LECTURE
BE AT PEACE
Nicol C. Campbell
© The School of Truth
Source p. 197, Aug / Sep 2007 - The Path of Truth
"The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me." The prince of the world is the worldly circumstances that so suddenly appear in our lives and seem to have the power to overwhelm us - appearances of poverty, unhappiness, disease and fear. But you are not isolated creatures, you are God's very expression, permeated from the centre of your being to the circumference of your bodies by Him Who is Love, Who is All-knowledge, All-power and All-presence. The Master's message, coming down through the ages, is more relevant than ever before. Today's materialism dominates man with fear, with faith in negation of every kind.
There are countless millions who believe in God. They accept that He is All-in-all - yet they do not trust Him. The moment they are confronted by some apparently harmful appearance, even rumour, their belief wilts and they rush to worldly means to save themselves. Faith develops through certain stages - first simple belief, then trust, and finally understanding. You can test each stage. Take belief: Are you inwardly tranquil in the face of difficulty, or do you continually look over your shoulder expecting a blow? Are you hypnotised by the appearance or do you feel safely calm, certain of the immanence of God?
We at The School of Truth experience the appearances of negation daily. No worldly hand assures us of our substance. Yet we do not look over our shoulders, or rush to the Post Office to see what the mail has brought. We simply get on with our jobs in the knowledge, made stronger by previous experience, that God always fulfils our needs. The voice of Love assures us "Follow thou Me. Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself." Yet we know how difficult it is not to be cognizant of appearances. Do not take heed of appearances, for God is and always will be constituting you as Love and life and health and supply.
Even our "advanced" members become fearful. I know because they come in and see me. They say to me "You seem to be peaceful and happy. You run an organisation on faith. At times don't you become anxious?" "Well" I reply "if I were sometimes to become anxious then I would be practicing faith in the wrong direction, faith in the appearances of lack but, in my fifty years of experience of running this organisation, never once has God failed to provide. We keep our hearts and minds on God, and God only. We know; and we know that we know, that it is already done."
People look into their pockets and purses and, when they find them empty, become afraid. But in those very pockets and purses is the substance of God. Material substance is no different from health or happiness. All are spiritual ideas. The prince of this world is not the devil. It is but appearance, seemingly here now but gone in an instant. It disappears the moment you remove it from your consciousness.
Where is God? "The place on which you are standing is holy ground." God is Omnipresent. You cannot go anywhere where He is not - except into separation in your consciousness. Yet in these times there is more fear of circumstances than faith in Him. Why do people turn their backs so readily on their own belief: "Whatsoever things you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them" - whatsoever things, without limitation, but they must be good things. I am constantly asked "How can I believe that I receive it when my bank account is empty?" Our bodies, our material lives, are the temples of the living God, and every single good idea in the universe constitutes us in every cell and molecule of our beings.
If people would only pause and work things out. "Have I got faith in God or faith in condition? What is my desire - is it disease, poverty, unhappiness or is it health, security, joy?" Wherefrom spring these desires? It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." Tune yourself into this promise - it is not from outside of yourself, it rises within you. God cannot separate Himself from us for He is Omnipresence.
There cannot be lack or disease or unhappiness in His presence. Negation appears only when I switch off from Him. I keep telling you it is like this light here on my podium - when I switch on I attune myself to the power always there and my whole environment is illumined by "the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world," the light of Understanding. I can switch it on or off. It is my free choice. God says simply "I am. You are. And you are because I am. The place on which you are standing is holy ground. Not for a millionth of a second can I be separated from you, or you from Me."
Yet we hear in letters to us from all parts of the world "What is going to happen? Look at the turmoil - even in your own country. Are you not afraid?" Fear is faith in the problem. How can I be a follower of Truth and be afraid of problems or conditions? How can I say any negation is greater than God? How dare I try to canalise, to tell this almighty Presence through what channel my good should come? "Be still" it says, "be still and hope, be still and expect, be still and know."
God is not going to come to you. He is not going to create something for you. He is already in you and as you as the things you need. The desires which you feel are God telling you through your heart and mind that this is so. When we look at say a tulip bulb we cannot see the flower inside it, but it is there. Even if you cannot see the happiness and prosperity in your life, it is there. It has to be nurtured, just as we prepare the soil and plant our bulb and water it. We must not be impatient and dig it up to see how it is coming along. In good time the shoot emerges.
What have I experienced through my eighty years? Has God ever failed to emerge in my life or been late? In the eleventh hour especially I have learnt like Job: "Be at peace; thereby good will come to you." So I relax and keep my mind centred on God within me. Never once has my good failed to materialise. Orthodoxy teaches that you are full of sin, unworthy of God's good. But spiritual law is no different from physical law, like the law of gravitation. Is not everything that is good, of God? It is there, and I use It. God is Love, Harmony and Order. If my heart and mind are centred in Love and Good then my whole body, my life, manifests order.
A very good aspect of the Roman Catholic Church is confession. The follower goes to his priest, whom he cannot see behind a curtain, and confesses his "sins", his separation from God. He gets rid of all the burdens on his shoulders, and both metaphorically and literally leaves them with the priest. Just so, I tell people who come to see me full of worry, unhappiness and pain "Leave it with us just as you would leave your laundry at the cleaners." Then, as a receipt, I give them an affirmation - "I have nothing to fear. I have cast my burden upon God Who is fulfilled in me as health, happiness and prosperity." I tell them "This is a prescription. Say it whenever you feel impacted by the problem."
"Whatever things are good, whatever things are true, whatever things are beautiful, think on these things." We must water the good seeds within ourselves with love and with intelligent vision. You do not give thanks for health and see disease, you do not give thanks for happiness and see disharmony, you do not give thanks for prosperity and look at nothingness in your purses. For what you see you think, and then begin to feel. And with thinking and feeling the idea is conceived, and inevitably emerges for all to see.
God is, therefore I am. Do not interfere with His manifestation by looking at the clock. If you look at the problem it will become larger and larger. Look at God. Say "God in the midst of me is almighty to heal, to release, to forgive." He knows the things you need and it is His good pleasure to give them to you, or to become them through you.
Almost all people have tremendous faith - in conditions. They hate each other and are jealous of each other. It does not occur to them that, if their bodies, their lives, are the temples of the living God, then within them is the full total of God's substance. The only thing you can do with God's substance is to give it away freely, to release it. Releasing it is the only way to get it flowing through you. It is limitless and can never be depleted. Every hand is God's hand, the only hand in the universe. So I keep on looking at my hands. What am I giving? What am I releasing? I cannot give and suffer penury. Only when my hand is closed it cannot receive - be it health, happiness or prosperity.
"The prince of this world" is your own consciousness looking at appearances. When you learn to depend on God the whole world takes care of you. When you enter this consciousness you become quite unconcerned about your supply of all things. You come to know that there is no God-and, but only God-AS. God constitutes you in every cell of your being. In every cell of your being is Love-presence, pushing Itself into manifestation through you.
"God is me." Orthodoxy objects, but it is true. There can be nothing real outside of Omnipresence. "Whither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold Thou art there." Every place is holy - whole, perfect - ground. "Though thy sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." It is up to you, not God. All of us are prodigals, all of us have been away for a long time from the Presence of God and are now hesitant to return. We worry that we will not be accepted but as we draw close we fling ourselves into His arms, always open in forgiveness and Love. That is God for all His temples. Truth is the answer, is light in the darkness, health in sickness, happiness in discord, prosperity in lack, faith in fear.
People, religious people, have tremendous faith in that which is negative, and they wonder why their troubles persist. They pray but they do not truly believe. But when your emotions are at peace, when you find you are relaxed and unconcerned, then you have entered the Kingdom. You know that there is nothing to fear. You are not isolated but are one with the universal God, harmonious Essence, Peace and Order, permeating all Its universes, waiting for you, His temple on this plane of consciousness, to release Him. "Ask and it will be given you. Seek and you will find." How wonderful it is to know that these seemingly puny bodies are constituted of the Universal Presence of Omnipotence and Omniscience.
I say to you now: Leave your problems here, metaphorically and literally. Leave them here - sickness, lack, unhappiness - and when you get outside say to yourselves "Thank You, God. I am set free. For You in the midst of me are almighty to heal, almighty to bless, almighty to protect, fulfilled as all the good I could possibly desire."
(Ref. Durban 860907)
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