Too much of a good thing can be wonderful. Once we establish that an object has the properties that it is rational for someone with a rational plan of life to want, then we have shown that it is good for the individual. And if certain sorts of things satisfy this condition for persons generally, then these things are human goods. Eventually we want to be assured that liberty and opportunity, and a sense of our own worth, fall into this category. We tend to move from the first stage to the second whenever it is necessary to take into account the special features of a person’s situation which the definition defines to be relevant. Typically these features are one’s interests, abilities, and circumstances. Although the principles of rational choice have not yet been set out, the everyday notion seems clear enough for the time being. In general, there is a reasonably precise sense in speaking simply of a good object of a certain kind, a sense explained by the first stage, provided that there is enough similarity of interests and circumstances among persons concerned with objects of this kind so that recognized standards can be established. When these conditions are met, saying that something is good conveys useful information. There is sufficient common experience with or knowledge of these things for us to have an understanding of the desires features exemplified by an average or standard object. Often there are conventional criteria founded upon commercial or other practices which define these properties. #RandolphHarris 1 of 23
By taking up various examples we could no doubt see how these criteria evolve and the relevant standards determined. The essential point, however, is that these criteria depend upon the nature of the objects in question and upon our experience with them; and therefore we say that certain things are good without further elaboration only when a certain background is presupposed or some particular context is take for granted. The basic value judgments are those made from the standpoint of persons, given their interests, abilities, and circumstances. Only insofar as a similarity of conditions permits can we safely abstract from anyone’s special situation. In cases of any complexity, when the thing to be chosen should be adjusted to specific wants and situations, we move to the second stage of the definition. Our judgments of value are tailored to the agent in question as this stage requires. These remarks may be illustrated by looking at several examples from certain typical categories: artifacts, functional parts of systems, and occupations and roles. Among artifacts, a good watch, say, is one that has the features which it is rational to want in a watch. There are clearly a number of desired features here, in addition to that of keeping accurate time. It must not be excessively heavy, for example. These features must be measured somehow and assigned appropriate weights in the overall assessment. #RandolphHarris 2 of 23
It is worth noting, however, that if we take the definition of good in the traditional sense as an analysis, that is, as a statement of concept identity, and if we suppose that by definition a watch is an article used to tell time, and that by definition rationality is taking effective means to achieve one’s ends, then it is analytic that a good watch is one that keeps accurate time. This fact is established solely by virtue of truths of logic and definitions of concepts. However, since I do not wish to take the definition of good in this sense but rather as a rough guideline for constructing substitute expressions that can be used to say what on reflection we want to say, I do not count this statement as analytic. In fact, for our present purposes I shall sidestep this question entirely and simply take certain facts about watches (or whatever) as common knowledge. There is no occasion to ask whether the statements that express them are analytic. On this account, then, it is certainly true that a good watch keeps accurate time and this correspondence wit everyday facts suffices to confirm the propriety of the definition. Again, it is plain that the letter “X” in the phrase “a good X” often has to be replaced by various noun phrases depending on the context. Thus it is usually not enough to speak of good watches, since we frequently need a more fine-grained classification. We are called upon to assess wrist watches, stop watches, and so on; or even wrist watches go with a particular kind of evening suit. #RandolphHarris 3 of 23
In all these cases special interests give rise to certain appropriate classifications and standards. These complications are ordinarily gathered from the circumstances and are explicitly mentioned when it seems necessary. With things that are not artifacts some elaboration is usually called for to explain one’s meaning since it is not provided by the reference to the object. Thus, for example, the statement that Wildcat is a good mountain may require that kind of amplification provided by adding that it is a good mountain for skiing. Or the observation that it is a good night may call for the explanation that it is a good night for seeing the stars, since it is a clear and dark night. Some terms suggest the appropriate expansion. Consider an example: if we compare the statement that a body is a good corpse with the statement that it is a good cadaver, the sense of the first is not clear, whereas referring to something as a cadaver conveys its use in the study of anatomy. A good cadaver is presumably a corpse having the properties (whatever they are) which it is rational to want for this purpose. It may be noted in passing that we can understand at least part of what is meant by calling something good even though we do not know what are the desired features of the object being evaluated. There always stands in the background a point of view from which an artifact, functional part, or role is being appraised, although of course this point of view need not be made explicit. #RandolphHarris 4 of 23
This perspective is characterized by identifying the persons whose concerns are relevant for making the judgment, and then by describing the interests which they take in the object. For example, in the case of parts of the body (functional parts of systems), we normally take up the point of view of the person in question and presume that one’s interest is the normal one. Thus good eyes and ears are those having the properties that it is rational to want in one’s own eyes and ears when one wishes to see and hear well. Similarly with animals and plants: when we say that they have a good coat, or good roots, we appear to adopt the point of view of the animal or plant. No doubt there is something artificiality in doing this, especially in the case of plants. On the other hand, perhaps there are other perspectives that would explain these judgments more naturally. However, the definition is likely to be more suitable for some cases than others, and this fact need not worry us too much so long as it is satisfactory for the purposes of the theory of justice. Turning to the category of occupations, in some instances anyway while the desired properties are those of persons belonging to the occupation, the persons whose point of view we take up do not belong to it. Thus a good doctor is one who has the skills and abilities that it is rational for one’s patients to want in a doctor. The skills and abilities are the doctor’s, the interest in the restoration of health by which they are assessed are the patients. #RandolphHarris 5 of 23
These illustrations show that the point of view varies from case to cause and the definition of goodness contains no general formula for determining it. These matters are explained as the occasion arises or gathered from the context. A further comment is that there is nothing necessarily right, or morally correct, about the point of view from which things are judged to be good or bad. One may say of a person that one is a good spy, or a good assassin, without approving of one’s skills. Applying the definition to this case, we would be interpreted as saying that the individual referred to has the attributes that it is rational to want in a spy, or assassin, given what spies and assassins are expected to do. There is no implication that it is proper to want spies and assassins to do what they do. Normally it is governments and conspirators and the like who employ spies and assassins, sometimes corporations. We are simply evaluating certain proficiencies and talents from the point of view of governments and conspirators. Whether a spy or assassin is a good person is a separate question altogether; to answer it we should have to judge the cause for which one works and one’s motives for doing so. Now this moral neutrality of the definition of good is exactly what we should expect. The concept of rationality be itself is not an adequate basis for the concept of right; and in contract theory the latter is derived in another way. #RandolphHarris 6 of 23
Moreover, to construct the conception of moral goodness, the principles of right and justice must be introduced. It is easy to see that with many occupations and roles moral principles have an important place in characterizing the desired properties. For example, a good judge has a strong desire to give justice, to decide cases fairly in accordance with what the law requires. One possesses the judicial virtues which one’s position demands: one is impartial, able to assess the evidence fairly, not prejudiced or moved by personal considerations. These attributes may not suffice but they are generally necessary. The characterizations of good father or wife, or friend or associate, and so n indefinitely, rely upon a theory of the virtues and therefore presuppose the principles of right. These matters belong to the full theory. In order for goodness as rationality to hold for the concept of moral worth, it must turn out that the virtues are properties that it is rational for persons to want in one another when they adopt the requisite point of view. To find the Overself is to eliminate fear, establish harmony, and inspire living. The power of the Overself to enlighten, protect, and exalt humans is as actual a fact as the power of electricity to illumine one’s home—or it is nothing. It is quite possible to open doors of inner being without the assistance of a teacher. One’s own higher self will give one all the guidance one needs, provided one has sufficient faith in its existence and its assistance. #RandolphHarris 7 of 23
Alone and depending on one’s little, personal ego, a human can do the merest fraction of what one can do when one becomes an instrument of the Infinite Power. When the star of a human’s Overself rises into ascendancy, one will no more feel lonely even if one be often alone. A sese of the Universe’s friendliness will surround one, enfold one. One always turns for one’s first defense against the perils and troubles of this World to brief meditation upon the all-wise, all-powerful Overself, and only after that for one’s secondary defenses to the ego’s human resources. From the outside, by means of events, persons, or books; from the inside, by means of intuitions, thought, feelings, and urges—this is how the way is shown one by the Overself. Out of this deep mysterious center within oneself, one will draw the strength to endure distress wit fortitude, the wisdom to manage situations without after-regrets, the insight to keep the great and little values of everyday life in proper perspective. The correct understanding of what humans really are is both self-humbling and self-glorifying. If the consciousness of Gd in one makes one very strong, the consciousness of one’s dependence on it keeps one very humble. Its wisdom is a perfect solvent of human perplexities, its tranquility a perfect balm for human bruises. Because one has access to this inward source, one may live the loneliest of lives but it will not be loveless. The joy and warmth of its ever-presence will abide with one. In very truth the Overself becomes one’s beloved companion, brining an intense satisfaction and profound love which no external friendship could ever bring. #RandolphHarris 8 of 23
The ever-presence of the Overself is to one life’s greatest fact. There is nothing to compare with it; one takes one’s stand upon it. One rejoices in it. When the outside World does one injustice or slanders one or hurts one or defraud one, one turns inward, deeper and deeper inward, until one stands in the presence of the Overself. Then one finds absolute serenity, absolute love. Every lesser thing must dissolve away in its divine atmosphere, and when one returns to mundane thought one feels no resentment against the wrong-doers; if anything, one feels pity for them. One has lost nothing, for good name and property are but the accidents of existence, whereas the presence of the Overself is a basic essential, and ne has not lost that reality. So long as It loves one and so long as one loves It there can be no real loss. We do not live self-sufficient and self-sustained lives but depend wholly on the Overself in every way and at every moment. Under great strain and amid grave dangers, the aspirant will find courage and endurance in the talismanic power of remembering the Higher Self. It is always there. It is from this source that one will draw both strength to rise above one’s own temptations and love to rise above other human’s hatred. It is a state where inner resistances are no more, inner conflicts are not known. It is the presence of the Overself in us that creates the germ of our aspiration for a higher life. It is the warm sunshine and cold rain of experience that nurtures the germ. #RandolphHarris 9 of 23
It is the influence of spiritual individuals that brings the growth through it varying stages. All nerve tensions are lost in this holy quietude. An exquisite mood of well-being takes their place. One who perpetually feels the presence of the divine soul within oneself, thereby obtains an effortless control of oneself. The doubts and fears, the hesitations and suspicious, the jealousies and bitternesses, the enmities and hatreds of common life can never enter here. The Higher elf is called “the Friend.” There is a sense of perfect safety, a sense which particularly and strongly revels itself at times of danger, crisis, or distress. It is a fact more real than we usually grant that the continuous presence of the Overself makes human’s satisfaction with wholly material living both impermanent and impossible. “Life,” says Dr. Hinkle, “…implies a constant interaction between organism and environment.” When we speak of the change brought about by divorce or a death in the family or a job transfer or even a vacation, we are talking about a major life event. Yet, as everyone knows, life consists of tiny events as well, a constant stream of them flowing into and out of our experience. Any major life change is major only because it forces us to make many little changes as well, and these, in turn, consist of still smaller and smaller changes. To grapple with the meaning of life in the accelerative society, we need to see what happens at the level of these minute, “micro-changes” as well. #RandolphHarris 10 of 23
What happens when something in our environment is altered? All of us are constantly bathed in a shower of signals from our environment—visual, auditory, tactile, et cetera. Most of these come in routine, repetitive patterns. When something changes with the range of our senses, the pattern of signals pouring through our sensory channels into our nervous system is modified. The routine, repetitive patters are interrupted—and to this interruption we respond in a particularly acute fashion. Significantly, when some new set of stimuli hits us, both body and brain know almost instantly that they are new. The change may be no more than a flash of colour seen out of the corner of an eye. It may be that a loved one brushing us tenderly with the fingertips momentarily hesitates. Whatever the change, an enormous amount of physical machinery comes into play. When a dog hears a strange noise, one’s ears prick, one’s head turns. And we do much the same. The change in stimuli triggers what experimental psychologists call an “orientation response.” The orientation response or OR is a complex, even massive bodily operation. The pupils of the eyes dilate. Photochemical changes occur in the retina. Our hearing becomes momentarily more acute. We involuntarily use our muscle to direct our sense organs toward the incoming stimuli—we lean toward the sound, for example, or squint our eyes to see better. Our general muscle tone rises. There are changes in our pattern of brain waves. Our fingers and toes grow cold as the veins and arteries in them constrict. Our palms sweat. Blood rushes to the head. Our breathing and heart rate alter. #RandolphHarris 11 of 23
Under certain circumstances, we may do all of this—and more—in a very obvious fashion, exhibiting what has been called the “startle reaction.” However, even when we are unaware of what is going on, these changes take place every time we perceive novelty in our environment. The reason for this is that we have, apparently built into our brains, a special novelty-detection apparatus that has only recently come to the attention of neurologists. The Soviet scientist E. N. Sokolov, who has put forward the most comprehensive explanation of how the orientation response works, suggests that neural cells in the brain store information about the intensity, duration, quality, and sequence of incoming stimuli. When new stimuli arrive, these are matched against the “neural models” in the cortex. If the stimuli are novel, they do not match any existing neural model, and the OR takes place. If, however, the matching process reveals their similarity to previously stored models, the cortex shoots signals to the reticular activating system, instructing it, in effect, to hold its fire. In this way, the level of novelty in our environment has direct physical consequences. Moreover, it is vital to recognize that the OR is not an unusual affair. It takes place in most of us literally thousands of times in the course of a single say as various changes occur in the environment around us. Again and again the OR fires off, even during sleep. #RandolphHarris 12 of 23
“The OR is big!” says research psychologist Ardie Lubin, an expert on sleep mechanisms. “The whole body is involved. And when you increase novelty in the environment—which is what a lot of change means—you get continua ORs with it. This is probably very stressful for the body. It is a helluva load to put on the body. If you overload an environment with novelty, you get the equivalent of anxiety neurotics—people who have their systems continually flooded with adrenalin, continual heart pumping, cold hands, increased muscle tone and tremours—all the usual OR characteristics.” The orientation response is no accident. It is nature’s gift to humans, one of one’s key adaptive mechanism. The OR has the effect of sensitizing one to take in more information—to see or hear better, for instance. It readies one’s muscles for sudden exertion, if necessary. It prepares one for fight or flight. Yet each OR, as Dr. Lubin underscores, takes its toll in wear and tear on the body, for it requires energy to sustain it. Thus one result of the OR is to send a surge of anticipatory energy through the body. Stored energy exists in such sites as the muscles and the sweat glands. As neural system pulses in response to novelty, its synaptic vesicles discharge small amounts of adrenalin and nor-adrenalin. These, in turn, trigger a partial release of the stored energy. Each OR draws not only upon the body’s limited supply of quick energy, but on its even more limited supply of energy-releasers. #RandolphHarris 13 of 23
In needs to be emphasized, moreover, that the OR occurs not merely in response to simple sensory inputs. It happens when we come across novel ideas or information as well as novel sights or sounds. A fresh bit of office gossip, a unifying concept, even a new joke or an original turn of phrase can trigger it. When a novel event or fact challenges one’s whole preconceived World view, the OR is particularly stressing. Given an elaborate ideology, Catholicism, Marxism, or whatever, we quickly recognize (or think we recognize) familiar elements in otherwise novel stimuli, and this puts us at ease. Indeed, ideologies may be regarded as large mental filing cabinets with vacant drawers or slots waiting to accept new data. For this reason, ideologies serve to reduce the intensity and frequency of the OR. It is only when a new fact fails to fit, when it resists filing, that the OR occurs. A classical example is that of the religious person who is brought up to believe in the goodness of God and who is suddenly faced by what strikes one as a case of overwhelming, senseless evil. Until the new fact can be reconciled or one’s World view altered, one suffers acute agitation and anxiety. The OR is so inherently stressing that we enjoy a vast sense of relief when it is over. At the level of ideas or cognition, this is the “a-hah!” reaction we experience at a moment of revelation, when we finally understand something that has been puzzling us. We may be aware of the “a-hah’s” are continually occurring just below the level of consciousness. #RandolphHarris 14 of 23
Novelty, therefore—any perceptible novelty—touches off explosive activity within the body, and especially the nervous system. OR’s fire off like flashbulbs within us, at a rate determined by what is happening outside us. Humans and environment are in constant, quivering interplay. While novelty in the environment raises or lowers the rate at which OR’s occur, some novel condition call fort even more powerful responses. We are driving along a monotonous turnpike, listening to the radio and beginning to daydream. Suddenly, a car speeds by, forcing us to swerve out of our lane. We react automatically, almost instantaneously, and the OR is very pronounced. We can feel our heart pumping and our hands shaking. It takes a while before the tension subsides. However, what if it does not subside? What happens when we are placed in a situation that demands a complex set of physical and psychological reactions and in which the pressure is sustained? What happens if, for example, the boss breathes hotly down our collar day after day? What happens when someone is constant acting like they are about to pull a gun on us? What happens when everyday your child crosses the street a car almost runs one over? What happens when one of our children is seriously ill? Or when, on the other hand, we look forward eagerly to a “big date” or to closing an important business deal? #RandolphHarris 15 of 23
Such situation cannot be handled by the quick spurt of energy provided by the OR, and for these we have what might be termed the “adaptive reaction.” This is closely related to the OR. Indeed, the two processes are so intertwined that the OR can be regarded as part of, or the initial phase of, the larger, more encompassing adaptive reaction. However, while the OR is primarily based on the nervous system, the adaptive reaction is heavily dependent upon the endocrine glands and the hormones they shoot into the bloodstream. The first line of defense is neural; the second is hormonal. When individuals are forced to make repeated adaptations to novelty, and especially when they are compelled to adapt to certain situation involving conflict and uncertainty, a pea-sized gland called the pituitary pumps out a number of substances. One of these, Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), goes out to the adrenal. This cases them, in turn, to manufacture certain chemicals called corticosteroids. Cortisol is made by the adrenal glands, two small glands located above the kidneys, and plays an important role in helping you to: Respond to stress, fight infection, regulate blood sugar, maintain blood pressure, regulate metabolism (the process of how your body uses food and energy). Too much or too little cortisol can cause serious health problems. In addition to the reactions already listed, when considered more thoroughly, as corticosteroids are released, we observe that they speed up body metabolism. They raise blood pressure. They send anti-inflammatory substances through the blood to fight infection at wound sites, if any. And they begin turning fat and protein into dispersible energy, thus tapping into the body’s reserve tank of energy. The adaptive reaction provides a much more potent and sustained flush of energy than the OR. #RandolphHarris 16 of 23
Like the orientation response, the adaptive reaction is no rarity. It takes longer to arouse and it lasts longer, but it happens countless times even within the course of a single day, responding to changes in our physical and social environment. The adaptive reaction, sometimes known by the more dramatic term “stress,” can be touched off by shifts and changes in the psychology climate around us. Worry, upset, conflict, uncertainty, even happy anticipation, hilarity and joy, all set the ACTH factory working. The very anticipation of change can trigger the adaptive reaction. The need to alter one’s way of life, to trade an old job for a new one, social pressures status shifts, life style modifications, in fact, anything that forces us to confront the unknow, can switch on the adaptive reaction. Dr. Lennart Levi, director of the Clinical Stress Laboratory at the Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm, Germany has shown, for example, that even quite small changes in the emotional climate or in interpersonal relationships can produce marked changes in body chemistry. Stress is frequently measured by the amounts of corticosteroids and catecholamines (adrenalin and nor-adrenalin, for example) found in the blood and urine. In one series of experiments Dr. Levi used films to generate emotions and plotted the resultant chemical changes. #RandolphHarris 17 of 23
A group of Swedish male medical students were shown film clips depicting murders, fights, torture, execution and cruelty to animals. The adrenalin component of their urine rose an average 70 percent as measured before and after. Nor-adrenalin rose an average 35 percent. Next a group of young female office workers were shown four different films on successive nights. The first was a bland travelog. They reported feelings of calmness and equanimity, and their output of catecholamines fell. The second night they watched Stanley Kubrick’s Paths of Glory and reported feeling intense excitement and anger. Adrenalin output shot upward. The third night they viewed Charley’s Aunt, and roared with laughter at the comedy. Despite the pleasant feelings and the absence of any scenes of aggression or violence, their catecholamines rose significantly again. The fourth night they saw The Devil’s Mask, a thriller during which they actually screamed with fright. Not unexpectedly, catecholamine output sored. Emotional response, almost without regard for its character, is accompanied by (or, indeed, reflect) adrenal activity. Similar findings have been demonstrated again and again in the case of men and women—not to speak of rodents, dogs, deer, and other experimental animals—involved in “real” as distinct from “vicarious” experiences. Sailors in underwater demolition training, men stationed in lonely outpost in Antarctica, astronauts, factory workers, executives have all show similar chemical responsiveness to change in the external environment. #RandolphHarris 18 of 23
The implications of this have hardly begun to register, yet there is an increasing evidence that repeated simulation of the adaptive reaction can be seriously damaging, that excessive activation of the endocrine system leads to irreversible “wear and tear.” Thus, we are warned by Dr. Rene Dubos, author of Man Adapting, that such changeful circumstances are as “competitive situations, operation within a crowded environment, change in a very profound manner the secretion of hormones. One can type-read that in the blood or the urine. Just a mere contact with the complex human situation almost automatically brings this about, this stimulation of the whole endocrine system.” What of it? “There is,” Dr. Dubos declares, “absolutely no question that one can overshoot the stimulation of the endocrine system and that this has physiological consequences that last throughout the whole lifetime of the organs.” Dr. Hans Selye, a pioneer investigator of the body’s adaptive responses reported that when dealing with intense and prolonged stress “Clinical studies confirm in women the monthly cycles become irregular or stop altogether, and during lactation milk secretions may become insufficient in for the baby. In men both the sexual urge and sperm-cell formation are diminished.” Since than population experts and ecologists have compiled impressive evidence that heavily stressed populations of rodents, deer—and people—show lower fertility levels than less stressed control groups. #RandolphHarris 19 of 23
Crowding, for example, a condition that involves a constant high level of interpersonal interaction and compels the individual to make extremely frequent adaptive reactions has been shown, at least in animals, to enlarge the adrenals and cause a noticeable drop in fertility. The repeated firing of the OR and the adaptive reaction, by overloading the neural and endocrine systems, is linked to other diseases and physical problems as well. Rapid change in the environment makes repeated calls on the energy supply of the body. This leads to a speedup of fat metabolism. In turn, this creates grave difficulties for certain diabetics. Even the common cold has been shown to be affected by the rate of change in the environment. In studies reported by Dr. Hinkle it was found that the frequency of colds in a sample of New York working women correlated with “changes in the mood and pattern of activity of the woman, in response to changing relationships to the people around her and the event that she encountered.” If we understand the chain of biological events touched off by our efforts to adapt to change and novelty, we can begin to understand why health and change seem to be inextricably linked to one another. The findings of Drs. Holmes, Rahe, Arthur, and others now engaged in life change research in entirely compatible with on-going research in endocrinology and experimental psychology. #RandolphHarris 20 of 23
It is quite clearly impossible to accelerate the rate of change in society, or to raise the novelty ratio in society, without triggering significant changes in the body chemistry of the population. By stepping up the pace of scientific, technological and social change, we are tampering with the chemistry and biological stability of the human race. This, one must immediately add, is not necessarily bad. “There are worse things than illness,” Dr. Homes wryly reminds us. “No one can live without experiencing some degree of stress all the time,” Dr. Selye has written. To eliminate ORs and adaptive reactions would be to eliminate all change, including growth, self-development, maturation. It presupposes complete stasis Change is not merely necessary to life; it is life. By the same token, life is adaptation. There are, however, limits on adaptability. When we alter our life style, when we make and break relationships with things, places, or people, when we move restlessly through the organizational geography of society, when we learn new information and ideas, we adapt; we live. Yet there are finite boundaries; we are not infinitely resilient. Each orientation response, each adaptive reaction exacts a price, wearing down the body’s machinery bit by minute bit, until perceptible tissues damage results. Thus humans remain in the end what one started as in the beginning: a biosystem with a limited capacity for change. When this capacity is overwhelmed, the consequence is future shock. #RanolphHarris 21 of 23
The extent of the peace and strength, the confidence and beneficence which lie stretched out beneath the little ego’s troubled life is like unto the oceans: no other simile will suit. If only we could find our way to them or lese bring gushes from them to the surface, mysterious pools of wisdom and goodness are underneath the personality. In this higher part of one’s being one feels completed within oneself, at-oned with Nature and as self-sufficient as Nature. The Overself is present as the supreme Fact in one’s, and all, existence even as it is present as an emotional necessity in the religious human’s existence. All one’s finest emotions, one’s deepest wisdom, one’s creative faculties, one’s truth-discriminating intuitions come into being because of the Overself’s central if hidden presence. Many will dispute this possibility, but it is certainly possible for your higher self to guide and instruct you directly—through and within yourself. It is not an existence far apart from yourself. We should become so involved in acquiring good quality traits and participating in character-building activities that there is no time to engage in anything worthless or harmful. Our habits should be those that make us susceptible to faith and testimony. One of the best habits to cultivate is that of reading the scriptures so one can become knowledgeable of one’s responsibilities. By learning God’s commandments and keeping them, we develop the ways of righteousness that are an expression of our faith. With good habits we prepare ourselves for excellence. #RandolphHarris 22 of 23
We need to ask ourselves, “Are my usual thoughts and present actions worthy of eternal life? Am I setting my sights on eternal goals and working to obtain them?” Anything short of our best is not good enough, especially in the service of the Lord. The Lord has counseled us to repent and walk uprightly before Him. Uprightly implies a strict adherence to moral principles and honesty of purpose. We are instructed to make our home an abode of righteousness and honour. Honour is almost an old-fashioned word in today’s World. It encompasses duty, responsibility, and respect for the eternal values. It also suggests a firm holding to codes of right behaviour and the guidance of a high sense of stewardship. Who is like unto the Lord our God, enthroned so high, that looketh down below upon Heaven and Earth? He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the needy from the dunghill, to seat one together with princes, together with the prince of His people. He maketh the childless woman to dwell in her house as a joyful mother of children. Hallelujah. Tremble, thou Earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of Jacob, who turned the rock into a pool, the flint into a fountain of waters. If in your divinest being you are the Overself and if the rest of you is both path and goal, the way and the truth, what do you need a guru for, why step outside yourself. However, people do not care for such questions. They look for teacher in the fake news media or in the streets, and thus look always outside themselves, outside the Overself. In your soul, this gentle divine atmosphere, God lives and moves and has His spirit, and this is one reason we have to follow Shakespeare’s counsel and be true to ourselves. #RandolphHarris 23 of 23
MILLS STATION AT CRESLEIGH RANCH
Rancho Cordova, CA |
Now Selling!
Mills Station at Cresleigh Ranch is Rancho Cordova’s newest home community! This charming neighborhood offers an array of home types with eye catching architecture styles such as Mission, Mid-Century Modern, California Modern, and Contemporary Farmhouse.
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Randolph Harris II International Institute 