Infinite Way Letter
May 1956
By Joel Goldsmith
Part 3 of 6
A BEHOLDER

Part Two

Let us now take another step forward and carry this attitude into other areas such a morality, supply, strength, life, and health. This requires a relinquishing of the personal sense of wealth, health, and goodness. For instance, the only good is God. As we permit the good of God to manifest Itself in our experience, we become instruments for the goodness of God. We do not claim credit or expect commendation for our goodness because it is not we who are good: God is expressing Its goodness through us. There is only one morality, only one integrity, only one honesty. None of these qualities is a personal possession! Morality, integrity, and honesty are expressed through us. There are no states and stages of these qualities; there are no degrees of them. To be ninety-nine percent honest is an anomaly. One is either one-hundred percent honest or else not honest; one is either one-hundred percent moral or else not moral. Integrity is, and it is the eternal reality of our Christ identity. “Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God.”

Health is not of self, but of God; and in that recognition there is not my health nor your health. If we accept this literally, we shall see miracles occur. Health is a quality and an activity of God, the essence and substance of God. To speak of my health and your health would indicate that there are degrees of health, good health and poor health. In the spiritual way of life this cannot be; it is an utter impossibility: there is only one health and that is God.

Health is of God—God “is the health of my countenance”—therefore my health is infinite; it is omnipresent, omnipotent, Self-created, Self-maintained, and Self-sustained. It is not dependent upon our thoughts nor even upon our treatments: it is dependent upon one thing alone, and that is our recognition of the truth that all health is of God. Our recognition of this truth is the only treatment necessary. That does not imply that we may not give specific treatments at times, but it means that health is not dependent upon treatment. Health is a quality of God, created, maintained, and sustained by God; and God does not require us to help It perform Its function in our experience. As Infinite Way students we are making a transition from the belief that we are responsible for our health; that is, that we are responsible for knowing the truth in the right way, or giving the right treatment, or holding the right thought.

For those who seek to understand clearly the spiritual sense of life, the chapter “The New Horizon” in The Infinite Way, sometimes called “The Practitioner’s Chapter,” is the most important writing in the entire message. Most people are not so much interested in the spiritual sense of life as they are in enjoying a harmonious physical sense of life. A harmonious physical sense of life is very pleasant and, of course, it is much more comfortable than an inharmonious sense of physical life. But we, as students of The Infinite Way, should not be satisfied merely with a physical sense of health because, regardless of what degree of harmony we may be experiencing today, it all can be changed by tomorrow. We are making the transition, as rapidly as possible, from the physical sense of health to the spiritual sense of health. And with the spiritual sense of health comes the discovery that health is not dependent upon the organs and functions of the body—health is not dependent upon God alone, because it is a quality and an activity of God!

Whatever is necessary in the government of the body is performed as an activity of God. Let us remember this in connection with the food we eat; the food, of itself, has no nourishing value, no substance, no power to sustain or maintain life, but I, the Soul of me, the consciousness of me, impart to it, its substance, its value, and its nourishment. If we make this a conscious realization, we shall soon find that food will have an entirely different effect upon our bodies than it has had heretofore. “He performeth the thing that is appointed for me,” and therefore, all activity of the body is performed by that “He” that is within us. We do not have to take thought about it. He performeth it. “The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me.”

It must be clear now that health is a quality of God, and because it is of God it is infinite, omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, Self-created, Self-sustained, Self-maintained, forever operative here where I am. So, also, God is strength. My body is not strength; my body does not have strength; nor do I have strength. Only God is strength, and strength is infinite. God is life. This is God’s life; there is no other. The only life we can have is the God-life which is infinite, eternal, and immortal. This is true in every aspect of our experience. Therefore, let us be beholders of God—beholders of God appearing as our health, our wealth, our strength, our life.

Once we learn to give up the sense of personal possession as indicated by the words I, me, mine, we begin to find the real meaning of spiritual living, universal living, impersonal living, harmonious living. God expresses Its harmony through our being. Every phase of harmony, regardless of its name, is a quality, an activity, and a law of God. When we recognize God as the essence of all good, we become instruments for the expression of a universal sense of good.
End Part 3