The Bene Factor- 20th May 2007

IT is only through that of our Divine Benefactor of All, do we share the Grace of the Wellness of Being. Firstly it is to He that we give our most sincere gratitude to, and pledge to uphold and work for this wellness at all times, for all others as well.

Thanking a faceless, spiritless Universe, is tantamount to thanking a rubbish bin for its existence and for your own. It does not make sense. Without intelligent design and purpose, without a higher Will and motivation, could nothing but substance itself, create and sustain, let alone care that you are indeed thanking it?

Godlessness is an epidemic at present. One cannot say if materialism has given birth to it, or vice versa, but what can be observed is that without this fundamental first premise, men and women are become detached from the commonsense that follows.

Primary concepts are the rocks we build our temple on. They are more important than we know. We carry them also, upon our supernal person - day or night, these concepts follow us and determine the coordinates for all else to follow.

'The Secret'* expects not only wellness, but in many instances, abundance, and believes that this is but a Universal Law. Father God or any spirited Divinity, is not essential to their concept. There is no knowing intelligence which decides and wills that things be so - it is based on an automatic response that of itself is not moral necessarily, or wise.

It believes that the thoughts of a man or a woman are very powerful - as is so - and encourages them to be positive in general - which is of itself, very positive in the doing and the outcome....but then goes to the idea of some generic principle's action which will comply with our own will, want and imagining.

Meanwhile there are so many we leave out and unknowingly ignore. So many beings, loved ones, Angels and Gods, who all have and do contribute to our wellbeing. And yes (thank you Martin Luther King for saying it out loud), what of the nations of the world also, whose labor support the breakfast tables of the wealthy, and whose looms clack and cleave so that we might clothe ourselves?

The greater Secret in all of this is, of those souls and spirits we should thanking and working to give back to. The far bigger Secret speaks of such denial that refuses to acknowledge the Bene Factor, our benefactors - not forgetting either, those who labor in slavery, impoverished and compromised. God Bless them all.

Primary concepts tend not to be unique to the individual, for at that level they are shared in common with a bulk of others, who not only promulgate the same, but are actually linked by this community of thought together. This is nothing to do with core wisdom however, but more to those consciously accepted and affirmed precepts by which our life philosophy runs. And they are usually very simple.

Here is a useful list of examples (not to be read out loud) -

Father God exists.

Father God hears my prayers.

God exists.

God is Divine.

God is unknowable.

God is fair.

God is just.

God is indiscriminate.

God is unjust.

God does not exist.

There is only one life.

There are many lives.

All is good.

People are good.

People are not good.

The world is changing.

I am loved.

I am not loved.

I will never know.

I can never know.

I don't want to know.

The mysteries are mysterious.

The mysteries are there to be known one day.

I can know the mysteries in time.

I am a good person.

I am not a good person.

No one understands me.

People love me.

People do not love me.

People are crazy.

I love people.

I love animals.

I love children.

I love Angels.

I love power.

I love myself.

I want someone to love.

I want to be someone, someone wants to love.

I love eating.

I delight in cruelty.

I have great humor.

I am creative.

I hated school.

I loved school.

I could have done better.

I should have done better.

I want to do better.

I want to be better.

My mother loved me.

My father loved me.

My mother did not care for me.

My father did not care for me.

My mother loved my sister/brother more.

My father loved my sister/brother more.

My mother loved me the most.

My father loved me the most.

I loved my mother.

I loved my father.

My childhood was difficult.

My childhood was sweet.

My adolescence was difficult.

My adolescence was fun.

I want to grow old.

I do not want to grow old.

I prefer salty to sweet.

I like sweet things.

I want sex.

I do not want sex.

I need more sleep.

I do not want to sleep.

I am too fat.

I am too thin.

I am not bright or intelligent.

I am self conscious.

I am proud.

I am strong.

I am the best.

I am holy.

I am admired.

I am powerful.

I am scared.

I am habitual.

I hate cleaning.

I love to organize.

I love books.

I love movies.

I love computers.

I do not like computers.

I feel peaceful.

I feel restless.

I always want more.

I am satisfied.

I am grateful.

I am wishing.

I am lonely.

I am selfish.

It is alright to be selfish.

That's just me.

I have a right to be me.

I am proud to be me.

I am not listening.

No one can convince me.

I cannot stand religion.

I cannot stand atheism.

I am a people person.

I am a patient person.

I will do what it takes.

I cannot be bothered.

I am lazy.

I like to cheat.

I like to steal.

I like to get more than I have paid for.

I need to be honest.

I need to lie.

I need to be fair.

I need to be happy.

I like singing.

I do not like singing.

I believe in Angels.

I do not believe in Angels.

I am a gardener.

I am no good in the garden.

I love nature.

I love the city.

I believe in Karma.

I think when you die you are dust only.

I think when I die I will go on.

I am afraid of heights.

I am afraid of women.

I am afraid of illness.

I am afraid of being wrong.

I am afraid of getting older.

I am afraid of losing my mind.

I am afraid of losing another person.

I have been disappointed.

I did not deserve my life.

I deserve more.

I am sad about the world's problems.

I am confused.

I cannot tell anyone how I feel.

God does not approve of me.

I am scared that God will cast me out.

I cannot stand violence.

I love color.

I am a good cook.

I love to do for others.

I love to be a mother.

I love to be a father.

I love to be a grandfather.

I love to be a grandmother.

I wish I was a mother.

I wish I was a father.

I do not want to be a mother.

I do not want to be a father.

I wish to be a grandmother

I wish to be a grandfather.

I wish for more children.

I do not wish to have children.

I am afraid to have children.

I love TV.

I love hobbies.

I love sport.

I love Church.

I love to kill.

I love to create.

I repent.

I have done nothing wrong.

I have faith.

You have to have faith.

I want faith.

I have no faith.

I am sincere.

It is all too hard.

I am dying.

I am afraid of pain.

I am afraid of death.

I am unhappy.

I am very happy.

Something is wrong.

I am never wrong.

You have to be positive.

You have to be wary.

I have to be on the look out.

There is a wisdom behind everything.

I understand spiritual things.

I do not understand mumbo jumbo.

I love the sunrise.

I am afraid of the dark.

I love the night.

I am afraid of being seen for who I am.

I am nervous.

I always laugh when I am nervous.

I cannot stand laughter.

I cannot tolerate loud noise.

I cannot tolerate bad smells.

I cannot tolerate off food.

I need to wash.

I need to wash constantly.

I can never wash enough.

You can never wash enough.

I want to be left alone.

I want to party.

I want to get high.

I want to get drunk.

It is OK to get high.

It is OK to get drunk.

It is not OK to get high.

It is not OK to get drunk.

It is not OK to eat meat.

I love eating meat.

It is not OK to be unkind.

I love being unkind.

I find sport in being critical.

I am smart when I am critical.

I belong to the University of the World.

Experience is everything.

Love and kindness are everything.

I am superstitious.

Knowledge is everything.

Reading through these primary concepts we immediately recognize what feels correct about ourselves and our self statements, and what does not. The issues they address are colorful and go further than simple negatives or positives, because they speak of very real qualities, virtues, conditions and precepts that will definitely lead on to very certain effects and further thinking thereon.

These concepts are not arguable, in the sense that they are subjective and personal to ourselves. They may not even be current with our very own consciousness, desire or thinking, but have been born from other folk who have impressed us with the same concepts or situations, from which they have naturally arisen.

"Man know thyself" begins very much with the reviewing of these concepts affecting our thinking, our behavior and our futures, so that we might later go on to learn of the greater man, and what that means in relation to the systems and conjunctures in which we are fixed.

It is so important to not only review our day, but to go through these primary concepts and work to review them also. You might feel some of them impinge upon you even though you do not agree with them. Bring them out from the dark and consider them. By accepting and rejecting and self reflecting we are becoming stronger in ourselves.

An entire book could be written on what it means to hold just one of those concepts about a person. We begin each day with them, repeating them over and over in our psyche. They determine many of our decisions before our working ego can grapple with the moment at hand. We rest and rely on such 'truisms', without them necessarily being unchangeable. They appear to hold some biblical importance, but really are secondary to our active consciousness and true deciding. They each have their gremlins that are in constant argument with one another.

However it is helpful to cite those ones which we are encumbered by, and those which are assisting us - and then also to know that we are truly none of the above, for this reason:

True goodness is not done by rote. Our godly selves, our reverential selves - all of those primary concepts above are definitely affecting them, but when we look to thought and action in the moment it really requires a conscious exchange.

For example: if I help a brother, which is preferable? -

• That I should help him because my repetitive concepts steer me

• or that because of the need, because it is right, because it is something I choose to do in that very moment, it is something I consciously decide.

There is a difference. 

Believing in something because you have always done so is just not enough. It becomes lukewarm at best. There can be no true conviction if it is just repetition.

Especially that which is good about ourselves, needs to be lively and executed with verve, with intention, rather than a fit in profile. Even positive affirmations cannot be delivered with a momentary vitality unless they have the grit of understanding within them, and gratitude to Grace for their existence.

Grace is very personal. It is not compelled - for were it merely a compulsion it would be just another law. It is personal. It is personal to the receiver, personal to the situation, and always with intelligence.

The gods make decisions all the time. They are not compelled or robotic servants to our lives. When Christ acts, He does so, not to merely fill a profile of Himself. And nor should we. The very reason why so many folk think that Christ loved because He had to, by definition of Himself, is because they live the profile of the primary concept, rather than so living in the momentary self themselves.

Living in the moment is not encouraging one to merely live for the moment alone. What it requires moreover, is a reasoning that is ever weighing a situation or a motive, without and within, and questioning what is correct at that very time to do, truly deciding for oneself, without merely going to the preconceived text of who we are.

For each of us clothe ourselves in these simple statements, but they are in fact quite dead within their own nature. Their time has gone when first thought or uttered; and impressed upon us though they be, they are but shrieking ghosts.

Man know thyself within each living moment. For it is within the present we only have ourselves to know, and it is there our strength and glory lives.

Perhaps some of the concepts above have been good to us, and some have undoubtedly weighed upon us most heavily, but all in all, there is only one we need to hold to, and that is:

It is only through that of our Divine Benefactor of All, do we share the Grace of the Wellness of Being - and for this we are ever grateful.

Amen.

*[Comments on the book: The Secret]