Circle of Christhood

Teacher Consciousness and Practice

Honolulu Infinite Way Study Center

September 30, 1963

By Joel Goldsmith

Good evening. You have an opportunity now to prove a major principle of The Infinite Way. Incidentally, reading about these principles or studying these principles is not of too much importance unless, in addition to the reading and the studying, you actually put them into PRACTICE until you demonstrate principle by principle - and very often one at a time. We have been together for ten months, and we have seen a lot of each other. We have been in each other's consciousness, and we have experienced a great deal of love, friendship, sharing, companionship, and Truth.

Now it would appear that we will be separated for a while. This always brings up feelings of sorrow, or regret, or sadness, or some other negative emotion. And if you look at the situation humanly, you might experience a day or two of sorrow. However, if you look at the situation spiritually, it really presents a tremendous OPPORTUNITY. What you have had of me, what you have experienced of me, is MY CONSCIOUSNESS OF TRUTH.

You have brought yourself to me, but not physically. You have brought your SELF to MY CONSCIOUSNESS. Therefore, I have been in YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS and YOU have been in MY CONSCIOUSNESS. And what we have experienced of each other is this CONSCIOUSNESS, this spiritual companionship. If you have been receptive and responsive to what has taken place, you have benefited by having been lifted higher into consciousness. But never forget this: I too have benefited, because in the Kingdom of God there is not such thing as a one-way traffic. In the Kingdom of God, there is union. In the Kingdom of God, there is a oneness. In the Kingdom of God, there is a unitedness.

Therefore, there has been a flow of CONSCIOUSNESS among us and between us, from me to you and from you to me. If this were not so, if there was no receptivity on your part, the flow could not move out from within me because there would be nothing to draw it. It is for this reason that all of The Infinite Way books have come forth from classes and lectures and sessions of this kind. In other words, those who have been before me as students have drawn forth these Messages that have become the books. In other words, it has been your receptivity that has drawn forth the messages. And so, there has been a flow from me to you. But first, there was a flow from you to me, the flow of receptivity and responsiveness which constitutes union, oneness, unitedness. I would like to tell you that this relationship is an eternal relationship, if you will have it so. Knowing this, I will certainly have it so. Never, never, will I be separated from you, from my serious students. I will never be separated from you by time or space, nor will I be separated from you by life or death, because I KNOW that all that constitutes me in reality is CONSCIOUSNESS.

Therefore, I can hold in my CONSCIOUSNESS "my own," those whom I desire to be with, and those with whom I desire to companion. Nothing will ever separate me from the love of my serious students or from sharing with them. That is because, out of my lifetime, I have found that my greatest joy and my greatest fruitage has been from companionship with my serious students, those who love The Infinite Way, those who benefit by The Infinite Way, those who rejoice in their studies.

These students have been my companions for many, many years. For many, many years these students have really constituted my "family," my spiritual household. For this reason, I have lived with my students very often early in the morning, and very often late at night, and very often in between. Where your treasure is, that is where you are going to be, and mine has been with spiritual seekers. Since I AM CONSCIOUSNESS, I embody in MY CONSCIOUSNESS all that belongs to me. And since, in the Kingdom of God, there is no such thing as time or space, this all happens NOW and this all happens HERE WHERE I AM. You may look outside and see a sign which says, "Hawaii," and that is where I AM and that is where it is happening. But if you look outside and see a sign which says, "California," or "London," that is where I AM and that is where it is happening. Why? Because it is happening in MY CONSCIOUSNESS, not in a city, or a state, or a country.

From Study guide to  1963 Instructions for Teaching The Infinite Way Tape 1 side 2 in Monthly Letter of July 1964

V. Every individual that comes to us...has all the truth in his consciousness that he will have when he is fully Christed...You, the teacher, are drawing it forth from his consciousness to the level of conscious awareness.

A. God is individual consciousness.  What is there that is not in God - consciousness?  And if it is in God - consciousness, it is in his consciousness.

B. Your classes must impart that to the students so that they become consciously aware of the fact that since God is their consciousness, they already possess infinity.

C. A teacher is supposed ... to reveal the hidden glories that are in your consciousness.

VI. Our teaching work is giving a student his freedom.  In his ignorance, he may take that freedom to hurt himself, but that you cannot help. It is better that he hurt himself in freedom than that you protect him fromhis hurt and keep him in bondage...The illumined consciousness is one that is gaining, or has gained, its freedom by virtue of knowing the infinite nature of his own consciousness, the omnipresence of it, the omnipotence of it, the omniscience of it.

VII. Do not get involved in the personal lives of your students because you cannot be of major help to them.  Everyone, as long as he is in the flesh, will have problems, and for you to help him with his problems, you do not want to know too much about them, be involved in them, or have opinions about them.

A. You will never carry anybody into heaven...You will draw out of them what they will let you draw out of them, and not more.

B. Your function is purely that of a spiritual guide, and they can ask you for help, but not for human advice..We never let our thought to to the student's problem or to his human life because we do not know in what manner it should be solved because a lot of it depends on his readiness.  No outer circumstance can be greater than the consciousness, the illumined consciousness.

VII.  Fees

A. We should not charge specific fees for healing work, but should leave all healing work in the realm of individual demonstration, gratitude, or ability to pay.

B. We must make specific charges for teaching....until such time as an individual grows to that point where he understands the nature of the work. Then there is no use putting any price on teaching because he has already reached the place where that is not necessary.*

(*On one tape Joel speaks about the tithing relationship he has with his closest students. They value the relationship and tithe, so Joel never charged them for teaching or classes. It was a joyful relationship of mutual giving and sharing, as the student honored him with their gifts for his devotion to them.)