School of Truth

Read Nicol Campbell's Book online

2011-11-15T08:41:00.001+02:00

My Path of Truth, Nicol Campbell

The complete text of Nicol Campbell's book, "My Path of Truth" as published by The School of Truth, Johannesburg, South Africa, 1954. Reprinted with permission.

School of Truth membership form

2011-11-11T13:14:00.006+02:00

Prayer works, not by accident, but by design
- God's Design!
And did you know - tuning in to God is all it takes to make Prayer work?
And it's FREE!

Email The School of Truth
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(Please don't forget to state your contact details)

Membership of the School of Truth is absolutely free. Email and ask them to send you the membership form by clicking the link above.

They produce a bi-monthly booklet called "The Path of Truth" and they send it free of charge to all their members worldwide. I have been receiving this booklet, which contains very profound daily meditation aids that are based on biblical quotes, for years now. It has changed my life, fills me with peace and calm and helps me to stay standing against the onslaughts of life.

It will do the same for you and I heartily recommend it.

They also offer a prayer service. the Prayer Group meets twice a day, weekdays, at 09h00 and 11h00 South African time, if you would like to join them in Spirit, please do so on the principle of "Where two or more are joined in My name..." You can also send them your prayer request directly by clicking the link below.

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and receive the Path of Truth free wherever you are in the world.
(Please don't forget to state your contact details)

While people do send them monetary donations, because that is what makes it possible for them to produce and post the Path of Truth, fully pre-paid, to their members worldwide, you can rest assured:

The School of Truth will NEVER ask you for money under any circumstances.This is fundamental to their Spiritual philosophy. So the only time you will ever want to send them money is when Spirit-Within you prompts you to do so and because you have learned the principle that you must Give to receive.

As a member of the School of Truth myself, you will note that this blog operates under exactly the same principles.

Power To Mould Our Reality, School of truth Lecture by Richard Dalberg

2011-11-09T15:13:00.002+02:00

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Sitting in a plane seat alongside two people yesterday, I could not not but overhear what they were saying. If you open your ears to how people are expressing their life's experience you find so many talk in a negative vein. They are so attached to their negation that if you question, they take exception. They insist on their reality, that this is the world. That’s contrary to what the Master shows. He said clearly (Luke 11:34) that we have the power to mould our reality. He said "If your eye is sound, then your whole body will be full of light." And the Psalmist some hundreds of years before him declared (8:6) "Thou hast given man the dominion over the works of Thy hands." The same thing as the power to mould our reality.

The question is: how do I exercise my dominion? Standing on my emotional mountain-top and shouting at the top of my voice, will not make anything happen. Intellectually commanding health to come into my body, happiness into my heart and prosperity into my affairs – and this is what I seek - will not do anything – won’t get me anywhere – will bring about no change. I must have rapport with God's presence; I must be "switched on". Is my whole consciousness, my whole mind and heart, are they right with God?

And does my God-consciousness include all His creations, like my neighbour whom I don’t particularly like? One hears so many destructive expressions, searing criticisms of others. Often these remarks are made by seemingly good and kind people who believe they are working with God. But their behaviour and what they say is the antithesis of what the Master teaches.

As I grew up I remember wondering if Jesus was just a moraliser and do-gooder? Or was there was really something tangible and demonstrable in his teachings? YES. He was saying in effect "If you are sick, God is your health. If you are unhappy, God is your love. If you are wanting of this world’s goods, God is your abundance." Health, happiness and prosperity are the manifestation, the reflections of spiritual realities. The Master goes further - he says that this spiritual reality already constitutes you and is inseparable from you: "The kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17: 21)

But then you look at the person with a so-called "terminal" condition. The intellect says that this contradicts the presence of God, and then you also think of the many millions who are starving and dying of malnutrition, you ask "Where is He?"

But in its own terminology, science is also teaching, as we have always taught, that there is no separation between us and the things that make up our existence. There is no "God and . . . " There is only God AS Intelligence, as Love, as Power. There is only one Presence in the whole universe, seen and unseen, and we are metaphorically swimming in It, in this Divine intelligence with Its myriad ideas. But because of our ignorance and early conditioning, we have built up a consciousness of separation. What’s more, we now accept this separation as the will of God. Not so?

Rather listen, and believe the Kingdom of God is within you. (Luke 17:21).

Love goes out to you, longing, longing, longing to restore you to the consciousness and expression of health and peace. But because of your conditioning you reject these promises. Are we so arrogant that we reject God’s promises? And they are there before us?

All day long, silently or aloud, we are speaking the word. We are exercising our "dominion over the works of Thy hands" (Psalms 8:6) and we are doing it for better or for worse. Every word, arising in our brains, sets up vibrations that go out into the universe. Every word we think, or speak or even hold unconsciously, already reaches to infinity. So speak and think the positive word. There is no separation, no division between "here" and "there". We are not flotsam and jetsam. We are the expressions of God – his children, if you like. We have dominion over all creation.

Therefore I must listen to myself. Out of the fullness of my heart, what am I declaring - peace for my mind, happiness for my heart, health for my body, security for my affairs? It behoves me to be careful because whatever I am declaring will faithfully be made manifest for me.

People do not grasp this message which the Master has been giving us for so long. He gives us a way of living, what’s more, a way of demonstrating. His teaching is not about moralising and do-gooding. He says "This is what you do, this is how you do it - and this will be the result." We are not weaklings - we are God's temples on this plane of consciousness. So, how are you glorifying this Presence? What are you radiating? What are you reflecting for the world to see? For all people will see precisely what you are and who you are, will see either your consciousness of God-ness on display, or your consciousness of separation.

Shakespeare, as so often, put it succinctly. Nothing is either good or bad but thinking (with feeling) makes it so. It all starts with consciousness: Do my ideas appear through the prism of my negative intellect and feelings? Or through Universal Mind and Soul? What fills my cup – livingness? Or nothingness? Paul tells us to "have that mind in you that was in Jesus-Christ", the mind that is not cognizant of appearances. The Christ-mind sees through appearances to the God-ness of the situation or the person. Everybody is in the presence of God, the presence of good. In reality you cannot separate God from His expression. The traditional view of God as a man-like being whom we should fear, and to whom we should confess what terrible, despicable people we are, and then beg for forgiveness which he may or may not give. NO! This is entirely wrong.

Our heavenly Father says of each and every one of us "Behold My beloved child; you are My reflection, in whom I am well pleased." He does not see error, "sin", or negation in you. He sees only Himself. Just as if you look into Light you cannot see darkness, if you look into Love you cannot see hatred, if you look into Beauty you cannot see ugliness, if you look into Purity you cannot see any pollution. Do you understand? What are you seeing as real? What are you thinking as truth? How do you feel about it? What are you declaring from the fullness of your heart? How do you react?

"But it is so hard." you say. God replies ”My strength is sufficient. My presence overcomes the world. The cause that is too hard you shall bring to Me and I will hear it." Deuteronomy/1-17. Turn these words over again and again in your mind and in your heart. There is always a way out of difficulty, always a door open to His kingdom. There is always the Power to take you the extra yard, to uphold you, to protect you, to bless you. You do not have to shout in the dark. Tennyson said: “He is nearer to you than hands and feet, closer to you than breathing”. But you must set Him free.

This hall is full of God-temples this morning, each one radiating Him with different nuance, a different degree of consciousness. Yet one spiritual Life constitutes all of us, is present through all of us, is not more in you and less in me. But we must be aware of It. We must accept It. We must release It.

So go out of here and say - make it your affirmation:

"l am the voice of God, the voice of Love, and Harmony, and Peace. I am one with the whole universal vibration of Love. Which frees all humanity, including me, from fear.”

The Advent of Christmas by Richard Dalberg

2011-11-04T11:07:00.002+02:00

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If I’ve got it right, today is what’s called the first Sunday in Advent in the Catholic, C of E and Episcopalian church calendars.

Advent? Awaiting the birth of Christ. Churches regard this as a happy anticipatory period. What of ourselves?

Let me start by taking you back 2000 years by quoting Luke 2: 1-7.

“And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed, everyone into his own city … and Joseph went up from Galilee to …. Bethlehem (because he was of the house and lineage of David) … with Mary his betrothed wife being great with child.”

The journey Luke is talking about is about 70 miles - from here to Howick. It skirts Sumeria all the way down into Judea and past Jerusalem. It’s December, and it’s cold. Now just imagine how it was for Mary. Probably she’d been somehow cross saddled on a donkey for up to a week. Mary must have been (a huge understatement) very uncomfortable - and tired. What’s more, when they finally arrived at the village of Bethlehem, she had to wait while Joseph - door to door - looked for accommodation that night. Nothing, except an animal shed. And it certainly would not have been well sheltered from the cold. Poor Mary. Then the waters broke. Luke laconically says 2:6 “and so it was the days were accomplished … and she brought forth her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room in the inn.”

Now it’s commonly said a mother forgets all her recent travails once the baby is born. Those of you who have experienced or been present at a birth will agree. This must especially have been so in Mary’s case, as the angel had previously told her that her infant would be the child of God.
Now let’s move a mile or two away where “shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night … and lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them …. I bring you good tidings of great joy … for unto you is born this day …. a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord …. and they came with haste and found Mary Joseph and the babe lying in a manger”. I am paraphrasing Luke 2:8 - 16).

Now let’s go to Mathew chap 2:1-2: “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea … behold there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying “Where is He that is born King of the Jews for we have seen His star in the east, and we are come to worship Him… and, lo, the star which they saw in the east went before them … “

Let’s try and picture the situation: it’s cold remember, the more so because there’s not a cloud in the sky. And silent, as the three wise men - actually three kings from neighbouring countries - make their way towards Bethlehem. You remember the words of the hymn: “Silent night holy night all is calm all is bright”. Let me take you to Mathew 2:11: “And when they were coming to the house, they saw the young child and worshipped Him: and when they had opened their treasures they presented unto Him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh

The hymn you recall goes “Behold yon virgin mother and child holy infant so tender and mild sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.” Isn’t this a moving story? This is the way it was; this is the way it happened.

It was a significant birth - probably the most single significant birth in all of history. And the Bible’s accounts emphasise this. Christ’s birth is hailed by both the most lowly (shepherds) and the most august (kings). Additionally, the kings brought with them gifts appropriate to their position but also worthy of the eminence of the new-born king whose birth they were honouring. Fittingly, they brought gold, frankincense and myrrh.
This child, this newborn king, is the one we honour today - now.

And these are the reasons for us honouring Him. So often we do not recall these reasons to mind: He came as the son of God (“the Father and I are one”) He was the mortal embodiment of the Creator - the Creator of all of our universe. This means we are at one and in harmony with the universe and universal law. What’s more, in all the universe, we are God’s most advanced creation. Look at what he has given us: perfect bodies which walk upright, not on all fours, let alone, crawl along the ground. And good health, nearly all of the time. And clear minds which enable us to make our way through life, mostly successfully and contentedly. Above all: talking of minds, the ability to love “Love one another” He commands us “as I have loved you”. A far lesser figure, Chris de Burgh, sang the other evening: “Only love can light the mirror of the soul.” Then Christ said so many other soft things. Just listen to the words.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven/ Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted/ Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God”. These are words of consolation and assurance, given by the Son of the Father, Creator of the universe. We know we can relax in the arms of Almighty God. Listen again:

“Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled/ blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh/ …. rejoice and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in Heaven … ye are the salt of the earth.” [I’m quoting from the SOTM and the Beatitudes.]

He didn’t only bring words of comfort and consolation when he preached, he also brought us words of hope, even aspiration:

“Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you; everyone that asketh, receiveth, and he that seeketh, findeth, he that endureth to the end shall be saved.”

Beyond His preaching, which no longer binds us to the strictures of the OT such as the likes of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth - and I am a jealous god” beyond His teaching He proved his divinity - his oneness - with the Father by performing miracles - 47 of them. 40 are recorded in the canonical Gospels (You may remember many of these.) including the 3 persons which He rose from the dead. What’s more, there are a further 7 from non-canonical but documented, contemporary sources.

But the ultimate miracle of course- was His own resurrection after Calvary, followed by His return over 40 days to visit and comfort His family and followers. Most significantly, from the point of view of spreading His teachings, was that during this time He selected Paul of Tarsus to spread the Word from east to west across the Mediterranean including Rome.

Jesus Christ is the man, Son of the Father, we’re honouring, and, like the three kings and the shepherds, worshipping at this time of Advent. Not only because He assures us that He loves us, and forgives our shortcomings, but because He shows us the way to heal our bodies, quieten our fears, adjust our lives to harmony and full attainment. All these, and we’re safe in the arms of Jesus, if we but believe in His promises.

This is our Saviour, whose birth we’ll be celebrating in just under 4 weeks time. This is the Christmas spirit. These are the things we should keep in mind ‘til then and gratefully recall, especially on Christmas Day, when the angel said to the shepherds 2000 years ago “I bring you tidings of great joy.” The shepherds and the kings honoured Him that night 2000 years ago. So should we, and give thanks.

St Peter and the Psalms

2011-10-27T10:38:00.002+02:00

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School of Truth Lecture
by
Richard Dalberg

Miracles

2011-10-27T10:36:00.001+02:00

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2011-10-17T11:52:00.002+02:00

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"Plenteous of Good": Lecture by Nicol Campbell delivered in Johannesburg in May 1967:

I frequently ask people what, if they are still unfulfilled, is the most urgent need in their lives. Some say they want health, others plump for happiness, and for seven out of ten prosperity seems to be the most important thing. "Give me money," they say, "for with it I shall be able to buy all the things I need, plus the extra luxuries I would like to have." I shake my head sadly because I know that any man who, even with great wealth, is lacking in health and happiness is a beggar indeed.

If you were to ask me what I want, I would reply, "An idea, the very clear idea of who and what I am, and of what my function here on earth is." I see too many who are square pegs in round holes. Some having money are miserable, others are happy, but poor, and many have health unallied to happiness. That is why I would ask for a knowledge of my own identity, because I realize intuitively that with that idea firmly implanted in me, everything would have to fall into place. Like the little pieces in a jig-saw puzzle they would form a composite picture, in my case of health, happiness and security.

I know, as most of us do, that God created man, but I want something deeper than a superficial acceptance of an obvious fact, the INNER REALIZATION of the Truth of all Being, and in answer to my cry He replies, "Listen to My Voice and I will be your plenteous Good." Is this some anthropomorphic being in the sky, a person to whom I must listen? As I ponder this, the realization comes over me that my voice is His Voice, for there is but one Presence extant, and that one HlS, and MINE too, because there is no separation between the Creator and His created. Consequently I listen to what I have to say for Good from the moment when I awaken in the morning to the time when I drop off to sleep when day is done. In the interim I have much to think about, knowing that He is talking only of that which is Perfection. Of disease He says, "That is a lie, Health is a Verity, as is Harmony, but unhappiness is an illusion." Can there be a consciousness of poverty while He is Prosperity, complete Security? In the watches of the night I talk to myself asking myself if perhaps it is He who is speaking through me. And as I consider this, I know that if the trend of my thought and conversation is good, if my words carry with them an upward swing, it is He who is speaking through me. If my words are those of poverty, sickness, error, negation and lies, then it is not God who is uttering them, for they are not in tune with that which is perfection.

As the years roll by this vision of Him who is talking through me gets stronger, more authoritative. The recognition builds up in me that this Presence, which constitutes the entire universe, is unlimited in the visible and the invisible and that the more I talk about His Good to myself and others, the greater will become my consciousness of cosmic oneness. Then, looking at my hands, and yours, I can say with conviction that they, each with its small fingers, are His. Does that seem possible to you ? Can the span of a human hand contain creation? lt can, and it does, for those seeming physical hands, if they are open, can never be empty, limited or circumscribed; only if they are closed - in fear - in an effort to "hold on" - can the lnfinite Presence (as far as the individual awareness is concerned) be squeezed out of them. I can see whether these hands of mine are open or shut and as, deliberately, I keep them open so that the Universal Presence of God may flow freely through them, my realization of (not belief in) their innate Abundance becomes deeper and deeper. I cannot give with my hands - which are only the vehicles of God's bestowing and receiving - if my mind and emotions are bound in fear.

As I think along these lines I can discern who you and I are - in spite of your conditions, problems and restrictions -, and in every talk I have with people about their difficulties, I literally beg them to GIVE AWAY their fear. I try to convince them that they are holding on to nothingness as they shut out the Presence of Omniscience and Omnipotence which is longing to become in and through them their health, happiness and prosperity, in no niggardly measure but in unlimited amplitude to share and to spare. Because I know of this, I do not ask for qualities or things.

Many years ago His Voice said through me, to me, "No limit has been imposed upon you (or any other human being). Whatever you want to give, you can give, so screw your courage to the sticking point and begin distributing and releasing. Often at first you may be frightened by conditions, obstructions will loom so large that you will think they cannot be overcome, but let nothing you dismay. Continue your giving for the measure thereof will be the gauge of the understanding you have of My Self-expressing in you, through you and AS you."

With this in mind l did not stop and the idea has proved itself (as it became an externalized Reality), so what you need is an IDEA, not a “thought” which is, just the manifestation of an idea. A home is the idea of Iove, a car an idea of comfort, books an idea of reading and intelligence. You have to find the spiritual prototype of what you want and then to ask for it to manifest itself. You don't, of course, dictate as to how it shall come about.

The other night the question was put to me, “Do you think it will be for the good of all concerned if I ask God for this idea?" and I replied that everything that comes from Him comes under grace and in a perfect way - that is, with no sorrow added. He does not give with one hand and take away with the other. There is no lack of God in any life, and He does not withdraw Himself into such a high rate of vibration-that we cannot contact Him. We fail to demonstrate only because we are lacking in the steadfastness that does not give up. Knowledge follows upon persistency of purpose: until you have tried something out, you cannot experience it.

Think for a moment that your body has within it the unlimited wealth that is God in whatever form you need it, and that when you listen to His Voice those riches will come into being for you. In the Bible we read, "Hearken unto the Voice of Jehovah, and He will give you plenteous of good." I put it into modern language and say, "Listen to the Voice of God and He will express His plenteous Good in you, through you and AS you."

It is for you to begin as I did to listen to what you say, which - if you are in contact with God - will be the Divine Idea you need, but if you are merely babbling negatively you will not receive anything because you will have been hearkening to the voice of nothingness.

One simple idea is all you require in order to make your material fortune with the spiritual attributes of health, joy and fearlessness added, but for this to happen you must be attuned to God. If I put my hand in my pocket and find that there is nothing there, I shall - by becoming sad and dejected - transfer that emptiness to my heart, but I shall not create it, for nothingness is merely an illusion, ii is not a problem or a structure. I can look at it and if I view it in terms of integration with God, I shall see His idea come forth into fulfilment as Good, but if I look at it in terms of separation from Him, this too will externalize itself as loss, poverty and insecurity.

We all listen to the Voice of God the whole day long; we never stop so doing, but we have ourselves to think, feel and speak constructively if we want the Good to persist in our lives. We have to watch our hands, to test these Hands of God, which are never found to be wanting. The problems and difficulties we meet come to stimulate us, to force us to seek a broader vision, and to expand our consciousness. God can work only through us, so it is we who must release ever more and more of His Substance.

Many are called but few are chosen, not because God does not choose them, but because when they have achieved a certain degree of understanding, or consciousness, they start to panic, fearing that Truth will not work beyond that particular point. When you set out it is not so difficult, you have a Path, you realize that you are on an adventure with God, but when you fall by the wayside and give up, you feel that you have let Him down, and it is not easy to climb back. We put our hands to the plough, but the effort is too great, we tire and give up. lt is a strain to think, speak, feel and act constructively all day long, but that is what we are here for. In any case, we cannot stop this process, we can only change its direction from the positive to the negative, so let us listen to His Voice of Good, speak with It, and act with His Hands. If we do so the world and all that's in it will be ours and we, the man in the street, the members of every Church, the black, brown, white and yellow shall have access to every Spiritual Idea in whatever form we and they need It. It is the spoken word of Good which releases the Idea, building It up into consciousness, or knowledge.

The other day someone asked me what consciousness meant and I replied, "lf I banged a big drum with my fist, would you hear it?'' "Of course I should," was the answer. "Well," I said, "you would be conscious of the noise, you would experience it, know it. So it is with Truth. Consciousness is an inner realization of the quality you need, so will you think about this and prove it for yourself as you listen to the Voice of God who shall be your “PLENTEOUS OF GOOD "

© The School of Truth
Source: Page 261, May 1973 - THE PATH OF TRUTH

The Uplifted Vision, Nicol Campbell lecture, read by andre

2010-09-09T13:59:00.000+02:00

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I think you are all familiar with the psalm "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hill, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord Who made heaven and earth."

If we take that literally it immediately associates us with a personage somewhere up in the sky who made us and this world in which we dwell. The metaphysician, or student of Truth, however, sees it quite differently. He does not direct his gaze upon a place, but into his own consciousness, into a higher understanding, the awareness of spiritual Law that functions with the spiritual power of Love which brought forth the heavens and the earth.

In the course of my work I meet a great many people and I find that for the most part they are exceedingly frail. The vast majority are only wishful thinkers who are prepared to believe in God for a week, a month or a few years but are unable to make a sustained effort and unwilling to keep on keeping on. A few there are who have the type of faith that will not take no for an answer, but which in spite of reverses, stoutly declare, "I will."

Each individual who enters upon this plane of awareness brings with him his own peculiar state of consciousness, one of wellbeing or the reverse; the assurance of health, happiness and prosperity or the acceptance of sickness, trouble and lack. And because we do not understand that this inner content represents the progress that we have, up to the moment, made in our journeys through life and is the background of the experiences that we are at present passing through, we look with envy at those who, because they have advanced further than ourselves, have achieved qualities of good that we do not yet possess. In our resentment we build up a "have-not" consciousness in respect of what we have not yet attained, saying, "I am not endowed with health so why should he be?" or, "I am not blessed with happiness so why should the next man have it?" Or, "Since I am poverty-stricken why should not my neighbour suffer from this also?" And because of this downward visioning, directed as it is at the absence of the thing desired, the unhappy condition not only persists, but is also aggravated.

I believe in God and in spite of appearances and the many problems that have at times been presented to me (which I did not enjoy any more than you do), I did put my trust in the omnipresence of good and so there grew up within me an inner conviction that the difficulties would pass, must in fact do so if I centred my heart and mind upon God, knowing that He is good, but could bring this to pass for me only as I let it be done through me. That is the only way in which God can do anything at all for us, for we are extensions of His Spirit and, no matter how long it takes, we shall all have, ultimately, to recognise the Truth - uncovered by Christ - that "the Father and I are not two, but one." It makes no difference upon what plane we may be existing, on the material earth or in some higher realm, there will still be but One, and that One God, expressed as Love.

This is the only Power that brings forth and operates upon Life, here or anywhere else; and if I continue - as I always shall do - to stress this truth, it is because I have seen such countless manifestations in my own life of His Good.

I have often felt myself to be unworthy, have thought of others as being far more spiritual, far better than I am, and have wondered why they should suffer an apparent lack of health, happiness and prosperity while I have these in abundant measure. I know only too well that I have not been singled out by God to receive more of His bounty than the next man, and I realise also that none receives except as a result of his own efforts. We all have to gain the right to the conscious manifestation of the Kingdom of Good.

I encounter as much opposition in my daily living as you do; I have the same disheartening experiences, but I never forget the one truth that God and I are a majority, and while I maintain this attitude, refusing mentally and emotionally to allow anything of a negative nature to enter my mind, I know that no evil of any kind can touch me.

It is strange how, the moment you begin to apply Truth, or Love, every type of opposition is presented to you, so much so that you begin to wonder what is happening to you; for the more you try to live in tune with Love, the more does the very opposite of it seem to reflect back at you through people and conditions.

But we need something of this kind against which to grow. If all were plain sailing we should make no spiritual progress; it is only as we overcome that we expand our consciousness of good. We see in the outer a lack - which has not been brought about for us by God - but is the out-picturing of some inner deficiency over which we should not grieve, but which we should recognise as the stimulus that is enabling us to attain a greater awareness of the Presence of God by forcing us to seek Him within; and to succeed in this we need the practice that resistance and hindrance provide.

No one is prepared to live in poverty, disease, or misery unless he has been brought up in the conviction that these are God's will for man, but the moment when having "lifted up his eyes" and his heart, he glimpses the fact that all the Power, Love and Knowledge that made the universe and himself as well, is there in order to find greater expression through him, at that moment he begins to enter into his heritage. The restlessness, the divine discontent that fill him are but the urge of the Spirit within bidding him to enter into his kingdom of All-good, so that This can reflect Itself through him.

It is difficult to understand, I know, but it is a truth that, even if your bodies are diseased in every part, the Presence of God is not for a second absent from them. If you are in the depths of poverty, with your ts empty, not for one moment is God separated from them; and even if you are living in a hell of discord, in that very strife is the Presence of Love.

When your bodies are racked with pain the Spirit of Life, Omnipresence, is there to heal you, to become your health; when you are penniless, in your two puny hands is the Power that can take from God's storehouse whatsoever you need, to spare and to share; and even when husband and wife are at war with each other the harmonious Spirit of God is within them, constituting them, and there is peace.

We see only the material situation - the lie - made manifest before our eyes, and we judge by that but, in so doing, we do not judge "righteous judgement."

How often have I not wondered why a condition continued to persist! I know that God was not at fault, that He was not withholding any good, yet I could not find the flaw - perhaps arrogance of spirit, perhaps some deep-seated resentment, or maybe a fear of recurrence in my own make-up - whatever it was I could not put my finger on it. Then I remembered the words of the psalmist, and all at once it was clear to me that, the very fact of my trying to deal with the circumstances on my own, was a proof of my downward dreaming, and I was ready to lift up my eyes, to raise my vision into the sublime consciousness of my Christhood where I could "let go, and let God." "Is it not written," said Jesus, "that ye are gods?" and within me the still, small Voice asked, "Are you acting in a Godlike manner by giving power to people, situations and conditions?" And I had to admit that I was not.

There is no power but God and His power is within us in an unlimited measure, but It cannot express through us if we deny It by allowing people and things to deprive us (in belief) of our good. None can shut off your supply. Your hands can be forever open, ready to give and give, and give, without depletion, once you can put your trust in Omnipotence, in the infinite Power of Love within you to be your Source of all things for you. But if you look timidly for proof of this before you act, then it will be done unto you according to your fear and not according to your (non-existent) faith, for it is demanded of the student of Truth that he not only believe, but that he act as though he knew, that his belief is true.

It is not easy, but what do you want of life? Are you willing to accept mediocrity, a bare existence? If so, that is all you will get, but if you hold on to the fact that the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent Power that brought you forth is exhaustless, no limit of any kind will ever be imposed upon you. That is the greatest Truth in the life of man, the Truth that God can never be depleted. When you once realise this - and I am not going to say that it is easy - your substance can never be consumed, your happiness cannot be lost, nor can your health be drained away. These are God given, and are inviolate, but the knowledge of this is not lightly come by - it must be grounded in faith.

Faith is a spiritual development, it is the offspring of trust, the conscious realisation of Omnipotence flowing through you in unlimited measure, the awareness that you can take steps, and do things in the dark for the reason that everything has already been worked out for you.

God is the epitome of Love, Beauty, Purity and Perfection. To Him every knee must bow, and every individual pray without ceasing. He is our sole Provider, Who does not only bring things into our lives, but floods them with blessings to which no sorrow is ever added, when we have become perfect as our spiritual selves are perfect, in His image and likeness. If any one of you has found the consciousness of perfection in relation to either health, happiness or abundance, then you are become perfect in that respect as God is, or as the Law is, and This, being bound by its own terms, must bring forth according to whatever consciousness of good governs It.

Do you think it is simple, this constant condensation of the Spirit of God into manifestation? I did not find it so. For a long time I saw no results! When I started out in 1931, I - like you - felt that I was treading a maze, sometimes uplifted and happy in the belief of my onenss with God, then wondering if it were really true, aware that I had no real consciousness of health, happiness or prosperity, feeling lonely and wretched because the path I was trying to tread had cut me off temporarily from all my friends. In this unbalanced emotional state I knew that my only hope was to find the Presence of the Father, of Love, without which life would not be worth living for me.

When I spent my pennies, believing that I was a multi-millionaire, and I saw that they were gone, I found it very hard to believe in the Omnipresence of Substance; when I sat down to an empty table and gave thanks for the food that was not there, I found it harder still; and remembering those days - for which I am at this present time intensely thankful - I experience a queer reaction, half wonderment, half gratitude, for an experience that - painful as it was at the time - I would not have missed for anything!

When a woman said to me the other day, "Of course, you would not understand. You have never suffered, never known what it is to be without a job, and to have no money," I could only smile. Believe me, it is only because of my own suffering, my fears, my troubled vacillation of spirit, that a greater tolerance, or compassion, or understanding has been built up in me for other people.

I would not change any of those experiences. Whatever I went through at that time was worth it. To have glimpsed the truth that God cares; that His will is good; that, in spite of ourselves, He never judges, censures or condemns, but only loves us His temples with an enduring love, outweighs the struggle and counter-balances all the stress and strain. It is we, not God, who hurt ourselves. Instead of keeping the inner eye single to His Presence of Perfection within us, we lower our gaze and judge by the seeming. But in the long run, even our mistakes serve to open up in us a greater awareness of His Presence of Love. As a parent takes the child's hand and bandages it after it has been burnt on the stove, so does the healing Love of the indwelling Christ bind up our wounds and bring His Peace into our hearts.

As you lift up your eyes, spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically to His Kingdom of Good, the spiritual Power of Omnipotence works through you and for you, and His Love is enthroned consciously within you and pours Itself out through you, into your hands, bodies and affairs, enriching and stabilising your lives with the spiritual manna of heaven. The trial and tribulation are forgotten, for the former things have passed away and there is no more sorrow or weeping.

© The School of Truth
Source p. 261, Sep / Oct 2010 - The Path of Truth

Lecture by Nicol Campbell, Dare to Trust God, read by André Walters

2010-09-07T16:55:00.000+02:00

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"The Lord is my light and salvation; whom shall I fear?" - Psalm 27:1

How far do you trust God? What is your understanding of faith? Is it something nebulous, is it just prayer - going down on your knees and beseeching, or having a meditation or relaxation and then expecting all the good that you require to be poured out from God's kingdom into your lap - or is your faith something real, something that you use every single moment of your lives?

I meet hundreds of people of whom the ordinary man in the street would say, they have tremendous faith. Yet despite the fact of their spiritual growth, despite the fact that they have had many demonstrations, there always seems to arise a condition that is beyond their faith. They feel cut off from God. They feel that all the years they have been trying to know God, have been lost, wasted, and they run from one place to another for the confirmation of the faith they had, for just that human word - the expression of sympathy - that God will and does work, not only once in a life-time, but always.

They say, "I know that God is, and that I am His living manifestation. Why these fear thoughts? Why have I lost control of my faith? I know it is real; I have seen it work. Why is it that now, in this emergency, after all these years of building up a knowledgeable faith, I have this fear? After many discussions with different people, I have found that the answer to their question is not that they do not believe, not that they do not know that God is now working in and through and for them, but that they are not sure whether it is God's will that they should succeed. Always the element of doubt - "How do I know that such and such a thing should not happen for my good perhaps?"

I have often thought the same thing, when confronted with conditions which seem insurmountable. I do not have to try and persuade myself that God is working now. I do not have to build up the consciousness of His Presence by affirmation, because I know He is real. He works all the time, but my human, limited mind asks the same question, "Is this His will? If it is His will there is nothing that I can do. If it is His will that such and such a thing should take place, all my faith will not produce a single atom of demonstration relating to the solution."

Christ said in effect, "If you have faith, if you dare to trust God and act fearlessly, you are having that grain of mustard seed faith and you can say to this mountain of difficulty 'Be thou removed and cast into the sea' and it shall be done if you believe it in your heart."

But how do we know that God has not some other plan for our going to Him? We feel in our hearts and minds that what we desire is a direct path to God, but does God say, "No, I want you to come this way"? If he does, then as far as I can see, faith has its limitations. It is not according to your faith but according to the will of God, so you could never be sure!

I am praying for this and it is important that I have the desired result. To me it is important, and I am going to face up to this problem no matter how the negative condition may shriek out at me, and no matter that no human being can solve it. I am going to face up to it in exactly the same way as though I were going to demonstrate five Rands. There is no fear in my whole make-up, there is no doubt of the desired result, because I am so sure of it. Then I say, "Thy will be done" because I believe that His will is good. I believe that His will is health, happiness and all our needs met now, not in some after-life, because our after-life will be taken care of by the same Spiritual Power.

The point I am trying to bring out is that we say, "Thy will be done," and if good comes it is the Father's will, and if the evil comes it is still His will. That is merely confusing and leads nowhere.

I have got to be certain that faith is as fixed an immutable a law as the law of gravity or any other law. We are taught it shall be done according to our faith, with no other qualification, and it is done unto us. That has been my experience.

It is of no value to me whatsoever to come here and teach you what I believe, if I find spiritual law is limited or has certain limitations placed upon it. Therefore, regardless of conditions, when I say, "Thy will be done, Father," I mean "Eliminate from my consciousness anything that is not perfect, anything that has an element of doubt in it. Let me be sure of You, so truly sure of You, that at the last moment, when it appears impossible, when I am cut off from all human help, I can still turn to You and say "Thy will be done" and I know Your will is good, Your will is happiness in our lives, health for our bodies and success in our affairs.

Yes, it is very hard at times to dare to trust God and act fearlessly. I have just returned from a part of the country where, despite the appalling conditions of poverty, the heat and the fever, despite every single part of nature that seems to be working against man, I have seen a garden in the wilderness built up entirely by faith, faith that nothing can deter. It is not where you are that is important, but what you are. If you could see some of the things that I see, poverty, disease and lack, I am sure there are many of you who would feel that God has indeed poured out a bountiful supply of everything that is good into your own lives.

I know it has taught me a very good lesson. You and I would never be able to stand some of the conditions I have seen. So will you make up your minds that in bringing about any demonstration, whatever it is - those of you who are starting out to prove Him and to apply faith in His changeless law - will you believe when you say, "Thy will be done," that you mean good to be done here and now? I could not have faith in God for one single moment if I felt that what we are teaching today was untrue, or if I felt that God was limited. I would not waste my time teaching it, not for one second, because I would never be sure. I would not be a hypocrite. I cannot say, "Go in faith; it is done," but with the mental reservation that I think it would be advisable if I said, "Thy will be done," because I do not know what God's will is.

I believe I am an expression of Omnipresence, Omnipotence, and Omniscience, but I am in baby class. If I find my own faith is weak it is not because God's power is limited. The good which I desire has been in manifestation since the beginning, but if I fear, then I am destined to fail before I set out to have faith in God as health, happiness and abundance. I am frustrated because I think God may or may not bring it about.

Eliminate once and for all the thought that God is a personality. It is because we have been brought up to believe in the personality of God, that it is so indelibly imprinted upon our minds, and so we set a limit to His power. He works only through spiritual law, and He not only works through spiritual law, He is that law. That is how I want to work with God, to know He is absolutely changeless. If He were not, then faith is a valueless farce. Then I may as well say, before I start out in Truth, "Your will be done, and if it is good it is good, if it is evil then I bow my head to it because there is nothing I can do. You are all the power in the Universe and I cannot change Your will." But I have proved, hundreds of times, that God's will for me is only good - never evil - and so I know that faith in God is always with good.

I am going to believe, and hold fast to the belief, that what Christ taught is real, unadulterated Truth; whether it is for the removal of some minor condition, or of something that it is truly impossible for you or me to change, I shall always believe. I shall always hold on to the Truth that I am not dealing with something outside of myself, I am merely the directive agent of the Spirit of Life and knowledge and power within me, and that it has no option, no alternative, but to obey its own terms. To prove it I am going to do everything to dare to trust Him and act fearlessly, because I know there are always two paths in our lives - the negative and the positive.

Regardless of the conditions, or how they may scream out at me that they cannot be changed, I am going to do something - anything - that will make me have faith, to prove sincerely, honestly in my own mind and heart the power of God. I shall hold God to His promise, not in any arrogant way, but by His own words: "Concerning the works of My hands command ye Me." I cannot command God in faith if I am walking up a negative path, because I know I am not having faith, so it behoves me to seek the first step which will indicate I am on the path of faith, and then fearlessly take the step, dare to trust Him. What am I doing when I act fearlessly? Am I not having faith? Am I not voluntarily cutting myself off from all human help - jumping out of an aeroplane without a parachute, as it were, or into the sea without a life-belt?

I am not trusting Him when I hold on to those aids, or any other human aids. It is when you trust him that God works for you. It is in these past years that I have learned that. Like you, I have been very afraid and worried sick; I have forced myself, compelled myself, against my own inclinations, to trust God, because I must be sure, I must know.

I must be so sure of God within myself that when you ask a question I must know He will work for you if you fulfill the conditions. I must know it, and not start worrying after you have left my office - "I wonder if it will work? What is God's will with that person? Do I know?" I can only teach you from my own personal experience. I am not interested in the experiences of others, except as they are a confirmation of my own. But they are of little value to me until they become my own conscious knowledge. The moment you can say with me, "I know," there is no longer the airtight tension which shuts off the good, but a clear, wide-open channel through which flows the substance of God, and it is for you to mould this into livingness as whatsoever you desire, without any limitations whatever.

Dare to trust God, and show it. Act fearlessly, even if you have to make so much noise that you cannot hear yourself think. I know that you are confronted with conditions that appear too large for you. I know how you are going to fear, and I know the type of thoughts that will run through your mind, so make a noise, drown the fear thoughts and the negative conditions, and flood them with the spirit of God that is already in manifestation in that condition.

All the money in the world, all the health in the world is valueless to you until you can say with Christ - the Spirit of God implanted in every single human being - "I know that it is my Father's will, the will of Life that I have His good NOW" - not tomorrow or the next day or next year, but NOW, this very instant, when you claim it, and act fearlessly. The more conditions crowd you, swamp you, the more still and calm you can become, because it is always at the darkest hour just before the dawn that His help comes and then, as if to show His love, He not only gives you the good you desire but He heaps it up, presses it down, runs it over with added good, not according to your needs but according to His love.

© The School of Truth Source p. 197, Jul / Aug 2010 - The Path of Truth

Ref: The Path of Truth, Vol. 30 No. 4.

You Cannot Fail, Nicol Campbell - read by Andre

2010-04-18T10:50:00.005+02:00

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I am sure there are many of you who have at times felt that God has let you down. To the best of your ability, you have put all your trust in Him; have lived, as far as you know, in accordance with the Law of Love; done everything in your power to work in turn with God; and perhaps many of you may have said, "Why have You let me down, when all my trust has been put in You? Why have You let me down?" And yet, when you go on in Truth, when you learn to understand the working of God's Spiritual Law, you find He has not let you down.

So we shall take as our talk "In Thee, Lord, have I put my trust. Let me never be ashamed of my trust in You. Let me be able to hold up my head in the face of adversity, when conditions, inharmonious and negative, are pressing me on every hand. Let me still have the courage to say it and mean it: "Yes, in Thee, O God, have I put my trust. I shall never be ashamed."

The practice of Truth is a most difficult thing. Do not, any of you, make the mistake of thinking it is something for women and weak men. It is the most difficult thing in life to build up the consciousness, the realisation, that within you and me and all humanity is a Special Power so great, so all-encompassing that you have nothing to fear.

I do not care how far you have evolved through your practical demonstrations, you will never really be able to say, "I know all there is to know about God; I know all there is to know about bringing about any and every demonstration." Like the lawyer who wins his first case, pats himself on the back and says, "I am a successful lawyer. Now I know all there is to know about it." He is going to be a very surprised man, because he will find many difficult problems confronting him, problems that are totally different from anything that has ever confronted any other man before. He will find he will need a very much larger knowledge before he can say, "I know all there is to know."

You are growing and so am I, and you will be confronted with many problems because the Spiritual Power within you wants to make you conscious of Himself as a living, dynamic Power; when, like the Christ, you will see right through the condition into the very reality of the Truth of God.

God never lets you down. You and I have such an accumulation of negative thoughts in our minds that it is difficult for us to bring Him into our consciousness, and it is only by our constant inner seeking and practical application that we will find the solution to any and every problem with which we are confronted. The fundamentals that will bring about the solution are the same, but you do not approach each problem in the same way. You do not set down a hard and fast rule and say, "This, and only this, is the way that will bring the solution to me," because you will find that applying the knowledge which you have built up through overcoming other problems has only taken you a certain distance along the path, and you will need a greater expansion of consciousness, a new perspective in your approach to the new problem.

My job and duty is to try and understand the mental and emotional make-up of every student who comes in to see me, because it is impossible for me to say: "This is the way you bring about your demonstration," if I do not understand him. I may have the type of mind that just accepts it. I say to myself, "I know God is; I know He is All-Power; I know He is All-Knowledge; I know my body is the Temple of All-Power and All-Knowledge. Yes, I know it. I have nothing to worry about. This is my make-up, but are you going to accept it? Have you the type of mind that can say the same thing? Are you so sure of God that you know that you have nothing to fear, and that you can calmly analyse and dissect the problem piece by piece like an onion? If you keep on peeling off the skins there is eventually nothing there; it is non-existent.

So it is with your problems. They are very real to you while you are sick, miserable, unhappy and poor. For anyone to say, "These problems do not exist" is nonsense. They do not exist for God - Divine Mind - in the Spiritual Realm, but they do exist for you! If, when I was hungry, a man had come to me and said: "You are not hungry, you have no stomach," I would probably have been very angry and hurt.

Your problems are real - you are making them real by holding them in your consciousness; by your inability to rise above them and know that they are only temporal and must change. You must start looking upon them as unreal in the consciousness of God - perfection. You must face them; take away the power you are investing in them; realise they are only a manifestation of your fear that is retaining them in your consciousness, your body and affairs.

How often have I said to God, when it seems impossible for a demonstration to take place, when I have been cut off from all human help: "Why have You forsaken me? Have I not put all my trust in You? Am I not pretending, making believe, that this condition does not exist? Am I not in my present consciousness of faith living up to the highest I know? Why have You let me down? I can expect it from human beings because they have feet of clay. I can expect them to forsake me, but not You, God! If You are the Love and Life and Power and Goodness which we have been taught to believe, would You call that love, to hold me in suspense and anxiety, sickness, unhappiness? Is that love?"

Probably you have often said something like that yourself. You have felt that you have done everything possible, that literally you have played the game with God and God has not fulfilled His promise; and you reach a certain stage, the turning point, and in your disappointment you turn back. You turn back from the solution - the solution to your problem that is waiting for you at that particular place.

You want faith, I know as well as any other human being in this world, that all I require is faith in God; not a nebulous belief in some power that may not exist, but a conscious knowledge of a Reality that is thinking, speaking, acting and living through me. That is the faith I want - the Real living substance of God in my own heart and mind; to know that when I ask I am asking within this body temple - God's temple; that if I want to find Him I must seek Him inside me, not in people or places; and that if I knock I must knock within, not without. I must ask and seek within myself.

You have only just so much capacity. You could not stand any more than the growth to which you have attained, and all this faith and consciousness, all this living, vital substance within you, is trying to express itself through you to the limit of your capacity. It is the urge that makes you keep on until you succeed. Do not turn back - go beyond the condition of darkness. That is the time you are having faith - daring to trust Him and acting fearlessly. GO FORWARD!

Like you, I try to go on, and at times feel sick within myself at the immensity, the enormity, of the problem which confronts me. "What will happen if God fails? What will happen if my quality of faith is insufficient? How can I know the standard by which I can judge the quality of my faith? Why is it that people who have evolved to a great consciousness of God have not received the solution to their problem until the eleventh hour? Can I dare to go as far as they in my trust in God?

And if you think about it, you will realise that it was only at the eleventh hour that they have been drawn up to the very highest within themselves; that at the last moment, face to face with the problem, they have been compelled to "let go" of any remaining doubt. Then the solution appeared. What has been lacking in them was the constant consciousness, the inner knowledge born of complete faith, that God was indeed the ever-present solution, but the degree of their recognition of their oneness with God was not sufficient to ensure that the solution preceded the problem in their own minds. In other words, they had not realised that no problem existed!

I know that faith can only be built up by constant exercise, and it is my business to set myself the exercises by which my faith grows. How much do I trust God? What does He mean to me? What can I do? I cannot die from trusting! Perhaps a failure, but if I do not try, how do I know how far I can go? What good unless I test Him? He sets the challenge: "Come on, prove Me! Prove me in all things, whether disease in your body, unhappiness in your affairs, or poverty. Come on, prove Me, and see if I will not open the windows of heaven, the windows of understanding in your own mind, and pour you out a blessing so great that there shall not be room enough to receive it."

I have complained to God as much as you have, I am sorry to say - and I wish it were not so; but I find an impersonal law, which must be fulfilled before we find the individualisation of God, which we call Christ, in our own souls. You must fulfil the law, and until you fulfil the law you are subject to environment and conditions to which every single human being is subject. It is only when you fulfil the law that you get your mind and heart into tune with God - with perfect love - the Christ part of himself - the individualised Self of God. It is only then that you can say, "A thousand shall fall at my side and ten thousand at my right hand, and it shall not come nigh me." You are subject to that law in exactly the same way as flowers are subject to the seasons, and there is nothing you can do about it until you fulfil the law.

How far are you going to trust God? Is there some problem which you must face up to that is going to require every single atom of your faith to meet? There is God's challenge, or shall I say, the challenge of Life, for you may misunderstand me if I say the challenge of God. How much faith have you got? How close is God to you?

When you walk out of here, will you say to yourself, "Can I take him at his word? Can I dare to go all out? Is he speaking the truth? What if it is not the truth? Is it going to be a hopeless failure for me? How do I know he is speaking the truth?" I can never make you know until you yourself test it. I cannot test it for you. All my time is spent in bringing into my own mind the consciousness of God in greater degree. I do not want to stand still and become stagnant. I want to progress constantly, to be able to say to every human being, whatever conditions may be manifesting, "I know it!" and have the absolute conviction within myself and be free from fear. Yes, God can make you whole, but you cannot say that unless you know. I cannot experiment with the happiness, love and health of any human being. I would rather say, "Go somewhere else. I have not reached the state of consciousness yet, I have not sufficient knowledge to say 'Yes, I know you can be healed' for I am not sure." But I believe and I know that every single word I am saying to you is exact Truth.

I believe - call it egotism if you like - that God gives me the knowledge. I believe that God answers and confirms me in my faith, by manifesting the Good when I turn to Him within and say, "Can this be done? Is it real and true? I know it is not I, but You, Who are responsible for bringing about the healing, but still I am Your representative. I am the voice that speaks the Truth, I am the accessory. Will You lift up the minds of human beings - Your temples - into the state where they can say 'Although this condition is pronounced incurable, I can be healed'? When any human being, no matter how low he may have sunk, raises the mind of some other human being to know Your presence in that very condition, will it not be healed? Would You do it?"

Ask yourself this question: "Can I believe what he is telling me? Can I really go all the way, trusting God and be at peace? Can I have the same enthusiastic love and expectancy that I would have in my earthly father who had promised me something? Can I be as sure as that and say, without the slightest hesitation, without mental reservation, 'I can be healed'?"

I say, you can be healed. Go out and prove it for yourself, as I have proved it, as hundreds of thousands of others have proved it. Dare to trust God, without reservation, and you can never fail!

Nicol C. Campbell
© The School of Truth
Source p. 69, Mar / Apr 2010 - The Path of Truth
(Ref. The Path, Volume 30, No. 2)

Lessons from the Pearl - A School of Truth Lecture, read by Andre

2010-03-28T09:31:00.001+02:00

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The Christ encouraged us many times to glean spiritual truth from nature. He spoke of fig trees, vines, lilies, sparrows, the wind, seeds and crops, urging us to find the parallels of wisdom within our own lives.

He spoke too of the Pearl of Great Price; let us examine the origin of a pearl. Everyone knows that pearls come from oysters, but what is the actual mechanism?

In order to live, the oyster opens its protective shell by a few millimetres to admit the life-giving sea water, which brings oxygen and microscopic food. However, during rough weather, undesirable particles of grit may also be carried in the current, and the sendentary oyster has no way of avoiding them. When a jagged, gritty particle lodges in the soft folds of the oyster's flesh, the oyster, having no means of removing it, sets to work to transform it. The irritation is lessened by adding smooth layers of nacre to the unwanted particle. Little by little over a period of many months, the sharpness is reduced, and the irritating particle becomes a beautiful pearl.

We too need to open ourselves to the experiences of life, but sadly mankind's irritations tend to make him more irritable. Surely as creators in miniature, we too could find it in ourselves to transform these irritations into pearls of heightened consciousness? Love is the powerful agent which completes every experience to the greatest good of all concerned. Can we not employ this power to round out the irritations caused by our enemies? It is not only ourselves who benefit from the exercise. As with the oyster, the product of transformed irritation becomes in itself an awareness that can bring joy and upliftment to others.

We see now that the Christ's injunctions: 'Do good to those who harm you', 'love your enemies', constitute the techniques of transforming bad things into good. His words are indeed pearls of wisdom. The Master knew and proved that LOVE can never be a one-sided affair, just as there is no such thing as a one-sided pearl.

The ultimate pearl, that is the completed love-consciousness, is attained by 'selling all that you have' in order to purchase it. Those who are advancing on the Path are beginning to sense that 'all that you have' materially is but an irritation by comparison with spiritual awareness.

The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man seeking godly pearls; who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

(Matt 13:45, 46)

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Lessons from the Pearl
© The School of Truth
Source p. 268, Nov / Dec 2009 - The Path of Truth

A Tower of Safety - School of Truth Lecture read by Andre

2010-03-28T09:24:00.001+02:00

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Do you remember the story of Noah? How, when the flood was over and the waters had subsided, he and his sons went out into a new-washed world - and how his blessing was given to two of his sons and not to the third?

You may remember, too, that they decided to build a city, and a tower whose top might reach to heaven, in case they should be scattered abroad. But they were interrupted in their building because a confusion of tongues came upon them and they could not understand one another's speech. And so, after all, they were dispersed over the earth.

Today the world is trying to struggle back to normal after having suffered a worse calamity than the flood. It is a condition from which it will be difficult to recover, as we all know only too well.

If Noah's family intended the city and the high tower to ensure their safety from another disaster such as the flood, then man's present plans seem to be on similar lines. We, too, appear to be trying to build organisations which will make us safe against future calamities. Perhaps we can follow the parallel still further and see the curse of Babel still with us. Our builders are still shouting in divers tongues and are misunderstood by their fellows. Some seem to threaten further wars if their particular plan is not adopted. Others talk in terms of financial domination - or power. And the smaller nations live in fear of being swallowed up by their bigger and stronger neighbours.

Because of all this, when the workmen gather together to build, little is accomplished, for they do not understand one another. How can there be progress until all the workmen learn to speak in one tongue - until all adopt the language of God, which is love? Until they speak the dialects of toleration and justice? Until they voice a real desire for universal benefit instead of struggling for trade concessions here, or bases there, or domination somewhere else? There can be no security in the world until men of all nations desire to live together in brotherhood.

There should be one universal language - the language of love. Perhaps all of us are prone to sit back and judge the workmen by their failures; and when we do so we, too, speak the language of injustice; for these men are instructed by the people of their own lands. They are the men with authority, chosen by their fellows as delegates to express their views. But we can expect no love, tolerance, and justice from our leaders if it is missing in ourselves. The universal language must be learned by individuals if it is to be spoken by their representatives. Men of goodwill everywhere must first desire universal peace and co-operation themselves before they can hope that their delegates will speak in terms of brotherly love.

When this comes about we shall appoint workmen throughout the world who speak one language - that of love and fellowship. And they will build for us a tower of security to which all men will turn for guidance.

But if we have forgotten God we cannot expect to send God-like delegates as builders. And no universal language will be spoken by those who are tied in selfishness to their own point of view. There can be no tower of safety against war until, in individuals and in nations, there is an earnest desire for fellowship, amity, peace and love. Are we doing our share, you and I? Are we, by our constructive thoughts, words, and actions helping to lay the foundations of peace? Are we learning the language of love with all possible speed? Think it over.

THE SCHOOL OF TRUTH
LECTURE
A Tower of Safety
© The School of Truth
Source p. 14, Jan / Feb 2010 - The Path of Truth

The Growing Consciousness - Lecture Nicol Campbel, read by Andre

2010-03-28T09:19:00.001+02:00

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When you took up the study and practice of Truth, what did you expect to find? Were you not all seeking the assurance that God is interested in you? Am I not seeking the same thing, the consciousness of God in full expression in my life? I want to be able to say to all who come to me in His name, "Your faith has made you whole!" I want to be able to say to disease and to poverty, "Go! Dissolve yourself into the nothingness from which you came!" I want to see fear transmuted into a constructive, living and vital faith. Yes, that is what you are seeking and what I am seeking. Even if you think you are seeking some purely personal demonstration of good in your life now, what you are ultimately seeking is the consciousness of the Presence of God - All Good.

You have heard the expression, "Whatever is, is best." What is your interpretation of that? Do you feel that you have to bow your head to your poverty, your disease or your unhappiness? Do you feel that it is the will of Almighty Power that you remain in those conditions of lack? Perhaps you have tried this way and that, you have read this book and you have read that book, used affirmations, tried to pray in a simple, child-like way, but nothing happens! You say, "It just does not work!" You have seen and heard of others who have made remarkable demonstrations, but you now feel that it will not work for you.

But is it possible that God, Divine Law, all the Love in the Universe, desires only good for those others and not for you? Is it impossible for All Knowledge to show you how to do whatever is necessary for you to do, when to do it and how to do it? If it is, what is the value of faith? If God discriminates between His children, what is the use of some of us trying to have faith?

If whatever is, is best, if we bow our heads and say it is God's will that we remain in poverty-stricken conditions, that God is testing us and is trying to raise us up to express dominion and power and to rise above negative conditions, then we might well give up all effort to find Him! Have you believed that it was necessary for you to have disagreeable experiences, that God was deliberately placing obstacles in your path to hinder your spiritual growth? Or have you realised that these experiences and conditions are only there so that God could glorify Himself in and through you, and use you as His beloved channel for His good? Have you ever thought that God, by means of those very conditions, is trying to show you what miracles can be wrought through faith and prayer?

When Christ healed a man who had been blind from birth, His disciples asked Him, "Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?" The Master replied that neither the man nor his parents had sinned, but that he was there so that "the works of God might be glorified in him." Here is a man born blind and he asks Christ for sight. Christ did not tell him to take up Truth, or to read books - even if he had been able to read books - nor was he to meditate or affirm or deny the condition. He gave the man what he wanted - sight! Can you imagine the reaction of the people who saw the miracle and of those who heard of it afterwards, how their faith was renewed? When the religious leaders attempted to discount the incident and destroy the people's faith by questioning the man, his reply was, "I do not know who this man was. All I know is that whereas I was blind, now I see!"

Isn't there a lesson for us in this story? We are so often blind - blind to happiness, blind to the Presence of God, until through some experience our eyes are opened and we also say, "Whereas I was blind, now I see!" But what is it that you see? It is not a physical material "thing" that you see. It is an inner realisation, by which you know that your good is here for you now. You "see" the Truth which sets you free from this, that or the other condition that has bound you down. That is what the School of Truth is trying to teach you - how to attain to this realisation and to know the Truth that will set you free and to know that you are a child of God, realise that the condition to which you have given power over you is only an opportunity for you to glorify God through your faith and prayer.

You do not have to ask God for health or pray about your health. Long before you called, God had answered. You are a temple of this loving God and He is trying to express Himself through you as your health.

There was a paralysed woman who came to us for help and she was taught, "I am a temple of a loving God, and because God is perfection, then permeating me from the centre to the circumference, every bone, tissue and muscle, is this perfection. I will not dwell on what I want but just on the Presence of God in me. He knows that I need help so that I can walk and I do not have to tell Him what He already knows, for He is conscious of my needs."

Then one day she sees again, can see and feel the presence of Life and she knows she is going to be healed. She is still paralysed, but she says, with conviction, "I know that God is telling me I am going to be healed!" That was in December and in January she was walking! She saw the Truth and saw that she was not a temple of disease. She saw only one thing, that she was a temple of perfection which desired to be expressed through her, like a battery plugged into the Power Station and receiving the new power flowing into it. Formerly a battery took twenty-four hours to charge but now it can be done in half an hour. As man becomes more conversant with the Laws of electricity he brings the time down from twenty-four hours to half an hour, and as he becomes more conversant with the Laws of Life he brings the time of demonstration of health down from years or months or weeks to NOW.

How are you reacting to your condition? Are you striving with all your might, trying to concentrate literally to drag your good into manifestation? You can do it, provided you are prepared to pay the price! One man told me he had worked for a position as a manager and it did not take long before he got the position. But he did not get paid accordingly! He got exactly what he forced. He saw himself in the managerial chair, saw himself telling certain people to do things. But he forgot that his desire for an executive position was God desiring something better for him, and he made the mistake of picking the channel himself. He insisted on that particular channel and he demonstrated, but not under grace!

God's time is NOW. But although His time is NOW, it takes time for the idea to possess your mind completely so that you can build on it. If you get impatient and try to hurry matters and force them, you introduce complications. In all the years since I first took up Truth, I have never had to look for a job. I used to tell God that whatever He wanted me to do I was prepared to do, because I knew that if I served Him I was His labourer and I was worthy of my hire. If I served this or that man and did not get paid, I knew God would pay me because I was serving Him, and He always did pay me. When I had learned that particular job and the lessons it taught me in developing my faith, the channel closed and another opened. You do not have to tell God what you need; God is telling you, through your own desires, that you need greater happiness, more supply, greater faith. He is saying to you, "I think you are a worthy channel through which I am to be glorified, and because example is the only teacher, I am giving you this opportunity."

But our trouble is that we are always in a hurry and we are afraid God will be too late! Our Father, the very Spirit of Love, knows what we need and He wants us to grow in stature, in strength, in faith. If your faith capacity is only fifty Rand a month you cannot live at the rate of five hundred Rand a month. As far as your Father is concerned you have only reached the consciousness of fifty Rand a month, and it is only by these experiences that He can grow your consciousness to a higher level and let you understand what He is doing for you. You don't learn by your work, by the sweat of your brow, but by going within and finding the consciousness of God within your own soul. Just go within, to your own secret chamber in your own mind and shut the door to all outward things and try to realise what God, Love, Power, Happiness, Faith all mean. They are all attributes of the One Power, One Presence - God, your Father.

Perhaps some of you find it difficult to visualise or make mind pictures, difficult to pray? Then you should pray just like a child, and keep at it until you are so sure of God that you can realise that He is in you and through you, that He is already the fulfilment of all you need. During the last four or five weeks there were things that I have been working on that have suddenly been revealed to me. One problem occupied me for thirteen years and another for eleven years, during which I waited for spiritual guidance, and nothing seemed to happen. I just felt that I had to do my best, although my mind was telling me one thing and my heart was telling me another. Then, at the most unexpected time and in the most unexpected way, I found the answer in my own consciousness.

I told God that after all these years I was going to do this thing because I felt convinced that it was what He wanted me to do and that He would show me if I was right, and within three hours I had the necessary proof! How did I prove it? By the wonderful demonstration that came within three hours! Today I have no hesitancy on these matters, but it has taken eleven years of striving and seeking to know and finally to discover that I had allowed myself to be led entirely by the heart, and had not wanted to see what God wanted me to do.

I felt it was so because my heart said it was so, and I did not wait for God to show me, so I blocked His entry into my consciousness by not being impersonal and detached from the problem. I did not completely hand the problem over to God by saying, "Father, this is a matter for You. You show me what to do, what You want me to do and how You want me to do it, and no matter what other people or my friends or my family think, I will do what You want me to do." Then the revelation came to me as I was on my way home from a cinema, when I was not even thinking of the problem. Today, instead of having the nagging worry of these two problems, I know exactly what to do and my mind is completely free - all because I finally allowed God to do what He wanted.

God is waiting to express Himself through you, whatever your need may be, but it is only when you retire into your inner chamber and become still and peaceful and make contact with God there. Then you know that you are a temple of Love and Power and the Presence of God Himself, and your guidance will come at the right time and in the right way, much sooner than you expect. There will be no delay as soon as you are right in your own mind, and at that moment the answer will manifest, either in tangible expression as the thing you desire or as the particular idea necessary for its fulfilment. Try to forget your problems, forget the solution, forget your affirmations, and instead, first thing in the morning, just sit down for ten or fifteen minutes and realise that God knows what you need and that He wants to express it through you. Then go about your daily duties, knowing that you have left your problem with Him and that He is perfectly capable of doing in and through you what He wants to do.

Before you go to bed, think of Love, Power, Faith, Peace - whatever comes into your mind and heart - but do not think of your needs and wants and demonstrations.

If I had not had the two spiritual leadings which I have mentioned, I could not have gone on with this work . If you feel now that you have reached the end of your tether, the limit of your patience, that your faith is being too severely tested, just consider whether you have not been making the same mistake that I made. All those years I was actually pushing God out of my consciousness because my heart was telling me to do certain things, and I thought that I must be right. I had failed to realise that God knows what is best for us, because He can see the end from the beginning, but I was allowing my emotions of sympathy for other people to cloud my vision. You may be making the same mistake. You may be so intent upon a certain material blessing and so determined to get it that you are not allowing God to give you something very much better, something He knows will be of infinitely greater value to you in your growth and progress.

So many people fail to realise that God is always trying to express His good through them, that they are His temples, temples of Love and Power and Happiness, and by their very insistence on the wrong thing, they are actually refusing to allow God to give them the blessings that will be so much greater than those they think they want. If you will only allow Him to decide you will soon be able to say, like the blind man said and as I said myself, "Whereas I was blind, now I can see. Through the Presence of God, the presence of all my good, now I see." Before you ever called God had answered, and while you were yet speaking He had heard you

Just try to put your problems and their solutions right out of your mind and fix your mind and heart upon the Presence of God, Love, in you, and know that He is arranging everything for you in the best possible way and will show you, in good time, what you are to do and how you are to do it. Then you will allow His blessings to flow steadily through your lives and affairs and be at peace

* * * * *
The Growing Consciousness
Nicol C. Campbell
© The School of Truth
Source p. 4, Jan / Feb 2010 - The Path of Truth

You are Unique!

2010-03-28T09:17:00.000+02:00

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The almost impossible task of infusing our own consciousness into another is what we teachers of Truth are trying to accomplish. Every single day wherever I go and to whomever of you I may be speaking, I point out how imperative it is for you to realise your God-awareness in order to achieve the fulfillment that He is, and can be, HERE in this physical plane.

The other night I was discussing metaphysics with two doctors, one of whom was particularly interested in the subject. The point he brought up is a fundamental one; he held that we are a part of the universe, while I teach that we are the universe, and that until we understand that there is no such thing as a "part" we shall continue to experience limitation in our minds, bodies and affairs.

When I look at a string of electric lights I do not tell myself that these are part of electricity, any more than, when looking at the rays of the sun, do I call them scraps of it. I recognise the truth that light itself, not a fraction thereof, is present. Electricity is expressing as light; and the ray of the sun, 150 million kilometres away, is still the sun, not a small piece of it. My fingers are my body; if I amputate one of them my whole body suffers pain; if it were separate from me I could cut it off and placing it on the table say, "There is a part of my body lying on the table," but at this moment my finger is my body, not a portion of it.

My body is the expression of my life, not a part of it. It is vitally important for us to realise that we are not "parts of" anything. Someone said to me the other day, "I suppose spiritually we are the Presence of God in manifestation, but not physically." Yet how can God Who fills all space and is manifest therein, be unmanifest in my body which is also in space? In the same way, the man who claims that God can be his prosperity, or give him prosperity, but is not Prosperity-constituting-him, is equally illogical. It is because of this division in our awareness that we find God externalised not according to His Nature as GOOD, but as sickness, poverty and unhappiness, the very antithesis of all that He is.

I do not infuse a consciousness into you any more than you impart it to me when I discover my health, happiness or affluence. I have at this moment, come into the realisation that I am this, that, or the other Good which makes up the Being of God, instead of being separate from it. How can I put it more clearly and cause you to realise that, if you are the temples of God, His Kingdom, with all that He is and has - peace, happiness, health and prosperity - is in you, manifest as you?

In a lecture that I gave some time ago, I told my audience to go out and spend, not my consciousness, or someone else's, but their own; by which I meant that they were to go forth and use the knowledge they, not another, had uncovered respecting the Presence of Love as their health, happiness and affluence.

If you have accepted limitation and separation, you have nothing to give. If I were unhappy, frustrated, sick and poverty stricken, what would I have to give? Could I speak with conviction, or would doubt lurk, not in my mind which is God, pure and steadfast, impervious to outer conditions, but in my intellect? We discover His Presence by reading, listening to lectures, and by expressing the modicum of understanding that we have made our own. Our steps may be hesitant, but as long as we take them the whole Power that is God will rush to our aid, filling our consciousnesses so that we are enabled to accomplish whatever we have set as a goal before us.

When you press the self-starter in your car, work out a mathematical equation, or use the law of gravity in order to fly a plane, you are using knowledge born of experience, not belief. In the Old Testament we learn that before we call, God has answered, and while we are yet speaking He has heard us. Today we say, "Supply, which can never be depleted, precedes the demand," but a demand has to be made. How do we do this? Where is the Substance and how do we contact it? Who is there that will show us the Presence of God?

Look around you! In this man you will see health that has overcome disease, in that one plenty which has ousted poverty, in a third, discord that has been exchanged for you and understanding. These phenomena are the Voice of God speaking to you, and should carry conviction so that you do not look for some supernatural occurrence to persuade you, or an angelic form to present itself to you telling you to do this or that.

Omnipresence contains within Itself everything on every plane of awareness, including you and me. If, therefore, It is Health, there is no place in Divine Health for sickness. If It is Happiness and Harmony there is no room for discord; and if It is Abundance there is no lack except in our erroneous belief which will continue judging by appearances until such time as the impact of God, manifest in the lives of countless people, compels the individual to recognise Him as All-good.

That is why I tell you to spend your own consciousnesses, not someone else's. If you have a twenty-cents awareness, spend that, not my R10 one, or his R1,000 one, or her R2,900 one. It is you who have to know what you are doing. I cannot radiate your health or happiness until I have established these qualities in my own understanding. Because man has been taught from time immemorial that God is up in the sky, he has hesitated to claim bodily his at-one-ment with his Maker. Yet there is no question of failure when you can grasp this, even if only intellectually.

I have to rationalise for myself. I don't hope blindly that a thing may be thus and so, I am as sure of God as I am of a seed I plant in the ground. If I water it and cultivate it and, when it has sprouted, fertilise it, it will produce after its kind; and if we do the same by our God-consciousness it too will bear fruit. The trouble with most of us is that we fail to sow the seeds of joy, health, happiness and the Goodness of God, indwelling all humanity irrespective of class, colour or creed.

The difference between "Be still and know that I am God" and "Be still and know that I think I am part of God" is one of manifestation and separation. This is the Truth as I see It, and I would rather talk to an empty hall and teach what I feel is right than preach with my tongue in my cheek, only to please my listeners.

It is written that man is God in expression. I believe this because I have proved it and seen it manifest in thousands of people. We are not separate from the Father but are Life, Love and Intelligence expressed as His physical temples; not made up of body AND Spirit, but constituted of spiritual-mind, spiritual-soul and spiritual-body. When you understand this you will no longer be anxious or concerned about your bodies or affairs, about whether you will succeed or be failures, have plenty or have to endure want. I must accept this or go back to the old way of praying through a personality who will intercede with some anthropormorphic being in the sky on my behalf. I shall have to retrogress into the age of the ox-wagon and candlelight and ignore the progress which brought forth electric light, motor cars, aeroplanes and television.

You sit and listen to speech coming from 10,000 kilometres away and declare that it is a miracle, but what is miraculous about God's being everywhere evenly present, and of our having created, by means of His Intelligence, the vehicle through which we can hear His voice?

Where our body temples are concerned the Spirit infuses Itself into the awareness of Its own instruments; when we turn on a tap in our homes and allow the contents of the reservoir to run out in an unending stream, it will continue so to flow until we turn it off, and so it is with the way that God manifests. Let us see what the Master had to say on the subject. He stated that the God of Whom Moses taught was ONE God, All-power, and even more, All-love.

Are you chary of saying, "I am LOVE"? Are you not expressing It all day long toward your near and dear ones; do you not give of It gladly to your friends and relatives; are you not consciously spending your awareness of love, joy, peace and happiness from morning till night? Of course you can claim that you are Love and that It is All-presence! You do not have to give It to me; I can be unhappy and distressed, down in the very depths of hell, then some kindness touches me and immediately my spirits are lifted up and a happiness that does not come from without warms my heart. It radiates like a light from the centre of my being to the circumference; and from where it sprang, my health and prosperity take rise also. There is only Love, God. In It we live and move and have our being and It exists through Its body temples and flows from the inner to the outer. We have no need to fear for our bodies or affairs; the Allness of God permeates His whole universe, you, me, the Christ, the lowliest of individuals and the highest form of pure Intelligence throughout all time.

The difference between the man who shares his knowledge with his fellows and the one who, out of selfishness or indifference, keeps it to himself, is that the former grows in spiritual understanding, while the latter remains static.

None can stop you from loving even though they try to hurt you, undermine you and belittle you, they are your fingers, a treasured part of you, and in loving them, you are merely doing likewise for yourselves.

The basic things we teach, according to our understanding today, are firstly that man cannot create because he is NOT a creator. He can attune himself to that which exists and release it in the same way as he liberates the power of electricity as light and heat, but GOD ALONE is creation.

To you whose hearts are void, whose bodies are depleted, whose purses are empty comes the wondrous message of Truth declaring that in all those lies, the Verity that is GOD abides, for in the darkness there is light, in sickness health, in poverty abundance, and in fear faith.

The other day a man said to me, "I know my only difficulty is one of fear and that is the opposite of faith, is it not?" To which I replied, "No, it is not the opposite of faith. It is inverted faith, faith used in the wrong direction." Job made this clear when he said, "That which I greatly feared (the thing in which I had faith) is come upon me." His sense of separation from God brought disease, lack, and suffering into his life.

The new gospel states that according to your faith it is done unto you. It is the same thing! Faith positive releases God, the Good, to us and faith negative separates God, the Good, from us. We therefore have to use this Power intelligently, to direct It, that we may become the outlets of Love, Joy, Peace, Happiness and Health. Let us stop talking of being parts of Love, like parts of a bicycle! We are not worms of the dust, brought forth in sin, we are HIS SPIRIT IN BEING, the temples of the living God, Who has but one purpose, that of expressing ever more and more of HIMSELF through us.

Consciousness is knowledge, and according to my consciousness, not to my goodness or badness, my social connections, my financial standing or any other pretensions, it is done unto me. Virtue is its own reward! You shall know the Truth about the lie in your minds, bodies and affairs; it is not written that the Truth shall remove the condition but that It "shall set you free." Light will take the place of darkness, and Health which is ever present, will spring forth where disease and discord seem to be. The Truth will become, for each of you, the spiritual idea you need for your prosperity, the one concept that will bring with it the realisation of Substance to share and to spare.

Every one of you is unique. As my thumbprint is different from all the millions of thumbprints in the world, so are you prototypal. You are able, when the lie of separation has been lifted from your consciousness and you really know of your oneness, to do in your own particular manner what no one else can do in precisely the same way.
__________

(You are unique!

Nicol C. Campbell
© The School of Truth
Source p. 256, Nov / Dec 2009 - The Path of Truth

The Temples of God - Nicol Campbell Lecture, read by andre

2009-12-21T13:28:00.002+02:00

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I had been listening to the song "How lovely are Thy dwellings, O Lord of Hosts!" when the question flashed across my mind "How lovely are our dwellings?" yours and mine. I was thinking not of houses made of bricks and mortar but of the houses of our physical bodies that you and I offer to the Spirit of Love within us. Do these habitations reflect a consciousness of Love's presence, or of its absence?

The student who starts out in Truth usually does so because he has come to the conclusion, not due to any personal demonstration of his own, that God must be what he has seen in the lives of others, that God must be Omnipotence and Omnipresence. Our work in the School of Truth has not developed due to propaganda of any kind or to advertisements in the Press, it has come about because of personal contact between its members and the public, who have glimpsed the Presence of Love, or God, because of some 'dwelling' that has impressed them. These people, who are intelligent, have said to themselves, "If the lives of X, Y and Z can be so changed by the Presence of Love that they are reflecting, surely I, too, can experience fulfilment in my body and affairs if I imitate them?"

All of you who are already followers of Truth carry a tremendous responsibility both to God and to yourselves because you will be judged, not by your words, or your beliefs, but according to your actions, for in the eyes of beginners you are the living advertisements of the good or the non-good.

It happened to me only a short while ago that a very good friend of mine told me that he was a little perturbed because he had heard me make - probably with no intention of wounding anybody - certain comments of a critical nature. Far from being annoyed at what he had said, I was most grateful because it is of the utmost importance for me to be in line with Love since I have to act as an example, and I recognized that this man, unbeknown to himself, was the Presence of Love pointing out to me that I had temporarily separated myself from good in that, for the moment, I was not reflecting the impersonal type of Love that is God.

I wasted no time in taking myself in hand again. I recognized that I had not only let God and my friends down, but that I had let myself down too, and because I think of myself as a green apple on the road to spiritual maturity, I freely admitted that there was room for improvement.

It is this attitude that permits me to progress in good, for if I felt that I had nothing more to learn in spiritual matters the apple would obviously be quite ripe and ready for decay to set in.

When we ask you, "How lovely are your dwellings?" we do so in a spirit of love, for it is our duty, as your teachers, to point out to you your faults and weaknesses so that you may find the consciousness of Love and see It reflected in your affairs exactly as It has become manifest through and for us.

Are you patient, tolerant and kind? Do you try to see the good in all your fellowmen, or are you perhaps selfish, always wanting your own way, irrespective of the hurt that this may be causing to others? If you are, the fact that you call yourselves students of Truth will not preserve you from unhappiness or prevent lack from invading your bodies and your lives! If, on the other hand, you have asked guidance of God, you must be very sure of what Love, that never punishes or wounds, wants for your highest good and happiness before you take any steps which will set It free, so that only Its Own Nature is reflected in and through you and all that concerns you.

When I have, myself, come into this consciousness I act at once - quite indifferent as to whether the world laughs at me or declares that I am wrong - for I am possessed of an absolute inner conviction that what I am doing is right and that nothing, and nobody, can in any way hinder the manifestation of the good that I desire.

Just as I look at you in your dwellings, so you too, naturally, look at me in mine, and if I am not in tune with Love all the time, I expect you to come to me and say: "Despite the fact that you always claim to be human and unstable as we are, this and that is what you preach, and we look to you to set the example."

It is shocking that I, too, should fall down on occasion, but in so far as each of you is concerned it also has its advantages for you can say to yourselves, "He too is fallible and makes mistakes, yet he is richly blessed so if I who am trying to overcome my weaknesses and the negative traits of my character and to live in tune with the Spirit of Love, sometimes go wrong there is still every hope for me, for I am only learning, while he should know better."

As I said before, I am grateful to anyone who pulls me up, for my one desire is to see the Presence of Love alone manifested through me, and even one tiny adverse comment, no matter what the motive behind it may have been, is enough to hold up the expression of Omnipotence and Omniscience in my life and affairs.

I want to be conscious of His help, to have the fullness of His Love in my innermost heart, and to be in tune with the Law of Prosperity so that I can continue to give and give to all who call upon me for spiritual teaching.

I am never afraid to admit it when I am in the wrong because it is only when we realize how fallible and powerless we are - and how Omnipotent is the Power of Love -that we can develop a simple childlike faith or trust in God, so I want all of you to look within yourselves, to stand in front of a mirror and, having searched your minds and hearts, and thought about your actions, to ask yourselves what sort of habitations are reflecting back at you? Are these those of kindness, sweetness and tolerance?

Is the mind that you have each examined constantly seeking out the good in other people - who, do not forget, are themselves the seat of Love, the hands of Love (open or closed as the case may be) - so that by so doing it may itself find a greater consciousness of this presence within its own dwelling?

And what of your hearts? Remember that out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaketh! You have learned that you must forgive before you can be forgiven and you realize that lip-service is not enough, for you have met people who have received injuries by way of certain human channels and who, claiming to have forgiven these mortal agents, nevertheless recount again and again the wrongs that they have suffered at their hands; and when it is pointed out to them that they must forgive those that despitefully use them they retort, "But I have done that long ago!" Theirs however is no true pardon, the Spirit of Love has not been set free, otherwise there would remain no negative burden in their hearts to betray its presence by the words that issue forth from their lips.

Such people are judged by the spiritual Law acting, not as an individual, but as an impersonal recorder, registering the fact of Truth's imprisonment in their hearts, or of Its having been set free.

If I tell you that I am expressing Love - Which is the Light-consciousness - and all that you can see is darkness, you will say to me that there is no radiance in my dwelling, that I am expressing only my own nothingness-awareness, and that what I am claiming is a lie, for you know that 'as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he' - in his body and his affairs, and his face, his physical envelope, and all his material concerns, must and do express this accurately.

Let us now consider your actions. Are they selfish or selfless, do they bring happiness to others, your immediate associates, their friends, and the community in ; or do you, in your egotism, disregard them altogether, and seek but your own will and way? You can have this, for a time, but it will bring you nothing, for you take out of life only what you have put into it. If you sow love you reap it, if you spread happiness it comes back to you, and if you scatter unselfishness, that also you will receive. What you hold onto in a spirit of blind possessiveness you will lose, for to retain the consciousness of any good, be it health, prosperity or gladness, you must give it away. What you try to get, slips through your fingers, what you loose you retain.

It is actually a matter of faith. 'There is that which scattereth, and increaseth,' but the person who holds on to anything because he is afraid of losing it, is clinging to a nothingness, for fear is not an entity and is powerless, the only Power being Love, Omnipotence.

We all have to learn that the only thing in life that we need to achieve is the consciousness of Love, the awareness of the Presence of Omnipotence and Omniscience, of which none can deprive you once you have found it. Because that is a stable faith, an unshakable knowledge that knows - and knows that it knows - that your dwelling is a temple of Love, Which is the fullness of all the mind's and heart's desire.

You can find within yourselves the solution of every problem that confronts you, if you are sincere enough to look inside for the tiny obstructions that are so effectively damming up the good that is within you. And it is my duty to point out to you your mistakes, because you, like ourselves, are frequently so close to the wood that you cannot see the trees.

We are the eyes of love - just as you are - and there are fundamental principles that none can ignore. If we are honest we can find the flaws in ourselves and it is well worth our while to do this because all the prayer in the world will not bring one atom of good into our lives as long as we pray amiss.

The basis of all prayer is the unselfish love that recognizes in itself the Substance and Prosperity of God; that becomes a consciousness of faith such as nothing can destroy; that experiences in its body the vibrating Force of Health; that puts an aura of protection around you that wards off all that is evil and not of God.

The most magnificent car in the world, with a flawless body and a first class engine, is powerless if there is sand in the carburetor; and just as I might be said to be kind to that car if I removed the offending grit, so are you only being kind to yourselves when you cast out, by the application of Love, the obstructions that hold up your good and delay your success.

Dr Emilie Cady said, 'There is nothing that the outer man needs or desires that the inner spiritual man cannot and will not supply, for the supply ever precedes the demand,' which however must always be made. So will the Spirit within you reveal to you that you are indeed making this demand when you look into your hearts and remove the grit and sand, and become radiating centres of love, compassion and thoughtfulness.

It is the daily effort that Christ had in mind when He said, 'What is that to thee? Follow thou Me.' It does not matter what others do to us, or say about us, the only important thing is what we do, or say, about them. If they choose to become separated from their good, that is not our affair, we have to send up a prayer of thankfulness to Love for the opportunity It is giving us to serve these very persons, for Its care of us, for Its protection - in the face of what seems to be directed against us - and for the happiness that fills our lives.

We have not to judge, to criticize, or even to see the flaws in our fellowmen; we have to help and uphold them, remembering that Love 'ever gives, forgives, outlives, and ever stands with open hands, and while it lives (which you know is eternally), it gives and gives and gives.'

That is the only basis upon which anyone can build up true prosperity - peace of mind, happiness of heart, health in the body, and abundance to share and to spare. Material things you can attain without the application of love, without having any trust in God, but they turn to dust and ashes in your lives.

It is happiness that all men need and long for, a state of peace within, the certainty that Love is in Its Heaven; that It is the Power constituting our dwellings; that It is our unassailable Habitation and that all is well in our personal worlds and in the whirling universe of which we form a part and to which our God Himself is Moon and Sun.

Nicol C. Campbell
© The School of Truth
Source p. 200, Sep / Oct 2009 - The Path of Truth

The One Power - A Nicol Campbell lecture, read by Andre

2009-03-26T21:54:00.000+02:00

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When we first start out to prove Truth we are all inclined to put things before God; we are like those of whom the Christ said that they did not come unto Him principally in search of Truth but for the material wonders He performed, the "loaves and fishes" that were more dear to them than was spiritual enlightenment.

Let us now be quite clear on this point: these very "loaves and fishes" are an integral part of God's being and as such they are all ours to use and to enjoy, but they are, as it were, the by-products of Life and should be of secondary, not primary, importance to us. If we concentrate upon them we can bring them into manifestation. We have but to look around us to see many people who apparently do not believe in God yet have all the worldly goods they could desire, so it is equally probable that we too have the mental, emotional and physical ability to bring into conscious externalization any concrete thing that we require.

God gives us whatever we want, and every type of self-confidence, all directed thinking, is a form of trust of faith and produces that upon which it has been focused; but these things, unaccompanied by inner peace and harmony, never amount to true happiness or success. God is not averse to our having them in over-flowing measure; in fact, being as He is, All-in-All and omnipresent, He has Himself endowed us with them for He constitutes us, not only as the spiritual Power called Love but as the same Power called Substance, and our desire for any particular thing is not a personalized wish but the urge of infinite Intelligence constraining It to express a greater measure of Itself through us who are Its vehicles.

In all my experience over these many years, when confronted with very serious difficulties of a material nature, I have always found that if one is seeking the Kingdom of God he does not need to centre his attention upon the problem; the man who relies solely upon his faith in the Father achieves his purpose much more easily than does the one who uses intense concentration to gain his ends, even though each is contacting the self same Substance, which, when manifest, we call either "success" or "money".

It happened once that Henry Ford, at a luncheon, was asked how he came by all the spiritual ideas that he put to practical use in his plants and, turning a saucer upside down, he replied: "This bit of china is being bombarded by a terrific force of X pounds to the square inch at this moment; you cannot see this taking place, but science knows it for a fact, can measure it and weigh it, and I believe that every human being is in like m anner continuously bombarded with all the spiritual ideas necessary for his particular needs, no matter what these may be."

We, as Truth students, go further, we do not feel that we receive these spiritual concepts from without; we know that they are already within us, part and parcel of our very beings, and that when we turn mentally to the spiritual side of ourselves it will be as if we opened a tap and permitted these ideas to flow out through us to be molded by us into tangible expression. The trouble is that most people with whom I come into contact persist in looking outside of themselves for their material wealth. They fix their gaze upon human agencies, they question whence their good can come, they watch and wait and nothing happens because they are looking in the wrong direction. It is, of course, more than probable that it will come through some individual or other, but it cannot do this until it has first found itself within the consciousness of the person seeking it.

Let me give you an illustration. A friend of mine who wished to buy a property had every estate agent in the city looking for this for him, but somehow whatever was offered fell short of his requirements, so he decided to make a spiritual plan and to depict upon that exactly what he sought. Some eighteen months later, when dining one night with friends, a fellow guest asked him if he was satisfied with the house in which he was living, and upon his saying that he did not care for it and was looking for something else he was given the address of a man who was building a house as a speculation. He went out to view this and found that it was exactly what he wanted, on the right piece of ground, in the suburb of his choice and in congenial surroundings. It was not until he had completed the purchase that he remembered his treasure map, and when he had dug this up from among his papers he saw to his amazement that the sketch he had drawn upon it was not that of the home he had just bought but was one of the house he had been visiting when he received the information that guided him to what he so badly wanted.

That is how God works, in a natural manner; but we, unfortunately, frequently obstruct Him for, not realizing that we are engaged in treasure-mapping, or spiritualizing ideas all day long, often indulge in negative visioning, and then wonder why discord comes to pass. It used to be like that with me. I would give a certain amount of time to prayer, affirmation or meditation and then, like you, forget all about it, ignoring the fact that during the period that I was not in communication with God I was, nevertheless, also praying, and was asking, not for the good, but, because my emotional reactions to certain conditions were producing for me adverse mental pictures, I was paving the way for the un-good I was holding in consciousness, to manifest.

It is, of course, possible for each and every one of you to bring forth into expression the good that God is desiring through you, either by the way of concentrated thinking, seeing, feeling, speaking and acting that particular thing from the moment you awaken until you go to bed, or by realizing that the idea within you is God's idea and is already done, so that you can dismiss it from your mind as a fait accompli.

Study your thoughts and your emotions daily, when you go to bed, and ask yourselves sincerely, "What have my thoughts been to-day? How have I felt? What have my actions and reactions been?" Then make a note on a pad, and do that every single night and see if, at the end of the week, you can perhaps eliminate the negative side, the destructive aspects that you have been building up over a period of a year.

When I started, I used to ask myself, "Have I done this?" and if I had I ticked it off. "Have I done that? Am I quite sure that I have done it?" If there was any doubt I would put a cross, and so I would go through the whole questionnaire and, after summing up, I would analyse the results to see whether it was negative or positive, in the credit or debit category, and I would make a note of my findings for the following day; and each time I thought of a negative condition I would take out my list and check on it. You too can do this, if you want to! It is not really difficult if you are in earnest, for the moment you are honest in your seeking after Spirit, at that moment all the spiritual forces rush to your aid. But I come across little evidence of this singleness of purpose. Even my own friends seem to be extraordinarily negative; out of the fullness of their hearts they are constantly saying how much they believe in God, and - practically in the same breath - how much they believe in evil; how much they believe in prosperity and how much they believe in lack; what faith they have in health and how completely they accept disease. All day long they are recording a spiritual plan, and spiritual power is faithfully producing for them what they are asking for.

Now I make it a practice - no matter what I may be doing, working in the garden or driving my car - to keep my mind inwardly turned, in spiritual meditation, towards God, not in order to force myself to recognize His Omnipotence, Omniscience and Omnipresence, not exactly to strengthen my belief in Him, my recognition that there is nothing outside of Him, but because I realize that it is necessary to keep, as I might say, continuously in touch with Him, because it is only too easy, in these days when most people are harbouring discordant thoughts, to slip into their habit of negative thinking.

Whatever happens in your lives is your responsibility; there is no power greater than God, none that can oppose His will, but we give authority to conditions, to people, to appearances, and then it is done unto us accordingly; and what overtakes individual lives spreads to the family, and from the family to the community, thence to the country and finally it manifests as a global state of being - the reflection of personal thinking and feeling. But there is no reason for concern or panic; whatever occurs is within our own control. We have to ask ourselves in whom, or what, power is established, whether in God or in that which is outside of Him. It should not be difficult for you to distinguish between reality and unreality. Are you not temples of the Most High, enshrining within yourselves His Omnipotence and Omniscience? Of what then should you be afraid? God in the midst of you is mighty, not alone to heal the mind and the body, but to harmonize appearances, conditions, environment and circumstances. I want you to be, as the Bible says, a "peculiar people", peculiar in that you do not judge by the seeming or give power to anything outside the Almighty. Of what value are the teachings of Christ, what is the use of being a student of Truth if we give to illusion the power that belongs alone to God?

Sometimes I feel that teachers of Truth are voices crying in the wilderness, so few people really trust in God, strive to bring Him into their consciousness, or are willing to rely upon His Protection and Love, Which are - if they only knew it - nearer to them than breathing, closer than hands and feet. All the unhappiness and tragedies that overwhelm us are brought to pass by our own erroneous thinking, by our ignorance of the fact that within us - permeating and flooding us - are an infinite Power and an inexhaustible Love waiting to express in, through and for us as all good.

Is it not true that God is in the midst of us, that He is in His Heaven, (the Kingdom within us) and that "all's well with the world"? If this is so, why do I see so little faith, so little belief even; why do people run to and fro like lost sheep? Let us take ourselves in hand and, realizing that it is only as we sow that we shall reap, let us decide henceforth to sow in faith and so eliminate all fear.

We must be clear on this matter of fear. Is there, think you, someone or something that is greater than God? Is it possible if God is divine Justice and divine Love for an injustice to be committed at any time? If this could happen there would be no Justice or Love, but in order for Those to function for us they must be able to express through us. God can work for you and me, becoming our true success and happiness, our true health and prosperity only as we become His channels, but when these are cluttered up with doubts and fears His qualities cannot come through.

We must have faith in the good, vision it, invite it, instead of timorously contemplating adverse conditions that exist only in our minds and persist for us only so long as we entertain them. "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me". Let us get to know this one God, let us commune with Him, let the outer man learn of the spiritual man within him, for there is nothing that the first can desire that the second has not already perfected and brought into manifestation for him, his loved ones, his community and his country.

The Kingdom of God is fulfilled, is MADE VISIBLE, but our gaze is directed downwards, our minds are confused, our emotions disturbed, we lose sight of the fact that we are His temples, His vehicles of Love, Power, Knowledge and Beauty; our lamps are not lit, or their shutters are closed so that only a glimmer escapes to illuminate our world. The Prince of this World cometh and we receive him, forgetting that there is but one Presence, one Love that encompasses all the good that is. But this Love is dammed up within us, held captive by our fears; let us then lift up our eyes "unto the hills" raise our consciousness to the spiritual heights upon which God dwells. We have to realize that it is only because He IS that we exist and are equipped with His attributes, and, holding fast to the Truth, we must keep our minds centered within, oblivious of outer conditions so that the true happiness, success and prosperity of which the Christ taught may become manifest in and through us in every increasing measure, to share and to spare.

The Kingdom of God, a School of Truth lecture, read by Andre

2008-11-16T11:03:00.002+02:00

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It is important to identify what we are seeking in life. Are we satisfied, content? If not, what do we need to give us peace, satisfaction and fulfilment? Is it better relationships, health, happiness, prosperity, work? We may feel we have all these things yet something seems to be missing – something seems to elude us.

The big question is – are we soul-content? Do we express the joy of the soul in our lives? Matthew 6:33 tells us "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all things will be added unto you" - all things, not just some things.

"Kingdom" implies a state, a place where people live and over which a king reigns. In a similar way, we all dwell in a mental kingdom that is established by our thoughts. But is this mental kingdom in which we dwell the kingdom of God – a kingdom of love, good, truth, beauty, compassion, consideration, unselfishness?

The Master told us "seek and ye shall find, knock and the door will be opened unto you" and further "The kingdom of God is within you." The kingdom of God is really a state of consciousness that is brought into being by the thoughts that we allow to occupy our minds.
"Consciousness" is a word that is often used, but what does it mean? It is in fact a state of awareness, an intuition, a knowledge, a realisation, a recognition, a sensitivity or sensibility – a feeling. It is all these. Our senses – what we see, hear, touch, taste or smell – can give us a consciousness. For example, if we exercise we could obtain a greater consciousness of health, vigour and strength.

In a similar way, spiritual exercise gives us greater spiritual awareness, or God-consciousness and, to the extent that we have this, we are dwelling in the kingdom of God, and we feel God’s presence as a reality.

The realisation of the kingdom of God does not usually come immediately. It is a step by step process. Spiritual awareness begins as an urge, a desire, then an idea that gradually develops in the mind. Thoughts feed the idea and develop it until our consciousness is raised, opened and expanded. Then we come into the realisation, or the awareness, that no matter what we are doing or experiencing, God is always with us.

We need to allow the activities of God into every area of our lives. The kingdom is the source of all things. God is our Supplier of health, happiness, peace and prosperity. These are all in the inner kingdom, within to be expressed, to be made manifest. The kingdom of God is the realm of all good.

So let us go forward, establishing ourselves in the consciousness of the presence of God, having faith in Him as the source of all good and realising that it is "the Father's good pleasure to give unto you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven" and when we enter it we realise that it was always within us. But we must become aware of this good within us before we can bring forth those things that we wish to demonstrate in our lives.

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness." What is this righteousness? Is it the same for every one? When faced with problems the criterion is – will our thoughts, feelings, words and actions take us closer to God, raise our consciousness, or will they take us away from God and lower our consciousness?

Some people may do right actions but do them rather reluctantly or grudgingly. This is not the way. All that we do should be done with a good heart, with love. People have to make a breakthrough and become aware of the kingdom that is within them, to develop a whole new consciousness of existence.

Seekers after Truth are rewarded with "soul-contact", that is the feeling of being in the kingdom of God. People may feel that the errors of the past or present prevent them from having contact with the Infinite, but this is not so. When we are in error and recognise it, the longing for contact increases, just as when we are cold we need warmth more than when we are warm, and our longing itself brings us closer. We recall the parable of the Prodigal Son, where the father says, "Son, thou art ever with me and all that I have is thine."

Let us share with you part of a poem by Frank Witney, entitled "The Soul Dawn":

When day is dawning in the east,
the sun arises in my soul.
Across the threshold of the mind,
there streams a thought that I am whole;
there comes a thought that glorifies
my inmost being, soul and heart –
the rays of Truth, its sunshine bright,
must penetrate my every part.

When the horizon shows to me
its shafts of glory, warmth and light,
there dawns upon my consciousness
the light of Truth with rays so bright
that every darkened thought must go,
must be replaced by thoughts of good,
and every doubt and unbelief
give way to truth that's understood.

© The School of Truth Source p. 270, Oct / Nov 2008 - The Path of Truth

Letter from Edwin on Prayer - Raising the Consciousness

2008-10-28T10:34:00.002+02:00

From: School of Truth [mailto:pathoftruth@mweb.co.za]
Sent: Friday, October 10, 2008 11:29 AM
To: Andre Walters (E-mail)

Subject: thoughts

Prayer to me is the raising of individual consciousness into universal consciousness, i.e, the soul merging with the infinite (God). When we think a thought, a wave is produced in the mind, if the thought is good true and beautiful the consciousness is raised.

If the thought is negative, still a wave is produced in the mind but the consciousness is lowered.
Words used in prayer are an expression of thought and thought has energy and hence the ability to do work.

When prayers are said in the Chapel, this thought energy is radiated to the atmosphere and can be accessed by people raising their consciousness at this time.

Meditation is the ultimate prayer, as we define it - non-commercial, that is - simply, union with God. But what is God? Well, people have different perceptions of God. There are the personal and impersonal aspects and, to some people, God is ultimate reality, consciousness and bliss.

When people put their names on our prayer list they are accessing a power greater than themselves, and feel a great release. Nicol (Campbell) used to speak of handing it over.

See P253 Aug/Sept Path of Truth magazine.

With Love and Blessings.

Edwin

On Prayer - email from Edwin

2008-10-28T10:28:00.003+02:00

Dear Andre

My lecture on Sunday, the 19th October 2008, at Auckland Park included the following on Prayer:

PRAYER

The School of Truth believes in the thankful prayer, not the asking prayer:

JOHN 4:35 tells us "The fields are already white unto harvest".

God's work is done, we need to come into tune with it, so it is not a question of entreating God, but a question of thanking God for all our blessings, seen and as yet, unseen. The more we give thanks - the more we have to be thankful for.

For effective prayer we need to create an internal receptive atmosphere - raising the consciousness - with a heart full of thankfulness and love, the expression:

I am filled with Love
I am filled with Joy
I am filled with Peace
Can be very useful - (filled mind thoughts, good true and beautiful)

When the examinations of life come along we may enquire, "Father what is right action for me. Father show me the way you would have me go". And then be ready for ideas and pointers that come to us as to what steps to take.

Yours sincerely,
With Love and Blessings,

Edwin

Nicol Campbell Lecture - "Building God Consciousness", read by Andre Walters

2008-10-19T11:47:00.002+02:00

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To those who are seeking the consciousness of God, I would suggest that they ask themselves the following questions: "Is there a God?" If you can answer this in the affirmative, proceed to question two: "What is He? Hatred? Sickness? Poverty? Unhappiness? Death? Or is He the divine attributes of health, happiness, protection, prosperity, vision, and all other qualities of good?" If the latter you can go on to your third question, the most important one: "Where is He?" If you have accepted Omnipresence as a Reality this will mean that He is all the qualities of Good there are, and all the Presence there is, so that there can be nothing apart from Him; in which case, who are you? Can you be outside of All-presence? If not, it is that you are yourselves, GOD-PRESENCE. Think about it for a moment! The Power everywhere evenly present at the same time, plus all the Good there is, IS YOU. If this is so - and it must be - there can be no room in your lives for His opposite, sickness, poverty, unhappiness, or lack of any kind. This is the logical inference following upon your answers, but are you convinced that they are correct?

I was lying awake the other night and thinking, as I always do, about Omnipresence of God and Its tremendous importance, when there stole over me a wonderful sense of nearness, the understanding that all things are not only possible but certain with man because of his being God-constituted. The only thing that prevents manifestation is the fact that man is ignorant of his true nature. He is living in a state of hypnosis, in a fool's paradise of separation, sickness, misery and failure, and all that is required to transmute these negative conditions into positive ones is a k nowledge of the Truth of Being, the recognition that there is not God and self, but that when the individual says "I am" he is declaring his veritable God-or-Good-nature, which consists of health, happiness and prosperity to share and to spare.

We who are dwelling in a fool's paradise, in the consciousness of separation, bereft of all authority and command, need to be awakened from our dream. We beg, plead, meditate, visualise and pray, we do everything we possibly can to produce qualities of Good in ourselves, but they remain external to us. What authority do you possess? What does your consciousness of dominion amount to? A lot of us imagine when we approach God that it will be by means of affirmations and proclamations, accompanied by much shouting that we shall produce in our affairs the qualities of Good we are seeking, but it does not work like that at all.

We decided that God is, and when we asked ourselves what He is, we recognise that He is Love, so Love must exist, not as a personality, but as a Reality.

It is both Creator and creation, a Divine Intelligence of Harmony and Order expressing Itself outwardly in myriads of forms. It is First Cause, omnipresent joy, health, happiness, protection, prosperity and all else we require and desire. We cannot have Love everywhere evenly present except we fit into It, but we imagine that we are made of negative qualities and that, though all around us, above us and beneath us is the Presence of God. It is not in and through us. We think we can destroy His Omnipresence with our dissent and that we are bad apples which contaminate the whole and ruin it. If this is possible, does it make sense? Of course not!

You are trying to discover what the Master asked you to accept. You are the temples of the living Presence of Love, Which is now your happiness and all that you crave, but you have to take It into your-selves: "Concerning the works of My Hands, command ye Me." That is specific, but how are we to do it! God is not a person whom we can order about, and even if He were, He is the macrocosm, we are only the microcosms, and we cannot command that which is infinitely greater than ourselves, any more than we could constrain the President, as an individual, to do our chores for us. It is His will, not ours, that is decisive, but we are not dealing with a personality; we are treating with omnipresence as Love, and we command It by attuning our hearts to It. When we do this we become Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Omnipresence, the very Voice of God, of Power and Authority, so that we can say, "Let this condition in my consciousness disappear, or this flaw in my life fade out. Into the nothingness whence it came."

Of sickness we know that it is a lie of separation and no part of God, but rather an error of our way of thinking, our own lovelessness come forth into manifestation. A lot of noise, affirmations, or the old type of prayer we were taught to pray, will not bring our good into our lives, neither will the fact that we are students attached to the School of Truth cause everything to gravitate towards us. We can be Roman Catholics, Salvation Armyist, or Bush Baptists; our religion, nationality, social position or financial status will not affect the outcome, only the universal Power of Love, Which is us, you and me, can bring to pass for us.

Nevertheless, while we regard ourselves as God-creations instead of as Omnipresence-in-expression the hands necessary for our welfare will not open for us. This will happen only as we recognise that we are the Presence of Love, then it will be done unto us according as we release It.
At times there will be, or will appear to be, tremendous physical, mental, emotional or material opposition, but this will be a lie, necessary at the particular juncture where it occurs, for the extension or expansion of our knowledge. If we sit down quietly and in the light of Omnipresence, consider the man, woman, condition or circumstance that appears to be obstructing us, we shall see that our antagonist is ourselves, for we, individually, are that presence.

There is nothing outside of us; we look into the mirrors of our minds, but once we have discovered Love, It will see through us with Eyes that are too pure to behold iniquity. We are so steeped in our error-awareness that we are always expressing negation; even before we have had time to think, we automatically give way to criticism and condemnation but omnipresent Love neither censures, punishes, nor holds up our good. We do that. We build up some colossal error whose size hypnotises us until we tap ourselves on the shoulder and remind ourselves that it is not of God. Omnipresence means "Allness" so how can evil exist in Good, or darkness dwell in light?

If Love is Allness then I and all with whom I come into contact must be Allness too, therefore whatever is at the root of my distress, cannot be other than myself.
If a man comes to see me because his wife or child has caused him unhappiness, I am not concerned with them, but with him, and so it is with your troubles; they do not need to be overcome, they exist only in your personal consciousness, so it is you who have to undergo a change of heart. If instead of the husband, the wife comes to me, the problem is hers, for whoever suffers from anything does so because it is part of his awareness, and therefore before God's loving Presence can come through, he will have to eliminate the so-called reality of the condition from his mind.

Once you realise that I - God in manifestation - am self-sufficient, you will have no enemies, nothing to hurt you, nothing to oppose you, or deprive you of your Good. There will be no person or appearances to interpose between you and your God-awareness; you will be the fullness of your own happiness, prosperity and health, achieved not by talking but by knowing.

It will be hard when things are going against you and you yearn for some human sympathy and companionship to have to admit that no individual can supply these, but only your own state of consciousness. It is not easy to believe that God is your prosperity when you reach the retiring age and find that you have not saved enough to pay your way, and all channels are closed to you. When sickness has invaded your bodies and there is no one to help you, a feeling of complete emptiness comes over you. But let us take the long view and admit that, if these experiences compel you to turn to Truth and engender within you a consciousness of the Power which brought you into being as a self-sufficient entity, dependent not on individuals, but only upon GOD for your good, they will have been well worth while.

If I look back on my life, I remember that the problems that were presented to me alarmed me so, that I made such a noise telling myself of God's All-presence that I could not hear myself thinking about the condition. I had no faith and no awareness but I could not imagine the Master or any other developed soul raising a terrific clamour hoping by that means to reach the ears of God; such a one would be poised, peaceful and relaxed, knowing that Love was omnipresent health, happiness and prosperity.

The empty vessel makes the most sound, and the person who lacks the consciousness of God, usually tells everyone how well he knows Him, while the man who has acquainted himself with but the outer edges of the Power of Love, lives It in himself and people, seeing and recognising It, flock to him in search of the knowledge he possesses. It is not talking that impresses but the good that has been made manifest in the life of another through his confidence and conviction, proves that All-power in heaven and earth has been vested in him. Can you now believe that all the Power necessary to change yourselves mentally, emotionally, physically and materially is yours, or rather is you? Do you accept the Truth that, at this moment, the Power of Love is permeating you with its own qualities from the inner to the outer, from the centre to the circumference? Or are you still striving from outside of yourselves to get an answer to prayer. The Kingdom of God, Love, and His Substance is within you as well as outside of you, and you can choose the road you will take to It, certain that He will assist you in any manner you desire; but if you impose limitations upon Him these will clutter up your way. As long as you have not discovered Him you will not have come into your inheritance, and though He will not withhold His aid, you will not have the inner conviction that God IS and because he is I AM.

There are not two presences but only one, spiritual, emotional, mental and physical, which is God and includes you, to whom He has said: "I have given you dominion over all things, so concerning the works of My Hands, command ye Me. All you see around you of Good - health, happiness, protection or prosperity - if you bring your hearts and actions into tune with Me - is yours.

You will slip on the path and delay by the wayside; many times you will feel a sense of frustration and failure, but always deep in your hearts you will know that, in spite of the evidence of evil, I could not have created it.

There is only one Creator, Love, Which can fulfil Itself only according to Its own nature of Light, Understanding and Beauty. Do you want to discover this Presence for yourselves, do you want to come close to It, or do you still hanker after a crutch, some person or guarantor to act as a standby? How much do you desire God, what is the measure of your development, your consciousness of His Power? Are you content with the crumbs from the table, satisfied not to live but to exist, to have built yourselves a certain pinnacle of security which can be swept away at any time, leaving you to start all over again? Personally I would rather be dead than alive from moment to moment in insecurity. There are many things I do not know, and many I would like to understand, but I am sure of this, that if any man seeks God without compromising, he shall indeed find Him.

I am no different from the boy who leaves school for the university only to find that he must gather a great deal of information if he would solve the problems that are being presented to him there. He can grow only as the result of experience and at times it appears that adversity is the only adequate teacher; nevertheless I have often cried, "Why is the road that shall give us awareness of our Power and drive out our sense of separation so difficult?" We fall down because we are impatient and uncontrolled, eager for things we do not deserve (since we have not yet built up the awareness of them) but we have achieved a mental treasure in the discovery that we are able to create, but must attune ourselves to God - Love, Joy, Beauty - and allow Him to be fulfilled through us.

The conditions that pile up at times are but lies and when we bestir ourselves and put His truths in their place, they will disappear into the void whence they came, for they have no power and no real existence. There is only God, Omnipresence, Which is Love and occupies all time and space; It is in us in manifestation, and when we recognise this, we shall be able to say in trust and expectation, "Let it be done. Let the Truth enter my awareness and let the lie that is now facing me be eliminated from my consciousness." There is only God sustaining us every moment into eternity and waiting patiently for us to recognise Him. Let us rejoice and be glad in the knowledge - not in the belief - the knowledge!, the Master unfolded to us that we are all temples of the living God, having access to His spiritual qualities, which when we release them, flow up from within outwards like a quickening stream that bubbles up and brings refreshment to our hearts, minds, bodies and affairs.

When, like batteries that have run down, we become depleted, if we will turn to Him, trusting in the promise "Come seek Me with all your hearts and love, and ye shall surely find Me," we shall be recharged with His Vitality and Strength. He will ask for no return except that as we open our hearts to the Power flowing in from the inner to the outer, we begin to live It and distribute It.
You will all eventually discover that this Omnipotence is within you and that "concerning My works, mental, emotional, physical and material you shall command Me. Then will I restore unto you the years that the locusts have eaten, and you shall remember only the Good so that the dead past shall bury the dead forever more.

"This is the Path of Truth, the way of peace and happiness and effortless success that leads to a prosperity-consciousness that will astound you as it comes into being in you, not as the result of your works, but because of My Love Which sets you free.

"Give Me all your problems, your conditions of darkness, and I will flood them with My Light, and My Voice of Love shall encourage you and uplift you. My rod shall sustain and support you, and My Truth, Which is the only Truth, shall set you forever free."

The School of Truth Lecture by Nicol Campbell

2008-10-15T22:26:00.004+02:00

"I Will Lead Them..."
Read by Andre Walters

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In our seeking after Truth - that is, in our attempt to attain to the consciousness of the Presence of God as a reality, I think one of the most difficult things for the student to understand is guidance.

Many people come to me and tell me that they have prayed for vision, for understanding or for guidance but when the answer came they could not distinguish between the three and were never sure which one was being given to them or what action they were being encouraged to take.

On the face of it this seems strange, but actually it is not so bewildering. Most of us listen to what I would term "wishful thinking"; we hope to receive the reply that we want to hear. It is as though, seeking the fulfilment of some desire, we set out after it in a Northerly direction and then tried to impose our own choice of route on Omniscience as being the correct one, when in fact our quickest and best way would have been to travel South.

What we have to learn is that God - our own particular Life within us - speaks to the individual in a way that is distinctive and personal to him. It does not necessarily follow that the line I take, which produces for me my good, will do the same for you; we are all differently constituted and the presence of God within all of us - which is an integral part of each of His body-temples - will unfold in everyone in the way best suited to the understanding of the person in question.

I often have to ask myself which path to take and as I want to do the right thing I do not rely on my own fallible human mind but instead I put it up to God. I want to move knowing that the Divine Mind, omniscience, that constitutes me will make me take the right road to His successful accomplishment through me; and after I have attuned my mind and heart to the spirit within I leave the whole matter with It and forget all about it. I do not look for indications or wait for some emissary from God to knock on my door and give me instructions. I let go, and wait upon Him.

Some time ago I asked a question that was very important to me and to the people who come to see me and, between the prompting of my mind and the inclination of my heart, I could not decide what was the right thing to do, so, as I never take any step unless I am completely sure that in so doing I am completely in tune with God, doing what He would have me do and not following after my own wishful thinking, I turned this matter over to Him and dropped it entirely from my mind.

At about 4 o'clock the next morning I had a most peculiar dream. I saw before me a very rough, tempestuous sea, and riding the breakers was a motor launch, full of Children, and I thought to myself "that is a very dangerous thing for them to be doing," and as the boat passed in front of me for the third time a terrific wave struck it and it capsized.

My immediate reaction was that I must go to the rescue of those who had been in it, so I plunged in, but found that, try as I would, I could not get through the turbulent waters. I went through all the sensations of being drowned as I was swept up to the surf and hurled back upon the beach. As I got up for the third time and prepared to make another attempt, a man, wearing a swimsuit, and gown said: "Don't worry, I will go and save them," so I stood still and watched him and he appeared to be reaching them without making any effort at all! I had always felt myself to be a pretty good swimmer and I thought, "How queer, he is not experiencing any trouble."

And then, after he had brought out the youngsters one by one and landed the last one on the sands, I woke up, and immediately the name of someone, who had asked me for some specific information in relation to Truth (the answer to which I could not give) came into my mind and in about five minutes I had interpreted the dream, and then I had it! It seems a strange way for God to answer, does it not? Spread out before me there had been the Sea of Life, the terrific waves, the opposition, my own fear when I found myself unable to help those people being battered by the storm, and then the man. I could not find the connection between him and the rest of the episode until, like a flash, inspiration came, and I knew that I had nothing to do with the spiritual dream that had been given to me, it was for the person who had asked the question.

He was going through a terrible experience, being buffeted by circumstances, and it was he who was in difficulties and unable to reach the shipwrecked people. In actual fact he had a tremendous step to take, and had passed on the responsibility to me. It was made clear to me that I was merely an onlooker; I had nothing whatever to do with the matter, even though I had been through all the emotional experience of that scene, yet in the unfoldment that came to me on awakening I received the guidance I was seeking, which uncovered for the man what he had to do.

It seems singular, does it not, that God - if He is Omnipotence and Omniscience - should not give a straight answer saying, "Do this" or "Do that" instead of resorting to symbols. However, though He does not appear to speak plainly, He does talk to us in a way that we can understand.

For many years I have been working spiritually upon the interpretation of these symbols that constitute the universal language of God and he gave me the information I needed in a way that I have learned to understand, so that this knowledge, passed through me, might help the man who had come to me for aid. This, however, does not suggest that he will speak to you in the same manner for you would not understand Him if He did; He will talk to you in some way through which He will be able to get into your consciousness.

How many of you are there who feel that you can unburden yourselves to this spiritual Power, can hand over to God whatever problems you have, whether of a spiritual, mental or emotional nature, and then with full trust in Him, forget all about them?

Do you not tend to give them to Him with one hand and to take them back with the other? Are you not apt to deny the lying condition and to affirm the reality of God instead of relaxing completely and giving the matter no thought at all? You are not really letting go. After all, the ability to do that comes only with much experience and constant, persistent work with the spiritual Truth that is God and that constitutes every human being under the sun.

In the meantime, however, your efforts are not wasted for you are building up within yourselves a knowledge of the reality of God, denying the outer circumstances, acquiring the consciousness of vision, or understanding, but there is as yet no inner freedom. That comes later as you travel along the path with a growing consciousness of expressing love.

I see so much of mankind's struggle in the lives of those who come to visit me or call me up. So many look for indications, ask me when and how it will come to pass, yet when you have really reached the consciousness of trust, or faith, there is such an awareness of the Presence of God, of His Omnipotence and Omniscience, that you can afford to forget the problem and consequently cease to look for signs. There is no longer any sense of separation. It is this feeling of division that causes people to run backwards and forwards from one teacher to another, but when, at last, you really believe that before you call He has answered there is no need to look for signals, proofs or evidence because the knowledge that it is done is within yourselves.

The Spirit of God speaks from the inside. Even if the spiritual guidance comes through a fellowman, the contact still has to be made within, for the one spiritual Life that constitutes you, constitutes also him, and his voice is the Voice of God and your ears, when you hear understandingly, are the Ears of God. You will grasp this if you will spend sufficient time realising within yourselves that your bodies are the temples of God; you will discover that the Kingdom of spiritual Ideas necessary for your well being, is within you, that you are permeated with His Life because He is Omnipresent, that He is nearer to you than hands and feet, closer to you than breathing; and that it is true that in Him you can live and move and exist and that He, the Spirit of Life, the Spirit of Intelligence, lives and moves and exists through you and, moreover, that before you call He has answered.

Why, I wonder, do we complicate Truth? Why do many of us who have an extensive knowledge of God, continue to seek our good from outside, believing that it has to come to us by way of other people? It has to come through us, for it is the very Presence of Love, permeating us, that releases the spiritual ideas - the expression of Life in our bodies as health, and the spiritual concepts of prosperity through our brains as affluence, and That becomes, in us, the fearlessness that makes us openhanded.

The one thing that every Truth student must ultimately understand is that he cannot afford to keep his hand closed. It is what constitutes his safety valve whether it be used in the giving of love, joy or happiness, or of encouragement, prosperity or faith. Can the supply of these, which are God, be depleted, if He IS us? Can His attributes within us run out? If this could happen, then we are sunk, for we should be dependent upon economic conditions, governed by the actions and reactions of people, but the Christ never recognised any lack in God. On the contrary, He was so confident - thanks to His consciousness of the Presence of God - that He said, "Ask what you will, and it shall be given unto you," but we can only "ask amiss" if we are entirely cluttered up mentally and emotionally inside; if we are concentrating our whole beings on negation, for we are then so confused that we cannot possibly ask for the good.

My own experience over half my lifetime has been one of goodness, of love, protection, wellbeing, peace and prosperity, and I would share these qualities with you. I would have you discover the Substance of God within yourselves, I would like it to become true.

Many people have said to me that only the wealthy go to our lectures on Sunday, and I have accepted that affirmation gratefully and graciously for our members. I would wish it to become materially manifest, I would like to be assured that every one of our students has built up this consciousness of affluence and knows God to be his prosperity, his happiness, his health, wellbeing and protection, and realises furthermore that no man can interpose between him and the Presence that is his Good.

The more you understand of Truth, the simpler It becomes. Life runs more smoothly, God is nearer for happiness is your daily companion. There is no more rushing round in a state of tension, with the whole mind and brain stretched out trying to produce in manifest form some quality of good. There is instead a peace, based on the realisation that your good is all that constitutes you and is manifesting here and now, in you, through you and for you according to God's purpose.

I would that Truth were something tangible that I could handle and pass over to you saying, "Here It is - experience It, feel what It is like to know that God is Love. That does not censure, criticise or condemn, but cares for His body-temples and desires to produce in all things only the good that He has promised. Did He not say, "I will make all things NEW"?

If you will but think of ME - turn your minds away from lying appearances, be they things, conditions or people; if you will come to Me I will renew your minds, bodies, hearts and affairs with My spiritual Substance of Perfection. You and I are a majority, you and I are the Universe; with me you can do all things.

Is not that a wonderful thought? It is something that I have recognised, realised and grasped and it has become my experience. When I know my heart is right with God, it does not matter what people say or do, I know I have nothing to fear. If my love is one with his, He is my banner of protection, over me, around me and about me, the Source of all my good, Its inlet and Its outlet.

This state of things can be yours also if you will seek Him with all your hearts, your minds and your might; and there is no material thing, no physical thing, that can take the place of this awareness, that can replace this consciousness of the innerness of Spirit, the closeness of Love. These can never be depleted, shut off or taken from you. They, and they alone - whether you know it or not - are what you are seeking; the knowledge that God-in-the-midst-of-you is mighty, mighty to heal, mighty to lead you out of life's wilderness up to his Pastures of shining Peace.

Nicol C. Campbell © The School of Truth Source p. 261, Oct / Nov 2008 - The Path of Truth

Nicol Campbell Lecture 19 April 1967

2008-04-10T10:26:00.001+02:00

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Nicol Campbell Lecture, 16 April 1967

2008-04-10T10:15:00.000+02:00

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Nicol Campbell Lecture, 30 April 1967

2008-04-06T13:09:00.001+02:00

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Nicol Campbell Lecture, 26 April 1967

2008-04-06T13:05:00.001+02:00

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Nicol Campbelll Lecture, 3 May 1967

2008-04-06T12:29:00.003+02:00

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Nicol Campbell Lecture, May 1967

2008-04-06T12:15:00.003+02:00

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Nicol Campbell Lecture: 10 April 1968: Easter

2008-03-24T11:44:00.001+02:00

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Nicol Campbell Lecture: 3 April 1968

2008-03-24T11:42:00.001+02:00

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Nicol Campbell Lecture: 31 March 1968

2008-03-24T11:21:00.001+02:00

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Nicol Campbell Lecture: 27 March 1968

2008-03-24T11:12:00.000+02:00

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Nicol Campbell Lecture: 21 March 1968

2008-03-24T11:10:00.000+02:00

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Nicol Campbell Lecture: 20 March 1968

2008-03-24T10:47:00.001+02:00

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Nicol Campbell: Lecture 13 March 1968

2008-03-24T10:44:00.000+02:00

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Nicol Campbell Lecture: 7 March 1968

2008-03-24T10:43:00.000+02:00

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God Consciousness by Nicol Campbell, School of Truth

2008-03-23T09:41:00.001+02:00

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, who abides in the shadow of the Almighty, will say to the Lord 'My refuge and my fortress; my God, in Whom I trust”.

In the very hot countryside of the Bible a person might feel he would die if he did not find shade, say next to a rock or under a tree. Some of us have had the experience - dehydrated, head throbbing, we desperately need to escape from the unrelenting sun. Surcease from this, when we find a shadow cannot be described - it must be felt.

But what is the shadow of the Almighty? It is the state of consciousness we find as we meditate upon God. The great Greek thinker Plato says "the soul takes flight to the realm of the invisible, where it knows peace and bliss." Here too we find comfort and security, at first inwardly, and then outwardly in every aspect of our lives.

It has to be experienced firsthand, it cannot be transferred from one person to another. Only alone can we "be still and know that I am God." Seekers after Truth, having found this Place, return to It again and again. "Be still and know that I am God" means an end to worry, anxious concerns about everything, running around in circles, panic. God is All-in-all. He is All-power, All-presence, All-knowledge. It means "I am God, and I am with you, I am unlimited power, I am all wisdom, I am Love, and I will see you through.

When you are weak I am strong." Be still from anxious thoughts. Do not lie awake at night worrying about mistakes of yesterday and in the future. Do not raise a mountain of difficulty in your heart and mind. Do not feel that you have to carry this huge load alone. Do not feel that you are about to be swamped by circumstances that are beyond your control. Instead become still, and come to know deeply within that "I am God."

God must be real to us.

Repeating an affirmation that holds no deep meaning and feeling for us will not change our lives. The invitation is "Be still and know" and it is only in our hearts that we can truly know anything. Our creative thoughts must be energised by feelings.

The prophet Jeremiah confirms this when he reveals "You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart." The same injunction appears in the great Hindu writing Bhagavad-Gita: "Give me your whole heart. Love and adore Me, worship Me always and you will find Me. This is my promise - Who loves you dearly." This is the part that we must do for ourselves.

No-one else can seek on our behalf. We need consciously to find environments that help us - inspiring writings, uplifting friends, associates and organisations - and we need to practice seeking through positive affirmations, meditations, by guarding our thoughts, words and actions. Our words reflect our inner state. We have to make Truth our own by infusing It into our personality.

As we go on and on and on seeking, we find God appearing through us and our experience. We have entered God-consciousness. The purpose of The School of Truth is to help you realise the spirit of God which already resides in you. Pain and disharmony are the thorns that direct you back to the path of Divine law.

We come into this life to increase God's expression, which we experience as fulfillment, joy, health, harmony, success, peace. We come because God needs us here to do His work. We leave the world a little better for our having been in it, and our development as His children confirms it. Truth is self evident. God does not force Himself upon us. He gives us free will and intelligence that we may choose to apply His laws. We live within His laws every minute of the day, whether we are conscious of it or not.

We live in the Spirit of God which permeates all creation, seen and unseen. We live and move and have our being in that Spirit. Our thoughts create vibrations in the medium of Spirit which other people register and which ultimately return to us.

Also, as we impress our thought on the Spirit-medium around us it immediately begins to solidify as the object or condition of that thought. We sow and we reap. Law does not discriminate - it begins to produce according to thought, either positive or If we give thanks for what is good, if we give thanks for what it is natural for us to have, immediately the Spirit begins to form it.

But we must be constant, must not vacillate between positive and negative. We must follow up our morning meditation with positive thinking, feeling, speaking and acting right through our day. If we condemn, criticise, complain and resent we cannot attribute our failures to God: "Why has God done this to me? Why have our prayers not been answered?"

The School's handbook contains this self-teaching: "I try to live every moment of the day with an uplifted consciousness, realizing that my own positive prayers, my thoughts and feelings, have all power in my life. Further, my progress in Truth is reflected in my thoughts, feelings, words and actions."

How do we measure up?

Perhaps each evening we should examine ourselves in terms of the positives and negatives that we have expressed during our day. Were we able to help someone, perhaps to brighten their day? Were we agreeable or disagreeable? If we were tempted to criticise did we control our tongues knowing that criticism blocks the path to love? Do we feel that today we made some spiritual progress? Were we able to control the input to our minds, to detach from the clamour around us or did the day's circumstances batter us about like flotsam and jetsam? Did we humble the ego, accepting that there may be other ways of doing things which could be better than our own? Were we anchored in Truth, following the Master's injunction "What is that to thee, follow thou me."

These are the works that we must do while it is day, while we walk this plane of consciousness. And these are the treasures we take with us when we leave, treasures which neither moth nor rust corrupt. We find them in the protection and peace of the shadow of the Almighty.

© The School of Truth Lecture given in December 2003, Johannesburg, South Africa Source , The Path of Truth (EW)

Room for God

2008-03-20T11:34:00.001+02:00

It seems that one of the greatest difficulties that we experience in life is to let go - to let go of preconceived ideas, opinions, thoughts and reactions to events in the mundane world. We cling to our feelings of personal responsibility, the idea that we must put everything right.

Thomas A. Kempis, the revered 15th century monk and religious writer, tells us "Fly the turmoil of the world as you can, for the treating of worldly affairs can be a great hindrance, although it is done with sincere intention." We need to let go, to detach ourselves from the circumstances about us, not to worry, fret, agonise and torment ourselves inevitably into a state of misery. We need to relinquish our concept of a shortage of time, of pressure, and the need for haste. There will be time for all things!

Do we hold on to disappointments, hardships, frustration, emotions, slights, grudges, harsh words - other people's failure to fulfill their obligations? Do we in fact fill our minds with these perceptions so that there is no room for the thoughts of God - the Good, the True and the Beautiful?

These negative mental habits enter our behaviour from a part of our mind below conscious thinking.

We might consider this sub-conscious mind like the memory of a computer where bits of information are stored in particular locations, like bits of information stored in pigeon holes, and when we want to solve a computer problem we call for the desired information from this store of memory. This whole process has limitations, because we can retrieve from the individual pigeon holes of memory only that which is stored there. Also, the computer memory may be full, so that it has no further capacity to store. Then we need to remove some information and rewrite new information into the memory.

Our minds are just like that - we store away bits of information and when problems arise we call them forth as required. But we must realise that we can call forth only that which is stored there. Therefore, it is essential that the information placed in our memory is of the right-positive-type.
Saint Paul tells us: "Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are of good report, think of these things." If our minds are cluttered with the wrong sort of thoughts, negative thoughts, we must make room for the True thoughts of God.

How can God operate in our lives if we have not made room for Him, if we are engrossed and plagued with that which is not good? Then even God cannot help us, for He has made us free agents and has give us choices. He says "Here is your mind, use it, fill it with what you will, but remember that the thoughts with which you fill your mind are creative and will shape and give form to the life that you are manifesting."

Fortunately for us, changes can be made if the life that we are expressing is not satisfactory. The Master revealed this possibility in the promise "I have come that ye may have life and have it more abundantly" and further "Abide in Me, and let My words abide in you" - words of love, sweetness, compassion, truth and beauty.

But, however we think and express life, even if it is an extremely negative form and in spite of all our omissions and commissions - things we have omitted to do and things that we should not have done - God's Love and power are always available to us, 24 hours a day. Nothing can separate us from the Love of God. We are never alone.

However, this omnipresent companionship of God does not relieve us of having to make positive changes in our lives,for a central aspect of God is Law - the Law of sowing and reaping. For example, perhaps we have to work with someone whose personality, behaviour, or point of view are very different from our own. Perhaps they make us feel insecure of unsure? We may find ourselves clinging to feelings of frustration. What is to be done? How can we handle it? Some people may seek to leave that environment and move to another. Yet, strangely, the situation often re-occurs and they are left with the vague feeling that they have taken the problem with them. So we came to the realization that we need to deal with the problem where it arises rather that trying to avoid it.

For a start we should become aware of the power we give to others over our emotions. It is as though they were in charge of them, not ourselves. Why do we care so much for other people's opinions, and become so easily aroused? Is it because we are not sufficiently attuned to the Infinite within us? Did not the Master teach us "What is that (worldly circumstances) to thee, follow thou Me."

Thomas A. Kempis puts it this way: "We might enjoy much peace if we would not busy ourselves with the words and deeds of others, and with things which appertain nothing to our charge."
In our consciousness we need to separate people from their actions and to detach ourselves from the latter, thinking of ourselves "This has nothing to do with me, they are just working out their destiny." We are told to love our enemies because resentment allows people to occupy our minds and gives them power over us,, while love sets us free. In Human relationships, the more good we see in other people, the better they and we become, while the more negation we see in others, the worse they and we become.

We need to see opportunity in adversity and, should adversity come, to think "This is a good time to make room for God" and then just to think of God and of all the attributes of God - the Good, the True and the Beautiful.

This is the way that our inner strength is developed, by not concerning ourselves with the why or the how, but just relaxing and inwardly remembering that we are "making room for God" - just letting go and letting God! Soon the Presence will be felt. although we will not have words to describe it.
When we are consciously aware that the Spirit of God is within us, we "see through" the personality that others are expressing, and the God in us meets the God in them. Then new thoughts will arise about the relationship. This is God giving us direction, enabling us to feel more peaceful, better able to cope with private feelings and reactions.

When we thus open ourselves to direction from God as what to say and what to do, we enter a Universal Consciousness that is entirely supportive of us, and we can affirm this new Consciousness, whenever we feel the need, thus - "This is a good time to make room for God"
Frank Whittney, the modern American poet, expresses these ideas with beautiful simplicity in his poem, "The Other Fellow"

Through our eyes the other fellow
Oft appears as someone strange,
Someone that we cannot fathom,
Someone we should like to change.
Something of ourself we vision
When we look at other men:
Oft their faults are ours for mending
By our quite superior ken.
Know then when we judge adversely,
When our thoughts condemning road,
That reform had best be started
In ourself and right at home!