There are seeds of greatness waiting to take root and flourish in your life. The real creative power of the mind is deeper than the intellect. While we admire the intellect, we must realize that the mind is not the creative factor in the Universe, rather it is the feeling that is creative. When the imagination and the will are in conflict, the imagination invariably wins. God speaks to the heart through language of feelings, a sensation which is affirmative. There are many people who have splendid intellects, whose logic is almost perfect, but who seem never to penetrate the deeper mind where the creativity resides. To all treatments, no matter how intellectually or analytically correct they may be, there must be added this deep feeling and faith that enable one to commune with God. God is the First Cause or sustaining power of the World. Love demands society and community, but the divine society of the Trinity is itself thought of as supplying this scope from love, from eternity. It is possible, therefore, to see the creation of the World as a wholly gratuitous exercise of love. It is an inward emotion of the mind which reaches out until it strikes some corresponding chord emanating from the Universe itself. God revealed himself through the specific events of history and in no less historical life. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6
The conception of God is very different from the conception of a mere timeless something beyond the World, upon which the World depends. Since God created the World and time together, his creative and sustaining act must fall outside the temporal dimension, and likewise his purposing and willing. This is what an artist feels. In a sense he or she weds oneself to the essence of beauty and draws it into one’s own being until beauty becomes diffused through his or her technique and makes an imprint that the intellect cannot analyze. Then intellect stands in awe before the supreme reality, yet still knowing that it is the essence of its true being waiting to become articulate. Perhaps this is the real and true meaning of communion, which cannot be described but can be felt. As human beings reason downward from the knowledge of the attributes of God to knowledge of oneself, the religion of nature, including all the moral precepts requisite for leading the life of virtue and achieving ultimate salvation, then follows. God does speak to the heart more than to the intellect, and this is why it is that often we will find people who operate based on faith. They know that God is all there is and there is nothing else. God specializes in using people to show us that we are his ideal showcases for his greatness and glory. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6
By this inward faith, our intellect has surrendered to that which is greater than we are, and the miracle takes place. We are permitted, encouraged, even commanded to assist in bringing to pass the eternal life of human beings, which is, of course, part of our great mission. God promised us things which we cannot do, and greater things than we can do. And God does great unto us according to our desire. If the desire is strong enough, performance is assured. Look to the Lord for your blessings. There is a law, irrevocably decreed in Heaven before the foundations of this World, upon which all blessings are predicated—and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is established. The purpose for looking to the Lord for our blessings is because, among other reasons, he owns everything—the World and everything and everybody in it. “Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the Earth your possession (Psalm 2.8).” Future ages will bring with them new and probably unimaginably great advances in this World of civilization and will increase human’s likeness to God still more. We require civilized people to reverence beauty wherever one sees it in nature and to create it in the objects of one’s handiwork so far as one is able. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6
In scanning the Heavens with a telescope, we may find the beauty of God. Beauty can be expected to arouse the appropriate response, which is referred to briefly and loosely as pleasure and delight. We expect besides to see the signs of cleanliness and order. We do not think highly of the cultural level of there were towns with big dung-heaps in front of houses and in the street. Dirtiness of any kind seems to us incompatible with civilization. We extend our demand for cleanliness to the human body, too. Beauty, cleanliness and order obviously occupy a special position among the requirements of civilization. We have to find ways to unlearn those things that screen us from the perception of profound truth. It is also important to make sure that we do not become a society that finds it difficult to discover the exuberant joy and spontaneity of youth so we do not spend great sums of money on electronic entertainment centers that do not speak to the soul’s need for human contact and the pleasure that comes from nature. There is a river of life, clear as crystal, flowing through the body of humanity, uniting every part into one great being in God. When we drink from this well of water, we will never thirst again. The simile of water symbolized the flowing power of pure spirit. The spirit is always thought of as something fluid. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6
Modern physics has theoretically resolved all physical forms into lines of energy, and these lines of energy must be directed by some intelligence or they would never take definite form. All the faculties and feelings of our minds and bodies have their appropriate objects; and the possession of the faculties supposes the existence of those objects. Thus the eye, in its very structure, supposes that there is light to be seen, and the ear would be unaccountable and inconceivable without the existence of sound. In like manner, our religious feelings and aspirations necessitate the existence of God. The yearning for some kind of God does point toward an in-built hunger in each of us—a hunger for something greater than we are. A person may be said to believe in God if one believes in a Supreme Being, personal and intelligent, to whom we own honor and reverence. The human mind was made by God, who would not deceive his children. It is fortunate, indeed, that this is true because we are still being carried forward on the spirit of this infinite stream to a harbor of perfect safety. We may rest in absolute assurance that good is the final goal of all things. We can hasten the advent of God by definitely clarifying our thoughts and by daily praying to God, the wellspring of life within each one of us. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6
Surely, in the work of the Lord, it is what we do after we think we have done enough that really counts with him, for that is when the blessings flow. Expect a miracle. All too often we really do not expect a miracle. We are not looking for it, and so do not recognize it when it comes. We pray for the Lord to cause a miracle which will remove those barriers the prohibit us from entering the nations where we are presently excluded. When God said, “Lengthen your stride, quicken your pace, heighten your reach, widen your vision, and stretch your capacity,” he was in reality saying expect a miracle for these are the actions from which miracles are made. Receive the miracles with great modesty. Know that you did not do it. It was done by God and the glory will be yours forever. Success this month is not a justification to stop and glory in our record, but should merely serve as an impetus to greater and more noble accomplishments next month in the Lord’s name. For, we know that is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do. So, believe that you can do it and look to the Lord for your blessings. Know that miracles are coming your way. The forces in you are far grater than the forces trying to contain you. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6
Motherhood is a mystery of the soul, represented in the relation between a mother and child but signifying, too, something even more fundamental. There is a spirit of reverence. Who can probe a mother’s love? Who can comprehend in its entirety the lofty role of a mother? With her perfect trust in God, she welcomes gladly the smile of her son, and the hug of a daughter. Regardless of culture or country, all people make mistakes in mothering. However, by continually communicating God’s love, miracles can happen, wrongs can be righted. Never give up. Never let your spirit be downtrodden. There are women raising their children alone, and they must remember that she and the Lord constitute a majority. As your arms encircle your little ones, God’s arms are there, too. Feel secure, for God’s arms are lengthened out toward everyone eternally. Let your arms be an extension of the Savior’s, in providing love, and security for all his children. Put your trust in God and teach your children to do the same. Allow God’s loving arms to provide an enchanting lure when yours are not around. For children have depth and soul, teach your children to walk toward God’s arms, and they always have a sense of being at home wherever they are. God’s love is profoundly alluring. #RandolphHarris 1 of 5
Parents know how easy it is for their children to be attracted to people and activities that are dangerous and that threaten to lead their children into dark places. To the child, antisocial behavior can be fascinating, while to the parent such a thing could destroy all their efforts to give the child a sense of values and a decent path in life. The child’s susceptibility to negative people and places may be a dangerous but sometimes unavoidable way of soul-making. However, people can turn from evil and yield to their better natures when mother is remembered. Mothers produce power, tenderness, compassion, and generate exemplar. We, too, can be blessed if we follow this example. Children must remain loyal to their mother, while at the same time going through a transformative experience. The mother’s love for her children demands a deep compassion, which allows her to protect her children whom she knows might be exposed to unfortunate circumstances, and how much is expected from each of us whose soul, tempted by dangerous lures, will need our own maternal attachment and caring. The mother’s soul demonstrates genuine love and she lives up to the truths so patiently taught. #RandolphHarris 2 of 5
All mothering, whether in a family or within an individual, is made up of both affectionate caring and sometimes bitter emotional pain. In both emotions, the mother is close to the child, allowing the child, even as she feels her pain and anger, to become an individual through exposure to experience and to fate. Miraculous strength, mighty power—mother’s love and love for mother will be met and triumph. Understand that sometimes things that look dangerous from a mortal point of view may be beneficial from a greater perspective. Motherhood is about nurturing not only in human ways, but also in divine ways. Immortality is part of the soul’s ever-present depth. Mothering involves not only physical survival and achievement—it is also concerned with guiding a child to his or her unknown depths and the mystery of fate. Our emotions are this original feeling flowing through us as the Universe individualizes itself in us. Emotions and feelings are things of thought because they cannot function without consciousness, and the movement of consciousness is thought. The emotions affect the physical body, and the mind can be destructive or constructive according to the way it is used. Mothering can be greater in scope than any human maternal care could ever be. Without mother’s the human race would be threatened by extinction. #RandolphHarris 3 of 5
Mother Nature is also important because she gives us food and the materials for clothing; she is the goddess of survival needs and of pleasures of the natural World. Mother’s can provide for their children a beauty beyond what is natural, as they teach us what we might accomplish in our lives and what they are expressing. However, common issues with mothers can be that they may be so concerned with the welfare of their children, or so completely taken up by the role of mother, that they find it difficult to allow their children to become individuals, different from themselves. Nonetheless, we all need to find a way to become individuals, by finding our own depths and even our own darkness, without cutting ourselves off from the maternal guidance within ourselves that keeps us in life and in community because it concerns our very survival, both physical and psychological. The mother has an eternal place of honor with their children. May each of us treasure this truth; one cannot forget mother and remember God. One cannot remember mother and forget God. Why? Because thee two are sacred persons, God and mother, partners in creation, in love, in sacrifice, in service, are as one. There is a feeling of the divine presence and the emotion of infinite love. #RandolphHarris 4 of 5
What would happen if we could convert the energy of fear to faith, the energy of doubt and uncertainty into a feeling of belonging to the Universe and being safe in it? Would not the original artist himself go forth into a new creation through us? Wise counseling from a mother leads from mother to the child, and brings an individual self-awareness. It can take us back through all our emotions to the place where we were when we were an infant before any Worldly troubles started. A profound notion of motherhood embraces the great capacity to love her children and still honor God, who has his own designs and requirements. God gave us all moral agency and the opportunity to learn while on Earth, and he has work for us to do. To accomplish this work, we have an individual responsibility to seek learning. They key to our future; our bright ray of hope can be found in education. Education will open doors of opportunity. As we follow the Lord’s admonition to seek and learn, even by study and also by faith, we gain not only knowledge from our study, but added light as we learn by faith. We desire to prosper not only in wealth, but also in all aspects of our lives. God answers all prayers that come from a place of spiritual purity. “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord, your God, is giving you (Exodus 20.12).” #RandolphHarris 5 of 5
The opportunity to be a blessing in the life of another comes unexpectedly. If the father seems absent in families today, that may be because he is absent as a soul figure in the society at large. We always tend to consider people’s distress objectively—that is, to place ourselves, with our own wants and sensibilities, in their conditions, and then to examine what occasions we should find in them for experiencing happiness or unhappiness. This method of looking at things, which seems objective because it ignores the variation in subjective sensibility, is, of course, the most personal possible, since it puts one’s own mental states in the place of any others, unknown though they may be. What is good to us is a long life if it is difficult and barren of joys, and if it is so full of misery that we can only welcome death as a deliverer? “The Lord has given his people strength that they might be means of saving one’s soul (Alma 31.38).”Experience, even when forgotten beyond recall, leaves its deposit, and where this is the deposit of long trial and error, of much reflection, and of wide exposure in fact or imagination to the human lot, the judgment based on it may be more significant than any or all of the reasons that the judge could adduce for it. This is why age is credited with wisdom; years supply a means to it whether or not the means is consciously used. #RandolphHarris 1 of 5
Again, the individual may similarly profit from the increasing age of the race; since knowledge is cumulative, one can stand on the shoulders of one’s predecessors. Whether individual wisdom is on the average increasing is debatable, but clearly the opportunity for it is. In many traditional cultures a person becomes an adult by hearing the secret stores of the community that have been handed down over generations. Elders give instructions, teaching the elements of ritual and art. Sometimes people have to endure ordeals deigned to draw out the adult. The point is to stir the young person so deeply that he or she experiences a major transformation of character. True fatherhood is evoked not by a flexing of muscle but by initiation into family and culture in a profound, transformative way. It may also require a visit to our own depths and a conversing with figure of memory both personal and cultural. Education in history and literature, when done with sufficient depth, can make good fathers. Many people have had their father pass away, but you notice that they have such an essence of manhood in them that they feel sustained. I personally feel my father with me all the time and am receptive of his guidance. And he taught me that I can get through anything. He is a veteran for God’s sake. #RandolphHarris 2 of 5
In modern society, we have replaced secret wisdom with information. Information does not evoke fatherhood. If we are to link up with the spirit that is becoming father, we have to dare to experience the unknown, to open ourselves to unexpected influences on the soul. One psychologist may say that people need to be empowered—that is his or her definition of healthy. However, there are also times when we may need to be weak and powerless, vulnerable and open to experience. Another psychologist says people need to be capable of intimacy—relations is the ultimate goal. However, the soul also requires solitude and individuality. By focusing on a single value, we close ourselves off to many other possibilities that may seem contrary to the to the chosen one. In this sense, the image of humanity serves the many-faceted soul. It offers an openness to discovery and a trust in movements that are not intended or even expected. This is a fate the World is born into. It is unique and individual, always uncharted, teeming with its own dangers, pleasures, and opportunities. One becomes a father to one’s own life by becoming intimately acquainted with it and by daring to traverse its waters. #RandolphHarris 3 of 5
It takes genuine wisdom to be a mentor, the pleasure of which comes from instilling fatherhood rather than embodying. With maturity comes a deep father figure that settles into the soul to provide a sense of authority, the feeling that you are the author of your own life, that you are the head of the household in your own affairs. I sometimes feel like a father and when I write, I try to communicate things that I would want my kids to incorporate in their lives. Sometimes, I know no one wants to listen to their father and all of his protective advice, but it would be nice to read letters from one’s father in times of need. We need father figures badly, people who can keep us in touch with or stimulate within us that profound principle in the soul that provides guidance and wisdom. Every man, at some point, feels confident in their own manhood and know who to handle life from experience and that is when people are ready to start their own families and homes. If you constantly remind someone of how their father passed away, it may no longer have any effect, but a slight annoyance. After a while, people realize some people in society are mentally and love inflicting pain on others, and because of our maturity, we learn to accept it. #RandolphHarris 4 of 5
It is a challenge to evoke the deep father and not to be satisfied with substitutes and empty roles. There is no easy route to soul and no simple way of establishing fatherhood. And yet, without the guidance and authority of God, we are left disoriented and out of control. In times of chaos, especially, we might intensify and expand our prayer, speaking it from the heart. Our Father, who art in Heaven and who art on the sea, hallowed be thy name, sometimes our World feels like a battle zone, where missiles are falling too close to home. Other times we are caught in an endless storm, with situations that are out o control. Confusion reigns, and defeat may creep in to steal our joy. God, we need your peace—the deep-down-in-your heart kind that stays with us eternally and speaks to us confidently. Calm our souls, God. It is a prayer that we will never forget, not because the floor is hard, but because the spirit melted their heart. The Heart of the Universe, the essence of reality or God, the living spirit, is the essence of pure feeling. That feeling is back of every creative impulse, whether in God or a human being. Our Heavenly Father is aware of our needs and will help us as we call upon him for assistance. No concern of ours is too small or insignificant. The Lord is the details of our lives. #RandolphHarris 5 of 5
People age, some trees regularly shed their leaves, ice melts with the coming of Spring, and wood, when burned, gives way to fire and ash. The World seems to be in perpetual flux, undergoing ceaseless transformation. Yet in spite of the alterations we notice, we want to say that this is the same tree which shed its leaves last month, that this adult is the same person we knew as a child, and that this water is made up of the same stuff as the piece of ice which melted there. Philosophical reflection about the nature of change, about the problem of identifying or reidentifying something or someone gives rise to a set of issues which cluster under the problem of identity. Our enquiry concerning happiness has not so far taught us much that is not already common knowledge. And even if we proceed from it to the problem of why is can be so hard for people to be happy, there seems no greater prospect of learning anything new. We know that there are three sources from which our suffering comes: the superior power of nature, the feebleness of our own bodies, and the inadequacy of the regulations which adjust the mutual relationships of human beings in the family, the state, and society. #RandolphHarris 1 of 10
We are forced to acknowledge the sources of suffering and we must overcome them or learn to adapt. Of course, we shall never completely master nature; our bodies are part of nature and we can do certain things to make sure they are well protected and keep them safe, in much the same way we can learn to work with the environment to make sure resources are properly distributed. If the Earth is 90 percent water, it makes no sense that we should ever have a drought, or drain rivers to ship water to other regions. The rational solution, with such great technology that we can ship cars into outer space, would be to learn to filter more sea water to make sure we have enough to drink. The fact of the matter is the World is changing, seasons are changing, the population is growing, technology is increasing, but we are still waiting on diminishing snow packs to supply the state with water, which is in short supply. Since we have so much technology, we should not be focusing on fees and taxes as a way to control our resources. Why is it we do not know how to clean our air? Why is it Los Angeles has so many oceans, but they need billion-dollar tunnels to funnel the water from the Sierra and America River? #RandolphHarris 2 of 10
The word “idea” is a translation of a Greek word which the root meaning is “see.” In classical Greek it never lost the possible meaning “visual aspect.” The more technical use of the word idea is always spoken of as the objects of intelligence, in contrast with the objects of perception; things which truly are, in contrast with changing objects of perception, which are in a state of becoming; eternal, in contrast with the perishable World of change. If we cannot remove all suffering, we can remove some, and we can mitigate some: the experience of many thousands of years has convinced us of that. However, we do not see why the regulations made by ourselves should not be a protection and a benefit for every one of us. And yet, when we consider how unsuccessful we have been in precisely this field of prevention of suffering, a suspicion dawns on us that here, too, a piece of unconquerable nature may lie behind—this time a piece of our own physical constitution. When we start considering this possibility, we come upon a contention which is so astonishing that we must dwell upon it. This contention holds that what we call our civilization is largely responsible for our misery, and that we should be much happier if we gave it up and returned to primitive conditions. #RandolphHarris 3 of 10
However, in whatever way we may define the concept of civilization it is a certain idea or fact that all the things with which we seek to protect ourselves against are the threats that emanate from the sources of suffering, and are the very reason why we formed a civilized society. Therefore, how has it happened that so many people have come to take up this strange attitude of hostility to civilization? The word “civilization” was derived from an actual social condition, that of the citizen (Latin, civis). The word “culture” in its social, intellectual, and artistic sense is a metaphorical term derived from the act of cultivating the soul. In the case of civilization there was an apparently simple contrast with barbarism, another social condition, which was originally a description of the life of a foreign group. The culture of the mind was seen as a process comparable to the cultivation of the soil; hence, the early meanings of culture, in this metaphorical sense, centered on a process, the culture of the mind, rather than on an achieved state. The first important development from this metaphorical use of culture was a description of certain people as cultivated and then as those who are cultivated. In this use the meaning is very closed to civilized. Culture came to mean a general state or habit of the mind, with close relation to the idea of human perfection. #RandolphHarris 4 of 10
Culture also came to mean a general state of intellectual and moral development in a society as a whole. It also means the general body of the arts and intellectual work and culture also means the whole way of life, material, intellectual, and spiritual, of a given society. So why is it in modern times that people are so upset with civilization? Why have the minds of many people not evolved to me more reasonable, sane, and peaceful? There are still people on this Earth that believe their perception of your conditions or the look in your eyes hold more truth than your words. And that is why so many people have to speak up and explain that no means no. Some people think that they are so desirable that their desires overrule whatever you think or feel and are more powerful than the laws. This complex development represents an attempt to think in new ways about the human social, moral, and intellectual life at a time of profound and many-sided change. It is an unconscious prejudice. The prejudice was correctly diagnosed as ethnocentrism. It is evidently wrong to interpret all cultural phenomena in terms applicable to one’s own beliefs and societies, and it is arbitrary and dangerous to attempt to evaluate very diverse cultures by references to a fixed value system that was likewise derived from a barbaric society of heathens. #RandolphHarris 5 of 10
Human beings in industrial societies no longer live in caves and compete with dogs for food. Most people are now literate and verbal and for the most part, many can articulate their feelings and desires verbally. However, it has never been wholly possible to separate such interests from the primitivism that has taken many forms in modern industrial societies. It also seems to be the case that the demonstration of relativity, not so much as a method of study but as a conclusion about human nature, is directly related to a liberal ideology that also taken very varied forms in modern industrial societies. In any case the fundamental disputes about social evolution and about the determinative effect of different elements within a culture reflect, more or less directly, contemporary arguments about the nature, control, and development of our own societies. It is thus always possible that an ethnographic prejudice has been replaced by an ideological prejudice that in its turn requires cultural analysis. Dr. Sigmund Freud pointed out that many psychological dysfunctions and addictions can be traced back to childhood. And I did some research and it seems in most cases it is true. People who have unresolved or repressed issues in childhood tend to take their issues out on innocent people. #RandolphHarris 6 of 10
It has been discovered that a person becomes neurotic because he or she cannot tolerate the amount of frustration which society imposes on that individual in the service of its cultural ideas, and it is inferred from this that the abolition or reduction of those demands would result in a return to possibilities of happiness. That is why many people go to therapy and are deeply religious. The World has changed and they are finding healthy ways of adapting, until they are in a place that is to their liking. Another reason people are so unhappy with civilization is because of a deep and long-standing dissatisfaction with the then existing state of civilization and on that basis a condemnation if it was built up, and perpetuated by certain specific historical events, public figures, and families. Later experiences and education has corrected some of those judgments. However, prejudice and fear still exist. People fear certain towns and certain cultures because they do not know how the people will respond to them. However, people also fear immigrants because they can sometimes bring negatives ideas and behaviors to an area that has not seen those kinds of behaviors in centuries. #RandolphHarris 7 of 10
Because of ethnocentrism, when a group of new people come to a region, who are not from that particular area, mass migrate, they may think their customs and traditions are normal. And because they are trying to take over and not integrate, they may not notice that they stand out. It is the same kind of thing like sometimes when people from underprivileged neighborhoods move to a privileged community, they will often times bring their culture with them and it may not blend with the norms for the community. And that can threaten to undermine the modicum of happiness enjoyed by civilized people. Besides ethnocentrism, there is also an added factor of disappointment. During the last few generations humankind has made an extraordinary advance in the natural sciences and their technical applications and has established human control over nature in a way never before imagines. The single steps of this advance are common knowledge and it is unnecessary to enumerate them. People are proud of those achievements, and have a right to be. However, they seem to have observed that this newly-won power over space and time, this subjugation of the forces of nature, which is the fulfillment of a longing that goes back thousands of years, has not increased the amount of pleasurable satisfaction which they may expect from life and has not made them feel happier. #RandolphHarris 8 of 10
There are other fixed limitations in life that technology cannot yet cure or care for. For instance, some have allotments including physical, mental, or geographic constraints. There are those who are unmarried, through no fault of their own, or yearning but childless couples. Still others face persistent and unreconciled relationships within their circles of loved ones, including offspring who have [become] for themselves, resistant to parental counsel. In such and similar situations, there are so many prickly and daily reminders. Being content means acceptance without self-pity. Meekly borne, however, deprivation such as these can end up being like excavations that make room for greatly enlarged souls. Suffice it to say, such mortal allotments will be changed in the World to come. The exception is unrepented sin that shapes our status in the next World. Thus, developing greater contentment within certain of our existing constraints and opportunities is one of our challenges. Otherwise, we may feel underused, underwhelmed, and underappreciated—while, ironically, within our givens are unused opportunities for service all about us. No matter how varied as our allotted circumstances may be, we can still keep the commandments of God! #RandolphHarris 9 of 10
As I look out into my World I see that there is nothing to fear. And as I look back into my own mind I know there is noting in me that is afraid. My thought is filled with confidence, with hope, with trust, and with the acceptance of God. I expect the mirror of my experience to be filled with joy, and as I turn the magic lantern of my mind into the great mind and spirit of the Universe in which all things exist, I know that I am one with all peace, all power, and God. However, I would also like to point out that while it is good to be uplifted in faith, we also have to be reasonable. Some of us grew up in really good neighborhoods where we can trust people, and most people have never been a victim of crime. Therefore, it is good to be reasonable and obey the rules you grew up with, like, get home before the street lights come on, if you are out at night be with a group of people you can trust, look both ways before crossing the street, never accept a drink from someone you do not know and obey the laws of the land. Although the presence of God is with us in all we do, we also have to do what we can to make sure we stay safe. It is just that not everyone is as kind as the people you grew up with and the community has changed. Still, do not be fearful and know that strength, enthusiasm, love, and vitality are forever with you. #RandolphHarris 10 of 10
There is an integrity to the soul, a reality to the spirit. It makes no difference abroad, the seasons fit the same, the mornings blossom into noons, and split their pods of flame. We may need simply to recover soul by reflecting deeply on the soul events such as our moralism and sentimentality. When should not rejoice when our enemy falls, and our hearts should not be glad when they stumble. For if we rejoice at the destruction of one that hated us, or lift ourselves up when evil finds them, we have denied the God that is above. We know many wounds are self-inflicted and could have been avoided simply by obeying gospel principles. However, to shrug it off as their problem is not acceptable to the Lord. God said, “Come unto me, all that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11.28).” Although God does not condone sin, his arms are always open to the repentant sinner. In modern revelation the Lord has asked us to go one step further, the Lord will forgive whom he will forgive, but he requires us to forgive all people. Worldly wisdom advises us not to look for the whole of our satisfaction from a single aspiration. Its success is never certain. The person who sees one’s pursuit of happiness come to nothing in later years can still find consolation in the yield of pleasure of chronic intoxication; or one can embark on the desperate attempt at rebellion seen in a psychosis. #RandolphHarris 1 of 9
Religion restricts the play of transgression. Heavenly hurt it gives us; we find no scar, but internal difference where the meanings are. Choice and adaptation imposes equally on everyone its own path to the acquisition of happiness and protection from suffering. Its technique consists in depressing the values of life and distorting the picture of the real World in a delusional manner—which presupposes an intimidation of the intelligence. At this price, by forcibly fixing them in a state of physical infantilism and by drawing them into a mass-delusion, religion succeeds in sparing many people an individual neurosis. There are many paths which may lead to such happiness as is attainable by people, but there is none which does so for certain. Our forgiveness must be manifest by reaching out to help mend wounds even when they are the result of transgression. Whether the pain has come to someone who is completely innocent or is something of one’s own making is irrelevant. While some of the World’s suffering can be traced to an individual’s disobedience or lack of judgment, there is wholesale suffering taking place that is not the result of anyone’s own mistakes. Life tells stories of happy times and tragedies. It has moments of pride and skeletons in its closets. It has professed values and its carefully constructed image, as well as its secret transgressions and follies. #RandolphHarris 2 of 9
To hang our head ostensibly, and subsequent to find that such was not the posture of our immortal mind. Recovery of soul begins when we can take to heart our own family fate and find in it the raw material for our own soul work. Healing the soul is not about understanding, figuring out, and making better; rather, it resuscitates images of life as an enrichment of identity. It takes extreme diligence and concentration to think differently about life: to appreciate its shadow as well as its virtue and simply to allow stories to be told without slipping into interpretations, analysis, and conclusions. Professionals think it is their job to understand and correct people without allowing themselves to be introduced fully to the individual and their genius—their unique formative spirit. It we are to observe the soul in each individual by honoring our history and by not running away from our shadow, then we might not feel so inescapably determined by Worldly influences. Strongly influenced by developmental psychology, we assume we are ineluctably who we are because of our family, friends, career, or other experiences. However, what if we thought of these aspects as less the determining influences by which we are formed and more as the raw material from which we can make a life? #RandolphHarris 3 of 9
How wonderful would it be if we were never afraid of anything! We fear people because we think that in some way they can harm us. Change fear into faith and antagonism into love, and we shall have reversed the whole process. When we make the resolution to not become like people that we despise or do not respect, the avoidance of these influences and identification is a sure way to become a carbon copy of them—the return of the repressed. Repression tends to make a wise swath; it is not very precise in its work of ridding the personality of some unwanted quality. By not wanting to be like people who raise us, or grew up with, we may also miss out on some of their good qualities and also block them out of our lives. Whether we like it our not, their spirits are in us. Out of these spirts we can make a life. It is usually best, when healing the soul, to sit with what is there and let our own imagination move, instead of making empty wishes or attempting heroic changes. The imagination can deepen and change over a period of time and unleash some of the soul that has been bound up in resentment and rigidity. We can learn to reconnect with our family, friends, and the World in ways that we have not known before. Our resources are limited, and the needs of the World are vast. #RandolphHarris 4 of 9
We cannot do everything, but we must do everything we can. “I hid not my face from the shame and spitting. For the Lord God will help me, therefore shall I not be confounded. Therefore, have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed (2 Nephi 7.6-7).” The silent influence we exercise on others is something that takes place automatically. Friendship attracts friends, while antagonism not only repels people, it actually awakens a feeling of distrust and dislike within them. The keys to successful living and right relationships among people entail us being whole within ourselves, that is when we can help others. It is only when we have faith that we can instill faith. It is only when we have hope and enthusiasm that others respond to us with an equal hope and enthusiasm. Have you notice that when you spend considerable time with people who are depressed and afraid, you feel as through the weight of the Universe is on your shoulders, as through everything is hopeless? On the other hand, in company with those who are buoyant and confident, you feel a lightness, a sense of joy, a feeling of enthusiasm. That is one of the reasons people in the suburbs generally try to be pleasant when greeting people and they like to keep conversations shallow. They want people to feel good around them and have a good reputation with others. #RandolphHarris 5 of 9
When people feel that everyone is against them, they always seem to be at a cross-purpose with people and with events. This has gone on until people avoid them, because when around intensively negative people, others can feel the resentment in their mind, and it arouses an equal antagonism in their thoughts about that individual. Let us make believe that we are teaching this person what is actually taking place, and that the person is accepting our explanation. We understand what is wrong with the individual. We know that their suffering is self-imposed and we wish to help that person. So, our explanation will have to be very kind and considerate. It will have to be like leading a child or helping an invalid, for that individual drenched in negativity is really a sick person. We are acting as a doctor to his or her mind, and doctors should not harshly judge their patients. They should try to help and encourage them to the place where the great restoring power of nature can resume its natural function. Deep inside people soaked in negativity is a lot of fear, they are scared to death, and unconsciously acting in self-defense. This we must explain to them. They are encircled by pain of Hell, and God has the power to loosen them from pain of Hell. #RandolphHarris 7 of 9
If we had not seen things of God in vision, we would not have known goodness of God. Many people are longing for love and friendship. They would rather have it than anything else in the World. A lot of people want others to like them, but some are afraid of others. So, we must tell others have the mind works and how it is that they must come to have faith in something bigger than we are. Religion helps so many people because some are looking for strength; people long for happiness even as those who cannot see long for light. One day the light will come through and gradually a transformation will take place in our lives. It is important for humans to feel they have a partner, someone who understands them. God can be our partner and fill us with love and protection, as long as we have faith in him. And it will not be long before others will be working with us with an enthusiasm equal to our own. Our mirror will begin to change its reflection. We will have hope, and greater faith. Through this experience, we shall learn the great lesson of life, that the good we have must be shared with others if it is to be increased. For when we have made a friend of a person who is friendless, and have made it possible for them to acquire friends, we have multiplied our own friendship by the number of persons. #RandolphHarris 8 of 9
Remorse is memory awake. It’s past set down before the soul. Remorse is cureless—the disease not even God can heal. We have brought good to some person, and have shown others how to extend that good in one’s own experience, we have brought that much more good into our own life. God wants us to be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of our own free will. However, we have to be careful about helping others, especially people we do not know because it could leave us vulnerable and make us targets of individuals and groups. Above all, trust your instincts, and feelings. It is not always good to even smile at people you do not know. Do not ever go anywhere with someone you do not know, even if they seem nice. Cities in New York are full of people, and some are nice, some are not. The people that live there know this and that is why they seem cold. They know it is important not to seem weak because that is how people become victims. Helping others is sometimes best left to professional who get paid for it because they know the risks and have resources to protect them. As an individual, your number one goal is to stay safe. And above all, keep your faith in God and know that he will protect us, but we also have to look out for ourselves. #RandolphHarris 9 of 9
Destructiveness is the outcome of unlived life. To live by faith means to live productively. Faith in society is based on the idea that the potentialities of human beings are such that given the proper conditions people will be capable of building and fortifying a social order by the principles of equality, justice, and love. People have not yet fully realized the creation of such an order, and therefore the belief that we can do so requires faith that it will some day come true. However, like all rational faith the idea of an equitable, peaceful, and loving society is not simply wishful thinking, but it is based upon evidence of the past achievements of the human race and on the inner experience of each individual, on one’s own experience of reason, love and justice. We have faith in the potentialities of others, of ourselves, and humankind because we have experienced the growth of our own potentialities, the reality of growth in ourselves, the strength of our own power of reason and love. Having faith requires courage, the ability to take a risk, and even the readiness to accept pain and disappointment. Whoever insists on safety and security as primary conditions of life cannot have faith; whoever shuts oneself off in a system of defense, where distance and possession are one’s means of security, makes oneself a prisoner. #RandolphHarris 1 of 8
To love means to commit oneself without guarantee, to give oneself completely in the hope that our love will produce love in the loved person. Love is an act of faith, and whoever is of little faith is also of little love. The table of the Lord is forever spread and on it are the gifts of life, including health, happiness, joy, and success in living. Love is an activity; if I love, I am in a constant state of active concern with the loved of humanity. If we look for it, good can be found anywhere. Abundance can spring from want, peace from confusion, and joy from unhappiness, right where we are. The table of God is eternally spread, but, if we are too busy to come and eat, then we cannot expect to partake of the divine bounty. God’s abundance is an extravagant abundance; it is limitless. The divine spirit wishes us to have everything that is good and withholds nothing from us. It takes a broad vision to know that a piece of the sky and a portion of the Earth resides in the heart of every human being, and that if we are going to care for the heart of every human being, and that if we are going to care for that heart we will have to know the sky and Earth as well as human behavior. #RandolphHarris 3 of 8
Eternity is in love with the productions of time. The soul prospers in an environment that is where there will always be mercy for our mistakes. This goodness and mercy will never forsake us, because there is a presence and a power that goes with us and is within us—the loving presence of the divine spirit and the all-conquering power of God. Therefore, nothing is more suitable for care of the soul than the family, because the experience of family includes so much of the particulars of life. In a family, we live close to people that we otherwise might not even want to talk to. Overtime we get to know them intimately. We earn their most minuscule, most private habits and characteristic. Family life is full of major and minor crises—the ups and downs of health, success and failure in career, marriage, and divorce—and all kinds of characters. It is connected to places and events and histories. With all of these felt details, life etches itself into memory and personality. It is difficult to imagine anything more nourishing to the soul. Fairness ethics lend themselves to confusion with the ethics of the Golden Rule. The maxim to do unto others as you would like them to do unto you can be interpreted as meaning be fair in your exchange with others. Love the neighbor as thyself. #RandolphHarris 4 of 8
To be active in thought, feeling, with one’s eyes and ears, throughout the day, to avoid inner laziness, be it in the form of being receptive, hoarding, or plain wasting one’s time, is an indispensable condition for the practice of the art of loving. It is an illusion to believe that one can separate life in which a way that one is productive in the sphere of love and unproductive in all other spheres. Productiveness does not permit of such a division of labor. The capacity to love demands a state of intensity, awakeness, enhanced vitality, which can only be the result of a productive and active orientation in many other spheres of life. If one is not productive in others spheres, one is not successful in love either. When things go wrong in society, we immediately inquire into the condition of family life. When we see society torn apart by crime, we think: If only we could return to the good old days when family was sacred. In modern society, the family can be both good and bad, offering both support and threat. This is why adults are so often ambivalent about visiting their families and spending time with them: they want the emotional rewards of the sense of connection, but they also want distance from painful memories and difficult adult relationships. #RandolphHarris 5 of 8
By prayer and focusing on God everyday and thinking about the blessings God has provided us with and will continue to provide of with, one can try to re-create the World, to build up in its stead another World in which its most unbearable features are eliminated and replaced by others that are in conformity with one’s own wishes. We can pray that by distancing ourselves from others that we break negative patterns and that people will appreciate us more and that we will attract people into our lives that genuinely love us and care for us and want to protect us. No one wants to be encircled about with everlasting darkness and destruction. We want to be brought into God’s everlasting light, into everlasting salvation; where we are encircled about with the matchless bounty of God’s love so we can be instruments in his hands of doing his great and marvelous work. If to love means to have a loving attitude toward everybody, if love it a character trait, it must necessarily exist in one’s relationship not only with one’s family and friends, but toward those with whom one is in contact through one’s work, business, education, and profession. #RandolphHarris 6 of 8
Love is only the sane and satisfactory answer to the human existence. Fairness means not to use fraud and trickery in the exchange of commodities and services, and in the exchange of feelings. The exchange of goods and services should be determined either by direct force, by tradition, or by personal bonds of love or friendship. We must respect the rights of others. Love should not mean only to participate in the general fraud; only a martyr or an insane person can love in that type of World. We do not want to be unloving automations. Those who are seriously concerned with love as the only rational answer to the problem of human existence must, then, arrive at the conclusion that important and radical changes in our social structure are necessary, if love is to become a social and not highly individualistic, marginal phenomenon. All activities should not be subordinated to economic goals or else we will become a society where people are well fed, well clad, but without any ultimate concern for that which is our peculiarly human quality and function. If we are to be able to love, we must put love in our supreme place. Society must be organized in such a way that our social, loving nature is not separated from or social existence, but becomes one with it. #RandolphHarris 7 of 8
Love is the ultimate and real need in every human being. To have faith in the possibility of love as a social and not only exceptional-individual phenomenon, is a rational faith based on the insight into the very nature of humanity. We are alive because God is alive. We live because God lives in us. The sum total of our psychological and emotional reactions surrounds us with a field of thoughts. “I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God. I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore, I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise God’s name forever (Alma 26.11-12).” This is true in everything we do. We are individual points in the consciousness of God or the original creative spirit of the Universe. The Lord or the law serves us, but first we must obey it. God is incarnated in us because of our complete cooperation based on unity. We must never try to coerce anything in dealing with the laws of nature. This is why we can have faith in God and patiently, cheerfully, and expectantly await the outcome, knowing that as we sow, so shall we reap. #RandolphHarris 8 of 8
The essence of each person originates as a star in the Heavens. The union with God is the climax of cognition. The love of God holds the Universe together. Loving means being dependent on the absence of narcissism, it requires that development of self-effacement, fairness and reason. One’s entire life must be devoted to this aim. Self-effacement and fairness are indivisible, just as love is. It depends on our capacity to grow, to develop a productive orientation in our relationship toward the World and ourselves. Through love we shall have harmony and through harmony, peace, is as potent a force in social education as it has ever been. This process of emergence, of birth, of waking up, requires one quality as a necessary condition: faith. The practice of the art of loving requires the practice of faith. Faith is a character trait pervading the whole personality, rather than a specific belief. Rational faith is rooted in productive intellectual and emotional activity. In rational thinking, in which faith is supposed to have no place, rational faith is an important component. Scientist like Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton were all imbued with an unshakable faith in reason. Faith that has a foundation in one’s own experience, in the confidence in one’s power of thought, observation, and discernment. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6
Having faith in another person means to be certain of the reliability and unchangeability of one’s fundamental attitudes, of the core of one’s personality, of one’s love. This does not mean that a person may not change their opinions, but that one’s basic motivations remain the same; that, for instance, one’s respect for life and human dignity is part of oneself, not subject to change. In the same sense that we have faith in ourselves, we might take the time to watch and listen as gradually it reveals the deeper mysteries in our daily lives. As we stop to consider what is happening to us and what we are made of, the soul uproars. The fate and character of each of us is born in mystery, and our individuality is so profound and so hidden that it takes a lifetime for indemnity to emerge. All lives are important. It is the unfathomable mystery that is the very seed and heart of each individual. Only the person who has faith in oneself is able to be faithful to others, because only one can be sure that one will be the same at a future time as one is today, and, therefore, one will feel and act as one now expects to. Faith in oneself is a condition of our ability to promise, and since we can be defined by our capacity to promise, faith is one of the conditions of human existence. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6
Love cannot be forced, it comes out of Heaven, unmasked, and unsought. What matters in relation to love is the faith in one’s own love; in its ability to produce love in others, and in its reliability. No one can hinder your power because its an immediate presence is at the center of your own being. No one can reverse your use of it, since noting can contradict its authority. Therefore, you not only have some power at the center of your being; you have access to all the power there is, to all the presence there is, and to the only God there is. You must start to contemplate this power within you as answering your every wish; and you must believe that it does this immediately, right now—not tomorrow but today, because the law of this power within you knows no time. One must give conscious direction to this law and one must definitely expect it to respond. When you want to accomplish something, you know it is going to happen and believe it; there must be no doubt in your consciousness. That is what we call faith. Another meaning of having faith in person refers to the faith we have in the potentialities of others. One of the most important of these conditions is that in our lives, we have the potentialities to love, be happy, and use our reason. The presence of this faith makes the difference between education and manipulation. RandolphHarris 3 of 6
The root of the word education is e-ducere, to lead forth, or to bring out something which is potentially present. Education is identical with helping one realize one’s potentialities. The opposition of education is manipulation, which is based on the absence of faith in the growth of potentialities, and on the basis that one will be right only if we accept what is desirable and suppress what seems to be undesirable. However, we can all take strength in knowing that all the hard experiences in this life are temporary; even the darkest nights turn into dawn for the faithful. When all is finished and we have endured all things with faith in God, we have the promise that God shall wipe away all the tears from our eyes. As we exercise our faith in God, he will life us up and carry us through all our trials and, ultimately, save us in the celestial kingdom. Endure well in faith, become perfect through God, and have perfect joy in him. This respect comes of recognition that each of us is a son or daughter of God, endowed with something of his divine nature, that each is an individual entitled to expression and cultivation of individual talents and deserving of forbearance, of patience, of understanding, of curtsy, of thoughtful consideration. True love is not so much a matter of romance as it is a matter of anxious concern for the well being of one’s companion. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6
We have a friend within us who is closer than our own shadow. This friend anticipates our every desire, knows own every need, and governs our every act. This friend is the God within our own soul, the animating presence projecting our personality, which is a unique individualization of the living spirit. God is our infinite friend and father, and is not limited by previous experiences which we may have had, by present conditions, or passing situations. Just let all the cares of yesterday flow out and all the burdens go with them, for the soul cannot be restored by the River of Life unless it lets go of the past and discovers that a new future is forever flowing around it—something fresh and clean and new and wonderful. To lie down in a pasture suggests relaxation in the midst of abundance, an abundance which is already provided, a good which is divinely given. The words green pastures refer to a place of rest. Green is the most restful and comforting color in nature. It brings our minds the picture of a protected nook where we can find sanctuary in the middle of the day. The voice of Heaven is a still small voice; likewise, the voice of domestic peace is a quiet voice. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6
The pasture is beside still waters, referring to the River of Life in which there is no conflict, no turmoil. God then will be our partner, and our daily conversations with him will bring peace into our hearts. We must invoke God’s blessings upon our lives, house, vehicles, loved once, and dreams. We want our families and friends to know the security of a home where dwells the spirit of the Lord. With faith in God, we will experience the security of the kind word softly spoken, and the tempests of our own lives will be stilled. We want our kin and friends to know people with living honestly with God, honestly with one another and with their follow human beings. It is important to grow up with a sense of appreciation, having heard God loving people in prayer, who express gratitude for blessings great and small. We will mature with faith in the living God. The destroying Angel of domestic bitterness will pass by is and we will know peace and love throughout our lives which may be extended into all eternity. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6
The invasion of someone’s privacy and dissemination of the personal information could make a person volunteer to end their life, so they can be free. Some defend privacy as focusing on control over the information about oneself, and many see privacy as a broader concept required for human dignity. People are very concerned with impression management and they like to have control over what others know about them. Our private information is also protected by law. However, even if you breach a person’s privacy and find out personal medical information about them, it might make a person want nothing to do with you. People have a right to select what personal and private information they disclose to others, and it is not right for an individual to pry into a person’s medical information, especially when you know nothing about the person and have never spent time with them. For instance, if a man had cancer and he did not tell anyone, it would be unlawful and wrong to access his medical information and disclose it to other people. Even though you may feel like you know him, or what to know him, that fact that you two have never even had a conversation about normal conversational topics is offensive. He has not even told you about his dreams, the things he loves, or that places he wants to go, and his personal business might not be something he wants to disclose to you. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6
To those of you who yearn for spiritual truth, some things become self-evident. Privacy is necessary for the development of varied and meaningful interpersonal relationships, and as the value that accords us the ability to control the access others have to us. Not only that, but also to enhance personal expression and choice. Why would you want to get to know someone’s personal medical information, when you do not even understand what that individual is going through. And on top of that, what is the purpose, besides making someone feel violated. It is not like you are trying to help that individual overcome their issues, nor helping them seek treatment, nor providing them with opportunities to help them financially. The only objective you have for unlawfully prying into someone’s medical background is to exploit them. Privacy is something we value to provide a sphere within which we can be free from interference by others. The adversary is real and here on Earth as well. He is his legions are wreaking havoc among the children of humans. The adversary speaks no truth, feels no love, promotes no good, and avows nothing but mayhem and destruction. Therefore, I do not expect some of you to understand what you are doing wrong because you already know and simply do not care, as you are grim, soulless mortals. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6
An unrestricted satisfaction of every need presents itself as the most enticing method of conducting one’s life, but it means putting enjoyment before caution, and soon brings its own punishment. Crassness and wrangling have become a way of life. What was once considered awful is now considered tame; what at first titillates, soon captivates and then destroys. In an attempt to systematize and more clearly describe and define the right to privacy being upheld in tort law, four different interests emerged related to privacy. Intrusion upon a person’s seclusion or solitude, or into one’s private affairs, public disclosure of embarrassing private facts about an individual, publicity placing one in a false light in the public eye, and appropriation of one’s likeness for the advantage of another are all forms of privacy violations. The Supreme Court has been explicit in ruling that privacy is central reason for Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution protection, privacy as control over information about oneself has come to be viewed by many as also including protection against unwarranted searches, eavesdropping, surveillance, and appropriation and misuses of one’s communications. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6
People who have ongoing and long term medical conditions certainly do not want you exploiting, using them, nor spreading their personal business like the 5 O’clock news. Resources for them are already probably hard to come by because of the limitations of the things that they can do and how they may be feeling on a particular day. Against the suffering which may come upon one from human relationships the readiest safeguard is voluntary isolation. Keeping oneself aloof from other people. The happiness which can be achieved along this path is, as we see, the happiness of quietness. Against the dreaded external World, one can only defend oneself by some kind of turning away from it, if one intends to solve the task by oneself. However, the most interesting methods of averting suffering are those which seek to influence our own organism. In the last analysis, all suffering is nothing else than sensation; it only exists in so far as we feel it, and we only feel it in consequence of certain ways in which our organism is regulated. One may therefore hope to be freed from a part of one’s sufferings by influencing the instinctual impulses. This type of defense against suffering is no longer brought to bear on the sensory apparatus; it seeks to master the internal sources of our needs. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6
The basic intention in any caring, physical or psychological, is to alleviate suffering. It is not easy to observe closely, to take the time and to make the subtle moves that allow the soul to reveal itself further. One has to rely on every bit of learning, every scrap of sense, and all kinds of reading, in order to bring intelligence and imagination to work. Yet at the same time, we have to be simple, flexible, and receptive. Intelligence and education brings one to a state, where our minds and its purposes are to permit the power of life to flow through us. Most certainly God is personal to everyone, and the wonderful thing is that each represents God in a unique way. Each individualizes God, and no two individualizations are identical. Thus, the personality of God is not only real to us, but it is uniquely real. To sense the divine person back of each act and the divine direction back to each thought is both scientific and sensible. Moreover, without such a sense there would be no warmth nor feeling in our work. Every treatment should be filled with the atmosphere of helpfulness, proceeding from our realization that we are recognizing God in our being, the God who is personified through us. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6
God’s presence is peace, joy, and beauty, and since it must be harmony and unity, we may be fore that these qualities seek expression through our activities, seek manifestation in everything that we do, say, and think. It is God’s desire to see his children move in great authority through building and distributing wealth. “My God will meet my needs according to the riches of his glory (Philippians 4.19). We thank you, God, that we can put our trust in your ability to effectively work through us. Father, we are believing in you for creative ideas and opportunities to build wealth in order to secure generational wealth so we can leave a legacy for our families. God, we thank you as we are faithful, and know that you will not only protect our finances from the evil one, but you will also cause our finances to overflow. We rebuke the devourer, and trust that every dollar you have for us is ours. The life within us, being God, did not begin and it cannot end; hence we are immortal and eternal. We can never be less, but must forever be more as this life within us unfold through our experiences, and gathering of knowledge and wisdom. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6
A feeling can only be a source of energy if it is itself the expression of a strong need. Life is about choices, some we regret, some we are proud of, but we are all who we choose to be. Some of the things that one is unwilling to give up, because they give pleasure, are nevertheless not ego but object, and some sufferings that one seeks to expel turn out to be inseparable from the ego in virtue of their internal origin. We cannot hope to influence others in the direction of virtue unless we live lives of virtues. The example of our living will carry a greater influence than will all the preaching in which we might indulge. We cannot expect to lift others unless we stand on a high moral ground ourselves. Respect for self is the beginning of virtue in humans. People who know that they are children of God, created in the image of a divine Father and gifted with a potential for the exercise of great and godlike virtues, will discipline themselves against the sordid, lascivious elements to which all are exposed. We believe in our own soul, our own spirit, and our own destiny; for we understand that the life of our being is God. Look to God and live. Humans are not only a center of God consciousness; individuals are immortal beings, forever expanding, forever spiraling upward, forever growing in spiritual stature. #RandolphHarris 1 of 5
God will guide and bless you on your path to a fulfilling life. Faith, the spiritual ability to be persuaded of promises that are seen afar off but that may not be attained in this life, is a sure measure of those who truly believe. Faith in its full and pure form requires an unshakable assurance and absolute confidence that God will hear our pleas and grant our petitions in his own due time. Complete redemption must come to all. Believing that, we too can stand fast in the faith today and tomorrow. When people observe the ways in which the soul is manifesting itself, they are enriched rather than impoverished. It matters not where we live nor what our individual circumstances may be. Each day our righteous living can demonstrate a faith that sees beyond mortal heartaches, disappointments, and unfulfilled promises. It is a glorious thing to possess a faith that enables us to look forward to that day when all that was promised we will be given. When we regard the soul with an open mind, we begin to find the messages that are within the ailments, the corrections that can be found in remorse and other uncomfortable feelings, and the necessary changes requested by certain conditions. Let God burn his love in your heart and that faith light your life. #RandolphHarris 2 of 5
Life, as we find it, can be too hard for some; it brings many too many pains, disappointments and impossible takes. In order to bear it palliative measure may be hard to dispense with. A few of the main measure to make life more tenable, people turn to powerful deflections, which cause one to make light of their misery; substitutive satisfactions, which diminish it; and intoxicating substances, which make people insensitive to serious issues. However, we must be sober and find ethical solutions. Complaining about a problem without proposing a solution is called whining. We must raise above problems and pain in sharp contrast to the point of view revealed. God promises to be with us in our difficult times. Problem solving is something we can get better at over time. Every time we resolve a new problem, we are improving our ability to solve one down the road. Sometimes dependency is making itself felt, and it does not mean that it should be bludgeoned nor surgically removed; it may be asserting itself because it needs attention. We are all dependent on God. It can sometimes be good to be attached to other people, learn from them, get close, rely on friendship, get advice from someone we respect, be part of a community where people need each other, and find intimacy with someone that is so delicious we cannot live without. #RandolphHarris 3 of 5
The way through the World is more difficult to find than the way beyond it. Sometimes we feel discouraged because we are not more of something. We do not need to be more of anything to start to become the person God wants us to be. We must not avoid intimacy and friendship by focusing on excessive dependency. People need companionship. At times, we all think that we are being masochistically dependent, when what actually are doing is avoiding deep involvement with people, society, and life in general. Observing what the soul is doing and hearing what it is saying is a way learning to be true to ourselves, and it must follow, as the night the day, we cannot then be false to anyone. It is important to challenge oneself to lift our thoughts, above the filth, discipline our acts into an example of virtue, control our words that we speak only that which is uplifting and leads to growth. We must allow something within ourselves to change so even our jobs are taken more seriously. By entering our fate and emotions we might begin to taste life and possibly find a way through our experience and into our ambitions. Living an alienated and divided life is something we can overcome. The soul makes us human and when we are human we have the greatest access to the soul. It is important to find a deeper respect for what is already here. #RandolphHarris 4 of 5
By trying to avoid human mistake and failures, we move beyond the reach of soul. Of course, sometimes it can be difficult to honor the soul’s dramatic ways of expressing itself. “Lift up your heads, and rejoice, and put your trust in God (Mosiah 7.19).” All religions typically have the same purpose; all are links in a chain which connects Heaven and Earth. All here on Earth tends toward the right and truth, and perfection, and everything is a work in progress. There is within each of us a deep awareness, a subjective and spiritual consciousness which by pure intuition knows that the Universal intelligence which we call God exists. God is the intelligent life principle which is reality and we should focus on the simplicity that is Go and allow his grace to lift and carry us. Hearing the word of God with earnest intent leads us to believe in God and to trust his promises. The more we trust God, the more our hearts are filled with love for him and for each other. Because of our love for God, we desire to follow him and bring our actions in alignment with his words. Because we love God, we want to serve him; we want to bless the lives of others and help the poor and needy. Each step leading to the next fills us with an ever-increasing faith, hope, and charity. It is beautifully simple, and it works beautifully. #RandolpHarris 5 of 5
Randolph Harris II International Institute 