Circle of Christhood

If you have fallen in love with the message of The Infinite Way, beware of the desire to go out and share it with the world.  Joel tells us that it is normal and common for a student new to even a small experience of illumination to want a career on the spiritual path.  He has referred to this as "learning the scales and then wanting to book a concert" - a very apt analogy.  He goes on to warn us, NOT TO DO IT.  We will not only ask for heartache, but we may loose our way as well. 

There are so many people entering The Infinite Way ministry, but so few who have the message.  We all know of the many people out there making a career out of The Infinite Way. They give classes, sell books and tapes while traveling the country/globe - generally copying Joel's ministry.

For all their understanding, they have forgotten that Joel said that we were to stay in our houses, in our careers, in our jobs, UNTIL we are called. Then, resist, resist, for the road is rough and no one stands beside the real spiritual teacher. Many are eager to kick and crucify those with the Truth.  Most people do not financially support the work, nor are many loyal to a teacher. 

So, Joel gives us fair warning. He counsels us to remain in the world and take this message and our light into all places, hospitals, schools, stores, churches, colleges, the workplace and home.  We are not to copy him and "take the show on the road."  This is what HIS JOB was.  He made the tapes for us. He wanted teachers in all the cities so that everyone could have a local support network.  There not one was to be his "heir."  He left his worldly goods to his family.  (There is rumor that he had "five" teachers, but if you look at the original 1963 Letters, month of July, he lists the following leaders around the world.  NONE have special dispensations: Rowland Spencer-Europe, Tom Jones-South Africa, Sinkler - Chicago,Bowden-Northwestern US and Canada, Stephenson - California, Will Hoff - California, Daisy Shigemura - Hawaii, U.S. , Europe, Helen Ames -Canada, Walter Eastman-Europe. )

Finally, on this topic, we never hear that Emma was a teacher. Yet, on the tapes, Joel shares revelations, meditations and EVERY RECORDED class with her. How could she not have been a teacher?

Joel was wealthy by some standards and his life seemed very dramatic and exciting, but it was also very difficult, lonely and physically exhausting. (There will be more coming on this.)  So, please do not only think about your own goals, but be careful when you see others simply mimicking Joel's life.  You can see it in the materials they sell. EVERYONE has 120 minute tapes. I am sure you all know how hard it is to get 120 minute tapes!  Goodness, could they not be a bit more creative?  The booklets all sound the same, same tape titles, same format. In the literary world, this is called plagerism.  The Spirit does not plagerize. IT creates new, unique ways to express. All of us have to find our unique way of expressing the "imprisoned splendor."  That is the fun of life, finding OUR way. Lorene McClintock embodied this in her music program.  How wonderful that is.  Joel wanted others to do likewise in their careers and professions.  We are not meant to abandon our families and careers to become wandering prophets.  Joel brought the message for us. We just have to listen to it!  How many years of study for at least 1400 hours of lecture and scores of books and articles?  Lifetimes!

(Keep your eyes out for those ADVERTISING 1300 hours of tape, perhaps now a new shorter tape and the use of words associated with Joel and Hawaii.)

Joel S. Goldsmith
1623 North Sierra Bonita
Hollywood 46, California
GL 1947
 
 
On board the ship:
“Hawaiian Pilot”
en route to Honolulu
April 18, 1950 – 2:30 A.M.

 
Dear Friend:
            The desert of the spiritual Ministry is strewn with the bones of those travelers of the spiritual Path who have perished though lack of food, drink, companionship and grace.  The desert of the spiritual Ministry is that part of the Path traveled by the initiate usually at the start of the journey to the Promised Land – the fulfillment of divine Consciousness.
 
            Probably every seer, saint, prophet and Savior has come to that place in his spiritual trek where has faced the temptation of lack of funds with which to carry on his Ministry; or lack of that sense of completeness, which results in the temptations of the flesh.  But even where divine Grace has been realized in the degree necessary to meet these temptations, or periods of seeming desert experiences, there yet remains the greater temptation and sense of spiritual barrenness which manifests as the personal sense of “I”, with its own concept of Truth.
 
            The Ministry of Truth tempts many to enter the Path for some sense of personal gratification – to meet one’s personal or family supply, or to gratify one’s ego in being known as Practitioner, Teacher, Lecturer or Leader.  The desert experience comes quickly to these, and most perish after a short or a lingering period of financial famine or lacking of healings.  To some few in this extremity there comes the Christ to purge and cleanse the motives of the heart, and this entrance of the Christ into individual consciousness becomes the Presence leading out of the wilderness into the Land of Plenty.
 
            This journey is less difficult to those who, before undertaking Discipleship, await the call of the Christ, which brings with it the assurance that “I” will never leave you, nor forsake you; that “I” will ever go before you to make the wilderness blossom as the rose; that “My” Presence will take you through the floods and fires and famines of the Path.  When this divine assurance is once received there is no longer a temptation to believe that one’s supply is dependent on some outside source – on person, patient, student or organization.  God is the source and the form of all supply, and this Truth will appear when necessary as loaves and fishes; as gold in the fish’s mouth; as a raven bringing food; or as the widow sharing her own and her son’s supply.
 
            Only BE SURE that you have received the signal within, which is your passport on the journey.  Those, like Judas, whose belief in an outside source of supply, may be led to their own destruction by this sense of lack.
 
            Others set out as Disciples before they attain the full sense of their completeness in Christ, or full attunement with Spirit.  To these the desert experience comes as loneliness, or a sense of lack of companionship, or the temptations of the flesh.  When the temptation to believe in a selfhood apart from God arises, the Christ sometimes appears in time, with Its powerful assurance, “Lo, ‘I’ am with you always.”  Or one may, for a short period, succumb in agony and heart-break before the gentle voice is heard to declare:  “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”
 
            Those who have tried to walk on the spiritual waters too soon may find themselves sinking under this temptation.  The history of the Ministry is filled with the skeletons of those who have perished through lonesomeness and desire.  It is wise to delay one’s entrance into the active Ministry until one has realized the ability to travel and to stand alone – or until the sense of the Christ Presence is so great that one has the assurance that any temptation of sense will ultimately be met.
 
            Above all others, the greatest temptation is that of having one’s own concept of Truth.  Where no other temptation can enter, this one often proves the stumbling-block to the entrance of Heaven.  Peter is our great example here – showing, in more ways that one, that he was poorly prepared for his work.  The denial of the Master in the fateful hour represented Peter’s lack of recognition of the Message.  This Disciple had a belief about Truth; he had some measure of faith in Truth; he had even experienced demonstration in proportion to his conviction of Truth.  But one thing was lacking:  Christ had not uttered Itself in Peter’s consciousness, and so had not dispelled all belief, faith and conviction.
 
            Complete Discipleship comes only when all sense of personal Truth disappears, and Christ has enthroned Itself on one’s consciousness of Truth.  The Christian Ministry shows forth the wreckage of the many who have perished with their faith, belief and conviction of Truth.
 
            To the saint, the seer, the prophet and the Savior:  Truth utters and declares Itself, and YOU may know It by Its fruits – “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.”  (Gal.  5:22,23)
 
Lovingly yours,
 
JOEL S. GOLDSMITH

 

"If I have a healing consciousness, it will draw unto me my own, but if I find somebody in Honolulu to share that practice with, it doesn't lesson my practice, it multiplies my practice. And then if that one finds somebody in Honolulu, it doesn't lessen their practice, it multiplies. Because what happens is, some of hers come to me, some of mine goes to her, and some of his will come to both of us. And they will keep on and keep on multiplying.

So the more spiritually illumined students we can turn out, the greater will be the activity of students seeking and patients seeking." - Joel Goldsmith, tape 520

I am actively seeking those Infinite Way students who are able to heal. There is a great need and desire to know you. Should your practice/teaching follow Joel exclusively- that is, when you teach and suggest materials to a student, do you ONLY suggest Joel's work (we are not concerned with what you study for personal pleasure), and if you have had illumination experiences, please consider letting us share your name here or privately.

Each student will KNOW when they have been called from Within. There is no mistaking. To check, wait, listen, ask. You will receive a sign that confirms that you are to be on this path as a worker.

One of the signs of an authentic teacher is not only their healing fruitage, but the healers and teachers they have raised. As we see with Joel, many whom he "raised" were tempted and fell. When we are asked, "But where are all the remnants of his following?" we must assume that they were unable to maintain the level of revealed Christ consciousness attained after Joel physically left.  If they had maintained, would we not have seen dozens and dozens of teachers evolve all over the world. Does the above passage not tell us that there would be no "competition", but rather "multiplication"? This fact alone, causes us to consider the truth of the activity of those who were left.  Can it be they left no healers or teachers? (There should be hundreds and hundreds given that two generations have been born. Hundreds of thousands have read The Infinite Way, scores have subscribed to The Letter.   Does a teacher bestow only to a child? Hardly, and to the contrary.  A child cannot "inherit" consciousness. (Read Joel's Will on this site.)

Healings are the fruitage of our work, but only spiritual healing is permanent. (Metaphysicians can heal as well.) Our work is about consciousness and finding God.Teachers do not teach Consciousness. They impart it. Consciousness is not a mental activity, it is an experience and the teacher can facilitate that for us.

Illumination comes as our consciousness evolves through MEDITATION. Until we experience illumination, we have nothing to teach.

"To the human mind, this message is as foolish as the Master, "Go ye, without purse or script." The human would want to know how he is going to afford to get there?  But not so with a spiritual disciple. The spiritual disciple would not stop to consider how he would get there, he would just start traveling. " - tape 5l9 Read also page here, Living a Spiritual Life