The Infinite Way Letters
November 1954
By Joel Goldsmith
Part 2 of 4
Attain That Mind

That Which We Seek

In our search for God, or the Truth which is God, we read countless books, hear sermons, attend classes and lectures, and even study a whole literature of spiritual writings, as if we would find this God of Truth, or Truth of God, therein.
It is well that the spiritual seeker immerse himself in the atmosphere of God that is found wherever true initiates and disciples meet, and in whatever literature that has been given to the world by the true seers of all ages. But let the seeker realize from the start that Truth is not to be found in these books or gatherings but, rather, in the consciousness the seeker develops and evolves in the search, and then every book read, and every meditation and communion experienced will yield rich spiritual fruitage.
Truth is not know through reading or praying, but through the degree of spiritual consciousness attained through the study and meditation, communion and prayer the search for Truth, the seeking after God, always must be carried on by whatever develops, unfolds and discloses one’ spiritual awareness.
The contemplation of Truth, which is at first a mental or intellectual process, does not in itself reveal God, but it does lift one above the mental concepts of Truth to the attainment of the spiritual faculties which do reveal God in Its fullness.
Every scriptural passage thought upon, pondered and meditated upon lifts one a step above contemplation to realization. Ever book of spiritual wisdom constantly studied and practiced, develops more of the Soul-faculties through which Truth is discerned and demonstrated.
The ability first to contemplate, then to meditate upon Truth leads to spiritual skill in prayer and communion, and these reveal God “face to face.”
God cannot be known with the mind or thought processes. What is known of God through the mind is but the concept of God—an ever-changing concept—even though God Itself is changeless. Yet the ability to intellectually ponder these concepts leads inevitably to the higher consciousness where God is first discerned, then realized.
To understand now that whatever is known about God is not God but merely a concept of God, begins at once to free the seeker from the limitation of each concept as it appears. To recognize with each new “discovery” of God that only another concept of God is being entertained in thought, frees us from such concepts and prepares the consciousness for the actual experience of Divine Being which is to come.
Heretofore you have not prayed to God, but to a concept or image of God, and therefore your prayers have been futile. Every time you are tempted to pray—stop—ask yourself if this is God to whom you pray, or just another idea of God—and immediately you will experience a glimpse of real prayer, and soon the very Touch of His Life.
Whenever you turn to God for guidance, wisdom, healing, ask yourself first if you are not expecting your good of some new idea or concept of God, rather than God Itself. Inevitably this leads to the question, “If all I have thought of as Truth, or God, is but my ideas of God or concepts of Reality, what then is God?” And in that moment of Silence, while awaiting the answer, the first tiny glimpse of His Being is revealed to you within yourself. Remember that it is only as you come to where you have no more concepts of God, no more thoughts or ideas of God, that God Itself reveals Itself.
Spiritual healers are more than men and women who have learned some Truths from books and teachers. They are individuals who have attained some measure of spiritual discernment through which they perceive the activity and being of the Divine, right where mortal sense would see human good or evil. Spiritual healers do not overcome or destroy sin, disease, death, or other limitation through Truths which they have learned but, rather, their spiritually enlightened consciousness sees through the human appearances of harmony and discord to the Presence Itself.
Spiritual healers and teachers have, through illumined consciousness, risen to the atmosphere of God wherein that which appears as both good and evil humanhood has no being, no presence, no law, no power. In this illumined consciousness, God is revealed as the harmonies of individual you and me. These Soul-conscious healers and teachers have done nothing to error, but by their spiritual wisdom have perceived the Son of God—the Divine Being—and the false sense of being has disappeared from view.
Study, read, ponder, meditate, practice, O Seeker—that thereby the scales of mortality drop from the eyes—and spiritual Vision replace the human sight; human hearing give way to the apprehension of the still, small Voice.
End Part 2