-and-loss table. #RandolphHarris 13 of 23

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#RandolphHarris 14 of 23     

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The maximin rule requires that we make the third decision. For in the case the worst that can happen is that one gains $5,000,000.00, which is better than the worse for the other actions. If we adopt one of these, we may lose either $8,000,000.00 or $7,000,000.00. Thus, the choice of d3 maximizes f (d, c) for that value of c, which for a given d, minimizes f. The terms “maximin” means maximum minimorum; and the rule directs our attention to the worst that can happen under any proposed course of action, and to decide in the light of that. Now there appear to be three chief features of situations that give plausibility to this unusual rule. First, since the rule takes no account of the likelihoods of the possible circumstances, there must be some reason for sharply discounting estimates of these probabilities. Offhand, the most natural rule of choice would seem to be to compute the expectation of monetary gain for each decision and then to adopt the course of action with the highest prospect. However, it must be, for example, that the situation is one in which a knowledge of likelihoods is impossible, or at best extremely insecure. In this case it is unreasonable not to be skeptical or probabilistic calculations unless there is no other way out, particularly if the decision is a fundamental one that needs to be justified to others. #RandolphHarris 15 of 23

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The second feature that suggest the maximin rule is the following: the person choosing has a conception of the good such that one cares very little, if anything, for what one might gain above the minimum stipend that one can, in fact, be sure of by following the maximin rule. It is not worthwhile for one to take a chance for the sake of a further advantage, especially when it may turn out that one loses much that is important to one. This last provision brings in the third feature, namely, that the rejected alternatives have outcomes that one can hardly accept. The situation involves grave risks. Of course these feature work most effectively in combination. A maxim, a rule of thumb comes into its own in special circumstances. Its application depends upon the qualitative structure of the possible gain and losses in relation to one’s conception of the good, al this against a background in which it is reasonable to discount conjectural estimates of likelihoods. The parties have no basis for determining the probable nature of their society, or their place in it. Thus they have strong reasons for being wary of probability calculations is any other course is open to them. They must also take into account that fact that their choice of principles should seem reasonable to others, in particular their descendants, whose rights will be deeply affected by it. #RandolphHarris 16 of 23

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Therefore, the objective is to limit loss and maximize gain, not gamble because the parties are unable to conjecture, they cannot say much about what the possible circumstances are, much less enumerate them and foresee the outcome of each alternative available. Finally, the third feature holds if we can assume that other conceptions of justice may lead to institutions that the parties would find intolerable. For example, it has sometimes been held that under some condition the utility principle justifies, if not slavery or serfdom, at any rate serious infraction of liberty for the sake of greater social benefit. We need not consider here the truth of this claim, or the likelihood that the requisite conditions obtain. For the moment, this contention is only to illustrate the way in which conceptions of justice may allow for outcomes which the parties may not be able to accept. And having the ready alterative of the two principles of justice which secure a satisfactory minimum, it seems unwise, if not irrational, for them to take a chance that these outcomes are not realized. We must make a distinction between a doctrinal principle and the human personality who serves as the vehicle for such principles. #RandolphHarris 17 of 23

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The principles will live when the personality is dead. Our absolute rationality and loyalty, therefore, must be bestowed on what is immortal, not on what is mortal, but we still have to make the most reasonable decisions while we are alive. The human disseminator of the principle should receive only a conditional allegiance. The pure Idea may incarnate itself in the human but only may sully, betray, or pollute it with one’s human error, prejudice, or selfishness. The embodies master, being human, will have some or other of the human imperfections. Sooner or later the disciple will note and become critical of them or disturbed by them. However, the inner Light is perfect and will rouse only admiration, devotion, and satisfaction. “And now it came to pass that when Jesus has spoken these words he turned again to the multitude, and did open his mouth unto them again, saying: Verily, verily, I say unto you, Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? #RandolphHarris 18 of 23

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“Or how wilt thou say to thy brother: Let me pull the mote out of thine eye—and behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast the mote of out thy brother’s eye. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you. Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh, receiveth; and one that seeketh, findeth; and to one that knocketh, it shall be opened. Or what human is there of you, who, if your child ask bread, will give one a stone? Or what if your child ask a fish, will one give one a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father who is in Heaven give good things to them that ask him? Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that humans should do to you, do ye even so to them, for this is the law and the prophets. Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, which leadeth to destruction, and many there by who go in threat; because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. #RandolphHarris 19 of 23

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“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do humans gather grapes of thorns, of figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven; but one that doeth the will of my Father who is in Heaven. Many will say to me in that day: Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them; I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Therefore, whoso heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken one unto a wise human, who built one’s house upon a rock—and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. #RandolphHarris 20 of 23

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And every one that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them shall be likened unto a foolish human, who built one’s house upon the sand—and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell, and great was the fall of it,” reports 3 Nephi 14.1-27. Now we ask, What does a will or heart look like that has been transformed into Christlikeness? How is it to be characterized? Jesus said himself—and of course he is always the pattern—“One who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him,” reports John 8.29. And Paul has this to say: “I haven been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the fait of the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me,” reports Galatians 2.20. The only haven of safety is to have no other will, no other wisdom, than to follow the Lord wherever he leads. Let this, then, be the first step, to abandon ourselves, and devote the whole energy of our minds to the service of God. So we have the answers to our question: Single-minded and joyous devotion to God and his will, to what God wants for us—and to service to him and to others because of him—is what the will transformed into Christlikeness looks like. #RandolphHarris 21 of 23

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That is the outcome of Christian spiritual formation with reference to the will, heart, or spirit. And when it has become the governing response of every dimension of our being, this outcome becomes our character. Then we can truly said to have “put on Christ.” However, how far this is from the usual human will and character we hardly need say! Instead of being simple and transparent through a constant and coherent devotion to God, the usual human will is a place of chaotic duplicity and confusion if not darkness, because it is the playing field of pride and fear and lack of confidence in God, shrouded in layer upon layer of destructive habits. Your blood is my blood, flowing out of past, through me, to the future. Through my actions, you live. Please guide me, then, in the decisions I face today, making clear to me the safe path between obstacles and keeping me from false steps along the way. Please grant lasting peace unto Israel Thy people, for Thou art the Sovereign Lord of peace; and may it be good in Thy sight to bless Thy people Israel at all times with Thy peace. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, who blesses Thy people Israel with peace. O Lord, please guard my tongue from evil and my lips from speaking guile, and to those who slander me, let me give no heed. #RandolphHarris 22 of 23

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May my soul be humble and forgiving unto all. Please open Thou my heart, O Lord, unto Thy sacred Law, that Thy statutes I may know and all Thy truths pursue. Please bring to naught designs of those who seek to do me ill; speedily defect their aims and thwart their purposes for Thine own sake, for Thine own power, for Thy holiness and Law. That Thy loved ones be delivered, please answer us, O Lord, and save with Thy redeeming power. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable unto Thee, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Thou who establishest peace in the Heavens, please grant peace unto us and unto all Israel. Amen. May it be Thy will, O Lord our God and God of our Fathers, to grant our portion in Thy Torah, and may the Temple be rebuilt in our day. There we will serve Thee with awe as in the days of old. After the Sun has risen, I am here to pray long hours. While the day began, I was still asleep, still walking in the land of dreams. Know this, bright Sun, that though I slept, you were still in my heart. Now, when I am finally awake, I take up my daily responsibilities. First, though I will stand here and praise God and drink in your warmth and drink in all the light you give so freely to arm myself for the say’s struggles. #RandolphHarris 23 of 23

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Cresleigh Homes

Enjoying a morning in bed at Plumas Ranch is that much better with all the natural light that streams in through the windows. ☀️

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To schedule a private viewing of any of our model homes at Plumas Ranch, contact us at 530-870-8748 or PlumasRanch@Cresleigh.com

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This modern house offers plenty of room for a delightful diversion. Inside, a large living area with an optional fireplace affords grand lounging; dining room, cozy interludes.

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Mysteries Whispered in their Presence–A Person Clamoured for Love and Attention but I Did Not Hear!

No one knows what to say in the loser’s room. Divulging any client’s financial secrets is a criminal act and bank officers or employees can be punished by up to five years imprisonment and a fine of up to $5000.00. This secrecy requirement does not end with bank employment but goes with the employee to one’s grave. One study shows that only 30 percent of U.S. employers believe school graduates are literate and numerate; but 70 percent of students and 60 percent of parents think their schools are fine. This points to the core problem with U.S. education: low intensity, in all but sport, and low expectations, for all but the brightest students in honours classes. Also, the cost of private health insurance, mostly borne by industry, is doubling every seven years. What is more significant is that health is now a common-middle class headache for the first time. Employers are forcing their employees to contribute more and take less generous benefits; the high cost of insurance squeezes wages; people who have a poor health history, even if fully cured, find themselves locked into their jobs, because prospective new employers refuse to take them on. Many believe this added government control of an industry which comprises one fifth of the American economy has only meant higher taxes and reduced quality of medical care for everyone. #RandolphHarris 1 of 22

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Now, a hypothesis. I believe that independent learning, the embodiment of the state of being fascinated, involves six stages. The first is the experience of the impasse. The next stage we will provisionally call the stage of detachment, a kind of dying. The third is immersion in oneself—an entry into one’s center, one’s source of experiencing. Next is an emergence, or rebirth. Fifth is the experience of new possibilities. Sixth is the selection and pursuit of one of these. I shall attempt to illustrate this hypothesis with examples from several realms: religious conversion, brainwashing, research in psychedelic drugs, psychotherapy, and dialogue. I base my hypothesis upon personal experience, buttressed by reading that has seemed related, and the reported experience of others. It appears to me that fascination-with-something, the process of being turned on, has a certain “natural” history in adults. It is the natural state with healthy children who have not yet been “turned off.” The “turning off” begins with the experience of despair, boredom, or meaninglessness as one continues one’s habitual way of life—acting in one’s roles, doing one’s work, being one’s public self. Friendships grow stale. Work becomes meaningless and pointless. One feels dead, or deadened. #RandolphHarris 2 of 22

The World looks stale, and music loses its savour. Nothing changes. Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose. I am doing something for everybody, and nothing for me. One feels trapped. No way out seems apparent. Each step out of the circle encounters dread or a sense of hopelessness, and futility. One tries new hobbies, new friends, new within which one feels like a robot. The depression deepens. One becomes afraid one is losing one’s mind. It is at this point that one’s friends, family, conventional psychiatry, and religion may enter. They try, and in this state gradually “loses interest,” “stops caring about thing.” One is regarded as sick, in need of “treatment” to stop one from going out of one’s mind. Actually, the “not-caring” is a self-initiated process of detachment from previous concerns, a phase in the death-rebirth process we are concerned with. If nothing stops the process, the person gradually enters one’s own experience more and more. One’s self-structure dissolves. One detaches oneself from one’s image of oneself, from previous friendships—which, after all, have been stabilizing one, keeping one in sameness, which is not the same as sanity. #RandolphHarris 3 of 22

This person may become panicky, as the process of detachment continues; and one finds oneself experiencing emotions, fantasies and memories, that ordinarily have been repressed. One surely needs reassurance here, to let the process unfold rather than shut it off. One is encountering one’s possibilities. If one lets go enough, one will fully enter the realm of experiencing that mystics have described as “transcendental,” like a homecoming, a visit to the course, rather than a hell to be avoided. It is, in fact, the way of experiencing that we all shared as children, before we were wholly engulfed by the culture. One cannot, and does not long stay in this realm. One re-enters one’s ego, but with a new perspective. The self-structure is redefined. I choose a new identity for myself and present it to others who may confirm it or not. The World does not look the same now. It is not the same because I am not the same, and it is my World. I look at the old things and the old people; and new features, new possibilities disclose themselves to me. I commit myself to some of these, and I am renewed, until some later time; when the new fascinations, values, and projects go stale, I must begin the process again. #RandolphHarris 4 of 22

When I am reborn and awakened, I experience the World and the people in it as a constant and varied calling, a constant source of invitations to become involved. The calls and invitations that were always there, but I never heard them before. The sky called to be looked at. A person clamoured for love and attention but I did not hear. Mysteries whispered their presence, but I did not notice; I thought what was mysterious was actually known and understood. In short, I begin once again to encounter the World, and the people in it. In the encounter, I let myself experience the varied reality of the World, a reality that I did not experience the varied reality of the World, a reality that I did not experience so richly, or in so many dimensions, as I do. Renewed by the plunge into the depths of my own experiencing, I survey the World that I am encountering. Some invitation, some call, some challenge, fascinates me more than the others. Nobody can predict what will now fascinate or repel me, not even me. I commit myself to this one, and off I go until I become deadened once again by a new set of habits. It has just occurred to me, after completing a year of sabbatical leave in England, that the process I just described is a sabbatical leave of one’s mind, of one’s personality structure. #RandolphHarris 5 of 22

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The academic sabbatical is a removal from one’s usually surroundings, but I discovered it is easier to get out of one’s surroundings than to get them out of oneself so that new surroundings can invite one into encounter. Many of my American colleagues in England successfully shielded themselves from fascination with and involvement in the English experience, because of the panic they felt when invited to let go their usual preoccupations. They carried America with them. Indeed, the phenomenon of “culture shock,” long noted by anthropologists, is another dimension of the experience of leaving, not just one’s country, but one’s mind. One has to let the American in one die in order to become a participant in a new experience, to be reborn. Indeed, initiation ceremonies of all kinds recognize the, like fraternity initiation rites or Marine boot-camp training. The hazing, in whatever form, is a symbolic killing-off of a previous incarnation, to abet the reincarnation in the way of being. However, we are as afraid of dying as we are of leaving our minds. We equate habitual ways of valuing, construing, and acting with life itself.  #RandolphHarris 6 of 22

Therefore, to stop these, even when they cease to yield satisfaction and meaning, is experienced as the end of life. It is equated with death. We are afraid to explore the possible experience beyond the tether. In the act of love, the climax is frequently experience as a “dying.” And after the successful act of love, a person feels oneself reborn, ready to respond anew to new dimensions of the World that suddenly, magically, have disclosed themselves to the person. However, many acts of love are climaxed not by ego-shattering orgasm; but only by localized, pleasurable twitching. Evidently one has to be ready to go out of one’s mind to make love the love that renews and revivifies. In the psychedelic-drug experience a person ingests a substance; and then, if one lets go, one commences a voyage into depth of experiencing of which one never would have dreamed oneself capable. However, taking one dose or consistent and frequent doses of any drug, especially one as potent as LSD or PCP, is by no means safe for all individuals and may put certain people at high risk of a psychotic episode they may never recover from or cause one to develop a drug addiction. People may believe the marijuana is a safe drug, but it is not. It is bad your lungs and could cause schizophrenia, or lead to the use of more dangerous and addictive drugs. #RandolphHarris 7 of 22

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It may cause one to feel as if one is looking through a fogged-up window with only a tiny spot wiped clean. With religion, however, a rebirth is caused and the whole window is wiped clean; and the World stands forth. The World will disclose itself to one in different dimensions than it had disclosed itself hitherto, and one will select some aspects of it with which to involve oneself. Brainwashing is a corruption of the death and rebirth theme. There, the commissars, who know what they want a person to do and be, convince one that one (one’s old self) is dead. Under the regime of torture, a person may indeed enter the transcendental realm, but one re-enters a new “robot,” into new roles that have been ready-made for one. Doubtless, they seem as real and meaningful to the brainwashee as did one’s previous incarnation which had been made untenable and unlivable for one by one’s captors. In religious conversion, the common denominator seems to be the despair at continuing in the old way. The person enters one’s experience after leaving the World. If one’s background and present associates are appropriate, then, like the brainwashee, one enters a new way of being that is more or less ready-made for one. In good psychotherapy, the therapist lets one’s patient enter one’s experience deeply. #RandolphHarris 8 of 22

One remains present to help the patient cope with the terrors that arise as one lets go and experiences feelings, memories, and the like that have been long suppressed. With one’s interpretations, the therapist may assist the process of symbolic dying and facilitate the onset of the therapeutic despair, or the therapeutic psychosis which is part of every effective psychotherapy sequence. Then the person is reborn, and one faces the World with the capacity to respond to its invitations in new ways. In good teaching, after the fashion of Sokrates, the skilled and compassionate dialectician will challenge every assertion and belief of one’s pupil until the pupil feels one is going to go out of one’s mind. One may balk at this point. However, one may also flip into a realization of infinite possibility, and be thus turned on. This is my hypothesis restated: independent learning entails the experience of fascination. Fascination is a response to an invitation or challenge disclosed by the World. The invitation and challenge were always there, but the person could not experience them so long as one remained “hung up” or fixated in one’s usual roles, self-structure, and preoccupations. It is necessary that the usual attachments be suspended, and raw experiencing be turned on. #RandolphHarris 9 of 22

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This disengagement from usual concerns is fostered by entrapment and despair (it can be fostered in dialogue); and it maybe experienced with dread, as a going out of one’s mind, or a dying, followed by rebirth or re-entry into an enlarged self-structure. In the reborn state, the person is now more open to one’s experience of the World. While one is in this “open” condition, a challenge appears, and the person responds. One may or may not be confirmed by others in one’s new being. I would propose that something like this happens repeatedly in those healthier personalities for whom independent learning is no problem. I would propose further that a variety of factors militate against this complete process of death and rebirth. And so, practically speaking, the renovation of the heart in the dimension of feeling is a matter of opening ourselves to and carefully cultivating love, joy, and peace: first by receiving them from God and from those already living in Him, and then as we grow, extending love, joy, and peace to others and everything around us in attitude, prayer, and action. Following our VIM (Vision, Integrity, and Mission) pattern, we must intend this and decide that it shall be in all we are and do. Of course our thought life, as already described, will be focused upon God. #RandolphHarris 10 of 22

Then through grace we can translate this intention to dwell in love, joy, and peace into the fine texture of daily existence. Our walk with Jesus and the Father will teach us and show us the details of the means required to bring it to pass. The conscious personal mind of the teacher may know nothing of the help that is radiating from one to one who silently calls on one from a long distance, yet the reality of that help remains. If the requisite condition exist, only then can this internal quickening and intense telepathy between the master and the disciple can occur. Even at the beginning of probation (spiritual probation) the seeker will often be given a hint of what awaits one later through the spiritual experience resulting out of the contact with the teacher. However, whether one gets it or not, from the moment of acceptance there will come to every student a sense of peace, and above all, an inner stability and certitude which will become one of the greatest assets in one’s life. Again and again the novice falls into mistakes about the telepathic communications which one feels one is receiving from the master. One regains them as such when they are nothing of the sort, or one interprets them in too material or too egoistic a manner. #RandolphHarris 11 of 22

The master sends a thought-current to one which is intended to lift one up to a diviner, hence more impersonal level. One, however, drags it down to a lower, more egocentric level. The telepathic impulses which one sends out to others during these times of prayer or meditation are most often received quite subconsciously. Only later is their effect felt or their origin suspected. One’s disciples may not be aware of any new reception of truth or beatitude at the time. However, increasing clarification or growing liberation may slowly change their course. It is also possible to take any revered person as a master and, in one’s own mind, make one the teacher. Even though no meeting on the physical level may occur, one’s attitude of attention and devotion in meditation will draw from one a reaction which will telepathically give whatever guidance is needed at the time. Just as the glance, the touch, or the spoken word may carry the ardour of mutual desire from to woman so may it also carry the initiatory blessing or the spiritual gift from master to disciple. Like the message of God to a praying spiritual person, the help which comes from such a teacher is above thinking but it translates itself into terms of thinking. In this process of translation, it is seized n by the ego and interfered with. #RandolphHarris 12 of 22

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The guide may send one’s blessing telepathically only once but if it is powerful enough it may work itself out through a hundred different experiences extending over several years. Because one identifies oneself with the timeless spaceless soul, one’s blessing may express itself out through a hundred different experience extending over several years. Because one identifies oneself with the timeless spaceless soul, one’s blessing may express itself anywhere in space and anywhen in time. Moreover one may formulate it in a general way but it may take precise shapes unconsciously fashioned by and suited to the recipient’s own mentality and degree of development. Here is some of the work to be done. For many of us, just coming to honest terms with what our feelings really are will be a huge task. Paul says in Romans 12.9, “Let love be without hypocrisy.” That is, let it be genuine or sincere. To do only this will require serious effort, deep learning, and quantities of grace. Our ordinary life and our religious associations are so permeated with insincere expressions of love, often alongside of contempt and anger, that it is hard not to feel forced into hypocrisy in some situations. However, we can learn to avoid it, and we shall immediately begin to see what a huge difference that alone makes. #RandolphHarris 13 of 22

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However, there is much more to do. Very few people are without deep negative feelings towards others who are or have been closely related to them. Wounds carried steadily through the years have weighed us down and prevented spiritual growth in love, joy, and peace. They may have seeped over into our identity. We would not know who we are without them. However, they can be healed or dismissed, if we are ready to give them up to God and receive the healing ministry of His Word and Spirit. This applies similarly to hopelessness over not achieving things long sought or long lost. In general, the task, once we have given ourselves to Christ, is to recognize the reality of our feelings and agree with the Lord to abandon those that are destructive and that lead us into doing or being what we know to be wrong. This one will then help us with. We may need to write out what those feelings are in a “letter to the Lord,” or perhaps confer about them with wise Christian friend who knows how to listen to us and to God at the same time. Perhaps individuals or our fellowship group can have a prayer ministry to us. Journaling about progress with feelings can also help. It can bring to light the ideas and images or past events on which destructive feelings are based. Those, too, will need to be replaced or revised. #RandolphHarris 14 of 22

Many such details may play a role as we progress toward predominance of love, joy, and peace in that dimension of our mind and our self that is our feelings. We can be very sure that this is our feelings. We can be very sure that this is God’s intent for us. Thus Paul prayed for his friends in Ephesus that they would be “rooted and grounded in love” and “know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God,” reports Ephesians 3.17-19. And we have seen the intent of Jesus: “That My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full,” reports John 15.11. Also his, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the World gives, do I give you. Let not your heart be troubled nor let it be fearful,” reports John 14.27. And here is Paul’s benediction to the Romans: “Now may the God of hope fill you with al joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit,” Romans 15.13. There are the same dispositions of things in being and truth. As good has the nature of what is desirable, so truth is related to knowledge. Now everything, in as far as it has being, so far is it knowable. The soul is in some manner all things through the senses and the intellect. And therefore, as good is convertible with being, so is the true. #RandolphHarris 15 of 22

However, as good adds to being the notion of desirable, so the truth adds relation to the intellect. “And it came to pass that there was a voice heard among all the inhabitants of the Earth, upon all the face of this land, crying: Wo, wo, wo unto this people; wo unto the inhabitants of the whole Earth except they shall repent; for the devil laugheth, and his Angels rejoice, because of the slain of the fair sons and daughters of my people; and it is because of their iniquity and abominations that they are fallen! Behold, that great city Zarahemla have I burned with fire, and the inhabitants thereof. And behold, that great city Moroni have I caused to be sunk in the depths of the sea, and the inhabitants thereof to be drowned. And behold, that great city Moronihah have I covered with Earth, and the inhabitants thereof, to hide their iniquities and their abominations from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints shall not come any more unto me against them. And behold, the city of Gilgal have I caused to be sunk, and the inhabitants thereof to be buried up in the depths of the Earth; yea, and the city of Onihah and the inhabitants thereof, and the city of Mocum and the inhabitants thereof, and the city of Jerusalem and the inhabitants thereof. #RandolphHarris 16 of 22

“And water have I caused to come up in the stead thereof, to hide their wickedness and abomination from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints shall not come up any more unto me against them. And behold, the city of Ganiandi, and the city of Gadiomnah, and the city of Gimgimno, all these have I caused to be sunk, and made hills and valleys in the places thereof; and the inhabitants thereof have I buried up in the depths of the Earth, to hide their wickedness and abominations from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints should not come up any more unto me against them. And behold, that great city Jacobugath, which was inhabited by the people of the king Jacob, have I caused to be burned with fire because of their sins and their wickedness, which was above all the wickedness of the whole Earth, because of their secret murders and combinations; for it was they that did destroy the peace of my people and the government of the land; therefore I did cause them to be burned, to destroy them from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints should not come up uno me any more against them. #RandolphHarris 17 of 22

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“And behold, the city of Laman, and the city of Josh, and the city of Gad, and the city of Kishkumen, have I caused to be burned with fire, and the inhabitants thereof, because of their wickedness in casting out the prophets, and stoning those whom I did send to declare unto them concerning their wickedness and their abominations. And because they did cast them all out, that there were none righteous among them, I did send down fire and destroy them, that their wickedness and abomination might be hid from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints whom I sent among them might not cry unto me from the ground against them. And many great destructions have I caused to come upon this land, and upon this people, because of their wickedness and their abominations. O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you? Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have enteral life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, one will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me. #RandolphHarris 18 of 22

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“Behold, I am Jesus Christ the Son of God. I created the Heavens and the Earth, and all things that in the are. I was with the Father from the beginning. I am in the Father, and the Father in me; and in me hath the Father glorified His name. I came unto my own, and my own received me not. And the scriptures concerning my coming are fulfilled. And as many as have received me, to them have I given to become the sons of God; and even so will I to as many as shall believe on my name, for behold, by me redemption cometh, and in me is the law of Moses fulfilled. I am the light and the life of the World. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. And ye shall offer up unto me no more the shedding of blood; yea, your sacrifices and your burnt offerings shall be done away, for I will accept none of your sacrifices and your burnt offerings. And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, one will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost, even as the Lamanites, because of their faith in me at the time of their conversion, were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and they knew it not. Behold, I have come unto the World to bring redemption unto the World, to save the World from sin.  #RandolphHarris 19 of 22

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“Therefore, whoso repenteth and cometh unto me as a little child, one will I receive, for of such is the kingdom of God. Behold, for such I have laid down my life, and have taken it up again; therefore repent, and come unto me ye ends of the Earth, and be saved,” reports 3 Nephi 9.1-22. Some critics reject the idea of Grace and declare its impossibility in a World governed by strict cause and effect. The meaning of the word suggests something or anything of an immaterial moral or material nature. That is given to humans. Why should not the Master who has attained a higher strength wisdom and moral character than that which is common to the human race, give assistance freely out of one’s beneficent compassion for others struggling to climb the peak one has surmounted? One certainly cannot transmit one’s own inner life to another person in its fullness. However, one can receptive, sensitive, and in inward affinity with one. If this too is denied then let the objector explain why both the feeling of and the sense of the Master’s presence pervade the disciple’s existence for many years after one’s initiation, if not the rest of one’s life. The master, by process of telepathic transfer, enables the disciple to get a glimpse of what the realization of one’s own spiritual possibilities can lead to. #RandolphHarris 20 of 22

The pupil who has been allowed to sit in deep conversational prayer with God should be able to carry on with this impetus, even though it happened only once. It is really an initiation. During this intercession, the disciple may actually feel a stream of power flowing out to one from the master, but it is not essential that one do so. What the master reflects and radiates into the disciple’s deeper mind at this sitting, will necessarily incubate for a period of time which may be measurable in minutes, days, months, or even years. No one can predict how long it will be, for not only are the disciple’s readiness, capacity, and affinity determining factors but also one’s destiny. Nor can anyone predict whether the result will appear slowly, gently, little by little, or suddenly, with violent jolting force. The master is forever after present in the disciple’s heart, whether the disciple see one again or not. From the hour of this initiation the master will be much in one’s thoughts and the sense of affinity will be often in one’s heart. The experience which the candidate has at the initiatory intercession with the master is often (but not always) a herald and token of one’s possibilities of later attainment under this particular master. One must work harder than ever on one’s character and, by crushing one’s ego, sensitize one’s mind for the reception of the spiritual Grace that is to come during initiation. #RandolphHarris 21 of 22

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It seems as if the Master has come into one’s consciousness and thereby changed its quality and area. If the change is necessarily for a brief while only, it is still a memorable one. Father of All, Father of All: as I go through the day, keep my eyes open wide. May I not miss beauty. May I not miss joy. May I not miss wonder. Please keep me away and aware of the World. Thou hast made known unto us, O Lord our God, Thy righteous judgments, and hast taught us to perform Thy statutes. Thou hast given us, O Lord our God, ordinances that are just and true, statutes and commandments that are good. Thou hast enriched our lives with joyous seasons and holy days and festivals to bring free will offerings, giving us as a sacred possession the Sabbath Day and Holy Days, and the joyous delight of the Three Festivals. Thou hast made distinction, O Lord our God, between the sacred and the secular, between light and darkness, between Israel and the heathens, between the seventh day of rest and the six days of work. Thou hast set a distinction between the higher sanctity of the Sabbath and the lesser sanctity of the Festival, and hast hallowed the seventh day above the six days of work. Thus hast Thou distinguished and sanctified Thy people Israel through Thy holiness. #RandolphHarris 22 of 22


Cresleigh Homes

Residence One is the smallest of the floor plans offered at Cresleigh Riverside but at 2,293 square feet, there is plenty of space in this single story home. With three bedrooms, two bathrooms, den, great room, and dining room, there is enough room for all members of the family to have their corner of the house. The two car garage boasts ample storage and a covered patio comes included in the home. The den can easily be transformed into a fourth bedroom if needed.

We have bean soup-er excited for soup season, and it looks delicious in this #Riverside Residence 1 home at #PlumasRanch! 😋🥣 https://cresleigh.com/cresleigh-riverside-at-plumas-ranch/move-in-ready-home-site-77/

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Enjoy the luxuries included in a Cresleigh Home such as hand set tiles in entry way, kitchen and wet areas, large eat-in kitchen island, ample storage, and All-Ready Smart Home package.

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No Special Privileges are to be Given to those Exactly Six Feet Tall or Born on a Sunny Day!

Mind is like an ocean. The surface layers of the mind function actively while the deeper levels remain silent. We assume that persons in the original position, which is designed to be a fair and impartial point of view that is to be adopted in our reasoning about fundamental principles of justice, are rational. In choosing between principles each tries as best one can to advance one’s interests. However, we also have assumed that the parties do not know their conception of good. This means that while they know that they have some rational plan of life, they do not know the details of this plan, the particular ends and interests which it is calculated to promote. How, then, can they decide which conceptions of justice are most to their advantage? Or must we suppose that they are reduced to mere guessing? People assume that they would prefer more primary social goods rather than less. Primary social goods generally include rights, liberties, opportunities, income, and wealth. Of course, it may turn out, once the veil of ignorance is removed, that some of them for religious or other reasons may not, in fact, want more of these goods. The veil of ignorance is a method of determining the morality of issues. #RandolphHarris 1 of 25

The veil of ignorance asks a decision-maker to make a choice about social or moral issues and assumes that they have enough information to know the consequences of their possible decisions for everyone but would not know, or would not take into account, which person they are. The theory contents that not knowing one’s ultimate position in society would lead to the creation of a just system, as the decision-maker would not want to make decisions which benefit a certain group as the expense of another, because the decision-maker could theoretically end up in either group. However, from the standpoint of the original position, it is rational for the parties to suppose that they do want a larger share, since in any case they are not compelled to accept more if they do not wish to, nor does a person suffer from a greater liberty. Thus even though the parties are deprived of information about their particular ends, they have enough knowledge to rank the alternatives. They know that in general they must try to protect their liberties, widen their opportunities, and enlarge their means for promoting their aims whatever these are. Guided by the theory of the good and the general facts of moral psychology, their deliberations are no longer guesswork. #RandolphHarris 2 of 25

The primary goods are the all-purpose social means that are necessary to the exercise and development of the moral powers and to pursue a wide variety of conceptions of the good. Justice is a good-for the just person in a just society and life in a just society is good. Therefore, the theory of good states that any rational person should want, whatever one’s rational plan of life is. Rational people can make a rational decision in the ordinary sense. The concept of rationality invoked here, with the exception of one essential feature, is the stand one familiar in social theory. Thus in the usual way, a rational person is thought to have a coherent set of preferences between the options open to one. One ranks these options according to how well they further one’s purposes; one follows the plan which will satisfy more of one’s desires rather than less, and which has the greater chance of being successfully executed. The special assumption made here is that a rational individual does not suffer from envy. If only others have less as well, one is not ready to accept a loss for oneself. #RandolphHarris 3 of 25

One is not downcast by the knowledge or perception that others have a larger index of primary social goods. Or at least this is true as long as he differences between oneself and others do not exceed certain limits, and one does not believe that the existing inequalities are founded on injustice or are the result of letting chance work itself out for no compensating social purpose. The assumption that the parties are not moved by envy raises certain questions. Perhaps we should also assume that they are not liable to various other feelings such as shame and humiliation. Now a satisfactory account of justice will eventually have to deal with these matters, too, but for the present I shall leave these complications aside. Another objection to our procedure is that it is too unrealistic. Certainly humans are afflicted with these feelings. How can a conception of justice ignore this fact? I shall meet this problem by diving the argument for the principles of justice into two parts. In the first part, the principles are derived on the supposition that envy does not exist; while in the second, we consider whether the conception arrived at is feasible in view of the circumstances of human life. One reason for this procedure is that envy tends to make everyone worse off. #RandolphHarris 4 of 25

In this sense envy is collectively disadvantageous because of the tendency it has to make condition acrimonious. Presuming its absence amounts to supposing that in the choice of principles humans should think of themselves as having their own plan of life which is sufficient for itself. They have a secure sense of their own worthy so that they have no desire to abandon any of their aims provided others have less means to further theirs. I shall work out a conception of justice on this stipulation to see what happens. Later I shall try to show that when the principles adopted are put into practice, they lead to social arrangements in which envy and other destructive feelings are not likely to be strong. The conception of justice eliminated the conditions that give rise to disruptive attitudes. It is, therefore, inherently stable. The assumption of mutually disinterested rationality, then, comes to this: the persons in the original position try to acknowledge principles which advance their system of ends as far as possible. They do this by attempting to win for themselves the highest index of primary social goods, since this enables them to promote their conception of the good most effectively whatever it turns out to be. #RandolphHarris 5 of 25

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The parties do not seek to confer benefits or to impose injuries on one another; they are not moved by affection or rancor. Nor do they try to gain relative to each other; they are not envious or vain. Put in terms of a game, we might say: they strive for as high an absolute score as possible. They do not wish a high or a low score for their opponents, nor do they seek to maximize or minimize the difference between their success and those of others. The idea of a game does not really apply, since the parties are not concerned to win but to get as many points as possible judged by their own system of ends. There is one further assumption to guarantee strict compliance. The parties are presumed to be capable of a sense of justice and this fact is public knowledge among them. This condition is to insure the integrity of the agreement made in the original position. It odes mean that in their deliberations the parties apply some particular conception of justice, for this would defeat the point of the motivation assumption. Rather, it means that the parties can rely on each other to understand and to act in accordance with whatever principles are finally agreed to. #RandolphHarris 6 of 25

Once principles are acknowledged the parties can depend on one another to conform to them. In reaching an agreement, then, they know that their undertaking is not in vain: their capacity for a sense of justice insures that the principles chosen will be respected. It is essential to observe, however, that this assumption still permits the consideration of human’s capacity to act on the various conception of justice. The general facts of human psychology and the principles of moral learning are relevant matters for the parties to examine. If a conception of justice is unlikely to generate it own support, or lacks stability, this fact must not be overlooked. For then a different conception of justice might be preferred. The assumption only says that the parties have a capacity for justice in a purely formal sense: taking everything relevant into account, including the general facts of moral psychology, the parties will adhere to the principles eventually chosen. They are rational in that they will not enter into agreements they know they cannot keep, or can do so only with great difficulty. Along with other considerations, they count the strains of commitment. #RandolphHarris 7 of 25

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Thus in assessing conceptions of justice the persons in the original position are to assume that the one they adopt will be strictly complied with. The consequences of the agreement are to be worked out on this basis. With the preceding remarks about rationality and motivation of the parties the description of the original position is for the most part complete. We can summarize this description with the following list of elements of the initial situation and their variation. (The asterisks mark the interpretations that constitute the original position.) 1. The Nature of the Parities: *a. continuing persons (family heads, or genetic lines), b. single individuals, c. associations (states, churches, or other corporate bodies). 2. Subject of Justice: *a. basic structure of society, b. rules of corporate associations, c. law of nations. 3. Presentation of Alternatives: *a. shorter (or longer) list, b. general characterization of the possibilities. 4. Time of Entry: *a. any time (during age of reason) for living persons, b. all actual persons (those alive at some time) simultaneously, c. all possible persons simultaneously. 5. Circumstances of Justice: *a Hume’s conditions of moderate scarcity, b. the above plus further extremes. 6. Formal conditions on Principles: *a. generality, universality, publicity, ordering, and finality, b. the above less publicity, say. #RandolphHarris 8 of 25

7. Knowledge and Beliefs: *a. veil of ignorance, b. full information, c. partial knowledge. 8. Motivation of the Parties: *a. mutual disinterestedness (limited altruism), b. elements of social solidarity and good will, c. perfect altruism. 9. Rationality: *a. taking effective means to ends wit unified expectations and objective interpretation of probability, b. as above but without unified expectation and using the principle of insufficient reason. 10. Agreement Condition: *a. unanimity in perpetuity, b. majority acceptance, or whatever, for limited period. 11. Compliance Condition: *a. strict compliance, b. partial compliance in various degree. 12. No Agreement Point: *a. general egoism, b. the state of nature. We can turn now to the choice of principles. However, first I shall mention a few misunderstandings to be avoided. First of all, we must keep in mind that the parties in the original position are theoretically defined individuals. The grounds for their consent are set out by the description of the contractual situation and the preference for primacy goods. Thus to say that the principles of justice would be adopted is to say how these persons would decide being moved in ways our account describes. #RandolphHarris 9 of 25

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Of course, when we try to conduct ourselves in moral argument as its constraints require, we will presumably find that our deliberations and judgments are influenced by our special inclinations and attitudes. Surely it will prove difficult to correct for our various preopensites and aversions in striving to adhere to the conditions of this idealized situation. However, none of the affects the contention that in the original position rational persons so characterized would make a certain decision. This proposition belongs to the theory of justice. It is another question how well human beings can assume this role in regulating their practical reasoning. Since the persons in the original position are assumed to take no interest in one another’s interests (although they may have a concern for third parties), it may be thought that justice as fairness is itself an egotistic theory. It is not, of course, one of the three forms of egoism mentioned earlier, but some may think, as Schopenhauer thought of Kant’s doctrine, that it is the egoistic nevertheless. Now this is a misconception. For the fact that in the original position the parties are characterized as not interested in one another’s concerns does not entail that persons in ordinary life who hold the principles that would be agreed to are similarly disinterested in one another. #RandolphHarris 10 of 25

Clearly the two principles of justice and the principles of obligation and natural duty require us to consider the rights and claims of others. And the sense of justice is a normally effective desire to comply with these restrictions. The motivation of the persons in the original position must not be confused wit the motivation of persons in everyday life who accept the principles that would be chosen and who have the corresponding sense of justice. In practical affairs an individual does have a knowledge of one’s situation and one can, if one wises, exploit contingencies to one’s advantage. Should one’s sense of justice move one to act on the principles of right that would be adopted in the original position, one’s desires and aims are surely not egoistic. One voluntarily takes on the limitations expressed by this interpretation of the moral point of view. This conclusion is supported by a further reflection. Once we consider the idea of a contract theory it is tempting to think that it will not yield the principles we want unless the parties are to some degree at least moved by benevolence, or an interest in one another’s interests. Perry, as I mentioned before, thinks of the right standards and decisions as those promoting the ends reached by reflective agreement under circumstances making for impartiality and good will. #RandolphHarris 11 of 25

Now the combination of mutual disinterest and the veil of ignorance achieves the same purpose as benevolence. For this combination of conditions forces each person in the original position to take the good of others into account. In justice as fairness, then, the effects of good will are brought about by several conditions working jointly. The feeling that this conception of justice is egoistic is an illusion fostered by looking at but one of the elements of the original position. Furthermore, this pair of assumptions has enormous advantages over that of benevolence plus knowledge. As I have noted, the latter is so complex that no definite theory at all can be worked out. Not only are the complications caused by so much information insurmountable, but the motivational assumption requires clarification. For example, what is the relative strength of benevolent desires? The combination of mutual disinterestedness plus the veil of ignorance has the merits of simplicity and clarity while at the same time insuring the effects of what are at first sight morally more attractive assumptions. #RandolphHarris 12 of 25

And if it is asked why one should not postulate benevolence with the veil of ignorance, the answer is that there is no need for so strong a condition. Moreover, I would defeat the purpose of grounding the theory of justice on weak stipulation, as well as being incongruous with the circumstances of justice. Finally, if the parties are conceived as themselves making proposals, they have n incentive to suggest pointless or arbitrary principles. For example, none would urge that special privileges be given to those exactly six feet talk or born on a sunny day. Nor would any one put forward the principle that basic rights should depend on the colour of one’s skin or the texture of one’s hair. No one can tell whether such principles would be to one’s advantage. Furthermore, each such principle is a limitation of one’s liberty of action, and such restrictions are not to be accepted without a reason. Certainly we might imagine peculiar circumstances in which these characteristics are relevant. Those born on a sunny day might be blessed with a happy temperament, and for some position of authority this might be a qualifying attribute. However, such distinctions would never be proposed in first principles, for these must have some rational connection with the advancement of human interests broadly defined. #RandolphHarris 13 of 25

The rationality of the parities and their situation in the original position guarantees that ethical principles and conceptions of justice have this general content. Inevitably, then, racial and gender discrimination presupposes that some hold a favoured place in the social system which they are willing to exploit to their advantage. From the standpoint of persons similarly situated in an initial situation which is fair, the principles of explicit racist doctrines are not only unjust. They are irrational. For this reason we could say that they are not moral conceptions at all, but simply means of suppression. They have no place on a reasonable list of traditional conceptions of justice. Of course, this contention is not all a matter of definition. It is rather a consequence of the conditions characterizing the original position, especially the condition of the rationality of the parities and the veil of ignorance. That conceptions of right have a certain content and exclude arbitrary and pointless principles is, therefore, an inference from the theory. The way of discipleship means that there is to be constant endeavour to live in the master’s mental atmosphere. Of course this can be done very feebly and only occasionally at first. Success depends not only on the pressure of perseverance but also on the sensitivity to thought-transference. #RandolphHarris 14 of 25

The aspirant who comes into the presence of someone who functions on a high moral and spiritual or philosophical level—and feels the attraction, charm, spell, influence, or force of one’s personality—can, after a sufficient time or association, be stimulated in development quite markedly. It is the case not only of benefiting by the other human’s words and copying one’s example, but also of directly experiencing the telepathic working of mind upon mind. If they believe in the genuineness and reality of telepathy—as they must if they believe philosophy at all—then they must accept our declaration that inner communion renders unnecessary the outer communion, that the sense of inner presence of the guide renders unnecessary one’s letters, visits, and other external signs. We know hat the mind can both project and receive thoughts. Telepathy becomes more and more a scientifically recognized fact. Where affinity harmony and preparation exist, the spiritual guide can project calming, uplifting, and spiritualizing mental waves to the spiritual aspirant. The silent wordless and unprepared hypnosis of a subject is factual pointer to the understanding of the silent wordless and telepathic influence of a disciple by one’s guide. #RandolphHarris 15 of 25

As the power of suggestion becomes dynamic in the hypnotist, so its higher octave, the power of grace, becomes dynamic in the spiritual guide. The mental waves can be transmitted from master to disciple, that spiritual peace can be reflected from the mind of one to the mind of the other, is not merely a new theory but really an old practice. It has been known and done in the Old World for thousands of years. The master’s work is carried on by word-of-mouth, by written statement, and by personal example. However, it cannot end with these methods, for they are all external ones. So it is continued by telepathic impulses, by inspirational impact, and by mental osmosis. These are internal ones. Such communication between the teacher and student might be called “Telementation.” Now I no longer believe that there are dimensions of personality that exist “in-themselves.” Id, ego, super-ego; self-concept, self-ideal, public selves; traits; derives and needs—these are the terms in which we have long thought of and described “personality”: “This individual is highly authoritarian or egalitarian; one has a strong ego or a weak one; one’s Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI is the most widely used and researched clinical assessment tool used by mental health professionals to help diagnose mental health disorders) scores are thus and such, et cetera.” #RandolphHaris 16 of 25

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This way of conceptualizing a person, whether as a whole or just some part of one, is no longer relevant or valid for me. After having tried out psychoanalytic, trait-theory, self-theory, and other kinds of theoretical models of humans, I have opted for a model that is no model or is a meta-model. It is one implicit in the philosophical tradition of existential phenomenology. According to this perspective, humans are the being that in one’s being, one being is in question. One’s being is inextricably linked with the World one experiences as real. Other people are part of this World. The being one discloses, shows to me, when I am in one mode of my being—impersonality, formality, and distant, reserved, playing the role of hard-nosed scientist—is different from the being one will show me when I am with one in the mode of invitational dialogue. One’s experience of one’s being and the being that one disclosed will differ with the context. One’s being-for-me will differ from one’s-being-for-oneself, one’s being-for-one’s bird, one’s teacher, one’s mother, the experimenter who studies one, and the guru whose help one may seek to transcend one’s personality traits or structure. There is a problem here: to dimensionalize and discover hierarchy here, a hierarchy of being. I suspect it is measurable objectively and subjectively in terms of “degrees of freedom.” #RandolphHarr is 17 of 25

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That is, a person may experience one’s being-for-one’s-bird as a freer, more authentic and expressive being than one’s being-for-one’s boss, or one’s spouse. A person chooses all modes and manifestations of one’s being. One cannot choose the initial impact on one’s experiential field of a shout, a blow, a promise, a sunset, a caress—all these things just affect one. However, one can effect various actions upon one’s experience once it has happened. One can blot it out, reconstrue it, project it, distort it, try to preserve it, or let it flow. One’s personality-for-others and one’s personality-for-oneself can embody a resolve to confine one’s experience and action to the limits of a procrustean mold. One can regard one’s experience as being without value and importance or as rich in value. If so, one is impersonating a robot; and one may experience oneself as such. A person can choose what of one’s experience one will disclose in words our behaviour (behaviour is meaningful disclosure too) to whoever is nearby. Indeed, we have begun to explore what one chooses to disclose to others, in words, behavior, or even in physiological messages; under what conditions; and to which others. #RandolphHarris 18 of 25

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In light of this research, I now suspect and challenge the validity (or at least generalizability) of all published psychology, including the psychology of human learning and of human personality. I suspect their validity, because the original data (which after all are disclosures) may have been gathered under conditions in which the person being studied neither knew nor trusted the experimenter to whom one showed one’s learning or traits. The experimenter does not know what experience of the subjects is embodied in the subjects’ behaviour. What the psychological scientist calls “data” is actually one mode in which the subjects disclose part of their being. There is a growing body of empirical data now to confirm the assertion that a person’s being for psychologist A may differ from one’s being for psychologist B. Perhaps we should subtitle each report of research: “S’s disclosure of learning, of traits, et cetera, for Dr. So-and-So.” In what follows, we shall actually be talking more about interpersonal conditions of independent learning, then about personality factors. The capacity to “go out of one’s mind” (to transcend one’s personality) seems to be one of the necessary conditions for independent learning, for learning-for-oneself. #RandolphHarris 19 of 25

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And so we are interested in who is able to invite a person out of one’s mind: who are the “psychedelic people,” and who is willing to accept the invitation? There may be a stable trait that could be isolated, that we might call “transcendence-readiness,” or “readiness to leave one’s personality.” Perhaps it persists in people, beyond childhood, through failures on the part of the commissars to get the child fully socialized. This is referred to as resistance to enculturation as one of the general traits of self-actualizing subjects, in whom peak experiences are not a rare occurrence. The peak experience, of course, entails a leaving of one’s mind, one’s usual personality. “Now behold, I will show unto you that they did not establish a king over the land; but in this same year, yea, the thirtieth year, they did destroy upon the judgment-seat, yea, did murder the chief judge of the land. And the people were divided one against another; and they did separate one from another into tribes, every human according to one’s family and one’s kindred and friends; and thus they did destroy the government of the land. And every tribe did appoint a chief or a leader over them; and thus they became tribes and leaders of tribes. Now behold, there was no man among them save he had much family and many kindreds and friends; therefore their tribes became exceedingly great. #RandolphHarris 20 of 25

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“Now all this was done, and there were no wars as yet among them; and all this iniquity had come upon the people because they did yield themselves unto the power of Satan. And the regulations of the government were destroyed, because of the secret combination of friends and kindreds of those who murdered the prophets. Ans they did cause a great contention in the land, insomuch that the more righteous part of the people had nearly become wicked; yea, there were but a few righteous humans among them. And thus six years had not passed away since the more part of the people had turned from their righteousness, like the dog to his vomit, or like the sow to her wallowing in the mire. Now this secret combination, which had brought so great iniquity upon the people, did gather themselves together, and did place at their head a man whom they did call Jacob; and they did call him their king; therefore he became a king over this wicked band; and he was one of the chiefest who has given his voice against the prophets who testified of Jesus. And it came to pass that they were not so strong in number as the tribes of the people, who were untied together save it were their leaders did establish their laws, every one according to one’s tribe. #RandolphHarris 21 of 25

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“Nevertheless they were enemies; notwithstanding they were not a righteous people, yet they were united in the hated of those who had entered into a covenant to destroy the government. Therefore, Jacob seeing that their enemies were re numerous than they, he being the kind of the band, therefore he commanded his people that they should take their light into the northernmost part of the land, and there build up unto themselves a kingdom, until they were joined by dissenters, (for he flattered them that there would be many dissenters) and they become sufficiently strong to content with the tribes of the people’ and they did so. And so speedy was their march that it could not be impeded until they have gone forth out of the reach of the people. And thus ended the thirtieth year; and thus were the affairs of the people Nephi. And it came to pass in the thirty and first year that there were divided into tribes, every human according to one’s family, kindred and friends; nevertheless they had come to an agreement that they would not go to war one with another; but they were not untied as to their laws, and their manner of government, for they were established according to the minds of those who were their chiefs and their leaders. #RandolphHarris 22 of 25

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“However, they did establish very strict laws that one tribe should not trespass against another, insomuch that in some degree they had peace in the land; nevertheless, their hearts were turned from the Lord their God, and they did stone the prophets and did cast them out from among them. And it came to pass that Nephi—having been visited by Angels and also the voice of the Lord, therefore having seen Angels, and being eye-witness, and having had power given unto him that he might know concerning the ministry of Christ, and also being eye-witness to their quick return from righteousness unto their wickedness and abominations; therefore, being grieved from the hardness of their hearts and the blindness of their minds—went forth among them in that same year, and began to testify, boldly, repentance, and remission of sins through faith on the Lord Jesus Christ. And he did minister many things unto them; and all of them cannot be written, and a part of them would not suffice, therefore they are not written in this book. And Nephi did minister with power and with great authority. And it came to pass that they were angry with him, even because he had great power than they, for it were not possible that they could disbelieve his words, for so great was his faith on the Lord Jesus Christ that Angels did minister unto him daily. #RandolphHarris 23 of 25

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“And in the name of Jesus did he cast out devils and unclean spirits; and even his brother did he raise from the dead, after he had been stoned and suffered death by the people. And the people saw it, and did witness of it, and were angry with him because of his power; and he did also do many more miracles, in the sight of the people, in the name of Jesus. And it came to pass that the thirty and first year did pass away, and there were but a few who were converted unto the Lord; but as many as were converted did truly signify unto the people that they had been visited by the power and Spirit of God, which was in Jesus Christ, in whom they believed. And as many as had devils cast out from them, and were healed of their sickness and their infirmities, did truly manifest unto the people that they had been wrought upon by the Spirit of God, and had been healed; and they did show forth signs also and did do some miracles among the people. Thus passed away the thirty and second year also. And Nephi did cry unto the people in the commencement of the thirty and third year; and he did preach unto them repentance and remission of sins. Now I would have you to remember also, that there were none who were brought unto repentance were not baptized with water. #RandolphHarris 24 of 25

“Therefore, there were ordained of Nephi, men unto this ministry that all such as should come unto them should be baptized with water, and this as a witness and a testimony before God, and unto the people, that they had repented and received a remission of their sins. And there were many in the commencement of this year that were baptized unto repentance; and thus the more part of the year did pass away,” reports 3 Nephi 7.1-26. Hail to You, God, as you rise the Sun in the East, scattering before You the terrors of the night as a shark among fish. No mere shark you are, though: a young Divine Being, roaring through the sky, blazing eagerly int the tasks of the day. Enshrine me, young Lord; suit me for the task ahead. O Lord, open Thou my lips and my mouth shall declare Thy praise. Praised art Thou, O Lord our God and Gd of our fathers, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, mighty, revered and exalted God. Thou bestowest lovingkindness and possesses all things. Mindful of the patriarchs’ love for Thee, Thou wilt in Thy love bring a redeemer to their children’s children for the sake of Thy name. O King, Thou Helper, Redeemer and Shield, be Thou praised, O Lord, Shield of Abraham. Thou, O Lord, art mighty forever. Thou callest the dead to immortal life for Thou art mighty in deliverance. #RandolphHarris 25 of 25


Cresleigh Homes

This single story home boats an ideal layout with 2,427 square feet, of thoughtfully designed living space, three bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a three car garage.
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You do not need to glance at that yin-yang painting to know that this #BrightonStation Residence 2 features harmonious, feel-good designs. 😍


Head to our website to view virtual tours of the homes at #CresleighRanch. Link in bio. https://cresleigh.com/brighton-station/residence-2/

Charming style and well-designed, contemporary touches, with some traditional appeal, all beautifully illuminated by large window displays. The gourmet, well-equipped kitchen features a center island with breakfast bar for casual dining, ample counter and cabinet space, and a convenient butler’s pantry, and spacious walk-in pantry. 

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