Faulty characters and faulty habits can be changed by the Secret Path as the coming of the sun changes winter to spring. Greed will slowly turn to goodwill, cruelty will make its exit to allow for the incoming of kindness, and all-around self-control will gradually replace weakness. The faithful application of these teachings must inevitably influence the entire make-up of a man, and influence it most certainly for the better. He must begin this preparatory work on himself by an analysis of character. This requires a sincere, honest appraisal, a rigorous search for truth, not easy when vanity, for instance, may masquerade as duty among his motives. There is a great feeling of uncertainty and anxiety that besets the life of a man who wants to make his way up the ladder of the big corporation. He can fall at any point; he can fail to reach the aspired goal and become a failure in the eyes of his family and friends. However, this anxiety increases his wish for certainty. If he fails in spite of the certainty his methods of decision making offer him, he at least need not blame himself. The same need to be certain exists in the realm of thoughts, feeling, and aesthetic appreciation. By the growth of literacy and of the mass media, the individual learns quickly which thoughts are “right,” which behaviour is correct, which feeling is normal, which taste is “in.” All he has to do is to be receptive to the signals of the media, and he can be certain not to make a mistake. The fashion magazines tell what style to like and the book clubs what books to read, and to top it all, recent methods of finding proper marriage partners are based on the decisions of computers. #RandolphHarris 1 of 20
Our age has found a substitute for God: the impersonal calculation. This new god has turned into an idol to whom all men may be sacrificed. A new concept of the scared and unquestionable is arising: that of calculability, probability, factuality. We must address ourselves now to the question, If we give the computer all the facts, what is wrong with the principle that the computer can make the best possible decisions about future action? What are facts? Even if correct and not distorted by personal or political bias, not only can facts be meaningless they can be untrue by their very selection, taking attention away from what is relevant, or scattering and fragmenting one’s thinking so much that one is less capable of making meaningful decisions the more “information” one has received. The selection of facts implies evaluation and choice. The awareness of this is a necessary condition of making rational use of facts. The basis of all authority is the supremacy of fact over thought. Yet this contrast of fact and thought can be conceived fallaciously. For thought is a factor in the fact of experience. Thus the immediate fact is what it is, partly by reason of the thought involved in it. Facts must be relevant. However, relevant to what or to whom? If I am informed that A has been in prison for having wounded a rival in a state of intense jealousy, I have been informed about a fact. I can formulate the same information by saying that A was in jail, or that A was (or is) a violent man, or A was (or is) a jealous man; yet all these facts say little about A. #RandolphHarris 2 of 20
Maybe A is a very intense man, a proud man, a man of great integrity; maybe my factual information fails to inform that when he speaks with children his eyes light up and he is concerned and helpful. This fact may have been omitted because it did not seem relevant to the datum of this crime; besides, it is—as yet—difficult for the computer to register a certain expression in a man’s eyes, or to observe and code the fine nuances of the expression of his mouth. “Facts” are interpretations of events, and the interpretation presupposes certain concerns which constitute the event’s relevance. The crucial question is to be aware of what my concern is and hence of what the facts have to be in order to be relevant. Am I the man’s friend, or a detective, or simply a man who wants to see the total man in his humanity? Aside from being aware of my concern, I would have to know all the details about the episode—and even then perhaps the details would not tell me how to evaluate his act. Nothing short of knowing him, in his individuality and suchness, his character—including the elements he himself may not be aware of—would permit me to evaluate his act; but in order to be well informed, I would also have to know myself, my own value system, what of it is genuine and what of it is ideology, my interests—selfish or otherwise. The fact, presented merely descriptively, may make me either more or less informed, and it well known that there is no more effective way of distortion than to offer nothing but a series of “facts.” #RandolphHarris 3 of 20
When we speak of facts pertaining to political and social life, what holds true in this example of how to evaluate one episode in the life of a man is all the more complicated and consequential. If we show for a fact that Communists are taking steps to assume power in America by inserting a Manchurian candidate as president to allow the country to be invaded, corrupted, and bankrupted, does this fact imply that they threaten to conquer the United States of America or the World? Would the latter mean that they threaten the “existence” of the free World? Does a threat to the “existence” to the United States of America mean a threat to the physical existence of Americans, or to our social system, or to our freedom of expression and action, or does it mean that they want to replace our elite in the area with one of their own? Which of these possible outcomes would justify or demand the possible destruction of 344 million Americas, or all of life? The “fact” of Communist threats assumes a different meaning according to the evaluation of the total strategy and planning of the Communists. However, who are the Communists? The Russian government, South America, the Chinese government, most democrats and some republicans, or who? With the way things are going, not only will President Xi Jinping be the next president of America, but also the commander of chief of the World! The one fact from which we start means nothing without the evaluation of the whole system, which means an analysis of a process in which we as observers are also included. #RandolphHarris 4 of 20
Eventually, the very fact of having decided to select certain events as facts has an effect on ourselves. By this decision we have committed ourselves to move in a certain direction, and this commitment determines our further selection of facts. The same holds true for our opponents. They also are influenced by their own selection of facts, as well as by ours. However, not only the facts themselves are selected and ordered according to values; the programing of the computer itself is based on built-in and often unconscious values. The principle that the more we produce the better is in itself a value judgment. If instead we believed that our system should be conducive to optimum human activeness and aliveness, we would program differently and other facts would become relevant. The illusion of the certainty of the computer decision, shared by a large sector of the public and by man decision makers, rests upon the erroneous assumptions (a) that facts are objective “givens,” and (b) that the programing is norm-free. “Normative” planning must precede “strategic” and “tactical” planning. All planning, whether with or without the use of computers, depends on the norms and values that underlie the planning. Planning itself is one of the most progressive steps the human race has taken. However, if it is “blind” planning, in which man abdicates his own decision, value judgment, and responsibility, it can be a curse. #RandolphHarris 5 of 20
If it is alive, responsive, “open” planning, in which the human ends are in full awareness and guiding the planning process, it will be a blessing. The computer facilitates planning tremendously, but its use does not really alter the fundamental principles of the proper relationship between means and ends; only its abuse will. As a man, it is not essential to discover and correct these faults. As a seeker, such discovery and such correction are primary duties. The code of conduct which philosophy asks its votaries to practise, the set of values which it determines for them, the endeavour to transcend themselves which it inspires—these elevate the mind into nobility, grandeur, and reverence. To abstain from favoured foods is a hard test; to abstain from carnal intercourse is still harder one. To the common mind, devoid of metaphysical faculty, this may seem far enough to travel. However, to the developed mind the hardest of all tests must yet be undergone—to abstain from egoistic thought, feeling, and action. The more the character is purified, the easier it is to practise meditation. The more the lower nature holds a man, the shorter will be the period of time in which he will be able to hold attention on the Overself. It is a great beginning of the real quest when he comes to the clear perception that the lusts, gluttonies, wraths, and passions have been lodged in him and have lived in his self yet are not him; that they are morbid creations which can be starved, exorcised, and expelled just as surely as they have been fed, nourished, and embraced. #RandolphHarris 6 of 20
What separate the lower appetites of man from his higher aspirations? The beast must obey blindly its group instinct, the human need not. He can choose between doing the same as the animal or holding himself back to think, reason, and arrive at a considered decision. The lower nature does not let him keep this mood of high resolve long. Not many days pass before it seeks to discourage him. For the old cravings, the desire habits, and the emotional tendencies are still there. Soon they begin to trouble him again. “Why try?” his lower nature despondently tells him, “Why torment yourself uselessly? You can only fail in the end.” This it creates the expectancy of failure and turns his high adventure into a dismal ordeal. Only a fixed vigilant determination and correct approach will bring forth that inner consent to the new disciplinary habits so necessary to success. Only by re-educating his tendencies and gradually making them quite willing to conform to the right way of living can the lower nature be beaten. To the extent that anything lifts men up out of their animality, it serves a higher purpose. This is true of athletic training and religious aspiration, of social codes and personal self-respect. For in the end they must turn their minds away from the passions which they share with the sub-human kingdom to the fulfilment of their higher human possibilities and destiny. The honourable man who lives by a decent code of ethics has to be surpassed by the seeker, since he believes in a life and goal which I still more honourable. #RandolphHarris 7 of 20
Freedom is a tremendous word whose meaning goes much beyond the average man’s idea of it. He is not free who is in bondage to narrow prejudice, strong attachment, unruled desire, and spiritual ignorance. The same strength which is put into negative qualities like fear, grief, revenge, and discord—to a man’s own detriment—can be put into beneficial ones like courage, cheerfulness, fortitude, benevolence, and calmness, to his own benefit. He is to work for the day when his character will be utterly transformed, when he will be incapable of meanness or animality, when he will live in constant awareness of the idea. There is an organismic base for an organized valuing process within the human individual. It is hypothesized that this base is something the human being shares with the rest of the animate World. It is part of the functioning life process of any healthy organism. It is the capacity for receiving feedback information which enables the organism continually to adjust behaviour and reactions so as to achieve the maximum possible self-enhancement. This valuing process in the human being is effective in achieving self-enhancement to the degree that the individual is open to the experiencing which is going on within himself. I have tried to give two examples of individuals who are close to their own experiencing; the tiny infant who has not yet learned to deny in his awareness the processes going on within; and the psychologically mature person who has learned the advantages of this open state. #RandolphHarris 8 of 20
One way of assisting the individual to move toward openness to experience is through a relationship in which he is prized as a separate person, in which the experiencing going on within him is emphatically understood and valued, and in which he is given the freedom to experience his own feelings and those of others without being threatened in doing so. This proposition obviously grows out of therapeutic experience. It is a brief statement of the essential qualities in the therapeutic relationship. There are already some empirical studies, of which the one by Barrett-Lennard is a god example, which gives support to such a statement. One case study we should consider is one of Billy. Billy, a healthy, strong, intelligent, and successful lawyer, consulted me because of a fear of high places. He had a recurring nightmare in which he was pushed from a bridge or tower. He felt dizzy when he sat in the first row of a theater balcony and when he looked down from high windows. Also, he sometime felt panicky before he had to appear in court or before he met important clients. He had worked up from a poor environment and was afraid of not being able to maintain the good position he had attained. The feeling often crept up on him that he was putting on a bluff and that it would be found out sooner or later. He could not account for this fear because he believed himself as intelligent as his colleagues; he was a good speaker and usually could convince others by his arguments. #RandolphHarris 9 of 20
Because he talked frankly about himself we managed to see in a few interviews the outlines of a conflict between, on the one side, ambition, assertiveness, a desire to put something over on others, and, on the other side, a need to maintain the appearance of a jolly straight fella who did not want anything for himself. Neither side of the conflict was deeply repressed. He had merely failed to realize the strength and the contradictory nature of these strivings. Once they were brought into sharp focus, he recognized squarely that he actually did not put a bluff. He then spontaneously drew the connection himself between this inadvertent swindle and the dizziness. He aw that he craved to attain a higher place in life but did not quite dare admit to himself how ambitious he really was. If other realized his ambition, he was afraid that they would turn against him and push him down and therefore he had to show a front of being a jolly good fella to whom money and prestige did not mean much. Being nevertheless an essentially honest person, he was dimly aware of some bluff, which in turn had made him apprehensive of being “found out.” This clarification sufficed to remove the dizziness, which was a translation of his fears into physical terms. #RandolphHarris 10 of 20
He then had to leave town. We had not touched upon his fear of public performances and of meeting certain clients. I advised him to observe the conditions under which his “stage fright” was increased or decreased. Sometime later I received this report. He had first thought that the fear appeared when the case he presented or the argument he had used was debatable. However, search in this direction did not lead very far, though he felt distinctly that he was not wholly wrong. Then he had a bad break which, however, proved to be a good break for his own efforts at understanding. He had prepared a difficult brief not too carefully, but was only moderately apprehensive about presenting it in court, for he knew that the judge had fallen ill, and that the one who would substitute was strict and unbending. He tried to console himself with the reminder that after all the second judge was far from vicious or tricky, but this did not diminish his rising anxiety. Then he thought of my advice and tried to let his mind run freely. First an image appeared of himself as a small boy smeared from head to toe with chocolate cake. He was at first baffled by this picture, but then recalled that he was going to be punished but got away with it because he was so “cute” and his mother had to laugh about it. The theme of “getting by” persisted. Several memories emerged of times when he was not prepared at school, but got by. Then he thought of a teacher of history who he wanted. He could still feel the hatred. #RandolphHarris 11 of 20
The class had to write a theme about the French Revolution. When returning the papers the teacher criticized his for being replete with high-sounding phrases but devoid of solid knowledge; he cited one of those phrases and the others roared with laughter. Bill had felt acutely humiliated. The English teacher had always admired his style but the history teacher seemed impervious to his charm. The phrase “impervious to his charm” took him by surprise, because he had meant “impervious to his style.” He could no help feeling amused because the word “charm” expressed his true meaning. Sure enough, the judge was like the history teacher, impervious to his charm or his power of speech. That was it. He was accustomed to rely on his charm and his facility with words to “get by” instead of being thoroughly prepared. As a result he became panicky whenever he visualized a situation in which this tool would be ineffective. Since Bill was not deeply entangled in his neurotic trends he was able to draw the practical consequence of this insight: to sit down and work more carefully on the brief. He even went a step farther. He realized to what extent he used his charm also in relationships with friends and women. Briefly, he felt that they should be under the spell of his charm and therefore overlook the fact that he did not give much of himself in any relationship. He linked this finding with our discussion by realizing that he had discovered another bluff, and he finished with the realization that he must “go straight.” #RandolphHarris 12 of 20
Apparently he was able to do so to a considerable extent, because since that episode, which I not six years ago, his fears have practically disappeared. This result resembles the one attained by John (from past reports) when he overcame his headaches, but it must be evaluated differently. The headaches, as indicated before, were a peripheral symptom. They can be so designated by virtue of two facts: since they were infrequent and not severe they did not essentially disturb him; and they had not assumed any secondary function. John’s real disturbances, as revealed in a subsequent analysis, lay in a different direction. Bill’s fears, on the other hand, were the result of a crucial conflict. They did not disable him but they interfered with significant activities in vital areas of his life. John’s headaches disappeared without any concomitant change in his personality, the only change being a slightly greater awareness of anger. Bill’s fears vanished because he recognized their source in certain contradictory trends in his personality and, more important, because he was able to change these trends. Here again, a in John’s case, the results seem greater than the efforts that produced them. However, again on closer examination the disparity is not so great. It is true that with comparatively little work Bill managed not only to get rid of disturbances serious enough to jeopardize his career in the long run, but also to recognize a few important facts about himself. #RandolphHarris 13 of 20
Bill saw that he had presented a somewhat deceptive front to himself and to others, that he was much more ambitious than he had admitted to himself, that he tended to attain his ambitious goals through his wits and his charm rather than through solid work. However, in evaluating this success we must not forget that Bill, in contrast to John and Harry, was essentially a physically healthy person with only mild neurotic trends. His ambition and his need to “get by” were not deeply repressed and did not have a rigid compulsive character. His personality was so organized that he could modify them considerably as soon a he recognized them. Dropping for a moment the effort to attain a scientific understanding of Bill’s predicaments, one might regard him simply as a person who had tried to make life too easy for himself and who could do better when he realized that his way did not work. Bill’s insights were sufficient to remove certain gross fears. However, even in this most successful short cut many questions are left open. What exactly is the meaning of the nightmare about being pushed down from a bridge? Was it necessary for Bill that he alone should be on top? Did he want to push others down because he could not tolerate any competition? And was he therefore afraid others might do the same to him? Was his fear of high places only a fear of losing the position he gained, or was it also a fear of falling down from a height of fictitious superiority—as it usually is in phobias of this kind? #RandolphHarris 14 of 20
Furthermore, why did he not put in an amount of work commensurate with his faculties and his ambition? Did this laziness result only from the repression of his ambition, or did he feel that it would detract from his ambition, or if he made adequate efforts, did he feel that it would detract from the repression of his ambition—that only mediocre people have to work? And why did he give so little of himself in his relations with others? Was he too engrossed in himself—or perhaps too contemptuous of others—to be able to experience much spontaneous emotion? Whether it would be necessary, from the point of view of therapy, to pursue all such supplementary questions is another matter. In Bill’s case, it is possible that the little analysis done had farther reaching effects than the removal of conspicuous fears. It is possible that it set going something that might be called a beneficent circle. By recognizing his ambition and by putting in more work he would actually anchor his ambitions on a more realistic and more solid basis. Thereby he would feel more secure and less vulnerable and less in need of his bluff. By relinquishing the false front he would feel less constrained and less afraid of being found out. All of these factors might considerably deepen his relationships with others, and this improvement would also add to his feeling of security. Such a beneficent circle may have been set in motion even though the analysis was not complete. If the analysis had searched out all the untouched implications, it would almost certainly have had this effect. #RandolphHarris 15 of 20
There is little quarrel with the notion that careful training and intensive supervised experience contribute significantly to the preparation of the skilled psychotherapist. It may be asked if there are factors of life history, personality, and social background that the therapist-to-be bring to his training that may contribute to enhance or to limit his future therapeutic endeavours. Differences in these factors could serve either to increase or reduce the effects of the differences in the formal training of the psychiatrist, psychologist, and social worker. The capacity for and the condition of “understanding” a patient is generally held to be of key importance in the establishment, maintenance, and successful direction of a therapeutic relationship. If it happens that therapist and client have certain identities in their respective social histories there is possible a spontaneous empathy, a preformed rapport that can facilitate the mutual acceptance of each by the other and, more importantly, may serve continuously as a catalyst for the stream of communication, spoken and upspoken, which is the medium of therapy. Safely shutting down a bully is something the three different kinds of psychotherapists can help one with. We do not recommend physical violence. Safely shutting down a bully is what we are going for here. In this way, you utilize the help of others. Go the route of getting others involved, even the authorities if need be. Stand up tall, stay firm. If a person is being rude, suggest that perhaps you two have gotten off on the wrong foot, and that calling names will not help the situation. #RandolphHarris 16 of 20
If for instance, the person harassing you starts making threatening gestures, like pounding his hand on his fist, use your mobile phone to take a quick picture of him doing this. It is important to record any physical sign of intimidation. For every manipulative action, there is a consequence. The harshest of them all is the consequence of losing you. The thing about manipulators is that they mentally record every action you do when they have manipulated you or attempted to. If you say you will call the authorities if the bully hits you, and he does go through with the physical harm, you had better call the authorities and let them handle it. Make sure to bring down all the consequences on him that the law allows. You might be the one who gets through to him or her that it is just not worth bullying and hurting people physically. You might even save their next would-be victim from harm. You are not trying to control the manipulator, but you are trying to control how you react to those manipulations. If they think you have a weakness that they can take advantage of, just like the wind, a master manipulator will change directions and come at you from another way. We all have weaknesses; they key to keep them hidden around manipulators is to watch what you say. Say what you mean, only what you will go through with. Sometimes it is best to say nothing and just walk away. When you show an individual that there are consequences for harassing you, they may try even harder. Therefore make it known that those consequences will have an impact on their future. Be calm. Be articulate. Be assertive and sure of yourself so they will stop using you as an easy target. #RandolphHarris 17 of 20
Not everyone grew up rich. Some people come from big families, were disabled in the war, and are very thankful for pensions. Today, a lot of people are saying they need help, they need this, they want that. It is important to be thankful for everything you have, the opportunity to go to school and live that you are living, the opportunity to work. Once when he was a little kid, one firefighter remembers very well going to a firehouse. One of the firemen showed him the remnants of a watch, a new kind of watch that had been melted down into a wad of black plastic. It had come out of a fatal fire caused by someone smoking in bed. That stuck in his mind. When was sixteen, some of the kids who were eighteen were trying to get involved with the volunteer fire department. He looked at them with admiration and knew that it was something he wanted to do. His father was a lieutenant at the time. Later, when he got old and his arthritis progressed, he had to retire. Twice he was almost killed on the job. However, he was not a big story teller. He never told his son fire stories until he was older, and he said he wanted to enter the fire department. His father tried to teach him things. He said, “Son, you watch out for those truss roofs, because when one component fails the whole roof and parapet will come down, and they will kill you.” One time his dad was in a fire in a three-story building. It had a very high parapet which concealed the bowstring truss roof behind it. He was operating the turntable of the ladder truck, and he had two guys in the basket. It was really smoky. He saw a crack developing in this parapet. #RandolphHarris 18 of 20
Everybody ever quickly got away, because you could see what was going to happen. His dad stayed there and swung that snorkel boom away and got those two guys in the basket out of the way just as the wall came down. It buried his dad. Just buried him. One of the things that fell on him was an electrical transformer, and he had an electrical burn across his groin from a wire landing right there. The wires were sparking, and the other guys were afraid to jump right in. Then some fire chief, who had a truckman’s belt on, had them attach a rope to the belt, and he said, “I’m going to start digging the bricks off this guy. And if something happens to me, yank me back.” Well, as soon as he took off the first couple of brick, they could see that the was not going to be electrocuted, and they all jumped in, and they puled all of the bricks off his dad. He was in bad shape. In critical condition. They were just about ready to drill holes in his head. This young man’s father was one of the first guys to wear a helmet with a neckstrap. You know, there was a lot of talk against the strap, saying one will fall through the floor and it will strangle you. His dad said that the first brick would have hit him on the head and the rest of them would have killed him. That helmet stayed on his head. Many firefighters with the Sacramento Fire Department have a legacy or social commitment to help out the community. Therefore, think about fire safety. Do your best to prevent fires. Even if you make it out of a burning building, the people rescuing you may not. #RandolphHarris 19 of 20
When people think of the fire department, they think of someone rushing into buildings and saving lives, but that is not the only thing in it by a long shot. When my son Leo was two years old, after we built our house in Kelowna and moved in, when the dog would annoy him, he would run into the kitchen and hide in a tall, narrow cabinet to get away from home. Keep in mind, when there is a fire, some kids are afraid of it. Often times they will hide somewhere in the house to get away from the sirens, the flames, and the smoke and incorrectly think they are safe, and no one may ever find them. Also, some fires have killed dozens of firefighters. It is a horrible sight to transport people who are burnt to a crisp. Many people who survive fires also come out of them wounded. The Sacramento Fire Department is doing something terribly important, something everybody respects. You can sense that it is very important. However, sometimes firefighters end up in the hospital because of heat exhaustion. The Sacramento Fire Department has always been around. If possible, please make a donation to ensure these men and women receive the proper resources. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God, Indivisible with Liberty and Justice for all. Get up early, work hard, mind your own business, save your money, buy a Cadillac and live on the nice side of town. #RandolphHarris 20 of 20
The Winchester Mystery House
The Winchester Mystery House exists beyond ordinary time, and it is so beautiful, yet bizarre as to inspire fear even in the hearts of an unimaginative populace. On April 22, 2001, there was a mysterious wildness in the mansion, that none might listen without apprehension. A caretaker heard vociferous thumping on the wall next to the bed Mrs. Winchester died in with ululation so horrible and unearthly that he was terrified and baffled. The sounds of knocking then started coming from under the bed; when he knocked on the wooden bedstead, the unknown visitant replied in kind. Then something appeared from beneath the bed. Three days later, he was found quietly sleeping in the basement. The caretakers who found him noticed in his pale blue eyes there was a certain gleam of peculiar quality. He raved of things he did not understand and could not interpret; things which he claimed to have experienced, but which he could not have learned through any normal or connected narration.
Come and enjoy a delicious meal in Sarah’s Café, stroll along the paths of the beautiful Victorian gardens, and wonder through the miles of hallways in the World’s most mysterious mansion. For further information about tours, including group tours, weddings, school events, birthday party packages, facility rentals, and special events please visit the website: https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/
Please visit the online giftshop, and purchase a gift for friends and relatives as well as a special memento of The Winchester Mystery House. A variety of souvenirs and gifts are available to purchase. https://shopwinchestermysteryhouse.com/
Randolph Harris Research and Development 