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

Let us not look back in anger or forward in fear, but around in awareness. You can never under estimate the power of fear. I have seen athletics bring out the very best and the very worst in people. The satisfaction one feels after a hard-fought tennis match, the thrill of sinking a long putt, or the shared sense of triumph when a local team wins a championship are all examples of how sports can uplift us. Unfortunately, however, sometimes athletic enthusiasm veers over the line and these programs do not run as smoothly as they ought. Problems with sportsmanship sometime arise, problems which hamper the effectiveness of sports activities. When a fan starts screaming at the referee, or a tennis player calls one’s opponent’s close shot our when it is really in, or a golfer spends so much time on the course that one neglects one’s responsibilities at home—then sports can have the opposite effect of what they are intended for: They start to interfere with our ability to get along with people around us. In the heat of the “athletic moment,” we sometimes forget that our behaviour, both as participants and spectators, reflects on us in general. #RandolphHarris 1 of 26
Some people shrug these problems off as “just human nature,” which seems to imply that nothing can be done about it. The fact is, what you do and how you act during an athletic contest will influence other people’s opinions of you. There are ways to improve sports activities. We need to move vigorously to promote every aspect of sportsmanship. We need to keep in mind that a major purpose of sports programs is the development of character and Christlike qualities. With proper planning and preparation, this can be achieved. Athletics are competitive: The issues of winning, losing, and competing become emotionally charged—that is part of human nature. When we get so wrapped up in the moment that we forget our on-the-field behaviour, that is when the problem starts because it can eventually affect our careers and relationships off the field. I am talking about more than merely yelling at refs. I am talking about what happens when we become so consumed with the game that we ignore the people around us. (Sports widows everywhere are cheering right now—can you hear it?) I am talking about what happens when we become so consumed with winning that we cheat in order to win. #RandolphHarris 2 of 26

I am talking about what happens when competition becomes more important than people. Sportsmanship is no different from fair play in life. When someone crowds into line at a grocery store, that person is a poor sport. We need to discipline ourselves and control our reactions in similar situations as sports. While many people play a game for the enjoyment of playing, some people have an appetite for competition and a desire to win that takes precedence over anything else. They are so occupied with winning that they put their emotions on the front burner, and courtesies go to the back. We need to continually remind team members that a major purpose of sports programs is to offer a wholesome opportunity to participate in a wide variety of activities that involve play and competition. While we need to problem a high level of play, we also must remember we can still keep the goal of playing well, and do it gracefully and within the rules. I admit it: I care about winning. I enjoy pocketing a trophy from my weekly golf game. I like being on the winning side in a tough tennis match. #RandolphHarris 3 of 26
I revel in the University of Alberta’s hockey team’s victories and suffer with them in defeat (lately I could do with a little less suffering and a little more reveling). We all love the Golden Bears. It is sad that they will be carrying less players this year. Still we all look forward to Tyler Mckinney-Preziuso, Ryan Hughes, Dylan Plouffe, Taz Burman, Ethan Sakowich and others joining the Bears. We all care about how spors are played. If I am not “on” this particular week in golf and I play poorly, I may kick myself, or even sign up for a lesson to figure out what the heck has gone wrong. However, I do not kick my ball to give it a better lie, or “forget” a couple of shots in the rough. I enjoy winning, and I care about how I play the game. Strong leadership in sports programs, sportsmanship incentive programs, and training capable officiators and teaching players the rules can help set the stage for success in strengthening character and developing qualities patterned after the Saviour’s example. The best sports programs always reflect the support of the priesthood leadership. #RandolphHarris 4 of 26

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

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

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

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

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

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

One reason sportsmanship improves in a game in which players are using honour calls is that players are not blaming the officials for calling a foul one time and not another. Paul recently posed the following question: “Every Thursday morning for the past four years we have played tennis with Justin. However, lately Justin has become the weak link. We want to ask Leo to join us instead. How do we tell Justin we do not want him to play with us anymore without hurting his feelings?” Poor Paul. He and his buddies know that their proposed switch will hurt Justin’s feelings and will probably cost them their friendship with Justin off the court as well. Ditching a regular member of your sporting group for any reason is a very dicey thing to do. Ditching him because he is not quite up to your caliber of play is simply not acceptable. Before kicking him out, it is important to inform Justin of the group’s decision. Maybe Justin is the cause of the breakup of another member’s marriage. Not that would rise to the level of a legitimate reason for Justin to get kicked out of the group. The transgression had better be something pretty outrageous, though—because the decision to dump a playing partner, whatever the reason, is likely to cost a friendship. #RandolphHarris 11 of 26
Generally, a clinic should be held before initiating any system, to teach the rules of the game as well as principles of the gospel related to integrity, fellowshipping, love, and excellence. Ground rules should be established, such as a team calls infractions on its own team members but not on the opponent’s team. Teams cannot question an opponent’s play or call. If situations arise where there is not enough background or knowledge to make a decision, the two coaches or captains should discuss the situation and resolve it. If no decision can be reached, they may either consult the tournament director for a decision, or replay the point. We also provide incentives for our players to be god sports by giving sportsmanship evaluations as well as game points for each game. A team must earn a certain number of sportsmanship points to be able to progress in the tournament. If a member is not playing that well, other team members can play, for fun, with that member to increase their skill level. It does not have to be brought to anyone’s attention, it can be done as a weekend hobby, out of the goodness of one’s heart. At then end of each tournament, awards are given for the team with the best sportsmanship, the most valuable player, and the all-tournament team. #RandolphHarris 12 of 26
I think people tend to underestimate how much a person can actually improve with a little one-on-one coaching. Every 20 minutes to an hour, once a week may lead to vast improvements. Sometimes it is all about building up one’s confidence and making one feel comfortable enough to absorb the skills in a group setting. There is a proper spirit present so other things can happen that are more important than the game—fellowshipping and applying other gospel principles. When rooting for your favourite team, how do you know where to draw the line? Simple. You should feel free to shout as much encouragement for your team as you can possibly muster. However, when your yelling shifts from being encouraged to derogatory—that is when you have stopped playing a supportive role as a spectator. Any time you shout encouragement, the players on the field will feed off that energy. On the other hand, if your comments or cheering turn negative and you start berating or putting down the players, coaches, or referees, the effect will not only be counterproductive, but you will also make people around you (who may or may not agree with you) feel uncomfortable. #RandolphHarris 13 of 26

Bottom line: Cheer all you want, but keep it helpful and optimistic. In a revelation the Lord said, “Blessed is my servant Hyrum Smith; for I, the Lord, love him because of the integrity of his heart, and because he loveth that which is right,” reports Doctrine and Covenants. I personally know of no higher praise that any human could receive. Integrity means always doing what is right and good, regardless of the immediate consequences. It means being righteous from the very depth of our soul, not only in our actions but, more importantly, in our thoughts and in our hearts. Personal integrity implies such trustworthiness and incorruptibility that we are incapable of being false to a trust or covenant. We all have within us the ability to know what is right and good. “It is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night. For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every human, that one may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for everything which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is God. #RnadolphHarris 14 of 26
“However, whatsoever thing persuadeth humans to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not god, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no human to do good, no, no one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him,” reports Mormon 7.15-17. Unfortunately, there have been incidents, where a fan of one team found oneself surrounded by fans for the other team. Perhaps one pushed too far or maybe one did not, but shouts turned to actions and in the end nobody won. If you are near fans of the other team, please keep the cheering thoughtful, helpful, and optimistic and let everyone enjoy the game. Also, keep in mind that referees are people, too. This is one point that is often lost amid all the jeering at sports events is the fac the referees are humans, too. Basically, they want to make the right calls just as much as the players, coaches, and fans want them to, Referees are faces with a daunting task. A baseball umpire, for instance, might have to make 150 calls or more in a single game. If the baseball umpire makes three calls that could be considered questionable, that means one is still making 98 percent of the calls successfully. #RandolphHarris 15 of 26
For the umpire, however, the 2 percent of the calls one makes that may be considered questionable, could mean that one is doomed to be on the receiving end of a torrent of abuse. It gets worse. You will also have perfectly sensible players, fans, and coaches who see a call one way while the ref sees it another. The ref is right, but that does not stop the fans from grousing about how they would have would if it had not been for one. They forget all about their team’s missed plays, strikeouts, or blown shots and focus only on the one call they claim “cost them the game.” It is time for these complainers to grow up. The ref did not cost them the game—their own team’s players did. Having received the Spirit of Christ to know good from evil, we should always choose the good. We need not be misled, even though fraud, deception, deceit, and duplicity often seem to be acceptable in our World. America was supposed to be “One Nation Under God,” and the country has steered vastly away from its motto. Being One Nation Under God is what made America great and people refuse to accept that. Now, America is “One Nation Under the Drug of Television,” and everything is going wrong. #RandolphHarris 16 of 26

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

The Lord expects us to live lives of integrity and to be obedient to his commandments. “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven; but one that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven,” reports Matthew 7.21. “For one unto much is given much is required; and one who sins against the greater light shall receive the greater condemnation,” reports Doctrine and Covenants 82.3. Americans have been given much, indeed: the gospel of Jesus Christ. That blessing carries a risk. We have been warned, “Therefore to one that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to one it is sin,” reports James 4.17. The World desperately needs humans of integrity. Nearly every day we hear of fraud, misapplications of fund and tax dollars, or other dealings designed to obtain gain by cheating or deception. The Lord abhours such practices. “If thou borrowest of thy neighbour, thou shalt restore that which thou hast borrowed; and if thou canst not repay then go straightway and tell thy neighbour, lest one condemn thee,” reports Doctrine and Covenants 136.25. The World-Idea is embodied in the World itself. “God had planned something better for us so that only together with us they would be made perfect,” report Hebrews 11.40. #RandolphHarris 18 of 26
All that we perceive of the Universe in which we live incarnates some part of the World-Idea. The Universe is a system of geometric forms. The connection between number and form is easy to see: the multiplicity of forms makes the Universe. The harmony of all three is their divine ordering—a part of the World-Idea. The two elements become the five, the five become the seven, the seven become the twelve. And so the Universe grows up. There is a mathematical order in the cosmos, a divine intelligence behind life, an Idea for human, animal, plant, and mineral existences. We see the entire cosmos is ruled by rhythm; its operation are cyclic: consequently this must be expressed through number and order. Both mathematics and metaphysics deal with abstract concepts. Neither a point nor a line is more than an idea; the points and lines we see are different from the mathematical definitions of them. Pythagoras gave a prominent place to mathematics in his philosophy and claimed that the Universe was built on Number. The geometrical orderliness of the World-Idea gives us assurance, restores meaning the external Universe, and extracts the hope that the anguish of these decades will be amply compensated. #RandolphHarris 19 of 26

Pythagoras pointed out that the Universe is based on number. This would mean there is a mathematical foundation to the cosmic order. The most important of the happenings was the 26,000-year cycle whereby the celestial pole moves in a complete circle around the ecliptic pole. The World-Idea must not be regarded as something inert, nor only as a pattern, but also as a force through which the World-Mind acts, and through which it moves the Universe. “Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because one who has suffered in one’s body is done with sin. As a result, one does not live the rest of one’s Earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins,” reports 1 Peter 4.1-2 and 7-8. If it is regarded as something dynamic and not static, the World-Idea would be more correctly understood for what it is. It is a mental wave, forever following, rather than a rigid pattern. The World-Idea is all one projection containing countless different forms and stages of itself undergoing countless changes. It is not a single static rigid thing. #RandolphHarris 20 of 26
It is the paradox of the World-Idea that it is at once a rigid pattern and, within that pattern, a latent source of indeterminate possibilities. This seems impossible to human minds, but it would not be the soul of a divine order if it were merely mechanical. The archetypes of the World-Idea are ever-new yet basically ever-ancient. The states of development, function, consciousness, appearing as mineral, plant, and human repeat themselves without end but the detail within them is less rigid. The World-Idea contains within itself, like a seed, all the elements and all the properties of a Universe which subsequently appear. In this sense they are predestined to recur eternally even when they dissolve and vanish. The ancient Egyptian text puts it: “I become what I will.” The World-Idea is thus the pre-existing Type of all things and all beings. There is an Order in the Universe to which it has to conform. Yet it is not so rigid as the carrying out of an architectural plan. Nor like an architect-built World does it allow only for creation and maintenance; for it allows for destruction too. I call it the World-Idea. If this Universe was built, like a mansion, on a plan, its own life and the life of all things in it would be fated within iron walls. #RandolphHarris 21 of 26

If, on the contrary, its course was an extempore and spontaneous ne, with each phase freshly decided by the situation of the moment, it would be too much a matter of chance and fortuitus happenings. That would be as dreadful as the other. It would be a mistake to believe that the World-Idea is a kind of solid rigid model from which the Universe is copied and made. One the contrary, the theory in atomic physics first formulated by Heisenberg—the theory of Indeterminacy—is nearer the fact. When Plato described his theory of Ideas as referring to eternally existent Forms, but mentalism does not at all liken them to goods laid up on shelves in warehouses, it does not seem that he meant the same thing. Here they are simply the infinitude of possibilities, varieties, permutations, and combinations of elements though which the Infinite Mind can express itself in an infinite Universe without ever exhausting itself. The notion that the Universe is laid out on an architectural plan holes some truth but more error. Its truth appears in the geometrical patterns of the World-Idea, its error in the same building materials theoretically involved. For of Matter there is none. #RandolphHarris 22 of 26
“And now I, Moroni, proceed to give an account of those ancient inhabitants who were destroyed by the hand of the Lord upon the face of this north country. And I take mine account from the twenty and four plates which were found by the people of Limhi, which is called the Book of Ether. And as I suppose that the first part f this record, which speaks concerning the creatin of the Word, and also of Adam, and an account from that time even to the great tower, and whatsoever things transpired among the children of men until that time, is had among the Jews—therefore I do not write those things which transpired from the days of Adam until that time; but they are had upon the plates; and whoso findeth them, the same will have power that one may get the full account. However, behold, I give not the full account I give, from the tower down until they were destroyed. And on this wise do I give the account. He that wrote this record was Ether, and he was a descendent of Coriantor. Coriantor was the son of Moron. And Moron was the son of Ethem. And Ethem was the son of Ahah. And Ahah was the son of Seth. And Seth was the son of Shiblon. And Shiblon was the son of Com. And Com was the son of Coriantum. #RandolphHarris 23 of 26
“And Coriantum was the son of Amnigaddah. And Amnigaddah was the son of Aaron. And Aaron was a descendent of Heth, who was the son of Hearthom. And Hearthom was the son of Lib. And Lib was the son of Kish. And Kish was the son of Corom. And Corom was the son of Levi. And Levi was the Son of Kim. And Kim was the son of Morianton. And Morianton was a descendant of Riplaskish. And Riplaskish was the son of Shez. And Shez was the son of Heth. And Heth was the son of Com. And Com was the son of Coriantum. And Coriantum was the son of Emer. And Emer was the son of Omer. And Omer was the son of Shule. And Shule was the son of Kib. And Kid was the son of Orihah, who was the son of Jared; which Jared came forth with his brother and their families, with some others and their families, from the great tower, at the time the Lord confounded the language of the people, and swore in his wrath that they should be scattered upon all the face of the Earth; and according to the word of the Lord the people were scattered. And the brother of Jared being a large and might man, and a man highly favoured of the Lord, Jared, his brother, said unto him: Cry unto the Lord, that he will not confound us that we may not understand our words. #RandolphHarris 24 of 26
“And it came to pass that the brother of Jared did cry unto the Lord, and the Lord had compassion upon Jared; therefore he did not confound the language of Jared; and Jared and his brothers were not confounded. Then Jared said unto his bother: Cry again unto the Lord, and it may be that he will turn away his anger from them who are our friends, that he confound not their language. And it came to pass that the brother of Jared did cry unto the Lord, and the Lord had compassion upon their friends and their families also, that they were not confounded. And it came to pass that Jared spake again unto his brother, saying: Go and inquire of the Lord whether he will drive us out of the land, cry unto him whither we shall go. And who knoweth but the Lord will carry us forth into a land which is choice above all the Earth? And if it so be, let us be faithful unto the Lord, that we may receive it for our inheritance. And it came to pas that the brother of Jared did cry unto the Lord according to that which had been spoken by the mouth of Jared. And it came to pass that the Lord did hear the brother of Jared, and had compassion upon him, and said unto him: #RandolphHarris 25 of 26
“Go to and gather together thy flocks, both male and female, of every kind; and also of the seed of the Earth of every kind; and thy families; and also thy friends and their families, and the friends of Jared and their families. And when thou hast done this thou shalt go at the head of them down into the valley which is northward. And there will I meet thee, and I will go before thee into a land which is choice above all the lands of the Earth. And there will I bless thee and thy seed, and raise up unto me of thy seed, and of the seed of thy brother, and they who shall go with thee, a great nation. And there shall be none greater than the nation which I will raise up into me of thy seed, upon all the face of the Earth. And thus I will do unto thee because this long time ye have cried unto me,” reports Ether 1.1-43. Lamp of the night, guide my way. Shine from above me, a light in the darkness. As is Thy name, O God, so is Thy praise unto the ends of the Earth; Thy right hand is full of righteousness. Let Mount Zion be glad, let the cities of Judah rejoice, because of Thy judgments. Walk about Zion, and go around about her; count her towers. Mark well her ramparts, traverse her palaces, that you may tell it unto a later generation. For such is God, our God, forever. He will guide us eternally. #RandolphHarris 26 of 26

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Then Living Earth, with Labouring Thought Won from the Gaze of Many Centuries!
Many great things indeed have been achieved by those who choose not to leap into the mainstream. Although the World is very full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it. I do not see myself as a preacher on television at all….I see myself as a doctor in an emergency ward, and those people who are flipping their dials are in pain and dying….I heal through offering what American needs on TV—a philosophy of self-esteem that will make us great once more. The more I see her, the more convinced I am that she is an isolated person. This a man ought never to be, not even a young man, because, since his development depends essentially upon reflection, he must have contact with others. Therefore, a young woman should not be interesting either, for the interesting always involves a reflecting on oneself, just as for the same reason the interesting in art always includes an impression of the artist. A young woman who wants to be pleased by being interesting will, if anything, please herself. From the esthetic side, this is the objection to all kinds of coquetry. It is quite different with what is inappropriately called coquetry, which is nature’s own gesture—for example, feminine modesty, which is always the most beautiful coquetry. #RandolphHarris 1 of 26
An interesting young lady may very well be successful in pleasing, but just as she herself has surrendered her womanliness, so also the men whom she pleases are usually just as unmasculine. Such a young lady first becomes interesting in her relation with men. The woman is usually the more delicate of the two genders, and yet it is much more important for her to stand alone in her youth than for the man; she must be sufficient unto herself, but that by which and in which she is sufficient unto herself is an illusion; it is this dowry with which nature has endowed her like a king’s daughter. However, it is precisely this resting in illusion that isolates her. I have often pondered why it is that there is nothing more corrupting for a young lady than associating a great deal with other young women. Obviously the reason is that this association is neither one thing nor another; it unsettles the illusion but does not clarify it. The woman’s fundamental qualification is to be company for the man, but through association with her own gender she is lead to reflection upon it, which makes her a society lady instead of company. The language itself is very suggestive in this respect; the man is called “master,” but the woman is not called “maidservant” or anything like that—no, a definition of essence is used: she is company, not companymaid. #RandolphHarris 2 of 26

If I were to imagine an ideal young lady, she would always stand alone in the World and thereby be assigned to herself, but mainly she would not have friends among the young ladies. It is certainly true that the Graces were three, but it certainly never occurred to anyone to think of them as talking together; in their silent trinity they form a beautiful feminine unity. In this respect, I could almost be tempted to recommend the virgins’ bower (any of several usually small-flowered and climbing clematises, which is a leather flower within the buttercup family) again, if this constraint were not in turn damaging in its effects. It is always best that a young lady be allowed her freedom, but that the opportunity not be provided. She thereby becomes beautiful and is rescued from becoming interest. To give a virgin’s veil or a bridal veil to a young lady who spends much time in the company of other young women is futile, but one who has sufficient esthetic sensitivity will always find that an innocent young lady in the deeper and best sense of the word is brought to him veiled, even if it is not the custom to use a bridal veil. #RandolphHarris 3 of 26
She has been brought up strictly; I honour her parents in their homes for that; she leads a very reserved life, and in thanks I could hug her aunt for that. She has not become acquainted with Worldly delights, has not become jaded through indulgence. She is proud; she spurns what delights other you ladies, and this is as it should be. It is a falseness that I shall know how to turn my advantage. Frills and finery do not appeal to her as they do to other young women; she is somewhat polemic, but this is necessary for a young lady with her romanticism. She loves in a World of fantasy. If she fell into the wrong hands, it might bring out something very unwomanly in her precisely because there is so much womanliness in her. You may believe in miracles—like those the scripture tell about—but do you believe the Lord can work miracles in your own life? If you do your part, God can and will. A miracle is an extraordinary event caused by the power of God. miracles are an important element in the work of Jesus Christ. They include healings, restoring the dead to life, and resurrection. Faith is necessary in order for miracles to be manifested. Do you have some challenges in your life that seem overwhelming at times Would a miracle help you? How can a miracle come about? #RandolphHarris 4 of 26
The passion of surprise and wonder, arising from miracles, being an agreeable emotion, gives a sensible tendency towards the belief of those events, from which it is derived. And this goes so far, that even those who cannot enjoy this pleasure immediately, nor can believe those miraculous events, of which they are informed, yet love to partake of the satisfaction at second-hand or by rebound, and place a pride and delight in exciting the admiration of others. “For if there be no faith among the children of humans God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, one showed not oneself until after their faith,” reports Ether 12.12. We must have faith to have miracles, specifically faith in Jesus Christ. “And ither at any time hath any wrought miracles until after their faith; wherefore they first believed in the Son of God,” reports Ether 12.18. Trust in God is vital, as is confidence that He will do what He says He will do. For example, we pay tithing with faith. He says that He will open the windows of Heaven, and we have confidence that He will. “And all nation shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of host,” reports Malac 3.11. This is our natural way of thinking. #RandolphHarris 5 of 26
Faith implies enough confidence to act on your belief and to conform your life to truth. The pleasure of telling a piece of news so interesting, of propagating it, and of being the first reporters of it, spreads the intelligence. Prodigies, omens, oracles, judgments, quite obscure the few natural events, that are intermingled with them. Having faith means doing our best to bring about a miracle, but it also requires having the patience to realize the Lord understands His eternal timetable better than we do. There is a memorable story related by Cardinal de Retz, which may well deserve our consideration. When that intriguing politician fled into Spain, to avoid the persecution of his enemies, he passed through Saragossa, the capitol of Arragon, where he was shown, in the cathedral, a man, who has served seven years as a door-keeper, and was well known to every body in town, that had ever paid his devotions at that church. He has been seen, for so long a time, wanting a leg; but recovered that limb by rubbing of holy oil upon the stump; and the cardinal assures us that he saw him with two legs. The use of medical science is not at odds with our prayers of faith and our reliance on priesthood blessings. #RandolphHarris 6 of 26

This miracle was vouched by all the canons of the church; and the whole company in town were appealed to for a confirmation of the fact; whom the cardinal found, by their zealous devotion, to be thorough believers of the miracle. And the cardinal cannot be suspected of any holy fraud. If we are sick, and ask the Lord to heal us, and to do all for us that is necessary to be done, according to my understanding of the Gospel of salvation, I might as well ask the Lord to cause my wheat and corn to grow, without my plowing the ground and casting in the seed. It appears consistent to me to apply every remedy that comes within the remedy that comes within the range of my knowledge, and then to ask my Father in Heaven to sanctify that application to the healing of my body. Of course we do not wait until all other methods are exhausted before we pray in faith or give priesthood blessings for healing. In emergencies, prayers and blessings come first. Most often we pursue all efforts simultaneously. This follows the scriptural teachings that we should “pray always” and that all things should be done in wisdom and order. This is one way we seek the way to transports ourselves into some new World. #RandolphHarris 7 of 26
You have yourself heard many supernatural and marvellos relations. “Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for you good, if ye walk uprightly and remember the covenant wherewith ye have covenanted one another,” reports Doctrine and Covenants 90.24. Human’s inclination to the marvellous has full opportunity to display itself. And thus a story, which is universally exploded in the place where it was first started, shall pass for a certain at a hundred thousand miles distance, maybe even light years. It is reported that January 1600, there was total darkness over the whole Earth for eight days. It was also reported by historians who treat of England, that on the first of January 1600, Queen Elizabeth died; both before and after her death she was seen by her physicians and the whole court, as is usual with persons of her rank; that her successor was acknowledged and proclaimed by the parliament; and that, after being interred a month, she again appeared, resumed the throne, and governed England for three years: I must confess that I should be surprised at the concurrence of so many odd circumstances, but should not have the least inclination to believe so miraculous an event. #RandolphHarris 8 of 26

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

The deeper thinkers among our astronomers see no beginning and no end to the Universe; it is t them a process and not a static thing. To this view a philosopher would echo assent, but in accordance with the World-Idea. Just as the wave of life prepares, enters, and leaves our human bodies, so does it prepare, enter, and leave each of the numerous Universes. The World-Idea permeates all existence, patterns all forms, and expresses itself in all evolution. When the revelation of the World-Idea came to religious mystics they could only call it “God’s Will.” When it came to the Greeks, they called it “Necessity.” The Indians called it “Karma.” When its echoes were heard by scientific thinkers, they called it “the laws of Nature.” What we call here the World-Mind’s master image is not quite different from, although not quite the same as, what Plato called the eternal idea and what Malebranche called the archetype of the Universe. Mahat, the divine ideation of the Egyptian teachings, may possibly be correlated with the World-Idea, but I have not examined the doctrine. Nor do I know whether Plato’s divine archetypes meet exactly the same definition. However, I do know that all three constitute the World as seen by the Universal Mind. #RandolphHarris 10 of 26
Plato’s doctrine of a timeless World of archetypal ideas which are copied imperfectly in the physical one may be compared with the doctrine of the World-Idea stated elsewhere in this teaching. Jung’s archetypes, as far as I know his thought, apply to the unconscious of the human being. If you wish to call them by this name, the archetypes of the World-Idea apply universally and are not concerned with the human species alone. The Stoics pointed to Reason (Logos) as the divine spirit which orders the cosmos. Plato pointed to Mind (Nous) in the same reference. There is a universal order, a way which Nature (God) has of arranging things. This is why what we see around us as the World expressed all-pervading meaning, intelligence, and purpose. However, we catch only a mere hint of these veiled qualities—they mystery which recedes from them is immeasurably greater. The intelligence displayed by Nature is an infinite one. This fact, once recognized, forces us to concede that there is a deeper meaning and a wiser purpose in life than our puny intellects can adequately fathom. The World-Idea is secret, its activity is silent, but its effects are everywhere visible and audible to us. #RandolphHarris 11 of 26
Immanuel Kant referred to “the hidden plan of Nature.” Thus, without benefit of any mystical revelation but with that of acutely concentrated deep thinking to guide him, he sensed the presence of the World-Idea. It is safe to assert that nearly all the activities of the cosmos are beyond ordinary human sense observations. Without the assistance of special apparatus or thinking power we are unaware of them. Just as important as these might miracles are the smaller private miracles that teach each of us to have faith in the Lord. These come as we recognize and heed the prompting of the Spirit in our lives. When we are trying to serve Him and do His will, the Lord will help us in every aspect of our lives. I believe that all of us can bear witness to these mighty and modest miracles. We know children who have prayed for their parents to get a new job and buy a home, and they have. We have seen children who pray for toys for Christmas and get them. We have seen adults who pray for a special phone call and it comes in. The World-Idea contains the pattern, intention, direction, and purpose of the cosmos in a single unified thought of the World-Mind. #RandolphHarris 12 of 26
Human understanding is too cramped and too finite to comprehend how this miraculous simultaneity is possible. The World-Idea is the whole idea that no human mind can grasp in its time-long entirety and its spiralled cyclers. In some way that the limited mind of human cannot understand by its ordinary processes, the Universe exists in the World-Idea out of passing time and in an unbroken Now. The World-Idea manifests itself by degree but the Idea itself is a perfect whole. The World-Idea not only includes everything existent but also everything which is yet to exist. We may think of the World-Idea as a kind of computer which has been fed with all possible information and therefore contains all possible potentialities. Just as its progenitor the World-Mind is all-powerful, all-present, and all-knowing, it is also possible to think of the World-Idea as being this all-knowing, omniscient aspect of the World-Mind. What is most extraordinary about the cosmos is that although it is a coherent Whole, yet it is one that is greater than, and different from, the sum of is parts. The World-Idea forever realizing itself in the actual, a process which is ceaseless and infinite, without known beginning or known end. #RandolphHarris 13 of 26

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

The World-Mind’s World-Idea unfold with absolute regularity and perfect sequence. The World-Idea is slowly expanding itself on Earth, incarnating itself. My hope is that this rather lengthy discussion of the place of the body in our life and of how the apostle Paul understood its transformation will make very clear why spiritual formation requires the transformation of the body. The proper retaining and nurturing of the body is absolutely essential to Christlikeness. The body is not just a physical thing. As it matures, it increasingly takes on the quality of “inner” life. That is, the body increasingly becomes a major part of the hidden source from which our life immediately flows. The outcome of spiritual formation is, indeed, the transformation of the inner reality of the self in such a way that the deeds and words of Jesus become a natural expression of who we are. However, it is the nature of the human being that the inner reality of the self settles into our body, from which that inner reality then operates in practice. Formed in sin, our character and its body is set against God and God’s ways, and as we look about us, we find it pretty much on its own—at least for a while. #RandolphHarris 15 of 26
When our heart (will, spirit) comes to new life in God, the old “programs” are still running contrary to our new heart, and for the most part they are running in our body and its parts or members. “So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! However, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out,” report Romans 7.12-18. “For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit of death,” reports Romans 7.5. Because my identity before God has been shifted over to another life that is also now in me as God’s gift, my soul has been cleansed. #RandolphHarris 16 of 26
While the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, I may find myself doing the things I have. However, it really is no longer I who is doing it, but the sin still functioning as a living force in the members of my body. Nonetheless, this is only a transitional state for those who can say with David, “My soul follows hard after you,” reports Psalm 63.8. The law or force of the Spirit of life that is in Christ Jesus is now also a real presence in my body and it opens the way to liberation from the force of sin in my bodily parts. “Therefore, humans, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeed of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of God. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory,” reports Romans 8.12-17. #RandolphHarris 17 of 26
My soul follows after God. The law or force of the Spirit life that is in Christ Jesus is now also a real presence in my body and it opens the way to liberation from the force of sin in my bodily parts. “Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin,” reports Romans 7.25. By not walking in terms of the flesh but in terms of the Spirit, we are increasingly able to do the things that Jesus did and taught. “And so he condemned sin in sinful humans, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature,” reports Romans 8.4. We move toward the place where both the spirit is willing and the flesh is strong for God because the Spirit has now occupied it. We have presented the members of our body “as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification,” reports Romans 6.19. To deny the reality of miracles on the ground that the results and manifestations must be fictitious simply because we cannot comprehend the means by which they have happened is arrogant on the face of it. #RandolphHarris 18 of 26
Genuine miracle is the miracle worked though the power of faith, without specifically invoking the power of the priesthood. Most of us are acquainted with miracles that have occurred in our personal lives and the lives of those we love, such as miracles involving births and deaths and miraculous healings. All of these are fulfillments of the Lord’s modern promise to “show miracles, signs, and wonders, until all those who believe on my name,” reports Doctrine and Covenants 35.8. “And now, I speak also concerning those who do not believe in Christ. Behold, will ye believe in the day of your visitation—behold, when the Lord shall come, yea, even that great day when the Earth shall be rolled together as a scroll, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, yea, in that great day when ye shall be brought to stand before the Lamb of God—then will ye say that there is no God? Then will ye longer deny the Christ, or can ye behold the Lamb of God? Do ye suppose that ye shall dwell with him under a consciousness of your guilt? Do ye suppose that ye could be happy to dwell with that holy Being, when your souls are racked with a consciousness of guilt that ye have ever abused his laws? #RandolphHarris 19 of 26
“Behold, I say unto you that ye would be more miserable to dwell with a holy and just God under a consciousness of your filthiness before him, than ye would to dwell with the damned souls in hell. For behold, when ye shall be brought to see your nakedness before God, and also the glory of God, and the holiness of Jesus Christ, it will kindle a flame of unquenchable fire upon you. O then ye unbelieving, turn od who ye unto the Lord; cry mightily unto the Father in the name of Jesus, that perhaps ye may be found spotless, pure, fair, and clean, having been purified by the blood of the Lamb, at that great and last day. And again I speak unto you who deny the revelations of God, and say that they are done away, that there are no revelations, nor prophecies, nor gifts, nor healing, nor speaking with tongues, and the interpretation of tongues; behold I say uno you, one that denieth these things knoweth not the gospel of Christ; yea, one has not read the scriptures; if so, one does not understand them. For do we not read that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and in him there is no variableness neither shadow of changing? And now, if ye have imagined up unto yourselves a god who doth vary, and in whom there is shadow of changing, then have ye imagined up unto yourselves a god who is not a God of miracles. #RnadolphHarris 20 of 26
“However, behold, I will show unto you a God of miracles, even the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and it is that same God who created the Heavens and the Earth, and all things that in them are. Behold, he created Adam, and by Adam came the fall of man came Jesus Christ, even the Father and the Son; and because of Jesus Christ came the redemption of man. And because of the redemption of man, which came by Jesus Christ, they are brought back into the presence of the Lord; yea, this is wherein all humans are redeemed because the death of Christ bringeth to pass the resurrection, which bringeth to pass a redemption from an endless sleep, from which sleep all humans will be awakened by the power of God when the trump shall sound; and they shall come forth, both small and great, and all shall stand before his bar, being redeemed of death, which death is a temporal death. And then cometh the judgment of the Holy One upon them; and then cometh the time that he that is filthy shall be filthy still. #RandolphHarris 21 of 26

“And one that is righteous still; one that is happy shall be happy still; one that is unhappy shall be unhappy still. And now, O all ye that have imagined up unto yourselves a god who can do no miracles, I would ask of you, have all these things passed, of which I have spoken? Has the end come yet? Behold I say unto you, Nay; and God has not ceased to be a God of miracles. Behold, are not the things that God hath wrought marvelous in our eyes? Yea, and who can comprehend the marvelous works of God? Who shall say that it was a miracle that by his word the Heaven and the Earth shall be; and by the power of his word man was created of the dust of the Earth and by the power of his word have miracles been wrought? And who shall say that Jesus Christ did not do many mighty miracles? And there were many mighty miracles wrought by the hands of the apostles. And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles. #RandolphHarris 22 of 26
“And the reason why he ceaseth to do miracles among the children of men is because that they dwindle in unbelief, and depart from the right way, and know not the God in whom they should trust. Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever one shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the Earth. For behold, thus said Jesus Christ, the Son of God, unto his disciples who shall tarry, yea, and also to all his disciples, in the hearing of the multitude: God ye into all the World, and preach the gospel to every creature; and one that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but one that believe not shall be damned; and these signs shall follow them that believe—in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover; and whosoever shall believe in my name, doubting nothing, until one will I confirm all my words, even unto the ends of the Earth. And now, behold, who can stand against the works of the Lord? #RandolphHarris 23 of 26
“Who can deny his sayings? Who will rise up against the almighty power of the Lord? Who can deny God’s sayings? Who will rise up against the almighty power of the Lord? Who will despise the works of the Lord? Who will despise the children of Christ? Behold, all ye who are despisers of the works of the Lord, for ye shall wonder and perish. O then despise not, and wonder not, but hearken unto the words of the Lord, and ask the Father in the name of Jesus for what things so ever ye shall stand in need. Doubt not, but be believing, and being as in times of old, and come unto the Lord with all your heart, and work out your own salvation with fear and trembling before him. Be wise in the days of your probation; strip yourselves of all uncleanness; ask not, that ye may consume it on your lusts, but ask with a firmness unshaken, that ye will yield to no temptation, but that ye will serve the true and living God. See that ye are not baptized unworthily; see that ye partake not of the sacrament of Christ unworthily; but see that ye do all things in worthiness, and do it in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God; and if ye do this, and endure to the end, ye will in nowise be cast out. #RandolphHarris 24 of 26
“Behold, I speak unto you as though I spake from the dead; for I know that ye shall have my words. Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, neither my father, because of his imperfection, neither them who have written before him; but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our own imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been. And now behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech. And if our plates had been sufficiently large we should have written in Hebrew; but the Hebrew hath been altered by us also; and if we could have written in Hebrew, behold, ye would have no imperfection in our record. However, the Lord knoweth the things which we have written, and also that none other people knoweth our language; and because that none other people knoweth our language, therefore one hath prepared means for the interpretation thereof. And these things are written that we may rid our garments of the blood of our brethren, who have dwindled in unbelief. #RandolphHarris 25 of 26
“And behold, these things which we have desired concerning our brethren, yea, even their restoration to the knowledge of Christ, are according to the prayers of all the saints who have dwelt in the land. And may the Lord Jesus Christ grant that their prayers may be answered according to their faith; and may God the Father remember the covenant which he hath made with the house of Israel; and may he bless them forever, through faith on the name of Jesus Christ. Amen, reports Mormon 9.1-37. Queen of Night, your silver wheels roll silently through the darkness from sunset to sunrise on this night when you are full. I look on you in awe, and praise you. I look to you in love, and honor you. God in her palaces hath made Himself known as a tower of strength. For lo, the kinds assembled themselves, they came onward together. They saw, straightway they were amazed; they were affrighted, they hasted away. Trembling seized them there, shaking, as a woman in travail, as the east wind that breaks the ships of Tarshish. As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God—God establish forever. We have meditated on Thy lovingkindness, O God, in midst of Thy Temple. #RandolphHarris 26 of 26
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I Might Lose Myself in Bottomless Abysses of Ignorance—Cleanse the Horrible Darknesses of Our Mind!
The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved…the ones who…are passionate, compassionate, enthusiastic. In order to seize hold of the fantasies, I frequently imagined a steep descent. I even made several attempts to get to the very bottom. The very first time I reached, as it were, a depth of about a thousand feet; the next time I found myself at the edge of a cosmic abyss. It was like a voyage to the mon, or a descent into empty space. First came the image of a crater, and I had the feeling that I was in the land of the dead. The atmosphere was that of the other World. Near the steep slope of a rock I caught sight of two figures, an old mand with a white beard and a beautiful young lady. I summoned up my courage and approached them as though they were real people, and listened attentively to what they told me. The old man explained that he was Elijah, and that gave me a shock. However, the young lady staggered me even more, for she called herself Salome! She was blind. What a strange couple: Salome and Elijah. However, Elijah assured me that he and Salome had belonged together from all eternity, which completely astounded me. They have a black serpent living with them which displayed an unmistakable fondness for me. #RandolphHarris 1 of 27

I stuck close to Elijah because he seemed to be the most reasonable of the three, and to have a clear intelligence. Of Salome I was distinctly suspicious. Elijah and I had a long conversation which, however, I did not understand. Naturally I tried to find a plausible explanation for the appearance of Biblical figures in my fantasy by reminding myself that my father had been a clergyman. However, that really explained nothing at all. For what did the old man signify? What did Salome signify? Why were they together? Only man years later, when I knew a great deal more then I knew then, did the connection between the old man and the young lady appear perfectly natural to me. In such dream wanderings one frequently encounters an old man who is accompanied by a young girl, and examples of such couples are to be found in many mythic tales. Thus, according to Gnostic tradition, Simon Magus went about with a young lady whom he had picked up in a brothel. Her name was Helen, and she was regarded as the reincarnation of the Trojan Helen. Klingsor and Kundry, Lao-tzu and the dancing girl, likewise belong to this category. I have mentioned that there was a third figure in my fantasy besides Elijah and Salome: the large black snake. #RandolphHarris 2 of 27

In myths the snake is frequently counterpart of the hero. There are numerous accounts of their affinity. For example, the hero has eyes like a snake, or after his death he is changed into a snake and revered as such, or the snake is his mother, et cetera. In my fantasy, therefore, the presence of the snake was an indication of a hero-myth. Salome is an anima figure. She is blind because she does not see the meaning of things. Elijah is the figure of the wise old prophet and represents the factor of intelligence and knowledge; Salome, the erotic element. One might say that the two figures are personifications of Logos and Eros. However, such a definition would be excessively intellectual. It is more meaningful to let the figures be what they were for me at the time—videlicet, events and experiences. Soon after this fantasy another figure rose out of the unconscious. He developed out of the Elijah figure. I called him Philemon. Philemon was a pagan and brought with him an Egypto-Hellenistic atmosphere with a Gnostic colouration. His figure first appeared to me in the following dream. #RandolphHarris 3 of 27
The sky was blue, like the sea, covered not by clouds but by flat brown clods of Earth. It looked as if the clods were breaking apart and the blue water of the sea were becoming visible between them. However, the water was blue sky. Suddenly there appeared from the right a winged being sailing across the sky. I saw that it was an old man with the horns of a bull. He held a bunch of four keys, one of which he clutched as if here were about to open a lock. He had the winds of the kingfisher with it characteristic colours. Since I did not understand this dream-image, I painted it in order to impress it upon my memory. During the days when I was occupied with the painting, I found in my garden, by the lake shore, a dead kingfisher! I was thunderstruck, for kingfishers are quite rare in the vicinity of Zurich and I have never since found a dead one. The body was recently dead—at the most, two or three days—and showed no external injuries. Philemon and other figures of my fantasies brought home to me the crucial insight that there are things in the psyche which I do not produce, but which produce themselves and have their own life. Philemon represented a force which was not myself. #RandolphHarris 4 of 27
In my fantasies I held conversations with him, and he said things which I had not consciously thought. For I observed clearly that it was he who spoke, not I. He said I treated thoughts as if I generated them myself, but in his view thoughts were like animals in the forest, or people in a room, or birds in the air, and added, “If you should see people in a room, you would not think that you had made those people, or that you were responsible for them.” It was he who taught me psychic objectivity, the reality of the psyche. Through hum the distinction was clarified between myself and the object of my thought. He confronted me in an objective manner, and I understood that there is something in me which can say things that I do not know and do not intend, things which may even be directed against me. Psychologically, Philemon represented superior insight. He was a mysterious figure to me. As if here were a living personality, at times, he seemed to me quite real. I went walking up and down the garden with him, and to me he was what the Indians called a guru. Whenever the outlines of a new personification appeared, I felt it almost as a personal defeat. It meant: “Here is something else you did not know until now!” #RandolphHarris 5 of 27
Fear crept over me that the succession of such figures might be endless, that I might lose myself in the bottomless abysses of ignorance. My ego felt devalued—although the success I had been having in Worldly affairs might have reassured me. In my darknesses (horridas nostrae mentis purge tenebras— “cleanse the horrible darkness out of our mind” – the Aurora Consurgens* says) I could have wished for nothing better than a real, live guru, someone possessing superior knowledge and ability, who would have disentangled for me the involuntary creations of my imagination. This task was undertaken by the figure of Philemon, whom in this respect I had willy-nilly to recognize as my psychagogue. And the fact was the he conveyed to me many an illuminating idea. More than fifteen years later a highly cultivated elderly Indian visited me, a friend of Gandhi’s, and we talked about Indian education—in particular, about the relationship between guru and chela. I hesitantly asked him whether he could tell me anything about the person and character of one’s own guru, whereupon he replied in a matter-of-fact tone, “Oh yes, he was Shankaracharya.” #RandolphHarris 6 of 27

“You do not mean the commentor on the Vedas who died centuries ago?” I asked.
“Yes, I mean him,” he said, to my amazement.
“Then you are referring to a spirit?” I asked.
“Of course it was his spirit,” he agreed.
At that moment I thought of Philemon.
“There are ghostly gurus too,” he added. “Most people have living gurus. However, there are always some who have a spirit for teacher.” #RandolphHarris 7 of 27

This information was both illuminating and reassuring to me. Evidently, then, I had not plummeted right out of the human World, but had only experienced the sort of thing that could happen to others who made similar efforts. Later, Philemon became relativized by the emergence of yet another figure, whom I called Ka. In ancient Egypt the “king’s ka” was his Earthly form, the embodied soul. In my fantasy, as if out of a deep shaft, the ka-soul came from below, out of the Earth. I did a painting of him, showing him in his Earth-bound form, as a herm with base of stone and upper part of bronze. High up in the painting appears a kingfisher’s wing, and between it and the head of Ka floats a round, glowing nebula of stars. Ka’s expression has something demonic about it—one might also say, Mephistophelian. In one had he holds something like a coloured pagoda, or a reliquary, and in the other a stylus with which he was working on the reliquary. He is saying, “I am he who buries the gods in gold and gems.” Philemon had a lame foot, but was a winged spirit, where as Ka represented a kind of Earth demon or mental demon. Philemon was the spiritual aspects, or “meaning.” #RandolphHarris 8 of 27

Ka, on the other hand, was a spirit like the Anthroparion of Greek alchemy—with which at the time I was still unfamiliar. [The Anthroparion is a tiny man, a kind of homunculus. He is found, for example, in the visions of Zosimos of Panopolis, an important alchemist of the third century. To the group which includes the Anthroparion belong the gnomes, the Dactyls of classical antiquity, and the homunculi of the alchemists. As the spirit of quicksilver, the alchemical Mercurius was also an Anthroparion.] Ka was he who made everything real, but who also obscured the halcyon spirit, Meaning, or replaced it by beauty, the “eternal reflection.” In time I was able to integrate both figures through the study of alchemy. The archetype of the wise old man, also called the “Mana-personality,” tend to be projected upon human beings who set themselves up as leaders, secular or spiritual. This may have disastrous results, as when religious sects or political movements are led by charlatans or madmen. Alternatively, the subject may identify oneself with the archetype, believing that one oneself has superior wisdom. Analysts and priests, as well as politicians, sometimes succumb to this danger, referred to as “inflation.” #RandolphHarris 9 of 27
I have frequently considered, what could possibly be the reason, why all humankind, though they have ever, without hesitation, acknowledged the necessity, in their whole practice and reasoning, have yet discovered such a reluctance to acknowledge it in words, and have rather shown a propensity, in all ages, to profess the contrary opinion. The matter, I think, may be accounted for, after the following manner. If we examine the operations of body, and the production of effects from their causes, we shall find, that all our faculties can never carry us farther in our knowledge of this relation, than barely to observe, that particular objects are constantly transition, from the appearance of one to the belief of the other. However, though this conclusions concerning human ignorance be the result of the strictest scrutiny of this subject, human still entertain a strong propensity to believe, that they penetrate farther into the powers of nature, and perceive something like a necessary connexion between the cause and the effect. When again they turn their reflections towards the operations of their own minds, and feel no such connexion of the motive and the action; they are thence apt to suppose, that there is a difference between the effects, which result from material force, and those which arise from thought and intelligence. #RandolphHarris 10 of 27
However, being once convinced, that we know nothing father of causation of any kind, than merely the constant conjunction of objects, and the consequent inference of the mind from one to another, and finding, that these two circumstances are universally allowed to have a place in voluntary actions; we may be more easily led to own the same necessity common to all causes. And though this reasoning may contradict the systems of many philosophers, in ascribing necessity to the determination of the will, we shall find, upon reflection, that they dissent from it in words only, not in their real sentiment. Necessity, according to the sense, in which it is here taken, has never yet been rejected, nor can ever, I think, be rejected by any philosopher. It may only, perhaps, be pretended, that the mind can perceive, in the operations of matter, some farther connexion between the cause and effect; and a connexion that has not place in the voluntary actions of intelligent beings. Now whether it be so or not, can only appear upon examination; and it is incumbent on these philosophers to make good their assertion, by defining or describing that necessity, and pointing it out to us in the operations of material causes. #RandolphHarris 11 of 27
When they enter upon it by examining the faculties of the soul, the influence of the understanding, and operations of the will, it would seem, indeed, that humans begin at the wrong end of this question concerning liberty and necessity. Let them first discuss a more simple question, namely, the operations of body and of brute unintelligent matter; and try whether they can there form any idea of causation and necessity, except that of a constant conjunction of objects, and subsequent inference of the mind from one to another. If these circumstances form, in reality, the whole of that necessity, which we conceive in matter, and if these circumstances be also universally acknowledged to take place in the operations of the mind, the dispute is at an end; at least, must be owned to be thenceforth merely verbal. However, as long as we will rashly suppose, that we have some farther idea of necessity and causation in the operations of external objects; at the same time, that we can find nothing farther, in the voluntary actions of the mind; there is no possibility of bringing the question to any determinate issues, while we proceed upon so erroneous a supposition. #RandolphHarris 12 of 27

The only method of undeceiving us, is, to mount up higher; to examine the narrow extent of science when applied to material causes; and to convince ourselves, that all we know of them, is, the constant conjunction and inference above mentioned. We may, perhaps, find, that it is with difficulty we are induced to fix such narrow limits to human understanding: But we can afterwards find no difficulty when we come to apply this doctrine to the actions of the will. For as it is evident, that these have a regular conjunction with motives and circumstances and character, and as we always draw inferences from one to the other, we must be obliged to acknowledge in words, that necessity, which we have already avowed, in every deliberation of our lives, and in every step of our conduct and behaviour. The prevalence of the doctrine of liberty may be accounted for, from another cause, namely, a false sensation or seeming experience which we have, or may have, of liberty or indifference, in may of our actions. The necessity of any action, whether of matter or of mind, is not, properly speaking, a quality in the agent, but in any thinking or intelligent being, who many consider the action. #RandolphHarris 13 of 27

And it consists chiefly in the determination of one’s thoughts to infer the existence of that action from some preceding objects; as liberty, when opposed to necessity, is nothing but the want of that determination, and a certain looseness or indifference, which we feel, in passing, or not passing, from the idea of one object to that of any succeeding one. Now we may observe, that, though, in reflecting on human actions, we seldom feel such a looseness or indifference, but are commonly able to infer them with considerable certainty from their motives, and from the dispositions of the agent; yet if frequently happens, that, in performing the actions themselves, we are sensible of something like it: And as all resembling objects are readily taken for each other, this has been employed as a demonstrative and even intuitive proof of human liberty. We feel, that our actions are subject to our will, on most occasions; and imagine we feel, that the will itself is subject to nothing, because, when by a denial of it we are provoked to try, we feel, that it moves easily every way, and produces an image of itself (or a Velleity, as it is called in the schools) even n that side, on which it did not settle. #RandolphHarris 14 of 27
This image, of faint motion, we persuade ourselves, could, at that time, have been completed into the things itself; because, should that be denied, we find, upon a second trial, that, at present, it can. We consider not, that the fantastical desire of showing liberty, is here the motive of our actions. And it seems certain, that, however we may imagine we feel a liberty within ourselves, a spectator can commonly infer our actions from our motives and character; and even where one cannot, one concludes in general, that one might, were one perfectly acquainted with every circumstance of our situation and temper, and the most secret springs of our complexion and disposition. Now this is the very essence of necessity, according to the foregoing doctrine. However, to proceed in this reconciling project with regard to the question of liberty and necessity; the most contentious question, of metaphysics, the most contentious science; it will not require many words to prove, that all humankind have ever agreed in the doctrine of liberty as well as in that of necessity, and that the whole dispute, in this respect also, have been hitherto merely verbal. For, when applied to voluntary actions, what is meant by liberty? #RandolphHarris 15 of 27

We cannot surely mean, that actions have so little connexion with motives, inclinations, and circumstances, that one does not follow with a certain degree of uniformity from the other, and that one affords no inference by which we can conclude the existence of the other. For these are plain and acknowledged matters of fact. By liberty, then we can only mean a power of acting or not acting, according to the determinations of the will; that is, if we choose to remain at rest, we may; if we choose to move, we also may. Now this hypothetical liberty is universally allowed to belong to every one, who is not a prisoner and in chains. Here then is no subject of dispute. Whatever definition we may give of liberty, we should be careful to observe two requisite circumstances; first, that it be consistent with plain matter of fact; secondly, that it be consistent with itself. If we observe these circumstances, and render our definition intelligible, I am persuaded that all humankind will be found of one opinion with regard to it. It is universally allowed, that nothing exists without a cause of its existence, and that chance, when strictly examined, is a mere negative word, and means not any real power, which has any where, a being in nature. #RandolphHarris 16 of 27

However, it is pretended, that some causes are necessary, some not necessary. Here then is the advantage of definitions. Let any one define a cause, without comprehending, as a part of the definition, a necessary connexin with its effect; and let one show distinctly the origin of the idea, expressed by the definition; and I shall readily give up the whole controversy. However, if the foregoing explication f the matter be received, this must be absolutely impracticable. Had not objects regular conjunction with each other, we should never have entertained any notion of cause and effect; and this regular conjunction produces that inference of the understanding, which is the only connexion, that we can have any comprehension of. Whoever attempts a definition of cause, exclusive of these circumstances, will be obliged, either to employ unintelligible terms, or such as are synonymous to the term, which one endeavours to define. Thus, if a cause be defined, that which produces any thing; it is easy to observe, that producing is synonymous to causing. In like manner, if a cause be defined, that by which anything exists; this is liable to the same objection. For what is meant by these words by which? #RandolphHarris 17 of 27
Had it been said that a cause is that after which anything constantly exists; we should have understood the terms. For this is, indeed, all we know of the matter. And this constancy forms the very essence of necessity, nor have we any other idea of it. And if the definition above mentioned by admitted; liberty, when opposed to necessity, not to constraint, is the same thing with chance; which is universally allowed to have no existence. “And it came to pass that the thirty and fourth year passed away, and also the thirty and fifth, and behold the disciples of Jesus had formed a church of Christ in all the lands round about. And as many as did come unto them, and did truly repent of their sins, were baptized in the name of Jesus; and they did also receive the Holy Ghost. And it came to pass in the thirty and sixth year, the people were all converted unto the Lord, upon all the face of the land, both Nephites and Lamanites, and there were no contentions and disputations among them, and every human did deal justly one with another. And they had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift. And it came to pass that the thirty and seventh year passed away also, and there still continued to be peace in the land. #RandolphHarris 18 of 27
“And there were great and marvelous works wrought by the disciples of Jesus, insomuch that they did heal the sick, and raise the dead, and cause the lame to walk, and the blind to receive their sight, and the deaf to hear; and all manner of miracles did they work among the children of men; and in nothing did they work miracles save it were in the name of Jesus. And thus did the thirty and eighth year pass away, and also the thirty and ninth, and forty and first, and the forty and second, yea, even until forty and nine years had passed away, and also the fifty and first, and the fifty and second; year, and even until fifty and nine year has passed away. And the Lord did prosper them exceedingly in the land; yea, insomuch that they did build cities again where there had been cities burned. Yea, even that great city of Zarahemla did they cause to be built again. However, there were many cities which had been sunk, and waters came up in the stead thereof; therefore these cities could not be renewed. And now, behold, it came to pass that the people of Nephi did wax strong, and did multiply exceedingly fast, and become an exceedingly fair and delightsome people. And they were married, and given in marriage, and were blessed according to the multitude of the promises which the Lord had made unto them. #RandolphHarris 19 of 27

“And they did not walk any more after the performances and ordinances of the law of Moses; but they did walk after the commandments which they had received from their Lord and their God, continuing in fasting and prayer, and in meeting together oft both to pray and to hear the word of the Lord. And it came to pass that there was no contention among all the people, in all the land; but there were mighty miracles wrought among the disciples of Jesus. And it came to pass that the seventy and first year passed away, and also the seventy and second year, yea, and in fine, till the seventy and ninth year had passes away; yea, even an hundred years had passed away, and the disciples of Jesus, whom he had chosen, had all gone to the paradise of God, save it were the three who should tarry; and there were other disciples ordained in their stead; and also many of that generation had passed away. And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people. And there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness; and surely there could not be a happier people among al the people who has been created by the hand of God. #RandolphHarris 20 of 27
“There were no robbers, nor murderers, neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of -ites; but there were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God. And how blessed were they! For the Lord did bless them in all their doings; yea, even they were blessed and prospered until an hundred and ten years had passed away; and the first generation from Christ had passes away, and there was no contention in all the land. And it came to pass that Nephi, he that kept this last record, (and he kept it upon the plates of Nephi) died, and his son Amon kept it in his stead; and he kept it upon the plates of Nephi also. And he kept it eighty and four years, and there was still peace in the land, save it were a small part of the people who had revolted from the church and taken upon them the name of Lamanites; therefore there began to be Lamanites again in the land. And it came to pass that Amos died also, (and it was an hundred and ninety and four years from the coming of Christ) and his son Amos kept the record in his stead; and he also kept it upon the plates of Nephi; and it was also written in he book of Nephi, which is this book. And it came to pass that two hundred years had passed away; and the second generation had all passed away save it were a few. #RandolphHarris 21 of 27
“And now I, Mormon, would that ye should know that the people had multiplied, insomuch that they were spread upon all the face of the land, and that they had become exceedingly rich, because of their prosperity in Christ. And now, in this two hundred and first year there began to be among them those who were lifted up in pride, such as the wearing of costly apparel, and all manner of fine pearls, and of the fine things of the World. And from that time forth they did have their goods and their substance no more common among them. And they began to be divided into classes; and they began to build up churches unto themselves to get gain, and began to deny the true church of Christ. And it came to pass that when two hundred and ten years had passes away there were many churches in the land; yea, there were many churches which professed to know the Christ, and yet they did deny the more parts of his gospel, insomuch that they did receive all manner of wickedness, and did administer that which was sacred unto him to whim it had been forbidden because of unworthiness. And this church did multiply exceedingly because of iniquity, and because of the power of Satan who did get hold upon their hearts. #RandolphHarris 22 of 27

“And again, there was another church of Christ, because of their humility and their belief in Christ; and they did despise them because of the many miracles which were wrought among them. Therefore they did exercise power and authority over the disciples of Jesus who did tarry with them, and they did cast them into prison; but by the power of the word of God, which was in them, the prisoners were rent in twain, and they went forth doing mighty miracles among them. Nevertheless, and notwithstanding all these miracles, the people did harden their hearts, and did seek to kill them, even as the Jews at Jerusalem sought to kill Jesus, according to his word. And they did cast them into furnaces of fire, and they came forth receiving no harm. And they also cast them into dens of wild beasts, and they did play with the wild beasts even as a child with a lamb; and they did come forth from among them, receiving no harm. Nevertheless, the people did harden their hearts, for they were led by many priests and false prophets to build up many churches, and to do all manners of iniquity. And they did smite upon the people of Jesus; but the people of Jesus did not smite again. And they thus did dwindle in unbelief and wickedness from year to year, even until two hundred and thirty years had passed away. #RandolphHarris 23 of 27

“And now it came to pass in this year, yea, in the two hundred and thirty and first year, there was a great division among the people. And it came to pass that in this year there arose a people who were called the Nephites, and they were true believers in Christ; and among them there were those who were called by the Lamanites—Jacobites, and Josephites, and Zoramites; therefore the true believers in Christ, and the true worshipers of Christ, (among whom were the three disciples of Jesus who should tarry) were called Nephites, and Jacobites, and Josephites, and Zoramites. And it came to pass that they who rejected the gospel were called Lamanites, and Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites; and they did not dwindle in unbelief, but they did willfully rebel against the gospel of Christ; and they did teach their children that they should not believe, even as their fathers, from the beginning, did dwindle. And it was because of the wickedness and abomination of their fathers, even as it was in the beginning. And they were taught to hate the children of God, even as the Lamanites were taught to hate the children of Nephi from the beginning. #RandolphHarris 24 of 27

“And it came to pass that two hundred and forty and four years had passed away, and thus were the affairs of the people. And the more wicked part of the people did wax strong, and became exceedingly more numerous than were the people of God. And they did still continue to build up churches unto themselves, and adorn them with all manner of precious things. And thus did two hundred and fifty years pass away, and also two hundred and sixty years. And it came to pass that the wicked part of the people began again to build up the secret oaths and combinations of Gadianton. And also the people who were called the people of Nephi began to be proud in their hearts, because of their exceeding riches, and become vain like unto their brethren, the Lamanites. And from this time the disciples began to sorrow for the sins of the World. And it came to pass that when three hundred years had passes away, both the people of Nephi and the Lamanites had become exceedingly wicked one like unto another. And it came to pass that the robbers of Gadinaton did spread over all the face of the land; and there were none that were righteous save it were the disciples of Jesus. And gold and silver did they lay up in store in abundance, and did traffic in all manner of traffic. #RandolphHarris 25 of 27

“And it came to pass that after three hundred and five years had passed away, (and the people did still remain in wickedness) Amos died; and his brother, Ammaron, did keep the record in his stead. And it came to pass that when three hundred and twenty years had passed away, Ammaron, being constrained by the Holy Ghost, did hide up the records which were sacred—yea, even all the sacred records which had been handed down from generation to generation, which were sacred—even until the three hundred and twentieth year from the coming of Christ. And he did hide them up unto the Lord, that they might come again unto the remnant of the house of Jacob, according to the prophecies and the promises of the Lord. And thus is the end of the record of Ammaron,” reports 4 Nephi 1.1-49. Night is called the first of all things because of the common belief that the World came out of darkness. In part, this reflects the obvious truth that before something there was nothing, and that “nothing” is equated with darkness. The connection between these two is not so subtle, however. For, after all, if light (and everything else) was born out of darkness be thought of as nothing? It is a creative force in itself. #RandolphHarris 26 of 27
Thus, among the Celts and Germans, the day began with night, and the year with Winter. To this day, our day begins in the middle of night and our year in the middle of Winter. The World rests beneath night’s blanket and I sit quietly, finally myself at rest. All day, I have been the one talking; my time for silence has arrived. Speak to me, Holy Ones, and I will listen. Here I am, waiting to hear your words. Lord of the World, the King supreme, ere aught was formed, He reigned alone. When by His will all things were wrought, then was His sovereign name made known. And when in time all things shall cease, He still shall reign in majesty. He was, He is, He shall remain all-glorious eternally. Incomparable, unique is He, no other can His Oneness share. Without beginning, without end, Dominion’s might is His to bear. He is my living God who saves, my Rock when grief or trials befall, my Banner and my Refuge strong, my bounteous Portion when I call. My soul I give unto His care, asleep, awake, for He is near, and with my soul, my body, too; God is with me, I have no fear. #RandolphHarris 27 of 27
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When the Morning Blesses Thee for Enlivening All the Cheerful Eyes the Heart Upsprings!
Change is the biggest story in the World today, and we are not covering it adequately. Leadership is a work one everyone’s lips. The young attack it and police seek it. Experts claim it and artists spurn it, while scholars want it…bureaucrats pretend they have it, politicians wish they did. Everybody agrees that there is less of it than there used to be. The pessimistic consensus and longing for leadership extends to the Church, which many today believe suffers from an alarming lack of leadership when compared to history as recent as the decades between the forties and seventies (decades which produces leaders of the stature of Harold John Ockenga, Billy Graham, Carl F.H. Henry and Francis Schaeffer, as well as dynamic local church and layleaders). Is there really less leadership than there used to be? It appears so, but objective analysis is difficult. Statistics do indicate this, however: male leadership in the Church is on the decline as women outnumber men, for men comprise only 41 percent of adult church attenders, and some smaller churches cannot find even one man to fill the office of elder. More and more men are content to let others shoulder the heavy responsibilities while they go along for the ride. #RandolphHarris 1 of 25
It is certainly true that leadership is more difficult today due to the sheer complexity of life and the size of today’s institutions, and because of the contemporary confusion as to what leadership is. Secular analysis has produced more than 350 definitions of leadership. Leadership, to some, is like the Abominable Snowman, whose footprints are everywhere but he is nowhere to be seen. However, none of this excuses today’s Church—or today’s Christian humans. Unlike our culture, the Bible provides clear instruction regarding leadership through the lives of its great leaders and through specific teachings regarding the character, qualifications, and commitment of spiritual leaders. In addition to this, amidst our culture’s confusion about leadership there are some astute analysts who have pinpointed the essentials of leadership and are providing information which has immense benefits for the general culture, including the Church. As we tackle the topic of the discipline of leadership, we will draw from both sources, with the greatest reliance being upon God’s word. When the Saviour was on the Earth, He taught His Apostles about leadership service: “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you. #RandolphHarris 2 of 25
“These things I command you, that ye love one another,” reports John 15.16-17. After His ascension into Heaven, His disciples became greater leaders and built up the Church in their day. The first mention of Joshua comes in Exodus 17.8, 9 after the Amalekites’ attack upon the stragglers at Israel’s rear: “Moses said to Joshua, ‘Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.’” Moses, then in his eighties, took the rod of God with which he had parted the Red Sea and ascended a nearby hill. Joshua, in his fighting prime, took charge of the army below. In the ensuing battle, when Moses lifted his hands in intercessory prayer, Israel prevailed. However, as Moses wearied and began to lower his arms, the tide of battle turned to the Amalekites. Then again, as Moses mustered all his power and elevated his hands, the advantage returned to Israel. Israel’s fate ebbed and flowed with Moses’ aged hands. Soon Aaron and Hur were called to assist Moses, seating him on a stone and standing at his sides to hold his hands Heavenward. When sunset came, Moses’ hands were still reaching upward to God, and Israel had carried the day. #RandolphHarris 3 of 25
The lessons for Joshua were clearly manifest. He learned that the real power was not in his sword, but in God. The victory undoubtedly tempted him to forget that. He was an instant hero, and that night all the campfires sang the name of Joshua. However, fixed in Joshua’s mind was the image of Aaron and Hur coming to Moses’ side and lifting his hands up to God. No one attains true spiritual leadership who thinks one’s power is one’s own or the past victories are due to one’s own genius. The overriding lesson Joshua learned that day was the backbone of any work done for God is prayer. Those who have effective leadership are not leaders because of brilliancy, but because, by the power of prayer, they could command the power of God. How contrary this is to conventional thinking on leadership. The first thing the World (and all too often the Church!) considers is a leader’s magnetism and elan—does one have the charisma to magnetize people? But the Holy Spirit places prayer first. In our day we are called on to be leaders and to beckon others to follow Jesus’s teachings. You may be a leader in your ward or branch or among your group of friends. Young people in the Church are learning. “I learned not to just pay attention to how things are done, but to go to individuals and help them in whatever way they need,” said Leo. #RandolphHarris 4 of 25
There may be time when we do not know what to do and that is when one should recall to open up the scriptures. Also, keep in mind that Christian leadership includes helping everyone feel welcome. Now, when we set out on the path of the surrendered will we find we must come to grips with our fallen character. This character will have taken over our habitual or “automatic” ways of thinking and feeling, shaped our social World past and present, permeated our body and its responses, and even sunk down into the unconscious depths of our soul. In their fallen character thoughts, feelings, social interactions, body, character, will, and the soul will usually not be in accordance with the genuine intentions of our reborn spirit or will. The fallen character in fact poises every element of our being against God. When we are subjected to environments where people may or may not have willfully, knowingly and enthusiastically submitted to the influence of Satan and are attacking us, we must remember to seek spiritual counsel even more, and commit to more Bible study so our souls do not become sucked into their blackhole of evil. #RandolphHarris 5 of 25
We do not want to end up in the adversary’s web because we want to go to Heaven and not suffer any legal consequences while on Earth either because the bad people are going to get themselves in trouble with God and human’s laws. The condition we find ourselves in can best be described as one of entanglement. By contrast, the condition we must move to is that of single-minded focus upon doing the will of God in everything, distracted by nothing. Do not care about anything but Christ. Make sure your intention is that you and your team care for nothing before Christ, which means the ways of the Lord must come first. Nothing should be allowed to detract from that or conflict with it. All lesser desires have to be done away with (hence they are macabre baggage!). Some people, of course, are more concerned about language they think is wrong than about hearts not set wholly on Christ. In our fallen World very few people live with a focused will, even a will focused on an evil. The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity. #RandolphHarris 6 of 25
However, in fact—and we can be thankful for this—even “the worst” rarely have much intensity about them. There are always hecklers in this World, however. Evil people who are genuinely focused can gain the great power they do over others because of the fact that good people and evil people alike are, for the most part, simply drifting through life. The “Chief Executive Officer” of the self has abandoned its post to other dimensions of the self and is dragged hither and thither by them. If it is recognized at all, in our culture today the direction of the self is usually left to feelings; and the will is either identified with feelings or else regarded as helpless in the face of feelings. The cognitive aide of the mind is hijacked to renationalize it all by producing or borrowing suitable “insights,” usually lying ready to hand in surrounding culture. David Hume’s eighteenth-century claim that “reason is and ought only to be the slave of the passions” was prophetic of a World to come—our present World—to the existence of which e significantly contributed: a World of perpetual drift in which manipulation and entanglement of the will is simply unavoidable. Purity of heart is to will one thing. #RandolphHarris 7 of 25
Before we can come to rest in such single-mindedness as the habitual orientation of all dimensions of our being, to allow it and to sustain it, a serious battle is required. However, the call of grace and wisdom is nonetheless to “lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus,” reports Hebrews 12.1-2. “No soldier in active service entangles oneself in the affairs of everyday life,” Paul reminded Timothy, “so that one may please the one who enlisted one as a soldier,” reports 2 Timothy 2.4. Dear Martha was “worried and bothered about so many things,” as Jesus pointed out, while only a few things are necessary, really only one, “Many has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her,” reports Luke 10.41-42. And Paul’s own testimony was that he really did only one thing, which was to “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus,” reports Philippians 3.13-14. According to the classical principle of utility, the best actions produce the greatest amount of utility for the greatest number of individuals, and the best actions maximize the average utility which may be enjoyed by each individual. Now it is tempting to argue against the principle that it presupposed a real and equal acceptance of risk by all members of society. #RandolphHarris 8 of 25
At some time, one wants to say, everyone must actually have agreed to take the same chances. Since clearly there was n such occasion, the principle is unsound. Consider an extreme case: when confronted by his slaves, a slaveholder, in his attempts to justify his position to them by claiming that, first of all, given the circumstances of their society, the institution of slavery is in fact necessary to produce the greatest average happiness; and secondly, that in the initial contractual situation he would choose the average principle even at the risk of its subsequently happening that he is justifiably held a slave. Now offhand we are inclined to reject the slaveholder’s argument as beside the point, if not outrageous. One may think that it makes no difference what one would choose. Unless individuals have actually agreed to a conception of justice subject to real risk, no one is bound by its requirements. On the contract view, however, the general form of the slaveholder’s argument is correct. It would be a mistake for the slaves to retort that his contentions are irrelevant since there has been no actual occasion of choice, no equal sharing of risk as to how things would turn out. #RandolphHarris 9 of 25
The contract doctrine is purely hypothetical: if a conception of justice would be agreed to in the original position, its principles are the right ones to apply. It is no objection that such an understanding has never been nor ever will be entered into. We cannot have it both ways: we cannot interpret the theory of justice hypothetically when the appropriate occasions of consent cannot be found to explain individuals’ duties and obligations, and then insist upon real situations of risk-bearing to throw out principles of justice that we do not want. Thus in justice as fairness the way to refute the slaveholder’s argument is to show that the principle one invokes would be rejected in the original position. We have no alternative but to exploit the various aspects of this initial situation (on the favoured interpretation) to establish that the balance of reasons favours the two principles of justice. People can often say that everyone makes choices and decisions and because they have a troubled life that you should also have to suffer a life of hardships and they may manufacture a situation to make sure that you do. The issues here is, while what they are saying is true, there life turned out bad because of the probability of the choices and decisions they made. Usually people are not victims of a conspiracy. #RandolphHarris 10 of 25
In many cases the lot of evidence shows that a particular coin is unbiased, but when a group of people plot to ruin a person and no one step in to help, even after the situations are reported, not only is that biased, but it is illegal, unconstitutional and unfair. What is distinctive about the use of the principle is that it enables one to incorporate different kinds of information within one strictly probabilistic framework and to draw inferences about probabilities even in the absence of knowledge. Prior probabilities however arrived at are part of one theory along with estimates of chances based on random sampling. The limiting case of no information does not pose a theoretical problem. As evidence accumulates the prior probabilities are revised anyway and the principle of insufficient reason at least insures that no possibilities are excluded from the outset. Now I shall assume that the parties discount likelihoods arrived at solely on the basis of this principle. This supposition is plausible in view of the fundamental importance of the original agreement and the desire to have one’s decision appear responsible to one’s descendants who will be affected by it. #RandolphHarris 11 of 25
We are more reluctant to take great risks for our descendants than for ourselves; and we are willing to do so only when there is no way to avoid these uncertainties of the original position. Recall that the original position is an elegant thought experiment. It asks one to imagine that they are temporarily ignorant (veil of ignorance) about certain things, including important facts about themselves, such as how well off they are especially talented, and what their core personal values—religious or otherwise—are. One is then to ask oneself: If I did not know these things, what principle of justice would I choose to regulate the basic institutions of society? To be a little more precise, we are employing a vision of the familiar idea of a social contract. The parties to the contract are choosing basic principles of justice for their society. However, they are behind what is referred to as the veil of ignorance: they do not know how well off they are especially talented, and what their core personal values are. In such a situation, given certain additional stipulations, it would be rational for the parties to choose the following two principles of justice. First, a principle that guaranteed each citizen a robust package of liberal rights to such things as freedom of conscience, freedom to vote and stand in elections, and rights to due process in law. #RandolphHarris 12 of 25
Second, a principle that ensured fair equality of economic opportunity as well as shares of income and wealth that were maximally beneficial to people with the least amount of income and wealth. So the people in our scenario can guarantee the protection of their liberties and a reasonably satisfactory standard of life as the conditions of their society permit. In fact, it is questionable whether the choice of the average principle really offers a better prospect anyway, waiving the fact that it is based on the principle of insufficient reason. It seems, then, that the effect of the veil of ignorance is to favour the two principles. This conception of justice is better suited to the situation of complete ignorance. If they were sound, there are, to be sure, assumptions about society that would allow parities to arrive at objective estimates of equality. The idea is to formulate certain reasonable assumptions under which it would be rational for self-interested parties to agree to the standard of utility as a political principle to assess social policies. The necessity for such a principle arises because the political process is not a competitive one and these decisions cannot be left to the market. Some other method must be found to reconcile divergent interests. #RandolphHarris 13 of 25
The principle of utility would be agreed to by self-interested parties as the desired criterion. Over the long run of many occasions, the policy of maximizing utility on each occasion is most likely to give the greatest utility for any person individually. Consistent application of this standard to taxation and property legislation, and so on, is calculated to give the best results from any one human’s point of view. Therefore by adopting this principle self-interested parties have reasonable assurance that they will not lose out in the end, in fact, will best improve their prospects. However, there are some flaws in these positions, especially the basic structure. For one, people who move from one social position to another in random fashion must live long enough for gains and losses to average out, or else there is some mechanism which insures that legislation guided by the principle of utility distributes its favours evenly over one time. However, clearly society is not a stochastic process of this type; and some questions of social policy are much more vital than others, often causing large and enduring shifts in the institutional distribution of advantage. Therefore, we must not be enticed by mathematically attractive assumptions into pretending that the contingencies of human’s social positions and the asymmetries of their situations somehow even out in the end. #RandolphHarris 14 of 25
Rather, we must choose our conceptions of justice fully recognizing that this is not and cannot be the case. From our point of view it is often easy enough to appraise another individual’s situation as specified say by one’s social position, wealth, and the like, or by one’s prospects in terms of primary goods. We put ourselves in one’s shoes, complete with our character and preferences (not the individual’s), and take account of how our plans would be affected. We can go much further. We can assess the worth to us being in another’s place with at least some of one’s traits and aims. Knowing our plan of life, we can decide whether it would be rational for us to have those traits and aims, and therefore advisable for us to develop and encourage them if we can. It suffices to observe here that what we cannot do is to evaluate another person’s total circumstances, one’s objective situation plus one’s character and system of ends, without any reference to the details of our conception of our good. If we are to judge these things from our standpoint at all, we must know what our plan of life is. The worth to us of the circumstances of others is not, as the constructed expectation assumes, its value them. #RandolphHarris 15 of 25
Furthermore, as we have seen, the clearest basis for interpersonal comparisons is in terms of primary goods, things that every rational person is presumed to want whatever else one wants. The more we ascend to the higher aims and aspects of the person and try to assess their worth to us, the more tenuous the procedure becomes. The reason for this is that these evaluations contemplate more fundamental changes in our way of life, more far-reaching revisions in our plans. Indeed, it seems pointless to try to define a measure between persons which includes the full range of final ends. The problem is similar to comparing different styles of art. There are simply many things in which human beings become engaged and find fully worthwhile depending upon their inclinations. The expectation finally arrived at in the reasoning for the average principle seems spurious for two reasons: it is not, as expectations should be, founded on one system of aims; and since the veil of ignorance excludes the knowledge of the parties’ conception of their good, the worth to a person of the circumstances of others simply cannot be assessed. The argument ends up with a purely formal expression for an expectation that is without meaning. #RandolphHarris 16 of 25
This difficult about expectations is analogous to that concerning the knowledge of probabilities. In both instances the reasoning carries on with these notions aster the basis for their legitimate use has been ruled out by the conditions of the original position. Anger at the absence of an attachment figure is not like the anger that is felt when an instinctual drive is frustrated (unless we take attachment to be the frustrated instinct) and it is not like the anger felt during an experience of deprivation or persecution—two frequent sources of anger mentioned in psycho-analytic literature. Whenever separation is only temporary, which in the large majority of cases it is, anger has two functions: first, it may assist in overcoming such obstacles as there may be to reunion; second, it may discourage the loved person from going away again. This is coercive anger, and is thought of as the anger of hope. Angry coercive behaviour, acting in the service of an affectional bond, is not uncommon. It is seen when a mother, whose child has run foolishly across the road, berated and punishes it with an anger born of fear. It is seen whenever one berates one’s partner for being or seeming to be disloyal. #RandolphHarris 17 of 25
Dysfunctional anger, on the other hand, occurs whenever a person becomes so intensely or persistently angry that the bond of affection is weakened instead of strengthened. Clinical experience suggests that the situations of separation and loss with which this work is concerned are especially liable to result in anger that crosses the threshold of intensity and becomes dysfunctional. Separations, especially when prolonged or repeated, have a double effect. On the one hand, anger is aroused; on the other, love is attenuated. Thus not only many angry discontented behaviour alienate the attachment figure but, within the attached, a shift can occur in the balance of feeling. Instead of a strongly rooted affection laced occasionally with “hot displeasure,” such as develops in a child brough up by affectionate parents, there grows a deep-running resentment, held in check only partially by an anxious uncertain affection. “And now it came to pass that when Jesus had told these things he expounded them unto the multitude; and he did expound all things unto them, both great and small. And he saith: These scriptures, which ye had not with you, the Father commanded that I should give unto you; for it was wisdom in him that they should be given unto future generations. #RandolphHarris 18 of 25
“And he did expound all things, even from the beginning until time that he should come in his glory—yea, even all things which should come upon the face of the Earth, even until the elements should melt with fervent heat, and the Earth should be wrapt together as a scroll, and the Heavens and the Earth should pass away; and even unto the great and last day, when all people, and all kindreds, and all nations and tongues shall stand before God, to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil—if they be good, to the resurrection of everlasting life; and if they be evil, to the resurrection of damnation; being on a parallel, the one on the one hand and the other on the other hand, according to the mercy, and the justice, and the holiness which is in Christ, who was before the World began. And now cannot be written in this book even a hundredth part of the things which Jesus did truly teach unto the people; however, behold the plated of Nephi do contain the more part of the things which he taught the people. And thee things have I written, which he taught the people; and I have written them to the intent that they may be brought again unto this people, from the Gentiles, according to the words which Jesus hath spoken. #RandolphHarris 19 of 25
“And when they shall have received this, which is expedient that they should have first, to try their faith, and if it shall so be that they shall believe thee things then shall the greater things be made manifest unto them. And if it is so be that they will not believe these things, then shall the greater things be made manifest unto them. And if it so be that they will not believe these things, then shall the greater things be withheld from them, unto their condemnation. Behold, I was about to write them, all which were engraven upon the plates of Nephi, but the Lord forbade it, saying: I will try the faith of my people. Therefore I, Mormon, do write the things which have been commanded me of the Lord. And now I, Mormon, make an end of my sayings, and proceed to write the things which have been commanded me. Therefore, I would that ye should behold that the Lord truly did teach the people, for the space of three days; and after that he did show himself unto them oft, and did break bread oft, and bless it, and give it unto them. And it came to pass that he did teach and minister unto the children and multitude of whom hath been spoken, and he did loose their tongues, and they did speak unto their fathers great and marvelous things, even greater than he had revealed unto the people; and he loosed their tongues that they could utter. #RandolphHarris 20 of 25
“And it came to pass that after he had ascended into Heaven—the second time that he showed himself unto them, and had gone unto the Father, after having healed all their sick, and their lame, and opened the eyes of their blind and unstopped the ears of the deaf, and even had done all manner of cures among them, and raised a man from the dead, and had shown forth his power unto them, and had ascended unto the Father—behold, it came to pass on the morrow that the multitude gathered themselves together, and they both saw and heard these children; yea, even babes did open their mouths and utter marvelous things; and the things which they did utter were forbidden that there should not any human write them. And it came to pass that the disciples whom Jesus had chosen began from that time forth to baptize and to teach as many as did come unto them; and as many as were baptized in the name of Jesus were filled with the Holy Ghost. And many of them saw and heard unspeakable things, which are not lawful to be written. #RandolphHarris 21 of 25
“And they taught, and did minister one to another; and they had all things common among them, every human dealing justly, one with another. And it came to pass that they do all things even as Jesus had commanded them. And they who were baptized in the name of Jesus were called the church of Christ,” reports 3 Nephi 26.1-21. If one can look back and reflect that a hundred people have firmly grounded their minds in truth and planted their feet on the road to eternal liberation through the word done by this transitory body, one will count the years gloriously spent. For those who welcome the Truth-bringer must needs be few, those who want the truth must be fewer still, and of these again those who can endure it when brought face to face with it are rare. The sages of old deliberately restricted the public from their full knowledge so that their immediate following was always numerically insignificant. Yet the paradox was that they excised an indirect influence disproportion to their small numbers. This was achieved by a concentrating their tuition on humans in positions of high authority or leadership, and establishing popular religions and cults suited to the capacity of the multitude. #RandolphHarris 22 of 25
For a religious leader to try to convince others of the truth would require that they are seeking the truth. However, how many are consciously and deliberately doing so? Falsity is not to be sought in the senses except as truth is in them. Now truth is not in them in such a way that the senses know truth, but in so far as they apprehend sensible things truly. And this takes place through the senses apprehending things as they are, and hence it happens that falsity exists in the sense through their apprehending or judging things to be otherwise. The knowledge of things by the senses is in proportion to the existence of their likeness in the senses; and the likeness of a thing can exist in the senses in three ways. In the first way, primarily and of its own nature, as in sight there is the likeness of colours, and of other sensible objects proper to it. Secondly, of its own nature, though not primarily; as in sight there is the likeness of shape, size, and of other sensible objects common to more than one sense. Thirdly, neither primarily nor of its own nature, but accidentally, as in sight, there is the likeness of a human, not as a human, but in so far as it is accidental to the coloured object to be a human. #RandolphHarris 23 of 25
Sense, then, as no false knowledge about its proper objects, expect accidentally and rarely, and then, because of the unsound organ it does receive the sensible form rightly; just as other passive subjects because of their indisposition receive defectively the impressions of the agent. Hence, for instance, it happens that on account of an unhealthy tongue sweet seems bitter to a sick person. However, as to common objects of sense, and accidental objects, even a rightly disposed sense may have a false judgment, because it is referred to them not directly, but accidentally, or as a consequence of being directed to other things. Our Holy King lowers Himself to bed to rest for tomorrow’s travel. I, too, will soon go to my bed, resting with the dreams of the Holy Ones send. Eternal God, who sendest consolation unto all sorrowing hearts, we turn to Thee for solace in this, our trying hour. Though bowed in grief at the passing of our loved ones, we affirm our faith in Thee, our Father, who art just and merciful, who healest broken hearts and art ever near to those who are afflicted. #RandolphHarris 24 of 25
Israel’s hope for Thy true kingdom here on Earth, impel us to help speed that day when peace shall be established through justice, and all humans recognize their brotherhood in Thee. With trust in Thy great goodness, we who mourn, rise to sanctify Thy name. Life is good and life’s tasks must be performed. Help us, O Lord, to rise above our sorrow and face the trials of life with courage in our hearts. Please give us insight in this hour of grief, that from the depths of suffering may come a deepened sympathy for all who are bereaved, that we may feel the heartbreak of our fellow beings and find our strength in helping them. Heartened by this hymn of praise to Thee, we bear our sorrow with trustful hearts, and knowing Thou art near, shall not despair. With faith in Thine eternal wisdom, we who mourn, rise to sanctify Thy name. As around our home the darkness grows, I light the evening lights. As the daytime spirits depart, I say my goodbyes: you will stay in our hearts the whole night through. As the nighttime spirits gather about, I give greetings to them: may these lights honour you who come with the darkness. Where there is shadow, there is light. #RandolphHarris 25 of 25
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