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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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
“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
“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
“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
“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
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Uneasy Lies the Head that Wears a Crown for He Hath Eaten Me Out of House and Home!
The rules seem to be these: if you have written a successful novel, everyone invites you to write short stories. If you have written some good short stories, everyone wants you to write a novel. However, nobody wants anything until you have already proved yourself by being published somewhere else. Western civilization is for the first time in its history in danger of dying. The reason is spiritual. It is losing its life, its soul; that soul is the Christian faith. If the means used to achieve it ultimately contribute to the marginalization of the church and her message, the Devil will allow short-term success in evangelism and church growth. By eschewing the role of reason in evangelism, and substituting in its place an overemphasis on a simple gospel appeal directed at felt needs, short-term gains are to be expected in a culture of empty selves. However, who can deny that while our numbers have grown, our impact has not been proportionate to our numbers? There is too much at stake for this situation to continue. What is needed is a rethinking of the very nature of evangelism, more specifically, of the role of reasoning and argument in the way we do evangelism. First Peter 3.15 commands us to be ready to give a reasoned defense to someone who asks us for a credible reason why we believe what we do. #RandolphHarris 1 of 23
Jude 1.3 admonished us to “contend earnestly” for the faith. “Contend earnestly” carries with it the idea of engaging in a contest, a struggle, a conflict, or a debate by the pious in the heroic struggle for religious truth, justice, and virtue. The term clearly includes the idea of an intellectual struggle, an idea also expressed by Paul when he said spiritual warfare involves “destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,” reports 2 Corinthians 10.5. Spiritual warfare is a struggle with persons, demonic and human, and the primary way persons influence other persons is through the ideas they get other to accept. Thus, intellectual tools and reasoning are an important part, though not the whole of spiritual warfare. The other primary components are spiritual preparedness, discernment, courage, and wisdom. We see examples of apologetics everywhere in the Scriptures. In Acts, Paul argued, reasoned, presented evidence, and tried rationally to persuade others to become Christians. “People, why are you doing this? We too are only human, human like you. We are brining you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made Heaven and Earth and sea and everything in them. In the past, he let all nations go their own way. #RandolphHarris 2 of 23
“Yet, he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from Heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy,” reports Acts 14.15-17. “As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. ‘This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ,’ he said. Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women,” reports Acts 17.2-4. “They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household,” reports Acts 16.31. “Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade the Jews and Greeks,” reports Acts 18.4. “Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. However, some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and has discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. God did extraordinary miracles through Paul,” reports Acts 19.8-11. #RandolphHarris 3 of 23
Paul brought to center stage the truth and reasonableness of the gospel, not the fact that it addresses felt needs. Though both are important, there is a clear Pauline emphasis placed on the former. Jesus Christ Himself regularly engaged in logical debate and rational augment with false, destructive ideologies in His culture, and on several occasions He told people to believe in Him, not simply on the basis of His words, but because of the evidence of His miracles. In this way, Jesus and Paul were continuing a style of persuasion peppered throughout the Old Testament prophets. Regularly, the prophets appealed to evidence to justify belief in the Biblical God or in the divine authority of their inspired message: fulfilled prophecy, the historical fact of miracle, the inadequacy of finite pagan deities to be a cause of such a large, well-ordered Universe compared to God of the Bible, and so forth. They did not say, “God said it, that settles it, you should believe it!” They provided a rational defense for their claims. It is sometimes said that Genesis does not try to “prove” the existence of God, it merely assumes it. However, this is inaccurate. True, Genesis does not argue against atheism because atheism was not a major ideology among the pagan nations surrounding Moses and Israel. #RandolphHarris 4 of 23
However, those nations did believe in fickle, finite, immoral deities. In fact, a widespread pagan belief was the idea that each spring the gods copulated, their seed fell to the ground, and that was why crops sprouted and grew each year. Based on that belief, yearly pagan rituals included frenzied orgies to induce the gods to copulate and insure a new season of crops. Genesis takes this view to task and presents a testable claim: The God of Israel delegated to living things the intrinsic power to reproduce after their own kinds, an odd and foreign idea to the nations of the ancient Mideast. However, this claim carried with it a test. If the pagans ceased their orgies, then no crops would grow if their view were correct and the gods needed inducement to copulate. However, if the biblical view were correct, crops would continue to arise. The secret to the peace of God, as great apprentices of Jesus have long known, being abandoned to God, the person who is heartily abandoned to God knows that all shall be well because God is in charge of one’s life. My peace is the greatness of God. Because He, who not only loves me but is Love, is so great, I live beyond harm in His hands; and there is nothing that can happen to me that will not turn out to my good. Nothing. That is what Romans 8.28 really means. #RandolphHarris 5 of 23
Because of this, “Thu wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee,” the ancient texts read in Isaiah 26.3. It makes supreme sense, therefore, that I should accept Paul’s instruction to “be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus,” reports Philippians 4.6-7. The greatness and love of Gd forms my peace, and at the same time, my love and joy. Job had many worrisome questions in the midst of his troubled life. However, when he beheld God, they simply did not matter and no longer seemed to need answering. He did not raise a single one of the questions he earlier had wanted to press upon God. “I know that you can do all things; no plans of your can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes,” reports Job 42.2-6. Job was not bullied into silence by God coming to him, but really saw the all-sufficiency of God to his life and his soul. And this brought love, joy, and peace to him at one stoke. #RandolphHarris 6 of 23
The original position is a central feature of John Rawl’s social contract account of justice. The original position is designed to be a fair and impartial point of view that is to be adopted in our reasoning about fundamental principles of justice. In taking up this point of view, we are to imagine ourselves in the position of free and equal persons who jointly agree upon and commit themselves to principles of social and political justice. The main distinguishing feature of the original position is “the veil of ignorance”: to insure impartiality of judgment, the parties are deprived of all knowledge of their personal characteristics and social and historical circumstances. They do know of certain fundamental interests they all have, plus general fact about psychology, economics, biology, and others social and natural sciences. The parties in the original position are presented with a list of the main conceptions of justice drawn from the tradition of social and political philosophy, and are assigned the task of choosing from among these alternatives the best conception of justice that best advances their interests in establishing conditions that enable them to effectively pursue their final ends and fundamental interests. #RandolphHarris 7 of 23
The only particular facts which the parities know is that their society is subject to the circumstances of justice and whatever this implies. It is taken for granted, however, that they know the general facts about human society. They understand political affairs and the principles of economic theory; they know the basis of social organization and the laws of human psychology. Indeed, the parties are presumed to know whatever general facts affect the choice of the principles of justice. There are no limitations on general information, that is, on general laws and theories, since conception of justice must be adjusted to the characteristics of the system of social cooperation which they are to regulate, and there is no reason to rule out these facts. Given the principles of moral learning, humans develop a desire to act in accordance with its principles. In this case a conception of justice is stable. The veil of ignorance insures not only that the information available is relevant, but that it is at all times the same. We can, to make the circumstances more vivid, imagine that the parties are required to communicate with each other through a referee as intermediary, and that one is to announce which alternatives have been suggested and the reasons offered in their support. #RandolphHarris 8 of 23
One forbids the attempt to form coalitions, and one informs the parties when they have come to an understanding. However, such a referee is actually superfluous, assuming that the deliberations of the parties must be similar. Justice between generations is resolved by altering the motivation assumptions. However, with this adjustment no one is able to formulate principles especially designed to advance one’s own cause. Whatever one’s temporal position, each is forced to choose for everyone. The right course of action is characterized as that which best advanced social aims as these would be formulated by reflective agreement given that the parties have full knowledge of the circumstances and are moved by a benevolent concern for one another’s interest. No effort s made, however, to specify in any precise way the possible outcomes of this sort of agreement. I do not wish here to criticize others; rather, I want to explain the necessity for what may seem at times like so many irrelevant details. If the original position is to yield agreements that are just, the parties must be fairly situated and treated equally as moral persons. The arbitrariness of the World must be corrected by adjusting the circumstances of the initial contractual situation. #RandolphHarris 9 of 23
A conception of justice based on unanimity in these circumstances would indeed be weak and trivial. However, once knowledge is excluded, the requirement of unanimity is not out of place and the fact that it can be satisfied is of great importance. It enables us to say of the preferred conception of justice that it represents a genuine reconciliation of interests. We created the problem of independent learning by the way we taught and trained people to the social roles awaiting them in social structure that resists change. Pedagogues, parents, people in general, invalidated the experience of learners and shut down their capacity to experience wonder and fascination. We created the problem, and it haunts us because, not because “behavioral scientists have expanded our conceptions of human potential by recasting the image of human beings; no, the problem haunts us because we find ourselves at the end of our tether. We are running in circles at its limit. The tether is firmly fixed to a peculiar debasement of once magnificent image—the American Way of Life. Originally revolutionary and dynamic in conception, the American Way of Life is now a design for living that more and more Americans cannot live, without the assistance of tranquilizers and the threats of the ubiquitous commissars. #RandolphHarris 10 of 23
Yet, all the time, we advertise this way of life abroad, and try to sell it as we sell bathroom hygiene paper and Buicks, with hidden persuaders. What is independent learning? No authoritative definitions are available. However, what an observer might call independent learning—learning for oneself—the learning experiences as fascinations with some aspect of the Word, envisioned in the mode of possibility, that is in imagination. Independent learning is the embodiment and implementation of imaginative fascination. Some aspect of the World discloses itself to a person. One flips from the experiential mode of perception to an imaginative consciousness; and one experiences oneself as beckoned, challenged, invited, fascinated, by the possibility. The transmutation of this possibility into an actuality then becomes the dominant project of one’s life. One lives it, and one lives for it. The person in who fascination has been turned on, or awakened, suffers a divine discontent, a magnificent obsession. If others live the individual alone, one will wallow in one’s obsession. One will forget to eat, sleep, play, socialize, or do anything else until one has brough one’s image of possibility into actuality, or lies nurturing the wounds from one’s fumbling, awaiting recovery to renew the onslaught. Then, one may again show an interest in other kinds doing. #RandolphHarris 11 of 23
However, in the midst of one’s learning rampage, one is far from being well-rounded, socially adjusted; in fact one departs hugely from current images of how people should be. Indeed, the turned-on learner needs to be protected from other people, from self-consciousness, from the need to conform to images, from distractions, and from serious self-destructions as one contemplates and absorbs oneself in the encounter with one’s fetish—they mystery or the missing skill. When one is thus turned on, no badly-written text, no stuttering teacher can be an obstacle or a deterrent, so long as they embody some of the knowledge that has become the life quest just then. “This book or that teacher has something I want just now. I will get it out of them somehow!” Independent learning arises when our present existence has reached an impasse, when our experience has gone stale. The project of “staying the same” has lost its meaning, and so the person seeks “a new interest in life.” If one finds one, and one lets oneself be addressed by it, one become possessed of the divine madness. The burden and dilemma that were one’s existence have now been thrown off. One’s existence is now the quest. One is turned on. One will not be diverted. One may appear ruthless as one pursues one’s quest. One cannot be bored by it though one may bore others by one’s talk of it. #RandolphHarris 12 of 23
This state of being, of being involved, of experiencing new possibilities of meaning of one’s life, of being engaged in their fulfillment—this is what I am construing as independent learning. It entails transcending the past—past involvements and interests, social pressure; in short, it is a matter of detachment and liberation from the momentum and inertia of previous ways of being, behaving, and experiencing. The fascinated questing of which I speak can be evoked in a number of ways. It may occur of itself in someone who is desperate enough, whose life has been enlightened. It seems to occur spontaneously in young children before they have been socialized. More commonly, when it does occur, it happens through a relationship between and entrapped person and some other who functions as one’s guru and exemplar—someone who offers a pseudo psychedelic encounter. Indeed, the guru may assist the process of liberation from previous attachments by helping the person experience more keenly the degree to which one feels trapped. The capacity to become fascinated may be impossible until some level of disengagement from usual concerns, ways, and commitments has been reached. Or, the one who is to be the guru may function as a tempter—one’s way of life may excite envy and admiration. #RandolphHarris 13 of 23
One’s serenity or one’s enthusiasm may evoke curiosity. One may appear to be having more fun, living more fully, experiencing more. Or one may disclose images of possibility that attract the attention of the bored, unfulfilled seeker, who them becomes fascinated and subsequently experiences one’s previous involvements as obstacles to one’s pursuit of new meaning and experience. Whatever the occasion for being thus turned on, it is this fascinated engagement with an image of possibility that I define as independent learning. We might call it awakening or inspiration, but it is always intentional—that is, it is always related to something in the World; it is always awakening to something, being inspirited by and for something, fascinated with something. And it is embodied; that is, the person lives and acts one’s experience of awakening. In principle, the turned-on state, which is experienced by the person as different from one’s usual, repetitive experience, should appear different to the other person. We thus have the possibility of a psychology, a physiology, even an epidemiology and sociology, of being turned on. #RandolphHarris 14 of 23
It is to part of this possibility, an exploration or relationships between personality factors and being turned on. Too many disciples commit the fault of being too demanding and too possessive in their attitude towards the teacher. In the end they become a burden, a liability, or even a nuisance to one. They ought to give one devotion, yes; they ought to think often of one for inspiration and guidance; but they ought not to turn themselves into emotional parasites who are unable to live on their own vitality at all. The eagerness to surrender every responsibility, every decision, every care to a spiritual guide—which is so prominent in the Old World—is only praiseworthy in some cases. In others, it is neurotic and infantile, an attempt to secure indulgent pity, protection, and gregarious support despite the fact that childhood has been physically outgrown. To take it as a sign of advancement, and to use it as an excuse to evade pressing work of self-reform and self-discipline, is deplorable. A calm trust in the human’s leadership is one thing, but a hysterical clinging devotion to one’s personality is another. So it is good for people to be independent learners. For one who turns oneself into a burden to one’s teacher by shrinking one’s own responsibilities and throwing them on one’s teacher, is being selfish as well as weak. #RandolphHarris 15 of 23
Whoever does not understand that the guide must lead one to where one will seek one’s own way, will go on endlessly looking for teachers, one after the other, or else become a spiritual hypochondriac, a semi-invalid needing the guru-doctor to dance constantly in attendance on one’s ego-centered symptoms. It may be that the effort to imitate one’s master will enable the disciple to excel oneself. If one is willing to accept the gift of Grace, which a true teacher is forever bearing, through your prior willingness to give one your faith and devotion, and to give it not because one want it or anything else for oneself but because one is a purified channel for God’s power, then you may expect to see the past wiped out as sins are forgiven and the future made brighter as new energies are born in you. “And now it came to pass that the people of the Nephites did all return to their own lands in the twenty and sixth year, every human, with one’s family, one’s flocks, and one’s herds, one’s horses, and one’s cattle, and all things whatsoever did belong unto them. And it came to pass that they had not eaten up all their provisions; therefore they did take with them all that they had not devoured, of all their grain of every kind, and their gold, and their sliver, and all their precious things, and they did return to their own lands and their possessions, both on the north and on the south, both on the land northward and on the land southward. #RandolphHarris 16 of 23
“And they granted unto those robbers who had entered into a covenant to keep the peace of the land, who were desirous to remain Lamanites, lands, according to their numbers, that they might have, with their labours, wherewith to subsist upon; and thus they did establish peace in all the land. And they began again to prosper and to wax great; and the twenty and sixth and seventh years passed away, and there was great order in the land; and they had formed their laws according to equity and justice. And now there was nothing in all the land to hinder the people from prospering continually, except they should fall into transgression. And now it was Gidigiddoni, and the judge, Lachoneus, and those who had been appointed leaders, who has established this great peace in the land. And it came to pass that there were many cities built anew, and there were many old cities repaired. And there were many highways cast up, and many roads made which led from city to city, and from land to land, and from place to place. And thus passes away the twenty and eight year, and the people had continual peace. #RandolphHarris 17 of 23
“However, it came to pass in the twenty and nineth year there began to be some disputings among the people’ and some were lifted up unto pride and boastings because of their exceedingly great riches, yea, even unto great persecutions; for there were many merchants in the land, and also many lawyers, and many officers. And the people began to be distinguished by ranks, according to their riches and their chances for learning; yea, some were ignorant because of their poverty, and others did receive great learning because of their riches. Some were lifted up in pride, and others were exceedingly humble; some did return railings for railing, while others would receive railing and persecution and all manner of afflictions, and would not turn and revile again, but were humble and penitent before God. And thus there became a great inequality in all the land, insomuch that the church began to be broken up; yea, insomuch that in the thirtieth year the church was broken up in all the land save it were among a few of the Lamanites who were converted unto the true faith; and they would not depart from it, for immovable, willing with all diligence to keep the commandments of the Lord. #RandolphHarris 18 of 23
“Now the cause of this iniquity of the people was this—Satan had great power, unto the stirring up of the people to do all manner of iniquity, and to the puffing them up with pride, tempting them to seek for power, and authority, and riches, and the vain things of the World. And thus Satan did lead away the hearts of the people to do all manner of iniquity; therefore they had enjoyed peace but a few years. And thus, in the commencement of the thirtieth year—the people having been delivered up for the space of a long time to be carried about by the temptations of the devil whithersoever he desired to carry them and to do whatsoever iniquity he desired they should—and thus in the commencement of this, the thirtieth year, they were in a state of awful wickedness. Now they did not sin ignorantly, for they knew the will of God concerning them, for it had been taught unto them; therefore they did willfully rebel against God. And now it was in the days of Lachoneus, the son of Lachoneus, for Lachoneus did fill the seat of his father and did govern the people that year. And there began to be humans inspired from Heaven and sent forth standing among the people in all the land, preaching and testifying boldly of the sins and iniquities of the people. #RandolphHarris 19 of 23
“And they were testifying unto them concerning the redemption which the Lord would make for his people, or in other words, the resurrection of Christ; and they did testify boldly of his death and sufferings. Now there were many of the people who were exceedingly angry because of those who testified of these things; and those wo were angry were chiefly the chief judges, and they who had been high priests and lawyers; yea, all those who were lawyers were angry with those who testified of these things. Now there was no lawyer nor judge nor high priest that could have power to condemn any one to death save their condemnation was signed by the governor of the land. Now there were many of those who testified of the things pertaining to Christ who testified boldly, who were taken and put to death secretly by the judges, that the knowledge of their death came not unto the governor of the land until after death. Now behold, this was contrast to the laws of the land, that any human should be put to death except they had a power from the governor of the land. #RandolphHarris 20 of 23
“Therefore a complaint came up unto the land of Zarahemla, to the governor of the land, against these judges who had condemned the prophets of the Lord unto death, not according to the law. Now it came to pass that those judges had many friends and kindreds; and the remainder, yea, even almost all the lawyers and the high priests, did gather themselves together, and unite with the kindreds of those judges who were to be tried according to the law. And they did enter into a covenant one with another, yea, even into that covenant which was given by them of old, which covenant was given and administered by the devil, to combine against all righteousness. Therefore they did combine against the people of the Lord, and enter int a covenant to destroy them, and to deliver those who were guilty of murder from the grasp of justice, which was about to be administered according to the law. And they did set at defiance the law and the rights of their country; and they did covenant one with another to destroy the governor, and to establish a king over the land, that the land should no more be at liberty but should be subject unto the kings,” reports 3 Nephi 6.1-30. Dear Lord in Heaven, you have retuned the Sun, as I knew you would, for this is your part in the ways of things. #RandolphHarris 21 of 23
God, you have your role, and you play it well. I ask that you please inspire me to do the same: to know the right thing to do and to do it with passion and joy and honour. Bless, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy whole Clergy, that they may handle Thy holy things with holiness, and be pleasing to Thee Whoa art our Priest for ever. O Lord, without Whom our labour is but lost, and with Whom Thy little ones go forth as the mighty; please be present to all works in Thy Church which are undertaken according to Thy will, (especially in Sacramento, California USA), and please grant to Thy labourers a pure intention, patient faith, sufficient success upon Earth, and the bliss of serving Thee in Heaven; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Lord Jesus Christ, our sympathizing Saviour, Who for humans didst bear that Agony and the Cross; please draw Thou near to Thy suffering servant, in their pain of body or trouble of mind (especially in Sacramento, California USA) please hallow all their crosses in this life, and crown them hereafter where all tears are wiped away; where with the Father we can sing praises. Merciful and faithful Most Priest, Who didst deign for us to be tempted of Satan; please make speed to assist Thy servants who are assaulted by manifold temptations; and as Thou knowest their several infirmities, let each one to find Thee mighty to save, Who livest, as a young God, a young warrior. #RandolphHarris 22 of 23
God, please rise into the sky as into a battle, dispelling the darkness that has covered the World, putting to flight the fears of the night. Have mercy, O compassionate Father, on all who are hardened through the deceitfulness of sin; vouchsafe them grace to come to themselves, the will and power to return to Thee, and the loving welcome of Thy forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Almighty and everliving God, Who hast given us the Christian Faith of Christ for a light to our feet amid the darkness of this World; please have pity upon all who, by doubting or denying it, are gone astray from the path of safety; please bring home the Truth to their hearts, and grant them to receive it as little children; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. God has given birth to you again; again you climb the sky, again you reach for your glory, again I stand here to praise you. The sacred path is fulfilled, things are as they should be. Jesus Christ, herald of the right way, I praise you! Amazing! Wonderful! Every morning, again and again You make life amazing! Wonderful! #RandolphHarris 23 of 23
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The Learner Has the Need and the Capacity to Assume Responsibility for One’s Own Continuing Learning!
The system has not failed—but some of us have failed the system. Do not become the problems instead of the solution to the problem. Recent insights from the behavioral sciences have expanded our conceptions of human potential through a re-casting of the image of the human—from passive, reactive recipient to an active, seeking, autonomous, and reflective being. What are the implications of this impelling new image for our concern with human the learner? Educators are giving increased attention to implementing in practice the recognition that the learner has both the capacity and the need to assume responsibility for one’s continuing learning. However, the real question is here is what do humans learn and for whom? Learning is not a task; it is a way to be in the World. Humans learn as they purse their goals and projects that have meaning for them. Humans are always learning something. Perhaps the key to the problem of independent learning lies in the phrase, “The learner has the need and the capacity to assume responsibility for one’s own continuing learning.” That is one phrase that will help wide unclasp the table of their thoughts. These same thoughts—people, the little World. #RandolphHarris 1 of 22
It may well be that those who train young people in the ways of their group (a most necessary task) have overshot the mark; they have trained youngster to believe that they cannot, dare not, learn anything without a trainer close at hand. The only safe and good learning is learning-for-the trainer. And the youngsters, being human, independently learned something meaningful to them; namely, that it is dangerous or futile to become interested in something, to learn for oneself. It is only safe to learn for the teacher’s or for society’s approval. One set of image-molders, the teachers, have been commissioned by social leaders to shape youngsters to the acquiescent mode. They implement this commission by invalidating a child’s experience of spontaneous curiosity and fascination with aspects of the World. They insist one learn only when and what one is taught. One must learn for others. The teachers and parents have robbed children of their autonomy—their capacity to experience amazement, wonder, and fascination—by invalidating it whenever it appears. Then, they look at their product and find it wanting; they produced a Golem, a humanoid, a “dependent learning.” Now we are asked to breathe life into it. #RandolphHarris 2 of 22
We are caught on the horns of a dilemma. Children must be shown the ways of their group; they must be taught and trained. However, if they are to experience their lives as meaningful, and if the society in which they live is to grow and change, they must also be able to transcend this training and learn for themselves. The question is, how is it possible to reconcile the contradiction between teaching children for society and letting them learn for themselves, such that children can serve their society without a loss of freedom and capacity to go beyond what they have been taught? This is the same problem, write large, that every serious teacher—of piano, of art, of math, or English, of Science, of History, of woodshop, of psychotherapy, or even of teaching—faces: how can one teach a pupil in the fundamental techniques of this art without producing a mere technician? In any of these arts, we wish the learner to commit oneself, to be willing to struggle for objectives beyond mastery of exercises and technique (learning experienced as “for-the-teacher”) and even beyond current goals. We hope one will week to make actual one’s own image (not one’s teacher’s image) of beautiful music, pictures, woodworks, healthy personalities, or independent learners. #RandolphHarris 3 of 22
If the teacher has been effective, one will have shown one’s pupil that techniques are no more than a beginner’s set of tools, to be used up to the point that an impasse is reached. Then, the trust scholar, the involved therapist, the committed teacher (committed to one’s own image of ultimate goals, not means), gropes and leaps into the unknown, exercising that courage that is not devoid of fear and trembling, to invent or discover new means to further one’s project of actualizing the image. If the old versions of the ultimate goals have lost meaning, the pupil will envision new embodiments of them. Your must play the teacher to yourself. One cannot tread the path for you: you must walk and work by your own effort. The mother cannot grow up on behalf of the child, no matter how greatly she loves it. The adept cannot do your growing-up for you. Nature’s laws must prevail. One has shown you the way; use your will to follow it. However, devote a little time each day to keeping open the channel of communication with your teacher and thus receive one’s impetus, one’s inspiration to help you. So although you must strive by your own use of free will, do not imagine that you need to strive unassisted. #RandolphHarris 4 of 22
Working along the line that the teacher found suitable for oneself, slavishly and artificially trying to produce a copy of one, will in the end not even produce that but a caricature instead. For only the teacher’s bodily acts will be imitated; one’s Spirit is invisible and therefore cannot be imitated. Why should anyone copy another’s artwork? Why should Whistler paint pictures in the same way that Gainsborough did? Whistler remained loyal to one’s own conceptions. Why then, going further, copy another’s lifestyle? We may honour a master’s inspirations but yet express our own in our individual way. It is true that followers have no right to burden the teacher with their personal problems, that they should learn bravely to shoulder their difficulties and not pass them on to one. Yet human nature is weak, the teacher kindly. What they may do without taxing one’s strength is to place the problem before one in prayer, thought, or meditation silently, and nor in letter or interview. If they will keep their distresses, troubles, or indecisions to themselves in this way, such reticence will not be to their loss. When an aspirant plagues a teacher too frequently or on too trivial matters, it is indeed a sign of neuroticism. Such conduct is quite suited to children but not to adults. #RandolphHarris 5 of 22
Every person must come to terms with who they are now. It reveals too egocentric a person, one who is unwilling to bring the stage of novice to an end because the dependence on another person is more comforting and much easier than endeavouring to settle one’s own little problems. One must learn to speak, move, and even experience the World in the given ways, those deemed right and sane where one lives. It is not easy. It takes a long time. The temptation to stary is strong. Commissars stand close, to insure each person conforms to one’s prescribed position and role. Once a human masters the rules of the social “games,” what then? One plays the games so long as they yield meaningful rewards and the rewards of meaning. Ultimately, the games become confining, boring, even strangling. The person may then wish to opt out, but one cannot—there re no other games to play. So one may become sick. Then, one is patched up by doctors who pronounce one healed, and they send one back into the game. If one seeks to transcend the given, for new realms of experience, one threatens the sleep of the unawakened. They condemn and invalidate one. So one gives up and becomes “normal,” or else seeks a richer experience in private, the while impersonating a typical person. #RandolphHarris 6 of 22
It should be made clear that dramatic and directive dominance are dramaturgical terms and that performers wo have positions of visible leadership are often merely figureheads, selected as a compromise, or as a way of neutralizing a potentially threatening position, or as a way of strategically concealing the power behind the front and hence the power behind the power behind the front. So also, whenever inexperienced or temporary incumbents are given formal authority over experienced subordinates, we often find that the formally empowered person is bribed with a part that has dramatic dominance while the subordinates tend to direct the show. Since we all participate on teams we must all carry within ourselves something of the sweet guilt of conspirators. And since each team is engaged in maintaining the stability of some definitions of the situation, concealing or playing down certain facts in order to do this, we can expect the performer to live out one’s conspiratorial career in some furtiveness. A basic problem for many performances, then, is that of information control; the audience must not acquire destructive information about the situation that is being defined for them. In other words, a term must be able to keep its secrets and have its secrets kept. #RandolphHarris 7 of 22
There are what are sometimes called “dark” secrets. These consist of facts about a team which it knows and conceals and which are incompatible with the image of self that the team attempts to maintain before its audience. Dark secrets are, of course, double secrets: one is the crucial fact that is hidden and another is the fact that crucial facts have not been openly admitted. There are also what might be called “strategic” secrets. These pertain to intentions and capacities of a team which it conceals from its audience in order to prevent them from adapting effectively to the state of affairs the team is planning to being about. Strategic secrets are the ones that businesses and armies employ in designing future actions against the opposition. So long as a team makes no pretense of being the sort of team that does not have strategic secrets, its strategic secrets need not be dark ones. Yet it is to be noted that even when the strategic secrets of a team are not dark ones, still the disclosure or discovery of such secrets disrupts the team’s performance, for suddenly and unexpectedly the team finds it useless and foolish to maintain the care, reticence, and studied ambiguity of action that was required prior to loss of its secrets. #RandolphHarris 8 of 22
It may be added that secrets that are merely strategic tend to be ones which the team eventually discloses, performance, when action based upon secret preparations is consummated, whereas an effort may be made to keep dark secrets secret forever. It may also be added that information is often held back not because of its known strategic importance but because it is felt that it may someday acquire such importance. Thirdly, there are what might be called “inside” secrets. These are ones whose possession marks an individual as being a member of a group and help the group feel separate and different from those individuals who are not in the know. Inside secrets give objective intellectual content to subjectively felt social distance. Almost all information in a social establishment has something of the exclusion function and may be seen as none of somebody’s business. Inside secrets may have little strategic importance and may not be very dark. When this is the case, such secrets may be discovered or accidentally disclosed without radically disrupting the team performance; the performance need only shift their secret delight to another matter. Of course, secret that are strategic and/or dark serve extremely well as inside secrets and we find, in fact, that the strategic and dark character of secrets is often exaggerated for this reason. #RandolphHarris 9 of 22
Interestingly enough, the leaders of a social group are sometimes faced with a dilemma regarding important strategic secrets. Those in the group who are not brought in on the secret will feel excluded and affronted when the secret finally comes to light; on the other hand, the greater the number of persons who are brought in on the secret, the greater the likelihood of intentional or unintentional disclosure. The knowledge that one team can have of another’s secrets provides us with two other types of secrets. First, there re what might be called “entrusted” secrets This is the kind which the possessor is obliged to keep because of one’s relation to the team to which the secret refers. If an individual who is entrusted with a secret is to be the person one claims one is, one must keep the secret, even thought it is not a secret about oneself. Thus, for example, when a lawyer discloses the improprieties of one’s clients, two quite different performances are threatened: the client’s show of innocence to the court, and the lawyer’s show of trustworthiness to one’s client. It may also be noted that a team’s strategic secrets, whether dark or not, are likely to be the entrusted secrets of the individual members of the team, for each member of the team is likely to present oneself to one’s teammates as someone who is loyal to them. #RandolphHarris 10 of 22
Since time immemorial, each society had secretly harbored “gurus.” These wise humans have been sought by sufferers, who may have been rich in goods but poor in spirit. The gurus have taught the seekers to let go their attachments in this World, the better to concentrate on spiritual purification. The intimated rewards have not been wealth, fame, or power; but rather enlightenment and liberation, an enriched, more meaningful experience of oneself and one’s World. The gurus have helped seekers attain liberation from entrapment in the culture. They have invited the experience and disclosure of individuality that had hitherto been concealed under the trappings of conformity to roles. The society that would not fall must locate and treasure its gurus, protect them, and not deny seekers access to them. The gurus and their ways are not for everyone. Gurus cannot be hired or bought; they can only be deserved! A society without gurus is stagnant, and will perish as did the dinosaurs, unable to change ways to cope with changing conditions. In the New World, I think we are experiencing an absence in our midst, an absence of gurus. We have myriad commissars, but no one to lead beyond their ways. #RandolphHarris 11 of 22
The commissars insure that everyone conforms to existing ways, to the image of humans that is current, that is synonymous with goodness and sanity. Commissars use bribery, guile, and threats of force to get people to follow their prescribed ways, the ways that keep the society and its existing power-structure intact. Who are the commissar? Most of our teacher are commissars. So are our parents. And law enforcement, judges, lawyers, congress, our psychiatrist and psychologist, and even our neighbours. Radio, TV, and the press function as commissars. All commissars collude with oner another to keep us wanting what we are supposed to want and doing what we are supposed to do. Conform, and be reward. However, we are discovering, we who have graduated from such institutes, that something is missing. The something was ourselves. Somewhere along the line, we have lost ourselves, our capacity to experience in new modes and qualities. If we are at all sensitive, we notice the absence and become concerned. We state to seek ourselves and our lost capacity for experiencing. I hope we find it. Our nation will sit stunned, the people having forgotten how to live for themselves, otherwise. #RandolphHarris 12 of 22
If we do not get in touch with reality, people will know only how to live for the system of things. An era will have ended. Then, it will be the turn of the Asiatics and Africans to follow the American Way, until they too reach the end of their tether. Finally, people of Marts will land on Earth and have their turn. When you lose yourself your own experiences and their meanings are being denied, and you are developing a self that is different from your real experience self, which may be becoming increasingly unknow to you. Because so many people accept other’s meanings as their own experience, they will come to distrust their own organismic experience. As one beings to distrust more and more of one’s own experience, one’s sense of self-worth will steadily decline until one has very little use for one’s own experience or one’s self. Of course things will be well for those you are trying to please. This pseudoself is just what they want. It is only within oneself, at some deep and unknown level, that there is a vague uneasiness. When a person denies awareness to all of one’s own experiencing—one will get to a pint where one no longer really has a self and is trying to be a self wanted by someone else. Next, rebellion happens. #RandolphHarris 13 of 22
One can only attribute this rebellion to the actualizing tendency that has been suppressed for so long but that finally asserts itself. However, often times, because one has distrusted one’s own experience for such a long period and because the self by which one is living is so sharply different from the experiences of one’s organism, one cannot reconstruct one’s true self without help. When there is such a great discrepancy, the need for help often exists. In contrast, however, when people have spent years and even decades trying to socially engineer you, and you do not adhere to their values, even though they do not know you, they will think you are acting weird because their sick and twisted and sadistic methods are not working on you. When people reclaim the value of their experience, they are the ones who decides what matters to them and how they want to live. The center of the valuing process, and the evidence is provided by one’s own sense. What is right for someone who is trying to indoctrinate and corrupt you, may not be what is right for you. One may have started off at a young age knowing the love of God and who one wants to be. Society may call a given experience bad, but when one trusts one’s own valuing of it, one will find that following the path to truth and the love of God is significant and worthwhile. #RandolphHarris 14 of 22
When denied experience comes close to awareness, anxiety always results because these previously unadmitted experiences will have meanings that will change the structure of the self by which one as been living. Any drastic change in the self-concept is always a threatening and frightening experience. One may be dimly aware of this threat even though one does not yet know what would emerge. When the denied experienced break through the dam, they turn out to be hurts and angers that one has been completely unaware of. It is impossible for people to realize how completely an experience can be shut out of awareness until it does break through into awareness. Every individual is able to shut out and deny those experiences that will endanger one’s self concept. When the self-concept is so sharply changed that parts of it are completely shattered, it is a very frightening experience, and it is accurate to feel like an alien has take over you. That is why the law allows for mental competence to be called into question when some people are accused of crimes, for they may have been manipulated since they were too young to think for themselves and unaware of what they are doing is wrong. #RandolphHarris 15 of 22
So, the system wants to give people who are victims of crimes, who have gone on to commit crimes, an opportunity for repentance and the chance to live a life as themselves, instead of being condemned for having been brainwashed. Some will realize that they are the alien because the submissive, malleable self by which they have been living, the self that has been guided by the statements, attitudes, and expectations of others, is no longer theirs. The new self that had seemed so alien is more than likely one that had experienced hurt and anger and feelings that society regards as bad, as well as wild hallucinatory thoughts—and love. As one goes further into self-discovery, it is likely that one will find out that some of one’s anger is directed against one’s parents. The hurts will have come from various sources; some of the feelings and experiences that society regards as bad but that one finds good and satisfying are experiences and feelings that probably have to do with pleasures of the flesh. Sometimes one has to let their experiences tell them what they mean instead of trying to impose a meaning on them. The more the individual’s self-concept is rooted in the spontaneously felt meanings of one’s experiencing, the more one is an integrated person. People who are learning to self-actualize will enjoy meet and making friend with their thoughts and feelings. #RandolphHarris 16 of 22
Here is the dawning of the self-respect and self-acceptance of which one has been deprived for so long. One will even feel an affection for oneself. One of the curious but common side effects of this change is that now one will be able to give oneself more freely to others, to enjoy others more, to be more genuinely interested in them. As one becomes more expressive of one’s love one can also be more expressive of one’s anger and hurt, one’s likes and dislikes, and one’s “wild” thoughts and feelings (which will turn out to be creative impulses). One is in the process of changing from psychological maladjustment to a much healthier relationship to others and to reality. There is a peaceful harmony in being a whole person, but one will be mistaken if one thinks this reaction is permanent. Instead, if one is really open to one’s experience, one will find other hidden aspects of oneself that one has denied to awareness, and each such discovery will give one uneasy and anxious moments or days until it is assimilated into a revised and changing picture of oneself. One will discover that growing toward a congruence between one’s experiencing organism and one’s concept of oneself is an exciting, sometime disturbing, but neverending adventure. #RandolphHarris 17 of 22
“And now behold, there was not a living soul among all the people of the Nephites who did doubt in the least the words of all the holy prophets who had spoken; for they knew that it must needs be that they must be fulfilled. And they knew that it must be expedient that Christ had come, because of the many signs which had been given, according to the words of the prophets; and because of the things which had come to pass already they knew that it must needs be that all things should come to pass according to that which had been spoken. Therefore they did forsake all their sins, and their abominations, and their whoredoms, and did sever God with all diligence day and night. And now it came to pass that when they had taken all the robbers prisoners, insomuch that none did escape wo were not slain, they did cast their prisoners into prison, and did cause the word of God to be preached unto them; ad as many as would repent of their sins and enter into a covenant that they would murder no more were set at liberty. However, as many as there were who did not enter into a covenant, and who did still continue to have those secret murders in their hearts, yea, as many as were found breathing out threatenings against their brethren were condemned and punished according to the law. #RandolphHarris 18 of 22
“And thus they did put an end to all those wicked, and secret, and abominable combinations, in the which there was so much wickedness, and so many murders committed. And thus had the twenty and second year passed away, and the twenty and third year also, and they twenty and forth, and the twenty and fifth; and thus had twenty and five years passed away. And these had many things transpired which, in the eyes of some, would be great and marvelous; nevertheless, they cannot all be written in this book; yea, this book cannot contain even a hundredth part of what was done among so many people in the space of twenty and five years; but behold there are records which do contain all the proceedings of this people; and a shorter but true account was given by Nephi. Therefore I have made my record of these things according to the record of Nephi, which was engraven on the plates which were called the plates of Nephi. And behold, I do make the record on plates which I have made with mine own hands. And behold, I am called Mormon, being called after the land of Mormon, the land in which Alma did establish the church among the people, yea, the first church which was established among them after their transgression. #RandolphHarris 19 of 22
“Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his work among his people, that they might have everlasting life. And it hath become expedient that I, according to the will of God, that the prayers of those who have gone hence, who were the holy ones, should be filled according to their faith, should make a record of these things which have been done—yea, a small record of that which hath taken place from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem, even down until the present time. Therefore I do make my record from the accounts which have been given by those who were before me, until the commencement of my day; and then I do make record of the things which I have seen with mine own eyes. And I know the record which I make to be a just and a true record; nevertheless here are many things which, according to our language, we are not able to write. And now I make an end of my saying, which is of myself, an proceed to give my account of the things which have been before me. I am Mormon, and a pure descendant of Lehi. I have reason to bless my God and my Saviour Jesus Christ, that he brought our fathers out of the land of Jerusalem, (and no one knew it save it were himself and those whom he brought out of that land) and that he hath given me and my people so much knowledge unto the salvation of our souls. #RandolphHarris 20 of 22
“Surely he hath blessed the house of Jacob, and hat been merciful unto the seed of Joseph. And insomuch as the children of Lehi have kept his commandments he hath blessed them and prospered them according to his word. Yea, and surely shall be again bring a remnant of the seed of Joseph to the knowledge of the Lord their God. And as surely as the Lord liveth, will he gather in from the four quarters of the Earth all the remnants of the seed of Jacob, who are scattered abroad upon all the face of the Earth. And as he hath covenanted with all the house of Jacob, even so shall the covenant wherewith he hath covenanted with the house of Jacob be fulfilled in one’s own due time, unto the restoring all the house of Jacob unto the knowledge of the covenant that he hath covenanted with them. And then shall they know their Redeemer, who is Jesus Christ, the Son of God; and then shall they be gathered in from the four quarters of the Earth unto their own lands, from whence they have been dispersed; yea, as the Lord liveth so shall it be. Amen,” reports 3 Nephi 5.1-26. We adore Thee, Blessed Jesus very God and very Man, the Same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever, our strong Salvation and our only Hope. #RandolphHarris 21 of 22
Please take us, we pray Thee, into Thy keeping, both now and at the hour of our death; please make us faithful to Thee upon Earth, and blessed with Thee in Heaven, where the Father, Who raises in glory the World, piercer of darkness, illuminates our path as we go through our days. God, pleased continue to illuminate or paths as we go through life. O God, Who hast brought us near to an innumerable company Angels, and to the spirits of just human made perfect; please grant us during our pilgrimage to abide in their fellowship, and in our Country to become partakers of their joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord. I pray Thee, good Lord Jesus, by the love which Thou hadst for him that lay on Thy heart, to make me thankful for all that Thou hast given men in this World and to bless this planet exceedingly abundantly, above all that I can ask or think. Please help us to love each other in Thee and for Thee, to be one in heart through all separations, and to talk as friends in the path of Thy service; and finally unite us for ever at Thy feet, where peace and love are perfect and immortal, and Thou with the Father Who is turning the World towards Him, as He has turned it since its very beginning, in infinite longing, in infinite love. And I, a child of Earth, take the Lord as my exemplar, and hold my heart out to Hum in the dawn. #RandolphHarris 22 of 22
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The Greatest Miracles of Genius Breed Doubt as Well as Faith About the Labyrinth in His Soul of Love!
On some bright essence could I lean, and lull myself to immortality. We are not really pacifists, we are just nonviolent soldiers. As long as you feel insecure, you have no real capacity to face other men and women in that skill of communication which more than any other skill requires freedom from tension. By communication I did not of course mean only intellectual conversation but the whole aesthetic of emotional relations; when one first begins to examine one’s experience, one will find most of their delights in natural things, and this will facilitate the ability to chiefly reckon each day’s catch of happiness in terms of one’s relationships with others. While we go about our day being able to work or study, we should think continually of others who are denied that happiness by their material circumstances or their health. One brilliant Summer morning at Gunsbach, during the Whitsuntide holidays—it was in 1896—there came to me, as I awoke, the thought that I must not accept this happiness as a matter of course, but must give me something in return for it. Proceeding to think the matter out at once with calm deliberation, while the birds were singing outside, I settled with myself before I got up, that I would consider myself justified in living till I was thirty for the science and art, in order to devote myself from that time forward to the direct service of humanity. #RandolphHarris 1 of 24
Many a time already I had tried to settle what meaning lay hidden for me in the saying of Jesus! “Whosoever would save his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the Gospel shall save it.” Now the answer was found. In addition to the outward, I now had inward happiness. What would be the character of the activities thus planned for the future was not yet clear to me. I left it to circumstances to guide me. One thing only was certain, that is must be directly human service, however inconspicuous the sphere of it. Those who are so favoured as to be able to embark on a course of free personal activity must accept this good fortune in a spirit of humility. They must often think of those who, though willing and capable, were never in a position to do the same thing. And as a rule they must temper their own strong determination with humility. They are almost always destined to have to seek and wait till they find a road open for the activity they long for. Happy are those to whom the years of work are allotted in richer measure than those of seeking and waiting. Happy those who in the end are able to give themselves really and completely! #RandolphHarris 2 of 24
I have often recognized that the need to do something special was born of a restless spirit. Such persons want to dedicate themselves to larger tasks because those that lay nearest do not satisfy them. Often, too, it was evident that they had been brought to their decisions by quite secondary considerations. Only a person who can find a value in every sort of activity and devote oneself to each one with full consciousness of duty, has the inward right to take as one’s object some extraordinary activity instead of that which falls to one’s lot naturally. Only a person who feels one’s preference to be as a matter of course, not something out of the ordinary, and who has not thought of heroism, but just recognizes a duty undertaken with sober enthusiasm, is capable of becoming a spiritual adventurer such as the World needs. There are no heroes of action: only heroes of renunciation and suffering. Of such there are plenty. However, few of them are known, and even these not to the crowd, but to the few. My thirtieth birthday, I spent like the man in the parable who desiring to build a tower, first count the cost whether he have wherewith to complete it. #RandolphHarris 3 of 24
Several times, indeed, it was my experience that my appeal to the act of obedience which Jesus’ command of love may under special circumstances call for, brought upon me an accusation of conceit, although I had, in fact, been obliged to do violence to my feelings to employ this belief at all. In general, how much I suffered through so many people assuming a right to tear open all the doors and shutters of my inner self! As a rule, too, it was of no use allowing them, in spite of my repugnance, to have a glimpse of the thoughts which had given birth to my resolution. They thought there must be something behind it all, and guessed at disappointment as the slow growth of y reputation. For this there was no ground at all, seeing that I have received, even as a young man, such recognition as others usually get only after a whole life of toil and struggle. Unfortunate love experiences were also alleged as the reason for my decision. I felt as a real kindness the action of persons who made no attempt to dig their fists into my heart, but regarded me as a precocious young man, not quite right in one’s head, and treated me correspondingly with affectionate mockery. #RandolphHarris 4 of 24
However, only one, who thanks to his own ability or the devotion of friends is in Worldly matters a free man, can venture nowadays o take the path of independent activity. This consciousness cannot be got from another human by transfer (although its presence in one may be felt by sensitivity) but only by one’s own hard toil. The right action done in the wrong way becomes wrong in itself. Although it is right to look towards a teacher for guidance and inspiration throughout the course of one’s quest, it is wrong to become over-dependent on that teacher. People approach the saint-type primarily to get what is called in India a darshan. This may be variously translated as a glimpse, a spoken blessing, a sight, a view, an initiation, or a silent benediction. One is a phenomenon and they stand at a distance to gaze at one, to admire one, or to be overwhelmed with awe by one. The few minutes or days or weeks or months or years taken up—the duration is immaterial for extension in time does not change the nature of the happening—leave the devotee with the same character, the same consciousness that one had before the meeting. Its service is to portray the goal, not to being one nearer to perfection in any way. The delusion that the longer they stay with one the farther they travel on the road to perfection remains a delusion still. #RandolphHarris 5 of 24
The darshan leaves them with their weakness and faults, their egoism and animality untouched. The work of getting rid of these things is theirs to undertake and no darshan-magic can be substitute for it. The belief that a self-actualized person will do for one once and for all what in the end one has to do for oneself belongs to the untutored masses and the sectarian mystic circles. Only the self-deceived or the charlatanic will offer to save you. All others will offer only to guide you. You must labour for yourselves. It is the common way to demand entry into enlightenment through someone else. This renders it needful to make clear that nobody, not even the best of the self-actualized, can possibly pass on and there are not many with that capacity. Even in such cases, one’s disciples must work diligently and win it themselves. The service of a spiritual director in correcting errors, providing instruction, stimulating aspiration, and fostering intuition are immense; but they are only a prelude to the services a student must render to oneself. Those who leave their spiritual future totally in the hands of their guide, lose the years which could be spent in developing themselves. #RandolphHarris 6 of 24
It is not enough to receive a teaching from someone else. The truth of the teaching must be tested by personal experience, the worth of it should be measured by personal knowledge. Of all the will for the ideal which exists in humankind only a small part can be manifested in action. All the rest is destined to realize itself in unseen effects, which represent, however, a value exceeding a thousandfold and more that of the activity which attracts the notice of the World. Its relation to the latter is like that of the deep sea to the waves which stir its surface. The hidden forces of goodness are embodied in those persons who carry on as a secondary pursuit the immediate personal service which they cannot make their lifework. The lot of the many is to have as a profession, for the earning of their living and the satisfaction of society’s claim on them, a more or less soulless labour in which they can give out little of nothing of their human qualities, because in that labour they have to be little better than human machines. Yet no one finds oneself in the position of having no possible opportunity of giving oneself to others as a human being. The problem produced by the fact of labour being today so thoroughly organized, specialized, and mechanized depends only in part for its solution on society’s not merely removing the conditions thus produced, but doing its very best to guard the rights of human personality. #RandolphHarris 7 of 24
What is even more important is that sufferers shall not simply bow to their fate, but shall try with all their energy to asset their human personality amid their unfavourable conditions by spiritual activity. Anyone can recuse one’s human life, in spite of one’s professional life, who seizes every opportunity of being a human by means of personal action, however unpretending, for the good of fellow humans who need the help of a fellow human. Such a person enlists in the service of the spiritual and good. No fate can prevent a human from giving to others this direct human service side by side with one’s lifework. If so much of such service remains unrealized, it is because the opportunities are missed. It is the guide’s duty to hold up a gasolier on a dark path but the disciple must decide for oneself the speed and distance of the journey along that path. No command is laid upon one, for it is one who must estimate the strength within one and the opportunity without. One is given full freedom in making one’s decision. It is unfortunately the case that many emotionally unstable persons are attracted to mysticism, with the result that they spend years with their dreams of magical achievement but do nothing to convert those dreams into realities, or else flit from one dream to another. #RandolphHarris 8 of 24
That everyone shall exert oneself in that state of life in which one is placed, to practice true humanity toward one’s fellow humans, on that depends the future of humankind. Enormous values come to nothing every moment through the missing of opportunities, but the values which do get turned into will and deed mean wealth which must not be undervalued. Our humanity is by no means so materialistic as foolish talk is continually asserting it to be. Judging by what I have learned about men and women, I am convinced that there is far more in them of idealist will power than ever comes to the surface of the World. Just as the water of the streams we see is small in amount compared to that which flows underground, so the idealism which becomes visible is small in amount compared with what men and women bear locked in their hearts, underground waters to the surface: humankind is waiting and longing for such as can do that. If the student responds sufficiently to the hints given one or the counsel bestowed on one, the teacher will be encouraged to go father. The uneasiness which many feel in the teacher’s presence is partly caused by the fact that there are negative qualities in themselves which are not present in the teacher. However, partly it is also caused by their miscomprehension of one’s character. #RandolphHarris 9 of 24
The righteous teacher does not attempt to criticize, judge, or condemn them, nor to approve or disapprove of them. One accepts that this is not one’s business for one accepts that evolution has made them what they are, both the good and bad in them. To this extent their uneasiness is unnecessary. The freedom to be who one deeply is strikes an especially resonant chord in underrepresented and marginalized communities. A primary concern of existential psychotherapy is the relationship among freedom, limitation, and choice. The daily question for many people, even the rich and famous is: “With whom can I be myself?” The dangers are real. Physical safety, economic security, and acceptance by others are threatened. And hiding one aspect of the self affects other dimensions of the self, such as self-esteem, creativity, and the ability to love. Even for those who appear to be comfortable with who they are, the issue goes deeper. It saddens and angers people that they cannot talk to people about their lives or express who they really are because they are around people who expect them to always be kind and understanding, so people have to create these carefully mastered personalities, but it may not reflect their full character. #RandolphHarris 10 of 24
Repressed individuals even go as far as to make statement which have been carefully crafted to make people feel better. Many individuals cannot just change the subject; this is their life. As a result, people who are repressed turn to long term celibacy so they are able to fully embody who they are since they cannot express their full humanness. Therapeutic work concerning the freedom to express oneself and therapeutic work touching on identity issues are mutually reinforcing. As people gain a greater sense of self and possibilities, they also learn to accept themselves; as they learn to accept themselves, they become increasingly more able to express all of who they are and to experience a widening sense of possibilities. One lady, Katrina, who had developed an inflammatory condition had to totally change her life. Doctor’s noticed that when she was under stress, the condition would flare up and recommended a lifestyle change because something was wrong in her environment. The young woman had to go to cognitive therapy, go on medication for the inflammation, end her romantic relationship and become celibate for years, she even quit her job, and moved. #RandolphHarris 11 of 24
While undergoing this life style change, the lady also made the decision not to receive any financial support from her parents. The general physician overseeing her general healthy needs, noticed as the woman became more responsible for herself, this enforced her sense of freedom to express who she truly was and her health had started improving after three years of celibacy. She learned to “check in” with herself—not merely to think about particular issues but to resonate to them, to experience them kinesthetically. She learned did not simply run from her problems, she learned to counter her constriction and productively regenerate her life. This inspired her to become response-able—personally, socially, and spiritually. Spiritual discipline is an activity undertaken to bring us into more effective cooperation with Christ and His Kingdom. In any human endeavour, repetitive exercise and practice bring skill and excellence. Sometimes a particular activity is good because it accomplishes a specific result. If it produces a base hit, swinging a baseball bat is good. However, that same activity can also be done, not for the result alone, but for the training it offers. #RandolphHarris 12 of 24
A person can repeatedly swing a bat in a batting cage for the purpose of training, and not to increase one’s output of base hits. And other good results can follow from such training besides the one usually or normally intended; for example, regular trips to a batting cage can get a person in good overall condition besides helping one get base hits. The same thing is true of study. We often correctly approach study specifically for some direct end—preparing a lesson or learning a topic covered in a book. However, study should also be approached as a set of training activities, as spiritual and intellectual exercises. Study is a discipline that strengthens the mind and enriches the soul. Sometimes I study a book for the sheer value of engaging my intellect in a stretching, strenuous activity. As other times, I read to help myself cultivate the intellectual virtues that will bring one closer to God. Seen as discipline, study becomes a means of building my character, ingraining habits of thought and reflection, and reinforcing my own soul the value of the life of the mind. We study, then, not simply to gain knowledge about the topic of study, but as a broader spiritual discipline. #RandolphHarris 13 of 24
By way of application, it is important to read books from time to time as a form of spiritual discipline and intellectual exercise, even if the topic of the book does not address one of your immediate, felt needs. If all you do is read simple books or those that overemphasize stories or practical application, you will never learn to think of yourself as a mature Christian, nor will you develop a trained mind. Peace if the rest of will that results from assurance about how things will turn out. It is always a form of active engagement with good, plus assurance that things will turn out well. “I am at peace about it,” we say, and this means I am no longer striving, inwardly or outwardly, to save some outcome dear to me or to avoid one that I reject. I have released whatever is at issues and am no longer even putting “body English” or “spin” on it or inwardly gritting my teeth. Of course everyone is at peace about some things, one hopes, but few have peace in general, and fewer still have peace that reaches their body and its automatic responses to such a depth that it does not live in a covert state of alarm. Ultimately it will be by one’s own efforts alone that one uncovers the wisdom and beauty one is seeking—and which are even now within one. Such efforts, in order to be successful, must be courageous and continuous. #RandolphHarris 14 of 24
Repeated failures should serve only to stimulate deeper determination. In the end each seeker has to become one’s own teacher by putting all one’s experience, one’s beliefs, one’s ideas, to the test. Most people carry heavy burdens of care, and usually about the things that are most important in life: what will happen to their loved ones, their finances, health, death, their physical appearance or what others think of them, the future of society, their standing before God and their eternal destiny. To be at peace with God and others (family, neighbours, and coworkers) is a great attainment and depends on graces far beyond ourselves as well as on our own efforts. That is also true of being at peace with oneself. Peace with God comes only from acceptance of one’s gift of life in His Son. “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God,” reports Romans 5.1-2. We are then assured of the outcome of our life and are no longer trying to justify ourselves before God or others. We have accepted that we are not righteous or even totally competent and that we cannot be so on our own. #RandolphHarris 15 of 24
We have laid down the burden of justifying ourselves before God and are learning not to justify ourselves before humans. This is the pace that grows from within us. It is possible to being this truth within the mind’s sight and within the will’s reach as long as we do our own work. Whoever offers one a free redemption plays God. Form those around me I must simply assume grace and mercy, not that I will get what I deserve. I am a beggar on my way through the World. Justice is not enough for my needs, and I could not stand it if I got it. When others do not extend the grace and mercy I need, I have to draw on the grace and mercy I need, I have to draw on the abundance of it in God. “Who is this that is condemning me?” I remind myself, “Jesus even died for me, was raised from the dead, and is now standing up for me before God,” reports Romans 8.34. Assurance of this allows me to “seek peace and pursue it,” reports 1 Peter 3.11, no matter who is involved, and to “pursue peace with all humans,” reports Hebrews 12.14. That includes all our family members and coworkers! Even in case where, though no fault of my own, there must be a struggle between me and others, there does not have to be a struggle within me. Look not for refuge to anyone besides yourself. Try to become like the master. #RandolphHarris 16 of 24
I may have to resist others, for some good reason, but even so I do not have to make things come out right. I am not the one in control of outcomes. I do not have to hate those whose course of action I resist, or even get mad at them, and so I can always be at peace within myself as well as toward them. Although the truth of our intellect is caused by the thing, yet it is not necessary that truth should be there primarily, any more than that health should be primarily in medicine, rather than in the animal: for the virtue of medicine, and not its health, is the cause of health, for here the agent is not univocal. In the same way, the being of the thing, not its truth, is the cause of the truth in the intellect. Hence, a fact or a word is true from the fact that a thing is, not because a thing is true. “And now it came to pass that in the sixteenth year from the coming of Christ, Lachoneus, the governor of the land, received an epistle from the leader and the governor of this band of robbers; and these were the words which were written saying: Lachoneus, most noble and chief governor of the land, behold, I write tis epistle unto you, and do give unto you exceedingly great praise because of your firmness, and also the firmness of your people, in maintaining that which ye suppose to be your right and liberty. #RandolphHarris 17 of 24
“Yea, ye do stand well, as if ye were supported by the hand of a god, in the defence of your liberty, and your property, and your country, or that which ye do call so. And it seemeth a pity unto me, most noble Lachoneus, that ye should be so foolish and vain as to suppose that ye can stand against so many brave men who are at my command, who do now at this time stand in their arms, and do await with great anxiety for the word—God own upon the Nephites and destroy them. And I, knowing of their unconquerable spirit, having proved them in the field of battle, and knowing you because of the many wrongs which ye have done unto them, therefore if they should come down against you they would visit you with utter destruction. Therefore I have written this epistle, sealing it with mine own hand, feeling for your welfare, because of your firmness in that which ye believe to be right, and your noble spirit in the field of battle. Therefore I write unto you, desiring that ye would yield up unto this my people, your cities, your lands, and your possessions, rather than that they should visit you with the sword and that destruction should come upon you. #RandolphHarris 18 of 24
“Or in other words, yield yourselves up unto us, and unite with us and become acquainted with our secret works, and become our brethren that ye may be like unto us—not our slaves, but our brethren and partners of all our substance. And behold, I swear unto you, if ye will do this, with an oath, ye shall not be destroyed; but if ye will not do this, I swear unto you with an oath, that on the morrow month I will command that my armies shall come down against you, and they shall not stay their hand and shall spare not, but shall slay you, and shall let fall the sword upon you even until ye shall become extinct. And behold, I am Giddianhi; and I am the governor of this secret society of Gadianton; which society and the works thereof I know to be good; and they are of ancient date and they have been handed down unto us. And I write this epistle unto you, Lachoeus, and I hope that ye will deliver up your lands and your possessions, without the shedding of blood, that this my people may recover their rights and government, who have dissented away from you because of your wickedness in retaining from them their rights of government, and except ye do this, I will avenge their wrongs. I am Giddianhi. #RandolphHarris 19 of 24
“And now it came to pass when Lachoneus received this epistle he was exceedingly astonished, because of the boldness of Giddianhi demanding the possession of the land of the Nephites, and also of the threatening the people and avenging the wrongs of those that had received no wrong, save it were they had wronged themselves by dissenting away unto those wicked and abominable robbers. Now behold, this Lachoneus, the governor, was a just man, and could not be frightened by the demands and the threatenings of a robber; therefore he did not hearken to the epistle of Giddianhi, the governor of the robbers, but he did cause that his people should cry unto the Lord for strength against the time that the robbers should come down against them. Yea, he sent a proclamation among all the people, that they should gather together their women, and their children, their flocks and their herds, and all their substance, save it were their land, unto one place. And he caused that fortifications should be built round about them, and the strength thereof should be exceedingly great. And he caused that armies, both of the Nephites and of the Lamanites, or of all them who were numbered among the Nephites, should be placed as guards round about to watch them, and to guard them from the robbers day and night. #RandolphHarris 20 of 24
“Yea, he said unto them: As the Lord liveth, except ye repent of all your iniquities, and cry unto the Lord, ye will in nowise be delivered out of the hands of those Gadianton robbers. And so great and marvelous were the words and prophecies of Lachoneus that they did cause fear to come upon all the people; and they did exert themselves in their might to do according to the words of Lachoneus. And it came to pass that Lachoneus did appoint chief captains over all the armies of the Nephites, to command them at the time that the robbers should come down out of the wilderness against them. Now the chiefest among all the chief captains and the great commander of all the armies of the Nephites was appointed, and his name was Gididdoni. Now it was the custom among all the Nephites to appoint for their chief captains, (save it were in their times of wickedness) some one that the bad spirit of revelation and also prophecy; therefore, this Gididdoni was a great prophet among them, as also was the chief judge. Now the people said unto Gidgiddoni: Pray unto the Lord, and let us go up upon the mountains and into the wilderness, that we may fall upon the mountains and into the wilderness, that we may fall upon the robbers and destroy them in their own lands. However, Gidgiddoni saith unto them: The Lord forbid; for if we should go up against them the Lord would deliver us into their hands; therefore we will prepare ourselves in the center of our lands, and we will gather all our armies together, and we will not go against them, but we will wait till they shall come against us. #RandolphHarris 21 of 24
“Therefore, as the Lord liveth, if we do this he will deliver them into our hands. And it came to pass in the seventeenth year, in the latter end of the year, the proclamation of Lachoneus had gone forth throughout all the face of the land, and they had taken their horses, and their chariots, and their cattle, and all their flocks, and their herds, and their grain, and all their substance, and did march forth by thousands and by tens of thousands, until they had all gone forth to the place which had been appointed that they should gather themselves together, to defend themselves against their enemies. And the land which was appointed was the land of Zarahemla, and the land which was between the land Zarahemla and the land Bountiful, yea, to the line which was between the land Bountiful and the land Desolation. And there were a great many thousand people who were called Nephites, who did gather themselves together in this land. Now Lachoneus did cause that they should gather themselves together in this land. Now Lachoneus did cause that they should gather themselves together in the and southward, because of the great curse which was upon the land northward. #RandolphHarris 22 of 24
“And they did fortify themselves against their enemies; and they did dwell in one land, and in one body, and they did fear the words which had been spoken by Lachoneus, insomuch that they did put up their prayers unto the Lord their God, that he would deliver them in the time that their enemies should come down against them to battle. And they were exceedingly sorrowful because of their enemies. And Giddiddoni did cause that they should make weapons of war of every kind, and they should be strong with armour, and with shields, and with bucklers, after the manner of his instruction,” reports 3 Nephi 3.1-26. On the ring of the World, God is dancing. In His bright robe, He is dancing. Young and handsome and strong, God is dancing. Bringer of vision, God is dancing. Dance, Sun King, into the Sky, please being the day to those who wait for you. As the Sun rises, I face His glory, grateful that the darkness has come to an end. Though darkness is sacred, its soothing a gift, I am a human, a creature of light. So I face you in thankfulness and greet your return with praises and prayer and the honour that is due you. O Lord and Saviour Christ, Who camest not to strive nor cry, but to let Thy words fall as the drops that water the Earth; please grant all who contend for the Faith once delivered, never to injure it by clamour and impatience. #RandolphHarris 23 of 24
However, teach them to speak Thy precious Truth in love, so to present it that it may be loved, and that humans may see in it Thy goodness and Thy beauty; Who livest as the Way, the Truth and the Life. Truth is found in the intellect according as it apprehends a thing as it is; and things according as they have being conformable to an intellect. This to be the greatest degree found in God. For His being is not only conformed to His intellect, but it is the very act of His intellect; and His act of understanding is the measure and cause of every other being and of every other intellect, and He Himself is His own existence and act of understanding. Whence it follows not only that truth is in Him, but that He is truth itself, and the sovereign and first truth. Although the divine intellect there is neither composition nor division, yet in His simple act of intelligence He judges of all things and knows all things complex; and thus there is truth in His intellect. O God, the Sovereign Good of the soul, Who requirest the hearts of all Thy children; please deliver us from all sloth in Thy work, all coldness in Thy cause; and please grant us by looking unto Thee to rekindle our Love, and by waiting upon Thee to renew our strength; through Jesus Christ our Lord. #RandolphHarris 24 of 24
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For the First Time in Human History the Opportunity to Evolve Beyond their Enslaved Past Has Been Accepted!
If your thing is paradise, it may be hard to obtain, but worth keeping. I believe that the whole future of human culture depends upon our solving the problem of how to introduce into education processes the essence of the preventive and curative methods to avoid poverty and crime. Education will be preventive in the sense that it will limit and guide the fateful dichotomy which occurs early in life between conscious and preconscious processes on the one hand, and the inaccessible unconscious on the other. It will have to be curative as well, because we cannot expect prevention ever to work perfectly. Consequently we shall always have to build into the concepts and techniques of education certain types of therapeutic experiences, both for groups and for individuals, which will be designed to reintegrate unconscious with conscious and precious processes. Even to attempt this will require that we overcome not only the individual resistances and prejudices to which are floating about in society, but also the entrenched opposition of many existing social, cultural, religious, and educational institutions. This is no small order: and I would hesitate to offer the challenge, if I did not have so deep a conviction that all of our vaunted culture and education, as we have known them in the past, have failed humankind completely. #RandolphHarris 1 of 19
Some may feel these views to be unduly pessimistic. Yet I believe that these criticisms of our educational processes are rooted in optimism, and pursue an optimistic ideal. If our purpose in studying our failures is to learn how not to fail in the future, it is not pessimism to face the fact of past failure. It was neither pessimism nor a morbid fascination with death which led medicine to the autopsy table, but rather courage, optimism, spiritual humility, and a determination to avoid the endless repetition of past error. Humankind’s reward is scientific medicine; and we must now face the failure of education with the same combination of humility and determination. Because education has failed humankind in the past, it does not follow that it must necessarily continue to fail, unless we cling obstinately and defensively to methods which have already been tried without success. Yet the tendency to prescribe more of the old medicines is deep in us. For instance, when I read that a new college president declares that what we need in education is a greater emphasis on religion, I confess that my heart feels joy. Much like when someone says we need more humanities. Or when professors call for more of the great books by greater thinkers out of the past, or when a classicist calls for more of the classics, or a mathematician for more mathematics or a chemist for more chemistry. #RandolphHarris 2 of 19
When in the face of our general culture failure each cultural specialist cries out for larger doses of one’s own specific remedy, it is not a pretty spectacle, nor a reassuring measure of the maturity of the educators. However, at least they can recognize that the human mind needs more cultivation and are speaking up because we cannot have an education system that is producing people with little wisdom or maturity. It is important to understand that scientists, including psychiatrists, are not immune to these frailties; and that they are equally true for all of those who carry the banners of culture. It is an old story of youthful idealism, of young confidence that the way to the good life is in their hands, then of a gradual disillusionment which usually is masked by a paradoxical defensiveness and a refusal to face the limitations of existing methods, turning instead in their anger against anyone who is honest and sceptical enough to challenge one’s particular road to salvation. All of us want to go on educating as we have in the past, making at most only trivial curricular changes. However, what humankind actually needs is a cultural stride of far grander dimensions. A little more or less general knowledge and more in-depth information. General information does not give power to train and grow. #RandolphHarris 3 of 19
General information without knowing how to think, apply it, nor build will create novice who are not able to process information correctly because they have not studied long enough to see how trends and supply shocks may impact the future, and they may not know how to accurately forecast and avert disasters. After having devoted a lifetime to having honestly mastering some erudite discipline, and having thereby become a pew-holder in a towering cathedral with a limited seating capacity, it is indeed understandable to see why one would believe that their technique which they have mastered at such great costs is just enough. We can see why a doctor might say, “Give the patient more of my medicine. More of the same is what he needs. Pour it down his throat. It is just a maintenance dose we are slowly introducing and will increase overtime before we move to something stronger because it will surely get him in remission in the future.” We have to teach people more and give them more art, writing, history, science, theology so they can become more cultured and expand their minds and increase their attention spans and learn to see the truths. Those who represent the World of the mind and of the spirit must acquire the humility which leads doctors and law enforcement to prevent people from lying on the autopsy table. #RandolphHarris 4 of 19
What then must education achieve? It must make it possible for human beings to change. That is the necessary goal of education. America is a city on a hill, a holy experiment, whose success would prove that God’s plan for His churches could be successfully realized in the American wilderness. This is why militant Protestants work diligently to promote the prosperity of the church. Uniformity of religion must exist in any given society. This conviction rests on the belief tat there is one true religion and that it is the duty of the civil authorities to impose it, forcibly if necessary, in the interest of saving the souls of its citizens. Religion will liberate the savages from their inhumane ways. It is a way to control the sinful, Worldly people. It also allows for authority figures to worship closely with the people and monitor and help them keep their Godly ways through counseling and education. This is a unique moment in human culture. And as we do this, let us stop to remind ourselves that when a patient dies, the doctor does not blame the patient, unless he or she was not following medical orders, otherwise the doctor feels it was his or her fault. However, when humanity fails, people do not blame themselves. They do not turn their pitiless scrutiny on themselves, their beliefs, and their techniques. #RandolphHarris 5 of 19
Our culture is supposed to be revered as though it were a creative and moving force in the Divine Kingdom. An education not only gives humans sophistication, tastes, historical perspective, manners, erudite parlor conversation, and knowledge of how to use and control the forces of nature on the human spirit, it teaches you to appreciate life. We see it is the uneducated and students, who have failed humankind, not humankind which has failed us. Science and art and philosophy and religion and learning have succeeded; just as it is medicine which as succeeded when it keeps a patient alive, and prevents them from becoming a corpse. The next goal of education is a progressive freeing of humans—not merely from external tyrannies of nature and of others humans, but from internal enslavement by their own unconscious automatic mechanisms. Therefore, all of education and all of art and culture must contribute to this. It has been long recognized that in spite of technological process, and in spite of art, literature, religion, and scholarly learning, the heart of humans has not changed. This is basically a challenge and a rebuke to the TV News Media culture and its devastating commentary on culture. It is possible to break through the sonic barrier between conscious and unconscious processes, and thereby to bring to humans for the first time in human history the opportunity to evolve beyond their enslaved pass. That is why this thesis can claim for itself a realistic spiritual optimism. #RandolphHarris 6 of 19
Just as the battle for political freedom must be won over and over again, so too in every life the battle for internal psychological freedom must be fought and won again and again, if humans are to achieve and retain freedom from the tyranny of their own unconscious processes, the freedom to understand the forces which determine their thoughts, feelings, purposes, goals, and behaviour. This freedom is the fifth and ultimate human freedom; and like every other freedom, it demands eternal vigilance. Without this dedicated to truth and honour, education will sell humanity own the river—back into slavery. And this will continue to be true until we rescue humans from their present oblivion this forgotten human of education. Self-knowledge in depth is not all there is to wisdom, but that is what makes maturity and understanding possible; and what is even more important, it frees us from the tyranny of those rigid compulsive mechanisms which have made impossible our psychological evolution. Without self-knowledge in depth, we can have dreams but not art, we can have the neurotic raw material of literature, but not mature literature. Without it we have no adults, but only aging deviants armed with words, paints, clay, and atomic weapons, none of which they understand. #RandolphHarris 7 of 19
It is aging, uneducated deviants which makes a mockery of the illustrious claims of education, or religion, of the arts, and science. Self-knowledge is the Forgotten Human of our entire educational system and indeed of human culture in general. Without self-knowledge it is possible to be erudite, but never wise. My challenge to all of us is to have the humility to face this failure, and the determination to do something effective about it before it is too late. We have to relate to each other as people, trusting each other, and sharing the energy of our lives in meaningful, honest ways. In the milieu of trust and openness we create, I think we all discover more capacities in ourselves and in each other than we had thought possible. This will allow spontaneity, courage, and integrity of the people to emerge. The spirit of self-determination, freedom, and growth (like life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness) lives on in people like the Sun on a Summer in California with a light of trust, understanding, compassion, and awareness shining on the land of the free and the home of the brave. It is an attitude embodying a respect for the integrity and worth of persons; it is a way of seeing and relating to the World and others. This is the experience of responsible freedom. #RandolphHarris 8 of 19
The way to utilize power is when dealing with people, trust the, have no desire to control or manipulate them, and have it be a shared responsibility. We want to foster an environment of mutual trust, openness, sharing, excitement, creative and self-responsible actions. Cooperation will replace competition. Self-discipline takes the place of external discipline. Each person will be able to experience and freely utilize one’s own power. We have all experienced the smarting hurt, the feeling of being blow away, exterminated, by the injustice of the action of oppression. It gives us a tiny view of the destruction of self that has been felt by millions of persons who have been the object of the crushing force of impersonal, arbitrary, blind power. However, the politics of power and control can be devastating, even when exercised by those who are only trying to protect and care for the young. Leadership, creativity, imagination spring up everywhere as individuals resist the encroachment of their rights as persons. There are also tremendous advantages for growth, support, and community in our present relationships. If anyone gets depressed, there are others to give one support. Though so many of us have been through so many changes in the past year—from ecstasy to terror—we have to accept each day as it comes. #RandolphHarris 9 of 19
Feel good about your present life-style. Many of us could not imagine ourselves living a closed, possessive, and jealous existence. It is a blessing to have the freedom to be who one is; to explore the many facets of one’s personality with many people without fear of being caught or criticized. It is nice to meet people who are gentle, loving—caring. People want others in their lives who balance them. Others who share their past as well as present life; both the sad and happy times. Thanksgiving Day has always been a warm, beautiful day, a day of happiness among all Americans. It makes people glad to be alive to know that people can be happy, relating freely without jealousy and possessiveness. People can communicate with their loved ones freely, and express loving and joyful feelings. The growth that families are encouraged to experience is continuously infused back into their loved ones, keeping them strong and alive—a process rather than a fixed entity. However, we must also learn to recognize interpersonal abuse and crippling coming from the avoidance of jealousy or the experience of it. In addition to the Angels of faith, hope, charity, wisdom, and loving, are also the Angels of doubt, despair, need, passion, and hate. #RandolphHarris 10 of 19
The morbid Angels are part of us all, I believe. However, many of the people in our community come across as pre-Raphaelite saints, there are no characteristics of evil in them. In our environment, jealousy, greed, competitiveness, and anger are equated with being imperfect. To not allow oneself or others the right to both feel and express emotions is to hold the person in an emotional strait jacket. When emotions are allowed to be legitimate and valued part of interaction, difficulties can be dealt with more flexibly and more humanely than when they are suppressed. From my understanding, for many people, along with the intense pain of jealousy, comes a shame at having the feeling at all. People, instead of experiencing and owning their jealousy, often try to find other rationalizations for their pain as a way of making sense of their feelings. I guess they can make sense of their jealousy; it comes from a place deeper in them than “sense” goes. Indeed it has its own sense, and their minds have little understanding of it. Perhaps one learns to be jealous, and in many cultures that seems to be an approved lesson. One can also learn not to be jealous. People just have to understand to what extent do they feel fraudulent in their personal life? #RandolphHarris 11 of 19
One has to know those feelings of jealousy are wrong, so unbelievable, so shameful. What exactly is love? It is will to good or “Bene-volence.” We love something or someone when we promote its good for its own sake. Love’s contrary is malice, and its simple absence is indifference. Its normal accompaniment is delight, but a twisted soul may delight in evil and take no pleasure in good. Love is not the same thing as desire, for I may desire something without even wishing it well, much less willing its good. I might desire a vanilla ice cream cone, for example. However, I do not wish it well; I wish to eat it. This is the difference between lust (mere desire) and love, as between two intimate partners. Desire and love are of course, compatible when desire is ruled by love; but most people today would, unfortunately, not even know the difference between them. Hence, in our World, love constantly falls prey to lust. That is a major part of the deep sickness of contemporary life. By contrast, what characterizes the deepest essence of God is love—that is, will to good. His very creation of the World is an expression of will to good, and it is then to be expected that His World would be found by Him to “very good,” reports Genesis 1.31. #RandolphHarris 12 of 19
God’s love and goodwill towards humans is, therefore, not an add on to a nature that is fundamentally careless or even hostile. It is another expression—one of the more important ones, of course—of what He always and in every respect is. It is not hard for God to love, but it is impossible, given His nature, for Him not to love. Our human World as we find it is not like God, though it was intended to be. We have already expanded on this in the past, but must take note of it again here. Love is not natural in our World, though desire or lust certainly is. “The lust of the flesh, the lust f the eyes and the pride of life,” the apostle said, is “all that is in the World,” 1 John 2.16. Pride is defined by desire, not by love. It is, above all, the presumption that my desires should be fulfilled and that it is an injustice, a crying shame, and an injury if they are not. Lust and pride all around us inevitably result in a World of fear. For they bring us into a World of little dictators; and the most likely thing is that each person will be used and abused by others, possibly destroyed, and at least not helped and cared for. Our families, which should be a refuge from such a World, often turn out to be places where victimization is at its worst. “The dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence,” reports Psalm74.20. #RandolphHarris 13 of 19
The tender young are initiated into an adult World hardened in evil. Some babies are not even safe from people in their mother’s womb. “And one who turns aside from evil makes oneself a prey,” reports Isaiah 59.15. Injury brings pain and loss, then fear and anger, which mingle with resentment and contempt and settle into postures of coldness and malice, with brutal feelings that drain the body of health and strength and shatter social well-being. “And now it came to pass that Samuel, the Lamanite, did prophesy a great many more things which cannot be written. And behold, he said unto them; Behold, I give unto you’re a sign; for five years more cometh, and behold, then cometh the Son of God to redeem all those who shall believe on his name. And behold, this will I give unto you for a sign at the time of his coming; for behold, there shall be great light in Heaven, insomuch that in the night before he cometh there shall be no darkness, insomuch that it shall appear unto humans as if it was day. Therefore, there shall be one day and a night and a day, as if it were one day and there were no night; and this shall be unto you for a sign; for ye shall know of the rising of the Sun and also of its setting; therefore they shall know of a surety that there shall be two days and a night; nevertheless that night shall not be darkened; and it shall be night before he is born. #RandolphHarris 14 of 19
“And behold, there shall a new star arise, such and one as ye never have beheld; and this also shall be a sign unto you. And be this is not all, there shall be many signs and wonders in Heaven. And it shall come to pass that ye shall all be amazed, and wonder, insomuch that ye shall fall to the Earth. And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall believe on the Son of God, the same shall have everlasting life. And behold, thus hath the Lord commanded me, by his angel, that I should come and tell this thing unto you; yea; he hath commanded that I should prophesy these things unto you; yea, he hath said unto me: Cry unto this people, repent and prepare the ways of the Lord. And now, because I am a Lamanite, and have spoken unto you the words which the Lord hath commanded me, and because it was hard against you, ye are angry with me and do seek to destroy me, and have cast me out from among you. And ye shall hear my words, for this intent have I come up upon the walls of this city, that ye might hear and know of the judgment of God which do await you because of your iniquities, and also that ye might know the conditions of repentance; and also that ye might know of the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of Heaven and of Earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and that ye might know of the signs of his coming of the intent that ye might believe on his name. #RandolphHarris 15 of 19
“And if ye believe on his name ye will repent of all your sins, that thereby ye may have a remission of them though his merits. And behold, again, another sign I give unto you, yea, a sign of his death. For behold, he surely must die that salvation may come; yea, it benooveth him and becometh expedient that he dieth, to bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, that thereby humans may be brought int the presence of the Lord. Yea, behold, this death bringeth to pass the resurrection, and redeemth all humankind from the first death—that spiritual death; for all humankind, by the Fall of Adam being cut off from the presence of the Lord, are considered as dead, both as to things temporal and to things spiritual. However, behold, the resurrection of Christ redeemth humankind, yea, even all humankind, and bringeth to pass the condition of repentance, that whosoever repentance the same is not hewn down and cast into the fire; and there cometh upon them again a spiritual death, yea, a second death, for they are cut off again as to things pertaining to righteousness. Therefore repent ye, repent ye, lest by knowing these things and not doing them ye shall suffer yourselves to come under condemnation, and ye are brought down unto this second death. #RandolphHarris 16 of 19
“However, behold, as I said unto you concerning another sign, a sign of his death, behold, in that day that he shall suffer death the Sun shall be darkened and refuse to give his light upon the face of this land, even from the time that one shall suffer death, for he space of three days, to the time that he shall rise again from the dead. Yea, at the same time that he shall yield up the ghost there shall be thunderings and lightnings for the space of many hours, and the Earth shall shake and tremble; and the rocks which are upon the face of this Earth, which are both above the Earth and beneath, which ye know at this time are solid, or the more par of it is one solid mass, shall be broken up; yea, they shall be rent in twain, and shall ever after be found in seams and in cracks, and in broken fragments upon the face of the whole Earth, yea, both above the Earth and beneath. And behold, there shall be great tempests, and there shall be many mountains laid low, like unto a valley, and there shall be many places which are now called valleys which shall become mountains, whose height is great. And many highways shall be broken up, and many cities shall become desolate. And many graves shall be opened, and shall yield up many of their dead; and many saints shall appear unto many. #RandolphHarris 17 of 19
“And behold, thus hath the angel spoken unto me; for he said unto me that there should be thunderings and lightnings for the space of many hours. And he said unto me that while the thunder and the lightning lasted, and the tempest, that these things should be, and that darkness should cover the face of the whole Earth for three days. And the angel said unto me that many shall see greater things than these, to the intent that they might believe that these signs and these wonders should come to pass upon all the face of this land, to the intent that there should be no cause for unbelief among the children of humans—and this to the intent that whosoever will believe might be saved, and that whosoever will not believe, a righteous judgment might come upon them; and also if they are condemned thy bring upon themselves their own condemnation. And now remember, remember, my brethren, that whosoever perisheth, perisheth unto oneself; and whosoever doeth iniquity, doeth it unto oneself; for behold, ye are free; ye are permitted to act for yourselves; for behold, God hath given unto you a knowledge and he hath made your freed. He hath given unto you that ye might know good from evil, and hath given unto you that ye might choose life or death. #RandolphHarris 18 of 19
“And ye can do good and be restored unto that which is good, or have that which is good restored unto you; or ye can do evil, and have that which is evil restored to you,” reports Helman 14.1-31. Come, Holy God, and please bless this Thanksgiving food that will feed my body, though the actions of which you are daily made manifest in the World. O Lord, open Thou my lips and my mouth shall declare Thy praise. Praised art Thou, O Lord our God and God of our fathers, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, mighty, revered and exalted God. Thou bestowest lovingkindness and possessest all things. Mindful of the patriarchs’ love for Thee, Thou wilt in Thy love bring a redeemer to their children’s children for the sake of Thy name. O King, Thou Helper, Redeemer and Shield, by Thou praised, O Lord, Shield of Abraham. Thou, O Lord, art mighty forever. Thou callest the dead to immortal life for Thou art mighty in deliverance. This Thanksgiving dinner is the work of many made palpable. Before eating, it is right to acknowledge their labour. We thank all these people and all their protective spirits. I send my prayers to God. Holy Ones, please accept my invitation. Please be honoured by it, by life’s true sacrifice. The food we eat is a gift from you and how grateful we are to have family and a beautiful home and safe Ultimate Driving Machines and a wonderful education. #RandolphHarris 19 of 19
Residence One at Mills Station holds 1,932 square feet of single story living. The open concept design includes three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a two car garage. Each home includes a Home Hub located at the front of the home which can be used as a study, playroom or sitting room.
The kitchen comes fully equipped with a large eat-in island, stainless steel appliances, and quartz counters. The great room is spacious and full of natural light with a covered patio! The Owner’s suite is nestled in the rear of the home separate from the secondary bedrooms, providing maximum privacy. Enjoy a spa like experience in the Owner’s bathroom with a large walk in shower, dual vanities, and makeup counter.
This home is designed with Universal Design concepts meaning that its well equipped for life’s transitions and aging in place. Learn more about this unique feature by speaking with a sales associate today!
Best of all, each Cresleigh home comes fully equipped with an All Ready connected home! This smart home package comes included with your home and features great tools including: video door bell and digital deadbolt for the front door, connect home hub so you can set scenes and routines to make life just a little easier. Two smart switches and USB outlets are also included, plus we’ll gift you a Google Home Hub and Google Mini to help connect everything together! https://cresleigh.com/mills-station/move-in-ready-home-site-77/
Thank you, Holy Ooe: please share my good fortune. I praise you, Holy One: please share my friendship. How wonderful! How marvelous! This home is the gift from the Earth which it grew. #CresleighHomes
Who Would Respect Someone who Voted in a Jury Trial or Decided which House to Buy with No Regard to the Evidence Relevant to the Decisions?
Just because you like my stuff does not mean I owe you anything. Those who generally deny or ignore their World of private and subjective experience during wakefulness seem to recall fewer dreams than those who accept and exploit this dimension of experience. Emotional problems often take advantage of the dreaming state and a skilled psychoanalyst can use dream content therapeutically. Replacing the notion that dream last only a few seconds was the finding that EEG-monitored Rapid Eye Movement (REM) stages of sleep are rarely less than 10 minutes long and may last for an hour or more. During your sleep, the body repairs and regrows tissues, builds bone and muscle, and strengthens the immune system. There is an average of four of five REM stages in the course of a typical night’s sleep. The average young adult subject spends about 20 percent of one’s sleep time in the REM state. During infancy and childhood the proportion is much higher, while during old age it is somewhat lower. REM sleep is usually a deep sleep and if someone woke you, you would likely feel disoriented. It is interesting that the larger animals with a longer lifespan and a lower metabolic rate tend to have longer sleep-dream cycles. #RandolphHarris 1 of 19
The average length of time from the beginning of one REM (Rapid Eye Movement) stage to the next varies from four minutes in the Mus musculus to 90 minutes in the adult man. It has been suggested that cyclical dreaming evolved because this arrangement gave the organism an opportunity to come to a state of near waking readiness and “sample” the environment for danger. REM sleep is basically a process for “programming” the brain; this programming system is homeostatic, organizing and storing memories [perceptual, cognitive, and behavioural programs]. Thus, lower or “fixed program” forms of life do not need much or any REM time while newborn high life forms should have more REM time than adults to develop the central nervous system. It is also possible that the fetus spends almost all of time in the REM state. If the REM sate serves a developmental function, one might be able to detect a disturbed or atypical sleep-dream cycle among individuals with central nervous dysfunction. If this dysfunction responds to therapy, one might expect to see a reflection of this change in the sleep-dream cycle. Dreaming serves to integrate new information into existing past information stores and leads to improvement of speech production and comprehension (exempli gratia, “reprograming”) would alter the sleep dream cycle of aphasics. #RandolphHarris 2 of 19
Artemidorous Daldianus, a professional diviner, in the second century A.D., produced the first systematic interpretation of dreams. He asserted that truth exists within dream symbols—as when Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dream of the seven fat and seven lean cattle as seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. Rather than serving as evidence of communication with God, Artemidorous looked upon Pharaoh’s dream as an indication of human intuition. Jeffery David Ullman, an American computer scientist and the Stanford W. Ascherman Professor of Engineering, also concerned himself with the roles that dreams play in a particular culture. He notes that dreams of preliterate people reflect the prevailing mythology and that dreams often act as a channel for a person’s idiosyncratic modes of viewing the cultural myths. Dr. Ullman conceded that the end-product could be banal or ecstatic but noted it is an act of creation to have the dream in the first place. An idea may sleep for decades in the unconscious mind and then suddenly return to consciousness. In primitive and ancient societies, dreams were typically thought to be the work of supernatural entities, appearing to mortals with messages of hope or despair. #RandolphHarris 3 of 19
Some peoples believed that the soul left the physical body in sleep and wandered in a spirit World. It was generally believed that dreams could provide a glimpse of the future, reveal events happening at a distance, or indicate the thoughts of another person. Our normal waking consciousness is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different. We may go throughout life without suspecting their existence; but apply the requisite stimulus, and at a touch they are there in all their completeness. No account of the Universe in its totality can be final which leaves these other forms of consciousness quite disregarded. Individuals who make a persistent, conscientious, disciplined attempt to cope with internal events typically report that the quest has assisted their capacity to perceive and understand the various levels of reality, to accept and enjoy the self, to behave spontaneously, to appreciate art and nature, to develop close interpersonal relationships, to work creatively—in other words, to become a more fully realized human being. The current interest in dreams and other forms of altered consciousness is a promising development for humanistically oriented psychology, psychiatry, religion, education, and other fields. #RandolphHarris 4 of 19
The goal is to produce superhumans who are fully functional. As a larger number of professionals and noneprofessional become involved in the inner life, the possibility grows that there is a new consciousness emerging in our time—a consciousness geared toward self-actualization and the full development of the human potential. If you could hear that a flying saucer from another planet had landed on Earth one hundred years ago, you would want to know how the space ship was constructed and what kind of power propelled it, but most of all you would want to know about the people who navigated it and the society from which they came. If they lived in a World without crime and war and destructive conflict, and if they were comparatively free from chronic mental and physical ailments, you would want to know about their methods of healing and education, and whether these methods would work as well with the inhabitants of Earth. If you heard further that the navigators of the ship had found a group of 12,000 people living as an isolated community among the mountains, and had demonstrated that these preliterate people would utilize their methods of healing and education, and reproduce the society from which the celestial navigators came, you would probably be curious about these psychological and social methods that conquered space inside the individual, than you would about the mechanics of the ship which conquered outside space. #RandolphHarris 5 of 19
These people lived in long community houses, skillfully constructed. They maintained themselves by practicing dry-land, shifting agriculture, and by hunting and fishing. Study of their political and social organization indicated that the political authority in their communities was originally in the hands of the elder members of the patrilineal clans. Because of their psychological knowledge of strangers in their territory, they could very easily devise means of scaring them off. They did not black magic, but allowed the nomadic hill-folk surrounding them to think that they did if strangers invaded their territory. However, the absence of violent crime, armed conflict, and mental and physical diseases in their own society can only be explained on the basic of institutions which produce a high state of psychological integration and emotional maturity, along with social skills and attitudes which promote creative, rather than destructive, interpersonal relationships. They are, perhaps, the most democratic group reported in anthropological literature. In the realms of family, economics, and politics, their society operates smoothly on the principle of contract, agreement and democratic consensus, with no need of police force, jail, or psychiatric hospital to reinforce the agreements or to confine those who are not willing or able to reach consensus. #RandolphHarris 6 of 19
Study of their society seems to indicate that they have arrived at this high state of social and physical cooperation and integration through the system of psychology which they have discovered, invented and developed, and that the principles of this system of psychology are understandable in terms of Wester scientific thinking. They have built a system of interpersonal relations which, in the field of psychology, is perhaps on a level with our attainments in such areas as television and nuclear physics. Humans create features or images on the outside World in their own mind as a part of the adaptive process. Some of these features are in conflict with them and with each other. Once internalized, these hostile images turn humans against themselves and their fellows. In their unconscious minds, humans have the power to see these facets of their psyche, which have been disguised in external forms, associated with their own fearful emotions, and turned against them and the internal images of other people. If the individual does not receive social assistance through education and therapy, these hostile images, built up by human’s normal receptiveness to the outside World, get tied together and associated with one another in a way which makes one physically, socially and psychologically abnormal. #RandolphHarris 7 of 19
Unassisted, these unconscious ideas, which humans create to reproduce inside oneself the external sociophysical environment, tend to remain against one the ways the environment was against one, or to become disassociated from one’s major personality and tied up in wasteful psychic, organic, and muscular tensions. With the help of a trained professional, these psychological replicas of the socio-physical environment can be redirected and reorganized and again become useful to the major personality. Any human being, with the assistance of one’s fellows, can outface, master, and actually utilize all beings and forces in the unconscious universe. Humans discover their deepest self and reveals their greatest creative power at times when one’s psychic processes are most free from immediate involvement with the environment and most under the control of one’s indwelling balancing or homeostatic power. The freest type of psychic play occurs in our unconscious minds, and the social acceptance of our deepest repressed thoughts and idea, therefore, constitute the deepest possible acceptance of the individual. Evil is neutralized by enforcing desirable behaviour. Modern civilization may be sick because people have sloughed off, or failed to develop, half their power to think. #RandolphHarris 8 of 19
People rely too much on the news, often as their only source of information about the World. However, the news is a vision someone wants to present to you, and it is to generate revenue. Much of the news is entertainment, and if you want to be entertained, then watch a movie, read a book, listen to music, get some exercise. Western society is rife with war, crime, and wasteful economic conflict, insanity, neurosis and chronic psychogenic physical ills because people are more willing to watch the news than they are to go to church and learn about God and His laws. Through religion and a focus on intellectual and social interests, we can solve the problem of violent crime and destructive economic conflict, and largely eliminate insanity, neurosis and psychogenic illness. Instead of sitting down for half an hour to watch the evening news, go for a walk or to the gym with a friend. Play sports. Do something to be active. Notice that children have about two hours of activity in a school day, physical education and lunch, well adults need to be active as well and it will improve your health and mind. Now, the realm of feelings may appear on first approach to be an area of total chaos. However, this is not so. There is also order among feelings, and it is a much simpler one than most people think. #RandolphHarris 9 of 19
When we properly cultivate with divine assistance those feelings that should be prominent in our lives, the remainder will fall into place. What then are the feelings that will dominate in a life that has been inwardly transformed to be like Christ’s? They are the feelings associated with love, joy, and peace. For the sake of simplicity we shall simply call them love, joy, and peace, though, as we have noted, love, joy, and peace are not mere feelings but conditions of the whole person that are accompanied by characteristic beneficial feelings. Love, joy, and peace are, we recall, the three fundamental dimensions of the fruit (note the singular) of the Spirit. They mutually interpenetrate and inform one another and naturally express themselves in the remainder of that one fruit: “patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control,” reports Galatians 5.22-23. Faith (confidence) and hope are also very important in properly structuring the feeling dimension of the mind and self. However, they play their role in that regard in subordination to love, joy, and peace—that is, because of their relationship to them. The three primary dimensions of “the fruit” (love, joy, and peace) are in fact not separable from the three things “that remain” of 1 Corinthians 13.13 (faith, hope, and love) and of course are partially identical with them. #RandolphHarris 10 of 19
Love, joy, peace, faith, hope, and love are all focused on goodness and what is good, and all are strength-giving and pleasant even in the midst of pain or suffering. That is not what we see them for, or something we try to make of them. It is, simply, their nature. I once told my children that if they ever got to the point where they thought it was unreasonable to believe that Christianity was true, then they should abandon the faith. Does that sound risky? It is, but what is the alternative? Should we tell our children to set their minds aside totally and accept the Christian faith without using their intelligence? It can be risky to encourage people to develop their minds and allow reason to help them decide what they believe and why. No one can predict where such an approach will lead in a specific individual’s life. It is easy to lose control of the outcome. If your church is Reformed, charismatic, or whatever, and if your church actually equips people to think widely and deeply about their own theological beliefs, there is no guarantee that they will all come down where the church leaders are on a specific topic. For some, this can create an uncomfortable heterogeneity; it forces us to work harder at drawing lines between what sort of theological diversity a church will or will not tolerate within its membership. #RandolphHarris 11 of 19
Commitment to truth and reason: The fears just mentioned are easy to understand. However, we cannot let our fears dictate to us our approach to Christian growth and ministry. We need to keep two things firmly planted in the center of our mines. First, we simply must reaffirm our commitment to truth and right reason and be confident that our Christian beliefs both warrant that commitment and will flourish in light of it. Any commitment, it seems, depends on two distinct elements. It presupposes certain beliefs [to be true] and it also involves a personal dedication to the actions implied by them. We are committed to Christianity in general, or some doctrinal position. And we are committed to the importance of our God-given faculty of mind to assist us in assessing what is true. Second, we need to remember the consequences of abandoning a fundamental commitment to truth and reason. A people that does not care about these will be easily led to behave in certain ways by rhetoric, image, narcissistic self-infatuation, and so on. This is extremely dangerous. Further, if our allegiance to Christianity is not based on the conviction that it is true and reasonable, then we are treating the faith as a mere means to some self-serving pragmatic end, and that demeans the faith. #RandolphHarris 12 of 19
To further highlight the illustration, if we are more concerned with practical application from the Bible than with having a good reason for thinking we have correctly interpreted it, then our bottom line will be that the Bible exists as a tool to make us a success, and we do not exist to place ourselves under what it really says. In medicine, we all know what a placebo is. It is an innocuous substance that does not really do anything to help an illness. However, the patient’s false belief that it works brings some mental relief. Unfortunately, a placebo works due to the naïve, unenlightened, false belief on the part of the patient, but that also shows you the power of the mind to heal the body. Many people have Worldview placebos—false, naïve, misinformed beliefs that allow them to live in a safe fantasy World of their own mental creation. Often, life is a struggle. We grow sick, lose our jobs, experience fragmented relationships with others, and eventually go to Heaven. We want to know if there is anything real upon which to base our lives. Is there really a God and what is He actually like? What does God believe about the things that matter most? Is there any purpose to life and, if so, what is it? Why was I thrust into this World? Are the values objective and real, or arbitrary and invented? #RandolphHarris 13 of 19
Is there life after death? In what ways can I really count on God, and are there any true, effective ways to get close to Him? When we ask these questions, we do not just want answers that help us merely because we believe them. We want to be comforted because our answers to these questions are really true. For the wise person of virtue, a life well lived is based on the truth, not on a placebo. However, if truth really matters after all, then it follows that rationality also is crucial to a life well lived. Why? Because if we want a life built on truth, we want to be sure that our Worldview consists of the highest percentage of true beliefs and the lowest percentage of false ones. The only way available to us for making sure this is the case with our own belief system is through the careful use of faculty of reason. In ordinary decisions of daily life, we try to base our beliefs and actions on the best evidence we can get. From sitting on a jury to buying a new house, we try to base our decisions on a careful assessment of all the relevant evidence we can get. Who would respect someone who voted in a jury trial or a decided which house to buy with no regard to the evidence relevant to these decisions? #RandolphHarris 14 of 19
If someone used blind faith and bought the first house one saw with a For Sale sign in front of it, but made no effort to get information about the house and neighbourhood, we would consider that person foolish. Why? Because when we use our reason and base decisions on the best assessment of the evidence we can make, we increase our chances that our decisions are based on true beliefs. Now if this is the case for day-to-day issues why should we suddenly abandon the importance of reason and evidence when it comes to religion? We should not. Any religious belief worthy of the name should be accepted because we take the best exercise of our mental faculties we can muster. In the long run, it is better to risk losing control, face our doubts, be patient, and do the best job we can of using our minds to get at the truth. Not only is the Christian faith secure enough to withstand such an approach, but the faith actually encourages it. If we are going to make progress in our Christian lives, then we must defeat the empty self and take back what insecurity and fear of losing control have taken from us. This is the first step toward making progress in cultivating the Christian mind as part of an overall spiritual journey pleasing to God and good for others and ourselves. However, just exactly how does one develop a more careful intellect? #RandolphHarris 15 of 19
How can a person learn to think better and be more assured that one’s belief are, in fact, true? Christ wants a child’s heart, but a grown-up’s mind. “And it came to pass that there arose a division among the people, insomuch that they divided hither and thither and went their ways, leaving Nephi alone, as he was standing in the midst of them. And it came to pass that Nephi went his way towards his own house, pondering upon the things which the Lord had shown unto him. And it came to pass as he was thus pondering—being much cast down because of the wickedness of the people of the Nephites, their secret works of darkness, and their murderings, and their plunderings, and all manner of iniquities—and it came to pass as he was thus pondering in his heart, behold, a voice came unto him saying: Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments. And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works; yea, even that all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will. #RandolphHarris 16 of 19
“Behold, thou art Nephi, and I am God. Behold, I declare it unto thee in the presence of mine angels, that ye shall have power over this people, and shall smite the Earth with famine, and with pestilence, and destruction, according to the wickedness of this people. Behold, I give unto you power, that whatsoever ye shall seal on Earth shall be sealed in Heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven; and thus shall ye have power among this people. And thus, if ye shall say unto this temple it shall be rent in twain, it shall be done. And if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou cast down and become smooth, it shall be done. And behold, if ye shall say that God shall smite this people, it shall come to pass. And now behold, I command you, that ye shall go and declare unto this people, that thus saith the Lord God, who is the Almighty: Except ye repent ye shall be smitten, even unto destruction. And behold, now it came to pass that when the Lord had spoken these words unto Nephi, he did stop and did not go unto his own house, but did return unto the multitudes who were scattered about upon the face of the land, and began to declare unto them the word of the Lord which had spoken unto him, concerning their destruction if they did not repent. #RandolphHarris 17 of 19
“Now behold, notwithstanding that great miracle which Nephi had done in telling them concerning the death of the chief judge, they did harden their hearts and did not hearken unto the words of the Lord. Therefore Nephi did declare unto them the word of the Lord, saying: Except ye repent, thus saith the Lord, ye shall be smitten even unto destruction. And it came to pass that when Nephi had declared unto them the word, behold, they did still harden their hearts and would not hearken unto his words; therefore they did revile against him, and did seek to lay their hands upon him that they might cast him into prison. However, behold, the power of God was with him, and they could not take him to cast him into prison, for he was taken by the Spirit and conveyed away out of the midst of them. And it came to pass that thus he did go forth in the Spirit, from multitude to multitude, declaring the word of God, even until he had declared it unto them all, or sent it forth among all the people. And it came to pass that they would not hearken unto his words; and there began to slay one another with the sword. And thus ended the seventy and first year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi,” reports Helaman 10.1-19. From you have flowed freely many gifts, given with no conditions, offered with open hands. #RandolphHarris 18 of 19
Continually you have renewed the World with your largesse; continually you have brought new wonders into being. I come before you, then, with unnecessary gratitude; no matter what my actions are, yours will not change. What you do is in perfect accord with your nature. I wish to be more like you, to take you as my model, and, though my gifts may be unnecessary for you, they are all too vital for me. I hold them out to you, then, generous ones. See—I am generous too. Our fathers’ shield, God’s word has ever been; he giveth life eternal to the dead. Holy is He; no other can compare with Him who giveth rest each Sabbath day unto His people whom He loves. With veneration and with awe we serve Him; we praise Him every day and bless His name. To God all thanks are due, the Lord of peace, He halloweth the Sabbath and doth bless the seventh day; He giveth rest unto a people knowing its delight, in remembrance of creation. The circle turns, it turns around, carrying me with it, and I turn too. These wonderful things that came from God are being returned to Him, to keep the turning going. The balance is kept: I do not only take, I also know how to give. God has given birth to another wonder in this marvelous life of mine. I will thank Him daily for the gift of life and for all He distributes from His free and open hands. #RandolphHarris 19 of 19
Cresleigh Homes
Nothing says “fall” quite like a brand new home to cozy up in! 🏠🍂 Home Site 47 at #BrightonStation features a Residence 1 floor plan and is ready for move-in! The home comes with upgraded light fixtures, and an upgraded door in the master bedroom to access the backyardrd, and there is an option to turn the workspace in the garage into a 4th bedroom, which would add an estimated 140 square feet, making the home approximately 2,208 square feet. The home hub could be used as an additional bedroom, office, playroom or even diningng room.
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I Hold it True, what’er Befall; I feel it when I Sorrow Most; ‘Tis Better to Have Loved and Lost!
Youth is not chronological age but the state of growing, learning, and changing. All people must be helped to regain the condition of youth. The two principles of justice: The first guarantees the equal basic rights and liberties needed to secure the fundamental interests of free and equal citizens and to pursue a wide range of conceptions of the good. The second principle provides fair equality of educational and employment opportunities enabling all to fairly compete for powers and positions of office; and it secures for all a guaranteed minimum of the all-purpose means (including income and wealth) that individuals need to pursue their interests and to maintain their self-respect as free and equal persons. In applying the two principles of justice to the basic structure of society one takes the position of certain representative individuals and considers how the social system looks to them. The difference, for example, requires that the higher expectations of the more advantaged contribute to the prospects of the least advantaged. Or as I sometime say more lightly, social and economic inequalities must by in the interests of the representative people in all relevant social positions. The perspective of those in these situations defines a suitably general point of view. #RandolphHarris 1 of 26
However, certainly not all social positions are relevant. For not only are there farmers, say, but dairy farmers, wheat farmers, farmers working on large tracts of land, and so on for other occupations and groups indefinitely. If we must take such a multiplicity of positions into account, we cannot have a coherent and manageable theory. Therefore we need to identify certain positions as more basic than the others and as providing an appropriate standpoint for judging the social system. Thus the choice of these positions becomes part of the theory of justice. On what principle, though, are they to be identified? We must keep in mind the fundamental problem of justice and the manner in which the two principles cope with it. The primary subject of justice, is the basic structure of society. The reason for this is that its effects are so profound and pervasive, and present from birth. This structure favours some starting places over others in the division of the benefits of social cooperation. It is these inequalities which the two principles are to regulate. Once these principles are satisfied, other inequalities are allowed to arise from human’s voluntary actions in accordance with the principle of free association. #RandolphHarris 2 of 26
Thus the relevant social positions are, so to speak, the starting places properly generalized and aggregated. By choosing these positions to specify the general point of view one follows the idea that the two principles attempt to mitigate the arbitrariness of natural contingency and social fortune. I suppose, then, that for the most part each person holds two relevant positions: that of equal citizenship and that defined by one’s place in the distribution of income and wealth. The relevant representative humans, therefore and the representative citizens and those who stand for the various levels of well-being. Since I assume that in general other positions are entered into voluntarily, we need not consider the point of view of humans in these positions in judging the basic structure. Indeed, we are to adjust the whole scheme to suit the preferences of those in the so-called starting places. In judging the social system we are to disregard our more specific interest and associations and look at our situation from the standpoint of these representative humans. Now as far as possible the basis structure should be appraised from the position of equal citizenship. This position is defined by the right and liberties required by principle of equal liberty and the principle of fair equality of opportunity. #RandolphHarris 3 of 26
When the two principles are satisfied, all are equal citizens, and so everyone holds this position. In this sense, equal citizenship defines a general point of view. The problems of adjudicating among the fundamental liberties are settled by reference to it. Many questions of social policy can also be considered from this position. For there are matters which concern the interests of everyone and in regard to which distributive effects are immaterial or irrelevant. In these cases the principle of the common interest can be applied. According to this principle institutions are ranked by how effectively they guarantee the conditions necessary for all equally to further their sims, or by how efficiently they advance shared ends that will similarly benefit everyone. Thus reasonable regulations to maintain public order ad security, or efficient measures for public health and safety, promote the common interest in this sense. So do collective efforts for national defense in a just war. It may be suggested that maintaining public health and safety, promote the common interest in this since. So do collective efforts for national defense in a just war. It may be suggested that maintaining public health and safety or achieving victory in a just war have distributive effects: the affluent benefit more than the less affluent since the have more to lose. #RandolphHarris 4 of 26
However, if social and economic inequalities are just, these effects may be left aside and the principle of the common interest applied. The standpoint of equal citizenship is the appropriate one. The definition of representative humans for judging social and economic inequalities is less satisfactory. For one thing, taking these individuals as specified by the levels of income and wealth, I assumed of power and authority to avoid an index problem. That is, I suppose that those with greater political authority, say, or those higher in institutional forms, are in general better off in other respects. On the whole, this assumption seems safe enough for our purposes. There is also a question about how many such representative humans to single out, but this is not crucial because the difference principle selects one representative for a special role. The serious difficulty is how to define the least fortunate group. Here is seems impossible to avoid certain arbitrariness. One possibility is to choose particular social position, say that of the unskilled worker, and then to count as the least advantaged all those with the average income and wealth of this group, or less. The expectation of the lowest representative human is defined as the average taken over this whole class. #RandolphHarris 5 of 26
Another alternative is a definition solely in terms of relative income and wealth with no reference to social position. Thus all persons with less than half of the median income and wealth may be taken as the least advantaged segment. This definition depends only upon the lower half of the distribution and has the merit of focusing attention on the social distance between those who have least and the average citizen. Surely this gap is an essential feature of the situation of the least favoured members of society. I suppose that either of these definitions or some combination of them, will serve well enough. In any case we are to aggregate to some degree over the expectations of the worst off, and the figure selected on which to base these computations is to a certain extent ad hoc. Yet we are entitled at some point to plead practical considerations in formulating the difference principle. Sooner or later the capacity of philosophical or other arguments to make finer discriminations is bound to run out. I assume therefore that the persons in the original position understand the difference principle to be defined in one of these ways. They interpret it from the first as a limited aggregative principle and assess it as such in comparison with other standards. #RandolphHarris 6 of 26
It is not as if they agreed to think of the least advantaged as literally the worst off individual and then in order to make this criterion work adopted in practice some form of averaging. Rather, it is the practicable criterion itself that is to be evaluated from the perspective of the original position. It may turn out that a more exact definition of the least favoured proves unnecessary. As far as possible, then, justice as fairness appraises the social system from the position of equal citizenship and the various levels of income and wealth. Sometimes, however, other positions may need to be taken into account. If, for example, there are unequal basic rights founded on fixed natural characteristics, these inequalities will single out relevant positions. Since these characteristics cannot be changed, the position they define count as starting places in the basic structure. Distinctions based on gender are of this type, and so are those depending upon race and culture. Thus is, say, humans are favoured in the assignment of basic rights, this inequality is justified by the difference principle (in the general interpretation) only if it is to the advantage of women and acceptable from their standpoint. And the analogous condition applies to the justification of caste systems, or racial and ethic inequalities. #RandolphHarris 7 of 26
Such inequalities multiply relevant positions and complicate the application of the two principles. On the other hand, these inequalities are seldom, if ever, to the advantage of the less favoured, and therefore in a just society the smaller number of relevant positions should be ordinarily suffice. Now it is essential that the judgments made from the perspective of the relevant positions override the claims that we are prone to make in more particular situations. If we think of ourselves in terms of our more specific positions, not everyone always benefits by what the two principle require. And unless the viewpoint of the relevant position has priority, one still has a chaos of competing claims. Thus the two principles express, in effect, an understanding to order our interests by giving certain of them a special weight. For example, persons engaged in a particular industry often find that free trade is contrary to their interests. Perhaps the industry cannot remain prosperous without tariffs or other restrictions. However, if free trade is desirable from the point of view of equal citizens or of the least advantaged, it is justified even though more specific interests suffer. For we are to agree in advance to the principles of justice and their consistent application from the standpoint of certain positions. #RandolphHarris 8 of 26
There is no way to guarantee the protection of everyone’s interests over each period of time once the situation of representative humans is defined more narrowly. Having acknowledged certain principles and a certain way of applying them, we are bound to accept the consequences. This does not mean, of course, that the rigors of free trade should be allowed to go unchecked. However, the arrangements for softening them are to be considered from an appropriately general perspective. The relevant social positions specify, then, the general point of view from which the two principles of justice are to be applied to the basic structure. In this way everyone’s interests are taken into account, for each person is an equal citizen and all have a place in the distribution of income and wealth or in the range of fixed natural characteristics upon which distinctions are based. Some selections of relevant positions is necessary for a coherent theory of social justice and the ones chosen should accord with its first principles. By selecting the so-called starting places one follows out the idea of mitigating the effects of natural accident and social circumstance. No one is o benefit from these contingencies except in ways that redound to the well-being of others. #RandolphHarris 9 of 26
The very first character trait that should flow out of experiencing God’s grace is gratitude to Him. Everything we are and everything we do that is of any value, we owe to the grace of God. This, of course begins with our salvation. The longer I live the Christian life, the more grateful I am for the salvation God gave to me when I was an eighteen-year-old college student. Years ago I memorized Mark 8.36-37: “For what shall it profit a human, if one shall gain the whole World, and lose one’s own soul? Or what shall a human give in exchange for one’s soul?” Initially, I memorized that passage to take the gospel offer seriously. However, in recent years I have begun t mediate on those verses for my own benefit to help me realize what an infinitely priceless gift I have received in God’s gracious gift of eternal life. As I think of the message of those verses, I visualize a balance scale with all the treasures of the entire World on one tray and eternal life on the other tray. The two rays are not balanced. Rather the scale is bottomed out on the side of eternal life. In the gift of eternal life, God has given us greater treasure than all the accumulated wealthy of the whole World. Are we sufficiently grateful for this priceless gift? Do we take time to actually give thanks to God for the gift that cost Him so much? #RandolphHarris 10 of 26
Are we as grateful today as we were the day we initially experienced the forgiveness of our sins and peace with God? If we are truly living by the transforming grace of God in our daily lives, gratitude for God’s gif of eternal life through Jesus Christ will be a growing experience. We should have a greater sense of gratitude, and be more desirous of expressing that attitude to God, today than the day we were brought out of the kingdom of sin into the Kingdom of grace. God has, of course, given us so much else in Christ. Have we grown in the Christian life so that we are a bit more mature today than we were a year ago? Are we perhaps more loving and gentler today than we were a year ago? If so, where did this growth come from? It did not come from ourselves, because as Paul said, “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature,” reports Romans 7.18. There are only two moral forces within us: our sinful nature and the Holy Spirit empowering our new nature. If we are more Christlike today than a year ago, it is because of the work of the Holy Spirit within us, and this is by the grace of God. Certainly, we must clothe ourselves with Christlike virtues, but these same virtues are also called the fruit of the Spirit—that is, the result of His work in us. #RandolphHarris 11 of 26
One great paradox of the Christian life is that we are fully responsible for our Christian growth and at the same tie fully dependent upon the Holy Spirit to give us both the desire to grow and the ability to do it. God’s grace does not negate the need for responsible action on our part, but rather makes it possible. What about ministry? Have we accomplished some specific work for God? As we have already seen, we must admit to God, “All that we have accomplished you have done for us,” reports Isaiah 26.12. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, we are or we have done that is worthwhile, that is not the result of God’s Spirit working in us and through us. I fear that often we Christians begin to think our spiritual growth and “success” in ministry is due, at least in large measures, to our own goodness and hard work. The irony is, the more committed and diligent we are, the more susceptible we are to that temptation. We face the same temptation in a spiritual sense that Israel faced in a material way when God warned them they would be prone to say, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me,” reports Deuteronomy 8.17. Let us go on to the temporal blessings of life. Are we comfortably situated in a nice home with plenty of food in the cupboard and the refrigerator? #RandolphHarris 12 of 26
Do we enjoy a reasonable degree of health? Do we have our own personal copy of the Bible (aside from the half dozen or so different translations some of us have)? Are we able to gather with other believers for worship and study of the Scriptures without fear of religious persecution? All of these blessings come to us by God’s grace, and all of them are occasions for gratitude and giving thanks to Him. It is interesting that some people use the expression “saying grace,” for the prayer of thanksgiving at meal time. I have no idea of that expression’s origin, but I suspect it was born out of a recognition that the food on the table was not only from God, but that it was there by His grace. We actually ought to “say grace” continually throughout the day for the temporal and spiritual blessings that come our way so abundantly. I know many of us are going through some difficult times, and it is tough to have a grateful spirit. However, if we stop and consider, we will recognize that we are still recipients every day of the amazing grace of God. If we are truly growing in grace, gratitude—and its expression in actually giving thanks to God—will be an ever-growing characteristic in our lives. Many adult learners have a deep sense of insecurity about their own mental abilities. #RandolphHarris 13 of 26
Defensiveness and a false sense of pride can arise to protect one from feeling embarrassed about not knowing something. Intellectual embarrassment is one of the worst forms of humiliation—no one wants to come off as stupid or uninformed. I think our adult Sunday school classes have unintentionally contributed to this false sense of pride. I have spoken in hundreds of churches and have regularly observed Sunday school classes which divine into small groups to reflect on a passage or discuss an idea. Later, when the groups recombine to share their observations with the entire class, group feedback is almost always affirming no matter how inaccurate or poorly reasoned the point is. Over the years, this creates a feeling of safety in the class but at the price of generating both a false sense of pride and the mistaken notion that all opinions are equal, whether spontaneous and quickly conceived or the result of detailed study prior to class time. It also keeps adults from learning how to receive criticism for their ideas in the interest of truth and stifles growth in the ability to respond nondefensively. If we do not work on this in the safety of the company of our own brothers and sisters, we will come off as small, reactionary, and inarticulate in the public square. #RandolphHarris 14 of 26
We need to give one another permission to express inadequately thought-out points to each other and create the expectation that we can learn to argue with one another, critique and defend ideas, or leave class with more work to do on a subject. All of this is in the interest of learning to reason carefully to get to the truth of what we study together. This may be a bit threatening at first, but over the long haul it will produce a church filled with people who are more secure about what they believe and why. The very forms that define our periods of study together often institutionalize false pride and a lack of intellectual growth. There is absolutely nothing wrong with admitting you do not know something or that you are currently inadequately equipped to think a topic through. What is unacceptable, however, is running from this fact and thereby giving up on intellectual and spiritual growth in the interest of avoiding embarrassment or possible rejection. We all need help in this area, and we should care enough about truth and reason to give that help. Even if we agree with one another’s conclusions, we need to dedicate ourselves for Christ’s sake to refusing to allow each other to reach those conclusions with poor argumentation and sloppy treatment of data. #RandolphHarris 15 of 26
Another form of inferiority comes from the simple fact that we are evangelicals. For some time now, our culture had told us that conservative Christians are intellectually inferior, that the Christian faith is irrational, and so forth. And we constantly watch our view caricatured as the news media, hostile university professors, and others regularly build straw humans out of Christians positions and proceed to destroy those straw humans. When a community is repeatedly told that it is ignorant, it will come to believe that message whether or not it is true. Asking them to leave: What should we do about this problem? I think we need to work harder at holding forth and celebrating our past and contemporary Christian thinkers. We need to know who they are. Do you know who the top Christian intellectuals are today in various fields? Are these people and their work placed before our children as examples to be emulated? We do this for Christian sports heroes, missionaries, and public speakers, so why not do it for our intellectuals? The effect of identifying and celebrating our Christian intellectuals before one another cannot be overestimated. Even though the early church was a minority movement that faced intellectual and cultural ridicule and marginalization, it maintained internal cohesion and a courageous witness thanks in no small measure to the powerful role in the broader Christian community of Christian intellectuals and apologist. #RandolphHarris 16 of 26
The early church knew who her intellectuals and apologists were, and this gave them confidence and a feeling of strength. In the same way, we must identify, celebrate, utilize, and make role models out of our Christian thinkers. And we need to celebrate the absolutely unequaled history of the intellectual life in the Christian church. If an alternative community of atheists, or anything else can rival the rich culture and intellectual leadership in church history, let someone come forth and demonstrate it. The intellectual life is our heritage as Christians, and it is time to remind ourselves of this. However, if one becomes so dependent that every problem as it arises is at once put before the teacher for solution, the consequence will eventually be an utter helplessness before all problems. The capacities for independent judgment, for taking the initiative, for showing creativeness and forming decisions, will decay and even disappear. Becoming a satellite and revolving around a guru may be beneficial to a human. However, when this revolution become a permanent one, the harm beings, and one will never again be able to move into a fresh orbit and fulfill the evolutionary intention secreted within one’s own being. It is absolutely indispensable for the disciples to learn how to live their own lives. #RandolphHarris 17 of 26
The guide must not only be competent to do what one proposes to do, but the disciple also must be qualified to take advantage of it. Rare is the true disciple. It is better to have a few earnest students who willingly work hard for their self-improvement than a mass of students who do nothing more than read books and talk amongst themselves. The kind of student one likes to see, but unfortunately rarely does see, blends a fine moral character with good intelligence and sound practicality, all topped by profound mystical intuition and a proper sense of reverence. Such a one is thoroughly dependable and reliable, one’s words are not mere froth of emotion to be quickly forgotten. When a seeker’s determination to follow the quest become tough enough not to be deviated by adversity or by luxury, one is ready for a teacher. “And it came to pass that when the sixty and second year of the reign of the judges had ended, all these things had happened and the Lamanites had become, the more part of them, a righteous people, insomuch that their righteousness did exceed that of the Nephites, because of their firmness and their steadiness in the faith. For behold, there were many of the Nephites who had become hardened and impenitent and grossly wicked, insomuch that they did reject the word of God and all the preaching and prophesying which did come among them. #RandolphHarris 18 of 26
“Nevertheless, the people of the church did have great joy because of the conversation of the Lamanites, yea, because of the church of God, which had been established among them. And they did fellowship one with another, and did rejoice one with another, and did have great joy. And it came to pass that many of the Lamanites did come down into the land of Zarahemla, and did declare unto the people f the Nephites the manner of their conversation, and did exhort them to faith and repentance. Yea, and many did preach with exceedingly great power and authority, unto the brining down many of them into the depths of humility, to be the humble followers of Go and the Lamb. And it came to pass that many of the Lamanites did go into the land northward; and also Nephi and Lehi went into the land northward, to preach unto the people. And thus ended the sixty and third year. And behold, there was peace in all the land, insomuch that the Nephites did go into whatsoever part of the land they would, whether among the Nephites or the Lamanites. And it came to pas that the Lamanites did also go whithersoever they would, whether it were among the Lamanites or among the Nephites; and thus they did have free intercourse one with another, to buy and sell, and to get gain according to their desire. #RandolphHarris 19 of 26
“And it came to pass that they became exceedingly rich, both the Lamanites and the Nephites; and they did have an exceedingly plenty of gold, and of silver, and of all manner of precious metals, both in the land south and in the land north. Now the land south was called Lehi, and the land north was called Mulek, which was after the son of Zedekiah; for the Lord did bring Mulek into the land north, and Lehi into the land south. And behold, there was all manner of gold in both these lands, and of silver, and of precious ore of every kind; and there were also curious workmen, who did work all kinds f ore and did refine it; and thus they did become rich. They did raise grain in abundance, both in the north and in the south; and they did flourish exceedingly, both in the north and in the south. And they did multiply and wax exceedingly strong in the land. And they did raise many flocks and herds, yea, many fatlings. Behold their women did toil and spin, and did make all manner of cloth, of fine-twined linen and cloth of every kind, to clothe their nakedness. And thus the sixty and fourth year did pass away in peace. And in the sixty and fifth year they did also have great joy and peace, yea, much preaching and many prophecies concerning that which was to come. And thus passed away the sixty and fifth year. #RandolphHarris 20 of 26
“And it came to pass that in the sixty and sixth year of the reign of the judges, behold, Cezoram was murdered by an unknown hand as he sat upon the judgment-sea. And it came to pass that in the same year, that his son, who had been appointed by the people in his stead, was also murdered. And thus ended the sixty and sixth year. And in the commencement of the sixty and seventh years the people began to grow exceedingly wicked again. For behold, the Lord had blessed them so long with the riches of the World that they had not been stirred up to anger, to wars, nor to bloodshed; therefore they began to set their hearts upon their riches; yea, they began to seek to get gain that they might be lifted up one above another; therefore they began to commit secret murders, and to rob and to plunder, that they might get gain. And now behold, those murderers and plunderers were a band who had been formed by Kishkumen and Gadianton. And now it had come to pass that there were many even among the Nephites, of Gadianton’s band. However, behold, they were more numerous among the more wicked part of the Lamanites. And they were called Gadianton’s robbers and murderers. And it was they who did murder the chief judge Cezoram, and his son, while in the judgment-seat; and behold, they were not found. #RandolphHarris 21 of 26
“And now it came to pass that when the Lamanites found that there were robbers among them they were exceedingly sorrowful; and they did use every means in their power to destroy them off the face of the Earth. However, behold, Satan did stir up the hearts of the more part of the Nephites, insomuch that they did unite with those bands of robbers, and did enter into their covenants and their oaths, that they would protect and preserve one another in whatsoever difficult circumstances they should be places, that they should not suffer for their murders, and their plunderings, and their stealings. And it came to pass that they did have their signs, yea, their secret signs, and their secret words; and this that they might distinguish a brother who had entered int the covenant, that whatsoever wickedness his brother should do he should not be injured by his brother, nor by those who did belong to his band, who had taken this covenant. And thus they might murder, and plunder, and steal, and commit whoredoms and all manner of wickedness, contrary to the laws of their country and also the laws of their God. And whosoever of those who belonged to their band should reveal unto the World of their wickedness and their abominations, should be tried, not according to the laws of their country, but according to the laws of their wickedness, which had been given by Gadiation and Kishkumen. #RandolphHarris 22 of 26
“Now behold, it is these secret oaths and covenants which Alma commanded his son should not go forth unto the World, least they should be a means of bringing down the people unto destruction. Now behold, those secret oaths and covenants did not come forth unto Gadiaton from the records which were delivered unto Helaman; but behold, they were put into the heart of Gadianton by that same being who did entice our first parents to partake of the forbidden fruit—yea, that same being who did plot with Cain, that if he would murder his brother Abel it should not be known unto the World. And he did plot with Cain and his followers from that time forth. And also it is that same being who put it into the hearts of the people to build a tower sufficiently high that they might get to Heaven. And it was that same being who led on the people who came from that tower into this land; who spread the works of darkness and abominations over all the face of the land, until he dragged the people down to an entire destruction, and to an everlasting hell. Yea, it is that same being who put it into the heart of Gadianton to still carry on the work of darkness, and of secret murder; and he has brought it forth from the beginning of humans even down to this time. #RandolphHarris 23 of 26
“And behold, it is he who is the author of all sin. And behold, he doth carry on his works of darkness and secret murder, and doth hand down their plots, and their oath, and their covenants, and their plans of awful wickedness, from generation to generation according as he can get hold upon the hearts of the children of humans. And now behold, he had got great hold upon the hearts of the Nephites; yea, insomuch that they had become exceedingly wicked; yea, the more part of them had turned out of the way of righteousness, and did trample under their feet the commandments of God, and did turn unto their own ways, and did build up unto themselves idols of their gold and their silver. And it came to pass that all these iniquities did come unto them in the space of not many years, insomuch that a more part of it had come unto them in the sixty and seventh year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi. And they did grow in their iniquities in the sixty and eight year also, to the great sorrow and lamentation of the righteous. And thus we see that the Nephites did begin to dwindle in unbelief, and grow in wickedness and abominations, while the Lamanites began to grow exceedingly in the knowledge of their God; yea, they did begin to keep his statutes and commandments, and to walk in truth and uprightness before him. #RandolphHarris 24 of 26
“And thus we see that the Spirit of the Lord began to withdraw from the Nephites, because of the wickedness and the hardness of their hearts. And thus we see that the Lord began to pour out his Spirit upon the Lamanites, because of their easiness and willingness to believe in his words. And it came to pass that the Lamanites did hunt the band of robbers of Gadianton; and they did preach the word of God among the more wicked part of them, insomuch that this band of robbers was utterly destroyed from among the Lamanites. And it came to pass on the other hand, that the Nephites did build them up and support them, beginning at the more wicked part of them, until they had overspread all the land of the Nephites, and had seduced the more part of the righteous until they had come down to believe in their works and partake of their spoils, and to join with them in their secret murders and combinations. And thus they did obtain the sole management of the government, insomuch that they did trample under their feet and smite and rend and turn their backs upon the poor and the meek, and the humble followers of God. And thus we see that they were in an awful state, and ripening for everlasting destruction. And it came to pass that thus ended the sixty and eighty year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi,” reports Helaman 6.1-41. #RandolphHarris 25 of 26
Almighty God and Jesus Christ, over the deeply sounding sea please carry me safely. Part the mists and guide me through. End the chaos, mighty Lord. Protect y people with sword upraised by at my side. All seeing God, may I be just. Lord, father, friend, please keep my feet clearly on the path of the right. King of Heaven, bless my home. Lord, endow me with wisdom. We thank Thee also for the miraculous and mighty deeds of liberation wrought by Thee, and for Thy victories in the battles our forefathers fought in days of old, at this season of the year. In the days f the High Priest Mattathias, son of Johanan, of the Hasmonean family, a tyrannical power rose up against Thy people of Israel to compel them to forsake Thy Torah, and to force them to transgress Thy commandments. In Thine abundant mercy Thou didst stand by them in time of distress. Thou didst rise to their defense and didst vindicate their cause. Thou didst bring retribution upon the evil doers, delivering the strong into the hands of the weak the many into the hands of the few, the wicked into the hands of the just, and the arrogant into the hands of those devoted to Thy Torah. Thou didst thus make Thy greatness and holiness known in Thy World, and didst bring great deliverance to Israel. Then Thy children came into Thy dwelling place, cleansed the Temple, purified the Sanctuary, kindled lights in Thy sacred courts, and they designated these eight days of Hanukkah for giving thanks and praise unto Thy great name. #RandolphHarris 26 of 26
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The Quality of Mercy is Not Strained, it Droppeth as the Gentle Rain from Heaven Upon the Place Beneath!
Although the World is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it. Revolution does not occur when things get bad enough but when things get better—when small improvements generate rising aspirations and decrease tolerance for long-existing injustices. The “make things worse” approach is not only strategic, it is not even revolutionary—it seeks unconsciously to preserve, while at the same time discrediting, parental authority. The emotional logic behind it might be expressed as: “if things get bad enough, they will see that it is unfair.” As most people know, radical movements are always plagued with people who want to lose, want to be stopped, want in effect to be put under protective custody. The make-it-worse position is based on the same assumption as the “backlash” position, which argues that “if you go too far, they will turn against you.” Both view public opinion as a kind of judicial Good Parent, and exaggerate the importance of transient public sentiment. Both underestimate the importance, for creating change, of prolonged exposure to new ideas. There is no such thing as a situation so intolerable that human beings must necessarily rise up against it. People can bear it. #RandolphHarris 1 of 27
The job of the revolutionary is to show people that things can be better and to move them directly and unceasingly word that goal. The better things get the more aware people become that they need not tolerate the injustices and miseries that remain. By the same token, the worst backlash situation is always better than the pre-change condition. Backlash implies that people once accepted and then came to reject change, but this is not the case. It is merely that the significance of the change—the reality of it—was not yet understood. Backlash is simply part of the educative process—the process of learning that change means change. It is behaviour and institutions that the true revolutionary seeks to change—the good or bad opinion of those around one is of little consequence. The backlash-avoider is saying, “if we go too far, people will think badly of me.” Thus is seems probably if the privileges and powers of legislators and judges say, improve the situation of the less favoured, they improve that of citizens generally. However, procedural justice is rare, if not impossible, in cases of much practical interest. Imperfect procedural justice is exemplified by criminal trial. The desired outcome is if and only if the defendant has committed the offense which one is charged with, one should be declared guilty. #RandolphHarris 2 of 27
The trial procedure is framed to search for and to establish the truth in this regard. However, it seems impossible to design the legal rules so that they always lead to the correct result. The theory of trials examines which procedures and rules of evidence, and the like, are best calculated to advance this purpose consistent with the other ends of the law. Different arrangements for hearing cases may reasonably be expected in different circumstances to yield the right results, not always but at least most of the time. A trial, then, is an instance of imperfect procedural justice. Even though the law is carefully followed, and the proceedings fairly and properly conducted, it may reach the wrong outcome. An innocent person may be found guilty, a guilty person may be set free. In such cases we speak of a miscarriage of justice: the injustice springs from no human fault but from a fortuitous combination of circumstances which defeats the purpose of the legal rules. The characteristic mark of imperfect procedural justice is that while there is an independent criterion for the correct outcome, there is no feasible procedure which is sure to lead to it. By contrast, pure procedural justice obtains when there is no independent criterion for the right result: instead there is correct or fair procedure such that the outcome is likewise correct or fair, whatever it is, provided that the procedure has been properly followed. #RandolphHarris 3 of 27
The situation of pure procedural justice is illustrated by gambling. If a number of persons engage in a series of fair bets, the distribution of cash after the last bet is fair, or at least not unfair, whatever this distribution is. I assume here that fair bets are those having a zero expectation of gain, that the bets are made voluntarily, that no one cheats, and so on. The betting procedure is fair and freely entered into under conditions that are fair. Thus the background circumstances define a fair procedure. Now any distribution of cash summing to the initial stock held by all individuals could result from a series of fair bets. In this sense all of these particular distributions are equally fair. A distinctive feature of pure procedural justice is that the procedure for determining the just result must actually be carried out; for in these cases there is no independent criterion by reference to which a definite outcome can be known to be just. Clearly we cannot say that a particular state of affairs is just because it could have been reached by following a fair procedure. This would permit far too much and would lead to absurdly unjust consequences. It would allow one to say that almost any distribution of good is just, or fair, since it could have come about as a result of fair gambles. #RandolphHarris 4 of 27
Be not afraid of greatness: some people are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. What makes the final outcome of betting fair, or not unfair, is that the one which has arisen after a series of fair gambles. A fair procedure translates its fairness to the outcome only when it is actually carried out. In order, therefore, to apply the notion of pure procedural justice to distributive shares it is necessary to set up and to administer impartially a just system of institutions. Only against the background of a just basic structure, including a just political constitution and a just arrangement of economic and social institutions, can one say that the requisite just procedure exists. Suppose that law and government act effectively to keep markets competitive, resources fully employed, property and wealth (especially if private ownerships of the means of production is allowed) widely distributed by the appropriate forms of taxation, or whatever, and to guarantee a reasonable social minimum. Assume also that there is fair equality of opportunity underwritten by education for all; and that the others equal liberties are secured. Then it would appear that the resulting distribution of income and the pattern of expectations will tend to satisfy the difference principle. #RandolphHarris 5 of 27
In this complex of institutions, which we think of as establishing social justice in the modern state, the advantages of better situated improved the condition of the least favoured. Or when they do not, they can be adjusted to do so, for example, by setting the social minimum at the appropriate level. As these institutions presently exist they are riddle with grave injustices. However, there presumably are ways of running them compatible with their basic design and intention so that the difference principle is satisfied consistent the demands of liberty and fair equality of opportunity. It is this fact which underlies our assurance that these arrangements can be made just. It is evident that the role of the principle of fair opportunity is to insure that the system of cooperation is one of pure procedural justice. Unless it is satisfied, distributive justice could not be left to take care of itself, even within a restricted range. Now the great practical advantage of pure procedural justice is that it is no longer necessary in meeting the demands of justice to keep track of the endless variety of circumstances and the changing relative positions of particular persons. One avoids the problem of defining principles to cope with the enormous complexities which would arise if such details were relevant. #RandolphHarris 6 of 27
It is a mistake to focus attention on the varying relative position of individuals and to require that every change, considered as a single transaction viewed in isolation, be in itself just. It is the arrangement of the basic structure which is to be judged, and judged from a general point of view. Unless we are prepared to criticize it from the standpoint of a relevant representative person in some particular position, we have no complaint against it. Thus the accepted of the two principles constitutes an understanding to discard as irrelevant as a matter of social justice much of the information and many of the complications of everyday life. In pure procedural justice, then, distributions of advantaged are not appraised in the first instance by confronting a stock of benefits available with given desires and needs of known individuals. The allotment of the items produced takes place in accordance with the public system of rules, and this system determines what is produced, how much is produced, and by what means. It also determines legitimate claims the honouring of which yields the resulting distribution. Thus in this kind of procedural justice the correctness of the distribution is founded on the justice of the scheme of cooperation from which it arises and on answering the claims of individuals engaged in it. #RandolphHarris 7 of 27
A distribution cannot be judged in isolation from the system of which it is the outcome or from what individuals have done in good faith in the light of established expectations. If it is asked in the abstract whether one distribution of a given stock of things to definite individuals with known desires and preferences is better than another, then there is simply no answer to this question. The conception of the two principles does not interpret the primary problem of distributive justice as one of allocative justice. By contrast the allocative conception of justice seems naturally to apply when a given collection of goods is to be divided among definite individuals with known desires and needs. The goods to be allotted are not produced by these individuals, nor do these individuals stand in any existing cooperative relations. Since there are no prior claims on the things to be distributed, it is natural to share them out according to desires and needs, or even to maximize the balance of satisfaction. Justice becomes a kind of efficiency, unless equality is preferred. Suitably generalized, the allocative conception lead to the classical utilitarian view. For as we have seen, this doctrine assimilates justice to the benevolence of the impartial spectator and the later in turn to the most efficient design of institutions to promote the greatest balance. #RandolphHarris 8 of 27
On this conception society is thought of as so many separate individuals each defining a separate line along which rights and duties are to be assigned and scarce means of satisfaction allocated in accordance with rules so as to give the most complete fulfillment of desire. Utilitarianism does not interpret the basic structure as a scheme of pure procedural justice. For the utilitarian has, in principle anyway, an independent standard for judging all distributions, namely, whether they produce the greatest net balance of satisfaction. Institutions are more or less imperfect arrangements for bringing about this end. Thus given existing desires and preference, and the natural continuation into the future which they allow, the stateman’s aim is to set up those social schemes that will best approximate an already specific goals. Since these arrangements are subject to the unavoidable constraints and hindrances of everyday life, the basic structure is a case of imperfect procedural justice. The two parts of the second principle are lexically ordered. Thus we have one lexical ordering within another. However, when necessary, this ordering can be modified in the light of the general conception of justice. The advantage of the special conception is that is has a definite shape and suggests certain questions for investigation, for example, under what conditions if any would the lexical ordering be chosen? #RandolphHarris 9 of 27
Our inquiry is given a particular direction and is no longer confined to generalities. Of course, this conception of distributive shares is obviously a great simplification. It is designed to characterize in a clear way a basic structure that makes use of the idea of pure procedural justice. However, all the same we should attempt to find simple concepts that can be assembled to give a reasonable conception of justice. The notions of the basic structure, of the veil of ignorance, of a lexical order, of the least favoured position, as well as of pure procedural justice are all examples of this. By themselves none of these could be expected to work, but properly put together they may serve well enough. It is too much to suppose that there exists for all or even most moral problems a reasonable solution. Perhaps only a few can be satisfactorily answered. In any case social wisdom consist in framing institutions so that intractable difficulties do not often arise and in accepting the need for clear and simple principles. The “war on poverty” may have done very little to alleviate poverty and nothing at all to remove its causes, but it raised a lot of expectations, created many visions of the possibilities for change, altered a large number of people to existing inadequacies in the system and to the relative efficacy of various strategies for eliminating them. #RandolphHarris 10 of 27
Reform and change are thus complementary rather than antagonistic. Together they make it possible continually to test the limits of what can be done. Some people never know whether the door is unlocked because they are afraid to try it. Others, on the other hand, miss many opportunities for small advances because they are unwilling to settle for so little. There are often times conflicting forces in society. One seeks to remake the World to make it tolerable for us to live in, the other tries to cure us of our need to remake the World. Now the first task of a system is to maintain itself, and every system must therefore contain mechanisms to reactivate continually the motivational eccentricities that gave rise to it in the first place. Still, one cannot avoid a feeling of skepticism when it is proposed that institutional change alone will bring about motivational change. Closing down gambling casinos may reduce the volume of gambling but it does not end it. Only when institutions have been analyzed, discredited, disassembled, and the motivational forces that gave rise to them redirected into alternative spheres of gratification only then can change take place. When people can predict and influence their daily social encounters with greater ease, then they feel less manipulated and intruded upon. #RandolphHarris 11 of 27
The longing for quiet, privacy, independence, initiative, and some open space says that something is preventing it from being gratified. These qualities are a foundation-stone of American society—of the suburbs. The total experience of the total humans then is of overcoming alienation, and of the subject-object split in perceiving the World; the uncovering of the unconscious means the overcoming of affective contamination and cerebration; it means the depression, the abolition of the split within myself between the universal human and the social humans; it means the arriving at the state of the immediate grasp of reality, without distortion and without interference by intellectual reflections; it means overcoming the craving to hold on to the ego, to worship it; it means giving up the illusion of an indestructible separate ego, which is to be enlarged, preserved and as the Egyptian pharaohs hoped to preserve themselves as mummies of eternity. To be conscious of the unconscious means to be open, responding, to have nothing and to be. If the new culture fails, it will be corrupted into a reactionary parody of itself. Much like we are seeing from many public and private institutions and people in society today. The problem is the we spend hundreds of billions of dollars ending lives and punishing people, but almost nothing to enhance the joys of living. #RandolphHarris 12 of 27
Policies are rules are becoming an excuse for tyrannical force. It is like we no longer care about humanity or beautifying our communities. I recognize the desperate longing in America for stability, for some fixed reference point when all else is swirling about in endless flux. However, to cling to oppression and threats is the act of a hopeless addict, who, when one’s increasingly expensive habit has destroyed everything else in one’s life, embraces one’s destroyer more fervently than ever. The radical change I am suggesting here is only the reinstatement of stability itself. It may appear highly unappealing, like all cold-turkey cures, but nothing else will stop the spiraling disruption to which our old culture premises have brought us. Most old-cultural premises are built upon a self-deception: we pretend that through it we actually achieve social stability—that technological change can be confined within its own sphere. Yet obviously this is not so. Technological instability creates social stability as well, and we lose our way. California’s ban on gasoline powered cars by 2030 is an example. Imagine how many people and businesses that will harm. That is just nine years away. How long is it since anyone has said: “this is a pernicious invention, which will bring more misery than happiness to humankind?” #RandolphHarris 13 of 27
Some comments occur only in horror and science-fiction films, and even there, in the face of the most calamitous outcomes that jaded and overtaxed brains can device, the audience often feels a twinge of discomfort over the burning laboratory or the lost secret. We need to develop a human-value index—a criterion that assesses the ultimate worth of an invention or a system or a product in terms of its total impact on human life in terms of ends rather than means. We would then evaluate the achievements of medicine not in terms of human-hours or prolonged (and often comatose) life, or the volume of drugs sold, but in terms f the overall increase (or decrease) in human beings feeling healthy. We would evaluate city planning and housing programs not in terms of the number of bodies incarcerated in a given location, or the number of millions given to contractors, but in terms of the extent to which people take joy in their surroundings. We would evaluate the worth of an industrial firm not in terms of the money made of the number of widgets manufactured or sold, or how distended the organizations has become, but in terms of how much pleasure or satisfaction has been given to people. #RandolphHarris 14 of 27
It is not without significance that we tend to appraise a nation today in terms of its gross national product—a phrase whose connotations speaks for themselves. Americans are trained by advertising media to identify immediately with the person who actually uses the new products. When one thinks of owning a flying saucer, the American imagines oneself inside it, flying about and having fun. One does not think of oneself trying to sleep and having others Americans roaring by one’s window. Nor does one think of oneself trying to enjoy peace and quiet in the country with other Americans flying above. Nor does one even think of other Americans accompanying one in one’s flight and colliding with one as they all crowd into the city. The American never thinks of other Americans at all—it is one’s most characteristic trait that one imagines oneself to be alone on the continent. Furthermore, Americas are always hung over from some blow dealt them by their technological environment and are always looking for a fix—for some pleasurable escape from what technology has itself created. All of the people packed into downtown centers now are watched by cameras and police. Because of the influx of the population, there is always construction going on and unnecessary noise. Alarms going on in the middle of the night, a leaf blower party waking them up in the morning. No parking. #RandolphHarris 15 of 27
As the downtown community becomes less and less satisfying and pleasurable to be, people more and more look to escape from it. The saucers will simply extend this process further. People will take to their saucers to escape the hell of a saucer-filled environment, and the more they do the more unbearable that hell will become. How far can it go? What new inventions will be offered the staggering American to help one blow up one’s life? Will one finally flee to outer space, leaving the nest one has so industriously fouled behind one forever? Can one really find some means to propel oneself so fast that one will escape one’s own inventive destructiveness? The old-culture American needs to reconsider one’s commitment to technological “progress.” Cars have some many computers in them now that they are so expensive to buy. If we fail to kick the technology habit, we may retain our culture and lose our lives. Transitions are always fraught with risk and discomfort and insecurity, but we do not enjoy the luxury of postponement. It has taken us a long time to realize that seeking to surpass others might be pathological, and trying to enjoy and cooperate with others healthy, rather than the other way around. We continually turn to technology to save us from having to cooperate with each other. #RandolphHarris 16 of 27
I can buy shoddy goods and poisoned food, and satisfy ersatz needs. Our refusal to recognize our common economic destiny leads to the myth that if we all overcharge each other we will be better off. This self-delusion is even more extraordinary when we consider issues of health and safety. To some extend wealthy does purchase immunity from the effects of the crimes perpetrated to obtain it. Executives can live in the country, instead of cities polluted with noise and poor air quality. However, we cannot understand the irresponsibility of some corporations without recognizing that it includes and assumes a willingness on the part of corporate leaders to endanger themselves and their families for the short-run profit of the corporation. Humans have always been able to subordinate human values to the mechanisms they create. We cannot expect, after all, that everyone will arise one morning resolved simultaneously to act on different premises, and thus miraculously change the society. Competitive environments are difficult to modify, since whoever takes the first step is extremely like to go under. Americans need to be motivated by something other than greed. People engaged in helping others, in making communities viable, in making the environment more attractive, would be able to live more comfortably if they wished. #RandolphHarris 17 of 27
There is no particular reason why the United States of American could not become the center of the most beautiful, benign, and exciting culture the World has ever known. We cannot accept sayings like, “It is what it is,” or “It is a sign of the time,” we have to do better. The ability to maintain a permanent concentration of power depends upon the ability to maintain a healthy and strong population. We have to detach power from those who hate life and would rather die themselves than see others enjoying it. This involves overcoming of greed in all forms, whether it is the greed for possession, fame, or for affection; it implies overcoming narcissistic self-glorification and the illusion of omnipotence. It implies, furthermore, the overcoming of the desire to submit to an authority who solves one’s own problem of existence. Just as one has recognized that the cure of a symptom and the prevention of future symptom formations is not possible without the analysis and change of the character, one must also recognize that the change of this or that neurotic character trait is not possible without pursuing the more radical aim of a complete transformation of the person. When the achievement of idolatry, destructiveness, greed for property or fame breaks down, one’s sanity is threatened. The cure of the potential insanity lies only in the change in attitude from split and alienation to the creative, immediate grasp of and response to the World. #RandolphHarris 18 of 27
Someone may be cured of a symptom, but one cannot be cured of a character neurosis. Humans are not things, humans are not a case, and the analyst does not cure anyone by treating one as an object. We must take steps to reach full enlightenment. If one candle is brought into an absolutely dark room, the darkness disappears, and there is light. However, if ten or a hundred or a thousand candles are added, the room will become brighter and brighter. Yet the decisive change was brought about by the first candle which penetrated the darkness. One person can make a difference. People usually attract like beings. Set an example. Do good and others will follow. What happens in the analytic process? A person sense for the first time that one is vain, that one is frightened, that one hates, while consciously one had believed oneself to be modest, brave and loving. The new insight may hurt one, but it opens the door; it permits one to stop projecting on others what one represses in oneself. One proceeds; one experiences the infant, the child, the adolescent, the criminal, the insane, the saint, the artist, the unity within oneself; one gets more deeply in touch with humanity, with the universal being; one represses less, is freer, has less need to project, to cerebrate. #RandolphHarris 19 of 27
Then one may experience for the first time how one sees colours, how one sees a ball roll, how one’s ears are suddenly fully opened to music, when up to now one only listened to it; in sensing one’s oneness and others, one may have a first glimpse of the illusion that one’s separate individual ego is something to hold on to, to cultivate to save; one will experience the futility of seeking the answer to life by having oneself, rather than by being and becoming oneself. All these are sudden, unexpected experiences with no intellectual content; ye afterwards the person feels freer, stronger, less anxious than one ever felt before. Transformation of unconscious into consciousness is the way we approach enlightenment. By becoming less strange to ourselves, we go through this process of becoming less estranged to the World; because we have opened up communication with the Universe within ourselves, we have opened up communication with the Universe outside. False consciousness disappears, and with it the polarity consciousness. A new realism dawns in which the mountains are mountains again. We throw light on the nature of insight, and heighten the sense of what it is to see, what it is to be creative, what it is to overcome the affective contaminations and false intellectualization which are necessary results of experience based on the subject-object split. #RandolphHarris 20 of 27
Ministering to one another in time of need is an important means by which the Holy Spirit mediates His grace to us. We do need each other’s help to appropriate the grace of God. “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, one’s friend can help one up. However, pity the person who falls and has no one to help one up,” reports Ecclesiastes 4.9-10. Self-sufficient independence seems to be a hallmark of western culture. However, none of us is self-sufficient—even in our personal, private relationship with God. God leads us to specific people with whom we can develop such a mutual relationship. Do not be surprised, however, if God answers your prayer for a friend or friends in an unexpected way. He may bring into your life someone whom you have not thought as a possibility. Furthermore, do not just share your struggles with your friend, and above all, do not just commiserate with one another. Remember, we are to be ministers of grace to each other. We are to seek to be avenues of the Holy Spirit to help the other person appropriate the grace of God. Do you think no one is concerned for you, no one cares for you? If so, then you need one or more friends who will be ministers of grace to you. And very likely, you need to be a minister of grace to someone else. #RandolphHarris 21 of 27
We must not, however, expect, that uniformity of human actions should be carried to such a length, as that all humans, in the same circumstances, will always act precisely in the same manner, without making any allowance for the diversity of characters, prejudices, and opinions. Such a uniformity in every particular, is found in no part of nature. On the contrary, from observing the variety of conduct in different humans, we are enabled to form a greater variety of maxims, which still suppose a degree of uniformity and regularity. “And it came to pass in the fifty and fourth year there were many dissensions in the church, and there was also contention among the people, insomuch that there was much bloodshed. And the rebellious part were slain and driven out of the land, and they did go unto the king of the Lamanites. And it came to pass that they did endeavour to stir up the Lamanites to war against the Nephites; but behold, the Lamanites were exceedingly afraid, insomuch that they would not hearken to the words of those dissenters. However, it came to pass in the fifty and sixth year of the reign of the judges, there were dissenters who went up from the Nephites unto the Lamanites; and they succeeded with those others in stirring them up to anger against the Nephites; and they were all that year preparing for war. #RandolphHarris 22 of 27
“And in the fifty and seventh year they did come down against the Nephites to battle, and they did commence the work of death; yea, insomuch that in the fifty and eight year of the reign of the judges they succeeded in obtaining possession of the land of Zarahemla; yea, and also all the lands, even unto the land which was near the land of Bountiful. And the Nephites and the armies of Moronihah were driven even unto the land of Bountiful; and there they did fortify against the Lamanites, from the west sea, even unto the east; it being a day’s journey for a Nephite, on the line which they had fortified and stationed their armies to defend their north country. And thus those dissenters of the Nephites, with the help of a numerous army of the Lamanites, had obtained all the possession of the Nephites which was in the land southward. And all this was done in the fifty and eight and ninth years of the reign of the judges. And it came to pass in the sixtieth year of the reign of the judges, Moronihah did succeed with his armies in obtaining many parts of the land; yea, they regained many cities which had fallen into the hands of the Lamanites. And it came to pass in the sixty and first year of the reign of the judges they succeeded in regaining even the half of all their possessions. #RandolphHarris 23 of 27
“Now this great loss of the Nephites, and the great slaughter which was among them, would not have happened had it not been for their wickedness and their abomination which was among them; yea, and it was among those also who professed to belong to the church of God. And it was because of the pride of their hearts, because of the exceeding riches, yea, it was because of their oppression to the poor, withholding their food from the hungry, withholding their clothing from the naked, and smiting their humble brethren upon the cheek, making a mock of that which was sacred, denying the spirit of prophecy and of revelation, murdering, plundering, lying, stealing, committing adultery, rising up in great contentions, and deserting away into the land of Nephi, among the Lamanites—and because of this their great wickedness, and their boastings in their own strength, they were left in their own strength; therefore they did not prosper, but were afflicted and smitten, and driven before the Lamanites, until they had lost possession of almost all their lands. However, behold, Moronihah did preach many things unto the people because of their iniquity, and also Nephi and Lehi, who were the sons of Helaman, did preach many things unto the people, yea, and did prophesy many things unto the concerning their iniquities, and what should come unto them if they did not repent of their sins. #RandolphHarris 24 of 27
“And it came to pass that they did repent, and inasmuch as they did repent he did venture to lead them forth from place to place, and from city to city, even until they had regained the one-half of their property and the one-half of all their lands. And thus ended the sixty and first year of the reign of the judges. And it came to pass in this sixty and second year of the reign of the judges, that Moronihah could obtain no more possessions over the Lamanites. Therefore they did abandon their design to obtain the remainder of their lands, for so numerous were the Lamanites that it became impossible for the Nephites to obtain more power over them; therefore Moronihah did employ all his armies in maintaining those parts which he had taken. And it came to pass, because of the greatness of the number of the Lamanites the Nephites were in great fear, lest they should be overpowered, and trodden down, and slain, and destroyed. Yea, they began to remember the prophecies of Alma, and also the words of Mosiah; and they saw that they had been a stiffnecked people, and that they had set at naught the commandments of God; and that they had altered and trampled under their feet the laws of Mosiah, or what which the Lord commanded him to give unto the people. #RandolphHarris 25 of 27
“And they saw that their laws had become corrupted, and that they had become wicked people insomuch that they were wicked even like unto the Lamanites. And because of their iniquity the church had begun to dwindle; and they began to disbelieve in the spirit of prophecy and in the spirit of revelation; and the judgments of God did stare them in the face. And they saw that they had become weak, like unto their brethren the Lamanites, and that the Spirit of the Lord did no more preserve them; yea, it had withdrawn from them because the Spirit of the Lord doth not dwell in unholy temples—therefore the Lord did cease to preserve them by his miraculous and matchless power, for they had fallen into a state of unbelief and awful wickedness; and they saw that the Lamanites were exceedingly more numerous than they, and expect they should cleave unto the Lord their God they must unavoidably perish. For behold, they saw that the strength of the Lamanites was as great as their strength, even humans for human. And thus had they fallen into this great transgression; yea, thus had become weak, because of their transgression, in the space of not many years,” reports Helaman 4.1-26. #RandolphHarris 26 of 27
Run before me into battle, Jesus Christ, protect me in my fight. Shaft of reason, light within me. Please clear sight and reason, open my eyes. Christ, please ride the storm with me. The protection of our Saviour is within me. The love of our Saviour is within my heart. Dear Lord in Heaven, pleasue guide my way. Open the way, open the way, Lord, please open the way. Disputer of passings, opener of gates, Lord, please guide me through. Open the way, Saviour. Watcher of the threshold, please guide me and guard me. Be my force and fire, strength of arms. With divine might, may Christ come. Please give us abundantly of Thy goodness and make us rejoice in Thy salvation. Purify our hearts to serve Thee in truth. In Thy loving favour, O Lord our God, grant that Thy holy Sabbath be our joyous heritage, and may Israel who sanctifies Thy name, rest thereon. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, who hallowest the Sabbath. O Lord our God, be gracious unto Thy people of Israel and accept their prayer. Please restore the worship to Thy sanctuary and receive in love and favour the supplication of Israel. May the worship of Thy people be ever acceptable unto Thee. No one can more impressively set forth the truth, that only in doing God’s work can we enjoy His peace—that gift which the World can neither give nor take away is for those who know Him as the Fountain of good counsels and just works. #RandolphHarris 27 of 27
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Anger is a Brief Madness–Once a Word Has Been Allowed to Escape, it Cannot be Recalled!
We sleep live in different countries, sleep in separate houses, we have dinner apart, we take separate vacations—we are doing everything we can to keep our marriage together. Although we live in the most affluent society ever known, the sense of deprivation and discomfort that pervades it is also unparalleled. Writers are engineers of human souls and they do this for the sake of being able to walk around with a clearer conscience about the World we are bequeathing to the next generation. The dizziness of freedom should never be underestimated. Anxiety is always the first payment towards the price of freedom. Yet the longer the first step is postponed the more difficult it may appear to be to take it. And the main point is overlooked, anyway. The stupidity and madness of totalitarian discipline lie in the fact that in the hysterical haste to regulate and constantify life one loses sight of the truth that life contains in itself sufficient limitation and self-discipline as to obviate the need for regulation if given half a chance. Life itself is its own discipline, contains its own order, is self-regulating. More order in and of itself within the life structure is unnecessary. The more time people spend before the computer scree or any screen, the less time and desire they have for two human activities critical to a fruitful and demanding intellectual life: reading and conversation. #RandolphHarris 1 of 21
The nature of relationship seems to have something to do with energy: “civilized” people are usually described as more energetic or restless than their nonliterate counterparts. This does not mean that they possess more energy: even given the same diet the correlation will appear. The difference we are concerned with here lies in the utilization of energy. There appears to be, in other words, some difference in motivation. The screen media invades, and in many instances destroys altogether, the silence that promotes reading and the free time required for both solitary thinking and social conversation. Above all, screen media extend their domination of cultural life by lowering the age at which children’s minds—boy brains and girl brains alike—are exposed to large and continuously increasing doses of packaged entertainment. Television may actually impede language development in children between the ages of eight and sixteen months. Researchers found that for every hour infants watched videos, they understood an average of six to eight fewer words than babies who were not exposed to video at such an early age. However, if marketers have it their way, there will soon be no control group of infants who have not become hooked on video long before they can walk or talk. The lives of the past two decades have produced an explosion of what are called conversation avoidance. #RandolphHarris 2 of 21
One particularly dismaying finding by the Kaiser Foundation is that children under six now spend an average of two hours a day viewing screen media, while they spend only thirty-nine minutes a day reading or listening to their parents and read to them. There is really no need to make a case for the proposition that video watching displaces reading for pleasure. When 40 percent of adults read no books at all (fiction or nonfiction) in the course of a year, and more than half read no fiction, the facts speak for themselves. People are reading less because there are only so many hours in the day. If reading were the only cultural pursuit to show declining numbers, there might be cause for alarm. As long as reading books remains part of our cultural diet, as long as the new popular forms continue to offer their own cognitive rewards, we are not likely to descend into a culture of mental atrophy anytime soon. Reading is part of what is necessary to expand and enrich living, to being more into the scope of living. If we deliberately cut off the paths to the future by distracting attention to the internal disorder which is disordered only by our misunderstanding and fear and by the unconsidered vagaries of existence which have induced or elicited it, this will not likely occur. #RandolphHarris 3 of 21
We are reading less because there are only so many hours in a day, but the other half of the explanation is that growing numbers of people, especially the young, prefer to spend those hours engaged in various forms on noninteractive screens, as well as the more cognitively challenging, interactive offerings of devilishly sophisticated video games, social media, digital streaming. Many people are less interested than their parents were not just in literary reading but in all performing arts, including classical music. The whole point of these fancy mobile phones that cost $500 to $2,000, plus monthly service charge, is that they are computers that also allow you to make phone calls and their availability allows them to be more of a distraction that can literally be held in the palm of one’s hand and will surely reduce whatever part of personal time that is still devoting to reading. You will never walk alone. When television news executives believe that they will lose their audience’s attention if a sound bite lasts more than eight seconds, why should magazines editors believe that readers will sit still for lengthy article that might take a half hour, or even fifteen minutes, to read? Creativity and invention, although they restructure the experience at hand, do so only because of the additional experience of other sorts which create new contexts and dimensions of experience. They do not come from more of the same for all that provides are permutations and combinations of what one already has. #RandolphHarris 4 of 21
However, newspapers and TV news media fret and worry over the future of print while they dismantle the section of the paper and reports which deals most closely with two things which have kept them alive since the dawn of printing presses: the public’s hunger for knowledge and the written word. This insufficient intellectual content has led only to boredom, impoverishment, and destruction of content worth reading or watching. What newspapers and screen media are now doing is they are engaged in—like birds of pray looking for their next meal—a process of swooping around with an eye out for certain kinds of sensational information. It is clear that a human will work hard for food so long as it is scarce. However, what about when one has a full belly? In order to ensure a steady output of energy we must create some sort of artificial scarcity, for it is, paradoxically, only through such scarcity that an abiding surplus of energy can be assured. For instance, when many of your parents, grandparents, great grandparents or maybe even some of you were young, the lure of the black-and-white TV screen was so strong that people would put a TV in their formal dinning room and turn in on while eating meals. Television was still relatively new and not everyone has one, so people loved to watch them. #RandolphHarris 5 of 21
People were more likely to talk about what was happening on the screen rather than wat was going on in their own lives because they were more fascinated by it. Therefore, if you cannot create content that people crave and desire more of an audience, flooding them with junk news will more than likely turn them off. Intellectuals do not watch the brawls on Jerry Springer, they are usually the ones who tune in for educational information, therefore if your news is junk, they are not going to watch. Cutting back the number of hours news is on the three big networks might back more people inclined to tune in when it is on because it has become scarce. For quality conversations and information, many intellectuals are actually reading more books because they want to learn things that will expand their minds. At its hear, all intellectual and emotional life is a conversation—and the conversation begins at birth. If the family dinner table once provided the first face-to-face setting for the semiformal pleasure of social conversation, it was quickly followed by the school lunchroom, sleepovers at friends’ houses, late-night dormitory bull sessions, coffeehouses, and juice bars—any setting that offered the chance foe friends to exchange ideas and personal confidences. However, personal social contact, outside as well as inside the family, is another casualty of the culture of distraction. #RandolphHarris 6 of 21
Adults of all ages report that they have fewer friends, and fewer people with whom they discuss important matters, than they did twenty years ago. One 25 percent of Americans say that they have no one to talk to about important subjects—more than double the percentage in 1985. The greatest drop occurred in social contacts with nonfamily members: 43 percent of Americans talked about important matters with friends in 1985, but only 20 percent did so in 2004. The playdates and evening conversations women used to have with their friends have been replaced mobile phones packed with games and social media and with programs like Gossip Girl that would make a feminist weep, since it is a television show based of beautiful, high class rich young women who can do nothing but deceive, undermine, and fight with one another for the most eligible bachelor. As the art of live conversation continues its decline, people are crying out for a glimpse of the way intellectuals used to talk, not only to one another but to anyone else who happened to be within range. Having a passionate intellectual conversation, with genuine learnedness, with the intensity, the sense of communication is so rare that when it happens it is a lot like falling in love for the first time when you are actually old enough to understand another human being. #RandolphHarris 7 of 21
With the triumph of the culture of distraction, conversations that begin with the printed word and end with a World of knowledge are becoming a blast from the past. Empty selves are a danger to Society and the church. A society filled with empty selves is a morally bankrupt, intellectually shallow society. The empty self is also the enemy of the Christian mind and its cultivation. Try to think about what a church filled with empty selves would look like in a culture. What would be the theological understanding, the reading habits, the evangelistic courage, the articulate cultural penetration of such a church? Pretty inadequate, I am afraid. If the interior life does not really matter all that much, why spend the time reading and trying to develop an interior, intellectual, spiritually mature life? If someone is basically passive, one will just not make the effort to read, preferring instead to be entertained. If a person is sensate in orientation, music, magazines filled with pictures, and visual media in general will be more important that mere words on a page or abstract thoughts. If one is hurried and distracted, one will have little patience for theoretical knowledge and too short of an attention span to stay with an idea while it is being carefully developed. Instead, there will be a rush to get to the bottom line, an overemphasis on practical application and how-tos, a Reader’s Digest approach to sermon evaluation or reading selection. #RandolphHarris 8 of 21
And, if someone is overly individualistic, infantile, and narcissistic, what will that person read, if one reads at all? Such a person will read Christian self-help books that are filled with self-serving content, many slogans, simplistic moralizing, a lot of stories and pictures, and inadequate diagnosis of issues that place no demand on the reader. Books about Christian celebrities will be selected to allow the reader to live vicariously through the celebrity. What will not be read are books that equip people to engage in “destroying speculations….raised up against the knowledge of God,” (2 Corinthians 10.5), develop a well-reasoned, theological understanding of the Christian religion, and fill their role in the broader kingdom of God for the common good and the cause of Christ. Eventually a church without readers or with readers with the tastes just listed will become a marginalized, easily led group of Christians impotent to stand against the powerful forces of secularism that threaten to bury Christian ideas under a veneer of soulless pluralism and misguided scientism. In such a context, the church will be tempted to measure her success largely in terms of numbers—numbers achieved by cultural accommodation to empty selves. In this way, as Os Guinness has reminded us, the church will become her own grave excavator; her means of short-term “success” will turn out to be the very thing that marginalizes her in the long run. #RandolphHarris 9 of 21
Romantic love is one scarcity mechanism that deserves special comment. Indeed, its only function and meaning is to transmute that which is plentiful into that which is in short supply. This is done in two ways: first, by inculcating the belief that only one object can satisfy a person’s heart and affectional desires; and second, by fostering a preference for unconsummated, unrequited, interrupted, or otherwise tragic relationships. Although romantic love always verges on the ridiculous (if a man died of starvation because he could not obtain any brussels sprouts, we would find it comic) Western peoples generally and Americans in particular have shown an impressive tendency to take it seriously. Why is this so? Why is love made into an artificially scarce commodity, like diamonds or “genuine” pearls (“true” love)? To ask such a question is to answer it. We make things scarce in order to increase their value, which in turn makes people work harder for them. Who would spend their lives working for pleasures that could be obtained any time? Who would work for love, when people give it away? However, if we were to make some form of it somehow rare, unattainable, and elusive, and to devalue all other forms, we might conceivably inveigle a few rubes to chase after it. #RandolphHarris 10 of 21
Romantic love is rare in primitive communities simply because bonds are more casual. Children grow up with many caretakers and be sensitive to the fact that there exist many alternative suppliers of love and they apply this belief to their adult relationships. The modern Western child, brought up in a small detached household does not share this sense of substitutability. One’s emotional life is heavily bound up in a single person, and the process of spreading this involvement over other people as one grows up is more problematic. Americans must make a life task out of what happens effortlessly (insofar as it need happen at all) in many societies. Most Western children succeed in drawing enough money out of their emotional and spiritual bank to live on, but some need more. Most of us learn early that there is one relationship that is more vital than all the others put together, and that is our relationship with God. Some people are “married to the job,” and they betray their unconscious understanding of the motivational roots of their striving. People who purse these ephemeral goals are those with most of their emotional funds tied up in some spiritual deficit. They may amass great wealth, but still have little spending money for daily pleasures and not satisfied with ordinary love. #RandolphHarris 11 of 21
Society creates empty people by exposing them to pleasure of the flesh at a young age, or by training children in our competitive value system that it is moral to hurt one another and immoral for them to be kind and loving and accepting to others. The mass screen media depends heavily upon its population being angry and discontented; the renunciation of violence endangers our society as we know it. The notion of sin must be affected by the explanation of original sin. If original sin is simply humans’ necessary passage from essence to existence, sin can no longer be understood in terms of disobedience to a law. Morality is illumined in new and perhaps unexpected ways by the Christology of the New Being. Once faith is understood as Ultimate Concern, as commitment to the Unconditional, a new ethical dimension is disclosed. If it did not determine the entire range of a human’s activities, no concern would be ultimate or unconditional. The dogma that Christ’s death atoned for our sins is symbolic of the ethical dimension of faith in the New Being. The New Being in the Christ is redeemed. It has risen above the equivocation of the desire for holiness and the inevitability of temptation. Behaviour and its conformity to standard are inseparable from an ethical of law. Morality is treated in terms of love rather than of law. #RandolphHarris 12 of 21
Obedience to any law fosters self-righteousness because it stresses the merits of good works rather than undeserved grace. Life is not only creativity; it is also destructiveness. Every life-process unites a trend towards separation with a trend toward reunion. So does moral life. There is no good action without renunciation of a better one. Not only is evil exclusive of good; good itself is exclusive of better. In other words, good and evil are only relative values. An objective ethics, that claims absoluteness for its categories, is misleading. The lasting element of any code of morality is not to be found in its classification of good and bad. Rather, ethics is valuable through its relationship to the Unconditional. Because of this there can be, ultimately, no secular ethics. An ethics can come to fulfilment only as a religious ethics. The quest for salvation and mortality is not a quest for law, but for transcendence above all law. It is a quest for a paradoxical reconciliation of creativity and destructiveness in life for a harmony of better, good and evil. The answer to the moral question is not moral; it is transmoral. The Unconditional which we recognize in the experience of the New Being in Christ must be acknowledged not only in ourselves but also in other human beings, or it would be an illusion. The ethical realm of personal behaviour must be transcended in an attitude that embraces the Unconditional both in myself and in others. #RandolphHarris 13 of 21
There is no depth of life without the depth of common life. Thus, the quest for morality arises as a search for the unity of the personal and Unconditional, or of the ethical and the religious. The ethics of the New Being is neither objective nor subjective. It must transcend subjectivity and objectivity. The only human experience in which both are transcended, because they are untied in a higher synthesis, is love. Ultimately, therefore, Christian ethics must be an ethics of love. It is a dynamic concept: the law is God’s own rule for humans to follow. Having presided over creation, this law left its mark on human’s nature. Being itself an aspect of the Word of God, it was confirmed by the Incarnation. Revealed law, in this line of thought, is not superadded to the law of nature. Rather, it opens human’s nature to the full meaning of the law. Existence in humans tries to mould itself on essence as it is thought out in God. The Universe is therefore a hierarchy of values on the model of the eternal laws in God’s mind. Between the Universe and God, between existence and essence, the Church mediates: “The Church, itself a hierarchical system, teaches this system, educates for it, fights for its political realizations, defends it against new systems. We are to pray for one another, encourage one another, teach and admonish one another, spur one another on, carry each other’s burdens, share with one another, and so on. #RandolphHarris 14 of 21
Truly the Body of Christ should be constantly alive with this reciprocal ministry to one another. We also may need to pray, “Lord, help me to be transparent and open to my friend, even though doing so seems humiliating to me right now. And please make my friend a minister of Your grace to me.” All of us, if we are exploiting this avenue of God’s grace, should find ourselves at various times on both the receiving and the giving end. To borrow a principle of reciprocity from Paul’s teaching on giving, “At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need,” reports 2 Corinthians 8.14. How, then, can we be minsters of grace to others? Well, obviously in the same three basic ways they can be ministers to us: prayer, the word of God, and help in submitting to God’s providence. However, there is a crucial difference between receiving and giving. In receiving we must give permission to the other person to share Scripture with us and to help us submit to God’s providence. In giving, we must receive permission. Usually this means we must first earn the right to minister to the person through a relationship of mutual sharing, openness, and trust that we have already established. The one area where we do not need to give or receive permission is, of course, in praying for one another. #RandolphHarris 15 of 21
However, even in prayer, if you have not been willing to share with another person what is going on in your life, for them to pray for your specific needs may be kind of challenging. There are some difficult or tragic events such as the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, or a debilitating disease or accident, that results in certain obvious needs we can pray for. However, even in these areas, each of us responds to those events in ways distinctive to us, and in these areas of individual response we need to share and receive specific prayer requests with the close circle of friends we have cultivated. Prayer is probably the most important way we can be a minister of grace to someone else. We have already considered God’s gracious invitation to approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace in our time of need. However, sometimes brothers or sisters in Christ are so discouraged about their adversity and God’s seeming silence over a prolonged period, they just do not have the spiritual strength even to approach the throne of grace. To them the doors of Heaven are shut and God just does not seem to “be there.” At these times we need to “carry” that person to the throne of grace by our prayers. Generally speaking, feelings and emotions are fostered and sustained by the ideas and images, though social or bodily conditions also factor in. #RandolphHarris 16 of 21
Hopelessness and rejection (or worthlessness and “not belonging”) live on images—often of some specific scene or scenes of unkindness, brutality, or abuse—that have become a permanent fixture within the mind, radiating negativity and leaving a background of deadly ideas that take over hoe we think and structure our whole World. Such images also foster and sustain moods. What we call “moods” are simply feeling qualities that pervade our selves and everything around us. They are, of course, extremely hard to do anything about precisely because one cannot stand outside of them. Clinical depression is an extreme form of a “bad mood,” but dread, deprivation, and deficiency, as well as simple anger, fear, or pain, can become moods of the negative type because of the capacity of feelings to spread and pervade everything they touch. On the beneficial side, there are feelings and moods associated with confidence, worthiness of good, being acceptable and “belonging,” purposefulness, love, hope, joy, and peace. Being “accepted in the beloved” (Ephesians 1.6) is the humanly indispensable foundation for the reconstruction of all these optimistic feelings, mood, and their underlying conditions. We must be very clear on how the negative feelings rest on ideas and images. #RandolphHarris 17 of 21
Those feelings can themselves be transformed by discipleship to Christ and the power of the gospel and the Spirit, through which the corresponding ideas and images are changed to beneficial ones. And we must be clear that the person given to moods faces special difficulties, though not insurmountable ones, in spiritual formation. “And it came to pass in the forty and second year of the reign of the judges, after Moronihah had established again peace between the Nephites and the Lamanites, behold there was no one to fill the judgment-seat; therefore there began to be a contention again among the people concerning who should fill the judgment-seat. And it came to pass that Helaman, who was the son of Helaman, was appointed to fill the judgment-seat, by the voice of the people. However, behold, Kishkumen, who had murdered Pahoran, did lay wait to destroy Helaman also; and he was upheld by his hand, who had entered into a covenant that no one should know one’s wickedness. For there was one Gadianton, who was exceedingly expert in many words, and also in one’s craft, to carry on the secret work of murder and robbery; therefore he became the leader of the band of Kishkumen. Therefore he did flatter them, and also Kishkumen, that if they would place him in the judgment-seat he would grant unto those who belonged to his band that they should be placed in power and authority among the people; therefore Kishkumen sought to destroy Helaman. #RandolphHarris 18 of 21
“And it came to pass as he went forth towards the judgment-seat to destroy Helaman, behold one of the servants of Helaman, having been out by night, and having obtained, through disguise, a knowledge of those plans which had been laid by this band to destroy Helaman—and it came to pass that he met Kishkumen, and he gave unto him a sign; therefore Kishkumen made known unto him the object of his desire, desiring that he would conduct him to the judgment-seat that he might murder Helaman. And when the servant of Helaman had known all the heart of Kishkumen, and how that it was his object to murder, and also that it was his object to murder, and also that it was the object of all those who belonged to his brand to murder, and to rob, and to gain power, (and this was their secret plan, and their combination) the servant of Helaman said unto Kishkumen: Let us go forth unto the judgment-seat. Now this did please Kishkumen exceedingly, for he did suppose that he should accomplish his design; but behold, the servant of Helaman, as they were going forth unto the judgment-seat, did stab Kishkumen even to the hearts, that he fell dead without a groan. And the ran and told Helaman all the things which he had seen, and heard, and done. #RandolphHarris 19 of 21
“And it came to pass that Helaman did send forth to take his band of robbers and secret murders, that they might be executed according to the law. However, behold, when Gadianton had found that Kishkumen did not return he feared lest that he should be destroyed; therefore he caused that his band should follow him. And they took their flight out of the land, by a secret way, into the wilderness; and this when Helaman sent forth to take them they could nowhere be found. And more of this Gadianton shall be spoken hereafter. And thus ended the forty and second year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi. And behold, in the end of this book ye shall see that this Gadianton did prove the overthrow, yea, almost the entire destruction of the people of Nephi. Behold I do not mean the end of the book of Helaman, but I mean the end of the book of Nephi, from which I have taken all the account which I have written,” Helaman 2.1-14. God, please shield the people, we honor you, we praise you, we worship you. Divider of time, we honor you, we praise you, we worship you. Father of nations, we honor you, we praise you, we worship you. Granter of prophecy, we honor you, we praise you, we worship you. Seeker of lore, we honor you, we praise you, we worship you. #RandolphHarris 20 of 21
Bestower of sovereignty, we honor you, we praise you, we worship you. Knower of secrets, we honor you, we praise you, we worship you. Encompasser of Worlds, we honor you, we praise you, we worship you. Mystery of mysteries, we honor you, we praise you, we worship you. You who are worthy of honor, we honor you, we praise you, we worship you. You who are worthy of praise, we honor you, we praise you, we worship you. You who are worthy of worship, we honor you, we praise you, we worship you. You who are worthy of honor, praise, and worship, we honor you, we praise you, we worship you. You who are worthy of praise, worthy of worship, we honor you, we praise you, we worship you. Thou causest the wind to blow and the rain to fall. Thou sustainest the living with lovingkindness, and in great mercy callest the departed to everlasting life. Thou upholdest the falling, healest the sick, settest free those in bondage, and keepest faith with those that sleep in the dust. Who is like unto Thee, Almighty King, who decreest death and life and bringest forth salvation? Who maybe compared to Thee, Father of mercy, who in love rememberest Thy creatures unto life? Faithful art Thou to grant eternal life to the departed. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, who callest the dead to life everlasting. Holy art Thou and holy is Thy name and unto Thee holy beings render praise daily. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, the holy God. #RandolphHarris 21 of 21
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Human History Becomes More and More a Race Between Education and Catastrophe!
The Christian life is not a way “out” but a way “through” life. Americans are so tense and keyed up that it is impossible even to put them to sleep with a sermon. However, it is easy to sell anti-rationalism, because junk thought always involves a shortcut—whether a diet requiring no reduction in calorie intake; a responsibility-evading bogus apology for bad behaviour (“I am sorry that you were hurt” instead of “I am sorry that I hurt you”); or a cure that depends largely on whether a sick patient has an optimistic attitude. The virulent outbreak of anti-rationalism in America is also rooted in a much older, nonpolitical tendency in American thought—a chronic suspicion of experts that dovetails with the folk belief in the superior wisdom f ordinary people. Ironically but perhaps predictably, the upsurge in mistrust of expert authority followed several decades in which public deference to scientific and technological authority, a deference so great that is was sometimes exaggerated and misplaced, stood at an all-time high. The inseparability of junk science from junk thought is evinced by the telltale marks of endemic illogic coupled, in many instances, with deliberate manipulativeness. The first and most fundamental warning sign is an inability to distinguish between coincidence and causation—a basic requirement for scientific literacy. #RandolphHarris 1 of 21
The anti-vaccination movement is rife with conspiracy theories tied both to the right wing’s distrust of government and the left’s distrust of traditional medicine—the latter a heritage of the extreme wings of the holistic healing ad New Age movements of the late sixties and seventies. Currently, 50 percent of Americans and 49 percent of people in Japan report they are unwilling to get a COVID-19 vaccine when it is produced because they are fearful of adverse side effects from a procedure that has never been tried on large numbers of people. Opponents of compulsory immunization believe, with a near-religious fervor, that no child should ever be subjected by government fiat to the slightest risk—and all drugs, as is well known, have some risk of negative side effects. A decline in population, however, may actually be good for some countries. China’s economic development, for example, could not have taken place had population growth not been checked by measures, including a mandatory limit of one child per family, that are draconian and anti-democratic from a New World point of view. Social scientists, including demographers, use many of the tools of the physical sciences (including measurement and mathematics), but when they draw conclusions about future behaviour of the human species on the basis of past behaviour, their reasoning is often highly unscientific. #RandolphHarris 2 of 21
A psychologist studying reactions to “interpersonal problems,” like a demographer studying lifestyles choices, can only tell us how human beings have behaved in the past—not how they might behave under radically altered future conditions. Predictions should be made, and received, in the same spirit as the warning from the Ghost of Christmas Present, who told Scrooge that he foresaw the death of Tiny Tim if the shadow of the future remained unaltered. The show of the future predicted by many psychologists is often altered—by a person’s religious beliefs, work history, medical conditions, delays in starting a family, and the recognition that drug, alcohol use, pleasures of the flesh, and too many children are a burden rather than an asset in postindustrial economies. In the United States of America is not among the worst-performing countries but is merely mediocre, fourteenth among twenty-five nations studied. This is not to suggest that Americans are unique in their mathematical and scientific illiteracy but that there is a unique gap between America’s image of itself as the World’s leader in science and technology and the reality of a nation in which more students are spending more years in school while falling behind the most developed nations of Europe and Asia. #RandolphHarris 3 of 21
In Turkey and Mexico, people are not constantly told that they are, or ought to be, “number one.” Moreover, public ignorance in large and powerful counties is particularly dangerous to the rest of the World precisely because of the capacity of powerful states to inflict damage on the weak. Parents often believe deep in their hearts, that if they did their job well enough all of their children would be creative, intelligent, kind, generous, happy, brave, spontaneous, and good—each, of course, in one’s own special way. At a study by the Urban Institute reported that in Boston schools, 104 European American girls finished high school for every 100 boys—a gap but hardly a crisis. Among African Americans, the gap is 139 to 100. That is a real calamity, but it seems preposterous to attribute the gap to a “biologically disrespectful” school system that works quite well for upper-middle-class European Americas of both genders. Nationwide, more than half of American-American boys drop out of high school—a statistic with deeply rooted social causes that have been explored by a host of African American writers and scholars of varying political persuasions, including National Public Radio’s Juan Williams, Newsday’s Les Payne, New York Times op-ed columnist Bob Herbert, the conservative author Shebly Steele, the sociologist Orlando Patterson, and the historian Henry Louis Gates. #RandolphHarris 4 of 21
Unlike the European Americans enamored of the “boy crisis,” none of these American-American commentators focused on genetics or the supposedly different learning styles of girls and boys. Instead they examine a street culture that glorifies violence as proof of manhood and denigrates learning, as well as the absence of a father in so many less affluent African-American homes. A similar pattern is evident in less affluent Hispanic neighbourhoods and less affluent European American homes, for whom the divorce rate is also much higher than it is among more affluent European-Americans. Nonetheless, some African Americans and Hispanics do excel, and they know who they are is better than a negative stereotype. The reason why girls do better than boys, even in the subcultures permeated by violence and poverty, surely have something to do with the greater susceptibility of boys to malign influences—including drug, gangs, and probably poor parenting skills because in many single family homes with one parent, or a step-father, boy are looked at as expendable because they are male and someone else’s heir. Therefore, there is a lack of a beneficial, disciplined adult male role model in their lives. While girls hold more value because they are female and can also be used for pleasures of the flesh. A man does not want to help someone else’s son become better than he is, and therefore he is deemed a threat. #RandolphHarris 5 of 21
Yet (go figure!) American academics and members of the media are more interested in looking at the way boys brains and girls brains differ in “verbal processing.” The simplistic slogans of junk though are perfectly suited to modern mass media, which must fixate on novelty in order to catch the eyes and ears of public with an increasingly short attention span. It seems that the portion of the brain, the amygdala, where emotions are processed is poorly connected in boys to the part of the brain that expresses emotions in words; ergo, boys need to be taught to read and write in different ways from girls. According to this logic, the amygdalas of women before the eighteenth century must also have had a screw loose, given that nearly all great writers were men. Or could it be that women in pre-Enlightenment societies were rarely taught to read and write and systematically discouraged from intellectual pursuits? Because of the distress, both physical and psychologically that arises from an overload of the human organism’s physical adaptive systems and its decision-making processes, some people believe that government allowances for a parent otherwise compelled to work is a good idea, on the grounds that it would save money in the end—thus implying that only a full-time parent can avoid bringing up a child who is a social problem. #RandolphHarris 6 of 21
If at least one parent realizes clearly how vital this kind of care is to a child, it may make it easier for one to decide that the extra money one might earn, or the satisfaction one might receive from an outside job, is not so important after all. You have the capacity to rear a genius, a masterpiece. Such an activity is the most important thing you can do and should therefore rightfully absorb all of your time and energy. Given such an attitude it is relatively easy to expand child-rearing into a full-time job. However, some parents like to be friends with their children and share their problems with their children, but since a parent is supposed to be molding them into superior beings one cannot lean too heavily upon them for one’s own needs, although one is sorely tempted to do so because a child may not be able to tolerate such massive inputs of one person’s personality. The mission in middle-class America is to create a near-perfect being. This means that every parental quirk, every parental hang-up, and ever parental deprivation will be experienced by the child as heavily amplified noise from which there is no respite. Our society is presently founded on overstimulation—on the generation of needs and desires which cannot be directly gratified, but which ensure a great deal of striving and buying in an effort to gratify them. #RandolphHarris 7 of 21
The goal is commercialize America, make everyone and everything into a brand or a product in an infinite number of ways to create and endless demand for goods and services. However, there is a limit, in any case, to the amount of emotional crippling that can be borne. When we realize that horrors of turning a child into a product, we begin to see why this child will encounter some resentment when one grows up. The child is not really responsible for the bad bargain the parents have made with each other (and with themselves), but one lends moral credit to it. Indeed, “for the children” is a kind of priest’s blessing or notary seal given to all bad marital bargains. And since the child is the sanction for the parents’ neurotic division of labour, they cannot help but blame the child when they begin to suffer from it. Furthermore, as the suffering increases, this sanction tends more and more to be the only force holding them to it. The husband’s ambition and the wife’s domesticity originally promised their own rewards and did not need to be buttressed by thoughts of the child’s future—just as a voluntary and mutually profitable deal between two business people does not initially require a written contract. However, such a contract binds them if there is a change of heart, at which point one of them might say, “if it were not for the contract, I would not go on with this.” #RandolphHarris 8 of 21
Similarly, as ambition and domesticity fail to bring happiness to husband and wife, respectively, both begin to say, “if it were not for the children, I might chuck this and do something more interesting (enjoyable, fulfilling, exciting, relaxing).” One can admit wanting to tear up a contract, however, and one cannot admit wanting to tear up a child. Nor is it easy for parents to admit their initial error (if needed they can even comprehend it). This means that the child is not only a scapegoat but a scapegoat that cannot be attacked. The result is a free-floating resentment with a vague tropism toward youth—a resentment with roots in the parents’ discontent with their own lives. This condition would seem ideally suited to product anger toward young people who show tendencies to live differently and more pleasurably than did the parental generation. This is not to say that parents do not in fact make sacrifices for their children—in a child-oriented society like ours such sacrifices are resented. Parents in many societies make severe sacrifices for their children which never cause any hostile reaction later on, largely because the sacrifices “pay off” in some way, or lead to some predictable outcome. In our society parents never know exactly what their sacrifices will lead to, although they have many fantasies about it. #RandolphHarris 9 of 21
In the recent past, for example, and in working-class families today, parents sacrificed in order to prepare their children to be economically and socially better off than the parents were, and often hated them for fulfilling this goal and leaving the parents behind. Now middle-class parents sacrifice in order to prepare their children to be emotionally better off—more loving, expressive, creative, cooperative, honest—and once again, resent being outdistanced. In both cases the parents feel left out of the triumphs they made possible; and the children feel ashamed of the parents who wanted them to be superior. The parents want their fantasies of vicarious success fulfilled but never seem to recognize that both kinds of success involve a change to a new milieu from which the parents are automatically excluded. The earlier group of parents wanted their children to become rich and respectable and still remain somehow part of the working-class milieu. The later group want their children to be more cultures, less money-grubbing, more spontaneous and creative, yet still somehow willing to remain on the same treadmill with the parents. And this is why some children will do things like pay to have a parents fence repaired. Also, most parents do not want to be in a nursing home when they get old and realize rich kids can pay for their homecare. #RandolphHarris 10 of 21
Furthermore, while raising children, parents do not reveal pleasures of the flesh to children because their primary function is to control such impulses. Still many people spend a great deal of trying not to “cop out” in a society whose corruption generates moral dilemmas that compel a hundred cop-outs a day even for the most obsessionally pure radical. And all of this, of course, makes them extremely vulnerable to moral contamination: when confronted with situations in which they took the easy way out they are usually demoralized. God ministers His grace to us through the ministry of other believers. This truly is a primary means God uses, because He has ordained that in the Body of Christ all the members “should have equal concern for each other,” reports 1 Corinthians 12.25. Of course, this is to be a reciprocal ministry. We should be channels of grace to one another. Let me deliberately misuse a statement of Scripture to make a point: this is one area where most of us feel it is indeed “more blessed to give than to receive,” reports Acts 20.35. That is, we are more inclined to be minister of grace to others than to allow others to be ministers of grace to us. Our problem is we are reluctant to be transparent and vulnerable to each other. We humans do not like to admit we have problems. This is perceived as a sign of weakness. #RandolphHarris 11 of 21
We want to appear that we have life under control. We want to appear that we are successfully dealing with temptations to sin, and that we are successfully dealing with the difficult circumstances of life. We are just as unwilling to let others know how we have been passed over for promotion at work as to admit we are having lustful thoughts about the legal secretary in the next office. The times when we need an extra measure of God’s grace are often the times when we are most reluctant to let other people know we need it. This leads to an important principle regarding the ministry of grace. Each of us needs to cultivate a small group of friends with whom we can be transparent and vulnerable. This might be on an individual or small group basis. However, we need a few people—including our spouse, if we have one—with whom we feel free to share our failures, hurts, and sorrows. The Puritans used to ask God for one “bosom friend” with whom they could share absolutely everything. That is a good goal for us today. We should store up God’s word in our heart against a time of future need. We also should “store up” a few bosom friends against the day when we need them to be God’s ministers of grace to us. Usually when we think of the ministry of grace to one another, we think of the initiative being with the person who will be the minister. #RandolphHarris 12 of 21
However, the initiative is often with the one who has a need. We have to admit our need and give the other person “permission” to minister to us. We have to, in some way, communicate that we are not only willing to share our needs but are willing to be ministered to. What are some ways in which we can asked others to be ministers of grace to us? In answering, we need to keep in mind that we are asking the person to be an avenue for God’s Spirit to pour out His grace to us. We are asking the person, or persons, to help strengthen our contact with the Holy Spirit so that we can better receive the divine assistance He has promised to give. We are not asking, at this point, for practical assistance or human counsel. That may be appropriate at the right time. However, for now, we are thinking of our need for grace, for God’s divine power to come to help us in our time of need. That being true, the first thing we need from others is prayer support. It is instructive how often Paul asked the recipients of his letters to pray for him, even when he did not seem to have extremely pressing needs. So certainly, in our times of need we should ask others to pray for us. However, if they are to pray effectively for us, we must be willing to share what our real needs are. #RandolphHarris 13 of 21
The second thing we need is their help in accepting and applying Scripture to our specific needs. We might say, “Here is my problem. What Scriptures do you think might help me?” I realize this is a radical suggestion, because so often, when we are experiencing adversity, the last thing we want is for someone to give us a pat answer in the form of a Scripture verse. However, if we have developed the kind of friendship where we can be transparent and vulnerable with one another, then we are no going to be giving each other pat answer type responses. Third, we can ask the other person to be a minister of grace to us by helping us see our situation with a better, more objective, perspective. We all know our tendency to magnify problems, or perhaps put the worst construction on events affecting us. The other person can be the Holy’s Spirit’s agent to help us see our circumstances more objectively. That better perspective may help us to more readily humble ourselves under God’s hand. You will recognize that, all another person can do is facilitate our own contact with the Holy Spirit. All another can be is an avenue of God’s grace. We have nothing to offer each other just from ourselves. We cannot deprive Christ of his finite freedom; for a transmuted being does not have the freedom to be other than divine. Let Christ work through you and keep your faith. #RandolphHarris 14 of 21
Faith in the Resurrection of Christ has traditionally been a touchstone of orthodox Christology. Christ resurrected himself because, being God, he could do it; and he had occasion to rise from the dead only because, being fully man, he had died. The Resurrection is thus the biblical ground of the dogma of Chalcedon. Whatever disturbs that Chalcedonian balance must necessarily alter the scriptural data on the Resurrection. Faith is only committed to the Resurrection itself, as symbol and as event. If Christ has not risen from the dead, vain is our faith. The Resurrection is a mysterious experience. Christ rose form the tomb on the third day. This can obviously only mean that he rose with his own body. The disciple realized the Jesus was dead, and yet they knew that, being the Christ, the New Being, he must have power beyond death. If God had not been incarnated in the flesh, there would be little basic for a resurrection of Christ in the flesh. Resurrection is not something added to the death of him who is the Christ; but it is implied in his death. No longer is the Universe subjected to a higher law, to the law of life out of death by the death of one who represents eternal life. The tombs were opened and bodies were raised when one man in whom God was present without limits committed his spirit into his Father’s hands. #RandolphHarris 15 of 21
“And now behold, it came to pass in the commencement of the fortieth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi, there began to be a serious difficulty among the people of the Nephites. For behold, Pahoran had died, and gone they way of all the Earth; therefore there began to be a serious contention concerning who should have the judgment-seat among the brethren, who were the sons f Pahoran. Now these are their names who did contend for the judgment-seat, who did also cause the people to contend: Pahoran, Paanchi, and Pacumenia. Now these are not all the sons of Pahoran (for he had many), but these are they who did contend for the judgment-seat; therefore, they did cause three divisions among the people. Nevertheless, it came to pass that Pahoran was appointed by the voice of the people to be chief judge and a governor over the people of Nephi. And it came to pass that Pacumeni, when he saw that he could not obtain the judgment-seat, he did unite with the voice of the people. However, behold, Pannchi, and that part of the people that were desirous that he should be their governor, was exceedingly wroth; therefore, he was about to flatter away those people to rise up in rebellion against their brethren. #RandolphHarris 16 of 21
“And it came to pass as he was about to do this, behold, he was taken, and was tried according to the voice of the people, and condemned unto death; for he had risen up in rebellion and sought to destroy the liberty of the people. Now when these people who were desirous that he should be their governor saw that he was condemned unto death, therefore they were angry, and behold, they sent forth one Kishkumen, even to the judgment-seat of Pahoran, and murdered Pahoran as he sat upon the judgment-seat. And he was pursued by the servants of Pahoran; but behold, so speedy was the flight of Kishkumen that no human could overtake him. And he went unto those that sent him, and they all entered int a covenant, yea, swearing by their everlasting Maker, that they would tell no human that Kishkumen had murdered Pahoran. Therefore, Kishkumen was not known among the people of Nephi, for he was in disguise at the time that he murdered Pahoran. And Kishkumen and his band, who had covenanted with him, did mingle themselves among the people, in a manner that they all could not be found; but as many as were found were condemned unto death. And now behold, Pacumeni was appointed, according to the voice of the people, to be a chief judge and a governor over the people, to reign in the stead of his brother Pahoran; and it was according to his right. #RandolphHarris 17 of 21
“And all this was done in the fortieth year of the reign of the judges; and it had an end. And it came to pass in the forty and first year of the reign of the judges, that the Lamanites had gathered together an innumerable army of humans, and armed them with swords, and with cimeters and with bows, and with arrows, and with head-plates, and with breastplates, and with all manner of shields of every kind. And they came down again that they might pitch battle against the Nephites. And they were led by a man whose name was Coriantumr; and he was a descendant of Zarahemla; and he was a dissenter from among the Nephites; and he was a large and a might man. Therefore, the king of the Lamanites, whose name was Tubaloth, who was the son of Ammoron, supposing that Coriantumr, being a mighty man, could stand against the Nephites, with his strength and also with his great wisdom, insomuch that by sending him forth he should gain power over the Nephites—therefore, he did stir them up to anger, and he did gather together his armies, and he did appoint Coriantumr to their leader, and did cause that they should march down to the land of Zarahemla to battle against the Nephites. #RandolphHarris 18 of 21
And it came to pass that because of so much contention and so much difficulty in the government, that they had not kept sufficient guards in the land of Zarahemla; for they had supposed that the Lamanites durst not come into the heart of their lands to attack that great city Zarahemla. However, it came to pass that Coriantumr did march forth at the head of his numerous host, and came upon the inhabitants of the city, and their march was with such exceedingly great speed that there was no time for the Nephites to gather together their armies. Therefore Coriantumr did cut down the watch by the entrance of the city, and did march forth with his whole army into the city, and they did slay every one who did oppose them, insomuch that they did take possession of the whole city. And it came to pass that Pacumeni, who was the chief judge, did flee before Coriantumr, even to the walls of the city. And it came t pass that Coriantumr did smite him against the wall, insomuch that he died. And thus ended the days of Pacumeni. And now when Coriantumr saw that he was in possession of the city of Zarahemla, and were marching through the most capital parts of the land, slaying the people with great slaughter, both men, women, and children, taking possession of many cities and of many strongholds. #RandolphHarris 19 of 21
“However, when Moronihah had discovered this, he immediately sent forth Lehi with an army round about to head them before they should come to the land Bountiful. And thus he did; and he did head them before they came to the land of Bountiful, and gave unto them battle, insomuch that they began to retreat back towards the land of Zarahemla. And it came to pass that Moronihah did head them in their retreat, and did give unto them battle, insomuch that it became an exceedingly bloody battle; yea, many were slain, and among the number who were slain Coriantumr was also found. And now, behold, the Lamanites could not retreat either way, neither on the north, nor on the south, nor on the east, nor on the west, for they were surrounded on every hand by the Nephites. And thus had Coriantumr plunged the Lamanites into the midst of the Nephites, insomuch that they were in the power f the Nephites, and he himself was slain, and the Lamanites did yield themselves into the hands of Nephites. And it came to pass that Moronihah took possession of the city of Zarahemla again, and caused that the Lamanites who had bee taken prisoner should depart out of the mand in peace. And thus ended the forty and first year of the reign of the judges,” reports Helaman 1.1-34. #RandolphHarris 20 of 21
Father of all, we praise you, we praise you. Earth beneath us, we praise you, we praise you. King of kings, we praise you, we praise you. Love of our Lord, we praise you, we praise you. Shining Father, we praise you, we praise you. Giver of wisdom, we praise you, we praise you. Open0handed one, we praise you, we praise you. May Your great name be blessed forever and ever. Exalted and honoured be the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, whose glory transcends, yea, is beyond all praises, hymns and blessings that humans can render unto Him. O Lord, open Thou my lips and my mouth shall declare Thy praise. Praised art Thou, O Lord our God and God of our fathers, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, mighty, revered and exalted God. Thou bestowest loving-kindness 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. Remember us unto life, O King who delightest in life, and inscribe us in the Book of Life so that we may live worthily for Thy sake, O Lord of life. 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 21 of 21
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Randolph Harris II International Institute 