Recording 491A, “The World Is New” is the basis for Chapter 2, “First Steps on the Path of Discipleship,” in Living the Illumined Life.
To download or print these study suggestions, click/tap here.
The 1962 Manchester Closed Class focuses on attaining a deeper awareness and experience of our divine identity, the Presence within, the Christ of our being. A deeper awakening brings us closer to living life by grace, without human effort. It also enables us to be a blessing to the world. As Joel says, when we experience the Christ, we loose the influence of the Christ into the world, and It will be about Its Father’s business, wherever that may be, in whatever way.
This excerpt from Recording 127B, titled “Individual Spiritual Experience – continued,” elaborates on the role we can play by experiencing the Christ within our own being. We highly recommend that you read and contemplate it.
Joel says, We are staying our mind on God [throughout the class] so that, by the [end of our study], we will have developed a habit, a new faculty, and that is the ability, at all times and at any time, to open ourselves to the presence of God. What a blessing that would be!
Session 1: The World Is New
In the first session of the 1962 Manchester Closed Class, titled “The World Is New,” Joel cites the quote, “The world is new to every soul when Christ has entered in.”[1] Right away, he anticipates what we might ask about that verse, saying,
“How does Christ come to my consciousness? How can I bring the Christ to enter in? Is there anything I can do? . . . Can I be of any help to myself in bringing the Christ into my consciousness, that I may know this indwelling Spirit? Or even if I have had an experience of the Christ or witnessed God’s grace in some of my affairs, is there anything that I can do to have a greater experience of the Christ? Is there anything I can do to have this indwelling Presence constantly, consciously? Can I ever arrive at the place Paul described: “I live, yet not I, Christ lives my life”? Can I arrive at that place where I no longer have to take thought for my life, what I shall eat, what I shall drink, wherewithal I shall be clothed?”
Joel goes on to teach how we can bring the Christ consciously into our consciousness.
Review of Key Points
Recording 491A, “The World Is New,” is the basis for Chapter 2, “First Steps on the Path of Discipleship,” in Living the Illumined Life. That chapter is essentially a transcript of the recording, so it would be very helpful for review.
If you do not have Living the Illumined Life, you can order the transcript from The Infinite Way Office or use this brief summary of the key points from the recording to review:
Daily Meditations
Since this class is all about consciously opening our consciousness to receive the Christ, our study suggestion supports this practice. Over and over, Joel encouraged us to go within rather than to read more books or listen to more recordings. Through continuous inner practice, we have the opportunity to go beyond even what we learned in the class.
We prepared a document containing seven contemplative excerpts from the class—one to use each day of the week as a meditation “starter.” The document is provided below, and you can also download and/or print it in either a 5.5 x 8.5-inch booklet format or a standard 8.5 x 11-inch document format.
“The World Is New to Every Soul When Christ Has Entered In”
A Practice to Accompany Recording 491A:
1962 Manchester Closed Class, “The World Is New”
In the first session of the 1962 Manchester Closed Class, titled “The World Is New,” Joel reflects on the statement: “The world is new to every soul when Christ has entered in.” This profound insight invites us to ask: How does the Christ enter my consciousness? Is there something I can do to bring this Christ into my awareness so that I may know this indwelling Spirit? If I have already experienced the Christ, how can I deepen that experience and live in constant, conscious awareness of this indwelling Presence? Is it truly possible, as Paul described, to reach the state where “I live, yet not I, Christ lives my life”? Can I live without taking thought for my life, what I shall eat, what I shall drink, wherewithal I shall be clothed?
Joel teaches that the key lies in consciously opening our consciousness to God and refraining from praying for material things. Seek only to have the Christ “enter in,” that is, to consciously realize the Christ that already indwells you and is your true identity. The presence of God becomes evident only where consciousness is specifically open to receive God. God is omnipresent, but God is of no avail unless God is realized.
Joel cautions that many of us spend too much time contemplating the Christ in Jesus rather than working to realize the Christ within ourselves. When we realize the indwelling Christ, the world becomes new, free of discord and inharmony. It will be a new world of obligations, duties, and responsibilities, as well as a new world filled with safety, peace, joy, and abundance—but not in the material sense of these things.
To make God’s presence tangible in our lives, we must consciously open ourselves, declaring with a receptive heart: “Speak, Lord, Thy servant heareth. Thy grace is my sufficiency. Thy will be done in me. Thy kingdom come to my earth, as it is in heaven.” Open yourselves consciously in this way to receive God, to receive His kingdom and His grace, to receive the Christ.
In this class, Joel suggests contemplations to help us consciously open ourselves in receptivity to the realization of the Christ, or the entry of the Christ. Taking one contemplation each day can facilitate the gradual unfolding of this awareness. This booklet captures seven key points from the class, one for each day of the week, should you wish to practice in that way.
Of course, it is always important to allow Spirit to guide your practice in spontaneous and personal ways, so if some other way to practice is given to you from within, follow the lead of Spirit.
Above all, this lesson is a call to practice—an invitation to live and experience the truth, rather than just read about it or think about it.
To open yourself to receive the Christ, put out of your thought any of the human things that you believe you lack or that you have desired.
Turn within: “I seek the realization of the indwelling Christ. I seek to know God’s Grace, His Son in me, that I may be fulfilled with the peace that passes understanding; that I may receive within me the Christ kingdom; that I may receive the peace that the Christ gives; that I may know the world anew.”
The purpose of such a meditation is to announce, “Here I am. Speak, Lord,” and then to open our consciousness specifically so that we may receive the Christ.
“I am not coming to Thee for loaves and fishes, or bread, or clothing, or housing. I am coming to Thee only that Thou may enter into me and live my life; that I may be able to say, ‘I live, yet not I, Christ liveth my life.’”
“The world is new to every soul when Christ has entered in,” when we have realized the presence of the Christ within. The old man dies, a new man is born, a new experience takes place, and the world appears differently to us. We give differently to the world, and the world gives back to us differently. So, we constantly open ourselves until we have received the fullness of the stature of manhood in Christ Jesus; until we have attained the full and complete Christhood, which is our natural birthright.
I am seeking a spiritual kingdom, My kingdom. I want to know God aright, to know the truth face-to-face, and to experience the glories that the Master spoke of. I want to be still and let this Christ function in me, not according to the will of man or the way of man—according to the will of God and the way of God.
If I pray, “Father, prosper me,” I am not saying, “Prosper me in dollars or pounds.” I’m saying, “prosper me with Thy Spirit, with the fullness of Thy Spirit, with Thy Grace.” If I say, “Make me whole,” I’m not talking about the pains of my flesh. I’m saying, “Make me whole in Thy image and likeness: let me know myself as I am, as the child of God. Let me know my spiritual identity. I want to see myself as I am, face-to-face in the image and likeness of God.”
I pray only for things of the Spirit, the grace of God, the virtues and the fullness of the Christ. I take no anxious thought for what I shall eat, what I shall drink, or wherewithal I shall be clothed. I turn away from appearances and ask for spiritual light: Open my eyes that I may see. Open my ears that I may hear. Open my consciousness that I may receive the Christ and no longer live according to my idea of living, but permit the Christ, the Spirit of God, to dwell in me, live in me, and live my life for me.
One of the great veils that comes between us and our spiritual destiny is trying to hold on to the human sense of life while at the same time praying for spiritual grace. We are trying to get rid of the evils of human existence, hold onto the good things of human existence, and at the same time, have Christ live our life.
You can remove that veil by taking no thought in this moment for anything material. Take no thought of what tomorrow is going to bring to you, and hold yourself in readiness, so that if the Christ enters in and changes your tomorrow, you are ready for it to be changed. “Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostril.” There is a kingdom of God, a peace of God, which no human can glimpse. The goal is to seek and experience this spiritual kingdom.
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is fulfillment—fullness of joy, fullness of life, fullness of protection. Where is the Spirit of the Lord? It is not in the whirlwind; it is not in human thinking; it is not in human hoping. Where is the presence of God? Where consciousness is specifically open to receive God.
This is the first secret: We must open ourselves, open our consciousness to receive God. Twelve times a day, close your eyes for a moment and say, “I am shutting my eyes to human help. I am consciously opening my consciousness to the Spirit of God, to the grace of God, to the kingdom of God.”
Open yourself to the truth that “the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” What makes it holy is the presence of God, and the only thing that will make the presence of God available is consciously opening yourself: “Speak, Lord, Thy servant heareth. Thy grace is my sufficiency. Thy will be done in me. Thy kingdom come, as it is in heaven.”
Open yourselves consciously in this way to receive God, to receive the Christ, to receive His kingdom and His grace. Open your consciousness to a kingdom, a Presence, and a peace that heretofore you have not known. God is omnipresent, but God is available only where consciousness is opened to receive God.
I am not seeking to unseat the government or any political party. I will not concern myself with human government. I am seeking God’s government so that we may experience God’s government on earth as it is in heaven; God’s government manifest through the people we elect to office. But I will not think of the people. I will think of God’s kingdom.
If I cling to this human world, I have to use the weapons of the human world—its trickery and swords, both physical and mental. But when I seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness, I can put up my physical and mental swords and be at peace.
I am opening myself to the Christ, but I am ready for that Christ to be called upon through me. If and when I receive this Christ, I am ready to serve. I recognize that this Christ is not going to be given to me for some special dispensation or to set me apart from mankind. If I receive It, it will be for the purpose of being the light unto those still in darkness.
I will not be able to choose to serve only the righteous, or only the healthy, or only the wealthy. When this Christ calls, It draws to Itself the sick, the maimed—physically, mentally, morally, financially. It calls to Itself all who are in darkness, all who are suffering from the things of this world. And the Christ that has been realized within answers all of them, from the woman taken in adultery to the thief on the cross, never refusing to respond.
There is a spiritual kingdom called “My kingdom,” which is not of this world. There is a Peace, “My peace,” which I can give, the Spirit can give, which is not of this world. There is a man “I am,” there is a being “I am,” who can be under the law of God, under the grace of God. That is not my human selfhood, the natural man who is not under the law of God, and who receiveth not the things of God.
There is some part of me that is the child of God, living under the law of God, under the grace of God, knowing the kingdom of God, experiencing the peace that passeth human understanding. My goal is to experience this, so I open my consciousness: “Speak Lord, Thy servant heareth.”
Many times throughout the day and several times throughout the evening, I will consciously open my consciousness and attune to the voice of God, saying, “Speak, Lord, Thy servant heareth.” I am ready to receive the kingdom of God, the grace of God, seeking only spiritual wisdom, spiritual love, spiritual light, spiritual truth, spiritual abundance, spiritual harmony, spiritual security, and spiritual safety, all of which are embraced under the grace of God, the law of God. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee.”
[1] The inscription “The world is new to every soul when Christ has entered into it” is found on the wall of the East Clerestory in Stanford University’s Memorial Church. It is not directly attributed to a specific person. It may be derived from 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”