by Greg Hall, Australia, BSc Eng (Civil) PrEng
Let’s go back a bit… 21 years ago I stood as a 19 year old beside my good friend, who was on life support following a near drowning whilst on his honeymoon. A reporter was interviewing his family in the hospital room, and upon completion presented his notes for the family to edit and agree to. A few days later my friend passed on, and the papers ran a story. The vivid memory remains of just how much the story had changed by the time it was put into print – names of family members and places misspelt, and a completely different, sensationalised story told to the world. I do not read the newspaper much, and from that day on I viewed news media articles from the perspective that the story will be written in order to sell it.
Life in South Africa from a news perspective changed dramatically in the 1990’s, whereby escalating crime and human suffering took on a proportion that flooded the news media, to the point that the nation seemed to become overwhelmed and numb – we could hardly tolerate the smallest pinch of what was truly happening, never mind contend with trumped-up, sensationalised versions of events. The news media became almost silent about the goings-on in society.
More recently we immigrated to Australia, and I recall a news headline in early 2009, of how officials stopped traffic on a Perth highway to allow a family of ducks to cross to the other side – how refreshing!
In the past two weeks I have again stood beside friends amidst renewed evidence of the sheer lack of integrity and professional ethic in our local news media, for I am now cast, amongst others, as a member of the world’s newest ‘cult’ movement (yes, the news has spread to New York). And this because I have chosen of my free will, to pay to attend presentations afforded by Serge Benhayon. Not only am I free in the choice to attend or not, Universal Medicine hold no more of a record of me than the name I give them when I pay at the door – so they would have no way of contacting me (coercing or otherwise).
Those in my greater family, friends and work colleagues know me well enough to know that I am no de-railed, mindless drain on society, as implied by the reference to a ‘cult follower’, so my life goes on… but the sheer gall to print unqualified lies for the rest of the world to be misled by presents one little choice but to provide a response.
So who am I and why do I associate with Universal Medicine?
I am a 40 year old male, father to three sons, and husband in a loving marriage of 17 years young. I qualified as a professional Civil Engineer in the early 1990’s, and have worked myself into management roles in the construction sector that afford me a comfortable living, by world standards.
Despite growing up in Africa I consider myself fortunate to have lived a sheltered, easy life, but from as far back as my early teen years I recall periodic feelings of ‘emptiness’ and a sense that my life could be so much more. I changed companies from time to time, thinking more money would satisfy the source of these feelings, I bought newer and bigger cars, we bought a bigger house, acquired extra dogs or cats; I even (having been a reluctant member of sporting activities during school years – having your head kicked in at the bottom of a rugby scrum is not really enjoyable – but merely provides scars as a ticket to mingle with the rest of the ‘men’ in society) took up long distance river canoe and ocean surf ski paddling around the age of 30, along with personal gym training sessions 3-4 times a week (old school mates hardly recognised me with this ‘new’ physique). All of this was an attempt to fill that ‘emptiness’. But guess what? After buying that new car, or house, or canoe, or landing the ‘better job’ or punishing the body, the feeling of ‘emptiness’ would always return at some point.
Medically, I have lived a very ‘healthy’ existence, and only really appreciated the wonders of modern medicine when I broke several vertebrae in my back as a result of a motorbike accident. Oh, and of course caesarean section meant that my wife and sons all survived childbirth – the first one certainly would have put an end to them otherwise.
It was the birth of our first child that led my wife and I to investigate the possibility that there was more to medicine than a ‘quick-fix’ bottle of chemicals – all our friends just dished it up, and our parents would comment “you survived ok on it”, but it simply did not feel right! Homoeopathy seemed to make more sense, and quantum physics could at least explain somewhat how it worked and that it was all derived from natural products. We were introduced to a network chiropractor who performed a ‘form of energy healing’ light touch massage that settled our 4-month-old screaming baby, and he slept for six hours straight for the first time in his life. After follow up sessions he would even sit quietly and look out the car window on the way home. My curiosity led me to cranio-sacral therapy (as I understood at the time, the origins of which lay with an Australian), and from an engineering background of logic and math I was ‘blown away’ one weekend when I attended an introductory course, and could actually feel the cranio-sacral pulse of a fellow student’s body in my own hands.
It was a Sunday morning in July 2008 when my wife and I woke up, looked at each other, and announced in unison “let’s have a look at relocating to Australia” – having never considered leaving our family and friends in South Africa we surprised even ourselves; nonetheless our lives were packed up and relocated by the end of that year. After the chaos of settling into a new life in a foreign land subsided, that feeling of ‘emptiness’ in my life returned.
In early 2010 we saw a pamphlet in a dentist’s rooms for a presentation by Serge Benhayon of Universal Medicine. Having researched their website, I arrived at Heart Chakra One on a Sunday morning with a healthy dose of scepticism – after all, if you’ve only read his writings once you’ve got to question which era in history that version of English comes from.
I came home from that first presentation feeling that I had been offered a point of view with such honesty and clarity, that it somehow made sense of so many of the unanswered questions of life that I held. I chose to go back to the next presentation. Albert Einstein is quoted saying “The important thing is to not stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” There certainly was a curiosity to understand more of what I felt to be so true in my body from what this man, Serge, had to present. Not only does he present a possibility for our consideration, but lives his own life as an example of what he presents.
I have come to meet many students of the Way of the Livingness. I could not describe them as overly friendly, courteous or polite or any combination of these, but there is something about the way so many of the students simply know who they are (and know who I am that it does not need to be questioned), and in their presence you feel a love for yourself that is indescribable. Suffice to sum it up as the most awesome experience that you wish would not wane when life continues ‘outside’ of this meeting.
What I am learning of myself is, that the ‘emptiness’ returns in smaller and smaller doses the more that I feel into who I truly am and allow this great love I have in me to simply be. I have been presented with so many examples of students living from the love within their inner heart, that I strive for the same within me, and in my life. I have noticed too, that the more I allow my love to be and guide me through my day, that it has a positive effect on all those around me too.
Imagine being on a construction site (I manage a construction company that employed nearly 200 men in Brisbane last year), and when you’re around hardly anyone utters a swear word; and if they do let the odd profanity slip, it’s out of old habit and has no force or anger behind it! I had one of the foulest mouths around until I made the conscious choice to no longer impose words of anger onto others.
Similarly, I made a personal and conscious choice one evening to leave the beers at home and take only cool drinks in the esky to our men’s poker evening. I cannot describe how liberating it was to admit to myself that alcohol is a poison to my body that makes me ill to some degree each time I ingest it. The only reason I chose to drink was to ‘fit in’ with my Dad and my friends, and so that society in general would not think I was deranged. It never ever felt good in my body (we even had a slogan: ‘the liver is bad and must be punished!’). Having made the conscious choice and openly saying I do not drink because it does not feel good in me, I have never again been second-guessed – not by my family, friends, colleagues or society.
I stopped eating gluten and dairy, again as a personal choice, which requires considerable ‘effort’ and commitment as just about every pre-packed, processed meal or food item contains one or the other, or both… (dairy had always affected our children, either in their mood and behaviour, or in the ear, nose and throat infections that always presented soon after they ate it). Several months later, I began to feel my body responding to the food I eat. I am still exploring, and am amazed how sweet so many foods taste just with their natural sugars. I recall in my early working career caring little about the food I ate, and I lived on meat pies to the point that one day my body simply refused to allow another one in – the same happened after a few years of regular take-away burgers and the likes. When I look back, it was the time in my life that I was the most unwell from a health perspective, with colds and flu, lethargy and generally run down – even though I was in my twenties and should have been feeling ‘bullet-proof’.
Something else that simply makes sense of the ‘emptiness’ is the possibility that I have spent a life being identified by what I do and achieve, and not simply being accepted as the love-filled being I am. How profound an opportunity it is for me as a parent to be (for the first generation in humanity’s recent history?) aware of the possibility to simply love my children for who they are – to forget about placing expectation on them to do, or be, or achieve anything in particular in order for me to grace them with love and acceptance. Wow, that’s huge!
It is for all these reasons that I continue to attend Universal Medicine presentations and healing courses, of my own free will. I am convinced Serge Benhayon does not need any of us there – he has his own life sorted, but for the same reason as I described on the construction site, it feels really awesome to feel that others respond to your choice to be the love you are – by recognising, even in the tiniest amount, that they too have the same love within themselves. And that your choice may one day show them that their ‘emptiness’ may be filled too.
So in summary, I say to the news media world:
Be of true service to humanity; be the love that you are; the millions of dollars in media (and others’) bank accounts that you strive to top up, cannot be taken to the grave (or even your next life – what if, hey? We were all convinced once that the world was flat, were we not?).
Feel every story with your heart and make a difference now. Thank you.
The Truth about Universal Medicine 
Many of us can relate with having had a feeling of emptiness that nothing would seem to heal, ‘Something else that simply makes sense of the ‘emptiness’ is the possibility that I have spent a life being identified by what I do and achieve, and not simply being accepted as the love-filled being I am.’
The way we live, the choices we make have a knock on effect, ‘ it feels really awesome to feel that others respond to your choice to be the love you are – by recognising, even in the tiniest amount, that they too have the same love within themselves.’
People are starting to question what feels true, and what feels false more and more, which is so needed in this world with so much corruption present.
“the more I allow my love to be and guide me through my day, that it has a positive effect on all those around me too.” The magic of true love is that it knows no boundaries.
That questioning is a life time questioning. I recall when I was young growing up in the UK, and woke up in the middle of the night. I would look up at the dark, starry sky and often wondered who else was out there, we could not be the only life in this dark starry night. How did we come about, how was the first man/woman birthed. I was intrigued. Were these questions ever answered? Never, until I met Serge Benhayon.
At the beginning, it did not make sense to me but, something inside of me felt the truth behind it.
As I’ve continued to attend workshops, many of the missing links began to connect together, and continue to fill. Personally I’ve never looked back, and have no regrets in meeting Serge Benhayon or Universal Medicine.
So to put this in a nut shell, I’ve never stopped questioning about life, I discern who I listen to now.
“… and from that day on I viewed news media articles from the perspective that the story will be written in order to sell it.” That’s a very true remark about the media today, yet if we all stopped buying it they would certainly have to change what they write.
Over the years I recall the newspapers becoming more and more like comic magazines. And you could feel the quality in every news paper. Could the truth really be delivered by the media?
I recall a strike occurring in the UK that led to no petrol being available for a period, except for health care professionals or emergency services. It was such an interesting time, the streets were quiet, everything was affected, from food deliveries, newspapers, shopping etc.. What an impact to everything and everyday living.
There is an old saying that you cannot buy happiness in whatever shape we may think it comes in. Happiness as many will tell you if they are honest is a fleeting sensation and then we need something else to give us that ‘happy’ feeling again. The remedy for the ups and downs with happiness is to live with joy in our lives. I have discovered after a lot of hard work on myself that joy is a constant source and so beautiful to wake up with every day. It’s also very infectious because people can feel it and be inspired by it.
Nothing surpasses The Way of The Livingness. There is much proof to see if you choose to or not.
Everything the media lies about, the money it makes, the reactions of shock and sensation it stirs in people won’t ever make that empty feeling go away.
There is no demand for a great reflection of what is going in people´s lives, their dilemmas, their problems, their realizations. There is no demand of enlightment, of sharing wisdom. There are other kind of demands the journalists meet.
This so sums up how I have felt at the end of UniMed courses and during the recent 2018 retreat “.. and in their presence you feel a love for yourself that is indescribable.” AND “Suffice to sum it up as the most awesome experience that you wish would not wane when life continues ‘outside’ of this meeting.” A testimony to who we really are — LOVE.
Greg, it is so true about the South African media — this is all I knew about SA was how bad the crime was i.e. I did not read it from the media I heard it through others = circulation energy of what the news media created.
It seems like there is often the search for something more that leads a person to Universal Medicine. And what is so beautiful is how when you arrive at a Universal Medicine event, what is presented is the fact that you are that more that you have been searching for – the more is you, your connection with your Soul, your own divinity. And so, one could say that the search is over, because where can you look if the path leads inwards? Where can you seek if you are the end result? What could you possibly buy to fill an emptiness if you are already the abundant source of the love that you have been missing? Who could possibly give that to you? Universal Medicine is, in my view the greatest organisation on earth, because it offers such a return to one’s own love that does not leave you needing more, but feeling like you have an understanding of the path and the work that is required to live that path in full, and the rest is up to you – to explore and to learn about the love from your own inner-heart or not. There are no conditions other than the ones we place on ourselves, as Universal Medicine will not stop presenting the truth of who we are – and what we do with that truth is up to us.
The purpose of every journalist should be to serve the truth, by bringing it transparently in their expression, everywhere.
“So in summary, I say to the news media world: Be of true service to humanity;” no truer words spoken Greg, at present we have a media that choose to criticise judge and distort the truth for their own gain, but as I write this I can also see that this is what we all do, so is this not a reflection for us all? The media’s behaviour will change when we choose to see that the media are giving us what we are still demanding, we change the way we are with ourselves and each other and the media will have to change.
When any written word is absent of truth it just feeds the mess of lies all the more.
Thank you Greg for this honest and down to earth testimonial. The normal life you describe beforehand sounds like every other suburban household – we all live lives and strive for the better, strive to fill in that void that is undeniably there only through connecting to our inner heart (truly) can we fill that void, can we fill a sense of settlement that cannot be matched by anything on the outside. That is what Universal Medicine presents. No wonder the media, the source that makes so much money out of people’s emptiness, is attacking. They would lose a lot of money if the whole of humanity started to change the way they lived and were no longer entertained by the lies that get printed.
Greg you sound like a very healthy boss to have.
When we love ourselves first and foremost, we are already in service, for that love reaches out in so many wonderful ways, and all we are doing is being ourselves.
Its easy to go round in life with this emptiness until we let ourselves really feel it and we become aware of the sheer devastation it is leaving in the world. I can understand that journalists want to get ‘a good story’ ( although it pays to ask ourselves what this means) and that they are under pressure to come up with the goods fast, but does this justify grabbing stories that are potentially very damaging to many people and not checking out whether there is any truth in them? We all have the ability to stop just for a second and connect to our heart and feel what is true. We can notice the loud thoughts that try to control us and steer our movements – and say ” no”. We can give space to a wisdom that is inside us, always there waiting to be accessed and honoured.
The trap of life – how we all fall into the pictures of what success look like – which always boils down to our status in life, the job we do, how much we earn… health has no place here as long as you have material wealth! That said, with the huge increase in illness and disease, our health and well-being is already a new commodity of richness…
Great sharing Greg. It is obvious from your story that you are not one of the mindless followers of a Guru that you might expect of a “typical” cult. That Universal Medicine stands out in society is clear, because people like you are making choices that goes directly against the trends in society. A different group of people yes, a cult, no. It seems that the media nowadays uses the word cult for every group that does things differently from what most people in society do.
This was written in 2012. Yet what is exposed and the message at the end could not be more relevant to today’s media which has been rapidly descending into an industry that considers hits/ or copies sold as far more important than integrity, caring for people and reporting the Truth. “To the news media world: Be of true service to humanity; be the love that you are; the millions of dollars in media (and others’) bank accounts that you strive to top up, cannot be taken to the grave ….. Feel every story with your heart and make a difference now. Thank you.” Spot on.
This really is relevant for all of us, ‘Be of true service to humanity; be the love that you are’.
Since society is quite numb, journalists specialise in creating ‘sensations’ that is, stories that appeal to our human senses, that is the way of the sensationalist press.
That is what true parenting is, to have no expectations whatsoever but to raise them in the knowing that our children are already everything and we are there to guide them to live with all of who they are in a world that asks them to be all that they are not.
I agree it is a profound opportunity to be able to parent with the awareness that you can just love your children for who they are with no expectation. We are constantly being fed by this idea of getting it right or wrong and this model has been separating us from ourselves and each other. This is an amazing opportunity, and responsibility, and not having our own children doesn’t warrant a get our of jail free card.
A great call Greg, to feel everything with our hearts and live in a way that honours that.
The inner emptiness cannot be satisfied with material goods or accolades; it is the being craving its beingness and true settlement.
Beautifully and precisely expressed Gabriele.