1959 London Closed Class Joel S. Goldsmith 274A - The “I” Within

Good evening. That’s alright this is the first night of our 1959 London Closed Class. I wonder if you realize how many classes we have had in London and in Manchester, open classes and closed classes since this work began here in England? In thinking of this today, the thought that came uppermost was this: each year the class groups have become larger, and yet very few have fallen away from the message of The Infinite Way since we began. Each year those who have come have remained; some few have gone, surely; but for the most part, you have remained; and to the number, still more. This class…there are very, very few who are taking our classwork for the first time. I think that is the most remarkable part of this entire experience. It is natural first of all, that there be small classes, because of the nature of the work, because of that which is really demanded of the students, not by me but by the message. It is natural that some fall away, because the demands are too great. The whole principle of The Infinite Way, is one in which the goal is dieing daily, being reborn of the Spirit; and it isn’t given to everyone more especially in this age, to be able to do that because this is the age of the “go-getter”; this is the age of the great personalities; this is the great day of the great “I am’s”; and those who can understand that the true greatness, the true wisdom, the true success lies in the very opposite of glorifying the self, of pushing forward the personality. This is an achievement. I would like to read you what really constitutes the ultimate goal of our work; that which really becomes our life eventually; and I’m sure that you will find why it is that so many must fall away; and why those who remain will go to the highest degree of spiritual consciousness, spiritual awareness, and spiritual demonstration. This is something I gave to a small group of students, all of our most advanced students some years ago. On the table was a glass of ice water, a glass of water in which was a square of ice. Look at this glass of water with the ice floating on it; notice how the ice is resting in that water, cradled in it. The ice has no power to move itself; only the water can propel it from one place to another. The ice itself is quiescent, immobile, passive; its every motion dependent upon the movement of the water. We are the ice, and consciousness is the water. The archer who practices this form of meditation waits for consciousness to move his hand, and arm. He does not move them; then every motion is unerring. If the archer attempted, by mental calculation of the distance, and by correct timing to perform this action himself, his hand might well falter, and the arrow miss its target. But when he remains immobile, until consciousness moves the hand and arm, there is no faltering, and the arrow is sent right to the heart of the target. As long as we try to direct our thoughts or our actions, the effects will be haphazard—good and bad, successful and unsuccessful. A state of complete quiescence in which there is no thinking or planning must be reached. We must be as completely passive as the piece of ice. Such a state can only be achieved when all desire has been surrendered. Do I know the will of God? Certainly not! My will would be to see everyone instantly healed, but would that result in their awakening to spiritual values, in the opening of the soul? 2 1959 London Closed Class

No! I must sit back and wait patiently for the will of God to make Itself known. Desire nourishes the sense of “I-ness.” In “I-ness” there can be no “isness”. Yesterday and tomorrow must be discarded in “nowness.” As long as there is a desire, there is a projection into the future; as long as there is a regret, there is a return to the past—both of which are dead—without substance and without life. Now is the only life; now is the only reality; now is the only time; the future is only an extension of the now. Sap must flow up from the roots of the trees into the branches to form the buds, flowers and leaves of the trees. However, if there could be a tree consciousness, which worried about whether or not there would be enough rain or sun in due season, it would interfere with the normal and natural flow of life. So do we interfere, with the free flowing of life by injecting I-ness into the already completed picture, and I-ness, which manifests as fear of the past or future, concern, anxiety, desire. There can be no desire, not even the desire to give; for that too feeds the sense of I-ness, and bloats the ego. There must be a complete resting, as the ice rests in the water, letting the water project the ice wherever and whenever it will. You may think at first that this is an impossible life to live, and that it is impractical in the modern world of business or government. On the contrary, it is the most practical form of life ever evolved. The reason is that any other form of life is based on that very I-ness. In other words, it would be dependent upon my personal experience, my education, my vision, my idea of what is right and wrong, my idea of what is timely—a right idea at the wrong time is of no use. Therefore, in the degree that I can relax—attain an inner silence, quiet, peace. I can be led of the Spirit; I can be influenced by an infinite wisdom, an infinite intelligence, an infinite power; and then, my actions really become the carrying out of the divine will—not mine. It responds in the right time, in the right manner. The difference between living that life of I-ness—I, me, mine; and this spiritual life is really the difference between failure and success, permanent success, rather than some temporary sense of success. This ability to be still and let the Lord speak within us; let divine grace move us; this ability assures us that I am living yet not I, Christ is living my life; my life is God governed; God directed; God impelled. At first it seems difficult to make the transition from the ordinary I life to this life of spiritual guidance, spiritual protection; but actually it only takes a few months of real serious endeavor to come at least to a place where we can gradually take on this divine guidance, divine will, divine movement...“Speak Lord”… To be able to retire into that quiet is a practice that should not be of more than, at the most two or three minutes, probably even one or one-and-a-half minutes would be better; but repeated as many times in the day and evening as it is possible to be alone for one or one-and-a-half minutes; and to be repeated at night any time and every time that one may awaken from sleep; surely early in the morning again. And the reason is that if we make a habit of turning within even for that one minute, we are preparing our own consciousness for the experience of receiving. Now you see, living the human life has cut us off from the kingdom of God, which is within us. All that we are doing is reestablishing a contact with this withinness in which our entire good is already established. Let us put it this way: the kingdom of God is within you; the kingdom of God is neither lo here nor lo there; the kingdom of God is not to be found in holy mountains, nor temples in Jerusalem; the kingdom of God is to be found within you! 274A – The “I” Within 3

Now we, who accept, who have responded to this message of The Infinite Way, we are compelled to acknowledge that this is the full and complete truth; that it is a living truth; that it is an eternal truth; that it is now the truth; that the kingdom of God is within us. And as Tennyson has told us, Browning isn’t it, Browning—that this truth is within ourselves, it is within ourselves in all of its fullness, completeness, perfection. This means our lives are established within ourselves—the fullness of life, the completeness and the perfection of life is already established within ourselves from everlasting to everlasting. If we were to live a thousand years on earth, our completeness for that length of time is already established within us—fulfillment, infinite supply, infinite wisdom, infinite grace. But “we must open out a way for this infinite Splendor to escape”—infinite, infinite, infinite. Now, how do we open out a way for infinite wisdom, eternal life, divine love to flow out from us? The way in which we start is to acknowledge that it is there—the kingdom of God is within ourselves; therefore, we are not to attempt to get, obtain, achieve from without; we are to center our attention on bringing it forth, or rather letting it escape from within our own being. Then, every time that we close our eyes, even if it is for fifteen seconds, and acknowledge “The kingdom of God is within me. Speak Lord let it flow,” and then return to our work whatever its nature—whether it’s housekeeping, whether it is music, art, invention, science, government; return and be active in whatever work we have been given to do today. We have no thought about tomorrow; we are not to take thought for tomorrow; or what we shall eat or drink or wherewithal we shall be clothed. All we are called upon to do is to live in this moment; and to live in the assurance that full Christhood, full spiritual being is established within us, and, that within us is the bread, the meat, the wine, the water—everything—the resurrection, life eternal. Everything of which we shall have need; not only for the rest of our days on earth, but for all of our days unto kingdom come. This you see is making a transition from the ordinary sense of human life, in which we look to others for our good; we look to husbands or wives or children or parents; we look to investments; and in this last decade it has become fashionable to look to the government; whereas in the spiritual life, we are taught to look within ourselves, and let God’s grace flow out from us. Now, no one can be expected to demonstrate beyond the capacity they have attained; therefore, we do not try to walk on the waters until we have been given an inner assurance that we may attempt it. We do not start with: “Well I will go out and run up a lot of bills, because now God within me is going to meet them.” No rather, rather open out a way and let the money flow in first, and then go out and spend it. Be assured of each step of your demonstration as you go along…Oh, if the still small voice tells you to take a step, which you at the moment cannot humanly see as right, you can afford to forget your human thought about it, and follow the direction that you receive from within. The Infinite Way was founded on that. At every step, the still small voice directed the next step—a step which did not seem humanly reasonable or possible; but it was accomplished. But that was only after the contact within was so certain that there never was a question when the voice spoke, it was the voice; and when It spoke, It accomplished that which It sent me out to do. It never left me with the responsibility of doing something. It performed that which It gave me to do. So the time does come when you need take no thought for what the appearances testify to, but just obey that still small voice. Now, at first it may appear to you that this “oft turning within” is not producing any effect. Well that’s why I can’t play piano. I started to take lessons and after playing scales for a year, I 4 1959 London Closed Class couldn’t notice that I was able to play piano so I stopped taking lessons. If only I had continued a few more years, just think by now I might be in vaudeville. You see, as we turn to the spiritual life, it differs so completely from our human experience that you are really setting out on an uncharted sea. Not that others haven’t been there before you, but that you cannot go by their maps; you have to have your own experience, and therefore you have to walk slowly, move forward slowly, and patiently. Above all things, from this moment on, we must never declare that anything is beyond our ability; we must not accept any sense of limitation; we must not accept the belief that any good is beyond our capacity or reach, or that any heights are too high to attain; for there are no limits to the I which I am after I have made contact with It. It becomes literally true that I live yet not I, Christ, the infinite, the unlimited, the unbounded, the unfettered lives my life. Now, once you start on this path, you must take into the silence with you a word which in the human scene is not understood, and which can only be revealed to you—the meaning of it, can only be revealed to you from within yourself. It is for this reason that we must not use this word, in the connection I’m going to give it to you, outwardly or openly. We must use it, as the Hebrews taught in the very earliest days of their experience, silently, secretly, sacredly. And then when its meaning has been made clear to us, we will understand why we never can voice it in this way, except within ourselves. The word is I. What follows is the absolute truth about the I that I am. If I were to say this about Joel, I would be speaking a lie, but I can speak it about the I that I am; the I that I really am; the I which is one with God. This I that I am, in the depths of my inner being, this I is the bread, the wine, the meat, the water, the resurrection unto me eternally. Therefore anything in all of this world of which I may ever seem to have need is already established in the I that I am; and I need not look outside to man whose breath is in his nostril, or to princes. I can place entire faith, confidence, reliance, assurance on this truth. I embody within myself infinity. All that the Father hath is embodied in the I that I am. I am ever with the Father and therefore all that the Father hath is mine— embodied within me, embodied in the very I that I am; for I and the Father are one. As long as Joel abides in this truth, he is fed, clothed, housed, prospered, completed, perfected by the I that I am. Now Joel and I are one, but I is greater than Joel; therefore Joel of himself is nothing, but by relationship to the I that is within me, Joel has access to all that the Father hath; for this I and the Father are one, and not two. This I and the Father are one and not two: therefore, though Joel can of himself do nothing, the I that I am doeth the works. God presence, God power—this is the substance of individual you and me. And wherever I have used the name Joel, you may use your own name, and realize this: you Mary, you William, you Robert and the Father are one; and I in the midst of thee am mighty; that I which you declare, that I in the midst of you is mighty. In proportion as you understand that I and the Father are one, in that proportion do you understand that all that the Father hath is mine. The mind of God is mine; the life of God is my life; the soul of God is my only soul; there can only be one Spirit, one life, one soul, and that is mine; that is yours. Wherever the word I can be voiced, that I is consciously one with the Spirit which is God—the soul, the life, the substance, the wisdom, the power, the dominion. In that way we were taught in Genesis that we were given dominion over the earth, the waters, the sky, and all that is therein. We were not given that dominion as of ourselves, but by virtue of the I that I am, the I that is within me, the I that constitutes my individual being. That is why then, Joel can rest as if he were a piece of ice floating on the water and let the water move him; let the water become substance of his being, activity, quality, and quantity. 274A – The “I” Within 5

As we realize this, and we learn to sit in the morning in our period of quiet, you can now see the purpose of your meditation. As you are sitting for your first meditation in the morning, you are realizing that: God has made this day, God has perfected it, God has decreed its activity, and the Father within you is the law, and the substance, and the activity of this day and of all of your life during this day. And so you are now receptive to Its grace. Thy grace is my sufficiency in all things; Thy grace, “closer to me than breathing, nearer than hands and feet;” Thy presence goes before me; Thy presence is with me; All that Thou art, I am; Thy will be done in me today; Thy grace is my sufficiency today; Thy presence is my assurance. And now to be sure that I love my neighbor as myself, this is the truth also about my neighbor: my close by neighbor, my far distant neighbor, my friendly neighbor, and my enemy neighbor—this is a universal truth. Now you see with that, even with that short meditation, you have fulfilled the purpose of scripture; you have denied yourself as if you of yourself were anything; you have acknowledged God in all your ways; you have acknowledged the presence of God, the power of God, the life of God, the wisdom of God, the direction of God, the protection of God. You have realized that you do not live your life alone but Christ liveth your life. You have made yourself receptive and responsive to this spiritual influence “that is closer to you than breathing and nearer than hands and feet.” You have brought yourself to the realization that it makes no difference what the day’s experiences may be. If you mount up to heaven, I will be there; but if for some reason you have to go into hell, I also am there; even if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, this very I is there. And, this I is my food, my clothing, my housing. My daily work, my daily activity isn’t for the purpose of earning a living; it is for the purpose of showing forth God’s handiwork. It is for the purpose of fulfilling God’s purpose in me. Ah yes, I know…Very few in the human world are at this moment performing their spiritual activity, or the activity which approximates it. Therefore, they must do that which is given them to do today, and let the future take care of itself by acknowledging God today, as Brother Lawrence brought it out even in scrubbing the floor or cooking in the kitchen, even acknowledging God in these activities would seem so mundane. Even in this, we are bringing God into actual expression; and then you may be assured that we will be led from that activity to another and another and another until we are being fulfilled spiritually. Now regardless of where we may be today, and I am addressing this not only to you, but to the man in prison, those in hospitals, those in mental institutes; wherever you are today; wherever you are at this minute, disregard the appearances, and declare for yourself: The kingdom of God is within me; therefore, the place whereon I stand is holy ground; up in heaven, down in hell, in prison, in the valley of the shadow of death —where I am is holy ground, here and now in this very place; regardless of appearances to the contrary; Here where I am, God is “closer to me than breathing, nearer than hands and feet. And starting with this acknowledgment, and recognizing that I in the midst of me is very God being—one with God; Thou seest me thou seest the Father that sent me for I and the Father are one. 6 1959 London Closed Class

And when you say I, remember I, that I and the Father are one and not two. I, the I that you declare. I, that I and the Father are one and not two, and all that the Father hath is yours. What the appearances are have nothing to do with at this moment; what the condition of the purse may be, I have nothing to do at this moment; whether you are prisoner or free, sick or well, living or dead, I have nothing to do with that, that is the appearance of this moment, and I am picking you up where you are at this moment. And from this moment on, I in the midst of you, will lead you, direct you, govern, feed, clothe, house. Only remember that this must be brought to your conscious remembrance; you must abide in this word; you must let this word abide in you; you must dwell in the secret place of the most High; you must live and move and have your being in this consciousness that I and the Father are one, and all that the Father hath is mine here and now, where I am! And as you continue to disregard the appearances—don’t try to change them or improve them; stand fast where you are and let the Spirit move you, as you are prepared for It. Just a few weeks ago I spoke to a group of men, who were behind bars, and I said, “I know that you are hoping that I can tell you how to get out of here, or that I have the power to release you. I won’t tell you how to get out of here, and if I have the power to release you, I won’t. You must be released from here only through a change of consciousness; then we’ll both be sure you won’t return.” So it is, to leave the place where you are now, in the same consciousness in which you are now would serve no purpose, because without a higher consciousness of truth, you would eventually return to the same place where you are at this moment. The Master said, “Neither do I condemn thee but go and sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.” In other words, don’t try to live beyond your attained state of consciousness, because you will not be able to retain it. Therefore, where you are now is good enough. Then abide in this truth that I in the midst of me, is one with God; I in the midst of me, being one with God is heir of God, joint heir to all the heavenly riches; All that the Father hath is mine. Then as you abide in this truth, your consciousness becomes enriched, deepened, broadened; your consciousness becomes filled with spiritual truth. And spiritual truth, as you will discover, is the I—I am the truth. And this truth which fills your consciousness literally appears outwardly, as the greater harmonies in your experience. Now you see, you must know the truth in order for the truth to make you free. Regardless of what sense of limitation may be binding you, nothing is going to free you except knowing the truth. Knowing the truth is something far more than reading it in a book or reading statements; knowing the truth means exactly that—knowing the truth. Now, as you take this truth into your consciousness; as you live it and relive it; as you ponder it, meditate upon it, cogitate, you will find that gradually sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly—truths become alive in you. They take on an entirely different nature than just statements of truth. They become living truth itself; and this is when the demonstration of God’s presence comes forward into active expression. So remember this. You have only one demonstration to make. Do not make the metaphysical mistake of trying to demonstrate things or persons or conditions; you have but one demonstration to make, and that is the conscious realization of the presence of the I that I am as one with God; you have only to realize the presence of God and that realization will appear externally as fulfillment. Seek ye the kingdom of God, and all these things will appear outwardly in your experience, but the things can’t appear without the attainment of this kingdom of God. That is why in this message of The Infinite Way, we have one, only one real demonstration 274A – The “I” Within 7 to make, and that is the conscious realization of truth, the consciousness of the presence of the I that I am, the realization of God’s presence. In Thy presence is fullness of joy; therefore, the only demonstration we have to make is to find ourselves in Thy presence, but this Thy presence we are talking about is already present. It is already the I within our own being; therefore, we don’t have to bring God to us; we have to bring ourselves to God realization—to the realization of God’s presence within our very own being. At every step this week, we are going to remember that it is in knowing the truth that we find our freedom, and therefore we are devoting this week to consciously knowing the truth— consciously knowing every truth necessary to the development of our spiritual consciousness; every truth necessary to the building of a spiritual awareness within us; consciously knowing every truth necessary to bringing forth spiritual consciousness, healing consciousness. We are attempting this week to bring forth from within ourselves our healing consciousness. It is already there, but there are certain specific truths, which we must know, which we must abide in, which we must let abide in us in order that this healing consciousness may be evolved. The message of The Infinite Way has two parts. Its first part is its metaphysics. This we call the letter of truth. The letter of truth which we consciously know, remember, declare in order that we may build the consciousness of truth. The consciousness of truth is the mystical side of this message. The metaphysical side is the letter of truth; the mystical side is the consciousness of truth—that which is attained through realization or attainment, sometimes called illumination; perhaps better understood in the word realization. Now, we may have a realization about one facet of truth, and we may bring forth mighty works through that; but never believe when you have had a realization of truth, even illumination that you have gone the full distance; you have only started on the path. Afterward there comes realizations of other truths or facets of truth, more realizations, deeper realizations; and actually this goes on forever and so far as I know it never ends. This must be so because of the very infinite nature of God. God must then forever be imparting Itself to us; infinitely imparting Itself to us; and I wonder if we ever do attain that place where we know it all. Personally I doubt it, but I’m willing to be taught. The beginning of wisdom is when you know that all that you are seeking is already established within you; and that you are seeking only to bring it forth from within your own being. This will always prevent idolatry. It will prevent you from false gods, false christs; it will prevent you from worshiping something or someone outside your own being; it will likewise prevent your fearing. As long as you realize that the kingdom of God is within you, you need fear no man; you need have no fear what mortal man can do to you; what mortal circumstance can do to you; what mortal condition can do to you. Fear must lessen and eventually fade away as you realize the nature of the I that I am within you; as you realize God’s presence within you, you never can fear anything external to you; nor can you worship anything or anybody external to you; for the kingdom of God is within you. All that the Father hath is embodied in that I within you. In these one minute, one-and-a-half minute periods of meditation, which you are to experience as many times a day as you can consciously bring yourself to remember it, always remember that your first thought must be: “The kingdom of God is within me, and all that God is I am; All that God has is mine, for I and the Father are one.” And if you have no time for anything else, you will be alright. You will have made a contact; and you will have prepared the way for the imprisoned Splendor, the infinite imprisoned Splendor to escape. 8 1959 London Closed Class

We always begin with what we have. Never acknowledge that you don’t know enough truth; never acknowledge that you haven’t enough of truth or anything else. One statement of truth is enough to complete your entire life’s demonstration. Why? If you make use of the one truth that you have, it will multiply itself. This is the secret of supply in any direction, whether it is the supply of truth, or the supply of money, or the supply of homes, or transportation. You start with what you have, and you make use of what you have. The Master of the Old Testament says to the poor widow, “What have you in the house?” And so she starts to pour just these few drops of oil, and the cruse never runs dry. The Master in the New Testament says, when he has multitudes to feed, “What have we?”… “We have a few loaves and fishes.” “Begin, begin; start pouring them.” Break, share, give, just what you have. Don’t hope that you have ten times as much; don’t wish; be satisfied; start with what you have, and begin to pour. And if you only can remember one statement of truth, take that one statement of truth into your consciousness, and live with it, ponder it, meditate upon it. Keep it within you; and soon you will find—even if you never discover how it happened that that one statement of truth has a companion; another statement has come into your awareness. When that happens you need never again fear; you have proven the multiplication of what you have.