Circle of Christhood

One of the finest ways to begin to INTELLECTUALLY grasp the principles of The Infinite Way is to make a transcript. That is correct: make a transcript. This is very different from reading a transcript.

Often, we find kind strangers who send us passages, only to have them collect on our computer.

The person who benefits most from transcripts is the person typing it. We do not know why, but it is a lesson learned by the experience of many, many students.

In our desire to help you learn the principles of The Infinite Way with Joel's tapes rather than his books, we have striven to share brief passages transcribed from his tapes so that our material is the most accurate we can find.  We stand behind the transcripts shared and have tried our best to be correct and accurate. We invite anyone who recognizes an error to bring this to our attention.

It is very easy to misunderstand a word on a garbled tape, to make a typographical error in a frenzy of typing, but we are very, very aware of the consequences of minor changes.(It can be a difference in a capital or lower case letter. One preposition can change a meaning. Sentences broken in the wrong way loose impact.) 

It is our hope that you begin to appreciate the importance of accuracy in our studies. Joel has a particular cadence, a style, if you will, of speaking which is more than a regional dialect. It is Consciousness speaking through him and we are so grateful to have the words Joel spoke, as he spoke them. This being said, we feel a deep loss when words have been changed, often for no reason. The cadence is broken, the impact diminished and our depth of understanding affected.

So, we continue to recommend Joel in the original, for many have altered his words. In the years in which our small group has worked with Joel's materials, we have discovered  over and over,  that small changes have crept into what seemed to be accurate publications.  (Sinkler rewrote, Acropolis reworked sentences and changed important words - in many works we are still finding large numbers of changes.)  Whether this is intended to help protect copyright or for other "human" reasons it is not important. The important thing is that Joel's words were changed. 

Please remember Church history and recall that the original words of Jesus are lost. The earliest Gospel is 60 years after Jesus, the latter, about 2-300 years. Imagine yourself writing about the American Revolution and people in future centuries, and millennium accepting that as "gospel." This is what we are facing in The Infinite Way. If we learn from the past, we must project into the future the possible human tampering with Joel's work.  This is why the tapes are so valuable to us and so very essential to any serious student.

The books are the introduction, the tapes are our "graduate study."

Therefore, we must warn everyone that it is each student's responsibility to be sure that you are studying what Joel taught. Do not rely on just anyone's claim that they have an accurate transcript. After working with Joel's tapes, you will get a sense of him. Trust yourself when you feel something "just doesn't sound right." It probably isn't right. Check it and find out the source.

We are reluctant to share passages here, but we feel it is essential to have you taught by Joel. It does, however, establish a practice by others to do the same; and we do not always know if they have checked their work, used someone else's work or made deliberate changes to prove their own interpretation. Let us hope that in the future, transcribers will identify themselves so that we all may know who maintains high standards of accuracy.

Please exercise caution and care and go to the tape. Avoid mistakes by getting Joel's own words for yourself.  Do not encourage the sharing of transcripts.   It is wonderful to hear Joel, over and over, get each word precisely, then have it sink into your consciousness. This comes when we work with the materials. It does not always happen when we just read the words. (To find out why, read further.)

One of the first things a true teacher of The Infinite Way does is introduce a student to Joel's tapes. The teacher has come to appreciate the importance and power of listening to Joel.

Many decades ago, I wrote my Master's thesis on the new brain research discovering differences between the left and right hemispheres of the brain. This study has always interested me and serves now to help students understand why the tapes are so important.

You see, when we read, we are in our logical (linear, concrete, rational) mind, the left brain.

When we listen, when we meditate, we are in our experiencial (non-linear thinking), right brain.

It takes both the logical and experiential modes to fully grasp this message and have it grow and evolve into a spiritual understanding and experience. (Listen to Kailua tape #114.) The experience will not come by reading alone. We must have the right brain activity- listening and meditation.

Transcribing is an activity of the left brain, as is reading. We are processing more slowly and more deeply,  when we type the words. However, we are also hearing Joel and so this is giving us a right-brain understanding as well. May you be blessed by both hemispheres working together as you finally relax, surrender and join the meditating universe.