Nicol C. Campbell
My Path of Truth
The School of Truth
Johannesburg, 2nd ed., 1954.
[162] It has often been said that the essence of Truth is simplicity. In other words, it is a very simple matter to contact God, yet millions and millions of people, who sincerely believe in Him and with all their hearts feel Him to be the Presence of Good, Protection, Supply, and Fulfilment, find that in spite of their belief there are no practical results in their lives. They live in poverty and squalor, they suffer unhappiness and their bodies continue to be diseased.
If God is all good, and the finding of Him is the essence of simplicity, why are these countless millions oppressed by such negative conditions?
The Master gave a very plain explanation. He said: "Not everyone who saith unto Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven." Thus He taught that it is useless for you and me to believe in God and then to show forth no active faith.
Over the past few months I have, to the best of my ability, tried to simplify the meaning of faith.
What is this strange, apparently unknowable power that can change diseased bodies into perfection, can bring happiness and joy to hungry hearts, can substitute plenty [163] for lack, and replace failure with success? Where does it come from? How does it contact God? And why is it, if we believe in Him, that this is so unavailing? Our belief is inadequate because, firstly, we do not really believe, and secondly, because there is a conscious separation in our minds between ourselves and God.
We are always looking, perhaps unconsciously, but nevertheless we are looking to something outside of ourselves to bring some particular good into tangible expression for us, yet the greatest of truths, and one that every single human being must accept, is that he and God are absolutely, indivisibly one. He must understand that there is no such thing as God-and-himself, or God-and-anyone-else, he must know that God as Intelligence, Power, Peace, and Love is already in expression through him and all mankind.
Take the trouble to analyse your thoughts daily and check up on the measure of faith that you do not have. What is it that you want? Happiness, health, a better job, or more money, greater success? All these things are already within you, but in what terms do you think of your relationship to God? You say all day long that you believe in God, you use affirmations, pray and relax, you follow all the mechanics of Truth, but the essence, the substance, is lacking because there is in you no trust to back up your belief.
The student of Truth will assure me, "Of course I believe in God, naturally I know that He is All-knowledge, All-power, and All-presence, and I certainly recognise that this is true!" And I say to him or her, "If you know these things, why do you not live them? If you sincerely believe that God IS, and because He IS you [164] ARE, that you are His expression, living, moving, and existing in Him, if you believe these things, why do you not, by your actions, set them free?"
It is useless for you to say, "Lord, Lord, be this or that to me," for He is it already but He requires an active worker, otherwise He is dammed up in you (or in me, as the case may be) as the very thing that you desire. It does not come to us from outside, it comes from within, outward. It is the inner realisation, the constant practice of the Presence of good, the Presence of happiness or the Presence of health that sets these things free. When we know this to be the Truth, we shall see it come to pass.
There are people who have instantaneous demonstrations because their souls have evolved to the particular point where they can accept God's good as done; but at the moment I am thinking of folk like you and me, who have to battle to find Him, who automatically judge according to appearances, accepting conditions as realities; but what can all these have to do with God? If God is the reality and if we are, as St.Paul said, the temples of God, or of His Kingdom, why do we keep on looking outside of ourselves, to circumstances and to persons for our relief? Each individual is absolutely dependent upon God alone and not upon any single entity external to himself.
You and I have fulfilment within us. The Power, the Knowledge, and the Presence are all in you and in me. We are not only the focal point of God, the outlet of His consciousness, we are ourselves His very Presence. It is, however, only our ability to live in this consciousness, to have an active faith, not to be just thinkers and [165] feelers, but doers also that sets It free, and it is this capacity that builds up in us a greater and greater realisation of the immanence within us of all good.
It seems strange that people will not look inside themselves. So many have said to me, "How can I possibly associate God with the substance called 'money'? How can I look within myself for something that I need in practical form, that is of a material character, how can that be within me?" But it is so, the living substance, the atomic life that holds that entity together is the atomic life that holds you and me together, and the whole universe as well. The substance and the money are spiritual ideas, and the latter is the essence of Spirit made flesh, that is, expressed in tangible form.
When we identify ourselves with Spirit within us, when we consciously know of ourselves that we are one with the Whole, then all the seeming parts or fragments unite to become components of the integrated individual that we have become.
It is a wonderful thing to be able to understand this tremendous Truth that we are not dependent upon any single soul for any good that we may desire. The very love we need, the companionship in the form of either man or woman, is within us, not outside, and it is by the realisation that we are not separated from God, the Maker of all things, AND by the practical living of this truth, that the physical manifestation--another part of God in us--is brought forth through us. God, or Love, simply calls to Love and the natural attraction takes place.
But we are inclined to doubt and to compromise. Naturally we desire the best, we want to be completely [166] happy, to be successful, to have a joyous freedom within ourselves, to be able to meet our needs, when they fall due, in a heaped up and running over measure to share and to spare, and yet, when the first indication comes that the good is beginning to manifest, we turn away, because we do not recognise it. We do not endorse it when it is no more than a sign, a cloud no bigger than a man's hand, for it is not the actual rain we have been asking for, and we do not understand that this is merely an indication that we must receive gratefully as being the forerunner of the thing itself.
I cannot go half way with God, therefore I will not accept from Him that which is second best. If He is the substance of perfection and is All-good, then I want only that in my life; yet sometimes I falter and say to myself that I will make do with some inferior substitute for what I really want, but in accepting this lesser gift I am virtually acknowledging that I am prepared to put up with the crumbs that fall from the table, and in that case it is unlikely that I shall get more.
We all have to grasp with both hands what we want! Love tells us that what we see in the beginning is only the first sprouting of the tiny seed and asks if that will suffice or whether we mean to stand out for the fullness of the flower in perfect bloom.
The more solicitude and attention you lavish on that little shooting seedling, the larger will it grow; if you give it everything you have, mentally, emotionally, and materially, it will--because of your love and tender care--grow and grow until it attains for you the very acme of perfection. What we want from God, and what we are prepared to accept, rests entirely in our own hands [167] and I think you know, as well as I do, that we can repeat all day long the words "Lord, Lord!" without His attributes of health, happiness and abundance manifesting for us as a result of our lip service only.
You can pretend from dawn till dusk that you are a multi-millionaire or that you have perfect health, peace, or harmony and this will bring forth nothing at all, unless you take actual, practical steps in this direction. You must be convinced that you have already received, you must radiate your consciousness of that which you wish to see expressed in your material world before it can come to pass, but, if you separate, in your minds, the spiritual from the material, nothing whatever will happen.
It is futile to reason from any such standpoint as: "The material is evil; since God is good, it cannot be His will that I have material things." Do you imagine that God ever wanted humanity to live an entirely circumscribed life because of our lack of initiative, or any desire to use our intelligence creatively? If so, why did He say, through the so-called man of poverty and sorrows: "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them"? Where is the limitation in this? "What things soever" is qualified only by the sentence, "if you believe that you receive it, you shall have it." In other words, physical health, human happiness, tangible abundance, manifest good, are already yours, if you accept them; and, if, in order to have the fullness of God in your lives, you must find Him. Should you not set about doing that at once instead of wasting time looking to your fellow-men?
We know that human beings may let us down, that they will probably make rash promises, and yet we are [168] more inclined to rely on them than upon God. We take every practical step in trust, where a friend is concerned, without hesitation because we feel that he is safe. We have the confidence that he, who is but a tiny atom of God's Self-expression of good, will help us, yet, when it is a question of the universal Power that is all the Knowledge, Love, and Power in creation, we are afraid. We think, "Perhaps I am unworthy of this demonstration. It may be my karma that I should suffer or lack, perhaps it is necessary that these conditions persist for the rest of my life."
In that case, what is the meaning of healing? It would mean that persons who are healed through the School of Truth, or through teachers of Truth, who speak the word of faith and encouragement, would be cured in any event. The teacher would not be necessary for, at the moment when the karmic debt had been wiped out, the healing would automatically take place.
The teaching of Truth would become hypocrisy if the application Thereof could not produce results and anybody practicing It might pray for someone in need with all the faith in the world, releasing all the Power of God through himself and calling It forth to flow through the individual, and nothing would happen unless his karmic debt was already paid, in which case the good offices of the intermediary would be superfluous. This would make a mockery of the admonition: "Ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free."
If you look at Truth rationally, you will find that It is just plain, good sense; It reveals that the body, the vehicle that you can see, houses within itself something which is intangible, which is Knowledge, Power, and [169] Love, and knows the answer to every conceivable problem that can be presented to It, and furthermore, It indicates that the faith of the individual is the power, the switch, the open sesame that releases these through the body as the vital, dynamic force that produces health, happiness, success, and supply.
God is the most practical Being, Power, or Person--as you care to call Him--in the universe. He pours out the good in such measure that we cannot use all that He provides, but, because of our wrong up-bringing or limited outlook, we reduce Him to our own level, and believing--as we have been taught--that disease, poverty, and misery are His will for us and that we must bow our heads to them, we accept them in our lives. If this be true, what are you and I praying for? If God has decreed that we remain sick, poverty-stricken, and unhappy for all our lives on this planet, there is nothing we can do about it but to accept these things and wait for death, but, if that really is the case, then human beings must be superior to God because it has been proved that, by their faith, they are able to transmute disease into health, change poverty into affluence, failure into success, and discord and hatred into peace and harmony. If this is so, man's power must be greater than All-power because we actually see countless thousands of people rising out of the very lowest degradation to which any human being can sink and climbing to the highest pinnacle that any man can reach, and this not only in regard to health and happiness, but where prestige, success, and opulence are concerned too.
We have to be practical! Some people say that I am a complete visionary, but I think I am the most practical [170] person in the world because I believe, without any shadow of doubt, that God is the substance of all good, is within every human being and that it is possible, and probable, for us to have whatsoever good we desire, without delay.
The universe is unlimited; it is we who have to build up a greater consciousness of good, to cultivate a greater capacity for accepting it, to live our awareness of it in our lives. It is useless to speak of God as abundance and then think poverty, to talk about happiness and feel unhappy inside, or to proclaim health and then accept disease.
Realise that there are no limitations whatever, and then consider my opening words, in which I said that it is not just those who cry, "Lord, Lord!" who will receive the good, for words alone will not bring it forth, it is a consciousness that has to become an integral part of your minds, your emotions, and your material selves, before it can take on visibility in your everyday world.
I am not trusting something that is not cognizant of my needs. I know from long years of experience that whatever I desire--or any other human heart desires--that thing is already created, finished, and done, not only spiritually but also materially.
There is no happiness that you can long for that is not here for you, there is no health that you can wish for--in spite of a sick body--that is not within you because your bodies are the temples of God, that is the temples of Life, of Perfection, in which all good abides.
There is no companionship that you crave that is not already in expression for you, and as for substance, God does not have to manufacture substance up above, in a place called heaven, to give you your supply. It is all [171] within you, just as it is within me, but you must live a practical trust. You must make up your minds that you are not separated from God, that you and God are one, and this desire on your part is God Himself, the Substance of whatever you need, seeking to come into expression through you and the happy, enthusiastic opening of your minds and hearts provides Him with the opportunity to do this.
We do not need to be afraid of taking action. We must be mindful of hurting people, of selfishness, of a tendency to be grabbing and critical, to disparage and condemn, but, when it comes to our own affairs, we must be quick to listen to God's Voice, and not hesitate to give living expression to the particular good that we desire. We must not argue with ourselves about it, analyse it, dissect it, but we must live it, working speedily with singleness of purpose as God does.
I know how you feel, particularly the beginners, when everything about you seems chaotic, when the bottom appears to have fallen out of your lives, and you feel isolated, deserted, alone.
I know what it is like when you are hungry, when you cannot pay your debts, or you are sick and cannot get well. These are not your experiences alone, they are mine also, and that is why I can say, without any reservations, without any fear of contradiction, in spite of appearances, of overwhelming conditions, that you are now set free; it needs but a little more effort on your part, a little more recognition of God, a little less acceptance of the condition, a unifying of yourself physically, emotionally, and mentally with His substance [172] and spirit of good, for everything to work out under grace and in a perfect way.
You must try to realise that there is no problem that you could have of which God is not already the solution, no such thing as an incurable disease, as a lack of money, as discord, except in your own minds. It is only because you, and I, make realities of these conditions that they befall us; we give them power instead of giving that to God alone, we magnify them out of all proportion, to their importance and ninety-nine times out of a hundred--as you well know--in spite of our mistakes, nothing of a negative or evil nature happens. Let us therefore think on that message, that it is: "Not all who say unto me 'Lord! Lord!' shall enter into the Kingdom." In other words, those people who merely speak about the law--for God is the Law--shall not enter the Kingdom, but they who "do the works." They, who allow the law of good, the law of love, of patience, and tolerance, forgiveness and all good to flow through them, are the ones who enter the Kingdom.
The Lord is the Law, and I can talk about the Law--the Lord--all day and all night and the talking alone will not help me, make me healthy, happy, successful, or prosperous.
Talking of itself does not bring forth anything.
"My Father"--that is the Law-- "worketh hitherto, and I work," and as I (you and I) work, so It works for us, and is done unto us, and all is well.
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