Recording 199A, “Cease ye from Man, Whose Breath is in His Nostril,” from the 1958 Sydney and Melbourne Closed Class is one of two recordings used as source material for Chapter 1, “The Atheism of Material Power,” in Awakening Mystical Consciousness. This recording is no longer posted 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.
To download or print these study suggestions, click/tap here.
Putting the Lesson into Practice
Awakening Mystical Consciousness is the collection of the 1970 Infinite Way Monthly Letters. Speaking about the Letters, Joel said:
“That Monthly Letter is a precious, precious activity, and for this reason: It is to keep us with a fresh message every month, large enough message to last a whole month, but with specific principles for use and application in our daily experience.”
“It is only when we catch a principle from the letter, or two principles and begin to apply them in our experience that the letter becomes of value.”
Each of the chapters in Awakening Mystical Consciousness was a Monthly Letter, and so we can follow Joel’s counsel by picking out the principles and practices from each one and applying them in our daily experience.
Here are a few examples of practices that we gathered from Chapter 1. Certainly you can use any of these, but as you read the chapter and listen to the source recordings, you will find many others to choose from, and we encourage you to look for them. As we have mentioned before, it can be helpful to select one or two practices and focus solely on them for a while. Then take another one or two and focus on them. Taking on too many practices at once can be overwhelming.
Example 1
In Chapter 1, Joel says:
“Silently and secretly, we must realize that God is the life of every individual, whether or not he or she knows it and lives by it. The very moment we begin to know the truth that God is the life of everyone; that God’s grace is sufficient unto all people everywhere; when we begin to pray for those who are wrecking this world–pray that the grace of God open their soul and consciousness to the truth of being; pray that the light of God touch their darkened consciousness; pray that everyone be an instrument through which God can freely operate— then and then only do you and I begin to ‘die daily’ to the human ways of life and experience a rebirth as children of God, who no longer have to take thought for their life, but who now live by Grace.”
One way to practice this is to bring to mind some person whom you are tempted to malpractice; someone for whom you may find it difficult to acknowledge as the perfect child of God. It could be a family member, a friend, a co-worker, a political figure, or a world leader. In your mind and heart, address them directly:
“God is the life of you, ________(Name)__________. I pray that the grace of God open your soul and consciousness to the truth of being. I pray that the light of God touch your consciousness, that you may be an instrument through which God can freely operate.
“The life of God is my life and yours; the soul of God is my soul and yours; the Spirit of God is my spirit and yours; the very selfhood of God is my selfhood and your selfhood, and that means we are one in spiritual sonship. If I do, think, or say anything that is destructive to you in any way, I am doing it to myself, for there is but one.”
In doing this practice, we must be sure that we are not trying to spiritualize the human, but that we are working to see through the human appearance to the Soul, the essence, the true Self of the individual.
Example 2
In Chapter 1, Joel says:
“Our life on the spiritual path is in part an inspirational experience, always followed by a practical living demonstration of God’s harmony. Everything we read in Scripture that comes with the power and force of revelation becomes a principle to be used in our life work of attaining conscious union with the Source.”
Here Joel is reiterating that Scripture is not simply to be read, admired, or appreciated, but actually put into practice. In the chapter, he demonstrates how to do this, using these Bible quotes:
“The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.”
“The Lord perfects that which concerns me.”
“Greater is He that is within you than he that is in the world.”
Joel suggests ways to put those words into practice, and he points out that when we keep our consciousness filled with the word of God, we attract the harmony, peace, prosperity, health, and grace that flow from God. In proportion as we live our life separate from the word of God do we bring the world’s experience of lack, limitation, war, discord, or inharmony to ourselves.
We can follow Joel’s lead here by taking some Scriptural quotation that is meaningful to us and making it come alive by really practicing it in daily life. For example, we might use:
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs3:5-6)
or
“Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. . . . seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6: 25, 33)
Once we have chosen a passage, we can contemplate its meaning, ask ourselves, “How can I put this into practice?” and then do that practice.
Example 3
Joel says:
“Neither the mental weapons nor the physical weapons of this world are power. If they are, or if there is not somebody to demonstrate that they are not, this world is lost.”
Then he asks, “But whose responsibility is this?” and he answers, “Those who know the truth and are awake to prove that the evils of the world are not power.” That means US, and Joel tells us what we must do:
These evils cannot be stopped except by the realization of the nothingness or the nonpower of what is claimed to be great power. We cannot expect to do this unless we are willing to set aside enough time each day to sit down and look at some form of error–some form of sin or disease–look right at it and know:
“You are not power: you are the carnal mind, or nothingness; you are the “arm of flesh,” or nothingness. You could have no power unless it came from God, for there is no power but God. God is the life of all being, the immortality and the eternality. God is the only law, the only lawgiver. There is no law of matter; there is no law of disease. Material power is not power: it is a claim of power. God, Spirit, is power, and Spirit is infinite all-power.”
With all the appearances the world is experiencing today, it is easy to find some form of error, sin, or disease, and address it in this way. We simply need to be alert and aware, and practice this immediately when the appearance presents itself.
Joel expands on our responsibility to practice:
“We must nullify every mental and physical claim of power wherever we meet up with it. We must accept it as our responsibility that wherever our attention is drawn to mental or physical power, we will sit down quietly and peacefully and realize that ‘not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of God’ is all of this made null and void.
“Every claim of an atheistic nature is met and destroyed, not by fighting, not by battling, not by asking God to do something, but by quietly, peacefully, and gently realizing, “Thank You, Father, this is Your universe, spiritual, complete, and whole.”
Second Recording for This Chapter
Recording 199B, “Antidote for Fear,” is the class that immediately followed the recording we heard in our sessions. Recording 199B is the second source for Chapter 1, and it was posted through February 18, 2023. The recording is no longer posted 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.
“Love Thy Neighbor” in Practicing the Presence
In Chapter 1, Joel references the chapter “Love Thy Neighbor” in Practicing the Presence, saying, “I have learned a tremendous lesson, which I have set forth in the chapter ‘Love Thy Neighbor’ in Practicing the Presence. The principle is that there is but one Self, and that is the God-Self.”
Joel identified the chapter “Love Thy Neighbor” as one of “the eight most important chapters” in the Infinite Way writings. In 2018, Goldsmith Global did a study program focused on these chapters. You may find it interesting to review some of the material in that study program.