1960 Maui Work

Tape 369 Side 2

Contemplation Develops the Beholder

By Joel Goldsmith

Part 2 of 5

Now… this reminds me of an event that actually happened in Michigan, where a woman was healed of an incurable disease, after it had been pronounced “incurable.” And the husband, in deep gratitude, out of deep gratitude, went to the practitioner and offered him a check as a token of appreciation. And, in complementing the practitioner, the practitioner said “oh, I didn’t do it, God did it.”

So the man put the check in his pocket, and said “oh well then I don’t owe you anything, I’ll give the check to God.”

Now as a matter of fact, insofar as the healing is concerned, the practitioner was right, and the man was right. The practitioner had not done the healing, he had merely borne witness to God in action. So therefore, there was no money due him for a healing.

But where the man was wrong was this, that unless the practitioner had some private income, there wouldn’t be anyone around to bear witness to God’s Grace—if that man had to go out and hang telephone wires or tend furnaces or whatever else his job may have been.

So therefore, paying him money wasn’t for healing, it was merely to keep him free of any other obligation, except keeping his consciousness so clear and so free of entanglement—that he could always be in the Spirit to bear witness.

And so it is that when you witness healing works, always remember what you are witnessing. You’re not witnessing the power of an individual, for an individual has no such power. You are merely witnessing an individual who is keeping themselves free of the appearance world and maintaining themselves in a consciousness of “no judgment”. . . so that the Grace of God can come through. Because the Grace of God cannot come through the human mind, and “the human mind” means anybody’s mind still indoctrinated with the belief in two powers.

Therefore, regardless of how much knowledge of Truth one may have, no matter how many years one may have studied Truth—they may still have no healing power—because it isn’t how many statements you intellectually know or can declare. It has to do with what degree of attainment, what degree of the actual awareness of the non power of appearances.

And therefore, the spiritual Path is one of discipline, because the disciple, the student, must begin at some moment of their career to start withholding judgment from the appearance world. In other words, always to remember. . . “be not afraid, it is I.”

This, this one quotation of the Master would be enough to help anyone attain their release from the world of “cause and effect,” or the world of “appearances”. . . merely by applying to every appearance, “be not afraid it is I, be not afraid it is I.” And in that way, you see, you are instantly divesting yourself of any judgment as to the nature of the appearance.

And when the time comes, and in proportion as this consciousness is attained—the appearances in this world automatically change as they touch your consciousness. If your consciousness is not reacting to good or to evil, if it is able to pierce the veil of illusion, even the veil of good illusion, and see through that—it has nothing to fear and nothing to gloat about, it is “I.” “I!” “I!”

“I” constitute the nature of spiritual creation. And what you are seeing is not the spiritual creation, but a finite concept of it—and it is sometimes good and sometimes bad, it is sometimes rich and sometimes poor, it is sometimes good, it is sometimes healthy and sometimes sick, sometimes alive and sometimes dead.

But none of that is true of God’s Kingdom. There is another of the Master’s statements that helps us to discipline ourselves: “MY Kingdom is not of this world.” And therefore, everything that we see or hear we can instantly close out by realizing: that’s this world, but it’s not MY Kingdom—the Christ Kingdom, the spiritual Kingdom.

Therefore, neither loving it, hating it, or fearing it!

Think of the discipline involved in the midst of what seems to be a problem for one’s self or another—to refrain from all attempts to change the appearance. Think now, just think of any discordant appearance that you like, any discordant appearance you’ve ever seen, heard, tasted, touched or smelled. And then see the discipline that is necessary to refrain. . . from trying to alter it, change it, do something to it. And absolutely be able to say, “MY Kingdom, the place where I live and move and have my being, is not of this world.” Therefore I have nothing to do about “this world,” except to know that it is not of MY Kingdom.

Now then, as you withdraw your judgment—which means your hate, your fear, your love of the appearance—it is then that this invisible, the Spirit of God which is in you, can immediately go to work and change the appearance.

When the disciples were afraid at sea, because of the storm, they awakened the Master—who wasn’t a bit afraid, he was sleeping right through it. But when they awakened him, he made no move to stop the storm, and he didn’t pray to God to stop the storm, because he knew he was facing an illusory appearance. And so, he merely said to the disciples, “be not afraid, it is I.”

In other words, Omnipresence is Truth, there is no Presence but God. Ah yes, your eyes are seeing something else, and that’s why your heart is fearing—your eyes are seeing something else. As a matter of fact, your eyes are seeing something more than a storm—they’re also seeing a selfhood apart from God, and you’re afraid you’re gonna lose your life. So you’re not only witnessing a storm, but you’re witnessing a selfhood apart from God

End Part 2