LECTURE
THY WILL BE DONE
© The School of Truth
Source p. 75, Apr / May 2007 - The Path of Truth
A central instrument in today's busy materialist world has become the "contract". Contracts have the form "If I do this, then you do that," and today's people use them for just about everything. Gone are the days, for example, when the owner-chef of a restaurant would stand at his patrons' tables, describe his offerings, get the feel of the response, and later present the dishes in an atmosphere of excitement and expectation - with never a worry about price.
Today, people apply contracts to their earliest family relationships, to their final funeral arrangements, and to everything in between. The simplest purchases are accompanied by till slips with reverse sides covered by fine print. Premises display legalistic posters disclaiming all responsibility for harm to users. The contract has become so much a part of everyday life that it has even become an advertisement - for example the various permutations of contract offered to cellphone users. The bottom line of all this contractual living is that contracts are upheld by law. If you break a legally valid contract you break the law, and can expect the consequences.
Now, Truth teaches us that God is Law and that it is in the nature of law, when released, that it has no option but to fulfil itself. Truth teaches us that the part we play in releasing God-as-law is faith: "Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you receive it, and you will." You can imagine the appeal this teaching holds for superficial thinkers: "It is a contract - if I do this, God does that." Even among sincere seekers are legions of glassy-eyed devotees determined to "prove" their contract with God.
But in their haste they forget the qualification "in prayer": "Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you receive it and you will." Prayer means getting close to God. In true prayer we get so close to Him that all separation disappears. We confirm the Master's great utterance "I and the Father are one" - and in Oneness are no parties and no contract.
Yet we must hold that God is Law. There would be no point in our seeking if All-knowledge, All-power, All-presence unfolded today as our good and tomorrow as negation. The Master puts it with overwhelming simplicity: "What man of you, if his son asks him for a loaf, will give him a stone?" In God is no question of giving or withholding good. What is it then that He expects of us?
The answer is simple - acceptance. In working with God we must forget all the wisdom of the world and simply trust - like the patrons of old who trusted the owner-chef to bring them dishes that would delight and that they could afford it. It is not a hopeful trust; it is an absolute, fearless, child-like trust: "All that is Mine is thine." There are no ifs or buts. This is what the Master means when he says "Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you receive it, and you will." In God is everything real, which is good alone, already established. It was always ours, and our part is only, in trust, to reach out and accept it.
Many sincere seekers retain a fearful vision of the Master in Gethsemane. Knowing his painful future, the Master prays "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will but as Thou wilt." This episode in the story of the Master has inspired generations of sufferers, martyrs and cross-carriers - but none of it reflects the real message. The real message is, if we trust our very lives to God, we are uplifted into a new reality.
And Oneness demands that we trust our entire lives to Him. We cannot grant one part of our lives to God and keep another part for ourselves. It is all or nothing.
So when you pray, when you open your minds and heart unconditionally to God within you, do not ask for specifics, do not try to make deals with Him in Whom you live and move and have your being. Simply cast your life on your heavenly Father, Who knows only your highest good and Who has held it in readiness for you from the beginning. When you have found stillness and peace, simply and sincerely release the sentiment which Soul has longed, with infinite patience, for you to release: "Dear Father, Thy will be done."
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