Nicol C. Campbell
My Path of Truth
The School of Truth
Johannesburg, 2nd ed., 1954.
[173] It seems a strange thing to say, but it is perfectly true that, because of our wrong conceptions of God, we are our own enemies. We believe, I think, up to a point in His goodness, concede that He is mercy, truth, love, and justice, we have no doubt that He is Omnipresence, and we feel that we are His Spirit in manifestation, and there are many people who do a great deal of mental and emotional work in trying to align themselves with This Spirit so that they may become open channels through which He can express His goodness and love. However, in my contact with human beings, I have discovered that we impose limitations and reservations upon Him. Yet, if God is, as the Master said, 'Love', and if He is complete forgiveness, why do we, because of past or present actions, torment ourselves--consciously or subconsciously--with the idea that we are unworthy of manifesting His good.
If we want, not just an emotional experience, but real happiness of the mind and heart, such as makes for health in our bodies and success and opulence in our affairs, we must accept it as a Truth that God is Love. [174] This God-attitude is not, of course, the physical, sentient enchantment that we encounter in our daily lives, it is that Spirit of Harmony and Peace that no money can buy and no human companionship can give, it is the inner realisation that 'God and I are one'.
When Christ said that They would come and make their abode in you, He did not mean that two outside people should enter into you and me. He was speaking of that Lover, compounded of the unseen, unknowable Spirit of God and of the Christ made manifest in all mankind Which, if we seek it diligently, will find Its way into us, and, taking up Its abode in our consciousness, will still all the mental and emotional turmoil in our hearts so that our highest good in all things may come to pass.
We cannot treat God as a machine, we cannot think to set Him in motion as one does some cold, impersonal law that brings, through faulty application, poverty into the affairs and disease into both minds and bodies. Do not mistake me, no one can create, by the Power of God, Which is the only power there is for anyone to use, one single atom of evil; we cannot break the Law Which is One of Progress and Perfection, but we can use It wrongly and, as a result, we shall see a lack of God manifested in the world in which we live.
In reality, no matter what condition you may have in your bodies or affairs, how low you may have sunk, or whether you believe in God or not, you can never, for a moment, be separated from His Spirit, Which is Divine Love. All the burdens of sickness, misery, failure and [175] poverty, that now weigh down your lives, and are the results of your persistent wrong thinking and living, will immediately dissolve into their native nothingness when you become aware of Love enthroned within you. Love cannot punish, cannot create any evil. It can express only Its own nature, which is to flood Its human expressions with Its own infinite Bounty.
When the Master was asked what more we had to do besides obeying the commandments He replied, "Love one another, as I have loved you." When He was betrayed of men He did not criticize or condemn, when those nearest to Him denied him--ashamed any more to know Him--He repaid them with the infinite Love Which was God expressing through Him--He recognised their frailties and weaknesses, and He knew that the only power in the universe that could uplift them was Love and He gave that in fullest measure. He did not only talk It, as so many of us do, He was It; It radiated Its healing warmth from Him and was so much a part of Him that all who came into contact with Him could sense His spirituality, feel His compassion, His pity, mercy, and forgiveness.
Could these qualities have sprung from the human selfhood, that is so quick to jump to conclusions, so ready to hit back, to retaliate, and harms not the other person but himself, or were they part of that divine afflatus that lifted Him far, far, above his fellow-men and drew them so humbly and devotedly to sit at His feet.
The faith that He called forth so spontaneously, we of the School are trying to teach to you. We know [176] how much we have to break down, the dread of conditions, the emotional chaos that threatens to swamp you, the turmoil in your hearts, but we know, too, that these have nothing whatsoever to do with God. We see the problems and at times even we are gripped by fear, not because we do not believe in God but, when the appearance rears its head, momentarily there is a reaction of shock, and we wonder whether our faith is adequate, and then the still, small Voice within speaks words of encouragement and trust and we know exactly where we stand. We have to choose, and choose immediately. Here is the condition, but what is it? Has it any substance? Is it a reality? Is it part of God? If it is a negation, how can it be of God, of That which is good? If it is poverty and lack, how can it be one with wealth and opulence? If it is darkness, can it exist in light?
The trouble is that we forget God. We have some minor demonstration and all our thoughts turn to Him, but not for long, soon we begin to take the good for granted and then we wonder why the trials recur in our lives. It is certainly not the fault of God! It is we, who by our ingratitude, have separated ourselves from Him. There is only one thing, apart from all the mechanics of demonstration, that I try to remember, and that is to be grateful. To be sincerely thankful for every tiny token of good that comes into my life, and to recognise it as coming only from Him.
The human channels are merely instruments or vehicles of His Love. It is He Who--through us--is giving and receiving love, therefore I must not fail [177] to pass it back to Him. I know that when I forget God I forget my good, therefore, even if I cannot feel it emotionally, I must sustain, in an intellectual way, my trust in His Presence and Goodness as the only fulfilment in my life. If all day long, from the moment I open my eyes, I spend my time giving thanks to God in spite of turmoil and conditions, what evil can manifest in my life? There is no room for anything but good. If I snap on a light the darkness is dispersed, and, when I switch it off, the shadow reappears. Evil is like this obscurity, it has as much power in the Presence of God, or in that of gratitude, which is Love, as darkness has when we put on the light.
Truth is really very simple. It is the easiest thing in the world to grasp because It is universal. All must be able to understand It, the illiterate, the uncouth, the degraded, as well as the cultured and educated. We create confusion in our minds by trying to make It mysterious and too metaphysical. We think It must be a study open only to the clever, the brainy, and sagacious among us, but, if that were so, what would happen to the masses who have not that mental capacity, yet who, nevertheless, often succeed in uncovering profounder truths for themselves than do the more erudite members of the community?
We come nearest to God when we push out the reasoning faculties, the logical approach. If I have some incurable disease and you need 5,000 pounds very urgently, have we any time for rationalisation? We cannot work out the solutions in our minds because our deductive abilities have not yet evolved to the point where we [178] can see the good as already established in the spiritual realm and manifest in and through the physical vehicles. At this juncture the analytical, commonsense thinker would say that I must seek professional advice and you must bestir yourself and try to borrow the money you require, but when we both have investigated all the channels available without result, where do we stand? It is at that point, when in our human anguish and suffering, we turn with childlike helplessness to the Spirit of God within us, that we receive, and the Substance of the good we need is externalised for us.
The Power that brings this about comes from your heart and mine, from our continuous gratitude that asks not, 'What can I get?' but, 'How much can I give?' It is Love that will permeate you and me, spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically; It is the Pearl of great Price that every single human being is seeking, and to the uncovering of Which we of the School are trying to lead you; It is the knowledge of our unity with God, and the understanding that He is Love and Love is the Law.
When Love is in charge, you will not have to work things out for yourselves, you will experience no more mental or emotional agitation for perfect Love casteth out fear. With your hearts filled with love there will be no room for negation of any kind, you will be free, immune from criticism, indifferent to what others think and say, their malice will not touch you and they will have no more power over you. You will know that no outer darkness can ever destroy your inner Light. Whatever power is sent out against you, must be for you the [179] Power of God, and to you It shall be for good; the evil returns to those who sent it forth, it is not your concern at all. The only thing that you, each and every one, have to ask yourselves is: "How can I consciously become one with the Kingdom of God? What is the key, the 'open sesame' that will release the floodgates of good within me, and fill my life?" And you will hear your own voices saying: "First of all I must have peace, I must be happy, for an unhappy mind cannot have a healthy body, and an unhappy heart cannot bring forth success, and the Key to the Kingdom shall be simple gratitude in all things, not just giving, but expressing, BEING thanks, this day, and tomorrow and forever."
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