There is something humans cannot build, the one who builds it is superior to humans; the World is such a structure; and so God, who is superior to man, exists. However, some attack this argument by pointing out that the superior force need not be God; it can be nature, or the forces of nature, and that these things could have been formed without a personal God being involved at all. These attackers also made some interesting points about the notions of God. For instance, he is infinite, but infinite, having no place to move, is limited, restricted, unable to move. So, an infinite God is limited. He is supposed to be virtuous and perfect, but virtue involves overcoming pains and dangers, and only for a being who can suffer or be destroyed are there pains and danger. Neither suffering nor destructibility is consistent with perfection, so they believed that God cannot be both virtuous and perfect. #RandolphHarris 1 of 9
When God wants to take you to the throne, He wants to take you to a higher level. The Universe is formed by logos (through which all things are made, as divine) and there is regularity in the World, but this involves fog and diseases, deadly animals, and death for all. What sort of providence is this? And if each individual animal is fated to have all things turn out for its own good, is it for its own good that the pig is killed? As for man, how can God’s providence permit him to allow so many humans to use their reason faultily, in a way injurious to themselves, and to others? Moreover, if he allows weaknesses and misery in the Universe—whether intentionally or unintentionally—he is at fault, since intentional neglect and unintentional neglect are both faults. And these evils cannot be dismissed as minor; they are of great importance to the creatures who suffer from them. #RandolphHarris 2 of 9
Nonetheless, virtue, conformity to nature, is the sole good; vice, deviation from nature, the sole evil; and the rest of human actions adiaphora (things outside of moral law—that is, actions that morality neither mandates nor forbid; things which cannot be logically differentiated), morally indifferent. However, philosophers, scholars, and wise men and women, and stoics (impassive) wants certain things in nature other than virtue, and therefore these things are not indifferent; they are in fact good, along with virtue. A good reputation is good too. What you focus on, you magnify. If you stay focused on your problem or what you do not have and how it will never work out, all you are doing is making it bigger than it really is. When you magnify something, you do not change the size of the object; you only change your perception of it. #RandolphHarris 3 of 9
The art of effectively pursuing what we want is designated the “art of living.” This art uses common sense and probability, to pithanon (give cognitive impressions), to attain the fullest satisfaction of one’s orge (desire), or natural impulse, and eschews all arrogant, doctrinaire claims to the Truth. Many people grapple with one of the basic problems of morality, the freedom of humans to do good and evil. Human freedom is the will that is caused, but it is caused by itself and moves by virtue of its own nature (like Epicurean atoms, with their clinamen or unpredictable nature). There are successions of events, human actions preceded by certain events and conditions, but a succession is not the same as an efficacious, causal relationship. Events precede a human’s actions, but do not force one to act; a human’s will always has the last move. Even if there were a rigid causal chain predetermined from all eternity, we could not predict with certainty particular effects, given the many fortuitous causes that are always entering the picture; so for all practical human purposes there is no such chain, only successions of events. #RandolphHarris 4 of 9
Do not be intimidated in anyway by your enemies. You are strong, successful, and powerful. You are the child of the Most High. During the late 8th century, many students were only taught logic, Biblical exegesis, the trivium of grammar, rhetoric, and the quadrivium of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. The assimilation of ancient learning was stressed, and little original work was done; the chief forms of academic literature were commentaries and handbooks. This was to prevent the decay and intellectual stagnation which we are currently seeing in the 21st century, and foster the renaissance of the eleventh and twelfth century. Literary sensibility and intellectual curious was growing rapidly and some charming poem, art, architecture, and substantial doctrinal treatises remain to testify to the intellectual versatility of our ancestors. #RandolphHarris 5 of 9
The principle of the poof in God is the idea of the scale of perfection. Moving from that which simply exists through that which exists and lives and that which exists, lives, and possesses intelligence, the scale would be incomplete without the omnipotent intelligence which is God. God created everything, including human souls and bodies. There are also so many things in this World that people still do not know about. For instance, there are more than 400 miles of twisting catacombs that lie beneath the streets of Paris, Frances and are the eternal home to countless souls. Some of the caves are lined to the ceiling with skulls and bones because as Paris grew into its role as a major European destination, it ran into a major problem: the 17th century, enough people had lived and died in Paris that its cemeteries were overflowing, overstuffed with graves to the point corpses would at times become unearthed. #RandolphHarris 6 of 9
There were reports that the cemetery exuded a strong smell of decomposing flesh, and during prolonged period of Spring rain in 1780 caused the wall around Les Innocents to collapse, spilling rotting corpses into the streets, and the city needed a place to put its dead. There were centuries-old tunnels that existed beneath the streets of Paris since the 13th century, remnants of a time when limestone quarries were minded to build Paris, France into a World Class city. So, the solution was to place the more than 6 million corpses in this underground city’s catacombs. Some of the oldest corpuses dated back the 9th century, and it took the city twelve years to move all the bones and bodies–numbering between 6 and 7 million—into the catacombs. And during the French Revolution, the dead were buried directly in the catacomb’s ossuaries, including Jean-Paul Marat, and Maximillen de Robespierre. Many of the bones are stacked along the corridors, arranged in patterns, creating crosses and other patterns, and sculptures which were created by Louis XV. #RandolphHarris 7 of 9
Legend has it that the Gates of Hell are found in the ghoulish maze. Some people actually sneak into the catacombs and explore the parts of the catacombs that are closed off to the public. It is very scary because there are 400 hundred miles in the catacombs and many of the passages lead to deeper levels. There are caves and water in the catacombs and if the battery dies in your light, you can get lost and many never find your way out. The catacombs also reach hundreds of feet beneath the city of Paris, France. And there are inaccessible trapdoors back to the road above, others are sealed. Some people have secret underground parities in the catacombs and some guests have become spooked and said to have seen ghost and demons in the city of the dead. Several scholars are known to have touched on the question of Universal ideas, but the issue does not seem to have been widely debated. #RandolphHarris 8 of 9
The German monk Gottschalk (died circa 868) was accused of teaching that from eternity, God has predestined some men to have salvation and others to damnation; that God therefore does not in any sense will the salvation of all humans; and that each person’s will is irresistibly determined either to good or to evil. People have freedom and moral responsibility and after a series of conflicting synodical decisions one invokes the subtle metaphysical elaboration of that doctrine in the theology. The catacombs is like a versions of Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There because it is like stepping through to an alternative World where people journey through the a chess board, playing a game that could cost them their lives, in a World in which time, space, and causality are liable to operate in reverse. Many think living entities have no place in the grave World. The city stopped moving bones into the ossuaries in the 1860s, and today, only a mile of the tunnels is opened to the public for tours. #RandolphHarris 9 of 9
Remember all of those stories you concocted to tell my parents to explain my disappearance? As it turns out none was needed. The rain had slowed to a misty drizzle. I thought to walk down to the beach, to see if I could find any other sign of life. It is a bad idea to give dying people any kind of mind altering drugs or pain medication because then care givers can hide that the person is dying and steal money, assets and estates. Not only that, doctors think 85 percent of patients are dying, and by an act of God they go on living. The cruse of human nature is imagination. When a long-anticipated moment comes, we always find it pitched a note too low, for the wings of imagination are crushed into its withering sides under the crowding hordes of petty realities. It is too often assumed that a person’s fancy is a person’s real mind. By long brooding over our recollections, we subtilize them into something akin to imaginary stuff, and hardly capable of being distinguished from it. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7
As I skirted the side of the house, my imagination was a tarnished mirror. It would not reflect, or only with miserable dimness, the figures with which I did my best to people Let us not consider the evils which we do not feel, nor injure life my misrepresentations. Good intentions unaided by knowledge will perhaps produce more injury than benefit. We must not be inactive because we are ignorant. Our good purposes must hurry to performance, whether our knowledge be greater or less. Justice and compassion are the fruit of knowledge. Human scrutiny is neither to be solicited nor shunned. The human mind is an extensive plain, and knowledge is the river that should water it. God released my faith in uncommon ways. God increased me and showed me His favor. God has taken me forward into the fullness of my destiny. If you are not impressed by your faith, you are not tapping into everything God has in store. Take the limits off God and release your faith in uncommon ways, and you will see God commit supernatural magic in your life. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7
Put God in remembrance of His promises. Keep not silent. Give Him no rest till it comes to pass. When God hears His promises, He dispatches angels with the answers. He sets the miracle into motion. He will change things in your favor. It may not happen overnight, but just stay in faith and keep reminding God what He promised you day in and day out. If you present your case before God, the good news is that Christ is our Advocate, our lawyer. In the courtroom of Heaven, imagine Christ as our lawyer. God is the judge. Do not tell God why you cannot be successful, why you cannot get well, why you will never get out of debt. Instead, present your case based on God’s Word and you cannot lose. God will be faithful and true to His Word. God promised that our children will be mighty in our land. God may have put a promise in your heart that seems impossible. However, Lord, we believe and want to get into agreement with You and see the incredible greatness of Your power activated. God is our provider and is still on the Throne, and I believe that with one touch of God’s favor we will go from barely making it to have more than enough wealth, health, and love. #RandolphHarris 3 of 7
Although the truth of determinism does not imply that if a person performs a certain action, one could not (in the sense of the “can” of ability) have done otherwise, it might still be claimed that one would not, under these conditions, have the opportunity to do otherwise and, thus, that one could not do otherwise in the sense of the “can” of opportunity. However, this claim is simply false, since in the ordinary sense of “opportunity” one can be said to have the opportunity to do many things that one is not presently doing, whether or not determinism holds. As the examples of the “can” of opportunity indicate, having the opportunity to do X does not mean anything like being in a situation in which nothing physically essential for one’s performance of X is lacking, which the claim in this questions seems to suppose. On the contrary, to have the opportunity to do something requires only that one be in a situation such that is, roughly speaking, one wanted to do it, it would be reasonable to expect that one would be successful in doing it if one were able to do it (that is, could do it in the sense of ability). #RandolphHarris 4 of 7
Human experience is not the self-consciousness of an Absolute Subject. Essences are eternal and uncreated entities, not efficiently produced by God, but subject only to divine formal causality. One the other hand, there is an importance of existence in treating personality (divine and human), because personality is the very subsistence of the act of existing. Dull and heavy characters, incapable of animating from wit or from reason, because unable to keep pace with them, and void of all internal sources of entertainment, require the stimulation of show, glare, noise, and bustle, to interest or awaken them. Of a truth, Knowledge is power, but it is a power reined by scruple, having a conscience of what must be and what may be; whereas Ignorance is a blind giant who, let him but wax unbound, would make it a sport to seize the pillars that hold up the long-wrought fabric of human good, and turn all the laces of joy dark as a buried Babylon. People who are long before they see a thing, when once it strikes them, see it in the strongest light. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7
The Spirit is knowable as Truth; as present, it is sensible as Beauty; and as future, it can be willed as Good. Spirit can be described in secular terms as real time. These moments are not successive, but mutually immanent: no experience is absolutely past or present or future; whatever can be cognized can also be appreciated or willed, or with the main item in the preceding statement the other way around. The essential activity of spirituality is to initiate a process of self-distinction by which the constitutive act of existence is reduced from its initial abstract self-identification to a concrete unity in difference. This leads to the postulation of an exterior World, for without such a World the identity of the subject must remain abstract (existing in thought or as an idea, but not having a physical or concrete existence). You hear people say all the time that you should live within, but the fact of the matter is that we live in a material World and we are meant to enjoy gifts outside of ourselves like, love, nature, beauty, and freedom. No one should have to live in a conceptual or imaginary World when they are a being created by higher synthesis. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7
Values can be realized, communicated, and related only within the diverse dimensions consequent to the process of self-distinction. This incarnation of spiritual activity makes it possible for the World to allow us to realize values, disperses rather than integrates them. However, a principle of integration value is needed. This principle cannot lie in spiritual activity itself, for in that case it would become the norm of those values and hence could not establish their transcendentality. God is this transcendent and transcendental principle of the integrity of values. The first manifestation of integrity is to be found in the concrete unity of the incarnate human person. The World and God become the twin poles between which the human person mediates and, in the process of mediation, creates both its own selfhood and the concrete locus of the integrity of all values. God, with a great love, loves the person whose heart is bursting with a passion for the extraordinary. True faith rests upon the character of God and asks no further proof than the moral perfections of the One (God) who cannot lie. It is enough that God has said it. Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that humans have staked their life on it a billion times. #RandolphHarris 7 of 7
He had the kind of character in which prudence is a vice, and good advice the most dangerous nourishment. There is a terrible coercion in our deeds, which may first turn the honest man into a deceiver and then reconcile him to the change, for this reason—that the second wrong presents itself to him in the guise of the only practicable right. However, Aaliyah had known the species before: she had great discerning intelligence, and many might have taken this for happiness; she was aware that such a guarded nature must find one huge outlet of egoism, and she determined to be to him what his Americana had hitherto been: the one possession in which Randolph took sufficient pride to spend money on it. Aaliyah knew that this generosity to self is one of the forms of meanness, and she resolved so to identify herself with her husband’s vanity that to gratify her wishes would be to him the most exquisite form of self-indulgence. The system might at first necessitate a resort to some of the very shifts and expedients from which she intended it should free her; but Aaliyah felt sure that in a short time she would be able to play the game in her own way. How should she have distrusted her own powers? #RandolphHarris 1 of 7
Beauty maintains a glorious elasticity in its own ecstasies of hope, provided you do not crush it with a doubt of its own purity. Her beauty itself was not the mere ephemeral possession it might have been in the hands of inexperience: her skill in enhancing it, the care she took of it, the use she made of it, seemed to give it a kind of permanence. Aaliyah felt she could trust her beauty to carry her though to the end. As we know not future events, so neither can we tell to what purpose any accident tends; and that which at first threatens us with evil may in the end produce our good. The forbidden triad deals with the situation where one person has strong ties with the other two, but they have no relationship with each other. Imagine two people who you are very close to people with whom you spend a lot of time, have intense emotional experiences, share intimacy, and for whom you do favors. It is very unlikely that those two people do not have a strong relationship, but we would expect them to have some connection to one another. And this is why it is better for a man to die at peace with himself than to live haunted by an evil conscience of an assassin, haunted by a vague sense of enormous wickedness. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7
Obsessive prohibition possesses an extraordinary capacity for displacement; they make use of almost any form of connection to extend from one object to other and then in turn make this new object “impossible.” We are apt to connect the voice of conscience with the stillness of midnight. However, we wrong that innocent hour. It is that terrible “next morning,” when reason is wide awake, upon which remorse fastens its fangs. The necessity of guarding the king from every conceivable danger arises from his great important for the weal and woe of his subjects. Strictly speaking, he is a person who regulates the course of the World; his people have to thank him not only for rain and sunshine, which allow the fruits of the Earth to grow, but also for the wind which brings the ships to their shores and for the solid ground on which they set their feet. These savage kings are endowed with a wealthy of power and an ability to bestow happiness which only gods possess; certainly in later stages of civilization none but the most servile courtiers would play the hypocrite to the extent of crediting their sovereigns with the possession of attributes similar to these. Be clear of conscience, and for no bills without receipts to them. #RandolphHarris 3 of 7
It seems like an obvious contradiction that persons of such perfection of power should themselves require the greatest care to guard them against threatening dangers, but this is not the only contradiction revealed in the treatment of royal persons on the part of savages. These races consider it necessary to watch over their kings to see that they use their powers in the right way; they are by no means sure of their good intentions or of their conscientiousness. A strain of mistrust is mingled with the motivation of the taboo rules for the king. The idea that early kingdoms are despotisms, in which the people exist only for the sovereign, is wholly inapplicable to the monarchies we are considering. On the contrary, the sovereign in them exists only for his subjects: his life is only valuable so long as he discharges the duties of his position by ordering the course of nature for his people’s benefit. So soon as he fails to do so, the care, the devotion, the religious homage which they had hitherto lavished on him cease and are changed into hatred and contempt; he is ignorminiously dismissed and may be thankful if he escapes with his life. Whenever a lie was necessary for their occasion, they brought it out with a careless ease and breadth altogether untroubled by the rebuke of conscience. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7
Worshiped as a God one day, he is killed as a criminal the next. However, in this changed behavior of the people there is nothing capricious or inconsistent. On the contrary, their conduct is quite consistent. If their king is their God he is, or should be, also their preserver; and if he will not preserve them he must make room for another who will. So long, however, as he answers their expectations, there is no limit to the care which they take of him, and which they compel him to take of himself. A king of this sort lives hedged in by ceremonious etiquette, a network of prohibitions and observances, of which the intention is not to contribute to his dignity, much less to his comfort, but to restrain him for conduct which, by disturbing the harmony of nature, might involve himself, his people, and the Universe in one common catastrophe. Far from adding to his comfort, these observances, by trammeling his every act, annihilate his freedom and often render the very life, which it is their object to preserve, a burden and sorrow to him. It is not an easy matter to hit a conscience exactly between wind and water. Strong wind, Earthquake-shock, and fire may pass by: but I shall follow the guiding of that still small voice which interprets the dictates of conscience. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7
Bribed conscience makes hypocrites—frightened conscience makes fanatics—but reason-drilled conscience makes incarnate devils. Tell me if there ever, even in the ages of most favorable to glory, could be a triumph more exalted and elating than the conquest of one noble heart? The pangs of conscience, so much vaunted by some, do most certainly drive ten deeper into sin where they bring one back to virtue. Self-knowledge leads to wonder, and wonder to curiosity and investigation, so that nothing interest people more than people, even if only one’s own person. Good sense is the most evenly shared thing in the World, for each of us thinks one is so well endowed with it that even those who are the hardest to please in all other respects are not in the habit of wanting more than they have. Self-awareness makes human experience resonant. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7
It imparts that simultaneous “echo” to all that we think and feel as the box of a violin reverberates with the sound of the strings. It gives depth and volume to what would otherwise be shallow and flat. The idea of predicting behavior is a frightening one to many people. You might be afraid that if you can predict your own behavior you will act. There is no such thing as chance or accident; the words merely signify our ignorance of some real and immediate causes. Some people are more gifted at living than others. They do have an effect on those around them, but the process stops there because there is no way of describing in technical terms just what it is they do. This tremendous conflict of opening manhood, which is to our life here what is the landing of soul to the life to come. I want to get to know my son. #RandolphHarris 7 of 7
I am quite willing to give up all the paths to gratification interdicted by society, but I am sure that society will reward me for this renunciation by opening for me—even after a certain delay—one of the permitted paths? One can plainly tell what these witticisms whisper, namely, that the wishes and desires of humans have a right to make themselves perceptible next to our pretentious and inconsiderate morality. And in our time, it has been said in emphatic and striking terms that this morality is merely the selfish precept of the few rich and mighty who can gratify their desires at any time without deferment. As long as the art of healing has not succeeded in safeguarding our lives, and as long as the social organizations do not do more towards making conditions more agreeable, just so long cannot the voice within us which is striving against the demands of morality be stifled. Every honest person finally makes this admission—at least to oneself. The decision in this conflict is possible only through the roundabout way of a new understanding. The qualities which are the most attractive before dinner sometimes become the least so in the evening. It is always a mystery what people see in each other. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7
One must be able to knit one’s life so closely to that of others, and to form such an intimate identification with others, that the shortening of one’s own term of life becomes surmountable; one should not unlawfully fulfill the demands of one’s own needs, but should leave them unfulfilled, because only the continuance of so many unfulfilled demands can develop the power to recast the social order. However, not all personal needs allow themselves to be displaced in such a manner and transferred to others, nor is there a universal and definite solution to conflict. A radio station that plays hip hop music and has a mostly heterosexual audience should not lure their listeners to a homosexual club because it will put everyone in danger. Were Niagara but a cataract of sand, would you still travel to see it? We know how to designate the witticisms just discussed; they are cynical witticism, and what they conceal are cynicisms. Among the institutions which cynical wit is wont to attack there is none more important and more completely protected by moral precepts, of the cynical jokes are directed against it. For no demand is more personal than that made upon sexual freedom, and nowhere has civilization attempted to exert a more stringent suppression than in the realm of sexuality. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7
A wife is like an umbrella, at worst one may also take a cab. We have already elucidated the complicated technique of this example; it is a puzzling and seemingly impossible comparison which, however, as we now see, is not in itself witty. It shows besides an allusion (cab = public conveyance), and as the strongest technical means it also shows an omission which serves to make it still more unintelligible. The comparison may be worked out in the following manner. A man marries in order to guard himself against the temptations of sensuality, but it then turns out that after all marriage does not afford sufficient gratification for one of stronger needs, just as one takes along an umbrella for protection against rain only to get wet in spite of it. In both causes one must search for a better protection; in one cause one must take a public cab, in the other, women procurable for money. Now that wit has almost entirely been replaced by cynicism. That marriage is not the organization which can satisfy a man’s Christian von Ehrenfels (contrast between certainty and uncertainty), or a Judge Lindsay, who is forced to it by the love of truth and the zeal of reform. The strength of this witticism lies in the fact that it has expressed the thought even though it had to be done through all sorts of roundabout ways. #RandolphHarris 3 of 7
There is something elevating in the possession of authority, however it may be abused. Primitive humans believed everything was controlled by some sort of spirit. If there was a storm, the reason must be that the gods were angry. If crops were bad, then the first-born son must be sacrificed to appease the gods. If the child was born deformed, it was because an evil spirit possessed him, and he must be killed. A person who was emotionally or physically ill must be possessed by a demon. People also assumed that forces or spirits controlled all their behavior. One could buy a witch’s services to invoke the spirits and increase his sexual prowess, capture a lover, or bring misfortune to an enemy. In most primitive cultures, even today, people assume that they have little choice in their own destiny, because it is controlled by good and evil spirits and by fate. Assumptions are idea which one holds to be true without any proof that they are true—things that are “taken for granted.” Turn me a prey to the wild beast, so I be never again the victim of man dressed in the in the gore-dripping robes of authority. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7
Shall we never make an attempt, because we do not always succeed? In some cultures, these assumptions are so strongly held that they can literally result in death. Anthropologists have reported observing such events in tribe where members were taught that if they violated certain (social scientists engaged in the study of humans) taboos they would die. Taboos are negative rules, the “thou shalt nots” of a society (from a Tongan word that means sacred, prohibited, inviolable). Inlanders all, the come from lanes and alleys, streets and avenues—north, east, south, and west. Yet here they all unite. Tell me, does the magnetic virtue of the needless of the compasses of all those ships attract them thither? Though you have kept company with a wolf, you have not learnt to how of him. That person and the other members of the tribe assumed that the taboo-breaker would die as a result. In fact, they began to act as though he were already dead. Imagine how you would feel if, even for a week, everyone acted as though you were about to die. The taboo-breaker assumed he must die. Everyone around him thought so, too. And in time he did. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7
If you were a member of that tribe, you might reach the logical conclusion that some external force or spirit had killed the taboo-breaker. One important way in which primitive humans tried to understand one’s World was through observation of one’s own experiences. However, many times one’s observations were based upon a limited awareness of oneself and the nature of the World. (Spirits control me and everything around me.) Although few of us believe in a taboo strong enough to cause death, our personal beliefs can influence us in ways almost that important. Humans have always assumed a causal World. For centuries, they believed their World and their being was controlled by spirits and demons. However, as one expanded one’s knowledge, humans began to question the demon-spirit model of causality. Humans began to exert control over their own environment—predicted when to plant crops, what seeds to use, the location of the best soil, and the best time to harvest. When their crops failed, instead of sacrificing their first-born child to appease the gods who had been assumed to cause the failure, they sought better seeds, or richer soil, or an increased water supply and tried again. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7
By changing what one knows about the World, humans change the World they know; and by changing the World in which one lives, humans change themselves. A patient whose hearing was defective consulted a physician who made the correct diagnosis, namely, that the patient probably drank too much whiskey and consequently becoming deaf. He advised him to desist from drinking and the patient promised to follow his advice. Some time thereafter the doctor met him on the street and inquired in a loud voice about his condition. “Thank you, Doctor,” was the reply, “there is no necessity for speaking so loudly, I have given up drinking whiskey and consequently I hear perfectly.” Some time afterwards they met again. The doctor again inquired into his condition in the usual voice, but noticed that he did not make himself audible. “It seems to me that you are deaf again because you have returned to drinking whiskey,” shouted the doctor in the patient’s ear. “Perhaps you are right,” answered the latter, “I have taken to drinking again, and I shall tell you why. As long as I did not drink I could hear, but all that I heard was not as good as the whiskey.” Technically, this joke is nothing more than an illustration. The jargon and the ability of the raconteur must aid in the production of laughter. However, behind it there lies the sad question, is not the man right in his choice? #RandolphHarris 7 of 7
No, please do not ask what it is that James said. Not only did he use language not fit for the ears of a pirate, but the gist of what he said was offensive, more so because it is true. However, when said by people such as James, true things can sound vicious and frightening. Trust me on this. Hmm…do I have any ideas as to what you can tell your parents? A burning desire to see if the unicorns on the mainland are as shinny as the sheep in Stockholm, Germany? The insatiable itch to taste a German Bienenstich, to taste that delicious dessert made of sweet yeast dough with a baked-on topping of caramelized almonds, and filled with Buttercream? An urgent need to buy black marble urn? An indiscernible longing to follow a tall, athletic-build, attractive American man with caramel skin, dreamy brown bedroom eyes, soft pillow lips, bright white teeth, a charming personality, and a pleasant scent up to his house? Nonetheless, I will be leaving in the morning. I wanted to get one more letter off to you before departing Paris, as I am not sure when I will get the chance to mail another. Even though this is what I traveled across the ocean for, I cannot help but feel the twinge of nerves. We will see what tomorrow will Bring! #RandolphHarris 1 of 5
Are you having fun? All of the seriousness and the grim aspect of this aside, are you finding things to make you happy? Envy is painful because it arouses one’s own sense of inadequacy. And then we often resent the person whose successes have inadvertently provoked this feeling. Unconsciously, this resentment fuels one’s endless desire for a single decisive or powerful action, which will benefit us, and of course it will not come your way when you have a spirit of lack and limitation. As the cycle progresses, one might feel increasingly dissatisfied and unhappy in one’s job and alienated from one’s colleagues. There may be a false belief that everyone is against you. And your family members may grow weary of your constant complaints about the situation at work. In many cases, some people may seek to escape their vicious cycle of jealousy and envy by engaging in a binge of television, an over-indulgence in food, sleeping all day like a vampire, drugs, alcohol, and the sex. What is the way out of the evil vortex of envy and greed? The answer is to go within. When you are envious of someone else, you are constantly looking at them, making up stories about them, evaluating their accomplishments, and comparing yourself to them, and that is when you set your own self up to lose. #RandolphHarris 2 of 5
While weak souls are crushed by fortune, the brave mind maketh the fickle deity afraid of it. In our own hearts, we mould the whole World’s hereafters; and in our own hearts, we fashion our own gods. Whoever used to have a gas lamp in one’s room, but now uses electric light, will experience for a long time a definite feeling of pleasure when pressing the electric light button; this please continues as long as at that moment the individual remembers the complicated arrangements necessary to light the gas lamp. So, people who actually earn what they work for will feel a source of pleasure because we save a particular expenditure which we are willing to make, and which we are also ready to make at this time. That expenditure is expected and prepared for, and is a factor which stands unmistakably in the foreground. However, when you are jealous of someone and have to lie, steal, and cheat to get ahead, you will never be happy with anything. Nothing will ever be good enough. What you obtain will not fail to give you momentary pleasure, but it will not bring about a lasting alleviation so long as you did not truly earn it. Obviously, when people set goals and have dreams and work to honestly achieve their desires, this gives us a greater feeling of pleasure. Everyone in this World has their own fate intrusted to themselves. #RandolphHarris 3 of 5
Amidst our most swift and easy pace the rider must guard oneself against a fall, and it is when prosperity is at the highest that our prudence should be awake and vigilant to prevent misfortune. By addressing problems before they can grow larger, conscientious individuals maintain better health overall and, on average, live longer with better quality life. Meticulous individuals perform better at some jobs than others because they have a certain type of thoroughness, caution, vigilance and strive to be orderly, organized, and efficient. There is a mental benefit to exercising self-control because it helps people to regulate their emotions and behavior. Self-control helps people find a sense of meaning in life, the feeling that one’s existence has purpose and value. One way to obtain self-control is through religion because it generally dichotomizes right and wrong. Religion also helps people cope with life stressors that threaten meaning, such as the death of a loved one. The meaning that religion inspires can be of great consequence because people who perceive their lives as meaningful tend to be healthier and live longer. Learn to face and, ultimately, control your fear and anger so you can avoid being seduced by the dark side of reality. #RandolphHarris 4 of 5
One morning I was woken by my father coming through the front door, stirring up the fire, putting on the kettle. He has brought a pot of Bibbelsche Bohnesupp (a traditional bacon onion and potato soup from Saarland in Germany) with him to warm up for my dinner and spooned some into a bowl for me to take to Ms. Wonder Woman, who lived nearby. When I returned, the floor was swept, the sheets were airing, and the stew was bubbling on the fire. I had left your letters scattered all over the bed and they had been neatly put away, although I did not think must of it at the time. I was too in awe of the pot of traditional cuisine over my fire to worry about details like that! Obviously, he had read the whole stack of letters. Existence is a great put, and the antiquated Fate who stirs it ‘round cares nothing what rises to the top and what goes down, and laughs when the bubbles burst. He said to me, “Your marvelous faculty of dreaming as if you were awake is based upon your virtues, upon your goodness, your justice, and your love of truth; it is the moral clarity of your nature which makes everything about you intelligible to me.” Think, what right have you to be scornful, whose virtue is a deficiency of temptation, whose success may be a chance, whose rank may be an ancestor’s accident, whose prosperity is very like a satire? #RandolphHarris 5 of 5
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. The holidays are full of joy and happiness for a lot of people. I went to the Theatre of Lights last night in Sacramento City, California, USA. And it was amazing. A lot of the grown men thought it was too much because there were so many lights, but I was totally enthralled and had a really good time and everyone was happy and so excited. I had been there a few hours before Santa Klaus made his appearance, so I went for a walk to take a peak and the Golden State Warriors game playing in the Oracle Arena just a few feet away and came back right on time to see hear a story about Sacramento City and the oldest building standing, and there came Santa. I stayed around for a few more minutes to hear what Santa had to say, took a few pictures of him and then left and got a slice of cake, and a hamburger. I am a vegetarian, but I was feeling weak and thought it was from a lack of meat, but I guess I am actually sick. We are sparks, we are shadows, we are pollen, which the next wind will carry away. We are dying already; it is all a dream. #RandolphHarris 1 of 5
Men will dream; those most that can be asked of the is but that the dream be not too glaring discord with the thing they know. My dad and my grandfather both passed away in December. My dad passed away first on 4th of December and my grandfather a few years later on 10th of December. So, for me, the Theatre of Lights really did my heart and soul some good. I remember me sister and I used to wake up at 5am, when it was still dark outside to open our presents, but our parents would tell us to go back to bed. Nonetheless, it was so magical to wake up in the dark and smell the fresh pine tree, and see all the beautiful and colourful lights on the tree. Back in those days, we used to see the big light bulbs on the Christmas tree and the living room would be packed full of shinny gifts and it was so pretty. I remember my mother got big fish tank full of tropical fish and they were so pretty. And there was also an eel and I thought her name was nail because they sound alike and maybe it is just my imagination, but I think she had red cheeks. #RandolphHarris 2 of 5
So, one night, I thought the fish were cold and turned up the heater in the fish tank and the next morning they all died. I told my parents what happened and I did not even get in trouble, and we did not get any more fish either. I thought that they would replace them, but they did not. Then a year later, we got a goldfish named Ralph and I gave him a bath and he died. Later on, we ended up getting a dog, but my mother did not like dogs, so she kept him in the backyard and one day we went to play with him and he was dead. We had a pretty bad track record with pets. So, there was this pretty humming bird that used to come drink nectar out of the flowers and the back yard, and I used to make believe she was a princess with a magic traveling crown and all of the flowers were gifts from her to make us happy. Each swirl of colour was a memory of happy moments. Happy are they who are blessed with the power of making happy. #RandolphHarris 3 of 5
Few people have not their secret moments of deep feeling. Many people think that Christmas should not be about gifts and that we should focus on religion. Well, that is a great thought, but those gifts mean so much. My father and grandfather are no longer with us and you see how much joy the Theater of Light brought me because it took me back to a time when I was happy and it seemed that my parents would live forever and I remember the smiles on their faces. Thankfully my mother is still alive. When I was going home on Thanksgiving, one of my neighbors told me, “I wish I could go to my mother’s house, she is no longer with us.” And family is so important. When I was younger, my mother used to tell me to be thankful for the family because the World is full of snakes who will do you wrong and not even think a second thought about it, and I see that it is true. And I met so many cold people and I am kind of a contradiction because I saw that human relationships mean so much more than money, but at the same time I do not want to date or make relationships. I just want to build a career and focus on making money. The human heart is unsearchable. Who is to fathom it? #RandolphHarris 4 of 5
Money is different for people. Some people will burn you and use you for money and after you get used by so many people you no longer want romance or to focus on making friends. Some people just want a successful career so they can buy the things they like. Material possessions will not hurt you like people will. So anyway, the group of reporters and the particular celebrity who loves to make my life hard on me, I hope you are happy and you all deserve whatever you get. Sometimes we may be discouraged because our plans have not worked out, but those closed doors were not an accident. That was God directing our steps. The reason God closed them is because He has something better in store. Thank God for closing doors just as much as for opening doors. I believe and declare those of us who are kind and loving will see the exceeding, abundant, above-and-beyond future that God has in store. God never said that He would prevent life storms, but He did promise He would use every storm for His divine purpose. The human heart is vast enough to contain all the World. #RandolphHarris 5 of 5
We are all kind of lost at various stages in our lives. People in general attach too much importance to words. They are under the illusion that talking effects great results. As a matter of fact, words are, as a rule, the shallowest portion of all the argument. They but dimly represent the great surging feelings and desires which lie behind. When the distraction of the tongue is removed, the heart listens. Yesterday, I was watching a film called Stuck in Love, and it was basically a true story by first time director Josh Boone, and the producers did not know if they could get financing for the film because it was a romantic drama, but once they plot was looked into many thought the movie would be a big hit because it was a form of cinema therapy. We live in a World that is a great mart, where all things are for sale to one who bids the highest in the currency of their desires. However, true love is the one thing on this Earth you cannot buy. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7
In the Film Stuck in Love, Greg Kinnear plays the role of William Borgens, who was Married to Erica Borgens (Jennifer Connelly), and they had two children Samantha Borgens (lily Collins) and Rusty Borgens (Nat Wolff). However, William fell in love with someone else while he was married to his wife and left her for six months, I suppose he was finding himself, and this caused the divorce and a rift in the family. William is a successful award winning writer, and I think it is possible that his character probably had a nontraditional affair because his wife is everything you would want a woman to be and I cannot understand why he would love her. He got to order the food she likes, pick the books she read and probably even picked out her clothes, but possibly the couple was married at a young age and he realized he was curious? The World is such a wheel-carriage, that it might very properly be called the Whirl’d. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7
Well, anyway, after leaving his wife, Erica, she remarries a younger man, and they live in a fabulous suburban house alone, and the kids live in a three-story beach house with their father William. William wants his children to be writers, so he pays them to write and his daughter who just recently graduates from high school and is in college gets her first book published. Bill’s son Rusty is still a virgin and does not really live life, here is just kind of their until he falls in love with a girl in his class who turns his World inside out. All along, Bill is kind of spying on his wife and praying that she will come back into his life, but everyone keeps telling him he should move on. And I really loved this movie because Bill is the type of father everyone would want and the kids and wife are just so precious and real. This movie made me feel love. Like it awakened my heart and made me realize that there are still people out there who believe in love and that love to many is far more important than money. #RandolphHarris 3 of 7
In itself, each ship is an island, a floating colony of the tribe to which it belongs. As I was watching this movie, I fell in love with the characters. However, you have to remember that they are actors and may not necessarily be the people you are looking for, in a manner of speaking. Many people tend to look up to celebrities and think that they are all kind and loving, but that many not be the case. The World can be ever tyrannical; it wraps our sorrows to edge them with keener affliction. However, what I really liked about stuck in love it is based on a true story and the boy in the film, Rusty Borgens really admired Stephen King and his sister, Samantha Borgens submitted one of his stories to Stephen King, after Rusty underwent a tremendous hardship and Stephen King actually phoned him and complimented him on his work and got his story published, and then Rusty complimented Stephen King on his work and they really bonded and I thought it was amazing because nothing would uplift a person more than one of your role models helping you out and taking the time to have a conversation with you. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7
What I find very impressive about these real-life aspects of this film, also, is the film and the production is full of heart and it has so much truth to it. Josh Boone based a lot of it on his parents’ divorce and he really admired Greg Kinnear and Jennifer Connelly and actually got them to work in his film. You can also tell that Rusty is based on Josh because of the scar by his left eye. Josh grew up in a religious household and was not allowed to read Stephen King and used to tear the covers off of religious books and paste them on to Stephen King books so his parents would not find out. However, his mother found his stash of books and burned them. When Josh was twelve, he wrote Stephen King a letter and told him that he wanted to be a writer when he grows up and send him the Dark Tower books and asked Mr. King to autograph them. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7
Unfortunately, Josh did not know Stephen King’s address, but he knew he lived in Bangor, Mane USA and sent the box of books to Bangor, Mane. A few weeks later he came back to his house from school and he got a package from Stephen King, and Mr. King wrote very inspiring things to him on each book cover and inspired him to write. Josh’s parents were so impressed that they let him read Stephen King books. And I was just really moved by the fact that so many things worked out for Josh in his real life and with the film. He was able to get a lot of the things he wanted, including his favorite actors and even Stephen King was involved in the project. This movie, Stuck in Love, really touched my heart and soul and made me feel good about humanity. It made me, once again, realize that love is real and dreams do come true and that there are good people in the World. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7
The film Stuck in Love ends with the family having a happy Thanksgiving together, and I posted a clip of it and put it on my Twitter accounts with the quote, “This is what I want my life to be like.” And after watching Stuck in Love, I went home for Thanksgiving and was kind of reluctant, but when I got to the door my mother greeted me and said she cooked because I had not been coming home the past year and it was really a nice time. Dinner was ready on time, the evening was peaceful, my sister and Step dad were there and everyone was nice. My sister’s friend told me, “I am so happy to see you. I walk past your apartment and think about your everyday.” As I sat down to have my coffee by the fire, which is adjacent from the family room, I heard my sister’s friend say, “I know he has been having a really hard time.” I also remember her brother passed away at a very young age. This day and move really meant a lot to me and it warmed my heart and today I called my mother and thanked her for dinner. It is the right nature of beauty to work unwitting effects of wonder. Also, thank you to Josh Boone and Judy Cairo for making Stuck in Love, and thank you to all of the actors. #RandolphHarris 7 of 7
