Original Iwihub.com Transcript. Transcriber Eunice Lee, proofread by Zane Maser.

pdf     77A God Is Your Soul

1955 Honolulu Lecture Series
God Is Your Soul
Joel S. Goldsmith
Tape 77A

Good afternoon.

I’m always happy when our students will ask questions, have questions, write in questions to me because that is our purpose in being together, to bring forth the light of wisdom, spiritual wisdom of God. And where two or more are gathered together, where we ask questions of each other, we turn to that one Mind, that one Soul for our answer. And the activity of questioning is second only in importance to the activity of receptivity. But before there can be receptivity, there must be a questioning state of mind. Nobody is receptive who believes they know the answer. They’re shutting out all receptivity the moment they think, believe they know the answer.

Now in spiritual wisdom, there is no one who knows the answer. You cannot go to anyone, or to any book for an answer, for the simple reason that no one has it. And the reason we go to each other is that we know we haven’t got the answer, and so we go to God. When you ask me a question, I could answer the question out of my knowledge or out of the quotation from the Bible but that may not be the answer at that moment. And so I would never think of answering a letter for help without going into meditation first. I would never think of receiving a student or patient in my office without going to the Source before I gave them any help or any answer, because there’s nothing that I’ve learned in twenty-four years of study that is of any importance to you, except that I have found out that whatever I humanly know is not spiritual wisdom. And therefore, when you come or when you ask, I go to the Source to get the answer. That is the benefit of my twenty-four years: that I know enough not to answer. I know enough not to treat. I know enough not to pray, until I have gone to the Source.

That is why I meditate when we come in here. That is why I have meditated downstairs five or ten minutes before I’ve come up. That is why I have meditated for hours during the night before I ever go to a lecture or a class. For the simple reason that if I could recite to you all the wisdom, of all the books of wisdom, and if I could recite to you all the great passages of Scripture, you would have nothing more or less than more words, more statements, more truths in the mind. But that would not be power.

Now that is well illustrated here in a question. To begin with, I had here two memorandums for today. The one says the secret of the Infinite Way is in the understanding of the word, “Consciousness.” And it is. That’s why there is an Infinite Way teaching. The Infinite Way is not a copy of any teaching nor is it a combination of teachings. The Infinite Way had its basis in all the years of study and practice that led me to the realization that the secret of life is in the word, “Consciousness.” Now after you have that you have the foundation.

The next note I had was this. It is necessary for each person to understand why words are unnecessary in prayer and communion. Do you hear that? It is necessary for each person to understand why words are unnecessary in prayer or communion.

Now here is the illustration of that in this question that is given me today.

Question: Treating is a form of prayer. Praying for loved ones and friends is a waste of time. Is it a waste of time to treat for loved ones or friends?

Answer: And you see the answer is “no, it is not a waste of time to pray for loved ones or friends,” in spite of the fact that the Master said, and we teach, that it is a waste of time to pray for relatives and friends.

Now then, what is the meaning of that double talk? And it is double talk. Because who prayed more for his friends and students and disciples and patients than Christ Jesus? Has anyone ever been known to pray more specifically for those of his own household? He said, “I am come to those of my own household.” Did anyone ever pray more for his own Hebrew people than the Master? And more especially for those who came to him by the hillsides or by the seashore. Certainly we know the answer to that. He was the greatest praying man, so far as we have any written record of. And his prayers were almost exclusively for his own followers. In one place, he refused to pray for someone who was not of his own household. But after she begged and pleaded quite a while, he made an exception and prayed for her. Later, he prayed for the woman at the well of Samaria, and she was astounded that a Jew would pray for a Samaritan, because it isn’t done.

Now, the answer to this double talk is this. Prayer is a recognition of God as the Soul of man. Prayer is the recognition of God as the life and the activity and the law unto this universe. So actually, there would be no such thing as a prayer, or your prayer wouldn’t be prayer, if it didn’t include your friends and relatives and allies and associates.

But the meaning of the Master’s statement that they, the nations of the world, the scribes and the Pharisees pray for their friends, and it profiteth them nothing, what he was trying to convey is that they only prayed for their friends. They only wanted God’s intercession for their friends and relatives, and that profiteth you nothing. Unless your prayer is all inclusive and takes in what the world might call your enemies, the pagans of the world, the dictators of the world, the lions and tigers and sharks of the world, unless your prayer includes them, then it profiteth you nothing just to pray that God’s Grace be given to some member of your household, or to yourself, or to your firm, or to your nation.

You see, the sense of separation that has caused the world’s difficulties, including our individual difficulties, has been that very thing. We have set up “my people and your people.” And then, as if that weren’t sad enough, we have set up “my church and your church.” If that weren’t sad enough, we have set up nation against nation, people against people, church against church, religion against religion, race against race, as if God weren’t the Law of this entire universe, as if God were less God to a potato than to an orchid.

How can we set up anything that resembles a God and then expect that its sunshine will come on your garden but not mine? Or will shine on my garden, but not Russia’s? Or the Jews, or the Protestants, or the Catholics? How can anyone set up such a God and expect that they are praying?

Ah, do you see why for three years now, our work in every class and lecture has evolved around the two subjects: what is the nature of God? And what is the nature of prayer? We cannot get past that point. We cannot get into spiritual living or spiritual wisdom without some degree of understanding of what God is. Once you understand the nature of God, you understand the nature of prayer.

Now our individual contact with God is through prayer. That is our means of contact, and the reason is the word, “Consciousness.” Everything that takes place, takes place in consciousness. So, prayer must be an activity of consciousness. Whose consciousness? There isn’t any but yours and mine. There’s only one Consciousness. And so within us must take place the activity of prayer. Ah, but where is prayer supposed to reach? It is supposed to reach God. But prayer takes place within us. Yes, because God takes place within us. The activity of God and the activity of prayer all takes place within our own being.