There is no bondage more grievous than that which a person forges for himself, when he yields his judgment to another’s will. Such dependence, once sweetened by affection, grows into a distemper of the mind, wherein the sufferer fears to breathe without the other’s permission. Morbid dependency is the neurotic tendency to seek and maintain affection through involvement in exploitative or manipulative relationships. Domestic violence is a pathological pattern of interpersonal dependency that is linked to domestic violence. Research suggests that high levels of emotional dependency in an abused partner may reduce the likelihood that the victimized person will terminate the relationship. Although we can study the characteristics of a morbid dependency in any relationship, they come into clearest relief in the sexual relationship between a self-effacing and an arrogant-vindictive type. The conflicts generated here are more intense, and can develop more fully, since, for reasons residing in both partners, the relationship is usually of longer duration. The narcissistic or detached partner more easily becomes tired of the implicit demands made upon him and is liable to quit, while the sadistic partner is more prone to fasten himself onto his victim. For the dependent person, in turn, it is much more difficult to extricate himself from a relation with an arrogant-vindictive type. With his peculiar weakness, he is as unequipped for such an involvement as a ship built for navigation in still waters is for crossing a rough, stormy ocean. Her whole lack of sturdiness, every weak spot in her structure, will then make itself felt and may mean ruin. #RandolphHarris 1 of 22

Similarly, a self-effacing person may have functioned fairly well in life, but when tossed into the conflicts involved in such a relationship, every hidden neurotic factor in him will come into operation. Let us assume that the self-effacing partner is a woman and the aggressive one a man. Actually, this combination seems to be more frequent in our civilization, although, as many instances show, self-effacement has nothing to do with femininity nor aggressive arrogance with masculinity. The first characteristic to strike us is such a woman’s total absorption in the relationship. The partner becomes the sole center of her existence. Everything revolves around him. Her mood depends upon whether his attitude toward her is more positive or negative. She does not dare make any plans lest she might miss a call or an evening with him. Her thoughts are centered on understanding or helping him. Her endeavors are directed toward measuring up to what she feels he expects. She has but one fear—that of antagonizing and losing him. Conversely, her other interests subside. Her work, unless connected with him, becomes comparatively meaningless. This may even be true of professional work otherwise dear to her heart, or productive work in which she has accomplished things. Naturally, the latter suffers most. Other human relations are neglected. She may neglect or leave her children, her home. Friendships serve more and more merely to fill the time when he is not available. Engagements are dropped at a moment’s notice when he appears. The impairment of other relations often is fostered by the partner, because he, in turn, wants to make her more and more dependent upon him. Also, she starts to look at her relatives or friends through his eyes. He scorns her trust in people and instills his own suspiciousness in her. So, she loses her roots and becomes increasingly impoverished. In addition, her self-interest, always at a low ebb, sinks. She may incur debts, risk her reputation, her health, and her dignity. If she is in analysis, or used to analyzing herself, the interest in self-recognition gives way to a concern for understanding his motivations and helping him. #RandolphHarris 2 of 22

The trouble may set in, full-fledged, right at the beginning. However, sometimes, things look fairly auspicious for a while. In certain neurotic ways, the two seem to fit together. He needs to be the master; she needs to surrender. He is openly demanding, and she is complying. If her pride is broken, only then can she surrender, and for many reasons of his own, he cannot fail to do so. However, sooner or later, clashes are bound to occur between two temperaments—or, more accurately, between two neurotic structures—which in all essentials are diametrically opposed. The main clashes occur on the issue of feelings, of “love.” She insists upon love, affection, and closeness. He is desperately afraid of positive feelings. Their display seems indecent to him. Her assurances of love seem like pure hypocrisy to him—and indeed, as we know, it is actually more a need to lose herself and merge with him that motivates her than personal love for him. He cannot keep from striking out against her feelings, and hence, against her. This, in turn, makes her feel neglected or abused, arouses anxiety, and reinforces her clinging attitudes. And, here, another collision occurs. Although he does everything to make her dependent upon him, her clinging to him terrifies and repels him. He is afraid and contemptuous of any weakness in himself and despises it in her. This means another rejection for her, provoking more anxiety and more clinging. Her implicit demands are felt as coercion, and he must hit out in order to retain his feelings of mastery. Her compulsive helpfulness offends his pride. And actually, with all her often sincere attempts, she does not really understand him—hardly can do so. #RandolphHarris 3 of 22

Besides, in her “understanding,” there is too much need to excuse and to forgive, for she feels all her attitudes are good and natural. He, in turn, senses her feeling morally superior and feels provoked to tear down the pretenses involved. There is but scant possibility for a good talk about these matters because, at bottom, they are both self-righteous. So, she starts to see him as a brute, and he sees her as a moral prig. If it were done in a constructive way, the tearing down of her pretenses could be eminently helpful. However, as it is mostly done in a sarcastic, derogatory way, it merely hurts her and makes her more insecure and more dependent. It is an idle speculation to ask whether or not, with all these clashes, they might be helpful to each other. Certainly, he could stand some softening and she some toughening. However, mostly, they are both too deeply entrenched in their particular neurotic needs and aversions. Vicious circles which bring out the worst in both, keep operating, and can result only in mutual torment. The frustrations and limitations to which she is exposed vary not so much in kind as in being more or less civilized, more or less intense. There is always some cat-and-mouse play, a dynamic where one party pursues, controls, or toys with another—while the other is kept in a state of uncertainty, anticipation, or anxious dependence. Satisfactory relations involving pleasures of the flesh may be followed by crude offenses; an enjoyable evening may be followed by forgetting a date; eliciting confidences by sarcastically using them against her. She may try to play the same game, but is too inhibited to do it well. However, she is always a good instrument on which to play, since his attacks make her despondent and his seemingly positive moods throw her into fallacious hopes that from now on everything will be better. #RandolphHarris 4 of 22

There are always plenty of things he feels entitled to do without allowing any questioning. His claims may concern financial support or gifts for himself and his friends or relatives; work to be done for him, like housework or typing; furthering his career; or strict consideration of his needs. These latter may, for instance, concern time arrangements, undivided and uncritical interest in his pursuits, having or not having company, remaining unruffled when he is sulky or irritable, and so on and so forth. Whatever he demands is his self-evident due. There is no appreciation forthcoming, but much nagging irritability when his wishes are not fulfilled. He feels and declares in no uncertain terms that he is not at all demanding but that she is stingy, sloppy, inconsiderate, unappreciative—and that he must put up with all sorts of abuse. On the other hand, he is astute at spotting her claims, which he finds altogether neurotic. Her need for affection, time, or company is possessive; her wanting pleasures of the flesh or good food, overindulgence. So, when he frustrates her needs, which he must do for reasons of his own, it is in his mind no frustration at all. It is better to disregard her needs because she should be ashamed of having them. Actually, his frustrating techniques are highly developed. They include dampening joy by sulkiness, making her feel unwelcome and unwanted, and withdrawing physically or psychologically. The most harmful and, for her, least tangible part is his pervasive attitude of disregard and contempt. Whatever actual regard he may have for her faculties or qualities is seldom expressed. On the other hand, he does not despise her for her softness and for her caginess and indirectness. However, in addition, because of his need for active externalization of his self-hate, he is faultfinding and derogatory. If she, in turn, dares to criticize him, he discards what she says in a highhanded manner or proves that she is vindictive. #RandolphHarris 5 of 22

We find the greatest variation in matters involving pleasures of the flesh. Relationships involving pleasures of the flesh may stand out as the only satisfactory contact. Or, in case he is inhibited in enjoying the pleasures of the flesh, he may frustrate her in this regard, too, which is felt all the more keenly since, in view of his lack of tenderness may mean for her the only assurance of love. Or the pleasures of the flesh may be a means of degrading and humiliating her. He may make it clear that for him, she is nothing but an object for the pleasures of the flesh. He may fault intimate passions with other women, intermingled with derogatory comments about her being less attractive or responsive than these others. Intimate passions may be degrading because of the absence of tenderness or because he uses sadistic techniques. Although the issue of the effectiveness of mandatory reporting laws remains unclear, providers should be familiar with reporting laws in their states, and whether there are policies for mandatory reporting of intimate partner violence (IPV) or injuries that are suspicious for resulting from criminal assault. Patients should be made aware of mandated reporting requirements before universal IPV screenings, including universal education. This shows respect for the patient’s autonomy, allows them to decide on whether they would want to reveal any IVP-related experiences given the known mandatory interventions, and has the awareness that they can always disclose information at subsequent visits if they choose. IVP may not always be present in the acute care setting with physical findings due to acute trauma. Healthy consequences faced by IVP patients may be multisystemic, given the type of abuse faced, and can present as acute or chronic medical complaints. For example, strangulation, in an acute or chronic setting, can appear as hoarseness, sore throat, neck pain, or difficulty swallowing. #RandolphHarris 6 of 22

Patients who sustain blows to the head may experience serious traumatic brain injuries (TBI) or mild TBI (mTBI) and present acutely with a headache, confusion, nausea, or vomiting. Under the circumstances of repeated mTBIs, the body may not be able to completely heal in between the abuse. Patients can experience and present with histories of neurological symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, memory loss, seizures, hearing problems, ear ringing, vision problems, blacking out, or difficulty concentrating. Of note, patients who have experienced loss of consciousness due to strangulation may have similar neurological complaints or cognitive difficulties due to anoxic brain injury. They may also have chronic migraines, syncopal episodes, and possibly seizures. Though causal relationships have yet to be established in the underlying causes for specific neurological outcomes, victims of violence frequently (10 percent to 44 percent) report strangling and blows to the head resulting in loss of consciousness which may contribute to the development of the various neurological conditions mentioned above. Of note, post-concussive or TBI symptoms can complicate a patient’s ability to understand or follow through on health and safety plans. Gastrointestinal symptoms are also common presentations due to prior blunt force to the abdominal region affecting internal organs or from the effects of chronic stress. Symptoms may appear as chronic abdominal or stomach pain, diarrhea, constipation, nausea, self-induced vomiting, loss of appetite, or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Given the fear and shame associated with IPV, there is a strong correlation with excessive stress, which can manifest as varying yet common disorders such as IBS, hypertension, chest pain, and even a suppressed immune system, which can lead to greater frequency of colds and viral infections. Knowledge of these medical conditions commonly associated with IVP is beneficial, so that IVP is considered a possible underlying condition or cause leading to a more accurate diagnosis and more appropriate interventions. #RandolphHarris 7 of 22

About 33.6 percent of men in the United States of America have reported experiencing IVP in their lifetime, including sexual violence, physical violence, or stalking, with 34.2 percent reporting psychological aggression from an intimate partner. Men often face barriers in reporting IVP because of a lack of knowledge that the abuse is illegal, stigma that being a victim would be unmasculine, fear of being ridiculed, and biases that they will be seen as the perpetrator. However, if you fear reporting, while there is a fact that your allegations may not be taken seriously, keep in mind how defensive police are when they are being assaulted. So, do not be afraid of reporting IVP. In some cases, just touching an officer can be considered assault, and they take being assaulted very seriously. Therefore, do not let someone make you feel like your claim is illegitimate. Men presenting to the emergency department (ED) due to IVP were found to have intentional striking and being cut/pierced as the major causes of injury. IPV injury due to cuts are 7-times higher in men compared to women with IVP injuries. Lacerations were the main injury diagnosis and should raise concern for IPV men. The most common anatomic locations of these injuries in men were the head, neck, or face, as seen in most women, followed by upper extremity injuries, possibly due to self-defense mechanisms. All ED clinicians should have training on recognizing these injury patterns, including when evaluating men in the ED, as it may lead to IVP identification and offering awareness, referrals, and safety resources. Privacy is critical and should be prioritized when discussing IPV and conducting a physical exam. Patients should not be screened during triage, especially if other individuals are present, including accompanying family members or friends. A patient cannot speak freely — especially about sensitive, dangerous, or shame‑laden matters — if a parent, partner, or friend is in the room. Their “I” is inhibited by: fear of judgment, fear of retaliation, internalized obligation to protect the other person, learned patterns of deference or submission. So, the rule exists to protect the patient’s autonomy, giving them a space where their own voice can emerge without interference. Inform visitors that it is hospital/office policy to speak with the patient alone. #RandolphHarris 8 of 22

Just as a child cannot develop a stable “I” without being recognized as a separate self, a patient cannot speak authentically when another’s presence eclipses their autonomy; privacy is the space in which the self becomes possible. One basic task of all religions is to reaffirm that first relationship, for we have in us deep down a lifelong mistrustful remembrance of that truly meta-physical anxiety; meta—“behind,” “beyond”—here means “before,” “way back,” “at the beginning.” One basic form of heroic asceticism, therefore, one way of liberating man from his existential delimitations, is to retrace the steps of the development of the I, to forego even object relations in the most primitive sense, to step down and back to the borderline where the I emerged from its matrix. Much of Western monasticism concentrates on prayer and atonement, but the Eastern form cultivates the art of deliberate self-loss: Zen-Buddhism is probably its most systematic form. Some children forget the Christchild because of the sadness of their youth: some have lost their childhood. In moments of terror, they may want God’s recognition. The normal process of life contains moments as bad as any of those which insane melancholy is filled with, moments in which radical evil gets its innings and takes it solid turn. The lunatic’s visions of horror are all drawn from the material of daily fact. Our civilization is founded on the shambles, and every individual existence goes out in a lonely spasm of helpless agony. If you protest, my friend, wait till you arrive there yourself! To believe in the carnivorous reptiles of geological times is hard for our imagination—they seem too much like mere museum specimens. Yet, there is no tooth in any one of those museum-skulls that did not daily through long years of the foretime hold fast to the body struggling in despair of some fated living victims. #RandolphHarris 9 of 22

If on a smaller spatial scale, forms of horror just as dreadful to their victim fill the world about us to-day. Here, on our very hearths and in our gardens, the infernal cat plays with the panting mouse, or holds the hot bird fluttering in her jaws. Crocodiles and rattlesnakes and pythons are at this moment vessels of life as real as we are; their loathsome existence fills every minute of every day that drags its length along, and whenever they or other wild beasts clutch their living prey, the deadly horror which an agitated melancholiac feels is literally the right reaction on the situation. It may indeed be that no religious reconciliation with the absolute totality of things is possible. Some evils, indeed, are ministerial to higher forms of good; but it may be that there are forms of evil so extreme as to enter into no good system whatsoever, and that, in respect of such evil, dumb submission or neglect to notice is the only practical resource. If the mind is only the reflection of events, it cannot anticipate their progress, except by hypothesis. If Marxist theory is determined by economics, it can describe the history of production, not its future, which remains in the realms of probability. The task of historical materialism can only be to establish a method of criticism of contemporary society; it is only capable of making suppositions, unless it abandons its scientific attitude, about the society of the future.  Moreover, is it not for this reason that its most important work is called Capital and not Revolution? Marx and the Marxists allowed themselves to prophesy the future and the triumph of communism to the detriment of their postulates and of scientific method. #RandolphHarris 10 of 22

Then predictions could be scientific; on the contrary, only by ceasing to prophecy definitely. Marxism is not scientific; at best, it has scientific prejudices. It brought out into the open the profound difference between scientific reasoning, that fruitful instrument of research, of thought, and even of rebellion, and historical reasoning, which German ideology invented by its negation of all principles. Historical reasoning is not a type of reasoning that, within the framework of its own functions, can pass judgment on the world. While pretending to judge it, it really tries to determine its course. Essentially, a part of events, it directs them and is simultaneously pedagogic and all-conquering. Moreover, its most abstruse descriptions conceal the most simple truths. If man is reduced to being nothing but a character in history, he has no other choice but to subside into the sound and fury of a completely irrational history to endow history with the form of human reason. Therefore, the history of contemporary nihilism is nothing but a prolonged endeavor to give order, by human forces alone and simply by force, to history no longer endowed with order. The pseudo-reasoning ends by identifying itself with cunning and strategy, while waiting to culminate in the ideological Empire. What part could science play in this concept? Nothing is less determined on conquest than reason. History is not made with scientific scruples; we are even condemned to not making history from the moment when we claim to act with scientific scruples; we are even condemned to not making history from the moment when we claim to act with scientific objectivity. Reason does not preach, of if it does, it is no longer reason. That is why historical reason is an irrational and romantic form of reason, which sometimes recalls the false logic of the insane and at other times, the mystic affirmation of the word. #RandolphHarris 11 of 22

To will one thing cannot, then, mean to will what in its essence is not one thing, but only seems to be so by means of a horrible falsehood. Only through a lit is it one thing. Now, just as he that only wills this one thing is a lair, so he that conjures up this one thing is the father of lies. That dryness and emptiness is not in truth one thing, but is in truth nothing at all. And it is destruction for the man that only wills that one. If, on the contrary, a man should in truth will only one thing, then this thing must, in the truth of its innermost being, be one thing. It must, by eternal separation, cut of the heterogenous from itself in order that it may in truth continue to be one and the same thing and thereby fashion that man who only wills one thing into conformity with itself. In truth to will one thing, then, can only mean to will the Good, because every other object is not a unity; and the will that only wills that object, therefore, must become double-minded. For as the coveted object is, so becomes the coveter. Or would it be possible that a man by willing the evil could will one thing, provided that it was possible for a man so to harden himself as to will nothing but the evil? Is not this evil, like evil persons, in disagreement with itself, divided against itself? Take one such man, separate him from society, shut him up in solitary confinement. Is he not at odds with himself there, just as poor union between persons of his sort is an association that is ridden dissension? But a good man, even if he lived in an out-of-the-way corner of the world and never saw any human being, would be at one with himself at one with all about him because he wills one thing, and because the Good is one thing. Each one who in truth would will one thing must be led to will the Good, even though now and then it happens that a man begins by willing one thing that is not in its deepest sense the Good although it may be something quite innocent; and then, little by little, he is changed really in truth to will one thing by willing the Good. #RandolphHarris 12 of 22

Love, from time to time, has in this way helped a man along the right path. Faithfully he only willed one thing, his love. For it, he would live and die. For it, he would sacrifice all and in it alone, he would have his eternal reward. Yet, the act of being in love is still not in the deepest sense the Good. However, it may possibly become for him a helpful educator, who will finally lead him by the possession of his beloved one or perhaps by her loss, in truth to will one thing and to will the Good. In this fashion, a man is educated by many means; and true love is also an education toward the Good. Perhaps, there was a man whose enthusiasm was for only one thing. He would live and die for that cause. He would sacrifice all for that in which alone he would have his happiness, for love and enthusiasm are not satisfied with a divided heart. Yet, his endeavor was perhaps still not in the deepest sense the Good. Thus, enthusiasm became for him a teacher, whom he outgrew, but to whom also he owed much. For, as it is said, all ways lead to the Good, when a man in truth only wills one thing. And where there is some truth, in the fact that he wills one thing, this is all for the best. However, there is danger that the lover and the enthusiast may swerve out of the true course and aim perhaps for the impressive instead of being led to the Good. The Good is certainly also in truth the impressive, but the impressive is not always the Good. And one can bid for a woman’s favor by willing something when it is merely impressive. This can flatter the girl’s pride, and she can repay it with her adoration. However, God in heaven is not a young girl’s folly. He does not reward the impressive with admiration. The reward of the good man is to be allowed to worship in truth. #RandolphHarris 13 of 22

By exclusively acknowledging and confessing Christ our Lord, we more fully see that the wide range of His dominion is disclosed to us. It is not metaphysical speculation; it is not a theologoumena of the logos spermatikos, but it is the concrete suffering of injustice, of the organized lie, of hostility to mankind, and of violence; it is the persecution of lawfulness, truth, humanity and freedom which impels the men who hold these values dear to seek the protection of Jesus Christ and therefore to become subject to His claim, and it is through this that the Church of Jesus Christ learnt of the wide extent of her responsibility. The relationship of the Church with the world today does not consist, as it did in the Middle Ages, in the calm and steady expansion of the power of the name of Christ, nor yet in an eddeavour, such as was undertaken by the apologists of the first centuries of Christianity, to justify and publicize and embellish the name of Jesus Christ before the world by associating it with human names and values, but solely in that recognition of the origin which has been awakened and vouchsafed to men in this suffering, solely in the seeking of refuge from persecution in Christ. It is not Christ who must justify Himself before the world by the acknowledgement of the values of justice, truth, and freedom, but it is these values which have come to need justification, and their justification can only be Jesus Christ. It is not that a “Christian culture” must make the name of Jesus Christ acceptable to the world; but the crucified Christ has become the refuge and the justification, the protection and the claim for the higher values and their defenders that have fallen victim to suffering. #RandolphHarris 14 of 22

It is with the Christ who is persecuted and who suffers in His Church that justice, truth, humanity, and freedom now seek refuge; it is with the Christ who found no shelter in the world, the Christ who was cast out from the world, the Christ of the crib and of the cross, under whose protection they now seek sanctuary, and who thereby for the first time displays the full extent of His power. The Cross reveals that no one stands in neutrality, for every person is already shaped by the models they imitate. Thus, Christ can say both “He who is not with me is against me” and “He who is not against us is for us,” because our roles, loyalties, and identities are formed through imitation long before we speak them aloud. We learn our roles by being trained into them and by identifying with the role models available to us. This is not optional. It is how human beings come into being. A child learns “I” only through recognition. A person learns courage by seeing courage. A person learns cruelty by watching cruelty.       A person learns scapegoating by participating in it. A person learns mercy by receiving it. We are imitative creatures — and the Cross is the moment when the human pattern of imitation is revealed in its starkest form. This is why the sayings of Jesus are not contradictions but two sides of the same anthropological truth: Imitation makes neutrality impossible. Imitation makes belonging inevitable. We are always becoming like the model we follow — whether that model is Christ, the crowd, the persecutor, the scapegoat mechanism, or the false self we were trained to perform. Thus, as children, our behavior is rewarded by our parents when it conforms to their image of the way a little boy or a girl should act. At each level, our behavior is “shaped,” by the consequences of approval and of punishment that they provide to our actions. #RandolphHarris 15 of 22

As we get older, we are encouraged to emulate the behavior of people who function as exemplars or role models. This is the way we begin to learn how to be a husband or a father, or a wife, or a mother, when the time comes, and it is the way we learn our occupational roles. Each person, thus, serves as a model to be emulated by others. People encounter difficulties in fulfilling their gender roles and family roles when they have grown up without regular contact with role models or when the role models differ from the norms of their group. Some male homosexuals, for example, have grown up without a father in the home or with a father who was so hateful that the boy would not identify with him. When divorce is common, many children grow up without a father because they usually are raised by the mother. Under these conditions, the girls may not learn what adult man-woman or husband-wife behavior can be expected, nor will the little boys. Consequently, they do not learn reasonable family role expectations for self and for others; they may acquire idealized notions of what to expect from their spouses and children when they marry, expectations that their spouses and future children cannot fulfill. In Harlow’s famous and widely publicized study, infant monkeys were raised by artificial mothers, wire or foam rubber mechanical objects that were rigged to provide milk for the infants. Lacking adequate role models, these infants survived infancy handily but were totally unable to carry on adult functions. They were, as Harlow described them: helpless, hopeless, heartless parents. In professional and vocational training, the learner is both “shaped” by teachers and encouraged by them to copy the teacher’s ways of performing skills. I served as a consultant to a nursing college and found that the faculty and the staff nurses were not serving as authentic exemplars of the kind of nursing practice they wished students to learn. They wanted the students to be very open, to be responsive to and empathic with patients, doctors, and colleagues. #RandolphHarris 16 of 22

However, they were not functioning in those roles that were expected of nurses. Many of the floor nursing faculty had left bedside nursing because they did not like regular contact with the ill. Many floor nurses were afraid of close, communicative relationships with patients, doctors, and each other. My task was to help the faculty and staff become the kind of nursing exemplars that the students could emulate. We attempted to do this, first, by encouraging the nursing college faculty to return to regular bedside nursing college faculty to return to regular faculty meetings where the purpose was to practice open, personal communication with each other. There is some evidence that the strained, formal, and impersonal atmosphere of the college was replaced by one that encouraged greater openness of communication and that the students did become better at relating empathically and warmly with their parents. Compassion is simply seeing someone’s need and wanting to help. Acting on that feeling leads us to do what we can for that person. This is part of our covenant to “bear one another’s burden” (Mosiah 18.8) and is at the heart of ministering. Compassion is a skill that we can learn. It takes practice. We can start by being a good listener and imagining how we would feel if we had the same experience as someone else. Heavenly Father wants His children to be compassionate. This is why you have a feeling to want to help a person struggling to move forward under a load of grief and difficulty. You promised that you would help the Lord make their burdens light and be comforted. You were given the power to help lighten those loads when you received the gift of the Holy Ghost. As the intellectual change of attitude is promoted by the discoveries of science and the reflections of scientists, religious, moral, educational, metaphysical, and social changes will follow as a logical consequence. #RandolphHarris 17 of 22

Whether it is electricity brightening a village, science awakening the mind, or clean gear protecting a firefighter, illumination always brings responsibility. Once we see clearly, we must act with care, discipline, and stewardship. Firefighter protective clothing is a perfect example: when it is dirty, it loses insulation, conducts heat and electricity more readily, sheds liquids poorly, and can even become flammable. Many fireground residues are carcinogenic or toxic to the skin. Turnout gear must therefore be cleaned regularly to prevent these dangers — yet it must also be cleaned correctly, because improper washing can degrade the fabric, weaken its thermal protection, or worsen its performance. Illumination does not simply reveal the world; it reveals the obligations that come with knowing better. Any blaze in a large building is dangerous, both for the firefighters who confront it and for the surrounding area if the fire gains too much headway. Sometimes, despite a department’s best efforts, circumstances align against them and a structure is lost. In this case, several factors converged. Around 2:30 p.m., a car being repaired with a welding torch ignited, and the gasoline tank exploded, spraying flames throughout the garage portion of the warehouse. All workers escaped unharmed and multiple calls were placed to the fire department. However, the first caller gave the wrong address, sending the responding engine to the opposite end of town and delaying arrival by five critical minutes. When crews finally reached the scene, the fire was still largely confined to the garage, but it had already begun to extend into the front of the building and was racing up into the roof structure. Those few minutes of delay allowed the fire to gain the momentum that ultimately doomed the warehouse. #RandolphHarris 18 of 22

The wind began to freshen just as the men backed out of the building, fanning the now‑raging blaze. Firefighters battled the fire in icy weather, working to protect the surrounding structures. The building next to the library ignited several times from the intense heat, but each flare‑up was quickly extinguished with minimal danger. Across the street, several businesses had their windows shattered by the radiant heat pouring off the warehouse. At the front of the building, the Fire Chief and several firefighters were manning hoselines when the roof gave way, bringing the entire front of the structure down with it. Bricks and debris showered the area, narrowly missing the crews. After the collapse, the fire continued to burn for several more hours, but the threat to nearby buildings had passed. Damage was later estimated at more than $2 million, including over twenty cars stored inside, with surrounding businesses suffering smoke and water damage. A gas station to the south sustained some damage as well, and during the chaos, tools and batteries were stolen from the property. The Chief later praised the award‑winning Sacramento Fire Department, noting that their efforts were invaluable in containing the blaze to a single building and saving the structures across the alley. #RandolphHarris 19 of 22

When it comes to firefighting, no matter how large or small the fire is or how routine the call seems to be, there is always the potential for injury. If you see a fire truck stopped in the street without the lights on, be very careful. Sometimes there is an emergency, and you should not pass the fire truck. It might be a good idea to safely turn around and go another way because if you hit someone and they happen to die, you could be charged with manslaughter. Sometimes fire firefighters are getting back into their vehicle, and if you pass the apparatus, you may collide with a firefighter who is on foot. Also, be sure to look at their signals; sometimes emergency vehicles are in motion, albeit slowly, and drivers try to pass them, and this could lead to a dangerous situation. Also, if you are in an intersection when you see an emergency vehicle, continue through the intersection. Drive to the right as soon as it is safe and stop. Obey any direction, order, or signal given by a law enforcement officer or a firefighter. Even if they conflict with existing signs, signals, or laws, follow their orders. When their siren or flashing lights are on, it is against the law to follow within 300 feet of any fire engine, law enforcement vehicle, ambulance, or other emergency vehicle. If you drive to the scene of a fire, collision, or other disaster, you can be arrested. When you do this, you are getting in the way of firefighters, ambulance crews, or other rescue and emergency personnel. The concept of professional courage does not always mean being as tough as nails, either. It also suggests a willingness to listen to other people’s problems, to go to bat for them in a tough situation, and it means knowing just how far they can go. It also means being willing to tell the boss when he or she is wrong. #RandolphHarris 20 of 22

Also, to ensure that we have farmland and buildable land for future use, we need to start limiting the number of people allowed to immigrate to America. Perhaps with the immigrants we do allow into America, there needs to be a diversity program to make sure we have a population that equally represents all races of people. If Americans continue to spend money on American products, then more need to be made to keep up the inventory. When investors notice these goods are selling, it gives them the confidence to pour more money into that local business. It shows that people want these goods made in America and pressures investors to keep these goods and services in America. The jobs stay here, the business stays in America, wages naturally increase, and more money is invested to keep up with demand. This reduces the burden on the taxpayer. When you support American businesses, that money stays in our economy and can help to reduce the national debt. The government creates debt by borrowing from businesses in the private sector or from foreign countries. It also increases the national debt by spending more than it gains in tax revenue in a fiscal year. When people shop locally, more tax money stays in the economy and goes to the government. This way, it keeps more money in our national economy and keeps more jobs located in America which also sends more taxes to the government, which can again help to reduce the national debt. When you buy foreign goods, these companies usually have lighter tax loads or exemptions, meaning less money for the national debt, plus you are helping to strengthen these foreign nations by sending more money overseas. Buying American-made products is also better for the environment and helps to reduce the carbon footprint because these products do not have to travel nearly as far. Furthermore, American companies and manufacturers are held to much higher standards on pollution. American companies must be more careful about air, land, and water pollution and have proper ways to dispose of waste. #RandolphHarris 21 of 22

Under President Trump’s administration, he has made America a priority. President Trump has closed the southern border, illegal crossings have fallen to an all-time low, and are 90 percent lower than under the previous administration. Since President Trump’s crack down on crime, violent crimes in Washington D.C. have dropped by approximately 80 percent. He has stopped thousands of pounds of drugs from entering America and killing citizens. And since President Trump took office, investments in America have increased by trillions of dollars in U.S.A. manufacturing, production, and innovation. As you can see, President Donald Trump and his pledge to “Make America Great Again” is exactly what America needs to save the country and the American people. And yes, diversity is important, so you can see why it is also important to preserve blonde hair and blue eyes, as the people with these characteristics are becoming a minority in America. As a reminder, parents, please teach your children to love America and be patriotic citizens, and to buy goods and services made in America. It is also important to respect law and order and treat your elders with respect. It is inborn in the human mind to wish to know. If this begins with the endless surface questions of a child’s curiosity, if it continues into deeper questions of a scientist’s probing investigation, it cannot and does not stop there. For the higher part of the mind will eventually come into unfoldment, that union of abstract reflective thought with mystical intuition, which is true intelligence, which needs and sees a view of the whole of things. And so, the knowing faculty enters the realm of philosophy. A lot of children are having problems in school and cannot even write a paragraph because they are not reading their books. When you actually read books, you get an example of how to write and will become a better student. Therefore, remember to take your education seriously so that you will be successful in life and make your family proud. Also, to make sure they have all the resources required, please donate to the Sacramento Fire Department to help improve our national security. “Oh, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand between their loved home and the war’s desolation! Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause is just, and this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’ And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.” #RandolphHarris 22 of 22

The Winchester Mansion

People say the Winchester Mansion is strange because Mrs. Sarah Winchester built it that way — staircases to nowhere, doors that open into air, rooms that appear without warning. But those who have studied the deeper folklore whisper something else: that the house inherited stories far older than California, stories that drifted across oceans and centuries until they found a place to root themselves again. They say the mansion carries echoes of another place — a fortress of stone, a house of trials, a home of restless spirits. And at the center of those echoes stands a single figure. The Watcher. Long before the mansion rose from the California soil, the Watcher belonged to a different tower — a high, narrow room where he kept vigil over a land filled with fear, accusations, and unanswered questions. But when Mrs. Sarah Winchester began her endless construction, something in her grief called to him.

Visitors to the mansion sometimes see him in the uppermost windows: a tall silhouette, unmoving, always looking outward as if guarding something only he understands. Guides say the tower is empty. Workers say no one goes up there. Yet the figure appears, night after night, watching. Some believe he is a guardian. Others say he is a witness. But the oldest version claims he is both — a presence drawn to places where sorrow builds walls and fear carves corridors. In the eastern wing, guests sometimes report a pale woman drifting through the hallways, her gown trailing like mist. She never speaks. She never approaches. She simply moves from room to room as though searching for something she lost long ago. Some say she is a memory Mrs. Sarah could not let go of. Others believe she is one of the mansion’s “unfinished stories,” a spirit who followed the Watcher across the sea and found a new home in the labyrinth Mrs. Sarah built.

On fog-heavy nights, the mansion grounds echo with the sound of a horse-drawn carriage approaching the front steps — though nothing ever arrives. The clatter of wheels, the snort of horses, the creak of leather harnesses… all vanish the moment someone opens the door. Locals say it is the carriage of a former visitor returning to the house, eternally repeating his journey. Others whisper that it is the Watcher’s escort, arriving to collect the lost or guide the wandering. In the farthest corridors, where the house seems to fold in on itself, visitors sometimes hear heavy footsteps pacing behind them — too slow for a person, too deliberate for an animal. Some claim to hear low growls echoing from the walls, as though something unseen is patrolling the mansion’s edges. Mrs. Sarah herself once wrote of “shadows that walk like men but breathe like beasts.” Whether she meant it literally or metaphorically, no one knows. But the stories persist.

The legend says Mrs. Sarah Winchester did not create these hauntings — she inherited them. Her grief, her isolation, her relentless building formed a kind of beacon. The house became a sanctuary for wandering spirits, a place where old stories could settle into new rooms. And the Watcher, drawn by the same sorrow he had known in his first tower, took up his post again — not to frighten Mrs. Sarah, but to accompany her. To stand guard over a woman who built a labyrinth not to trap spirits, but to give them somewhere to go. Some nights, when the mansion is especially still, visitors swear they see him turn from the window, as if acknowledging them. As if reminding them that every house with a history has someone watching over it.

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at WINCHESTER ESTATE

Many event locations claim to be unique, but nothing compares to the Winchester Mystery House. If you’re truly seeking a distinct, one‑of‑a‑kind setting for your milestone celebration or special occasion, reserve a venue that delivers on uniqueness many times over. Whether you’re planning a wedding, birthday or anniversary celebration, corporate gathering, holiday party, or any other meaningful event, the Winchester Mystery House offers an unforgettable backdrop. Give your guests an experience they’ll be talking about for years to come.

Café 13: A Rest Stop on the Edge of the Mystery

After wandering the winding halls of the Winchester Mystery House—where staircases defy logic and whispers seem to cling to the walls—Café 13 offers a welcome return to warmth and grounding. Newly reopened and serving guests daily from 10 AM to 3 PM, this cozy hideaway invites you to pause, breathe, and gather yourself before diving back into the mansion’s secrets. Here, you can enjoy breakfast, lunch, snacks, and refreshing drinks in a calm indoor space that feels worlds away from the mansion’s twisting corridors. Settle in with a warm meal, challenge a friend to a board game, or simply rest and recharge as sunlight filters through the windows. Café 13 is more than a café—it’s a moment of calm between chapters of the Winchester legend, a place to steady your nerves before returning to the gardens, the grandeur, and the mysteries that await.

Winchester Mercantile Gift Shop

Your journey into the Winchester Mystery House begins long before you cross the mansion’s threshold. It starts at the Mercantile gift shop—a welcoming outpost standing at the edge of a world where history and myth intertwine. Here, beneath warm lights and shelves lined with curiosities, you can secure your tour tickets and prepare for the adventure ahead. Guests often pause for a souvenir photograph, capturing the moment before they step into Sarah Winchester’s enigmatic domain. As you explore the shop, you will find an eclectic array of gifts and keepsakes: tokens of the mansion’s lore, echoes of Victorian elegance, and mementos that carry a touch of the house’s enduring mystery. The Mercantile is more than a gift shop—it is the gateway. https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/

Why Choose Harris?

Harris Plumbing, Heating, Air, & Electric has been in business for 30 years. How many businesses can say that? We take pride in everything we do – no matter how big or small the service call might be. We’re here to help your home be as safe and comfortable as possible for you and your family. We take that responsibility very seriously as a company.

Harris will ensure you have the information you need to decide what to do next, whatever your home is facing. We’ll perform a diagnosis and detail what issues are present before starting any work. This gives you a personalized quote and service plan specific to your home’s needs, not some random quote based on the best guess. The only way we can do our best work is to make sure we handle the issues at hand. https://www.callharrisnow.com/about-us/

Brian Harris BMW

With its top ranking in Consumer Reports’ Auto Brand Report Card and consistent market share growth, BMW, The Ultimate Driving Experience, has demonstrated its ability to produce high-performing, reliable vehicles that meet consumer demands.BMW stands out due to its focus on driving dynamics and engineering excellence. While other luxury brands prioritize comfort and opulence, BMW is known for creating cars that are fun to drive and offer a unique connection between the driver and the machine. This is why BMW is known as The Ultimate Driving Machine. https://www.brianharrisbmw.com/

Randolph Harris San Francisco Taxation & Mergers

Building strong and lasting client relationships is crucial for a successful legal career. Many lawyers mistakenly believe that mastering legal skills alone ensures success, but law is fundamentally a service industry—our job is to solve problems through the time we sell. To build long-term relationships, attorneys must focus on three core elements: knowing their clients, understanding how their legal issues fit into a larger context, and consistently delivering exceptional service.

Randy advises clients with regard to business transition, taxable and tax-deferred mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, restructuring, integrated tax planning, federal and state tax controversy resolution, and real estate transactions. Trust is the cornerstone of any client relationship. Ultimately, my clients feel they are in capable hands with someone who genuinely understands their problems and goals. https://www.jmbm.com/l-randolph-harris.html

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When institutions fail to enforce their own rules, individuals are forced into roles they never chose, sustaining dysfunction through silence, avoidance, and fear. Such situations require a lot of emotional labor. Emotional labor is the psychological glue that holds dysfunctional systems together, especially when people are forced into roles that contradict who they are. Emotional labor is not just being nice at work. It is the management of feeling—the requirement to display emotions that you do not feel and suppress emotions that you do feel to manage a role, and keep a situation cohesive. This is the situation with a weakly “cathected” or inactive leader. In healthy systems, emotional labor is part of the job. People are capable of mobilizing energy because they are doing something rewarding, or can be charged up by an outside source. However, in dysfunctional systems, emotional labor becomes the job. This happens when you are expected to absorb conflict others refuse to address, forced to be the “calm one,” the “fixer,” the “bigger person,” pressured to maintain harmony while others create chaos, required to pretend incompetence around you is normal, and are punished for showing frustration at others’ negligence. This is role drift through emotional coercion. I had to study psychology and religion to understand this situation, and it took me far off my path. I never agreed to be the therapist, the parent, the moral compass, the scapegoat, or the shock absorber—but the system pushed those roles onto me, relying on my integrity to compensate for everyone else’s refusal to do their jobs. #RandolphHarris 1 of 17

At first, I wore the role like a badge of honor. I could help people become more rational, more grounded. But as the years stretched into more than a decade, the role hardened into a career I never asked for. The same problems cycled endlessly, even with paid professionals sitting right there, unable to help anyone resolve anything. Eventually, I started hiding—running errands at dawn, slipping out late at night—because people would wait around to latch onto me. After twelve to fourteen years of this, I reached a breaking point. I did not want to be the one absorbing everyone’s chaos, especially when so many others were standing right there, untouched and unbothered. I honestly do not have fun anymore. Life has become nothing but work—endless bills, endless responsibilities, endless situations to manage. It feels like every part of my existence has turned into a job. And the drama never ends. Holidays, family gatherings, every day of the week—there is always someone ready to do something forbidden, disobey the law, or explode the moment they get an audience. In this frustrated and vulnerable state, an individual has no defense against people with problematic behavior, and other human relationships are neglected. Engagements are dropped at a moment’s notice when someone wants to use their position or situation to have a conniption fit or temper tantrum. The mismatch between the authentic self and the forced role produces burnout, moral injury, resentment, identity fatigue, emotional numbness, and a sense of being trapped in a role you never agreed to play. This is why people say, “I do not even recognize myself anymore.” To perform a role effectively, one must be and feel potent: not omnipotent, but potent enough to deal with these individuals. The individuals must believe that they are potent enough, so the individual forced into the leader role has protection against their dysfunction and wrath. Dysfunctional adults need permission or a license to give up, or be released from negative behavior. Dysfunctional institutions survive because the system runs on the emotional labor of the unwilling. #RandolphHarris 2 of 17

To be a judge obviously involves a knowledge of the law and probably also knowledge of a much wider range of human affairs that are legally relevant. It also involves, however, “knowledge” of the values and attitudes deemed appropriate for a judge, extending as far as those proverbially deemed appropriate for a judge’s wife. The judge must also have appropriate “knowledge” in the domain of the emotions: He will have to know, for example, when to restrain his feelings of compassion, to mention a not unimportant psychological prerequisite for this role. In this way, each role opens an entrance into a specific sector of the society’s total stock of knowledge. To learn a role, it is not enough to acquire the routines immediately necessary for its “outward” performance. One must also be initiated into the various cognitive and even affective layers of the body of knowledge that is directly and indirectly appropriate to this role. This implies a social distribution of knowledge. A society’s stock of knowledge is structured in terms of what is generally relevant and what is relevant to specific roles. This is true of even very simple social situations. In social situations, for instance, one must have knowledge of the procedures necessary to keep this company economically afloat. The social distribution of knowledge entails a dichotomization in terms of general and role-specific relevance. Given the historical accumulation of knowledge in a society, we can assume that, because of the division of labor, role-specific knowledge will grow at a faster rate than generally relevant and accessible knowledge. #RandolphHarris 3 of 17

The multiplication of specific tasks brought about by the division of labor requires standardized solutions that can be readily learned and transmitted. These, in turn, require specialized knowledge of certain situations, and of the means/ends relationships in terms of which the situations are socially defined. In other words, specialists will arise, each of whom will have to know whatever is deemed necessary for the fulfillment of his particular task. To accumulate role-specific knowledge, a society must be so organized that certain individuals can concentrate on their specialties. If, in a hunting society, certain individuals are to become specialists as swordsmiths, there will have to be provisions to excuse them from the hunting activities that are incumbent on all other adult males. Specialized knowledge of a more elusive kind, such as the knowledge of mystagogues and other intellectuals, requires a similar social organization. In all these cases, the specialists become administrators of the sectors of the stock of knowledge that have been socially assigned to them. At the same time, an important part of generally relevant knowledge is the typology of specialists. While the specialists are defined as individuals who know their specialties, everyone must know who the specialists are in case their specialties are needed. The man on the street is not expected to know the intricacies of the magic, inducing fertility or casting evil spells. If the need for either service arises, what he must know, however, is which magicians to call upon. #RandolphHarris 4 of17

People complain about the cost of welfare, but nothing drains resources like a bad manager. In any specialized field, you cannot afford to have someone with a poor attitude and no commitment running the show. A person who is just there for a paycheck can destroy a business from the inside. A typology of experts (what contemporary social workers call a referral guide) is thus part of the generally relevant and accessible stock of knowledge, while the knowledge that constitutes expertise is not. The practical difficulties that may arise in certain societies (for instance, when there are competing coteries of experts, or when specialization has become so complicated that the layman gets confused) need not concern us now. It is thus possible to analyze the relationship between roles and knowledge from two vantage points. Looked at from the perspective of the institutional order, the roles appear as institutional representations and mediations of the institutionally objectivated aggregates of knowledge. Looked at from the perspective of the several roles, each role carries with it a socially defined appendage of knowledge. Both perspectives, of course, point to the same global phenomenon, which is the essential dialectic of society. The first perspective can be summed up in the proposition that society exists only as individuals are conscious of it, the second in the proposition that individual consciousness is socially determined. Narrowing this to the matter of roles, we can say that, on the other hand, the institutional order is real only insofar as it is realized in performed roles and that, on the other hand, roles are representative of an institutional order that defines their character (including their appendages of knowledge) and from which they derive their objective sense. #RandolphHarris 5 of 17

The analysis of roles is of particular importance to the sociology of knowledge because it reveals the mediations between the macroscopic universes of meaning objectivated in a society and the ways by which these universes are subjectively real to individuals. Thus, it is possible, for example, to analyze the macroscopic social roots or a religious world view in certain collectives (classes, say, or ethnic groups, or intellectual coteries), and also to analyze the manner in which this world view is manifested in the consciousness of an individual. If one inquires into how the individual, in his total social activities, relates to the collectivity in question, the two analyses can be brought together. Such an inquiry will, of necessity, be an exercise in role analysis. Everybody knows that in Germany, the career of the young man who is dedicated to science normally begins with the position of Priivatdozent. After having conversed with and received the consent of the respective specialists, he takes up residence on the basis of a book and, usually, a rather formal examination before the faculty of the university. Then he gives a course of lectures without receiving any salary other than the lecture fees of his students. It is up to him to determine, within his venia legendi, the topics upon which he lectures. In the United States of America, the academic career usually begins in quite a different manner, namely, by employment as an “assistant.” This is similar to the great institutes of the natural sciences and medical faculties in Germany, where usually only a fraction of the assistants tries to habilitate themselves as Privatodozenten and often only later in their career. Particularly, this contrast means that the career of the academic man in Germany is generally based upon plutocratic prerequisites. For it is extremely hazardous for a young scholar without funds to expose himself to the conditions of the academic career. He must be able to endure this condition for at least a number of years without knowing whether he will have the opportunity to move into a position which pays well enough for maintenance. #RandolphHarris 6 of 17

In the United States of America, where the bureaucratic system exists, the young academic man is paid from the very beginning. To be sure, his salary is modest; usually, it is hardly as much as the wages of a semi-skilled laborer. Yet, he begins with a seemingly secure passion, for he draws a fixed salary. As a rule, however, notice may be given to him just as with German assistants, and frequently he definitely has to face this should he not come up to expectations. These expectations are such that the young academic in America must draw large crowds of students. This cannot happen to a German docent; once one has him, one cannot get rid of him. To be sure, he cannot raise any “claims.” However, he has the understandable notion that after years of work, he has a sort of moral right to expect some consideration. He also expects—and this is often quite important—that one have some regard for him when the question of the possible habilitation of other Privatdozenten comes up. Whether, in principle, one should habilitate every scholar who is qualified, or whether one should consider enrollments, and hence give the existing staff a monopoly to teach—that is an awkward dilemma. It is associated with the dual aspect of the academic profession. In general, one decides in favor of the second alternative. However, this increases the danger that the respective full professor, however conscientious he is, will prefer his own disciples. If I may speak of my personal attitude, I must say that I have followed the principle that a scholar promoted by me must legitimize and habilitate himself with somebody else at another university. However, the result has been that one of my best disciples had been turned down at another university because nobody there believed this to be the reason. A further difference between Germany and the United States of America is that in Germany, the Privatdozent generally teaches fewer courses than he wishes. According to his formal right, he can give any course in his field. However, to do so would be considered an improper lack of consideration for the older docent. #RandolphHarris 7 of 17

As a rule, the full professor gives the “big” courses, and the docent confines himself to secondary one. The advantage of these arrangements is that during his youth, the academic man is free to do scientific work, although this restriction of the opportunity to teach is somewhat involuntary. In America, the arrangement is different in principle. Precisely during the early years of his career, the assistant is absolutely overburdened just because he is paid. In a department of German, for instance, the full professor will give a three-hour course on Goethe, and that is enough, whereas the young assistant is happy if, besides the drill in the German language, his twelve weekly teaching hours include assignments of, say, Uhland. The officials prescribe this curriculum, and in this, the assistant is just as dependent as the institute assistant in Germany. Of late, we can observe distinctly that the German universities in the broad fields of science develop in the direction of the American system. The large institutes of medicine or natural science are “state capitalist” enterprises, which cannot be managed without very considerable funds. Here, we encounter the same condition that is found wherever capitalist enterprise comes into operation: the “separation of the worker from his means of production.” The worker, that is, the assistant, is dependent upon the implements that the state puts at his disposal; hence, he is just as dependent upon the head of the institute as is the employee in a factory upon the management. For, subjectively and in good faith, the director believes that this institute is “his,” and he manages its affairs. Thus, the assistant’s position is often as precarious as that of any “quasi-proletarian” existence and just as precarious as the position of the assistant in the American university. #RandolphHarris 8 of 17

Those who fail in their once-bornness, we said, want to have another chance at being born. It often seems as though they want to be made over by the same mothers who give physical birth to them; but this, as we can now see, would be too literal an assumption. For that “first birth,” to which all of their symptoms are related, is the emergence of their consciousness as individuals, a consciousness born from the interplay of recognitions. Whoever is the maternal attendant to that early phase is man’s first “environment,” and whatever environment is then first experienced as such remains associated with “mother.” On the security of that first polarization of a self and a maternal matrix are built all subsequent securities. “Mother” is the person (or the persons) who knows how to convincingly offer provision and screening: the provisions of food, warmth, stimulation in answer to the infant’s searching mouth, skin, and senses; and the screening of the quality and quantity of his intake to avoid both over-and under-stimulation. The new human being, therefore, experiences his appetites and aversions together with the personal care (and care means provision and caution) he gets. They form his first world; but so do those moments when he feels uncared for, alone with his discomfort and his rage. For these, however, he has at his disposal signals with an immediate appeal to the mothers, which sooner or later bring more or less response from her: the regularity and predictability of her responses are the infant’s first world order, the original paradise of provision. During the first year of life, the reality of the provider thus gradually emerges from the original matrix as a coherent experience, a verified fact, a sound investment of love and trust—and the infant has matured enough to experience coherently, verify reasonably, and invest courageously. #RandolphHarris 9 of 17

This bipolarity of recognition is the basis of all social experience. Let nobody say that it is only the beginning, it passes, and it is, after all, childish. Man is not organized like an archaeological mound, in layers: as he grows, he makes the past part of all future, and every environment, as he once experienced it, part of the present environment. Dreams and dreamlike moments, when analyzed, always reveal the myriad past experiences which are waiting outside the gates of consciousness to mingle with present impressions. Man, at all times, wants to be sure that the original bipolarity is intact, especially when he feels tired, doubtful, unsure, alone—a fact which has been utilized by both theology and psychoanalysis. In that first relationship, man learns something which most individuals who survive and remain sane can take for granted most of the time. Only psychiatrists, priests, and born philosophers know how sorely that something can be missed. I have called this early treasure “basic trust”; it is the first psychosocial trait and the fundament of all others. Basic trust in mutuality is that original “optimism,” that assumption that “somebody is there,” without which we cannot live. In situations in which such basic trust cannot develop in early infancy, children die mentally. They do not respond nor learn; they do not assimilate their food and fail to defend themselves against infection, and often they die physically as well as mentally. One may well claim for that earliest meeting of a perceiving subject with a perceived object (which, in turn seems to “recognize” the subject) the beginning of all sense of identity; this meeting thus becomes the anchor-point for all the developments which culminate, at the end of adolescence, in the establishment of psychosocial identity. At that point, an ideological formula, intelligible both in terms of individual development and of significant tradition, must do for the young person what the mother did for the infant: provide nutriment for the soul as well as for the stomach, and screen the environment so that vigorous growth may meet what it can manage. #RandolphHarris 10 of 17

Of all the ideological systems, however, only religion restores the earliest sense of appeal to a Provider, a Providence. In the Judaeo-Christian tradition, no prayer indicates this more clearly than “The Lord makes His Face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace”; and no prayerful attitude better than the uplifted face, hopeful of being recognized. The Lord’s countenance is apt to loom to sternly, and His son’s on the cross to show the enigmatic quality of total abandonment in sacrifice; but painters and sculptors fashion a faintly smiling face for the Madonna, graciously inclined toward the infant, who responds with peace and gaiety until, in the Renaissance, he stands up and, fully confident, motions away from her. We can see the search for the same smile of peace in the work of Eastern painters and sculptors, although their Buddhas seem closer to being the overall parent and child, all in one. It is art, the work of the visually gifted and the visually driven, in conjunction with religion, which puts such emphasis on the face; thought expresses the original symbiotic unity as a state of being firmly yet flexibly held, embedded in a Way. The deification of the irrational, of blood and instinct, of the beast of prey in man can be countered with the appeal of reason; arbitrary action can be countered with the written law; barbarity with the appeal to culture and humanity; the violent maltreatment of persons with the appeal to freedom, tolerance and the rights of man; the subordination of science, art and the rest to political purposes with the appeal to the autonomy of the various different fields of human activity. In each case, this is sufficient to awaken the consciousness of a kind of alliance and comradeship between the defenders of these endangered values and the Christians. #RandolphHarris 11 of 17

Reason, culture, humanity, tolerance, and self-determination, all these concepts which until very recently had served as battle slogans against the Church, against Christianity, against Jesus Christ Himself, have now, suddenly, and surprisingly, come very near indeed to the Christian standpoint. This takes place at a time when everything Christian is more closely hemmed in than ever before and when the cardinal principles of Christian belief are displayed in their hardest and most uncompromising form, in a form which could give the greatest offence to all reason, culture, humanity, and tolerance. And, indeed, it is precisely in inverse proportion to this oppression and to this narrowing of its field of action that Christian thought acquires the alliance of all these concepts and with it an entirely unexpected new wide field of activity. It is clear that it is not the Church that is seeking the protection and alliance of these concepts; but, on the contrary, it is the concepts that have somehow become homeless and now seek refuge in the Christian sphere, in the shadow of the Christian Church. IF we are to interpret this experience simply as a purely tactical move, as an alliance of expediency which will be dissolved as soon as the struggle is at an end, it will not correspond at all to the real. What is decisive is rather the fact that there took place a return to the origin. The children of the Church, who had become independent and gone their own ways, now, in the hour of danger, return to their mother. During the time of their estrangement, their appearance and their language have altered a great deal, and yet at the crucial moment, the mother and the children once again recognize one another. Reason, justice, culture, humanity, and all the kindred concepts seek and find a new purpose and a new power in their origin. #RandolphHarris 12 of 17

This origin is Jesus Christ. In Soloviev’s story of the Antichrist, in the last days before Christ’s return, the heads of the persecuted churches discuss the question of what is for each of them the most precious thing in Christianity; the decisive answer is that the most precious thing in Christianity is Jesus Christ Himself. That is to say, that in the face of the Antichrist, only one thing has force and permanence, and that is Christ Himself. Only he who shares in Him has the power to withstand and to overcome. He is the center and the strength of the Christian Bible, of the Church, and of theology, but also of humanity, of reason, of justice and of culture. Everything must return to Him; it is only under His protection that it can live. There seems to be a general unconscious knowledge, which, in the hour of ultimate peril, leads everything which desires not to fall victim to the Antichrist to take refuge with Christ. “He that is not against us is for us,” reports Mark 9.40. Christ defines the limits of membership in Himself more widely than His disciples wish Him to do or themselves do. The particular concrete instance to which this saying of Jesus refers is the case of a man who, without himself being a disciple or follower, nevertheless casts out devils in the name of Jesus. Jesus forbade the disciples to hinder him, for “there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me,” reports Mark 9.39. Wherever the name of Jesus is still spoken, even though it be in ignorance or in the knowledge only of its objective power but without personal obedience, and even though it be only with hesitation and embarrassment, wherever this name is spoken it creates for itself a space to which the revilement of Jesus has no access, a region which still belongs to the power of Christ, where one must not interfere and hinder but where one must allow the name of Jesus Christ to do its work. It is an experience of our days that the spoken name of Jesus alone exercises an unforeseen power; and the effort which it costs to speak this name is perhaps connected with some faint apprehension of the power which is inherent in it. #RandolphHarris 13 of 17

Wherever the name of Jesus Christ is spoken, it is a protection and a claim. This is the case with all those who, in their struggle for justice, truth, humanity, and freedom, have learnt once again to speak the name of Jesus Christ, even though it is often with hesitation, with genuine fear. This name gives protection to them and to the high values for which they stand; and it is at the same time the claim to these men and to these values. “He that not with me is against me,” reports Matthew 12.30. It is the same Jesus who speaks these words. For abstract analysis, these two sayings of Jesus are in irreconcilable contradiction; but in reality, they necessarily belong together. Here again, we have living experience to prove our case; under the pressure of anti-Christian forces, there came together groups of men who confessed the faith unequivocally and who were impelled to seek a clear decision for or against Christ in the strict discipline of doctrine and of life. In their struggle, these confessing congregations could not help but perceive that the greatest of all the dangers which threatened the Church with inner disintegration and disruption lay in the neutrality of large numbers of Christians; they saw in this the true hostility to Christ. The exclusive demand for a clear profession of allegiance to Christ caused the band of confessing Christians to become ever smaller; the saying, “he that is not with me is against me,” became an actual, concrete experience of the Christian Church; and then, precisely through this concentration on the essential, the Church acquired an inward freedom and breadth which preserved her against any timid impulse to draw narrow limits, and there gathered around her men who came from very far away, and men to whom she could not refuse her fellowship and her protection; injured justice, oppressed truth, vilified humanity and violated freedom all sought for her, or rather for her Master, Jesus Christ. So now she had the living experience of that other saying of Jesus: “He that is not against us is for us.” #RandolphHarris 14 of 17

These two sayings necessarily belong together as the two claims of Jesus Christ, the claim to exclusiveness, the greater the freedom. However, in isolation, the claim to exclusiveness leads to fanaticism and to slavery; and in isolation, the claim to totality leads to the secularization and self-abandonment of the Church. The more exclusively we acknowledge and confess Christ as our Lord, the more fully the wide range of His domination will be disclosed to us. However, the slave of sin is not yet free; nor has he cast off the chain, “because he scoffs at it.” He is in bonds, and therefore double-minded, and for once, he may not have his own way. There is a power that binds him. He cannot tear himself loose from it. Nay, he cannot even wholly will it. For this power, too, is denied him. If you, my listener, should see such a man, although it is unlikely, for without a doubt, weakness and mediocrity are the more common, if you should meet him in what he himself would call a weak moment, but which, alas, you would have to call a better moment; if you should meet him when he had found no rest in the desert, when the giddiness passes away for a moment, and he feels an agonizing longing for Good; if you should meet him when, shaken in his inner most being, and not without sadness, he was thinking of that man of single purpose who even in all his frailty still wills the Good: then you would discover that he had two wills, and you would discover his painful double-mindedness. Desperate as he was, he thought: Lost is lost. However, he could not help turning around once more in his longing for the Good. How terribly embittered he had become against this very longing, a longing that reveals that, just as a man in all his defiance has not power enough wholly to lose himself from the Good, because it is the stronger, so he has not even the power wholly to will it. #RandolphHarris 15 of 17

Perhaps you may even have heard that desperate one say, “Some good went down with me.” When a man meets his death by drowning, as he sinks, without being quite dead, he comes to the surface again. At least a bubble comes out of his mouth. When this has happened, then he sinks dead. That bubble was the last breath, the last supply of air, that could make him lighter than the sea. So, with that remark. In that remark, the last hope of salvation expired. In that remark, he gave himself up. Was there still concealed in this thought a hope of salvation? Hidden in the soul, was there still in this thought a possible link with salvation? When a remark is pronounced in confidence to another man (oh, terrible misuse of confidence, even if the desperate one only misused it against himself!), when this word is heard, then he sinks forever. Alas, it is horrible to see a man rush toward his own destruction. It is horrible to see him dance on the rim of the abyss without any intimation of it. However, this clarity about himself and about his own destruction is even more horrible. It is horrible to see a man seek comfort by hurling himself into the whirlpool of despair. However, this coolness is still more horrible: that in the anxiety of death, a man should not cry out for help, “I am going under, save me”; but that he should quietly choose to be a witness to his own destruction! Oh, most extreme vanity, not to wish to draw man’s eyes to himself by beauty, by riches, by ability, by power, by honor, but to wish to get his attention by his own destruction, by choosing to say of himself what at most pity in all sadness may venture to say of such a person at his grace, “Yet, some good went down with him.” In moments of crisis, the doubleness of the human mind becomes painfully clear. We cling to illusions, hoping to extract some advantage from the very forces that are destroying us, unwilling to admit that the Good—the rational, the humane, the lawful—is the one thing we never fully willed. Yet in the instant of danger, even if only for a fleeting moment, the other will becomes visible: the part of us that recognizes what must be done. #RandolphHarris 16 of 17

This same clarity appears in emergency situations. When lives are at stake—when rescue or the prevention of fire spread is involved—there is no room for hesitation, sentimentality, or the false comfort of appearances. Property damage becomes irrelevant. The only rational response is decisive action. The threat of collapsing walls is present at every structure fire, but when you combine an enormous blaze in a row of old buildings, a swelling crowd, and a fire department stretched thin trying to save an entire neighborhood, the danger multiplies. That was the situation one August afternoon when a fire broke out at the “lower works” of a glass plant at the west end of Broadway. The alarm came in around 5:20 p.m. As the firemen left the station, they could already see the towering black smoke and knew they were facing a battle. The fire had begun at the west end of a row of warehouses and was rapidly consuming the adjoining structures. By the time the department arrived, all three warehouses were burning, threatening nearby homes and the rest of the abandoned factory. Captain X positioned himself near the east wall, trying to save the old office building and prevent the fire from advancing into the neighborhood. Thousands of people had gathered, edging dangerously close to the flames. Working alone, Captain X had to stop his hose several times to push the crowd back. As he turned again toward the fire, the wall suddenly collapsed, showering him with bricks and debris. Partially burned and pinned beneath the rubble, he was dug out by many of the same people whose lives he had just saved. Witnesses said he had a moment of warning but used it not to save himself, but to shove several people out of harm’s way before the wall came down on him. He was treated for leg injuries and survived. Despite the scale of the fire, no one else was hurt, and the blaze was contained to the warehouses. By morning, only tottering brick walls remained. The buildings were never rebuilt. This story is not just about a fire. It is about what real responsibility looks like. #RandolphHarris 17 of 17

The Winchester Mansion

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The cultural script of “Mother knows best” is powerful—so powerful that it can override a person’s own instincts, experiences, and even evidence of harm. However, that phrase was never meant to be a universal truth. It was meant for mothers who were actually acting in good faith, with wisdom, humility, and love. When a mother is not acting in your best interest, the old saying becomes a trap rather than a comfort. The myth says that mothers are always selfless, that mothers always want what is best for their children, and that mothers are incapable of envy, resentment, or sabotage. However, real human beings—mothers included—carry unresolved trauma, insecurity, jealousy, fear of losing control, resentment toward their children’s opportunities or independence. When those wounds go unexamined, they can distort maternal behavior in ways that are deeply damaging. Narcissistic parents envy and compete with their children’s attractiveness, athletic or intellectual abilities, and other sorts of favorable attention that their children attract. Narcissistic parents make negative comparisons to put their children down. They might compare a child to a sibling, friend, cousin, or even themselves—going on about how spoiled, inferior, or lucky their child is compared to them when they were young. Such behavior stems from the same jealousy and envy that motivates competition. Sadly, many children of narcissists struggle for years or for a lifetime with shame and low self-worth. #RandolphHarris 1 of 17

It is important to pay attention to signs that mother is not acting in your best interest. These patterns often show up when a mother feels threatened by her child’s growth, success, or autonomy. One sign is subtle sabotage. When your mother is always undermining your confidence, planting seeds of doubt about your decisions, and discouraging opportunities that would help you grow, your mother may be manipulating you so she can control her child with guilt, threats, and belittling. Some mothers shame their children with name-calling, criticism, undermining, blame, and withholding love. Frequently, they project onto their children their feelings of unworthiness and negative traits, such as attention-seeking or selfishness; characteristics which they disown. At the same time, they ignore, deny, and criticize their children’s feelings and needs, sometimes punishing them for expressing normal emotions, claiming they are too sensitive or weak. Parents often punish by withholding love, creating constant insecurity of self and self-esteem, which can be traumatizing and physical. One of the most painful—and least acknowledged—forms of family betrayal is when a parent aligns with their children’s enemies. This form of betrayal cuts deeper than ordinary conflict because it violates the basic expectation that a parent should protect their child, not align with people who wish them harm. This is not “normal conflict.” It is a sign of a profound role reversal in which the parent’s emotional needs override their protective instincts. #RandolphHarris 2 of 17

Several psychological dynamics can push a parent into this kind of betrayal, such as envy and competition. If a parent feels threatened by their child’s independence, success, confidence, relationships, or reputation, they may gravitate toward people who confirm their negative narrative about the child. If a parent feels insecure or criticized, they may seek validation from anyone—even the child’s adversaries—because it temporarily soothes their ego. Some parents offload their own guilt, shame, or failures by projecting them onto the child. Aligning with the child’s enemies becomes a way to reinforce the projection. Like all narcissists, narcissistic parents are prone to brag about themselves, their achievements, their family, and their children. Do not expect narcissistic parents to be involved with their children’s hobbies, goals, or interests unless it is also their goal or interest. They will not take pleasure in their children’s accomplishments or attractiveness except to the extent that it reflects well upon them. If the child is becoming independent, the parent may: join forces with people who undermine the child, spread misinformation, create alliances that keep the child “in their place.” This is about control, not care. Parents who engage in this pattern often share private information with people who dislike their children. Gossip or exaggerate the child’s mistakes, encourage others to “teach the child a lesson,” validate outsiders’ hostility, participate in smear campaigns, use third parties to pressure, shame, or isolate the child. This is not concern. It is collusion. #RandolphHarris 3 of 17

This kind of betrayal can create deep mistrust, hypervigilance, confusion about loyalty and safety, difficulty forming secure relationships, a sense of being unprotected in the world, and emotional shock (“How could my own parent do this?”) It is not just hurtful—it is destabilizing. Why does it feel so unthinkable? Because it violates the core expectation of parenthood. A parent should never join forces with someone who wants to harm their child. The lack of unconditional love, acceptance, and emotional connection in childhood leaves a void. Until the children of narcissists accept their narcissistic parents’ limitations and begin to love themselves, they are never free of suffering. They relive the emotional abandonment of their childhood and seek self-worth, validation, and lovability in relationships with abusive and/or emotionally unavailable partners, including drug addicts and narcissists. They may contribute to the problem by reacting as they did as a child to their parents. They continually find fault with themselves because conditional love is all they have ever known. This can lead to lifelong misery because external validation never heals internal shame and emptiness. Healing requires recovery from the codependence and shame acquired in childhood to feel entitled to love and appreciation. Narcissists deny reality and live inside a fantasy world that protects their fragile ego. They distort, renationalize, twist facts, and delude themselves to avoid anything that may chip their armor, which can be so thick that no amount of evidence or argument can get through. Their memories are often faulty, and self-deception can convince them that their altered reality is true. #RandolphHarris 4 of 17

Abusers, addicts, and narcissists typically use these defense mechanisms to disown their unacceptable feelings, thoughts, or qualities and assign them to others, either mentally or verbally. The projector says, “It is not me, it is just you!” In doing so, you become the target of a narcissist’s projection: you are the one who is “selfish,” “weak,” and “worthless.” Coping strategies reflect emotional maturity, and projection is considered a primitive defense because it distorts or ignores reality in any attempt to preserve a weak ego. It is reactive without forethought and used by children. When employed by adults, it indicates arrested emotional development. Low self-esteem and shame impair narcissists’ ability to accept responsibility for mistakes and negative feelings. Projecting allows narcissists to accuse others of being the source of the pain and shame they bear make someone else feel the way they do inside. Rather than suffer self-judgment, projection provides a temporary respite from their negative impulses and traits, which they find too uncomfortable to acknowledge. It preserves feelings of innocence and esteem rather than guilt and shame, or at the very least, it preserves a narcissist’s sense of security in maintaining their façade of infallibility. Externalization is like projection in that it is blaming others for your problems rather than taking appropriate responsibility for them, like addicts who blame their drinking or drug use on their partners or job supervisor. Thus, externalizing also makes you feel like a victim.  #RandolphHarris 5 of 17

However, narcissists are not the only people who project and blame. You might think to yourself, “He hates me,” when you hate him or think he is being controlling or judgmental; in other words, you remain blind to your own similar shortcomings or uncomfortable feelings because you are projecting them onto someone else. When it comes to understanding projecting, it is essential to understand that shame has two faces: one with an inflated ego and one that is depressed. When the devalued self is feeling inferior, shame manifests by idealizing others. This is what partners do when they are attracted to and idealize a narcissist. When a person is feeling superior and defending against shame, the grandiose self devalues others by projecting its disowned flaws and negative self-concept. Both devaluation and idealization are commensurate with the severity of shame and associated depression. Shame can make people fluctuate between the superior and inferior positions, but grandiose and vulnerable narcissists are more-or-less static in their respective positions, regardless of reality. Projection can be crazy-making, especially if you experience it for a long time. When you are vulnerable or have impaired self-esteem and weak boundaries or are sensitive about a specific issue, such as your looks, parenting, or intelligence, there is no filter. You introject the projection. Because internally you agree, it sticks like a magnet. Then you react to the shaming and compound your relationship problems. Doing so validates and augments the abuser’s authority, control, and ideas about you. You are sending the message that your partner has power over your self-esteem and the right to approve you. When there is a prohibition against doing something, a dialogue will result whenever the person starts to do it. The inner parent becomes active and says, “No!” in a hard script, “Watch out!” in a threatening one, or “Why do you want that?” in a soft one—usually whatever an actual parent would say in real life. The energy that the inner child had mobilized to do it is then taken over by the inner parent and is used by him to restrain the immaturity. The more the inner child had mobilized to put into it, the more energetic the mature self can become by appropriating this energy. #RandolphHarris 6 of 17

Envy is an unpleasant social emotion that arises when we compare ourselves with others in terms of their characteristic and belonging, and we perceive that they surpass us. This emotion of discomfort arises because the result of this upward comparison reveals our shortcomings. Envy is, therefore, a self-conscious emotion indicating a negative self-evaluation, or an inferior self-image with respect to others. The expansive type needs people for the confirmation of his power and of his spurious values. He also needs them as a safety valve for his own self-hate. However, since he has easier recourse to his own resources and greater support for his pride, his needs for others are neither as impelling nor as comprehensive as they are for the self-effacing type. The nature and magnitude of these needs account for basic characteristics in the latter’s expectations of others. While the arrogant-vindictive type primarily expects evil unless he has proof to the contrary, while the truly detached type expects neither good nor bad, the self-effacing type keeps expecting good. On the surface, it looks as though he had an unshakable faith in the essential goodness of humanity. And it is true that he is more open, more sensitive to likable qualities in others. However, the compulsiveness of his expectations makes it impossible for him to be discriminating. He cannot, as a rule, distinguish between genuine friendliness and its many counterfeits. He is too easily bribed by any show of warmth or interest. In addition, his inner dictates tell him that he should like everybody, that he should not be suspicious. Finally, his fear of antagonism and possible fights makes him overlook, discard, minimize, or explain away such traits as lying, crookedness, exploiting, cruelty, and treachery. #RandolphHarris 7 of 17

When confronted with the unmistakable evidence of such trends, he is taken by surprise each time; but even so, he refuses to believe in any intent to deceive, humiliate, or exploit. Although he often is, and still more often feels, abused, this does not change his basic expectations. Even though by bitter personal experience he may know that nothing good could possibly come to him from a particular group or person, he still persists in expecting it—consciously or unconsciously. Particularly when such blindness occurs in someone who is otherwise psychologically astute, his friends or colleagues may be flabbergasted by it. However, it simply indicates that the emotional needs are so great that they override evidence. The more he expects of people, the more he tends to idealize them. He has not, therefore, a real faith in mankind but a Pollyanna attitude which inevitably brings with it many disappointments and makes him more insecure with people. What does he expect of others? In the first place, he must feel accepted by others. He needs such acceptance in whatever form it is available: attention, approval, gratitude, affection, sympathy, love, and pleasures of the flesh. To make it clear, just as in our civilization, many people feel worth as much as the money they are “making,” so the self-effacing type measures his values in the currency of love, using the word here as a comprehensive term for the various forms of acceptance. He is worth as much as he is liked, needed, wanted, or loved. Furthermore, he needs human contact and company because he cannot stand being alone for any length of time. As if he were cut off from life, he feels easily lost. #RandolphHarris 8 of 17

Painful as this feeling is, it can still be tolerable as long as his self-abuse keeps within limits. As soon, however, as self-accusations or self-contempt becomes acute, his feeling lost may grow into a nameless terror, and it is exactly at this point that the need for others becomes frantic. This need for company is all the greater since being alone means to him proof of being unwanted and unliked and is therefore a disgrace, to be kept secret. It is a disgrace to go alone to the movies or on vacation, and a disgrace to be alone over the weekend, even when others are sociable. This is an illustration of the extent to which his self-confidence is dependent upon somebody caring for him in some way. He also needs others to give meaning and zest to whatever he is doing. The self-effacing type needs someone for whom to sew, cook, or garden, a teacher for whom he can play the piano, patients or clients who rely on him. Besides all this emotional support, however, he needs help and plenty of it. In his own mind, the help he needs stays within most reasonable limits, partly because most of his needs for help are unconscious and partly because he focuses on certain requests for help as though they were isolated and unique: help in getting him a job, in speaking to his landlord, going shopping with or for him, lending him money. Moreover, any wish for help of which he is aware appears to him eminently reasonable because the need behind it is so great. However, when in analysis, we see the total picture, his need for help actually amounts to the expectation that everything will be done for him. Others should supply the initiative, do his work, take the responsibility, give meaning to his life, or take over his life so that he can live through them. When recognizing the whole scope of these needs and expectations, the power which the appeal of love has for the self-effacing type becomes perfectly clear. It is not only a means to allay anxiety; without love, he and his life are without value and without meaning. Love, therefore, is an intrinsic part of the self-effacing solution. In terms of the type’s personal feelings, love becomes as indispensable for him as oxygen is for breathing. #RandolphHarris 9 of 17

Naturally, he carries these expectations also into the analytic relationship. In contrast to most expansive types, he is not at all ashamed to ask for help. On the contrary, he may dramatize the needs and his helplessness and plead for help. However, of course, he wants it his own way. He expects, at bottom, a cure through “love.” He may be quite willing to put effort into the analytic work, but, as it turns out later, he is prompted by his hungry expectation that salvation and redemption must and can come only from without (here from the analyst)—through being accepted. He expects the analyst to remove his feelings of guilt by love, which may mean by sexual love in the case of an analyst of the opposite gender. More often, it means in more general ways, signs of friendship, special attention, or interest. As always happens in neurosis, needs turn into claims, which means that he feels entitled to having all these goods come to him. The need for love, affection, understanding, sympathy, or help turns into: “I am entitled to love, affection, understanding, sympathy. I am entitled to have things done for me. I am entitled not to the pursuit of happiness but to have happiness fall into my lap.” It does almost without saying that these claims—as claims—remain more unconscious than in the expansive type. For the growth of autonomy, a firmly developed early trust is necessary. An individual must be sure that his faith in himself and in the world will not be jeopardized by the violent wish to have his choice, to appropriate demandingly, and to eliminate stubbornly. Only parental firmness can protect him against the consequences of his as yet untrained discrimination and circumspection. #RandolphHarris 10 of 17

However, his environment must also back him up in his wish to “stand on his own feet,” while protecting him against the now newly emerging pair of estrangements, namely, that sense of having exposed himself prematurely and foolishly which we call shame or that secondary mistrust, that “double take,” which we call doubt—doubt in himself and doubt in the firmness and perspicacity of his trainers. Shame is an infantile emotion insufficiently studied because in our civilization, it is so early and easily absorbed by guilt. Shame supposes that one is completely exposed and conscious of being looked at—in a word, self-conscious. One is visible and not ready to be visible; that is why in dreams of shame, we are stared at in a condition of incomplete dress, in night attire, “with one’s pants down.” Shame is early expressed in an impulse to bury one’s face or to sink, right then and there, into the ground. This potentiality is abundantly utilized in the educational method of “shaming” used so exclusively by some primitive peoples, where it supplants the often more destructive sense of guilt. The destructiveness of shaming is balanced in some civilizations by devices for “saving face.” Shaming exploits the increased sense of being small, which paradoxically develops as the individual comes to understand his size and power. Too much shaming does not result in a sense of propriety but in a secret determination to try to get away with things when unseen, if, indeed, it does not result in deliberate shamelessness. There is an impressive American ballad in which a murderer, to be hanged on the gallows before the eyes of the community, instead of feeling mortally afraid or totally shamed, begins to berate the onlookers, ending every salvo of defiance with the words, “God damn your eyes.” #RandolphHarris 11 of 17

Many people, when shamed beyond endurance, may be in a mood (although not in possession of either the courage or the words) to express defiance in similar terms. There is a limit to an individual’s endurance in the face of demands which force him to consider himself, his body, his needs, and his wishes as evil and dirty, and to believe in the infallibility of those who pass such judgment. Occasionally, he may turn things around, because secretly oblivious to the opinions of others, and consider as evil only the fact that they exist: this chance will come when they are gone or when he can leave them. The psychiatric danger of this stage is, as it is at all other stages, the potential aggravation of the normative estrangement to the point where it will cause neurotic or psychotic tendencies. The sensitive individual may turn all his urges to discriminate against himself and thus develop a precocious conscience. Instead of willfully appropriating things in order to test them by repetitive investigation, he will become obsessed by his own repetitiveness and will want to have everything “just so,” and only in a given sequence and tempo. By such an obsessiveness and procrastination, or by becoming a stickler for ritualistic repetitions, the individual then learns to gain power over his superiors in areas where he could not find large-scale mutual regulation with them. Such a hollow victory is how compulsion neurosis develops. #RandolphHarris 12 of 17

The most common sign of excessive defensiveness is frequent experiences of threat. If other people must be careful about what they say or do in your presence, it can signify that they sense the grasp of your identity is frail indeed. If you are easily upset by criticism or frightened by your anger or sensuality, it may signify that you are trying to live up to some glorified image. The time to grow—to begin to let go of one’s present self-concept—is evidenced by boredom, failure, and anxiety. These experiences signify that you and your real self have changed, but that your self-structure has not. You are impersonating an identity that, up to yesterday, may have been authentic and life-giving. Now, however, it is not. To start a growth episode is frightening, but it need not be terrifying. All it means is that you may have to suspend your usual activities and relationships in order to get a fresh perspective on your own possibilities and the possibilities of changing some aspects of your life. If you meditate or retreat to a quiet place from time to time, the chances are that you change aspects of your activity and your self-structure more or less frequently. If, however, you are “locked into” various roles, and a fixed way of being yourself, the experience of threat may be more acute when it happens, and the prospect of change more frightening. If your present identity is not sustaining a rewarding and health-engendering life, and you do not see ways to grow and change, then it might be valuable to find a personal counselor or psychotherapist. Conversations with a professional person can frequently lead to growth-producing changes that are neither drastic nor destructive. #RandolphHarris 13 of 17

God’s revelation in Jesus Christ, God’s revelation of His love, precedes all our love towards Him. Love has its origin not in us but in God. Love is not an attitude of men but an attitude of God. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (I John 4.10). Only in Jesus Christ do we know what love is, namely, in His deed for us. “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us” (I John 3.16). And even here there is given no general definition of love, in the sense, for example, of its being the laying down of one’s life for the lives of others. What is here called love is not this general principle but the utterly unique event of the laying down of the life of Jesus Christ for us. Love is inseparably bound up with the name of Jesus Christ as the revelation of God. The New Testament answers the question, “What is love?” quite unambiguously by pointing solely and entirely to Jesus Christ. He is the only definition of love. However, again, if we were to derive a general definition of love from our view of Jesus Christ and of His deed and His suffering, it would be a complete misunderstanding. Love is not what He suffers. Love is always He Himself. Love is always God Himself. Love is always the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. When all our ideas and principles relating to love are concentrated in the strictest possible manner upon the name of Jesus Christ, this must, above all, not be allowed to reduce this name to a mere abstract concept. This name must always be understood in the full concrete significance of the historical reality of a living man. And so, without in any way contradicting what has been said so far, it is only the concrete action and suffering of this man Jesus Christ which will make it possible to understand what love is. The name Jesus Christ, in which God reveals Himself, gives the explanation of itself in the life and words of Jesus Christ. For, after all, the New Testament does not consist in an endless repetition of the name of Jesus Christ, but that which this name comprises is displayed in events, concepts, and principles which are intelligible to use. #RandolphHarris 14 of 17

And so, too, the choice of the concept of “love,” is not simply arbitrary; this concept acquires an entirely new connotation in the New Testament message, yet it is not entirely without connection with what we understand by “love” in our own language. Certainly, it is not true to say that the biblical concept of love is a particular form of what we have already, in general, understood by this word. Precisely the opposite turns out to be the case, namely, that the biblical concept of love, and it alone is, the foundation, truth and the reality of love, in the sense that any natural thought about love contains truth and reality only in so far as it participates in this its origin, that is to say, in the love which is God Himself in Jesus Christ. Therefore, love is the reconciliation of man with God in Jesus Christ. The disunion of men with God, with other men, with the world and with themselves, is at an end. Man’s origin is given back to him. Love is the name for what God does to man in overcoming the disunion in which man lives. This deed of God is Jesus Christ, is reconciliation. And so love is something which happens to man, something passive, something over which he does not himself dispose, simply because it lies beyond his existence in disunion. Love means the undergoing of the transformation of one’s entire existence by God; it means being drawn in into the world as it lives and must live before God and in God. Love, therefore, is not man’s choice, but it is the election of man by God. #RandolphHarris 15 of 17

Only too soon personal experience and the experience of others teaches how far most men’s lives are from being what a man’s life ought to be. All have great moments. They see themselves in the magic mirror of possibility which hope holds before them while the wish flatters them. However, they swiftly forget this sight in the daily round of things. Or perhaps, they talk enthusiastic words, “for the tongue is a little member and boasteth great things.” However, talk takes the name of enthusiasm in vain by proclaiming loudly from the housetop what it should work out in silence. And in the midst of the trivial details of life, these enthusiastic words are quickly forgotten. It is forgotten that such a thing was said of this man. It is forgotten that it was he himself who said it. Now and then, perhaps, memory wakens with horror, and remorse seems to promise new strength. However, alas, this, too, lasts only for a good-sized moment. All of them have intentions, plans, resolutions for life, yes, for eternity. However, the intention soon loses its youthful strength and fades away. The resolution is not firmly grounded and is unable to withstand opposition. It totters before circumstances and is altered by them. Memory, too, has a way of failing, until by common practice and habit, they learn to draw sympathy from one another. If someone proclaims the slender comfort that excuses yield, instead of realizing how treacherous is such sympathy, they finally come to regard it as edifying, because it encourages and strengthens indolence. Now, there are men who find it edifying that the demand to will one thing be asserted in all its sublimity, in all its severity, so that it may press its claim into the innermost fastness of the soul. #RandolphHarris 16 of 17

Others find it edifying that a wretched compromise should be made between God, the claim, and the language used. There are men who find it edifying ig only someone will challenge them. However, there are also the sleepy souls who regard it as not only pleasing, but even edifying, to be lulled to sleep. This is indeed a lamentable fact; but there is a wisdom which is not from above, but is earthly and fleshly and devilish. It has discovered this common human weakness and indolence; it wants to be helpful. It perceives that all depends upon the will, and so it proclaims loudly, “Unless it wills one thing, a man’s life is sure to become one of wretched mediocrity, of pitiful misery. He must will one thing regardless of whether it be good or bad. He must will one thing for therein lies a man’s greatness.” Yet it is not difficult to see through this powerful error. As to the working out of salvation, the holy Scripture teaches that sin is the corruption of man. Salvation, therefore, lies only in the purity with which a man wills the Good. That very earthly and devilish cleverness distorts this into a temptation to perdition; weakness is a man’s misfortune; strength the sole salvation: “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry and empty places but finds no rest. Then he turns back again and now he brings with him” that unclean cleverness, the wisdom of the desert and the empty places, that unclean cleverness—that now drives out the spirit of indolence and of mediocrity “so that the last stage become worse than the first.” #RandolphHarris 17 of 17

Everything that happens to us has merit, whether we recognize the significance of it or not. Everything in our lives ultimately leads us somewhere. However, to envy anyone for the things which they have is not a noble thing to do. Envy is the cause of much trouble and should be avoided. However, we cannot help, at times, thinking that we would like to have some of these things which others possess and which, for some reason or other, we do not have. Then, again, there is much truth in the fact that if we envy someone else, we may, by that envy, be spurred on to do greater work so that we may acquire them. It is not harmful, in this way, to look around and find someone to envy—or we might say, to emulate. Such reflections on envy remind us that it is not merely a moral inclination but a distinct emotional state, one that engages the deeper mechanisms of human feeling. To understand its force, we must consider the broader principles governing emotion itself. The fundamental proposition, respecting Emotion generally, may be expressed in these words: The state of Feeling, or the subjective consciousness which is known to each person by his own experience, is associated with a diffusive action over the system, through the medium of the cerebral hemispheres. In other words, the physical fact that accompanies and supports the mental fact, without making or constituting that fact, is an agitation of all the bodily members more immediately allied with the brain by the nervous communication. The organs first affected, by a wave of nervous influence emanating from the brain, are the moving members. Some of these are more readily agitated than others—for example the features of the face; which therefore constitute the principal medium of the expression of feeling. However, observation shows that all parts of the moving system are liable to be affected by an emotional wave: while a very important series of effects is produced upon the secreting and excreting apparatus of the body. #RandolphHarris 1 of 17

The coincidence of a state of mental excitement with bodily agitation is one of the most common experiences of human nature. In children, with whom no influence is as yet at work to suppress the free play of emotion, the coincidence may be produced invariable. Every stimulus, whether of pleasure or of pain, animates the features, the vocal organs, and the whole moving system. In pain, the lachrymal section is profusely poured out. So constant is the accompaniment of bodily excitement with mental, that the one is always looked upon as sufficient evidence of the other. In advancing years, there is a process of education, as well as an exercise of the will, tending to check and suppress the bodily manifestations of feeling, especially those of a more violent nature; but in cases where the suppressive influence is suspended, or where the strength of the passion breaks through the artificial barriers, the characteristics of infancy are reproduced in all their fullness. The observed agreement of bodily agitation with states of pleasure or pain is borne out by noting that the two rise and fall together in degree or intensity. Exactly as we increase a pleasurable or painful stimulus, we find the diffused expression of the bodily organs becomes more energetic. The hardly perceptible smile rises to the animated distension of all the features, and at last convulses and agitates every member into ecstatic violence. A link of causation is in this way shown to exist between feeling and bodily activity; so that in cases where no bodily excitement is shown, we presume either that the feeling is too weak to produce an effect sufficient to catch the eye of a beholder, or that some restraining power is at work. It must be in the nature of a state of emotion to cause the brain to diffuse or transmit currents to the various muscles and secreting organs; although up to a certain point of strength these do not show any sensible agitation. As soon as the agitation becomes apparent, we find it growing stronger with each addition to the moving cause. Everyone knows in their own consciousness that extreme intensity of the feeling itself, and that even on occasion where nothing is allowed to appear to others, there is nevertheless a diffused flutter and thrill accompanying any state of acute excitement. #RandolphHarris 2 of 17

Recognizing envy as one instance of the broader emotional life, we may now observe how any feeling, once awakened, exerts its influence upon the whole system. As soon as the agitation becomes apparent, we find it growing stronger with each addition to the moving cause. Envy can become so strong that it overpowers a person and turns them into a different being than they typically are. To further highlight this illustration, it is well-known fact that in the heat of battle, wounds are for a time unfelt. The engrossment of the brain and bodily system is so entire that the stimulus of a sharp wound is unable to diffuse itself, and consciousness or feeling is not produced. So when the attention is strongly fixed upon one object, other impressions falling upon the senses have no effect; the sensory organ is excited, but the free diffusion through the brain and over the system is obstructed by the bent already imparted to the nervous currents. On this fact is founded one of many devices for alleviating pain, which is to engage the attention on some new class of objects. Whatever the impression be that determines the general attitude of the bodily framework, the same impression prevails in the inner consciousness. When the attention is released from something that has strongly occupied it, the recent impressions made on the sense begin to become conscious; as when a person gives no heed to words addressed to him, and after a minute or two suddenly wakes up to their import. From these examples, we may observe how envy can so completely possess the brain, the body, and the emotional nature that one becomes, for the time, incapable of perceiving another being as an object of affection. The passion gathers such force that the love which once existed can no longer penetrate the hardened armor of jealousy, and the mind, thus clouded, mistakes its own agitation for just cause of resentment. Yet, when the envied person is removed from one’s immediate sphere, the tumult often subsides; and in the stillness that follows, remorse awakens. One then begins to recall, with painful clarity, the love that had been offered and to feel the weight of guilt for having been insensible to it. #RandolphHarris 3 of 17

Some individuals are particularly susceptible to jealousy, and under the sway of the repetition‑compulsion, they are driven to relive, as a present reality, what has long been repressed. The earlier neurosis does not vanish; it merely returns in altered form, emerging as a fresh transference neurosis. This compulsion to repeat arises from the repressed element in the unconscious, which presses for expression whenever the person perceives a threat—whether real or imagined—in another individual or situation. Yet envy, though rooted in such deep psychological mechanisms, may still be moderated by deliberate reflection. We may cure much of it in ourselves by considering how trivial, burdensome, or ill‑suited are the things for which we envy our neighbor, or by recognizing that we already possess goods equal to those we covet. If I envy another’s greatness, I may recall that he lacks my quiet; I may even suspect that he envies me as much as I do him. And when I examine his perfections with exactness and balance them against my own, I often find that my condition is no less tolerable than his. Indeed, though many indulge envy, very few would truly exchange their lot for that of the person they resent, once all circumstances are weighed. We ought therefore to guard ourselves against every appearance of envy, for it is a passion that always implies a sense of inferiority wherever it resides. The envious person suffers precisely at those moments that ought to bring him pleasure, for another’s joy becomes his torment. The relish of his life is inverted; and the objects which administer the highest satisfaction to those who are exempt from this passion give the quickest pangs to persons who are subject to it. All the perfections of their fellow-creatures are odious. Youth, beauty, valor, and wisdom are provocations of their displeasure. #RandolphHarris 4 of 17

What a wretched and apostate state this is to be offended with excellence, and to hate a man because we prove him! The condition of the envious man is the most emphatically miserable; he is not only incapable of rejoicing in another’s merit or success, but lives in a world wherein all mankind are in a plot against his quiet, by studying their own happiness and advantage. He who holds himself down, shrinking in stature lest he make any expansive motion, unwittingly prepares the very soil in which his envy takes root and festers. Moreover, he feels subdued by an ever-alive readiness to accuse and despise himself; he also feels easily frightened and spends a good deal of his energies in assuaging all these painful feelings. This developmental crisis is evoked by the necessity to manage encounters. A new sense of estrangement is awakened along with the awareness of new dependences and new familiarities. Envy is a type of infantile simplicity. It is a sense of “hallowed presence” which remains basic in neurotic adults in our society who have a desire for safety. Their reaction is often to unknown, psychological dangers in a world that is perceived to be hostile, overwhelming, and threatening. Such a person behaves as if a great catastrophe were almost always impending, id est, he is usually responding as if to an emergency. His very security rests upon being the center of attention, upon having and being “the best,” and upon looking down with condescension upon others, their belongings, and their accomplishments. This type of neurotic adult may be said to behave as if he were actually afraid of a spanking, or of his mother’s disapproval, or of being abandoned by his parents, or having his food taken away from him. It is as if his childish attitudes of fear and threat reaction to a dangerous world had gone underground, and, untouched by the growing-up and learning processes, were now ready to be called out by any stimulus that would make a child feel endangered or threatened. #RandolphHarris 5 of 17

The neurosis in which the search for safety takes its clearest form is in the compulsive-obsessive neurosis. Compulsive-obsessives try frantically to order and stabilize the world so that no unmanageable, unexpected, or unfamiliar dangers will ever appear. They hedge themselves about with all sorts of ceremonials, rules, and formulas so that every possible contingency may be provided for and so that no new contingencies may appear. They resemble the brain‑injured patients described by Goldstein, who preserve their equilibrium only by avoiding everything unfamiliar and by arranging their restricted world with such meticulous order that nothing unpredictable can intrude. When this defensive rigidity appears in psychologically intact individuals, it may manifest as attempts to control, diminish, or socially demote others—undermining their standing, damaging their reputation, devaluing their achievements, or even terminating a life—in order to preserve a sense of superiority and maintain a tightly ordered inner world. Envy then becomes a pathological need for omnipotent control. Pathological controls must be established to serve as a basis of comparison. This is due to the dread of losing one’s audience, and certainly, that they will leave unless he can continuously establish his dominance, and the only way he can do that is by keeping others down, making them look bad and bragging about his importance and material objects. Even when a person is no longer in his circle, a person suffering from the pathological need for omnipotent control will still try to destroy one he truly believes is better than him. They try to arrange the world so that anything unexpected (dangers) cannot possibly occur. If, through no fault of their own, something unexpected does occur, like someone they envy finding success, they go into a panic reaction as if this unexpected occurrence constituted a grave danger. #RandolphHarris 6 of 17

Each successive stage and crisis has a special relation to one of the basic institutionalized endeavors of man for the simple reason that the human life cycle and human institutions have evolved together. The relation between them is twofold: each generation brings to these institutions the remnants of infantile needs and youthful fervor, and receives from them—as long as they, indeed, manage to maintain their institutional vitality—a specific reinforcement of childlike vitality. If one can overcome envy, it becomes possible to pierce the universal amnesia that conceals the frightening aspects of childhood. In relinquishing envy, we loosen the defenses that keep those early terrors unexamined. Yet we may also gratefully acknowledge that the principal glory of childhood survives into adult life: the capacity for wonder, for spontaneous joy, and for a trust in life that, though often obscured, is never wholly extinguished. Trust, then, becomes the capacity for faith—a vital need for which man must find some institutional confirmation. Religion, it seems, is the oldest and has been the most lasting institution to serve the ritual restoration of a sense of trust in the form of faith while offering a tangible formula for a sense of evil against which it promises to arm and defend man. Childlike strength as well as a potential for infantilization are suggested in the fact that all religious practices include periodic childlike surrender to the Power that creates and re-creates, dispensing earthly fortune as well as spiritual well-being; the demonstration of smallness and dependence by reduced posture and humble gesture; the confession in prayer and song of misdeeds, misthoughts, and evil intentions and the fervent appeal for inner reunification by divine guidance. #RandolphHarris 7 of 17

At best, all of this is highly stylized and thus becomes suprapersonal; individual trust becomes a common faith, individual mistrust a commonly formulated evil, while the individual’s plea for restoration becomes part of the ritual practice of many and a sign of trustworthiness in the community. When religion loses its actual power of presence, then, it would seem, an age must find other forms of joint reverence for life which derive vitality from a shared world image. Only a reasonably coherent framework provides the faith which is transmitted by the mothers to the infants in a way conducive to the vital strength of hope, that is, the enduring predisposition to believe in the attainability of primal wishes in spite of the anarchic urges and rages of dependency. The shortest formulation of the identity gain of earliest childhood may well be: I am what hope I have and give. For some, the promises of celibacy and obedience made in life can be said to relieve them of their burdens which they are not ready to assume. Sometimes, it takes a kind of shock therapy for God to change one’s mind. Others have said that Christ himself spoke. The spiritual part of the experience can also be an intra-psychic one. Martin Luther, for instance, records that something in him made him pronounce a vow before the rest of him knew what he was saying. His friends’ conviction that he was acting under God’s guidance was based on nothing but their impressions of the genuineness of his inner life. For some, celibacy provides a divine preservation tied to personal sacrifice.  God is sustaining their life in recognition of their vow of celibacy. Although some individuals disparage celibacy out of ignorance or envy, the practice itself belongs to a long and well‑established tradition in which human life is interpreted through the framework of sacred commitment. Within this tradition, celibacy functions not as a denial of life but as a structured mode of meaning‑making, providing containment, purpose, and a sense of continuity with a larger spiritual order. For men who have embraced celibacy in earnest, even an ordinary thunderstorm may be interpreted as a direct intervention of Providence, directed toward them with deliberate intent. Such individuals exhibit a form of conviction that is not merely doctrinal but existential, and they stand as honest representatives of an earlier moral epoch—one in which personal vows, divine agency, and the ordering of one’s life under a sacred mandate were experienced with an immediacy seldom encountered in the modern mind. #RandolphHarris 8 of 17

One cannot examine the psychological life of the individual without eventually confronting the larger question of how personal ethics relate to the structures of collective life. For if private convictions, vows, and defenses shape the individual’s conduct, we must ask what relation such ethical formations bear to the sphere of political action. Now then, what relations do ethics and politics actually have? Have the two nothing whatever to do with one another, as has occasionally been said? Or is the reverse true: that the ethic of political conduct is identical with that of any other conduct? Occasionally, an exclusive choice has been believed to exist between the two propositions—either the one or the other proposition must be correct. However, is it true that any ethic of the world could establish commandments of identical content for erotic, business, familial, and official relations; for the relations to one’s wife, to the greengrocer, the son, the competitor, the friend, the defendant? Should it really matter so little for the ethical demands on politics that politics operates with very special means, namely, power backed by violence? Do we not see that the Bolshevik and the Spartacist ideologists bring about exactly the same results as any militaristic dictator, just because they use these political means? In what but the persons of the power-holders and their dilettantism does the rule of the workers’ and the soldiers’ councils differ from the rule of any power-holder of the old regime? In what way does the polemic of most representatives of the presumably new ethic differ from that of the opponents which the criticized, or the ethic of any other demagogues? In their noble intention, people will say. Good! However, it is the means about which we speak here, and the adversaries, in complete subjective sincerity, claim, in the very same way, that their ultimate intentions are of lofty character. “All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword,” and fighting is everywhere fighting. Hence, the ethic of the Sermon on the Mount. #RandolphHarris 9 of 17

By the Sermon on the Mount, we mean the absolute ethic of the gospel, which is a more serious matter than those who are fond of quoting these commandments today believe. This ethic is no joking matter. The same holds true for this ethic as has been said of causality in science: it is not a cab, which one can have stopped at one’s pleasure; it is all or nothing. If trivialities are not to result, this is precisely the meaning of the gospel. Hence, for instance. It was said of the wealthy young man, “He went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.” The evangelist commandment, however, is unconditional and unambiguous: give what thou hast—absolutely everything. The politician will say that this is a socially senseless imposition as long as it is not carried out everywhere. Thus, the politician upholds taxation, confiscatory taxation, outright confiscation; in a word, compulsion and regulation for all. The ethical commandment, however, is not all concerned about that, and this unconcern is its essence. Or, take the example, “turn the other cheek”; This command is unconditional and does not question the source of the other’s authority to strike. Except for a stain, it is an ethic of indignity. This is it: one must be saintly in everything; at least in intention, one must live like Jesus Christ, the apostles, St. Francis, and their like. Then this ethic makes sense and expresses a kind of dignity; otherwise, it does not. For if it is said, in line with the acosmic ethic of love, “Resist not him that is evil with force,” for the politician, the reverse proposition holds, “thou shalt resist evil by force,” or else you are responsible for the evil winning out. He who wishes to follow the ethic of the gospel should abstain from strikes, for strikes mean compulsion; he may join the company unions. Above all things, he should not talk of “revolution.” After all, the ethic of the gospel does not wish to teach that civil war is the only legitimate war. #RandolphHarris 10 of 17

The pacifist who follows the gospel will refuse to bear arms or will throw them down; in Germany, this was the recommended ethical duty to end the war and therewith all wars. The politician would say the only sure means to discredit the war for all foreseeable time would have been a status quo peace. Then, the nations would have questioned, what was this war for? And then, the way would have been argued ad absurdum, which is now impossible. For the victors, at least for part of them, the war will have been politically profitable. And the responsibility for this rests on the behavior that made all resistance impossible for us. Now, as a result of the ethics of absolutism, when the period of exhaustion will have passed, the peace will be discredited, not the war. Finally, let us consider the duty of truthfulness. For the absolute ethic it holds unconditionally. Hence, the conclusion was reached to publish all documents, especially those placing blame on one’s own country. On the basis of these one-sided publications, the confessions of guilt followed—and they were one-sided, unconditional, and without regard to consequences. The politician will find that, as a result, truth will not be furthered but certainly obscured through abuse and unleashing of passion; only an all-round methodical investigation by non-partisans could bear fruit; any other procedure may have consequences for a nation that cannot be remedied for decades. However, the absolute ethic just does not ask for “consequences.” That is the decisive point. We must be clear about the fact that all ethically oriented conduct may be guided by one of two fundamentally differing and irreconcilably opposed maxims: conduct can be oriented to an “ethic of ultimate ends” or to an “ethic of responsibility.” This is not to say that an ethic of ultimate ends is identical with irresponsibility, or that an ethic of responsibility is identical with unprincipled opportunism. Naturally, nobody says that. #RandolphHarris 11 of 17

However, there is an abysmal contrast between conduct that follows the maxim of an ethic of ultimate ends—that is, in religious terms. “The Christian does rightly and leaves the results with the Lord”—and conduct that follows the maxim of an ethic of responsibility, in which case one has to give an account of the foreseeable results of one’s action. You may demonstrate to a convinced syndicalist, believing in an ethic of ultimate ends, that his action will result in increasing the opportunities of reaction, in increasing the oppression of his class, and obstructing its ascent—and you will not make the slightest impression upon him. If an action of good intent leads to bad results, then, in the actor’s eyes, not he but the world, or the stupidity of other men, or God’s will, who made them thus, is responsible for the evil. However, a man who believes in an ethic of responsibility takes account of precisely the average deficiencies of people; as Fichte has correctly said, he does not even have the right to presuppose their goodness and perfection. He does not feel in a position to burden others with the results of his own actions so far as he was able to foresee them; he will say: these results are ascribed to my action. The believer in an ethic of ultimate ends feels “responsible” only for seeing to it that the flame of pure intentions is not quelched: for example, the flame of protesting against the injustice of the social order. To rekindle the flame ever anew is the purpose of his quite irrational deeds, judged in view of their possible success. They are acts that can and shall have only exemplary value. However, even herewith the problem is not yet exhausted. No ethics in the world can dodge the fact that in numerous instances, the attainment of “good” ends is bound to the fact that one must be willing to pay the price of using morally dubious means or at least dangerous ones—and facing the possibility or even the probability of evil ramifications. From no ethics in the world can it be concluded when and to what extent the ethically good purpose “justifies” the ethically dangerous means and ramifications. Public debates often illustrate this dilemma. Some argue, for example, that permissive immigration policies are motivated by the ethically laudable aim of offering individuals from other countries the possibility of a better life. Yet the practical ramifications of such policies are contested. #RandolphHarris 12 of 17

Reports have documented criminal incidents involving certain migrant groups, including a widely publicized case in Aurora, Colorado, where alleged members of a Venezuelan gang were involved in armed home invasions and kidnappings within an apartment complex. There are also reports of violent crime, murder, and sexual assault increasing. As well as billions of dollars in fraud. Furthermore, the billions of dollars in costs to accommodate these people left American citizens victims of crime and caused them to go without the government services that they needed.  The decisive means for politics is violence. You may see the extent of the tension between means and ends, when viewed ethically, from the following: as is generally known, even during the war, the revolutionary socialists (Zimmerwald faction) professed a principle that one might strikingly formulate: “If we face the choice either of some more years of war and then the revolution, or peace now and no revolution, we choose—some more years of war!” Upon the further question: “What can this revolution bring about?” Every scientifically trained socialist would have had the answer: One cannot speak of a transition to an economy that, in our sense, could be called socialist; a bourgeois economy will re-emerge, merely stripped of the feudal elements and the dynastic vestiges. For this very modest result, they are willing to face “some more years of war.” One may well say that even with a very robust socialist conviction, one might reject a purpose that demands such means. With Bolshevism and Separatism, and, in general, with any kind of revolutionary socialism, it is precisely the same thing. It is, of course, utterly ridiculous if the power politicians of the old regime are morally denounced for their use of the same means, however justified the rejection of their aims may be. #RandolphHarris 13 of 17

Thus, the inconsistency of denouncing the old regime for employing means that the revolutionaries themselves do not hesitate to adopt is but one instance of a broader historical irony. The same divergence between moral intention and practical necessity that vitiates their political conduct also frustrates the very historical vocation which Marx, with such confidence, attributed to the proletariat. The revolutionary bourgeoisie seized power in 1789 because they already had it. At this period, legality, as Jules Monnerot says, was lagging behind the facts. The facts were that the bourgeoisie were already in possession of the posts of command and of the new power: money. The proletariat was not at all in the same position, having only their poverty and their hopes, and being kept in their condition of misery by the bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie class debased itself by a mania for production and material power, while the very organization of this mania made the creation of an elite impossible. However, criticism of this organization and the development of rebel conscience could, on the contrary, forge a reserve elite. Only revolutionary trade unionism, with Pelloutier and Sorel, embarked on this course and wanted to create, by professional and cultural education, new cadres for which a world without honor was calling, and still class. However, that could not be accomplished in a day, and the new masters were already on the scene, interested in making immediate use of human unhappiness for the sake of happiness in the distant future, rather than in relieving as much and as soon as possible the suffering of millions of men. The authoritarian socialists deemed that history was going too slowly and that it was necessary, in order to hurry it on, to entrust the mission of the proletariat to a handful of doctrinaires. For that very reason, they have been the first to deny this mission. Nevertheless, it exists, not in the exclusive sense that Marx gives it, but in the sense that a mission exists for any human group which knows how to derive pride and fecundity from its labors and its sufferings. So that it can manifest itself, however, a risk must be taken and confidence put in working-class freedom and spontaneity. #RandolphHarris 14 of 17

Authoritarian socialism, on the contrary, has confiscated this living freedom for the benefit of an ideal freedom, which is yet to come. In so doing, whether it wished to our not, it reinforced the attempt at enslavement begun by industrial capitalism. By the combined action of these two factors and during a hundred and fifty years, except in the Paris of the Commune, which was the last refuge of rebel revolution, the proletariat has had no other historical mission but to be betrayed. The workers fought and died to give power to the military or to intellectuals who dreamed of becoming military and who would enslave them in their turn. This struggle, however, has been the source of their dignity, a fact that is recognized by all who have chosen to share their aspirations and their misfortunes. However, this dignity has been acquired in opposition to the whole clan of old and new masters. At the very moment when they dare to make use of it, it denies them. In one sense, it announces their eclipse. A similar pattern may be observed in the fate of those who, in our own time, undertake the perilous task of exposing institutional misconduct. Their dignity, acquired through long resistance to the dominion of old and new masters, is acknowledged by all who share their burdens. Yet the instant they dare to assert the moral authority their struggle has earned, the institutions they confront hasten to repudiate them—thereby announcing, however unwillingly, the waning of their own legitimacy. This frightening experience, with whatever lessons in bravery, cunning, and skill it yields, is firmly sedimented in the consciousness of the individuals who went through it. If the experience is shared by several individuals, it will be sedimented intersubjectively and may perhaps even form a profound bond between these individuals. As this experience is designated and transmitted linguistically, however, it becomes accessible and, perhaps, strongly relevant to individuals who have never gone through it. #RandolphHarris 15 of 17

To further illustrate this dynamic, multiple Boeing employees have come forward in recent years with serious concerns about aircraft manufacturing and safety practices. Their disclosures were made under conditions of intense pressure, fear of retaliation, and, in some cases, personal danger. Those who spoke out developed a tight, intersubjective bond, for only they fully grasped the risks involved in challenging a major aerospace manufacturer. One of the most prominent figures, John Barnett, had served as a quality manager at Boeing for more than thirty years. He first filed a whistleblower complaint in 2017—one year before the first 737 MAX crash—alleging that the company’s quality‑control systems were severely inadequate. Barnett reported that faulty parts and substandard manufacturing practices were being overlooked, potentially compromising flight safety. Another whistleblower, Joshua Dean, likewise raised concerns about manufacturing defects. Both men died suddenly in 2024—Dean from a severe bacterial infection and Barnett from what authorities ruled a self‑inflicted gunshot wound. Their allegations helped catalyze ongoing investigations and legal scrutiny, brought into sharp public focus when the door plug of an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 detached mid‑flight in January. Since that incident, more than one hundred additional whistleblowers have contacted the Federal Aviation Administration, demonstrating how an initially private ordeal can, once articulated and transmitted publicly, become a matter of collective concern and cultural significance. Such testimony does more than record a private ordeal; it objectifies the experience in language and thereby transforms it into a publicly available form of knowledge. Once articulated, the whistleblower’s experience can be incorporated into a wider moral and cultural tradition—invoked in debates about corporate responsibility, used as material for ethical instruction, or taken up in journalism, documentary storytelling, and public inquiry. In this way, both the immediate experience and its broader symbolic meanings become transmissible to new generations, and even to communities far removed from the aerospace industry, each of which may attach its own significance to the narrative. #RandolphHarris 16 of 17

In this way, the objectified experience becomes part of the moral and psychological vocabulary through which individuals make sense of upheaval. And just as communities assimilate the lessons of others’ ordeals, individuals themselves often require a comparable jolt before meaningful change can occur. One sees this in those whose inner lives have been shaped by intense religious or ascetic experiences—such as celibate men who, in moments of crisis, report encounters or impressions that they interpret as divine communication. Typically, growth in awareness unfolds gradually, but there are times when only a dramatic rupture can dislodge a person from entrenched defenses. If the person has the courage (and the encouragement) to accept threat and not respond reflexively with mechanisms of defense, growth will go on throughout a person’s life span, even into the seventies and nineties. Properly understood, the experiences of anxiety and dread will evoke the “courage to be” and they will be harbingers of growth to richer existence. Improperly understood, or encouraged in a spirit of timidity, they lead a person to make of the identity an impregnable bastion. The person then leads a safe but often unproductive and joyless life. Courage and encouragers assist them to grow. The courage to grow can sometimes be generated in psychotherapy or in a properly conducted encounter group. Under such conditions, individuals may enlarge their self‑concept, revise their conscience in more humane and mature directions, and present a public self that corresponds more closely to the realities of their own personality and the demands of the situation. These processes can be profoundly life‑preserving. Yet it remains a sobering fact that not everyone reaches this point of transformation. Some individuals, unable to find a setting in which their inner rupture can be metabolized, become martyrs to the very forces they sought to confront. #RandolphHarris 17 of 17

Lord Jesus Christ, You who stood for truth when the world preferred silence, look with mercy upon all who dare to speak out against wrongdoing in their workplaces, institutions, and communities. We grieve that so many are willing to risk their careers to do what is harmful or unlawful, while so few are willing to risk their careers to defend what is right. We lament that our society so often protects the powerful at any cost, even when their actions endanger the vulnerable, distort justice, or betray the public trust. Strengthen the whistleblowers who step forward despite fear, retaliation, and isolation; grant them courage, clarity, and the assurance that their sacrifice is not in vain. Bless the work of those who labor to support them—including the mission of this nonprofit, which seeks to advance public understanding, protect truth‑tellers, and cultivate a culture where integrity is honored rather than punished. May Your Gospel inspire us to stand firm in righteousness, to resist complicity, and to uphold justice even when the cost is great. And for those who become martyrs to truth—those whose courage is met not with gratitude but with suffering—grant them peace, and grant us the strength to continue their work with unwavering faith. Amen.

Science grows by accumulation. Discoveries, inventions, and new knowledge, are added to the existing stock. These new elements are usually very small. Inventions, as additions of something new, are seen after analysis to be not nearly so large as they popularly appear to be. An invention is rather a small step in a process growing by small accretions. There are discoveries, big in significance; but their coming is hard to predict and they are rare. The new elements of knowledge are determined in part by the existing elements, and for this reason the addition of a desired element cannot be secured by will-power and enterprise alone. Sometimes your skills and accomplishments were perfect for a previous stage of life, but the current situation demands: more authority, more resources, institutional power, a different type of leverage. When dealing with systems that resist accountability, where personal excellence does not automatically translate into institutional response, this is especially true. Primitive man needed and desired medical progress as much as modern man, and worked at it as arduously; but modern medical achievements are more dependent upon previously existing elements. Existing assets or achievements may be recognized indirectly, but they are not emotionally experienced. “My patients seem to think I am a good doctor.” “My friends say I am a good storyteller.” “Men teachers think I am very intelligent, but they are mistaken.” The same attitude prevails toward financial assets. Such a person may not have the feeling of owning the money he has earned through his own work. If he is financially well off, he nevertheless experiences himself as poor. Any ordinary observation or self-observation lays bare the fears behind all this overmodesty. They emerge as soon as he raises his head. #RandolphHarris 1 of 21

Whatever sets the self-minimizing process to work, it is maintained by powerful taboos on trespassing the narrow confines he has set for himself. He should be content with little. He has should not wish or strive for more. Any wish, any striving, any reaching out for more feels to him like a dangerous or reckless challenging fate. He should not want to improve his figure by dieting or gymnastics, or to improve his appearance by dressing better. Last but not least, he should not improve himself by analyzing himself. He may be able to do so when under duress. However, otherwise, he simply will not find the time for it. I am not referring here to individual fears of tackling special problems. There is something beyond these usual difficulties that holds him back from doing it at all. Often, in sharp contrast to his conscious conviction about the value of self-analysis, it appears to him as “selfish” to “waste that much time” on himself. What he scorns as “selfishness” is almost as comprehensive as what he considers “presumptuous.” To him, selfishness includes doing anything that is just for himself. He is often capable of enjoying many things but it would be “selfish” to enjoy them alone. He is often unaware of operating under such taboos and merely deems it “natural” to want to share a joy. Actually, the sharing of pleasures is an absolute must. If it is not shared with somebody else, whether it is food, music, or nature, it loses flavor and meaning. He cannot spend money for himself. His stinginess with personal experiences may reach absurd degrees, which is particularly striking when contrasted with his often lavish spending for others. When he trespasses this taboo and does spend money on himself, even though it may be objectively reasonable, he will become panicky. The same holds true with regard to the use of time and energies. He often cannot read a book in his free time unless it is useful for his work. He may not grant himself the time for writing a personal letter, but furtively squeezes it in between two appointments. He often cannot make or keep order in his personal belongins—unless it is for somebody who would appreciate it. #RandolphHarris 2 of 21

Similarly, he may neglect his appearance unless he has a date, a professional or social engagement—id est, again, unless it is for others. Conversely, he may display considerable energy and skill in attaining something for others, such as helping them to make desirable contacts or to get a job; but he is tied hand and foot when it comes to doing the same for himself. Although much hostility is generated in him, he cannot express it except when emotionally upset. Otherwise he is afraid of fighting and even friction for several reasons. Partly, this is because a person who has thus clipped his wings is not and cannot possibly be a good fighter. In part, he is terrified lest anybody be hostile toward him, and prefers to give in, to “understand” and forgive. Consistent with the other taboos and actually implied in them, is one on being “aggressive.” He cannot stand up for his dislike of a person, an idea, a cause—and fight them if necessary. He cannot keep a sustained hostility nor can he carry a grudge, consciously. Hence, vindictive drives remain unconscious and can only be expressed indirectly and in a disguised form. He cannot be openly demanding nor can he reprimand. It is most difficult for him to criticize, to reproach, or to accuse,–even when it seems warranted. He cannot even in joking make a sharp, witty, sarcastic remark. There are taboos on all that is presumptuous, selfish, and aggressive. If we realize in detail the scope covered by the taboos, they constitute a crippling check on the person’s expansion, his capacity for fighting and for defending himself, his self-interest—on anything that might accrue to his growth or his self-esteem. The taboos and self-minimizing constitute a shrinking process that artificially reduced his stature and leaves him feeling like one patient’s dream in which, as a result of some merciless punishment, a person had shrunk to half his bodily size and was reduced to utter destitution and a moronic condition. #RandolphHarris 3 of 21

The self-effacing type, then, cannot make any assertive, aggressive, expansive move without trespassing against his taboos. Their violation arouses both his self-condemnation and his self-contempt. He responds either with a general panicky feeling, without special content, or with feeling guilty. If self-contempt is in the foreground, he may respond with a fear of ridicule. Being in his self-feeling so small and so insignificant, any reaching out beyond his narrow confines may easily arouse the fear of ridicule. If this fear is conscious at all, it is usually externalized. If he spoke up in a discussion, ran for office, or had the ambition to write something, others would think it ridiculous. Most of this fear, however, remains unconscious. At any rate, he never seems to be aware of its formidable impact. It is, however, a relevant factor in keeping him down. The fear of ridicule is specifically indicative of self-effacing trends. It is alien to the expansive type. He can be blusteringly presumptuous without even realizing that he might be ridiculous or that others might so regard him. While curtailed in any pursuit on his own behalf, he is not only free to do things for others but, according to his inner dictates, should be the ultimate of helpfulness, generosity, considerateness, understanding, sympathy, love, and sacrifice. In fact, love and sacrifice in his mind are closely intertwined: he should sacrifice everything for love—love is sacrifice. Thus far, the taboos and shoulds have a remarkable consistency. However, sooner or later contradictory trends appear. We might naively expect that this type would rather abhor aggressive, arrogant, or vindictive traits in others. However, actually, his attitude is divided.  He does abhor them but also secretly or openly adores them. And does so indiscriminately—without distinguishing between genuine self-confidence and hollow arrogance, between real strength and egocentric brutality. #RandolphHarris 4 of 21

We easily understand that, chafing under his enforced humility, he adores in others aggressive qualities which he lacks or which are unavailable to him. However, gradually, we realize that this is not the complete explanation. We see that a more deeply hidden set of values, entirely opposite to the one just described, is also operating in him and that he admires in an aggressive type the expansive drives which for the sake of his integration he must so deeply suppress in himself. This disavowing of his own pride and aggressiveness, but admiring them in others, plays a great part in his morbid dependency. As the patient becomes strong enough to face his conflict, his expansive drives come into sharper focus. He should also have the absolute of fearlessness; he should also go all out for his advantage; he should be able to hit back at anybody who offends him. Accordingly, he despises himself at bottom for any trace of “cowardice,” of ineffectualness and compliance. He is thus under a constant crossfire. If he does something, he is damned, and if he does not, he is damned. If he refuses the request for a loan or for any favor, he feels that he is a repulsive and horrible creature; if he grants such requests, he feels that he is a “sucker.” If he puts the insulter in his place, he gets frightened and feels utterly unlikable. As long as he cannot face this conflict and work at it the need to keep a check on the aggressive undercurrents makes it all the more necessary to adhere tenaciously to the self-effacing pattern, and thereby enhances its rigidity. Such a man must be assumed to be in the throes of a conflict which probably made the idea of a marital commitment repugnant to the point of open panic. However, when he married twenty years later, having in the meantime taken the vows of celibacy, broken with the Church, set a fire to the world around him, publicly proclaiming as his first and foremost reason for taking a wife was that it would please his father. However, on July 2^nd, he was surprised by a severe thunderstorm. A bolt of lightning struck the ground near him, throwing him to the ground, and causing him to be seized by a severe, some say convulsive, state of terror. He felt, terrore et agonis mortis subitae circumvallatus: as if completely walled in by the painful fear of a sudden death. #RandolphHarris 5 of 23

Before he knew it, he was seeking help and wanted to renew his vows of celibacy. He felt bound by what he considered to be a vow and began to think of the experience as a frightful call from heaven: de caelo terroribus. Was this thunderstorm necessary? Some believe that it was God’s way of calling him away (abgerufen) from a glamorous career which the young man had every reason to desire. His psychiatrist assumes that the event was only the climax of an agitated depressive state which gradually had ruined the perspective of that career. A student of motivation cannot well ask what motivates God to do something extraordinary; yet he may wonder what in the world would at that moment call for an un-Aristotelian thunderstorm. The monastic profession was not an uncommon career; it was even a respectable way of becoming a scholar and of eventually rejoining academic work. This concern with the adequacy of established explanatory frameworks—whether theological, philosophical, or psychological—finds a parallel in the historical understanding of monastic vocation, which likewise resists simplistic or conventional interpretation. Transactional analysis as a therapeutic method is based on the assumption that words and gestures can have a therapeutic effect without any bodily contact with the patient beyond a handshake. If a transactional analyst considers that bodily contact is desirable for a certain patient, he refers him to a dance class, sensory-awareness group, or a “permission class” with a prescription for dancing. Permission classes are run as groups, so that the patient does not get individual hugging or individual dancing exercises. All the patients do the same things at the same time, but the teacher is aware of each one’s special needs and devotes some attention to them. (The patients do not have to do the same things at the same time. The teacher merely makes the suggestion, but each person is free to do as he wishes—that is part of the permission derived from the class. Usually, however, they enjoy the participation with other people, something they may have missed in childhood.) #RandolphHarris 6 of 23

Since permission is the decision intervention for script analysis, it is worth having as clear as possible an understanding of how it works, and every opportunity should be taken to learn about it by observing this in different situations. However, while therapeutic models can offer valuable explanations for experiences that appear extraordinary, it is equally important to recognize that many individuals interpret such moments through the lens of the divine calling. If one abuses the license and goes too far, he will hear from the authorities under ordinary circumstances. When there is a prohibition against doing something, a dialogue will result whenever the person starts to do it. Only a small part of the totality of human experiences is retained in consciousness. The experiences that are so retained become sedimented, that is, they congeal in recollection as recognizable and memorable entities. Unless such sedimentation took place, the individual could not make sense of his biography. Intersubjective sedimentation also takes place when several individuals share a common biography, experiences of which become incorporated in a common stock of knowledge. Intersubjective sedimentation can be called truly social only when it has been objectivated in a sign system of one kind or another, that is, when the possibility of reiterated objectivation of the shared experiences arise. Only then is it likely that these experiences will be transmitted from one generation to the next, and from one collectivity to another. Theoretically, common activity, without a sign system, could be the basis for transmission. Empirically, this is improbable. An objectively available sign system bestows a status of incipient anonymity on the sedimented experiences by detaching them from their original context of concrete individual biographies and making them generally available to all who share, or may share in the future, in the sign system in question. The experiences thus become readily transmittable. #RandolphHarris 7 of 23

It is often maintained that the neglect of a divine calling invites adverse consequences, for such disregard is understood as a refusal of grace. Numerous witnesses throughout the Christian tradition attest that the doctrine of divine grace and salvific purpose—articulated most fully in the Epistle to the Romans and commonly associated with the Calvinistic tradition—has impressed upon students the necessity of presenting themselves as approved before God, rightly dividing the word of truth. However, in times of change—and what other times are there, in our memory? One generation differs so much from another that items of tradition often become disturbances. Conflicts between the divine way and one’s own self-made style, conflicts between the expert’s authority and one’s own style may disturb God and show a lack of faith. Furthermore, all the mass transformations in American life (immigration, migration, and Americanization; industrialization, urbanization, mechanization, and others) are apt to disturb the divine way in those tasks which are so simple yet so far-reaching. No wonder, then, that Proverbs 3.5-6 says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.” Change, the true change is when eternity exists. Eternity is just than the earth and the world; for eternity there is a crown of honor laid aside for each of those that have in truth willed only one thing. So also with riches and power and the world that passes away and the lust thereof. The one who has willed either of them, even if he only willed one thing, must, to his own agony, continue to will it when it has passed, and learn by the agony of contradiction that it is not one thing. However, the one who in truth willed one thing and therefore willed the Good, even if he be sacrificed for it, why should he not go on willing the same in eternity, the same thing that he was willing to die for? Why should he not will the same, when it has triumphed in eternity? #RandolphHarris 8 of 21

To will one thing, therefore, cannot mean to will that which only appears to be one thing. The fact is that the worldly goal is not one thing in its essence because it is unreal. Its so-called unity is actually nothing but emptiness which is hidden beneath the manyness. In the short-lived moment of delusion, the worldly goal is therefore a multitude of things, and thus not one thing. So far is it from a state of being and remaining one thing, that in the next moment it changes itself into its opposite. Carried to its extreme limit, what is pleasure other than disgust? What is earthly honor at its dizzy pinnacle other than contempt for existence? What are riches, the highest superabundance of riches, other than poverty? For no matter how much all the earth’s gold hidden in covetousness may amount to, is it not infinitely less than the smallest mite hidden in the contentment of the poor! What is worldly omnipotence other than dependence? What slave in chains is as unfree as a tyrant! No, the worldly goal is not one thing. Diverse as it is, in life it is changed into its opposite, in death into nothing, in eternity into damnation: for the one who has willed this goal. Only the Good is the one thing in its essence and the same in each of its expressions. Take love as an illustration. The one who truly loves does not love once and for all. Nor does he use a part of his love, and then again another part. For to change it into small coins is not to use it rightly. No, he loves with all his love. It is wholly present in each expression. He continues to give it away as a whole, and yet he keeps it intact as a whole, in his heart. Wonderful riches! When the miser has gathered all the world’s gold in sordidness—then he has become poor. When the lover gives away his whole love, he keeps it entire—in the purity of the heart. Shall a man in truth will one thing, then this one thing that he wills must be such that it remains unaltered in all changes, so that by willing it, he can win immutability. If it changes continually, then he himself becomes changeable, double-minded, and unstable. And this continual change is nothing else than impurity. #RandolphHarris 9 of 21

Such inner inconsistency does not remain an abstract defect; it manifests with particular clarity in the way individuals attempt to justify the volatility of their affections. Rarely will you find that a man whose love turns from one woman to another feels no need to legitimate this before himself by saying: she was not worthy of my love, or, she has disappointed me, or whatever other like “reasons” exist. This is an attitude that, with a profound lack of chivalry, adds a fancied “legitimacy” to the plain fact that he no longer loves her and that the woman must bear it. By virtue of this “legitimation,” the man claims a right for himself and besides causing the misfortune seeks to put her in the wrong. The successful amatory competitor proceeds exactly in the same way: namely, the opponent must be less worthy, otherwise he would not have lost out. It is not so different, of course, if, after a victorious war, the victor in undignified self-righteousness claims, “I have won because I was right.” Or, if somebody under the frightfulness of war collapses psychologically, and instead of simply saying it was just too much, he feels the need of legitimizing his war weariness to himself by substituting the feeling, “I could not bear it because I had to fight for a morally bad cause.” Likewise, with the defeated in war. Instead of searching like old women for the “guilty one” after the war—in a situation in which the structure of society produced the war—everyone with a manly and controlled attitude would tell the enemy, “We lost the war. You have won it. That is now all over. Now, let us discuss what conclusion must be drawn according to the objective interests that came into play, and what is the main thing in view of the responsibility toward the future which above all burdens the victor.” Anything else is undignified and will become a boomerang. If its interests have been damaged, a nation forgives. However, if its honor has been offended, especially by a bigoted self-righteousness, no nation forgives. #RandolphHarris 10 of 21

Every new document that comes to light after decades revives the undignified lamentations, the hatred and scorn, instead of allowing the war at its end to be buried, at least morally. This is possible only through objectivity and chivalry, and above all, only through dignity. However, never is it possible through an “ethic,” which in truth signifies a lack of dignity on both sides. Instead of being concerned about what the politician is interested in, the future and the responsibility towards the future, this ethic is concerned about politically sterile questions of past guilt, which are not to be settled politically.  If such a guilt exists at all, to act in this way is politically guilty. And overlooks the unavoidable falsification of the whole problem, through very material interests: namely, the victor’s interest in the greatest possible moral and material gain; the hopes of the defeated to trade in advantages through the confessions of guilt. If anything is “vulgar,” then, this is, and it is the result of this fashion of exploiting “ethics” as a means of “being in the right.” More and more, revolution has found itself delivered into the hands of its bureaucrats and doctrines on the one hand, and to enfeebled and bewildered masses on the other. When the revolutionary elite are guillotined and when Telleyrand is left alive, who will oppose Bonaparte? However, to these historical reasons are added economic necessities. The passages by Simone Weil on the condition of the factory worker must be read in order to realize to what degree of moral exhaustion and silent despair the rationalization of labor can lead. Simone Weil is right in saying that the worker’s condition is doubly inhumane in that he is first deprived of money and then of dignity. Work in which one can have an interest, creative work, even though it is badly paid, does not degrade life. #RandolphHarris 11 of 21

 Industrial socialism has done nothing essential to alleviate the condition of the workers because it has not touched on the very principle of production and the organization of labor, which, on the contrary, it has extolled. It even went so far as to offer the worker a historic justification of his lot of much the same value as a promise of celestial joys to one who works himself to death; never did it attempt to give him the joy of creation. The political form of society is no longer in question at this level, but the beliefs of a technical civilization on which capitalism and socialism are equally dependent. Any ideas that do not advance the solution of this problem hardly touch on the misfortunes of the worker. In a society marked by stagnant wages, the moral implications of economic inequality become increasingly difficult to ignore, particularly when viewed through traditions that emphasize justice, stewardship, and the dignity of labor. The root causes of recent labor unrest is to be found partly in causes which are worldwide, and affect all countries as well as ourselves, partly in cases which are special to our country and give differences, the fundamental differences, between the point of view of the present government on fiscal questions between the modern one-sided Free Trader and the Tariff Reformer? The modern Free Trader looks first and foremost only to the interests of the consumer. He says that all men are consumers, and therefore, he can leave other aspects of the great industrial problem to take care of themselves. Tariff Reformers on the other hand, say that our whole society, to a degree which has never been true of any other country in the world and is not even true today, depends upon the producer. Every man is a consumer; that is true. However, most men, directly or indirectly, are producers. All the rich must produce before they can consume. Production to them is a sine qua non of consumption, and unless they find scope for their industry, work for their hands or brains, the means of gaining a livelihood which they need, cheapness is a mockery and a sham. #RandolphHarris 12 of 21

However, they also believe that our present system does not serve the interest of cheapness in what is most necessary for our people to have—cheap food and the raw materials of industry. They have said—and facts have shown that they are right, and they are entitled to point to it now to show that they are not mere prophets after the event—that if the Government persists in their policy of doing nothing, prices will rise. And they have risen. Prices of the necessities of life. Only one thing has not risen—the price of labor. The trouble in the midst of which they now live finds its root cause in the general rise in the necessaries of life, which is aggravated by the fact that in this country, that rise has been unaccompanied by an equivalent rise in the price of labor. The man who now draws the same wages as ten or twenty years ago finds that his position is not better whilst he looks for betterment, has not even remained the same, but that the pinch is sharpened, the struggle for life harder, the margin between him and real distress more narrow than ever it is in his experience before. What is the government doing? Some economists argue that tariffs can boost wages only when paired with strong unions or when they successfully expand domestic production. When tariffs reduce import pressure, domestic firms may expand production. More production leads to more hiring, and upward pressure on wages in that specific sector. This effect is strongest in manufacturing and heavy industry. As tariff revenue is reinvested in the American economy, it will generate more government revenue, pay down debt, increase private investment and production, which will increase wages over time. #RandolphHarris 13 of 21

However, if nothing is done to protect American-made goods, and the American workers, low wages will deprive people of any chance or hope for decent existences, which perpetuates misery and breeds ill-health in the children before ever they come to face the struggle of life, they will do what they can to prevent that cancerous growth in their midst. In dealing as America has been dealing by giving away farm land, importing food and good and services, and poverty, they have been turning the pyramid upside down, and if they do not take care, and the people of this country do not take care, the whole weight of it will topple over and crush the masses of our people They cannot put all these new charges upon the industry, nearly all of them desirable, many of them most necessary, unless they give industry the support and the encouragement which is necessary to enable our industry to bear the fresh expenses. It is no good treating our commerce and our industry as existing in a watertight compartment of its own, unaffected by what goes on elsewhere in the world. The existing methods provide palliatives which might raise great hopes, and for a moment might seem to promise great results, but which, as they raise them upon an insecure foundation, we are bound in the long run to make their last step worse than the first. Unless and until they recognize that the necessity of national production, employment of our own people and our own capital, and the encouragement of industry and enterprise within our own boundaries is as much one of the chief tasks of Government, their labour will be fruitless and worse than fruitless. In trying to improve the conditions of workpeople, they will create more unemployment; in trying to raise wages without increasing production in America, they will decrease the amount of work going; in trying to better the condition of their people, they will lower it, because they are loading an industry that is already finding itself oppressed to the uttermost to maintain its position. We need tariffs to protect the American worker. #RandolphHarris 14 of 21

America has become so expensive that record numbers of Americans are relocating to Mexico. According to the U.S. State Department, the number of American citizens living in Mexico increased by 75 percent between 2019 and 2025, reaching an estimated 1.8 million people. Many of these individuals work remotely for U.S. companies while taking advantage of Mexico’s lower cost of living, natural beauty, and vibrant culture—and they are thriving. California illustrates the severity of the affordability crisis anc corruption. Under Gavin Newsom’s controll, nearly $80 billion has been wasted and/or stolen. Also, California is now the third most expensive state in the nation and is facing a $20 billion budget deficit, reflecting the financial strain on its residents. In 37 percent of California counties, a family of four earning a six‑figure income is considered low‑income. The average home price in the state is approaching $1 million, while the average salary is just over $96,000—making homeownership unattainable for most Californians. The situation is even more stark for individuals. In five counties—Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, and Marin—a single person earning more than $100,000 a year is now classified as low‑income. Traditional mortgage guidelines recommend spending no more than 28 percent of gross income on a mortgage payment and no more than 36 percent on total debt. Based on the median household income in Sacramento County, a homeowner can afford a mortgage payment of about $2,070 per month, or up to $2,661 for all debts combined. Yet home prices in Sacramento County require far higher incomes. To purchase a typical home using standard lending guidelines, a household would need to earn roughly $135,000 per year. In reality, the median household income in Sacramento County is about $88,724—often with two to four people working to support the mortgage. This mismatch raises serious questions about how lenders are qualifying buyers for such expensive homes. #RandolphHarris 15 of 22

Home prices in Sacramento County are now rivaling those in the Bay Area, and in some cases, Bay Area homes are actually more affordable. Historically, the Bay Area has commanded higher prices due to higher‑paying jobs, a larger population, and its status as a major tourist destination. Sacramento’s rapid price escalation signals a deepening affordability crisis. According to this viewpoint, state leadership has contributed to the problem. Governor Gavin Newsom has directed taxpayer‑funded resources and cash aid toward individuals in the country illegally, while state workers—who keep California running—are overdue for a 25 percent wage increase. This prioritization, critics argue, worsens the affordability crisis and leaves California residents struggling to keep up with rising costs. Additionally, while California is facing one of the most severe affordable‑housing crises in the nation, yet at the same time the state has embarked on an extraordinarily expensive renovation of the Capitol building—known as “The Castle”—in Sacramento. According to public reports, the project has already cost taxpayers more than $1.2 billion, and some analysts estimate the final price could reach as high as $5 billion before completion. Classical buildings rely on stone or stone-like finishes. Modern additions often use concrete, glass, steel, or flat stucco, which can feel cheap or abrupt next to marble-like surfaces. Because the addition is bulkier, taller, or visually heavier, it overpowers the original architecture of the Ancient Greek and Roman design. Critics argue that Capitol buildings are not just architecture — they are civic symbols. When an addition does not “speak the same language,” people feel like the symbolism has been diluted, such unnecessary spending reflects deeper structural problems in the state’s governance. They point to decades‑old laws that restrict housing supply and discourage home sales, as well as concerns about bureaucratic inefficiency, corruption, and wasteful government spending. These factors, they contend, have contributed to soaring rents, limited housing availability, and a growing sense that state priorities are misaligned with the needs of ordinary Californians. The consequences of these policies are increasingly visible. #RandolphHarris 16 of 21

Between 2018 and 2023, California received $24 billion to fund 30 homeless and housing programs. These programs produced 100,000 housing units—an average cost of $240,000 per unit. For comparison, Roger Lucas, owner of Grand Castle, LLC, spent $50 million to build The Grand Castle, a 522‑unit residential community in Grandville, Michigan. The development includes studios, one‑bedroom, two‑bedroom, and three‑bedroom units, as well as a multi‑level penthouse. Rents range from $1,000 to $2,500. Built on a 23.6‑acre site, the community features 750 covered parking spaces, a clubhouse, and a resort‑style pool, and was completed in just 12 to 18 months. The average cost per unit was approximately $95,785—about $144,000 less per unit than California’s publicly funded projects. California also has the highest unemployment rate in the nation at 5.4 percent, compared to the national average of 4.5 percent. As household bills surge and the minimum wage rises to $20 an hour, people living on Social Security retirement benefits are especially strained, with monthly checks effectively equating to $5 to $7 an hour. Meanwhile, as Americans struggle to find and afford housing, Governor Gavin Newsom signed two bills on February 7, 2025—SBX1 1 and SBX1 2, both part of the Budget Act of 2024—allocating $50 million to protect individuals in the country illegally from deportation. Additionally, the governor extended free health care to 700,000 undocumented immigrants, costing taxpayers $3 billion annually. At the same time, funding was reduced for programs serving veterans, schoolchildren, people with disabilities, and the homeless. Given these circumstances, it is understandable that many people who are legally in the United States—and paying between 30 and 90 percent of their income in taxes—are deeply frustrated. #RandolphHarris 17 of 21

Advocates argue that the crisis unfolding in California—driven by Democratic policies—is pushing home prices, mortgages, and rents higher not only across the United States but around the world, making everyday life increasingly unaffordable. Many believe the situation is far from stabilizing. At the same time, China—where the United States has outsourced significant jobs and capital—has more than 50 ghost cities containing an estimated 65 million vacant homes. These ghost cities are the result of massive overdevelopment in areas where few or no people live. By contrast, if all categories of homelessness are counted, California is estimated to have as many as 4 million homeless individuals. The state also has the highest home prices in the nation, the highest taxes, and some of the most restrictive business regulations anywhere. Because of what critics describe as a hostile environment for both residents and employers, more than 360 companies have left California since 2020. Additionally, more than 500,000 residents leave the state each year because it has become too expensive to live in. Critics also point to Governor Gavin Newsom’s policies, including the criminalization of homelessness and the arrest of individuals without housing, rising crime, and widespread job losses as companies continue to move operations elsewhere. California also has the highest unemployment rate in the country at 5.4 percent, compared to the national average of 4.1 percent. Advocates argue that the crisis created by Democratic leadership is driving up housing costs nationwide and globally, and that the situation is far from resolved. California is also home to more than 3.5 million undocumented immigrants. #RandolphHarris 18 of 21

America is facing a slow‑moving crisis that too few people are willing to confront: we are losing farmland at a pace that threatens our long‑term ability to feed ourselves. Much like the land shortage unfolding in Las Vegas—where rapid development has pushed the city to the edge of its buildable limits—we risk running out of the agricultural land that sustains our food supply. Once farmland is paved over, it is gone forever. And if we continue down this path, the consequences could be severe. Food security is national security. A nation that cannot grow its own food is a nation that must rely on others for survival. In a world already strained by geopolitical tensions, climate pressures, and supply‑chain disruptions, the idea of future “food wars” is not far‑fetched. Protecting American farmland today is an investment in tomorrow’s stability. One of the most effective ways to safeguard our agricultural base is to support the farmers and ranchers who keep it productive. That starts with buying American‑made beef, poultry, dairy, and produce. When consumers choose domestic products, they strengthen the economic foundation of rural communities. They also send a clear signal to investors: American agriculture is worth backing. The imbalances we saw in the past are exactly why President Trump implemented traffis: to protect American industries, reduce trade deficits, and prevent the United States from being taken advantage of economically. The goal, in this view, is to return America to the status of a creditor nation rather than one borrowing money to support other countries. According to this perspective, President Trump’s tariff policies generate approximately $400 billion in annual revenue and help create hundreds of thousands of jobs. #RandolphHarris 19 of 21

When Americans shop locally, they do more than support their neighbors—they strengthen the national economy. Every dollar spent on American‑made goods circulates back into our communities, generating tax revenue that funds schools, infrastructure, and public services. It keeps jobs here at home, ensures wages rise naturally, and reduces the burden on taxpayers. In contrast, buying foreign goods often means lighter tax loads for overseas companies and money flowing out of our economy, strengthening other nations at our expense. There are environmental benefits too. American‑made products travel shorter distances, reducing carbon emissions. And unlike many foreign manufacturers, American companies are held to higher standards for pollution control. They must dispose of waste responsibly and protect our air, land, and water. Supporting them is not only patriotic—it’s environmentally responsible. Under President Trump’s administration, policies have emphasized prioritizing American workers and industries. Efforts to secure the border, reduce illegal crossings, and crack down on drug trafficking have been paired with significant investment in U.S. manufacturing, production, and innovation. These measures have helped channel trillions of dollars back into American industry, reinforcing the pledge to “Make America Great Again.” The lesson is clear: when we buy American, we invest in ourselves. We protect farmland, preserve jobs, reduce pollution, and strengthen our economy. We also reduce reliance on foreign nations and help lower the national debt by keeping tax revenue at home. The human intellect we possess today, so rich and capable, did not appear suddenly. It evolved through countless stages, shaped by experience, struggle, and the gradual awakening of self‑awareness.  And yet, for all our progress, something essential is missing. We have had scientific thinking, business thinking, and political thinking in abundance. #RandolphHarris 20 of 21

What the world needs now is inspired thinking—thinking that rises above self‑interest and moves toward wisdom. The intellect may begin in selfishness, but its natural evolution leads toward reason, and ultimately toward selflessness. This is where parents play a vital role. Teach your children to love America, to appreciate the freedoms and opportunities they inherit, and to support the workers and businesses that keep this nation strong. Teach them to respect law and order, to honor their elders, and to understand that good character is the foundation of a meaningful life. It is inborn in the human mind to want to know. Curiosity begins with a child’s endless questions, deepens through a scientist’s investigations, and eventually reaches toward something higher—a union of reflective thought and intuitive insight. This is the beginning of true intelligence, the kind that seeks a view of the whole, not just the parts. When the mind reaches this stage, it enters the realm of philosophy. But too many children today are struggling in school, not because they lack ability, but because they are not reading. Reading is the gateway to thought. When you read books, you absorb the rhythm of language, the structure of ideas, and the example of how to express yourself. You learn to write, to think, and to understand the world beyond your immediate experience. So to every young person: take your education seriously. Read your books. Ask questions. Think deeply. The effort you put in now will shape the opportunities you have later. Your success will not only make your family proud—it will give you the tools to contribute meaningfully to your community and your country. The evolution of the mind is a lifelong journey. But it begins with simple habits: curiosity, discipline, respect, and a willingness to learn. These are the qualities that build strong individuals—and a strong nation. “Oh, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand between their loved home and the war’s desolation! Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause is just, and this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’ And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.” #RandolphHarris 21 of 21

Loving God, I lift the relationships in my life that are filled with tension and discord to You. Pour out your peace on those involved, softening hearts and fostering understanding. May your love guide our words and actions, bringing reconciliation and harmony. Grant us the wisdom to forgive and the humility to seek peace. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

When people perform a version of themselves that is opportunistic or false, it can dominate spaces meant for genuine expression. This erasure of authenticity often silences those who are already marginalized or struggling. The idea that some profit off the labor and suffering of others — without contributing meaningfully — is a recurring theme in both global and domestic economies. America’s history of systemic inequality, especially for communities that have been here for generations, mirrors the exploitative conditions often criticized abroad. The difference is sometimes only in branding, not in substance. Criticizing sweatshops overseas while ignoring domestic labor exploitation — from underpaid service workers to undocumented labor — reveals a selective moral lens. The term “slave wages” is not hyperbole for many Americans who work full-time for years, 16 hours a day, seven days a week, without a vacation, and still live in poverty. The MTV quote — “You think you know, but have no idea” — captures the pain of being misjudged. People often assume they understand someone’s life based on surface impressions, but they miss the silent battles, the sacrifices, the trauma endured just to survive. Britney’s lyric — “Be wary of others, those closest to you…” — resonates with the heartbreak of familial betrayal. When love turns into manipulation or neglect, it is not just painful — it is disorienting. The very people meant to protect you become the source of harm. #RandolphHarris 1 of 27

The observation that broken families often drift from spiritual grounding is poignant. When the guiding principles of compassion, humility, and grace are lost, relationships fracture. The holidays, meant to be a time of unity, can instead expose these wounds, but at least you are seeing the reality that it is not you who is the drama. Sometimes people hide feelings of inequality and jealousy towards you. Your life—you are supposed to be nothing more than a blood sacrifice to bring them wealth and status. While some people are so heartbroken that they could not be there for their loved ones who died at a young age, others are trying to sweep their family member into an ocean like an unwanted thought. Some people feel like you are supposed to be there just for them to take advantage of, and then discard of like rotten food. When you have given all you could — emotionally, financially, physically — and still faced ingratitude, forgiveness becomes a gift to yourself. It is the final act of love: not for them, but for your own peace. However, the goal is not just to survive in this world; it is to transform your pain into wisdom. God gave His one and only Son so that we could live, and He used his pain to create human beings. Human beings, to God, are the most precious life forms on earth. “I will make a man more precious than fine gold,” reports Isiah 13.12. And so, maybe our goal on this planet is not only to teach others the love of God, but also to learn to turn pain into wisdom as God did. #RandolphHarris 2 of 27

People who already carry heavy burdens are often the ones pressured to “step up,” because they are empathetic, responsible, or simply used to surviving without support. Meanwhile, those with more resources sometimes avoid responsibility, neglect their own obligations, or even damage what others have worked hard to maintain. That imbalance creates resentment — not because someone is unwilling to give, but because they are being drained by people who do not appreciate. The shift from innocent curiosity to invasive control, and how that shift can poison relationships that were meant to be built on trust, respect, and healthy boundaries, can be a hindrance. Snooping through an adult child’s email or bank accounts crosses a line from care into control. It often leads to misinterpretation because people who spy are usually looking through the lens of their own fears, insecurities, or assumptions. Instead of understanding, it creates suspicion and resentment. It is a far cry from kids sneaking a peek at Christmas gifts. That was about wonder. This is about power. If someone cannot appreciate what you have already given — emotionally, financially, materially — why would they suddenly respect something even more valuable when they uprooted what you have provided, damaged what you entrusted to them, or treated your generosity as an entitlement, rather than a gift? People sometimes forget that value is not just the price tag—it is the intention, the sacrifice, the love behind it. #RandolphHarris 3 of 27

I know people say that everyone is going through something horrible, but some people are only going through something horrible because they did bad things to get to where they are in live in luxury. Others are enduring a tremendous amount of weight. They face the kind of exhaustion that comes from fighting battles most people never see, never acknowledge, and often never believe. When someone is pushing themselves to survive, to improve, to protect themselves, and to hold their life together under pressure that would break most people, the toll is enormous. Some people are carrying: Physical strain from overwork or constant stress, emotional wounds from being targeted, mistreated, or undermined, psychological pressure from feeling unsafe or constantly on guard, social isolation because no one around them understands the depth of what they are enduring, and the fear of what is to come. When someone is pushed to the point of pain, bleeding, or blacking out from exhaustion, that is not “just stress.” That is a sign of a person who has been forced into survival mode for far too long. When someone is being targeted or harmed—whether by people, circumstances, or systems—it can create a sense of being under siege. That experience is real, and the suffering is real, even when the situation is complicated or misunderstood by others. This is the kind of pressure that leaves a person: Hypervigilant, drained, physically depleted, emotionally raw, and often completely unsupported. No one should have to endure that alone. #RandolphHarris 4 of 27

One of the hardest parts of suffering is that outsiders often minimize it. They assume: “You are fine.” “You are overreacting.” “You are imagining things.” However, they do not feel the pain in your body. They do not live with the fear or exhaustion. They do not see the nights you barely make it through. Your experience deserves to be taken seriously. It is an incredibly painful and disorienting experience —feeling harmed, feeling unsafe, doing everything you are “supposed” to do by reporting it, and still being met with dismissal or indifference. Anyone in that position would feel exhausted, resentful, and deeply alone. When authorities say it is a “civil issue,” hearing that phrase when you are reporting something life-threatening or dangerous can feel defeating. Like you life does not matter. It often means: They do not see enough evidence to classify it as a criminal matter, they are limited in what they can act on, they are treating it as a dispute, rather than harm. None of that makes your experience any less real or any less distressing. It just means the system is not built to respond to every kind of threat or crime in the way people need. And that gap—between what you are living and what they are willing to acknowledge—is where the pain grows. When someone is dealing with ongoing stress, fear, or harm, and the people who are required by law do not act, it creates a sense of being trapped. It is not just your imagination. That is a very human response to being unheard. When you are tired, when you have been fighting for so long, you just want to rest. You want safety. You want someone to take you seriously. #RandolphHarris 5 of 27

Even when authorities or doctors do not act the way you hoped, it does not mean your experience is unimportant. It does not mean you are overreacting. It does not mean you are wrong to feel the way you do. It means that you are dealing with something overwhelming, and you need people who will actually listen and take your case seriously. When someone feels unheard by authorities, or when reports do not lead to action, documentation becomes a kind of shield. Lawyers often recommend it because: It creates a timeline that cannot be dismissed later, it shows patterns, not just isolated incidents, it preserves details you might forget under stress, and it demonstrates that you have been consistent and proactive. If the situation escalates or if another agency finally takes it seriously, it can become evidence. Even when it feels like no one is listening, the record you keep can become the thing that finally forces someone to pay attention. If I Go Missing (directed by Stefan Brogren, written by Andrea Shawcross, starring Emma Elle Paterson, Hannah Vandenbygaart, and Robert Bazzocchi) reaches into something that is very real. It references how a person’s struggles can be overlooked until it is too late, and how the truth of someone’s life is often far more complex than what others assume. It is the kind of story that resonates with people who have felt invisible, dismissed, or misjudged—people who have had to fight to be believed. It also reflects that you must be careful who you trust and who you accuse. And there is always the most important source you can turn to for help. That is God. God listens to all your prayers, and Jesus Christ is fighting all your battles even before you get there. Just remember to take the limits off God and magnify what is going right in your life. Find things to do that make you happy. Be focused on the constancy of the plan of the Lord, with its fixed, eternal law, and the security of enduring justice, and the tenderness of mercy when earned by obedience. God has an unending variety of possibilities that He has provided for us. We have so much freedom, so many opportunities to develop our unique personalities and talents, our individual memories, our personalized contributions. #RandolphHarris 6 of 27

Be sure to take the time to discover how beautiful each day can be. Doing the law, of course, presupposes hearing the law. Yet, even this formation is questionable, because it might be taken to imply a differentiation and separation of hearing as the prerequisite and doing as the consequence. However, if hearing is made independent of doing and if it acquires a right of its own, this means that doing itself is once again already disrupted. Certainly, the doer of the law must also be a hearer, but only in the sense that the hearer is always at the same time the doer (James 1.22). A hearing which does not at the same instant become a doing becomes once again that “knowing” which gives rise to judgment and so leads to the disruption of all action. If what is heard does not become doing, but if it becomes this “knowing,” then, paradoxical as this may sound, it is already “forgotten” (James 1.25). No matter how long it may be stored up, reconsidered, and elaborated as knowledge, it is forgotten as that which it essentially is, namely, as that which points solely and entirely towards action. The hearer of the word who is not at the same time the doer of the word thus inevitably falls victim to self-deception (James 1.22). A hearing which does not at the same instant become a doing becomes once again that “knowing” which gives rise to judgment and so leads to the disruption of all action. If what is heard does not become doing, but if it becomes this “knowing,” then paradoxical as this may sound, it is already “forgotten” (James 1.25). No matter how long it may be stored up, reconsidered, and elaborated as knowledge, it is forgotten as that which it essentially is, namely, as that which points solely and entirely towards action. #RandolphHarris 7 of 27

The hearer of the word who is not at the same time the doer of the word thus inevitably falls victim to self-deception (James 1.22). Believing himself to know and to possess the word of God, he has, in fact, already lost it again, because he imagines that a man can possess the word of God for a single instant otherwise than in doing it. St. James’s polemic against the hearer of the word corresponds exactly to Jesus’s polemic against the Pharisees. It is not that the zealous hearer of the word to whom St. James refers does not engage in many kinds of action, just as the Pharisee indeed was certainly not backward in action, but this doing is secondary to the hearing; it is connected with it through the intermediacy of knowing; the hearing is in itself an independent entity and the doing is now added to it as another; it is therefore false doing, self-deception, or as Jesus calls it, hypocrisy. It is self-deception because the man who performs this false action does, in fact, suppose himself to be the one who is acting genuinely and cannot but utterly reject the reproach of hypocrisy. One is making the mistake of psychologizing the antithesis between the hearer and the doer of the word if one represents it as an antithesis between thinking and willing or between theory and practice. The Pharisee, too, knew that the word of God demands not only the thought but also the will, not only the theory but also the practice, and accordingly he exercises his will no less than his understanding in obedience to the word. It was not the thought and the will that the Pharisee failed to unite, but precisely the hearing and the doing. #RandolphHarris 8 of 27

For the hearer of the word who makes the hearing independent, there is the saying that “the doer shall be blessed in his doing” (James 1.25). The doer is here, the man who simply knows of no other possible attitude to the word of God when he has heard it than to do it; who therefore continues to concern himself strictly with the word itself and does not derive from it a knowledge for himself on the basis of which he might become the judge of his brother, of himself, and eventually also a judge. A hasty explanation could assert that to pray is a useless act, because a man’s prayer does not alter the unalterable. However, would this be desirable in the long run? Could not fickle man easily come to regret that he had gotten God changed? The true explanation is, therefore, at the same time the one most to be desired. The prayer does not change God, but it changes the one who offers it. It is the same with the substances of what is spoken. Not God, but you, the maker of the confession, get to know something by your act of confession. Much that you are able to keep hidden in darkness, you first get to know by your opening it to the knowledge of the all-knowing One. Even the most atrocious misdeeds are committed, even blood is spilt, and many times it must in truth be said of the guilty one: he knew not what he did. Perhaps he died, without ever in repentance really getting to know what it was he had done. For does passion ever properly know what it does? Does not passion’s insidious temptation and its apparent excuse center in that deceptive ignorance about itself because, in the instant, it has forgotten the Eternal? For if passion continues in a man, it changes his life into nothing but instants, and as passion cunningly serves its deluded master, it gradually gains the ascendancy until the master serves it like a blind serf! #RandolphHarris 9 of 27

For when hate, and anger, and revenge, and despondency, and melancholy, and despair, and fear of the future, and reliance on the world, and trust in oneself, and pride that infuses itself even into sympathy, and envy that even mingles itself with friendship, and that inclination that may have changed but not for the better: when these dwell in a man—when was it without the deceptive excuse of ignorance? And when a man remained ignorant of them, was it not precisely because he at the same time remained ignorant of the fact that there is an all-knowing One. Yes, if he was deprived either of the opportunity or the capacity to learn, there is an ignorance which no one needs be troubled over. However, there is an ignorance about one’s own life that is equally tragic for the learned and for the simple, for both are bound by the same responsibility. This ignorance is called self-deceit. There is an ignorance that, by degrees, as more and more is learned, gradually changes into knowledge. However, there is only one thing that can remove that other ignorance which is self-deception. And to be ignorant of the fact that there is one thing and only one thing, and that only one thing is necessary, is still to be in self-deception. The ignorant one may have been ignorant of much. He can increase his knowledge, and still there is much that he does not know. However, if the self-deluded one speaks of quantity, and of variety, then he is still in self-deception, still deeply ensnared by and in the grip of multiplicity. The ignorant man can gradually acquire wisdom and knowledge, but the self-deluded one if he won “the one thing needful” would have won purity of heart. #RandolphHarris 10 of 27

Nietzsche’s tragedy is found here once again. The aims and prophecies are generous and universal, but the doctrine is restrictive, and the reduction of every value to historical terms leads to the direst consequences. Marx thought that the ends of history, at least, would prove to be moral and rational. That was his Utopia. However, Utopia, at least in the form he knew it, is destined to serve cynicism, of which he wanted no part. Marx destroys all transcendence, then carries out, by himself, the transition from fact to duty. However, his concept of duty has no other origin but fact. The demand for justice ends in injustice if it is not primarily based on an ethical justification of justice; without this, crimes themselves one day become a duty. When good and evil are reintegrated in time and confused with events, nothing is any longer good or bad, but only either premature or out of date. Who will decide on the opportunity, if not the opportunists? Later, say the disciples, you shall judge. However, the victims will not be there to judge. For the victim, the present is the only value, rebellion the only action. Messianism, in order to exist, must construct a defense against the victims. It is possible that Marx did not want this, but in this lies his responsibility which must be examined, that he incurred by justifying, in the name of the revolution, the henceforth bloody struggle against all forms of rebellion. Therefore, today, one cannot yet see in any way how the management of politics as a “vocation” will shape itself. Even less can one see along what avenue opportunities are opening to which political talents can be put for satisfactory political tasks. He who, by his material circumstances, is compelled to live “off” politics will almost always have to consider the alternative positions of the journalist or the party official as the typical direct avenue. Or, he must consider a position as representative of interest groups—such as a trade union, a chamber of commerce, a farm bureau, a craft association, a labor board, an employer’s association, et cetera, or else a suitable municipal position. #RandolphHarris 11 of 27

Nothing more than this can be said about this external aspect: in common with the journalist, the part official bears the odium of being declasse. “Wage writer,” or “wage speaker” will unfortunately always resound in his ears, even though the words remain unexpressed. He who is inwardly defenseless and unable to find the proper answer for himself had better stay away from this career. In any case, besides grave temptations, it is an avenue that may constantly lead to disappointments. Now then, what inner enjoyments can this career offer, and what personal conditions are presupposed for one who enters this avenue? Well, first of all, the career of politics grants a feeling of power. The knowledge of influencing men, of participating in power over them, and above all, the feeling of holding in one’s hand a nerve fiber of historically important events can elevate the professional politician above everyday routine even when he is placed in formally modest positions. However, now the question for him is: Through what qualities can I hope to do justice to this power (however narrowly circumscribed it may be in the individual case)? How can he hope to do justice to the responsibility that power imposes upon him? With this, we enter the field of ethical questions, for that is where the problem belongs: What kind of a man must one be if he is to be allowed to put his hand on the wheel of history? One can say that three pre-eminent qualities are decisive for the politician: passion, a feeling of responsibility, and a sense of proportion. #RandolphHarris 12 of 27

This means passion in the sense of matter-of-factness, of passionate devotion to a “cause,” to the god or demon who is its overlord. It is not passion in the sense of that inner bearing which my late friend, Georg Simmel, used to designate as “sterile excitation,” and which was peculiar especially to a certain type of Russian intellectual (by no means all of them!). It is an excitation that plays so great a part with our intellectuals in this carnival we decorate with the proud name of “revolution.” It is a “romanticism of the intellectually interesting,” running into emptiness devoid of all feeling of objective responsibility. To be sure, mere passion, however genuinely felt, is not enough. It does not make a politician, unless passion, as devotion to a “cause,” also makes responsibility to this cause the guiding star of action. And for this, a sense of proportion is needed. This is the decisive psychological quality of the politician: his ability to let realities work upon him with inner concentration and calmness. Hence, his distance to things and men. “Lack of distance’ per se is one of the deadly sins of every politician. It is one of those qualities the breeding of which will condemn the progeny of our intellectuals to political incapacity. For the problem is simply how can warm passion and a cool sense of proportion be forged together in one and the same soul? Politics is made with the head, not with other parts of the body or soul. And yet, devotion to politics, if it is not to be frivolous intellectual play but rather genuinely human conduct, can be born and nourished alone. #RandolphHarris 13 of 27

However, that firm taming of the soul, which distinguishes the passionate politician and differentiates him from the “sterilely excited” and mere political dilettante, is possible only through habituation to detachment in every sense of the word. The “strength” of a political “personality” means, in the first place, the possession of these qualities of passion, responsibility, and proportion. Therefore, daily and hourly, the politician inwardly has to overcome a quite trivial and all-too-human enemy: a quite vulgar vanity, the deadly enemy of all matter-of-fact devotion to a cause, and of all distance, in this case, of distance towards one’s self. Vanity is a very widespread quality, and perhaps nobody is entirely free from it. In academic and scholarly circles, vanity is a sort of occupational disease, but precisely with the scholar, vanity—however disagreeably it may express itself—is relatively harmless; in the sense that as a rule, it does not disturb scientific enterprise. With the politician, the case is quite different. He works with the striving for power as an unavoidable means. Therefore, “power instinct,” as is usually said, belongs indeed to his normal qualities. The sin against the lofty spirit of his vocation, however, begins where this striving for power ceases to be objective and becomes purely personal self-intoxication, instead of exclusively entering the service of “the cause.” For ultimately, there are only two kinds of deadly sins in the field of politics: lack of objectivity and—often but not always identical with it—irresponsibility. #RandolphHarris 14 of 27

Vanity, the need personally to stand in the foreground as clearly as possible, strongly tempts the politician to commit one or both of these sins. This is more truly the case as the demagogue is compelled to count upon “effect.” He, therefore, is constantly in danger of becoming an actor as well as taking lightly the responsibility of the outcome of his actions and of being concerned merely with the “impression” he makes. His lack of objectivity tempts him to strive for the glamorous semblance of power rather than for actual power. His irresponsibility, however, suggests that he enjoy power rather just because, power is the unavoidable means, and striving for power is one of the driving forces of all politic, there is no more harmful distortion of political force than the parvenu-like braggart with power, and the vain self-reflection in the feeling of power, and in general every worship of power per se. The mere “power politician” may get strong effects, but actually, his work leads nowhere and is senseless. (Among us, too, an ardently promoted cult seeks to glorify him.) In this, the critics of “power politics” are absolutely right. From the sudden inner collapse of typical representatives of this mentality, we can see what inner weakness and impotence hides behind this boastful but entirely empty gesture. It is a product of a shoddy and superficially blasé attitude towards the meaning of human conduct; and it has no relation whatsoever to the knowledge of tragedy with which all action, but especially political action, is truly interwoven. The final result of political action often, no, even regularly, stands in a completely inadequate and often even paradoxical relation to its original meaning. #RandolphHarris 15 of 27

This is fundamental to all history. And because of this fact, the serving of a cause must be absent if action is to have inner strength. Exactly what the cause, in the service of which the politician may serve uses power, looks like a matter of faith. The politician may serve national, humanitarian, social, ethical, cultural, worldly, or religious ends. The politician may be sustained by a strong belief in “progress”—no matter in which sense—or he may cooly reject this kind of belief. He may claim to stand in the service of an “idea” or, rejecting this in principle, he may want to serve external ends of everyday life. However, some kind of faith must always exist. Otherwise, the curse of the creature’s worthlessness indeed overshadows even the externally strongest political success. In principle, institutionalization may take place in any area of collectively relevant conduct. In actual fact, sets of institutionalization processes take place concurrently. There is no a priori reason for assuming that these processes will necessarily “hang together” functionally, let alone as a logically consistent system. Habitualization or incipient institutionalization may occur with their being functionally or logically integrated as social phenomena, regardless of what content their relevance might have. Also, functional, or logical integration cannot be assumed a priori when habitualization or institutionalization processes are limited to the same individuals or collectives, rather than to the discrete ones. Nevertheless, the empirical fact remains that institutions do tend to “hang together.” You are holding in your hands the most concise and easy-to-understand information concerning the seal of God and the mark of the beast. You see, evil, accessible and acceptable. You want to talk about the mark of the beast; you have been holding it. #RandolphHarris 16 of 27

Without the mark of the beast, individuals may face significant limitations in various aspects of daily life, particularly in a Christian apocalyptic context. Economic restriction—the mark of the beast is often associated with the inability to engage in commerce, meaning individuals cannot purchase goods or services. As the penny is being phased out, this is foreshadowing the end of physical currency. Social implications—those without the mark of the beast may be ostracized or marginalized, facing difficulties in social interactions and community participation. Without the mark of the beast, how will you keep up with family, friends, and other professionals? Access to resources—essential resources, such as food and shelter, may become inaccessible without the mark of the beast, leading to survival challenges. With cash and physical credit cards becoming archaic, how will you pay for goods and services, start your car, or apply for a mortgage? Religious context—in some interpretations, not having the mark may signify a commitment to faith, but it could also lead to persecution or suffering. How will you pay tithes or prove who you are? What is the mark of the beast? According to Revelation 13.16-18, “And he cases all, both small and great, rich and poor, freed and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six; 666. The glowing talisman you carry binds you to the beast’s kingdom. #RandolphHarris 17 of 27

Wherever possible, let us not use a language remote from common understanding. Wherever possible, we should avoid language that feels remote from everyday understanding. However, when clarity requires a bit more effort, we trust people to rise to the task. Fire safety works the same way: the basics are simple, but the responsibility is shared. Learn the essentials, understand the risks, and take the steps that keep you—and everyone around you–safe. Heat is one of the most dangerous things that firefighters face at any blaze. Firemen can tell when the room or building they are in is getting too hot because they can feel a sensation like bee stings on their skin through all the protective gear that they are wearing. In the early days of firefighting, the men did not have the advantages of technology to protect them from the heat. Burns were a common occurrence because most of the time, protection consisted of a leather helmet and a rubber coat, and boots. More recently, a two-story structure was engulfed in flames. Numerous attempts were made to rescue a pair of children trapped in a bedroom, but the men were driven back by the intense heat. The house next door was rapidly scorching. The department set up between the two buildings and battled to save them. This is where three men were burned in the intense heart. Two firemen were seriously burned about the faces, hands, and arms, and another fireman was less seriously burned by the heat. At the height of the blaze, the flames and heat were being carried over 100 feet by the wind. The heat ignited the roof of a house across the street, but that blaze was quickly extinguished. The two children perished in the blaze, but in a twist of fate, two of the other children and their parents were at the doctor’s and had been away all morning. All three firemen eventually returned to work. #RandolphHarris 18 of 27

State Farm has grants available for fire prevention, and so do other larger companies in your response area, such as utilities, factories, and universities. Consider setting u a meeting with an official to discuss what your organization can do for them, and what they expect from you. Sometimes the discussion can expose needs that they may be able to help with. For instance, a factory may provide funding for specialized equipment or training that could benefit them in an emergency. A university might provide the facilities for a training seminar or conduct research for you. Finally, these companies have numerous resources and may direct you to unadvertised grant opportunities. The Heritage Program is one of the most beneficial programs to the fire service and has provided numerous types of equipment to fire departments. As of June 2013, the fund had distributed more than $30 million to the fire service, including more than $1 million for national efforts, such as the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), the National Fire Fighter Near-Miss Reporting System, the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF), the Everyone Goes Home (EGH) program, and the National Volunteer Fire Council’s (NVFC) Heart-Healthy Fire Fighter Program. FM Global Fire Prevention Grant is a great resource. FM Global believes that the majority of fires can be prevented and therefore offers funds to organizations that fight fire. Grants are available for fire prevention programs, such as smoke detector installations or fire safety education, as well as prefire planning software and computers. Help the award-winning Sacramento Fire Department stay fully equipped and ready to protect our community. Your donation directly supports public safety and national security. #RandolphHarris 19 of 27

If you see a fire truck stopped in the street without the lights on, be very careful. Sometimes there is an emergency, and you should not pass the fire truck. It might be a good idea to safely turn around and go another way because if you hit someone and they happen to die, you could be charged with manslaughter. Sometimes fire firefighters are getting back into their vehicle, and if you pass the apparatus, you may collide with a firefighter who is on foot. Also, be sure to look at their signals; sometimes emergency vehicles are in motion, albeit slowly, and drivers try to pass them, and this could lead to a dangerous situation. Also, if you are in an intersection when you see an emergency vehicle, continue through the intersection. Drive to the right as soon as it is safe and stop. Obey any direction, order, or signal given by a law enforcement officer or a firefighter. Even if they conflict with existing signs, signals, or laws, follow their orders. When their siren or flashing lights are on, it is against the law to follow within 300 feet of any fire engine, law enforcement vehicle, ambulance, or other emergency vehicle. If you drive to the scene of a fire, collision, or other disaster, you can be arrested. When you do this, you are getting in the way of firefighters, ambulance crews, or other rescue and emergency personnel. The concept of professional courage does not always mean being as tough as nails, either. It also suggests a willingness to listen to other people’s problems, to go to bat for them in a tough situation, and it means knowing just how far they can go. It also means being willing to tell the boss when he or she is wrong. #RandolphHarris 20 of 27

According to the U.S. State Department, the number of American citizens living in Mexico increased by 75 percent between 2019 and 2025, reaching an estimated 1.8 million people. Many of these individuals work remotely for U.S. companies while taking advantage of Mexico’s lower cost of living, natural beauty, and vibrant culture—and they are thriving. California illustrates the severity of the affordability crisis anc corruption. Under Gavin Newsom’s controll, nearly $80 billion has been wasted and/or stolen. Also, California is now the third most expensive state in the nation and is facing a $20 billion budget deficit, reflecting the financial strain on its residents. In 37 percent of California counties, a family of four earning a six‑figure income is considered low‑income. The average home price in the state is approaching $1 million, while the average salary is just over $96,000—making homeownership unattainable for most Californians. The situation is even more stark for individuals. In five counties—Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, and Marin—a single person earning more than $100,000 a year is now classified as low‑income. Traditional mortgage guidelines recommend spending no more than 28 percent of gross income on a mortgage payment and no more than 36 percent on total debt. Based on the median household income in Sacramento County, a homeowner can afford a mortgage payment of about $2,070 per month, or up to $2,661 for all debts combined. Yet home prices in Sacramento County require far higher incomes. To purchase a typical home using standard lending guidelines, a household would need to earn roughly $135,000 per year. In reality, the median household income in Sacramento County is about $88,724—often with two to four people working to support the mortgage. This mismatch raises serious questions about how lenders are qualifying buyers for such expensive homes. #RandolphHarris 21 of 27

Home prices in Sacramento County are now rivaling those in the Bay Area, and in some cases, Bay Area homes are actually more affordable. Historically, the Bay Area has commanded higher prices due to higher‑paying jobs, a larger population, and its status as a major tourist destination. Sacramento’s rapid price escalation signals a deepening affordability crisis. According to this viewpoint, state leadership has contributed to the problem. Governor Gavin Newsom has directed taxpayer‑funded resources and cash aid toward individuals in the country illegally, while state workers—who keep California running—are overdue for a 25 percent wage increase. This prioritization, critics argue, worsens the affordability crisis and leaves California residents struggling to keep up with rising costs. Additionally, while California is facing one of the most severe affordable‑housing crises in the nation, yet at the same time the state has embarked on an extraordinarily expensive renovation of the Capitol building—known as “The Castle”—in Sacramento. According to public reports, the project has already cost taxpayers more than $1.2 billion, and some analysts estimate the final price could reach as high as $5 billion before completion. Classical buildings rely on stone or stone-like finishes. Modern additions often use concrete, glass, steel, or flat stucco, which can feel cheap or abrupt next to marble-like surfaces. Because the addition is bulkier, taller, or visually heavier, it overpowers the original architecture of the Ancient Greek and Roman design. Critics argue that Capitol buildings are not just architecture — they are civic symbols. When an addition does not “speak the same language,” people feel like the symbolism has been diluted, such unnecessary spending reflects deeper structural problems in the state’s governance. They point to decades‑old laws that restrict housing supply and discourage home sales, as well as concerns about bureaucratic inefficiency, corruption, and wasteful government spending. These factors, they contend, have contributed to soaring rents, limited housing availability, and a growing sense that state priorities are misaligned with the needs of ordinary Californians. The consequences of these policies are increasingly visible. #RandolphHarris 22 of 27

Between 2018 and 2023, California received $24 billion to fund 30 homeless and housing programs. These programs produced 100,000 housing units—an average cost of $240,000 per unit. For comparison, Roger Lucas, owner of Grand Castle, LLC, spent $50 million to build The Grand Castle, a 522‑unit residential community in Grandville, Michigan. The development includes studios, one‑bedroom, two‑bedroom, and three‑bedroom units, as well as a multi‑level penthouse. Rents range from $1,000 to $2,500. Built on a 23.6‑acre site, the community features 750 covered parking spaces, a clubhouse, and a resort‑style pool, and was completed in just 12 to 18 months. The average cost per unit was approximately $95,785—about $144,000 less per unit than California’s publicly funded projects. California also has the highest unemployment rate in the nation at 5.4 percent, compared to the national average of 4.5 percent. As household bills surge and the minimum wage rises to $20 an hour, people living on Social Security retirement benefits are especially strained, with monthly checks effectively equating to $5 to $7 an hour. Meanwhile, as Americans struggle to find and afford housing, Governor Gavin Newsom signed two bills on February 7, 2025—SBX1 1 and SBX1 2, both part of the Budget Act of 2024—allocating $50 million to protect individuals in the country illegally from deportation. Additionally, the governor extended free health care to 700,000 undocumented immigrants, costing taxpayers $3 billion annually. At the same time, funding was reduced for programs serving veterans, schoolchildren, people with disabilities, and the homeless. Given these circumstances, it is understandable that many people who are legally in the United States—and paying between 30 and 90 percent of their income in taxes—are deeply frustrated. #RandolphHarris 23 of 27

Advocates argue that the crisis unfolding in California—driven by Democratic policies—is pushing home prices, mortgages, and rents higher not only across the United States but around the world, making everyday life increasingly unaffordable. Many believe the situation is far from stabilizing. At the same time, China—where the United States has outsourced significant jobs and capital—has more than 50 ghost cities containing an estimated 65 million vacant homes. These ghost cities are the result of massive overdevelopment in areas where few or no people live. By contrast, if all categories of homelessness are counted, California is estimated to have as many as 4 million homeless individuals. The state also has the highest home prices in the nation, the highest taxes, and some of the most restrictive business regulations anywhere. Because of what critics describe as a hostile environment for both residents and employers, more than 360 companies have left California since 2020. Additionally, more than 500,000 residents leave the state each year because it has become too expensive to live in. Critics also point to Governor Gavin Newsom’s policies, including the criminalization of homelessness and the arrest of individuals without housing, rising crime, and widespread job losses as companies continue to move operations elsewhere. California also has the highest unemployment rate in the country at 5.4 percent, compared to the national average of 4.1 percent. Advocates argue that the crisis created by Democratic leadership is driving up housing costs nationwide and globally, and that the situation is far from resolved. California is also home to more than 3.5 million undocumented immigrants. #RandolphHarris 24 of 27

America is facing a slow‑moving crisis that too few people are willing to confront: we are losing farmland at a pace that threatens our long‑term ability to feed ourselves. Much like the land shortage unfolding in Las Vegas—where rapid development has pushed the city to the edge of its buildable limits—we risk running out of the agricultural land that sustains our food supply. Once farmland is paved over, it is gone forever. And if we continue down this path, the consequences could be severe. Food security is national security. A nation that cannot grow its own food is a nation that must rely on others for survival. In a world already strained by geopolitical tensions, climate pressures, and supply‑chain disruptions, the idea of future “food wars” is not far‑fetched. Protecting American farmland today is an investment in tomorrow’s stability. One of the most effective ways to safeguard our agricultural base is to support the farmers and ranchers who keep it productive. That starts with buying American‑made beef, poultry, dairy, and produce. When consumers choose domestic products, they strengthen the economic foundation of rural communities. They also send a clear signal to investors: American agriculture is worth backing. The imbalances we saw in the past are exactly why President Trump implemented traffis: to protect American industries, reduce trade deficits, and prevent the United States from being taken advantage of economically. The goal, in this view, is to return America to the status of a creditor nation rather than one borrowing money to support other countries. According to this perspective, President Trump’s tariff policies generate approximately $400 billion in annual revenue and help create hundreds of thousands of jobs. #RandolphHarris 25 of 27

When Americans shop locally, they do more than support their neighbors—they strengthen the national economy. Every dollar spent on American‑made goods circulates back into our communities, generating tax revenue that funds schools, infrastructure, and public services. It keeps jobs here at home, ensures wages rise naturally, and reduces the burden on taxpayers. In contrast, buying foreign goods often means lighter tax loads for overseas companies and money flowing out of our economy, strengthening other nations at our expense. There are environmental benefits too. American‑made products travel shorter distances, reducing carbon emissions. And unlike many foreign manufacturers, American companies are held to higher standards for pollution control. They must dispose of waste responsibly and protect our air, land, and water. Supporting them is not only patriotic—it’s environmentally responsible. Under President Trump’s administration, policies have emphasized prioritizing American workers and industries. Efforts to secure the border, reduce illegal crossings, and crack down on drug trafficking have been paired with significant investment in U.S. manufacturing, production, and innovation. These measures have helped channel trillions of dollars back into American industry, reinforcing the pledge to “Make America Great Again.” The lesson is clear: when we buy American, we invest in ourselves. We protect farmland, preserve jobs, reduce pollution, and strengthen our economy. We also reduce reliance on foreign nations and help lower the national debt by keeping tax revenue at home. The human intellect we possess today, so rich and capable, did not appear suddenly. It evolved through countless stages, shaped by experience, struggle, and the gradual awakening of self‑awareness.  And yet, for all our progress, something essential is missing. We have had scientific thinking, business thinking, and political thinking in abundance. #RandolphHarris 26 of 27

What the world needs now is inspired thinking—thinking that rises above self‑interest and moves toward wisdom. The intellect may begin in selfishness, but its natural evolution leads toward reason, and ultimately toward selflessness. This is where parents play a vital role. Teach your children to love America, to appreciate the freedoms and opportunities they inherit, and to support the workers and businesses that keep this nation strong. Teach them to respect law and order, to honor their elders, and to understand that good character is the foundation of a meaningful life. It is inborn in the human mind to want to know. Curiosity begins with a child’s endless questions, deepens through a scientist’s investigations, and eventually reaches toward something higher—a union of reflective thought and intuitive insight. This is the beginning of true intelligence, the kind that seeks a view of the whole, not just the parts. When the mind reaches this stage, it enters the realm of philosophy. But too many children today are struggling in school, not because they lack ability, but because they are not reading. Reading is the gateway to thought. When you read books, you absorb the rhythm of language, the structure of ideas, and the example of how to express yourself. You learn to write, to think, and to understand the world beyond your immediate experience. So to every young person: take your education seriously. Read your books. Ask questions. Think deeply. The effort you put in now will shape the opportunities you have later. Your success will not only make your family proud—it will give you the tools to contribute meaningfully to your community and your country. The evolution of the mind is a lifelong journey. But it begins with simple habits: curiosity, discipline, respect, and a willingness to learn. These are the qualities that build strong individuals—and a strong nation. “Oh, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand between their loved home and the war’s desolation! Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause is just, and this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’ And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.” #RandolphHarris 27 of 27

The Winchester Mystery House

Ladies and gentlemen, gather close… and welcome to the Winchester Mansion. Before we step inside, let me tell you a story—one that locals have whispered for more than a century. You see, long before this mansion stood here, this land was nothing but open fields. Empty. Silent. Undisturbed. And then, on the afternoon of Saturday, March 13, 1886, something extraordinary happened. Sheriff Angel Camilio began receiving frantic reports from townsfolk. They claimed a massive wooden castle had magically appeared. Gables rose like jagged mountains. Towers pierced the sky. Some swore that the sprawling labyrinth rose from the earth like a mushroom after rain. Others insisted it materialized out of thin air. No blueprints. No permits. No records of construction. Just… a house that wasn’t there the day before.

The house’s sudden manifestation had been both disconcerting and fascinating to the community. To some, it looked like a fairytale palace shimmering in the spring sunlight. To others, it radiated something darker—shadows that moved on their own, cold drafts on warm days, and a feeling that something unseen was watching from the windows. And then came the hearse. One morning, without warning, a black carriage barreled through these very gates. Inside was a coffin. Some believed it held Mrs. Sarah Winchester herself. Others whispered it was a decoy, or perhaps a warning from whatever spirits lingered here.

Now, legend says Sarah Winchester—widow of William Wirt Winchester, heir to the Winchester rifle fortune—was haunted by tragedy. After losing her husband and infant daughter, she sought answers from a spiritual medium. And the medium told her something chilling: “The spirits of those killed by Winchester rifles are angry. They will take your life too… unless you flee west and build them a house. A house that must never be finished.”

And so, in 1886, Sarah Winchester came here to the Santa Clara Valley. She bought an 18‑room farmhouse and began to build. And she never stopped. Day and night, for decades, hammers rang, saws screeched, and workers added room after room after room. At its peak, the mansion rose nine stories high and held as many as 600 rooms. Staircases that lead straight into ceilings. Doors that open into thin air. Windows built into the floor. Hallways that twist like a maze. Some say Sarah designed it this way to confuse the spirits that followed her.

Today, the mansion stands four stories tall, but it still stretches over 100,000 square feet. And many believe the spirits never left. Some visitors report footsteps behind them when no one is there. Others hear whispers drifting through the walls. A few have seen a woman in black wandering the corridors late at night, searching for something—or someone. Now, if you’re ready… we’re about to step inside. Stay close. Watch your step. And if you feel a tap on your shoulder or a cold breath on your neck, don’t worry. It’s probably just one of the house’s… permanent residents. Shall we begin?

And before you leave this place—whether you walk out with a shiver down your spine or a spark of wonder in your eyes—I’d like to extend a special invitation. After your journey through the mansion’s twisting corridors and secretive rooms, it would be a pleasure to have you join us for a delicious meal at Sarah’s Café. Once you’ve eaten, feel free to stroll along the paths of the Victorian gardens, which long ago stretched across 740 acres, all the way down to Stevens Creek Boulevard. Imagine the carriages, the orchards, the rolling lawns… and perhaps the quiet footsteps of someone who walked here long before you. And if you’re feeling brave, you’re welcome to wander once more through the miles of hallways inside the world’s most mysterious mansion. Every corner has a story. Every window has a whisper. And every room—well, you’ll see for yourself. Welcome to the Winchester Mansion. Enjoy your stay… for however long you choose to remain.

For further information about tours—including group tours, weddings, school events, birthday party packages, facility rentals, and our many special events—please visit our website for all the details you’ll need to plan your next unforgettable experience: https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/

Before you head out into the sunlight again, don’t forget to stop by our online gift shop. It’s the perfect place to find something special for friends and relatives—and perhaps a memento for yourself to remember your time inside the world’s most mysterious mansion. From classic souvenirs to unique collectibles inspired by the Winchester legend, you’ll find a wide variety of gifts waiting for you. Take a look, explore, and bring home a little piece of the mystery. Before you head out into the sunlight again, don’t forget to stop by our online gift shop. It’s the perfect place to find something special for friends and relatives—and perhaps a memento for yourself to remember your time inside the world’s most mysterious mansion. From classic souvenirs to unique collectibles inspired by the Winchester legend, you’ll find a wide variety of gifts waiting for you.
Take a look, explore, and bring home a little piece of the mystery.  https://shopwinchestermysteryhouse.com/

Father, I declare that You are my source. Every good and perfect gift comes from You. Let financial breakthroughs and opportunities come my way. Amen.

Why Choose Harris?

For more than 30 years, Harris Plumbing, Heating, Air, & Electric has been a name homeowners can trust. Not many businesses can say they’ve served their community for three decades—and we take that legacy to heart. Every job we take on, whether it’s a quick repair or a major installation, is handled with the same level of care, pride, and professionalism. Our mission is simple: to keep your home safe, comfortable, and running smoothly for you and your family. And we take that responsibility seriously. At Harris, you’re not just another service call. You’re a neighbor—and we’re here to help.

At Harris, we make sure you have all the information you need to make the right decision for your home. Whatever issue you’re facing, our team begins with a thorough diagnosis so we can clearly explain what’s going on before any work begins. That means you receive a personalized quote and a service plan tailored specifically to your home—not a generic estimate or guess. We believe the only way to deliver our best work is to fully understand the problem and address it with precision, care, and expertise. Your home deserves nothing less. https://www.callharrisnow.com/about-us/

Brian Harris BMW

With its top placement in Consumer Reports’ Auto Brand Report Card, BMW continues to prove why it remains one of the most respected names in the automotive world. In the most recent rankings, BMW earned one of the highest overall scores—finishing as the top luxury brand. This performance reflects BMW’s consistent ability to deliver vehicles that excel in reliability, performance, and owner satisfaction. BMW’s market strength is no accident. The brand has built its reputation on engineering precision and driving dynamics that set it apart from competitors. While many luxury manufacturers emphasize plush interiors and opulent comfort, BMW has always prioritized the connection between driver and machine. The result is a lineup of vehicles that are not only refined, but genuinely fun to drive—a quality that continues to resonate with consumers and automotive testers alike. This commitment to performance is why BMW has earned its iconic title: The Ultimate Driving Machine. Its vehicles consistently score high in road‑test evaluations, thanks to responsive handling, balanced chassis design, and powertrains engineered for both excitement and everyday usability. For drivers seeking a blend of luxury, reliability, and exhilarating performance, BMW remains a standout choice—supported not just by reputation, but by data. To explore the latest models, offers, and certified pre‑owned inventory, visit Brian Harris BMW:
https://www.brianharrisbmw.com/

Randolph Harris San Francisco Taxation & Mergers

Building strong and lasting client relationships is essential to a successful legal career. Many attorneys assume that mastering technical legal skills is enough, but law is fundamentally a service profession—our work is measured not only by the quality of our analysis, but by the trust we build and the problems we solve through the time and expertise we provide.
Long‑term client relationships rest on three pillars:

1. Truly knowing your clients, their businesses, and their goals.
2. Understanding how each legal issue fits into a broader strategic context.
3. Delivering exceptional service with consistency, clarity, and integrity.
   This philosophy guides my practice. I advise clients on business transitions, taxable and tax‑deferred mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, restructuring, integrated tax planning, federal and state tax controversy resolution, and real estate transactions. My work spans mature companies navigating complex operational issues as well as emerging and growth‑stage businesses seeking guidance on organization, financing, and long‑term planning.
   Trust is the cornerstone of every client relationship. Clients rely on me not only for technical expertise, but for judgment, perspective, and a genuine understanding of their challenges. My goal is always the same: to ensure that each client feels they are in capable hands with someone who understands their problems, their objectives, and the path forward.

Trust is the cornerstone of every client relationship. Clients rely on me not only for technical expertise, but for judgment, perspective, and a genuine understanding of their challenges. My goal is always the same: to ensure that each client feels they are in capable hands with someone who understands their problems, their objectives, and the path forward. https://www.jmbm.com/l-randolph-harris.html

Cresleigh Bluffs at Plumas Ranch

Plumas Lake, CA | from the mid $400’s

Now Selling!

Welcome to Homesite 132, where Residence Four stands as one of the most coveted two‑story offerings within the distinguished Cresleigh Bluffs enclave.

Crafted with an elevated sensibility and an unwavering commitment to quality, this exceptional residence delivers a level of refinement and comfort reserved for those who expect the extraordinary.

The first floor introduces a beautifully secluded bedroom suite accompanied by a full bath — an elegant accommodation for guests, extended family, or private work‑from‑home living.

Beyond the foyer, the home opens into a grand, light‑filled expanse where the gourmet kitchen, sophisticated dining area, and impressive great room converge.

This seamless layout creates a luxurious environment for curated entertaining, intimate gatherings, and the effortless flow of daily life.

Ascending the staircase, you’ll discover a spacious loft — a versatile retreat ideal for relaxation, creativity, or elevated leisure.

Three additional bedrooms and a thoughtfully positioned laundry room complete the upper level, each space reflecting Cresleigh’s signature craftsmanship and attention to detail.

With its refined finishes, intelligent spatial design, and an ambiance that speaks to modern luxury, Residence Four at Cresleigh Bluffs offers a rare opportunity to experience elevated living at its finest — a home where every moment feels intentional, elegant, and beautifully lived.

“I love my new Cresleigh home because it gives me a sense of peace the moment I walk through the door.” https://cresleigh.com/cresleigh-bluffs-at-plumas-ranch/move-in-ready-homesite-132/