Table of Contents
Introduction 1
The Mystery of the Invisible 9
Attaining the God-Experience 25
God Is 39
God Is One 51
God as Law in Operation 63
I Am the Vine 77
God Is Omnipresent 97
Meditation 115
Read an Excerpt
Chapter One
The Mystery Of The Invisible
All through the ages men have sought to understand the mystery of life. They have searched for that something called the secret of life, particularly the secret of success and happiness; and like those who sought for the Holy Grail, they have looked for it every place in the world except where it is to be found.
The truly successful people of life are not readily identified because, while it is easy to find the person who has acquired the most millions or the one who has gained the greatest fame in some area, it is not always easy to find those who have attained real success. Success should bring happiness, and especially inner peace and security, and so true success means something far different from the mere acquisition of things or the attainment of personal power or glory.
Spiritual living may carry with it just as much of fame and fortune as material living but these are acquired, first of all, not as the goal, but as the added things, and secondly, not from without, but from within through an understanding of their Source. In material living, whatever can be gained from without is of necessity limited, but there is absolutely no limit to the attainment of a person who has discovered, the secret of the inner life. Therein lies the difference between material and spiritual living.
The secret of the inner life is revealed through meditation which, in its earliest stages, is an act of conscious awareness whereby we make contact with an area of consciousness within ourselves which is actually the storehouse of ourlives.
There was a time when man was pure, spiritual being, when he lived entirely from within himself, when his thoughts always remained at the center of his being, and life flowed out from within — ideas came from within, means of action came from within, and whenever there was an apparent need, all that he had to do was to close his eyes, go within, and let it come forth into expression.
We have no actual knowledge of this period or of its ending, but we do know that the Bible symbolically relates the story of Adam and Eve who lived a divinely spiritual life without a problem, but who were compelled to leave the Garden of Eden and thereafter experienced all the troubles of human living — materialistic living. We are told that the reason for this fall from Grace was the acceptance of the belief in two powers — good and evil.'
It was an act of consciousness and, despite the commonly accepted theological interpretation, was not in any way related to sex.
The Garden of Eden episode contains a lesson in living for all of us. How often we feel that our lives are made or marred by some external act, but this is never true because it is always something that takes place within our consciousness that brings about the change for good or evil, and in the allegory of Adam and Eve, the downfall of man is explained as the acceptance of the belief in good and evil.
Another symbolic story in Scripture is that of the prodigal son. Here, the son of the king, who in and of himself was nothing, but who as the heir of the king was not only regal but wealthy, decided to cut himself off from the source of his good, that is, from his Father's house, his Father-consciousness. Taking the substance which he felt was his due, be began to live on that finite and limited amount that be had received. Living thus finitely, he cut himself off from his Source. Whatever money he spent left him with that much less; every day of life he lived found him with a day less to live; every bit of strength or substance that he used found him with that much less, because he was using the substance that he had without being able to replenish it from the Source from which he had cut himself off by his own act.
That same principle is brought out in the lesson of the vine and the branches which the Master gave to his disciples in the fifteenth chapter of John:
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
Herein lies the essence of biblical wisdom: Cut off from the vine, the branch withers, no longer having access to the Source; cut off from the Father's house, or consciousness, the prodigal consorts with the swine; cut off from their Source and expelled from the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve are compelled to live on their own substance.
In all three illustrations, there is the one spiritual lesson: When we are cut off from the Source of our being, we are using up our own life — our own mind, strength, health, wisdom, guidance, and direction — and eventually we come to that period when we are withered. On the other hand, by maintaining our contact with the vine, by maintaining our relationship with the Father as the son or heir, or by remaining in Eden, in the kingdom of God, we draw on the infinite Storehouse. This way leads to eternality, immortality, infinity, harmony, completeness, and perfection.
As human beings living a materialistic life in the world, we are the branch that is cut off from the tree; we are the prodigal without a Father; we are that Adam expelled from the Garden. Living such a life, there is no God-government, God-protection, or God-sustenance. Infants, children, young men, and young women suffer and die;...
Living the Infinite Way. Copyright © by Joel S. Goldsmith. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.
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