A: Will one eventually rise? One should rise now, this minute! That’s why we’re in class—for the purpose of rising above a sense of duality. As we meditate, and this truth begins to unfold from within, duality has been overcome. We realize then that God is the All and the only One. And in that realization, duality has been overcome.
The demonstration of complete union is a spiritual one that takes place on the inner plane and takes many forms. It takes the form of the spiritual marriage, the spiritual union described in the Song of Solomon. It takes the form of a complete sense of realization of oneness, and that One, God. It brings with it no loss of identity but rather the realization of one God identity.
That inner illumination, that inner realization and revelation of oneness, may be sustained or not, but as one remains on the path it becomes a more frequent experience until the day comes that one lives in a continuous realization of God as the One. You will find that in Love and Gratitude. That is the state of consciousness in Love and Gratitude where you see only God, know only God, expect only of God, and then find it appearing as man.
Now, regardless of the demonstration or realization of oneness, that oneness will always appear as many. In other words, we in this room will never be absorbed into one figure. There will always be each one of us existing as separate or individual identity. But there will come to each of us the realization: “Ah, yes, but the one mind of you is the mind of me. The one life of you is the life of me. The soul of me is the soul of you. Our interests are all one, but that oneness will always be manifest in infinite form and variety.
There will never be a time when there will be just a number one sticking up somewhere. That is not a giving up of duality. There is no such thing as all people being absorbed into one person. There is such a thing as oneness, meaning God is One and God is the only One, but God is infinitely manifested as you and as me. Is that clear? Do you see that?
Never try this Oriental idea of wiping yourself out—of wiping yourself out or wiping your body out. Never, never go in for that. Don’t go in for denying the body. Never go in for a belief in absorption into Deity. There is one, and God is that One. But God is Infinite, and God must therefore appear infinitely.
1This excerpt is from Recording 27B, 1953 Los Angeles Practitioner Class, “There Is No Law of Matter or Disease—Part Two.” 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 at www.joelgoldsmith.com or by calling 1-800-922-3195.