Good Only Can Come to Me

As part of the celebration of 150 years since the birth of H T Hamblin, I was asked to contribute an article on a favourite or meaningful passage of HTH’s teachings and why I have chosen it. That is not a straightforward task as my background has been with a different organisation’s teachings, and I had not been a student of HTH, nor had I been actively involved with his teachings until recent years.  

Having said that, I have enjoyed reading his books and becoming more familiar with his teachings since becoming a trustee of the Hamblin Trust and, latterly, its chairman. 

It is difficult to choose what aspect of his teachings I would consider my ‘favourite’ as there is much depth in his writings despite their apparent simplicity, and I like all of them. However, there is one passage that is, for me, quite uplifting and helps to place his other teachings in a wider conceptual context, and that is: “Good only can come to me.” (From ‘The Story of My Life’).

This ties in with another statement he made in The Way of the Practical Mystic: “God wants me to be well and happy.”

For those who have grown up with or been influenced by traditional religious thinking, we are encouraged to pray for what we want. For those who have been exposed to or follow the New Thought tradition, there is an understanding that we have to use visualisation and positive thinking. There is absolutely nothing wrong with prayer, positive thinking or visualisation, and they can all have their place in each individual’s spiritual journey, but, at a higher spiritual level, Hamblin offers a totally different perspective: the universe in which we live is benign, positive and constructive and wants us to be happy, healthy and successful. The reason that we sometimes experience something less than this is due to our failure to live in accordance with cosmic law.

At best, therefore, to be happy, healthy and successful, all we have to do is live in accordance with cosmic law and all will be provided at just the right time and in the right way. There is no need to worry or strain. If we are not able to live in that higher spiritual way yet, what Hamblin describes as the way of surrender, we will continue to ask.

There are a number of references in Hamblin’s writings to ‘change your thinking’, ‘right thinking’ and  ‘within you is the power’. All these expressions indicate Hamblin’s understanding that: “…the mind and its thoughts, trained to obey the will, are the executive of the soul (From ‘The Psychology of Prayer’) but he goes on to affirm in ‘The Way of the Practical Mystic’ that:  

God is the only One Who can liberate us.

God is able to deliver us and set us completely free.

God is willing to do for us abundantly beyond our hopes and desires.

 What inspiring words…

 Noel Raine

Chair

The Hamblin Trust