Recording 395A, “The Temple or Sanctuary,” from the 1961 Los Angeles Closed Class, is one of several recordings used as source material for Chapter 11, “Awakening to the Soul Faculties,” in Awakening Mystical Consciousness. This recording was posted through July 22, 2023, and is no longer available on this website. If you subscribe to the Joel Goldsmith Streaming Service, you can listen to it there. You can also purchase the recording and/or the transcript from The Infinite Way Office here.
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This insightful chapter focuses on the nature of individual being, highlighting the infinite scope of our true identity and how we can live by it.
Why Explore This Topic?
Joel suggests that when we commit ourselves to doing the things that will awaken our soul faculties, a whole new world opens to us. Here is a quote about Soul from the chapter, formatted sentence by sentence to facilitate pauses for contemplation.
There is only one Soul; and this is my Soul and the Soul of every person.
It is with us individually and collectively as a source of light, grace, and peace.
The Soul is my reliance.
The Soul is my hiding place and my abiding place; the Soul is the temple of God.
The Soul is the source of the living waters.
The Soul has within It the capacity for my resurrection, redemption, and regeneration.
This Soul is incorporeal, spiritual, infinite, and therefore omnipresent.
It is right here where we are, but It requires the stillness of the mind for us to make contact with It.
It is from the Soul that the Voice comes and says, “My grace is thy sufficiency; My life is thy life; My peace is thy peace.”
It is from the Soul that safety and security flow.
The Soul is the source of life eternal, life harmonious, and life joyous.
In the Soul are all the issues of life, the opportunities for service and for fruitage of all kinds.
None of the terrors by night or by day, none of the snares, none of the pitfalls, come near the dwelling place of those who dwell in their Soul; who live, move, and have their being in their Soul; whose reliance, confidence, and hope are in the Soul; who look to their Soul always for nourishment, grace, peace, resurrection, and regeneration.
When we know and recognize our Soul as the Source of our life, our continuity and fruitage, we live our outer life normally and joyously, watching its coming and going without fear and without discouragement because of the renewal that immediately begins to take place within the Soul.
In our Soul we find our rest and refreshment.
And:
It [the Soul] is a Presence that goes before us to arrange things for us, do for us, and prepare for us, to prepare those “many mansions.”
It knows exactly what we are to do and directs us to it, even if it is something that ordinarily would not have come to our attention.
As we contemplate these wonders of Soul, we cannot help but have the willingness to do whatever we can to awaken the Soul and Its faculties.
Asking Questions
In the recording we heard for this chapter, Joel says, “The harmony of our experience is dependent on only one thing: to know Him aright—to know God, to understand God.” In the chapter, Joel suggests that we ask and ponder questions—as he says, “pertinent and even impertinent” questions—and let answers come from within. He tells us not to be afraid of any question, including the question, “Is there a God?”
Joel maintains that questioning ourselves, contemplating, being willing to empty ourselves of preconceived beliefs, and opening ourselves to an inner wisdom, will go a long way toward understanding the nature of God and awakening us to the Christ, our spiritual center, our Soul faculties. When we are awakened, a whole new experience opens to us.
Bible Quotations
In both the chapter and the recording, Joel references several Bible quotations that speak to the subject of the nature of Soul and Its faculties. Some of these are given below.
What passages from Scripture (Bible or other sacred texts) come to you as you ponder the essence of this chapter? Write them down as they come to you. Once you start the flow, you may be surprised at how many more will come to you. Any of these would be wonderful for contemplation, in which we can ask, “What does this passage really mean? How does it relate to the Soul?” As Joel suggests, we can let the answers come up from within.
Questions from New Students
One way to calibrate our understanding of the message is to see how we would answer questions from new students. Here are a few such questions relating to this chapter.
Practice, Practice, Practice
Both in the chapter and in the recording we heard, Joel encourages us to practice relying more and more on this divine Presence within and Its infinite faculties, rather than on anyone or anything external to us.
It can be a revelation just to watch ourselves throughout the day and notice the times when we are willing to rely on the Presence, the Soul, and notice the times—if any—when we are not willing or able to put our reliance there. It can be instructive to notice when we remember to turn to the infinite faculties of Soul and when we forget.
Our goal is captured in this passage from Proverbs: “Trust in the Lord [the Christ of your being, the Presence within, the Soul], with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own [your human] understanding. In ALL thy ways, acknowledge him [the Presence within, the Soul], and he [It] will direct your paths.”