Infinite Way Letter
1964 – November
Aka – Realization of Oneness
By Joel Goldsmith
Part 2 of 7

Lifting Up the I

Discord, The Fruitage of Sowing to the Flesh
When we have established ourselves in that spiritual truth, the next question on which we must be clear is: But what about this sin, this disease, this false appetite, this lack or limitation, this unemployment, this lost baggage?
All the writings of The Infinite Way clearly reveal where evil comes from and why it comes. They explain its relation to karmic law, as it is called in the Orient, or the as-ye-sow-so-shall-ye-reap of the Bible. “He that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” And the Master taught, “He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.” If we do not abide in the Word and let the Word abide in us, we will be as a branch of a tree that is cut off, withers, and dies. Every moment of every day determines what our tomorrows will be. As we sow, in this moment, so will we reap tomorrow, next week, next year, or ten years from now.
This teaching has often been interpreted to mean that if we obey the Ten Commandments we are sowing good and will reap good; and if we disobey the Ten Commandments, we are sowing to the flesh and will reap corruption. This is utter nonsense. It has no such meaning whatsoever! The as-ye-sow-so-shall-ye-reap doctrine means that if we abide in the spiritual truth of being, we will reap harmony because then we are sowing to the Spirit and will reap spiritual fruitage. But if we accept the world’s belief in two powers, its belief in Spirit and matter, in good and evil, then we are going to experience both good and evil.
While we are part of this human race into which we were born, we are sowing to the flesh, and we are going to reap corruption, even if we obey the Ten Commandments to the letter. This is what the Master meant when he said to his followers, “Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” These two Hebrew sects lived in complete obedience to the laws of the Temple. They dotted every “i” and crossed every “t.” They spent every moment required by theological law in worship; they observed every feast day, every fast day, and every holiday; they tithed; they sacrificed; they lived up to the Ten Commandments and to all the laws of the Temple but Jesus said, “Your righteousness [must] exceed” that of those persons who are 100 per cent perfect! It sounds impossible, but it is not.
If we sow to the Spirit, we will be obeying the Ten Commandments without even being aware of so doing and without any temptation to do otherwise. Therefore, we do not have to concern ourselves with the Ten Commandments. What we have to concern ourselves with is to abide in the spiritual word of truth. This is not easy of accomplishment because it means that what we accept into our consciousness is going to determine our experience. We have to begin with the acceptance of the universal belief in good and evil, and we have to reject that and say to ourselves, “No, I accept neither good nor evil: I accept only God, Spirit, as infinite All, and in God there is neither good nor evil: there is only spiritual, perfect, harmonious being.”
When Satan stands in front of us insisting that there are two powers—spiritual powers and material or mental powers—we have to be quiet enough so that the I of us can reply, “No, no, I accept God; I accept spiritual being as the All. I accept the scriptural truth that nothing can enter God ‘that defileth … or maketh a lie,’ nothing! Only God is God, and God is infinite perfection, so there cannot be powers of good and of evil; there cannot be spiritual powers and mental or material powers. There can be only God-power, infinite, spiritual God-power.” This refusal to accept in our consciousness good and evil, spiritual and material or mental powers, and this holding steadfastly to the word is sowing to the Spirit.
End Part 2