1953 Second New York Practitioner Class

Joel S. Goldsmith

tape 56A – Teaching and Healing From the Soul 2/4

Remember that we do not live on yesterday’s manna, and to try to hold on to yesterday’s manna, or yesterday’s concept of body, or yesterday’s concept of supply, or yesterday’s concept of activity, of business, or of modes of business. To cling to yesterday’s modes of giving treatments, to yesterday’s modes of prayer would really be trying to cling to these forms and effects, and not giving Consciousness Its sway.

And, so we see here, “the years shall not fail, as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed, but thou art the same. They shall perish, but thou remainest.” Whether we lose our fingernails, or our hair, or our skin, always those things perish, but we remain and these other things are renewed.

And so, the idea of Immortality begins to unfold when you look at trees and see the leaves in Fall begin to fall, when you see the flowers drop, and begin to realize that you are not seeing trees or plants. You are seeing the outer forms. The tree and plant remains when there is nothing visible to your eyes. All that you ever behold with your eyes are the effects of life, the effects of consciousness, not Consciousness Itself. You go on forever, even while these outer forms are changed.

All around you nature is changing, and within you your own body is changing, but do not accept that as the world accepts it, as a sign of age, or change, or running down, or falling away. Accept that as the necessary changes of form in accord with the activity of Consciousness. Consciousness is the God—the Creative Principle, which is forever sending Itself forth into manifestation.

Now, there is no manifestation, no form that is ever lost, regardless of what appears to be the outer changes, they all come back to their base again and are renewed.

And so with us, we are the Consciousness; we are not the form. We are the Consciousness back here watching those nails disappear, and the skin slough off, and the hair get cut away. We are the Consciousness watching that, just as we are watching the body go through the changes from infancy to maturity. Now, as we take that position, that we are Consciousness, and that all that appears in our outer world is Consciousness appearing, then we can watch these changes without fear, without doubt, without anxiety, without concern, realizing that as long as time goes on, we as Consciousness will be watching all of these outer changes and not clinging to yesterday’s concepts of form.

“But, to which of the angels said He at any time, Sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation?”

So everything there is in this universe is a ministering angel to those who are the heirs, the children of God, the Sons of God, and that we are. Our Divine Sonship is the one thing that we know about ourselves which is the permanent Reality and Truth, and all else whether books or hands or bodies, talents, arts, abilities—all these are ministering angels given to us for our good.

(Pause)

We are speaking about this nature of error, in the sense that we have been trying to “un‑see” the snake, and to see the rope. Whereas we are to understand that the appearance, whether existing as snake or rope, is a matter of indifference. That which is – is. And merely to change the appearance from snake to rope doesn’t change the nature of that which is.

Now in the same sense in our metaphysical world we were using truth over error. We were using truth with which to overcome error. We were trying to rise above error. We were trying to destroy error. We were even trying to overcome sin. Whereas, in our higher vision, where we have seen one—oneness, we know there is no such thing anymore to be accomplished. We are not using truth as a power, nor are we seeing error as something to be overcome, or done away with, or healed, or reformed. And so, when an appearance touches us, the appearance must have the reaction in us of “So what?”, as we are shown in “The New Horizon” in The Infinite Way that good humanhood is the opposite end of the stick of bad humanhood, then why try to change bad humanhood into good humanhood. See through the picture to the Son of God.

Now, about two years ago I gave to the students in the practitioner group that teaching of the middle path, in which, when you are confronted with any appearance you do not deny, you do not affirm.

If you were to affirm the evidences of the senses that would be wrong. If you were to deny the evidences of the senses that would be wrong. Therefore, you have to take the attitude of neither seeing good humanhood nor bad, sick nor well, but looking right down the middle path into the very eyes of the Christ. That is very much the same with this idea of “is.” Now, you are confronted with a snake, and instead of trying to see a rope, you look right at your snake with “is.” There is something. It is. It is. It is. And eventually you see it as it is. You see?

Now, your healing work takes on an entirely different complexion the moment you’re not trying to change your snake into a rope, or the moment you are not trying to un-see disease, or a sick person, or a sinful person. The moment you’re not trying to say: “Oh, right there is the Christ.” You see what I mean?

There is your duality, and so you do away with that in this “is.” You neither affirm nor deny, but you realize “is.” And in your “is” then comes from the spiritual center, the soul center—the vision of that which “is,” and of course, outwardly it will appear to us as a healing. But we will all the time know that never could have been, because there never did exist anything but the “is,” whether it appeared as the rope or the snake.

In the application then of the “is” the secret of it is no labels, no opinions, no theories. You look at everything in the understanding—if anything at all—of not knowing what it is, merely that it is.

All you can know about it—“It is,”—existence. That, of course, you’re sure of because you are sure of God. As long as you are sure of the infinity of God, and omnipresence of God, you’re certainly sure that something “is,” but that is all you know is “is”.

Now, in that sense of vacuum which is created by having no opinion, no label, no judgment, out comes from the spiritual center of Being the light revealing the nature of that which is.

So, the whole work of this “is” is all taken from the Master’s statement—“Judge not after appearances”, Judge not after the appearances of the eye, but judge righteous judgment.

Now, one day we brought out the meaning of the word “righteous.” Righteous does not mean correct, and it doesn’t mean moral, and it doesn’t mean good, but “righteous judgment” means only the judgment of God—God’s judgment. So you can’t judge at all, right or wrong. You can only let God judge and make Its judgment known to us.

And so it is, that word “righteous” must always be understood as an activity of God. I’ve never seen a righteous man begging bread. And, it certainly doesn’t mean a good man, or a moral man, or a churchly man, because we’ve seen lots of them begging bread. You see?

But, a righteous man is that man living as the emanation of God, that man living in his spiritual identity or in the realization of his true Source, that man certainly could never want.

He would walk through the wilderness and be fed all of the time. He would go through the Red Sea. He would find manna. He would find water. He would find cakes baked on the stones. He would find ravens bringing food. The righteous man—the man that is fed of God, nourished of God, who receives his impartations of God, that man would never be begging bread.