Recording 513B is one of two used as source material for Chapter 8, “Attaining Dominion through ‘I'” in Awakening Mystical Consciousness. While this recording is no longer available for listening on this website, if you are a subscriber to the Joel S. Goldsmith Streaming Service, you will be able to listen to it there. The additional study material for this recording will continue to be available here on the Goldsmith Global site. To purchase the recording or the transcript, click/tap here.
This summary is provided simply as a reminder of the content of the class. To download or print this summary, click/tap here.
In the course of this class, Joel provides answers to some key questions about the body. These are not questions that are directly asked by students, but questions that we might have as we consider the topic of body:
[Joel begins the class by saying that The Infinite Way message is receiving more recognition around the world—all without any organization. He comments that there must be a principle operating to bring that about, and as a way of approaching that principle, Joel takes students through an extended version of “the body exercise.” He asks them to do it with their full attention, even though they may have done it before. At the end of the exercise, he asks students to take the step of locating themselves about six inches in back of themselves and six inches over their heads, looking down at themselves, and saying “I.”]
Since I am not in that body, I must be outside of it, and if so, I can be here, there or anywhere. How can this body function without Me? Could this body take a step forward or backward by itself? Could the arms raise or lower themselves? Can this body of itself digest, or am I the activity of this body, just as I am the activity of my hands and feet? You know that you are the activity of your hands and feet. You know that if you get up from a chair it is because you, whom you call “I,” choose to get up from the chair. The body has to follow. It cannot refuse because I was given dominion over this body. If you set your body down before the most bountiful meal, could it eat unless I choose to eat? No.
To get some idea of what you truly are, imagine what your life would be like if you never learned to read. Your outlook on life would be limited, and you would not be aware of much. But at least you would be aware, because the I that I am is a state of awareness; I am consciousness. Now, when you learn to read, you become aware of wider horizons and take in more and more of the universe. Yet, since the nature of your consciousness has always been infinity, day by day you are really just becoming more and more aware of that which is already within your consciousness and always has been there, awaiting your recognition. You are becoming aware that you have dominion over your mind, and you are becoming aware of the infinite nature of your being. “I and the Father are one, and all that God is I am. All that the Father hath is mine.” Where is it? Within my consciousness.
Joel points out that the students are in his consciousness and that he is in their consciousness. Then he asks, “Where do you keep the message of The Infinite Way?” It is not in books; it is in your consciousness. This message was already in your consciousness thousands of years ago, and you are simply becoming aware of it, just as the non-reader learned to read and came to know a whole new world. Because we are infinite consciousness, we can become aware of this infinite universe. There is nothing we cannot accomplish, because there is no limitation to the consciousness which I am.
[Joel asks the students to resume their vantage point above and behind the head.] Look down at your body and realize that you are not in this body. This body is within your consciousness. The Master said to the crippled man, “What did hinder you? Pick up thy bed [body] and walk.” He might have added, “because you are not in that body, and it isn’t holding you in bondage. The body is within you, within your consciousness, but you do not know your dominion.”
I am not in this body. This body was not given dominion over me; I was given dominion over this body. And if I am infinite consciousness, and I have dominion, there can be no limitations. We are told that when we eat, the digestive organs start digesting, assimilating, transmuting and eliminating. Look down into your digestive organs and prove to yourself that your digestive organs cannot do a thing until I start to digest. I digest and assimilate my food, not the digestive organs. But often you give over the dominion of digesting to your digestive organs, instead of learning to stand there behind yourself, look down, and say, “When I say digest, digest!” We are told that the heart is a pumping station for the whole blood system. It takes blood in, purifies it, and sends it out again. But could the heart do that without I ? No, there must be consciousness to perform that activity. Did God give the heart, liver, or lungs dominion over man, or was man given dominion over these?
Since nothing can happen except through an activity of your consciousness, consciously withdraw any power that you have ignorantly given to the organs and functions of your body and lift the power up into the I that I am. Let your body be governed by the I that I am. Stop saying that I am weak, because I am never weak. If the body is weak, it is because I have relinquished dominion over the body. But if I lift up the I of me, I can lift up every organ and function.
Consciousness has infinite forms and activities, and I must consciously utilize some of these. For example, I must consciously decide to walk, talk, get up, sit down, eat or not eat. But there are other activities of consciousness which have been given certain functions of the body, and I do not have to consciously control those functions. I do not have to say to my digestive organs, “Digest,” or to my heart, “Function!” All I have to do is to know that these activities of the body are really not activities of the body. They are activities of consciousness, and I can let consciousness control them. We have been in bondage only because we have accepted the belief that the organs of the body can do what they want and control us, instead of knowing that the organs and functions of the body are actually animated by consciousness.
Therefore, I now restore to I, my consciousness, those functions of my body which are not consciously controlled. Then, instead of saying, “How is the heart beating? How are the digestive organs working?” we can lift up the organs, activities, and functions of the body into consciousness and restore the dominion to that consciousness. Then we can say, “Now, consciousness, take over.” You will discover that your body is meant to function through your consciousness. Your consciousness was given dominion over the organs, functions, and muscles, yet we have thought that we were in the body and had no dominion over the body.
What has been explained here about the body is true on a wider scale as well. I am consciousness, and consciousness is infinite. So not only is there is an area of consciousness that has dominion over my body; there is an area of consciousness for every facet of my life. There is a function of my consciousness that governs my supply. My supply is not at the mercy of “man whose breath is in his nostrils.” God intended me to have infinite supply and provided an activity of my consciousness to bring my supply to me. Therefore, I can say, “I have hidden manna. I have meat the world knows not of,” because I have an activity of my consciousness that has dominion over my supply. It goes before me and brings my own to me.
Joel returns to the original point he made—that the message of The Infinite Way has spread, and that there is an area of his consciousness that has functioned to accomplish that. Joel learned the principle that “My conscious oneness with God constitutes my oneness with all spiritual being and idea” and realized that humanly, he had to do nothing. He saw that his consciousness is infinite, having infinite faculties, activities, and functions. One of those was to draw to him those whom he could bless and who could bless him. He saw that if an area of his consciousness gave him a message to deliver, it must also give him the voice, the delivery, and people who are receptive and responsive to the message.
I am not confined to my body. I am Omnipresence. At this very moment, I am here and I am there and I am everywhere. My consciousness goes on forever. To look at yourself in the mirror and believe that you are seeing yourself is like being the man who can’t read. You will be aware only of your limitations. But when you know I, you can say, “Hands, you can’t move if I don’t move you. Feet, you can’t move if I don’t move you. Teeth, you can’t chew if I don’t chew with you.” So lift up that I! I and my Father are one, and the Father has given me dominion over this body and over my business.
Right now, there is an activity and a function of my consciousness that goes before me, taking care of everything necessary to my life. There is an infinite, divine, creative principle that is infinite intelligence, and everything and everybody created by that creative principle has a specific function. God has no wasted actions, ideas, thoughts or projections. Every divine idea came forth from God, and God projects it into human consciousness and sees that it is fulfilled. So never try to control or influence anybody in the world any more than you would try to influence God. Your life is lived in the infinity of your own consciousness, and your way of life is knowing the truth.
As I sit above my body, I am not telling my heart, liver, lungs, or blood what to do. I am knowing the truth that the activity of every organ and function in my body is in consciousness, and consciousness is governing it. Nor am I taking thought for my business. I am knowing the truth that there is an area, or activity, of my infinite consciousness that is responsible for the success of my business. Likewise, there is an area of my consciousness, a divine spiritual Presence, going before me to make the crooked places straight, prepare mansions for me, and be the cement of my human relationships. I do not have to take thought about anything.
In every facet of my human experience, “I have meat the world knows not of. I have hidden manna.” All I do is rest back and let It go before me. The only thing I must do to keep it functioning is live a life of integrity according to the highest light that I have.
We have seen that when we are focusing on a specific topic in our study program, it can be very helpful to read excerpts from Joel’s books and classes that address that same topic in different ways. We have compiled a few selections that reinforce the subject that Joel emphasizes in today’s recording (#513B): The body does not have dominion over me; I have dominion over the body. To view, download or print this document, click/tap here.