A: And be assured I’m glad to do it, because it is a subject very close to our hearts in the message of The Infinite Way, and a subject on which we are working twenty-four hours a day around the clock, around the world.
Our duty is to know the truth. It’s more than a duty; it’s quite a privilege. It’s even more than a privilege. Once you begin to see the fruitage of it, it’s a great joy. But as truth students, this is a duty, and those who are not performing it are forfeiting a part of their own demonstrations—ignorantly, that’s true—but nevertheless, they’re forfeiting part of their own demonstration, because the greatest law of prayer is that it profiteth you nothing to pray for your friends.The Master gave you that as a formula: “It profiteth you nothing to pray for your friends. You must pray for your enemies.”2
How do we pray for our enemies? How do we pray for world peace? Be assured of this: World peace is not going to come through the defeat of anybody, nor through anyone’s victory. Anyone who has studied history knows that from the beginning of written history, there have been defeats and victories, and there never yet has been peace. And as long as there are defeats and victories, there never will be peace. Peace cannot be achieved by anyone’s defeat or by anyone’s victory. Until you can give up the idea of both victory and defeat, you will lose. You will lose world peace.
In this present argument, which is international in nature, as to whether we should arm with so many bombs that everyone will be afraid of us and thereby have peace, or whether we should disarm, and thereby have peace, the answer is that only stupid people are on both sides of that argument. There are no thinkers on either side of those arguments, just hypnotized people. Why?
History reveals that there have been periods when nations have been heavily armed, and it didn’t prevent a war, and there have been periods when nations were disarmed, and it didn’t prevent a war. In World War I, the greatest navy, the greatest armament on the face of the globe was England’s, and it did not prevent a war. In the Second World War, England was practically without armament, naval or air, and it did not prevent a war. You may go around with a gun on your hip; it won’t prevent your getting into trouble. But you can go around without a gun on your hip, and that won’t prevent your getting into trouble either. It isn’t the presence of a gun or the absence of a gun that saves you, and it isn’t the presence of armament or the lack of armament that saves a nation. Of course not, and as long as the world is on a materialistic basis of believing that either armament will save it, or disarmament will save it, the world is lost and heading for another war.
What is the solution? Well, let us go back again to what I said to you before—the origin of evil. And what is the origin of evil? The universal belief in two powers—the power of matter and the power of mind—whether it’s the power of armaments or the power of tyrants’ minds. And believe me, it isn’t only tyrants’ minds that bring about wars. You might have to face the belief one day, when you look into your own history, and you’ll find it isn’t always tyrants that bring about wars. More wars are brought about by ignorance than by tyranny.
Now, we as truth students must pray daily in this wise:
God is the law unto his universe, and that which is not ordained of God is not power; that which is called mortal mind, carnal mind, the mind of tyrants, the mind of the stupid, the mind of the ignorant—this is not power. God alone is power. God in the midst of me is power. God in the midst of man is power. The Spirit of God is power, and all of this claim of material and mental power is ignorance, because there is but one power, and God in the midst of me is that power.
Because of omnipresence, God is power everywhere on the face of the globe. We don’t have to penetrate the Iron Curtain. God has already penetrated it, but only in our conscious realization of it. Without our conscious realization of it, the presence of God will not function any more than the presence of God has functioned in the past, except where there is conscious recognition and realization.
Therefore, if only the truth students in the world—the students of every one of the truth movements, and the unorganized movements, and the independent truth teachers—if they would all unite; if the members, the followers, the students of these teachings, would unite once a day and realize: “The place whereon I stand is holy ground, and the place whereon thou standest is holy ground,” the omnipotence and omnipresence of God would make the evil intents of mankind a non-power.
Isn’t it the 33rd Psalm that says, “Horses cannot save kings; armies cannot save kings. There is no power in armament or armies.”? Well, that’s exactly what it means, and that’s what Hezekiah proved when his people came to him and said, “Oh the enemy’s coming at us, and they outnumber us.” And he said, “They have only the arm of flesh. You need not fight. They have only the arm of flesh.” And then they rested in his word. They didn’t go out and fight. They rested in his word, and then the enemy started fighting among themselves, and they killed each other off, and the Hebrews never did have to go out into that battle.
And so I say unto you that this is a law and a principle. It operates in your personal life first. If you yourself, in your personal life, will make a practice daily of realizing that where I am, God is; the place whereon I stand is holy ground; God in the midst of me is mighty,and all who are opposed have but the arm of flesh, or nothingness; we have the Lord God Almighty; the Lord God in the midst of me is mighty, and there is no might external to me—not in the mind of man or the matter of man—you will begin to prove that that which heretofore has been opposition in your life, that which heretofore has been discordant or the source of discord, that which heretofore has been a barrier to your progress, to your prosperity, to your happiness, these begin to fall away.
And then you will see that this principle operates. The moment you see this operate in your experience without your telling anyone, someone will be led to you and say, “Give me help.” You won’t know why they’ve picked you, and they won’t either, because it’s an invisible occurrence. The darkness always finds the light so the darkness can be dispelled, and the moment you begin to prove that your understanding that there is no power external to you; that God in the midst of you is omnipotence, and there is no power external to you for good or for evil in person, thing, or condition; that there is no mental power, no physical power that is power, for all power is given unto you, you have dominion over everything that appears in your world.
And the minute you begin to prove that for one neighbor, one relative, two neighbors, two relatives, you have the sufficient grace to do it for twenty. By this time, you will begin to realize, “Why this is a universal truth!” And you will begin to know it for your community, for your elections, for your weather, for the events of the world.
Always in secrecy. This is a very sacred thing, and in secrecy you realize the kingdom of God is within me. Always remember the Master on prayer: pray secretly and pray sacredly. Never voice your prayer outwardly or openly. And never pray for others to see or to know that you’re praying. Make prayer a secret practice and a sacred one, and whatsoever takes place within your consciousness, God will bring to bear outwardly. But remember, prayer must be secret; it must be sacred. It must be like a seed buried in the ground where nothing can reach it, nothing can upset it, nothing can harm it. And so your prayer is kept in secrecy within you, the prayer of realization:
I and the Father are one. All that the Father hath is mine. Where I am, God is. Where God is, I am, and therefore that place whereon I stand is holy ground. All power is given unto me. All dominion is given unto me. Over what and over whom? Over the belief that there are any external powers. All power is given to me through the understanding that God is spirit, and spiritual power is the only power.
And be sure that no man knows that you are praying this prayer. Divulge it to no one except when someone comes into your experience in humility and wishes to be taught. Do not give this to the unprepared thought. Don’t try to proselyte with it. Don’t try to convince your relatives with it. You cannot give truth to the human mind. Unless there is a spiritual preparedness to receive this truth, you are just putting your seed in stony ground or barren soil, and nothing will come forth from it. Keep this truth as a pearl of great price, and don’t show it to anybody but connoisseurs, because nobody else can enjoy it. Keep it within you, and then, abiding in this truth, praying the prayer of realization of God’s grace, God’s presence, omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, and the non-power of the mind or matter that is not ordained of God, you will be fulfilling your function to this world, and you will watch the breaking up of error all over the globe and the gradual restoration of harmony.
1This excerpt is from Recording 400B: 1961 San Diego Special Class, “The Essence of The Infinite Way, Part 2.” 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 at www.joelgoldsmith.com or by calling 1-800-922-3195.
2 See Matthew 5:43-45.