THE SCHOOL OF TRUTH LECTURE UNDERSTANDING IS ALREADY WITHIN

"Give me the child and you can have the man." So goes the fabled utterance of the

Jesuit bent upon religious indoctrination of youth. Sadly the desire to make the

new generation conform to orthodoxy runs deep everywhere, not least in the global

religion of materialism. Once the conscious and unconscious mind of the child has

been sufficiently conditioned the message is with him for life.

We in The School of Truth continuously come into contact with those who believe

in a man-like god and in heaven and hell. I see them striving, working very hard

mentally, emotionally and physically to overcome their problems. The only

salvation apparently open for them is the way etched into their consciousness from

infancy. For them The School of Truth and other New Thought organisations are

liars and cheats.

Yet there is an acid test. "You will know them by their fruits" says the Master.

Truth must be demonstrable, it must confirm "Though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be as white as snow."

As a child I was a very good orthodox Christian. I never missed Sunday school. I

enjoyed it very much. I was very good with Bible lessons. I accompanied my

father, who was a church elder. His father had been a minister. I enjoyed it very

much until I began to see the difference between what preachers regarded as most

important and what the Master teaches.

How can I be certain that I shall be set free from my mistakes and the toll they

have taken on my life? How can I be certain that the Master, and other great

masters, are not merely teaching a morality which may or may not have real

consequences for me? Are they charlatans or are they preaching inspired Truth?

Surely the answer must lie in the here and now, not somewhere in antiquity or

somewhere in a mystical future. Can I not also be inspired? Early in my life I made

the decision to test the God of the Master.

In three principle things of life - health, happiness and security - I have tested Him,

made of myself a guinea pig, and for a very good reason - I do not want to be led

up the garden path and I do not want to lead anyone else up the garden path. I want

to have certainty in my life, to know that there is a Law that works for me and will

work for others if they follow my example. Truth is like mathematics - it does not

introduce anything new but sets out to demonstrate what already is. I cannot put

my tongue in my cheek, I cannot fool myself and I cannot fool others.

At the age of 28 I was full of trepidation. I was asked by a group of women to

speak at one of their meetings. I told them "I am very young in Truth. I have

already had wonderful demonstrations - I have overcome a disease that was

declared incurable, I have found joy, harmony and security, yet I am only in the

kindergarten of Truth." But they insisted. I was too self-conscious simply to talk so

I decided to read from text. I remember the night - it was the middle of winter and

raining, and they had the heater on. Walking to the speaker's podium I tripped over

it and it fused. Actually it was a good thing because it took my mind off myself

and I was able to read fluently.

I carried on reading my talks to them for a year. In spite of my feeling it was

wrong, the hall got fuller and fuller, and we had to move to an auditorium in one of

Johannesburg's newest and biggest office buildings. Yet self-consciousness still

dogged me. Have you seen the Charlie Chaplin film where he is walking up to the

king? He gets smaller and smaller and the king gets bigger and bigger. That is how

I felt. Finally I could not take it anymore and decided to go unprepared, without

text. I had butterflies in my stomach, my knees were knocking and my lips were

trembling. Here was the acid test! I said to myself "It is so simple Nicol. Simply

thank God and know you bring a message of Truth." On the stage was a long

counter and in my nervousness I paced up and down behind it as I spoke and, when

I was finished, I found I had spoken for forty minutes. I felt a huge relief. With

God I had overcome my fear.

To this day I feel the adrenalin before I speak in public. But I welcome it because it

reminds me how important always is the present moment. I know that while I go in

Love and in Truth, no matter how nervous I may feel, I will give the message.

Even today I thought "What are you going to say today?" I carry responsibility for

what The School of Truth is saying wherever it is heard. But, you see, it is not

really my responsibility. God's presence in me says, "Cast your burden on My

shoulder, and I will give you rest. The case that is too hard for you, you shall bring

to Me, and I will hear it." I pray "Father, You take this burden of responsibility

from me. You release the ideas that will be understood by the people to whom I am

speaking."

Yet, as I said, I never get over this nervousness. Without it I would no longer have

a message to give because I would feel self-sufficient, in no need of God. Some

time ago I asked one of our lecturers if he meditated before he gave a lecture.

"What for? I know what I have to say" was his reply. So I listened to his talk. It

was lifeless, and I never again allowed him on our platform. It is not what I have to

tell you, or what you want to hear - It is what the voice of Truth has to say to and

through me. If anyone in my childhood had succeeded in indoctrinating me into

their religion it would forever have silenced the Voice in me.

If I teach you prosperity I must be prosperous. If I teach you health I must reflect

health. If I teach you love and harmony I must radiate these qualities. And if you

feel I have given you a message you must take it and make it your homework. Do

not wait until next week for another talk. The fundamental message is that you can

do all things -not some things but all things - if you release this God-power within

you. It is independent of all religion. There are no restrictions, no ifs or buts, no

wherefores or whyfores. You can accomplish health, happiness and security

beyond measure.

But now you may be faced by a terrific and urgent problem and are thinking "Truth

teaching is all very well but what am I to do? My difficulty is looming larger and

larger." I hope you will excuse the language but I must report what someone told

me who subsequently worked for The School of Truth for thirty years. Talking

about a problem he had once suffered he said to me "I couldn't stand it any longer

Nicol so I said to this problem 'Get the hell out of here, I want nothing more to do

with you.' Do you know what happened? It got the hell out of me and never came

back." He became one of our best lecturers. It is like walking into a dark room and

being bewildered. Then you switch the light on and all your concerns are gone. It

is we alone who give power to people, to circumstances and conditions, to

dominate our lives.

Do you have a problem? If so ask yourself "Is this problem greater than God?" To

whom or what are you giving power? If I bring the weakest light into the darkest

room, the darkness cannot obliterate the light. So even your minimal amount of

understanding is enough to illuminate your dark circumstances. God alone is the

positive, the One. All else is nothingness, regardless of how vehemently it may be

preached or how deeply you may be indoctrinated to the contrary.

The same man who later worked for us for thirty years once told me another story.

"Nicol, you know what the farm roads are like. Each time you come to a farm gate

you have to stop, get out of your car, open the gate, drive through and close it

behind you. Well one dark night when I was driving through the country my lights

went bang, and I remembered a talk of yours, so I prayed 'God, be the light in my

darkness. My vision is Your vision, my hand is Your hand, my feet are Your feet.

Guide me and direct me. I will just drive.'" And each time he came to a gate he saw

a tiny spec of light in front of him and he stopped. There was the gate. "Since then"

he said "I have never doubted God."

God is the light in our consciousness. We are not sinners, born in darkness, who

have to have God thrust into us. God's presence in us is "the true Light that

enlightens every man." He is all the wisdom and understanding and power that you

could ever need but you would impose limitations upon Him. You imagine your

problem is too small or too big for God and that He should not be bothered, or you

think you haven't the ability to touch Him. Of yourself, of course, you are helpless,

but "the case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to Me, and I will hear it. Cast

your burden on My shoulder and I will give you rest." Does He mean that literally?

Yes, He does. I have accepted His invitation for over half a century. It would be

impossible for me to uphold the School without God.

No matter how small is my understanding of God, it is adequate. No matter how

small is yours in regard to your problem, it is enough. It is the handing over

itself that counts. You need only enough understanding to do that. You have to

advance one step at a time. "Lead kindly Light, Lead Thou me on. I will have the

courage to walk. You be my strength and my vision and my understanding to bring

this into manifestation." If you do this you will discover that the terrible burden

you think you are carrying gets lighter and lighter until it disappears altogether into

the nothingness from which you made it. It is literally true that the God, Life,

Love, Power, Understanding already within you takes your burden from your

shoulders, gives you relaxation and rest, and gives you the courage to go forward.

When I embarked on my path of Truth I encountered preachers, spiritual teachers,

who said "No, you cannot do this, you cannot do that, you cannot do so-and-so.

You are living in a material world." I said "But I am not. I am living in a spiritual

world of which matter is a condensation, for better or worse. I have the choice."

God is as much here as wherever you think He may be. Even in so-called hell,

even in so-called damnation, even in the lowest of the low, there is God waiting to

come forth. He needs no-one to preach to you, but only your courageous

acceptance of Him.

All of us are full of faults. But I believe that the thing that is too hard for me, when

I bring it to Him, He does it. The more difficult it is for me the easier it is for Him,

because I am so much more dependent upon Him. So, if you have a problem and

you feel you are walking in the dark, take these words away with you: "Lead

kindly Light, lead Thou me on."