Original Iwihub.com transcript by Hilda Soon and Zane Maser.

pdf-49px  301a contemplative-meditation-on-grace

Contemplative Meditation on Grace
1960 Los Angeles Closed Class
Joel S. Goldsmith
Tape 301A

Good evening!

The very first requisite for developing our spiritual awareness is, of course, learning how important meditation is in our experience. Regardless of how much we know with our mind, regardless of how much reading we may do, our spiritual capacity is developed only in proportion to our ability to meditate. In other words, a spiritual capacity is developed in silence, not in thinking, not in hearing, not in reading. And you can develop more in one minute of silence than you can in twenty-four hours of reading. It is for this reason that reading and studying are only tools, which we use to enable us to reach that inner silence, which we call meditation.

Now, you will observe this week that as we meditate and open this inner faculty, soul faculty, spiritual faculty, you will go out of here understanding things that you never before understood, and not only this, you will understand things that you will not even hear. In other words, you will receive in the silence, in the stillness, in the quiet that which may not be voiced through the lips.

This will indicate to you that the more you meditate, that is, not the longer time you spend at it at one session but the amount of times in a day and night that you meditate, even if each time may be only one minute or two or three, this develops your spiritual awareness and brings the spiritual harmony into your experience.

So first of all, we are going to meditate now, and as we do, I will ask you to remember when your eyes are closed and you are in the darkness within, remember this, that the entire Kingdom of God is there ready to pour Itself through into your mind, into your body, into your home, into your business, into your purse. And therefore, your attitude with your eyes closed is one of receptivity, as if you were inviting God to speak to you or as if you were inviting the Spirit to flow forth through you. And your part is to remember the Kingdom of God, the All-ness of God is within me. And as I am still, the Spirit of God makes Itself manifest in my experience.

And now, let us be still…

All right. Now let me give you the first, the greatest Principle of this message of The Infinite Way, the Principle upon which its entire activity has been founded. God constitutes individual being. God constitutes your being. And that is why Scripture says, “The place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” I and the Father are here where I am. God is the mind of me. This means of you. God is the Life. God is the Soul. God is the Spirit. Therefore, God is the capacity of your individual being.

You have access to infinity. You have access to infinite intelligence, infinite life, eternal life. You have access to infinite supply, infinite harmony, peace, perfection, but you can only bring it forth into your experience, first of all in proportion to your knowledge of this truth:  “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Remember, it is not the truth that shall make you free, but ye shall know the truth and then the truth shall make you free.

Therefore, you must know that infinity constitutes the nature and character, the quality and quantity of your being—and nothing less. You can only demonstrate that infinity in proportion to your realization, to your attainment of this understanding. In other words, merely because God is your mind, this will not enable you to be infinitely intelligent. But for you to know that God constitutes your mind makes the infinite wisdom of God available as your individual capacity to understand, to know, to discern, to bring forth. “I of my own self can do nothing,” and we can go still further and say, “I of my own self can be nothing.” I of my own self can have nothing but because of my oneness with God, the Father says, “Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.”

Think of that, “Son,” this is God speaking, “Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.” This is the infinity of God, which becomes individually yours because of your divine relationship to God and because of your conscious awareness of this truth.

Now, on this Principle is founded the principle of our life’s demonstration. And as you read The Infinite Way writings now, you will find in one place an entire chapter called “Demonstrate God.” You will find in other writings you must not attempt to demonstrate anything at any time. You must never attempt to demonstrate health, wealth, supply, business, home, companionship. Why? Because you would be demonstrating finiteness. You would be demonstrating form, and form is destructible, limited. But when you demonstrate the realization of the Presence of God, well, this is what happens. The Master says to you, “Take no thought for what you shall eat or what you shall drink or wherewithal you shall be clothed. Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things, and it is His good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.” But instead of taking thought for what you shall eat or drink or housed or companioned, seek ye first the Kingdom of God. Seek ye the realm of God, the realization of God. Seek ye the consciousness of the Presence of God, and God will appear as infinite form. God then appears as supply, or companionship, or home, or transportation, or safety, or security.

You see, Scripture says, “God is the health of thy countenance.” Then there’s no need to demonstrate health. If we demonstrate God, God is the health of our countenance. We are told that God is a high tower and a fortress; then we do not need to demonstrate safety or security. We do not need to demonstrate high towers, shelters, fortresses. We need to demonstrate God and find that God is the only high tower, the only one that really works, the only one that really protects. God is the fortress. The only one capable of hiding us from discord is God.