1960 HOLLAND OPEN CLASS

TAPE 341 SIDE 1

UNDERSTANDING GOD AND PRAYER

By Joel Goldsmith

Part 6 of 6

Now we all read the newspapers, or perhaps listen to the news on the television or the radio, and I wouldn’t be surprised that some of us even believe that if we were president or king or emperor, that we’d know more what to do than our present ones are doing. Probably we could give them some advice as to how these human problems could be met. But if there is any man or woman here willing to face themselves honestly, they would have to admit that right now they wouldn’t like to be the president of any country, or the prime minister of any country. It would be a bad spot to be in.

And I wonder if there is anyone in this room who really believes that there is a human solution to the problems that face the world today. I wonder if there is a thinker in this room who believes that there is any human solution to any of the major problems that are facing civilization today. It would certainly be a husky individual who could claim to know how the situation is going to come out in South Africa; well, you know, not only in South Africa, United States, Russia.

It looks very much as if an infinite, an infinite power had hit up against an irresistible barrier.  It looks almost as if we were at that point where we are stalemated. And if there is anyone in our political world who even believes that he has a solution, you know, he’s keeping it secret. There hasn’t been one advance on any of the major points that are threatening this world. And the reason is clear, there isn’t a human solution, there just isn’t!  It is an irresistible force meeting an immovable object.

But there is a spiritual solution, and there always has been. There has been a spiritual solution to mankind’s troubles ever since the world began. And the question is, will mankind now avail themselves of that spiritual influence and receive a spiritual solution?

It is easy enough to say, “Oh, we’d like to, show us how.” But it isn’t that simple because while I would dare say what I have said here tonight to you, be assured, it is only because you came here of your own free will and accord. You weren’t advertised for, you presumably knew something about what you would hear before you got here. I would no more go out into the public places of the world and say that there will be no solution until we change our concept of God and prayer, because believe it or not, the world is not yet ready to give up its paganistic ideas of God or of prayer.

The only time and the only place where you find those really seeking God and the things of God are when you do find the small groups who have gathered together in many places throughout the globe, drawn together by a Spirit; not by advertising, not by somebody’s popularity, but drawn together by the Spirit.  And they seem ready to hear that we will have to go within and learn more about God, learn more about prayer, and begin to prove in our individual lives that there is a God influence available to all of those who are willing to impersonalize God and prayer. And to begin to understand the nature of a God that can’t be sought for loaves and fishes, a God that need not be prayed to for what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, but a God who must be understood as Infinite, Divine, Universal Love, Life, Being. And then relaxing in that confidence and assurance, and watching God’s Grace as it picks us up when we are no longer praying only for our friends but are praying in a universal manner.

Throughout all ages there have been individuals who have sought and found the Kingdom of God. Every one of them has revealed that the Kingdom of God is within you. It is not to be found in holy mountains. It is not to be found in holy temples. It is not to be found in holy teachers or holy books. For the Kingdom of God is neither lo, here, nor lo, there! The Kingdom of God is within you. The very moment you acknowledge this, you must acknowledge that this is a universal Truth. It cannot be the truth about you alone, for God cannot be a respecter of persons. For God to be God, God must be closer to you than breathing, closer to me than breathing.

Then, when we have acknowledged this…..when we have acknowledged within our own being this universal nature of God and when we have begun to pray praise and gratitude…..not for what God is doing for me or for you, or for your nation or my nation, but for what God has done in this world, and what has, God has, placed here for our benefit, that we, through the Spirit of love that we entertain for each other, may find available for us.. And be assured of this, it becomes available to us in no other way than through love.

And that is why the Master threw out nine of the Ten Commandments and saved out only one of them, and added another one. When we love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and when we love our neighbor as ourself, this love becomes our salvation, physically, mentally, morally, spiritually, in every phase of our existence.

And so it all comes down to these words, “Ye shall know the truth, and the Truth shall make you free.” Don’t go looking to God to do something, it is “ye” that must know the Truth, and then the Truth makes us free!

End Part 6