This recording is one of several used as source material for Chapter 1, “The Two Worlds,” in A Parenthesis in Eternity. This recording was posted through May 15, 2021, and is no longer available on this website. If you subscribe to the Joel Goldsmith Streaming Service, you can listen to it there. To purchase the recording or the transcript from The Infinite Way Office, click/tap here.
To download or print these study suggestions, click/tap here.
1) Consider One Key Lesson
One of the key lessons in this class is that as human beings, as “the natural man,” we “receiveth not the things of God,” are not under the law or protection of God, and do not enjoy the fulfillment of the promises given in Scripture. But we can change this.
Joel says that a human being is a “branch of a tree cut off,” living in lack, limitation, sin, and disease, not because he is bad, but simply because he is cut off from his Source and is not maintained and sustained by the divine life, wisdom, and law. Yet, once we re-establish our connection to the tree, or the vine, we are divinely fed, maintained, and sustained. Then we are truly “children of God.” We live under grace and receive all the gifts of God.
The question is, “How do we become one with the tree again and bear fruit richly?”
Joel tells us that Jesus gave the answer: “This is the way: abide in Me and let My Word abide in you.” In other words, you must consciously open yourself to receive the word of God; you must consciously abide in the awareness of your relationship to the Christ and to God, always remembering that “I and my Father are one,” and “The kingdom of God is within you.” This must be a conscious practice that takes place within you.
And, if you would truly abide in the Word and let the Word abide in you, you have to follow the Sermon on the Mount, which lays out the entire Christian mode of life. For example, you must enter into the silent sanctuary of your own being and pray where man cannot see you; you must do benevolences without anyone knowing about them; you must pray for your enemies, forgive seventy times seven, refrain from judging and condemning. You must not retaliate for offenses, and you must not resist evil. You must “pray without ceasing.”
Joel says that the direction given in the New Testament is the only way yet revealed to man as to how to become a child of God. As a child of God, you are an heir of God, joint heir to all the heavenly riches, one with the invisible Christ, bearing fruit richly, consciously dwelling in God, and living not by might or power, but under the law and grace of God. You take no thought for any phase of your life. You dwell in the Word and let the Word dwell in you, and the Father, who knows your needs, meets them all.
But as Joel points out, to live the way of life set forth by the Master is difficult because we have mental inertia and laziness. We do not pray without ceasing. We do not acknowledge that “I of my own self am nothing,” and that it is the Father within me that produces the harmony, joy, and abundance in my life. We believe that we do not need God. We don’t read the Gospels seriously and accept them as a way of life. We find it hard to give up revenge, to pray for the enemy, to forgive, to refrain from judging and condemning. It is challenging to “resist not evil.” But, Joel says, the way of life taught by the Master is the price we must pay to re-establish our connection with our Source and become the children of God. Otherwise, we remain as branches of a tree that are cut off and wither and die.
Joel teaches that the whole of the spiritual life has to do with an activity of your individual consciousness that you must carry out yourself. No one can do it for you. He says, “Unite yourself with your vine, knowing that your vine is already united with the Source, God.” Unite yourself to the wisdom that Christ, the Spirit of God, the Son of God, already dwells in you. That oneness, consciously entertained, starts the miracle of grace into your life.
2) Go Back to The Sermon on the Mount
If you want to apply what Joel has given in this lesson, consider re-reading and contemplating the Sermon on the Mount. Then look at the degree to which you are following the way of life given there. Is there room for improvement?
3) Read the Current Question and Answer (Posted March 6, 2021)
Serendipitously, the current Question and Answer from Joel complements this lesson very well.
4) Contemplate the Bible Quotations from the Class
Joel uses many Bible quotations in this class, and as always, it can be helpful to note them as you listen and take some time to contemplate them in the context of the lesson.