Recording 498A, “Infinite Way Healing Principles (Specific),” is from the 1962 Stockholm Closed Class. This recording is the basis for Chapter 5, “God-Endowed Dominion,” in Living Now.
To download or print these study suggestions, click/tap here.
Part 1 of our study program provided an overview of spiritual healing, and Part 2 focused on the core principles of The Infinite Way and their role in spiritual healing. Part 3 of our study program concentrates on the practice of spiritual healing.
In Session 1 of this part, we addressed spiritual healing consciousness. Joel taught that while God has always been present, healing comes only when an individual becomes God-conscious. Then they are a transparency through which the healing grace of God can be revealed. To review the major points in this session, click/tap here.
This session highlights two key practices in spiritual healing: impersonalization and nothingization.
Throughout the class, Joel refers to impersonalization and nothingization as “principles.” We prefer to think of them as “practices,” in order to avoid confusion with the four major principles of The Infinite Way, which we have recently studied: the nature of God, the nature of individual being, the nature of error, and the nature of prayer.
When we speak of a “principle,” we mean a fundamental truth that serves as the foundation for a body of knowledge. In that light, we do not regard impersonalization and nothingization as principles in themselves, but rather as ways of practicing the principles. While Joel does not present them in quite this way in this class, he has said:
“When we undertake the study of The Infinite Way, it must seem to be a difficult subject, one not easy to encompass. The reason is, we are always hitting up against more and more principles. Every time we read a book or every time we hear a tape, there are more principles, and we wonder if we are ever going to get to the end of it.
“As a matter of fact, it is not quite that way. There are not many principles revealed in the message of The Infinite Way. What seems to make it so involved is that each principle requires so many different ways of hearing and reading before we actually attain the consciousness of it. . . . [For example,] you can go through the Infinite Way writings and spend months just on the nature of God. This is not because there are a lot of principles to learn. There is only one principle—the principle of the Nature of God. However, there are hundreds of facets of that Nature . . .”[1]
So, when Joel refers to impersonalization and nothingization as “principles,” we believe he meant that they were related facets of two major principles: the nature of individual being and the nature of error. We like to think of impersonalization as a way to practice the principle of the nature of individual being. Nothingization is a way to practice the principle of the nature of error. As you review the recording, you can decide whether this interpretation resonates with you.
This recording is the basis for Chapter 5, “God-Endowed Dominion,” in Living Now. While the chapter does not include everything in the recording, it can serve as a helpful review. If you subscribe to the transcript option on the Joel Goldsmith Streaming Service, you can use the transcript for review. Whether or not you have the book or subscribe to the service, you can create your own summary or use the summary of major points provided below.
Infinite Way healing principles are radically different from those in other teachings.
The healing principles in The Infinite Way differ radically from those in other teachings. To be successful with Infinite Way healing, you must work from these principles. In some teachings, the practitioner looks for the error in the patient. But Joel discovered that error does not originate in the thought of an individual. An individual may let himself become an outlet for error, but error does not originate in him and cannot be healed in him. The origin of evil of any nature is the universal human mind, not the individual human mind. When a practitioner realizes that, the patient is set free, for no error is attached to him.
When Joel looks out at his students and silently realizes their spiritual nature and origin, they begin to like him. They don’t know why, but they can’t help it. The reason is that he is seeing their real nature, their real Self, behind the human masquerade. They feel that and respond to it. But if Joel were criticizing, judging, resenting, or minimizing them, they would feel uncomfortable. They would not know consciously what he was doing, but they would feel the result. The same thing happens in the healing practice. If a practitioner tries to find an error in you, you feel that malpractice, and instead of being free and happy, you are uncomfortable.
The first step in healing is impersonalization.
So, when you do healing work, remember to remove the “original sin” from mankind—the belief that man was created in sin and brought forth in iniquity. That is not the truth. The Infinite Way recognizes that every individual has a spiritual origin. Science may trace a human form back to a seed, but where did the seed come from? Man did not create you, nor have you created anyone else. God is the Creator. You are created in God’s image and likeness, and you are the instrument through which the creation appears. Everything visible comes from the invisible.
When a practitioner recognizes that God constitutes you, that there is no evil in you, and that any evil manifesting through you originates in the universal human mind of man, the practitioner separates you from the evil and keeps you as you originally are—God Itself in expression—and puts the evil outside of you in the universal mind.
For example, in winter, there are many claims of colds, flu, and grippe. But these claims do not originate in an individual. They are beliefs that have been adopted due to ignorance and accepted, consciously or unconsciously. Therefore, it is not necessary to treat each individual because there is only one claim, and it has nothing to do with any one individual. It is a universal claim, and if that universal claim is handled, many are healed. Only one treatment is needed because there is only one belief—the universal belief in a selfhood, power, or presence apart from God.
When you see that no individual is the cause of their cold or flu, you will see the same thing with other claims. You will recognize that the origin of any claim is not in the individual and realize that you cannot find the error in them because it isn’t there. The error is in universal belief, not an individual belief.
We call this “impersonalizing,” and it is the first step in Infinite Way healing. Impersonalization is the recognition that you are God in expression, the very life of God; that you breathe the breath of God; that you are God’s own Selfhood; and therefore, there can be no evil or sin in you. In other words, impersonalizing is practicing the principle of the nature of individual being.
Impersonalization is the first step in Infinite Way healing. We realize that no matter what the appearance is, from corns to cancers, it is not you, not of you, and not in you. The appearance is the result of a universal belief in a selfhood apart from God, a power apart from God. Pilate said of Jesus, “I find no sin in this man.” That is what a practitioner must say to every case: “I find no sin in this patient. I find no evil in this patient. I find that this individual is the holy one of Israel, the child of God, the offspring of Spirit, the very life of God expressed.” That is impersonalizing; that is applying the principle of the nature of individual being.
The second step in healing is nothingization.
Once we have impersonalized, have separated the patient from the condition, and are holding him in his divine perfection, we can set the patient aside. In his true nature, the patient needs no healing. Then comes the second step called “nothingizing,” or “making nothing” of the condition. Nothingization is the way we practice the principle of the nature of error, which reveals that if God is the only power, there can be no other power. Any appearance of error is not of God, has no power, no substance, and no law to maintain it.
So, we ask, “Did God create this evil condition?” No. God is too pure to behold iniquity. Thus, this appearance cannot be created by God and can have no real existence. Does it have power? No. God is Omnipotence, the only power, and there can be no other power.
People say they believe that God is omnipotent, but many do not really accept omnipotence as an absolute principle. They accept a good power and an evil power. They see such things as germs, dictators, disease, and sin as evil powers, and so they actually have both omnipotence and evil. But to practice spiritual healing, you must accept God as omnipotent, the only power. You must develop the ability to look at sin, disease, or any condition without fear or horror, realizing that it exists only in man’s belief. We experience evil only because there is a universal belief in the reality and power of evil. But in proportion as you can accept God as omnipotence, evil loses its seeming power. It is “ye” who must know this truth, so the truth can make you free.
Disease has no law to support it.
Joel tells the story of a doctor who came to him with a supposedly incurable disease, and Joel told the doctor that the disease had no law to support it. Of course, the doctor disagreed, but Joel explained that if a disease had a law supporting it, it could not be cured, because you can’t break a law. If a disease had a law to sustain it, it would be an immortal disease, perpetuated by its law, and the law would have to come from God, the only lawgiver. The only reason you can stop a disease is that it has no law of God to support it. The doctor had a beautiful healing. He accepted that if anything has a law, it has immortality, and because he saw that, the situation broke.
If you see a truth, comprehend it, and really understand it, the lie will disappear. If you can grasp that disease or death has no law, that God is not responsible for it, it will fall by the very fact that you have recognized its nothingness. You have known the truth that makes you free.
There are not two powers.
Disease, sin, fear, and lack all have their basis in the belief in two powers—good and evil. Accepting two powers sent Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden— “They ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” When you accept two powers, you keep yourself out of Eden, but you can return in the moment that you realize that God is Omnipotence, the only power, and there is no other power. God is Spirit, and spiritual power is the only power. Then you find yourself doing healing work because you do not have to fight beliefs; you recognize the truth.
Once you recognize that a claim is not truth and evil is not personal, you have victory over the error. But you must be absolutely universal in impersonalizing, and you must be firm and unwavering in accepting the principle of one power.
The Master was not horrified at the appearance of disease or sin: “Neither do I condemn thee.” “I will take thee into paradise this very night.” In other words, “These sins do not have their origin in you. You are not responsible, and now that you have reached out to the Christ, you are absolved.”
Through impersonalization, you remove the burden of malpractice from the patient. You simply know the truth that God is individual life, and that God is the only power and the only presence. You know the truth that none of these evils belong to the individual. They are universal, mortal beliefs and exist only as illusory appearances to be dismissed. In so doing, you free the patient. We do not treat conditions, diseases, or diseased people. Rather, we know the truth of man’s identity and the illusory nature of the appearance.
Practice impersonalization and nothingization.
When someone asks for help, you must agree to give it at once. You do not even have to know the nature of the claim or the name of the individual, because you know that they are the spiritual offspring of God, regardless of name, and you know that your function is not to transfer truth to them, but to know the truth within yourself.
Then, you must realize that the claim is not of man and has no real existence. It exists only as an illusory appearance. There is a big difference between a “condition” and “an illusory appearance.” You have to fight a condition, but you can simply dismiss an illusory appearance. Treating conditions is the purview of material medica; we do not treat conditions, disease, or diseased people. We know the truth of man’s identity and the illusory nature of the appearance.
You must be firm in these principles of the nature of individual being and the nature of error and not waver between “hope,” “faith,” and “doubt.” This is why it is better to start healing work with the lesser claims of the human world and build yourself up. But you can start with any claim that touches your consciousness if you have the stamina to impersonalize, to realize instantly: “This has nothing to do with you, it is an impersonal claim from the belief in two powers.”
When you have separated the patient from the claim and put the claim in the realm of illusory appearances, or false beliefs of the universal mind, ask yourself, “Did God create this appearance?” No, God could never have created anything destructive to Himself, and your life is God’s life, the only life you will ever have. Anything that happens to your life is happening to God’s Life, and God, who is infinite wisdom and divine love, never provided for destroying His own life. God is living His own life as you.
Since God is the only life you have, you know that He did not create any disease to destroy it. God has no pleasure in your dying. According to the Master, the will of God is that you have life and that you have it more abundantly. When? From before Abraham was until the end of the world. The Christ has been with you since God began and will be with you unto the end of the world. “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee,” so there cannot be any provision for your aging or dying. You will pass from visibility, but we shouldn’t be kicked out of visibility by a disease. We should make a transition in some normal and natural way.
The point to remember is that God is your only life, and It is living you. God is the only mind you have, the only soul, and even your body is the temple of God. Then could there be any error in you? No! Regardless of the appearance, the error is not in you. When you realize that, you have impersonalized the error and placed it out in universal mortal consciousness. Then you make it nothing by realizing, “God did not create it, it is no part of God, and the Christ is present to nullify it. The error exists only as an illusory appearance, like the sky that sits on a mountain. All sin, false appetite, disease, lack, and limitation exist only as illusory appearances, and when you impersonalize and nothingize them, you begin their destruction.
Some healings are instantaneous, and others take time. This may be due to the individual’s receptivity. Humans often hold on to things that are harmful to them. But the healing is certain if you are willing to stand fast in the truth that you are not dealing with a condition that has to be healed, removed, or risen above; that you are dealing only with an illusory appearance that must be recognized and dismissed.
Mrs. Eddy said, “Treat a belief in disease as you would sin, with sudden dismissal.” Why can you dismiss it? Because it isn’t of God; it doesn’t belong to any person, and it doesn’t exist as a condition. It exists only as an illusory appearance. You can dismiss it “suddenly,” without having to spend hours trying to treat it away. “It” does not even exist! All obstacles to harmony exist only as mental images in the mind of man. They are not of God, and they are not actual conditions.
Mind is not a power or a cause.
Some teachings profess that mortal mind causes disease. This is not true. Mortal mind is not a cause; God is the only cause. Furthermore, disease does not exist as a condition; therefore, it never had a cause.
Mind is not a power; it is an instrument. You can fill your mind with truth and prove that the truth you take into your mind is power. You can accept evil into your mind and make it a power in your life. It had no power of its own, but you give it power by your acceptance of it. Just as your body has no qualities of good or evil, neither does your mind. Whatever the body shows forth is determined by the individual.
As human beings, we can use our bodies destructively, harmfully, injuriously, or sinfully. But when you keep your mind filled with spiritual truth, there is no possibility of evil governing the body. Evil effects only come to the body when you open your mind to evil.
Can you positively agree that you have a mind? If so, there is a “you” and a “mind” that is yours. Can you positively agree that you have a body? Is that body yours? If so, can you do what you want with your body? If you have a mind, you can attune yourself to God through your mind. You can open your mind to receive truth, and you can also open your mind to news or television stories. In other words, you have control over your mind and can choose what enters it. The mind is not a power of itself; it is an instrument that you use for whatever purpose you want to use it. If you want to compose music, paint pictures, or invent something, you open your mind to receive ideas.
You can choose to commune with God, morning, noon, and night, and that can be so joyous, fruitful, and beneficial that you have no pleasure in communing with the evil nature or forces of this world. You can keep your mind attuned to truth by reading books of truth, inspirational books, and books of mystical poetry. You can keep your mind filled with the spiritual awareness of God’s omnipresence and omnipotence, and the awareness of the non-power of anything other than God. The days and the nights must be given to God, to truth. Your mind will reflect whatever you put into it, so by keeping it filled with God, it reflects good in your body.
Mind and body are one. Mind is the substance or the essence of which this body is formed. So, if you entertain truth in your mind, you experience harmony in your body. If you entertain evil, discord, or sin, you experience that in your body. Whatever you accept in your mind, your body manifests.
The mind itself is pure, and the body itself is pure. But the food you take into your mind determines the nature of your mind and body. As Jesus said, “We live not by bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” The more you feed your mind with truth, the more harmonious your body becomes. And the more truth you feed your mind, the more harmonious the bodies of those who come to you become, because when someone comes for help, what is taking place in your mind becomes the law unto their body. If you are filling your mind with God, harmony appears in their body and their experience.
If you malpractice others by seeing them as they humanly appear to be, you will bring out in them what you are seeing in them. But if you learn to disregard the appearance and inwardly say, “I know thee who thou art. Thou art the Holy One of Israel. You are the offspring of God. God constitutes your soul, mind, being, and body, and any evil appearance belongs out here in the vast mental illusion of nothingness,” you will see how you can change the nature of everything that comes within range of your consciousness.
In the message of The Infinite Way, the responsibility is on our shoulders, not on the teaching. The books can’t do anything for you unless you embody what is in them in your living. Reading them and saying how beautiful they are will not do it. This is a life practice. You have to stop malpracticing others and impersonalize with this truth: God constitutes man. Then you have to separate the illusory appearance from the individual and nothingize by declaring: “This appearance belongs to the carnal mind, the vast mental illusion, the belief in two powers, and God didn’t make it.” As you persist in that, you can’t lose, because this is the principle of life.
Check Your Understanding
Practice Impersonalization
We do not have to wait for someone to ask us for help to practice impersonalization. In fact, it is easier to impersonalize in healing if we have developed the habit of impersonalizing. Every time you encounter disease, sin, conflict, fear, lack, limitation, or any other form of error (in yourself, in others, in the news, etc.), immediately reject the belief that the discord is in the person, of the person, or has anything to do with the person, and silently declare the truth.
For example: “This is not John’s disease,” or “This is not Mary’s lack,” or “This is not my pain and limitation,” or whatever the case may be. “I am, and every individual is, an expression of God—God-created, God-maintained, and God-sustained—so there can be no error in the individual. This appearance is a universal belief in good and evil that has been accepted through ignorance and is manifesting itself.” Contemplate the truth and rest in it.
Practice Nothingization
Likewise, throughout the day, we can practice nothingizing any form of discord. At any appearance of pain, disease, news of war, or any personal challenge to yourself or others, pause and say within something to this effect: “This is not power or presence. God is the only power and the only presence. This is a temporal illusion—a nothing appearing as something.” Again, contemplate the truth and rest in it.
[1] The Spiritual Power of Truth: Chapter 9, “God and Error.”