1960 TORONTO PRIVATE CLASS

TAPE 335 SIDE 2

ADVANCING ON THE PATH

By Joel Goldsmith

Part 1 of 4

Good evening. There is a Principle in that meditation which is one of the foundation stones in our entire way of living. When we are consciously One with God, we are One with all of the good that can ever be needed or experienced in our lives. In other words, the only way, except by human will or human force, except the only way to actually experience a life of good in all departments is to make contact with our Source. You can understand that, of course, in the human life as you, for instance, look at these electric fixtures and realize that there is no way for each individual light to be lighted unless it has made its contact with the electricity. Once it has made its contact with the electricity, the light can be, but without that there would be no light. Even if there were a lamp, even if there were a bulb, even if there were wires, there would be no light without that contact.

And so it is that our supply, our employment, our business, our profession, our skills, our families, our home, they all exist but we have no way of demonstrating them, of bringing them into our conscious experience, except through making our first contact with God. And then, they come into our experience of their own accord, without might and without power, without blood or sweat or tears, without labor.  All good naturally flows into our lives just as the light flows into those bulbs without any effort, without the use of might or power, just the natural flow through the contact.

So in this question, “Does an individual have to be crucified in seeking employment,” of course not, of course not.  In the human scale, anything may happen, but the human life is one that is lived separate and apart from God, therefore, it has no help from God.  Now the only way that an individual has help from God, and be assured that praying won’t bring it to him, the only that one can have help from God is to make actual contact with God.  Now, the Kingdom of God is within you. It is neither lo, here, nor lo, there, it is within you.  So you don’t have to go to holy mountains, you don’t have to go to holy temples, you don’t have to find holy men or women, or holy books, because the Kingdom of God is not external to you, it is within you. And therefore, the contact must be made within you. And if you make your contact within, and this you do through your meditation, if you make that contact with, you will find that your good begins to flow to you, not by effort, not by labor, but really as a gift of God; or as it is said in Scripture, “By Grace”.

Now that brings us to this question. “The Infinite Way® study says that we are not to ask for anything of God, and yet in Matthew it says, “Ask, and it shall be given you”. Well both statements are correct, ask and not ask. As you will find, all Scripture is written in both the “yes” form and the “no” form.  Scripture always says that a thing is right and it also says that it is wrong. That is the way Scripture is written, all spiritual writings are written that way in order to reach every level of consciousness. Now, when the Bible says, “Ask, and ye shall receive”, who do you think you are asking? What do you think God is, or do you think that is unimportant? How can you ask anything of a God whose nature you do not know?

Now, once you begin the study of Scripture, you will learn this important thing, God is Spirit. And you will find that this is so conclusive, from beginning to end, from Genesis to Revelation, that God is Spirit and God is infinite, that you will soon learn that there is nothing that you can ask God for except Spirit.  So it is, that when you ask, if you must ask, when you ask God, ask God for that which God can give, and that is Spirit, Himself. And beyond Himself, God has nothing to give for God is infinite.  And as a matter of fact, God hasn’t it to give, God is forever expressing.  And the function is upon us to receive that which God is already giving.

Now, of course, the difficulty that comes in is that this world has been incorrectly taught for so many dozens of centuries that the world does not know that you and I cannot receive anything because all that the Father hath has already been given to us. “Son, thou art ever with Me and all that I have is thine.” Now what more are you going to receive? What more is there for you to receive? Have you accepted all that has been given you? Have you acknowledged that all that the Father hath is already yours?  Have you acknowledged that as a Child of God, “I am already heir to all the heavenly riches,” now what in heavens name would you ask for?  You already have that all that God has, is there anything left to ask for? Or is it not that we have not known and have not availed ourselves of all that the Father hath already given to us. And it is for this reason that you have been told that you must open out a way for the imprisoned Splendor to escape.

You must open a way, you can never receive.  You are already filled up with infinity. You are already filled up with all that the Father hath. But whatever lack is in your life represents something you are holding onto and will not give up.  What is it that you are holding on to? Is it forgiveness that you haven’t yet given four hundred and ninety times? Is it praying for the enemy that you have not yet given up, or given out? Is it service?  Is it love?  Is it a confidence in God’s Presence? Is it a sharing? What is it? Be assured of this, lack always represent something we are clinging to, and we are not making room for any new flow. We are trying to keep our bottles filled with the old wine instead of giving it away or spilling it out and making room for the new.

It is exactly like your rose bushes, if you don’t take some roses off of it, you can’t expect others to grow. You have to make room, you have to take the fruit off of the fruit tree before another crop can come around to it. You have to open out your clothes closet and see what is hidden back there, unused, unneeded, and yet hoarded. You have to look within yourself.

Let us go back to Scripture again, the case of the poor widow. Now I suppose, humanly, we all ought to pity that poor widow. She is so poor that she is about to sell her son in slavery so as to get money to pay her debts; a very pitiful picture. But the Hebrew master doesn’t believe her one bit, and he doesn’t sympathize with her, but he says to her, “What have you in the house?” And if we did that to one of our students today they’d go out and say how cruel we are, we were going to take away from them their last drop of food. But that master with vision said, “What have you in the house?” And her answer was, “A few drops of oil, a little meal.” “Well, fIx’em up and get them ready for me.”

And as she began to pour, she found it just didn’t end, it kept right on pouring. And the Master used this same Principle when there was a multitude to be fed, and seemingly, nothing to feed them with. And He said to the Disciple, “What have we?” That’s a very foolish question, you know, “What have we,” when He knew right well we had nothing. But we had a multitude to feed, and the Disciples answered, “A few loaves and fishes.” “What is a few loaves and fishes among so many,” says that state of ignorance. But the Master says, “Break, share, give,” and they were all fed, and twelve baskets full left over. And it has been our experience in this spiritual life, that it is only as we give, that the pouring can take place.

End Part 1