A: Well, there again, here we are up here; we’re looking “out here.” First of all, before I interest myself in you or in your welfare, I have to be sure that I’m consciously one with my Father. I have no right to be trying to heal you or teach you, if I myself am being influenced by your problems. It would be far better for me to stay out of the work while I feel any sense of sympathy or pity. …
The right spiritual approach is this: Since God is infinite Being, God is your being. And so I don’t have to believe anything of a discordant nature that you tell me about your being, and by my ability to disbelieve and to hold aloof from believing, you receive the benefit of it. And that is the answer to this question.
If you, yourself, come under that mesmerism, certainly you can’t give that healing. So the first thing to do is to forget that individual, forget them entirely. That’s not your problem. Your problem is to get consciously one with God, so that his problem never touches you. Once you get to that state of consciousness where his problem doesn’t touch you, you are already the light of the world unto him—but not until then. As long as there is a sympathy, a compassion, you have no power to be the light.
The “light of the world” is he or she who does not believe in appearances, and therefore is not sympathetic with them. The difference between sympathy, pity, and compassion, of course, must be evident. Compassion, yes. Compassion is what puts a person into the work as a practitioner or a teacher; that is, they realize that people are not fully aware of their heritage as children of God, and they would like to be a part of the awakening process. That’s compassion. But the minute they come in and start holding your hand or want to put ice bags on your head, that’s pity or sympathy, and they’ve lost their healing power. Do you follow that? Do you see that?
Now, don’t try to help people while you yourself are all hot and bothered about it. Let yourself aloof; find your conscious oneness with God; come to the realization of man’s true identity; and then you’ll find, automatically, you’ll help.
1 This excerpt is from Recording 5B: 1950 First Portland Series, “Questions and Answers.” It is posted with kind permission from the Estate of Joel Goldsmith, which holds the copy protection on the recorded classes and the copyright on the transcripts. The full transcript of this recording is available from The Infinite Way Office website or by calling 1-800-922-3195.