Randolph Harris II International Institute

Some have said that this is the most critical period in the history of this nation and the World. Expedients are for an hour, but principals are for ages. Each age develops its own style of thought, and comparisons between these styles are impossible, since each posits a different basic (or, so to speak, relatively absolute) sphere. Even within each time of life there are conflicting tendencies toward conservation, on the one hand, and toward change on the other. Commitment to conservation tends to produce ideologies—to falsify thought by excessive idealization of the past and overemphasis on the factors making for stability. Intentness on change is apt to produce utopias, which overvalue both the future and factors leading to change. Between ideology and utopias there is at least the possibility of completely realistic (situationsgerecht) thought that functions without friction within the given framework of life, and is set neither on pushing forward nor on holding back the development of society. However, there is a very strong tendency toward the polarization of society into hostile camps. Specifically it consists in drawing a sharp line between the empirical self immersed in action and the enteral self which stands aloof from it. Human’s usual interest in life relates to the consequences it will have for their empirical self, the pay or acclaim it will bring. Such interest obviously inflate pride and thicken the insulation between our conscious selves and the Infinite that is beneath them. #RandolphHarris 1 of  9

Even among the so-called respectable people, one can readily demonstrate a double behavior when it concerns the theme of money and possession. The primitive greed of the suckling which wishes to seize every object has generally been only imperfectly subdued through culture and training. False reminiscences of having already paid something are often very obstinate. When free sway is given to avaricious intent outside of the serious interest of life, when it is indulged in in the spirit of fun, as card playing, we then find that the most honorable people show an inclination to errors, mistakes in memory and accounts, and without realizing how, they even find themselves involved in small frauds. Such liberties depend in no small part also on the physically refreshing character of the play. The saying is that in play we can learn a person’s character may be admitted if we can add one’s repressed character. If waiters ever make unintentional mistakes, they are apparently due to the same mechanism. Among merchants, we can frequently observe a certain delay in the paying out of sums of money, in payments of bills and the like, which brings the owner no profit and can by only understood psychologically as the expression of a counter-will against giving out money. It is basically an epigrammatic keenness: We are more apt to mislay letters containing bills and cheques. #Randolphharris 2 of 9

Relationism does not impugn the validity of an insight: it merely draws attention to the fact that the insight is dependent upon, and confined within, some specific sociohistorical situations. However, this argument merely shifts the relativity, and does not remove it. Every sociohistorical situation is located at a specific point along a unilinear, ever-progressing and never-returning temporal continuum—history. Each situation is therefore unique, and the knowledge to which it gives birth, and which is true within it, is equally unique, bound to its time and place, and relative. Therefore, truth is an attribute, not much of discourse, as of reality. The individual who is in contact with the living forces of one’s age has the truth, or better, is the truth—a conception which shows at one’s historicism, and pragmatism. For example, many people support illegal immigration. Although it is illegal and dangerous to travel without documents, the public is saying it is something they approve of. In contrast, a report was released that stated that African American males were more likely to be discriminated against in classrooms in the Sacramento County school district, which is also illegal. And when these students report being harassed, they are labeled a problem and noting is done to correct the situation. Yet, there is no public outage about legal citizens not being allowed to receive an education. #RandolphHarris 3 of 9

The traditional adaequatio rei et situs (correspondence of thought and situation) should be replaced by a new test, the adaequatio intellectus et situs (correspondence of thought in situation). We should be more interested in the genuineness, rather than in the truth (properly so-called), of a given World view. It has long been a World view than an African American male with an education is dangerous because it gives him a change to show is abilities and become financially independent, and live an honest life, which make them harder to take and label and call an undesirable part of the population. However, because the historical fear of powerful African American men, people are more willing to let people come to this country, who they have no idea who they are, what their intentions are, what they believe, and are unaware of the history of the country because they are viewed as harmless, helpless beings, escaping from danger and should be given an opportunity to break the law. Whereas, African American men, whose ancestors were brought here as slaves, built much of the country, do not even deserve the right to freedom and education. It is like the system wants to take African American youth out of the classroom, not give them a chance to grow up and experience freedom, restrict them for gainful employment, and lock them in prisons because of historical attitudes. #RandolphHarris 4 of 9

During these years of extreme tensions, we may constantly have in mind the admonition of the Lord himself: “Wherefore, be subject to the powers that be, until he reigns whose right it is to reign, and subdues all enemies under his feet. One that keeps the laws of God has no need to break the laws of the land,” reports Doctrines and Covenants 58.22,21. Today we are constantly heading from the unenlightened and misguided, who demand what they call free agency, by which they apparently mean, as evidence by their conduct, that they have their agency to do as they please or to exercise their own self-will to determine what is laws and order, what is right and wrong, or what is honor and virtue. These are frightening expressions when you reflect upon that fact that all humankind will be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.  A moment’s reflection will help us to see that when one sets oneself up to make his or her own rules and presumed to know no law but his or her own, those type of people is but echoing the plan of the great adversary, who sought to ascend to God’s throne, as it were, in the being the judge of all that rules humankind and the World. There has ever been, and ever will be, a conflict between the forces of truth and error; between the forces of righteousness and the forces of evil; between the dominion the adversary and under the banner of our Lord. #RandolphHarris 5 of 9

We need to adopt a more practical and political orientation because a completely unregulated society, such as liberalism has crated, is more apt to produce its own opposite, totalitarian dictatorship. To secure the value of democracy, it is necessary to avoid the weaknesses of both liberalism and totalitarianism. As a viable synthesis, we must advocate planning for freedom, a social system which will insure economic stability by regulating the more objective aspects of life, such as production, but at the same time grant freedom to people’s subjective strivings (for example, in matters of taste), thereby releasing cultural creativity. Education can sometimes be the prime means of radical democratization because in attempts to build consensus, gatekeepers oppress differing opinions, races, classes, genders, and Worldviews. There become oppressive power relations in society, and those oppressive relations should be made visible, renegotiated and altered. By building democracy around difference and dissent, oppressive power relations existing in societies are able to come to the forefront so that they can be challenged. The modernized Christianity holds out some hope for a new integration of society’s value system, which has become splintered and self-contradictory. Learning without thinking is labor scattered; thinking without learning is dangerous. #RandolphHarris 6 of 9

The greatness of the individual is in proportion to one’s self-knowledge. A mature individual does not resent correction, for one identifies oneself more with the long-range self that grows through correction than with the momentary self that is being indicated. Both learning and thinking are indispensable. Without learning there are no data for inquiry. Without thinking no principle or concept can be reached. Thoughts and feelings are to be perceived as swimming in and out of our awareness but in no way a permanent part of us; they are to be taken intellectually not emotionally. Everything we witness, especially our moods and emotions, is to be traced to the cause, much as in contemporary psychoanalysis. A miscellany of others practices are also recommended: the aspirant is to keep one’s mind in control of one’s sense instead of allowing the latter to become lord; one is to pray on fearful and disgusting sights until one overcomes one’s aversion to them; an individual is to picture vividly his or her desired goal; and one is to pervade the World with loving thoughts for all creatures. Obviously it will take practice. In addition to working at it to some extent all the time, one should set aside special times for undistracted self-analysis and occasionally withdraw for several days—into complete silence and solitude until the conscious mind understand and can control each physiological function of the human body. #RandolphHarris 7 of 9

There is no purpose in life, there is no joy without the struggle and the exercise of one’s own natural abilities. Now in the exercise of the God-given right of free agency, or freedom of choice, how may one distinguish between that is truth and what is error? Truth is the logic of the Universe. It is the reasoning of destiny; it is the mind of God. And nothing that one can devise can take its place. There is no progress in the fundamental truth. There is no progress in fundamental truth. We may grow in knowledge of its meaning and in the modes of its application, but its greatest principles will forever be the same. And truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come; and whatsoever is more or less than this is the spirit od that wicked one who was a liar from the beginning. There is not a person born into the World, but has a portion of the Spirit of God which gives to one’s spirit understanding, each in accordance with one’s capacity to receive the light which will never cease to strive with humankind, until men and women and children are brought to the possession of the higher intelligence. To those not acquainted with the language of the scriptures, it might be explained that the Light of God could be described as one’s conscience, or the voice of the divine within one’s own soul. #RandolphHarris 8 of 9

The only thing we will ever ask you to do is to vote for that which in your heart feels right. We would rather many times over that you would make a mistake doing that which you felt was right, then to vote for policy sake. Be sure to meditate prayerfully and give the Lord a chance to assist you in solving the problems of life. We must always keep in mind that the greatest weapons that can be forged against any false philosophy are the beneficial teachings of the Scriptures. Your faith should not stand in the wisdom of humans, but in the power of God. It has been well reported that one does not teach honesty by telling people how to burglarize a safe, nor do we teach obedience to authority and laws by encouraging breaking the laws for a certain group of people. If we allow illegal immigration, perhaps we should allow people on Wall Street to cook the books and make the best souffle. It is inspired wisdom that our efforts must be spent in teaching truth by the power of Almighty God, and thus we can forge the most powerful of all weapons against the vicious doctrines of the wicked. Teach people correct principles and they will govern themselves. Be alert and active in your business and political interests. The great danger in any society is apathy and a failure to be alert to the issues of the day, when applied to principles or to the election of public officials. #RandolphHarris 9 of 9

June 15, 2018 11:38 pm

Human reason is an adequate instrument for dealing with Earthly affairs, that is, the maintaining of physical subsistence (ooeconmia) and the regulation of life in society (politia). Keeping the needs of others and nature in mind is at the heart of a successful life. Once we stop looking at the World from what is called a subject-object perspective (in which we are the subject and the World exists only as it relates to us) and begin to see it from a subject-subject viewpoint (wherein the World, and everything in it, is a living entity worthy of respect), we will begin to see how our personal growth can contribute to the betterment of the World. The justice of God in Romans 1.17, is not a divine attribute expressed in punishment and reward, but is the activity by which God makes people just (justifies them). This justice of God is identical with his grace: it is not conditional upon human merit, but is received by faith alone (faith itself being a work of God in humans). The sacrament is like preaching, a form of the divine Word, by which God offers humans his justice and creates the response of faith. By being the first in your family to accept the gospel, you become the first generation, a chosen generation through which generations past, present, and future may be blessed. The Law of God can only demand and condemn; it cannot be used by humans as a means of self-salvation through strict obedience. The security of human beings before God is firmly in the Gospel, with its word of free forgiveness. “Ask in sincerity of heart that God will forgive you,” reports 1 Moroni 6.8. #RandolphHarris 1 of 8

The World and other people inevitably fail to satisfy our boundless needs. We learn very quickly that we can get some of our needs met if we separate ourselves from our own desires, delay the gratification of our needs, deny some potentials and capitalize on others. In some cases, we split off our needs and potentials from our awareness completely. The World tames us, dictating how we ask, when we ask, and, to some degree, what we ask for. Many of the radicals sought to establish communities in which the ethic of the Sermon on the Mount should be sole rule of social conduct. However, just as it is wrong to place Law between God and the conscience, so it is wrong to regulate society by the Gospel. The conscience needs the gospel of forgiveness, but society can only be founded upon the law of retributive justice (though Law should always be the agency of love). The two realms or kingdoms, of Heaven and Earth—this is, the two ways in which God rules over the World of humans—are not to be confused. Our faith and testimonies are a great strength and blessing to others. Through experience and exposure, we gain a deeper understanding of gospel principles and our testimonies are strengthened. We add great strength to the Church when we use our testimony, talents and abilities, and energy to build the Kingdom of God. We reach out in kindness to those around us, lifting and blessing them through inspired service. As we live the gospel of God at home, those around us will feel the Savior’s love through us. #RandolphHarris 2 of 8

People know that we are engaged in something good, even if they do not understand it or have enough faith to accept it. We must be patient and kind, pray each day to know how we can serve them, and the Lord will help us and bless us to influence or family for good. By being consistently good and upright, we will establish patterns of faithfulness and righteousness. Those patterns will shape our life, but more importantly, they will become a standard for our family and posterity. Through the process of selective satisfaction, delayed gratification, denial of pleasures of the flesh, and repression of sinful pride, we give birth to our divine nature. Not only do we separate our social self from our personal self, we also maintain our sense of separateness from the World at large. We still operate in what some call a subject-object dynamic, in which the person (subject) interacts with the World and others in it (objects) for the self-serving purpose of getting needs met and realized potentials, but we are also the key to opening the Lord’s blessings to family members who passes away without hearing the gospel and receiving saving ordinances. Ours is the unique privilege to begin this work on their behalf. These ordinances will bind us to our ancestors and bring great spiritual power into our life. The power of human’s decision for God is located in the Gospel itself, and in the secret influence of the Holy Spirit. God does not act coercively, thereby doing violence to human’s will, but God is sovereign over the will and can direct it to his ends. People act voluntarily (that is, as God wills) even in matters that concern their salvation. #RandolphHarris 3 of 8

However, the will itself is controlled by God. It cannot change itself from an evil to a good will: it must be changed under the influence of the Spirit. The greatest of God’s gifts are the inventress and mistress of all the arts, of medicine and law, of whatever wisdom, power, virtue and glory people possess in this life. Reason sets people apart from the brute beasts and give them dominion over the World. In adulthood growth occurs and we continue to mature, we soon become aware of the potential of Unified Self. It is self serving and World-serving in its striving to meet needs and realize potentials. We attempt to merge the personal and social self into one congruent, unified source of personhood. Once we operate as a largely Unified Self, we finally become capable of forming deep bonds with others, nature, and the World at large. This connection is the ultimate cure of our sense of alienation that creates such profound discontent. Can you see now why the first generation is so important? Can you understand the position you occupy and the influence you can have for good? Please never underestimate who you are and the power that you have to affect others. The adversary understands who you are and will do all possible to entice you to make wrong choices. At times, despite our best efforts, we all make mistakes. Fortunately, Heavenly Father has prepared a way for us to overcome them through repentance and reliance on the Atonement. If you make mistakes, do not make mistakes. #RandolpHarris 4 of 8

Make a habit of thinking of the needs of everyone and everything with which you come into contact. Repenting and continuing to press forward are perhaps the most important patterns to develop in the first generation. Be patient and move forward in obedience. Live each day meeting the challenges of family, work, and faith. Live good, ordinary lives and be faithful serving the Lord and blessing your families. When we fall down, we get back up and move on. Now, those of us who are descendants of people who follow God look back with reverence and gratitude for their faithfulness. Make proper choices and people with honor you. Past and future generations will admire you. However, most importantly, God will celebrate your for being faithful. In spiritual affairs reason has no understanding of what it is that commends human to God. Therefore God has given his Word (in the Scriptures), and reliance upon reason could, in this realm, only be perverse and presumptuous. The way of salvation could never have been thought out by rational enquiry, for all God’s work and words transcend reason. The Word of God is apprehended, not by reason, but by faith. However, this does not mean that reason must be totally excluded from theology. There is a possibility to tame reason’s presumptuous. It then becomes a handmaid of faith. #RandolphHarris 5 of 8

Reason as illuminated by faith, is regenerated, or born new. It regenerates reason as the human capacity for orderly thought being exercised upon material provided by the Word. Perhaps this is the correlation of Scripture and reason, as it gives one the ability to be persuaded either by direct Biblical citations or by plain inferences from them. Yet, this certainly does not mean that we set reason beside Scripture as an independent and supplementary source of theological knowledge. We have to distinguish between natural reason, ruling within it own domain (the Earthly Kingdom); presumptuous reason, encroaching on the domain of faith (the Heavenly Kingdom); and regenerate reason, serving faith in subjection to the Word of God. Still, reason can be the greatest of God’s gifts in the Earthly Kingdom and an excellent instrument of Godliness in the Heavenly Kingdom. It is necessary, however, to carry the analysis further and show the invective against reason is focused upon a quite specific blunder than reason makes when it trespasses, unregenerate, upon the domain of faith. It then appears that the sacrificum intellectus cannot be understood simply as epistemological doctrine, but rests upon a more strictly theological (or soteriological) concern. This expresses the colorful invective against reason because its constant astonishment at the heart of Gospel: the unconditioned character of God’s. Reason must be terminated because it cannot comprehend the miracle of divine forgiveness, and therefore stands in the way of human’s receiving the justice of God. #RandolphHarris 6 of 8

Reason is identified with the religious attitude of the natural (that is, unregenerate) human, who can conceive only of a strictly legalistic relationship to God. Ratio becomes virtually synonymous with a definite opinio, and it is by no means accidental that two words can be found side by side in several passages. Nor, of course, was is this usage wholly eccentric, since Lewis and Short’s Latin-English dictionary reports as one of the meanings of ratio a “view or opinion resting upon reasonable grounds.” And we fully acknowledge a certain reasonableness about the assumption that a just God must require good works as the precondition of communion with him. Consequently, the proclamation of an unconditioned grace—which demands nothing, save the acceptance of faith—can be greeted by reason only with incredulity. What needs to be sacrificed, therefore, is not human rationality, without qualification, but rather the legalistic mentality of the natural human. Grace must take us out of ourselves, and we must learn to rise above reason. The concept of reason is not formal, but material. Ratio is a concrete attitude rather than the faculty or structure of reasoning. When the natural human turns one’s thoughts to religion, one carries over into the Heavenly Kingdom presuppositions, which, however appropriate in dealing with social existence in the Earthly Kingdom, no longer apply. For the Kingdom of God is a realm, not of law, but of grace (das Reich der Gnaden). #RandolphHarris 7 of 8

 The continuity between nature and grace, as presented in the classical scholastic scheme, is broken. There is no rational preamble to faith, because reason is not a neutral instrument for the discovery of objective truths; it is misled by its own bias and even corrupted by sin—that is, by the egocentricity of the understanding of humans. For humans in sin actually prefers a God law, upon whom one can establish a claim. Revelation does not confirm or supplement reason: it stands in contradiction to reason, until the natural human is born anew. The religion of reason is not merely insufficient or imperfect, but perverted and erroneous. We do not deny that a limited knowledge of God is available to reason; but the egocentricity of humans in sin is a fatal defect, productive of idolatry and superstition. Reason makes God as it wills him to be, and turns this natural knowledge into idolatry. The god of reason is a false God. “And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles. And the reason why he ceaseth to do miracles among the children of humans is because that they dwindle in unbelief, and depart from the right way, and know not the God in whom they should trust. Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in God, doubting nothing, whatsoever one shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted one; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the Earth,” reports Mormon 19-21. #RandolphHarris 8 of 8

June 12, 2018 9:55 pm

When people know (or enter into any other relation with) social entities—whether these are institutions or economic goods or another age’s culture—the relation established is not the sort of relation they have with the natural objects studied by physical science. Social entities are reified personality or alienated spirit, while people themselves are the product of historical forces. The knower and the known, subject and object, are moments of one entity, society, and their relations are necessarily ambiguous, two-way, or dialectical. At the turn of the century, adults sought psychological help for concrete symptoms, such as paralysis medical doctors could not explain, or obsessional thoughts that would not go away. Of those seeking treatment, they were sick in the sense the word “sickness” is used in medicine; something prevented them from functioning socially as the so-called normal person functions. Their concept of wellness was—not to be sick. In modern times, however, people with presenting symptoms such as those mentioned above are in the minority of psychologists’ clientele; most people coming to a psychologist at the end of the twentieth century are not certain what they suffer from. They come in complaining of anxiety or depression or low self-esteem because their marriages are in trouble, or their productivity is falling off. #RandolphHarris 1 of 10

As personal interests become autonomous in the shape of class interests, the personal conduct of the individual becomes reified and alienated and thereby becomes a thing apart from one, an independent force. It is just such alienated forms of conduct that make up society. The most common sources of psychological suffering today stem from three levels of alienation: Alienation from oneself, alienation from other human beings, and alienation from nature. Because of the development of industry, material forces were saturated with spiritual life, while human existence was made primitive, becoming a material force. The spirit has become thing and things are steeped in spirit, so that history is a fabric of meanings-becoming-forces. This dialectical relation of subject and object was most marked in the case of the proletariat because the proletariat has been reduced by capitalism to labor, a mere economic commodity, and yet it can still take cognizance of itself as a commodity by acquiring class consciousness. Thereupon, it has seen through the supposed natural law of economics and revolutionized capitalism. For this class, self-knowledge means at the same time correct knowledge of the whole of society so this class is at once subject and object of knowledge. Its self-knowledge is history knowing itself and in that total clarity lies the promise of a return from alienation. #RandolphHarris 2 of 10

Most people experience some degree of separation on each level, from self, other human beings, and from nature. If our alienation on any one level becomes too great, symptoms of emotional distress appear. The symptoms of alienation breed a profound sense of helplessness and hopelessness expressed in the awareness that life runs out of one’s hand like the American and Sacramento River into the Twin Tunnels project to Southern California leaving us with nothing to care for our yards and trees. This is so pronounced in adulthood because we are no longer being taken care of by our parents, we have our own families we have to care for and we have to protect ourselves from predators.  Some people fear that one will die without having lived; that one lives in the midst of plenty and yet is joyless. “However, let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing,” reports James 1.4. Not only must our relationship to God be right, but the outward expression of that relationship must also be right. Ultimately, God will allow nothing to escape; every detail of our lives is under God’s scrutiny. God never tries of bringing us back to that one point until we learn the lesson, because God’s purpose is to produce the finished product. God’s wonderful work in us makes us know that overall we are right with him. Whatever it may be, God will point it out with persistence until we become entirely his. #RandolphHarris 3 of 10

On our mortal journey, we hope to begin to cure the alienation from the self that is often so pronounced in adulthood. It is instructive to trace the relation of these forms of alienation to anxiety. When we fear we or someone near us may not live to our full potential, the repressed emotions have found a way of avoiding the censorship—and the distortion for which the censorship is responsible. An invariable concomitant phenomenon, then, is that painful emotions are felt in our subconscious. Similarly, we have conscious episodes of anxiety, which occurs only when the censorship is entirely or partially overpowered, and on the other hand, the overpowering of the censorship is facilitated when the actual sensation of anxiety is already present in somatic (of the body, especially as distinguished from a bodily part, the mind, or the environment; physical) sources. It thus becomes obvious for what purpose the censorship performs its office and practices reality-distortion; it does so in order to prevent the development of anxiety or other forms of painful affect. However, when we make mutually satisfying connections with others, and will notice a great paradox. While we really do not care much about the judgments of others, we care more than ever about the quality of the lives of others and everything around us. We are therefore likely to find oneself forgetting ourselves more often, because are so engaged in the World. #RandolphHarris 4 of 10

Spiritually looking up is not a one-time experience.  Truth exists, but it exists only in the future tense; it is the presumptive totality to be attained by permanent self-criticism. The criterion of truth is grasp of reality, but reality is not at all to be confounded with empirical being, what actually exists. Reality is not; it becomes—and without the collaboration of thought (ibid). The dialectical unity of subject and object in society; the promise of a return from alienation when society, through the proletariat, attains self-knowledge; and the notion of truth as a totality yet to be achieved—are attractive to some. Disillusionment means having no more misconceptions, false impressions, and false judgments in life; it means being free from these deceptions. However, though no longer deceived, our experience of disillusionment may actually leave us cynical and overly critical in our judgment of others. Yet, the disillusionment that comes from God brings us to the point where we see people as they really are, yet without any cynicism nor any stinging and bitter criticism. When we lose ourselves inside the love of God, we affirm our oneness with all of life. Daring to let go of our hard-won sense of identity is the ultimate communion with God. Whenever we can, we should merge into altruism. And enjoy an experience free of thought, self-consciousness, striving, or judgment. #RandolphHarris 5 of 10

When asked, many of us are happy to offer our help. It feels good to be needed, but it is particularly fulfilling when our efforts actually advance someone else’s endeavors. Yet, when it is our turn to ask for help, many of us give up our place in line. Instead of taking our turn, fair and square, we walk away or go to the end of the queue. Why do we give up in this way? In some cases, we become comfortable with the line. Waiting becomes a safe and secure buffer zone. Some people believe that asking for help is a sign of weakness. Even our originality is called into question when we canvas people for their opinions, as if seeking others points of view will diminish our own ideas. In some cases, we may just be afraid of rejection. What if someone says, “No, I am sorry. I cannot help you?” Then what? Well, we move on. It is that simple. Look how Justin Timberlake did Britney Spears back in 2007 when people were threatening to take her life, stealing her cars, extorting her for $50 million in exchange for her babies, and declared her incompetent so they could control her estate, while she still had to work and was only giving her $1,500.00 a month. She asked Justin for help, and he told her, “No, I am afraid you will hurt my career.” Now no one knows who Justin Timberlake is and Britney Spears is an even bigger star than ever. Many have never seen someone with such a dynamic catalog of music, and so many performances. #RandolphHarris 6 of 10

Even if you are afraid of asking for help when you really need it, it could be because you do not like to burden people. However, when people who never ask for anything need a favor, it is probably because they are at a really low point in their lives that they have never experienced. Certainly, some people ask the same people for help too often and they may feel put upon and even a little resentful. Some of us do not like to be indebted to others for anything. We avoid asking so that we will not feel beholden. However, for the most part, seeking support will help us to more easily turn the life we are living into the life we want. Delegating household duties, asking for assistance on the job, and recruiting our friends and family for emotion sustenance are essential is we want to revision and change our lives. Clearly, asking for help is not easy. At first, it feels terribly uncomfortable, like we have our pants on backwards in front of a classroom of high school students. That may have actually been a fashion statement in your parents time. And although we can still walk, we feel vulnerable. However, the vulnerability is really a form of truth, not a sign of weakness. Some of our best leaders in business and government are successful because they surrounded themselves with a strong and steady support system. #RandolphHarris 7 of 10

 Icons like Reese Witherspoon, Paris Hilton, Tomi Lahren, Aaliyah, Britney Spears, Michael Jackson, Mary Kay, and Bill Gates built successful teams that allowed them to bring their visions to life. You Can to the same with similar results. Seeking emotional support from others is not a display of incompetence; it is a demonstration of your intelligence, whether you are trying to add to your base of knowledge or learn something new. When we ask for help we are acknowledging the splendor and fundamental need for a circle of giving. Besides, some people love to share their experiences, which in many cases will be all you need. It is rewarding for you and them. Eventually, we will learn how to ask for help with grace and diplomacy. It will feel as right as our favorite song. Some friendships even suffer because some people neglect to be direct and honest when asking for help. Instead of speaking in precise terms, many ask for help in roundabout ways that leave their intentions and needs unclear. When they do not receive the help they need, they find themselves confused and bewildered. When we ask for help, we have to be clear so that people know exactly what we want. If they can help, they usually will. If they cannot, they will let us know that, too. #RandolphHarris 8 of 10

However, do not use vague language just because one is afraid or comfortable This will only lead to misunderstandings, which in the long run will be a waste of time for everyone. And be gracious no matter what. When you ask for help, try to be gracious no matter what. “Thank you anyway” (with a smile words wonders even when someone says, “no.” Pouting only makes matter worse. Remember that most people want to help but, in some cases, cannot because of all sorts of circumstances beyond their control. Do not make people feel worse by dwelling on their inability (or unwillingness) to provide support. Besides, just because people cannot help does not mean they do not want to help. Indeed, if we respond graciously, they may be more inclined to think of someone else who can help us. They may even reconsider and offer to help us after all. Our patience and understanding (versus impatience and resentment) will almost always be in our best interest. And if we exercise our faith and look to God for help, we will not be overwhelmed with the burdens of life. Believe in God; believe that he is alive; believe that God has all wisdom, and all power, both in Heaven and in Earth. In many cases that will allow our hearts to fund the comfort we seek. We could feel weighed down by our responsibilities. However, instead, we must exercise great faith and be filled with optimism, wisdom, and love for others. #RandolphHarris 9 of 10

We must have the attitude that we can do and will do. We must trust the Lord a, and rely on him for strength, and the Lord will bless us. Experience has taught many people that if we exercise our faith and look to God for help, we will not be overwhelmed with burdens of life. We will not feel incapable of doing what we are called to do or need to do. We will be strengthened, and our lives will be filled with peace and joy. We will come to realize that most of what we worry about is not of eternal significance—and if it is, the Lord will help us. However, we must have the faith to look up and the courage to follow God’s direction. Why is it a challenge to consistently look up in our lives? Perhaps we ack the faith that such a simple act can our problems. For example, when the children of Israel were bitten by poisonous serpents, Moses was commanded to raise up a brass serpent on a pole. The brass serpent represented our Savior. Those who looked up at the serpent, as admonished by the prophet, were healed. However, many others failed to look up, and they perished. As we remember God and trust in his power, we receive strength through our Savior’s Atonement. It is the means whereby we can be relieved of our anxieties, our burdens, and our suffering. It is the resource whereby we can be forgiven and healed from the pain of our sins. It is the means whereby we can receive the faith and strength to endure all things. #RandolphHarris 10 of 10

June 11, 2018 10:26 pm

Joy and happiness come through determination and the practice of carrying on under all conditions. Legends make reality, and become more useful than the facts. We have to see to restore the ontological weight to human experience so that we will have an assurance of fulfillment which is part of faith’s apprehension of God as Absolute Presence. Otherwise people will experience complicated situations in which persons find themselves trapped, challenged, and confused; and thus indirectly they explore the nature of the exile into which the soul enters as it becomes alienated from itself, from those it loves, and from God. When we have faith, one finds a foretaste or presentient of the perfect harmony and communion toward which all authentic human existence strives. In our efforts to teach our generation how to use the wisdom in ancient myths to change our lives for the better, it becomes clear that all heroes experience trauma so that they themselves can be reborn and so that they can serve as icons of strength and perseverance in the global society for the continuum necessary to redeem the society and bring it to a higher level of functioning. Reality shares both in the tension that is the essence of drama and in the harmony which is the essence of faith. Its starting point is a metaphysical “dis-ease” like that of a person in a fever who shifts around searching for a comfortable position. This search for a home in the wilderness, a harmony in disharmony, a transcendent source of assurance in a transient life takes place through a reflective process called secondary reflection. #RandolphHarris 1 of 11

Problem and mystery brings to light two different kinds of thinking or reflection. Primary reflection examines its object by abstraction, by analytically breaking it down into its constituent parts. It is concerned with definitions, essences, and technical solutions to problems. Primary reflection, as exemplified in scientific and technical thought, has allowed us to possess and manipulate our World more completely and is therefore indispensable to human culture. However, intellectual and more confusion results when primary reflection becomes imperialistic and claims the right to judge all knowledge and truth by criteria appropriate only to the realm of the objective and the problematic. When this happens, abstraction gives way to the spirit of abstraction, the use of techniques gives way to technocracy, and the inexhaustible riches of a kaleidoscope World are forced to conform to a black-and-white logic. The complexity of human character, dynamically moved in al directions, very rarely accommodates itself to the arbitrament of a simple alternative, as out antiquated primary reflection would have it. Secondary reflection is concrete, individual, heuristic, and open. Strictly speaking, it is concerned not with objects but with presences. It contemplation beings not with curiosity or doubt but with wonder and astonishment. Hence, it is humble in its willingness to be confronted to categories created by that on which it is focused. #RandolphHarris 2 of 11

Salvation and exaltation are here emphasized as being based primarily upon commitment and enduring. Secondary reflection remains open to its object as a love does to his beloved—not as a specimen of class but a unique being. This openness is not a methodological principle as in scientific thought but arises from the possibility of something new being created in the relationship. Secondary reflection is dialogical, not dialectical. Rather than searching for information about the other and dealing with it abstractly, secondary reflection seeks the revelation of total presence, whether the presence be that f my body, the World, the other person, or God. Thus, secondary reflection is brought to bear on data or questions from which the thinker as existing person cannot legitimately abstract himself or herself: “Am I free?” “Is there meaning and value in life?” “Can I commit myself to this person?” In other words, secondary reflection is concerned not with problems but with mystery. A mystery initially appears to be merely a problem that is difficult to solve. Reflection, shows, however, that in dealing with a genuine mystery the distinction between the subject and object, between what is in me and what is before me, breaks down. Faced with questions about freedom, the meaning of life, the existence of God, and so forth, no objective standpoint can be found from which a universally valid answer may be discovered. #RandolphHarris 3 of 11

This does not mean that mystery is unknown nor unknowable and lies in a realm of vague feelings over which thought has no grasp. Rather, knowledge of mystery presupposed an immediate participation, or a blinded intuition, but this participation is understood only with the assistance of a conceptual process. Unassisted intuition is not an adequate philosophical instrument. However, secondary reflection penetrates into the mystery of existence and being only when it works in conjunction with love, fidelity, faith, and other concrete approached. It yields a kind of knowledge and illuminates our lives. Two foci of mystery may be distinguished, although never separated. The mystery of existence is dealt with in concrete ontology. Concrete philosophy is with the existing subject, the incarnate being who is already in the World. The experience of the inexhaustible concreteness of the existing World can be neither deduced, doubted, not demonstrated. Existence is not a thing, a quality, nor a discrete content of thought which can be isolated and pointed out; rather it is that which the subject participates from which thought beings its quest for meaning. The assurance of existence which we have is not of the intellectual order but is an outcome of our direct participation in the World by the way of (via) sensation and feeling. Because sensation and feeling are inseparable from the body, our knowledge of existence is tied up with our being incarnate. “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make your free,” reports John 8.31-32. #RandolphHarris 4 of 11

The basic truths about life before we came to Earth bless us with wonderful insights. “How old are you?” is easy to answer. Birthdays measure the age of our physical body. However really, we are much older than that. Each of us is a beloved spirit son or daughter of Heavenly parents with a divine nature and destiny. Before our spirit bodies were created, we each existed as intelligence, which had no beginning, neither will it have an end. Knowing that we are eternal beings with Heavenly Parents changes out lives by helping us see ourselves and our lives from a truly eternal perspective. In our premortal life, we were taught lesson that prepared us to assist our Heavenly Father in bringing about the salvation of his children. We also had the agency to follow and obey God. Some of Father’s children distinguished themselves thought their exceeding faith and good works and were foreordained, or given assignments, to serve in specific ways on Earth. While in our premortal state, we were all present when God the Father explained his plan for the salvation of his children. We learned that a Savior would be needed to overcome the problems brought on by the conditions of mortal life. Incarnation is the central given of metaphysics, the absolute starting point for an external philosophy, because it is on the analogy of my experience of my body that the World is understood. I project into the World the sense of destiny and presence that I experience when I become aware of my own body. The World exists for me only in the way in which I am related to my own body. #RandolphHarris 5 of 11

As I am not even ideally separable from my body, I am likewise inseparable from my situation. When we pass through the veil to the other side, nothing is going to startle us more than to realize how well we know our Father and how familiar his face is to us. Knowing that Heavenly Father knew and loved us changes our lives by making our prayers more personal and intimate. Those habitual surroundings and historical conditions which shape my life enter into the very fiber of what I am. Insofar as I recognize that my situation enters into the constitution of my own being, and hence that I am not able to abstract myself from it completely and view it with objective detachment of a spectator, I may speak of the family which nurtured me or of an infirmary that shaped me as having a mysterious character. There is no way to make sense out of life without a knowledge of the doctrine of premortal life. When we understand the doctrine of premortal life, then things fit together and make sense. “The righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God,” reports Romans 8.5-9. #RandolphHarris 6 of 11

The range of meanings borne by the term flesh in the Bible starts from the literal use denoting the material of which the human body is chiefly constructed but takes on others senses. The basic reference is to the human body, as distinguished from the soul. A concrete philosophy must also affirm the immediacy of our being with others. The principle of the intentionality of consciousness applies in our relations both to persons and to the World. Philosophy beings not with I am but with we are. The significance of this intersubjectivity will be determined by the type of relations which characterize one’s life. The self who treats other persons as objects to be manipulated and used is condemned because of its conflict between our primitive self and our ethical self, between what Dr. Freud calls the Id and the Ego. To make ourselves more explicit, it will be necessary to say something about the elements of the psychic apparatus. According to Dr. Freud’s formulation the child brings into the World an unorganized chaotic mentality called the Id, the sole aim of which is the gratification of all needs, the alleviation of hunger, self-preservation, and love, the preservation of the species. However, as the child grows older, that part of the id which comes in contact with the environment through the sense learns to know the inexorable reality of the outer World and becomes modified into what Dr. Freud calls the ego. This ego, possessing awareness of the environment, henceforth strives to curb the lawless id tendencies whenever they attempt to assert themselves incompatibly. #RandolphHarris 7 of 11

The neurosis, as we see it here, is, therefore, a conflict between the ego and the id. The ego, aware of the forces of civilization, religion and ethics, refuses to allow motor discharge to the powerful sexual (flesh) impulses emanating from the lawless id, and thus block them from attainment of the object toward which they aimed. The ego then defends itself against these impulses by repressing them. If people cannot control their id, the repressed material will struggle against fate, finally break through as a substitutive formation on paths over which the ego has no control, and obtrude itself on the ego as symptoms. As a result of this process, the ego finds itself more or less impoverished, its integrity is threatened and hurt, living in a World lacking in ontological depth, and hence it will be prey to despair when the thrill of possession wears thin. To endeavor to allow the other person to become present as a thou is to enter into a relationship within which the assurance of fulfillment is received. “The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs: heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together,” reports Romans 8.16 and 17. No word is more difficult to define or richer in meaning than “being.” It refers neither to the sum total of all objects that exit nor to some universal substratum underlying all particulars. Being is eternal and inexhaustible. It is that which does not allow itself to be dissolved by the dialectics of experience. #RandolphHarris 8 of 11

Only by participation in being can isolation, despair, and tragedy be overcome. The quest for being is thus identical with the quest for salvation. To deny being is to say that all is vanity, that nothing has intrinsic worth. To affirm being is to declare that corresponding to the deepest exigency of the human spirit is a fulfillment of which an earnest is given in experiences of creativity, joy, and love. Thanks to our diligent journey of being, we have won the power to see with newfound wisdom to listen with newfound compassion, and to act with newfound purpose and integrity. We can reenter the World as a more powerful and more effective being than we were when we left. Our renewed self, no longer lacking the courage and confidence, finally has the strength and vision to tackle all worthwhile goals that plagued us so long ago, back before we were able to do anything about them. Our journey of being is not complete until our new beings step back into the World with the intent of learning to answer the Earth’s needs, just as we have learned to answer our own. The question of being cannot be approached objectively and problematically. Being can be affirmed only if I can discover within experience some presence which testifies to being. Two elements in human experience seem to offer such testimony. First, at the heart of the human condition is an ontological exigence, an impulse to transcendence which is present in all authentic human life, the exigence to penetrate to a level of experience saturated with meaning and value. #RandolphHarris 9 of 11

The mere existence of such an exigence is no guarantee in itself that a corresponding satisfaction exists. It could be the case that human beings are a useless passion. However, by way of a phenomenological analysis, certain experiences of love, joy, hope, and faith, as understood from within, present beneficial testimony to the existence of an inexhaustible presence. This assuring presence, which might be called the immanence of being in human experience, is never a possession but is constantly created anew as an I enters into relations with an empirical thou or the Absolute Thou (God). Although the assurance of being never becomes conceptually clear, it prides the illumination making creative, open existence possible. Never allow tribulations nor the cares of this World to separate you from remembering that God loves you. The concrete approaches to being are identical with the approaches to others persons and to God. To enter into a loving relationship requires that a person exorcise the spirit of selfishness and possession and become spiritually available (disponible) to others. If the unconditional demands of love are to be satisfied, a vow of creative fidelity is likewise necessary. In approaching God, fidelity becomes faith and disponibilite becomes hope. In love, fidelity, hope, and faith human approaches the mystery of being and is overtaken with the assurance that one is accompanied by the eternal fulfilling Presence that seeks to know. #RandolphHarris 10 of 11

As we have experiences harassment, destruction, vandalism, and even the loss of lives, the attitude of children of God is not one of being afraid but of marching forward in a spirit of carry on. Even when the winds of fire, destruction, and danger have blown into our paths, we stand firm as the mountains around us. God will continue you help us to carry on, and our work will not be thwarted but will be enhanced and prosperous. God has saved for the final inning some of his strongest children, who will help bear off the Kingdom triumphantly. And that is where we come it, for we are the generation that must be prepared to meet our God. Make no mistake about it—we are a marked generation. There has never been more expected of the faithful in such a short period of time as there is of us. Each day we personally make many decisions that show where our support will go. The final outcome is certain—the forces of righteousness will finally win. What remains to be seen is where each of us personally, now and in the future will stand in this fight—and how tall we will stand. Will we be true to our last-days, foreordained mission? God does not keep his children immune from trouble. It does not matter how real nor intense the adversities may be; nothing can ever separate us from our relationship to God. Tribulation is never a grand, highly welcomed event; but whatever it may be—whether exhausting, irritating, or simply causing some weakness—it is not able to separate us from the love of God. #RandolphHarris 11 of 11

June 10, 2018 10:10 pm

It is impossible to escape the impression that people commonly use false standards of measurement—that they seek power, success and wealth for themselves and admire them in others, and that they underestimate what is of true value in life. It is certain that the fewer desires a person has and the less covets, the more easy one is to oneself. The more one loves peace and concord, the more charity one has for one’s neighbor, and the more one shines in real virtue, there is no doubt but that in proportion one is acceptable to God and humans. However, let us be just, what benefit can these things be of, or what Earthly good can they do, to promote the wealth, the glory and Worldly greatness of nations? A legend, typically, is a short story reflecting in a psychological level a symbolic representation of folk belief and collective experiences and serving as a reaffirmation of commonly held values of the group to whose tradition it belongs. The chief characteristic of the system of religion is a consistent dualism which rejects any possibility of tracing the origins of good and evil to one and the same source. Evil stands as a completely independent principle against Good, and redemption from the power of Evil is to be achieved by recognizing this dualism and following the appropriate rules of life. The opposition of God and Matter is seen in the realm of nature as the conflict of Light and Darkness, Truth and Error. The present World, and human beings in particular, presents a mixture of Good and Evil, the result of a breach of the original limits by the powers of evil. #RandolphHarris 1 of 8

Out of small things proceeds that which is great. The whole purpose of the founding of the Universe was to separate the two principles and restore the original state of affairs, rendering Evil forever harmless and preventing any future repetition of the intermingling. It is the special task of spiritual beings, the ones who have been brought to the light, to collaborate in this separation. Through the God-sent mind that is in one and that sets one apart from the other creatures, one must become aware of the mixture present in all things. One must thus discover the true meaning and significance of the World and conduct oneself accordingly, in such a way as to avoid any further contamination of the light and promote its release from its mixture with the darkness. The death of the body is thus redemption; and true life is the release of the soul, which is light, from its imprisonment in the body and its return to its true abode. The two primal principles of Light and Darkness, each dwelling in its own realm, coeternal but independent represent very different concepts. Perception of Light excites envy, greed, and hate in Darkness, and provokes it to attack the Light. In response the Father of Greatness calls forth the Primal Man, who arms himself with five powers and descends to battle with the Darkness. He is defeated, however, and the five powers of Darkness devour a part of his light and thus bring the mixture into being. #RandolphHarris 2 of 8

In some versions this is explained as part of a deliberate plan to satisfy the powers of Darkness temporarily by the cession of a portion of the light and thus to prevent further attack. The captive portion of light, the armor of the Primal Man, is identified with the soul, which this becomes subject to the affections of Matter. The Primal Man appeals to the Father of Greatness, who sends the Living Spirit to deliver him. The archons, or powers of Darkness, are now overcome (although they do not lose their power of action), and Heaven and Earth are made from their carcasses. From the purest part of the Light in the archons the Sun and Moon are formed, but even so only a small part of the Light has been delivered. A fresh appeal from the powers of the Lights leads the Father of Greatness to send a Third Messenger, whose appearance inspires the Darkness to produce Adam and Eve in the image of his glorious form and to enclose in them the Light still at its disposal. The creation of Eve has a special purpose, in that she is more subservient to the demons and serves as their instrument for the seduction of Adam. Procreation serves the ends of Darkness, since each birth means a further dispersal of the Light, another subject for the realm of Darkness, and a prolonging of the captivity of the Light. #RandolphHarris 3 of 8

The powers of Light accordingly send Christ on a mission of revelation to Adam, who is still innocent but subsequently disobeys, is seduced by Eve, and so sets the chain of reproduction in motion. This protracts the drama of salvation, and with it the mission of Christ, into the history of humankind. The cosmogonic myth provides the basis and substructure for ethics and hope of redemption. The ethics are rigorously ascetic: since procreation only prolongs the reign of the powers of darkness, marriage must be rejected. Those who adopt to these principals must abstain from all ensouled things and eat only vegetables, so as to avoid, as far as possible, any injury to the Light. Legends are important to us today for a number of reasons. They have value as literature, offering timeless and universal themes; they give us insight into other times and places; and they help us to see how much humankind had and has in common.  We want to know how we came to be, we want to understand the natural World around us, and we yearn for some deity we can praise and blame. When we learn to trust enough in the wisdom of our own soul to accept how all the various aspects of our personality come together, we discover the miraculous truth that the whole that is in us transcends our individual personality traits. Viewed at a composite, our life has an almost magical coherence and continuity. #RandolphHarris 4 of 8

The Lord loves you; that is why he has given you commandments and the words of prophets to guide you on your journey through life. One of the best ways to appreciate the wonder of our essential self is to look at our lives as a story—a fairy tale, fable, or epic. Most people confess tat the last vestiges of meaninglessness or futility in their lives are shattered when they crystallize their sense of their best self in this manner. Read your story, and root for the hero. Have compassion for him or her. Have faith in the hero’s ability to attain the much-desired happiness ever after. Honor the valor and persistence of your hero. Look at the amazing feats he or she has accomplished, at the nobility of the goals. Revel in how far this marvelous person has come, from a tiny infant to a fully grown adult, with many skills and accomplishments. Now look at your hero dispassionately and see if you can instruct him or her in the ways that happiness can best be achieved. Sometimes it may help to stop trying to get people to understand your story and understand it yourself. Perhaps your character is taking the wrong path too often. Have your hero’s heroic acts been misplaced? May his or her standards are too high. Write yourself a happy ending. The next time you face a personal challenge, think of yourself as the hero of your own story. Realize that each day gives you the opportunity to make the tale a richer, more rewarding one. Look for opportunities to display your best self wherever you can. #RandolphHarris 5 of 8

We live in a time of great challenges and opportunities. As spirit children of Heavenly parents, you are free to make the right choices. When our purpose is to seek God and to discover his will for us, daydreaming is right and acceptable. However, when our inclination is to spend time daydreaming over what we have already been told to do, it is unacceptable and God’s blessing is never on it. God will take the initiative against this kind of daydreaming by prodding us to action. Your best self is the aspect of you that brings out the best in others and the World, that graces ordinary experiences with extraordinary clarity, and that, if the believers are correct, goes with you into the next World. Self-actualized individuals operate on a kind of meta-need level, in which they strove to satisfy their personal, higher-order yearnings for truth, beauty, justice, emotional self-sufficiency, and altruism. Once a person earns the rewards of personal integrity in adulthood, his or her inner desire to benefit others grows stronger. Integrated adults do not merely believe they should help others; they desire to help others in much the same way a thirsty person desires water. Once all personal needs are met, altruism become a basic human trait. When you become more yourself, you have more of yourself to give away. Daydreaming about something in order to do it properly is right, but daydreaming about it when we should be doing it is wrong. #RandolphHarris 6 of 8

If you trust the Lord and obey him, he will help you achieve the great potential he sees in you. Drudgery is work that is far removed from anything we think of as ideal work. It is the utterly hard, menial, tiresome, and dirty work. The inspiration of God is required if drudgery is to shine with light of God upon it. In some cases, the way a person does a task makes that work sanctified and holy forever. It may be a very common everyday task, but after we have seen it done, it become different. When the Lord does something through us, he always transforms it. When you have (if not constant) access to your best self, amazing things can happen. You are eligible for a kind of genius. You have become open to new ideas, more able to weigh tough options, more creative in the way your approach the problems in your life. You may also begin to get a dose of cosmic truths whose promise makes every moment an adventure. Some people believe that coincidences are fate; other believe that they are evidence of God’s hand reaching out to us. Even if you believe that serendipitous experiences have no meaning at all, why not accept these little gifts as they come your way, and create a welcoming place for them if there appears to be a pattern to their manifestation? We can earn that cosmic present through hard work and perseverance. For some of us, it is not the first time the Universe has rewarded us for our efforts, and, since we have a lot of say in the matter, it will not be the last. #RandolphHarris 7 of 8

We are all dedicated to the same purpose: to assist in accomplishing the divine work and glory of God, our eternal Fathers, which is “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of all humans,” reports Moses 1.39. That is why we are studying the answers to eternal questions, and truths are taught, and ordinances performed so that we can live with an understanding of our divine inheritance as children of God and with an awareness of our potential as eternal beings. The house of the Lord helps us to see the end from the beginning. Just as the temples of God are sacred, so are our temporal bodies. “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own? For you are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s,” reports 1 Corinthians 6.19-20. Let us use out own thoughts, our minds and hearts, and our bodies with the respect and dignity worthy of a scared temple given to us by our Heavenly Father. When we live by truths and scriptures, we will be able to do our life’s work with greater wisdom and skill and bear trials with greater courage. We will have the help of the Holy Ghost. We will be worthy to go to the temple to receive holy ordinances. These blessings and many more can be ours. #RandolphHarris 8 of 8

June 9, 2018 7:31 pm