1951 Second Portland Series

Joel S. Goldsmith

601A  The True Demonstration 1/4

 

This is Joel Goldsmith in Portland Oregon and the class is on the message of The Infinite Way, more particularly the practical application of spiritual truth to our everyday living. (Pause)

We have been given today these leaflets with the scriptural quotations that form the foundation for our noon meetings. You will notice on the cover that the main quotation is We do not live by bread alone.

From there we go on to Proverbs; 3:5—Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thy own understanding. 3:6—In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path.

And in Luke: 4:4 And Jesus answered him saying: It is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

And Isaiah: 26:3—Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee.

And then John: 14:27—Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: Not as the world giveth, give I unto you.

And Isaiah: 30:15—In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength;

Again John: 4:32—In the meanwhile his disciples prayed him saying: Master, eat. But he said unto them I have Meat that ye know not of.

And then we finish with our favorite from Luke 12—Take no thought what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, or wherewithal ye shall be clothed, for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things, and it is his good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all of these things shall be added unto you.

Now the reason for these particular passages is this: In our spiritual life, more especially since we have come into truth studies, we have become used to the word demonstration. We have come to realize that we have the right to health, harmony, wholeness, completeness, protection, satisfaction as a result of our studies and of our understandings.

Too often, as a student goes on in this work, they find their attention too much on the demonstration, and not enough on that which produces the demonstration—that which brings the demonstration into expression or manifestation.

You remember that the Hebrews thought that the manna falling from the sky was their demonstration, and they believed that so firmly that they rushed out to gather all the manna they could—not only for what they needed for the day, but to store up for tomorrow—not realizing that the manna was not their demonstration.

The demonstration was the consciousness of God’s presence, the consciousness of the activity of God—the consciousness of God as fulfillment. You see that in the Master’s words later, I am come that ye might be fulfilled.

Well, of course, Moses’ entire demonstration was based on his realization that I Am, and so it was Moses’ realization of I Am that produced the manna falling from the sky. The demonstration, really, was the realization of I Am, and the result of the demonstration was the manna.

You’ll find all the way through scripture these so-called miracles. As we come up to the Master in the New Testament you will find that he multiplied loaves and fishes. Did he? No, of course he didn’t. He said, “I can of my own self do nothing. The Father within me doeth the work.” What is the Father within me? He referred to that later as the Spirit of Truth, which is the Comforter. The Spirit of Truth, or the consciousness of Truth, or the conscious awareness of Truth, or the consciousness of the presence of God—any of these terms—is the Father within. And so it was the Master’s realization of the presence of the Father within that was the demonstration. The result of the demonstration was the multiplication of loaves and fishes.

In the same way he did not demonstrate gold in the fishes’ fish’s mouth. He demonstrated his realization of God’s presence. The result of that realization was gold appearing in the fishes’ fish’s mouth.

And so it is—and this is the point now of this lesson—whenever there is an outer demonstration or manifestation or expression of good, there must first of all be a consciousness of truth within. There must be a substance out of which the demonstration is to appear. Manna cannot fall from the sky out here—outside of one’s own being. Loaves and fishes cannot be multiplied out here in the world. Everything must have its foundation within our consciousness, and the foundation is our consciousness of truth. That constitutes the Father within, the Spirit of Truth, the Comforter, the Consciousness of truth, the awareness of the Presence, the realization of God, the seeking and the finding of the Kingdom within you. When the Master tells us, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God,” where shall you seek it? Where he said it would be found—within you. What does the Kingdom consist of? What does the kingdom of God—when you seek it or when you find it—what do you find within you? All you find is the realm of truth, of love, of life. You find the consciousness of harmony, wholeness, completeness, and perfection, and you find it within your own being, but finding it within your own being, it appears outwardly as manifestation.

So the Master says here: “Peace, I leave with you. My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth give I unto you.” My peace, this inner peace, this inner quiet, this inner confidence and strength that I give you will appear outwardly as the health of your body, as the stilled waters, as the peace of soul, peace of mind, harmony of purse.

But in order to have the good on the outer plane promised by the Master, there must first be “My peace,” that is, spiritual peace. There must first be a realization of the kingdom of God within, and of course, this means a consciousness of truth.

Now, when we, as truth students, metaphysicians—call us what you will—when we seek demonstrations on the outer plane, we seek amiss, and it is for this reason that we miss out on the demonstration, because there is no such thing as a demonstration on the outer plane without a substance of which that demonstration is formed, and that substance is your inner peace, or consciousness of Truth.

So the demonstration to be made then is not a condition on the outer plane, it is really a consciousness of Truth on the inner plane. When you have made your demonstration of having achieved an inner peace, or an inner consciousness of Truth, then you will find that the manna will appear without, the multiplication of loaves and fishes will appear without, the healings, the raising from the dead, the reformation, the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, cakes will be found baked on the stones right in front of you, ravens will come bringing food, if necessary. All these demonstrations will be made on the outer plane, providing, first of all, that the demonstration of “My peace” or my consciousness of Truth has been achieved on the inner plane.

And so, for those of us who are students of The Infinite Way, I say this—stop this eternal round of seeking outer demonstrations. Seek first your inner demonstration—that is your consciousness of Truth, your awareness of Truth. Build within you the Substance of life and then life will appear in its outer forms. And our basis, our foundation for all of this is found in the Master’s teachings, more especially where he says many of these things to us: “And Jesus answered him saying: It is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.” There is your word again—that Word means Truth, that Word means consciousness or realization of Truth.