Benin, Nigeria Unit of Service - Dissipation of Glamour in our Nation and in the World

BENIN UNIT OF SERVICE
P. O. BOX 10838
BENIN CITY
EDO STATE, NIGERIA.

THE ACTIVITIES OF BENIN UNIT OF SERVICE IN MY COMMUNITY, EDO STATE NIGERIA

A PRESENTATION DELIVERED AT THE TRIANGLES WEBINAR ON MONDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER, 2021.   

I send warm greetings to everyone with love from the Benin unit of service.  Please permit me to express my profound gratitude to Triangles New York for giving me this opportunity to make a presentation on the activities of the Benin Unit of Service in my community in Edo State, Nigeria,

The presentation is titled: “THE URGE TO SERVE”

Alice A. Bailey in the book Treatise on White Magic wrote that “True Service is the spontaneous outflow of a loving heart and intelligent mind … he lives, serves, works, influences, asking nothing for the separated self ( pg 188/9).  In addition, the ageless wisdom teaching states that where we are is where our journey begins. Thus the Benin Unit of service came into existence as far back as 1985 with the following objectives:

To spread the teachings of the Tibetan Master through Alice A. Bailey books in our community;

To build a meditation centre of Light and Goodwill in the community

To enlighten the public on the use of the Great Invocation as a tool for preparation for the reappearance of Christ as well as creating right human relationship

To publish a bulletin of Goodwill titled “ The emerging Consciousness , A bulletin of Goodwill”

To hold public seminar on World goodwill Day and lower interlude seminar in October, precisely on Nigeria’s Independence day (1st October ).

To engage in philanthropic activities

ACTIVITIES OF THE BENIN UNIT OF SERVICE IN SUPPORT OF LUCIS TRUST IN MY COMMUNITY, EDO STATE NIGERIA 

Benin Unit of Service was established as an educational charity that has been co-operating with   the Services of World Goodwill London as far back as 1985.  The Benin Unit of Service co-ordinated and hosted Steve Nation on the Lucis Trust Visit to Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria to deliver a public Lecture on the topic “Transition into an Aquarian Age on Saturday 7th September, 2019.

The activities of Benin Unit of Service in my community in Edo state include but not limited to the following:

Library Service: Benin Unit of Service runs a public Library that has in stock all the Alice Bailey books published by Lucis Trust Company, United Kingdom and other books on esoteric philosophy.  The Library is opened to the public on Mondays to Fridays from 9,00am to 4.00pm and on Sundays 10.00am – 12noon. I am glad to inform this audience that the completed Library building was commissioned by Steve Nation on behalf of Lucis Trust on Sunday 8th September, 2019 during his visit to Benin City. Edo State, Nigeria to deliver a public Lecture, On the topic “Transition into an Aquarian Age on Saturday 7thSeptember, 2019.( show clip of the library building.

Meditation as a way of service: The Library Building serves as Meditation Centre.  The Unit group members hold meditation on Sundays on the redirection of money for Hierarchical Purposes. Money realised from the Sunday meditation are donated to Lucis Trust London for wider service.  Group meditation is also held on full moon/new moon days every month at the Library physically whenever it is possible.  When not possible, we join the world wide group subjectively or participate in the Lucis Trust broadcast to participate in the full moon meeting.

Study: The Unit members meet on Sundays to study the book on problems of humanity, Labours of Hercules and other books/magazines relating to the creation of right human relations, including  the Beacon Magazine,  World Goodwill Newsletters and Triangle Bulletin etc, 

Distribution of the Great Invocation Postcards and airing the Great Invocation on Television and radio. The Great Invocation is widely publicised on Radio and /television especially during the week of World Invocation day seminar. WhatsApp platform is also used to distribute the Great Invocation.   Printed Postcards of the Great Invocation (World Prayer) are also distributed to members of the public in the community from time to time, encouraging them to add it to their daily prayers/meditation in order to help channel light and love into the consciousness of the whole human race.

Organising Public Seminars:  The Benin Unit of service organises public seminars on world Invocation Day or World Goodwill Day every year to coincide with the London Conference at the Gemini Festival.  The public seminar draws participants from all works of life irrespective of religious bias.  The seminar affords participants to be enlightened on the use of the energy of goodwill to create an enlightened society through expression of right human relationship.  The group members realised that the problems in our communities and nation are basically that of lack of expression of the energy of goodwill in our daily actions. Also public seminars are held at the lower interlude in October to coincide with Nigeria Independence Day celebration.

Forming Triangles:  During the public seminar participants are encourage to form Triangles and use the Great Invocation as tool for transformation of our communities,  nation and the whole planet earth,

Publication of Bulletin of Goodwill:  The Benin Unit of Service has on its ongoing activity the publication of Emerging Consciousness, a Bulletin of Goodwill. Articles in the bulletin will focus on the use of the energy of goodwill as a tool for creating right human relationship in our community.

Distribution of Alice A Bailey Books to Nigeria Universities Libraries and Publication of the Great Invocation on Newspaper on World Goodwill Day  by Goodwill Association of Nigeria:

The Benin Unit of Service in conjunction with the Goodwill Association of Nigeria is involved with distribution of Alice A Bailey Books to Nigerian Universities Libraries.

Philanthropic activities:  The Benin Unit of Service organises visit to orphanage homes.

Thank you

Mrs Isoken Ogboro

Isoken Ogboro

A PAPER PRESENTATION ON WORLD GOODWILL DAY SEMINAR ON 29TH MAY, 2021 AT FELONA HOTEL, DAWSON ROAD BENIN CITY, EDO STATE, NIGERIA.

TITLE: THE ROLE OF ILLUMINATING ENERGY OF PURE REASON IN DISSIPATION OF GLAMOUR IN OUR NATION AND HUMANITY AS A WHOLE

 

INTRODUCTION

            Nigeria the most populous country in African is made up of over two million people with diversities in languages and cultures in different locations within the country.  The ordinary Nigerians on the streets of the nation are hardworking, struggling to provide for themselves those amenities that will make life meaningful to live on earth.

            Presently, our nation is facing serious challenges of insecurity, poverty, unemployment, food crises, weak governance, poor health care, poor educational facilities and poor social amenities.  These challenges are in addition to the COVID 19 pandemic facing the whole human race.

            Reflection on the causes of these challenges could be traced to the problem of Glamour in our national life as well as the world over.  Humanity as a whole is facing the fogs causing the problems of glamour in all sphere of human endeavours.

            How can we the people of this nation and humanity as a whole find our way through the fogs of glamour and face reality.  Let us be lead from the unreal to the real, and for this the book:  ‘Glamour A World Problem’ by Alice Bailey becomes sacrosanct.

            This paper therefore will be focusing on the  main headings as follows:

 The Role of the illuminating energy of Pure Reason in the dissipation of glamour.

Dissipation of glamour in our nation specifically and the world at large.

Conclusion and the way forward.

Permit me at this point to explain some of the terms used in the paper. These are:

Pure Reason: It is the faculty of the higher mind which enables man to function at the soul or intuitional level to contact divine ideas which are transmitted to ideals at the physical plane level of human endeavours.

 

Glamour:  It is that subtle Astral Force which blindfolds the mind not to see the reality or truth of situations or events in the world.  Glamour force influences the mind to create thought forms that are negative but presents the negative thought forms as real.

 

Dissipation of glamour:  It is the process of holding the mind in the light of the soul to create thought forms that are beneficial to the whole instead of thought forms of selfishness and separatism.  

 

The Role of the illuminating energy of Pure Reason in the dissipation of Glamour

As earlier defined, Glamour is a very subtle emotional force or energy which beclouds the mind so it cannot see the reality behind every manifestation of all human endeavours.  The forces of glamour blindfold the mind to create negative thought forms that emphases materialism in all aspects of our lives.  On the physical plane life, we see the effect manifesting as strong desires in areas such as extreme luxury or material comfort, wrong use of money and sex perversion.  In pursuit of satisfying these strong desires, the following vices manifest in our daily interaction with our fellow men: greed, selfishness, murder, kidnaping, dishonesty, fraud, lying etc.  In governance the force of glamour hoodwinks the minds of leaders to corner the common wealth of the nation to their selfish purpose leaving the nation poor and the masses of the nation to suffer. This does not happen in political elected leaders alone, rather it happens in all organizations, be it religion, social groups and even family unions

At the emotional plane level, the influence of glamour manifests as hatred, ambition and selfishness.  At the mental plane level glamour manifests as pride, separatism and cruelty,

            As earlier pointed out, pure reason is the faculty of the mind which enables man to function at the intuitional level to contact divine ideas which are translated to ideals at the physical plane level of human activities.  The mind according to Alice A. Bailey in the book Treatise on Cosmic Fire stated that the mind is that faculty of logical deduction and reasoning and of rational activities that distinguishes man from the animals.  With the power of the mind, man is always building thought forms that affect the whole universe.  Thoughts are instruments of construction at the mental level because energy follows thought.  The thought forms created can be of benefit to the whole universe or be destructive.  Quoting Alice Bailey in the same book states as follows:

“ A gigantic thought forms hovers over the entire human family built by men everywhere during the  ages, energised by the insane desires and evil inclination of all that is worst in man’s nature and kept alive by the prompting of his lower desires.  These thought forms has to be broken up and dissipated by man himself.” 

To dissipate these lower desires and glamour the role of illuminating energy of pure reason comes into play.  Citizens of our nation as part of the human family are admonished to take the following necessary steps to start the process of the control of the mind through the discipline of prayer, concentration, meditation, contemplation. And illumination in order to channel the illuminating energy of pure reason in the process of building lighted thought forms.

The mind under the influence of pure reason will be illuminated to intuit Divine ideas from the soul plane for the service of the nation and the whole human race. To achieve this, we the people of this nation and humanity as a whole should start doing the following:

Purification of the lower desires so that the illuminating energy of pure reason irradiate our consciousness.

Self forgetfulness in the interest of the good of the whole.  Through the illuminating energy of pure reason, we will become group conscious.

Have control over the mind through the practiced of prayer, concentration, meditation, contemplation and then illumination.

Become a server in the family, community, nation and the world of nations through building lighted thought forms that will bring about right human relationship in the world.

DISSIPATION OF GLAMOUR

Glamour as earlier said is a force that hoodwinks the consciousness through the lower personality desires . Over ages man has created thought forms that strengthened glamour or lower desires at the physical, emotional and lower mental levels ,  These created thought forms of lower desires brought suffering to mankind.  Alice Bailey rightly wrote that much that is to be seen now of a distressing nature in the world can be directly traced to the wrong manipulation of mental matter by man.  She added that the selfishness, the sordid motives, the prompt response to evil impulse for which the human race has been distinguished has brought about condition of affairs unparalleled to the system.

In the same vein, Buddha the illumined One taught that misery and suffering were of man’s own making and that the focussing of human desire upon the undesirable, the ephemeral and the material was the cause of all despair, all hatred, competition and the reason why man found himself living in the realm of death – the realm of physical living which is the true death of the spirit.  He then gave the four Noble Truths as the answer to suffering of man.  These four Noble Truths are as follows:

The omnipresence of suffering which characterizes all phenomena

The cause of most of our suffering is desire, the desire of self for its selfish gratification
That which has been caused can be removed by the removal of the cause

The fourth noble truth is the noble eightfold path which are as follows:

Right Views or correct mental attitude to the subject, This involves consideration of the motive and purpose of the subject or action.  If the view or motive is for the self, suffering will continue.

Right Motive:  It is for the motive for action be in the action itself and not the event which is the result of the action.  The motive is generated from the thought process and the power of thought is far greater than any force in the physical plane because it is by our past thought or thinking that we are what we are today,

Right Speech: Right speech precedes right action . We are admonished to think before speaking.  Speaking in itself is a powerful form of action for good or for ill, hence the evil of gossip, the cause of which is definitely ill-will from spite, jealousy and fear etc.

Right Action: It concern relationship with our fellowmen, ethics and character building.

Right means of livelihood:  This is keeping with the highest ideals of ethics.  It involved being morally sound in the course of earning our living and interaction with our fellowmen.

Right Effort: Ross Floyd wrote that right effort involves many things such as the control of the passions, avoidance of evil thought, and stimulation of right states of mind. Self-discipline must be right for the occasion or it will not set the mind and hence the actor fire

Development of the mind:  this is done through prayer, concentration, meditation, contemplation and illumination

Achieve illumination which is at the realm of pure reason- the intuition.

In addition, Jesus The Christ, the embodiment of love taught humanity the method to dissipate glamour through overcoming temptation by the devil or deceiver at all the planes of human endeavours.  The three temptations Jesus went through after fasting for forty days after his baptism were symbolic representations of the experiences in the physical, emotional, and mental plane levels,

In the Bible Matthew Chapter 4 verses 4-10 illustrated the dissipation of glamour as follows:

On the physical plane, the tempter requested Jesus to command the stones to be made bread.  The answer by Jesus was that it is written man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceed out of the month of God.

On the emotional plane, the tempter requested Jesus to cast himself down for God will give his angels charge concerning Him that they will bear him up least … thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus was tempted to demonstrate the glamour and power of being a son of God, but He dissipated that glamour by saying “ It is written again Thou shall not tempt the Lord Thy God.

The mental plane temptation was the dissipation of illusion.  The tempter showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory in them, the tempter said to him all these things I will give thee if thou will fall down and worship me. Jesus answered, “Get thee hence for it is written Thou shall worship the Lord Thy God and Him only shall you serve.

From the above experiences of Jesus the Christ with the tempter, we as the human family have to learn to dissipate glamour by resisting the tempter the lower personal desire with the aid of the energy of pure reason from the Christ consciousness within us.

Finally, Alice Bailey gave humanity the way forward in the dissipation of glamour in her book: Glamour a World Problem page 198 as follows: 

      “This imprisonment by glamour can be ended by the activity of the Technique of Light, utilized by those who work in group formation for the dissipation of glamour and for the emergence in the consciousness of men a clear conception and recognition of the nature of reality.” 

This can be done through forming of Triangles of Light and Goodwill by a group of three persons of like minds to invoke LIGHT and GOODWILL irradiate the consciousness of the whole human race through the use of the Great Invocation ( A world Prayer).  Therefore, let us be lead by the light of the soul from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light and from death to immortality

CONCLUSION

The contents of the paper have given us food for thought on the role of the illuminating energy  of pure reason in the dissipation of glamour.  The Ageless teachings of the Buddha, The Christ, and Alice Baily on the way humanity will be released and gain freedom from glamour were brought forward.  The paper emphasised that it is only through the illuminating energy of pure reason that human beings can be released from the imprisonment of glamour and then the Love of divine Relationship will be revealed.

Thank you.

Dr. (Mrs) I. Ogboro

 Co-ordinator, Benin Unit of Service.

References

 

Alice A. Bailey: Treatise on Cosmic Fire. Lucis Press. London. Pages 197- 198

Alice Bailey: Glamour A World Problem. Lucis Press, London. Pages 

Alice A Bailey, The Reappearance of Christ. Lucis Press, page 106

Christmas Humphreys: The Buddhist Way of Action: A working Philosophy for Daily Life, Published by Unwin Paperback 1977

Holy Bible: Kings James Version, The Bible Society of Nigeria, Printed in China by Amity Printing Co, Ltd, 2014

Ross Floyd H.: The meaning of Life in Hinduism and Buddhism. Routledge and Kegan Paul 1962.