Nicol C. Campbell
My Path of Truth
The School of Truth
Johannesburg, 2nd ed., 1954.
[96] How often have I not heard these words: "It is the eleventh hour, perhaps it is going to be too late. I realise that, whatever has come into my life, or may even now be manifesting in it, is of my own making, is here at my invitation. I know that, not only have I anticipated these particular conditions, but that I have guaranteed them."
Again and again I am asked that question: "Will it be too late?"
If we judge by human standards, by the teachings of the old Mosaic law, then there is no hope for you and me. What we reap, we must have sown. What we have sown in the past, we are now reaping, and what we are sowing at this present, we shall reap in the future. It is all cut and dried.
Those are the ancient teachings according to Moses, 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life' and so on, but Christ brought us all a message of hope: He knew all about those spiritual laws, and He knew also that every human being was expressing only his own state of consciousness.
It is up to the individual, and no ignorance of the Law lets you out. If you use it correctly, it works for [97] your good, if you apply it wrongly, it works also, but to your detriment.
Wherever He went, Christ saw people, crippled, maimed, and miserable, but He did not condemn them. He did not tell them that they were suffering because of any Karmic debt; He asked them, "Do you want to be healed?" and, when they answered 'Yes', He did not say, "According to MY faith shall it be done unto you." He was aware that the Presence of God permeates the whole of His universe, so, understanding that the Life Force was present in the condition, He said, "Arise and take up your bed, throw away your crutches!" or, "According to your faith"--your acceptance of the Truth that I am at this moment recognising-- "is it done unto you."
He did not need to use force, He did not try to compel the Spirit of God to express as perfection in and through those people, He spoke with conviction, as I might say without fear of contradiction, "It is a beautiful sunshiny day" or "It is a lovely starry night."
He did not even argue the matter. He made a simple statement of Truth.
Three years He spent in doing one thing only, proclaiming the Truth, showing the multitudes that it was not God's will that they should suffer, and setting them free from their own negative conditions.
To make them more aware of the Goodness of God He called Him 'Father' and He never claimed that it was He Who did the healing. He said, in effect, "I do not do these things, God in Me, the God Who is also in you, does them. It is not any power of concentration or any magical influence that I possess, that is healing you. [98] The Truth is that you are already healed, but you do not know it. You are not conscious of the fact that you are NOW the temples of the living God, the temples of Omnipotent Life that can, at this present moment, instantly dissolve your darkened conditions and express Itself as perfect life and perfect health in you."
Now, at the eleventh hour, you are afraid, worried, concerned--not with regard to God or His inability or disinclination to aid you--but because of your own feeble belief.
"Will He be in time?" you question. "Can I be sure that God will help me in this terrible condition of disease, lack, misery, or failure? How can I be sure as I have no previous experience of Truth's working for me? I have seen other people helped, of course. I have seen all these conditions dissolved and the fullness of God expressed in and through the affairs of those suffering from them. Nevertheless, much as I want to believe that it is so, I cannot feel certain, I cannot sense this Presence of Love that, according to the Christ-teaching, will set me free. Will it really do this? I have been told to 'stand still and see the salvation' that God will bring forth for me this day, but can I, unreservedly, put my trust in Him?"
"I have been assured that if I will 'stand still'--be at peace inwardly--in spite of the clamouring conditions, the apparent unhappiness and failure now staring me in the face, All-presence, All-knowledge, and All-power will work for me and I shall be delivered of God. But what about this fear that is gripping me, and how am I to quieten all my confused, distracted thoughts? I am trying to believe, to have faith in Him, but because of my [99] wrong up-bringing I have no idea how to go about it!"
You understand, I am sure, that the things you see in life become a part of your own consciousness, if you accept them. You know the shock you experience when witnessing some terrible accident and the joy and upliftment that you feel when something of a happy nature comes your way.
At this moment you are under the influence of unpleasant conditions and discordant circumstances and your nagging fear of them is dragging you down. You realise that of yourself you are not strong enough to overcome them and, if you judge according to the evidence of your senses and accept as realities these human facts that life is presenting to you to test you, you will certainly be heading for failure and defeat. If, however, putting your faith in the Father, you have the courage to face up to them then, out of the very experience that you are now naming evil, sweetness shall come forth, thus proving to you that even in the seeming discord is the Omnipresence, the All-good, that is God.
You have to stand 'still'. This you do by commanding your emotions to be at peace, but, as you know, the more you demand serenity of them, the more disturbed do they become; the more you fight them, the more will they fight back; the greater your efforts to hang on to faith, the more will the condition appear to swamp you, yet, throughout all the struggle that insistent, compelling Voice will keep on repeating, "Stand still, and see the salvation that I shall bring to pass for you this day."
If I were to promise you something wonderful, some particular gift, I know precisely what your attitude of [100] mind would be, exactly how you would feel about it. You would be uplifted, expectant, enthusiastic.
Now think in these same terms of the condition that is at present troubling you; decide that only sweetness shall come out of the prevailing bitterness. Do not deny its existence, as an appearance, recognise that to you it seems real and tangible, a threat to your very being, but determine that only good shall come out of the apparent evil. Realise that it is about to bring you peace of mind, and a conscious faith, that which no other problem, no matter how insurmountable its nature, could at this moment effect, and in this awareness rejoice and be exceeding glad.
We all too frequently become panic-stricken, because God--this unseen Presence--is intangible, something we cannot lay hold of. We give way to fear, as we might, if someone were trying to break into our house, and even knowing that the doors are barred with steel and cannot be forced unless we ourselves open them, we let our imaginations run riot, visualising all sorts of disasters, even though the intruder is safely locked outside.
This is how our negative thoughts act upon us, they bombard us continuously, and it would be absurd if we should say that they do not exist, BUT we do not need to give way to them. We can, by constant affirmation, keep reminding ourselves that the evil cannot invade our consciousness, or affect us in any way, and we can, finally, succeed in transmitting it into its opposite good.
We may still feel afraid, but we are using our grain of mustard seed faith; we are identifying ourselves with the good instead of with the discord.
[101] We can compare ourselves with the little Jewish tribe of the Bible story. When the Moabites and the Ammonites, and their allies come out, mighty in numbers, against the Judeans, these--like you and me--were sore afraid. They did not even have steel bars with which to defend themselves and, as they cast about for ways and means of overcoming the enemy, they realised that they had not the wherewithal to match themselves against the foe.
It was like having to use pea-shooters against tanks, and in their despair they turned to God. Their priests prayed for guidance and this was what they heard: "This battle in which you are about to engage is not yours, but God's. You shall make as though you were about to attack but you shall do anything else but fight. You shall hold your peace."
As you know, they went out stupidly, or so it seemed, to meet this vast horde and the king, Jehoshaphat, appointed singers to precede his troops, who went forward, not fighting but praising the Law to the great army awaiting them.
And what did they find when they came around the mountain? The enemy had been destroyed and it took them three days to gather up the spoils.
Now this may, or may not have happened, that is not important, but, from a Truth point of view, there is a wonderful moral hidden in this little story.
If you will go forth, praising the Lord, singing into the face of your condition, no matter what its magnitude, you will be raising your consciousness, your vibrations, your whole beings to the Presence of God, and God, Who [102] is the Life, the Health, or the Power that you need to see manifest in your lives, will come through you.
And do you suppose there is anything, or anybody that can withstand the power of God?
I have been afraid hundreds of times, I have faced problems that I knew were impossible for me to overcome, and, like you, I had to shut my eyes and pray and pray until I could feel nothing but the Presence of God in me, because I knew that I could do nothing of myself. I had to make as much noise as those Judeans, and stop listening to the outer conditions.
And, if you have already done all that is in your human power, if you have ordered everything to the best of your ability, shall you not do likewise? What follows will not be a miracle for the Christ explained the whole thing to us when He said: "It is the Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom." It is God's pleasure to give you and me happiness, fulfilment, and success. It is even more than that, it is His pleasure to BECOME these things through us.
It is nothing new, what we are teaching you today. We are not trying to change God's will in your lives, we are trying to get you to align your minds and hearts with this will so that His Good may flood you, and press Itself into livingness through you.
As I have so often told you, and as you yourselves have read, the Kingdom is an inner thing that is forever within each one of us.
When, as at the moment, the whole world appears to be toppling down about you, know that what seems real is a lie. Refuse to accept it, stand still and you shall surely [103] see the salvation that God will bring to pass for you this day.
It is only when problems are presented to you that you realise--almost at the crucial moment--the courage, the power and faith that God gives to you; and, when it is all over, a tremendous gratitude wells up in your souls as you recognise how thankful you can be to Him for the experience that has freed you.
It has given you independence, the consciousness that He is a living, vital, dynamic Power in your lives which you can use at any moment, day or night, so that you need never be afraid of persons or conditions any more.
If on some future occasion you feel that you have done all you can and fear has become too much for you, just say to God, "I know nothing about You, I do not even believe in You, I have no faith in You, but I want to try to trust You, so I am going to put myself unreservedly in Your hands and pray just one prayer to You that 'Your sweetness may take the place in me of this bitterness'" and, as you do this sincerely and to the best of your ability, you can rest assured that God will indeed honour your petition and become to you whatsoever you need.
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