A: Of course, nobody can rise higher than their state of consciousness, so whatever our state of consciousness is now, that’s what it will be until it’s changed. Therefore, if we are living now in the belief of physical life, passing on will not stop that belief from operating. We are still going to be functioning in the belief of physical life. If you’re on the spiritual path, it will be a higher form of that physical life. There won’t be any more returning to slavery; there won’t be any more returning to the enslavement of the senses; there won’t be any more of being imprisoned in a body.
And try to understand what I mean by this. It’s very important. We live, and we have bodies, but there are some who are not entombed in those bodies. They are using the body. They’re fully prepared, should the occasion require it, to give up this body, to do so without a struggle, knowing that we can function without it, and whatever form of body we need will quickly be formed for us.
In other words, you can live right here on earth without being entombed in the body. How? By not fearing it, by not fearing death, by not fearing disease. When disease comes along, take care of it spiritually and let it pass from you quickly. But don’t get entombed in the body as if this body controlled your life. The body does not control your life unless you let it, and that’s on the same basis as the kahuna doesn’t control your body unless you let him.
Now, the truth is that you govern your body. Let me prove this to you. There is a “you,” and just for this moment, say the word “I” to yourself. I. And now, I have a mind. I have a body. I am listening to a lesson on the spiritual life. I am listening, through my mind, to a lesson on the spiritual life. Nothing is entering my mind except this lesson. Nothing is disturbing my mind, because my mind is being fully occupied with this lesson on spiritual living. I have been here for over an hour, and my mind has been attentive to the lesson; my mind has been interested in the lesson. Therefore, I have proven in this hour that I have dominion over my mind.
Therefore, if I so choose, I can practice this so that twenty-four hours a day, I can have dominion over my mind so that it will think only the thoughts that I wish it to think or that I wish to think in or through the mind. Just as I have governed this mind for the past hour and a half, and only this spiritual message has entered it, so I can go on, hours and hours and hours governing the activity of my mind, determining what shall enter it.
All right, for this hour and a half, I have also governed my body. My body has sat in a chair, quietly and peacefully. In fact, I’ve hardly thought about my body in this last hour and a half. And because I sat my body down and told it to be still, it has been still. Because I sat my body down and said, “We are here to hear a spiritual message,” my body has not been complaining. So, for an hour and a half, you have had dominion over your mind and over your body, because there is a “you,” something that you call “I.” I, Joel—or I, [your name]—have a mind. God gave me this mind as an instrument to be used for thinking processes and reasoning processes, and that is what I’m using this mind for. It’s not a power. I’m not going to give it power over me. I am going to assume power over it. I assume the power through divine grace.
God gave me dominion over everything on earth, including my mind and my body. I have dominion over my mind; it will think thoughts in accordance with my desire. And I will tell my body where to travel and when. I will clothe my body. I will bathe my body. I will not let my body dictate to me. I will dictate to my body.
Now, do you not see that once you attain the divine dominion given to you by God in the beginning, you are living the spiritual life of dominion—dominion over the mind and dominion over the body? And then you will see that one of these days, if this body is taken from you, I will still go on, and I will form for myself, or God will give me by grace, whatever form of body that I require.
Therefore, if I am in the state of consciousness in which my body and my mind govern me, dying isn’t going to change that; passing on isn’t going to change it. I’ll wake up with another mind and body still governing me because I’ve yielded myself up. I’ve just given myself up weakly to be bossed and dictated to by a mind and a body. But if I depart from this plane knowing my oneness with God, acknowledging God as the only power, then naturally, that’s the consciousness I carry with me, and that’s the consciousness with which I start out my new experience.
Whether or not we return to this plane is determined more or less by our state of consciousness and what experience may be necessary for us. There is a state of consciousness of the great illumined ones, in which there is no need to return to earth.
But I will say this to you: that no one has ever attained such heights that they govern that. There are others that govern whether or not we return, and if there is a purpose to be served by Jesus Christ, he will return or maybe has returned to earth. If there is some function for him to perform, either of his own accord or by the request of those of attained spiritual consciousness, be assured, he—or anyone—will return when requested to, even if there is no particular reason on their part.
If it is deemed wise for the benefit of the world that any enlightened soul return, they return. If it is deemed wise that they function from behind the scenes, they will function from behind the scenes. The reason is that the white brotherhood still exists, and the great spiritual brotherhoods of old still exist. No person passing from this plane of earth dies. Therefore, you may be assured that a Lao Tzu, a Buddha, a Jesus, a John, a Paul, could never die and rot away. They are functioning. How could God provide for anyone to be so highly illumined and then exterminate them? It isn’t possible. They are still functioning, and we benefit from that.
1This copyrighted excerpt is from Recording 452B: 1962 Mission Inn Closed Class, “The Nature of Power and Not Power.” 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 from The Infinite Way website or by calling 1-800-922-3195.
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