The Eight Most Important Chapters, Revisited – Session 2: “The New Horizon” from The Infinite Way

The Recording for This Session

Recording 113B, “The Secret of the Healing Principle,” from the 1955 Kailua Group, is the basis for Chapter 6, “The Secret of the Healing Principle,” in The Heart of Mysticism, Volume IV, The 1957 Infinite Way Letters.  We chose this class to accompany our study of “The New Horizon,” because in this class Joel says, “This is without any question of doubt the not only deepest lesson of the message of The Infinite Way. It is the one I give seldom. Probably not more than four times in eight years have I given this lesson, and then not in just this way. . . . And actually it forms the chapter, ‘The New Horizon’ . . . ”

This recording was posted through November 25, 2023, and is no longer available on this website. If you subscribe to the Joel Goldsmith Streaming Service, you can listen to it there. You can also purchase the recording and/or the transcript from The Infinite Way Office here.

Optional Study Suggestions

To download or print these study suggestions, click/tap here.

Joel’s Comments about “The New Horizon”

As an introduction to our study of the eight most important chapters, we heard a class (453A) in which Joel spoke about each of the chapters.  Here is what he had to say in that class about “The New Horizon”:

“The very first citation here [speaking about the list of eight most important chapters] is the chapter ‘The New Horizon’ in The Infinite Way. In this chapter, you will find the basic principles that led to this becoming a teaching of its own. You will understand why other methods of healing will not mix with this one. You will quickly see that in our work, it is not necessary to know the name of the patient; it is not necessary to know the name of the disease; it isn’t even necessary to know whether it’s a disease or a business problem, although there are times when it is helpful to know some particular problem that is disturbing the individual, as, for instance, if it is just a physical or mental claim. You will find that all of the necessary principles for the development of consciousness in healing these conditions is to be found in this chapter ‘The New Horizon’ in The Infinite Way. . . .

“And so it is that between these two chapters, ‘The New Horizon’ in The Infinite Way and ‘Protection’ in the 1955 Infinite Way Letters, you really have the basis of changing your entire lives. . . .

“So it is then, that you no longer call anyone evil, because if you have rightly studied ‘The New Horizon’ and ‘Protection,’ you will know that evil is an impersonal quality and does not belong to man, and you will never again accuse anyone of being unjust, unloving, ungrateful, mean, stingy, because these are not qualities of man any more than good is a quality of man. These are impersonal qualities, and by your recognition of it and by your separating it from man, all of a sudden you find man showing forth God’s qualities.”

One Way to Study the Chapter 

“The New Horizon” is a very short chapter and lends itself to an interesting possibility for study.  We are using this method and find it to be extremely valuable. You might want to try it. Based on our experience, we believe this exercise is best done over the full two weeks allotted for this chapter.

  • If you will be working with pen/pencil and paper, get a small notebook. If you prefer to work electronically, set up a document or a Notes page on your preferred device.
  • Take the chapter sentence by sentence. Write out the first sentence and contemplate it. Then write your own interpretation of that passage, including any insights that came to you in your contemplation.
  • In each session, work with just a few sentences. This is not a marathon, but a conscious, deliberate contemplation of this important chapter. There are about forty sentences in the chapter, so one possibility is to do just a few each day over the two weeks.
  • From time to time, go back and review what you have written. Often new insights come as a result of further contemplation, and you can add these to your notes.
  • If you are working with pen/pencil and paper, we recommend that you allot one half or one full page to each sentence in order to leave space for new insights that might come later.

As always, if you have a more artistic bent, you may choose to capture your interpretation of this chapter and your insights in painting, sculpture, poetry, music, or some other medium of expression.

Additional Reference Material

When we studied this chapter in 2018, we provided additional reference material with quotes from Joel about the origin, the meaning, and the significance of “The New Horizon.”  That document included a list, prepared by Lorraine Sinkler, of recordings in which Joel addressed some aspect of the lesson in “The New Horizon” in some part of the class.

You might enjoy reviewing this reference document.  To view, print, or download it, click/tap here.