THE SCHOOL OF TRUTH LECTURE ONE WITH THE WHOLE

How strange it is that, after all these hundreds of years since the Master taught, humanity still doubts. On every side we see the manifestation of God in His fullness, yet we become agitated and confused when there appears no guidance or resolution of our problems, and we begin to question Truth. When I go to Durban, my wife and I stay with friends in Umhloti where we have a suite on the hill overlooking the sea. In the early hours I lie in bed and can see the sea ahead of me and can watch the sun rising. It is pitch dark - not a single sign of dawn - but I know that the sun must rise for it is in the nature of the sun - we are travelling towards it. And gradually there is a glimmer on the horizon, and then a few rays, and then the sun is here - is here because it has always been here and always will be here, for us anyway. Just so is the certainty and the Presence of God. I think of the traumatic experiences through which we pass, the difficulties presented to us, the treachery perhaps preached on us - being let-down, forsaken. We do not know which way to turn, we do not know how to pay our debts, and we run hither and thither looking for a solution. But the solution is not outside of ourselves. Because we are looking outside, at appearances, we are looking at nothingness. I cannot stress this too much - you cannot under any circumstances create negation or "evil" from the Power that is God.

You are either joined or you are separated. "But" you say "look what is happening around us, all this evil." There you are seeing, in the lives of your friends and neighbours, the manifestation of hearts and minds separated from Good, separated from God. Let me make it as simple as this: In my hand I have a flex with a switch, and behind it is all the power of the municipal power station. If I put on the switch I will have light. I amusing the power. And now, when I turn off the switch, I do not destroy the power, rather I separate myself from it. I, you, are either joined or separated. Deep within me is a vision, a true desire. It is not created by me but by Omniscience constituting me. It is showing me what is in train for me. It is trying to become manifest - and I am holding the switch in my hand. But I do not let it through because I am looking outside of myself for the answer. One of my oldest friends said to me "It must be wonderful to be like you Nicol - to trust everybody." I said to her "Actually I do not trust anybody." She was horrified. I explained: "You see, people are fallible, and if meeting their obligations becomes too difficult they let you down.

But I have complete confidence in God in the person, in this God-as-man, the Jesus-Christ Presence, Which fulfils my expectations in spite of the person." Is it true that all our needs - mental, emotional, physical and material - are already met? I must know. I do not want to walk along a path of emptiness, into a void of un-fulfilment and frustration. I want to have the things the Master says we can have, to be the things He promises we can be. I want people to be the sons and daughters of God, to be and have what is in His kingdom. I do not want something for nothing - whatever I have to put into life to receive this Good I will do it - and I find that all He asks is that I accept, that I put on my light switch. You will have many unhappy experiences, many difficulties presented to you, and you will look at your own "road map" and say "This is not the road I chose. It goes round and about, backwards and forwards, up and down. The road I want goes straight from one point to another." But this indirect road is indeed the one you chose. You cannot blame people or things or circumstances. They are manifestations of your own obtuseness that guide you towards understanding and knowledge. Your life is God knowing Himself through and as you, and your difficulties are the shadows by which you apprehend light. But we see only the shadows. This is because we were conditioned to do this ever since we were born. You can change. I know this to be true because of my own experiences, because of my own early inadequacy, my fearfulness of myself and of the future.

According to the Master, all things are possible with God - if you believe. Ask yourself "Do I believe? Then why do I look at appearances? Why do I judge by appearances? Why do I get hurt when people let me down?" The hurt is all mine - not theirs. Instead practise depending completely on God - He cannot let you down. He cannot let you down because this is His nature. Look at the world and tell me how much actual belief, faith, you see there. I am not talking about the billions of people who go to their places of worship, or eat, dress and pray according to religious rules, for that fulfils only the letter of their law. Tell me how many people truly believe the core teaching of all sincere religion - that love is the fulfilment of God law. How many practise it outside their own religious cliques - towards the world at large, towards all its people, its flora and fauna? I pose these questions to myself: "What would the Jesus-Christ Presence in me have me do? Do I look at my world and say 'Behold my brothers and sisters' or am I exclusive?" When you are looking at the Jesus-Christ Presence in yourself you are looking at it in the other person too. Here you are no better or worse than they. We are all constituted by the same Presence, the same God-as-man, the same Love. But we have been conditioned to believe differently and find it difficult to shake off our habit of negation, to be positive, constructive in our thinking, feeling and acting.

So I take myself to task momently: "What do I want for myself?" I want mental and emotional peace, a happy heart, physical wellbeing, security, and the substance with which to carry out my work. But all these are already mine. They are not going-to-be-created for me. The question is - what am I doing with these gifts of God? Am I using them, distributing them? Am I seeing myself in every human being, or do I feel "I'm alright Jack"? I see the person dying of malnutrition, I see man's inhumanity to man, the terrible atrocities perpetrated on animals, the devastation of nature. How can I say "I'm alright Jack"? My heart goes out in prayer and love. These are my brothers and sisters, including the flora and fauna. The flora gives me the oxygen that enables me to be this person you see here - and you the persons I see here. When I am cruel, I am cruel to myself. I am not setting into operation a power, a positive law of God; I am separating myself from the Source of all Good. When we do this we experience deterioration in our inner life, in our body and in our affairs. It is not because of "sin" or "evil" but because of separation alone. The moment we reconnect, Good starts to function as It should function, and there is integration of mind, heart, body and affairs. I have experienced so much treachery, denigration and belittlement that at one time I was almost made to feel like a gangster, an Al Capone - and yet the whole basis of my teaching is the word of the Master, of the Jesus-Christ Presence. I took these teachings and worked on them, and they were demonstrated through me. My work is to pass on my experience to others who also seek fulfilment. I do not teach - as some say I do - getting, getting, getting. I teach giving of Self, of the whole Self.

I cannot be truly happy unless I see you happy too, until you can come and say to me "I have found It. I have touched the outer perimeter and I know It is there." It is like the ship's captain who sees the light of the lighthouse for only a few moments. It is like the end of night - I know this dawn is going to take place in my life although at the moment it is the barest glimmer on the horizon. There is nothing that you need, or truly want or desire, that you cannot have. But it is like this drinking glass. In consciousness you are holding your hand over the top, preventing it from being filled, from being filled full, or fulfilled. How much do you want - a glassful, a jugful, a bathful, a swimming bathful? Until you realise there is only Oneness you are imposing limitation on yourself - on whatever form your need takes. It has nothing to do with what you see outside, but only with your capacity of receptivity - how much of God you are allowing to pour through you, as you. Become one with the Whole. I think of myself as a drop in the sea of life. I and all the other drops are not bumping against each other but are fusing with each other all the time and constitute the whole of the infinite ocean that is God. Do you see this? It is all one sea of life.

Therefore you are me and I am you, and in every one of us is this Authority, this Presence, regardless of language, colour or creed. It has nothing to do with the humble Jesus of Nazareth. It has to do with the God-as-man, with Cosmic consciousness. "He who believes in me (in God-as-man) will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do." And so it has been throughout these hundreds of years for people who emulated the Master by living in a state of harmony and love with their neighbours. After you leave here today say to yourself: "I am not alone. I do not have to be afraid. I am every person, and every single person is the hand of God to me, because there is only one hand of God, the complete Whole. I become aware of this tremendous Power around and within me That fulfils my every need - companionship for my heart, health for my body, peace for my intellect, and success, security and prosperity in my affairs."