1954 Honolulu Lecture Series Joel G. Goldsmith 74A-Principle of Is Jud!e "ot Pr#$er
Good Evening, Something has been taking place p lace at these meetings that brings up a little unexpected situation. As As I have told you many times, I am not a lecturer and do not know how to lecture, but I do know and have learned in my experience certain principles of life, and I not only love to present them and talk about them, but seem to keep busy at it. ut the difficulty that comes is this! that not being a lecturer, the work that I do is more or less teaching, and so as we go along, instead of "ust hearing lectures about something, we have an actual teaching of the principles of the #something$, with the result that we have already gone through sub"ects like treatment, the practical application of principles, and we have gone through the principles that constitute this work, and each time we get into deeper water% and the reason is that as meeting has followed meeting, those who have been here for all of o f them, or nearly all, have been enabled to follow along with a principle and are beginning to put them into practice, finding them to some extent, practical and, of course, preparing themselves for the next step, with the result that we are at the place p lace tonight where it becomes necessary to talk about a principle of this work that is by far the deepest principle principle that has ever revealed itself to me in the work. &here is no way to avoid it, and the only desire that there might be for avoiding it is the fact that some who have not been here for all of this work may not understand what we're talking about and thereby may not benefit by it% but I have to forget that for this evening, to bring up this principle, because it fits right in here. It is natural natural to follow up where we were Sunday and to clarify it, so that you can put it into practice in the right manner and then see where it leads. (ow, in in order for you to grasp this point, it is going to be necessary that you make yourself receptive in the way that should be done whenever you meditate. Ah, let me explain that. I'm going to ask you to look over toward my left, and I am raising my left hand, and you are looking at it% and the point that I want to bring to your attention is this! that in looking at it and in seeing it, you are not using your eyes. )ou )ou are not straining. )ou )ou are not reaching out as if it were up u p to you or to your eyes to see. )ou )ou are relaxed and letting the image strike you. )ou )ou are not tensing your eyes as if to see. As a matter of fact, the more relaxed your eyes are, the better you will see. Any effort to reach forward and strain will, if anything, blur the image that's held up before you. In the same way, you look to the right, and again you do not have to make a conscious effort to see. All you have to do is keep your eyes open and the image will hit upon your eyes. (ow then, that is the way I would like you to listen. *ave no strain. +o not open your ears as if they had to do some work and do not strain up here. +o not crease this forehead. +o not lean forward to strain that way. Sit back relaxed and let the vibrations hit upon your ear, so that you are not making an effort to hear. (ow the reason for it is this! what I say is not going to to make sense from any human standpoint, and it isn't going to be reasonable, so that there is no use trying to think it through or reason it through. hat I am going to say to you this evening has to be discerned with an inner vision. Something within you must respond. It isn't something that your eyesight can give you or your ears can give you. It is something within you that says yes or no. It is something within you that says right or wrong, and that isn't your reasoning mind. &hat is an inner faculty, a spiritual spiritual faculty, a Soul faculty.
-A / 0rinciple of Is 1 2udge (ot 1 0rayer
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(ow, as we develop that Soul faculty, we gain the ability to hear the still, small voice. )ou never hear it with your ear, even though sometimes it is an audible sound, and you would think that you're hearing with your ear. A student writes me today that she awakened out of a sleep hearing the telephone bell ring, but it rang 45 minutes% but actually there was no telephone ringing outside. It was something within her own being, alerting her. (ow, everyone who has ever attained any mystical sense6that is, any sense of the 7ather within6has done so only because of an ability to hear that which cannot be heard or see that which cannot be seen or know that which cannot be known, and that sounds like foolishness6 but it isn't. 8emember, The things of God are foolishness of man, but so are the things of man foolishness with God. )ou only have to witness one angle of that to know how true it is. atch how busy the world is in accumulating what it calls fortunes, and then watch how each one has to check it at the probate court as they pass out, and you know how foolish in the sight of God it must be, these poor mortals scrambling for their9whatever it is that they're going to check at the probate court. (ow you see, there is an inner wisdom% there is an inner vision% there is an inner discernment that enables you to respond to the spiritual impulse, the impulse of God, or the :hrist. I have illustrated that before in this manner! when the ;aster rose from the tomb, although he had preached to the multitudes, although he had healed multitudes and fed multitudes, according to all the records only about <55 people witnessed the risen :hrist. e, of course, like to feel that if we had been there, we would have surely witnessed it, and the chances are we very surely would not have, because out of those multitudes only <55, and those <55 were those of the keenest spiritual vision. And so it is with us today. &he people of spiritual vision behold something that others do not see. It is like this sub"ect of prayer that we hav e been taking up and in which it was brought out that there is no use praying to God for anything at all. Any prayer to God for anything would be a sin, for the simple reason that to acknowledge that God had anything to give and was withholding it for our prayer, would be dishonoring God. And so we come to a higher concept of prayer than making Santa :laus out of God and expecting dear old Santa :laus, because we're good, is going to reward us, or perhaps if we're bad, he'll first forgive us and then reward us. (ow, one of the principles6and as I said before, it is probably one of the deepest, if not the deepest, and it is a principle that is necessary in spiritual living and in spiritual healing6is based on a scriptural =uotation, Judge not after appearances. (ow, that is very often misunderstood. >ery often people believe that that means don't "udge evil, but rather "udge good% don't "udge evil from appearances, but it's all right to "udge good. It doesn't mean that at all. &he ;aster rebuked that when h e was called the #Good ;aster.$ Why callest thou me good? There is but one good, the Father in heaven. So even to have turned to him and "udged that he was good was erroneous. And so in this principle we cannot "udge good any more than we can "udge evil. In other words, how, by appearances, can we "udge any wise? &he healthiest looking person in the world very often drops dead of heart disease the next minute, and then it is said, #hy, no one ever knew that he was suffering from heart trouble.$ (o, h e may not have known it himself. And there are other illustrations to show that we can be deceived by appearances. (ow, watch this, because here is the point. &he point is that you are neither good nor evil. )ou are neither rich nor poor. )ou are neither well nor sick% and the reason is this! God is infinite, and therefore only God is, and that leaves out any degree of comparison. &hat is why in all spiritual teaching it is said that you must rise above the pairs of opposites. )ou must rise
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above the pairs of opposites to where there is neither good nor evil, young nor old, alive nor dead, sick nor well, rich nor poor, but to where there is only one, and that one is God. In other words, it is given us elsewhere that in this higher consciousness there is neither male nor female. 8emember that. e are told that at one point of highest consciousness6and we will never attain heaven until we reach that6we must understand that the inside of the platter and the outside of the platter are the same, neither inside nor outside but "ust platter% and so it is that in the highest spiritual consciousness you do not have male or female, nor do you have good nor evil, nor do you have wealth nor poverty. )ou have one, and that one is God6infinite, immortal, eternal, harmonious, perfect, "oyous, free6spiritually so. &hat is why, also, in &he Infinite ay we say and teach! you can never get free from anything or from anybody, nor can you ever get free from any condition. In spiritual truth you can find your freedom in :hrist% you can find your freedom in &ruth% you can find your freedom in Spirit% but never can you find your freedom from. hy? ecause spiritual being isn't involved in anything. Cne of the factors that has helped us very, very much in this work of human relationships6 sometimes family relationships, sometimes business relationships, sometimes this capital and labor relationships6the one thing, the principle that has stood up for us throughout all of this, has been this one! that there is neither right on the side of capital or labor% that there is neither right on the side of husband or wife, or parent or child. &he only right is in God, and by standing on that truth, harmony begins to appear wherever there is a degree of receptivity to it. It doesn't mean that you will heal everybody or make everybody happy. It only means that wherever there is a degree of receptivity, by being one with God you are the ma"ority. And so in every instance where you can rise above "udging6whether the union is right or capital is right, or whether the wife is right or the h usband is right, or the parent or the child6 and hold to the fact that none of these can be right% only God can be right, only God can be true, but since God is infinite, then the rightness of God is omnipresent where you are6and then you watch the miracles happen there. )ou have not "udged either for good or for evil. hy, you know as well as I do that the person who may be the best today or the most moral can fall from the human standard of goodness or morality in any given moment. &here's no use "udging "ust because they may conform to some pattern at this moment. &he person who is well or the person who is rich6there's no use declaring that they are, because they may make a liar of you tomorrow% but by not "udging by appearances but holding to righteous "udgment, that God is the infinite Cne, in that way you bring harmony out into this experience. It has been the experience of every mystic who has attained conscious union with God, even if they attained it only in moments of meditation, that they rose above all sense of right and wrong, good and bad, male or female to where there was "ust a state of being. &here was "ust this sense of being, but not being somebody or being some thing6"ust being, and usually infinite being, because they weren't "ust being sitting in a chair. Sometimes they were being out on the ocean or up in a tree. At least there was that sense of Cmnipresence when they had risen above this limited, finite sense of self. (ow, ordinarily in the metaphysical world, when a practitioner is presented with a problem by a student or a patient, whether it be physical, mental, moral, financial, instinctively and unconsciously there is a desire to correct the wrong and make it right. In other words, if they're not breathing properly, it's to see them breathe properly. If they have a fever, it's to reduce their temperature to normal. If they're not having elimination, it's to bring about elimination6all of these things of changing the evil into a good.
-A / 0rinciple of Is 1 2udge (ot 1 0rayer
&hat is not the mode or the method in our work. Cur work takes no cogniDance of normalcy, of what we call human normalcy. e go right to the front and say, #(o, we won't even call 2esus good. e won't even say that 2esus was healthy or that 2esus is alive.$ (o, no, no. e will go right through the appearance and say there is but one good6good in health, good in wealth, good in harmony, good in allness6and that one is God% God b eing infinite, God being omnipresent, God being the All/in/all. y our holding to that, harmony comes out in what we call the human picture. ut only through a steadfast holding to the truth of God's allness6not of your goodness and not of your good health or good wealth or good morals6but only holding to God's allness and ignoring the appearances of good and evil does the healing work come about that results in what we call improved humanhood. A sick person becomes well% an unemployed person becomes employed% the immoral person becomes moral, and so forth and so on. ut the moment that you would come down to "udging by appearances, you lose your whole spiritual power. &hat, of course, was given to me in proof, back in nineteen hundred and thirty/two and nineteen hundred and thirty/three, I guess6nineteen thirty/one and two, or thirty/two and three 6when I was working in the prisons in the East and when I made the mistake at first, in going into the prison, to accept the appearance of sin/filled thought and then trying to do something about it. ut after I malpracticed myself good an d proper and had myself so flustered that I wasn't able to do the "ob I was supposed to do, then only the realiDation dawned on me, #&his is all wrong. If it is true that God is infinite being, I am not here to reform sinners. I am here to reveal the infinity of God's being where these other appearances exist.$ And the result was that when my work started, we had only about @@ men coming to our work. In a few months we were up to . At the end of two years we had 355, and we had taught @< of the prisoners healing work, and they were doing healing work inside the prison. (ow, we're very close to doing something like that here. e've already got boys studying healing work in the prison here and acknowledging the benefit that this work has been to them. hy? ecause we do not go there in the sense of looking out at sinners and hoping to do something to them or for them. &hat's been going on for thousands of years6telling people how bad they are and then trying to make them better. &here is no way spiritually to accomplish that. &he ;aster's secret was this! What did hinder you? In other words, what power is there to prevent you from picking up your bed and walking? &here isn't any, since God is infinite power. (ow, over and over, in his teaching you will find that he says, I can of my own self do nothing if I spea! of myself, I spea! a lie my doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. And always, The Father wor!eth, and I wor! hitherto. And always it was a presenting of the great revelation that only God was doing this. &here was no good #me$ and there was no spiritual #me$, and there was no savior #me$. &here was only God. I'm an instrument. The Father wor!eth and I wor! hitherto I can of my own self do nothing. the Father within me, he doeth the wor!s now, why callest thou me good? There is but one good, the Father in heaven. So the moment that we can take the attitude that whatever there is coursing through us, it is God, we will not be claiming personal good% but in not claiming personal good we will never claim personal evil. And so it is6and here's where we come to the hardest part of it6it is one thing to say of myself, #I am neither good nor evil, but God worketh in me, and whatever =ualities there are, theyFre =ualities of God% but you'd b e surprised how difficult it is when you look out there and see some of the characters. &hat it is where it becomes difficult, because we see two kinds. e see the evil ones, and we see the very, very good ones, and we cannot help
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loving and admiring those good ones, and we cannot help condemning or criticiDing or "udging the evil ones, or at least knowing how they could be better. And you see, that is where it comes in, that a line must be drawn in our consciousness that enables us to break off the appearance so that we can look through it and say, #I'm not interested in whether the appearance at the moment is good or evil, whether the fever is up or down or the chills are up or down or the pocket book is up or down. I'm looking through to the fact that God alone is, and because God alone is, all is well.$ (ow you see, that brings us back to that other part of the same principle, and if you catch this part6and tonight it ought to be really eas y, after all we've been through, to catch it6you will find the entire nature of prayer changing for you. )ou will never again be guilty of a prayer that would tend to make a Santa :laus out of God% and that principle lies in the word #is$. (ow remember, #is$ and #"udge not$ are very much alike as principles, because in #"udge not$ you look at any appearance, whatever its name or nature or claim, and ignore it, look through it to the fact that only God is the reality. ell, it is very much so with the principle of #is$. (ow, to understand the principle of #is$ you have to take the 34rd 0salm, because without it you will not readily grasp that principle. &he 34rd 0salm says, The "ord is my shepherd, and of course, that's enough. If there weren't anything more in that 0salm, that would be enough, because that itself says to you, you don't have to reach out to God. )ou don't have to make contact with God. )ou don't have to win God's mercy or gain God's ear. Already the "ord is my shepherd. &hat which I would attempt, through prayer or other means to achieve, already is. The "ord is my shepherd. I shall not want. I shall not want6 why? The "ord is my shepherd. &here's no use now of trying to overcome lack. &here is no use of trying to treat for supply. &he only treatment is, #&hank you. &he Bord is my shepherd. *ow can I want?$ *e leadeth me 6not will, shall, ought to and not, #I deserve to be led,$ but he leadeth me beside the still waters he ma!eth me to lie down in green pastures. (ot only I don't have to coerce *im, but as I have said here on the sub"ect of prayer, once you get into this you'll find a great truth! God is chasing us harder than we are chasing God. If only we could stop praying long enough to let God catch up to us, we would find that our needs would be met long before we even knew that we had need of it. ut the thing is, that we are so busy chasing God, that we're too far ahead of *im. (ow, the one way to slow down is with the word #is$. The "ord is my shepherd , and now sit patiently and let that is catch up, let that is come into expression or manifestation. (ot only the "ord leadeth me beside9 #e ma!eth me to lie down in green pastures. hy, heretofore we have believed that it was necessary to win God's mercy, to gain God's goodness, to bribe God, to tithe for God, to promise to be good, and here all the time, the 34rd 0salm assures us, The "ord is my shepherd % and not only that, but I don't have to get *im to bring me to green pastures. *e maketh me to lie down in them, even when I'm obstinate and try to stay out of *is reach. (ow, with this 0salm, you gain more and more a realiDation of the great truth that harmony already is. &he law of like begetting like is in operation. &wo times two is four is in operation. &he law of music is in operation. (ow, who would pray God for some law of music instead of opening themselves to the law of music and then utiliDing it. ho would pray? ho prays for mathematics or for art. )ou open yourself to it. )ou find it's a principle, and you let it flow. ut praying to God isn't going to do any good. &he principle of mathematics, the principle of music, the principle of inventions, mechanics...it's all here. It's a matter of our opening consciousness
-A / 0rinciple of Is 1 2udge (ot 1 0rayer
and becoming receptive and responsive to everything that is already a part of our infinite divine consciousness. And so it is, prayer, once you understand the principle of #"udge not$ and the principle of #is$, prayer becomes an opening of consciousness. It is as if somehow we gained the idea a long time ago that maybe we can fly through the air, and so we would sit down and not pray God, $&ell me how to fly through the air,$ but rather sit down in =uietness with an inner receptivity, and perhaps, like the right rothers, we would be led to go o ut in a shed and start working with the hands, and then gradually principle after principle would unfold, and the first thing you know they're off the ground% or *enry 7ord in his little factory up there in the9now the ;ichigan &heater, in +etroit. (ow, the moment we open our consciousness9&homas Edison had this habit6always you'll see pictures of &homas Edison standing this way. *e was listening, listening with his inner ear, and then all of a sudden the next step of the invention or the principle would unfold. I suppose a musician does it% an artist does it with that ear, and then all of a sudden6you may not do it out here6but inwardly the ear is open and something unfolds. (ow remember, it only unfolds for one reason! it's already there. It's already there. Every composition a composer can bring into existence is already in his consciousness. *e merely tunes into his inner Self, and it comes out. Every picture that has ever been painted, every story that's ever been written already exists in the consciousness of the individual. All they do is tune in, and from the depths of this Infinite Invisible of their own being, it begins to pour out, and always in an individual way. (ow then, the secret of it is the realiDation that it is there. If you go off like those who search for the *oly Grail and travel all around the world, you come home broke in health and in purse and then sink down in your front yard, look up and see it sitting in the apple tree. Ah, yes, the significance is, it was always there while you were out chasing around the world. So it is, every bit of good is already established within our being, and it cannot be added to you, and God, *imself, cannot give it to you% but you can open out from within, and It will flow. (ow, the reason that in our western world only inventors and artists and poets and painters and sculptors have known enough to go within and get silent and let that which already is flow out, is that only they were in tune enough to learn that there's no place to go outside for these things, that the place to go is within. ut this is an entirely different story in the Crient. In the Crient, where everybody who turns to the religious life is, first of all, taught meditation, they already know that you don't have to go anywhere for anything. )ou remember the first revelation that I had back in @43 of an original nature was, #&hat which I am seeking, I A;,$ and I have since found it to be true, that as I learned not to depend on people out here, not to depend on circumstances or pull or influence but to sit here and know the kingdom of God is, is$ there it is again! The !ingdom of God is within me the kingdom of allness, fullness, completeness6and I meditate. (ow, the western world does not know that there is a depth greater than mind. It seeks its wisdom in the mind. Even many artists and inventors stick right here, hoping to bring the thing out of their mind, not realiDing there is a greater depth than mind, and that depth is the Soul, or the Spirit, or :onsciousness6use any of those terms you like6Soul, Spirit, :onsciousness. It is a deeper degree of being than the mind. ith the mind you can think, b ut you can't think with the Spirit or the Soul or the :onsciousness. (ow, the Spirit, Soul, or :onsciousness is the depth of your being which is the storehouse. &hat's God's storehouse is your Soul, your :onsciousness, your Spirit. &hat's God's storehouse.
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&hat's where everything is stored. (ow, as you sit, and the mind is relaxed, that begins to reveal Itself to you through your mind. )our mind is an agency, an instrument, telling you, revealing to you the things that are hidden deep down here within your Soul. (ow, those9and of course, our work has been based, as you well know, on meditation. e began long, long years ago, way back in @43, to seek out the secret of meditation, and it was in @4 that I actually made the first contact consciously with the Infinite Invisible, and since then whatever has come has come to me from that depths of the within6everything. I have asked nobody for anything, always turned within% and believe me, the 7ather has sent me many instruments out here in this world. ;any people have been blessings to me in many different ways, but they weren't sought after. &he 7ather sent them. &he seeking was of the 7ather within. ;editation, learn to be still% and then don't be still and know that, #I am God,$ but be still and let the I within reveal that It is God. +on't make the declaration, #I am God.$ It may separate you from God. 2ust be still and then hear the voice within say, #)es, I am God.$ And you'll say, #hat, so close?$ )es, the poet says, #:loser than breathing, nearer than hands and feet.$ And that's what you'll find out6that there is a God wa y down deep within our being. &hat is our Soul, our Spirit, our :onsciousness, and It is God% and as It unfolds through the mind, we become aware of Its presence. e become aware of Its activity. e become aware of the great truths It reveals to us, and then we become aware of It as a presence that goes before to ma!e the croo!ed places straight. (o matter where we go in life, we find It has been one step ahead of us preparing the way, opening doors for us, making people receptive to us, responsive to us, agreeable to us. I've even had It make a banker say yes for a loan, and that isn't easy. (o, now only we are learning the art of meditation. e are learning how to be still, not to blank our minds. )ou can't blank your mind, but your mind will, of itself, get still. &hat's why we have these teachings on meditation. )ou see, if you try to blank your mind, ninety/nine times out of a hundred you'll fail completely, and the hundredth time you might succeed and "ust do away with your mind, and some people have done that to their very great loss. +on't try to blank your mind% but if you follow the instructions on meditation that are in &he Infinite ay writings 6and you'll find there are about a doDen different methods of meditation shown6you will find the simplest one is to take the word #God$ or the word #:hrist$ or the word #Spirit$ or #Soul$ or the word #&ao$ or the word #rahm$ or the word #Cm$6and there's nothing finer than #Cm$ or #&ao$ or #rahm$ or :hrist or Spirit6anything that has God as its inner meaning. Some people respond to different words differently than others, and it doesn't make any difference, because a rose by any other name is "ust as sweet, and God, you'll find, is "ust as sweet with one name as with another. hatever comes more natural to you, take that name and softly, without strain, gently! #God, God, God, :hrist, God.$ (ow, while you're doing that, if you're at the early stages of meditation, thoughts will go rampant through your mind, every kind of thought6fear thought, doubt thought, lustful thought, hateful thought, revenge thoughts, thoughts that you didn't really know you were capable of, because some of our worst, the worst of ourselves is hidden down within us where we don't even know we're capable of it until we lose our temper, and then we find all of a sudden that we were much more evil than we thought we were. And so it is that we have repressed many of our thoughts and =ualities, so that we really don't know they're down there% but the minute you start meditating, the worst of you will come to the surface. And so, as it does, you will hold right here to #God, God.$ Bet these other thoughts keep going. +on't try to stop them. #God, God.$ If you lose track of it, bring it back again gently, #God.$ (ever get angry. (ever condemn yourself because you can't concentrate. >ery few people in the Cccidental world can. #God, God.$
-A / 0rinciple of Is 1 2udge (ot 1 0rayer
Cr you might take a short =uotation! God is love% God is love thy grace is my sufficiency, thy grace 6"ust one of those, and as you keep that right there and let these other thoughts come and go and come and go, you'll find that it may take a week, a month or six months, but if you're patient with it and do it several times a day, eventually you'll settle right down, and there will be nothing left except your =uotation. &here won't be a single thought coming into your mind to disturb you. &here will be nothing there but, #& hy grace% thy grace% the :hrist within% the 7ather within.$ hatever you are thinking will be the only thought in your mind. (one of these other things will be there% but it will take a practice% it will take a while to hold to it6#&hy grace is my sufficiency,$6while all these other ugly thoughts are going through. Bet them. +on't stop them. Bet them have their fling. And then you'll find that you are starving them to death by ignoring them, and eventually they'll go. &hen you can sit down and have any kind of meditation you like. &hen you can take any sub"ect you want. )ou can go and say, #7ather, tell me the secret about spiritual supply,$ and as you sit there with "ust the idea, #Speak, Bord% what is spiritual supply?$ all of a sudden it will begin to unfold within you. Cr, #hat is spiritual truth? hat is spiritual health? hat is spiritual law? hat is spiritual life?$ )ou see, we don't know any of those things humanly. (obody knows any. e only know about the physical aspect of existence, the material, but the 7ather within can reveal to us the spiritual things. (ow, by the time your thought is settled down, you are in the position where you can be taught of God. )ou see, in the end we're told that every !nee must bend . e shall all be taught of God. &he only way you can be taught of God is when you can be still here and let the teaching come from within your own being. )ou see, sometimes we think if we read other people's religious books that we're being taught of God. (o, no, no. e're being taught about God. ut we're only taught of God when you are so still that you can sit back, and the 7ather really begins to reveal *is presence, *is power, *is law within you, to you. ut you see, that is only when you have overcome the false prayer habits6the reaching out to God, the trying to get something from God, the hope that God is going to do something for you, which God isn't. God already is, and God is already performing Its work in the world. God has9before %braham was I am lo, I am with you unto the end of the world. )ou see, all those things reveal that you're not going to get God to do anything. God already is about the 7ather's business. God already is performing Its function. God is already fulfilling Itself. Cur work is the tuning into that. (ow, as we learn the is of God and open up our inner consciousness to letting the wisdom flow from within, It will operate in our outer world to bring h armony in body, business, being and in every other direction. It doesn't mean that we will change everybody wh o comes into our world. ;any of them we'll have to let go and watch them go out, because if they cannot make themselves adoptable to the Spirit, sooner or later we'll be led away from them. )ou "ust cannot change everybody in the world. )ou can't reform everybody. )ou can't make spiritual people out of everybody, because this isn't their time. &his is our time, and we have been led to this moment. &hat is why, as you know, that there is n o advertising of &he Infinite ay. (one. hy? ecause I have nothing that will benefit anybody, except those who come of their own accord. If I have to invite them, if I have to draw them in, I have nothing for them. &hey can't understand my language% but if they come, the 7ather drew them, and the 7ather drew them to receive something, and naturally they're going to receive it. Even if I say the wrong words, they're going to hear it the right way. +o you see that? The government is on his shoulder.
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And so it is, that you learn in this, that you can sit still without ever making a human move, without taking a human footstep, and be led every step of the way. urrows has it so wonderfully! #;y own shall come to me.$ As the rivers flow to the sea, my own. I wait, I wait, I wait. I don't hurry in haste. I wait, and my own shall come to me. hy? ecause there is a God, and God has ordained good to Its creation. ho is Its creation? Eighth 8omans says! to those who have the Spirit of God dwelling in them. 2esus, in @< th 2ohn, says, If you abide in me and let my word abide in you, then all of these good things&then do you bear fruit, and he tells you, The Father is only glorified in that ye bear rich fruit. So God is only glorified in our success% but then, we have to open ourselves to God. 7irst, know the nature of God as love, as is, so that you never try to run after God or get favors from God. Accept it. God already is% good already is love already is harmony already is peace already is and then be still and let It flow. &hen in your prayers, never reach out to God for anything, any more than reaching over here with your ears open, you wouldn't hear what I'm saying. 'o you have ears and do not hear? the ;aster says. 'o you have eyes and do not see? :ertainly. Strain your ears all you like% you can't hear what I'm saying here tonight. hat I'm saying tonight is absolute foolishness to human ears. Cnly those ears that tune to the Spirit can understand that what I'm saying is true. God is, and how do we know it? e still, and you'll soon know it. Bearn to be still. Bearn to meditate. Bearn to accept the fact that God is love% that God is the shepherd% that God leadeth me every moment of the way% that God ma!eth me to lie down in green pastures% and so learn an entirely new concept of prayer. &hen when your prayer is no longer petition and no longer affirmation and no longer denial but a beautiful silence, then you'll find that God fills that silence. e have a tape recording called #&he &hunder of Silence$6the thunder of silence% and anyone who has ever heard the silence knows that it is a thunderous noise but so gentle, so peaceful, so still and yet so shocking. (ow, is there a part that we have to play in this? )es, and it is a very important part. )ou see, in the material sense of life the whole secret is ge tting. In the spiritual sense of life the whole secret is giving. Ah, but many people have misunderstood that and thought, #ell, does that mean if I give a lot of money to my church or if I tithe or if I give to charity or9$ (o, that isn't what it means at all. &hat isn't giving, necessarily% it can be sometimes, but that isn't at all what this means. It means giving the thing that is nearest and dearest and closest to you. In the case of a *ebrew prophet he had to offer up his son. (ow, I'm going to tell you what we have to give up. e have to give up our concepts of God and man. e have to sacrifice everything we believe about each other. e have to be willing to give up the belief that 2esus is good . &hat's a hard sacrifice. e have to give up the belief that Stalin is bad. e have to give up the belief that this one is good and this one is bad. e have to give up the thing that is hardest for us to give up, and that's our concepts of God and man. e have, for so many years, entertained what we think is the truth about God and man, and even though it's done us no good, we still cling to it, and we insist this one's good, and this one's bad, and this one's6no. (o, it isn't going to work out that way. Cnly through sacrifice do we find God. Ah, but the *ebrews sacrificed. Sure, they sacrificed lambs% they sacrificed doves%. they sacrificed @5H of their income% but the ;aster told them that that would do them no good, that God had no pleasure in that kind of sacrifice. And so it is today, many people believe that in giving up their money or giving up their this, that or the other thing, that they are pleasing God. &here is no way to please God by giving up
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anything but our "udgments of each other, our hates and loves, until we come to the place where we can say, There is but one good, the Father in heaven until we come to the place where we can say, #God is the soul of every individual$ $ in this room? Sure. In the prison? )es. In 8ussia? )es. lack? )es. hite? )es. )ellow? )es. 8ed? )es. God is the soul of every individual being6 and then see no exception to that. See no exception to it. If we see them robbing a bank, still stand on, #God is the soul of every individual% "udge not.$ )ou go through the ;aster's teaching carefully and see if this isn't true. *e didn't "udge the adulterous woman. *e didn't "udge the thief on the cross. *e didn't "udge the boy born blind or his parents. *e never "udged6and he didn't even "udge himself to be good, not even while he was healing multitudes and feeding multitudes% he didn't "udge himself to be good. And nowhere do you find a record in there of9why, even when 0eter recogniDed him as the :hrist, he didn't give 0eter the credit. hy, he said! Flesh and blood hath not taught you that only the Father within you could reveal to you. *e didn't even give 0eter credit for recogniDing his own :hristhood. (o, no, no. Cnly the 7ather could give that. And so, you see, there is where we come into danger. Every once in awhile somebody will write me a letter of how much studying they've done and how great their understanding is, but the demonstration doesn't come% and I write back, #)es, but you see, you missed the whole point. )ou really thought you had an understanding. here did you get it? I thought God alone was mind. If that is true, then God alone had understanding, and you've "ust been absorbing something that you thought was yours.$ As long as you hold to the fact that you have understanding, you are never going to do healing work, nor are you going to be healed, unless somebody has a greater realiDation than you have. hy? ecause it isn't true that you have u nderstanding, and all that you have ever learned isn't going to increase your understanding one bit. God alone is good. God alone is the intelligence of this universe, and if there is any understanding it's the understanding of God. e, of our own selves, with all the truths we c an learn in all the books, couldn't heal a headache. ut the power of God operating in our consciousness can lift the dead. ut it's the power of God. It isn't your understanding or my understanding% and there is no such thing as your understanding or mine, any more than there is such a thing as your goodness or my goodness, or your health or my health. 2ust try to claim health for yourself and see what happens some day. It isn't true. God is the soul of our being. God is the soul of this universe. God is the soul of the animal world, the vegetable world, the mineral world, of every bit of the world, and as you recogniDe that fact, you will find that truth reflected back to you in your experience. ut how do we know that this is true? &here's only one way we know it's true, and that is when It tells us so within our own being, and It only tells us so when we can be still, when we can be silent, when we can listen for that still, small voice. &hen the voice uttereth itself within us% and then, you see, when the ord comes within us, It will still the waves. Ch, yes. It will open the 8ed Sea. e assured of this! that ;oses didn't open the 8ed Sea, and be assured of this! that 2esus didn't multiply loaves and fishes. Ch, no, no. &hey op ened their consciousness and let the power of God come through, and the power of God did it. ut they first made of themselves, I can of my own self do nothing. Than! you, Father. If I spea! of myself, I spea! a lie. So if I say I have understanding, I'm a liar. (ever forget that. e have no understanding% but open the mouth, we're told% open the mouth, ;oses is told, and God will put the words on your lips. And so it is with us. e open the mouth, have an inner listening ear, and these words come rolling out. ut God has to put them there, because if God doesn't put them there, they are not registering within you. &hey would "ust be my word to you, and that would be without power. It
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is only in proportion as it is the word of God flowing through that you can say within yourself or feel, #&his is truth% this is it% this is the revelation of God,$ and you see, then we become instruments in this ministry. ut so are we instruments6whether we are artists, painters, sculptors, musicians6we are also instruments for the cosmic :onsciousness, for the divine :onsciousness to flow through. e are instruments for Its use. The heavens declare the glory of God the earth showeth forth his handiwor!. Every individual, whether he writes music, writes poetry, builds bridges, builds houses, whatever he does is showing forth God's glory, and the minute he doesn't realiDe that he's showing forth God's glory, his abilities become limited, finite, depending only on his education or his own ability. It is very much like ;r. *arris, the man who designed the bridge, Golden Gate ridge. Everybody in the world agreed that that couldn't be done. &he tides were this and the tides were that, and this was that6it couldn't be done. And here was a man of prayer, and he worked with prayer and he worked with prayer, and pretty soon he came up with a principle that enabled him to design the Golden Gate ridge audio ends hereJ.
