Benesidious Living Philosophy - Introduction

Benesidious means cumulative beneficial growth. It's opposite, insidious, means cumulative harm to life. Thus, from these few words is our philosophy defined.
We direct our actions to our own benefit and to the benefit of mankind in general.
We intend to do this in a peaceful and gentle way, and we want for mankind to enjoy happiness and prosperity while engaged in their own particular methods of contribution.
Mankind is a vast entity and the ways for one to contribute to it are legion.

The role of benesidious living is to provide a clear method for us to light our way to enable us to judge our thoughts, words and actions and their consequences with clarity.

The word benesidious means 'that which is cumulatively beneficial'. It is used in opposition to 'insidious' meaning 'that which is cumulatively harmful'. With this in mind, it becomes useful as a tool or guiding beacon to decide upon one's courses of action in life.

Self Control?
We grow sobriety. Sobriety, meaning the voluntary but deliberate control of our actions.
If something's effects grow it's either benesidious or insidious, never neutral.
We may describe habitual drunkenness e.g. as an insidious habit; deliberate control e.g. periodic abstinences say on every Monday of the year, we may describe as a benesidious habit. The point being 'their cumulative effects'.

We do not advocate abstinence, we advocate self control, but we use periodic abstinences as a tool to effect the intended self control and not as an end in itself.

Degrees of Sobriety?
We assert that sobriety grows; it therefore has degrees.

In that statement personal responsibility is not abrogated. If you know you are unwell or are unable to apply self control in a particular field you must still follow medical advice or practical measures that tend towards life for you. It may also be e.g. that alcohol is pure poison to some, and we will never advocate testing a high degree of sobriety against a poison, however alcohol is not poison to everyone and its' consumption falls quite within one's own choices of self control and enjoyment of life.

Safety?
The application of or disregard of personal and workplace safety, may easily be seen from it's effects, as benesidious or insidious.
We do not advocate ridiculous extremes in safety, we advocate sensible practical measures.
Manufacturers provide safety guidelines when using their products, employers have safety rules in the workplace, there are traffic rules and regulations. 

Hygiene? 
If you think hygiene is too simplistic to bother about, read the little story about Dr. Semmelweis below.
Semmelweis found that 'Washing Hands' before operating on a patient was towards life, his patients' lives. This we term benesidious, the unhygienic habits he discouraged were insidious, that is in that scenario, they actually caused death.

Common Sense Wisdom 
Really, benesidious living is just common sense made conscious, and then applied. It may well be another definition of practical wisdom.

The Story of Ignaz Semmelweis made a deep impression on me.

In Dr. Semmelweis' time, there were horrific death rates among women giving birth in hospitals caused through puerperal fever, or septicaemic infection.
To ameliorate this, he told his colleagues to wash their hands with disinfectant before examining their patients, and they hated him for it, but his story is of a simple idea that saved so very many lives, generation after generation.

There is no doubt that mankind owes a great debt to Dr. Semmelweis, yet he was vilified and ridiculed in his own lifetime. Perhaps he didn't express himself in a humble way, who knows, but many of his learned colleagues despised him and engineered his downfall and disgrace at every opportunity.

After I read that story, the years went by, but the story stayed in my mind and became one of the inspirations that led me to coin the word benesidious.

It is also a good example to use to illustrate the simple philosophy of the benesidious concept.

Dr. Semmelweis' ideas were benesidious, his colleagues' unhygienic habits and their disdainful attitudes were insidious.

Simply, benesidious ideas and actions lead CUMULATIVELY towards life, insidious ideas and actions lead CUMULATIVELY towards death.

Benesidious living is outside of any religion, and there are no beliefs involved in it's practice.

Religions teach that their way is the only way to happiness for their believers, and unfortunately, that happiness may only come after death and miserable existence on earth.

Yet beliefs, by their very nature, are subjective and cannot be proven. It does not, however, mean they are untrue.

So, we do not mess with anyone's beliefs, these are often personal, cultural and deep rooted.

What we do however encourage is the use of questions to facilitate a growth in understanding.

Can you answer any of these questions?
Can you suggest more?

Suggested Questions:

• Did God really only create me and my kind properly, and all others are somehow God's mistakes?
• Is the way I think or behave the only thing in creation that pleases the creator of all?
• Does my action contribute to God's creation?
• How does my action create?
• Did God stop creating, with me, my culture, my religion?
• How does God create?
• Are my actions toward life?

Likewise Benesidious living is outside of politics, what we promote is toward life, more life. Gentleness, sobriety and respect for others are our tools. 

Law and order are apolitical as a property of cultural sobriety, like traffic rules and regulations necessary for good order and preservation of life. We know that this type of law and order must prevail with penalties imposed upon those who disrespect it.

Like with people's beliefs, political opinions are often personal, cultural and deep rooted.

They too are subjective and cannot be proven. So we will not debate subjective ideas. But we'll discuss objective ones.

The subjective operates emotionally by finding wrongness or rightness and then projecting that into the future as glorious or dreadful.

The objective, however says, if you jump this robot you'll get a $19 fine, and it does it in order to promote safety, or life in an objectively reasoned or demonstrable fashion.

Life really is a game situation, and death is it's ultimate penalty.

Every being plays this game and in the end all will succumb to death one way or other.

Let us therefore play the game with the intention of enjoying what we have and to use kindliness and gentleness to maximize this great gift, for our own benefit and to the benefit of mankind in general.

The theory is fine, but how can I progress? 
Benesidious living is cumulative and it has recognizable levels; if you want to find out more, write to Steve at the address below.