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A: Now, this brings us to a facet of the revelation of truth that seems difficult for many students to grasp and almost impossible for many students to practice because of inertia, because of the laziness of the human mind. But you must understand that when the 91st Psalm says that none of these evils shall come nigh thy dwelling place, that that must have some special significance, as when the Master tells us that if you abide in the word and let the word abide in you, that you will bear fruit richly, whereas, if you do not abide in the Word, if you do not let Me abide in you, you will be as a branch of a tree that is cut off and withereth.
Now, in this passage, you have the explanation for every evil that has ever befallen man, individually or collectively. As long as the world of men and women are living separate and apart from the Vine, as long as they are living as a branch of a tree that is cut off, they must wither. Whether they do it with age or disease or whether they do it with storms or accidents on the highway, they must wither, and every fatality on earth is a testimony to the fact that the race is living separate from the Vine.
Now, eventually, a small group will make the demonstration for the entire world, but as of this moment, it becomes necessary for individuals to make their own demonstrations so that they may unite in changing the nature of the entire world.
Now, there is no such thing as a vicious storm or a vicious beast or a vicious circumstance of any kind that does not emanate from the mind of man. It doesn’t emanate from the mind of a man who is consciously one with God. As a matter of fact, the Master proved by his oneness with God that the storm ceased.
We know by Scripture that where one is consciously one with God, the lion’s jaws are sealed, the lion can lie down with the lamb, and the lamb can lie down with the lion. Wherever an individual is one with God, there is a state of peace into which “nothing can enter that defileth or maketh a lie,” and therefore, a storm cannot exist.
Now, I don’t mean by that that one individual necessarily may have stopped all of the snowstorms of last winter. It is a possibility, but it does not necessarily follow that there is an individual living at that plane of existence. But this we have proven beyond all possibility of doubt, that when a storm threatened, and we went to work in our way, that the storm never happened; when a tidal wave was scheduled for a specific minute of a specific hour, that when our little group went to work, that tidal wave was dispelled fifteen minutes before it was due to strike. They followed it all across the ocean and then lost it—but not just on one occasion, on three occasions. Again, another storm that was raging and that was blowing in just dissolved in the presence of this small group’s work. And on still another occasion, when a city had a rainfall for eighteen solid months because of a cloud formation that couldn’t be dispelled, and this same small group was called upon for help, within one hour the rain stopped, and although the weather bureau said that it was just a freak that it stopped, and it would start again in a short while, it hasn’t yet.
Now, “One with God is a majority.” At this present moment, it would be a serious thing for one to undertake to change the whole nation’s weather, because you must remember that all discordant weather is the action of the human mind, the collective human mind, and it manifests what is going on in the collective human mind, and until the human mind is stilled, the storms will not be stilled. Until the human mind has become imbued with truth, it wouldn’t be good to get lions and lambs too close together.
As long as we individually are living under the law of “Self-preservation is the first law of nature,” our neighbors better look out for us, because whether we know it or not, or they know it or not, we are dangerous to them, because the moment they get in the way of our self-preservation, they’re in trouble. This isn’t true in the presence of enlightened consciousness, because in the presence of enlightened consciousness, where it is known that “neither life nor death can separate me from the love of God,” I’m not going to take anybody else’s life to save mine, but until one arrives at that estate, each one on Earth is an enemy of everybody else.
Is there any reason why we have burglaries? Thefts? Why we have dishonest bank clerks, bookkeepers once in a while? It’s all on the same basis of self-preservation: “I need this, and I don’t mind that it’s yours. I’ll take it. It will preserve me.” But do you not see that none of that could exist on Earth if consciousness were elevated to the realization of just one truth: “All that the Father hath is mine.” That ends all need for and all possibility of dishonesty. All that the Father hath is mine. Relax. “Take no thought for your life; your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of these things, and it is His good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
Now, in that consciousness, or the consciousness of David: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want,” in that consciousness, can you see any storms, any danger to anyone’s person, or any danger to anyone’s property? No. Or in the consciousness of a man who could say, “Call no man on earth your father; there is but one Father, God in heaven”? Can you not see how everybody in the world is safe from that individual? That individual wants nothing from his brother. Rather, he would like to provide something, should he have a brother in need. But to take from a brother would be impossible. To steal, lie, cheat, defraud would be impossible. And so it is that every evil circumstance on Earth comes from the unenlightened human mind that is still living on the law of “self-preservation is the first law of nature.”
So you will find when you go into the office of an individual who is irritable, worried, at ill ease, or “dis-ease,” that you immediately feel that in the atmosphere. On the other hand, when you go into the office of an individual who is living at peace with God and with man, you also feel that in the atmosphere in the room.
So it is, every untoward circumstance of life is the emanation of the universal, the collective human mind. Peace on Earth can only be established when Christ is established in human consciousness, and when we say, “Christ established in human consciousness,” we mean light, or enlightenment, or the truth.
Now, when the truth is established in human consciousness that “I and my Father are one; all that the Father hath is mine;” when it is established in human consciousness, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee; I have been with thee since before Abraham; I will be with thee unto the end of the world,” do you not see that the mind settles down instantly into that same state of David-consciousness: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want”—that peace, that assurance, that confidence—and from him must be emanating peace, harmony, love, understanding, forgiveness.
You won’t find any storms around that David, and you won’t find any storms around Jesus Christ, who is living in a constant consciousness of love, service, devotion, giving, without ever a thought of getting. You will never find a storm anywhere on Earth when human consciousness is devoid of storms, when the human mind has no storms, because, bear this in mind: Matter itself doesn’t move. Something has to move it.
In other words, until I tell my hand to do something, it will stay right here. I must move it, and that “I” may be one of two. It may be “I, Joel,” or it may be “I, God.” If it is “I, Joel,” this hand can be used to do good and to do evil. As long as I’m living in human consciousness, I can determine whether to give or to take, whether to pet or to punch. That is when I’m living in the consciousness of self with a small ‘s.’ The very moment that I am living in the consciousness of Self with a capital S, this hand is no longer mine, but God’s, and it moves only as God directs it.
And so with this whole body. As long as this body is solely the possession of a Joel in human consciousness, this body can go to war or peace, can do good, can do evil. Its strength can be used for good or evil, and even the wisdom of its mind can be used for good or evil. But the moment the transition is made—light, enlightenment, the mind that was in Christ Jesus, the Buddhi, the Buddha mind—in that moment, neither this mind nor this body can be used erroneously, because it is not under the jurisdiction of man, whose breath is in his nostril. It is under the jurisdiction of the I that is God, and therefore, this body gets moved as God moves it.
Do you not see, then, that as a measure of light, enlightenment, or truth touches our consciousness, in that degree do the storms, the sins, the diseases, the lacks, the limitations, and the accidents of “this world” begin to disappear from our experience? Now, a thousand may still fall at our left, and ten thousand may still fall at our right, but it will not come nigh the dwelling place of those who are, even in a measure, even in a small measure, abiding in this Word.
Never, never let yourself get too far away from the 15th chapter of John. Don’t let yourself stay away from that chapter for more than a week at a time. At least take a peek into it once a week, until it is so established in your mind that you’re living with it every day.
I can assure you, there isn’t a day that that chapter isn’t consciously in my mind, and I don’t think that you’ll ever hear a tape that hasn’t got that chapter quoted. Why? It is a constant reminder of this: that as long as I practice the presence of God, as long as I live consciously in the fact that God is in the midst of me, I am keeping the Word alive in me. I am keeping God’s presence alive in me, and most of the troubles of this world cannot come nigh my dwelling place.
But it also reminds me that if I am not living in the conscious remembrance of God, if I am not remembering the presence of the Christ in me, that I am, in that degree, cut off from the source of my life, and I’m then only living on whatever strength or food or water or air there is in my system. None of us wants to live that way, because when you are one with your source—I mean consciously one—when you are remembering consciously that you are one with God, all of God’s grace is flowing into you and through you and out from you, and literally then, this remembrance of God is your food, your water, your wine, your meat, your life eternal, even your resurrection.
This realization of the presence of God is even your resurrection from the dead, because when you pass from this scene, you will find that you will instantaneously, or within an hour, be resurrected. You will not stay dead for a whole hour. You will be resurrected right out of that belief of the tomb, and the degree of that life is wholly dependent on the degree of our constant realization—abiding, the Master called it—abiding, living constantly in the realization of God as constituting my being, God as my life, God as my soul, God as the health of my countenance and my strength.
Now, wherever you find an individual experience of mental unrest, fear, greed, lust, animality, too great a sense of injustice, inequality, you’ll find wars and storms within that individual, and they will externalize themselves in the relationship between that individual and his family or his customers or his clients. The war that takes place in an individual becomes the war that is taking place externally to him. Now, just multiply that with all of the fear that is on Earth today and with what we see of tyranny, which includes greed and lust and animality, and you will soon see why even the weather must be unsettled.
Of course, part of this weather may also be due to these explosions that are going on all over. You must remember that even from a material standpoint, they are exploding forces and powers great enough to blow up the world. It certainly seems natural that it’s great enough to disturb the weather, but even should that not be true, there are enough mental explosions on Earth today to keep the weather unsettled.
The remedy for that would be for us to include in our daily meditation periods at least one period for the realization of God’s government on Earth, God’s government in the minds of men, and a period devoted to the world activity in one nature or another. The beautiful part of this is that you do not have to know what to work for or even how to work. All you have to do is set aside ten to fifteen minutes each day for world work and then go within and ask the Father what to work for, or how to work, or if it’s necessary to work, or what to do, or what subject to cover, and receive your guidance from within, and you will quickly be told how to work, and what to work for, and what to do, and if not at that moment, it will come in due time.
Many times the word has come to me to stay up at night and work on some issue that might be called political or of world importance, and I do, and it is given me how to work, what to work for, and even when the work is complete.
So it is, I have witnessed it in students around me that many times they are told at a specific moment, “Stop, stop,” and then they are given something specific to know, to realize, and they’re also told, “It is done” when their work has been completed. And so it is that the more you live in attunement with God, that is, the more you live in the practicing of the presence of God or the more you live in meditation, the more you will find that you are attuned, and then at any hour of the day or night, you will be given your particular message.
My wife can always tell what’s happened to me at night. She goes out on the desk and sees the fruits of it. “Oh, you were up last night.” Yes, indeed, I was, because I’m awakened out of sleep and given a message or told to get up and go to the desk, and then comes the work, and so it really makes no difference what I’m doing, asleep or awake. When a message is to come, it comes.
It wasn’t always that way. It is through this attunement, through living throughout the day and night, not absorbed completely in what one is doing; in other words, reserving a little area of consciousness where you’re always remembering God’s presence. God is the mind of me; why shouldn’t It impart wisdom? God is the life of me; why shouldn’t It impart to me eternality? God is the soul of me; why shouldn’t It impart purity? God is the love of me; why shouldn’t It impart wisdom and how to love? And so it is that our meditations are not making up thoughts. Our meditations are the receptivity and the responsiveness to this inner Self.
Always remember, the kingdom of God is within you. You can have the presence of God anytime you want it. All you have to do is be still and realize that I at the center is God, and then let God impart whatever is necessary.
I don’t mean that it’s easy at first. I didn’t find it any more than anyone else has. I only say it’s worthwhile because it is possible for anyone to achieve. It takes practice. Those who are more spiritually evolved will attain it more quickly. Those who are less spiritually evolved will work harder and longer to achieve it, but with everyone, there is that possibility, more especially everyone on the spiritual path, if they will devote themselves.
Now, when I spoke before of inertia and the laziness of the human mind, this is exactly what I meant. Your day, your life is yours for the making or the breaking. Now, to the outside world, this is not true. The outside world doesn’t know that it can choose this day whom it will serve. It has heard that quotation, but it doesn’t know the meaning of it. It really doesn’t know, the people of this world do not know, that each one of us has been given the power to make or break our own lives. They do not know that it has been revealed to us within this century how to make our own lives harmonious and to help anyone else who wants to be shown how to lead their lives harmoniously, abundantly, joyously, peacefully.
Now then, it all lies in your realizing this: As a human being, unaware of truth, you are at the mercy of everything that takes place in the world over which you have no control. In other words, if your country enters a period of commercial prosperity, you are bound to prosper along with the country. If you are a businessman, you will prosper greatly, but even if you’re a clerk, you’ll prosper proportionately. In other words, it has nothing to do with you. It’s what’s happening in your particular country.
In the same way, if you have a mild and moderate winter, you may go through without a cold, without grippe, without flu, without any undue hardship. If, on the other hand, it is another one of those terrific winters, you may have all kinds of difficulties and illnesses. Why? Because, as a human being, all of this is beyond your control. You are just a victim of whatever takes place for good or for evil, and if there are epidemics going around, a certain percentage will be hit. If there’s a boom going around, a certain percentage will prosper. If there’s a period of depression, most of the citizens will lose by that depression, and none of them have any power whatsoever to change it.
Now, all of this changes the very moment that you know the truth, because the truth is this: There is no external power that can operate upon you for good or for evil, because all power emanates from within you. God has given you dominion over everything on Earth, above the Earth, beneath the Earth, and all you have to do is exercise this dominion. It is yours, and you have it. Therefore, you don’t have to be flabby. You don’t have to sit here and wonder whether tomorrow is going to be good business or bad, or whether tomorrow is going to be good weather or bad weather. All you have to do is take dominion; take your God-given dominion over your own life.
1This copyrighted excerpt is from 351B: 1960 Second London Closed Class, titled “Self-Completeness in God.” It is posted with the kind permission of the Estate of Joel S. 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 Office or by calling 1-800-922-3195.
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