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We Hold these Truths to be Self-Evident that All Humans are Created Equal!
It is the basic, metaphysical fact of human’s nature—the connection between their survival and their use of reason—that capitalism recognizes and protects. America’s abundance was created not by public sacrifices to the common good, but by the productive genius of free people who pursued their own personal interests and the making of their own private fortune. They did not starve the people to pay for America’s industrialization. They gave the people better jobs, higher wages and more cost efficient goods with every new machine they invented, with every scientific discovery or technological advance—and thus the whole country was moving forward and profiting, not suffering every step of the way. Capitalism and egalitarianism plainly protect rights to fair terms of cooperation and labour. With people having capitalistic impulses, they have their rights peacefully to pursue their own interests. They may wish to invest, retain and bequeath in economic domains. We are indeed driven, by egalitarian impulses, of a perfectly understandable sort, to protect the egalitarian right to fair terms of cooperation and the enhanced liberty that that brings. However, in any society at all, we live in a World in which there will be some restriction or other, on our rights peacefully, to pursue our interests without interference. #RandolphHarris 1 of 21
Part of these restriction are to protect us and also to make sure that society remains rational. I cannot lecture in Albanian or even in French in a standard philosophy class at the University of Calgary, I cannot jog naked on most beaches, borrow a book from your library or read your email without your permission, fish in your trout pond without your permission, take your dog for a walk without your say so and the like. At least some of these things have been thought to be things which I might peacefully pursue in my own interest. Stopping me from doing them is plainly interfering with my peaceful pursuit of my own interests. And indeed it is an infringement on liberty, an interference with my doing what I may want to do. However, for at least many of these activities, and particularly the ones having to do with property, right-wing libertarians think that such interference is perfectly justified, even though they plainly constitute a restriction on individual freedom, because without law and order, no one would be safe, and there would be total chaos, like you see right now with the rioting, and wrongful deaths. Therefore, many restrictions are hardly felt as restrictions on freedom, as in the attitudes of many people toward them believe they are safeguards to freedom and gainful employment. #RandolphHarris 2 of 21
The restrictions on liberty preferred by egalitarianism and capitalism are justified, of the various alternatives, for they give us both the most extensive and the most abundant system of liberty possible in modern conditions with their thorough protection of the right to fair terms of participation in the system. Capitalism protects us from the past, the way this nation was born, it protects our civil liberties and these liberties are, of course, our most basic liberties. These are the liberties which are the most vital for us to protect. We have unrestricted liberties to invest, retain and bequeath in the economic realm and we have unrestricted freedom to buy and sell. Theses freedoms strengthen rather than weaken our total system of liberty. If we let power run free this way, through hard work, education, and investment everyone has an opportunity to build wealth and this enhances human well-being and indeed makes for a firmer entrenchment of basic liberties and for their greater extension globally. More people are able to do what they want, and have a greater control over their own lives, in a capitalistic World order with its egalitarian commitments. #RandolphHarris 3 of 21
Our society is also currently in the redistribution business. We have entitlement programs that provide affordable housing, medical benefits, retirement benefits, disability insurance, welfare and food assistance for those who cannot provide for themselves. Yet, we do not have a welfare state because people are encouraged to work and have a desire to work. This desire and incentive to work is fueled by our need of autonomy and economic prosperity. Everyone wants new things, such as big houses in Cresleigh Ranch, an Ultimate Driving Machine, saving and retirement accounts and that is because they believe in the American Dream, which is a religious doctrine. “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will no be dependent on anybody,” reports 1 Thessalonians 4.11-12. And that is why, during this COVID-19 crisis, many Americans are fighting to reopen the country. They are able to work and feel that sitting idle has stripped them of their heritage, identity and religious obligations. We love and will the World as an immediate, spontaneous totality. We will the World, create it by our decisions, our fiat, our choice; and we love it, give it affect, energy, power to love and change us as we mold and change it. This is what it means to be fully related to one’s World. We do not wish the cutting one person down to size in order to bring about that person’s equality with another person who was in a previously disadvantageous position. #RandolphHarris 4 of 21
Taking wealth from someone who has worked for it and redistributing it to others who have not earned it is morally objectionable and it would indeed be deeply morally objectionable in many circumstances. We should not confiscate the property of capitalist because they pay their taxes to support the government, which funds welfare and entitlement programs and public works project. Taxes, when they are reasonable, certainly protects more liberties and more significant liberties than anyone can imagine. However, the inheritance tax should totally be eliminated. No one should be taxed on their legacy, which already has been taxed, it is double taxation. Capitalism is really beneficial. If people have talents, they will want to use them. And if they use them, they are very likely to come out ahead. Coming out ahead means being paid well for the use of our talents. Talents can be recognized and acknowledged in many ways. First, in just the respect and admiration of fine employment of aptitudes that would naturally come from people seeing them so displayed where these people were not twisted by envy; by having these natural gifts, interesting and secure work that their talents fit them for and they merit in virtue of those talents. Capitalism allows for an abundant society because it rewards people for their work and efforts. Recall that in such a society of abundance everyone will be well off and secure. #RandolphHarris 5 of 21
People are not going to worry about being a little better than someone else since everyone is provided with equal opportunity to achieve their desires. The talented are in no way, in such a situation, robbed to help the untalented, less affluent and disadvantaged. No one is prevented from amassing wealth. The moral authority for capitalism believes that the interest of everyone matter and matter equally, and it comes from its being the case that is it required by the moral point of view. In life there are two types of identity, which are social and personal identity. Both types of identity can be better understood by bracketing the together and contrasting them to what is called “ego” or “felt” identity, namely, the subjective sense of one’s own situation and one’s own continuity and character that an individual comes to obtain as a result of one’s various social experiences. Social and personal identity are part, first of all, of other persons’ concerns and definitions regarding the individual whose identity is in question. In the case of personal identity, these concerns and definitions can arise even before one is born and continue after one has been buried, existing, then, at time when the individual oneself can have no feelings at all, let alone feelings of identity. On the other hand, ego identity is first f all a subjective, reflexive matter that necessarily must be felt by the individual whose identity is at issue. #RandolphHarris 6 of 21
Thus, when a criminal uses an alias one is detaching oneself from one’s personal identity; when one retains the original initials or some other aspect of one’s ego identity. Of course, the individual constructs one’s image of oneself out of the same materials from which others first construct a social and personal identification of one, but one exercises important liberties in regard to what one fashions. There is, for example, a well-known tendency for a person to self-rate the prestige of one’s occupation higher than do those who are otherwise employed. The concept of social identity allowed us to consider stigmatization. The concept of personal identity allowed us to consider the role of information control in stigma management. The idea of ego identity allows us to consider what the individual may feel about stigma and its management, and leads us to give special attention to the advice one is given regarding these matters. Given that the stigmatized individual in our society acquires identity standards which one applies to oneself in spite of failing to conform to them, it is inevitable that one will feel some ambivalence about one’s own self. Some expression of this ambivalence have already been described in connection with the oscillation of identification and association the individual exhibits regarding one’s fellow-stigmatized. Other expressions can be cited. #RandolphHarris 7 of 21
The stigmatized individual exhibits a tendency to stratify one’s “own” according to the degree to which their stigma is apparent and obtrusive. One can then take up in regard to those who are more evidently stigmatized than oneself the attitudes the normals take to one. Thus do the hard of hearing stoutly see themselves as anything but deaf persons, and those with defective vision, anything but blind. It is in one’s affiliation with, or separation from, one’s more evidently stigmatized fellows, that the individual’s oscillation of identification is most sharply marked. Linked with this self-betraying kind of stratification is the issues of social alliances, namely, whether the individual’s choice of friends, dates, and spouse will be held to one’s own group or occur “across the line.” A visually impaired girl expresses the matter: “Once—a few years ago—I thought that I would much rather go out with a sighted man than with a blind man. However, I have dates off and on, and slowly my feelings about this have changed. I value the understanding of the blind for the bind, and now I could respect a blind man for his own qualities and be glad for the understanding he could give me. Some of my friends are sighted and some are blind. This, somehow, seems to me the way it ought to be—I cannot understand regulating human relations one way or another. #RandolphHarris 8 of 21
Presumably the more allied the individual is with normals, the more one will see oneself in non-stigmatic terms, although there are contexts in which the opposite seems true. Whether closely allied with one’s own kind or not, the stigmatized individual may exhibit identity ambivalence when one obtains a close sight of one’s own kind behaving in a stereotype way, flamboyantly or pitifully acting out the negative attributes imputed to them. The sight may repel one, since after all one supports the norms of the wider society, but one’s social and psychological identification with these offenders holds one to what repels one, transforming repulsion into shame, and then transforming ashamedness itself into something of which one is ashamed. In brief, one can neither embrace one’s group nor let it go. (The phrase “concern with in-group purification” is used to describe the efforts of stigmatized persons not only to “normify” their own conduct but also to clean up the conduct of others in the group.) This ambivalence seems to be found most acutely in the process of “nearing,” that is, of the individual’s coming close to an undesirable instance of one’s own kind while “with” a normal. It is only to be expected that this identity ambivalence will receive organized expression in the written, talked, acted, and otherwise presented materials of representatives of the group. #RandolphHarris 9 of 21
Thus, in the published and stage-performed humor of the stigmatized is to be found a special kind of irony. Cartoons, jokes, and folk tales display unseriously the weakness of a stereotypical member of the category, even while this half-hero is made to guilelessly outwit a normal of imposing status. The serious presentations of the representatives can exhibit a similar ambivalence, telling of a similar self-alienation. The sadistic person, as we have seen one thus far, is one who because one feels excluded and doomed runs amok, venting one’s rage at others in blind vindictiveness. And we understand, now, that by making others miserable one seeks to alleviate one’s own misery. However, this can hardly be the whole explanation. The destructive aspects alone do not explain the absorbing passion characteristic of so many sadistic pursuits. There must be some more beneficial gains, gains that for the sadistic person are of vital importance. This statement might seem to contradict the assumption that sadism is an outgrowth of hopelessness. How can a hopeless person hope for something and go after it, what is more, with such consuming energy? The fact is, however, that from a subjective standpoint there is considerable to be gained. In degrading others one not only allays one’s intolerable self-contempt but at the same time gives oneself a feeling of superiority. #RandolphHarris 10 of 21
When one molds the lives of others one not only gains a stimulating feeling of power over them but also finds a substitute meaning for one’s life. When one exploits others emotionally one provides a vicarious emotional life for oneself that lessens one own sense of barrenness. When one defeats others one wins a triumphant elation which obscures one’s own hopeless defeat. This craving for vindictive triumph is probably one’s most intense motivating force. All one’s pursuits serve as well to gratify one’s hunger for thrills and excitement. A healthy, well-balanced person does not need such thrills. The more mature one is the less does one care for them. However, the emotional life of the sadistic person is empty. Almost all feelings except those of anger and triumph have been choked off. One is so dead that one needs these sharp stimuli to feel alive. Last but not least, one’s sadistic dealings with others provide one with a feeling of strength and pride which reinforce one’s unconscious feeling of strength and pride which reinforce one’s unconscious feeling of omnipotence. During analysis an individual’s attitude towards one’s sadistic trends undergoes profound changes. When one first becomes aware of them, one is likely to assume a critical attitude toward them. However, one’s implied rejection is now wholehearted; it is rather a matter of giving lip service to current standards. #RandolphHarris 11 of 21
Intermittently one may have spells of self-loathing. At a later period, however, when one is on the verge of relinquishing one’s sadistic way of living, one may suddenly feel that one is about to lose something precious. One may then for the first time consciously experience elation at being able to do with others as one pleases. One may express concern lest analysis turn one into a contemptible weakling. And again, as so often in analysis, the individual’s concern is subjectively warranted: bereft of one’s own power to make other serve one’s emotional needs one sees oneself as a wretched and helpless creature. In time one will realize that the feeling of strength and pride one derived from being sadistic is a poor substitute. It was precious to one only because real strength and real pride were unattainable. When we are away of the nature of these gains we see that there is no contradiction in the statement that a hopeless persona may be frantically searching for something. However, it is not greater freedom or greater self-fulfillment that one expects to find: all that goes to make up one’s hopelessness remains unchained, and one does not count on changing it. What one pursues are substitutes. The emotional gains are achieved by living vicariously. #RandolphHarris 12 of 21
To be sadistic means to live aggressively and for the most part destructively, through other persons. However, this is the only way a person so utterly defeated can live. The recklessness with which one pursues one’s goals is the recklessness born of despair. Having nothing to lose, one can only gain. In this sense sadistic strivings have a beneficial goal and must be regarded as an attempt at restitution. The reason why the goal is so passionately pursued is that in triumphing over others the sadistic person is able to remove one’s own abject sense of defeat. The destructive elements inherent in these strivings cannot, however, remain without repercussions on the individual oneself. We have already pointed to the heightening of self-contempt. An equally significant repercussion is the generation of anxiety. This is in par a fear of retaliation: one fears that others will treat one as one treats them—or wants to treat them. Consciously, it appears not so much as a fear as in simply taking it for granted that they would “give one a real deal” if they could—that is, if one does not prevent it by being constantly on the offensive. One must be so alert in foreseeing and forestalling any possible attack that for all practical purposes one will be inviolable. The unconscious conviction of one’s own inviolability often plays a considerable role. #RandolphHarris 13 of 21
It gives one a lordly feeling of security: one could never be hurt, one could never be exposed, one could never, one could never have an accident, or contract a disease or virus; one could not, indeed, ever die. If nonetheless one does get hurt, by persons or circumstances, one’s pseudo security is shattered and one is likely to be seized by acute panic. In part, one’s anxiety is a fear of the explosive, destructive elements within oneself. One feels like a rocket in the hands of a well named dictator of modern times. Excessive self-control and continuous vigilance are needed to keep these dangerous elements in check. If one is not too frightened to loosen up under the influence of liquor, when one drinks, they may come to the surface. One may become violently destructive. The impulses may also come closer to awareness under special conditions that for one represent temptation. Thus when attracted to a girl, the sadist in Zola’s Bete Humaine becomes panicky because this arouses an impulse to take her life. Witnessing an accident or any act of cruelty may bring on a seizure of fear because these awaken one’ own impulse to destroy. “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ’s power may rest on me,” reports 2 Corinthians 12.9. That life is difficult is a self-evident and universally recognized truth. #RandolphHarris 14 of 21
The morning newspaper reported that over 40 million jobs were lost in American in two months, making a historically robust economy worse and leaving people without paychecks. And a young man has lost his life while the country is in an uproar. We live in a fallen and sin-cursed World. Even Christians are not immune from the frustrating and often overwhelming circumstances of life resulting from that curse. I think of a could who should be entering their retirement years, but cannot because they are still caring for a grown but partially dependent child. I am reminded of another friend who is faithfully caring for her husband, now stricken with Alzheimer’s disease. This morning I prayed for several families who are trying to cope with teenage and even grown children living in various stages of spiritual rebellion and estrangement from their parents. Only a block away, a mother with young children fights a seemingly futile battle with cancer. Not only are we as Christians not immune from such heartaches, it often seems we experience more of them than do the non-Christians around us. However, for almost two thousand years, multiplied thousands of believers have found comfort, encouragement, and the strength to endure from God’s words to the apostle Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you,” reports 2 Corinthians 12.9. #RandolphHarris 15 of 21
Paul was no stranger to adversity. Earlier in 2 Corinthians he had spoken of his troubles, hardships, distresses, beatings, imprisonments, riots, hard work, sleepless nights, and hunger (6.4-5). Yet one particular affliction apparently caused him more pain and grief than all the others combined. He referred to it as “a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me,” reports 2 Corinthians 12.7. We have no idea what Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was. It is pointless to speculate. Whatever it was, it was probably a natural hinderance to his ministry. We do know it was a Satanic attack (a messenger of Satan), but it was given to him at the direction of the God whom he loved and served with all his heart. Paul have had a unique experience. As he described in the opening verses of 2 Corinthians 12, he had been caught up to the “third Heaven,” to God’s paradise, and had heard inexpressible things—things he was not permitted to tell. This rapturous experience apparently unique to Paul, could have caused him to be filled with pride had he been left to himself. However, God in His infinite wisdom and love for Paul did not leave him exposed to that temptation. Paul himself described God’s gracious bulwark against pride this way: “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. #RandolphHarris 16 of 21
“Three times I pleased with the Lord to take it away from me. However, he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, I am strong,” reports 2 Corinthians 12.7-10. The Christian theology is symbolic follows upon the fact that it claims to be a foundation of faith. Faith, as human’s attempt to assert the Unconditional, cannot be expressed in conditioned language. However, all language is conditioned. It is limited by the very concepts that it seeks to express, and by the linguistic tools at its disposal, which themselves result from long historical evolutions. To speak of formulating human’s search for the Unconditional would therefore be to march towards a mirage, if there were no such thing as an indirect, symbolic use of language. And not only words are involved in this problem. Words correspond to concepts, which themselves depend on previous or simultaneous experience of knowledge. Knowledge is the concept of symbol. The pure in heart receive the pleasing word of God—Lamanite righteousness exceeds that of the Nephites—Jacob warns against fornication, lasciviousness, and every sin. #RandolpHarris 17 of 21
“But behold, I, Jacob, would speak unto you that are pure of heart. Look unto God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will console you in your afflictions, and he will plead your cause, and send down justice upon those who seek your destruction. O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his love; for ye may, if your minds are firm, forever. However, wo, wo, unto you that are filthy this day before God; for expect ye repent the land is cursed for your sakes; and the laminates, which are not filthy like unto you, nevertheless they are cursed with a score cursing, shall scourge you even unto destruction. And the time speedily cometh, that except ye repent they shall possess the land of your inheritance, and the Lord God will lead away the righteous out from among you. Behold, the Lamanites your brethren, whom ye hate because of their filthiness and the cursing which hath come upon their skins, are more righteous than you; for they have not forgotten the commandments of the Lord, which was given unto our father—that they should have save it were one wife, and concubines they should have none, and there should not be whoredoms committed among them. And now, this commandment they observe to keep; wherefore, because of this observance, in keeping this commandment, the Lord God will not destroy them, but will be merciful unto them; and one day they shall become a blessed people. #RandolphHarris 18 of 21
“Behold, their husbands love their wives, and their wives love their husbands; and their wives love their children; and their unbelief and their hatred towards you is because of the iniquity of their fathers; wherefore, how much better are you than they, in sight of your great Creator? O my brethren, I fear that unless ye shall repent of your sins that their skins will be whiter than yours when ye shall be brought with them before the throne of God. Wherefore, a commandment I give unto you, which is the word of God, that ye revile no ore against them because of the darkness of their skins; neither shall ye revile against them because of their filthiness; but ye shall remember that their filthiness, and remember that their filthiness came because of their fathers. Wherefore, ye shall remember your children, how that ye have grieved their hearts because of the example that ye have set before them; and also, remember that ye may, because of your filthiness, bring your children unto destruction, and their sins be heaped upon your heads at the last day. O my brethren, hearken unto my words; arouse the faculties of your souls; shake yourselves that ye may awake from the slumber of death; and loose yourselves from the pains of hell that ye may not become Angels to the devil, to be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone which is the second death. #RandolphHarris 19 of 21
“And now I, Jacob, spake many more things unto the people of Nephi, warning them against fornication and lasciviousness, and every kind of sin, telling them the awful consequences of them. And a hundredth part of the proceedings of this people, which now began to be numerus, cannot be written upon these plates; but many of their proceedings are written upon the larger plates, and their wars, and their contentions, and the reigns of their kings. These plates are called the plates of Jacob, and they were made by the hand of Nephi. And I make an end of speaking these words,” report Jacob 3.1-14. O True Father, behold Thy Son, the Sacrifice well-pleasing to Thee. Through Him Who died for me, be propitious to me. Look on the Blood which was shed on Golgotha by the wicked, and which pleadeth for me; accept my entreaty for its sake. My offenses are not greater than Thy compassions; Thy clemency outweighs the hills which Thou weighest in a balance. Behold my sins, but behold also the Sacrifice presented for them; for that Sacrifice is much greater than my guilt. On account of the sins which I have committed, Thy Beloved One endured the nails and spears; His sufferings are enough to propitiate Thee, and to be the means of life to me. Glory be to the Father Who gave up His Son for our salvation; and to the Son Who died upon the Cross, and bestowed life upon us all; and to the Spirit Who began and finished the mystery of our salvation. O most high Trinity, spare us all! Heavenly Father, if I should suffer need, and go unclothed, and be in poverty, make my heart prize Thy love, know it, be constrained by it, though I be denied all blessings. #RandolphHarris 20 of 21
It is Thy mercy to afflict and try me with wants, for by these trials I see my sins, and desire severance from them. Let me willingly accept misery, sorrows, temptations, if I can thereby feel sin as the greatest evil, and be delivered from it with gratitude to thee, acknowledging this as the highest testimony of Thy love. When Thy Son, Jesus, came into my soul instead of sin, he became more dear to me than sin had formerly been; his kindly rule replaced sin’s tyranny. Please teach me to believe that if ever I would have any sin subdued I must not only labour to overcome it, but must invite Christ to abide in the place of it, and he must become to me more than vile lust has been; that his sweetness, power, life may be there. Thus I must seek a grace from him contrary to sin, but must not claim it apart from himself. When I am afraid of evils to come, comfort me by showing me that in myself I am dying, condemned wretch, but in Christ I am reconciled and live; that in my self I am a dying, condemned wretch, but in Christ I am reconciled and live; that in myself I find insufficiency and no rest, but in Christ there is satisfaction and peace; that in myself I am feeble and unable to do good, but in Christ I have ability to do all things. Though now I have his graces in part, I shall shortly have them perfectly in that state where thou wilt show thyself fully reconciled, and alone sufficient, efficient, loving me completely, with sin abolished. O Lord, please hasten that day. #RadolphHarris 21 of 21
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Liberty, When it Begins to Take Root, is a Plant of Rapid Growth!
There is always room at the top. (When advised not to become a lawyer, since the profession was overcrowded.) Emotions are not as simple as the description of them just given may sound. They often gang up on us. If we simply felt one feeling at a time, emotions might be easier to deal with. However, it is not unusual at all for a person to experience several emotions at once or one right after another. To people who are comfortable with the emotions, being deluged with feelings is not a serious problem. However, to those who are unused to feeling much or who do not like or want emotions, such an experience may be like an attack of illness. Sometimes it is necessary to control strong emotions, at least temporarily. How do we do it? If we are aware that some emotions get out of hand or that other people may be more frightened of our emotional responses than we are, how do we deal with this? The traditional ideal of many societies is to hold back strong or unpleasant emotions for the sake of others. However, feelings held in are likely to come out in some way—often an inappropriate one, such as sarcasm. So we are really not doing the other person much of a favour by trying to cover up our feelings. They will come out anyhow. And even if they did not, some consideration has to be given to the emotional balance of the person with the feelings! #RandolphHarris 1 of 20
The movies have portrayed the strong, silent hero for years, but what is this person really like? How comfortable is one with oneself and others? Before it is accepted further, this ideal should be carefully examined. We are often made uncomfortable by our own strong feelings of those we find in other people. Many of us still do not know what to do when someone cries. Very often, people crying out of grief, fear, exhaustion, or depression are more in need of a sympathetic listener or shoulder to cry on than of hearing “right words.” Sometimes we handle these feelings best by just letting them happen, by accepting them happen, by accepting the, and by helping others realize that they are not alone, that others have similar feelings, and that nobody thinks badly of them for their emotions. What are the factors that account for the persistence and elaboration of cruelty? The sadistic person does not want to destroy the one who one attaches oneself, but because one cannot live one’s own life must use the partner for a symbiotic existence. This is definitely true, but it still does not sufficiently explain why a person is compulsively driven to tamper with the lives of others, or why the tampering takes the particular forms that it does. #RandolphHarris 2 of 20
If we regard sadism as a neurotic symptom, we must start, as always, not by trying to explain the symptom but by seeking to understand the structure of the personality that develops it. When we approach the problem from this angle we recognize that nobody develops pronounced sadistic trends who has not a profound feeling of futility as regards one’s own life. Poets intuitively sensed this underlying condition long before we were able to dig it out with our prodding clinical scrutiny. In the case of both Hedda Gabler and the Seducer, the possibility of ever making something of themselves or their lives was a more or less closed issue. If under these circumstances a person cannot find one’s way to resignation, one of necessity becomes utterly resentful. One feels forever excluded, forever defeated. Hence one start to hate life and all that is optimistic and beneficial in it. However, one hates it with the burning envy of one who is withheld from something one ardently desires. It is the bitter, begrudging envy of a person who feels that life is passing one by. “Lebensneid,” Nietzsche called it. One does not feel that others have their own sorrow, too: “they” sit at the table while one goes hungry: “they” love, create, enjoy, feel healthy and at ease, belong somewhere. #RandolphHarris 3 of 20
The happiness of others and their “naïve” expectations of pleasure and joy irritate one. If one cannot be happy and free, why should they be so? One cannot forgive them their happiness. One must trample on the joy of others. One’s attitude is illustrated by they store of the teacher doomed by tuberculosis who spits on his pupil’s sandwiches and is elated at his power to crush them. That was a conscious act of vindictive envy. In the sadist the tendency to frustrate and to crush the spirit of others is as a rule deeply unconscious. However, the purpose is the same sinister one as that of the teacher: to impart one’s suffering to others; if others are as defeated and degraded as one, one’s own misery is tempered in that one no loner feels oneself the only one afflicted. Another way one alleviates one’s gnawing envy is by “sour grapes” tactic, mastered to such perfection that even the trained observer is easily deceived by it. As a matter of fact, one’s envy is so deeply buried that one oneself would deride any suggestion of its existence. One’s focusing upon the painful, burdensome, or unattractive side of life is thus not only an expression of one’s bitterness but even more of one’s intertest in proving to oneself that one is not missing anything. #RandolphHarris 4 of 20
One’s constant faultfinding and devaluating stem in part from this source, the effort to create an illusion that one’s life is full and complete. One will take note, for instance, of the one part of a beautiful woman’s body that is not perfect. Coming into a room, one’s eyes will be arrested by the one colour or piece of furniture that does not match the rest. One will pick out the one flaw in an otherwise good speech. Similarly, whatever is wrong in other persons’ lives or in their characters or in their possible motivations will loom large in one’s mind. If one is sophisticated one will ascribe this attitude to one’s being sensitive to imperfections. However, the fact is that one turns one’s searchlight on these alone, leaving everything else in the dark. Although one succeeds in assuaging one’s envy and discharging one’s resentment, one’s devaluating attitude in turn gives rise to a permanent feeling of disappointment and discontent. If one has children, for instance, one thinks primarily of the burdens and obligations that go with them; if one has no children one feels that this most important human experience has been denied one. If one has no relations in pleasures of the flesh one feels deprived and is concerned about the dangers of continence; if one has relations in pleasures of the flesh one feels humiliated by them and ashamed of them. #RandolphHarris 5 of 20
If one has an opportunity to make a trip, one chafes under the inconveniences; if one cannot travel one deems it a disgrace to have to stay at home. Since it does not occur to one that the sources of one’s chronic discontent could lie within oneself, one feels entitled to impress upon others how they fail one and to make ever greater demands whose fulfillment can never satisfy one. The bitter envy, the tendency to devaluate and the resulting discontent account to some extent for certain of the sadistic trends. We understand why the sadist is driven to frustrate others, to inflict suffering, to find fault, to make insatiable demands. However, we can appreciate neither the extent of one’s destructiveness nor one’s arrogant self-righteousness until we consider what one’s hopelessness does to one’s relation to oneself. While one violates the most elementary requirements of human decency, one at the same time harbours within oneself an idealized image of particularly high and rigid moral standards. One is one of those (we have spoken of them before) who, despairing of ever being able to measure up to such standards, have consciously or unconsciously resolved to be as “bad” as possible. One may succeed in being “bad” and wallow in it with a kind of desperate delight. #RandolphHarris 6 of 20
However, by doing so the chasm between the idealized image and the actual self becomes unbridgeable. One feels beyond repair and beyond forgiveness. One’s hopelessness becomes deeper and one develops the recklessness of a person who has nothing to lose. As long as this condition persists it is factually impossible for one to assume a constructive attitude toward oneself. Any direct attempt to make one constructive is doomed to futility and betrays ignorance of one’s condition. One’s self-loathing reaches such dimensions that one cannot take a look at oneself. One must fortify oneself against it by reinforcing an already existing armour of righteousness. The slightest criticism, neglect, or absence of special recognition can mobilize one’s self-contempt and so much be rejected as unfair. One is compelled, therefore, to externalize one’s self-contempt, to blame, berate, humiliate others. This, however, throws one into the toils of a vicious circle. The more one despises others the less is one aware of one’s self-contempt—and the self-contempt grows more violent and merciless the more hopeless one becomes. To strike out against others is then a matter of self-preservation. The process is illustrated by the example of a person who accused her husband of indecision and wanted to tear herself to pieces when she realized that she was really furious at her own indecision. #RandolphHarris 7 of 20
In this light we begin to appreciate why it is imperative for the sadistic person to disparage others. And we can see now, too, the inner logic of one’s compulsive and often fanatical drive to reform others, or at least to reform the partner. Since one oneself cannot measure up to one’s idealized image, the partner must do so; and the merciless rage one feels toward oneself is vented on the partner for any failure in this direction. One may ask oneself sometimes: “Why do I not leave one alone?” However, it is apparent that such rational considerations are of no avail as long as the inner battle persists and is externalized. One usually rationalizes the pressure one exerts on the partner as “love” or interest in the partner’s “development.” Needless to say, it is not love. However, neither is it an interest in the partner’s development along one’s own lines, in accordance with one’s own inner laws. In reality one tries to enforce upon the partner the impossible task of realizing one’s—the sadist’s—idealized image. The righteousness which one had to develop as a shield against self-contempt permits one to do so with smug assurance. An understanding of this inner struggle provides us also with a better insight into another more general factor inherent in sadistic symptoms: the vindictiveness that often seeps through every cell of the sadist’s personality like a poison. #RandolphHarris 8 of 20
One is and must be vindictive because one turn one’s violent contempt for oneself outward. Since one’s righteousness prevents one from seeing one’s share in any difficulty that arises one must feel that one is the one who is abused and victimized; since one cannot see that the source of all one’s despair lies within oneself one must hold others responsible for it. They have ruined one’s life, they have to make up for it—they have to take what is coming to them. It is this vindictiveness, more than any other factor, that kills within one all feelings of sympathy and mercy. Why should one have sympathy for those who have spoiled one’s life—and in addition are better off then he or she is? In individual instances the desire for revenge may be conscious; one may be aware of it, for example in reference to one’s parents. One is not aware, however, that it is a pervasive character trend. However, in considering the rationale for God-centered worship, we must begin with the realization that worship is the number one priority of the Church. Jesus’ famous statement in John 4.23 that the Father seeks worshipers is unparalleled, for nowhere in the entire corpus of Holy Scripture do we read of God’s seeking anything else from a child of God. God desires worship above all else. Thus, every human who calls oneself a Christian must understand that worship is the ultimate priority of one’s life. #RandolphHarris 9 of 20
Worship is what God wants from you and from me. Jesus hallowed and substantiated this in His chiding of busy, frenetic Martha, who was so critical of her sister’s sitting at Jesus’s feet: “Martha, Martha…you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her,” Luke 10.41-42. A look at the massive emphasis on worship in the Old Testament reveals God’s mind on worship’s priority. Exodus devotes twenty-five chapters to the construction of the Tabernacle, the locus of divine worship. Leviticus amounts to a twenty-seven-chapter liturgical manual. And the Psalms are a spectacular 150-chapter worship hymnal. Divine worship has always been the occupation and sustenance, the priority, of the believing soul. Since Christology is the answer of the Christian Church to human’s universal quest for the Unconditional, such an answer will be adapted to the several planes of human existence. From the point of view of theology there are several such levels, each providing a vantage-point from which one may look at the Christian answer. Each, in its sphere, is valid; and this validity is delimited by the scope of that sphere. This is to say that Christian tradition has seen the rise of several Christologies or that Christology has developed several aspects and several formulas. These may, or may not, be contradictory. #RandolphHarris 10 of 20
A second level of truth corresponds to the next plane of existence, that of history. Our experience is conditioned by historical circumstances. History has developed a culture which has profoundly influences both or conscious thinking and our subconscious psyche. The Christian answers has precisely been couched in historical terms. Christ is presented as a historical person. This will therefore provide a second point of view: Christology as historical. A third level of truth corresponds to the largely artificial distinction, in humans, between one’s intellectual activity and other elements of their personality. In terms of beliefs, Christianity has been embodied in strict and ridge covenants. These have an intellectual appeal and must be grasped rationally. We shall therefore study Christology as stringent and precise. Finally, another analysis of human behaviour sees a human as an ethical being, whose convictions, principles and assumptions prompt one to adopt definite standards of conduct. Morality is not served from assent. On the contrary, it expresses faith in the realm of ethical behaviour by cloaking the Christian answers in the garments of moral principles. A study of Christology should thus devote some time to Christology as ethical. These points of view, or levels of truth, provide the structure for further discussions. #RandolphHarris 12 of 20
What then is the spirit of liberty? I cannot define it; I can only tell you my own faith. The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right. The spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understand the minds of other men and women. The spirit of liberty is the spirit which weighs their interests alongside is own without bias. The spirit of liberty remembers that not even a sparrow falls to Earth unheeded. Faith is a kind of knowledge, inasmuch as the intellect is determined by the believer, but from the vision of Him who is believed. Thus as far as faith falls short of vision, it falls short of the knowledge which belongs to science, for science determines the intellect to one object by the vision and understanding of the principles. Jacob denounces the love of riches, pride, and unchastity—people may seek riches to help their fellow humans—the Lord commands that no human among the Nephites may have more than one wife—the Lord delights in the chastity of women. About 544-421 Before Christ. “The words which Jacob, the brother of Nephi, spake unto the people of Nephi, after the death of Nephi: Now, my beloved brethren, I, Jacob, according to the responsibility which I am under to God, to magnify mine office with soberness, and that I might rid my garments of your sins, I come up into the temple this day that I might declare unto you the word of God. #RandolphHarris 13 of 20
“And ye yourselves know that I have hitherto been diligent in the office of my calling; but I this day am weighed down with much more desire and anxiety for the welfare of your souls than I have hitherto been. For behold, as yet, ye have unto me, and know that by the help of the all-powerful Creator of Heaven and Earth I can tell you concerning your thoughts, how that ye are beginning to labour in sin, which sin appeareth very abominable unto me, yea, and abominable unto God. Yea, it grieveth my soul and causeth me to shrink with shame before the presence of my Maker, that I must testify unto you concerning the wickedness of your hearts. And also it grieveth me that I must use so much boldness of speech concerning you, before your wives and your children, many of whose feelings are exceedingly tender and chaste and delicate before God, which thing is pleasing unto God; and supposeth me that they have up hither to hear the pleasing word of God, yea, the word which healeth the wounded soul. Wherefore, it burdeneth my soul that I should be constrained, because of the strict commandment which I have received from God, to admonish you according to your crimes, to enlarge the wounds of those who are already wounded, instead of consoling and healing their wounds; and those who have not been wounded, instead of feasting upon the pleasing word of God have daggers placed to pierce their souls and wound their delicate minds. #RandolphHarris 14 of 20
“However, notwithstanding the greatness of the task, I must do according to the strict commands of God, and tell you concerning your wickedness and abominations, in the presence of the pure in heart, and the broken heart, and under the glance of the piercing eye of the Almighty God. Wherefore, I must tell you that truth according to the plainness of the word of God. For behold, as I inquired of the Lord, thus came the word unto me, saying: Jacob, get thou up into the temple on the morrow, and declare the word which I shall give thee unto this people. And now behold, my brethren, this is the word which I declare unto you, that many of you have begun to search for gold, and for sliver, and for all manner of precious ores, in the which this land, which is a land of promise unto you and to your seed, doth abound most plentifully. And the hand of providence hath smiled upon you most pleasingly, that you have obtained many riches; and because some of you have obtained more abundantly than that of your brethren ye are lifted up in the pride of your hearts, and wear stiff necks and high heads because of the costliness of your apparel, and persecute your brethren because ye suppose that ye are better than they. And now, my brethren, do ye suppose that God justifieth you in this thing? Behold, I say unto you, Nay. However, he condemneth you, and if ye persist in these things his judgments must speedily come unto you. #RandolphHarris 15 of 20
“O that he would show you that he can pierce you, and with one glance of his eye he can smite you to the dust! O that he would rid you from this iniquity and abomination. And, O that ye would listen unto the word of his commands, and let not this pride of your hearts destroy your souls! Think of your brethren like unto yourselves, and be familiar with all and free with your substance, that they may be rich like unto you. However, before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God. And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good—to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and afflicted. And now, my brethren, I have spoken unto you concerning pride; and those of you which have afflicted your neighbour, and persecuted him (or her) because you were proud in your hearts, of things which God hath given you, what say ye of it? Do ye not suppose that such things are abominable unto him who created all flesh? And the one being is as precious in his sight as the other. And all flesh is of the dust; and for the selfsame end hath he created them, that they should keep his commandments and glorify him forever. #RandolphHarris 16 of 20
“And now I make an end of speaking unto you concerning this pride. And were it not that I must speak unto you concerning a grosser crime, my heart would rejoice exceedingly because of you. However, the word of God burdens me because of your grosser crimes. For behold, thus saith the Lord: This people begin to wax in iniquity; they understand not the scriptures, for they seek to excuse themselves in committing whoredoms, because of the things which were written concerning David, and Solomon his son. Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives, and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord. Wherefore, thus saith the Lord, I have led this people forth out of the land of Jerusalem, by the power of mine arm, that I might raise up unto me a righteous branch from the fruit of the loins of Joseph. Wherefore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord: For there shall not human among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none; for I, the Lord God, delight in the chastity of women. And whoredoms are an abomination before me; thus saith the Lord of Hosts. Wherefore, this people shall keep my commandments, saith the Lord of Host, or cursed be the land for their sakes. #RandolphHarris 17 of 20
“For if I will, saith the Lord of Host, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things. For behold, I the Lord, have seen the sorrow, and heard the mourning of the daughters of my people, because of the wickedness and abominations of their husbands. And I will not suffer, saith the Lord of Hosts, that the cries of the fair daughters of this people, which I have led out of the land of Jerusalem, shall come up unto me against the humans of my people, saith the Lord of Hosts. For they shall not lead away captive the daughters of my people because of their tenderness, save I shall visit them with a sore curse, even unto destruction; for they shall not commit whoredoms, like unto them of old, saith the Lord of Host. And now behold, my brethren, ye know that these commandments were given to our father, Lehi; wherefore, ye have known them before; and ye have come unto great condemnation; for ye have done these things which ye ought not to have done. Behold, ye have done greater iniquities than the Lamanites, our brethren. Ye have broken the hearts of your tender wives, and lost the confidence of your children, because of your bad examples before them; and the sobbings of their hearts ascend up to God against you. And because of the strictness of the word of God, which cometh down against you, many hearts died, pierced with deep wounds,” reports Jacob 2.1-35. #RandolphHarris 18 of 20
The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves. Christ our Lord and God, being of His own free will made like unto mortals throughout the whole day of this life, showed unto Thee a body undefiled; and being the fitting Expiator of the ancient offence, exhibited a Soul pure and untouched by sins; and also commanded that as often as His Body and Blood should be received, a Commemoration should be made of the Lord’s Passion, which we now make, and proclaim the eternal glory of Jesus Christ Thy Son, our Lord and God; and pray Thee to bless this Sacrifice with Thy blessing, and to sprinkle it with the dew of the Holy Spirit, that it may be to all who receive it a pure, true, and legitimate Eucharist; through Jesus Christ Thy Son, our Lord and God. O Christ, all Thy ways of mercy tend t and end in my delight. Thou didst weep, sorrow, suffer that I might rejoice. For my joy Thou hast sent the Comforter, multiplied Thy promises, shown me my future happiness, given me a living fountain. Thou art preparing joy for me and me for joy; give me more than I can hold, desire, or think of. Measure out to me my ties and degrees of joy, at my work, business, duties. If I weep at night, give me joy in the morning. Let me rest in the thought of Thy love, pardon for sin, my title to Heaven, my future unspotted state. I am an unworthy recipient of Thy grace. #RandolphHarris 19 of 20
I often disesteem Thy blood and slight Thy love, but can in repentance draw water from the wells of Thy joyous forgiveness. Let my heart leap towards the eternal sabbath, where the work of redemption, sanctification, preservation, glorification is finished and perfected forever, where thou wilt rejoice over me with joy. There is no joy like the joy of Heaven, for in that state are no sad divisions, unchristian quarrels, contentions, evil designs, weariness, hunger, cold, sadness, sin, suffering, persecutions, toils of duty. O healthful place where none are sick! O happy land where all are kings! O holy assembly where all are priests! How free a state where none are servants expect to Thee! Bring me speedily to the land of joy. “However, after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from Heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up to Heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on,” reports Revelations 11.11. This is verily and indeed the Body and Blood of Emmanuel our God. Holy Things for holy persons. There is One holy, One Lord Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father, to Whom be glory for ever and ever. Thou Who camest into the World to save sinners, of whom I am the chief—I confess to Thee like the robber, Remember me, Lord, in Thy kingdom. #RandolphHarris 20 of 20
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Diary of the Seducer—Expecting Nothing of Life He Was Entirely Absorbed by the Game itself!
The deepest hunger in the American soul today is for something truly useful to do with one’s life. If, as in so often the case in America now, the end result is human exploitation, environmental destruction, or debasement of values, what values does work really have? What does it mean to be an adult? It means certain rights and privileges that do not belong to children and adolescents, for one thing. However, as for any such “fringe benefits,” there are dues to pay. These dues come in the form of responsibilities, obligations, and expectations of other individuals and society. Morality is based on individual rights and standards which have been critically examined and agreed upon by the whole society. A sharp distinction has been drawn between the situation of the discredited with tension to manage and the situation of the discreditable with information to manage. The stigmatized employ an adaptive technique, however, which requires the student to bring together these two possibilities. The difference between visibility and obtrusiveness is involved. It is a fact that persons who are ready to admit possession of stigma (in many cases because it is known about or immediately apparent) may nonetheless make a great effort to keep the stigma from looming large. #RandolphHarris 1 of 21
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Tell Me, Pretty Maiden, are there Any More at Home Like You?
Nobody starts off stupid. You have only to watch babies and infants, and think seriously about what all of them learn and do, to see that, except for some who face natural limitations, they show a style of life, and a desire and ability to learn that in a more mature person we might call genius. Hardly an adult in a thousand, or ten thousand, could in any three years of one’s life learn as much, grow as much in one’s understanding of the World around one, as every infant learns and grows in one’s first three years. When people are expected to behave in specific ways or are told that they are stupid or bright or ugly or lovable, they often begin to act in these ways. This is called a self-fulfilling prophecy. These expectations may come from parents and other authority figures, but they can also come from peers. In childhood, and especially in adolescence, peer pressure and peer evaluation become very important. It would be better to take words like “stupid” and “dumb” out of the vocabulary you use with any child. In our culture, which places a premium on intelligence, a person who is called stupid often enough is very unlikely to take risks or do anything challenging. (“Why try? I am so dumb I cannot do it.”) Often students who do not speak out in class fear that what they have to say may sound uneducated, and the instructor and other students may laugh at or ridicule them. So these students sit, mute, in class after class. #RandolphHarris 1 of 22
Persons in the grip of neurotic hopelessness manage to “carry on” in one way or another. If their capacity to be creative has not been too greatly damaged by their neurosis, they may be able fairly consciously to resign themselves to the state of their personal lives and concentrate on a field in which they can be productive. They may submerge themselves in a social or religious movement or in the work of an organization. Their work may be useful; the fact that they lack zest can be outweighed by their having no personal ax to grind. Others, in adapting themselves to their particular frame of life, may cease to question it but yet not attach much meaning to it, trying merely to fulfill their obligations. It is, I believe, the state of a defect condition, in contrast to neurosis. I interpret it, however, as the outcome of neurotic processes. They may, on the other hand, give up all serious or promising pursuits and turn to the periphery of life, trying to snatch from it some bit of enjoyment, finding their interest in a hobby or in incidental pleasures like good eating, interior design, or gardening. Or they may drift and deteriorate, let themselves go to pieces. Unable to do any consistent work, they take to drink, gambling, whoring. The kind of alcoholism described by Charles Jackson in The Lost Week-End, where a binge drinker mostly of rye, fancies himself as a writer. #RandolphHarris 2 of 22
And in his state of neurosis, he lapses into foreign phrase and quotes Shakespeare even while attempting to steal a woman’s purse, trying to pawn a typewriter for drinking money. This represents and end stage of such a condition. In this connection it might be interesting to examine whether an unconscious determination to go to pieces may not supply a powerful psychic contribution to such chronic diseases as tuberculosis and cancer. Finally, persons without hope may turn destructive, but at the same time make an attempt at restitution by living vicariously. This, in my opinion, is the meaning of sadistic trends. Because Dr. Freud regarded sadistic trends as instinctual, psychoanalytical interest has been largely focused on the so-called sadistic perversions. Sadistic patterns in everyday relationships, though not ignored, have not been strictly defined. Any kind of assertive or aggressive behaviour is conceived of as a modification or sublimation of instinctual sadistic trends. Dr. Freud, for instance, regarded a striving for power as such a sublimation. It is true that a striving for power can be sadistic; but in a person who sees life as a battle of all against all, it can merely represent a struggle for survival. Actually, it need not be neurotic at all. The result of this lack of discrimination is that we have neither a comprehensive picture of the forms sadistic attitudes may take nor any criteria as to precisely what is sadistic. #RandolphHarris 3 of 22
It is left pretty much to individual intuition to determine what may rightly be called sadism and what may not—a situation hardly conductive to sound observation. The mere act of hurting others is in itself no indication of a sadistic tendency. A person may be engaged in a struggle of a personal or general nature in the course of which one had to hurt not only one’s adversaries but one’s associates as well. Hostility toward others may also be merely reactive. A person can feel hurt or frightened and want to hit back with a force that, while disproportionate to the objective provocation, is subjectively quite in keeping with it. It is easy, however, to deceive oneself on this score: all too often a justifiable reaction is claimed when actually a sadistic tendency was in operation. However, the difficulty in distinguishing one from the other does not mean that reactive hostility is nonexistent. Finally, there are all those offense tactics of the aggressive type who feels one is fighting for survival. I should not call any of these aggressions sadistic; others may get hurt in the process, but the hurting or damaging is an inevitable by-product rather than a prime intention. To put it simply, we could say that although the kinds of action we refer to here are aggressive or even hostile, they are not perpetrated in a mean spirit. There is no conscious or unconscious satisfaction derived from the very fact of hurting. #RandolphHarris 4 of 22
It has been repeatedly argued that equality undermines liberty. Some would say that a society in which principles like my radical egalitarian principles were adopted, or even the liberal egalitarian principles of Rawls or Dworkin were adopted, would not be a free society. My arguments have been just the reverse. I have argued that it is only in an egalitarian society that full and extensive liberty is possible. Perhaps the egalitarian and the anti-egalitarian are arguing at cross purposes? What we need to recognize, it has been argued, is that we have two kinds of rights both of which are important to freedom but to rather different freedoms and which are freedoms which not infrequently conflict. We have rights to fair terms of cooperation but we also have rights to non-interference. If a right of either kind is overridden our freedom is diminished. The reason why it might be thought that the egalitarian and the anti-egalitarian may be arguing at cross purposes is that the egalitarian is pointing to the fact that rights to fair terms of cooperation and their associated liberties require equality while the anti-egalitarian is pointing to the fact that rights to fair terms of cooperation and their associated liberties require equality while the anti-egalitarian is pointing to the fact that rights to noninterference and their associated liberties conflict with equality. They focus on different liberties. #RandolphHarris 5 of 22
What I have said above may not be crystal clear, so let me explain. People have a right to fair terms of cooperation. In political terms this comes to the equal right of all to effective participation in government and, in more broadly social terms, and for a society of economic wealth, it means people having a right to a roughly equal distribution of the benefits and burdens of the basic social arrangements that affect their lives and for them to stand in such relations to each other such that no one has the power to dominate the life of another. By contrast, rights to non-interference come to the equal right of all to be left alone by the government and more broadly to live in a society in which people have a right peacefully to pursue their interests without interference. The conflict between equality and liberty comes down to, very essentially, the conflicts we get in modern societies between rights to fair terms of cooperation and rights to noninterference. As Joseph Schumpeter saw and J.S. Mill before him, one could have a thoroughly democratic society (at least in conventional terms) in which rights to noninterference might still be extensively violated. A central anti-egalitarian claim is that we cannot have an egalitarian society in which they very precious liberties that go with the rights to non-interference would be violated. #RandolphHarris 6 of 22
Love, power, and justice are united in God and they are united in the new creation of God in the World. Humans are estranged from the ground of their being, from themselves, and from their World. However, they are still humans. One cannot completely cut the tie with their creative ground, one is still a centred person and in this sense united with oneself. One still participates in one’s World. In other words: The reuniting love, the power of resisting non-being, and the creative justice are still active in one. Life is not unambiguously good. Then it would not be life but only the possibility of life. And life is not unambiguously evil. Then non-being would have conquered being. However, life is ambiguous in all its expressions. It is ambiguous also with respect to love, power, and justice. We have touched on this fact in many places in our previous discussions. We must now consider it in the light of the new creation within the World of estrangement, which I suggest calling the holy community. In an anticipating summary I would say: in the holy community the agape quality of love cuts into the libido, eros, and philia qualities of love and elevates them beyond the ambiguities of their self-centeredness. In the holy community the spiritual power, by surrendering compulsion, elevates power beyond the ambiguities of its dynamic realization. #RandolphHarris 7 of 22
In the holy community justification by grace elevates justice beyond the ambiguities of its abstract and calculating nature. This means that in the holy community love, power, and justice in their ontological structure are affirmed but that their estranged and ambiguous reality is transformed into a manifestation of their unity within the divine life. Let us first consider the ambiguities of love and the work of love as agape in the holy community. Libido is good in itself! We have defended it against Dr. Freud’s depreciation of what he described as the infinite libidinous drive with its ensuing dissatisfaction and death instinct. We have accepted this as the description in estrangement, but not of libido in its creative meaning. Without libido life would not move beyond itself. The Bible knows this as well as recent depth psychology, and we should be grateful that our new insights into the deeper levels of human nature have rediscovered the Biblical realism which was covered by several strata of idealistic and moralistic self-deception about humans. Biblical realism knows both that libido belongs to human’s created goodness and that it is distorted and ambiguous in the state of human’s estrangement. Libido has become unlimited and has fallen under the tyranny of the pleasure principle. It uses the other being not as an object of reunion but as a tool for gaining pleasure out of one. #RandolphHarris 8 of 22
Desire for pleasures of the flesh is not evil as the breaking of conventional laws, but the desires for the pleasures of the flesh in autonomy in pleasures of the flesh are evil if they bypass the center of the other person—in other words, if they are not united with the two other qualities of love, and if they are not under the ultimate criterion of the agape quality of love. Agape seems the other one in one’s center. Agape sees one as God sees one. Agape elevates libido into the divine unity of love, power, and justice. The same is true of eros. We have, following Plato, defined eros as the driving force in all cultural creativity and in all mysticism. As such eros has the greatness of divine-human power. It participates in creation in the natural goodness of everything created. However, it also participates in the ambiguities of life. The eros quality of love can be confused with the libido quality and be drawn into its ambiguities. Witness for this is the fact that the New Testament could not use the word eros any more because of its predominantly sexual connotations. And even the mystical eros can express itself in symbols which are not only taken from the life involving pleasures of the flesh but which draw the love to God to an openly ascetic, hiddenly passionate level in pleasures of the flesh. However, more is involved when we speak of the ambiguity of the eros quality of love. It is the aesthetic detachment which can take hold of our relation to culture and makes eros ambiguous. #RandolphHarris 9 of 22
The aesthetic stage of humans spiritual development is not a stage but a Universal quality of love exposed to dangers. The ambiguity of cultural eros is its detachment from the realities which it expresses and consequently the disappearing of existential participation and ultimate responsibility. The wings of eros becomes wings of escape. Culture is irresponsibly enjoyed. It has not received the justice which it can demand. Agape cuts into the detached safety of a merely aesthetic eros. It does not deny the longing toward the good and the true and its divine source, but it prevents it from becoming an aesthetic enjoyment without ultimate seriousness. Agape makes the cultural eros responsible and the mystical eros personal. The ambiguities of the philia quality of love appeared already in its first description as person-to-person love between equals. However large the group of equals may be, the philia quality of love establishes preferential love. Some are preferred, the majority are excluded. This is obvious not only in intimate relations as family and friendship, but also in the innumerable forms of sympathetic person-to-person encounters. The implicit or explicit rejection of all those who are not admitted to such a preferential relation is negative compulsion and can be as cruel as any compulsion. However, such a rejection of others is tragically unavoidable. Nobody can escape the necessity to exercise it. #RandolphHarris 10 of 22
There are special forms of love with philia quality which are called a symbiotic relation and which make this tragic necessity rather clear. If the one partner of the philia-relation is used by the other one either for the sake of masochistic dependence or of sadistic domination or of both in interdependence, something which seemed to be friendship of highest quality is in reality compulsion without justice. Again, agape does not deny the preferential love of the philia quality, but it purifies it from a subpersonal bondage, and it elevates the preferential love into universal love. The preferences of friendship are not negated, but they do not exclude, in a kind of aristocratic self-separation, all the others. Not everybody is a friend, but everybody is affirmed as a person. Agape cuts through the separation of equals and unequals, of sympathy and antipathy, of friendship and indifference, of desire and disgust. It needs no sympathy in order to love; it loves what it has to reject in terms of philia. Agape loves in everybody and through everybody love itself. What agape does to the ambiguities of love, Spiritual power does to the ambiguities of natural power. The ambiguities of power are rooted in the dynamic character and the compulsory implications of power. #RandolphHarris 11 of 22
Spiritual power is not the conquest of these ambiguities by resignation of power, because this would mean resignation of being. I would be the attempt to annihilate oneself in order to escape guilt. Spiritual power is not the denial of power dynamics. In many stories about the working of the Spiritual power bodily effects are mentioned, like elevation, removal from one place to the other, shock, and horror. There are always psychological effects visible. Spirit is power, grasping and moving out of the dimension of the ultimate. It is not identical with the realm of ideas or meanings. It is dynamic power, overcoming resistance. Hen what is its difference from the other forms of power? The Spiritual power works neither through bodily nor through psychological compulsion. It works through a human’s total personality, and this means, through one as finite freedom. It does not remove one’s freedom, but it makes one’s freedom free from the compulsory elements which limit it. The Spiritual power gives a center to the whole personality, a center which transcends the whole personality and, consequently, is independent of any elements. And this is ultimately the only way of uniting the personality with itself. If this happens human’s natural or social power of being becomes irrelevant. One may keep them, one may resign some of them or even all of them. #RandolphHarris 12 of 22
The Spiritual power works through them or it works through the surrender of them. One may exercise Spiritual power through words or thought, through what one is and what one does, or through the surrender of them or through the sacrifice of oneself. In all these forms one can change reality by attaining levels of being which are ordinarily hidden. This is the power which elevates the holy community above the ambiguities of power. I do not need to say much about the relation of grace and justice. The act of forgiving has been mentioned in connexion with the encounter of person and person. If based on reuniting love, in justification by grace, mutual forgiveness is justice. Only God can forgive, because in Him along love and justice are completely united. The ethics of forgiveness are rooted in the message of divine forgiveness. Otherwise they are delivered to the ambiguities of justice, oscillating between legalism and sentimentality. In the holy community this ambiguity is conquered. Agape conquers the ambiguities of love, Spiritual power conquers the ambiguities of power, grace conquers the ambiguities of justice. This is true not only of the encounters of humans with humans, but also in the encounter of humans with oneself. Humans can love oneself in terms of self-acceptance only if one is certain that one is accepted. Otherwise one’s self-acceptance is self-complacency and arbitrariness. #RandolphHarris 13 of 22
Only in the light and in the power of the “love from above” can one love oneself. This implies the answer to the question of human’s justice toward oneself. One can be just towards oneself only in so far as ultimate justice is done to one, namely the condemning, forgiving, and giving judgement of “justification.” The condemning element in justification makes self-complacency impossible, the forgiving element saves from self-condemnation and despair, the giving element provides for a Spiritual center which unites the elements of our personal self and makes power over oneself possible. Justice, power, and love towards oneself is rooted in the justice, power, and love which we receive from that which transcends us and affirms us. The relation to ourselves is a function of our relation to God. We have a question about the reunion of humankind in terms of love, power, and justice. It is not easy to find an answer that can be given on the level of political organization. Is there an answer out of the relation to the ultimate? It is the merit of pacifism that, in spite of its theological shortcomings, it has kept this question alive in modern Christianity. Without it the Churches probably would have forgotten the torturing seriousness of any religious affirmation of war. On the other hand, pacifism has usually restricted a much larger problem of human existence to the question of war. #RandolphHarris 14 of 22
However, there are other questions of equal seriousness in the same sphere. One of them is the question of armed conflicts within a power group, always going on potentially in the use of police and armed forces for the preservation of order, sometimes coming into the open in revolutionary wars. If successful, they are later on called “glorious revolutions.” Does the union of humankind mean that not only national but also revolutionary wars are excluded? And if so, has the dynamics of life come to an end: and des this mean that life itself has come to an end? One can ask the same question with respect to the dynamics of the economic life. Even in a static society such as that of the Middle Ages, the economic dynamics were important and had tremendous historical consequences. One should remain aware of the fact that often more destruction and suffering is produced by economic than by military battles. Should the economic dynamics be stopped and a static World system of production and consumption be introduced? If this were so the whole technical process would also have to be stopped, life in most realms would have to be organized in ever repeated processes. Every disturbance would have to be avoided. Again the dynamics of life and with life itself would have come to an end. #RandolphHarris 15 of 22
Let us assume for a moment that this were possible. Under an unchangeable central authority all encounters of power with power are regulated. Nothing is risked, everything decided. Life has ceased to transcend itself. Creativity has come to an end. The history of humans would be finished, post-history would have started. Humankind would be a flock of blessed animals without dissatisfaction, without drive into the future. The horrors and sufferings of the historical period would be remembered as the dark ages of humankind. And then it might happen that one or the other of these blessed humans would feel a longing for these past ages, their misery and their greatness, and would force a new beginning of history upon the rest. This image will show that a World without the dynamics of power and the tragedy of life and history is not the Kingdom of God, is not the fulfilment of humans in their World. Fulfilment is bound to eternity and no imagination can reach the eternal. However, fragmentary anticipations are possible. The Church itself is such a fragmentary anticipation. And there are groups and movements, which although they do not belong to the manifest Church, represents something we may call a “latent Church.” However, neither the manifest nor the latent Church is the Kingdom of God. #RandolphHarris 16 of 22
Many problems connected with the all-embracing subject of this essay have not been mentioned at all. Others have been touched on only briefly, and others have been treated rather inadequately. However, I hope that I have proved one thing: that the problems of love, power, and justice categorically demand an ontological foundation and a theological view in order to be saved from the vague talk, idealism, and cynicism with which they are usually treated. If they do not see them in the light of their own being and of being-itself, humans cannot solve any of their great problems. Many Christians have never thought through the meaning and importance of worship. It is not an overstatement to say that our pleasure-centered culture has produced many who work at their play and play at their worship. Why this confusion and tragic failure regarding worship? The answer lies in another question: Why do we worship—is it for God or for humans? The unspoken but increasingly common assumption of today’s Christendom is that worship is primarily of us—to meet our needs. Such worship services are entertainment-focused, and the worshipers are uncommitted spectators who are silently grading the performance. From this perspective preaching becomes a homiletics of consensus—preaching to felt needs—human’s conscious agenda instead of God’s. #RandolphHarris 17 of 22
Such preaching is always topical and never textual. Biblical information is minimized, and the sermons are short and full of stories. Anything and everything is judged by how it affects humans. This terribly corrupts one’s theology. The telltale sign of this kind of thinking is the common post-worship question, What did you think of the service today? The real questions ought to be, What did God think of it and of those who worshipped? and What did I give to God? It is so easy to forget that in going to worship our main concern should be to “worship in spirit and in truth,” as reported in John 4.24—not to receive a lift for ourselves. Therefore, it is important that we understand, in distinction to the popular view that worship is for us, that worship begins not with humans as its focus, but God. Worship must be orchestrated and conducted with the vision before us of an august, awesome, holy, transcendent God who is to be pleased and, above all, glorified by our worship. Everything in our corporate worship should flow from this understanding. What about our needs then? When we worship and adore God in our singing and prayer and listening to the Word, His shalom will well in our souls so that we will leave with a glad sense of personal blessings—a great lift. However, this is a byproduct, not a goal, a further evidence of the generous grace of God. #RandolphHarris 18 of 22
The fact that there have been higher beings who have gone beyond the mass in goodness and insight, in serenity and radiant self-mastery, can be taken as a hint of re-embodiment’s purpose. One speaks or writes as one who is perfectly at home in these higher levels of consciousness. If an illuminated teacher or an illuminating book cannot lead anyone into the Kingdom of Heaven and keep one there, they can at least give everyone a clue which, if followed up, may lead there. “And now I, Nephi, cannot write all the things which were taught among my people; neither am I mighty in writing, like unto speaking; for when a human speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of humans. However, behold, there are many that harden their hearts against the Holy Spirit, that it hath no place in them; wherefore, they cast many things away which are written and esteem them as things of naught. However I, Nephi, have written what I have written, and I esteem it as of great worth, and especially unto my people. For I pray continually for them by day, and mine eyes water my pillow by night, because of them; and I cry unto my God in faith, and I know that he will hear my cry. #RandolphHarris 19 of 22
“And I know that the Lord God will consecrate my prayers for the gain of my people. And the words which I have written in weakness will be made strong unto them; for it persuadeth them to do good; it maketh known unto them of their fathers; and it speaketh of Jesus, and persuadeth them to believe in him, and to endure to the end, which is life eternal. And it speaketh harshly against sin, according to the plainness of the truth; wherefore, no human will be angry at the words which I have written save he shall be of the spirit of the devil. I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell. I have charity for my people, and great faith in Christ that I shall meet many souls spotless at his judgment-sent. I have charity for the Jew—I say Jew, because I mean them from whence I came. I also have charity for the Gentiles. However, behold, for none of these can I hope expect they shall be reconciled unto Christ, and enter into the narrow gate, and walk in the strait path which leads to life, and continue in the path until the end of the day of probation. And now, my beloved brethren, and also Jew, and all ye ends of the Earth, hearken unto these words and believe in Christ; and if ye believe not in these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all people that they should do good. #RandolphHarris 20 of 22
“And if they are not the words of Christ, judge ye—for Christ will show unto you, with power and great glory, that they are his words, at the last day; and you and I shall stand face to face before his bar; and ye shall know that I have been commanded of hm to write these things, notwithstanding my weakness. And I pray the Father in the name of Christ that many of us, if not all, may be saved in his kingdom at that great and last day. And now, my beloved brethren, all those who are of the house of Israel, and all ye ends of the Earth, I speak unto you as the voice of one crying from the dust: Farewell until that great day shall come. And you hat will not partake of the goodness of God, and respect the words of the Jews, and also my words, and the words which shall proceed forth out of the mouth of the Lamb God, behold, I bid you an everlasting farewell, for these words shall condemn you at the last day. For what I seal on earth, shall be brought against you at the judgment bar; for thus hath the Lord commanded me, and I must obey. Amen,” reports 2 Nephi 33.1-15. We beseech Thee, O Lord, in Thy mercy to sanctify these gifts, and having received the offering of the spiritual sacrifice, to make us a perpetual oblation unto Thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Please look mercifully, O Lord, on these present offerings, that they may avail both for our devotion and our salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. #RandolphHarris 21 of 22
My God, I bless Thee that Thou hast given me the eye of faith, to see Thee as Father, to know Thee as a covenant God, to experience Thy love planted in me; for faith is the grace of union by which I spell out my entitlement to Thee: Faith casts my anchor upwards where I trust in Thee and engage Thee to by my Lord. Be pleased to live and move within me, breathing in my prayers, inhabiting my praises, speaking in my words, moving in my actions, living in my life, causing me to grow in grace. Thy bounteous goodness has helped me believe, but my faith is weak and wavering, its light dim, its steps tottering, its increase slow, its backsliding frequent; it should scale the Heavens, but lies groveling in the dust. Lord, fan this divine spark into glowing flame. When faith sleeps, my heart becomes an unclean thing, the fount of every loathsome desire, the cage of unclean lusts all fluttering to escape, the noxious tree of deadly fruit, the open wayside of Earthly tares. Lord, awake faith to put forth its strength until all Heaven fills my soul and all impurity is cast out. Remember, O Lord, Thy servants and handmaids here present, whose faith and devotion are discerned and known by Thee. Please let me enjoy the Earth. #RandolphHarris 22 of 22
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Please have mercy, O Lord, upon Thy children for whom I offer this sacrifice of praise to Thy Majesty; that they may be able to lead a good life in this World, and happily to attain eternal blessedness.
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The Spirit of Liberty is the Spirit Which is Not too Sure that it is Right and Seeks to Understand Minds
The great want which humankind labours under at this present moment is sleep. The World should recline its vast head on the first convenient pillow and take an age-long nap. Which is a more effective learning strategy: reward or punishment? This question is still undecided. At present, evidence for each side is about equal. The following guidelines, however, can be applied in teaching situations, especially those involving young children. In general, rewarding desired behaviours is more effective than punishing undesired behaviours—you can still catch more files with honey than with vinegar. If punishment is necessary, it is most effective if used immediately after the undesired response. For instance, if a child must be punished, it is best done right after the child has acted incorrectly. If one parents says to the child, “Just wait until your father (or mother) gets home—then, you will get it,” the child learns to fear the arrival of the punisher and, in the process, often forgets the offense for which he or she is being punished. If punishment must be used, the reason for the punishment should be explained. “I am only doing this for your own good,” or “This hurts me more than it does you,” is less likely to teach a child a specific behaviour than saying, “I am not letting you go to the movies because you socked your little brother. This hurts him and makes him cry, and I do not want you to do it again.” #RandolphHarris 1 of 23
If it is possible, combine reward and punishment. If necessary, punish the undesired behaviour, but also be sure to reward the desired behaviour. For example, do not just spank a child for playing in the street; also praise and reward the child for playing in the yard instead. Punish the undesired behaviour, not the behaver. For instance, communicate to a child that you feel his or her behaviour is “bad”—not that you think the child is bad. Most punishment do not work on very young children. Under about one year of age, children do not understand that some behaviours are acceptable and some are not and why this is so. They may think they are being punished just for being there, and more often than not they begin to associate the punisher with punishment. When you feel emotionally charged, especially if you are filled with rage, never, never, never punish a child. Adults often forget their own strength. Children are fragile and easily hurt. The only thing a child learns through abuse is hatred and fear. There is a great distinction between negative reinforcement and abusive punishment. In many cases, punishment only suppresses or limits the undesired behaviour; it does not really extinguish it. The self-actualized open to all qualified and eager seekers the mysteries and treasures of one’s own inner experience, that they may profit by one’s past struggles and present success. #RandolphHarris 2 of 23
The self-actualized brings revelations to meet our gropings, inspirations to meet our doubts. One becomes, for those docile enough to receive them, a bearer of grace and a vessel of truth, a bestower of comfort and a dispenser of confidence. Prophets and the self-actualized, teachers and saints receive the urge to share their knowledge and experience with others. Whence does this urge derive? Both lower and higher, personal and nonpersonal sources are possible. However, if from the highest, then we may say that God sends His messages to humankind through these channels. The self-actualized who starts a movement or puts one’s thoughts out, acts as a lighthouse which guides many a fumblings but aspiring soul. If one does not accept disciples individually it is because one serve humans otherwise. Those who try to get such acceptance and find themselves rebuffed may consider one selfish, cold, remote. However, they will be greatly mistaken. One can serve humankind—not each person separately but in groups or masses—and one may do this by lecturing, by writing or simply by directing one’s prayer in the appropriate way. For a writer’s books spread not only one’s ideas but also something of oneself. One can put thought on a high level but the way in which one does this depends upon one’s circumstances. #RandolphHarris 3 of 23
The self-actualized can put thought on a high level personally as a private teacher, impersonally as a public lecturer or writer, or anonymously as a proficient contemplative. All these people who have attained Reality inevitably leave a record for others or for posterity, but not necessarily with their name attached. Has anyone of the self-actualized ever vanished without leaving behind a trace of Power, knowledge, goodness, and inspiration? Even if not in words or deeds, something is left in the unseen atmosphere. They are not usually members of any sect, but circumstances or necessity may sometimes render it desirable that they be such. The self-actualized may or may not descend into the arena of action but if not one will still find ways and means to inspire, guide, or ennoble the actions of other people. One does this by teaching them and travelling among the, or by sitting still and meditating alone, or by disseminating writings among them. Even when one is unheard publicly one can help by the concentrated mind’s great power. One does what one can to introduce here and there into the consciousness of others, through whatever means one possesses, the seeds of higher ideas. These seeds may not grow and certainly may not fructify for many years, but that is not one’s affair. One knows that the vitality in these seeds and depth of mental ground in which they have been sown will inevitably lead to some result. It is enough. One has sown seed. #RandolphHarris 4 of 23
One does not have to wait for roots to form, stems to grow, fruits to appear. One’s work is done. In this momentous period the true self-actualized has special work to do in trying to protect the human race from its own folly. One way is intercessory prayer which may help to mitigate the effects of the World crisis. This requires solitude. It is an impersonal contemplation and must not be disturbed by those who break into it, either to unload their personal problems or to offer personal service which in the end has the same result. Yes, some of us are genuinely aware of the soul’s existence and intimately know its freedom and blessedness. Modesty has hitherto imposed silence upon us about the fact, although compassion induced us to break it on occasions. However, we mystics must now stand on our own dignity. It is time that the World, brough to its inevitable and by us expected materialistic dead-end, should realize at last that we are not talking out of our hats but out of a real and impeccable experience. It would be an unpardonable treachery to our duty in the final and terrible World-crisis of this materialistic age if, out of false modesty or fear of intimidation by a cynical society, we who daily feel and commune with the divine presence, who realize its tremendous importance for humanity’s present condition and future life, fail to testify to its existence and reality. #RandolphHarris 5 of 23
If today we venture to speak more freely and frequently, our ideas may drop into a few hospitable minds and sublimely penetrate their consciousness. It is not the self-actualizer’s function to tackle the Worldly problems which governments usually deal with: the social, political, economic, and technical ones. One’s particular work is concerned with, first, one’s ordinary duty of professional service through whatever skill one possesses to earn one’s livelihood, and second, making truth available. The mere existence of one who succeeds in identifying oneself with God benefits every sensitive person who meets one, even for a minute or two. Further, it inspires spiritual seekers who never get the chance to meet one but who hear favourably about one and respectfully receive what they hear. Finally, posterity benefits from the records left about one. Each teacher—if one is divinely commissioned—leaves a deposit of truth after he or she dies. The Master who leaves a record of one’s own climb, or a testimony to the goal’s existence, or a path pioneered for those who would follow, or an instructed disciple here and there, leaves something of oneself. Even where help may not directly and outwardly be given when difficult circumstances press on a human, it may yet be indirectly and inwardly given to one’s mind, which has to deal with, or endure, them. #RandolphHarris 6 of 23
One can awaken some persons to this divine presence within themselves, but not all. One may do this mysteriously by some unknown process, or one may do it deliberately and with the display of one’s technique. The abstract does not appeal to the masses, because it gives them nothing. However, an embodied human can be seen, heard, and touched, to that extent can be understood, to that extent one gives them something; one can be followed, admired, feared, reverenced, or worshipped. Secure as one is in one’s own peace of mind, it is inevitable that the more sensitive among those who meet one feel it too. However, those who come with hostility, personal or intellectual, will be avoided if possible or find their time cut to the shortest if not. Such a person has a catalytic action on the minds and even on the lives of those who come into sympathetic contact with one. Just by being oneself one makes the philosophic virtues real to others. One does not need to be conscious of a clearly defined mission before one sets about doing something for the enlightenment of others. There is always some means open to one, some little thing one can do to make this knowledge available or to set an example of right living. It is one’s duty to communicate what one feels there, what one finds there, to those who are excluded from it. #RandolphHarris 7 of 23
If at times, and with sympathetic auditors, one’s duty becomes one’s joy, at other times and with insensitive auditors it becomes one’s cross. Jesus exemplified this in His own history. The illuminate practices a wiser philanthropy than those who are presented as models of this virtue. One has no wish to take charge of anyone’s life or undertake the management of anyone’s affairs. One is not allowed by the code of ethics corresponding to one’s knowledge to make other people’s decisions for them. Hence one can say neither yes nor no to such highly personal questions. However, one can point out the consequences which are likely to follow in each case. Basically, people are just like children. They need attention. Sometimes people are really nervous when meeting people or dealing with new situations. And some of the troublemakers really just want your attention. The people-as-child analogy can be extended to cover sibling rivalry: You cannot play cards with just one person because the other people will get jealous. Think of unruly people just as you would think of a child and that will widen tolerance of them. If their needs are like those of a child, those needs are supposed to come first. The worker’s right to anger is correspondingly reduced; as an adult one must work to inhibit and suppress anger at children. #RandolphHarris 8 of 23
Should the analogy to children fail to induce the necessary deep acting, surface-acting strategies for handling “irate” can be brought into play. People are urged to “work” the customers name in, as in “Yes, Mr. Camdenski,” it is true construction of your new home is talking a little longer than expected.” This reminds the individual that he is not anonymous, that there is at least some pretension to a personal relation and that some emotion management is owed. Again, workers are told to use terms of empathy. Whatever happens, you are supposed to say, I know just how you feel. Lost your light fixture? I know just how you feel? Late for a walk though? I know just how you feel. Did not get that lot you were counting on? I know just how you feel. Employees reports that such expressions of empathy are useful in convincing people that they have misplaced the blame and misaimed their anger. Remember, to treat people like they are guests in your living room, and guests are to be made comfortable and their emotional outburst are expected to be met by support. Never get super angry with a customer, they are the source of revenue. Supervisors never speak officially of an obnoxious or outrageous customer, only of an uncontrolled customer. The term suggests that a fact has somehow attached itself to this customer—not that the customer has lost control or even had any control to lose. #RandolphHarris 9 of 23
Again, the common phrase “mishandled customer” suggests a bungle somewhere up the line, by someone destined to remain lost in the web of workers that stretched from curbside to architecture. By linguistically avoiding any attribution of blame, the idea of a right to be angry at the customer is smuggled out of discourse. Linguistically speaking, the customer never does anything wrong, so he or she cannot be blamed or made the object of anger. One time, a man was waiting for a special ordered light fixture, and one of the other home buyers sagged it and had it installed in her house. The builder responded by saying politely, “I notice this man’s light fixture was installed in your house.” The dirty deed was done, but, the implication was, by no one in particular. Such implicit reframing dulls a sense of cause of effect. It separates object from verb and verb from subject. The home buyer does not feel accused, and the builder does not feel as if he or she is accusing. Emotion work has been accomplished, but it has hidden its tracks with words. Company language is aimed not only at diffusing anger, but at minimizing fear. As in the case when a refrigerator was specially ordered and delivered to the wrong address. This was labeled an incident. The term incident calms the nerves. How could we be terrified at an incident? #RandolphHarris 10 of 23
Thus, the words that workers use and do not use help them avoid emotions inappropriate to a living room full of guest. Dealing with difficult people is part of the job. It makes us angry sometimes. And anger is part of stress. So that is why I would like to talk to you about being angry. I am not saying you should do this [work on your anger] for your corporation. I am not saying you should do it for the home buyers. I am saying do it for yourselves. The only question to be seriously discussed is “How do you rid yourself of anger?” From my experience in supervisory work I know that the problem of hopelessness is often not clearly envisaged by the analyst and hence not properly dealt with. Some of my colleagues have been so overwhelmed by the individual’s hopelessness—which they recognized but did not see as a problem—that they became hopeless themselves. This attitude is of course fatal to an analysis, for no matter how good the technique or how brave the effort, the individual senses that the analyst has really given him or her up. The same holds true outside the analytical situation. Nobody can be a constructively helpful friends or mate who does not believe in the possibility of the companion’s fulfilling one’s own potentialities. Sometimes colleagues have made the opposite mistake of not taking the individual’s hopelessness seriously enough. #RandolphHarris 11 of 23
They felt the individual needed encouragement and gave it—which is commendable, but quite insufficient. When this happens, the individual, even if one appreciates the analyst’s good intentions, is quite justified in being annoyed with one, since deep down one knows that one’s hopelessness is not just a mood that can be dissipated by well-meant encouragement. In order to take the bull by the horns and tackle the problem directly, it is necessary first to recognize from indirect indications like the ones cited above that the individual feels hopeless and the extent to which one feels so. Then it must be understood that one’s hopelessness is fully warranted by one’s entanglements. The analyst must realize and explicitly convey to the individual that one’s situation is hopeless only so long as the status quo persists and is regarded as unchangeable. In simplified form, the whole problem is illustrated by a scene from Chekhov’s Cherry Orchard. The family, faced with bankruptcy, are in despair at the thought of leaving their estate with its beloved cherry orchard. A man of affairs offers the sound suggestion that they build modest homes for rent on a part of the estate. With their hidebound views, they cannot countenance such a project, and since there is no other solution they remain without hope. They ask helplessly, as if they had not heard the suggestion, whether nobody can advise or help them. #RandolphHarris 12 of 23
If their mentor were a good analyst he would say: “Of course the situation is difficult. However, what makes it hopes is your own attitude toward it. If you would consider changing your claims on life there would be no need to feel hopeless.” The belief that the individual can really change, which means essentially that one can really resolve one’s conflicts, is the factor that determines whether or not the therapist dare to tackle the problem and whether one can do it with a reasonable chance of success. It is here that my differences with Dr. Freud come into clear relief. Dr. Freud’s psychology and the philosophy underlying it are essentially pessimistic. This is patent in his outlook on the future of humankind as well as in his attitude toward therapy. And on the basis of his theoretical premises, he cannot be anything but pessimistic. Humans are driven by instincts which at best are only to be modified by “sublimation.” His instinctual drives for satisfaction are inevitably frustrated by society. His “ego” is helplessly tossed about between instinctual drives and the “superego,” which itself can only be modified. The superego is primarily forbidding and destructive. True ideals do not exist. The wish for personal fulfillment is narcissistic. Humans are by nature destructive and a death instinct compels them either to destroy others or to suffer. #RandolphHarris 13 of 23
All these theories leave little room for an optimistic attitude toward change and limit the value of the potentially splendid therapy Dr. Freud originated. In contrast, I believe that compulsive trends in neuroses are not instinctual but spring from disturbed human relationships; that they can be changed when these improve and that conflicts of such origin can really be resolved. This does not mean that therapy based on the principles I advocate has no limitations. Much work remains to be done before we can clearly determine these limitations. However, it does mean that we have well-founded reasons for believing in the possibility of radical change. Why, then, is it so important to recognize and tackle an individual’s hopelessness? In the first place, this approach is of value in dealing with special problems like depression and suicidal tendencies. We can, it is true, lift an individual depression by merely uncovering the particular conflicts in which the person is caught at the time, without touching upon one’s general hopelessness. However, if we want to prevent recurring depressions it has to be tackled because it is the deeper source from which the depressions emanate. Nor can insidious chronic depression be coped with unless one goes to this original source. #RandolphHarris 14 of 23
The same hold true for suicidal conditions. We know that such factors as acute despair, defiance, and vindictiveness lead to suicidal impulses; but it is often too late to prevent suicide after the impulse has become manifest. By paying minute attention to the less dramatic signs of hopelessness and by taking up the problem with the patient at the proper time, it is probable that many suicides could be averted. It is not that collective talk determines the mood of the workers. Rather, the reverse is true: the needed mood determines the nature of the worker’s talk. To keep the collective mood stripped of any painful feelings, serious talk of death, divorce, politics, religion, and news is usually avoided. People want to forget about COVID-19 and feel safe in the modest castles, which they imagine to be in a storybook fairytale. On the other hand, when there is time for it, mutual morale raising is common. As one said: “When one sales agent is depressed, thinking, ‘I am ugly, what am I doing as a sales representative?’ other sales representatives, even without quite knowing what they are doing, try to cheer her up. They straighten her collar for her, to get her up and smiling again. I have done it too, and needed it done.” Once established, team solidarity can have two effect. It can improve morale and thus improve service. #RandolphHarris 15 of 23
However, team solidarity can also become the basis for sharing grudges against the homebuyers or the corporation. Perhaps it is the second possibility that manager meant to avoid wen in Recurrent Training they offered examples of “bad” social emotion management. One teacher cautioned her students: “When you are angry with a homebuyer, do not head for the galley to blow off steam with another sales representative.” In the galley, the second sales representative, instead of calming the angry worker down, may further rile him or her up; one may become an accomplice to the aggrieved worker. Then, as the instructor put it, “There will be two of you hot to trot.” The message is, when you angry, go to a trusted therapist who will calm you down. Consider calling him or her for a phone appoint so not to drive while angry. Even if you are not suicidal, but cannot afford a therapist, a suicide hotline may be worth trying out. Support for anger or a sense of grievance—regardless of what inspires it—is bad for service and bad for the corporation. Thus, the informal ways in which workers check on the legitimacy of a grievance or look for support in blowing off steam become points of entry for company suggestions. Corporations sometimes have Ghost-Buyers who occasionally Ghost-Buy a house, and there may be senior representative on the crew, the base supervisor, and the plainclothes company supervisors who occasionally monitor employee behaviour. #RandolphHarris 16 of 23
One homebuyer was asked to fill out a company-elicited passenger opinion poll and fill out a questionnaire, and the results were presented by letter to the workers. As one male sales representative, seven years with the corporation describes it: We get told how we are doing twice a year when we are sent homebuyer evaluations. They show how the builder is competing. Oh, the homebuyers are asked to rank sales representatives: “genuinely concerned, made me feel welcome. Spoke to me more than required. Wide awake, energetic, eager to help. Seemed sincere when talking to the potential homebuyers and confirmed homebuyers. Helped established a relaxed community atmosphere. Enjoying their jobs. Treated homebuyers as individuals.” We see how this builder is doing in the competition. We are supposed to really get into it. Supervision is thus more indirect than direct. It relies on the sales representative’s sense of what homebuyers will communicate to management, who will, in turn, communicate to workers. Supervisors do more than oversee workers. Even when people are paid to be nice at all times, and when their efforts succeed, it is a remarkable accomplishment. This is possible because of emotion work, feeling rules, and social exchange. #RandolphHarris 17 of 23
A profit motive is slipped in under acts of emotion management, under the rules that govern them, under the gift exchange. Who benefits now, and who pays? The lesson in deep acting—acting “as if the office is your home” and “as if this unruly homebuyer has a traumatic past”—are themselves a new development in deskilling. The mind of the emotion worker, the source of the ideas about what mental moves are needed to settle down an irate, has moved upstairs in the hierarchy so that the worker is restricted to implementing standard procedures. Of more general significance is the fact that the individual’s hopelessness constitutes a hindrance to the cure of any severe neurosis. We have to deal with a counterplay of meticulous and forward-moving forces, with resistance and incentive. Resistance is a collective term for all the forces within the individual that operate to maintain the status quo. One’s incentive, on the other hand, is produced by the constructive energy that urges one on toward inner freedom. This is the motive power with which we work and without which we could do nothing. It is the force that helps that individual overcome resistance. It makes one’s associations productive, there by giving the analyst a chance for better understanding. It gives one the inner strength to endure the inevitable pain of maturing. #RandolphHarris 18 of 23
It makes one willing to take the risk of abandoning attitudes that have given one a feeling of safety and to make the leap into the unknown of new attitudes toward oneself and others. The analyst cannot drag the individual through this process; the individual oneself must want to go. It is this invaluable force that is paralyzed by a condition of hopelessness. And in failing to recognize and tackle it the analyst deprives oneself of one’s best ally in the battle against the individual’s neurosis. The individual’s hopelessness is not a problem that can be solved by any single interpretation. There is already a substantial gain if, instead of being engulfed by a feeling of doom that one regards as unalterable, the individual begins to recognize it as a problem that may eventually be solved. This step liberates one sufficiently to go ahead. There will, of course, be ups and downs. One may feel optimistic, even overoptimistic, if one acquires some helpful insight, only to succumb to one’s hopelessness again as soon as one approaches a more upsetting one. Each time the matter must be tackled anew. However, the hold it has on the individual will relax as one realizes that one can really change. One’s incentive will grow accordingly. It may be limited, at the beginning of the analysis, to a mere wish to get rid of one’s most disturbing symptoms. #RandolphHarris 19 of 23
However, the incentive gains strength as the individual becomes increasingly aware of one’s shackles, and as one gets a taste of how it feels to be free. When we shall apprehend the meaning of life, we may discover that it provides its pre-self-actualized in such prodigies. The highest service one can render is in silent contemplation, which inspires so many aspiring souls to a higher life. This is the truth. If one is sensitive, reflective, and penetrative, the mere fact that these prophets, these light-bringers and way-showers have exited at all is enough to change a human’s life. Even if one does no more than open the human mind to its higher possibilities, one does enough. Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost—humans must pray and gain knowledge for themselves from the Holy Ghost. About 559-545 Before Christ. “And now, behold, my beloved brethren, I suppose that ye ponder somewhat in your hearts concerning that which ye should do after ye have entered in by the way. However, behold, why do ye ponder these things in your hearts? Do ye not remember that I said unto you that after ye had received the Holy Ghost ye could speak with the tongue of Angels? And now, how could ye speak with the tongue of Angels save it were by the Holy Ghost? Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the word of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do. #RandolphHarris 20 of 23
“Wherefore, now after I have spoken these words, if ye cannot understand them it will be because ye ask not, neither do ye knock; wherefore, ye are not brought into the light, but must perish in the dark. For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do. Behold, this is the doctrine of Christ, and there will be no more doctrine given until after he shall manifest himself unto you in the flesh. And when he shall manifest himself unto you in the flesh, the things which he shall say unto you shall ye observe to do. And now I, Nephi, cannot say more; the Spirit stoppeth mine utterance, and I am left to mourn because of the unbelief, and the wickedness, and the ignorance, and the stiffneckedness of humans; for they will not search knowledge, when it is given unto them in plainness, even as plain as word can be. And now, my beloved brethren, I perceive that ye ponder still in your hearts; and it grieveth me that I must speak concerning this thing. For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a human to pray, ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit teacheth not a human to pray, but teacheth one that one must not pray. #RandolphHarris 21 of 23
“However, behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform anything unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul,” reports 2 Nephi 32.1-9. Please send forth, O Lord, we beseech Thee, the Holy Spirit, to make these present offerings Thy Sacrament unto us, and purify our hearts for its reception. Privileges—O Lord God, please teach e to know that grace precedes, accompanies, and follows my salvation, that it sustains the redeemed soul, that not one link of its chain can ever break. From Calvary’s cross wave upon wave of grace reaches me, deals with my sin, washes me clean, renews my heart, strengthens my will, draws out my affection, kindles a flame in my soul, rules throughout my inner human, consecrates my every thought, word, work, teaches me Thy immeasurable love. How great are my privileges in Christ Jesus! Without him I stand far off, a stranger, an outcast; in him I draw near and touch his kingly sceptre. Without him I dare not lift up my guilt eyes; in him I gaze upon my Father-God and friend. #RandolphHarris 22 of 23
Without him I hide my lips in trembling shame; in him I open my mouth in petition and praise. Without him all is wrath and consuming fire; in him is all love, and the repose of my soul. Without him is gaping hell below me, and eternal anguish; in him its gates are barred to me by his precious blood. Without him darkness spreads its horrors in front; in him an eternity of glory is my boundless horizon. Without him all within me is terror and dismay, in him every accusation is charmed into joy and peace. Without him all things external call for my condemnation; in him they minister to my comfort, and are to be enjoyed with thanksgiving. Praise be to thee for grace, and for the unspeakable gift of Jesus. Although by the revelation of grace in this life we cannot know of God “what He is,” and thus are united to Him as to one unknown; still we know Him more fully according as many and more excellent of His effects are demonstrated to us, and according as we attribute to Him some things known by divine revelation, to which natural reason cannot reach, as, for instance, that God is Thee and One. For the images either received from sense in the natural order, or divinely formed in the imagination, we have so much more excellent intellectual knowledge, the stronger the intelligible light is in humans; and thus through revelation given by the images a fuller knowledge is received by the infusion of the divine light. #RandolphHarris 23 of 23
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Even Hell is a Creation of the Divine Love—Let Us be Happy and Live within Our Means!
Society Demands this as a Kind of Surety–Each Must Stand at One’s Post, here a Cobbler, there a Poet!
As children, we gradually and sometimes painfully go through the process of learning “proper” social rituals for interacting with other people. To inhibit yourself is to restrain yourself from behaving in a way that is “natural” for you. For instance, if I feel like sneezing and force myself not to, I am inhibiting the sneeze. Our social self is a product of our awareness of how to present ourselves to other people. As children we soon learn that some behaviour is more socially acceptable and more effective at meeting our needs through others. For example, we rapidly learn the magic of saying “please” when we want a piece of cake and “thank you” when we get it. The social self is the image we think other people have of us, and the way we ourselves present to other people because of this view. One problem is that, in order to project this image, we may sometimes feel compelled to do or say things we do not really feel. This can turn int a sort of game that keeps us from really communicating with people. Some people feel that “polite” or “socially acceptable” behaviour is false, phoney, plastic. And indeed, a gap may exist between how we feel and how we have to present ourselves socially. In theory, we may believe that everyone has the right to express his or her real feelings. However, in practice, we probably all feel many things that we are afraid to express because of the possible consequences. #RandolphHarris 1 of 24
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Randolph Harris II International Institute 