Love is a great happiness to humans. Philosophers have not carelessly misunderstood ordinary language; it is waiting for them with bewitchment and illusion. In the emancipation that is achieved when one is able to command a clear view of the functioning of language, everything is left, but seen to be, as it is. A house means many things to people. The ultimate beauty in the home is its emotional and spiritual wealth. It is a place of wonderful memories. And with all of these things, that house becomes a home. Many of our homes are a shrine. It is a part of our self-definition, which is why we do things like decorate our houses with beautiful patterns, embrace amazing colours to impress our company and take care of our shimmer waves green grass. A beautiful lawn is one of the most desired features in gardens all around the World. These lush, emerald green grassplots serve a great purpose of keeping the environment cool, cleaning the air, and is a public displaying of our houses as an extension of ourselves. A strong attachment to the place that we live results in greater satisfaction with our home and expectations of future stability in that place. These feelings transcend attachments to other people in the area and represent a genuine affection for the physical location itself, and the passage of time strengthens out attachment to the place we live. The home can bring spiritual growth to each member of the family. The Almighty will descend upon them as the dew from Heaven, and the Holy Ghost will be theirs. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6
Home is where the heart is and the heart always makes us feel the beauty and life and hope for the future. Because of physical surroundings play such an important role in creating a sense of meaning and organization in our lives, it is not surprising that our sense of the place we live is closely connected to our sense of who we are. Our family homes are where we should feel most comfortable in the World. It determines how we make our life decisions, shapes out attitudes, and awareness, our self-esteem. A family homes life is obviously a vital ingredient in the pursuit of a meaningful life. There are some key elements to building a peaceful home life: the relationship between the family members, the atmosphere of the home itself, and the way the home is run. When a family shares principles and values, they grow together. The home because a foundation for the family’s shared sense of purpose while providing a springboard for each member to pursue his or her own goals. In such homes, families stay up ate talking heart-to-heart about what is on their minds. Children gather around their parents to hear their stories. The whole family gets together—and not just on holidays—for evening of songs, games, and reminiscing. The home become alive with a soul, a source of energy and hope, of urgency and love. It is not the tranquility of a home that makes it peaceful; it is the life within. “The stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God’s house,” reports Genesis 28.22. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6
There should be sweet love in the home like a song of happiness. Beautiful melody and notes filled with joy. We make our houses even more beautiful by talking with of families about our responsibilities as good-hearted people. Parents and caregivers offer their children love, acceptance, appreciation, encouragement, and guidance. They provide the most intimate context for the nurturing and protection of children as they develop their personalities and identities and also as they mature cognitively, emotionally, and socially. Our children will grow up wo remember their home as a place of warmth and kindness, where people felt comfortable to gather and talk about things that matter to them. In all likelihood, these children will grow into adults who will create the same sort of home. Parents and caregivers make sure children are healthy and safe, equip them with skill and resources to succeed as adults, and transmit basic cultural values to them. Family rituals are also instrumental in the healthy development of children and teenagers. There is emerging evidence that good communication between family members at mealtimes is associated with reduced anxiety symptoms and better respiratory conditions. Family mealtimes also provide the settings in which to strengthen emotional connections. And the value that family places on regular mealtimes may improve nutrition habits and healthy weight in youth. “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord,” reports Joshua 24.15. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6
Families are often the first organization to take stock of everyone’s psychological wellbeing due to their involvement in and monitoring of their children’s lives. Once a normal child’s needs are satisfied on a regular basis, he or she will become bored, no longer interested in staying at the level. There is a growth force in each of us that pushes us to reach for higher levels of motivation. As the children grows through childhood, the individual moves from being dominated by the need to learn and maintain one’s safety and security to the stage of testing out one’s abilities in a more social area. In this stage, which comes in middle childhood and early adolescence, he or she needs assurance that one has a permanent place in the family, and that his or her parents value the child. Children will spend more and more time out of the hose, as one goes to school and outside to play, but the child still needs as a base the sense that home and the family’s love are always there, whenever he or she decides to return. Many children test this out by running away, pushing parents to declare that their love is flexible and stretchable. Parents may fail to recognize that running away is a testing of the quality of their love, not a rejection of that love. During this time, a child often adopts new adults into his or her life: teachers, friends, others’ patents, playground supervisors, or scout leaders. An insecure parent faced with this situation may think he or she has failed and the child has abandoned him or her for another seemingly more competent or more loving adult. We should not be at a loss of love and departing. Honest hearts are a vast sea keep the image of the sail in your heart. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6
Our families are where we experience our biggest triumphs and our deepest vulnerabilities—and they are where we have the greatest potential to do good. Of course, if parents really are not giving enough love or feeling of belonging, the child may actually be going outside the home to satisfy those needs. However, usually this is not the motivation. A child who finds that one’s parents are threatened or angered by such testing often panics. Many a child assumes that love has a price tag on it—is subject to conditions, as in a contract. And unfortunately, there are parents who attach strings: “I will love you if you will just work hard and get good greats.” “I do not love you when you run away.” These may seem like fairly innocent comments to a parent, but they can be a real source of fear for children. The family is divine in nature and God designates it as the fundamental building block of society, both on Earth and through eternity. As such, it becomes the foundation for civilization and a sanctuary for the individual. It should be a place of social graces of loyalty, cooperation, and trust. The family is the place we learn to love ourselves and each other, to bear one another’s burdens, to find meaning in our life and to give purpose to others’ lives, and to feel the value of being part of something greater than ourselves. There is a universal desire for oneness among people—we want to belong. It is why we collaborate, support common causes, cheer for sports teams, feel nationalism. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6
The desire to belong is also why we build villages, towns, and cities. When we have a home life that reflects what we previously had in Heaven, we have more of an innate propensity to get ourselves noticed, and noticed favourably, by our kind. And a spirit of unity, devotion, and faith prevails. One evening a week, for home family recreation, improvement and enjoyment, parents and children should gather around the family hearth in social and religious communion. It furnishes an opportunity for the parents to become better acquainted with their children and for children to know and appreciate their parents. If the home evening could be a fact, under the influence of the Spirit of the Lord, at our own firesides surrounded by those whom the Lord has given unto us, and told us, particularly that we should instruct them, how many happy homes there would be where today there is sorrow and discord and distress. Great blessings come to those who carry out this responsibility. Family home evening brings many families closer to one another, and have brought a great measure of peace and harmony in many homes. We feel with our love and earnest assurances, that the Lord will grant rich blessings to all who will prayerfully and sincerely carry out this program. There is no greater legacy that parents can leave to their children than the memory and blessings of a happy, unified and loving home. Our love is shining with the Sun and Moon in our hearts. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6
There is no such thing as chance or accident; the words merely signify our ignorance of some real and immediate causes. Some people are not honestly looking for guidance. They may in fact pray for guidance, but they almost always imagine the answer they want to hear. Their hearts may not really be open. If they would only stop to think about what they planned and give serious thought to the counsel they revived, they would know their decision did not make much sense. The truth is, some decisions are so obviously bad that we do not need the Lord or the bishop to tell us that they are. The development of critical thinking skills is an important and lasting benefit of a college education. Such skills enable people to evaluate, compare, analyze, critique, and synthesize information so they will not accept everything they hear at face value. Perhaps the most glaring need for critical thinking is in how we evaluate things we hear on television and in the news. For example, people spend billions of dollars every year on natural dietary supplements based on marketing claims that in fact may not have been tested. So when a salesperson or journalist tells you that, for example, echinacea helps presents colds you should ask if that statement has been scientifically tested, how was it tested, when, and by whom. #RandolphHarris 1 of 11
Similarly, when politicians make claims in 30-second sound bites, check those claims before you accept them as truth. Be skeptical. And if you can do check on the validity of advertising and political statements, you will find that they are frequently misleading or just plain wrong. Many people have confidence that the Lord will somehow intervene if they get into trouble. However, they overlook the fact that we are here on Earth to learn—often from our mistakes. We make decisions, then like by the consequences. The Church is not a substitute for intelligent thought or plain, common sense. Whatever other aspects of meaning the word sense may retain in the compound “common sense,” it has prominently the force of sense as opposed to nonsense. In what is contrary to common sense there is always something more or less—but obviously—nonsensical. It produces the feeling, varying in strength according to circumstances, that argument is only precariously in place in dealing with it. For to deploy arguments at all directly against the manifestly absurd is to invest it with some intellectual dignity and to muffle its self-annihilating character. It is, moreover, to invite the suspicion that one has failed to recognize absurdity, and such failure has a very foolish look. #RandolphHarris 2 of 11
Many of our ideas about the World come from personal observation. We check these conclusions out with other people, and if most people agree with us we assume our ideas are true. Such agreements become our common-sense fact. Common sense can be a good source of information for making day-to-day decisions. However, sometimes it is based upon little evidence, limited information, and personal bias. When this happens, it can hinder our perception of reality. Psychology bases its theories on objective and systematic investigation, not common sense, though its findings often agree with our common-sense notions about behaviour. However, psychology attempts to eliminate facts based on insufficient evidence or personal bias. Furthermore, there are questions and actions that show a lack of maturity and an unwillingness to accept responsibility. Still others indicate a serious misunderstanding of how life works. Since the issues concern mainly the World of perception, the element of common sense means that a person should trust their own sense, and not tolerate the suggestion of things that are ridiculous, not real of mere representations. #RandolphHarris 3 of 11
Common sense is a mental endowment, ordinary understanding—without which a person is out of his or her mind, or feeble-minded; ordinary, practical good sense in everyday affairs; and the faculty of private truths. What we need in unimpeachable authority for the fundamental convictions shared by all normal people about matters of fact with respect to which consciousness can give no guarantees. Common sense supplies it. It outs us into assured possession of such first truths as that there is an external World, that our minds are incorporeal, that we are capable of free agency. First truths have characteristic marks: No attack upon them, and no attempt to prove them, can operate from premises that surpass them in clarity or evidence. They are, and always have been, acknowledged by the vast majority of humankind. Those who imagine they reject them act like all other people in conformity with them. If truths of common sense are self-evident, how can they be denied? And again, if they are self-evident, how can they me made evident when denied? The truths of common sense cannot be made evident by deductive proofs, but there is always absurdity in opinions contrary to its dictates. In defending common sense, we admit it has control over us. Therefore, we all need to stay close to our Father in Heaven and seek his guidance through daily prayer. #RandolphHarris 4 of 11
At the same time, we need to acknowledge our own responsibility. The Lord’s plan gives us our agency. In return, we are expected to think and act. Even prayer is not a substitute for wisely taking care of our everyday responsibilities. The convictions of common sense come to us with the backing of our entire cognitive nature. They are tests of truth; their own must be presumed, for they are too elementary to have antecedents from which they could be derived. The only possible falsification of common sense would be demonstrated inconsistency in its deliverances, and this would bring epistemological chaos. “God grants a treasure of common sense to the honest. He is a shield to those who walk with integrity. He guards the path of the just and protects those who are faithful to him. The you will understand what is right, just, and fair, and you will find the right way to go. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will fill you with joy. Wise choices will watch over you. Understanding will keep you safe,” reports Proverbs 2.7-11. Therefore, our common sense is a God given natural ability to make good judgments and to behave in a practical and sensible way. An internal sense, which is believed to be the sense by which information from the other five sense is understood and interpreted. Common sense is a sensible understanding, or one’s basic intelligence which allows for plain understanding and without which good decision or judgment cannot be made. #RandolphHarris 5 of 11
Human’s gods and demons have not disappeared at all: they have merely got new names. Those who do not believe in God or who believe that they do not believe in him, believe nevertheless in some little pocket of god or devil of their own. Religious agnosticism is not a psychological fact, but a self-deception. It is an essential law [ein Wesensgesets] that every finite spirit believes in either God or an idol. These idols may very greatly. So-called unbelievers may treat the state or a woman or art or knowledge or any number of things as if they were God. “The laws of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statues of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple,” reports Psalm 19.7. God has significantly affected the masses. What needs explanation is not belief in God, which is original and natural, but unbelief or, rather, belief in an idol. God gave us our brains, the apparatus we need for making sound judgments, and he does not want them standing idle. He expects us to use them. Certain decisions are right simply because they make good sense. God will remove every obstacle that presents us from doing his will. He does things we cannot do, but expects us to use the good sense he has given us. #RandolphHarris 6 of 11
When God delivered Saint Peter from prison, the Angel supernaturally removed the chains and led him past two guards, then miraculously opened the iron gate before him. However, once they were out in the street, the angel departed and left Saint Peter to use his brain. God is not going to do for us what he has endowed us to do for ourselves. God may want us to gather facts on which we can base a sound judgment, or list the advantages and disadvantages of the various alternative. For instance, if you are trying to decide what house to buy, you may need to compile some data. How much money do you have available? Which elevation fits your budget? What are some features you want in your house? Which elevation offers the features you like and is in your price range? We must trust God to guide us, but we must also take the responsibility for making an intelligent choice on the basis of the information we have. Insist on good reasons for the decisions you make. Remember, however, that human reason is fallible. We can never be sure that we have obtained all the relevant facts, nor that we are interpreting them correctly. We must, as in all other cases, set the observed facts before us and, after first discussing the difficulties, go on to prove, if possible, the truth of all the common opinions about these affections of the mind, or, failing this, of the greater number and the most authoritative; for if we both refute the objections and leave the common opinions undisturbed, we shall have proved the case sufficiently. #RandolphHarris 7 of 11
Common sense is thought of as changeless, the same for all people at all times. It s rightly thought of common sense as having a kind of instinctive character—but instincts can undergo modification. These beliefs show some modification as people become civilized and civilization develops. They are not, as ordinarily held, beliefs that have been up for acceptance or rejection; they exist as lifelong belief-habits. And they possess a logical feature in virtue of which they are double-resistant when criticized. The Scriptures teaches that basic moral values are inscribed on the soul of every human being. Those values may differ from person to person or from culture to culture, but there is in every person a sense of ought, called conscience, which evaluates one’s behaviour and either accuses or defense the individual. God can use that conscience to lead us. It is true that a conscience can be seared or branded by the effects of sin. That happens when we regularly ignore its voice and neglect to heed its warnings. A conscience may also become overly sensitive and restrictive, prohibiting things which God permits. Each person’s conscience is conditioned by knowledge, experience, and training, so it too must always be measured by the Word of God. However, there is still that innate compulsion or restraint which must be reckoned with. #RandolphHarris 8 of 11
Bring all the very general first premises to recognition and develop every suspicion of doubt of their truth. However, the doubt one is looking for must be the real thing, not paper doubt; we can no more induce genuine doubt by an act of will than we can give ourselves a surprise by deciding to. Strong thinkers are apt to be great breath-holders, but holding one’s breath against belief is not doubting. However, in claiming indubitability for a belief of common sense, we are not declaring its truth—propositions that really are indubitability, for the time being may nevertheless be false. The future holds possibilities of surprise for all our beliefs. Yet, though any one of our indubitable beliefs might turn out to be false, they could not all do so. Still, prayerfully heed the voice of conscience. It may express the will of God. Closely linked to conscience is the plain sense of duty. Certain things are obviously God’s will simply because they are rightfully expected of us. “Anyone, then, who knows the good one ought to o and does not do it, sins,” reports Apostle James. Common sense is a great mass of roe, rich in valuable metals, that need philosophical smelting. It must have removed inadvertences, confusions, and contradictions. However, the procedures by which is this done—rigorous reflection, the adjustment of its beliefs to the assured results of science are not alien to it. #RandolphHarris 9 of 11
Common sense has been self-correcting in its evolution and is still to some extent modifiable. The man in the street is not to be taken as a representative; the common sense of philosophical importance resides in the consensus of ignorant and educated belief. This unanimity is the result of a long development, during which idiosyncrasies of opinion have been worn down by mutual attrition, and mistakes—which common sense itself can see to be such—have been corrected. Common sense is less a matter of particular beliefs than the persistence of plastic tendencies to certain most general and comprehensive beliefs. We are constantly predicting human behaviour. If we could not predict the instructor would be there, we would not come to class. On a date, we observe the behaviour of our companion and predict the best moment to express our affection. Each of us engages in prediction every day, based on past experience and present observation. In the same way, psychology tries to study behavior systematically to make predictions based on the best empirical evidence. However, praying for guidance when duty is clear can lead to grave sins, deep delusions, and pathetic regrets. Fix that leaky toilet your wife has been after you about. Pay back that money you borrowed. You do not need to pray about it. It is your duty. #RandolphHarris 10 of 11
Doing out duty has another application as well. When we face difficult choice and honestly cannot decide what to do, just faithfully perform the next thing that is expected as part of one’s daily responsibilities. Guidance may come and greater opportunities may open to one while one is carrying out those obligations. The idea of predicting behaviour is a frightening one to many people. You might be afraid that if you can predict your own behaviour that you will have no choice as to how you will act. However, this is not necessarily so. Suppose you know that having your mother nag you about studying bugs you so badly that you are likely to refuse to study at all. When she does so, you can make some choices. You can avoid seeing her when you know you have to study. You can ask her not to nag you on the subject. Or you can try to change your own reaction to her nagging, somehow. All of these choices grow out of your own awareness of the pattern: Mother nags = I refuse to study. You predict what your future reactions will be if they follow past patterns, and only then can you decide you will change the pattern somehow. The way to be used of God to our greatest capacity, and to enjoy the assurance that he will keep us in the center of his will, is to be steadfast and dependable in what he has given us to do. Keep doing what you are doing, and do it well until new guidance comes. #RandolphHarris 11 of 11
Most of us need to be liked and accepted by others. We may enjoy meeting different people, whose background and attitudes are vastly different from our own, but we tend to feel more comfortable around those who share our assumptions and general backgrounds. There really does not seem to be much truth to the old saying that “opposites attract.” A number of psychologists have expressed this idea in the theory of the looking glass self, the theory that one’s self-concept is significantly affected by what one imagines others think of him or her. If they appear to approve of you, then you value yourself, and vice-versa. If someone you like and /or respect gives you a compliment and at that moment you are asked to rate yourself on a scale of one to ten, your stock will probably be higher than usual. To be a human being means to possess a feeling of inferiority which constantly presses towards its own conquest. The paths to victory are as different in a thousand ways as the chosen goals of perfection. The greater the feeling of inferiority that has been experienced, the more powerful is the urge to conquest and the more violent the emotional agitation. However, meanings are not determined by situations, but we determine ourselves by the meanings we give to situations. We must never neglect the patient’s own use of his or her symptoms. The science of the mind can only have for its proper goal the understanding of human nature by every human being, and through its use, brings peace to every human soul. #RandolphHarris 1 of 11
We share a common concern for the environment and a common desire to draw others unto the Creator of Heaven and Earth. The human soul and the environment are interconnected, each affects and influences the other. Therefore, there is an inherent complexity of human interaction with the environment. Our approach to the environment must be prudent, realistic, balanced, and consist with the needs of the Earth and of the current and future generations. It cannot be reasonably disputed that we depend on this Earth to sustain life, and the quality of the Earth and its environment will directly affect the quality of our life—and that of future generations. We understand who we are, the purpose of our existence, and the reason the Earth was created—and we have to keep these things in mind. If we do our conduct will rise to a higher, nobler level, and that is where religion and faith plays a major role. If we have to point to one single challenge facing humanity, a problem which virtually all others are tied, it would have to be population growth. We currently are trapped in a destructive cycle of our own making. Human population size has skyrocketed as we have increased our ability to produce food surpluses. As population size increases, more and more land is converted to crops, pasture, and building sites, providing more opportunities for yet more people. #RandolphHarris 2 of 11
God desires that humankind progress, improve, and receive eternal reward—and the Lord created this Earth for that purpose. Additionally, through medical advances of the twentieth century, we have reduced mortality at both ends of the life cycle. Thus, fewer people die in childhood, and having survived to adulthood, they live longer than ever before. The World average life expectancy is 69 years (may be higher or lower depending on country). Although these medical advances are unquestionably good for individuals (who has not benefited from medical technology?), it is also clear that there are significant detrimental consequences to the species and to the planet. Population size, if left unchecked, increases exponentially, that is, as a function of some perfect, like compound interest on a bank account. Currently, human population increases Worldwide at an annual rate of about 1.8 percent. Although this figure may not seem too startling at first, it deserves some examination. It is also useful to discuss double time, or the amount of time it takes for population size to double. God explained in practical terms why he created this World for his children to live on as mortal being and those who choose to follow and serve God in this life upon this Earth will have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever. #RandolphHarris 3 of 11
The creation of this Earth affords us the opportunity to choose to seek and someday receive all that God offers. However, one cannot, and should not be forced to follow God; indeed, real growth and development in an individual occurs only when one has the opportunity to choose for him or herself. Nonetheless, scientists estimate that around 10,000 years ago, only about 5 million people inhabited the Earth (not even half as many as life in Los Angeles County today). By A.D. 1650, there were perhaps 500 million, and by 1800, 1 billion. In other words, between 10,000 years ago and A.D. 1650 (a period of 9,650 years), population size doubled 71 times. On average, then, the doubling time, for population increase, between 10,000 years ago and 1650 was about 1,287 years. However, from 1650 to 1800, the population doubled again, which means that doubling time had been reduced to 150 years. And in 37 years between 1950 and 1987, World population doubled from 2 billion to 4 billion. Dates and associated population estimates up to the present are as follows: mid-1800s, 1 billion; 1930, 2 billion; mid-1960s, 3 billion; mid-1980s, 4 billion; 2000, 6 billion, and in 2018, 7.6 billion. To state this issue in terms we can appreciate, we add 1 billion people to the World’s population approximately every 11 years. That comes out to 90 to 95 million every year and roughly a quarter of a million every day! #RandolphHarris 4 of 11
The rate of growth is not equally distributed among all nations. Although the World’s rate of increase has ranged from 1.7 to 2.1 percent since the 1950s, it is the developing countries that share most of the burden (not to be interpreted as blame). During the 1980s, the population of Kenya grew at a rate of a little over 4 percent per year, while India added a million per month, and 36,000 babies were born every day in Latin American. Fortunately, by the end of the twentieth century, rates of human population growth began to decline. Moreover, by 2000, the replacement rate of 2.1 children per female required for population size to stabilize had been achieved in all western European countries, Thailand, and the nonimmigrant populations of the United States. The decrease in family size Worldwide is attributed to several factors, including the shift to a global economy, the migration of rural populations to urban centers with concomitant shifts in employment from agriculture to manufacturing and service sectors, and, at least in some countries, the increasing empowerment of women that has meant better education, increased opportunities in the workplace, and access to family planning. However, by the year 2020, human numbers could approach 10 billion. Japan is pretty much the only nation experiencing a population decline, which is leading to better education and employment opportunities, higher pay and more places to live. #RandolphHarris 5 of 11
The Earth was created to provide a place for the children of God to be tested, to learn and gain necessary experience in a place where they would have the opportunity to choose whether they will, or will not, do all things that the Lord commands. Once the process of the creation of this Earth was completed, God was pleased. He was pleased, for he saw that this Earth would serve his purpose for his children. God’s plan was—and is that his children come to this Earth through marriage between a man and a woman, who are to procreate, form a family, and tech children to choose the good part in a World with real moral choices and consequences. The Lord created the Earth to be inhabited; and he created his children that they should possess it. Men and women are not ere interlopers or a side-show on this Earth; rather, they and the children they bring into this World are central to its propose. However, we believe that God has commanded that the Earth and all things thereon be utilized responsibly to abundantly sustain the human family. We are just stewards of this Earth, God owns everything. So, how we care for the Earth, how we utilize and share in its bounty, and how we treat all life that has been provided for our benefit and use is part of our test in mortality. When God gave us dominion over everything, it was not without boundaries or limits. #RandolphHarris 6 of 11
God intends human’s dominion to be a righteous dominion, meaning one that is guided, curbed, and enlightened by the doctrine of his gospel—a gospel defined by God’s love for us and our love for him and his works. The unbridled, voracious consumer is not consistent with God’s plan of happiness, which calls for humility, gratitude, and mutual respect. In other words, as stewards over the Earth and all life thereon, we are to gratefully make use of that which the Lord has provided, avoid wasting life and resources, and use the bounty of the Earth to care for the less affluent. Yes, the Lord gave to men and women agency, or the capacity to choose; however, we must bear in mind that he cares deeply for all life and especially for his children, and will hold us accountable for what we choose to do (or not do) with the bounties of his creation. “It pleases God that he has given all these things unto humans,” report Doctrine and Covenants 59.20. Humankind is promised that if we choose to follow the Lord and judiciously use the resources of the Earth with thanksgiving and respect, the fullness of the Earth would be ours, and that Good things would come of the Earth, and would benefit humans and strengthen the body and enliven the soul. #RandolphHarris 7 of 11
The United Nations plan to control population growth is to emphasize women’s education, health, and rights throughout the World, but it still has met with stiff resistance from religious groups (primarily the United States) opposed to abortion and contraception. The United Nations goal is admirable and ambitions, but achieving it will be a formidable task. Although the average number of live births per woman has declined, it will still be next to impossible to prevent huge population increases in the next century. Bear in mind that approximately half of all people currently living in the developing World are less than 15 years old. These young people have not reproduced yet, but they will. The concern is can we continue forever to make technological changes sufficient to feed ever-growing numbers of humans? Is there enough land to support an endless demand for housing, crop cultivation, and grazing? Is there enough water? We probably can develop technologies to meet our species’ increasing needs for a while. However, can we do so and still meet the requirements of thousands of undomesticated species? The answer for the immediate future is: probably not. For the long term, without major changes in human population growth, the answer is: absolutely not. And that is one of the reasons people are in an uproar about unlawful immigration. #RandolphHarris 8 of 11
With resources being scarce and prices climbing, people are concerned how will they afford to live? They are worried that their culture will be replaced. The massive problems facing our planet reflect an adaptive strategy gone awry. Indeed, it would seem that we no longer enjoy a harmonious relationship with culture. Instead, culture has come the environment in which we live, and every day that environment becomes increasingly hostile. All we need to do is examine the very air we breathe and look at the traffic on the roads to realize that we have overstepped our limits. However, it was intended by God that all creatures should be happy in their several elements. All forms of life have great value in the eyes of God, for they are his production, and will be blessed by his redeeming power. If there is any real chance of reversing current trends, everyone will have to sacrifice. In the developing World, family planning must universally be adopted to halt population expansion. Large, single-family dwellings are luxuries many enjoy, and it would be a good idea to buy property while it is still available. We must also encourage our children to conform and get educations so they can afford the expensive cost of living in their countries. Our two feet have carried us not only across the plains of Africa, but also onto the polar caps, the ocean floor, and even across the surface of the Moon! #RandolphHarris 9 of 11
God cares and gives humankind a dominant role on this Earth as evidence that humankind is special, a little lower than Angels. Surely, if we can accomplish so much in so short a time, we can act responsibly to preserve our home and the wonderous creatures who share it with us. Not only did God create a beautiful World of mountains, valleys, rivers, streams, seas, Sunsets, and Sunrises, but he also adorned it with plant and animal life. And the scriptures inform us that each form of plant and animal life has a spirit. God created all things spiritually, before they were naturally upon the Earth. Out of the ground God made every tree grow naturally, that is it pleasant to the sight of humans, and it also became a living soul. God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and they are living souls. Since both planet and animal life are living souls, they are capable of experiencing happiness as they fulfill the measure of their creation. Yes, we have been provided this beautiful and bountiful World, teeming with life and resources to bless and strengthen and enliven humankind, and we are to use them joyfully—but we must do so as careful, grateful stewards over God’s handiwork. We are to use these resources with judgment, gratitude, prudence, and with an eye to bless our fellow man and woman and those of future generation, and in that way help the Lord accomplish his purpose to help humankind. #RandolphHarris 10 of 11
In the mind of God there is no such a thing as dividing spiritual from temporal, or temporal from spiritual; for they are one in the Lord. God wants to help us progress, improve, and receive his blessings in time and eternity. Even if you do not believe in God, he wants to help you and he loves you. However, suffocating selfishness of humankind makes God sad. This Earth is God’s creation. When we make it ugly, we offend the Lord. Faith and religion should have the capacity to stretch, enlarge, and change the human soul beyond self, and to inspire love of God and his creations, to think of others, and to consider the needs of future generations, even to the point of relinquishing personal desires. We need that soul-stretching, for the state of the human soul will directly impact the condition and health of the environment—which, in turn affect the quality of life. Religion can change how we will treat the Earth and all things thereon. As the human soul is changed, the environment is better cared for. The doctrine and commandments of God lead us beyond the suffocating, self-limiting weight of selfishness, the blinding press of self-gratification or aggrandizement. Keep your valley pure, keep your towns as pure as you possibly can, keep your hearts pure. It is not our privilege to waste the Lord’s substance. #RandolphHarris 11 of 11
This beautiful Earth and all things in it are the creations of God. However, virtually every day we read or hear something about global climate change, endangered species, environmental degradation, or one of the many problems facing humanity today. We are living during a critical period in the Earth’s history. Indeed, the future of much of life as we know it will be decided in the next few decades, and these decisions will be irrevocable. Therefore, it is crucial that we, as individuals, cities, and nations, make wise decisions, and to do this we must be informed. We also think it is important to consider these problems from an anthropological perspective. This is something not usually done in the media and certainly not by politicians and heads of government. However, if we are truly to comprehend the impact that human activities have had on the planet, then such discussions surely must consider our biological and cultural evolution. And we must also emphasize our place in nature and focus on how, since the domestication of plants and animals, we have altered the face of our planet while at the same time shaping the destiny of thousands of species, including our own. The way to discover the original nature is calmness and wisdom. This means not being carried away by thought in the process of thought and being free from characters whole in the midst of them. When the mind is unperturbed by selfishness or deliberate effort and deliberate effort and is left to take its own course, it will reveal its pure nature, and enlightenment will come suddenly. #RandolphHarris 1 of 9
We humans tend to view ourselves as separate from all other life forms, and we generally regard our species as the masters of the planet. In Western cultures, this view has been reinforced by the conventionally held Old Testament assertion that humans shall have dominion over all other species. “Let us make humankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground,” reports Genesis 1.26. However, this also means that we are supposed to have stewardship over the animals. Stewardship is the job of supervising or taking care of something, such as an organization or property. We are also supposed to protect and take care of our land and waterways. However, in the Late Bronze Age peoples (circa 4,000-3,500 years ago), many of England’s forest were disappearing. Today, the majority of European woodlands exist as discontinuous patches, the results of process that continued until fairly recent times but originated with prehistoric farmers. Unfortunately, humans began to exploit, and increasingly depend on, non-renewable resources. Forests can be viewed as renewable resources, provided they are given the opportunity for regrowth. However, in many areas, forest clearing is virtually complete and is inevitably followed by soil erosion, frequent overgrazing, and overcultivation, which leads to further soil erosion. Therefore, in those areas, trees become a nonrenewable resource, perhaps the first resource to have this distinction. #RandolpHarris 2 of 9
Also, the archaeological reports that around 15,000 years ago, influenced in part by climate change and extinction of many large bodied prey species, some human groups began to settle down, abandoning their nomadic lives. That shows that climate change is natural and it happens so that other species have a chance to flourish. Humans are members of a group that includes about 4,000 species. And this is a group that has been on the decline for the last several million years. And in truth, it would be inaccurate to assume that human activities have only recently come to have environmental consequences. In fact, human impact on local environments increased dramatically as soon as people began to live in permanent settlements. Many of the Earth’s features we think of as natural actually came about as the result of human activities. For example, prior to the Neolithic, when people began to live in permanent settlements, much of Britain and continental Europe was blanketed with forests and woodlands. The moorlands and, to some extent, the peat bogs that have provided evocative settings for so many English novels are the result of deforestation that began more than 5,000 years ago. #RandolphHarris 3 of 9
It would not be inaccurate to say that since the advent of settled life, and to some extent prior to it, humans have virtually waged war on trees. Early European explorers and settlers recorded extensive burning of woodlands and forest by indigenous groups of hunter-gatherers in North America and Australia, presumably to clear undergrowth and drive animals from cover. The effect of such burning was not inconsequential, and as people began to live in agricultural communities and later in towns and cities, the impact on forests became devastating. In fact, only about 20 percent of the Earth’s original forests remain intact today, and much of the clearing occurred centuries and even millennia ago. There are many reasons for cutting forests, and the earliest of these were to clear the land for cultivation and grazing and to provide firewood and lumber for construction. As small communities grew into towns and cities, wood came to be used for shipbuilding, fortifications, and even the construction of temples and palaces. In short, the human experience over the last 10,000 to 15,000 years would not have been possible without the exploitation of woodlands and forests. One of the earliest documented examples of humankind’s appetite for lumber is the cutting of the famous cedars of Lebanon. Over 3,000 years ago, the eastern Mediterranean (modern-day Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria), southern Turkey, and Mesopotamia (in present-day Iraq) had become major sources of valuable cedar, fir, cypress, and other woods. #RandolphHarris 4 of 9
However, by far the most highly prized wood was Lebanese cedar, which was cut and shipped throughout the eastern Mediterranean, where it was used in the construction of buildings and ships. The Old Testament tells us that King Solomon’s temple was made of cedar from Lebanon, and numerous other texts, written over several centuries, document the extensive use and desirability of this precious wood. Not surprisingly, the deforestation of the mountains of Lebanon was eventually so complete that the forest of today consists of small patches of trees. Just to prove the ancient adage “The more things change, the more they stay the same, it is informative to note that classical scholars (most notably Plato and Aristotle) bemoaned the effects of deforestation and other forms of environmental degradation in Greece and other areas of the Mediterranean basin. They warned that the cutting of forests and overuse of land led to soil erosion and agricultural decline, disrupted water supplies, and even caused climate change. Their views, expressed some 2,400 years ago, are verified by combined archaeological and geological data that show sequences of soil accumulation followed by intense human occupation, then soil erosion, and finally abandonment of archaeological sites throughout Greece. Furthermore, this sequence of episodes dates to around 5,000 years ago. #RandolphHarris 5 of 9
However, given the relatively small size of human populations, even by the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans, the human impact on ecosystems mostly remained a localized, not global, phenomenon. Nevertheless, these impacts were in some cases significant. The barren (but enchanting) landscape of Greece and much of what is now desert in the Middle East and the Sahara Desert in Africa are the legacies of deforestation, overgrazing, and subsequent erosions over the last few thousand years. Destruction of natural resources in the past has also had severe consequences for the people living today. In 1,990, a typhoon and subsequent flooding killed over 100,000 people in Bangladesh, and the flooding was at least partly due to previous deforestation in parts of the Himalayas of northern India. There is also evidence that continued erosion and flooding in China are partly the results of deforestation that occurred in the past. Many scientists have long speculated that the collapse of the Maya civilization of southern Mexico around 1,000 year ago was at least somewhat due to climate change, overcultivation, and depletion of nutrient-poor tropical soils. So, it is very important to protect the trees in the Sierras and throughout California and Nevada to prevent it from becoming a desert. #RandolphHarris 6 of 9
As beneficiaries of this divine creation, we should care for the Earth, be wise stewards over it, and preserve it for future generations. The Earth and all things on it are part of God’s plan for the redemption of his children and should be used responsibly to sustain the human family. “We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an Earth whereon these may dwell; and we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them,” reports Abraham 3.24-35. However, all are stewards—not owners—over this Earth and its bounty and will be accountable before God for what they do with his creations. “For it is expedient that I, the Lord, should make every person accountable, as a steward over Earthly blessings, which I have made and prepared for my creatures. I, the Lord, stretched out the Heavens, and built the Earth, my very handiwork; and all things therein are mine. And it is my purpose to provide for my saints, for all things are mine, Reports Doctrines and Covenants Section 104.13-15. All humankind should gratefully use what God has given, avoid wasting life and resources, and use the bounty of the Earth to care for the less affluent. “And wo be unto humans that sheddeth blood or that wasteth flesh and hath no need,” reports Doctrines and Covenants Section 49.21. #RandolphHarris 7 of 9
To truly reverence the Creator, we must appreciate his creations. God intends is creations to be pleasing to look upon and to enliven the mind and spirit. “All things which come of the Earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of humans, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart; yea, for food and for raiment, for taste and for smell, to strengthen the body and to enliven the soul,” reports Doctrines and Covenants 59.18-19. For that reason, making the Earth ugly offends God. It is important to see and appreciate the glory and grandeur of God in everything about us because the state of the human soul and the environment are interconnected—each affects the other. The Earth, all living things, and the expanse of the Universe all eloquently witness of God. Accounts and portrayals of the Creation show that God cares about all he has made—his children, the Earth and all living things on it. The Earth and its fullness were first created spiritually. “I, the Lord God, created all things, of which I have spoken, spiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the Earth,” reports Moses 3.5. The great variety of life forms God created give the Earth its beauty and diversity. The Earth and its creations are eternal. The Earth will be sanctified and receive celestial glory. It will be the home of the righteous, who will enjoy God’s glory. #RandolphHarris 8 of 9
The Earthy is the place where God’s children experience mortality, exercise agency, learn from their experiences, improve and progress. As a reminder, God has made us accountable for the care and preservation of the Earth and the wise use of its resources. As stewards, we avoid complacency and excessive consumption, using only what is necessary. We make our homes, neighborhoods, and cities beautiful. We preserve resources and protect for future generations that spiritual and temporal blessings of nature. If we all follow the universal principles given to us by God, the nature and destiny of humans and things will be correct. When the principles of the scriptures are endowed in human beings, it becomes their nature. The human purpose is originally good because its principles are good, and principles are good because they are from the source of God. Evil arises when feelings are aroused and deviate from the principles taught in the scriptures. One’s knowledge will be extended, one’s will sincere, one’s feelings correct, and one’s personal life cultivated only when the mind is clam—that is, free from selfishness, cunning, and deliberate—effort can it be peaceful. When this is done, one will have fully developed one’s nature and fulfilled one’s destiny. The development of human nature does not stop with personal perfection, but involves all things. #RandolphHarris 9 of 9
The World seems to have lost much of its innocence. Formality, respect for authority, dignity, and nobility are mocked. Modesty and neatness yield to slouchiness and shabbiness in dress and grooming. The rules of honesty and integrity and basic morality are not ignored. Conversation is laced with profanity. We have decisions almost every day as to whether we will follow those trends. We have many tests ahead. The main factors that lead people to a life of cowardice seems to be a lack of belief within themselves and fear of the unknown. We have to believe in a greater future for ourselves and see ourselves achieving our goals, and we have to stop being afraid to take action. Fear is not real, it is just false negative assumptions that the mind tries to make us believe. “For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer,” reports 1 Timothy 4.4-5. We have to stop living small, stop being afraid, and live an extraordinary life as we pursue what we truly want. We can live our whole life in a state of resignation to life that we are in now or we can take responsibility for our lives and make things happen. If we do not take action we will never discover what we are truly capable of becoming and achieving. The Holy Ghost will comfort us and we will be able to feel the influence of the Angels, and this will help us feel our ways through life. #RandolphHarris 1 of 5
Our dreams and visions should have special meaning to us. We have to rekindle the desire within our hearts that we once had growing up to live the life we imagined. It is important to dream like we have never dreamed before. With the dream at the forefront of our mind taking the massive action in the direction that we want to go. Whatever is produced in a person, that is, whatever is inborn in an individual, is his or her nature. In its original, tranquil state, human nature is neither good nor evil. The distinction arises when human nature is aroused and manifested in feelings and actins and when these feelings and actions abide by or deviate from the mean. The chief task of moral and spiritual cultivation is to calm one’s nature though absolute impartiality and the identification of internal and external life. Since principle is code of creation and since life-giving is good, principle is the source of goodness. To be good is to obey principle. Thus, principle is both natural and moral and both general and specific. It has meaning as an abstract reality, but more so as the moral law of human beings. The pursuit of learning depends on the extension of knowledge, self-cultivation requires seriousness. The superior person is one who develops one’s mind to the utmost and nourishes his or her nature. If we will take control of it, magnificent is our future. There is something greater within us that is greater than any obstacle that we shall encounter. #RandolphHarris 2 of 5
We have to believe in ourselves, we have the capabilities to live the life we want to life. We can also be of service of the World, be the one to achieve our dreams so that we can help others to stand up and take charge of their lives, do away with the mediocre life, sacrifice for success, sacrifice for dreams, and sacrifice for what matters must. The harmony of the individual and society rests on several basic ideas. Foremost of these is humanity. Humanity is connoted particular virtues, such as kindness, benevolence, and affection. Humanity is the moral character, which enables people to attain true humanhood. The moral character is developed in oneself and in one’s relations with others. Wishing to establish our own character, also establishes the character of others. Rectification allows of to correct errors in our heart (moral errors). We have to see ourselves as the person that we truly want to be, the superior versions of ourselves who is ambition, drive, disciplined, focused, action-orientated and making our dreams a reality. Some people do not do all that they can because they have sold themselves short within their minds that they are not good enough and they do not have what it takes. However, when God put dream in your heart, it also came with a date of completion. #RandolphHarris 3 of 5
Success is a journey of growth, personal development, and action. The more we persist towards our dream with confidence, the stronger we will become in all areas of our lives. We should speak of the future, and it is bright with promise. There is hope and faith and achievement manifesting. Goodness and love and peace will attain their proper order and all things will flourish in a harmonious universal operation. The significance is the there will be a profound influence on the World. We are people of divinity; the people of the Almighty. Limitless is our potential. The ideal life of the individual, the ideal order of society, and the ideal type of government are al based on the Supreme Being and guided by God. Therefore, we must honor our heritage and not let our lives drift into an unproductive and worthless manner. It is the will of Heaven that we should practice humanity and righteousness, be economical, and practice universal love, and it is our duty to obey the will of Heaven. We can life vibration by our thoughts. High achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectations. These patterns of behaviour will yield success and happiness and peace. There must be cleanliness, for immorality will blight our lives and leave a scar that will never entirely leave us. There must be purpose. We are here to accomplish something, to bless society with our talents and our learning. #RandolpHarris 4 of 5
There can be fun in life, but there must be recognition of the fact that life is serious, that the risks are great, but we can overcome them if we will discipline ourselves and seek the unfailing strength of the Lord. Memory of mistakes will likely linger, but the deed can be forgiven, and we can rise above the past to life a life fully acceptable unto the Lord where there has been repentance. God promised that he will forgive our sins and remember them no more against us. We have to stay on the Lord’s side of the line. We have within us instincts, powerful and terribly persuasive, urging us at times to let go and experience temptation. However, we cannot do it. We must not do it. We are men and women of God with tremendous potential. God has great expectations concerning us, as do others. We cannot let down for a minute. We cannot give into an impulse. There must be discipline, strong and unbending. There is nothing in all this World as magnificent as virtue. It glows without tarnish. It is precious and beautiful. It is above price. It cannot be bought nor sold. It is the product of self-mastery. We have to find purpose in our lives and choose the things we would like to do, and educate ourselves to be effective in the pursuit. Centrality in the individual is the state of equilibrium in one’s mind before the feelings are aroused, and harmony s the state after they are aroused. We must dream like we have never dreamed before and make our dreams a reality. #RandolphHarris 5 of 5
Even when we are temple worthy, the accumulated daily weight of our weakness and shortcomings can become a burden to our souls, weighing us down with feelings of inadequacy and guilt. It is difficult sometimes to feel spiritually refreshed and pure, and acceptable before God. Most people do not seem to understand the nature of human diversity, and worse yet, many seem quiet unwilling to accept what science has to contribute to the subject. Many of the misconceptions are no doubt rooted in cultural history over the last few centuries, especially regarding how race is defined and categorized. Although many cultures have attempted to come to grips with these issues, for better or worse, the most influential of these perspectives developed in the Western Word (i.e., Europe and North America). The way many individuals still view themselves and their relationship to other peoples is a legacy of the last four centuries of racial interpretations. As early as 1350 B.C., the ancient Egyptians had classified humans on the basis of skin colour: red for Egyptian, yellow for people to the east, white for those to the north, and black for Africans south of the Sahara. In the sixteenth century, after discover of the New World, Europe embarked on a period of intense exploration and colonization in both the New and Old Worlds. One result was an increased awareness of human diversity. #RandolphHarris 1 of 9
There is a greater need for a divine oversight in our lives today than ever before. By the power of the Holy Ghost, we can know what to do and what not to do to bring happiness and peace to our lives. All people are enlightened by the Spirit of God, of Light of Christ—sometimes called conscience. There is also a spirit in humans, a spirit the Almighty gives us for inspiration and understanding. This power of God is the means by which every person is enlightened, the wicked as well as the good, the intelligent and the ignorant, the high and the low, each in accordance with his or her capacity to receive light. The gift of the Holy Ghost, however, indistinction from the Spirit of God, does not come to all men and women. The ministrations of the Holy Ghost are, however, limited without receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. There is a difference between the Holy Ghost and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Many outside the Church have received revelation from the Holy Ghost, convincing them of the truth of the gospel. It is through this power that seekers after truth acquire a testimony of the principles of the gospel. Faith and repentance, baptism and bestowal of the Holy Ghost constitute the heart of the gospel of Christ, being the essential requirements for entry into the celestial kingdom. “And I would not that ye think that I know of myself—not of the temporal but of the spiritual, not of the carnal mind but of God,” reports Alma 36.4. #RandolphHarris 2 of 9
Because of the plan of salvation, we can be perfected through the Atonement, receive a fulness of joy, and live forever in the presence of God. Our family relationships can last through the eternities. The gifts of the Holy Ghost are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and Fear of the Lord. Wisdom illumines the mind and instills an attraction to the divine. A wise and loving hearts is the perfection of the theological virtue of charity. Understanding helps one relate all truths to one’s supernatural purpose; it further illuminates one’s comprehension of the Sacred Scripture; this gives us a profound appreciation for God’s providence. Counsel functions as a sort of supernatural intuition, to enable a person to judge promptly and rightly, especially in difficult situation. The gift of counsel operates under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to illuminate the will of God. Fortitude is often identified with courage, but its meaning also encompasses endurance. It is a willingness to stand up for what is right in the sight of God, even if it means accepting rejection. The gift of fortitude allows people the firmness of humankind that is required both in doing good and in enduring evil. It is the perfection of the cardinal virtue of the same name. The gift of knowledge allows one, as far as is humanly possible, to see things from God’s perspective. It allows us to perceive the greatness of God and his love for his creatures through creation. Piety accords with reverence. A person with reverence recognizes one’s total reliance on God and comes before God with humility, trust, and love. #RandolphHarris 3 of 9
Piety is our recognition of belonging to God, our deep bond with him, even during the most difficult and troubled moments. It is that genuine religious spirit which makes us turn to the Farther as his children grow in our love for others, seeing them as our brothers and sisters. Fear of the Lord is no servile fear, but rather a joyful awareness of God’s grandeur and a grateful realization that only in the Lord do out hearts find true peace. A person with wonder and awe knows that God is the perfection of all desires. This gift is a fear of separating oneself from God. Many of these treasures of the Holy Ghost are bestowed upon us after one repents and becomes worthy. Those possessing the gift of the Holy Ghost can come to a greater light and testimony. The Holy Ghost bears witness of the truth and impresses upon the soul the reality of God the Father so deeply that no Earthly power or authority can separate one from that knowledge. The word of God is the answer to the fractured soul and is the beginning of its sanctification process. The word of God is engrafted into the heart and when it takes root it produces change and healing. As we are healed and transformed we are able to see our life for what it was and we are able to relinquish long held, outdated belief systems and patterns of interacting with our World. “Thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed,” reports Enos 1.5. #RandolphHarris 4 of 9
God has new ways of doing things for us to discover and explore. It is imperative that we learn the ways of God from the Spirit of God. When we do, our vision improves; we make better choices because we have tapped into a much superior data source. The beauty of leaning on God is that the Lord knows all things including our future. Participation in the transformation process guarantees that our souls will be restored. However, when most people fall short of achieving a goal, many of us fall back to being self-critical. Then it is difficult not to let all of that negativity have a drain on our motivation. When we are faced with challenged, and hold a negative perception of ourselves, it is not surprising that we feel quickly defeated. Chronic stress can occur in response to everyday stressors that are ignored or poorly managed, as well as exposure to traumatic events. The consequences of chronic stress are serious, particularly as it contributes to anxiety and depression. People who suffer from depression and anxiety are at twice the risk for heart disease than people without these conditions. Additionally, research has shown that there is an association between both acute and chronic stress and a person’s abuse of addictive substances. More than 40 percent of all adults say they lie awake at night because of stress. Many people who experience prolonged stress are not making the lifestyle changes necessary to reduce stress and ultimately prevent health problems. #RandolphHarris 5 of 9
They key to managing stress is recognizing and changing the behaviours that cause it, but changing our behaviours can be a challenge. When circumstances in our lives demand more of us than we feel we can give, we can feel overwhelmed. For some of us, such feelings may arise because we have a house full of growing children, each requiring time and attention. Perhaps we have committed ourselves to too many activities and cannot do them all as well as we would like. Family members may be facing urgent deadlines that create pressures on us, or maybe health problems are causing us to be irritable, impatient, and tired. The list goes on and on. Some experts like to rank stressful activities by the amount of stress they produce. However, the truth is, it is more the way we react to events, rather than the events themselves, that causes stress. It is our ability to adjust to changes in our circumstances that determines the degree of stress we feel. It is for this reason that what is stressful for one person is not necessarily stressful for another. Surprisingly, a certain amount of stress can be good for us. People who have a hardy view of stress will look at a potentially difficult event as a challenge rather than as something to be feared. Even working on a project sixty hours a week can be challenging and exciting as long as we are committed to the undertaking. #RandolphHarris 6 of 9
How we cope with stress, therefore, is more important than what causes the stress. However, it does help to identify what those stressors are before we can deal with them. Some people may be trying to stress you out on purpose, but keep being mature. View them as children who are misguided and try not to focus on whatever it is they are doing to annoy you and turn to God in prayer. “Each one of us will give an account of oneself to God,” reports Romans 14.12. Even though life may not be the way we want it and we tried to prevent certain things from happening, it often helps to reflect on the blessings we do have so that we can see that we have succeed at something. And when we believe in ourselves and trust in God, failures will not seem so big. We have to focus on valuing who we are, not what we do. When we look to our accomplishments to validate that we are worthy, our sense of feeling about ourselves rides on those accomplishments. So, if we perform well, we will feel good about ourselves. If we perform poorly, we will feel less worthy. However, we are more than our accomplishment. Just as every infant is born into this World as a worthy human being, we are worthy of just being who we are. The true power is within us. We may know that the worth of souls is great in the sight of God, but modern conditions and social pressures have blinded many people from this profound knowledge. #RandolphHarris 7 of 9
An engineer will explain that stress is an essential part of any structure. The excess of stress in a structure is strain. When the stress points in a structure are strained, the structure becomes damages. Likewise, once the normal stress of life builds to a certain level, it no longer serves a productive purpose. Out lives become strained, and we face the potential of emotional and physical damage. The truth is, few achieve perfection in this life. For most of us, the best we can hope for is steady progression toward the goals our Heavenly Father has outlined for us. When in situations of stress we wonder if there is any more in us to give, we can be comforted to know that God, who knows our capacity perfectly, places us here to succeed. No one was foreordained to fail or be wicked. When we have been weighed and found wanting, let us remember that we were measured before and we were found equal to our task; and, therefore, let us continue, but with a more determined discipleship. When we feel overwhelmed, let us recall the assurance that God will not over program us; he will not press upon us more than we can bear. The Holy Ghost and the World Soul are thought to be one. The spirit of life is in all things. The creative quality of God becomes humanity, or love, which makes us the moral beings we are. The divine spirit allows us to embrace all things and Heaven and Earth as one body. #RandolphHarris 8 of 9
We should nurture our mind with great thoughts; to believe in the heroic makes heroes. Consciousness is a tremendously powerful force. When we concentrate on our thoughts and emotions, they become charged with energy and power. This is why thoughts and emotions get stronger the more attention we give them. The World we have created is a product of our thinking; it cannot be changed without changing our thinking. Perfect is our ultimate hope, but in the meantime, we should be realistic and kind in our expectations of ourselves and others. Being realistic is a very important way to handle the strains life places on us. However, there are other ways as well. When we decide to use life to free ourselves, we become willing to pay any price for the freedom of our soul. Our center of consciousness is always stronger than the energy that is pulling on it. We just have to be wiling to exercise our will. There is a place deep inside of us were the consciousness touches our soul, and noting can take our consciousness from us. “And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a person should run faster than one has strength. And again, it is expedient that one should be diligent, that thereby one might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order,” report Mosiah 4.27. #RandolphHarris 9 of 9
God lives and possess intelligence, an omnipotent intelligence. Given there is something humans cannot build, the one who builds it is superior to humans; the World is such a structure; and so God, who is superior to humans, exists. Archetypes of created things are formed in the Divine Understanding and the human mind, intimately untied with God, perceives created, extended things by the way of idea in one. The true cause of both sensations and voluntary movement is God, who instituted laws for the union of mind and body. Whatever understanding we can have of life and the human spirit hinges upon observation of how universal unconsciousness, the unknown Divine, becomes conscious. Universal unconsciousness is not teleological in itself; it achieves purpose only as it becomes conscious through conscious individual like people. Consciousness is not more permanent than thing; it is a moment between past and future. As a moment, it can maintain itself only through sleep or a return to the unknown. It is imperative that we awaken from mundane awareness into full spiritual remembrance of who we are. The problem is that even when most people are physically awake, they are still mentally asleep, unaware of themselves and entirely absorbed in whatever mechanical impulse or external stimulus captures their attention. This state of confluence, or mental absorption, keeps many people in an unproductive dream state. #RandolphHarris 1 of 16
The television news media is a powerful force in the World and the information has become increasingly more deceitful, especially when it is produced by certain networks and local stations. Much of the information in the local media is no longer informative, they are sending a message—obey, or be punished. That is why little of the local news is actually research and informative reports, it is most crime reports and gossip, delivered by people most of us have a hard time taking seriously because they are frequently caught lying, saying things that sound incoherent or off topic, and laughing as if they have just smoked a dangerous and illegal marijuana cigarette. The media is indoctrinating our youth who are at their must impressionable by telling them that they should revolt, ignore than laws, and abolish law enforcement and authority figures who try to keep our society safe and civilized. Even judges are refusing to uphold the laws because they are getting pressure from the community not to obey them. The media knows that families—private, cohesive groups not usually under political sway—are an obstacle to their goals. So the news is being used to get this rebellious, anarchical ideology into the family unit, and some members of the community have even denounced their parents when they advocate to uphold the laws of the land or speak of for accountability in the community. #RandolphHarris 2 of 16
The news media knows that college students are extremely vulnerable and do not know much about the World, feel they have been oppressed by their teachers and their parents, who are actually only trying to protect them, and these kids are outraged and ready to take a stand for anything. Instead of advocating to reduce the noise and pollution made by leaf blowers, or convincing people to use public transportation to reduce traffic and pollution, or demanding that plastic junk islands that are polluting the ocean be cleaned up, they are being indoctrinated by the media to smoke marijuana and stop law enforcement from doing their jobs. This rebellion gives the youth a sense of purpose. The reporters are getting the youth to recite pledges of outdated slogans like, “This is the land of opportunity” and “We are a nation of immigrants” meanwhile California, and much of the nation is having a housing crisis, and an issue of paying for college because it is so expensive. Instead of addressing things that impact our people and environment, the youth are being taught by the fake news media to rebel. The media is dangerous and imposing military-like order on members of the community, which include hefty doses of propaganda that encourage an almost religious devotion to things like allowing illegal immigration and eroding boarder security, while they forget over 3,500 people lost their lives in the attack on the Trade Centers and many more died after the fact from issues related to being exposed to poison and undue heartbreak and stress. #RandolphHarris 3 of 16
There are so many fires burning in California right now, over 500,000 acres are concurrently burning, we are seeing the histories largest fires in California. There is smoke blocking out the sky and ashes landing on cars and dinning room tables, causing them to need to be washed and dusted every day, and we are also breathing that ash into our lungs and getting it into our eyes, and that cannot be a good thing. Meanwhile, instead of advocating desalinating seawater to water the forest, which would reduce wild fires, save lives, and property, the youth are selling their souls to the TV news, the fake news media owns their mind and body and they refuse to step away from the indoctrination and realize our ways of life are being destroyed, while they rally to support illegal immigration, but ignore other important things we need to be paying attention to. We are a nation of laws, and that is why people love America. If illegal immigration is a problem, people need to look at what these people are running from because bad behaviour is contagious, it spreads and it will come to our nation and end our way of life. If these other nations cannot help their own people, maybe they need to seek the help of a foreign government to partner with them and help them enforce laws so their people do not have to flee. It is safe to say society is indoctrinated by the media. They cannot even think for themselves and go around repeating phrases, and keywords, and cannot even back up what they are saying. #RandolphHarris 4 of 16
The media is implanting their values, and molding your self-image, feeding you implicit biases, and getting you to idolize people who probably think you are of little value. Do you every see these reporters out in the field having a friendly conversation, inviting you to high tea, or even eating at your local restaurants. No. Like a den of thieves, they hide and only socialize with others in their work environment, but yet, you want to look like them, behave like them, and allow them to determine who you are as a person. Politically, the reporters are deceiving the public. They are getting paid by politicians to generate fake news to keep the public out of their business and unaware of their true agenda. The fake news media is becoming the sole influence on society, every generation included. Whether ninety years old, twenty-two years old, the fake news media has the public in a culturally conditioned state of hypnosis. People are subjected to deceptive information which they consciously accept as truth and images and sounds which are then subconsciously allowed to dictate their perception of themselves and others. Whether it is a news story, a fictional television series or an advertisement—it is permeating your minds and distorting your perceptions or judgment which in turns affect your behaviour. People have become human drones, and losing their own freedoms and natural ideas. #RandolphHarris 5 of 16
When was the last time you have a profound thought about anything you have not seen in the news? Do you thin cats are cruel when they play with mice before killing them? Or have you ever been tossed off a horse, when she leaped for no apparent reason? If so, did you think she threw you deliberately just to be obnoxious? Behaviour, has been shaped over evolutionary time by interactions between genetic and environmental processes and for this reason it is extremely complex. However, most people do not give this much thought, and even those who may do not necessarily accept this basic premise. For example, whole most social scientists agree that genetic factors influence nonhuman behaviour, many object to the suggestion that they might also affect human behaviour. This is because of concerns over implications that genetically influenced behaviors are fixed and cannot be modified by experience (i.e., learning). Furthermore, most people assume that there is a fundamental division between humans and all other animals. However, at the same time, they often judge other species as if their motives were entirely human. Of course, this is not a valid thing to do simply because they are not human. For example, cats do sometimes play with mice before they kill them because that is how, as kittens, they learn to hunt. Cruelty does not enter into it, since the cat has no concept of cruelty and no idea what it is like to be the mouse. #RandolphHarris 6 of 16
Likewise, the horse does not necessarily throw you off deliberately when she hears leaves rattling in a shrub. In fact, at that moment, you may be the farthest thing from her mind. Her bahviour has been shaped by thousands of generations of horse ancestors who jumped first and asked questions later. Horses evolved as prey animals, they used to have claws, and their evolutionary history is littered with animals that did not jump at a sound in a shrub. In many cases, they learned, too late, that the sound was not caused by breeze at all. This is a mistake that prey animals do not usually survive, and those that do not leap first do not leave many descendants. Therefore, it is clear to see that basic behaviours have been shaped by the evolutionary history of species. Much like everything some people in TV news say is a lie. They lie like it is their mission in life. “You belong to your father, the adversary, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a lair and the father of lies,” reports John 8.44. And the same factors that have influenced many behaviours in nonprimate animals also apply to primates. Consequently, if we want to discover the underlying principles of behavioural evolution, including that of humans, we first need to identify the interactions between a number of environmental and physiological variables. #RandolphHarris 7 of 16
Behaviours are adaptations to environmental circumstances that exited in the past as well as in the present. Since behaviours are influenced by genes, they are subject to natural selection in the same way that physical characteristics are. (Remember that within a specific environmental context, natural selection favours traits that provide a reproductive advantage to the individual who possess them. Therefore, behaviour constitutes a phenotype, and individuals whose behavioural phenotypes increase reproductive fitness will pass on their genes at a faster rate than others. However, this does not mean that primatologist think that gene code for specific behaviours, such as a gene for aggression, another for cooperation, and so on. Studying complex behaviour from an evolutionary view point does not imply a one gene—one behaviour relationship, nor does it suggest that behaviours that are influenced by genes cannot be modified through learning. We can know our children are beginning to understand the doctrine when we see it revealed in their attitudes and actions without external threats or rewards. As our children learn to understand the gospel doctrines, they become more self-reliant and more responsible. True doctrines of the gospel will improve behaviour quicker than a study of behaviour will improve behaviour, and the proportion under genetic control will be reduced. #RandolphHarris 8 of 16
However, at the same time, we also know that some behaviour is at least partly influenced by certain gene products such as hormones. For example, you are probably aware that elevated levels of testosterone increase aggression in many species. And you may also know that conditions like depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorders are caused by abnormal levels of certain chemicals produced by brain cells. Behaviour is a complex trait and is a product of interactions between genetic and environmental factors. Among species, there is considerable variation in the limits and potentials for learning and for behaviorual plasticity, or flexibility. In some species, such as humans, the potentials for learning are extremely broad while, in others, they are not. Ultimately, those limits and potentials are set by genetic factors that have been favoured throughout their evolutionary history of species. That history, in turn, has been shaped by the ecological setting not only of living species, but also for their ancestors. That is why for some people who have mental distress, and they are still doing evil things, gospel alone may not help them. You might think, how could this person have read the Bible from cover to cover twice and still be so evil? Well, that individual may have a chemical imbalance that a medical doctor needs to treat and then the scriptures will be more effective in the remediation of their actions and thoughts. #RandolphHarris 9 of 16
As our mission progressed and we continued to focus on teaching doctrine, their hearts changed and so did ours. Because we understand doctrine, we understand the why of obedience, not simply that what and how. The Word of God is the revealed Spirit-filled words, and our faith grows, our desires to repent and obey increase, and we are changed. The power to change hears is not in the teacher, but in the virtue of the word of God. Letters on a page or sound waves coming out of a mouth have no inherent power to change hearts, but when true words are charged by the Holy Spirit of Go, they can bring about a mighty change of heart. When we teach his word by the Spirit, the Holy Ghost carries light and truth unto the heart of the learner. When learners open their hearts to receive the word, the Spirit enlightens their minds and changes their hearts—their motives and behaviours. Energy manifests as an atom from the basic building block of this entire physical Universe. Energy cycles around itself, and as we have discovered, atoms have enough harnessed energy to blow up the World when that energy is released. However, unless forced otherwise, the energy will stay harnessed because of its equilibrium states. This process of cycling energy is exactly what happens when we are a powerful witness to the true doctrine of the Church. #RandolphHarris 10 of 16
As we understand, we change our attitudes and behaviours because we understand where the blockages within the heart come from, we have learned the structural questions of how the heart gets blocked. “No more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually,” reports Mosiah 5.2. We can certainly see the potential for impressions to build up to the point where very little energy can make it through. If they build up sufficiently, one will find oneself in a state of depression. In that state, all becomes dark. This is because very little energy is coming into one’s heart or mind. Eventually, everything appears negative because the World of the senses must past through that depressed energy before it gets to one’s consciousness. However, even if one is not prone to depression, the heart still gets blocked overtime. It just builds up. It does not stay blocked, however. The heart is the place through which energy flows to sustain an individual. This energy inspires and raises one. It is the strength that carries people through life. It is the beautiful experience of love that pours through the being. “Behold, he changed their hearts; yea, he awakened them out of a deep sleep, and they awoke unto God. Behold, they were in the midst of darkness; nevertheless, their souls were illuminated by the light of the everlasting word; yea, they were encircled about by the bands of death, and the chains of hell, and an everlasting destruction did await them. They were loosed, and their souls did expand, and they did sing redeeming love. And I say unto you that they are saved,” reports Alma 5.7 and 9. #RandolphHarris 11 of 16
This is meant to be going on inside of a person at all time—unending inspiration, unending love, unending openness. That is the natural state of a healthy heart. To achieve this state, simply allow the experiences of life to come in and pass through your being. If former energies come back up because you were unable to process them before, let go of them now. It is that easy. To understand the function of one behavioural element, it is necessary to determine how it is influenced by numerous interrelated factors. If we speak by the Spirit and we listen by the Spirit, we will hear things better than you or I can say them. I pray that this can happen today. We have to be honest in the things we are saying. God lives and he cares about us. Through prayer we know the Lord will guide us and show us the right way through his prophets, who we know are called of God. We know the Lord loves each of us in a very special way. When individual members and families immerse themselves in the scriptures regularly and consistently, areas of our lives activities will automatically come. Testimonies will increase. Commitment will be strengthened. Families will be fortified. Personal revelation will flow. “Angles speak by the power of the Holy Ghost. Receive the Holy Ghost, and it will show unto you all things what ye should do,” reports 2 Nephi 32.3 and 5. Many people associate with other individuals for various reasons, including predator avoidance. When they do share habitats with others, they exploit somewhat different resources. #RandolphHarris 12 of 16
There is no more beautiful sight than a person who glows with the light of the Spirit, who is confident and courageous because he or she is virtuous. Life history traits are characteristics or developmental stages that typify member of a given group and influence potential. The Lord has blessed us with a very clear understanding of who we are and why we are here on the Earth at this time. The Lord loves you, and I know you love him. It shows in your countenance, in your modesty, in your desire to choose the right, and in your commitment to remain virtuous and pure. This is a magnificent time to be on the Earth. Our vision remains the same. It is to be worthy to make and keep sacred covenants and to receive the ordinances of the temple. However, we should also reflect on how virtually all nonhuman primate populations are now impacted by human hunting and forest clearing. These activities severely disrupt and isolate groups, reduce numbers, reduce resource availability, and eventually can cause extinction. We must continue to care for animals and the environment and lead the World in return to virtue—a return to chastity and moral purity. We will continue to do all we can to help each other stand in holy places and receive, recognize, and rely on the Holy Ghost. “O LORD, be gracious to us; we long for you,” reports Isaiah 33.2. #RandolphHarris 13 of 16
Youth of the noble birthright, be strong and of good courage be not afraid, neither thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. You are not alone! Though you may be the only member of the Church or your group of friends or even your family, you are not alone. You can rely on the strength of the Lord. We simply cannot do the work we have been reserved and prepared to do unless we can access the strength and confidence that comes by living a virtuous life. “The Lord will be the sure foundation of our times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure,” reports Isaiah 33.6. Care should be taken to distinguish between two different uses of this word. The fear of the Lord is frequently spoken of as part of our duty. It is equivalent to reverence, awe, worship, and is therefore an essential part of the attitude of mind in which we ought to stand and toward the All-holy God. Sin destroys that feeling of confidence God’s child should feel in a loving Father and produces instead a feeling of shame and guilt. Fearing God is good because it saves us from caving into our own sinful nature. God loves us, but he can destroy both soul and body in hell. That is why hearing someone is God-fearing actually makes us trust that person more. If they fear God, they are more likely to keep their word and treat others with kindness. However, remember we can still ask for forgiveness when we make a mistake with full confidence of receiving it. #RandolphHarris 14 of 16
Also, remember communication is universal and includes scents and unintentional, autonomic responses that convey meaning. Such attributes as body posture convey information about a person’s emotional statue. For example, a purposeful striding gait implies confidence. Moreover, autonomic responses to threatening or novel stimuli, such as eyes that look like bulging saucers, or enhanced body order, indicate excitement. Many intentional behaviors also serve as communication. These include a wide variety of gestures, facial expressions, and vocalization. Mild threats are indicated by an intense stare, prolonged eye contact with strangers is very uncomfortable. (For this reason, people should avoid eye contact with unknown people.) Exposed teeth, bobbing back and forth in a crouched position; and wild hand gestures are also signs that a person may be hostile. Communication is important, for it truly is wat makes social living possible. Some people have a beauty that cannot be compared. It comes from years of seeking the best gifts, becoming well educated, seeking knowledge by studying and also by faith. It is allowed to flourish by years of hard work, of faithfully enduring trials with optimism, trust, strength, and courage. It is a product of devotion and fidelity to the ones we love. That is deep beauty—the kind of beauty that shines from the inside out. It is a beauty of spiritual attractiveness. Deep beauty springs from virtue. It is the beauty of being chaste and morally clean. It is the kind of beauty that you see in the eyes of virtuous people. It is beauty that is earned through faith, repentance, and honoring covenants. #RandolphHarris 15 of 16
When we are worthy of the Holy Ghost, we are confident and our inner beauty shines brightly. And so let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion. The Holy Ghost has a gift that quickens all the intellectual faculties, increases, enlarges, expands and purifies all the natural passions and affections. It inspires virtue, kindness, goodness, tenderness, gentleness, and charity. It develops beauty of person, form and features. Time goes by slowly, but your eyes are in my heart forever: they are as pure as crystal, as light as the Moon, as deep as abyss, and as white as snow. Recollection is cherishing the old good days. Open the seal of the memory and look for the evidence of years. May in encourage our new ideal and passion more strongly. Perhaps you would like to buy a flower? However, I could never sell. If you would like to borrow until the daffodil unites her yellow bonnet beneath the village door, until the bees, from clover rows their hock and sherry draw, why, I will lend until just then, but not an hour more! Take care, for God is here, that is all. Enjoy an amazing Tennessee Peach Pudding served warm from the oven with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. #RandolphHarris 16 of 16
May we treasure the divine gift of communication, and may we use it wisely to build and assist others on this marvelous journey through mortality. Humans face countless social interactions with friends and strangers on a daily basis. In spite of vast differences between these encounters, the contexts within which they occur and the knowledge available to us about others, we appear to achieve our social goals with apparent ease. Evidence from social psychology and social neuroscience suggests that to understand what others think and feel we rely at least partly on our own projections of what we would think and feel in comparable situations. Such claims are buttressed by findings of shared neural representations when thinking about oneself and others or sharing others’ feelings. While this mechanism works when thoughts and feelings are aligned with one’s own, it fails should this not be the case. Therefore, to enable smooth social interactions a distinction has to be made between our own and others’ mental representations and emotional experiences. This ability is also known as self-other distinction and has been related to various domains such as perception-action in the form of inhibiting automatic imitation tendencies, representing others’ mental states that conflict with our own current mental state, as well as our ability to empathize with others, particularly when the emotional statues between self and others are incongruent. #RandolphHarris 1 of 12
People who love God know that they way they communicate is very important. Their communications, both verbal and nonverbal, are to be kind, compassionate, and helpful, reflecting a love for Heavenly Father’s children and an understanding that all people are brothers and sisters. Godly communications are expressed in tones of love rather than loudness. They are intended to be helpful rather than hurtful. They tend to bind us together rather than to drive us apart. They tend to build rather than to belittle. Godly communications are expressions of affection and not anger, truth and not fabrication, compassion and not contention, respect and not ridicule, counsel and not criticism, correction and not condemnation. They are spoken with clarity and not with confusion. They may be tender or they may be tough, but they must always be tempered. Much like the way our understanding of others’ thoughts and feelings relies on projections of our own experiences, the perception of others’ actions and the execution of one’s own actions are believed to have a common representational basis. Such evidence comes from behavioural findings showing that executing an action will be slowed when simultaneously observing an incongruent action. Further, neuroimaging studies also show that action observation activates brain regions involved in planning and executing actions. #RandolphHarris 2 of 12
The real challenge that we face in our communications with others is to condition our hearts to have Godlike feelings for all of Heavenly Father’s children. When we develop this concern for the condition of others, we then will communicate with them as the Savior would. We will then warm the hearts of those who may be suffering in silence. As we meet people with special needs along life’s way, we can then make their journey brighter by the things that we say. Our thoughts, beliefs and intentions rarely align with those of others. Thus when having to fathom another’s mental state, we must avoid merely attributing our own to others. Even through the control problem is converse to that encountered in inhibiting imitative actions, we face a similar challenge in as far as two representations have to be distinguished, in this case our own mental state from that of others. This arguably pertains to a whole range of mental states that arise out of experience (i.e what information does an agents have visual access to and is likely to know as a result versus what do I know as typically tested in visual perspective-taking tasks) as well as beliefs (i.e what is an agent likely to believe based on their personal experience versus what do I believe as typically tested in paradigms of belief attribution. Godlike communications will help us to develop righteous relationships and ultimately to return to our Heavenly home safely. “And land their souls, yea, their immortal souls, at the right hand of God in the kingdom of Heaven,” reports Helaman 3.30. #RandolphHarris 3 of 12
Many people are looking for a hero. Blended mythology with metaphysics, people have often produced an image of the ideal type of individual needed as the savior of humanity. The hero can take many forms: he or she can be a god, a prophet, poet, priest, a man of letters, a doctor, lawyer, first responders, architects, law enforcement, teachers, a baker and so on. In fact, the hero can be what you will, according to the kind of World he or she finds oneself born into. The hero’s ever-varying persona results from the deeper needs of society. He or she is directed not by the mechanical needs of humanity, but by their dynamical unseen, mystical needs. Thus, all heroes have discerned truly what the time wanted, and have led it on the right road thither. In this sense, the hero is a gift from Heaven, a force of nature; and has an essential quality of original insight into the primal reality of things. Because of the hero’s firm contact with the great fact of existence, one cannot lie. The Hero is heartily in earnest: an unconscious sincerity emanates from the individual turning his or her acts or utterances into a kind of revelation, which the ordinary, everyday people are morally obliged to recognize and obey. For all that is right includes itself in this of co-operating with the real tendency of the World. The Lord wants us to remember that our protection is not in humankind or any system. We can and must only rely on God. We must pray for our leaders to have wisdom to fight against any threat to our land. However, we must ultimately put our trust in God, our true hero, who will protect us. #RandolphHarris 4 of 12
The objectivity of consciousness is manifested empirically in the fact that we inhabit one common World; but this empirical community is a posteriori and always remains problematical. The World of different observers is one World that must be taken on faith; and this faith is justified only when the observers actually succeed in reaching agreement. The real World is the result, not the condition, of this agreement. The a priori principle, in which our experience of a common World is grounded, is called God. Drawing near to God is the heart’s desire of most Christians. Yet, with work, raising children, running errands and paying bills, getting a moment to just be quiet and relax seems like a challenge. This leaves many wondering how they can draw near God in a daily basis? Values can be realized, communicated, and related only within the diverse dimensions consequent to the process of self-distinction. God is the transcendent and transcendental principle of the integrity of values. The first manifestation of this integrity is to be found in the concrete unity of the incarnate human person. One of the many ways we can draw near God is to thank him. “Enter the Lord’s gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name,” reports Psalm 100.4. Then, the World and God become the twin poles between which the human person mediates and, in the process of mediation, creates both its own self-hood and the concrete locus of the integrity of all values. #RandolphHarris 5 of 12
We live in the greatest nation in the World with the highest economic gross domestic product (GDP). The GDP measures bot the total income earned in the economy and the total expenditure on the economy’s output of goods and services. The level of the real GDP is a good gauge of economic progress. Some Godly leaders and of course, men and women who use their God-given intelligence to keep our homeland as safe as they possibly can, try to keep misguided actions from leading to heartache, shame, and misery. However, even when we let our guard down and something happens we understand that in the Bible we are told that there will be trials and tribulations. All those heroes cannot save us from the real enemy all the time. There is a battle for souls and the adversary uses people or groups of people to try and succeed. In the end, they will be the defeated for. And yes, there will always be heroes, and we will remember their sacrifice, but let us never forget the supreme sacrifice our Savior, our greatest Hero, who died for humanity. By his dying on a cross, Christ has made the way for us to have eternal life. “Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the LORD, the spring of living water. Heal us, O LORD, and we will be healed; save us and we will be saved, for you are the one we praise,” reports Jeremiah 17.13-14. #RandolphHarris 6 of 12
We are to fear as we approach another year and we should never leave something as important as our energy flow to chance. What we really want out of life is to feel enthusiasm, joy, and love. We serve the Ultimate hero, and any threat or even disaster, he will rescue us from the snare of the fowler. Let us prepare our hearts to pray for God’s protection over our land and that we will all be ready in any impending danger to be rescued by our greatest hero, God. “Our God is our rock, in whom we take refuge, our shield and the horn of our salvation. The Lord is our stronghold, our refuge and our Savior—from violent people he saves us,” reports 2 Samuel 22.3. Energy can heal, and that is why love can heal. As we explore this inner energy, a whole World of discovery opens up to us. The most important thing in life is our inner energy. If we are always tired and exhausted, then life is no fun. However, if we are always inspired and filled with energy, then every minute of every day is an exciting experience. We have to learn to work with these things. Through prayer, awareness and willful efforts, we can learn to keep our centers open. We do this by just relaxing and releasing. If we love life, nothing is worth closing over. Nothing, ever, is worth closing our hearts over. “People draw near the Lord with mouth, but have removed heart from him,” reports Isaiah 27.25. Which means we cannot only speak of God, but we have to have Godly ways in our heart and express Godly actions. “Have love of God always in heart,” reports Alma 13.29. #Randolphharris 7 of 12
Very few people understand the heart. In truth, our hearts are one of the masterpieces of creation. It is a phenomenal instrument. The heart is an instrument made of extremely subtle energy that few people come to appreciate. It has the potential to create vibrations and harmonies that are far beyond the beauty of pianos, strings, or flutes. We can hear an instrument, but we can feel our heat. And if we thin that we feel an instrument, it is only because it touched our hearts. Your heart helps you find out who your friends are. They are the ones who drop everything, run out and crank up their car, hit the gas and get there fast. They never stop to think “What’s in it for me?” or “It’s way too far.” They just show on up with the big old heart. When the water is high, when the weather is not so fair, when the well runs dry, who is going to be there? When you became friends with someone you really liked and found that you have a lot in common, did it seem like an effort to get to know that person? In order to know God, we will need to put forth some effort. However, if we love him, it will not seem like any effort at all. Without God, repentance would have little meaning, and forgiveness would be both unnecessary and unreal. If there were no God, life would indeed be meaningless. Without God there would be no redemption, no resurrection, on eternities to anticipate, and consequently no hope. #RandolphHarris 8 of 12
God is out ancestor, not distant but close. He is the Father of our spirits; we are his children. We must want to be with him, and we must sense our need to be purified to be with him again. Nothing is going to startle us more when we pass through the veil to the other side than to realize how well we know our Father and how familiar his face is to us. Still, we need to feel now that God knows us and loves us as individuals. There are times when we have felt the closeness of God, our Father, and we know we that we are his children. Those times can come more often. There is a simple way to think about it. Our Heavenly Father has not only invited us to speak to him, he has commanded it. And, as he has always done, when he commands, he promises, too. These energy shifts and variation from the Lord take place in the heart and they run our lives. We are the experiencer of our hearts. If we pray always, God will pour out his Spirit upon us, and great shall be our blessing—even more than if we should obtain treasures of Earth and corruptibleness to the extent thereof. When we take in the World through our sense, it is actually energy patterns that our mind and heart can receive and experience. God speaks directly to our heart. More often it will make our hearts burn within us, again softly, but with a burning which will lift and reassure. After we have listened, we will act because when his voice by Spirit we will always feel that we are compelled to do something. #RandolphHarris 9 of 12
The Holy Ghost can do for us physically, spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and intellectually what no human-made remedy can begin to duplicate. It should be our deepest desire that we will increase in our ability to hear and understand the promptings of the Spirit and act on the promptings that we get from the Holy Ghost. When we pray, we have to sincerely learn to formulate genuine and heartfelt questions and humbly take them to the Lord. As we are faithful to the promises we have made to God, we will feel our love for him. It will increase because we will sense his power and his drawing nears to us in his service. God always comes to the rescue. There is a glorious homecoming prepared for us. We will then see fulfilled the promise of the Lord we have loved. It is God who welcomes us into eternal life. God is a love mechanic. He has just what we need. The Lord has the tools to fix us, and he will make sure our engines are clean. All of God’s work carried a lifetime guarantee. God will reveal our love with all brand-new parts. Do you hear me? When God is finished with our motors, he guarantees we will always start. God will raise our hood, and although the oil looks pretty good, even if we have a busted pan, the Lord will fix it, and he will check our pistons, and give us a new carborator, too. When we hit that starter, just like waves of energy, the energy that comes into it will keep us moving. Obedience and righteousness lead to blessings, which lead to joy! #RandolphHarris 10 of 12
We have known each other for so long, but we have not seen each other. Those innumerable letters tell everything or nothing. You may well imagine me and I you. Then why not get out the fence in belief that our real sight can be more brilliant that that in dreams? Distance is melancholically beautiful. On my way of life, you have enriched my spirit, developed my intelligence and ignited a beacon of hope. When the storm is coming, birds hide themselves in the nest. When I am hit by wind and rains, I always hide in your heart. The Sun proceeds unmoved to measure off another day for an approving God. One this long storm the rainbow rose, on this late morn the Sun; the clouds, like listless elephants, horizons straggled down. The birds rose smiling in their nests, the gales indeed were done; alas! how heedless were the eyes on whom the Summer shone! The quiet nonchalance of passing no daybreak can bestir; the slow archangel’s syllables must awaken her. A power of butterfly mist be the aptitude to fly, meadows of majesty concedes and easy sweeps of sky. So I must baffle at the hint and cipher at the sign, and make much bungler, if at last I take the clew divine. Departed to the judgment, a mighty afternoon; great clouds like ushers leaning, creation looking on. The flesh surrendered, cancelled, the bodiless begun; two Worlds, like audiences, disperse and leave the soul alone. #RandolphHarris 11 of 12
Open the window of the Winter quietly to send you a message. Are you well and I am missing you. Safe in their alabaster chambers, untouched by morning and untouched by noon, sleep the meek members of the resurrection, rafter of stain, and roof of stone. Light laughs the breeze in her castle of Sunshine; babbles the bee in a stolid ear; pipe the sweet birds in ignorant cadence—ah, what sagacity perished here! Grand go the years in the crescent above them; Worlds scoop their arcs, and firmaments row, diadems drop and doges surrender, soundless as dots on a disk of snow. The pleasure you have brought about, the assistance you have offered, the love you have showed and the life you have lived—all these make you more amiable and respectable with every passing year in our hearts. Listen to the blessings of the Earth in this beautiful and warm World. I wish you a happy life and a successful love that grows deeper day by day. Even if we have nothing, love is enough. Every time we read a scripture, every time we listen to a Bible-based teaching and receive truth from the Word of God, faith is coming to us, increasing in us, and strengthening our spiritual being. When we deposit the truth of the Word of God into our hears, it breaks every bondage and sets us free to be who God created us to be. We all have the potential to grow our faith to a great level. And it really is not that difficult. It just takes a little time and diligence. “The purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification comes from yielding their hearts unto God,” reports Helaman 3.35. #RandolphHarris 12 of 12
Pools, lakes, ponds, buckets, bathtubs, sinks, toilets and beaches can all be liability. Water, during the Summer fun and cool relief from hot weather. However, if parents do not take the proper precautions, water also can be dangerous for kids. Nearly 1,000 kids die each year by drowning. And most drownings happen in home swimming pools. It is the second leading cause of accidental death for people between the ages of 5 and 24. The good news is there are many ways to keep your kids safe in the water — and make sure that they take the right precautions when they are on their own. Kids need constant supervision around water — whether the water is in a bathtub, a wading pool, an ornamental fish pond, a swimming pool, a spa, the beach, or a lake. Young children are especially at risk — they can drown in less than 2 inches (6 centimeters) of water. That means drowning can happen where you would least expect it — the sink, the toilet bowl, fountains, buckets, inflatable pools, or small bodies of standing water around your home, such as ditches filled with rainwater. Always watch children closely when they are in or near any water.
If you are not a swimmer yourself, it is a good idea to take lessons and learn how to swim. And kids over 4 years old should learn, too (check the local recreation center for classes taught by qualified instructors). Kids who are younger (but older than age 1) also might benefit from swimming lessons, but check with your doctor first, and if they child does not seem to like it, do not force them to swim. Do not assume that a child who knows how to swim is not at risk for drowning. All kids need to be supervised in the water, no matter what their swimming skills. And infants, toddlers, and weak swimmers should have an adult swimmer within arm’s reach to provide “touch supervision.” Invest in proper-fitting, Coast Guard-approved flotation devices (life vests) and have kids wear them whenever near water. Check the weight and size recommendations on the label, then have your child try it on to make sure it fits snugly. For kids younger than 5 years old, choose a vest with a strap between the legs and head support — the collar will keep the child’s head up and face out of the water. Inflatable vests and arm devices such as water wings are not effective protection against drowning. Also, if water is still in their lungs after being exposed to water, kids and adults can drown hours later, even though they are longer in the water.
Do not forget the sunscreen and reapply often, especially if the kids are getting wet. UV sunglasses, hats, and protective clothing also can help provide sun protection. Also, be careful not to let kids play with rocks, pebbles, nor deflated plastic; they can cause suffocation. 
Do not allow the hideous, but remediable evils of human society and the cosmic injustice of the human condition have an obsessive hold on your mind. Death by suicide cannot be regarded as an adequate response to the experience of absurdity. Experiencing death by suicide deals with absurdity simply by suppressing one of the two poles—the human being and the World—that together produces tension because it is an isolation of the human beings evaluative and purposive being in the World. Only by living in the face of our own absurdity can human being achieve their full stature. We must accept ourselves as the sole guarantor of our own values and that necessarily involves accepting a principle of respect for other human beings and all life forms. Someone strong-willed does not give up easily. A strong-willed person is determined. Our will is our desire or drive to do something, so strong that we will never give up. Medical professionals have always been fascinated by the power of the will to live. Human beings have the fiercest instinct for survival. When our lives are threatened, the will to live is a force within all of us to fight for survival. The trails of this life will ultimately lead to joy as long as we patiently trust in God’s plane and discover how to use adversity to grow stronger. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6
The way we respond to trials can have a great effect on whether we allow them to become obstacles in our lives or strength building exercises to learning and growth. When we anguish over difficulties, the experiences only serve to weigh us down. However, when we remember that these tribulations are part of the great plan of happiness, it helps us to see them as opportunities to grow and learn. Sometimes it may seem that we are boxers in the ring trying to defend ourselves and we need a private eye, like Matt Shade, to see what is going on. Sometimes we need a personal crisis to reinforce in our minds what we really value and cherish. A common misunderstanding among members of the Church is that if we strive with all our might to live the commandments, nothing bad will happen to us. We may believe if we are married in the temple, our marriage will automatically be Heaven on Earth. We also believe if we live the Word of Wisdom, we will never get sick. However, the truth is that bad things may happen to the best of people. Sometimes bad things happen because not everyone on Earth believe in God and they have free will and may use that gift to hurt others. Yet other challenges come as a natural result of mortality and the World we live in. We are mortals with bodies that will age and may experience infirmary or become injured. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6
The consequence of good and bad actions will come, but they do not always come immediately, and they may not even come in this life. Nonetheless, as mortals, we try to assign fault for every situation. Often, we judge ourselves harshly, concluding that problems occur because of something we did wrong or because we failed to do something to prevent them. Yet, sometimes trials may come to us regardless of any conscious action on our part. If we blame ourselves for things that are not our fault, we make a bad situation worse by seeing ourselves as bad people who deserve bad things. Some people know that by using social engineering, they can convince you that every bad thing in life that happens to your is your fault. This is a tool they use to manipulate you and set you up to take the fall for something big. The goal is to lower yourself esteem and get you to accept fault for everything that happens to you so they can mark you and make you a target. It is difficult to judge our level of responsibility for problems that we face. In these cases, it may be unproductive to try to establish blame because it may cause us to lose focus on the very reason for the trial. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6
We unconsciously shape who we are by the thoughts we produce. No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude, and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we tolerate it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God, and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the educations tat we come here to acquire. Trials give us opportunities to show the Lord and ourselves that we will be faithful. We can choose to feel sorry for ourselves. Many people limit themselves to achieve more because of the boundaries they have set for themselves. It is difficult for some of us to grasp the comprehensive photo of accomplishing the dreams we desire. We cannot exploit opportunities without taking risks. Similarly, we cannot take risks without motivating thoughts. When we are miserable with ourselves, we cannot succeed at our work or anything else. Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything intelligent in this World. We can use adversity as a stepping-stone to grow closer to things of eternal world. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6
Let us—all of us—have the courage to defy the consensus, the courage to stand for principle. The challenges and decisions before us are aspects of life that determines our destiny. In order to make the correct decisions, courage is needed—the courage to say no when we should, the courage to say yes when that is appropriate, and the courage to do the right thing because it is right. As we continue to center our mind and heart in the Lord, he will help us have a rich and full life no matter what happens in the World around us. The traditional family is under heavy attack. We do not know that things were worse in the times of Sodom and Gomorrah. We see similar conditions today. They prevail all across the World. Our Heavenly Father must shake his head at us as he looks down upon his wayward sons and daughters. However, the church is in wonderful condition. It will grow and strengthen. It is our opportunity and our challenge to continue in this great undertaking, the future of which we can scarcely imagine. We have a choice. We can wring our hands and be consumed with concern for the future or choose to use the counsel the Lord has given to live with peace and happiness in a World where people are becoming awash with evil. If we choose to concentrate on the dark side, this is what we will see. Be strong. Live the gospel faithfully even if others around us do not live it at all. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6
We love God. God has given us heart and our health to every calling. With admiration and encouragement for everyone who will need to remain steadfast in these latter day, we will one day find ourselves called upon to defend our faith or perhaps even endure some personal abuse simply because we believe in God. Projecting confidence helps us gain credibility, makes a good lasting first impression, allows us to deal with pressure and enables us to meet personal and professional challenges directly. Most people never fulfill their human promise and potential because they remain perpetually helpless children overwhelmed by a sense of inferiority. The feeling of being okay does not imply that the person has risen above all one’s faults and emotional problems. It merely implies that one refuses to be paralyzed by them. We must believe in ourselves. We have to believe in our capacity and in our capacity to do good, to make some contribution to the society of which we are apart of and to grow and develop. We have to believe and know that with principle we can make a difference in this World. If we keep faith, keep trust, and have the right attitude, we are grateful, and will see God open up new doors. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6
Humans are a creature of fellowship, created with tendencies that find their fulfillment in a variety of natural groupings, each concerned with a certain facet of human’s life in society. From creation, learn to admire the Lord! And if any of the things which you see exceed your comprehension, and you are not able to find reason for its existence, then for this reason, glorify the Creator that the wisdom of the Lord’s works surpasses your own understanding. Throughout life we constantly interact with people—some of our associations are a great help to us spiritually, while others may be a great hindrance to us. All of our relationships affect our well-being in some way—be it physically, emotionally, or spiritually. It is through relationships with others that we grow and evolve into the people we become. Therefore, it is important that we cultivate relationships that improve our lives spiritually, and imbue us with Godly values and meaning. If living a healthy, productive life is really important to us, we will give serious attention to the relationships we foster. There is a strong correlation between healthy relationships and physical health and psychological well-being, as strong social networks are associated with healthier endocrine system and cardiovascular functioning, and better immune system performance. The heart and blood pressure of people with healthy relationships respond better to stress. All of these factors contribute to a longer life. #RandolphHarris 1 of 9
One of the groupings that people are involved in is the church, another the state. Church and state are differentiated primarily by reference to their different tasks. The concern of the church is the spiritual realm, the life of the inner human being; the concern of the state is the temporal realm, the regulation of external conduct. In regulating external conduct, the general ai of the state is to insure justice or equity in society at large. This equity has two facets. Obviously the state much enforce restrictive justice, but the state should also secure distributive justice, doing its best to eliminate gross inequalities in the material status of its members. In scriptural terms, justice is the unchanging law that brings consequences for actions. Because of the law of justice, when we obey God’s commandments, we receive blessings. The law of justice also demands that a penalty be paid for every sin we commit. When the Savior carried out the Atonement, he took our sins upon himself. If we repent and because the Savior has paid the price of our sins, we will not have to suffer eternal punishment. “God himself shall come down among the children of humans, and shall redeem his people,” reports Mosiah 15.1. Guys, the perspective in prison is really bad. It really looks better outside. Try to remember that. You people are the light in a dark place. If it were not for love like yours, we would not be able to get from where we are to where we need to be. #RandolphHarris 2 of 9
It is the duty of the church to seek the welfare of that state, but equally it is the duty of the state to seek the welfare of the church. Thus, part of the state’s duty is to promote piety; and blasphemy is a civil crime. Nonetheless, that church and state ought to be structurally independent of each other. Church officials are not, by virtue of their office, to have any official voice in the state; and state officials are not, by virtue of their office, to have any official voice in the church. Therefore, be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a person soweth, that shall he also reap,” reports Galatians 6.7. If we sow peaches, we do not really plan to get strawberries. If we sow hate, we do not really expect to receive an abundance of love. We get back in kind that which we sow because human thoughts, emotions, and sensory perceptions of sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell are all synchronized. It is all just objects of consciousness, and we are the consciousness. It is one thing to reap in kind, but we reap, somehow, always in greater quantity. We sow a little thistle, and we get a lot of thistle—years and years of it, big bushes and branches of it. We never get rid of it unless we cut it out. If we sow a little bit of hate, before we know it we have reaped a lot of hate—smoldering and festering and belligerent and finally warring, malicious hate because the light of consciousness has back onto itself. #RandolphHarris 3 of 9
When we start to explore consciousness instead of form, we realize that consciousness only appears to be small and limited because we are focusing on small and limited objects. However frightening it may be that most of us have sinned, however terrifying it maybe to contemplate a just God, it is infinitely more fearsome to contemplate an unjust God. We have to know that God is just in order to go forward. One of God’s attributes is justice. If we did not think that justice would count for us, if somehow we thought God would change his mind and decide there was another set of rules, then we would not have the faith—because of fear—to live righteously or to love better or to repent more readily. Thus the duty of the magistrate is to apply the law of God, implanted on the hearts of all and clarified in the Scriptures, to the affairs of civil society. To be a good Christian is to share in God’s rationality, as distinct from blindly obeying an omnipotent God. God, being rational, will ordain what is good, but what he ordains is good in its own nature, not because he ordains it. To go against Reason, is to go against God; it is the elf same thing, to do that which the Reason of the case doth require; and that which God himself doth appoint: Reason is Divine Governor of Human’s Life; it is the very Voice of God. However, there is no genuine and proper effect of religion where the mind of humans is not composed, sedate, and calm. #RandolphHarris 4 of 9
Because we know God is just and would cease to be God if he were not so, we have the faith to go forward, knowing that we will not be the victims of whimsy or caprice or bad day or a bad joke. That assurance is very encouraging. How grateful we are because God is God, God has to be a merciful God also. All who choose wrong roads do not perish; but their rescue consists in being put back on the right road. A mathematical sum, incorrectly worked, can be put right: but only by going back until we find the error and then working it afresh from that point, never by simply going on. Evil can be undone, but it cannot be developed into good. Time does not heal evil. The spell must be unwound because careful reasoning, exact argumentation, and liberality of spirit were joined with uncritical speculation, unscholarly interpretations, and fanciful legends to a degree which bewilders and confuses modern people. What has not reason in it, or for it is human’s superstition: it is not religion of God’s making. Philosophy is an inquiry after truth of both human and divine things, based on the testimony of God who reveals himself either through the World of created things or by direct teachings. Consequently, nature and the Scriptures are the two codes on which philosophy must be built. #RandolphHarris 5 of 9
Innate knowledge (notitia illata) is cognition through self-presence and belongs to the very essence of the soul; acquired knowledge (notitia illata) is the soul’s cognition of external things. Innate knowledge is superior to, and more certain than, acquired knowledge; for the soul cannot be mistake about what belongs to its nature. Knowledge of the external World can be obtained either by intuition or by abstraction. By intuition one grasps a thing immediately in its concrete reality, so that nothing of the object escapes the penetrating and all-embracing act of the intellect. One will begin to have deep experiences within one’s own center of consciousness. These will be profound, intuitive experiences of the true nature of the individual. It is truly expansive. God is pure and infinite being, creatures are composites of finite being and infinite nonbeing. Being and nonebeing concur in making up finite things. Humans are a composite of three substances, body, spirit, and mind or mens. The spirit or sensitive soul is the corporeal principle that animates the body and serves as a link between body and mind. The mind or intellective soul is created and infused by God into the body already organized by the spirit; it is a spiritual substance and the form of the whole human. “Say nothing but repentance unto this generation; keep my commandments,” reports Doctrines and Covenants 6.9. #RandolphHarris 6 of 9
God is his own supreme good and does not look to another being outside himself for his preservation. God is therefore the supreme good toward which humans must direct all their acts and operations. For the Work of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is Spirit. Every movement of your body, every emotion you have, and every thought that passes through our minds is an expenditure of energy. Just as everything that happens outside in the physical World requires energy, everything that happens inside requires an expenditure of energy. Creating thoughts, holding onto thoughts, recalling thoughts, generating emotions, controlling emotions, and disciplining powerful inner drives, all requires a tremendous expenditure of energy. Where does all this energy come from? Why is the energy there sometimes, and at other times we feel completely drained? Have you ever noticed that when you are mentally and emotionally drained, food does not help that much? Conversely, if you look at the times in your life when you were in live, or excited and inspired by something, you were so filled with energy that you did not even want to eat. There is a source of energy we can draw from inside. We have the freedom to err, but ultimately the freedom to succeed. #RandolphHarris 8 of 9
As many safeguards as possible and all the powers of the Universe were brought to bear to guarantee our freedom to exercise our agency and return to our celestial home. These safeguards include the fullness of the gospel truths and the Atonement of the Savior. We really do experience bondage and prison when we are not free. Most people have been there at some time in their lives. We feel that there is no way out and we will stay there forever. However, we thank God that we live in such a time as we do, when we do not need to live in fear of imprisonment and when we are not, at least politically and physically, required to go into bondage or into slavery. However, there are other kinds of prisons in our lives that we need to destroy. All that we came here to do, we need to do. We must believe with all our hearts that if we can repent of our sins, if we can be charitable with the sins of others, if we can take courage toward our circumstances and want to do something about them, the living Father of us all will reach down and, in the scriptural term bear us up as on eagle’s wings. We have this wellspring of beautiful energy inside of us. When we are open we feel it. That spiritual energy is what we are experiencing when love rushes up into your heart. That is what we are experiencing when we are enthused by something and all this high energy comes up inside of us. Take great delight in the scriptures. #RandolphHarris 9 of 9
The skies cannot keep their secret! They tell it to the hills–the hills just tell the orchards–and they the daffodils! A bird, by chance, that goes that way soft overhead the whole. If I should bribe the little bird, who knows but she would tell? I think I will not, however, it is finer not to know; if Summer were an axiom what sorcery had snow? So keep your secret, Heavenly Father! I would not, if I could, know what the sapphire fellows do, in your new-fashioned World! The love for our motherland grows out of our hearts. It is more beautiful than any other kind. May we forever be attached to our motherland! I like to gaze at you in silence, and to be gazed at the same; I wish to be deeply loved by you and love as deeply. Missing is like an endless river, a tender and soft cloud, a fragrant flower and a music of bamboo flute. 
Randolph Harris II International Institute 