1959 Manchester Closed Class                             Photo by Inez Marques
Tape 278 Side 1
Unconditioned Mind – Life
By Joel Goldsmith
Part 1 of 5
Good evening.

Our work last night was quite a drill in the subject of treatment, Infinite Way treatment, and regardless of how high you may ever rise in consciousness, regardless of how spiritual you may believe that you become, regardless of what degree of realization you ever attain, never forget that you will not outgrow the three principles, nor will you ever get to a place where life will flow through grace without consciously remembering those three principles. The reason is that there is a world, a universal mesmerism, always taking place, which is the universal belief in two powers – good and evil – and coming to our eyes and to our ears, every day, are appearances and suggestions, temptations to accept two powers. And unless we consciously remember that there is only one power – God is that power – we will, sooner or later, yield to the temptation of two powers, or two beings, or two laws – something or other will tempt us.
Even the Master, when he was a Master, had to face three temptations, major temptations, and so we, even though we may not expect to be masters, yet if we do become masters, let us remember we will still be faced with the temptation to believe in two powers – good and evil. Therefore, it requires praying without ceasing to keep oneself away from that.
Now, a few months ago one of our large foundations in the States gave an award of about 300,000 guineas to a group of scientists to do research work to learn the nature of matter. And I am going to tell you the nature of matter for a lot less tonight. I am not going to charge that much. In fact, I might almost give it to you for nothing.
Mind is matter. Mind is the essence and substance which appears to you as matter or form or effect. Mind is the substance of which matter is formed. Mind is the law unto all matter or form. Mind is the principle, the life, the essence, the substance. I was going to say cause, but cause would really indicate an effect, and in this case, cause and effect are exactly one and the same.
I can give you one illustration of that – water and ice and steam. All of these have the same essence and substance, two parts hydrogen, one part oxygen – this is called water; but it is also steam, and it is also ice. All three are just different levels or vibrations or forms or effects of one essence – two parts hydrogen, one part oxygen. And so in the same manner, mind is the basic substance. Matter is the name given to mind when it is in visible form. Now mind appears as many forms; this is one of them, flesh; blood is another; bone is another; hair is another. But every bit of this is the visible mind, or mind made visible – mind as specific form; and mind in one form is flesh, and in another it is bone, gristle, blood, hair, skin; but the substance or essence is mind.
Whoever it was that said thoughts are things was almost right – almost. It isn’t thoughts that are things. It is mind. Mind really is things. Thoughts is but one of the things that mind is. Mind functions as thought. Mind appears as thing. And on this level of what we call the second chapter of Genesis world, mind is the essence.
Now, when you realize that, and you take a secret that has been known throughout all ages but was lost until this past century in the Western world. It was never quite lost in the Eastern world. But although it was known in the Eastern world, it was not practiced, and even though it is now known in the Western world, it isn’t practiced, and that is that there is only one mind. The world at large doesn’t know this. The medical world doesn’t; the world of psychiatry and psychology doesn’t know this. That is why they continue to fail in their work. They haven’t discovered the basic secret of mind.
But metaphysicians do know this. The metaphysicians of all schools, of all approaches know, and I think the basis of all of them is that there is only one mind, but none of them practice it because when it comes down to actual practice, there is a divine mind, and there is a mortal mind, and a human mind. And while the claim, or the original teaching was that there is one mind, yet always the practitioner looks at your mind to see what’s wrong with you. But actually, it is true that there is only one mind, and that mind is the mind of individual being. It is your mind and my mind. There is only one mind in this room.
Now you may wonder why is it that we think differently – why is it that we have different thoughts. Why are we not all thinking alike, if we have the same mind? And there is where the world’s troubles begin. There is only one mind and it is unconditioned. It is neither good nor bad. It has no qualities of good or of evil. It is an unconditioned mind. It is a state of being – not good and not bad. It is like life itself. There can’t be good life and bad life. There can only be life.
There can only be mind, but there cannot be good mind and bad mind. There cannot be intelligent mind and ignorant mind. There cannot be healthy mind and diseased mind, for mind is unconditioned. Therefore, mind as body is unconditioned, and, therefore, body is neither well nor sick, tall nor short, thin nor fat. Body is as unconditioned as the mind which is the essence of its form.
But in the second chapter of Genesis, we ate of the tree – we ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And so we accepted into mind the conditioning, the good and the evil. And therefore, we are showing forth the fruitage of that tree of good and evil in having good experiences and bad, in having healthy ones and sick ones, in having rich ones and poor ones. We are showing forth the fruitage of that fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Then mind and body being unconditioned are a state of absolute being, absolute perfection until we accept into thought the belief of good and evil. Having done that, we show these forth in our experience.
Now, human experience is the perfect mind, which you are made manifest as perfect being and body, but influenced now by this fruit that we have eaten, this knowledge of good and evil.