THE SCHOOL OF TRUTH LECTURE GIVE TO RELEASE

I am taught to love my neighbour as myself, to turn the other cheek, to go the second mile, to be non-resistant and to forgive seventy times seven. And because I believe this to be Truth I practice it. But I ask the question: If I do all these things, and am but the extension of God’s love and life, does He not too forgive me seventy times seven? How could I teach my children to do certain things and expect them to do it, while I do not do it myself? Consequently I cannot accept teachings of a god who punishes, whose love for me is qualified, who stores up in his consciousness all my misdemeanours, who does not forgive me or set me free. How ludicrous it would be that man, the manifestation, should express qualities greater than God, the Creator. I ask myself constantly whether my heart is right with God, right with Truth, with honesty, and integrity, and sincerity. I cannot fool God. I cannot have tongue in cheek, I cannot make excuses for myself, for I am dealing with Law, and nothing in the world can release It which does not fulfil Its terms. The human heart is seeking within itself a realisation of the presence of God. It needs stability, convictions that there is nothing in this whole world to fear, including people.

No person can deprive you of what is yours. The intellect in isolation can make excuses, but the heart brings in wisdom, the ultimate knower. So, is my heart right with God? I think of the homing pigeon. It is transported, sometimes hundreds of kilometres from its nest, and released, and unerringly it finds its way back to its own loft. Just so, whatever I give of myself inevitably comes back to its Home in me. If things appear to be going wrong in my life, it is not circumstances or people that are responsible for this, or even God. I am receiving what I have sent out - or rather failed to send out. The fault lies in me. I have been in Truth too long to make excuses for myself. I go into the depths of my Being, where Its presence never censures me but forgives seventy times seven times. It says to me "You are My beloved child, in whom I am well pleased, My image and likeness is within you. I see no other." I say every day and all day long "God is so good to me" and then I do my part honestly and sincerely. Like the homing pigeon, if I go out a million miles, I always return to my greater Self, to God within me. I come back to the Truth Which, if I experience It and know It, makes me free of all limitation. The whole basis of my life has been (in the beginning in ignorance) "give, and it shall be given unto you." I have thought a great deal about this. If I am giving to receive, I am not actually giving. It seemed an enigma. Eventually my inner Voice explained it to me "Do not give to receive. Give to release." What a difference. I give my love freely, radiate my health freely, give of my substance freely without any thought of return - and that very giving releases these things in me in presseddown, shaken-together, and running-over measure. How simple it all became - this building up of the consciousness we call faith, and its realisation as health and happiness and security. My own father was a devout man, and I loved and admired him intensely. Like me, if things were wrong, there were no excuses, but he never understood the love of God for humanity.

He began to change only when he visited The School of Truth in Johannesburg in 1944, saw what was happening and read some of the thousands of letters we receive from people, thanking us for the freedom which they have found, for a new understanding of God, not as a personality but as the Love Which constitutes the whole universe, and Which is fulfilled as individuals, as you and me. Only then did my father begin to understand his own limitations, his own nonforgiveness of what he called "sin". I reminded him "Judge not lest you be judged. Forgive seventy times seven." Judging and condemning are a vicious circle, drawing us more and more into the darkened consciousness of negation, whereas Love is light. It emanates from deep within you. You can feel It, just as you can feel the warmth and love in another. You know it is not synthetic. I see a great deal more than people may imagine, but it is not for me to judge. I say with the Master "Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing - to themselves." I cannot walk the path of Truth for another, but I can try to set an example. What a wonderful world we would have if all those who claim to be Christian actually practiced it. My love is universal - it embraces all humanity. When I have my meditation I pray for all the religions and churches. I must fulfil the law of Love. It releases God as good in me and as me. On my desk in Johannesburg I have the words "God is so good to me." People coming to this lecture this morning told me about the "miracles", the wonderful things that have happened to their bodies. They applied Law, and Law - not being a person with power of choice - obeyed Its own terms and fulfilled Itself, entirely naturally, as health. What is it that I truly need? What is it that I really desire in the depths of my Being? I need consciousness, the state of mind and heart, of myself as the temple of the living God.

Every thing that I ever will need or truly desire is already fulfilled in me, as me, but I must come to understand and know it. I am the one who sets it free. God's work was done in the beginning. All things, as ideas, have been created. Man is growing and developing into the awareness of who he is - not some cast-off thing born in sin and evil, but a creation, a living God. "In Him I live and move and have my being." Is that clear enough? And He, the Spirit of Love, lives and moves and has His being in me and as me. What is there to fear? Do I have to concern myself about today or tomorrow? Surely not. Before we call Love has already answered. Our true desires are already telling us what God has created for us - hence our awareness of them. I listen to God praying to me. Yes, Love is saying to me "Nicol, this is what I am within you, as you. You have to put on the light switch. I have given you free will to release Me or dam Me up." "Today is the day that God has made (for me) and I shall rejoice and be glad because of it" - today, not tomorrow. And further "It is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom," not to punish, not to destroy, not to hurt, but to love and to fulfil His love as whatever you need. This has been the experience of many of you here and the experience of countless many throughout the world. It is God's pleasure. You come to God only through love. So let us look into our mirrors honestly and sincerely, with our intellect fused into our heart. Let us look past our personality and ask of ourselves "Is this the way God would act?" Is this how God would react? Is it right or wrong to want from others that which belongs to no-one and which I already have? You do not need people, my good friends.

You are not dependent upon anyone for any good in your life. It is already extant within you, as you. Ah, to be free, to know that you are free, to know that there is no such thing as time in God, that you are never too old. "I will regenerate you. When you are weak I am strong. When the personality is weak then I, God in you, am strong." This is the knowledge we call faith. What is faith? Faith is knowledge born out of experience, out of many experiences. Faith is understanding. Isn't it marvellous to be able to say "The God of today, of Sunday, is the God of Saturday, and so on" right the way back to the beginning of consciousness in terms of good. People talk about "now". I say now has already passed. A few seconds have gone. There is no now. I cannot ever arrive at "tomorrow", there is only ever "today", and I am grateful and happy because of it. My heart rejoices and, as I think of my omissions and commissions, I hear a Voice within me, the Spirit of Love, saying to me, as It says to you,"You are My beloved child in whom I am well pleased, and you are set free."