Recording 310A, “God As Consciousness Appearing As Form,” from the 1960 Seattle Closed, is one of several sources for Chapter 8, “Invisible Life Fulfills Itself Tangibly and Visibly,” in Consciousness Is What I Am.
To download or print these study suggestions, click/tap here.
Before embarking on the optional study, take a moment to ask, “What does ‘Invisible life fulfills itself tangibly and visibly’ mean to me?” Really, give it some thought and jot down what comes to you. As you study this chapter and its associated recordings, you can revisit this question from time to time to see how your understanding evolves.
One of Joel’s Recommendations for Study
Joel and other Infinite Way teachers have suggested that when we study a book, it is valuable to read just a few passages in the text and then contemplate what you have read before you continue. Wisely, they say that reading books of spiritual wisdom without truly understanding them is folly; the student has merely read another enjoyable book, but nothing substantial has been accomplished. Joel famously remarked, “These books are not just to be read: they are books that are to be worn out until new copies are needed.”
Focusing on small sections of this study chapter for longer periods enables deeper engagement with the material, leading to better understanding, more profound spiritual insights, and a clearer sense of how to integrate the lesson into daily life.
Study Methods
In Recording 432A, which is one of the primary sources[1] for Chapter 8, Joel begins by saying, “I know that you have worked with the message of The Infinite Way—many of you—for a long time, and a question that must always come up is, ‘To what extent are you benefiting by your study? To what extent are you deriving the benefits of this message?’” Most of us would agree that there is always room for improvement.
Chapter 8 in our study book is a treasure trove of wisdom, and absorbing it all at once would be overwhelming. Each section carries a profound message that deserves full attention.
Many of you already have a preferred study method. Perhaps you have adopted the method we suggested in the optional study suggestions for Session 10 in our study of the 1962 Los Angeles Closed Class. We suggest a similar approach for this chapter. But whatever your preferred study method, the idea is to engage deeply with the material to really “catch the spirit” of what Joel is teaching and allow for the possibility of new insights and realizations—quite possibly even beyond what Joel has given us.
Chapter 8 is conveniently divided into six manageable subsections, making it easy to work with it over the course of one week. We suggest taking one section each day for study and focusing only on that section. Have a notebook or journal available to make notes on your reflections and insights.
As you work with the chapter, perhaps a Bible verse and a deeper understanding of it will come to you. Make a note of that. Maybe an image that captures something in the section will come to mind. Sketch that. Perhaps you will discover some barrier hindering your spiritual progress and see a way to dissolve it.
Newer students who have not used this study approach might find the following example helpful. It gives a few excerpts from reflections that resulted from using this study approach with the section “Consciousness Determines Our Life Experience.” It illustrates how just one section can prompt questions, answers, and insights.
Reflections on the Section “Consciousness Determines Our Life Experience”
“Nothing can come into our experience except through our consciousness, so what our life will be depends on what we entertain in consciousness.”
Hmmm . . . A question arises: What about a young child who contracts a rare disease? The child had no consciousness of the disease.
Upon reflection, an answer came: True, the child had no PERSONAL consciousness of the disease, but the disease was in the COLLECTIVE human consciousness. The child was born into human consciousness and participates in it, so was vulnerable to the belief.
So perhaps we could add to the first sentence in this section: “Remember that what is in our consciousness can be either what we personally have in our consciousness OR what we unconsciously accept from the collective human consciousness.”
In a way, this understanding of the two ways that something can be in our consciousness relieves us of any guilt we might feel that “we” manifested some discord or disease because we had it in our consciousness. It might have been there as a consequence of participating in the collective human consciousness.
Reflecting on this question also emphasized the vital role parents play in protecting children. A young child’s consciousness is most influenced by its parents’ consciousness. If the parents accept error, disease, and discord, those beliefs will likely permeate the child’s consciousness. Likewise, if the parents hold spiritual truth in consciousness, the child’s consciousness will absorb that truth.
I loved the passage that said that our responsibility is to be still and LET Omnipresence flow; that we do not have to take thought or plan anything, but just LIVE whatever flows through, which will be every quality of God, because God is what we are entertaining in consciousness!
This would be such a beautiful and easy way to live, and it relates to “dying daily.” The Omnipresence, Omniscience, and Omnipotence that Joel speaks of are not something outside of myself. They ARE the I that I already am! So it’s a matter of letting the I of my being, the Christ of my being, live my life, just as Paul said! How do I do that? Attain and maintain an awareness of and connection to my true Self, and then let the personal sense step aside—die, really, in a sense—so there is no barrier preventing the Self from expressing. That Self is the most perfect “version” of myself that I could ever not imagine! When I am attuned, It will always act from divine qualities; It will always act with perfect wisdom; It will know exactly how to handle any situation in a way that is godly, far beyond anything my personal sense would know. It is INFINITE in wisdom and goodness; it embodies spiritual power, the only power. Aha! As Joel says over and over again, “He performeth that which is given me to do. He perfecteth that which concerneth me.” That “He” is the I of my own being.
Supplementary Recording
Initially, we chose recording 432A, “Invisible Life Fulfills Itself Tangibly and Visibly,” as the recording we would use in our sessions for Chapter 8. However, there were some audio quality issues with recording 432A that we could not fully remedy, and we felt that the audio quality was not high enough for use in a broadcast session.
However, recording 432A is a primary source for Chapter 8—in fact, it has the same title as the chapter—and despite the audio issues, we want you to have a chance to hear it. We did the best we could to correct the audio issues, and we have posted it as a supplementary recording. The recording is posted on the same page as Recording 310A, which we heard in our online session. To listen to 432A by telephone, call
1-641-715-3900 and use extension 838190#.
Because of the variable audio quality, we prepared a summary of the recording for your reference, which is given below.
Summary of Recording 432A: 1961 Canadian Special Class
“Invisible Life Fulfills Itself Tangibly and Visibly
Joel begins by emphasizing that there are no limits to the possibilities of our demonstration of good because the source is the eternal and infinite Spirit. The only limit is the degree of our capacity to receive or to understand how to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit. So, from time to time, we have to review the spiritual principles to be sure we know and understand them.
Some metaphysical approaches focus on demonstrating material things such as a home, health, supply, or companionship. In The Infinite Way, the focus is solely on demonstrating the presence of God or Spirit, not material conditions. Attempting to demonstrate things is actually a barrier to demonstrating harmony because God is infinite, and whatever exists is already embraced in the infinity of Spirit.
God does not give or withhold. If you could go to God to get something, it would mean God was withholding it. There is no such God. Everything we need already exists in the infinity of Spirit, and our role is to realize this truth rather than seek material forms of good. Just as trees may be barren in winter but will naturally bloom in due season because of the omnipresence of God, of good, everything unfolds in its right time due to the omnipresence of Spirit.
Omnipresence does not mean the trees will always have flowers or fruit. It means that the Spirit of God is always present to make these appear in their due season. In the same way, if we are experiencing a barren period in our life, it doesn’t mean supply is absent, and if we could only get God, He would make it appear. God is omnipresent, and it only means that our recognition of the omnipresence of God would, in due course, show forth the evidence of omnipresence as what we call supply.
When we think of omnipresence, we may think of the omnipresence of some form of good. But omnipresence means omnipresence of the Spirit, the source, the law, the life, not the form. For example, omnipresence does not mean the ever-presence of roses, because roses are not always present in manifested form. But they are always present in essence. The substance of roses is always omnipresent, and recognizing the omnipresence of Spirit would bring the roses into manifestation in their due season.
When you recognize Omnipresence, you take no thought for “what ye shall eat, or what you shall drink, or wherewithal you shall be clothed.” You take thought only to acknowledge the omnipresence of Spirit, and then you let that realization of Omnipresence manifest Itself as the form in Its due time, not your due time.
In human experience, sometimes we have to wait a while for the manifestation. For example, all healing is instantaneous, but the outward sign doesn’t always appear in the second of the healing. The claim may take hours, days, or weeks to disappear. But the claim would not disappear if the healing hadn’t occurred first. In human experience, there may be a process that is the effect of the healing that seems to take time. But that does not mean that the demonstration wasn’t instantaneous. The visible evidence is the effect of the healing; it isn’t the healing. The healing is invisible.
You cannot turn to this message and think about demonstrating any thing or any condition. If you are seeking some form of good, you are setting up a barrier to its manifestation. The only right desire on the path of The Infinite Way is the desire for the realization of Spirit, the realization of divine harmony, or divine grace. The only demonstration in The Infinite Way is the demonstration of God’s infinite presence. The presence of God is fulfillment, and once you demonstrate the presence of God, you will find good unfolding in infinite form and variety.
If the concept of God you have previously entertained has not done you much good, you must gain a new concept of God. There is no God that can give you what you want. You cannot influence or bribe this God to heed your requests or grant you favors. God IS, and God is “IS-ing.” God is eternally being God without any help from you. God is infinite, omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient. It is the all-knowing wisdom and intelligence of the universe, so you don’t have to tell It anything. It is omnipotent, the one and only power. It is omnipresent, so It is where you are. When you know this truth, this truth will make you free.
If you are not manifesting as much of God as you would like, it is not because of an absence of God. It is because you may have an erroneous concept of God. When you acknowledge Omnipresence, Omnipotence, and Omniscience; when you recognize that the kingdom of God is “closer to you than breathing and nearer than hands and feet;” when you trust the governing of your life to that Omnipresence without advising or informing it; and when you completely relax in the realization that the Spirit of God dwells in you, you can take the attitude “I of myself can do nothing, but the Father within me does the works,” or “I live, yet not I. Christ lives my life.”
Have you attained the realization of the omnipresence of God? Are you letting God live your life? Or are you still praying to God to meet your needs in a specific way? When you recognize that God is Spirit, God’s life is spiritual, God’s law is spiritual, and God’s way is spiritual, you can only relax and let that Spirit do Its work. The human mind can never know the nature of God or how God operates. You can never see the Spirit that makes a seed break open, sprout, and send up shoots. You can see it happening, but you cannot see or know what made it happen. All you can say is that something invisible was at work. So, too, we may not see what is governing our lives, but we will know that it is Spirit at work.
When Infinite Way students gather for a class, there is peace, harmony, love, and friendship among them. Why? They have surrendered themselves to God, and God is functioning in them and through them in their relationships. Love is in their presence, but you can’t see what caused it. You can see that a person is friendly, generous, and sharing, but you can’t see what caused it because God is invisible. Why isn’t there such harmony in the rest of the world? Because there isn’t the realization of Omnipresence. People are separating themselves from God.
Christ is only born and alive in you with the recognition of Omnipresence: Here, where I am, Christ is. “I will never leave you nor forsake you. I will be with you to the end of the world.” When you claim Christ, you have Christ. If you don’t claim Christ, Christ isn’t present. Recognize that the indwelling Christ, or Spirit of God, is closer to me than breathing, nearer than hands and feet, and I can do all things through the indwelling Christ in me.
Recognize Omnipresence, Omniscience, and Omnipotence right where you are, and then relax. All there is to do is BE. In the morning, recognize that the Spirit of God that dwells in you goes before you to perfect this day. Know that as you live this day, He performs all that is given you to do; He perfects that which concerns you. Your function is to BE and to bear witness to your good unfolding tangibly and visibly from an invisible source by an invisible power.
Live in an atmosphere of, “Speak, Lord, thy servant heareth. Thy presence goes before me.” The same God that brought up the sun that awakens the buds into full bloom and works invisibly to put fruit on the tree is working in you to bring forth God’s fruitage as your individual life. Each of us is to show forth God’s glory in an individual way, according to God’s will. You can rest and relax in this assurance and just live your life, knowing that whatever is necessary will come forth in its season. Now, even though we know this truth, we don’t bring it to conscious remembrance each day. We let it lie dormant in the back of our minds. But we must pray without ceasing since nothing can come into our experience except through our consciousness.
Whatever happens In a roomful of people is determined by their state of consciousness. If there is peace, harmony, and love, their consciousness is being externalized as peace, harmony, and love. If there is disruption, chaos, or sin, it is their state of consciousness externalizing itself. Our consciousness is what moves us to be charitable or stingy, sinful or pure, sharing, cooperative, forgiving, or loving. Without consciousness, nothing can take place. Consciousness is the basic secret of life. Of itself, my hand cannot give or take, pet or punch. But when consciousness animates it, it can move. So it is with the whole body—consciousness must animate it.
What our body does and what our life is like depends on what we entertain in consciousness. If we entertain the idea of omnipresent God, omnipresent intelligence, love, and power, only absolute good and perfection will manifest because we are not going to do anything. We are going to be still and let that Omnipresence flow. We are not going to take thought or plan anything. We’re just going to live whatever flows through, and it will be good, love, abundance, forgiveness, and generosity. It will be every quality of God because we are entertaining God in consciousness. We don’t have to think of generosity, forgiveness, or abundance. All we have to do is abide in Omnipresence, Omniscience, and Omnipotence, and we lose the capacity for anything but God. God flows through, and we find ourselves being loving, generous, kind, and pure, but we never take thought about those things. They flow automatically because we are entertaining God in consciousness.
A consciousness that is not imbued with God, with Omnipresence, is filled with fear, ignorance, superstition, desire, anxiety, concern, and getting. It is all about I, me, and mine. Without God in your consciousness, you are a human being who is not under the law of God, and who does not receive the things of God. Without a consciousness filled with God, there is only a human life that is partly good and partly evil. Only when consciousness is filled with the presence of God is it true that “nothing can enter that defiles or makes a lie.” Holding good thoughts will not protect you. The only thing that will be a protection is holding thought on God. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee”—stayed on Omnipotence, Omnipresence, and Omniscience.
A consciousness imbued with God is a consciousness full of love, life, forgiveness, sharing, and peace. There are no bigotries, biases, or prejudices. If your consciousness is filled with God, you know that all mankind is God in manifestation. You understand that every individual is a child of God, even if they may not be showing it. If your mind is filled with God, nobody has to tell you how to act because there’s no way for you to act; there is only a way for God to act in you and through you.
“Invisible Life Fulfills Itself Tangibly and Visibly”
Referring back to the title of the chapter, let’s focus on some of the key points that Joel makes about the truth that “invisible life fulfills itself tangibly and visibly.”
[1]This recording is posted in the Study Center as a supplementary recording.