“And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” ~ Exodus 3:4-5.
Recording 302A, titled “Nothing Takes Place Outside of Consciousness,” is from the 1960 Los Angeles Closed Class. It is the basis for Chapter 5, “Nothing Takes Place Outside of Consciousness,” in I Stand on Holy Ground. This recording was posted through February 19. It is no longer available on this site. If you subscribe to the Joel Goldsmith Streaming Service, you can listen to it there. To purchase the recording or transcript from The Infinite Way Office, click/tap here.
To view or download the Optional Study and Practice Suggestions, click/tap here.
Use the Contemplations to Regain Dominion
In this chapter, Joel points out that as humans, we have forfeited our God-given dominion and turned it over to “this world.” When the media announces discords or crises, human beings, through ignorance, accept these mentally imposed suggestions and permit them to become part of their experience. This happens because they do not know the underlying truth of being and the nature of error.
We regain our dominion when we understand that God constitutes our being; that God created us in His own image, and that we have the mind, life, soul, spirit, and intelligence of God. This means that only the law of God can operate in, on, and through our consciousness, and that nothing from without can enter that defiles or makes a lie. When we see ourselves as children of God, under the law of God, nothing and no one can influence us. We are a law unto ourselves—a law of God, a law of love, intelligence, and life—and we are not subject to outside influences. Then we have regained our dominion.
If we believe that there is any evil, or that there is a selfhood, a law, or a life apart from God, we are accepting a mental imposition, a suggestion from outside our own being. Such a suggestion comes from the “carnal mind,” which is the universal belief in two powers; that is, the belief that there is God and something other than God. But there is nothing other than God. God alone IS. These mental impositions, whether they are the thoughts of others or universal beliefs, have no power unless we believe they have power.
Nothing can enter our experience except through our consciousness. Error of any kind has to wedge itself into our consciousness before it can manifest. If we let these suggestions of evil into our consciousness, then we must get rid of them. So it is better not to admit them at all. Because God is too pure to behold iniquity, nothing that comes to our consciousness is true unless it testifies to immortality, eternality, infinity, and abundance.
Joel tells us what we must do to be free of all mentally imposed suggestions that come from the belief in two powers:
When we are grounded in this truth, any suggestions from outside our being cannot impose themselves on us or operate in, on, or through our consciousness, because God is our consciousness, and nothing can operate on God. A universal belief is stopped when it hits up against the realization of one power, and that one power is the spirit of God in us, the presence of God and the life of God in us.
So how can we fortify our recognition and realization of the truth of our identity and the nature of error? In this chapter, Joel says that every student must study, read, and contemplate within himself until he comes to an absolute conviction of these spiritual principles. He points out that although in the Infinite Way, we do not repeat and repeat a statement or prayer for the purpose of making something happen, we do consciously remember and contemplate the truth. He gives us several passages that can be helpful starters for contemplation. These are in the study book, and they are given below as well. We have also prepared a card with these passages, should you wish to print and use it.