Home » Work (Page 6)
Category Archives: Work
Humankind Cannot Bear Very Much Reality
We live in a labyrinthine World of puzzling objects, enigmatical events, and practically unintelligible (sometimes even mystical) relationships that we cannot hope ever to comprehend entirely. A word is a slur when it is when it means to express strong negative attitudes towards members of a group, attitudes in some sense grounded in nothing more than membership in the group. A slur against a group of people, for example, is a word which speakers know (and as competent speakers are expected to know) is used to insult and display contempt for an individual based on race, religion, gender, sexuality, disability, age and so forth. What makes a word a slur I that it is used to do certain things, that has a certain illocutionary potential. Given what slurs are used to do, it is no surprise tht their use often achieves extreme effect on their targets—humiliation, subjection, shame. Slurs can be used without displaying contempt or causing hurt. This happens, for example, when a slur is appropriated by its targets: it is an insult to no one, save perhaps the individual for who the slur is aimed as uses it as a term to identify themselves. A slur can be self-ascribed to record one’s status as a victim of discrimination or worse. There need beno racism in an epithet’s use by comedians to make fun or criticize various attitude and behaviours of both one who slurs and one who I slurred. One may use a slur in order to teach someone that it is a word which should not be used. And an epithet can sometimes be used non-offensively in indirect discourse or narrative to portray someone else’s racist remark or attitude. The use of slurs often reflects a complicated web of attitudes, including discomfort about or fear of what seemed pronounced physical and cultural differences. #RandolphHarris 1 of 19
Truth is, and has always been, a central topic in philosophy. Direct interest in the word true itself may ebb and flow, but it is never far from center stage. We tend to assume that truthfulness and morality go together in a clear and simple way. In an ordinary community of morally decent people there is a need for trust and community standards for telling the truth, but ordinary community, unlike the ideal scientific community, must continually face the ambiguous problem of when to tell how much of what truth and to whom. Telling the whole truth about everything to everybody all the time is an impossibility but even if it were possible, it probably would not be desirable. Deception is a touchy subject. We should all repudiate all harmfully exploitative deceptions such as consumer fraud, insider trading, the misuse of public office and public trust for self-interest, kids hiding their dope and alcohol and pregnancies from their parents, husbands and wives cheating on each other, large-scale tax evasion, the false and vicious reason of racism and sexism, TV news reporters preying on vulnerable, semiliterate audiences, marijuana and cigarette advertising, and so on. The list of reprehensible exploitations is enormous and grows longer daily. As children we are taught to revere the principle of truth telling before we have achieved a clear understanding of what truth is. For a child, how is the truth different from a captivating story tht takes us off into other vivid realities? From saying things that make people feel good? From whatever saves us when we are in danger? Truth, fantasy, goodness, happiness, excitement are not automatically separated in the thoughts of young children. Children have to be taught to isolate truth and truth telling for special treatment. #RandolphHarris 2 of 19
As our experiences widen, however, we also learn through wonderfully indirect and subtle means that truth telling, like every other moral principle, has its drawback in practice, and sometimes we have to pass over it in our calculations for getting on as decent and successful human beings. Deception is found in every culture (only attitudes toward it differ), probably because it provides advantage in carrying out one’s intentions, and because it offer a chance to escape confrontations without having to fight. We humans are active, creative mammals who can represent what exists as if it did not, and what does not exist as if it did. And we do this easily and routinely. Concealment, obliqueness, silence, outright lying—all help to hold Nemesis at bay; all help us abide to large helpings of reality. T.S. Eliot was right when he reminded us that “Humankind/Cannot bear very much reality.” In civilization no less than in the wilderness, survival at the water hole does not favor the fully exposed and unguarded self. Deception, it seems, is a vital part of practical intelligence. Much of human interaction is take up with the giving and getting of impressions, which are composed of some plain truth and some fancy, some display and some concealment, something said and something suggested, something focused and something blurred. All this for the purpose of getting done what you want to do. Lying requires a reason while telling the truth does not. Truthfulness in statements which cannot be avoided is the formal duty of an individual to everyone, however great may be the disadvantage occurring to oneself or another. #RandolphHarris 3 of 19
Thus the definition of a life as merely an intentional untruthful declaration to another person does not require the additional condition that it must harm another. For a lie always harms another; if not some other particular human, still it harms mankind generally, for it vitiate the source of the law itself. Things happen; we witness some aspects of an event from a particular vantage point; we interpret what we have taken in with our senses; we discover or compose an acceptable meaning from that subjectivity limited rendering of “fact”; express an edited, personalized version of the result, to a selected audience, at a chosen time, if we want to. There is a vast psychological distance between the “things that happen” and what we are later able to say about them, no matter how sincerely we try to be objective and to get it right. Lifelong uncertainty about the “truth” is an attribute of human sensibility; it is a product of the interplay of memory and imagination, history and choice. Truth is fully present in our experiences. We can know truth. However, the multifarious and discordant sentiments which divine mankind, afford a great temptation to skepticism, and many are carried away by it. The open enemies of the gospel take occasion from hence to justify their rejection of it: many of its professed friend have written as if they thought, that to be decided, amidst so many minds and opinions, were almost presumptuous. The principle, if not the only use of which they would make of these differences is, to induce a spirit of moderation and charity, and to declaim against bigotry. #RandolphHarris 4 of 19
To say nothing at present how these terms are perverted and hackneyed in a certain cause, let two things be seriously considered—First, Whether this was the use made by the apostles of the discordant opinions which prevailed in their times, even amongst those who “acknowledged the divinity of our Saviour’s mission?” In differences amongst Christians which did not affect the kingdom of God, nor destroy the work of God, it certainly was: Such were those concerning means, drinks, and days, in which the utmost forbearance was inculcated. However, it was otherwise in differences which affected the leading doctrines and precepts of Christianity. Forbearance in these cases would, in the account of the sacred writers, have been a crime. If Christianity be of God, and He have revealed His will in the holy scriptures, light is come into the World, though the dark minds of sinful creatures comprehend it not. It does not follow, because many wander in mazes of fruitless speculation, that there is not a way to plain that a way-faring man or one who “walketh in the truth,” though a fool, shall not err. The numerous sects among the Greeks and Romans, and even among the Jews, at the time of our Saviour’s appearing, did not prove that there was no certain knowledge to be obtained of what was truth. Our Lord considered Himself as speaking plainly, or He would not have asked the Jews as he did, “Why do ye not understand my speech?” The apostles and primitive believers saw their way plainly: and though we cannot pretend to the extraordinary inspiration which was possessed by man of them; yet, if we humbly follow their light, depending on the ordinary teachings of God’s Holy Spirit, we shall see ours. #RandolphHarris 5 of 19
Truth, we may be certain, is the same thing as what in the scriptures is denominated “the gospel,” “the common salvation,” “the common faith,” “the faith once delivered to the saints,” “the truth as it is in Jesus,”; and what this is, may be clearly understood by the brief summaries of the gospel, and of the faith of the primitive Christians, which abound in the New Testament. Of the former the following are a few of many examples: “God so loved the World the He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life—The Son of Man came to seek and save that which is loft—I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me—To Him give all the prophets witnesses, that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins—We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness; but to them that believe, the wisdom of God, and the power of God—I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified—Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye find; by which also ye are saved, if ye hold fast what I preached to you, unless ye have believed in vain: for I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures; and that He was buried, and the He rose again the third day, according to the scriptures—This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ came into the World to save sinners, of whom I am chief—This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, any other: for there is none other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” #RandolphHarris 6 of 19
If language have any determinate meaning, it is here plainly taught the mankind are not only sinners, but in a lost and perishing condition, without help or hope, but what arises from the free grace of God, through the atonement of His Son; the He died as our substitute; that we are forgiven and accepted only for the sake of what He hath done and suffered; that in his person and work all evangelical truth concentrates; that the doctrine of salvation for the chief of sinners through His death, was so familiar in the primitive times, as to become a kind of Christian proverb, or “saying;” and that on “standing,” and final “salvation.” In this doctrine be received, Christianity is received: If not, the record which God hath given of His Son is rejected, and He Himself treated as a lair. When this doctrine is received in the true Spirit of it, (which it never is by a sinner ready to perish) all those fruitless speculations which tend only to bewilder the mind, will be laid aside; just as malice, and guile, and envies, and evil-speaking are laid aside by Him who is born of God. They will fall off from the mind, like the coat of the chrysalis, of their own accord. Many instances of this are occurring. Persons who, after having read and studied controversies, and learned first to one opinion and then to another, till their minds have been lost in uncertainty, have at length been brought to think of the gospel, not as a matter of speculation, but as that which seriously and immediately concerned them: and embracing it as good news to them who are ready to perish, have not only found rest to their fouls, but all their former notions have departed from them, as a dream when one awaketh. #RandolphHarris 7 of 19
The Christological problem begins when men realize they are estranged and wonder about a new reality with the power to conquer existence, but it does not end with the simple acceptance of Jesus as the Christ. The baptismal confession that Jesus is the Christ is the text of which the Christological dogma is the commentary. The dogma has a twofold purpose: to affirm and defend the Christian message against distortion, and to express it in conceptual terms. The first function guards the substance; the second function imparts form. The aim of the early conciliar Christological formulas was to preserve both the Christ-character and the Jesus-character of the event of Jesus as the Christ. The homoousion of Nicaea maintained the Christ-character against the Arians who would make Jesus a semi-divine being. Chalcedon warded off the attacks of the monophysites upon the Jesus-character of the Christ. Both councils succeeded in affirming and defending the substance of the Christian message, but they did so in spite of the inadequate intellectual tools of the two-natures theory. The task of present-day Protestant Christology is the development of new forms to express the substance of Nicaea and Chalcedon. However, the basic inadequacy lies in the term “nature.” When applied to man, it is ambiguous; when applied to God it is wrong. “Human nature” can mean three things: essential or created nature, existential or estranged nature, and an ambiguous unity of the two. All three meanings can be applied to Jesus as the Christ, although the second must be qualified insofar as estrangement, while remaining a real possibility, is taken into the unity with God. #RandolphHarris 8 of 19
Because of this ambiguity and need for qualification, it is imperative to dismiss altogether the term “human nature” in relation to Christ and replace it by a description of the dynamics of His life. The term “divine nature” must be understood as that which makes God what He is, His essence. However, God also has existence, or, more exactly, He is beyond both essence and existence. “Divine nature,” cannot be applied to the Christ precisely because the New Bing is not beyond essence and existence, but in existence. The Christ is a personal life in a definite period of history, subject to birth and death, temptation and finitude. The assertion that Jesus as the Christ is the personal unity of a divine and a human nature must be replaced by the assertion that in Jesus as the Christ the eternal unity of God and man has become historical reality. This is better than the two natures which lie beside each other like blocks and whose unity cannot be understood at all. In Spirit Christology, we understand that God was in Jesus the Christ because the divine Spirit totally grasped His human spirit. In this sense, one can speak of the faith of the Christ which is the state of being grasped unambiguously by the Spiritual Presence. However, although the Spirit is unambiguously present in the Christ, His faith still has a fragmentary character due to the fact tht He is subjected to the conditions of existence. Two important implications follow from Spirit Christology. First, it is not the spirit of the man Jesus that makes Him the Christ, but the Spirit of God, and thus the dangers of a Jesus-theology are avoided. #RandolphHarris 9 of 19
And secondly, the Spiritual Presence in history is the same as the Spiritual presence in the Christ; hence, He is not an isolated event, but touches the whole history through the activity of the spirit. Admittance of the possibility of deception is in the stage in break of truth upon the mind, although it may sometimes precede the doubt. To admit the possibility of being deceived—or mistaken—in any aspect of new experience or action, or even view of truth, is really a possibility which should be acknowledged by every believer; and yet so subtle is the deception of the enemy tht almost invariably the attitude of each one is tht though “others” may be open to deception, he or she is the exception to the rule. This certainty of personal exception is so deep-seated with the most visibly deceived person that the longest battle is simply to obtain entrance to the mind for the one thought of possible deception in any point at all. The believer seems armed with unshaken assurance that though others may be misled, he certainly is not; he “beholdeth the mote” in his brother’s eye and is blind—blind to the “beam” in his own. However, an open attitude to truth says, “Why not I as well as others? May not my assurance of safety be a deception of the enemy, as much as the deception I see in others?” Why all believers should admit the possibility of deception by deceiving spirits may be considered just here: The primary fact to be recognized by every human being is the complete and utter ruin of the first creation at the Fall—when the First Adam admitted the poison of the serpent, which permeated and corrupted his whole being beyond repair. #RandolphHarris 10 of 19
The utter corruption of the human race as a consequence is unmistakably declared in the New Testament: “The old man, which waxeth corrupt after the lusts of deceit,” reports Ephesians 4.22. “Being darkened in their understanding; alienated from the life of God,” reports Ephesians 4.18. “We all once lived in the lusts of flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the thoughts, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as the rest,” reports Ephesians 2.3. Thus the Apostle Paul described the whole race of man, Gentile and Jew, Pharisee and Publican: In all, he said, “the prince of the power of the air” has operated, as “the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience.” All agencies plan, as do all persons and families; planning in the generic sense distinguishes us humans from creatures who cannot transcend the immediate. However, planning in the specific sense of highly modern attainments in social organization is what we mean when we speak of the planning stage in family agencies. In the long history of man’s ascent toward rationality in social affairs, conscious awareness of the planning process in action agencies ranks as a major invention. The image of the competent man is out of place except in the context of modern planning. The generalized outlines of the democratic planning process which follows should not be taken as a recommendation that every family agency should immediately plunge into the planning stage. Planning by a family agency is not unlike the planning by a person of his career. When the aim of an agency is personal development, there are many reasons why its planning method should self-consciously follow a model which permits the agency to transform itself by its own operations. #RandolphHarris 11 of 19
Since Dr. Cooley in 1902, if not long before, many thinkers have held that human nature and the social order reflect each other. There have been divergent opinions whether the line of causation runs from personality to community (“human nature writ large”), or whether the person as microcosm incorporates as habit the regular recurrences which constitute the institutional fabric of society. The developmental view conceives a spiral of interaction between the careers of persons and institutions. It is the obligation of the family agency that adopts the aim of optimal development to maintain this nexus in a dynamic sense. To keep the parallel always in mind can cumulatively influence multitudes of decisions. In concrete terms, the action of agencies, families, and individuals is not a constant flow; it is episodic, organized in fairly regular, qualitatively distinguishable sequences. As a unit of reference, the behavior of each of the three can usefully be brought together in a conceptual analysis of the planning process that is applicable to all three levels of abstraction. To study the phases of the planning process, as seen in the furthest advanced of the family agencies, is to see in enlarged detail what in family or personal living may be only implicit or rudimentary. However, from this enlargement of the social act one can then derive clues and questions which are relevant when observing the smallest sequence of interpersonal behaviour. #RandolphHarris 12 of 19
Before there is an agency, or planning, or the possibility of planning, there must be a public with a problem. The public and the problem are defined in reference to each other. They never stand alone, and cannot be defined alone. A problem always belongs to some group of people, and generally speaking any group comes into existence as a group because its members feel that they are confronted by a common problem or problems. However, an outside expert cannot always determine what constitutes the problem of a group. And yet the problem exists and arguments may abound as to how to define it. Alternatively, a certain state of affairs may be a problem to an observer without being regarded as a problem to those whom it seems to affect. If a state of affairs affecting a number of people is also to become the problem of the group, then the members of the group must participate in defining the problem. Otherwise it is not their problem and they are not likely to feel responsible for its solution. The expert may assist in the recognition and clarification of a problem, but must be prepared for his interpretations to be rejected. Each phase of the planning process, when fully developed in a community or a large institution, employs a characteristic type of document. In this first or problem phase, such a document functions primarily to call attention to a problem and to convince the public involved that something ought to be done about it. The definition of what ought to be done occurs in later phases of the planning process, and yet in the successful attention-getting and definition of the problem, the outlines of later phases vaguely emerge. #RandolphHarris 13 of 19
On this account, the importance of the problem phase of planning is often underestimated; that is, action goes off without adequate preparation. Even more often, the importance of getting the public involved and committed to solution of the problem is underestimated. Yet it is the arousal of concern, and participation in the definition of the problem as their problem, which motivates the public to act. Effort in the Calvinist doctrine had still another psychological meaning. The fact that one did not tire in that unceasing effort and that one succeeded in one’s moral as well as one’s secular work was a more or less distinct sign of being one of the chosen ones. The irrationality of such compulsive effort is that the activity is not meant to create a desired end but serves to indicate whether or not something will occur which has been determined beforehand, independent of one’s own activity or control. This mechanism is a well-known feature of compulsive neurotics. Such persons when afraid of the outcome of an important undertaking may, while awaiting an answer, count the windows of houses or trees on the street. If the number is even, a person feels that thing will be right; if the number is uneven, it is a sign that he will fail. Frequently this doubt does not refer to a specific instance but to a person’s whole life, and the compulsion to look for “signs” will pervade it accordingly. Often the connection between counting stones, playing solitaire, gambling, and so on, and anxiety and doubt, is not conscious. A person may play solitaire out of a vague feeling of restlessness and only an analysis might uncover the hidden function of his activity: to reveal the future. #RandolphHarris 14 of 19
In Calvinism this meaning of effort was part of the religious doctrine. Originally it referred essentially to moral effort, but later on the emphasis was more and more on effort in one’s occupation and on the results of this effort, that is, success or failure in business. Success became the sign of God’s grace; failure, the sign of damnation. These considerations show that the compulsion to unceasing effort and work was far from being in contradiction to a basic conviction of man’s powerlessness; rather was it the psychological result. Effort and work in this sense assumed an entirely irrational character. They were not to change fate since this was predetermined by God, regardless of any effort on the part of the individual. They served only as a means of forecasting the predetermined fate; while at the same time the frantic effort was a reassurance against an otherwise unbearable feeling of powerlessness. This new attitude towards effort and work as an aim in itself may be assumed to be the most important psychological change which has happened to man since the end of the Middle Ages. In every society man has to work if he wants to live. Many societies solved the problem by having the work done by slaves, thus allowing the free man to devote himself to “nobler” occupations. In such societies, work was not worthy of a free man. In medieval society, too, the burden of work was unequally distributed among the different classes in the social hierarchy, and there was a good deal of crude exploitation. However, the attitude toward work was different from that which developed subsequently in the modern era. #RandolphHarris 15 of 19
Work did not have the abstract character of producing some commodity which might be profitably sold on the market. One worked in response to a concrete demand and with a concrete aim: to earn one’s livelihood. There was, as Max Weber particularly has shown, no urge to work more than was necessary to maintain the traditional standard of living. It seems that for some groups of medieval society work was enjoyed as a realization of productive ability; that many others worked because they had to and felt this necessity was conditioned by pressure from the outside. What was new in modern society was that men came to be driven to work not so much by external pressure but by an internal compulsion, which made them work as only a very strict master could have made people do in other societies. The inner compulsion was more effective in harnessing all energies to work than any outer compulsion can ever be. Against external compulsion there is always a certain amount of rebelliousness which hampers the effectiveness of work or makes people unfit for any differentiated task requiring intelligence, initiative, and responsibility. The compulsion to work by which man was turned into his own slave driver did not hamper these qualities. Undoubtedly capitalism could not have been developed had not the greatest part of man’s energy been channeled in the direction of work. There is no other period in history in which free men have given their energy so completely for one purpose: work. The drive for relentless work was one of the fundamental productive forces, no less important for the development of our industrial system than steam and electricity. #RandolphHarris 16 of 19
The obsolescence of many of today’s governments is not some secret we alone have discovered. Nor is it a disease of America alone. The fact is that building a Third Wave civilization on the new wreckage of Second Wave institutions involves the design of new, more appropriate political structures in many nations at once. This is a painful yet necessary project that is mind-staggering in scope and will no doubt take decades to complete. In all likelihood it will require a protracted battle to radically overhaul the United States of America’s Congress, the House of Commons, and the House of the Lord, the French Chamber of Deputies, the Bundestag, the Diet, the giant ministries and entrenched civil services of many nations, their constitutions and court systems—much of the unwidely and increasingly unworkable apparatus of existing representative governments. Nor will this wave of political struggle stop at the national level. Over the months and decades ahead, the entire “global law machine”—from the United Nations at one end to the local city or town council at the other—will eventually face a mounting, ultimately irresistible demand for restructuring. All these structures will have to be fundamentally altered, not because they are inherently evil or even because they are controlled by this or that class or group, but because they are increasingly unworkable—no longer fitted to the needs of a radically changed World. To build workable governments anew—and to carry out what may well be the most important political task of our lifetimes—we will have to strip away the accumulated cliches of the Second Wave era. And we will have to rethink political life in terms of three key principles. #RandolphHarris 17 of 19
Indeed, these may well turn out to be the root principles of the Third Wave governments of tomorrow. Business in a relation-based system will expand at those margins where diminishing returns set in most slowly. This will mean preserving the closeness of the relation, even at the cost of undertaking a new activity that is not economically so close—not such a good complement in production or consumption. In such a system we will see diversified conglomerates whose component parts have nothing in common except common ownership by a closely knit extended family or similar network. One does indeed see such hodgepodge family empires in many less-developed countries (LDCs), for example India and Turkey. The South Korean chaebol, and the Japanese zaibatsu and their successor keiretsu, are also causes in point. Even in advanced industrial countries with rule-based governance, there are incentives to build diversified conglomerates—tax systems with double taxation of dividends make it costly to take profits out of the corporate sector and therefore artificially lower the cost of reinvesting retained earnings, and agency problems allow to management to indulge in its tastes for running large empires. However, in smaller and LCDs where relation-based governance prevails, the incentives to expand into seemingly unrelated activities are that much stronger. Another way to express this is to day that a relation-based system has a larger benefit of internal finance from the supply side. Thisbenefit is usually looked at from the demand side—the needs of a firm’s finance for investment are met at lower costs from retained earnings than from external borrowing. #RandolphHarris 18 of 19
However, the return to retained earnings is higher if reinvested within the firm than is possible from investments in external markets. Where borrowing and lending between different firms and their owner occurs, it will tend to be within some identifiable group defined by links that enable enforcement of implicit contracts based on reputation. This suggests that the “crony capitalism” that is observed in many LDCs (and condemned by outsiders) may have it place within their governance structure. Of course you deal with, and lend to, cronies. Non-cronies may defraud you and run away with your money; having no relation with them, you would have no recourse. “Crony socialism” existed under the central planning systems in socialist economies, and continued in the transition period. However, this compartmentalization of capital markers has a cost; it constrains that movement of capital to its most productive uses in response to changing conditions. Therefore it comprises another source of diminishing returns for the relation-based system. Transition to a rule-based system would allow more efficient reallocation of capital to take advantage of productive opportunities outside the group. Finally, although a relation-based system has low fixed costs, it can have large sunk costs—the reputational capital that makes time-separated transactions credible has to be built up, and is valuable. The combination of large sunk costs, and the small size of the economy where relation-based governance usually prevails, can create high entry barriers. Therefore one should expect to see high concentrations, or even monopolies, in such systems. That is indeed observed, not only in finance and production, but also in trade. #RandolphHarris 19 of 19
CRESLEIGH HAVENWOOD
Lincoln, CA | from the high $600s
Now Selling!
No appointment needed! Cresleigh Havenwood features four distinct floor plans ranging from 2,293 – 3,377 square feet and offering up to five bedrooms. Each plan has been thoughtfully designed and includes great features such as single story homes, guest suites, optional offices, garage workshops, and more!
Get the most out of your new home with Cresleigh’s All Ready smart home featuring all the connectivity needed to keep your house running. Best of all, each Cresleigh home comes with owned solar included!
Located off of Virginiatown Road and McCourtney Road, residents of the 83 homesites of Cresleigh Havenwood will benefit from a brand new neighborhood in the charming City of Lincoln. Palo Verde Park, is just down the street and there’s plenty of recreation to take part in all around town. https://cresleigh.com/havenwood/
Havenwood is renowned for its magnificently peaceful and pristine community, where modern establishments harmoniously coexist with the historical community.
Everyone is Afraid of the Dark
Magnolias, orange trees, thick evergreen and palm trees sprouted from the sweeping lawns growing tall, as their green leaves beautifully filled the sky providing shade from the hot sun. Shielded behind the lush proliferation of gardens stood gorgeous Llanada Villa built in the Queen Anne Victorian style with soaring roofs and columned porticoes. The farmland provided crops for food. It was Sunday January, 1888, and the famers and servants were buoyant with excitement, undampened by undue religious solemnity. Good nature was inescapable that Sunday. Conversation abounded with joy and optimism. Several planters, dressed in gloves, hats, and cravat, strolled my estate. The road bustled with carriages and horses; men and women strolled along the green lawns in their Sunday finery; and the servants hunted and played games in the field. Somehow, in the midst of it all, I had grown tired and went to my bedroom to rest. It was past midnight when I awoke, and when I looked out the moon was rising over the Observational Tower. I heard a battle, but I could not see it for the smoke and flames, and the broken marble battering me from all sides. Doors were broken from their hinges, and the light bulbs exploded, and in the darkness, I was thrown against the walls or the floors. I felt an intense heat pass over me, and I struggled to get to my feet as the broken and fragmented tiles swirled about the chamber. Ghastly screams came from Arkie, the son of one of the farmers. “I have seen an evil thing this night,” he said. “Tell me what you have seen,” I replied. Arkie told me everything he had seen. “The estate was covered with smoke, through which, through which flashes were incessant, whilst the air seemed filled with shell, whose sharp explosions, with the hurling of their fragments hurling between flashes. Flashes that lit up the night sky. #RandolphHarris 1 of 9
“We were at war against a monstrous progeny of demon-possessed men and women, wearing velvet tunics and stockings, and marvelous cloaks trimmed in rare fur. They brandished huge glittering swords. The fountains bulled over, flowing with blood. Several of the servant fled through the streets, yards, and orchards, many taking refuge in the Victorian cottages, outbuildings, and mansion already filled with the wounded and dying. The smoke was so dense we could not perceive an object ten feet in front of us. The gloom of the moment was beyond description. We felt and heard the tread of our enemy, our minds were in tumult, whether to lie still, to yield, or to die fighting. I jumped in and found myself confronted by a giant’s sword pointed by my breast. I grasped the blade and reversed the handle of my sword in a twinkle and offered to surrender. The beast said in the excitement, he thought I had run him through and he dropped his sword.” I was so thankful for each servant who fought for my home, their families, and their way of life, even though death was knocking on their door. A few days later, it was a dark moonless night, and as silent as a tomb. Arkie was still shaken up by the events that had recently taken place. There was a terrible fear, a physiological fear. Something beyond life that I was able to catch for a second. The air was cold now, icy all around me. It suddenly felt as though time stood still and yet as a foggy substance silently closed in the air was getting cold enough to freeze the blood. My nose, face, hands and feet felt ice cold. I was standing in silence, as I watched what was unfolding before my eyes. This misty essence was swirling noiselessly around us as we stood, observing a steam so fine the scene felt surreal. Along with the white mist came a whirl of emotions and confusion. What was happening in my home? I braced myself for some hellish effects. It swirled around us as though blown by a high wind, rising above our heads and dropping as it was moving quickly and yet we felt only a gentle breeze. #RandolphHarris 2 of 9
Like a scene from the spectral World, the abnormal foggy essence swirled in vortex shapes and at time, it resembled horses running past us, but the curtains did not move, though we felt air currents around us. We felt vulnerable and somewhat uneasy. I could not for my life keep back a loud scream—the second I had emitted that night. It echoed and echoed through the dim vaultings of my mansion, and I had to choke back a flood of reaction that threated to burst out. Arkie saw a pale figure heading toward him as he ran from the parlor. He quivered when the thing growled at him. It stood out like white chalk on a black board, moving in darkness, seeking. It moved rapidly and just as suddenly as it have moved through the gallery, it suddenly was gone. When I looked around, I saw nothing of the foggy mist that surrounded and chilled us to the bone; it had vanished. The room was clear and felt warmer. What seemed like a long time in the fog had only been a few short minutes! When Arkie and I talked, we were both in awe at what we had experienced. Words were few as we tried to make sense of the incident. Arkie’s hair used to be dark brown, with grizzled streaks about the temples; in less than a month from that day he was a gray as badger, and he has never been quite the same man since that night. I do not believe anybody had ever felt so much sheer hell in one night. Gargoyles and chimeras, we saw all sorts of things, as if it was some passage from the Middle Ages. Arkie said my home repelled him more and more every day, and frightened him, as its features and expressions developed in a way he did not like; in a way that was not human. He felt like a ghoul had been feeding on his soul. He proceeded to leave the hose and suddenly jumped back a foot and started to cry. A dark figure draped in a black tattered robe with a deep hood that concealed his face stoop there, blocking the entrance. My heart sank centuries away as the soul goes as the awful, blasphemous horror touched quite beyond the power of words to classify. I shivered slightly. #RandolphHarris 3 of 9
“What are you?” Arkie cried out desperately to the figure robed in black. There was only silence. He knew the horrible figure we be upon us soon. He flung his sword at the figure in black, and the dark robed figured answered back by point a half-rotted finger at Arkie. The sword flew backwards from his hand. He quickly spun around only to find, to his surprise, that the dreadful ghoul had not emerged from the hallway yet, but we could hear it coming. Arkie’s eyes widened in horror and his heart sank further as he looked to see that his sword hung in the air. Utter fear and hopelessness played on his mind. The ghoul was breathing like a wild beast; and I heard an evil sound also, with blows of something violently driven through flesh and bone, as the sword moved on its own, staking Arkie in the heart. I cried out for mercy as the ghoul approached, but was frozen in fear. Its deathly yellow eyes looked on me with hate and savage hunger. Yellow ooze dripped from its frightful maw. And its long fingernails danced in my hair, before it devoured what remained. As the ghoul kneeled, gnawing at Arkie’s head as a child nibbles at a stick of candy, the shadowy specter looked at me and spoke with it’s a hollow voice, saying “There is no shame in what you have done. Your former life is behind you.” I felt that any moment it might drop its present pray and seek a juicier morsal. But, the nearly eight-foot ghoul grabbed the blood-soaked sword and fled with it. This strange proceeding gave rise to many inquiries. Only a few could answer them. My home is dreaming gorgeously and overflowing with wonder and terror and escapes from the commonplace. It can truly catch the night spirit of antique horror, terror, as well a beauty from life. The haunting apparitions were seldom completely human. Occasionally things would leap through open windows at night, or could be seen squatting on the chest of sleepers, worrying at their throats. The utter inhumanity and callous cruelty of the things torture the brain and flesh. #RandolphHarris 4 of 9
Unlocking the front doors, one is ushered into decorative hallways with splendid mahogany paneling—thrilling and suggestive of the time. Ancient paneled rooms, or simple vaults of masonry, there is even a narrow staircase the leads to the ceiling where a ghost is said to reside. Servants have felt temperature changes upon entering the room and sensed an unknown presence next to them. Others have glimpsed the blasphemous shapes that lope and trot and crawl up the stairs and through the ceiling. We saw the demons themselves and were afraid of them. My shocked scream had waked unaccustomed echoes in the labyrinth. It was more of the physical than the spiritual. I was paralyzed for an instant. I heard a faint scurrying sound somewhere, and a series of squeals or beats in a direction I could not determine. Then there came a subdued sort of clatter which somehow set me all in gooseflesh—a furtive, groping kind of clatter. It was like heavy wood falling on stone or brick—wood on brick—what did that make me think of? It came again, and louder. There was a vibration as if the wood had fallen farther than it had fallen before. After that followed a sharp grating noise. The archaic tunnels in my basement touched graveyard and witch-den. But whatever was in them was devilish anxious to get out. Accidents had happened, but I have never seen what I saw this night—that creature was neither alive nor dead, it abided neither above ground nor in the grave. It was a colossal and nameless blasphemy with glaring red eyes, and it held in bony claws a thing that had been a man. However, it was not even the fiendish apparition that made such an immortal fountainhead of all panic—not that, nor the face with its pointed ears, bloodshot eyes, flat nose and drooling lips. It was not the scaly claws nor the mould-caked body, nor the half-hooved feet—none of these, through any one of them might well have driven an excitable man to madness. It was the curse, the impious, the unnatural endless cycle of terror. #RandolphHarris 5 of 9
These monsters were there—they glared and gnawed and gnawed and glared—and I knew that only a suspension of Nature’s laws would ever let a person be terrorized like this—it was truly some glimpse of the netherworld which no mortal unsold to the Fiend has ever endured. I had to hide this well-established horror-World which I saw fully, brilliantly, squarely and unfalteringly. Fair sized rooms, with wooden floors and furnished were bricked up with extreme care, to conceal the ghastly demons and nauseous monstrosities that leered around from every side of the rooms. I always knew William, no matter how beautiful and pure he was, was not strictly human. Either he was born in strange shadow, or he had found a way to unlock the forbidden gate. There are secrets, you know, which might come down from old Salem times, Cotton Mather tells even stranger things. In the Dark Ages, belief in apparitions, vampires, hell hounds, and demons were commonplace. While belief in ghosts declined in the eighteenth century, it was revitalized in the nineteenth century with the Society of Psychical research. While culture differ in their beliefs about what happens after death, most cultures believe that a ghost can return to the World of the living, with either good or bad intent. In Western cultures, it is most commonly believed that a ghost is the soul of the deceased who cannot find peace or does not know they are dead, leading them to haunt places where they lived or died or objects that caused their death, sometimes they even haunt bloodlines. It may be that they have unfinished business on the Earthly plane, perhaps to protect a loved one, or impart information or reenact the death. I do not think that any power on Earth could make anyone speak of what happened in my home, even old priests were too frightened to look in. #RandolphHarris 6 of 9
It has been said that Mrs. Winchester slept in a different bedroom every night, supposedly in order to confuse evil spirts. Mrs. Winchester was deeply concerned with the welfare of her servants and their families. They were well paid and often additionally rewarded with gifts, even homes, or real estate and lifetime pensions. The full scope of her generosity charity and many kind acts will forever remain unknwn and such was her sincere desire. Her donations were never made public. She contributed to charities of all faiths. In 1911 in New Haven, Connecticut, she established the William Wirt Winchester Memorial Sanitorium for Tuberculosis (also known as low consumption), endowing it with $1,200,000.00 (2023 inflation adjusted $38,540,084.21). Visitors to The Winchester Mystery House are bound to run into others who are curious about the spirit World. It may seem that our intents have been to weave a cloak of vindication and protection covering our lady’s eccentricities, so many to this day still unexplainable. In truth, volumes could be written extolling her many virtues and justifying the construction of one of the largest and most significant architectural structures in the World. Still the Question remains—Why? Why? The enigma of The Mystery House that tragedy and a rifle built is perhaps unanswerable. The present generation must weigh and draw its own conclusions about this Valley’s most interesting, most controversial, most unappreciated and surely our most mysterious First Lady! No one will ever know, but this beautiful and bizarre mansion has, we think, allowed Mrs. Sarah L. Winchester, Lady of Mystery, to achieve a unique kind of eternal life. #RandolphHarris 7 of 9
The spirit World and the human World were once so closely interwoven as to be indivisible. Look at monument, such as The Winchester Mystery House, that our ancient predecessors erected, and the traditions devised, to house, honour, and succor the dead. We still retain enough of our ancestors’ belief that our dead are aware of how we treat them, that we try to ensue they do not have anything thing to complain about. And we listen with widening eyes and quickening heartbeats to the stories told about the ghost that exist and have been recorded throughout time. The Winchester Mystery Houses catches the overtones of the soul, and you will not find those in a modern or renovated home because it has had no time to pick memories and attract local spirits. Placed like Mrs. Sarah L. Winchester’s home was not merely made, but it actually grew. Generation after Generation lived there and felt and died there, and in days when people were not afraid to live and feel and die. This house has stood for almost two centuries and what it has witnessed would make a modern house crumbled into powder. What do modern know of life and the forced behind it? This mansion once had a set of tunnels that kept it in touched with over Victorian houses on the estate. There is hardly a month that you do not read of carpenters finding bricked-up arches and wells leading nowhere in this or that old section of the house. During the time of the construction of this mansion, there were witches and what their spells summoned; pirated and what they brought in from the sea; smugglers; privateers—and I tell you, people knew how to live, and how to enlarge the bounds of life, in the old time! #RandolphHarris 8 of 9
While cleaning the mansion one night, a tour guide noticed a man in 19th century clothes, very pale, with pale blue eyes approaching the Venetian Dining Room. The tour guided continued to work until the mane came very close and stood directly over him. Becoming a bit uneasy at the man’s silence, the tour guide finally asked him, without looking of, if he wished to tour the mansion. When the “guest” did not reply, the tour guide stopped dusting underneath the table, and looked up at the silent man. The man’s face was contorted with rage; his lips moved furiously and he gestured as if he were shouting, but he made no sound. The tour guide fell onto the floor. Before he could turn and flee, the guest disappeared. Terrified, the tour guide ran until he came to an assistant manager. “I saw a ghost,” the tour guide grasped, out of breath. “The ghost of one of the carpenters has come back.” The ghost appeared in August of 2006, to another tour guide. He had entered the Daisy Bedroom and found a fellow tour guide leaning against the wall. Surprised by his presence, he had begun to question the man when he melted into the wall. When he reported the incident, one of his coworkers dismissed it as imagination. A few days later, two tour guides saw the same carpenter. They were locking up the mansion and the lights had not been off more than a few minutes when the sound of footsteps caused both tour guides to stop in their tracks. Before either of them could move, a door swung open and a young man entered. He gestured wildly and seemed to be shouting at the two tour guides, neither of whom could testify that any sound issued from the angry visitor. When one of the tour guides turned on the light, the figure faded before their astonished eyes. They quickly had the mansion secured and order all exists guarded. Guards reported that no person had attempted to leave the building. After the guards had conducted a search of the rooms, they were convinced that their visitor had not been a living man. #RandolphHarris 9 of 9
The room count of California’s most mysterious mansion has just increased by one, rounding out at 161 chambers (that we know of). Preservationists at The Winchester Mystery House in San Jose have found a previously unknown room in the attic of the house, and in it was a pump organ, a dress form, a sewing machine, a Victorian sofa, and several paintings.
For further information about tours, including group tours, weddings, school events, birthday party packages, facility rentals, and special events please visit the website: https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/
Please visit the online giftshop, and purchase a gift for friends and relatives as well as a special memento of The Winchester Mystery House. A variety of souvenirs and gifts are available to purchase. https://shopwinchestermysteryhouse.com/
If you forget to purchase something during your visit, you can order any gift item by calling 408-247-2000 and charging them to your credit card. You can also place an order through the mail. Be sure to include a daytime telephone number with area code. Write to: Winchester Mystery House.
Legend of The Winchester Mystery House
It is well-know that my mansion is haunted. In all of the valley, not one person of unbiased mind entertains a doubt of it. I was sitting in the chair. It seemed I had been asleep forever, but I had not been sleeping at all. The day was sunny and cool. The grass greening all the expanse in its front seemed to grow with a natural and joyous exuberance, and the flowers blossomed in a lovely fashion. Full of charming lights and shadows and populous with pleasant-voiced birds, the well-manicured evergreen trees no longer struggled to run away, but bent reverently beneath their blessings of sun and song. Even the stained-glass windows were an expression of peace and contentment, due to the light within. Over the fruit orchards, the visible heat danced with a lively tremor incompatible with the gravity which is an attribute of the supernatural. Ghosts bridge the past to the present; they speak across the seemingly insurmountable barriers of death and time, connecting us to what was lost. They often give us hope for a life beyond death and because of this help us to cope with loss and grief. Their presence is the promise that we do not have to say goodbye to our loved ones right away and that what was left undone in one’s life might yet be finished. However, Llanada Villa was horribly haunted. A haunted house is a memory palace come to life—a physical space that retains memories that might otherwise be forgotten. Many ghost sighting and other mysterious incidents revolve around the stair cast to the ceiling. Many of my guest have confided that they get dizzy, have trouble breathing, and feel a pressing need to leave the house. Death lingers in the air. The walls are shrouds, enfolding every space in exquisite darkness. #RandolphHarris 1 of 5
While sitting in the parlor, enjoying a cup of tea, a bone chilling, piercing hold took hold of me. Suddenly rain fell steadily, splashing on the ground beneath the window and lying in pools upon the sodden grass. Except for an occasional glimpse of bare branches gliding through the mist, there was nothing to be seen beyond the window, but grey, swirling vapour; I looked up more than once from the pages of John Bunyan’s narrative and felt the hair rise on the back of my neck before the warmth of the fire brought me back to The Pilgrim’s Progress. Every now and then the Heavens were torn asunder by vivid lightning. The blackness of the storm had become merged in darkness of the night, and the weird sounds of a wolf echoed around the estate. There was something so weird and uncanny about the whole thing that it gave me a turn and made me feel quite faint. Halloween was the night, according to the belief of millions of people, when the devil was abroad, graves were opened, and the dead came forth and walked. When evil things of Earth and air and water held revel. The floor shook as though thousands of horses thundered across it. A flash of forked lightning lit up the whole expanse of the Heavens. I heard a mingling of dreadful sound, and the air seemed reverberant with the howling of wolves. The last sight that I remembered was a vague, white, moving mass, as all of the souls killed by the Winchester Rifle sent out the phantoms, and that they were closing in on me through a white cloudiness. #RandolphHarris 2 of 5
Gradually there came a sort of vague beginning of consciousness, then a sense of weariness that was dreadful. For a time I remembered nothing, but solely my sense returned. My feet seemed absolutely racked with pain, yet I could not move them. They seemed to be numbed. There was an icy feeling down my spine. It was a nightmare—a physical nightmare, if one may use such an expression—for some heavy weight on my chest made it difficult for me to breathe. This period of semi-lethargy seemed to remain a long time, and as it faded away I must have slept or swooned. Then came a sort of loathing, like the first stage of sea-sickness, and a while desire to be free from something—I knew not what. A vast stillness enveloped me, as though all the World were asleep or dead. For another spell of time, I was powerless. Lights and shadows moved in the mansion. There were dark whispers. I was white as a sheet and shaking so that I could hardly stand. The agony clawed at my innermost soul. Dazed and frightened, this is a deathly place; I have never felt so cold. Shadows darted along the walls. Coals glowed in the fireplace nearby. Though the fire had been burning for hours, it made little impression upon the deathly chill of the gallery. My footsteps reverberated as I there were a dozen people pacing in the gallery. The floor creaked. I was not aware of any draught, yet every so often the flames would sway in unison, as if someone had passed along the floor below. The heat of the fire was diminishing perceptibly. Every sound—the creak of a chair, the crackling of the coals—seemed an intrusion upon the deathly stillness of the gallery. #RandolphHarris 3 of 5
The light strengthened and changed, darkening from yellow to orange to a fiery blood-red glow. As it did so, I became aware of a low, vibrant humming, like the sound of bees swarming; I could not tell where it was coming from. A voice said, “Do not move, upon your lives.” Dazzling white light filled the gallery, followed by an instant later by a thunderclap that shook the whole house and left me blinded and deafened, with diamond patterns of the leadlighting etched upon my vision. As the after-image faced I realized that all of the candles had gone out; beyond the faint glow of the fire at my side, the darkness was absolute. Then came the sound of hurrying feet from the library. A shaft of light spilled across the floor; the connecting door flew open. The lights all went out and I was plunged into impenetrable darkness. A misty pillar of light hovered for a moment in the void and then opened, with a movement like the unfurling of wings, into a shimmering figure that detached itself from the chandelier—now dimly visible in the glow—and glided toward me. It had no face, no form, only a veil of light floating over emptiness. I could not move, could not breathe. I heard the sound of the library door opening, and footsteps approaching. The apparition shimmered to a halt. “Will you speak to me?” I cried. “I may…not stay”—the voice, though faint and indistinct said “but will you not shake hands…” growing fainter with each word—“for friendship’s sake?” The footsteps came closer; the dim outline of a man passed between me and the apparition. Light swirled; a glowing armed appeared, but there was no hand, only an empty sleeve, and when I tried to grasp the arm, my own hand passed straight through it! #RandolphHarris 4 of 5
With a cry of despair, I flung both arms around the apparition. For an instant, man and spirit were united; then darkness engulfed them, and I knew no more. When I came to my sense, the coals were crackling in a grate nearby. I was lying, I realized, where I had fallen on the gallery floor, but with a cushion beneath my head. I have had a terrible dream, I thought, turning my head away from the glare. “Mrs. Winchester,” Elizabeth the housemaid said, “I am truly sorry. I should have never left you alone, but I was scared.” “I do not understand,” I said to Elizabeth. “Did you mesmerize me? Did I dream the lightening?” “No, Mrs. Winchester,” she replied. “Everything happened exactly as your perceived.” Lights were burning along the walls, but the floor I where I was laying was still in near darkness. I took Elizabeth’s arm and rose unsteadily to my feet. I straightened my hair and brushed the dust from my cloak. “You feasted on my soul and cast a spell over me!,” I said. The moon rose high. I was very weak, and my heart was beating so slowly that I was almost like a woman fainting. Slowly I turned my head, but Elizabeth was not there. Fear seized me suddenly, a fear unspeakable and unknown. The hour dragged themselves through the twilight and darkness and moonrise. But in the chilly dawn, I lay as one half dead upon my bed. Then came the fear, the awful nameless, panic, the mortal horror that guards the confines of the World we see not, neither know of as we know of other things, but which we feel when its icy chill freezes our bones and stirs our hair with the touch of a ghostly hand. #RandolphHarris 5 of 5
Some houses are more haunted than others. If you account the sheer number of sightings at The Winchester Mystery House, it is one of the busiest places in the World! The phantoms sometimes look like normal, living, breathing human beings. However, then some of these specters abruptly evaporate, without leaving a trace. Sometimes it is hard to believe in ghost even when you have seen them with your own eyes. But at The Winchester Mystery House, spirits come calling down those miles of twisting hallways, and after a visit, there will never be a such thing as a simple tour of a Victorian Mansion. https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/
And please be sure to check out the online gift store: https://shopwinchestermysteryhouse.com/
Cure that Sense of Entitlement
Thought is a vital force or energy which is being developed and which had produced such startling results in the last century, as to bring about a World which would be absolutely inconceivable to man during the days of slavery. If the results have been secured by organizing mental powers over the last hundred years, imagine what can be done in the next hundred. This is why we need to avoid the nihilistic idea that we are living in the last day. The people who repeat this mantra are also the ones who pontificate most loudly about the law of attraction. We have to learn to be genuine in our beliefs and know that we can have a beneficial impact on the future. We do not have to accept things they way they are, but we can make them better. It is clear, therefore, that thought of abundance will respond only to similar thoughts: the wealth of the individual is seen to be what he inherently is. Affluence within is found to be the secret of attraction for affluence to manifest in the outside World. The ability to produce is found to be the real source of wealth of the individual. It is for this reason that he who has his heart in his work is certain to meet with unbounded secrets. He will give and continually give, and the more he gives the more he will receive. Thought is the energy by which the law of attraction is brought into operation, which eventually manifests in abundance in the lives of men. The source of all power, as of all weakness, is from within; the secret of all success as well as all failure is likewise from within. Golden opportunities of life will be strewn across your path, and the power will come unbidden, circumstances will be in your favour, and you will feel the power of the ultimate concern. #RandolphHarris 1 of 18
Many affluent college students make it a point to hide the fact that their families are wealth, because they believe that members of the opposite gender may approach or treat them nicely not because they are interesting and attractive, but simply because they have money. We have worked with young people who consciously choose to live in a more modest apartment than they can afford, or avoid spending too much money on clothes or entertainment, specifically because they do not want to give potential romantic interests any hint regarding their actual financial status. This strategy does seem to provide some reassurance to affluent young people when they are meeting new people, or when they are going out on a first or second date. Clearly, however, as dating relationships develop and progress, it will become more and more difficult to avoid having one’s financial status become apparent. People naturally ask you questions about where you grew up, and where you went to high school. At some point, your date will probably ask you about your parents—maybe just about how you like them, but also more than likely about who they are and what they do. New friends are also quite likely to ask you what you like to do for fun, and they will be curious about the places you have been. These are perfectly normal questions, and you certainly should not interpret them as specific effects to extract data from you on your family’s financial status. Although we certainly understand any desire you may have not to flaunt your wealth as a means of attracting attention, we strongly believe that you should be honest when you answer such questions. To be less than honest is to convey the message that your distrust of others’ intentions is your paramount concern in making new acquaintances, and this would be likely to be perceived as reflecting poorly on you. #RandolphHarris 2 of 18
Students of a high caliber are more attracted to affluent institutions than to poor ones. The major reason is that affluent institutions pay higher salaries, which enable them to recruit better faculties. Some of this may result from a feedback effect that raises the resources for faculty recruitment of institutions with superior reputations among outstanding students. The beta weight indicates that affluence also has some direct effect on student preferences, independent of other conditions. A possible interpretation of this new effect is that superior facilities and better fellowships in affluent institutions attract brighter, more serious students, although the possibility that wealth as such and its symbolic value make an institution preferable cannot be excluded. Large academic institutions are preferred by able students because they can afford better faculties and have more diverse departments than small institutions, but large size itself, independent of these attractive conditions usually associated with it, detracts from the appeal of an institution or higher education to students. In other words, size has a beneficial gross and a negative net effect on capable students, furthering another parallel with the pattern of influences on qualified faculty. The process of mediating the indirect effects of size are similar but not identical, partly because faculty qualifications are the dependent variable in one but an intervening variable in the other case. Bright students are attracted to large academic institutions by their many diverse departments, array of cultures, and by the superior faculties that their higher salaries recruit. These attractions tend to overcome the preferences of good student for small, less impersonal colleges if conditions were the same (indicated by the negative beta weight) and make large institutions more popular among them (indicated by their positive simple correlation). #RandolphHarris 3 of 18
The natural or “mortal mind” view of life and the World is almost always the exact opposite of what is the real spiritual truth and fact. Metaphysics tell us that the visible World is an inverted reflection of the real. If the it is inverted, it is natural, until our spiritual or inner eyes are opened to the truth, for us to see things as the exact opposite of what they really are. Therefore it is not surprising to find that, whereas the moral or terrestrial mind of the senses, thinks the World is the real thing and the mind only a shadow, the real TRUTH is, that mind and spirit are real and eternal, and the visible World but a transient and impermanent thing which has no actual reality. Such being the case then the only thing that really matters is what is in the mind or what is not in the mind. If we have a belief in evil, and thoughts of evil, in our mind, then we have evil in our life. If, however, we can cast the thought of, and belief in, evil out of our mind then it will cease to appear in our life. By raising ourselves above the sensuous life and realizing our permanent World of Mind and there denying evil, poverty, failure, pain, sickness, unhappiness, or whatever our trouble may be, we vanquish the thought which is the cause of all our troubles. Then whatever we affirm will take their place. If we deny “evil,” then we follow by affirming “good,” if we deny sickness, then we affirm prosperity and affluence. By denials we can take out all the evil, care, fear and worry out of our lives and build up in their place by means of affirmations, perfect good, success, affluence, happiness, health, love, peace and courage. Everything being in the mind, then everything that is take out of the mind is take out of life, and everything that is put into the mind comes into life. #RandolphHarris 4 of 18
Thus it is possible with mathematical accuracy and certainty to recreate the life, to cast out all the undesirable and to build up in its place only the beautiful, the good, the true. Life is what we make it. We can make it like Heaven itself, full to the brim with all that is good and beautiful, or we can turn it into a perfect Hell. Therefore do not accept the suggestions of those, who having failed in life, proceed to call it hard names. We can make life a continual joy, if we create a Heaven within us by the quality of our thinking and mental processes. All that we see in life, all that we experience, yeah, even life itself, is but the outward expression of the life within. The life within is built up by our thinking. You will have seen by this time the purpose and value of affirmations. Affirmations are concentrated thoughts. Back of each affirmation is a strong emotion and this gives it tremendous driving force. Not only do affirmations impress the sub-conscious mind thus producing action in accordance with the Will, but they project outwards from the mind into space, attract forces and help from other sources and bring them to minister and bless. Not only so but they also arouse the subliminal mind to inspire, to create, to impart wisdom. By the use of affirmations all the finer forces are aroused to action and the life is transformed from weakness or ineffectiveness to strength or purposefulness. By the use of affirmations, the Will is strengthened until it become so strong all else has to bend to it. By the use of affirmations, the body is strengthened and make healthy, and exercise and body culture become a pleasure instead of a duty. #RandolphHarris 5 of 18
To bring whatever it is that you want into your life, you must develop an insatiable desire for it. That means, for a while, it is all that matters. You vigilantly watch the ego-mind; you refuse to be taken off track. You know your direction and you will allow nothing to move you from it. At that point, all obstacles are viewed as challenges to be overcome, with each one giving you’re a renewed sense of focus. You meet difficulties with the mindset that there is always a way to overcome them, and moreover, you are committed to finding it. You approach, go though, and attend to your outcome without the option of gripping or complaining. You keep moving forward: you make it a “must” and as a result, it will happen. Guaranteed! Affluence means wealth. It means having plenty, so that you are not wanting. It means being connected into the flow of goods and resources so that you are regularly refreshing your abundance even as you use it up. I know people living utterly simple material lives who seem radiant with well-being and happiness. Material wealth should never be desired as an end, but simply as a means of accomplishing an end. Success is contingent upon a higher ideal than the mere accumulation of riches, and he who aspires to sch success must formulate an ideal for which he is willing to stive. However, it is no fun to run out of rent money or cash to go buy groceries. Let us not be delusional; money counts! On the other hand, a lot of money brings a lot of responsibility; you must pay attention to your money or you lose it, and you can easily fall victim to worry about your money rather than enjoying it. So keep this desire for cash and possessions in perspective with the other equal needs. #RandolphHarris 6 of 18
Whatever you desire for yourself, affirm it for others, and it will help you both. You reap what you sow. If you send out thoughts of love and health, they return to you like bread cast upon waters. People who are friends to others find that they indeed have friends. Radiate love and happiness to those you encounter, and this love and happiness will be radiated back to you. True relationship abundance is both deep and wide. Ideally you have a deep resonance with family, and you and your intimate partner have broad goodwill toward those you come into contact with. A valid formula will produce successful results every time and for everyone. You just have to follow it. Life provides a wonderful opportunity to seek our talents and interests. It is well to remember, however, that “all have not every gift given unto them; for there are many gifts, and every man is given a gift by the Spirit of God,” reports Doctrines and Covenants 46.11. In our searching, it is important to seek guidance of the Spirit to discover skills we should develop. Once we have decided what we really want to do, the Lord has given us a formula for achieving our eternal and temporal goals: “For he will give unto the faithful line upon line, precept upon precept; and I will try you and prove you herewith,” reports Doctrines and Covenants 98.12. The Lord reminds us that real success will only come only to the faithful—those who have sincere determination to achieve their goals. The second part of that formula reminds us that learning is often a slow process and comes line upon lone, one step at a time. The Lord offers kind encouragement when He says, “Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great,” reports Doctrines and Covenants 64.33. We must learn to be patient with ourselves while pushing to new levels of achievement or knowledge. It is important to take time occasionally to remind ourselves of what we are trying to do. #RandolphHarris 7 of 18
Thoughts of courage, power, confidence, and hope all produce a corresponding state. All we have to do is let our light shine; the more energy we can radiate, the more rapidly shall we be enabled to transmute undesirable conditions into sources of pleasure and profit. Health and wellness are issues for most of us, and material abundance can mean absolutely nothing when we are seriously sick. Therefore focusing on and manifesting long-term health must be a vital aspect of this program. How can you maximize wellness each and every day, and also regain your health if you lose it? It is now well proven that the thoughts you chronically hold in your mind generate parallel emotional and physiological conditions in your body that either support good health or undermine it. You have perhaps read or seen medical reports on how stress and anxiety, depression and anger, when rehearsed over a long period of time not only become contagious, but also progressively reduce your immune system’s ability to maintain optimum health. When your thoughts become uplifted, progressive, constructive, courageous, noble, kind, or in any other way desirable, you set in motion vibrations which bring about mental, moral, and physical health. The only real power which you can have is the power to adjust yourself to divine and unchangeable principles. You cannot change the Infinite, but you can come into an understanding of natural laws and adjust your thought faculties with the Universal Thought. Your ability to cooperate with this Omnipotence will indicate the degree of success with which you meet. Your expectation determines everything. If you expect nothing, you shall have nothing: if you demand much, you shall receive the greater portion. The World is harsh only as you fail to assert yourself. #RandolphHarris 8 of 18
It is important to belief in your inner reality and broadcast this perfection out to your cellular presence, so that beyond your conscious awareness the infinite unconscious power of the Universe can be working to heal you. And if you are currently healthy, regularly tap into your desire to stay healthy and broadcast this desire and inner faith and harmony to your soul. Inner harmony is the foundation of health. The knowledge of your ability to consciously radiate health, strength, and harmony will bring you into a realization that there is nothing to fear, because you are in touch with Infinite Strength. Regardless of age or health, it is important for all of us to learn to come to peace with the cycle of life and death, and make the best of life while it is still in our possession. One can develop the ideal image of life’s experiences that last for life. We must learn to manifest whatever kind of environment we desire. Although we may be tried to see how determined we are to life our ideal lives, if we persevere, the windows of Heaven truly open in many ways and our providing takes place. Our faith in the Saviour and trust in His words will continue to grow. We will find the most desirable of all our goals will take the most determination to achieve but will be worth every effort. This process can work in reverse and bring loss of spirituality if we are not careful. If we commit sins, we are tried with feelings of regret and remorse. And if we do not heed those feelings and change, further sins come more easily. The result is withdrawal of the Spirit and loss of potential blessings. #RandolphHarris 9 of 18
A life with inner peace and happiness can also be ours if we are willing to earn it. It is marvelous to develop this way of living while you are still very young. You have many years to develop even further great spiritual strength and understanding by applying what the Lord has taught us. Entitlement is not the person who keeps trying to please one’s boss but either lacks the skill or the clear instruction from management to perform well, and who is therefore always getting poor job evaluations. Entitlement is the person whose poor job evaluations result from one’s refusal to invest one’s full energy and commitment in one’s job and who consistently underperforms, not because one lacks the skills or has not received clear instructions from management but simply because one sees no reason to; individuals like this believe that they deserve that paycheck for reasons completely unrelated to how well one performs, an that the company is luck to have him or her. Entitlement is not the spouse who feels inadequate because one’s partner is always expressing one’s frustration with their marriage and with the role one plays in it, even though one tries hard and wants things to be better. Entitlement is the spouse who feels inadequate because one’s partner is always expressing one’s frustration with their marriage and with the role one play in it, even though one tries hard and wants things better. Entitlement is the spouse who thinks everything going wrong in their marriage is their partner’s fault, and that if one does not shape up, one might lose the other. Since one has already made all the contributions to their marriage one needs just to be on the basis of who one is, one’s completely justified in just sitting back now and waiting for one’s spouse to fix whatever is wrong, without any help from their partner. #RandolphHarris 10 of 18
There are many more illustrations, but the many faces of entitlement will always have at least most of these characteristic: An attitude of being special—“I’m exception—and in fact, I’m far greater value to this marriage (of family, or company) than the rest of them, and that’s why I deserve special treatment. They’re lucky to have me.” An attitude of being owed, of deserving something—“I didn’t create this situation—they’re the ones who are always complaining. So why should I do all the work, or even any of it? As far as I’m concerned, I should just stay in my office till they’ve cleaned up this mess. And my bonus had better not be any smaller than any of the others because of it.” A refusal to accept responsibility—“Why do they want me to pay rent? I didn’t ask to be born. Besides, this will still be their house after I move out. And I can’t pay rent anyway, because I don’t have a job. None of the dead-end jobs around here are worthy my time and effort and there’s no reason I should do my own laundry—Mom has to do hers and Dad’s anyway—she can just do mine at the same time. It’s no extra work.” A denial of one’s impact on others—“Sometimes my husband and kid’ lack of responsibility bothers me, and I say exactly what I feel. I’m telling them the truth. I don’t sugarcoat it and I don’t tone down my language, my volume, or how long I talk. They overreact to what I’m saying, and that’s their problem. It’s a free country, and I can say what I need to say.” Whatever the cause of the sense of entitlement, the end result is that the person believes that one does not have to ply by the rules of responsibility, ownership, and commitment. And the end result of entitlement is predictable: The entitled person feels good and live badly, while those around one feel bad about the situation but have more successful relationships and careers. #RandolphHarris 11 of 18
It is tempting to make excuses for our loved ones (or ourselves) who evidence an attitude of entitlement, but the only effective response is to take responsibility, not to make excuses. People’s life experiences may influence them toward entitlement. However, they do not create entitlement. Many people who have suffered greatly in life, experiencing poverty, child abuse, and chaos, still take responsibility for their lives and choices, blaming no one. And there are individuals who have had it all—love, support, opportunity—who nevertheless see themselves as “owed”—by life, by society, by those around them. If you have an entitled person in your life, you may feel responsible for the part you may have played in influencing that attitude, or you may simply feel compassion for their circumstances. And it is certainly possible that you have made mistakes in your relationship with them. It is possible that life may have thrown them curves. However, those mistakes, those obstacles of life, do not create irresistibly an entitlement attitude; if they did, then all people who experiences those things would approach life with an attitude of entitlement, and they do not. At some point in life, people choose entitlement. They direct themselves toward an entitled viewpoint. Why? Ultimately, it is because—at least in their view—it is the easy way. Entitlement has become a serious problem in our society, and it is not getting better. It is impossible to calculate its cost in lack of company productivity, family success, relational love, emotional health, and spiritual vibrancy. Our World suffers greatly from a culture that supports entitlement. The disease is not limited to any age or socioeconomic demographic. #RandolphHarris 12 of 18
Entitled people are not easy to be around. Their attitude and their behaviour produce consequences none of us wants to experience. People who live around an employee, a coworker, a spouse, or a child who feels “above it all” generally feel disconnected and alienated from the entitled individual. We all find it hard to relate to someone who thinks one is superior in some way to the rest of the human race and therefore should not have to play by the rules. One father told me, “I remember being full of myself in my youth. But I did care about how I impacted my friends and family. My daughter’s level of entitlement is something entirely else. I cannot relate to it. She simply does not care how she affects us in the family, much less how she is impacting her future. I fear she may end up homeless or confined to a psychiatric ward.” God expects us to spend time and energy carrying our loads of responsibility for family, finances, and other challenges. That is how a successful life works. So what happens when someone in your life takes little ownership of their own load, leaving you to make up the difference? You feel angry, which makes sense. You feel that everything is “not right,” because it truly is not right. All of us exhibit some level of entitlement attitudes, even highly responsible and giving people. It is just part of the human condition. However, when one deems something worthwhile, be it a career or financial dream, a great family or marriage or some self-care goal, one has two ways to go about it. Entitlement directs one to give the minimum, find the shortcut, and think only of one’s self. However, the more rational path takes the opposite track. This habit focuses on doing whatever is best to reach the good goal, even if it is difficult, uncomfortable, takes longer, and requires more energy. #RandolphHarris 13 of 18
A sense of entitlement (which is the polar opposite of a sense of responsibility) is endemic among children today. It is fostered by our demanding, narcissistic society where wants are confused with needs and where everyone seems focused on the notion that one deserves what everyone else has without working for it. Youth grow up in a reality-show World, thinking of themselves as the central character on television. They even adopting the same attitudes of some of their favourite stars and try to act out TV shows. And they believe they are worthy of not having limits, boundaries, nor discipline. The entitlement problem affects one’s education as one feels that they do not have to work for their grades. It affects relationships because people expect their parents to live their lives for them, well into adulthood. A sense of entitlement impacts one’s ability to set reasonable goals because when one is entitled the World is owned to them. It has an effect on their health and their safety because they feel entitled to eat what they want, go to bed when they want, and do things they know is not safe. Drawing realistic lines between deserving and undeserving matters a lot in our individual lives. While we might feel jealous of the kid who either works for a new car or gets a new car—and a free ride in other areas of life, too—we have to remember opportunity costs. Everyone has to give up something to receive whatever it is they have. And just like you, how long are you going to continue to harp on what someone else has? You could spend your entire life jealous over someone else’s blessings and still not happy when you obtain the same thing because you are not happy with yourself, your life. #RandolphHarris 14 of 18
The closer we are to Jesus Christ in the thoughts and intents of our hearts, the more we appreciate His innocent suffering, the more grateful we are for the grace and forgiveness and the more we want to repent and become like Him. Our absolute distance from Heavenly Father Jesus Christ is important, but the direction we are heading is even more crucial. God is more pleased with repentant sinners who are trying to draw closer to Him than with self-righteous, faultfinding individuals who, like the Pharisees and scribes of old, do not realize how badly they need to repent. Whatever our current direction or distance to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, we can choose to turn toward Them and draw closer to Them. They will help us. The close to the Saviour we draw, the more our faith increases, and we are able to make and keep covenants, and have the Holy Ghost with us. We must also act in faith, responding to the spiritual direction we receive. All of these elements come together in the sacrament. Indeed, the best way I know to draw closer to God is to prepare conscientiously and partake worthily of the sacrament each week. Although a variety of life experiences can elicit feelings of gratitude, gratitude prototypically stems from the perception of a beneficial personal outcome, not necessarily deserved or earned, that is due to the actions of another person. People who have gratitude feel a warm sense of appreciation for somebody or something, a sense of goodwill toward that person or thing, and a disposition to act that flows from appreciation and goodwill. The virtue of gratitude is the willingness to recognize that one has been the beneficiary of someone’s kindness, whether the emotional response is present or not. #RandolphHarris 15 of 18
The practice of gratitude is not in any way a denial of life’s difficulties. We live in troubling times, and do doubt you have experienced many challenges, uncertainties, and disappointments in your own life. Nor does the practice of cultivating gratitude deny the truth that old age, sickness, and death are certain. Rather, gratitude practice is useful because it turns the mind in such a way that enables you to live into life. Having access to the joy and wonderment of life is the antidote to feelings of scarcity and loss. It allows you to meet life’s difficulties with an open heart. The understanding you gain from practicing gratitude frees you from being lost or identified with either the negative or the positive aspects of life, letting you simply meet life in each moment as it rises. There are numerous ways to use mindfulness to cultivate gratitude. Of course, you acknowledge your appreciation when things are going well. However, even more helpful is to notice those things for which you are grateful when you find yourself in a contracted physical or emotional state. I often instruct students to respond to a difficult situation by acknowledging that the situation is difficult, but always to have the faith that they can find a legal, ethical, and virtuous way to escape from it. The best way to get out of a bad situation, however, is not to get into one. We need to know right from wrong and set great examples for our children. When you look at how much griping you are doing versus how much gratitude you feel, you may realize how far off your emotional response is from your real situation. Gratitude for the grace of conscious embodiment evolves into the practice of selfless gratitude, in which your concerns slowly but surely shift from being mostly about yourself and those close to you to being about all living beings. #RandolphHarris 16 of 18
As this occurs you need less and less in the way of good fortune. It becomes enough that there are those who are happy, who are receiving love, who are safe, and who have a promising future. It is not a state of gratitude, you are able to rejoice that joy exists amid all life’s suffering. You realize that pain and joy are part of a mysterious whole. When this state of selfless gratitude starts to flourish, one’s mind becomes more spacious and quiet, and one’s heart receives its first tastes of release from fear and wanting. Commitment reflects one’s values, intentions, and priorities; therefore it fosters clarity. In contrast, attachment is an unwholesome mental state in which one becomes overly identified with a desired outcome. The more centered and free from grasping one’s mind is, the better able one is to sustain a commitment over time and to make clear decisions along the way. You are also less likely to cause harm in pursuing your goals. If you truly want to achieve something, be unswerving in your commitment to moving toward your goal but be flexible in your mind about the outcome. Let us be honest. Most of our attachments are not derived from lofty goals or heartfelt commitments. They are about feeding our ego, expressing our views and opinions, pleasing our senses, and being seen as we wish to be seen. Or they are about not being uncomfortable, not having to endure things that irritate us, and not feeling physical or emotional pain. All of this mundane attachment accounts for a great deal of the chaos in our lives, and it does not actually help us get what we want! It is pretty much a total waste of precious energy and a major cause of disappointments. #RandolphHarris 17 of 18
Practicing generosity is the intention to find release from attachment and egoism by giving freely of whatever you have of value. What you have to give may be material in nature or it may be your time, energy, or wisdom. Committing to kindness eradicates the attachment that comes from feelings of scarcity and separateness. Paradoxically, practicing bigheartedness is also self-liberation, yet it is not self-centered. True generosity arises out of unconditional caring and compassion for another. It does not mean self-sacrifice or recklessly giving everything away. Such acts are actually grandiosity disguised as generosity. The form your generosity takes is up to you, as it can only come from your values and what you have to offer. Remember, it is your authentic intentions that matters, even if it is imply a sincere wish that in time you will become more spontaneously generous. Generosity means practicing generous behaviour in all aspects of your life, not just giving away money or sharing material possession. Certainly the emotional impulse to practice generosity most easily arises when you participate in providing sustainability for others, whether it is shelter, food, clothe, or medicine. However, with less immediate life needs, such as education, safety, or earning a living, the appropriate form of generosity may be a gift of your time. When it comes to intangibles such as justice and dignity, it may be most appropriate to voice your support. Generosity is, along with compassion, a cornerstone of mindful association. #RandolphHarris 18 of 18
CRESLEIGH HAVENWOOD
Lincoln, CA | from the high $600s
Now Selling!
Home Site 66 is a Residence Three, the largest of the single story homes offered in Cresleigh Havenwood. At 2,827 square feet you’ll be hard pressed to a contemporary floorplan that offers this much space.
There are four bedrooms, two and one half bathrooms, and a three car garage. Utilize the den as your own private study or playroom. The Dining Room and Kitchen are well situated to make entertaining a breeze.
The location of the Owner’s Suite makes it feel like a separate wing from the rest of the home allowing for maximum privacy and retreat.
This home includes over $34,000 in options and upgrades including:
• Durable luxury vinyl plank flooring throughout the first floor
• White Shaker Cabinetry with Soft-Close Doors & Drawers
• Over Island Pendants and Under-Cabinet Lighting
• Upgraded Appliances
• Flat-Screen pre-wire in Great Room
• Additional Upper Cabinetry at Drop Zone
• Owned Solar
Best of all, each Cresleigh home comes fully equipped with an All Ready connected home! This smart home package comes included with your home and features great tools including: video door bell and digital deadbolt for the front door, connect home hub so you can set scenes and routines to make life just a little easier. Two smart switches and USB outlets are also included, plus we’ll gift you a Google Home Hub and Google Home Mini! https://cresleigh.com/havenwood/quick-move-homesite-66/
The Marks of Estrangement
Until the fifth century A.D., much of western Europe lay within the Roman Empire, a vast collection of territories including parts of the Middle East and North Africa. In Europe itself during the centuries of Roman rule, much of the native Celtic population had become highly Romanized in its culture (6-7), political allegiance and legal practices. However, in the last few centuries of the Roman Empire, the Germanic tribes which had long lived on the eastern fringes of the European provinces moved into the Romanized lands in large numbers. This wave of “barbarian” invasions, along with severe political and economic problems, gradually killed off the Roman Empire, which was replaced by a number of Germanic successor kingdoms, including those of the Franks in Gual (modern France), the Visigoths in Spain, the Ostrogoths in Italy, the Burgundians in and around what is now Switzerland, and the Anglo Saxons in England. The Germanic tribes brought with them a very different society from that of Rome. Whereas Roman civilization was highly urbanized, to further highlight this illustration, the Germans had until then seldom settled even in villages. The Romans had a long history of written legislation; the Germans used a system of customary law which had not yet been written down. Different practices regarding marriage and family can be seen in the extracts from Roman and Germanic law. Centuries of contact between the Germans and the empire, however, had wrought changes on both sides, and now, as the Germans settled in what had long been Roman territory, further mingling of the two cultures occurred. The Germanic Kingdoms which were established inside the old boundaries of the now defunct empire were by no means entirely Germanic in their ethnic makeup of their culture. #RandolphHarris 1 of 18
Even more influential than Roman tradition in this process of change was the religion of the late Roman Empire. Christianity had originated in Palestine, where a small group of Jewish people believed that the wandering Jewish preacher, Jesus, who had been executed by the Roman authorities early in the first century A.D., was the “Christ,” the son of God and saviour of humanity. They based their faith in part on the sacred books of the Jewish religion, but also created their own new Scriptures as they recorded the events of Jesus’ life and wrote letters to each other. Although Christians were persecuted at first by both the Jewish religious authorities and the Roman government, their religion survived and spread. In the year 313 it received approval from the Roman emperor Constantine, and in the late fourth century it became the official religion of the empire. The cultural initiative of the late Roman Empire passed from pagan writers to Christian theologians such as St. Jerome and St. Augustine of Hippo, who explored the details of Christian belief and laid the foundation for church law. It was the Christian church, too, which filled the vacuum in leadership during the fifth century, as the Roman World faced widespread military, political and economic crises and the Roman government crumbled. Bishops began to provide the services for which the government had once been responsible; in particular, the Bishop of Rome came to assume a prominent role in Italy, so much so that as the “pope” he was eventually recognized as the leader of the church throughout the western Mediterranean regions. Clergymen and monks also preserved what ancient learning survived the fall of the Roman Empire in the west, and throughout most of the Middle Ages. #RandolphHarris 2 of 18
The church was eager to convert the pagan Germans to Christianity. It accomplished this through intensive mission work and through alliances with Germanic kings, queens, and nobles, who saw advantages to themselves in allying with the existing authority in their new territories. Christian beliefs, including ideas about women, marriage, and family, had already mingled with Roman traditions. Now Christian views were adopted by the Germanic settlers as well. Thus the three main ingredients of medieval European civilization had come together: the Roman, the Germanic and the Christian. The period from the fifth century to the eleventh is often designated the “Early Middle Ages.” This is the time sometimes known as the “Dark Ages” –in part because of the collapse of Roman civilization, with the loss of much classical knowledge, but also because relatively few historical sources remain to tell us of the events of these years. The documents which do survive include the laws which the Germanic and Celtic societies did write down and the works of historians such as Gregory of Tours. Much of the essential character of medieval Europe was already apparent in this early period, especially in religious matters. Monasteries and convents, for example, came to play a key role in economic and cultural life, and many noble families dedicated sons and daughters to the religious life, in which they lived according to monastic “rule” such as that of Caesarius of Arles. Women were encouraged to be nuns, but their other options in the church—serving as deaconesses or in partnership with husbands who were priest—were closed off by the decisions of church councils and by more insidious attitudes. #RandolphHarris 3 of 18
The councils established “canon law” or church law, which regulated the lives of members of the clergy and many aspects of private life for laypeople. For most of the laity, canon law was enforced by the local priest, who heard one’s confession regularly and assigned penance for one’s sins. Thus the church gradually succeeded in imposing on secular society its standards of behaviour in areas such as marriage. The relative stability of the position of craftsmen and merchants which was characteristic in the medieval city, was slowly undermined in the late Middle Ages until it completely collapsed in the sixteenth century. Already in the fourteenth century—or even earlier—an increasing differentiation within the guilds had started and it continued in spite of all efforts to stop it. Some guild members had more capital than others and employed five or six journeymen instead of one or two. Soon some guild admitted only persons with a certain amount of capital. Others became powerful monopolies trying to take every advantage from the monopolistic position and to exploit the customer as much as they could. On the other hand, many guild members became impoverished and had to try to earn some money outside of their traditional occupation; often they became small traders on the side. Many of them had lost their economic independence and security while they desperately clung to the traditional ideal of economic independence. In connection with this development of the guild system, the situation of the journeymen degenerated from bad to worse. While in the industries of Italy and Flanders a class of dissatisfied workers existed already in the thirteenth century or even earlier, the situation of the journeyman could become a master, many of them did. #RandolphHarris 4 of 18
However, as the number of journeymen under one master increased, the more capital was needed to become a master and the more the guilds assumed a monopolistic and exclusive character, the less were the opportunities of journeymen. The deterioration of their economic and social position was shown by their growing dissatisfaction, the formation of organizations of their own, by strikes and even violent insurrections. What has been said about the increasing capitalistic development of the craft guilds is even more apparent with regard to commerce. While medieval commerce had been mainly a petty intertown business, national and international commerce grew rapidly in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Although historians disagree as to just when the big commercial companies started to just when the big commercial companies started to develop, they do agree that in the fifteenth century they became more and more powerful and developed into monopolies, which by their superior capital strength threatened the small businessman as well as the consumer. The reform of Emperor Sigismund in the fifteenth century tried to curb the power of the monopolies by means of legislation. However, the position of the small dealer became more and more insecure; he “had just enough influence to make his complaint heard but not enough to compel effective action.” The indignation and rage of the small merchant against the monopolies was given eloquent expression by Mr. Luther in his pamphlet “On Trading and Usury,” printed in 1524. “They have all commodities under their control and practise without concealment all the tricks that have been mentioned; they raised and lower prices as they please and oppress and ruin all the small merchants, as the pike the little fish in the water, just as though they were lords over God’s creatures and free from all the laws of faith and love.” #RandolphHarris 5 of 18
These words of Mr. Luther’s could have been written today. The fear and rage which the middle class felt against the wealthy monopolists in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries is in many ways similar to the feeling which characterized the attitude of the middle class against monopolies and powerful capitalists in our era. The role of capital was also growing in industry. One remarkable example is the mining industry. Originally the share of each member of a mining guild was in proportion to the amount of work he did. However, by the fifteenth century, in many instances, the shares belonged to capitalists who did not work themselves, and increasingly the work was done by workers who were paid wages and had no share in the enterprise. The same capitalistic development occurred in other industries too, and increased the trend which resulted from the growing role of capital in the craft guilds and in commerce: growing division between poor and rich and growing dissatisfaction among the poor classes. As to the situation of the peasantry the opinions of historians differ. Yet, it seems notwithstanding these evidences of prosperity, the condition of the peasantry was rapidly deteriorating. At the beginning of the sixteenth century very few indeed were independent proprietors of the land they cultivated, with representation in the local diets, which in the Middle Ages was a sign of class independence and equality. The vast majority were Hoerige, a class personally free but whose land was subject to dues, the individuals being liable to services according to agreement…It was the Hoerige who were the backbone of all the agrarian uprisings. This middle-class peasant, living in a semi-independent community near the estate of the lord, became aware that the increase of dues and services was transforming him into a state of practical serfdom, and the village common into a part of the lord’s mannor. #RandolphHarris 6 of 18
Now, let us focus upon religion a little more before we move on. The emphasis upon the ontological basis of the paradox of freedom and responsibility subtly shifts to the meaning of the fate, contained in the idea of “original sin” from a historical to an ontological one. With this shift the emphasis falls upon the fatefulness of sin rather than upon responsibility. When we replace the myth of Genesis with ontological insights, the danger is that the mystery of evil is solved too neatly, with the result that temporal existence itself is considered evil. However, the use of ontology opens to freedom as it is to destiny. Therefore, ontology does not necessarily identify finitude and evil. Creation is not an unfinished work that can be completed only by a touch of evil. Created finite freedom falls universality and consequently the unavoidable, but not logically. The universality and consequently the unavoidability of the fall is not derived from “ontological speculation,” but from a realistic observation of man, his heart, and his history. Some of the greatest philosophers (Mr. Plato, Mr. Origen, Mr. Kant, and Mr. Schelling), attempting to reconcile freedom and evil, conceived the myth of the transcendent fall. Theology, once it rejects a literal interpretation of Genesis, must boldly re-examine universal sinfulness. The supralapsarian Calvinists had the courage to affirm that is God creates, His creation will turn against Him, although their position is tainted with the demonic when they make Adam fall by divine decree. Theology must take seriously, and thus ontologically, the universality of sin. If the problem is posed in terms of guilt, we find that the inevitability of a guilty conscience the normal consequence of man’s finite freedom, even in what he considers his best deed nonbeing is present and prevents it from being perfect. #RandolphHarris 7 of 18
A good conscience is impossible: Only self-deception can give a moral conscience, since it is impossible not to act since every action implies guilt. However, again, the guilt is not finitude as such, but rather the self-assertiveness of the finite being in its pride, concupiscence, and separation from its ground. A down-to-Earth example of the guilt which attaches to the transition from essence to existence is the severing of family connections: We cannot cut the ties with our family without being guilty. However, the question is: Is it willfulness which demonically disrupts the family communion, or is it the step toward independence and one’s own understanding of the will of God which divinely liberates us from the bondage to our family? We never know the answer with certainty. We must risk tragic guilt. What are the characteristics of human existence as a result of the Fall? In general terms they are as follows: The state of existence is the state of estrangement. Man is estranged from the ground of his being, from other beings, and from himself. The transition from essence to existence results in personal guilt and universal tragedy. In more specific terms, they are estrangement and sin, two closely related, but not identical concepts. Estrangement means that man as he exists is not what he essentially is and ought to be. However, the special force of estrangement is the connotation that man belongs to that form which he is cut off. For separation presupposes an original unity. It is impossible to unite that which is essentially separated. Without an ultimate belongingness no union of one thing with another can be conceived. Just as nonbeing depends upon being, and the negative depends upon the positive, so estrangement depends upon union. Unity embraces both itself and estrangement, and the latter is overcome by reunion. #RandolphHarris 8 of 18
Sin is estrangement with the addition of one extremely important factor, namely, the personal act of turning away from that to which one belongs. Sin is separation, estrangement from one’s essential being. Sin is the unreconciled duality of ultimate and preliminary concerns, of the finite and that which transcends finitude, of the secular and the holy. Because of sin, man’s essential nature stands against him as law, not as strange law, but as a natural law, for it represents his true nature from which he is separated. Human estrangement, as is usually the case, sin and estrangement are equivalent. Man’s predicament is one of estrangement, but this is not to say that it is a state of things like the law of gravity. For estrangement always combines the two factors of personal freedom and universal destiny. Nor must sin be understood as “sins,” that is, particular acts which are considered morally evil. “Sins” are expressions of sin; their sinfulness lies not in disobedience to a law, but in the estrangement from God, from men, and from self to which they bear witness. There are “the marks of estrangement.” “Unbelief” is a mark of estrangement because it is the act or state in which man in the totality of his being turns away from God. “Hubris” is another sign of estrangement, for by it man distorts his naturally good centeredness of self-consciousness by elevating himself as the absolute center of his World. He usurps the place of the divine. The last mark of estrangement is “concupiscence,” “the unlimited desire to draw the whole of reality into one’s self.” Concupiscence is seen in man’s unbounded, insatiable strivings for knowledge, pleasures of the flesh, and power. There is a distinction between original sin and actual sin and it is the difference between sin as fact and sin as act. Adam represents essential man, and his fall symbolizes the transition from essence to existence. Consequently, sin as the universal fact embracing both freedom and destiny precedes sin as an individual act. #RandolphHarris 9 of 18
The individual act of sin actualizes the universal fact of estrangement. Protestantism’s insistence upon the absoluteness of turning from God results in a loss of psychological insight and of educational flexibility. However, is there such a thing as collective estrangement? Strictly speaking, no, because a social group has no natural center of decision corresponding to the self of the individual person. Therefore, there is no collective sin, no collective guilt. However, since freedom and destiny work together, members of a social group could be guilty, not of committing the crimes of which their group is accused, but of contributing to the destiny in which these crimes happened. When it comes to the detection of visions as from God or from a psychopathological offender, these “visions” are the result of disease, the detection of divine from visions of a psychopathological offender depends a great deal upon knowledge of the Word of God and the fundamental principles of His working in His children. These may be briefly stated thus: That no supernatural “visions,” in any form, can be taken as of God if it requires a condition of mental nonaction, or comes while the believer is in such a condition. That all the Holy Spirit’s enlightening and illuminating vision is given when the mind is in full use, and every faculty awake to understand; id est, the very opposite condition to that required for the working of psychopathological offenders. That all which is of God is in harmony with the laws of God’s working as set forth in the Scriptures, exempli gratia, “World-wide movements” by which multitudes are to be gathered in are not in accord with the laws of the growth of the Church of Christ, as show in the grain of wheat (John 12.24); the law of the cross of Christ (Isa. 53.10); the experience of Christ; the experience of Paul (1 Cor. 4.9-13); the “little flock” of Luke 12.32; the foreshadowed end of the dispensation given in 1 Timothy 4.1-3 and 6.20-12. #RandolphHarris 10 of 18
Many a believer has left his path of “grain-of-wheat multiplication” caught by a vision of a “World-wide sweeping in” of souls—a concept given by psychopathological offenders, whose malignant hatred and ceaseless antagonism is directed against the true seed of Jesus Christ, which in union with Him will bruise the serpent’s head. To delay the birth (John 3.3,5) and growth of the holy seed (Isa. 6.13) is the psychopathological offender’s aim. To this end one will foster any widespread surface work of the believer, knowing it will not really touch his kingdom, nor hasten the full birth into the Throne-life of the conquering seed of Christ. The safe path for believers at the close of the age is one of tenacious faith in the written Word as the sword of the Spirit, to cut the way through all the interferences and tactics of the forces of darkness, to the end. Wisdom gives greater strength than ten rulers in a city. The true guardians of a city are not its armed men; its consecrated teachers are its guardians. A city that has no school which teaches the Word of God, that city cannot endure. Ignorance cannot yield true righteousness, nor lack of knowledge flower into piety. The Book of Mormon gives man insight into God’s ways that one may fulfill the divine call: “Know the God of your fathers and serve Him.” When Jacob’s voice is heard in study and payer, the hands of Esau are powerless against him. Toil not merely for Worldly goods, find time also for the study of the Book of Mormon; for if you lack knowledge, what have you acquired? If you have acquired knowledge, what do you lack? One who increases one’s possessions, increases one’s worries, but one who increases one’s knowledge in the Book of Mormon, adds to the fullness of life. There let us turn to the Book of Mormon and study it diligently, for we can find everything therein. Let us not depart from the Book of Mormon, nor swerve from contemplating its wisdom. Though we grow old and gray in its study, it will yield us rich reward. One who honours, the Book of Mormon will oneself be honoured by all men. Yea, great is Truth; above all things it is triumphant. #RandolphHarris 11 of 18
When dealing with identity and interpersonal competence, there is an evolution of recreational agencies as apt here as elsewhere. In their primitive phase, recreational agencies have aimed, through charitable and philanthropic means, to relieve the discomforts of individuals which were assumed to arise from lack of leisure or recreation. Poor children, overworked employees, youths in need of “character-building,” were the special recipients of such attention. One not inconsiderable social problem was solved by occasionally relieving parents of their children. No disparagement is implied; the achievements of agencies so oriented have been substantial, as visibly demonstrated by thousands of playgrounds, parks, Boy Scout camps and YMCA’s built under bother public and private auspices. Of course, the form of recreation is not necessarily synonymous with the form of agency which provides it, though often it may be inferred, and the same forms of recreation may be provided with diverse intentions. At the second phase of agency evolution, we come to those who can hardly speak of play without calling it “play therapy.” Music and painting as such are unaffected by the Salvation Army band leader who is motivated by the slogan that “the boy who blows a horn will never blow a safe,” or the settlement house aide who feels that finger-painting will help her unhappy charges to “work out their conflicts.” However, the question is raised whether music and painting are as likely to engross their intended beneficiaries under such conditions. If not, the end desired will be defeated by the means employed. #RandolphHarris 12 of 18
The fatigue of a worker may be increased by a sense of obligation to participate “on his own time” in a company sports program supposedly for his benefit. Compulsory sociability, prescribed as a medicine, has been the poison of persons and even large groups. In the evolution of recreation agencies, it probably cannot be maintained that the therapeutic approach is in any way an improvement over the charitable approach. Its very purposefulness too often betrays it. Not a few such programs for curbing juvenile delinquency by recreation have turned out to be, at least in the eyes of their recipients, programs for curbing juvenile delinquents. As we come to the third phase in the development of recreational agencies, therefore, the sharpest kind of distinction needs to be made between programs for providing recreational opportunities and programs of recreation. It is not precise enough to speak simply of providing recreation. The program for providing recreational opportunities can probably be that of any agency: the program of recreation can only be that of the participants, otherwise it ceases to be recreation. It is but a short step from the voluntary associations for recreation for which Americans show such genius to the phase of planning, in which the participants themselves take responsibility for providing their own opportunities and facilities to engage in common avocations. Some of these voluntary associations are the finest examples of democratic planning. The rod and gun clubs have taken the initiative at every point in widening the interest in their craft, in encouraging skill, in establishing codes of fair play, in creating state conservation departments and passing conservation laws, and in being watchdogs on the expenditure of license fees. #RandolphHarris 13 of 18
No better example of popular participation in the actual execution of planned programs exists than the wholehearted, voluntary work of rod and gun club members in restocking streams. Here also an executive agency of the government has acted in its least paternalistic yet most advanced planning role. These clubs may serve as a guide to other agencies who wish to maximize participation. Most agencies, apart from those that provide recreational opportunities for children and certain specially disadvantaged parts of the population, tend to be governed by the participants in their activities. Even with children, there is a frequent strife over adult domination; the young participants want control of the process of rule-making would seem integral to play. The notable exceptions to agencies controlled by their clientele are, of course, commercial amusements, and, to a certain extent, public institutions like parks and museums. Commercial amusement institutions especially, but many non-commercial public and private recreation agencies as well, constitute a vast new industry, or series of industries. In addition to the enormous sums spent each year by spectators for admission to hear and see professional performers of every kind, there is tremendous expenditure for purchase or rent of equipment to be used by amateurs in every category of recreation. Much of the trade of hotels, restaurants, and their derivatives depends on customers bent on recreation rather than business; the same can be said for travel facilities. If it can be shown that recreation is not only a needed medicine for an industrial people, but that it contributes positively to their over-all competence, it makes an economic contribution which ultimately leads to greater productivity. #RandolphHarris 14 of 18
If, as seems probable, creativity is enhanced through recreation, and this creativity leads to innovation in the conduct of the work of society, then the cost of recreation may be rewarded geometrically. If in the end it turns out that play is neither an escape from work nor a method for therapeutic restoration to working conditions, but that it is an avenue for profitably investing in the human resources of a society, then a culminating irony will crown our already paradoxical evolution in the uses of leisure. Work will not have been deposed from its pace of honour as the creator of wealth, but play will have been raised above it. Leisure time is a gift of God for being refreshed physically, mentally, and spiritually, a time to strengthen bonds with others, to enjoy God’s gifts under the grace of God. “Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while,” reports Mark 6.31. Most people never have enough leisure time. They view work as a necessary evil to earn enough money to do what they want to do in their free time. They live for their evenings, weekends, and vacations. The recreation and entertainment industries love these people. Then there are others who feel guilty when they are not working. After all, God’s Word says we are to “labour” six days and redeem every moment. Where are you in the spectrum between these poles? Neither of these extremes is biblical. Work is not a necessary evil but a God-given calling; leisure tie is not from the Evil One, but a God-given gift. #RandolphHarris 15 of 18
With powerful changes swirling around us and demanding ever quicker responses, it often feels as though we are swimming faster and faster against a huge, unstoppable tide. And too often we are. Perhaps, like the surfer, we should use the energy of the wave itself to carry us forward. The Third Wave we have described could carry America toward a better, more civil, more decent and democratic future. However, it will not unless we distinguish between Second Wave and Third Wave economic, political and social policies. Our failure to make this critical distinction explains why so many well-intentioned innovations only seem to make matters worse. We are living through the birth pangs of a new civilization whose intentions are not yet in place. A fundamental skill needed by policy makers, politicians and politically active citizens today—if they really want to know what they are doing—is the ability to distinguish between proposals designed to keep tottering Second Wave system on life-support from those that spread and smooth our transition to the Third Wave civilization. The factory became the central symbols of individual society. It became, in fact, a model for most other Second Wave institutions. Yet the factory as we have known it is fading into the past. Factories embody such principles as standardization, centralization, maximization, concentration and bureaucratization. Third Wave production is post-factory production based on new principles. It occurs in facilities that bear little resemblance to factories. In fact, an increasing amount is done in homes and offices, cars and planes. #RandolphHarris 16 of 18
The easiest and quickest way to spot a Second Wave proposal, whether in Congress or in a corporation, is to see whether it is still, consciously or not, based on the factory model. American’s schools, for example, still operate like factories. They subject the raw material (children) to standardized instruction and routine inspection. An important question to ask of any proposed educational innovation is simply this: is it intended to make the factory run more efficiently, or is it designed, as it should be, to get rid of the factory model altogether and replace it with individualized, customized education? A similar question could be asked of health legislation, welfare legislation and of every proposal to reorganize the federal bureaucracy. America needs new institutions built on post-bureaucratic, post-factory models. If a proposal merely seeks to improve factory-style operations or to create a new factory, it may be a lot of things. The on thing it is not is Third Wave. People who ran those factories in the brute-force economy of the past liked large numbers of predictable, interchangeable, do not-ask-why workers for their assembly lines. And as mass production, mass distribution, mass education, mass media, and mass entertainment spread through the society, the Second Wave also created the “masses.” Third Wave economies, by contrast, will require (and will tend to reward) a radically different kind of worker—one who thinks, questions, innovates and takes entrepreneurial risk, a worker who is not easily interchangeable. Put it differently, it will favour individuality (which is not necessarily the same as individualism). #RandolphHarris 17 of 18
The new brain-force economy tends to generate social diversity. Computerized, customized production makes possible highly diverse life-styles. Just check the local Wal-Mart with its 125,000 different products, or check the wide choice of coffees now offered by Starbucks against the types sold in America only a few years ago. However, it is not just about things. Much more important, the Third Wave also de-massifies culture, values and morality. De-massified media carry many different, often competing messages into culture. There are not only more varied kinds of work, but also more different kinds of leisure, styles, art, and political movements. There are more diverse religious belief systems. And in multiethnic America, there are also more distinct national, linguistic and sociocultural groups. Second Wavers want to retain or restore the mass society. Third Wavers want to figure out how to make de-massification work for us. The diversity and complexity of Third Wave society blow the circuits of highly centralized organizations. Concentrating power at the top was, and still is, a classical Second Wave way to try to solve problems. However, while centralization is sometimes needed, today’s lop-sided over-centralization puts too many decisional eggs in the basket. The result is “decision overload.” Thus in Washington today Congress and the White House are racing each other, trying to make too many decisions about too many fast changing, complex things that they know less and less about. Third Wave organizations, by contrast, push as many decisions as possible down from the top and out to the periphery. Companies are hurrying to empower employees, not out of altruism but because the people on the bottom often have better information and typically respond faster than the big shots on top to both crises and opportunities. Putting eggs in many baskets, instead of all in one, is hardly a new idea, but it is a one that Second Wavers hate. #RandolphHarris 18 of 18
Ready to build your custom dream home?
Get started today by telling us what you’re wanting and we can schedule an initial consultation.
The Question is Not Who Steals, the Question is Who Does Not Steal
Observing better than Sarah L. Winchester is an industrial spy’s greatest asset, for as the master of detection would agree, mere seeing never catches the latent truth. By observing, the spy penetrates beyond the surface meaning of people, places, events, or things. To further highlight this illustration, a tourist visiting The Winchester Mystery House does not give much thought to the parking lot on the side of the mansion’s exterior. A trained intelligence specialist counts the number of parking spaces. He or she notes whether drivers park vehicles outside the existing lot’s bounds, and the number of people around, and also what they are doing. Furthermore, this parking lot may be considered an overflow space and may in the future be used to expand the building. Additionally, the expert may approximate a rough idea of the incomes the business generates derive from mentally averaging the workers’ vehicles’ years and by nothing the vehicles’ makes. Do the same for the managers’ vehicles. (Managers’ vehicles have reserved spots next to the plant’s exterior walls.) Furthermore, including the automobiles, the intelligence gather will record the arrivals and departures of commercial trucks. The trucks’ logos reveal the identities of suppliers and vendors. And, the pace of commercial traffic may indicate the tempo of production at the facility. Jotting down license plate numbers from the management parking spaces assists in identifying who those people are. Such information, tying the person to their vehicle, may be useful in latter surveillance. The markings on boxes and crates stored outside of the facility often yields clues on what materials or parts the manufacturing processes use. #RandolphHarris 1 of 17
In other words, trained eyes learn a great deal about a business even before they enter the doors. Wait a minute, you say, and point out that none of what has been described above is illegal. If it is not illegal, why is it spying? Whether an activity is legal or ethical or even socially acceptable really does not mean much. If your proprietary secrets leak out legally, you client still has lost an asset. While intelligence specialists may spend many hours debating what is permissible business intelligence and what is industrial espionage, we do not have time to waste performing a witch hunt of the commercial intelligence community. The smart ones realize legal boundaries exist, and they wisely stay behind them by using legal and, depending upon one’s definition, ethical methods. However, as a security professional, you need to look at the information security issues from all perspectives. The criminals you will work to catch and prosecute. Your client may seek criminal and civil remedies against the parties that hired them. The other you will try to block in every legitimate way you can. Just because they agree not to break the law or to violate obvious ethical standards does not equate to them being entitled to your sensitive information. If the information were easy to get, their clients would not hire them to do the business of intelligence work. And, you are allowed to cloak and hide (by legal means) as much as you can from these people. Some corporations even after running background checks on their employees have them further investigated. To see what they are doing on the free time, who they interact with, if they are in danger and what kind of places they visit. #RandolphHarris 2 of 17
When I was a teenager, I was shopping for cars. I went to the BMW lot and there were a lot of sedans. My boss said, “Those BMW coupes are hot, huh?” At the time, I did not understand the laws of supply and demand. I replied, “I don’t know. I see a lot of sedans on the lot.” He then says, “That is what I mean. They are all sold out.” Then I understood. If a product is in short supply, it means demand is extremely high. It does not mean that there is no demand for the other products, just they there may be more of them and the demand may not be as high. A factory tour takes several forms. An industrial spy may simply walk into a plant, which has low security, posing as a prospective employee, a graduate student writing a research paper, a utility meter reader, or as a vendor. If construction is occurring at the site, a spy may don a hard hat, work clothes and gloves, and wear a utility belt. By blending in, the operative can wander around the site asking questions, observing, and even taking photographs. The FBI is great at being undercover, but one thing to take note of is they very seldomly ever drink or do drugs, on or off the job. So, if someone is doing drugs or drinking on the job, they are likely a hack, especially if whatever they are pretending to investigate is pretty benign. When greater security exists, the spy may join a public tour of the facility, if available. Sometimes such tours serve up an information buffet for an observant intelligence gather. Doing research beforehand enhances the tour; knowing what to loo for enables the spy to focus in on critical details in limited time. Library and Internet research, interviews with industry experts and former employees, and discussions with suppliers and vendors constitute good preparation. #RandolphHarris 3 of 17
If public tours are not available, the spy may try to join a vendor, or a service provider’s firm, which permits regular access to the premises. The copy machine technician, for example, gets to see a lot, to hear a great deal, and even to handle documents. Effective spes know what they are after. The shopping list usually includes: Identifying parts and materials used in manufacturing. (Also identifying sources of supply.) Understanding industrial processes and manufacturing steps. The amounts of raw materials andfinished goods on hand. Proprietary techniques, formulas, and control systems used. Software and computer systems employed. Production schedules, shifts, and the number of workers employed. The number of workers in each job classification. Production records, reports, lab notes, or engineering reports and drawings. Machinery or equipment used. Physical dimensions and layout of the plant. Physical characteritics of support areas such as incoming roads, railroads, waterways, docks, parking lots, and employee facilities such cafeteria and break areas. Financial records pertaining to manufacture. Marketing records or sales records petrtaing to production or manufacturre. Any production problems at the site. Any construction in progress at the site. Security measures in place at the facility. If the target contains a research facility, then the intelligence effort will seek: Relevant content of research databases. The identity and job description of key research staff. Project plans, descriptions, and progress reports. Research supplies, materials, and equipment used. Project managers’ reports. Costs or cost account records associated with projects. Any prototypes, models, or preproduction goods created by research efforts. And because some corporations know they are being spied on, they may new employees wait several months before see areas of the business that are off limits. This gives them time to do an adequate investigation of staff. #RandolphHarris 4 of 17
Rarely will any of these targets be lying on a desk with large arrows pointing to them saying “Valuable Secrets.” Instead, the industrial spy learns to gather bits and pieces to build the larger picture. One rivets them together into coherent intelligence. You may notice their reports are detailed, including dates and times, which can be back up by facts, and upon even further investigation, more details and instances than they mentioned are discovered, and placed in a discovery file. Constructing the picture defines the craft of intelligence, a passionate endeavor requiring cunning and filled with intellectual challenge. Any good spy is not physical walking around taking note nor recording people with archaic devices. They may not even record anyone at all. Certain types of recordings are illegal anyway, and could be punishable by penal code, and/or inadmissible in court, especially if they are illegal. The security professional’s response demand equal passion and the ability to stretch one’s mind. And another thing to keep in mind, if you gather illegal evidence (which may not be allowed in court), a judge may allow the opposing side to inter into evidence material that is questionable. Often, the inner commitment required struggles against bureaucratic inertia and politics. For example, the company may remain committed to public tours of the plant despite information security risks. Many corporate officers consider such programs good public relations. A resourceful security specialist, thinking and seeing with a hawk’s predatory eye, must develop ways to blunt the spy’s vision and to cloak any clues the tour affords. Intelligence gathering is a continuum. A plant tour may reveal small clues, moderate clues, or big ones. Security’s aim seeks to keep the collection efforts end of the continuum. Defending everything may be impossible or simply not feasible. #RandolphHarris 5 of 17
Keeping any yardage gained to short distances is a reasonable protection strategy. Some information leaks will occur, especially if your business has size and complexity. Placing roadblocks to deter a spy from climbing high on the information tree remain within the real of effective action. A tour of the plant may allow outsiders to see from the established path processing vats and lines on the worker’s side and not on the path’s side reduces any information telegraphed during the tour. Many such cloaking strategies are available and inexpensive; one just needs to see from a rogue’s viewpoint. Walk through your plant with the operations manager, and point out clues a visitor discovers when doing a “friendly tour.” Such a step will build a relationship with management, and it demonstrates that you are paying attention to detail. Espionage is not a game; it is a struggle we must win if we are to protect our freedom and our way of life. Espionage is the World’s oldest profession. Industrial espionage is the theft of trade secrets by the removal, copying, or recording by technical surveillance of a company’s confidential or protected information for use by a competitor or foreign nations. The protected information may include trade secret, client lists, and other non-public information. If a company is working under a U.S.A. government contract that involves U.S.A. classified information at a company’s facility, then that may be the target of industrial espionage. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation espionage is: whoever knowingly performs targeting or acquisition of trade secrets to knowingly benefit any foreign government, foreign instrumentality, or foreign agent. (Title 18 U.S.C., Section 1831). #RandolphHarris 6 of 17
The Federal Bureau of Investigation defines trade secrets and theft of trade secrets as: Trade secrets are al forms and types of financial, business, scientific, technical, economic or engineering information including patterns, plans, compilations, program devices, formulas, deigns, prototypes, methods, techniques, processes, procedures, programs, or codes whether tangible or intangible, and whether or how stored, compiled, or memorialized physically, electronically, graphically, photographically or in writing, which the owner has taken reasonable measures to protect; and to have an independent economic value. “Trade secrets” are commonly called classified proprietary information, economic policy information, trade information, proprietary technology, or critical technology. The released information, no matter how interesting it is, may not be as fascinating as what a company is keep a secret. Theft or trade secrets occurs when someone knowingly preforms targeting or acquisition of trade secrets or intends to convert a trade secret to knowingly benefit anyone other than the owner. Commonly referred to as industrial espionage. (Title 18 U.S.C., Section 1832). Industrial espionage must not be confused with or compared to competitive intelligence. Competitive intelligence is the legal and ethical activity of systematically gathering, analyzing, and managing information on industrial competitors. This is non-protected information that is collected from open sources such as organizations’ websites, news articles, information presented at trade shows, or company brochures. Competitive intelligence may also include information obtained from public filings such as property records and permits. #RandolphHarris 7 of 17
As previously stated, industrial espionage is not only unethical, but is also a criminal offense under all state criminal statutes and federal law. Over the years, there have been a series of serious industrial espionage cases. One case involved the Avery Dennison Corp, a major United States of America adhesives company, in which company secrets were stolen and sold to Four Pillars, a Taiwanese company that also makes and sells pressure-sensitive production. Another case of corporate espionage was dubbed “Japscam” by the press. Hitachi came into possession of an almost full set of IMB’s Adirondck Workbooks. The workbooks contained IBM design documents and technical secrets that were prominently marked FOR INTERNAL IBM USE ONLY. Hitachi did not return them to IBM. Gillette had a close shave with industrial espionage when company secrets were stolen and offered for sale to a company in the same market. The company reported the attempt to Gillette and an arrest was made of the individual. US Espionage Acs of 1917 was passed to protect the United States of America during a time of war and made it a criminal offense to pass information with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the armed force of the United States of America or to assist the enemies of the United States of America. These offenses were punishable by death or by imprisonment for not more than thirty years of both. Under the US Espionage Act of 1917, it was also an offense to convey false reports or false statements with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the military or naval forces of the United State of America. #RandolphHarris 8 of 17
This also included the promotion of enemies of the United States of America when the country is at war and to cause or attempt to cause insubordination, disloyalty, munity, refusal of duty, in the military or naval forces of the United States of America, or to willfully obstruct the recruiting or enlistment of service of the United States of America. These offenses were punishable by a maximum fine of $10,000 or by imprisonment for not more than twenty years or both. While the Espionage Act of 1917 dealt with espionage and subversion against the United States of America, it did little to provide for the prevention and prosecution of individuals taking part in industrial espionage against private industries. The US Economic Espionage Act of 1996 was passed into law to provide for the prosecution of individuals taking part in industrial or economic espionage and theft of trade secrets that would benefit any foreign government, foreign instrument, or foreign agent. The law specifically addressed trade secrets. An important aspect of the Economic Espionage Acts of 1996 was that it not only allowed for the prosecution of perpetrators, but it also allowed the target company to seek financial reimbursement for losses the organization suffered as a direct result of the theft of trade secrets. This aspect of the law also holds responsible the organization that facilitated, or would have gained from, the industrial espionage and trade secrets stolen from the targeted company. #RandolphHarris 9 of 17
The federal espionage laws deal with the protection of US government’s interests and espionage perpetrated by foreign government, businesses, and agents. To resolve this situation, the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, published by the Uniform Law Commission in 1979 and later amended in 1985, has the goal of providing a uniform act as a legal framework for trade secrets protection for the private industry within the United States of America. The Uniform Trade Secrets Act aimed to codify standards and remedies regarding the misappropriation of trade secrets that emerged in common law on a state-to-state basis. In order to provide for the prosecution of private individuals and organizations without foreign influence, most states have passed industrial espionage laws. Depending on the state where one is located, that state’s laws need to be examined. No matter how many changes our country has experienced in deciding who is an ally and who is an adversary, the role of intelligence gathering has not changed; America’s interests are paramount. And monitoring and helping to protect those interests has been our constant mission for more than sixty years. In the course of fulfilling that mission, we have brought talent, creativity, and even genius to bear in shaping and refining the business of intelligence. Intelligence is a high-risk endeavor—a lot can go wrong. The fact that we have achieved so many successes over the years, even in the face of spectacular failures, attests to the commitment and persistence of the extraordinary men and women who have developed the field-tested practices and techniques that have brought about intelligence breakthroughs. #RandolphHarris 10 of 17
There have been intelligence operations throughout history, but the American services are in many ways the most highly developed intelligence-gathering organizations in the World. And the country’s leadership expects much from our individual intelligence officer in carrying out the challenging requirement assigned to them to serve our country’s intelligence. Economic espionage cost U.S.A. companies $100 billion each year. More than 56 percent of the Fortune 1000 admit to having been victimized, and more than likely, a considerable portion of the other 44 percent are either too reticent to admit or simply have not yet discovered that they, too, have been targeted and/or victimized by corporate spies and thieves. America’s nationwide economic espionage crisis is unique in several respects. It represents the first time a crisis of such mammoth proportion has been acknowledged to affect every company in every industry group without exception and at the same time. Without question, economic espionage is a gargantuan growth industry and one of the biggest crises to hit U.S.A. businesses en masse in history. And in an age of globalization, economic espionage gets bigger and easier to commit every day. When, in 1999, then FBI Director Lousi Freeh called economic espionage the most severe threat to our nation’s security since the Cold War, he went on to claim that U.S.A companies are under constant economic attack from foreign countries, stating that in the mid-1990s, FBI investigation uncovered “23 countries are engaged in economic espionage activity against the United States.” However, Former Congressman Dave McCurdy, who served as chair of the House of Intelligence Committee, thinks Mr. Freeh grossly understated the problem. Mr. McCurdy believes 100 of the World’s 173 nations re actively waging economic espionage against U.S.A. businesses. “The question is not who steals,” Mr. McCurdy said. “It is who doesn’t steal.” #RandolphHarris 11 of 17
In medieval society the economic organization of the city had been relatively static. The craftsmen since the later part of the Middle Ages were united in their guilds. Each mast had one or two apprentices and the number of masters was in some relation to the needs of the community. Although there were always some who had to struggle hard to earn enough to survive, by and large the guild member could be sure that he could live by his hand’s work. If he made good chairs, shoes, bread, saddles, and so on, he did all that was necessary to be sure of living safely on the level which was traditionally assigned to his social position. He could rely on his “good works,” if we use the term here not in its theological but in its simple economic meaning. The guilds blocked any strong competition among their members and enforced co-operation with regard to the buying of raw materials, the techniques of production, and the prices of their products. In contradiction to a tendency to idealize the guild system together with the whole of medieval life, some historians have pointed out that the guilds were always tinged with a monopolistic spirit, which tried to protect a small group and to exclude newcomers. Most authors, however, agree that even if one avoids any idealization of the guilds they were based on mutual cooperation and offered relative security to their members. Medieval commerce was, in general, carried on by a multitude of very small businessmen. Retail and wholesales business were not yet separated and even those traders who went into foreign countries, such as the members of the North German Hanse, were also concerned with retail selling. The accumulation of capital was also very slow up to the end of the fifteenth century. #RandolphHarris 12 of 17
Thus the small businessman had a considerable amount of security compared with the economic situation in the late Middle Ages when large capital and monopolistic commerce assumed increasing importance. Much that is now mechanical about the life of the medieval city, was then personal, intimate and direct and there was little room for an organization on a scale too vast for the standards that are applied to individuals, and for the doctrine that silences scruples and closes all account with the final plea of economic expediency. This leads us to a point which is essential for the understanding of the position of the individual in medieval society, the ethical views concerning economic activities as they were expressed not only in the doctrines of the Catholic Church, but also in the secular laws. This position cannot be suspected of attempting to idealize or romanticize the medieval World. The basic assumptions concerning economic life were two: “That economic interests are subordinate to the real business of life, which is salvation, and that economic conduct is one aspect of personal conduct, upon which as on other parts of it, the rules of morality are binding. Material riches are necessary; they have secondary importance, since without them men cannot support themselves and help one another…But economic motives are suspect. Because they are powerful appetites, men fear them, but they are not mean enough to applaud them…There is no place in medieval theory for economic activity which is not related to a moral end, and to found a science of society upon the assumption that the appetite for economic gain is a constant and measurable force, to be accepted like other natural forces, as an inevitable and self-evident datum, would have appeared to the medieval thinkers as hardly less irrational and less immoral than to make the premise of social philosophy the unrestrained operation of such necessary human attributes as pugnacity and the sexual instinct. #RandolphHarris 13 of 17
One must exist for man, not man for riches. At every turn therefore, there are limits, restrictions, warnings against allowing economic interests to interfere with serious affairs. It is right for a man to seek such wealth as is necessary for a livelihood in his station. To seek more is not enterprise, but avarice, and avarice is a deadly sin. Trade is legitimate; the different resources of different countries show that it was intended by Providence. However, it is a dangerous business. A man must be sure that he carries it on for the public benefit, and that the profits which he takes are no more than the wages of his labor. Private property is a necessary institution, at least in a fallen World; men work more and dispute less when goods are private than when they are common. However, it is to be tolerated as a concession to human frailty, not applauded as desirable in itself. The estate must be legitimately acquired. Today the World is changing again, and the overwhelming majority of Americas are neither farmers nor factory workers. Instead, they are engaged in one or another form of knowledge work. America’s fastest growing and most important industries are information-intensive, and the Third Wave sector includes more than high-flying computer and electronic firms and biotech start-ups. It embraces advanced, information-driven manufacturing in every industry. It includes the increasingly data-drenched services—finance, software, entertainment, the media, advanced communications, medical services, consulting, training and education. In short, it includes al the industries based on mind-work rather than muscle-work. The people who work in this sector will soon be the dominant constituency in American politics. #RandolphHarris 14 of 17
Unlike the “masses” during the industrial age, the rising Third Wave constituency is highly diverse. It is de-massified. It is composed of individuals who prize their differences. Its very heterogeneity contributes to its lack of political awareness. It is far harder to unify than the masses of the past. Thus the Third Wave constituency has yet to develop its own think tanks and political ideology. It has not systematically marshaled support from academia. Its various associations and lobbies in Washington are still comparatively new and less well connected. And except for one issue, NAFTA, in which the Second Wavers were defeated, the new constituency has few significant notches on its legislative belt. Yet there are key issues on which this broad constituency-to-come can agree. To start with: liberation. Liberation from all the old Second Wave rules, regulations, taxes and laws laid in place to serve the smokestack barons and bureaucrats of the past. These arrangements, no doubt sensible when Second Wave industry was the heart of the American economy, today obstruct Third Wave development. For example, depreciation tax schedules lobbied into being by the old manufacturing interests presuppose that machines and products last for many years. Yet in the fast-changing high-tech industries, and particularly in the computer industry, their usefulness is measured in months or weeks. The result is a tax bias against high tech. Research and development deductions also favor big, old Second Wave companies over the dynamic start-ups on which the Third Wave sector depends. #RandolphHarris 15 of 17
The current tax treatment of intangibles means that a company with a lot of obsolete sewing machines may well be favored over a software firm that has very little in the way of physical assets. (Even accounting standards, set not by government but by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, favor investment in hardware over information, human resources and other intangibles on which Third Wave companies depend.) Yet changing such rules will mean winning a bitter political fight against the Second Wave firms that benefit from them. Companies in the Third Wave sector have special characteristics. They tend to be young—both in corporate age and in the age of their work force. Work units in them tend to be small compared with those in Second Wave firms. They tend to invest more than average in research and development training, education and human recourses. Ferocious competition forces them to innovate continuously. That means short product lifecycles, and it often implies a rapid turnover of people, tools, and administrative practices. They key assets of these firms are symbols inside the skulls of people. Should these firms and industries be expected play the game according to rules that penalize them for precisely their Third Wave characteristics? Is not this tying America’s hands behind its back? Much of the Third Wave Sector is engaged in providing a dazzling, ever-changing array of services. Instead of decrying the rise of the service sector and continually attacking it as a source of low productivity, low wages, and low performance, should not it be expressly supported and expanded? Should not it at least be freed of old shackles? #RandolphHarris 16 of 17
American needs more, not less, service sector employment to improve the quality of life of its people. That means jobs for everyone from electronics repairment to recyclers, from health-care providers and people who help the elderly to police and firefighters, and—yes—it even means jobs for child-care providers and for domestic workers who are desperately needed in millions of two-income homes. A Third Wave economic policy should not pick winners and losers, but it should clear away the obstacles to professionalization and development of the services needed to make life in America less stressed-out, less frustrating and impersonal. Yet no political party as yet has even begun to think this way. Despite the political lag, the Third Wave constituency is outside the conventional political parties because neither party has so far noticed its existence. Thus it is Third Waver who dominate the new electronic communities springing up around the Internet. And it is these same people who are busy demassifying the Second Wave media and creating an interactive alternative to it. Traditional party politicians who ignore these new realities will be swept aside like M.P.s in nineteenth-century England who imagined their rural, “rotten borough” seats in Parliament were permanently secure. The Third Wave force in America have yet to find their voice. The political part that gives it to them will dominate the American future. When that happens, a new and dramatically different America will rise from the ruins of the late-twentieth century. #RandolphHarris 17 of 17
MAGNOLIA STATION AT CRESLEIGH RANCH
Rancho Cordova, CA | low $600s
Now Selling!
Models now open at Magnolia Station! Located at the corner of Rancho Cordova Parkway and Douglas Road, residents of Cresleigh Ranch will benefit from a brand new neighborhood with convenient access to the new Raley’s Shopping Center, Sunrise Boulevard, and much more!
Magnolia Station will include 81 homesites and five distinct plans ranging from 2,200 – 3,700 square feet; including three single story plans!
Each plan has been thoughtfully designed to include features such as: Generations Suite, Optional Offices/Dens, Extended Great Rooms, and more! https://cresleigh.com/magnolia-station/
The Tranquility of Order
Peace is perfection, a gift from God, a beneficial, dynamic, and healthy state within the soul. Human beings have feeling and emotions, awareness and sensitivity of our environment. However, without order, our attention is divided, distracted, confused, unreliable, and ineffective. We must take responsibility for our actions to receive true peace. One of the greatest secrets in life is the ability to navigate your emotions in a ways that helps you win influence. Emotional intelligence makes it possible to navigate the course of your life without feeling burnt out or frustrated. Depending only on your emotional or rational thinking abilities will only make your life distorted or imbalanced. The automatic or impulsive reaction does not allow you to properly process your thoughts and emotions before taking actions. However, once you can understand how your emotions work, then you can bridge the gap between reaction and adequate response. Remember, no one is responsible for how you are feeling, but you. Just because you are having a bad day does not mean you can lash out at another person for being themselves. If things are not going your way, and you are not feeling like tolerating the public, it may be an excellent idea to take a day off work, stay home, stay inside and get yourself in order before having contact with the outside World. There is a right and wrong way to do everything. A person who has self-control, has strength to see situations clearly. Judge them for what they are. It depends upon the attitude of your mind. Negative attitude disturbs and positive attitude provides peace to the mind. #RandolphHarris 1 of 22
The structure of society and the personality of man changed in the late Middle Ages. The unity and centralization of medieval society became weaker. Capital, individual economic initiative and competition grew in importance; a new moneyed class developed. A growing individualism was noticeable in all social classes and affected all spheres of human activity, taste, fashion, art, philosophy, and theology. This whole process had a different meaning for the small group of wealth and prosperous capitalists on the one hand, and on the other hand for the masses of peasants and especially for the urban middle class for which this new development meant to some extent wealth and chances for individual initiative, but essentially a threat to its traditional way of life. It is important to bear this difference in mind from the outset because the psychological and ideological reactions of these various groups were determined by this very difference. The new economic and cultural development took place in Italy more intensely and with more distinct repercussions on philosophy, art, and on the whole style of life than in Western and Central Europe. In Italy, for the first time, the individual emerged from feudal society and broke the ties which had been giving one the security and narrowing one at one and the same time. The Italian of the Renaissance became the first-born among the sons of Modern Europe, the first individual. There were a number of economic and political factors which were responsible for the breakdown of medieval society earlier in Italy than in Central and Western Europe. #RandolphHarris 2 of 22
Among them were the geographical position of Italy and the commercial advantages resulting from it, in a period when the fight between Pope and emperor resulting in the existence of a great number of independent political units; the nearness to Asia, as consequence of which certain skills which were important for the development of industries, as for instance the silk industry, were brought to Italy long before they came to other parts of Europe. Resulting from these and other conditions, was the rise in Italy of a powerful moneyed class the members of which were filled with a spirit of initiative, power, ambition. Feudal class stratifications became less important. From the twelfth century onwards nobles and burghers lived together within the walls of the cities. Social intercourse began to ignore distinctions of caste. Birth and origin were of less importance than wealth. On the other hands, the traditional social stratification among the masses was shaken too. Instead of it, we find urban masses of exploited and politically suppressed workers. As early as 1231, Frederick II’s political measures were aimed at the complete destruction of the feudal state, at the transformation of the people into a multitude destitute of will and of the means of resistance, but profitable in the utmost degree to the exchequer. The result of this progressive destruction of the medieval social structure was the emergence of the individual in the modern sense. In Italy this veil (of faith, illusion, and childish prepossession) first melted into air; an objective treatment and consideration of the state and of all the things of this World became possible. #RandolphHarris 3 of 22
The subjective side at the same time asserted itself with corresponding emphasis; man became a spiritual individual, and recognized himself as such. In the same way the Greek had once distinguished himself from the barbarian, the Arabian had felt himself an individual at a time when other Asiatics knew themselves only as members of a race. Man discovers himself and others as individuals, as separate entities; he discovers nature as something apart from himself in two aspects: as an object of theoretical and practical mastery, and in its beauty, as an object of pleasure. He discovers the World, practically be discovering new continents and spiritually by developing a cosmopolitan spirit, a spirit in which Dante cant say: “My country is the whole World.” The Renaissance was the culture of a wealth and powerful upper class, on the crest of the wave which was whipped up by the storm of new economic forces. The masses who did not share the wealth and power of the ruling group had lost the security of their former states and had become a shapeless mass, to be flattered or to be threatened—but always to be manipulated and exploited by those in power. A new despotism arose side by side with the new individualism. Freedom and tyranny, individuality and disorder, were inextricably interwoven. The Renaissance was not a culture of small shopkeepers and petty bourgeois but wealthy nobles and burghers. Their economic activity and their wealth gave them a feeling of freedom and a sense of individuality. However, at the same time, these same people had lost something: the security and feeling of belonging with the medieval social structure had offered. #RandolphHarris 4 of 22
They were more free, but they were also more alone. They used their power and wealth to squeeze the last ounce of pleasure out of life; but in doing so, they had to use ruthlessly every means, from physical torture to psychological manipulation, to rule over the masses and to check their competitors within their own class. All human relationships were poisoned by this fierce life-and-death struggle for the maintenance of power and wealth. Solidarity with one’s fellow men—or at least with the members of one’s own class—was replaced by a cynical detached attitude; other individuals were looked upon as “objects” to be used and manipulated, or they were ruthlessly destroyed if it suited one’s own ends. The individual was absorbed by a passionate egocentricity, and insatiable greed for power and wealth. As a result of all this, the successful individual’s relation to his own self, his sense of security and confidence were poisoned too. His own self became as much an object of manipulation to him as other persons had become. We have reasons to doubt whether the powerful masters of Renaissance capitalism were as happy and as secure as they are often pictured. It seems that the new freedom brought two things to them: an increased feeling of strength and at the same time an increased isolation, doubt, scepticism, and—resulting from all these—anxiety. It is the same contradiction that we find in the philosophic writings of the humanists. Side by side with their emphasis on human dignity, individuality, and strength, they exhibited insecurity and despair in their philosophy. #RandolphHarris 5 of 22
This underlying insecurity resulting from the position of an isolated individual in a hostie World tends to explain the genesis of a character trait the became noticeable in the individual of the Renaissance and not present, at least in the same intensity, in the member of the medieval social structure: his passionate craving for fame. If the meaning of life has become doubtful, if one’s relations to other and to oneself do not offer security, then fame is one means to silence one’s doubts. It has a function to be compared with that of the Egyptian pyramids or the Christian faith in immortality: it elevates one’s individual life from it limitations and instability to the plane of indestructibility; if one’s name is known to one’s contemporaries, and if one can hope that it will last for centuries, then one’s life has meaning and significance by this very reflection of it in the judgments of others. It is obvious that this solution of individual insecurity was only possible for a social group whose members possessed the actual means of gaining fame. It was not a solution which was possible for the powerless masses in that same culture nor one which we shall find in the urban middle class that was the backbone of the Reformation. The Renaissance was the period which we saw the beginning of modern individualism and also because the work done by historians of the period throw some light on the very factor which are significant for the main process which this study analyzes, namely the emergence of man from a preindividualistic existence to one in which he has full awareness of himself as a separate entity. #RandolphHarris 6 of 22
However, in spite of the fact that the ideas of the Renaissance were not without influence on the further development of European thinking, the essential root of modern capitalism, its economic structure and its spirit, are not to be found in the Italian culture of the late Middle Ages, but in the economic and social situations of Central and Western Europe and in the doctrines of Mr. Luther and Mr. Calvin. The main difference between the two cultures is this: the Renaissance period represented a comparatively high development of commercial and industrial capitalism; it was a society in which a small group of wealth and powerful individuals ruled and formed the social basis for the philosophers and artists who expressed the spirit of this culture The Reformation, on the other hand, was essentially a religion of the urban middle and lower classes, and of the peasants. Germany, too, had its wealthy businessmen, like the Fuggers, but they were not the ones to whom the new religious doctrines appealed, nor were they the main basis from which modern capitalism developed. As Max Weber has shown, it was the urban middle class which became the backbone of modern capitalistic development in the Western World. According to the entirely different social background of both movements we must expect the spirit of the Renaissance and that of the Reformation to be different. In discussing the theology of Mr. Luther and Mr. Calvin some of the differences will become clear by implication. #RandolphHarris 7 of 22
However, before we go any further, let us cover a few things in more modern times. In 1984, when Gary Hart campaigned for the Democratic Party presidential nomination and won the New Hampshire primary by calling for “new thinking,” the old Second Wave barons in the Democratic Party united to stop him and nominated solid, safe, Second Wave thinker Walter Mondale instead. It is why, more recently, Second Wave Naderites and Second Wave Buchananites found common cause against NAFTA. It is why, when Congress passed an infra-structure bill in 1991, $150 billion was allocated to roads, highways, bridges and potholes—providing profits to Second Wave companies and jobs for Second Wave—unions, while a ere $1 billion was allocated to help build the much-touted electronic superhighway. Necessary as they may be, roads and highways are part of the Second Wave infrastructure; digital networks are the heart of the Third Wave infrastructure. The point here is not whether or not the government should subsidize the digital network, but the imbalance of Second and Third Wave forces in Washington. This imbalance is why Vice President Gore—with one toe wet in the Third Wave—has been unable, despite his efforts, to “reinvent” the government along Third Wave lines. Centralized bureaucracy is the quintessential form of organization in Second Wave societies. Even as advanced corporations, driven by competition, are desperately trying to dismantle their bureaucracies and invent new Third Wave forms of management, government agencies, blocked by Second Wave civil service unions, have managed to stay largely unreformed, unreengineered, unreinvented. They retain, in short, their Second Wave structures. #RandolphHarris 8 of 22
Second Wave elites fight to retain or reinstate an unsustainable past because they gained wealth and power from applying Second Wave principles, and the shift to a new way of life challenges that wealth and power. However, it is not only the elite. Millions of middle-class and poor Americans also resist the transition to the Third Wave because of an often justified fear that they will be left behind, will lost their jobs and slide further down the economic and social slope. To understand the vast inertial power of Second Wave forces in America, however, we need to look beyond the old muscle-based industries and their workers and unions. The Second Wave sector is backed by those elements of Wall Street that service it. It is further supported by intellectuals and academics, often tenured, who live off grants from foundations, trace associations and lobbies that serve it. Their task is to collect supportive data and hammer out the ideological arguments and slogans used by Second Wave forces: for example, the idea that the information-intensive service industries are “unproductive,” or that service workers are doomed to work in low wage jobs or that the economy must revolve around manufacturing. With all this firepower continually battering them, it is hardly surprising that both political parties reflect Second Wave thinking. The Democrats’ reflexive reliance on bureaucratic and centralist solutions to problems like the health insurance crisis is drawn straight from Second Wave theories of efficiency. Despite an occasional politician like Vice President Gore, who recognizes the importance of high technology and who once served as cochair of the Congressional Clearinghouse on the Future, the Democrats remain so heavily indebted to their Second Wave backers in industry, the unions and civil service, that as a party, they remain largely paralyzed in the face of the twenty-first century. #RandolphHarris 9 of 22
From Hart in the ‘80s to Gore in the ‘90s, the party’s core constituencies make it impossible for the Democratic Party to follow its most forward thinking leaders. The party thus finds itself still trapped by its blue-collar image of reality. The failure of the Democrats to make themselves the party of the future (as indeed they once were and have become again in the first quarter of the twenty-first century) had thrown the door wide open for their adversaries. The Republicans are less rooted in the old industrial Northeast, and thus have an opportunity to position themselves as the party of the Third Wave—although their recent Presidents have signally failed to seize this opportunity. And the Republicans, too, rely on knee-jerk Second Wave rhetoric. Republicans are basically right when they call for a broad scale deregulation because businesses now need all the flexibility possible to survive global competition. Republicans are basically right in calling for privatization of government operations because governments, lacking competition, do not generally run things well. Republicans are basically right when they urge us to take maximum advantage of dynamism and creativity that market economies make possible. However, they, too, remain prisoners of Second Wave economics. For example, even the free-market economists on whom Republicans rely have failed, as yet, to come to terms with the new role and inexhaustibility of knowledge. Republicans also are still beholden to some of the corporate dinosaurs of the Second Wave past and to their trade associations, lobbies and policy formulating “round tables.” #RandolphHarris 10 of 22
Moreover, Republicans tend to play down potentially immense social dislocations that are likely to flow from any change as profound as the Third Wave. For example, as skills become obsolete overnight, large numbers of the middle class, including highly trained people, may well find themselves thrown out of work. California defense scientists and engineers are a chastening case in point. Free-marketism and trickle-downism twisted into rigid theological dogma are inadequate responses to the Third Wave. For example, as skills become obsolete overnight, large numbers of the middle class, including highly trained people, may well find themselves thrown out of work. California defense scientists and engineers are a chastening case in point. Free-marketism and trickle-downism twisted into rigid theological dogma are inadequate responses to the Third Wave. A party facing the future should be warning of problems to come and suggesting preventative change. For example, today’s media revolution will bring enormous benefits to the emerging Third Wave economy. However, TV shopping and other electronic services might well slash the number of entry-level jobs in the traditional retail sector, precisely the place some people can find work, and some can get their starts. If free markets and democracy are to survive the great and turbulent transitions to come, politics must become anticipatory and preventive. Yet asking our political parties to think beyond the next election is hard and thankless work. Instead, both parties are busy mainlining nostalgia into their constituents’ veins. #RandolphHarris 11 of 22
The Democrats, for example, until recent years, spoke of “reindustrializing” or “restoring” American industry to its period of greatness in the 1950s. The Republicans, meanwhile, appeal to nostalgia in their rhetoric about culture and values, as though one could return to the values and morality of the 1950s—a time before universal television, before the birth-control pill, before commercial jet aviation, satellites and home computers—without also returning to the mass industrial society of the Second Wave. One side still dreams of River Rogue, the other dreams of Ozzie and Harriet. The religion-based wing of the Republican Party, seeking a return to “traditional” verities, blames liberals, humanist, and Democrats for the “collapse of morality.” It fails to grasp that this crisis in our value system reflects the more general crisis of Second Wave civilization as a whole, and that this upheaval is not limited to America. Rather than asking how to bring about decent, moral, and democratic Third Wave America, most of its leaders merely urge a return to an idealized past. Instead of asking how to make a de-massified society moral and fair, many give the impression that they really want to re-massify America. The difference between the parties, however, is that while the Second Wave “nostalgia pushers” in the Democratic Party are concentrated in its core constituencies, their counterparts in the Republican Party tend to be found on its frenetic fringe. This leaves room for the center of the party, if it is inclusive and open to change, to seize the future—lock, stock and barrel. This is the message that Newt Gingrich, the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, has been trying, but o far with only limited success, to deliver to his own party. If Mr. Gingrich succeeds, and the Democrats remain chained to their pre-computer ideology, they could, for good or ill, be trampled in the political dust. #RandolphHarris 12 of 22
In 1980, Lee Atwater was a top political advisor to President Regan. Later he became President Bush’s jogging companion and campaign manager. Not long after Mr. Regan was elected, Mr. Atwater said that neither party, has a positive image of the future, “and that’s why the campaigning is so negative.” All of America is poorer for our bipartisan myopia. China, in some ways is like no other country in the World. China has positioned its state-owned companies as major cross-border acquirers. Also, most of the major Chinese acquisitions (even by non-state-owned firms) are feared to be state-backed. In the end it often turns out that, in fact, it is the Chinese state that is acquiring Western private companies one after another, albeit indirectly. On the contrary, almost all Western acquirers are purely private firms. As a rule, Chinese acquirers get the foreign currency they need to carry out the transaction not through the foreign exchange market but in a nontransparent way, directly from a state-owned bank—eventually from the state. If the Chinese government considers a particular transaction strategically important to access mineral resources, technologies, and brands, or to boost its geopolitical clout in general, it can allocate much greater funds than those affordable for a private company sticking to the market rationale. Again, China drastically changes the rules of the game in the global business arena. This West has no choice but to put every Chinese acquisition under scrutiny. On the other hand, at this point not only Chinese, but Western governments have not clearly articulated their basic policy concept on the acquisitions pursued by foreign state-owned or government-linked companies. As long as it is not done, their responses will remain spontaneous. #RandolphHarris 13 of 22
When dealing with perspective on family-serving agencies, the arts come into play. It is apparent that the arts recapitulate the range of human activity, just as other forms of recreation are re-creations of workday task. Thus dancing can be seen as an abstraction and idealization of sports; the applied arts, as representations of crafts; storytelling and drama, of sociability; graphic and plastic arts, of intellectual interests; poetry, of reverie (poetry is emotion recollected in tranquillity). Music is the most distilled of all the arts, an evoker of all the forms and feelings of experience, of images suggestive of all the sense, a medium falling not short of words but transcending poetry in its power of abstraction. In pure music, the spirit is free of every toilsome entanglement; music is thus the apotheosis of play, the singer, the paragon of all players. While the practice of artistry may be either by individuals or groups (orchestra, chorus, dramatic companies), and there is some development of artistic contests, there are no games consisting of artistry. Other types of recreation acquire spectators and auditors, but none invite them to quite the degree that artistry does. The way in which the element of chance enters into the artistic situation is largely in terms of the size and composition of the audience it draws. #RandolphHarris 14 of 22
Audience reception is vital to most artists, suggesting that in this type of recreation something occurs between artist and public which is uniquely social. What that something is—the expansion of experience or its unification, the affirmation of human brotherhood or the criticism of life—must still be left to philosophers to ponder, but that such a relation exists seems as true for the amateur milliner as for the professional painter. The phenomenon of style as localized in time, space, and segments of society also testifies to the intensely social aspects of artistry, to the sharing of artistic experience, and its intensification by sharing. The elusive phenomenon of taste is at once a most individual and most social experience; critics testify to the unceasing dialectic of expression and communication in artistic production; art historians, to the efforts of publics to discriminate the ephemeral from the eternal. Like other forms of recreation, it is unquestionable that artistry adds new elements and dimension to experience; at the same time, art always bears a definite and necessary relation to the realities which it represents, it is an idealization or selection of the actual; decoration is always decoration of something; this something is not the design itself but a feature of existence which would be necessary with or without decoration. It is this subtle relationship to the more strictly purposeful and obligatory that puts art and artistry into the realm of play, however intense the seriousness with which they may be themselves pursued. #RandolphHarris 15 of 22
Now what has all this to do with families? Why should recreational agencies be considered as family agencies? If the family is viewed only in traditional terms, as an institution to be preserved, the connection adduced between family welfare and contemporary recreation must appear trifling, or even inimical. If, on the other hand, the measure of a family is taken as its effect in developing competent personalities among its members, the provision of recreational opportunity assumes an importance compounded of functions performed by all the other types of family agencies. It is evident that sports contribute to the development of physical health; crafts, to purposeful choice of vocational identity, and the acquisition of manipulative understanding; sociability, to practice in empathy; reverie, to the integration of self-conceptions; intellectual interests, to the stimulation of intelligence and the improvement of judgement; and the arts, to creativity. Furthermore, beyond these direct contributions to competence lie all the overlapping, complementing, and mutually reinforcing contributions of each type of recreation to the other aspects of competence, as for example, when experience on a baseball team brings out leadership ability, which is then usable in a government job. The evolution of recreational agencies to the present has occurred in less time than the invention of the concrete forms of recreation. It should therefore not be surprising that the current procedures of recreational agencies only faintly foreshadow the shape of their future responsibilities toward the family, and the changes of method which will be necessary to discharge them. Fortunately a number of contemporary thinkers are working on these problems. #RandolphHarris 16 of 22
Americans have resorted to recreation as an escape for the boredom of enforced leisure before they have ceased to think of play as an escape from the drudgery of work. While writings about recreation are scarce, there is some literature on leisure, and it seems significant that much of this was produced during the depression of the nineteen thirties, when so much of traditional social philosophy was being reassessed. As employment resumed, leisure came to be talked of less as a problem and more as a positive value to be pursued. Neither family agencies nor anyone ese has yet devised community-wide, positive programs to fill the vacuum of leisure with recreation. Since play ceases to be play when it is not undertaken for its own sake, an insistence on wholesomeness frequently destroys the appeal of a play program. Yet the family agency which exists simply to promote recreation is rare; so far the agencies which have sought to provide recreation to families have justified their actions by reference to some ulterior, utilitarian purpose. Recreation unquestionably has all the values attributed to it, but these must be trusted to accrue spontaneously; they cannot be forced or directly seized. Only programs which accord recreation a raison d’etre of its own can truly be called positive; only agencies set up to create the optimum conditions for its growth among the whole community have grasped its relevance for the whole society as well as for the whole of culture. #RandolphHarris 17 of 22
Now, when it comes to religious aspects of life, believers may unknowingly develop mediumistic conditions, of which deceiving offenders are not slow to take advantage. They are careful not to frighten the believer by doing anything which will open one’s eyes, so they keep within the range of what one will receive without question. They will portray the Lord Jesus Christ in the particular way which will most appeal to the person, exempli gratia, to some as Bridegroom; to other as King on a throne, and coming in great glory. They will also impersonate the dead to those who grieve after their loved ones, and as they have watched them during life and known all about them, they will give ample “proofs” to confirm the deceived ones in their deception. Visions may come from one of thee sources: the divine, from God; the human, such as hallucinations and illusions because of the disease; and the psychopathological, giving purposely false portrayals. Visions given by psychological offenders can describe anything supernatural presented to and seen by the mind or imagination from outside, such as terrible pictures of the “future,” the flashing of texts as if they were lit up, visions of wide-spreading “movements”—sometimes almost paralleling either a true vision of the Holy Spirit given to the “eye of the understanding” or a normal and healthy action of the imagination. The Church is thus often made a whirlpool of division through pool of division through believers relying upon “text” for guiding their decisions instead of depending on the principles of right and wrong set forth in God’s Word. #RandolphHarris 18 of 22
“The Fall” as a symbol for the transition from essence to existence is broader in scope than the Fall depicted in Genesis, although the latter is its classic expression. Mr. Plato’s myth of “the Fall of the souls” conveys the same notion of the tragic passage from potentiality to actuality. The Fall has universal anthropological significance. To speak of its transition from essence to existence is demythologizing, but only to a limited extent, for in dealing with this question the philosopher commits himself in a matter of ultimate concern and so cannot avoid using myth and symbol. Yet a certain amount of demythologizing is necessary, since the theologian must employ philosophical ideas to explain the Fall. The philosopher cannot avoid existential decisions, and the theologian cannot avoid ontological concepts. Genesis in the Christian Bible, chapters one to three, are the profoundest and richest expression of man’s awareness of his existential estrangement. There are four elements in the transit from essence to existence: the possibility of the Fall, its motives, the event itself, and its implications. The possibility of the Fall lies in the fact that man alone possesses finite freedom. He can contradict his essential nature and destroy his own humanity. Yet man’s freedom is not absolute; it operates within the context of universal destiny. The Fall, although always presented as the Fall of man, is a cosmic event. However, return to the words of Genesis, the Fall is possible because man is made in the image of God, that is, he had freedom of destiny. #RandolphHarris 19 of 22
The motive for the Fall involves a discussion of essential being, of Adam before the Fall. It is a psychological state of dreaming of innocence. A dream anticipates actuality, and, although reality differs from it, still there is a certain correspondence between the two. Innocence is the state of nonactualized potentiality characterized by the absence of experience, responsibility, and guilt, but which, if actualized, puts an end to innocence. The growth of awareness of pleasures of the flesh is a good example of innocence and its loss. The symbol Adam before the Fall must understood as the dreaming innocence of undecided potentialities. In the state of dreaming innocence, freedom and destiny lie within each other, distinct but not separate, intension but not in conflict. They are held in polar unity by the ground of being in which they are rooted. The motives for the Fall are seen in the anxiety which besieges man from without and from withing. From without, the command not to eat the forbidden fruit testifies both to mans aroused freedom, his desire to actualize himself, and to his instinct for self-preservation by obeying the divine prohibition. From within, man is torn by the same anxiety to actualize the freedom of which he is aware and to preserve his innocence by not realizing his potentialities. In either case, under the pressure but not the compulsion of anxiety, man decides for self-actualization. In what sense is the Fall an event? It certainly is not an historical event that happened “once upon a time.” It is a fact, the original fact, in that it is an ontological condition that recedes but touches all of creation. #RandolphHarris 20 of 22
It means that the transition from essence to existence is a universal quality of finite being. The Genesis story stresses the moral element of this quality by highlighting the ethical act of Adam. However, the tragic element which involve the whole cosmos is not absent: The serpent represents the dynamic trends of nature; there is the magical character of the two trees, the rise of sexual consciousness, the curse over the heredity of Adam, the body of the woman, the animals and the land. These symbols point to a cosmic myth which teaches that the individual act of freedom is embedded in a universal destiny. The polarity of freedom-destiny is asserted. Existence is rooted both in ethical freedom and in tragic destiny. The cosmic implications of the Fall introduce the problem of how universal existence is related to man’s existence. These implications are distilled into two questions: How is nature related to fallen man? What is the relationship between creation and the Fall? The Fall rules out a before and after, a change in the structure of nature due to the divine curse laid upon the land. The transition from essence to existence is not an event in time; Adam before the Fall and nature before the curse are man and the World now exist, and it was never otherwise. A simple solution would be to separate innocent nature and guilty man, to speak no more of a fallen World. However, to do so neglects the tragic element of destiny. For within man himself nature is implicated in the Fall. First, in the course of human evolution, there is no absolute discontinuity between animal bondage and human freedom. #RandolphHarris 21 of 22
Secondly, in the development of the human individual, who can say where and when responsibility beings and ends? Thirdly, the discovery of the unconscious reveals a hidden but determining power that influences man’s decision. And, lastly, the social dimension of the “collective unconscious” contributes to the limitation imposed by destiny. In a word, biological, psychological, and sociological factors affect the individual’s decision. However, freedom is the possibility of a total and centered act of the personality, an act in which all the drives and influences which constitute the destiny of man are brought into the centered unity of a decision. None of these drives compels the decision in isolation. Yet, they are effective, and in this way nature represents destiny and participates in the act of freedom. It is possible, in fact necessary, to speak of a fallen World. The tragedy of nature is bound to the tragedy of man, as the salvation of nature is dependent on the salvation of man…for man is in nature and nature is in man. Nature, also, mourns for a lost good. There is no point in time and space in which created goodness was actualized and had existence. There was no paradise just as there will be no utopia. Actualized creation and estranged existence are identical. For example, the newly created infant falls into the state of existential estrangement. Creation and Fall coincide, but not logically, for, when the child matures, it affirms its existential good, but its self-actualization through freedom and destiny results in sin. However, this sin is not a structural necessity; the transition from essence to existence is a leap. Existence can never be derived from essence. #RandolphHarris 22 of 22
MAGNOLIA STATION AT CRESLEIGH RANCH
Rancho Cordova, CA | low $600s
Now Selling!
Models now open at Magnolia Station! Located at the corner of Rancho Cordova Parkway and Douglas Road, residents of Cresleigh Ranch will benefit from a brand new neighborhood with convenient access to the new Raley’s Shopping Center, Sunrise Boulevard, and much more!
Magnolia Station will include 81 homesites and five distinct plans ranging from 2,200 – 3,700 square feet; including three single story plans! Each plan has been thoughtfully designed to include features such as: Generations Suite, Optional Offices/Dens, Extended Great Rooms, and more! https://cresleigh.com/magnolia-station/
Nacho is Trying to Read My Books
For centuries kings, priests, feudal lords, industrial bosses and parent have insisted that obedience is a virtue and that disobedience is a vice. Human history begun with an act of disobedience. Human history was ushered in by an act of disobedience according to the Hebrew and Greek myths. Adam and Eve, living in the Garden of Eden, were part of nature; they were in harmony with it, yet did not transcend it. They were in nature as the fetus is in the womb of the mother. They were human, and at the same time not yet human. All this changed when they disobeyed an order. There are moments of sudden illumination in which man stretched out a commanding arm, as if creating a World, light shining forth and spreading out around him. He is then filled with the deeply gratifying certainty that what enraptured and exalted him into the farthest regions, the height of this one sensation, can never be denied to posterity; in the eternal necessity of this rare illumination for all those to come man sees the necessity of his frame. Far into the future, mankind needs him, and just as that moment of illumination is the embodiment and epitome of his innermost essence, so, too, he believes himself, as the man of this moment, to be immortal, dismissing all others as dross, rot, vanity, brutishness, or pleonasm, leaving them to perish. We view all disappearance and demise with discontent, often with astonishment, as if we experienced in it something at bottom impossible. We are disturbed when a tall tree breaks, and a crumbling Victorian home aggrieves us. Every New Year’s Eve, we feel the mystery of contradiction of being and becoming. #RandolphHarris 1 of 18
What offends moral man above all, though, is that an instant of supreme universal perfection should be destroyed. European and American history since the end of the Middle Ages is the history of the full emergence of the individual. It is a process which started in Italy, in the Renaissance, and which only now seems to have come to a climax. It took over four hundred and fifty five years to break down the medieval World and to free people from the most apparent restraints. However, while in many respects the individual has grown, has developed mentally and emotionally, and participates in cultural achievements in a degree unheard-of before, the lag between “freedom from” and “freedom to” has grown too. The result of this disproportion between freedom from any tie and the lack of possibilities for the positive realization of freedom and individuality has led, in Europe, to a panicky flight from freedom into new ties or at least into complete indifference. Western society underwent radical changes which were accompanied by an equally radical change in the personality structure of man. A new concept of freedom in modern society must start with that period in which the foundations of modern culture were laid, for this formative stage of modern man permits us, more clearly than any later epoch, to recognize the ambiguous meaning of freedom which was to operate throughout modern culture: on the one hand the growing independence of man from external authorities, on the other hand his growing isolation and the resulting feeling of individual insignificance and powerlessness. #RandolphHarris 2 of 18
Our understanding of the new elements in the personality structure of man is enhanced by the study of their origins, because by analyzing the essential features of capitalism and individualism at their very roots one is able to contrast them with an economic system and a type of personality which was fundamentally different from ours. This very contrast gives a better perspective for the understanding of the peculiarities of the modern social system, of how it has shaped the character structure of people who live in it, and of the new spirit which resulted from this change in personality. The period of the Reformation is more similar to the contemporary scene than might appear at first glance; as a matter of fact, in spite of all the obvious differences between the two periods, there is probably no period since the sixteenth century which resembles ours as closely in regard to the ambiguous meaning of freedom. The Reformation is one root of the idea of human freedom and autonomy as it is represented in modern democracy. However, while this aspect is always stressed, especially in non-Catholic countries, its other aspect-its emphasis on the wickedness of human nature, the insignificance and powerlessness of the individual, and the necessity for the individual to subordinate himself to a power outside of himself—is neglected. This idea of the unworthiness of the individual, his fundamental inability to rely on himself and his need to submit, is also the main theme in the ideology of some who are arguably great leaders, but may, however, lack the emphasis on freedom and moral principles which are inherent in Protestantism. #RandolphHarris 3 of 18
This ideological similarity is not the only one that makes the study of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries a particularly fruitful starting point for the understanding of the present scene. There is also a fundamental likeness in the social situation. Then as now a vast sector of the population was threatened in its traditional way of life by revolutionary changes in the economic and social organization; especially was the middle class, as today, threatened by the power of monopolies and the superior strength of capital, and this threat had an important effect on the spirit and the ideology of the threatened sector of society by enhancing the individual’s feeling of aloneness and insignificance. The picture of the Middle Ages has been distorted in two ways. Modern rationalism has looked upon the Middle Ages as an essentially dark period. It has pointed to the general lack of personal freedom, to exploitation of the mass of the population by a small minority, to its narrowness which makes the peasant of the surrounding country a dangerous and suspected stranger to the city dweller—not to speak of a person of another country—and to its superstitiousness and ignorance. On the other hand, the Middle Ages have been idealized for the most part by reactionary philosophers but sometimes by progressive critics of modern capitalism. They have pointed to the sese of solidarity, the subordination of economic to human needs, the directness and concreteness of human relations, the supranational principle of the Catholic Church, the sense of security which was characteristic of man in the Middle Ages. Bother pictures are right; what make them both wrong is to draw one of them and shut one’s eyes to the other. #RandolphHarris 4 of 18
What characterized medieval in contrast to modern society is its lack of individual freedom. Everybody in the earlier period was chained to one’s role in the social order. A man had little chance to move socially from one class to another, he was hardly able to move even geographically from one town or from one country to another. With few exceptions he had to stay where he was born. He was often not even free to dress as he pleased or to eat what he liked. The artisan had to sell at certain price and the peasant at a certain place, the market of town. A guild member was forbidden to divulge any technical secret of production to anybody who was not a member of his guild and was compelled to let his fellow guild members share in any advantageous buying of raw material. Personal, economic, and social life was dominated by rules and obligations from which practically no sphere of activity was exempted. However, although a person was not freed in the modern sense, neither was he alone and isolated. In having a distinct, unchangeable, and unquestionable place in the social World from the moment of birth, man was rooted in a structuralized whole, and thus life had a meaning which left no place, and no need, for doubt. A person was identical with his role in society; he was a peasant, an artisan, a knight, and not an individual who happened to have this or that occupation. The social order was conceived as a natural order, and being a definite part of it gave a feeling of security and of belonging. There was comparatively little competition. One was born into a certain economic position which guaranteed a livelihood determined by tradition, just as it carried economic obligations to those of higher in the social hierarchy. #RandolphHarris 5 of 18
However, within the limits of his social sphere the individual actually had much freedom to express one’s self in one’s work and in one’s emotional life. Although there was no individualism in the modern sense of the unrestricted choice between many possible ways of life (a freedom of choice which is largely abstract), there was a great deal of concrete individualism in real life. There was much suffering and pain, but there was also the Church which made this suffering more tolerable by explaining it as a result of the sin of Adam and the individual sins of each person. While the Church fostered a sense of guilt, it also assured the individual of her unconditional love to all her children and offered a way to acquire the conviction of being forgiven and loved by God. The relationship to God was more one of confidence and love than of doubt and fear. Just as a peasant and a town dweller rarely went beyond the limits of the small geographical area which was theirs, so the universe was limited and simple to understand. The Earth and man were it center, Heaven and Hell was the future place of life, and all action from birth to death were transparent in their causal interrelation. Although society was thus structuralized and gave man security, yet it kept him in bondage. It was a different kind of bondage from that which authoritarianism and oppression in later centuries constituted. Medieval society did not deprive the individual of his freedom, because the “individual” did not yet exist; man was still related to the World by primary ties. He did not yet conceive of himself as an individual except through the medium of his social (which then was also his natural) role. #RandolphHarris 6 of 18
Man did not conceive of any other persons as “individuals” either. The peasant who came into town was a stranger, and even within the town members of different social groups regarded each other as strangers. Awareness of one’s individual self, of others, and of the World as separate entities, had not yet fully developed. The lack of self-awareness of the individual in medieval society had found classical expression on both sides of human consciousness—that which was turned within as that which was turned without—lay dreaming or half awake beneath a common veil. The veil was woven of faith, illusion, and childish prepossession, through which the World and history were seen clad in strange hues. Man was conscious of himself only as a member of a race, people, party, family, or corporation—only through some general category. When psychopathological offenders are able to give visions it I an evidence that they have already greatly deceived the man, be he a Christian or an unbeliever. The ground for this is not necessarily known as conduct disorder, but a condition of passivity, id est, nonaction of the mind, imagination, and other faculties. This essential condition of submissive non-action as the means of obtaining supernatural manifestations is well understood by spiritist mediums, clairvoyants, crystal gazers, and others, who know that the least action of the mind immediately breaks the clairvoyant state. #RandolphHarris 7 of 18
Believers not knowing these basic principles can unwittingly fulfill the conditions for psychopathological offenders to work in their life and ignorantly induce the passive state by wrong conceptions of the true things of God. For instance, they may sink, during seasons of prayer, into a passive mental condition which they consider is “waiting on God”; deliberately will the cessation of their mind action, in order to obtain some supernatural manifestations which they believe to be of God; in daily life practice a passive attitude which they think is submission to the will of God; endeavour to bring about a state of personal negation, in which they have no desires, needs, wishes, hopes, plans—which they think is full surrender to God, with their “will” lost in God. “To exist” means to “stand out.” On the most fundamental level, to exist means to be, to stand out of nonbeing. Since nonbeing can be the absolute nonbeing of ouk on (the God who is not) or the relative nonbeing of me on, existence can take two directions. If something stands out of absolute nothingness, it exists in the sense that it has being. If something stands out of relative nothingness, that is, potentiality, then it exists in the sense that it has actuality. Etymology, then, indicates two senses of existence: “to stand out” of either absolute nonbeing or relative nonbeing. However, in either case, the metaphour “to stand out” connotes the metaphour “to stand in,” just as trees “stand out” of the Earth and yet “stand in” it. A being stands out of nonbeing, but not completely, for it is a mixture of being and nonbeing. An actual being stands out of potentiality, but not completely, for it never fully realizes all its potentiality. Existence, therefore, is an imperfect being, for to exist means to have being and yet to “stand in” non-being, to have actuality, and yet to “stand in” potentiality. #RandolphHarris 8 of 18
Historically, however, attention has been focused upon the second meaning of existence and split between potentiality and actuality. This is the overriding meaning of existence: to stand out of potentiality. Upon this means we build the distinction between essence and existence. Essence is real, is actualized in existence, but only in fragments, never totally. This situation gives rise to two conflicting view point exemplified in Mr. Plato and Mr. Hegel. Mr. Plato viewed the gap between potential and actual being as a fall. For him, existence is a fall from essence. Mr. Hegel, on the contrary, considered the gap as merely part of the process of divine self-realization. For him existence is the expression of essence. Mr. Hegel’s essentialism set the stage for the existentialist revolt. Mr. Schelling, Mr. Schopenhauer, Mr. Marx, and Mr. Kierkegaard all share a common insight: that human existence is a state of estrangement from its essential nature. Existence is dehumanization and not the expression of essential humanity. This is the truth about man’s predicament which existentialism has laid bare. However, it is the question of existence, not the answer. Whenever existentialist, atheistic, or theistic, go beyond their analyses and provide answers, they draw upon religious sources. For the answer to existence is a matter of ultimate concern, and hence is religious, even though it be disguised in secular or atheistic grab. The religious character of existentialism stems from the very nature of philosophy which embraces both scientific detachment and the involvement of faith in an ultimate concern. Christianity proclaims the “New Being” in Christ; the merit of existentialism lies in its graphic portrayal of the “old being,” namely, the tragedy and anxiety of a cosmos estranged from its essential nature. #RandolphHarris 9 of 18
The history of the family is one perpetual crisis. Social justice requires that the state treat its citizens as equals, and that requirement has serious distributive implications, demanding much more equal distributions, of a variety of gods, than exist in any contemporary societies. However, as liberals, we recognize that it is valuable for people to make and act on their own judgments about how they should live, and important that they be accorded the freedoms necessary for them to live well. The problem, of course, a World in which we were required to treat everybody the same—friend, spouse, child, stranger—would be a dystopic nightmare, a World were nobody enjoyed the relationships tht make us human. Some of the most valuable element in human lives depends precisely on our treating particular other as special. The family, the natural home of such relationships, is a particularly a stark locus of the tensions embodied in the view that people should enjoy equal freedom, or have equal opportunity to live valuable lives. A completely harmonious reconciliation may not be possible. We do not show that plausible understandings of the family, equality, and liberty can be constructed in a way that eliminates all conflicts between the family and equality, or resolves all difficulties concerning authority over children. Our more modest aim is to offer an account of “family values properly understood” that shows the possibility of child-rearing practices and institutions that realize the values distinctively made available by familial relationships, that respects those individual liberties that are indeed worthy of respect, and that mitigates—massively mitigates—the conflict with equality. #RandolphHarris 10 of 18
The family has only recently begun to receive the careful attention needed to provide satisfactory responses to the challenges it faces in society. Public declarations of human rights, devised specially to provide a consensual focal point, can hardly be expected to venture into controversial matters, so we should not be surprised if their pronouncements are rather vague. Thus, for example, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights tells us that “the family is the natural and fundamental group of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State” (Article 16.3), while the European Convention on Human Rights announces that “everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life” (Article 8) and that “men and women of marriageable age have the right to marry and found a family (Article 12). Family values and practices arise out of this family-centered view of the World. Mormons are very conservative about pleasures of the flesh before marriage. Pleasures of the flesh are valued as an expression of love and commitment between eternal partners. It is the means God uses to bring spirit children out of the preexistence into this mortal World and has the power to create an eternally increasing family. Pleasures of the flesh outside marriage is forbidden, including any non-traditional relationships, premarital pleasures of the flesh, adulty, and pornography. Pleasuring of one’s self is strongly discouraged. Young people are encouraged to remain chaste until marriage and to marry early in order to develop their morality within the proper boundaries. Marriage is so strongly encouraged that an unmarried man approaching age thirty will raise questions. #RandolphHarris 11 of 18
Women are given the benefit of the doubt, but men are strongly expected to do what it takes to find a mate. It is much like how in conservative families, if one does not have a college degree, a house, a car and a career by the age of twenty-five, people start to question the individual’s competence. When it comes to identity and interpersonal competence, intellectual play includes those interest which have as a primary focus the exercise of mental skills and the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake (puzzles, card games, debating, reading, collecting, sightseeing). They have much similarity to sports and crafts, save that they are directed only to exploring and knowing the World, not manipulating it, except symbolically. Like crafts, they recapitulate the whole range of serious intellectual pursuits; like sports, the various individual forms test all the intellectual powers such as: memory, imagination, problem-solving, dissimulation, and anticipation of others. On this account, intellectual play is readily professionalized, and conversely, serious intellectual pursuits can readily be motivated by the fun involved. The constant elements of intellectual play are these underlying aspects of curiosity—about the nature of the World, and of other men, and one’s own powers for grasping them. When such abilities are compared with those of others, there is a nonphysical contest or game. Guessing the moves of others appears to have far more attraction than mere comparisons of mental ability, undoubtedly because the element of chance is involved. In American culture, however, the attraction of intellectual contests and games seems underdeveloped; some other civilizations in the past seem to have gone further in this direction. #RandolphHarris 12 of 18
The volume of reading, and use of other media of communication and education—apart from the arts—are steadily mounting and probably differentiating into new forms. As education becomes fun instead of duty, through the decline of the sense that is must be profitable before it can please, the student of popular culture at the intermediate level will probably find a vast efflorescence of intellectual play. Young minds are worked and winced and shaped curiously by a vision of Life—the American Dream. The American Dream is so widely used that it has become a powerful metaphour of core American values. While economic success is first among these values, others are almost equally important. Among thee values is being able to grow to grow to fullest development as men and women, unhampered by the barriers which have slowly been erected for the benefit of classes rather than for the simple human being of any and every class. The American Dream mandates that all these values can be accomplished through hard work and individual effort. Although Well Street has melted down, personal savings and investments have been vaporized and rebounded, businesses are going bust, while other flourish, and certain populations are facing high unemployment, the American Dream is still alive and worth aspiring to, despite the nightmare some American are living through. The American Dream of a better, richer, and happier life for all our citizens of every rank is the greatest contribution we have as yet made to the thought and welfare of the World. That hope has been present from the start. Every since we became an independent nation, each generation has seen an uprising of the ordinary Americans to save that dream from the forces which appeared to be overwhelming and dispelling it. #RandolphHarris 13 of 18
It is not about becoming rich and famous overnight, but is more of a verbal contract that states, if you work hard, you, too, can buy a house, have a family and live well. Ordinary man has held fast to those rights t “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” which were vouchsafe to us in the past in vision and on parchment. The Providence, the eighteenth and nineteenth century term for God, had ordained that the United States of America extend its unique and relatively new form of government, the so-called “great experiment of liberty and federate self-government.” Manifest Destiny embodies a higher law—God’s law—and so hold the moral high ground. Manifest Destiny means expansion, prearranged by Heaven, over an area not clearly defined. Therefore, the expansion of America’s boarders may not be finalized yet. Many believe that the United States of American will some day encompass the entire Western Hemisphere, and possibly beyond. Regardless of the interpretation, the concept of Manifest Destiny spurred a political movement in the 1840s. The justifications for Manifest Destiny is that first of all, American society and citizens are virtuous. Because of their virtue, they are justified in expanding. Second, it is the mission of American to undertake the task of accomplishing these things. That is why the National Anthem means so much to Americans because it speaks of expanding her boarder “from sea to shining sea.” And China understands this, which is why they are not allowing American corporations to purchase large companies in China. This is also why Americans are also worried about companies overseas buying American land and corporation. Many understand that political parities may not really matter so much anymore because so many politicians are looking to get rich quick and may not care about America. #RandolphHarris 14 of 18
To further highlight this illustration, on March 1 2017, less than two months after Vice President Joe Biden left public office, State Energy HK Limited, a Chinses Company, wired $3 million to Rob Walker’s company. The next day, the company wired $1,065,000 to a company associated with James Gillar, another Biden associate. Afterwards the Biden family received approximately $1,065,000 in payments over a three-month period in different bank accounts. From the bank records, it appears that the Biden family received approximately one-third of the money obtained from the China wire, which leads many people to believe that the Biden administration of compromised. “Over the course of several years, members of the Biden family and their companies received over $1.3 million in payments from accounts related to their associate, Rob Walk. Most of this money came as a result of a wire from a Chinese energy company and went not only to Hunter and James Biden, but also to Hallie Biden and an unknown ‘Biden.’ It is unclear what services were provided to obtain this exorbitant amount of money. The Oversight Committee is concerned abut the national security implications resulting from President Biden’s family receiving millions of dollars from foreign nationals. We will continue to follow the money trail and facts to determine if President Biden is compromised by his family’s business scheme and if there is a national security threat,” reports Chairman James Comer (R-ky). Millions of upper-class, middle-class and poor American have a justified fear that they will be left behind, will lose their jobs and slide further down the economic and social slope. #RandolphHarris 15 of 18
The West is also cautious about China’s acquisitions of its firms, but overall the restrictions it imposes are less tight than those that Western acquirers are facing in China. Take a close look at the Chinese attempts to acquire Western companies. First, China is buying ailing but famous firms striving to keep afloat. While you may think the classic American brands you see every day are entirely domestic, many are actually owned by Chinese investors. The United States of America is home to many iconic American brands that dominate the global market; however, while these brands may seem All-America, even they have important stakeholders all over the globe. AMC, a popular cinema company, short for American Multi-Cinema, has been around for over a century and is headquartered in Leawood, KS. In 2012, Beijing-based Dalian Wanda Group became the majority stakeholder, giving them the power to make decisions at the executive level. Wanda invested $2.8 billion in the historical deal. General Motors, based in Detroit, Michigan, is known as America’s largest automobile manufacturer. While this company is not owned by a Company from China, it relies on its partnership with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC) to stay profitable. In 1998, the two auto giants teamed up to form SAIC-GM, a Chinese brand with a 6 million square-foot facility in Shanghai. While GM is still extremely popular in the U.S.A., its extra sales in China through SAIC help to being in revenue regularly. #RandolphHarris 16 of 18
General Electric covers a wide range of industries and their appliance division is manufactured in the U.S.A. with global parts (and with domestic parts whenever possible). However, in 2016, Chinese investor Haier bought the company’s appliance division for $5.4 billion. While all products are still made in America, the ideas are generated in China. It is quite different from other American brands because GE has been around since 1892. While investors do not necessarily affect where a product is made, in many cases, they have a large influence in how a business is run and marketed. It is dangerous when any large American brand is partially owned by companies from China or other foreign investors because they have greater responsibilities in their homeland. China is purchasing American brands and obtaining technologies, know-how, distribution networks, and high-skilled personnel. Furthermore, they are interest in buying dynamic technology companies, including small and medium entities, and they are targeting natural resource firms. If information flow in a group is sufficiently good, a cooperative outcome may emerge automatically as an equilibrium of the repeated game of random pairwise matching. Otherwise, the group has to seek other institutions of governance, and these many include more formal court-like organization. One might think that modern technology has improved information flows to perfect. Indeed, eBay had developed a good system where buyers give ratings to sellers and vice versa, and each transactor can check the average rating of the person with whom one is contemplating doing business. However, this too has its limits, and eBay has expanded, it had found it necessary to institute more formal methods to prevent fraud. #RandolphHarris 17 of 18
A system based on voluntary information flows and self-enforcing equilibrium works for small or well-knit groups, large groups need more formal institutions of information dissemination and enforcement. Self-enforcing “relation-based” based groups face rising marginal costs: members added at the margin are almost by definition less well connected, making it harder to communicate information with them and to ensure their participation in any punishments. Formal or “rule-based” governance has high fixed costs of setting up the legal system and the information mechanism (disclosure rules and auditing procedures), but once these costs have been incurred, the marginal costs of the relation-based system will be smaller at small sizes, and those of the rule-based system will be smaller at large sizes. This makes intuitive sense, but for a deeper understanding one must make more precise the way in which diminishing returns or rising marginal costs set in as a relation-based system grows larger. This is also necessary to understand what happens at intermediate sizes. Relation-based governance works well in small groups that are connected by extended family relationships, neighbourhood structures, and ethno-linguistic ties, because such links facilitate repeated interactions and good communication. This idea is similar to the sociologists’ concept of embeddedness. Economists recognize the importance of family and social networks in less-developed economies, but often regard them as being unimportant in modern advanced economies, and therefore ignore them in that context. The differences are much less sharp than is commonly thought. The persistence or relational arrangements under the shadow of the law in advanced economies is now well recognized. However, the relation-based governance does indeed lose its relative efficacy as the scale of economic transaction grows. This supports the usual economic distinction as a matter of degree, if not as a sharp dichotomy between less-developed and advanced economies. #RandolphHarris 18 of 18
CRESLEIGH HAVENWOOD
Lincoln, CA | from the high $600s
Now Selling!
No appointment needed! Cresleigh Havenwood features four distinct floor plans ranging from 2,293 – 3,377 square feet and offering up to five bedrooms.
Each plan has been thoughtfully designed and includes great features such as single story homes, guest suites, optional offices, garage workshops, and more!
Get the most out of your new home with Cresleigh’s All Ready smart home featuring all the connectivity needed to keep your house running. Best of all, each Cresleigh home comes with owned solar included!
Located off of Virginiatown Road and McCourtney Road, residents of the 83 homesites of Cresleigh Havenwood will benefit from a brand new neighborhood in the charming City of Lincoln. Palo Verde Park, is just down the street and there’s plenty of recreation to take part in all around town. https://cresleigh.com/havenwood/quick-move-homesite-66/
American Dream, a fact that the United States of America is a land of opportunity that allows the possibility of upward mobility, freedom, and equality for people of all classes who work hard and have the will to succeed.
An Artifact from Another Level of Being
The silence closed in. Something was building in Llanada Villa. Something was happening in the very air itself. Something changed in the golden glow of a late autumn afternoon. And as I heard the music, a long stab of terror drove through my heart. I assented to the window. As I looked out, I saw a handsome old-fashioned carriage, with a troop of couriers and footmen. I saw the slim figure of the pale gentleman in black, as he held a thick velvet cloak. He looked about him at the others as he went on, his voice ringing clear in the silence. “Never such a place as this has existed before. A place where demons have been invented by aggrieved souls. I wondered if Mrs. Winchester was perhaps a member of the Freemasons, or some other secret society. Maybe she holds some exalted rank.” I felt a great shudder pass through me at these words. However, there had been a conviction in those appalling words. Secret societies were very fashionable just then. Secret societies and psychiatry were the contrasting en vogue activities of the moment. I folded my arms and leaned against the frame of the door, obscuring for the moment the light behind me. I had an urge to venture outside, to walk in silence amongst the trees. However, the fruit orchard was dark enough even in daylight; by moonlight it would be all too easy to imagine terrors—as I keep imagining I can hear soft footsteps moving across the floor above my head. But when I sit on the sofa to listen, I hear only the beating of my heart. I walked for hours examining the trees and the splendid fruit that would be harvested. Before long, I was overtaken by night while still in the fruit orchard. Utterly bewildered and overcome with fatigue, I had lain down near the root of a large plumb tree and fallen into a dreamless sleep. #RandolphHarris 1 of 8
It was hours later, in the very middle of the night, that one of God’s mysterious messengers, gliding ahead pronounced the awakening word in my ear. Waking from a deep sleep at night in the midst of what seemed like a forest, front among the tree on either side I caught broken and incoherent whispers in a strong tongue which I partly understood. They seemed to me fragmentary utterances of a monstrous conspiracy against my body and soul. It was now long after nightfall, yet the interminable fruit orchard through which I journeyed was lit with a wan glimmer having no point of diffusion, for in its mysterious lamination nothing cast a shadow. A shallow pool in the guttered depression of an old well met my eye with a crimson gleam. I stooped and plunged my hand into it. It stained by fingers; it was blood! Blood, I then observed, was about me everywhere. The fallen fruit showed blots and splashes of blood. The girds of the orchards were pitted and spattered as with red rain. Defiling the trunks of the trees were broad maculations of crimson, and blood dripped like dew from their foliage. All this I observed with a terror which seemed not incompatible with the fulfillment of a natural expectation. It seemed to me that it was all in expiation of some crime. So frightful was the situation—the mysterious light burned with so silent and awful a menace; the noxious plants, the trees that by common consent are invested with a melancholy or baleful character, so openly in my sight conspired against my peace; from overhead and all about came so audible and startling whispers and the sighs of creatures so obviously not of Earth—that I could endure no longer, and with a great effort to break some malign spell that bound my faculties to silence and inaction, I screamed with the full strength of my lungs! #RandolphHarris 2 of 8
My voice was broken, it seemed, into an infinite multitude of unfamiliar sounds, went babbling and stammering away into the distant reaches of the orchard, died into silence, and all was as before. Despair succeeded hope. Gratitude gave place to curse. As I preceded down the path, sobbing quietly to myself, in the misery of fear, the stern light of the Observational Tower became a tiny speck, yellower but scarcely bigger than some of the stars, which here and there shone between the clouds. Nearly twenty minutes passed, and my fatigue began to change to exhaustion. The overpowering sense of the inevitable pressed upon me. With the weariness came a strange comfort. On, and on I went through the thicket of trees. I knew of my probable presence in the spirit World. The moon, then in her third quarter, pushed out from behind the concealing clouds and shed a pale, soft glitter upon my mansion. My last appeal had been heard. I made it home. About half an hour after getting home, I still felt energized but I began to feel a sensation around my forehead as I have many times since. I suddenly felt weak. I went in and sat at the foot of my bed and passed out. I have never been given to fainting or passing-out spells, but I did not fall asleep—I passed out cold. When I woke up, I had no concept of time. When I woke up, a low, wild peal of laughter broke out at a measuresless distance away, and growing even louder, seemed approaching ever nearer; a soulless, heartless, and unjoyous laugh, like that of loon; a laugh which culminated an unearthly shout close at hand, then died away by slow gradations, as if the accursed being that uttered it had withing over the verge of the World whence it had come. #RandolphHarris 3 of 8
Sitting here in my temple of a house, I felt trapped and compromised, and even terrified. I got a feeling that the presence was still nearby and had not moved. A strange sensation began slowly to take possession of my body and my mind. I could not say which, if any, of my sense were affected; I felt it rather as a consciousness—a mysterious mental assurance of some overpowering presence—some supernatural malevolence different in kind from the invisible existences that swarmed about me, and superior to them in power. I knew that it had uttered that hideous laugh. And now it seemed to be approaching me; from what direction I did not know—dated not conjecture. All my former fears were forgotten and merged in the gigantic terror that now held me in thrall. Powers were traversing my haunted mansion. My senses were heightened as I found myself starting into the sharply dawn face and blank, dead eyes of my own mother, standing white and silent in the garments of the grave! The apparition confronting me—the thing so like, yet so unlike my mother—was horrible! It stirred no lover nor longing in my heart; it came unattended with pleasant memories of a golden past—inspired no sentiment of any kind; all the finer emotions were swallowed up in fear. I turned to turn and run from before it, but my legs were as lead; I was unable to life my feet from the floor. My arms hung helpless at my sides; of my eyes only I retained controlled, and these I dared not remove from the lusterless orbs of the apparition, which I knew was not a soul without a body, but that most dreadful of all existences infesting my haunted mansion—a body without a soul! #RandolphHarris 4 of 8
In its blank state was neither love, nor pity, nor intelligence—nothing to which to address an appeal for mercy. For a time, which seemed so long that the World grew gray with age and sin, and the haunted forest, having fulfilled its purpose in this monstrous culmination of its terrors, vanished out of my consciousness with all its sights and sounds, the apparition stood within a pace, regarding me with a mindless malevolence of wild brute; then thrust its hand forward and sprang upon me with appalling ferocity! The act released my physical energies without an unfettering my will; my mind was still spellbound, but my powerful body was and agile limbs, endowed with a blind, insensate life of their own, resisted stoutly and well. For an instant I seemed to see this unnatural contest between a dead intelligence and a breathing mechanism only as a spectator. Despite my struggles—despite my strength and activity, which seemed wasted in a void, I felt the cold fingers close upon my throat. Brorne backward to the floor, I saw above me the dead and drawn face within a hands breadth of my own. Its eyes were shallow to the point of blankness, and then all was black. Until I awoke, the passage outside my room had been pitch dark. Now the gasoliers illuminated the hall, but the glass was so blackened that they yielded only a dim, murky light. The air was stale and close. Expecting at every turn to find a housemaid awaiting me with a smile, I made my way through the gloom to the landing. The double doors to the gallery stood open. Along each wall, a row of wavering light receded. Transom windows shone with a faint cold light; higher still, the ceiling was shrouded in darkness. Some twenty feet away from me, candles burned upon a small round table, lighting of the face of the pale man and Mrs. Haas. “Ah, there you are, my dear,” said he, just as if he had last seen my five minutes—rather than several days—ago. I moved reluctantly to join them. #RandolphHarris 5 of 8
Mrs. Haas, resplendent in crimson silk and displaying a large expanse of white bosom, greeted me with disdain. Behind them, the wall at the far end of my gallery was dominated by the immense fireplace, and the armour towering in the shadows beside it. The sword glittered beneath its gloved hand; in the shifting light it seemed alert, alive, watchful. Within the fireplace was a massive chest of dark metal. “Dr. Cottam was about to tell us,” said Mrs. Haas impatiently, “of a discovery he had made amongst your late husband’s papers.” He spoke as if I had kept them waiting. “Indeed I was.” His tone was as cordial as ever, but with an edge of anticipation. His teeth caught the light as he smiled; the pupils of his eyes shone like twin flames. “Now, in going through his study the other day, I found a page of notes you must have missed after relocating from New Haven—scrawled in haste, and sometimes quite impenetrable—which had slipped behind a row of books.” On the table was a crumpled sheet of paper. “I shall not weary you with the tale of my efforts to decipher this. He believed that if he were inside the armour when lighting struck, he would pass unharmed into the next World, jut as the risen body, according to Scripture, will ascend to Heaven upon the day of judgement.” “Oh dear Heavens,” cried Mrs. Haas. “Mrs. Winchester, I have been dying for a grand tour of your estate. My companion Dr. Cottam is rather a bore with such foolish tales of science fiction!” “There is a theory, you know, that the basis of spirit may be electrical. For spirits to communicate with the living,” expressed Dr. Cottam, the man with the very pale face. #RandolphHarris 6 of 8
“Dr. Cottom, I have begun to wonder whether your obsession with William Winchester is not, perhaps, quite as mad as I assumed,” explained Mrs. Haas, “but I do wish to get on with this tour. Mrs. Winchester has already delayed us several hours after he invitation, and I am growing quit weary.” “Well, Mrs. Haas, as I do recall, Gods are often said to wield lightening; and whilst this represents primitive awe at the power of nature, it may also shroud a genuine intuition. The same applies to the spiritualist practice of linking hands around a table. Ghosts and spirits are generally depicted as emanations of light; one thinks of St. Elmo’s fire or the very rare phenomenon of ball lightning…a far fetched analogy, you may say, but just as a magnetic field will cause a heap of iron filings to arrange themselves into a complex pattern, so the soul, the vital principle—call it what you will—animates the Earthly body. Might it not be that the vital principle is electrical, perhaps in some subtler form that science has not yet grasped?” said Dr. Cottam. “Dr. Cottam, while your theories are very fascinating, I fear Mrs. Haas is growing impatient and I should like to give her a tour now,” I explained. I liked Mrs. Haas more and more every minute. Her gossip, without being ill-natured, was extremely diverting to me, who had been so long out of the great World. I thought what life she would give to my sometimes-lonely evenings at home. There was a ball going on in the Grand Ballroom, this house seemed to run itself sometimes, which would not be over until the morning sun had almost reached the horizon. It pleased the Grand Duke to dance till then, so loyal people could not go away, or think of bed. #RandolphHarris 7 of 8
We had just got through a crowded parlor, when Dr. Cottam asked me what had become of Mrs. Haas. I though she had been by his side, and he fancied she was by mine. The fact was, we had lost her. All my efforts to find her were in vain. I feared that she had mistaken, in the confusion of the momentary separation from us, other people for her new friends, and had, possibly, pursued and lost them in the extensive grounds which were thrown open to us. Morning broke. It was clear daylight before I gave up my search. It was not till near two o’clock next day that we heard anything of Mrs. Haas. At about that time a servant knocked at my door, to say that he had been earnestly requested by a young, who appeared to be in great distress, to make out where she could find Mrs. Winchester and Dr. Cottam. There could be no doubt, notwithstanding the slight inaccuracy that my friend had turned up. I had a housemaid go to the guest room and summon Dr. Cottam. I went down to the parlor and reunited with Mrs. Haas. She told me a story to account for having failed to recover us for so long. Very late, she said, she made a detour and wandered around, not before long becoming afraid and getting lost. She got into the Crystal Bedroom in despair of finding us, and had then fallen into a deep sleep which, long as it was, had hardly sufficed to recruit her strength after the fatigues of the ball. It the midst of my perplexities, an anxiety of far more urgent kind presented itself. My dear friend began to lose her looks and health, and that in manner so mysterious, and even horrible, that I became thoroughly frightened. #RandolphHarris 8 of 8
People, since as long ago as the 1800s, have reported a vast array of unexplained events, experiences, and sightings at what is now known as The Winchester Mystery House. Over the years, people have reported bone-chilling sightings ghosts, angels, demons, fairies, giants, orbs, lights, mist, vampires, witches, warlocks and werewolves. In 2007, a man was attending Santa Clara University, and he was lucky enough to get hired as a tour guide at The Winchester Mystery House. He had no sooner moved into his apartment and had the telephone installed when he received a call warning him never to return to Sacramento again. During a later call, a woman with a high-pitched voice informed “G” that he was being kept under surveillance by a group who felt that he had acted unjustly in the past by not returning things to their proper owners. G emphasized that he had led a very quiet life as an undergraduate.
Yet he probably received 30 or more telephone calls from anonymous voices advising him not to return to Sacramento. The voices reprimanded him for having taken something that did not belong to him. G said that he did not carry anything with him that was from Sacramento and did not often visit the beautiful city, and he seldom discussed his life with any but a few of his closet acquaintances. He wondered who could have possibly taken such a long-term interest in him? About the third year after working at The Winchester Mystery House, a guest unknown to him stopped to say hello. G knew that such an act was hardly unusual, since guests will often do this to find out interest facts about tour guides and secrets about Sarah L. Winchester’s mansion. However, he noticed the boy was strangely inquisitive. G was astonished when the teenager drew a design on a piece of paper that he had seen somewhere in the mansion. He smiled at G, then asked if he knew what the symbol meant.
When G pressed the boy, in turn for some answers, the guest threw away the design, laughed, and said that he was just fooling around, that he did not mean anything about it. G never saw the alleged guest again. He descried him to a could of tour guides, but no one was able to identify him. After several years of watching at The Winchester Mystery House, G graduated from University. He had not been in possession of his diploma for more than four days when someone rang his apartment and scolded him for taking things that did not belong to him. The voice told G that he should always leave things where they were. He reported to his supervisors that he kept receiving mysterious calls. On one occasion the voice told G that he has discovered a strange key to other dimensions, but the entities had long since reclaimed it. However, apparently, some spirit masqueraders were determined that he should never forget the day he came into contact with an artifact from another level of being. What is The Winchester Mystery House?
And please be sure to check out the online gift store: https://shopwinchestermysteryhouse.com/
National Ice Cream Day with Goldie and Russell
From the beginning of his existence man is confronted with the choice between different courses of action. We feel and know that there are many delicate differences in cultural psychology, numberless changes that our crude social measurements are not yet able to follow minutely, which explain much of history and social development. At the same time, too, we know that these considerations have never adequately explained or excused the triumph of brute force and cunning over weakness and innocence. It is, then, the strife of all honourabe men and women of the twenty-first century to see that in the future competition of human beings for the survival of the fittest shall means the triumph of the good, the beautiful and the true; that we may be able to preserve for future civilizations all that is really find and noble and strong, and not continue to put a premium on green and impudence and cruelty. To bring this hope to fruition, we are compelled daily to turn more and more to conscientious study of the phenomena of judgement free contact, to a study frank and fair, and not falsified and framed by our wishes or our fears. In the animals there is an uninterrupted chain of reactions starting with a stimulus, like hunger, and ending with a more or less strictly determined course of action, which does away with the tension created by the stimulus. In man that chain is interrupted. The stimulus is there but the kin of satisfaction is “open,” that is, one must choose between different course of action. Instead of a predetermined instinctive action, man has to weigh possible course of action in his mind; he starts to think. He changes his role towards nature from that of purely passive adaptation to an active one: he produces. #RandolphHarris 1 of 22
He invents tools and, while thus mastering nature, man separates himself from it more and more. He becomes dimly aware of himself—or rather of his group—as not being identical with nature. It dawns upon him that his is a tragic fate: to be part of nature, and yet transcend it. He becomes aware of death as his ultimate fate even if he tries to deny it in manifold phantasies. One particular telling representation of the fundamental relation between many and freedom is offered in the biblical myth of man’s expulsion from paradise. They myth identifies the beginning of human history with an act of choice, but it puts all emphasis on the sinfulness of this first act of freedom and the suffering resulting from it. Man and woman live in the Garden of Eden in complete harmony with each other and with nature. There is no peace and no necessity to work; there is no choice, no freedom, no thinking either. Man is forbidden to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He acts against God’s command, he breaks through the state of harmony with nature of which he is a part without transcending it. From the standpoint of the Church which represented authority, this is essentially sin. From the standpoint of man, however, this is the beginning of human freedom. Acting against God’s orders means freeing himself from coercion, emerging from the unconscious existence of prehuman life to the level of man. Acting against the command of authority, committing a sin, is in its positive human aspect the first act of freedom, that is, the first human act. #RandolphHarris 2 of 22
In the myth the sin in its formal aspect is the eating of the tree of knowledge. The act of disobedience as an act of freedom is the beginning of reason. The myth speaks of other consequences of the first act of freedom. The original harmony between man and nature is broken. God proclaims war between man and woman, and war between nature and man. Man has become separate from nature, he has taken the first step toward becoming human by becoming an “individual.” He has committed the first act of freedom. The myth emphasizes the suffering resulting from this act. To transcend nature, to be alienated from nature and from another human being, finds man naked, ashamed. He is alone and free, yet powerless and afraid. The newly won freedom appears as a curse; he is free from the sweet bondage of paradise, but he is not free to govern himself, to realize his individuality. “Freedom from” is not identical with positive freedom, with “freedom to.” The emergence of man from nature is a long-drawn-out process; to a large extent he remains tired to the World from which he emerged; he remains part of nature—the oil he lives on, the sun and moon and stars, the trees and flowers, the animals, and the group of people with whom he is connected by the ties of blood. Primitive religions bear testimony to man’s feeling of oneness with nature. Animate and inanimate nature are part of his human World or, as one may also put it, he is still part of the natural World. #RandolphHarris 3 of 22
The primary ties block his full human development; they stand in the way of the development of his reason and his critical capacities; they let him recognize himself and others only through the medium of his, or their, participation in a clan, a social or religious community, and not as human beings; in other words, they block his development as a free, self-determining, productive individual. However, although this is one aspect, there is another one. This identity with nature, clan, religion, gives the individual security. He belongs to, he is rooted in, a structuralized whole in which he has an unquestionable place. He may suffer from hunger or suppression, but he does not suffer from the worst of all pains—complete aloneness and doubt. We see that the process of individual growth human freedom has the same dialectic character that we have noticed in the process of individual growth. On the one hand it is a process of growing strength and integration, mastery of nature, growing power of human reason, and growing solidarity with other human beings. However, on the other hand this growing individuation means growing isolation, insecurity, and thereby growing doubt concerning one’s own role in the Universe, the meaning of one’s life, and with all that a growing feeling of one’s own powerlessness and insignificance as an individual. If the process of the development of mankind is in one conflict and strife. Each step in the direction of growing individuation threatened people with new insecurities. Primary binds once severed cannot be mended; once paradise is lost, man cannot return to it. #RandolphHarris 4 of 22
There is only one possible, productive solution for relationship of individualized man with the World: his active solidarity with all men and his spontaneous activity, love and work, which unite him again with the World, not by primary ties but as a free and independent individual. However, if the economic, social and political conditions on which the whole process of human individuation depends, do not offer a basis for the realization of individuality in the sense just mentioned, while at the same time people have lost those ties which gave them security, this lag makes freedom an unbearable burden. It then becomes identical with doubt, with a kind of life which lacks meaning and direction. Powerful tendencies arise to escape from this kind of freedom into submission or some kind of relationship to man and the World which promises relief from uncertainty, even if it deprives the individual of his freedom. Nevertheless, a line of study which by reason of the enormous race complications with which God seems about to punish this nation must increasingly claim our sober attention, study, and thought, we must ask, what are the actual relations of human beings in America? and we must be answered, not by apology or fault-finding, but by a plain, unvarnished take. In the civilized life of today the contact of men and their relations to each other fall in a few main lines of action and communication: there is, first, the physical proximity of homes and dwelling-paces, the way in which neighbourhoods group themselves, and the contiguity of neighbourhoods. #RandolphHarris 5 of 22
Secondly, and in our age chiefest, there are the economic relations, the methods by which individuals cooperate for earning a living, for the mutual satisfaction of wants, the production of wealth. Next, there are the political relations, the cooperation in social control, in group government, in laying and paying in social control, in group government, in laying and paying the burden of taxation. In the fourth place, there are the less tangible but highly important forms of intellectual contact and commerce, the interchange of ideas through conversion and commerce, through periodicals and libraries; and, above all, the gradual formation for each community of that curious tertium quid which we call public opinion. Closely allied with this come the various forms of social contract in everyday life, in travel, in theatres, in house gatherings, in marrying and giving in marriage. Finally, there are the varying forms of religious enterprise, of moral teaching and benevolent endeavour. These are the principal ways in which men living in the same communities are brought into contact with each other. It is my present task, therefore, to indicate, from my point of view, how the American race in America meet and mingle with the public in these matters of everyday life. First, as to physical dwelling. It is usually possible to draw in nearly every American community a physical economic-line on the map, on the one side of which the affluent dwell and on the other the less affluent. The winding and intricacy of the geographical socioeconomic line varies, of course, in different communities. #RandolphHarris 6 of 22
I know some towns where a straight line drawn through the middle of the main street separates nine-tenths of the affluent from nine-tenths of the less affluent. In other towns the older settlement of the affluent has been encircled by a broad band of less affluent individuals; in still other cases little settlements or nuclei of the less affluent have sprung up amid surrounding the affluent. Usually in cities each street has its distinctive economic states, and only now and then do different income brackets meet in close proximity. Even in the country something of this segregation is manifest in the smaller areas, and of course in the largest phenomena of the Poverty Belt. All this segregation by socioeconomic status is largely independent of that natural clustering by social grades common to all communities. A less affluent community may be in dangerous proximity to a master planned residence quarter, while it is quite common to find middle class suburbs planed in the heart of a respectable working class district. One thing, however, seldom occurs: the nest of the affluent and the best of the working class almost never live in anything like close proximity. It thus happens that nearly every American town the Affluent and the working class see the worst of each other. This vast change from the situation in the past, when, through close contact of master planned communities with big houses placed in a hierarchal stratification with bordering middle class communities with more modest sized homes, one found the best of both in these semi-diverse communities in which people had close contact and sympathy, while at the time the squalor and dull round of toil among the poor was removed from the sight and hearing of the community. #RandolphHarris 7 of 22
One can easily see how a person who saw income inequality from his father’s executive office, and sees freedom on the streets of a great city, fails to grasp or comprehend the whole of the new picture. On the other hand, the settled belief of the mass of the less affluent that the American affluent people do not have the poor’s best interests at heart has been intensified in later years by this continual daily contact of the middle class and less affluent with the worst representatives of the wealthy individuals. However, work and wealth are too readily overlooked or not thoroughly understood by some. Many cultures, classes, and people lacked the capital to build steel mills, dams, and auto plants they needed to obtain generational wealth, and some were unwilling to work to acquire a better socioeconomic status in life, sometimes due to mental defect. While some wealthy people benefitted from socialist primitive accumulation. This theory formulated by economist E.A. Preobrazhensky held that the necessary capital could be squeezed out of the less affluent by forcing their standard of living down to an emaciating minimum and skimming off their off their surpluses. These would then be used to capitalize heavy industry and subsidize workers. Because the goal of socialism everywhere was to industrialize as rapidly as possible, it was muscle labour that was glorified. This widespread attitude went hand in hand with the tremendous concentration on production rather than consumption, on capital good rather than consumer goods. #RandolphHarris 8 of 22
Therefore, slavery is essentially a socialist economic strategy to gain wealth, then one a few individuals have obtained great wealth and laws are passed the emancipate the people, the system becomes a capitalistic society that now allows, with great prejudice, for the former slaves to obtain wealth. However, when a country starts to go bankrupt, it may revert to socialism and reinforce slavery, which may be why the democratic party does not want to enforce boarder security. They want to allow as many potential slaves to enter the United States of America because they put the poor and dwindling middle class back to forced muscle labour to help stabilize the country and pay the national deficit off. The computer revolution and the power of knowledge, information, culture, are, law, theories and other intangible product of the mind may be overstated. For societies are not machines, and they are not computers They cannot be reduced so simply into hardware and software, base and superstructure. A more apt model would picture them as consisting of many elements all connected in immensely complex and continually changing feedback loops. As their complexity rises, knowledge becomes more central to both their economic and ecological survival, but it is muscle power that hands a tangible economic benefit. As people are replaced by machines, and machines have a fixed cost, wages will decrease for human beings because they will no longer be essential. The Forth Wave economy may be one based on slavery. #RandolphHarris 9 of 22
The list of problems facing our society is endless. We smell the moral rot of a dying industrial civilization, as we watch its institutions, one after another collapse in a welter of ineffectuality and corruption. As a result, the air fills with bitterness and demands for radical change. In response, thousands of proposals are put forward, all claiming to be basic or fundamental or even revolutionary. Yet again and again, new rules, new laws, regulations, plans, and practices, all intended to solve our problems, boomerang and make them worse, adding to the helpless feeling that nothing works. This feeling, which is extremely dangerous for any democracy, feeds the hunger for the proverbial “man on a white horse.” Unless we are bold and imaginative, we, too could find ourselves in “the dustbin of history.” American politics is presented to us by our media as a continuing gladiatorial contest between two political parties. Yet Americans are increasingly alienated, bored and angry at both the media and politicians. Party politics seem to most people a kind of shadow-play, insincere, costly and corrupt. Increasingly, people ask: does it matter who wins this? The answer is yes—but not for the reason we are usually given. We need a political party that is dedicated to preserving the core institutions of industrial mass society—the nuclear family, the mass education system, the giant corporation, the mass trade union, the centralized nation-state and the politics of pseudorepresentative government. This government must also recognize other forms of today’s problems, from energy, war, poverty to ecological degradation and the breakdown of familial relationships and the need for a better frame work to help people achieve the American Dream. #RandolphHarris 10 of 22
No political party in existence today has a monopoly on morals and virtue. However, if you take stock in souls, then you cannot distinguish between their income brackets, because souls are priceless. We have no right to sit silently by while the inevitable seeds are sown for a harvest of disaster to our child, rich and poor. Meanwhile, companies in China are mostly playing the role of acquirers, not the acquired. For instance, in so many ways, the story of mining and metals, today, is the story of China. Globally, the mining and metals sector has a $1.5 trillion annual value. For many years, it grew more or less in step with global GDP. Starting with the turn of the millennium, the sector and demand for commodities started to grow significantly faster than global GDP. The main reason for that was the takeoff of the Chinese economy, particularly infrastructure and manufacturing. At this point, between 40 percent and 60 percent of every mineral that gets dug up anywhere in the World ends up in China. This is significant because in 2009, China accounted for $17 billion, or 22 percent of all cross-border Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the World. Only between early 2009 and mid-2010, Chinese auto companies conducted 11 acquisitions abroad and their total value was $2.5 billion, while in 2005-2008 there were 12 acquisitions worth $1.3 billion. In 2021, Chinese outbound Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) held steady, while Chinese outbound M&A reached USD 23.7 billion. Outbound FDI boomed after 2014, and reached a high of nearly USD 200 billion in 2016. In following years, outbound FDI flows fell every year to reach USD 117 billion in 2019 before rebounding to USD 134 billion in 2020 and USD 138.4 billion in 2021. #RandolphHarris 11 of 22
Chinese acquisitions of large Western companies or their departments have become a hot topic of the day. Perhaps you will not think twice before giving such widely known examples as the purchase of IBM’s PC department by Lenovo and Volvo by Geely. Geely also bought Australia’s Drivetrain, one of the World’s leading suppliers of automotive transmission. If you try to recollect more, probably, you will name the acquisitions of Ogihara’s mold models production factory by BYD (Ogihara is one of the largest mold model producers in Japan), of Quorum Systems, a radio equipment maker from San Diego, by semiconductors manufacturer Spreadtrum Communications, or of the Dutch producer of specialized transportation equipment Burg Industries by China’s International Marine Containers Group. On the other hand, you will not find equally famous and impressive examples of large-scale acquisitions of Chinese companies by Western firms, though, of course, they are not at a zero level. For instance, L’Oreal acquired cosmetic brand Yue-Sai, which belonged to Coty Inc., and made a successful bid for Shenzhen-based Raystar Cosmetics, one of China’s top three skincare brands. The U.S.A. restaurant operator Yum! Brands (the owner of Pizza Hut, KFC, and Taco Bell) acquired hot-pot restaurant chain Little Sheep for USD 586.5 million. Home Depot bought local home-improvement chain Home Way. #RandolphHarris 12 of 22
Where does this asymmetry come from? One of the major reasons is the Chinese government’s rather negative attitude toward foreign acquisitions of important domestic companies. Existing regulations make an acquisition of any important Chinese company by foreigners extremely difficult and often effectively impossible (though the government is calling on foreign investors to participate in the reorganization of domestic enterprises through equity investment and M&A, especially in high-end manufacturing and energy/environment-related areas, and endorses acquisitions matching its polices). China is channeling the inward FDI toward, first, joint ventures with domestic companies, second, greenfield investment, and third, acquisitions of minority stakes—especially in case an important state-owned/state-holding company is involved. The regulation introduced back in 2006, allegedly in reaction to the blocking by U.S.A. Congress of the acquisition of American oil company Unocal by one of China’s petroleum giants CNOOC, gives the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) the right to examine and declare void any acquisition if, in its opinion, it can adversely affect national security and important industries or if it targets a domestic company possessing a famous or historical brand. Also, if the acquirer is of a certain size and has a sufficient market in China (the size and market are not specified—very Chinese-style), any acquisition has to get an approval from the MOC and the State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC). #RandolphHarris 13 of 22
Notably, in 2009 the Chinese government disallowed Coca-Cola’s acquisition of China Huiyuan Juice Group, which would have been the largest in the country’s history. The U.S.A. private equity fund Carlyle Group had to backtrack on its plan to acquire an 85 percent stake in Xudong Construction, accepting 45 percent while the majority stake went to Xuzhou Machinery Group owned by the Xuzhou city government. In February 2011, China announced a plan to establish a ministerial panel to review foreign takeovers of domestic companies. It is to be led by the National Development and Reform Commission and MOC, and overseen by the State Council. Its task is to scrutinize acquisitions involving military industrial companies and other defense-related firms, but also companies in agriculture, energy, and natural resources, and some parts of infrastructure and transportation services. It is said to be modeled after a similar institution in the United States of America and created with the aim of increasing the transparency of procedures. There are often problems of sustaining cooperative outcomes in groups where pairs of traders have little direct reciprocity like what is happening with China and the United States of America. Therefore, it would be logical for the USA to disallow foreign M&A of American companies. To further highlight this illustration, if Player A deviates for an immediate gain in his dilemma game with Player B, the probability of his meeting B in the future is likely to be too low for direct reciprocity to be effective. This adds some further necessary conditions for the achievement of a cooperative in all games played in pairs in the group. #RandolphHarris 14 of 22
A’s current cheating can give rise to a future cost for him on only through his interactions with other people C, D,…, in the group. For this, the information that A cheated B had to e conveyed to C, D,…, and these other have to find it in their personal interest to take the actions that have the effect of punishing A for his having cheated B. An interesting example of the importance of information and enforcement of multilateral sanction comes from Guinnane (1994), who attributes to these factors the success of agricultural credit cooperatives in the nineteenth century Germany and the failure to transplant them to Ireland in the early twentieth century Of the two conditions, the second can be problematic because the only wat to inflict the cost on A may be for others to forgo their mutually beneficial interactions with him. In other words, punishment may be a collective-action problem, which is another multi-person prisoner’s dilemma. In theory, this can be resolved by stipulating equilibrium strategies where compliance means no only taking the mutually beneficial actions in the first place, but also taking the appropriate punishment actions in response to anyone’s deviation. In other words, failure to participate in a punishment is itself a deviant. In reality, such solutions are buttressed by people’s instincts to punish, even at a personal cost, other who cheat on an explicit or implicit social contract #RandolphHarris 15 of 22
There is a fourth pathway, nearly group altruism. Groups that successfully instill such preferences in their members, for example by socialization and education, will achieve good outcomes and succeed in their competition with other groups who do not attempt similar socialization or education of their member. More generally, this can explain many instances found by behavioural economists where individual behaviour differs from that predicted by economic theories based on purely selfish preferences. Going even farther, the ability to achieve jointly desirable outcomes in non-zero-sum games is the key to evolutionary success in humans. Fulfillment of the first of the two conditions, namely the transmission of information, depends on the size of the group, the network of contacts among them, and the technology of communication. The additional problems posed by the lack of direct bilateral reciprocity can be avoided if pairs within the group who experience a successful initial meeting can arrange to continue meeting each other. When we consider a heterogeneous population where some people are so impatient that they will cheat in any play of the dilemma game, whereas others are sufficiently patient to sustain a cooperative outcome in a repeated relationship with another patient play, the type of partner cannot be identified in advance. We investigate the possibility of an equilibrium where a patient player will choose the complaint action when playing a new partner, and if this reveals the partner to be patient, the pair will continue their bilateral interaction. #RandolphHarris 16 of 22
The value of doing so is greater the larger is the fraction of impatient players in the population, because that worsens the expected payoff from the alternative available to each of the patient players in the pair, namely trying to form a new relationship with another random player We expect that in any group such possibilities of direct reciprocity will be exploited to the extent possible. However, there are limits to this: death, retirement, or relocation may break up existing partnerships, and change or expansion of business may require the formation of new ones. Therefore it is important to study the issues of cooperation in groups where pairs meet at random without direct reciprocity, and examine whether and how the information network can work to achieve a cooperative outcome. When analyzing a process of contagion, where a play who is the victim of an episode of cheating “loses trust” and starts to cheat in his own future interactions, someone contemplating the first deviation from a cooperative situation must then recognize the possibility that this spread of cheating will infect his own future partners. Communication flows better in networks that are connected by ties of business, ethnicity, and so on. Another important factor is the size of the group. #RandolphHarris 17 of 22
Intuition suggests that communication network will weaken as the size of the group increases. Both formal theoretical modeling and case studies support this. A small size is an important condition for successful resolution of collective-action dilemmas. Large groups can overcome this disadvantage, but this requires special arrangements sch as the construction of hierarchies of small groups. So, while FDI is in the early stages, it is best to establish a bilateral trade agreement. Otherwise, if a country allows too many foreign M&As, while they are being cheat out of the opportunity to have equal access, they will eventually lose their power and assets. Now, when it comes to identity and interpersonal competence, a classification is reverie (daydreaming, meditation, wondering, and speculation) which as play may be differentiated from the disciplined purposeful fantasy which is thinking of the critical-creative kind. Reverie continually assimilates new experience within the self, but not with respect to a foreseen end. It must also be differentiated from compulsive fantasy, such as worry, remorse, and grief (although the last of these may have an integrating function, if mourning is enacted without restraint). Reverie appears in children at the age of two or three, and unless discouraged continues throughout life. If the past and the future of the person are to be knitted together by consistent purpose and conscious values, if the identity of the self is to become clear and autonomous, reverie has to be protected and engendered. #RandolphHarris 18 of 22
Like other forms of play, reverie, save as prayer, has also come under than ban of puritanism, and has only recently received due appreciation. Americans have given it so little explicit attention that their vocabular for dealing with it is limited. Such terms as they possess bear for the most part disparaging, archaic, or foreign connotations—terms like talking-to-one’s self, solitude, intuition, or soliloquy. American law fortifies private property but does much less to restrict attention-getters who disturb the privacy of the person. If each person told the circumstances under which one most freely explored one’s self—as in watching a fire, taking lonely walks, laying abed daytime, or just sitting—these settings would not be classification of the forms of subjective play. Of all types of play, reverie is the most formless, while the most creative of new forms. Springing from unsatisfied longings and vague apprehensions, it is yet an activity which more than any other contributes to consistency of wants and integration of personality. Like other types of play, in being playful only when unforced, it is often least available to those who crave and need it most. At the same time there are souls who are so alarmed at the prospect of confronting themselves with detached objectivity that their response is properly called a flight into activity. Counselors occasionally regard categorically withdrawal from others as a symptom of maladjustment, yet it is the person who cannot endure separation at all who is truly maladjusted. #RandolphHarris 19 of 22
Loneliness has become almost a national problem, but merely an interest of family researchers. The development of interpersonal competence not only renews sociability; it makes solitude and reverie a form of recreation. The recreative power of solitude is a kind of therapy, when alternated with periods of intensive intimacy. The role of card games in prevailing juvenile society can be far greater in importance then relatively non-competitive persons would guess. People who have but very limited ability for human intimacy can assuage loneliness through these instrumentalities, without any risk of troublesome interpersonal developments. It is no longer considered helpful for a distraught and distracted person to have one’s future planned for one; that kind of counseling may only add another pressure or tension. However, to provide recesses in time and space, where such a person can catch up on one’s deficit in the unceasing labour of organizing one’s behaviour which impose on the integrity of no one. Yet planning to leave people alone may be the hardest kind of planning. Counterfeits of Satan himself also suit this purpose at times, when a psychopathological offender desires to terrorize a man from actions, or prayer, adverse to one’s interests. Fear of the devil may always be regarded as from the devil, to enable one to carry out the plans of a psychopathological offender of hindering the work of the ultimate concern. Of such a character may be the fearsome shrinking from hearing about one and one’s works, and the passive deadness of the mind in regard to all scriptural truth concerning the forces of psychopathology. Also the fear caused by reference to one’s name, given in order to frighten away believer from knowing the facts about the offender. #RandolphHarris 20 of 22
And others, who desire the truth, may be given exaggerated impression of the offenders presence, or of “conflict,” “clouds,” “blocks,” “darkness,” et cetera, until they lose the clearness of the light of God. Especially is the work of the Deceiver manifested in one’s efforts to make the children of God believe in one’s non-existence, and in the suggestion that it is only necessary to know about God for the protection from the enemy’s power. On the other hand, a deceived believer may be more deeply deceived by seeing nothing but the psychopathological offender’s counterfeits everywhere. Supernatural visions and manifestations are a fruitful source of revenue to deceiving spirits, especially when the believer make reference to and relies upon these experiences more than the Word of God; for the aim of the wicked spirit is to displace the Word of God as the rock-ground of one’s life. Oh, the Scripture may be referred to and quoted, but often only as a warrant for the experiences, and to strength faith—not in God, but in His apparent manifestations. This covert drawing of faith away from the bare Word of God to manifestations of God, as being more reliable, is keenly subtle deception of the evil one, and it is easily recognized in a believer thus deceived. Theonomy, the solution to the union of religion and culture, is brought about only by the final revelation of the New Being in Jesus Christ. It is the power of the New Being which overcomes autonomy and heteronomy. The Christ as the bearer of final revelation is transparent to the ground be being. By overcoming estrangement, one reunites the creature to its ground and thus opens up the divine depth-dimension. The emptiness of autonomy is filled by the Spiritual Presence which excludes demonic intrusions. #RandolphHarris 21 of 22
Heteronomy is always imposed by a group or by an institution. The church, as the community of faithful who receive the New Being, ideally should be free from heteronomous tendencies. However, the church is also subject to the ambiguities of existence which tempt it to exercise heteronomous authority. Here is where the Cross of the Christ intervenes as a corrective. For in Jesus crucified the medium of revelation sacrificed himself to the content of revelation. The Cross is the church’s protection against heteronomy if the members embrace it. The power of the New Bing, then, is the foundation of theonomy. Theonomous periods do not feel split, but whole and centered. Their center is neither their autonomous freedom nor their heteronomous authority but the depth of reason ecstatically experience and symbolically expressed. The ecstatic experience which gives birth to theonomy is the experience of the New Being as symbolized in Jesus who is the Christ. The tenor and direction of a theology can usually be gauged by its Christology, since the Christ is the beginning and the end of all theologizing. How religion relates to culture will eventually depend upon how God relates to Jesus and how Jesus relates to the World. Existential estrangement is answered with the theological doctrine of the New Being in Jesus as the Christ. This mirrors the leap from man’s essential nature to its distortion in existence. It is not a logically necessitated sequence, but a jump, from the transition from the essence to existence is “irrational,” the passage from God to the Christ, “paradoxical.” #RandolphHarris 22 of 22
MAGNOLIA STATION AT CRESLEIGH RANCH
Rancho Cordova, CA | low $600s
Now Selling!
Models now open at Magnolia Station! Located at the corner of Rancho Cordova Parkway and Douglas Road, residents of Cresleigh Ranch will benefit from a brand new neighborhood with convenient access to the new Raley’s Shopping Center, Sunrise Boulevard, and much more!
Magnolia Station will include 81 homesites and five distinct plans ranging from 2,200 – 3,700 square feet; including three single story plans!
Each plan has been thoughtfully designed to include features such as: Generations Suite, Optional Offices/Dens, Extended Great Rooms, and more! https://cresleigh.com/magnolia-station/residence-5/
Welcome to The American Dream–Luxurious family living. #CresleighHomes
Randolph Harris II International Institute 