A: Well now, there are two different subjects there. If we have a problem, and we are now turning to God, we cannot turn to God and say, “Where will I get a bank loan?” or “Should I get out of business or stay in business?” That is making a human counselor out of the divine Spirit. So at that stage of our experience when we are turning for spiritual guidance, even though it is a problem concerning business or finances or sales or invention or manufacture or family—even though it is that—we are now going to sit back and turn from that problem. We are going to open our consciousness specifically for a realization of God’s presence, a realization of the Christ.
The problem may try to intrude itself into our thought, and we’ll have to talk back to it: “Get thee behind me, Satan! I’m not interested in you. My function now is to realize God’s presence.” And you will achieve it; you will come to the realization of God’s presence. Whether you do it the first time you try is not the criterion. If you practice, eventually you will attain the ability to sit down and come into actual realization of the presence of God.
Now, you will find that when you have that, you will either very quickly see the solution to your problem, or you will be led to go to a ball game, or if it is nighttime, to go to bed. If you go to bed, you’ll wake up in the middle of the night or early in the morning, and the solution will be as plain as if it were written on your ceiling. Or you may turn it away, throw it out of your mind, and then in a moment that ye know not, the answer will flash right back in. Or, you will sit down quietly with pen and pencil, and you’ll just start writing and figuring and thinking about your problem—not with concern or anxiety—but to let the solution flow. The solution now will flow not from you, not from your understanding, but from this contact that you have made with the divine.
Certainly, we do not sit on cloud nine and deny that we have a human experience. Nor do we try to avoid it or to evade it, but we try not to tackle it until we have the realization of God as our partner in the deal. Is that clear? Now, you see there is no escapism in that, because we are not trying to avoid the issues of life, but we are trying not to tackle them until we are sure that we have the spirit of God working in us and through us and with us in all of our ways. Once you have the assurance that God is on the field, certainly, then sit down and map out your advertising campaign or whatever else.
One of the things that we most frequently complained about in the old days of my experience in Christian Science was that we used to say, “Never go to a dentist who is a Christian Scientist. Never go to a lawyer who is a Christian Scientist. They’re always depending on God to do their work, and they just sit by and know the truth!” (Laughter) Now don’t go to the kind of a person who isn’t thorough in their business. Be sure that if they are an attorney, they are very thorough in looking up every phase of the work. And if they’re a dentist, be sure that it’s a dentist who isn’t depending on God to do his sanitation work for him.
Now, we, together with the spirit of God, are very thorough workmen. We leave nothing to chance. We leave nothing to just “Oh, trust God and He’ll do it.” We don’t have that kind of attitude. Our attitude is that before we undertake anything, we make sure that we have attained some realization of the presence of God, and then we sit down and do a thorough job of whatever it is we are doing. … When a person is spiritually endowed, when a person is touched by the spirit, they become very thorough workmen. They leave nothing to chance. The Spirit Itself guides them to go to the right places for their information, or to find the right people to help them. And nothing is left just to chance or “Let God do it!” No, no, no!
In California, we have a Golden Gate Bridge. I don’t know for how many generations it was known that a bridge across Golden Gate would be a very desirable thing. In fact, it solved many problems. But every bridge builder in the States tried to design a bridge across the Golden Gate, and each one gave it up. Each one in turn said, “It’s an impossibility, it can’t be done!” And then along came Mr. Ellis, and he did it! When he was asked—and he was often asked—“How? How did you find that solution to it?” His answer was, “I prayed. God gave me the answer.” But of course, if you see that bridge, you will admit that he prayed, but he was a thorough workman too!
So with us. This means of spiritual living does not result in frustration and it is not escapism. It is the most practical way of living in a practical universe that you can possibly know, because when you have attained the ability to live through this realization of the Christ; live it and have it with you on all occasions; you’ll find how practical it is in helping you meet your bills, and keep your body well, and keep your home in order. Oh, you’ll be surprised how practical it is, once you see it operate.
1 Excerpt from Recording #705A: 1955 Johannesburg Closed Class, “The Inner Meaning.” This excerpt is posted with kind permission from the Estate of Joel Goldsmith, which holds the copy protection on all of Joel’s recorded classes and the copyright on the class transcripts. The full transcript of this recording is available at The Infinite Way Office website or by calling 1-800-922-3195.