Randolph Harris II International Institute

It is fortunate all will come right in Heaven, for it is certain too much goes wrong on Earth. If once we pushed on to the coast and separated, we should never be able to see that place again with our eyes, or do any more than sinners did with Heaven—wish themselves there, but know they can never come at it. If man were wholly made in Heaven, why catch we hell-glimpses? Aging is a reality that comes to all. It represents the accumulated continuity of time and living. Though aging comes to all, it is not the same for all. It is subtle, varied, mixed. Senility is a reality that comes to some. It symbolizes the most exaggerated pain of the oldness that can come with aging. It is all too obvious, all too limiting, all too tragically pathetic. To be aged is to have to face the prospect of possibly being senile. A  man, lay in his son’s bed. His life had grown deeply disturbing: unrelieved agony, constant confusion—he could not even remember who he was. The indignity of utter helplessness, and the aggravation of aggressive concern after recently fathering a child, when he could not be trusted to take care of anything.   #RandolphHarris 1 of 13

In an especially poignant episode, his former wife found him crawling around in his son’s bed agitatedly searching among the covers. When asked what he wanted, he replied, “I’m looking for my lost self!” Until recently, aging loomed as forebodingly as death, while some people get plastic surgery to remain youthful, some get it to convince themselves that they are not aging. A conspiracy of silence iron-curtained the elderly, the infirmed, the senile. When people forget who they are or what day it is, it can be a wretched and despairing situation. With the experience of again, an open life imperceptibly merges into a limited life. Whereas there is a time when there are few if any boundaries, there comes a time when there is nothing but boundaries. Abilities go; memory decays; what one has worked so hard to create is labor lost; the end is as though there had been no beginning. Even so, however, limited and exiled in the present, the antiquated person still remains the person he or she was, even if they cannot remember who they are. Clearly, aging is a developmental process within the limits of finitude. As #RandolphHarris 2 of 13

Aeneas and the Sibyl watched from above, they pursued their way back to Earth, he said to her, “Whether thou be a goddess or a mortal beloved of the gods, by me thou shalt always be held in reverence. When I reach the upper air, I will cause a temple to be built in thy honor, and will myself bring offerings.” “I am no goddess,” said the Sibyl; “I have no claim to sacrifice or offering. I am mortal; yet if I could have accepted the love of Apollo, I might have been immortal. He promised me the fulfilment of my wish, if I would consent to be his. I took a handful of sand and, holding it forth, said, ‘Grant me to see as many birthdays as there are sand grains in my hand.’ Unluckily I forgot to ask for enduring youth. This also he would have granted, could I have accepted his love, but offended at my refusal, he allowed me to grow old. My youth and youthful strength fled long ago. I have lived seven hundred years, and to equal the number of the sand grains, I have still to see three hundred springs and three hundred harvests. My body shrinks up as years increase, and in time I shall be lost to sight, but my voice will remain, and future ages will respect my scriptures.” #RandolphHarris 3 of 13

Through the years theories as to what constitutes successful aging have varied. These concluding words of the sibyl alluded to her prophetic power. In her cave she was accustomed to inscribe on leaves gathered from the trees the names and fates of individuals. The leaves thus inscribed were arranged in order within the cave, and might be consulted by her votaries. However, if perchance at the opening of the doors the wind rushed in and dispersed the leaves, the Sibyl gave no assistance to restoring them again, and the oracle was irreparably lost. The doctrine of the uniformity of causation is relatively recent in philosophy and arose, more or less, with the development and growth of science and its increasing emphasis upon laws of nature. Of course, philosophers have always been aware of certain uniformaities of nature, but there was little emphasis upon the absolute uniformity of causation before the rise of experimental science. There seemed, moreover, to be certain causes—such as the Sun, for instance—whose effects were so numerous and diverse that there appeared to be almost no similarity between them at all. It was at first thought that causes produced their effects by virtue of their power or efficacy to do so. (Such is, in fact, part of the original meaning of an efficient cause.)  #RandolphHarris 4 of 13

This easily gave rise to the idea that a cause must be at least as great as its effect, that the lesser cannot produce the greater, a claim that was made, and considered self-evident. The supposition that a given kind of cause could have but one kind of effect was seldom considered obvious, however. The following legend of the Sibyl is fixed at a later date. In the region of one of the Tarquins there appeared before the king a woman who offered him nine books for sale. The king refused to purchase them, whereupon the woman went away and burned three of the books, and returning, offered the remaining books for the same price she had asked for the nine. The king again rejected them; but when the woman, after burning three books more, returned and asked for the three remaining the same price which she had asked for the nine, his curiosity was excited, and he purchased the books. They were found to contain the destinies of the Roman state. They were kept in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, preserved in a stone chest, and allowed to be inspected only by especial officers appointed for that duty, who on great occasions consulted them and interpreted their oracles to the people. #RandolphHarris 5 of 13

There were various Sibyls; but the Cumaean Sibyl, of whom Ovid and Virgil write, is the most celebrated of them. Ovid’s story of her life protracted to one thousand years may be intended to represent the various Sibyls as being only reappearances of one and the same individual. Young, in the Night Thoughts, alludes to the Sibyl. Speaking of Worldly Wisdom, he says: If future fate she plans, ‘tis all in leaves, like Sibyl, unsubstantial, fleeting bliss; at first blast it vanishes in air. As Worldly schemes resemble Sibyl’s leaves, the good man’s days to Sibyl’s books compare, the price still rising as in number less. We need to learn this secret of the burning heart. Suddenly the divine appears to us, fires are set ablaze, and we are given wonderful visons; but then we must learn to maintain the secret of the burning heart—a heart that can go through anything. It is the simple, dreary day, with its commonplace duties and people, that smothers the burning heart—unless we have learned the secret of abiding in God. Never deceive yourself; when carnality has gone you will know it—it is the most real thing you can imagine. #RandolphHarris 6 of 13

An example of cause as power is a sculptor, who has not only the physical equipment but also the power or ability to convert marble to a statue.  Lacking either, he or she could not make a statue. The Sun, similarly, has the power to make things grow and the power to do all the other things it does. It was in terms of this concept that God was thought of as the cause of the World, and accordingly, as being a being who is all-powerful. Bishop Berkeley considers it so obvious that a cause cannot be thought of apart from the idea of power that he used this as an important argument to prove that our “ideas” (sensations) cannot be caused either by matter or by other ideas, both being, as he put it, “inert” or passive and, hence, lacking the power to produce anything. A human’s ideas must accordingly, he thought, be caused by some “active” being or, literally, an agent, such as himself or herself or God. Prior to John Locke and the rise of empiricism, the very movements of people and animals were thought to be the expressions of the power of such creatures over their own bodies.  Aristotle accordingly described animals as “self-moved.”  #RandolphHarris 7 of 13

When philosophers finally addressed themselves to the understanding of the concept of power within the framework of empiricist presuppositions they became involved, of course, in enormous difficulties since this idea does not seem to correspond to any idea either of sensation or “reflection” (introspection) or to be analyzable in terms of such ideas. Many writers have suggested that it is derived from the feeling or effort or will that is involved in voluntary action. Causes and effects are merely changes that we find constantly conjoined. We should not, explain changes in terms of causes having the power to produce them. We should instead simply note that certain changes are, in fact, found to be invariably conjoined with others. It is only because we find such uniformities and thereby come to expect them that we come to speak of power in the first place. Very many philosophers have believed that this idea is essentially right, at least with respect to the elimination of the idea of power from the concept of causation, and in fact, the association is seldom referred to any more in philosophical literature. #RandolphHarris 8 of 13

A noteworthy exception to the resolution is the idea that active power of a cause is everywhere presupposed in any description of deliberate and voluntary human behavior, even though no philosopher can define this concept in terms of any others. Causation of voluntary actions by an agent is, moreover, the paradigm example of causation, and the relations between the states and changes of inanimate things can be called “causal” only in a loose and metaphorical sense. There has recently been an increasing tendency in philosophy, particularly in philosophical psychology and in discussion of the will, to defend similar views. Human beings, and perhaps other animals, are claimed by an increasing number of philosophers to be the causes of certain of the motions of their own bodies in a way that uniquely distinguishes them as “agents,” or beings who act and are thus possessed of what is called “active power.” Such a view has the effect of rendering quite irreducible the difference between human behavior of inanimate things, and it is accordingly almost universally rejected in experimental psychology. #RandolphHarris 9 of 13

There is a certain necessary or inherent connection between any cause and its effect. By this s meant that the joint occurrence of both is not “accidental”—that cause is something which is such that, once given, its effect—that the effect must happen in case the cause exists. These are all ways of saying essentially the same thing. If the Sun shines upon a rock under certain conditions, for example, then it is not merely true that the rock becomes warm; it must become warm, these two states being so related that one cannot fail to occur if the other occurs. Similarly, if a man insults another, it is not merely true that the insulted man becomes angry; he cannot, normally, help becoming angry, or, in other words, the insult makes him angry. Therefore, it is possible that there is, in fact, no such necessary connection between any cause and its effect. Just as the idea of power cannot be traced to any sense experience and hence must, in case we have any such idea at all, be the fabrication of our own minds, so also the idea of any cause is perfectly separable in our minds from its effect; that is, we can easily, and without any absurdity or contradiction, imagine any cause whatever without its accustomed effect which is, in fact, never accompanies it. #RandolphHarris 10 of 13

There is no contradiction, for example, in affirming that water solidifies instead of boiling when heated, that a man thrives instead of suffocating under water, or that when a rolling ball strikes another of the same weight, it simply stops or both move on together, instead of the first stopping and the other moving. We learn from experience that such things do not happen. There is, accordingly, no necessary connection between a cause and its effect. Anything might cause anything. For the same reason, no one can ever infer any effect simply from a description of a cause. Experience alone teaches us what follows upon what, and this is all that is teaches us. One event follows another, but we never can observe any tie between they. They seem conjoined, but never connected. The Sibyl should have asked Aeneas to extend her life and for every lasting youth. The mistake is people have an idea of a necessary connection between cause and effect or this idea was part of what people mean by a causal connection. No connections exist between causes themselves and their effects. The idea of a necessary connection to certain habits of expectation is traced to our minds. #RandolphHarris 11 of 13

That is to say, people become accustomed to finding certain changes more or less constantly conjoined with others—for example, finding certain experiences, such as putting one’s finger into a flame, followed by pain—and the association thus established in human’s minds lead to a habitual expectation of certain impending events upon the experiencing of others. It is this habit of expectations or customary transition of the imagination that the idea of a necessary connection between cause and effect has been traced. What his means, of course, is that the necessary connections between causes and their effects are read into our experiences or imputed to causes and effects when in fact no such connection exists. Aeneas, having parted from the Sibyl and rejoined his fleet, coasted along the shores of Italy and cast anchor in the mouths of the Tiber. The poet, having brought his hero to this spot, the destined termination of his wanderings, invokes his Muse to tell him the situation of things at the eventful moment. Philosophers who one spoke so freely of causes as things having the power to compel the occurrences of effects always took for granted that the power or efficacy of a cause never extends to things past or that causes cannot occur after their effect. #RandolphHarris 12 of 13

This priority of a cause to its effect was, moreover, considered to be a metaphysical necessity and not a mere convention of speech. It was generally assumed that nothing past is within the power of anything. Things past are unalterable; they are and mist forever remain whatever they have been. Things present, on the other hand, are sometimes alterable. They can be changed in numerous ways, depending upon what causes act upon them. Contemporary philosophers, who have been wanted to insist that the casual relation can be analyzed without invoking any idea of power, have nevertheless, for the most part, agreed that causes cannot occur after their effects. However, this is generally considered to be not a metaphysical truth depending n the efficacy of causes but simply a consequence of customary linguistic usage. That is, it is generally thought to be simply part of the usual meaning of cause that a cause is something temporally prior to, or at least not subsequent to, its effect. The way to Heaven out of all places is of like length and distance. #RandolphHarris 13 of 13

March 30, 2017 9:59 pm

The character of people may be changed by the circumstances around them. Few people are so perfect as not to err sometimes; and if you are convinced of your errors, you will be more cautious how you give them a second time. It should be noted that the Universality and uniformity of causation are two entirely different claims. Either could be true without the other’s being true. The Universality of causation has throughout the history of philosophy, until very recent times, usually been regarded as very obvious, sometimes even self-evident. There are many thinkers today, however, who consider it quite possible that certain changes involving the minutest constituents of matter simply have no causes at all. There are also philosophers who consider it doubtful whether all voluntary human acts are caused in any generally accepted sense. Thus, what was once considered quite obvious is now at least controversial. There is, in any case, no philosophical way of proving the Universality of causation, for such a proof would have to demonstrate some absurdity in the denial of it. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7

 It is not the least difficult to imagine a change occurring without anything causing that change, and there is no contradiction whatever in asserting that this sometimes happens, although, of course, it may be false. Anyone who labors under the pressure of pecuniary embarrassments is, with the generality of people, at a disadvantage. I have never believed it possible that any natural or improved ability can claim immunity from the companionship of the steady, plain, hardworking qualities, and hope to gain its ends. Words never influence the course of the cards, or the course of the dice. It is obvious, too, that there is no scientific or empirical to prove either Universality or the nonuniversality of causation. If some change occurs and no cause of that change is observed—as often happens, of course, even in one’s ordinary daily experiences—then one can say that no such cause exists or, upon the same negative evidence, fall back upon the supposition that there is such a cause but that it has eluded discovery. There are chords in the human heart. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7

The power of sentences has nothing to do with their sense or the logic of their construction. A word carries far—very far—deals destruction through time as the bullets go flying through space. Experience is the child of Thought, and Thought is the child of Action. We cannot learn people from books. The causes of many events that humans have experienced have never been experienced at all. If the reverse were true, there would be such thing as an unsolved murder. Causes are in such cases assumed to exist r inferred from other causal connections that humans have experienced, but they are not experienced. The doctrine of the uniformity of causation, on the other hand, is relatively recent in philosophy and arose, more or less, with the development and growth of science and its increasing emphasis upon laws of nature. Of course, philosophers have always been aware of certain uniformities of nature, but there was little emphasis upon the absolute uniformity of causation before the rise of experimental science. There seemed, moreover, to be certain causes—such as the Sun, for instance—whose effects were so numerous and diverse that there appeared to be almost no similarity between them at all. #RandolphHarris 3 of 7

Experience, that unvarying and rational order of the World which has been the appointed instrument of human’s training since life and thought began. It was at first thought that causes produced their effects by virtue of their power or efficacy to do so. (Such is, in fact, part of the original meaning of an efficient cause.) This easily gave rise to the idea that a cause must be at least as great as its rise to the idea that a cause must be at least as great as its effect, that the lesser cannot produce the greater, a claim that was made, and considered self-evident. The supposition that a given kind of cause could have but one kind of effect was seldom considered obvious, however. Nevertheless, I think it expedient and justifiable to continue to use the illustrative idea of the two systems. We shall avoid any abuse of this mode of representation if we remember that ideas, thoughts, and psychic formations in general must not in any case be localized in organic elements of the nervous system but, so to speak, between them, where resistances and association-tracks from the correlate corresponding to them. Has experience the same opinion of the World as ignorance? It should have more charity. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7

Everything that can become an object of internal perception is virtual, like the image in the telescope produced by the crossing of light-rays. However, we are justified in thinking of the systems—which has nothing psychic in themselves, and which never become accessible to our psychic perception—as something similar to the lenses of the telescope, which project the image. If we continue this comparison, we might say that the censorship between the two systems corresponds to the refraction of the rays on passing into a new medium. Thus far, we have developed our psychology on our own responsibility; it is now time to turn and look at the doctrines prevailing in modern psychology, and to examine the relation of these to our theories. Patience is not the same as indifference; patience conveys the idea of someone who is tremendously strong and able to withstand all assaults. Having the vision of God is the source of endurance because it gives us God’s true and proper inspiration. A person who has the vision of God is not devoted to a cause or to any particular issue—one is devoted absolutely and explicitly to God only. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7

Delight become pictorial when viewed through pain, more fair, because impossible that any gain. The mountain at a given distance in amber lies; approached, the amber flits a little, and that is the skies. Upon the gallows hung a wretch, too sullied for the Hell to which the law entitled one. As nature’s curtain fell the one who bore him tottered in, for this was woman’s son. “It was all I had,” she stricken gasped; oh, what livid boon! Remorse is memory awake, her companies astir—a presence of departed acts at a window and at door. It is past set down before the soul, and lighted with a match, perusal to facility of its condensed dispatch. Remorse is cureless—the disease not even God can heal; for it is his institution the complement of Hell. God never again opens the doors that have been closed. Death and dying force upon us a certain honesty about life and living. Where truth is lacking in living, truth will be lacking in dying. In fact, life and death appear related: the more life the easier death; the less life the more terrible the death. When we face finitude we find ourselves driven to deal with our work, our worth, our love, our life. #RandolphHarris 6 or 7

What is most terrifying about dying and death is the lack of a living connectedness. Without presence, we are without hope; without contact, we are without grounding. So we find we are required to face what separates the living from the dying. We find we are required to face our own limits and our own end. For wee, too will die. In facing death we are finding life. And in finding life we establish a living and a sense of community. We come closer to one another for mutual gratification and upbuilding. In our friendships and affection, we are subject to some inscrutable moral law, similar in its effect to what the chemists call affinity. God opens doors, but he reminds us there are doors which we have shut. Let your memory have it way with you. It is a minister of God bringing its rebuke and sorrow to you. God will turn what might have been into a wonderful lesson of growth for the future. That is what is meant by faith being exercised in the realities of life. #RandolphHarris 7 of 7

March 29, 2017 5:10 pm

A face devoid of love or grace, a hateful, hard, successful face, a face with which a stone would feel as thoroughly at was as were they old acquaintances—first time together thrown. Most of us have poured out our hearts in angry, accusatory, plaintive, or sad letters after people have betrayed or abandoned us. Doing so almost always makes us feel better, even if we never send them When you write to yourself, you do not have to worry about other people’s judgment—you just listen to your own thoughts and let their flow take over. Later, when you reread what you wrote, you often discover surprising truths. Jurisprudence and law would become quite meaningless if people were not entitled to seek the causes of various unwanted events such as violent deaths, fires, and accidents. The same is true in such areas as public health, medicine, military planning, and, indeed, every area of life. No one doubts the battle against malaria began with the search for the cause of it, and measures then taken against it have all been aimed at eliminating its cause or moderating its effects by the introduction of their causal factors. This is typical of the way humans manage their practical affairs, great and small, in dealing with their environment. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6

Who has not found the Heaven below will fail to find it above. God’s residence is next to mine, His furniture is love. The law of cause and effect does not hide in the realm of the unexpected when intelligent beings go looking for it. It is true that the concept of causation is theoretically difficult one, beset with many problems and the source of much metaphysical controversy, but the suggestion that it can be dispensed with is extreme. It is quite common to refer to objects or substances as causes. Thus, one says that malaria is caused by certain mosquitoes, that the Earth is warmed by the Sun, and so on. Most writers on the subject agree, however, that causes and effects are ordinarily changes in the states of things or substances. Succumbing to malaria, for instance, is change, and it is caused, not by a mosquito as such, but by being bitten by a certain mosquito, which is also a change or event. More precisely, it is caused by the changes wrought in the body by certain microscopic organisms transmitted by mosquitoes. The Earth is not warmed by the Sun as such, but, rather, certain parts of the Earth are warmed by becoming turned toward the Sun, and these again are changes or events.  #RandolphHarris 2 of 6

When the mind is dissatisfied, whether upon the grounds just or unjust, it ever views objects through an exaggerated medium. Have you ever seen the Sun set? You may think you have. Yet, in reality, we know the Sun does not set. Instead, our viewing angel changes as the Earth turns, until the Sun is obscured by the horizon. The unchanging persistence of a state, such as a constant fever, might be explained by another persistent state, such as the continuing presence of malarial organisms in the blood, and this, too, would be a casual explanation. You may be in pain today. Maybe you have suffered a loss, been through a disappointment. That is not the end. God still has a plan. Do not sit around focusing on your hardships. Do not let bitterness and discouragement set the tone for your life. God want you to identify with better human qualities such as wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence. Different strengths contribute to each virtue. The virtue humanity, for example, includes the strengths bravery, persistence, integrity, and vitality. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6

There are many different ways that past relationships can affect you in a negative way and change your personal character. The repetition of being the one who feels repeatedly rejected in a relationship may create a self-image of “victim” that clouded the underlying distancing issues you have carried with you into each relationship. It is vital to understand how your past relationships have shaped how you respond in the present. If you do not understand this, you may go on to experience a series of disappointments that can lead only to deeper despair and greater self-blame. However, looking at your past is not easy. Having the experience of failed relationships can create the avoidance patter of running away from healthy relationships, too. The fear of beginning a new relationship can become greatly intensified by failed relationship attempts. Some people who have been hurt before react to failed relationships by becoming more extreme in their avoidance patters. Others use the experience of being physically and emotionally wounded to sharpen their weapons, the hurtful characteristics they have learned, against subsequent partners or would-be partners. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6

If recollecting were forgetting, then I remember not; and if forgetting, recollecting, how near I had forgot! And if to miss were merry, and if to mourn were gay, how very blithe the fingers that gathered these to-day! Results have nothing to do with the moral guilt or blamelessness of one who brings them about; they depend solely upon the thing done, whatever it may happen to be. The moral guilt or blamelessness in like manner has nothing to do with the results. Many a criminal is made by pondering over the fate of some predecessor in guilt. There is a fascination in the dark and forbidden, which, strange to say, is only lost in fiction. No one is more inclined to murder one’s nephews, or stifle his wife, after reading Richard the Third or Othello. Certain assumptions underlie our behavior as we act without an awareness of what is affecting our personality. People tend to act in ways to reduce their anxiety. Failures to communicate successfully in past relationships can cause people to set up rigid rules for their new relational efforts. This can happen when someone feels inadequate, attacked, or betrayed in an earlier relationship. Manifest no distrust, or you may invite the danger you appear to apprehend. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6

I felt a clearing in my mind as if my brain had split; I tried to match it, seam by seam, but could not make them fit. The thought being I strove to join unto the thought before, but sequence raveled out of reach like balls upon a floor.  Self-awareness is not a sin, and it can be produced by nervous emotions or by suddenly being dropped into a totally new set of circumstances. How we behave with each other is patterned with a high degree of probability but not inevitable. Be sure to cast down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Focus on Christian values, which means having life directions, such as spending time with friends and loved one, receiving education, and being kind and compassionate to other. Yet it is never God’s will that we should be anything less than absolutely complete in Him. If we will come to God, asking Him to produce Christ-awareness in us, He will always do it. Christ-awareness will take the place of self-awareness. When we are compassionate, we acknowledge the suffering of another being, having a desire to alleviate that suffering, and taking some kind of action or expressing the intention to reduce the suffering. Slight sufferings make us captious; great ones, humane and benevolent. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6

March 28, 2017 8:49 pm

Be patient with yourself if you are not readily curious about other people. There are powerful reasons why you have not been able to protect and develop your natural capacity for curiosity. You will be able to get connected to the source or cause of some of these obstacles as you work with remembering. In the meantime, praise yourself whenever you do notice that you are questioning or wondering about other people’s lives. Life without war is impossible in the natural or supernatural realm. It is a fact that there is a continuing struggle in the physical, mental, moral, and spiritual areas of life. I have stood aside to see the phantom of those days go by me. They are gone, and I resume the journey of my story. It will be fresher and better World when it flings off this great burden of stony memories [monuments], which the ages have deemed it a piety to heap on its back. Anything which is not spiritual leads to my loss of wealth, rank, reputation, or happiness; ruin. I must learn to fight against and overcome the things that come against me, and in that way produce the balance of having great reverence for God; pious. Then it becomes a delight to meet opposition. Reverence for God is the balance between my nature and a feeling of profound awe and respect and often love for the laws of God. #RyanPhillippe 1 of 5

Once based in reality, nothing can tyrannize one. If your faith is in experiences, anything that happens is likely to upset that faith. However, nothing can ever change God or the reality of redemption. Base your faith on that, and you are as eternally secure as God Himself. Once you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you will never be affected with depression, as a mood disorder, about life. We are all experts on ourselves. We know how we perceive the World, how we respond emotionally, how we generally relate to others. Often, however, we do not know we are experts; we do not know what we know. Who we are biologically influences the areas about which we are more aware. So, does our accumulated life experience. Because I am an expert on myself, I will use myself as an example of how one person perceives and responds to the World. I have always had very high energy, physically. I have rapid responses to all forms of stimulation through all of my sense, and my energy level ranges from active to hyper, even with the natural brakes of getting older. My rapid response system means that I feel physical pain and physical pleasure very quickly and intensely. It also means that I have trouble staying still. #RyanPhillippe 2 of 5

I have generally heightened awareness of sounds, smells, tactile sensations, visual surroundings, and even taste. The good news about my heightened levels of awareness is that I easily take in so much of what is pleasurable. The bad news is that I am uncomfortably sensitive to negative experiences. At the biological level, for instance, I have a low pain threshold, and a strong negative response to loud noise, bad smells, or unpleasant tastes. Because I am constantly taking on so much of what is happening around me, I am better prepared to see and react to danger than many other people. On the other hand, it is sometimes energetically draining to be so hypervigilant; there are too many ordinary situations where immediate impulse is to rescue, protect, stand my ground, or withdraw into my own world. We must never allow anything to interfere with the consecration of our spiritual power. Consecration (being dedicated to God’s service) is our part; sanctification (being set apart from sin and being made Godly) is God’s part. We must make a deliberate determination to be interested only in what God is interested. #RyanPhillippe 3 of 5

It would seem that voluntary human behavior would sometimes be quite unintelligible except in terms of human’s goals or purposes. There are, nevertheless, many experimental psychologist in whose work this idea professedly plays no part whatever and others for whom it is but a derivative concept. This is largely because such investigators have insisted on modeling their science after physics, where the idea of purpose or goal is manifestly out of place. It is also due, however, to a widespread misconception of what a final cause or purpose is supposed to be. If repentance for ill actions calls for mercy, has not repentance for ill intentions a yet higher claim? The only way to become interested in what God is interested in is to make that determination to ask yourself, “is this the kind of thing in which Jesus Christ is interested?” In our nature, there is a provision, alike a marvelous and merciful, that the sufferer should never know the intensity of what one endures by its present torture, but chiefly by the pang that rankles after it. People come nearest unto God in showing mercy and compassion.  #RyanPhillippe 4 of 5

The greatest spiritual blessing we receive is when we come to the knowledge that we are destitute. Until we get there, our Lord is powerless. God can do nothing for us as long as we think we are sufficient in and of ourselves. We must enter into God’s kingdom through the door of destitution. As long as we are “rich,” particularly in the area of pride or independence, God can do nothing for us. The moral law does not consider our weakness as human beings. It simply demands that we be absolutely moral. The moral law never changes, either for the highest of society nor for the weakest in the World. It is enduring and eternally the same. The moral law, ordained by God, does not make itself weak by excusing our shortcomings. It remains absolute for all time and eternity. I have also been shaped by my personal experiences as a child who felt lobed and influenced who I am in all kind of relationships. Everything I am aware of about who I am helps me to understand why I respond to closeness and intimacy in the way I do. Self-awareness at all these levels helps me to know the best ways for me to learn and to make Godly changes in my life. A knight without mercy is dishonored. #RyanPhillippe 5 of 5

ryan phillippe shirtless little boy blue

March 27, 2017 11:41 pm

There are no final solutions to problems, but only a body of perfectible solutions, which are discovered not by absolute reason but by general human reasonableness. The appearance of absurdity produced by an equivocation can always be removed and literal meaning restored by distinction between the different sense of the crucial words. However, with a genuine category-mistake there is no literal meaning to restore. The point is illustrated by a sentence like “The color white is white.” The sentence may seem to make sense if one claims that since the color white is the standard by which we judge things to be white, it is itself white. However, the sense is only apparent, because whatever is white remains numerically one and the same object even if its color changes. An interpretation makes the mistake of confusing accidental with essential predication. “The color white is the color white” is not an accidental but a trivially true essential predication; it is clearly not what is intended by the assertion that the color white is white. However, the latter is just as absurd as the assertion that sitting sits.

As entities that fail to do the job they should, since they cannot be formal causes and lead to an infinite regress, some people may spend their lives in denial about physical limitations that they have. An individual may spend a lifetime pretending to be physically normal, but may suffer from hidden injuries that you may not be able to see. Because these individuals know that they have limitations, they may seek advanced educations so they can earn a higher salary and work less hours than their counterparts. Because people who have physical limitations or visceral injuries suffer from invisible wounds we cannot see upon visual examination, we may think that they are perfectly healthy, but there may be tasks they cannot so, or cannot do consistently. This is why medical conditions are labeled because they usually have a range of symptoms that come along with them. And if a person with particular medical condition has certain symptoms, then one can ascertain that they have physical limitations, and may not be able to engage in certain activities.

If the truth gets rid of the contradiction, that is if one person says this person does not have permanent physical limitations, because critics made a mistake and want to label it as a temporary mental condition, then they will fight hard to avoid the true so they are not help criminally and financially liable for the mistakes they made. This is a category-mistake, a mistake that occurs when categories are misapplied in judgments about a substance; the result is a set of equivocations giving rise to paralogisms of pure reason. These kinds of category-mistakes are to be exposed as illusions to which the human mind is naturally prone. The attempt to make the assertion violates the vicious-circle principle and results in nonsense. The contradiction outlaws not only conditions giving rise to the paradox concerning the class membership but also those giving rise to an indefinite number of other paradoxes of self-reference, including the ancient paradox of the liar. More serious than its nonuniqueness as a consistent solution to the problem that contradiction was designed to avoid is a difficulty intrinsic to the theory itself.

The analyzation of the situation negated over a decade of proven and documented information, that there were physical limitations, and trying to prevent further injuries caused other complications, and over the recent years there had been more serious injuries, which indicated abuse, and there seemed to be no way to discredit the truth without contradiction. Trying to cover up injustices, slander, human rights violations, and to avoid prosecution and financial liability, the agency attacked this individual and tried to provoke him to respond an in adverse manner, so they could say he provoked an attack and was mentally deranged and the best thing to do would be to lock him up in a mental institution. However, because they aggressive physical attacks did not result in retaliation and the systematic discrimination did not produce the results the aggressors wanted, they got bolder with their actions and the systematic abuse went on for years that it became clear to the community that this young man was under attack. When we tried to consider why this individual was under attack to being with, that was unclear.

For people to seek someone out of the community and try to apprehend an individual, it is usually because that person is viewed as a commodity of value. Either there is something very unique about this individual or he has a lot of money or is going to come into a lot of money. People who are on drugs will also steal things, even people, and sell and trade them for drugs. I am not sure what would make this individual so special that an agency would break the law for so long and become so overt about it. Generally, in America, people are not abducted off the streets by corporations or other agencies. Could you imagine what it is like to live an unfree life and not be able to enjoy the constitutional rights other Americans have, even when you are perfectly free and a legal citizen? The amount of stress and hardship this situation has caused probably seemed unbearable at times, especially when always under threat and unsure of who to true. If you have been hurt, you need to acknowledge and name what happened to you. We may think we can control our grief, our terror, or our shame by remaining silent, but naming offers the possibility of a different kind of control.

As long as you keep secrets and suppress information, you are fundamentally at war with yourself. Hiding your core feelings takes an enormous amount of energy, and it leaves you feeling bored and shut down. Meanwhile, stress hormones keep flooding your body, leading to headaches, muscle aches, problems with your bowels, and if you already have fractured bones and other physical conditions it will only exasperate them. Ignoring inner reality also eats away at your sense of self, identity, and purpose. An individual may feel dead inside, may believe he will never be able to feel normal emotions again, that he has permanently has changed for the worse, might feel like an object, not like a person, that he has no future, and he may not even feel like himself anymore. Also, this kind of stress might may one who is already suffering from medical conditions feel like his body or parts of his body might give out before he does and he has not been able to even enjoy his adult life yet. And all of this pain and suffering because of the way you were born, because of a physical limitation, and because someone wants to make you a slave or conduction research on you.

While trauma keeps us dumbfounded, the path out of it is paved with words, carefully assembled, piece by piece, until the whole story can be revealed. And having to finally accept and admit to yourself that you are broken and information, which is protected by law has been illegally shared and broadcasted, and people are constantly judging you and analyzing your abilities, it would make a person embarrassed to even show their face in public. However, if our devotion is to the cause of humanity, we will be quickly defeated and brokenhearted, since we will often be confronted with a great deal of ingratitude from other people. However, if we are motivated by our love for God, no amount of ingratitude will be able to hinder us from serving one another. Once we realize that Jesus Christ has served us even to the depths of our meagerness, selfish, and sin, nothing we encounter from others will be able to exhaust our determination to serve others for God’s sake. “See, all your angry enemies lie there, confused and humiliated; those who strive against you shall be as nothing and shall perish,” Isa 41.11.

March 26, 2017 11:13 pm

The conative tendency of psychic states leads to empathy, or projection of the state upon the outer World. Philosophy is not intended as a logic or a metaphysics, but as a phenomenology of consciousness. The relation between symbol and significance or meaning continually expresses itself in two opposing tendencies, a tendency toward stabilization and a tendency toward the breaking up of permanent symbolic patterns. In myth and the primitive religions the conservative tendency is stronger. Mythological explanation explains patterns of the present in terms of origins in a remote past—a type of explanation still regarded in the Platonic dialogues as containing important elements of truth. The more advanced religions exhibit the opposing evolutionary tendency at work. This is mainly the result of conceiving forces in nature as individuals and person, and of the consequent emergence of the notion of morality as being rooted in personal responsibility. The Worst calls of sum worked in the everyday World is cyphered by the diseased arithmeticians who are always in the rule of Subtraction as to the merits and successes of others, and never in Addition as to their own. #RyanPhillippe 1 of 10

In natural languages, through which the common-sense World of substances in public space and time is constituted, the conservative tendency shows itself in the rules to which a language must conform if communication is to be possible. The evolutionary tendency, which is equally essential, works through phonetic semantic change. The psychology of the process by which children acquire their language shows important similarities to the development of a language through succeeding generations in the community. In the arts, much like in renovated Victorian houses, the tendency toward new patterns, which has its source in the originality of the individual artist or architect, predominates over the tendency to preserve a tradition or historical authenticity. Yet traditional forms can never be entirely discarded, since this would imply the breakdown of communication and historical accuracy, making art and Victorian architecture, which is a cultural, historical, and social phenomenon, impossible. Art and Victorian architecture, the very essence of artistic creation and aesthetic experience is held to lie in the interplay of the understanding, which imposes rules, and of the free imagination, which can never be completely subsumed under determinate modern concepts. #RyanPhillippe 2 of 10

 Symbolic representation is the essential function of human consciousness and is cardinal to our understanding of the structure of science, but also of myth and religion, of language, of art, and history. Human is a symbolizing animal. Symbolization creates, and exhibits within our consciousness, connections between perceptual signs and their significance or meaning. Scientific symbols constitute, or bring about, only one kind of objective World—the World of science. Mythical pictures constitute the reality of myths and religion; the words or ordinary language constitutes the reality of common sense. A primitive mode of function of symbolic representation is called the expression function (Ausdrucksfunktion). In the World it constitutes, the primitive World of myth, the sign and its significance merge into each other. The difference between them exists, but is not consciously noted. The thunder by which a primitive god shows his anger is not merely an external sign that the god. It is the god’s anger. In the same way, in ordinary perception we often not merely associate a smile with a kind intention, but also perceive a kindly smile. #RyanPhillippe 3 of 10

The mysteriously beautiful Victorian architecture and design were adored with symbols and angles, rooms and skylights to influence energy. The goal was to attract good spirits and avoid bad spirits. The way to be friendly to good spirits was to build them a place to visit. Many of the Victorian architects and homeowners had the financial freedom to honor whatever symbols and whims came from their imagination and from the spirits they believed were guiding them. And that is why their houses were bursting with Queen Anne Victorian architectural features like turrets, towers, curved walks, cupolas, cornices, and balconies, all outlined with finely detailed trimwork. When viewed from different angles, the towers, some topped by ornamental spires called finials, give the houses a castlelike appearance. Throughout the crafts-human-ship of a Victorian, one can get the sense of a secret society, portentous mysticism, magical rites and invented traditions, of the occult architecture. The important artists, writers, and scientists found it compelling to design these houses inside and out by the careful scrutiny of dreams and symbols, and their mental energies, to evoke occult explorations of ritualistic architecture and designs to show an organic unity. #RyanPhillippe 4 of 10

Victorians appreciated beauty and had exquisite taste. Victorian architecture was very passionate, playful, serious, whimsical—as extravagant as a person could be. They seem like they were transported from an archaic fairy tale land. The designs were unique to each house. Many have steeply pitched roofs, arched shaped windows of different designs, some that look like jewelry, other look like giant key holes, and they had concave and convex glass. There are usually towers (either round or octagonal) on a Victorian house. The interior of the house usually has a lot of private rooms, an enclosed kitchen to keep the smell of food from traveling through the house. There are usually high beam ceilings, several wood burning fireplaces (some large enough to walk into or burn an entire log) with decorative ceramic tiles and wooden mantels, hardwood and title floors, marble counter tops in the kitchen, sometimes hidden rooms, walls that are made of ship lap, wood wainscoting, solid wood doors, with brass or crystal door knobs, Lincrusta wallpaper imported from England, crystal light fixtures, dazzling art glass windows with colorful glass frames inset with glittering jewels, many of which were made to order in Austria and imported by Tiffany’s of New York. #RyanPhillippe 5 of 10

Once a room in a Victorian house was completed, it was adorned with some of the best furnishings money could buy. Through the house one could find gold and silver plated chandeliers, German silver and bronze inlaid doors, Swiss molded bath tubs, rare precious woods like mahogany, teak, maple, oak, and white ask and rosewood were used to make the walls, ceilings, stair cases (with brass cornerplates installed on stairways to make it easier to clean the steps), and floors. Some of the floors were arranged in impressive mosaic designs, which laid so that the sunlight streaming through the windows appeared to change the dark strips to light, and then back again, when viewed from opposite ends of the room. The finest cabinetmarkers toiled for years, using richly polished woods, to create built-in chests with deep drawers and tremendous bins and lockers. For insulation, wool was used instead of fiber glass. Carbide gas lights were in the house, and an inside crack was used to open and close outside window shutters. Many of these houses even came with washing machines, which were one-piece porcelain laundry basins and a washboard. There were many windows in these houses to let the sunlight stream in. #RyanPhillippe 6 of 10

Every aspect of the house expresses the fundamental function of symbolic representations in human consciousness and the power of humans to build an ideal or symbolic World of their own, which is human culture. Victorian houses are elaborate with several bedrooms and bathrooms, living rooms and a veranda. These mansions often had stately grounds with imported planets, flowers, trees, topiaries, and herbs from all around the World, and some of them still have the original plants. However, the Victorian area was started in 1837, so many of these houses are 100 to 200 years old. In Victorian renovations, the science of stabilizing and objective tendency predominates over the historical preservation and authenticity of the structure, which was originally established by the eccentric combination of wealth and extravagance to create houses that were dedicated to spiritualism and privacy. People often get upset when walls are knocked down and their interiors are stripped to their studs and made modern. The exterior looks Victorian, but the interior is modern, making it a Victorian-hybrid. Nonetheless, it is better than letting the house rot and fall because it is too expensive to repair.  #RyanPhillippe 7 of 10

However, true restoration, care, and upkeep on a Victorian never stops. The job of overseeing the restoration of a Victorian is painstaking. The historical accuracy of every project is researched and approved by the Restoration Board of Directors. And many of these houses receive no funds from any government agency. Millions of dollars are invested to ensure these unique landmarks are preserved as the premier showcase they are meant to be. The actual amount of materials required is staggering. The restoration work is very demanding and expensive. Each curved fish scale shingle on the exterior of the house has to be hand cut before being nailed onto a turret. All of the doors and windows have to be specially shaped and angled. A single room can take months to be perfectly redone. Often the hardware, Victorian fixtures, moldings and other materials have to be specially ordered or manufactured on the spot to match the originals. Cracked plaster has to be fixed, and there is an ongoing search for fine examples of period furnishings, similar to what was used at the time the house was built. It is in the place of humiliation that we find our true worth to God—that is where our faithfulness is revealed. #RyanPhillippe 8 of 10Walk through the light, I am already there. I will heal your heart in here and through this night we will open each door and face a thousand fears and all this aching will disappear when this night is done. And when you speak it is the only voice I will hear. You are the one and all this aching will disappear. In this World, no matter how many more years I will live and how far I will further travel, what I can never forget is your encouragement and expectation. In these special days, how I wish I could once again listen to your endearing inculcation. A heart lacking attention, needs the most Sunshine. How many times you have comforted me with your warm hands. I will cherish and treasure your love and your deep feelings forever. The seed of friendship is deeply embedded in your heart and mine. When Spring comes, it will bloom into a flower that belongs to you and me. You have left me with a beautiful reminiscence and what you have impressed in my mind is purity and friendship. I supposed, it could that it could all be wonderful, sweet as sound as all the stars come crashing down, but I will wait for you, meet me in the blue séance room. #RyanPhillippe 9 of 10

When I am with you not only do I feel a deeper and more abiding sense of contentment after these sessions, but also a greater sense of surprise, humor, and delight as I find myself accepting whatever occurs as my life unfold, and I welcome what comes letting go of what leaves as I experience life taking care of itself. Who are the people who have influenced us most? Certainly, not the ones who thought they did, but those who did not have even the slightest idea that they were influencing us. Godly influence is never conscious of itself. If we are conscious of our influence, it ceases to have the genuine loveliness which is characteristic of the touch of God. We always know when God is at work because He produced in the commonplace something that is inspiring. I indeed was in the past, but God came and something miraculous happened. You are the light inside of me, and I can see the World in your eyes. I have been waiting for too long, to become like this. So, close your eyes and do not turn away, those thoughts cannot rich in here. And all this aching will disappear when his name is called. These lines we have drawn are clear.  And when you speak, it is the only voice I will hear, I will hear you more than once. #RyanPhillippe 10 of 10 

March 25, 2017 10:56 pm

The soul has a specific structure which helps account for its capacity and archetypes of created things in the Divine Understanding   with the human mind. It is intimately united with God, perceived created, and extended things by way of ideas in God. Granted, not by way of individual archetypes but by way of infinite, intelligible extension, which is the common archetype of all extended things, actual of possible. God, or the Divine, is not a being analogous to human intelligence; rather, it is the ground of being revealed through becoming, through the infinitely numerous and infinitely varying beings or organisms that come into being through the Divine in space and time. Theory of a divine or creative force is known as entheism. The unknown Divine is revealed in nature through organization, structure, and organic unity. As the ground of being, it is outside space and time, unchanging and eternal. As thought or insight, it is the God-idea of religion, found everywhere in life and the cosmos. As life, it is the sphere, the basic form take by the living cells and the Heavenly stars. As matter, it is the ether exfoliating in infinitely varied things. #RandolphHarris 1 of 8

The body cannot be separated from the soul. Both are soul but we speak of “body” when some unknown part of the soul affects the known part; and we speak of “soul” when the known part affects the unknown part. Whatever understanding we can have of life and the human spirit hinges upon observation of how Universal unconsciousness, the unknown Divine, becomes conscious. Universal unconsciousness is not teleological in itself; it achieves purpose only as it becomes conscious through conscious individuals like humans. Consciousness is not more permanent than things; it is a moment between past and future. As a moment, it can maintain itself only through sleep or a return to the unknown. Monism is the doctrine that all things that are—however varied, diverse, and independent of each other they may appear to be—are somehow one. What makes them one are certain eternal laws that reside in things and are discovered, not created, by the investigator. These laws of nature are asserted to be dependent on a single law, which is identified with God. #RandolphHarris 2 of 8

Every part of the World is both material (acting in accord with the laws of matter) and spiritual (acting with accord the laws of the mind). The characteristic of mind, or spirit, is the ability to mirror the World. The worth of any part of the World depends on the degree to which it knows—that is, mirrors—the whole. This is achieved through greater and greater knowledge of the laws of nature. Hence, devotion to knowledge is the way to greater goodness. Prayer is recommended as a means of changing the will of the human who prays so that one can mirror the one law in his or her actions. We look into an ordinary mirror, we see how we appear. When we look into a sacred mirror, we see who we are. In the first kind of looking, we find an object—our face or body—and take it to be our self. In the second kind of looking, we see through a mental object (our self-images and stories) and find no one. This is both unnerving and tremendously freeing. While it does not appear that presence can be created, it can be attuned to, recognized, or welcomed. #RandolphHarris 3 of 8

When we look into our souls, compelling negative beliefs, powerful emotions, and intense somatic constrictions are frequently uncovered and gradually worked through. This transformative process is particularly important since it is of limited value to evoke presence in order to temporarily bypass difficult personal material. Instead, approaching the knots, and veils of personal difficulties from a much larger space allows them to open or dissolve more easily, even as they are accepted as they are. At this time, during this quiet prayer, the soul is open and transparent, attuning with and reflecting back God’s essence because this metaphysic process emphasizes freedom, life, and spirit. Reality is a fluent dynamism whose operation and forms are unified organically. The living process have a unique character that cannot be reduced to the terms of physics and chemistry but stimulates and directs the material vehicle. A conscious living being discovers its own freedom in the simple act of willing a bodily movement: freedom coincides with causation within. #RandolphHarris 4 of 8

Consciousness is not passively derived from more primitive conditions by laws of association and evolution. In the contrary, the pure ego projects its own structures upon the data of raw feeling, thus supplying the objects of mature experience and the principles underlying those of association and evolution. A person’s will is embodied in the actions of the whole person. I cannot give up my will—I must exercise it, putting it into action. I must will to obey, and I must will to receive God’s Spirit. When God gives me a vision of truth, there is never a question of what He will do, but only what I will do. Openly declare to God, “I will be faithful.” Will to be faithful—and give other people credit for being faithful, too. Intuitive speaking and listening is immediate, resonant with the moment, spontaneous, and intimate. Truth seems to directly touch itself. This movement is totally in the moment’s unfolding. From the compassion of Awakeness, suffering ends when we are free from taking the mind’s story to be truth. #RandolphHarris 5 of 8

Stories may need to be spoken or experienced fully, but their reality is based on the mind’s memory and projection. It is helpful to see that idea are just ideas. Although some hold great power, they are ultimately insubstantial. Is your story true, or are your defenses trying to protect something? When we work with our judgment, we work without an agenda. No one needs to fix you, change you, nor improve anything. This does not mean transformation does not happen; it means there is no one with an agenda of what should happen. I do not know what needs to happen. When we deeply and completely trust the unfolding of Life as Itself; when we know that whatever keeps the planets in their orbits is also keeping us in ours; when we are not afraid of suffering, silence, life, or death; when we know that we do Not know how anything should look, only that it manifests as it does; then there is freedom to completely be with the reflection of yourself sitting in front of you, thinking or feeling whatever is there. Then it is possible to love what is here even when the apparent others hates it. #RyanPhillippe 6 of 8

This love lets everything be exactly what it is. Its action may need to stop one thing (harm, for example) in a given moment, or encourage something else, but not because it is refusing to see what is here. Its action is wise because it does not refuse the moment as it actually is. To experience this very moment directly, authentically, intimately, is to experience our being, or awakeness, our love our truth. To do so heals the pain of separation. To allow things, moments, people, feelings, to be is felt as deeply as loving. Grief, anger, boredom, fear, deeply appreciate being able to just be what they are. Sadness is very happy when it can just be sad. We do not have to create stories to sustain, or stories to deny our experience. Neither do we have to try to be compassionate, or lean to be loving. Compassion arises naturally in the presence of direct, authentic experience and the silence of our true being. When we bare nothingness intimately touches itself as something; when what is radiantly clear meets is own confusions; when what is looking through our own eyes sees itself looking back—this awakenss we are is awake to itself. #RandolphHarris 7 of 8

Do you have even the slightest reliance on anything or anyone other than God? Is there a remnant of reliance left on any natural quality within you? Are you relying on yourself in any manner? Will you examine yourself by asking these probing questions? Is your relationship with God sufficient for you to expect Him to exhibit His wonderful life in you? When what is unconditionally loving meets the places in itself that have felt unloved; when what is innocent embraces fully what has been shamed; when what is infinitely open meets its own finite contractions—we experience healing. We will discover we do not need to change ourselves, we just need to accept who we are. Persons are unique; they play a role as creators of values in society, which ass the character of spirit to life. There must be something in my character that conforms to the linkeness of God. What we need is God’s surgical procedure—His use of external circumstances to bring about internal purification. Keep paying the price. Let God see that you are willing to live up to the vision. #RandolphHarris 8 of 8

March 24, 2017 11:32 pm