INFINITE WAY CLASSES
Infinite Way classes are like no other experience, that is, IF they are authentic. An Infinite Way class is meant to bring you closer to God, to bring you to illumination. This is a tall order, and we do not know if or when, illumination will occur. However, classes are one of the highest activities you can engage in for this to happen.
I would like to share with you here, my own experience, my understanding of what Joel did in class and then briefly review what is being done in The Infinite Way today so that you will be able to better find what you are looking for.
JOEL'S CLASSES - THE IDEAL
Joel conducted Infinite Way classes from around 1947 (the publishing date for The Infinite Way) to his last class given in London June 1964.
You can experience these classes by buying tapes and joining the Consciousness of the class, which still exists. Joel prepared for classes by meditating. Nothing was written, he simply meditated and then spoke extemporaneously for about an hour to groups of 10 to 800 or more. These classes were recorded and then sold to students around the world. To this day, they are the foundation of our work, even more than the books whose source materials are the tapes.
Joel was not thinking the message or repeating prepared lectures. He was revealing mystical truth. It is this understanding that keeps the serious student from wanting to tamper with his message, discuss or debate it. What can we add to perfection? We can just be grateful to have the chance to hear and study until the principles sink in and take root.
In each class,there was meditation and the majority of students, listened with their eyes closed to be able to commune with the Consciousness expressed. Lessons then settle and continue to teach even in the following hours and days after class. When listening to tapes, over and over, one continues to hear new things, even after months and years.
MY PERSONAL UNDERSTANDING OF CLASS
Thanks to Joel and my teacher, Will Hoff, who was a direct student and later Los Angeles teacher for Joel, I experienced the depth of meditation and devotion to communing with Consciousness which was the common experience in Joel's and Will's classes.
The key has always been MEDITATION. We, in The Infinite Way, meditate differently than any other form of common meditation. Our meditation is the vehicle for instruction. When in class, the Consciousness of an enlightened teacher lifts the student to higher horizons within his own consciousness. Instruction is personal, but sometimes silent through impartations. We have very little formal instruction, but we have lots of meditation practice, application of mystical principles to contemporary life circumstances and experiences. This is what a class should be, never just a lecture of prepared material, but a meditative experience were the student transports himself, with the support of the Consciousness of his teacher, to commune with his Inner Source. This is the goal of Infinite Way class work.
Some like to go to class to socialize with old friends or hear stories about Joel's life. Joel tells us, however, to do our socializing outside of class. Likewise, ample stories can be found in The Spiritual Journey of Joel S.Goldsmith by Lorraine Sinkler. Joel did not want us to personalize anything, especially him. Joel's own preferred biography is Parenthesis in Eternity.
Classes are intended to shift our Consciousness. Once this is understood and experienced, we see why Joel instructs us to save the socializing for after class. Classes focus on finding the God experience.
This is now my personal commitment to students in the classes I teach. We study Joel's lessons and meditate. The God experience awaits us.
THE STATE OF MOST CLASSES GIVEN AS INFINITE WAY
Most Infinite Way classes are taught by people who record the class and sell the tapes to earn a living. This is not what Joel asked in the Letter to Norman. He asked teachers to use only his books and tapes. Teachers should be able to heal, teach you to heal, meditate and correctly study Joel's materials.
THE KEY TO CLASSES
The essence of The Infinite Way is the God experience. Anyone, Joel says, can study and memorize his books and lectures. What a teacher does in an authentic Infinite Way class, is take you to the door of your soul.
Keep looking for that teacher and do not settle for anything less.
