A: And the answer is yes. It not only is possible, but ultimately it is an absolute necessity, and it is not difficult to achieve for the person who is intent on achieving it.
It does require a little practice, a little discipline, for a few months, in this wise: The earliest possible moment after waking, there must be a relaxing, perhaps a reminder, that God is individual consciousness, the consciousness of individual being. That makes us all one in Christ Jesus, in truth, in spiritual being. And, of course, that one Mind, that one Soul, that one Consciousness, knowing our need before we do, supplies it. It is Its good pleasure to give us the kingdom.
And then, with just a little patience, there will come that moment of quiet, of peace, of calm, of release from the world, and then we go about our daily business. But there must be an occasion—not later than noontime—for a renewal of this. And the mesmerism of the world, the fact that the presses, the wires, the radio, the television, the whole air, and atmosphere are filled with this universal fear, universal doubt, universal atheism, does impinge itself upon us if we’re not careful, and for that we need renewal.
In Scripture, we learn that the Master went away for periods of forty days, and when he came down, he healed the multitudes. Yes, when he came down, he healed the multitudes; when he had filled himself full of the realization of God as his only capacity, then God, as his individual being, could bring about these healing works.
We not only require an occasional forty days, but we require many forty hours, four hours, forty minutes, four minutes—many periods of renewal. And so, certainly, about dinnertime, this should be renewed again, and at bedtime, and, as many of you already know, upon waking at two or three o’clock in the morning. We awaken for that specific purpose, and yet we don’t do it. We are awakened by that which knows our need, and our need always is for refreshment, for renewal, for the opening of consciousness to this divine inflow.
Now, as we make a conscious practice of that, the weeks and the months slip around, and the first thing you know, you find strange things happening in your experience. You find people, and you find things flowing to you that you never had taken thought for, that you had never consciously believed possible. You see, virtually, miracles happening every day of your life. How did this one know that I needed this? How did this come just at the moment when it was necessary? How did this contact come about?
All of these hows, and wheres, and whys—it becomes really and truly watching a life of miracles unfold. There again comes a period of danger. We are apt to get so fascinated with these persons, and things, and demonstrations as they come, that we forget the source, and therein lies the danger.
It is not the “thing” that is of importance; it is the principle of the thing that is important. Like the Master feeding the multitudes—feeding them how many times? Probably three in his three-year ministry. Why only three? Why not thirty-three? If he had the capacity to do it once, he had the capacity to do it a hundred times. Why only three? He was revealing a principle. His interest wasn’t in feeding hungry people. His purpose, his mission, was to reveal the principle of it, and in performing it three times for them, I’m sure he felt that if they were ever to learn it, they would learn it then.
And so, in our metaphysical work, we hear far too many demonstrations of healing and supply, and too few explanations of the principle that brought it about. We get fascinated with the demonstration. We get fascinated with the supply that comes in, or the new ideas that come, or the new harmonies that come into our experience, and we forget that they are only the added things, and if we get messed up again in those forms and effects, we will lose the principle.
And so, there must be a constant renewal until the harmonies of life begin to flow as of their own accord, as if you had nothing to do with it, as if there was “He within me that is greater than he that is in the world” doing it. The Father within me is doing it. “I can do all things through Christ.” “I live; yet not I.” Christ is doing this thing through me, or as my very being.
Then, learn to appreciate the loaves and fishes, the demonstrations, and to use them and to share them, but do not become fascinated with them. Live only in the awareness of the principle, and these bounties will fulfill themselves day by day. And we will just use them, pass them on, share them, and enjoy them, but not be concerned with “laying up where moth and rust doth corrupt.”
1This copyrighted excerpt is from Recording 30B: 1953 Los Angeles Practitioner Class, “Atmosphere of Treatment and Prayer, continued.” 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 The Infinite Way website or by calling 1-800-922-3195.
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