Beginning Steps

Beginning Steps On The Infinite Way

1962 Tulsa Special Class

Tape 473B

by Joel S Goldsmith

Good evening.

Since this is the first class that I have conducted in Oklahoma, and the first that many of you have attended, I should call your attention to the fact that some parts of this work will undoubtedly surprise you. Some parts of the message may seem strange to you. But the attitude with which you should approach this work is one of no judgement, no opinion; rather that of listening and then learning later the response that takes place within you. In our human experience, before we come to either a metaphysical or a spiritual teaching, we are made up really of a consciousness of good and of evil. Our whole experience, from before birth, is predicated on the assumption that there is good and evil; that there is a power of good and that there is a power of evil; perhaps one power of good and a lot of powers of evil. Certainly in our human experience, evils for most people are more numerous than the good experiences. And so it is that as we come to adulthood, our entire experience is predicated on the belief which we have accepted that there are two powers. There aren’t two powers. It was the acceptance of this belief of two powers that caused all the trouble in the beginning, in the Garden of Eden. I believe there are some superstitious teachings; superstitious, paganistic, whatever you may call it, to the effect that Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden for some sex reasons. Of course this is a fantastic myth. The Bible clearly states the reason. It was accepting the two powers, good and evil. The eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The knowledge of good and evil caused the expulsion from Eden, and it is that same acceptance of two powers that keeps us out of harmony.