QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS FROM JOEL (8/3/19)[1]
Q: Can one ever make a decision if he successfully refrains from judging?
A: Let’s put it this way: he will never have to make a decision; the decision is made for him. If we approach a business problem and there is any sense of indecision, we need only acquaint ourselves with every aspect of the problem, and then set it aside and wait for the decision to be made in us; in other words, for the conviction to come of which way to go. Then we do not have to make a decision; the decision is made within us.
Or, it sometimes acts in this way—that the proposition is so clear that there isn’t any question about a decision. There’s only one way to go and you see it clearly. A decision would only be necessary where there is indecision; where there is a matter of “this way” or “that way.” Then there is a call for a decision. But when one is under divine guidance, usually there are not two ways. You automatically and quickly see the one and only way which is right for that particular thing and that time, so there’s no decision to make. It’s just a matter of doing what is so clearly evident to be the right thing to do.
For instance, if we do not know what to do tomorrow, instead of searching around and making a decision, if we say, “Well, I’ll wait around until tomorrow, and whatever comes to me to do, I’ll do,” the decision is made for us. That is more and more true as you come under cosmic guidance. There seems to be no reason for a decision.
Some of our students have watched me during those periods. One of them was here last year in Honolulu when I sat for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks, not knowing what to do, or where to go, or when. And there was no use of my making a decision, because any decision I would have made would have been based on my thinking, and that would not necessarily have been the plan—the divine plan.
I just sat here until one morning in my meditation, the Voice said, “Be in New York in November, and in London in December.” Why It ever said that, I couldn’t tell you, because I had no businessin London. But that was what It said, and that was the way I arranged it, and I went to New York, and I had four classes in New York in November.
Now, when I got to New York the same thing happened. I didn’t know what dateto go to London, and so when the class work was over, I had nothing to do but sit in the hotel room in New York and wait. I got up every morning and went for a walk on Fifth Avenue and looked at all the Christmas trimmings in the windows and did some window shopping. And each day I just waited, and waited, and waited. The hotel bill was going on, but I was waiting.
And then the Voice came and said, “Go Wednesday.” So I went right over and booked my passage and went Wednesday. You see? Now, if I had made the decision, I really don’t see how I could have decided to go to London, because I had nothing to go there for, and even after I got there, I didn’t know what I was there for. So I had to sit in the room in London and say, “Well now, Father, I’ve obeyed, but what am I to do here?” And the answer came again: “Well, you have some people over here who are studying your writings. Let them know you’re here. Send them a postal card.” And I did.
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“Well, you want to meet Mr. Hamblin. Go and meet Mr. Hamblin.” And I did. And so, each day something unfolded, and by the time I got through with my trip in London, another of my books had been accepted for publication. Still another book was accepted by another publisher. Since then three more books have been accepted, anda lecture trip and a class has been arranged for over there. And you see what I mean? It wasn’t my decision. It was a decision that was made for me, and I’ve just trained myself to listen.
And so it has been with these classes. Many of you here know how many times I’ve been asked to give a class in Honolulu—how manytimes and how many students have asked for it. Never did I give one until two years ago, and never since until now. I’ve been here but won’t do it. And why not? I know why not—because if the time isn’t right, the class can’t be good. Humanly, yes. I know so many things that I’ve read that it could be interesting, but it couldn’t be spiritually good. “If the Lord build not the house, they labor in vain that build it. If the Lord keep not the watch, the watchman waketh but in vain.”2
And, if God weren’t conducting this class, it might be humanly all right. My students might say, “Oh, that was a nice class.” But that isn’t what they’ve come here for. They’ve come here for spiritual experience. That’s the whole object of this work—spiritual experience, an actual acquaintanceship with God, a God-experience. Now how can I give that to anyone? Only God can give that to them. So when God says the moment is, that’s when we have a class. Do you see that?
So it is, and not before, and that’s the way it has been across the whole United States. I never gave a class in New York City until last November—never. Been seven years with The Infinite Way and never gave a class there until last November. Why? Heaven knows New York is a big enough city. There are enough students there that want it, but until the Father said, “Go to New York,” there was no going to New York.
And so it has been in every bit of our work, and I do know this—that with business people, it’s the same. If they learn to depend on divine guidance, there’s not much in the way of decision they have to make. They are faced with conditions that leavethem no decision—this is the way, and this is the only thing you can do, and so you go ahead and do it. And if there is a choice; if there is a decision, this ability to rest back and say, “Not my will, but Thine be done” usually brings about the right answer. But it is training ourselves to learn to lean back on that Infinite Invisible and wait for Its voice, and sometimes waiting can be a very uncomfortable thing.
1This excerpt is from Recording #87, Side 2, from the 1954 Honolulu Closed Class, “The Healing Work—Treatment.” 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 all transcripts. The full transcript of this recording is available at www.joelgoldsmith.com or by calling 1-800-922-3195.
2 Psalm 127:1