Q: What is “body in you?”
Note: Based on Joel’s answer, we believe that the questioner was asking him to explain what is meant by “You are not in the body; the body is in you.”
A: Well now, I’ll tell you very quickly. Close your eyes. Who are you? The answer is, “I am I.” That’s right, I am I. Am I a body? No. I have a body.
Ah, that’s the statement I waited for. Are we in agreement on that statement: I have a body? All right. Now look down at your toes and ask yourself if you are down there. And just take your gaze right up to your knees and see if you can find yourself there. And now go from your knees to your waist and see if you can find yourself there. And go from your waist to your neck and try to find out what part of that body you’re hidden in. And now keep right on up to the top hair of your head and see if you can find yourself in there. And just for good measure, look yourself up and down now from toes to head and from head to toe, and see if you can find yourself there.
And I think you’ll find that you are not in the body. And I think you’ll find that you cannot locate yourself any place in the body. And if that doesn’t convince you that you’re not in the body, you might ask some surgeon who has done a lot of operating and see if he’s ever found anybody inside of a body. And I think you’ll find that they will agree that they never yet have found you or any of your friends whom they’ve operated on. And so the question is, “Where am I?”
Where am I? Who am I? What am I?
Now, this is taking a little advantage of you, because I should leave you alone right here and let the rest of the answer come to you, but because we’re in class . . . I still think it would be a good idea after the class for you to go to your room and sit down and search yourself and see if you can find out whether or not I’m telling the truth. But you will find that you are consciousness and therefore, that everything in this universe exists in and of consciousness, and if it isn’t in your consciousness, you are not aware of it.
Whatever is not in your consciousness you are not aware of, and so if you’re conscious of your body, your body must exist in your consciousness, and one day you’ll learn that you do not possess a consciousness; you are consciousness. You are a state of awareness. Some of you are a state of musical awareness, some a state of artistic awareness, some a state of spiritual truth awareness, some a state of mathematical awareness, scientific awareness, and some of you combine two or three or four of those.
All of this exists where? Where is your musical skill? Where is your artistic skill? Where is your writing skill? Where is your truth skill? All of this is an activity of your consciousness, therefore in and of your consciousness. And so with your body. Your body cannot exist outside of your consciousness, and you’ll ultimately discover you are consciousness. You are awareness. You are a state of spiritual perception. And that’s where body is—in you. It’s in the consciousness which you are. And not only that, but the consciousness which you are is the law unto your body.
And I’ll go a step further. Every time you ask a practitioner for help, the consciousness of your practitioner becomes a law unto your body. That is why the consciousness of truth within your practitioner can reduce your fever, can reduce your lumps, can reduce your rheumatism, can remove it, and not only that, but it can set bones, too. It can do anything and everything to the body that anyone else can do.
The consciousness of one person illumined in truth, to whom you turn, becomes a law unto your body, and the answer is that your body is in my consciousness, and my consciousness becomes the law unto your body when you turn to me—or to anyone else that’s in this work. And that’s how spiritual healing works. You bring yourself—you bring your mind, and you bring your body. You tune it into the consciousness of the one you call your practitioner. Your practitioner fills his consciousness, or hers, with truth, and that truth becomes a law unto your body.
1This excerpt is from Recording 213B: 1958 Second Chicago Closed Class, “Questions and Answers on the Mystical Life and Healing, 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 from The Infinite Way website or by calling 1-800-922-3195.