The Essential and the Incidental

  A major stumbling block that affects most people is confusing that which is a constant with that which is a variable—that which is essential from that which is merely incidental.

   That which is essential is the center, source, and acting agent of your life, while that which is incidental is that which is created, formed, or acted upon by the center. You are the center of your life and the acting agent within it. Therefore, you are absolutely essential. Without you, your world, and the “aliveness” within it becomes nonexistent.

   What you deal with or face in life is not essential: it is merely incidental. When you mentally conceive of what faces you—problems, puzzles, concerns, and worries—as essential, you relinquish your rightful role as the captain of your ship. Then you relegate yourself to become the oarsman who attempts to row the 1,000-ton vessel that is your life to shore all by yourself.

   In everything you do, there will always be two factors that confront you, and two major choices that you must make. In every case, you must decide and fix upon that which is essential and that which is incidental—that which is the constant center and source of action, and that which is the variable circumstance that is acted upon.

   Whichever of the two you choose to be essential, the other will automatically become the incidental. The variable, the incidental, is always present. So, too, is the essential always present. Confusing the two, however, takes all the “aliveness” out of life—its joy, hope, and steady equilibrium.

   You must keep in your mind—the center of your thought-life—that in your microcosmic world, you and only you, are the essential, the center, the source and only acting agent. All else is the variable, circumstantial, and purely incidental.

   Think about your Oneness with the All-Originating Spirit of God until you begin to understand that, because of your Oneness, you are essential. When you begin to live up to what you have practiced thinking, then you will exercise the creative and ruling power that has been bequeathed to you. On that great and glorious day in your life, you will no longer believe that you are essential: you will know it!