A: There isn’t any. There is only now; there is no hereafter. When the disciples in the transfiguration could see Moses and Elias, that’s what the Master was showing them. Nobody is dead; everybody exists here and now. But where is here? Are we talking about a room or our consciousness? Well, we aren’t in a room. We have this room in our consciousness. That’s what makes us aware of it. That’s where we have Jesus; that’s where we have John; that’s where we have any of the inspired masters who are with us at this moment.
Now of course, on this point hinges a tremendous revelation, and that is this: we are never alone. Never are we alone! We attract to ourselves the companionship we deserve at any given moment. Don’t forget, our companionship changes as our consciousness changes. At one time our companions may have been the people of this world. At a later time, our companions may have been those of a particular religious organization, and of course, we wouldn’t admit anybody else into that sacred circle. And then all of a sudden, we find ourselves an entirely different companionship. Why? Because our consciousness has changed, our state of consciousness. We have states and stages of consciousness, and at this level, these are my companions.
Who is my mother and my brother and my sister? You are—all you who are of my spiritual household; you who are of my understanding; you who are my brothers and my sisters. And where is my blood brother and my blood sister? I don’t know. They’re around somewhere, right here on earth. I don’t know where. Why? We are not of one spiritual household; we are not of one understanding; and therefore, you are my brothers and sisters, not they. So it is.
In my invisible life there is a companionship, a tabernacling, just as Jesus could tabernacle with Elias and Moses, whom he looked upon as great teachers, spiritual seers. So do we today have those who are our companions on this spiritual path. I have mine and you have yours, if so be you awaken to the realization that none of these have died, and that your own is with you; the teacher is within you. Your teacher may not be the man on this platform. That may only be a substitute until you find your teacher, and you may find your teacher to be an invisible presence and an invisible power, for such is the mystical life.
The Master said, “Do you not believe that I can call on angels, legion of angels, to bring me down from this crucifix?” Of course he could; of course he could! There isn’t anyone in this world who, once they spiritually awaken, is not aware of presences, powers, within their own being, to whom you can turn in any emergency. It makes no difference what it is. You don’t have to wait for emergencies, but emergencies are the time that the average person usually turns. You will find that there is an invisible presence or an invisible power. You may identify it as some teacher or leader of the past. You may recognize it as some teacher or leader of the present. Once you touch the mystical realm, you are in a world where things happen that never happen in the human realm.
Several of us here were present in one city, where a metaphysical teacher came to visit. She asked me if I would meditate with her once a day while she was in town. She had come for that, hoping to have that specific experience. And I said yes, and we meditated every day. After the fourth meditation, she went to her room at the hotel and evidently slept at the usual time. At four o’clock in the morning, she awakened to find me sitting on her bed. She sat up, frightened, and said, “Oh God, I don’t want Joel.” And the Voice spoke to her and said, “What is the difference?” Oh, her thing was, “I don’t want Joel, I want God.” And the Voice spoke again and said, “What is the difference?” Now, the point there is this: What is the difference? You see, God is manifest, God is expressed as individual being, but it’s still God.
Now then, in some of the occult work you could perform things like that intentionally, mentally. You could intrude yourself into a person’s mind or life. Spiritually, you can’t. Spiritually, you never touch the mind of your patient or student. You never intrude into their thought; you never put yourself into their thought. The spiritual teacher and spiritual practitioner of the mystical path will only make his conscious union with God and then let follow what may.
Now if I make my conscious union with God and you are attuned, you’re bound sooner or later to have some kind of an experience. Now it may result in your actually realizing the presence of God. It may result in your recognizing a presence that you identify as Jesus Christ if you’re Christian. If you’re a Buddhist, you might recognize it as Buddha, because it’s the same consciousness appearing as different form. Or you may recognize it as Joel. You may actually behold Joel in your own consciousness, or you may externalize him on your bed, or on your divan, or wherever you may happen to be, or beside you in your automobile. It will not be Joel; it will be God. You have merely translated that appearance into that which most nearly approaches your idea of spiritual teacher or spiritual leader. So it is!
Watch this carefully. We are not mentalists. We are not occultists. We do not fool around with the human mind. We do not intrude ourselves into the mind of any of our students or patients. We never project a treatment at them. We never project our thought into them. We never try to influence their thought, even for good. We do not touch their thought at all.
Our work is the purely spiritual work of making contact with God, and then letting it appear to you as it will. And it can appear to you as a message, as a Scriptural passage, as a light, as God, very God Itself, as the Christ, as Jesus, as John, or as your own teacher. But the point is that you have received through the God contact of the teacher, you have received God contact and illumination yourself.
But never believe that anyone can do this for you or to you by willing it, or desiring it, or trying to make it come about through any mental means. This will only thwart it, and this can lead to dangers. That was one of the early discoveries that Mrs. Eddy made, that the mind that can do good can do evil. And so the mind that can work on your mind and say, “You are well, and you know it,” can also say, “You are sick, and you know it,” and it can also say “Come bring me some money.” Do you see that?
The same human mind that could project good thoughts can project evil thoughts, and we do not project either. We make conscious contact with God within our own being; we come into conscious union with God, and then that appears to you as health, harmony, supply, peace, joy, relationships, whatever it is. And if you are sufficiently attuned, you will on some occasions have that mystical experience, or a mystical experience, in which you will behold some form of reality. Each one translates it, or it is translated within each one, in accord with their consciousness. We have a lot more to say about that, I think.
1This excerpt is from Recording 209B: 1958 First Chicago Closed Class, “Mystical Life and Law, 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.