The writings and tapes of Joel  S. Goldsmith, and lightly, the Infinite Way community,   made Goldsmith one of my early “go-to”  teachers. (And now available on youtube, alas audio only.)  He’s been an inspirational  companion and teacher for more than forty years.

His biography, The Spiritual Journey of Joel S. Goldsmith,  by his long-time assistant, Lorraine Sinkler, documents one of the 20^th century’s most powerful and articulate spiritual healers and teachers. His early healings of people assigned to the “death shacks”  of tuberculosis wards gave indisputable proof that “something” was happening through this man that was beyond what materia medica could explain. He continues to work wonders, even after his passing, again, via his many books and tapes.

So I occasionally find myself turning to this old friend to help clarify, uplift and simultaneously ground my own practices. I confess, as a contemporary Buddhist Methodist,  (Taoist, Toltec, Quaker Advaitist, Ekhart Tolle, Rupert Spira enthusiast)  I now have to “translate” in my own head many of Joel’s deeply traditional (and thus a little tired and timeworn) phrases into my own contemporary language. Nevertheless, his deep insights into spiritual healing practices are undeniable.    

Recently, these three paragraphs, from Beyond Words and Thoughts, one of Joel’s later books, jumped out at me.

“For your own demonstration of spiritual attainment, seek to live ‘by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.’ That means to live by turning within to your consciousness and letting your consciousness speak to you, letting the activity of the Christ be your demonstration rather than the demonstration of employment, supply, happiness or health.

Those of the present generation have been led up through the metaphysical, where it was legitimate to call for help when their child had a 103 degree fever, and then call up to express gratitude when it went down to 101 degrees, as if we were practitioners of materia medica.  Or it was legitimate  when someone called up and wanted increased supply, and then reported, “oh, my salary has doubled!” to consider that a demonstration.

But in the mystical realm, this is not demonstration. The demonstration is the realization of the presence and the activity of Christ: that is the demonstration. The demonstration is hearing the word of God, because it is This that we live by. The demonstration is the attainment of the meat the world knows not of. The demonstration is the attainment of My peace.   (Beyond Words and Thoughts, p. 73.)

I happened to read these paragraphs at just the right time, when something else I had read (by Catherine Ponder) led me to see that what I truly was looking for was “peace” from a particular challenge. So often in spiritual healing work we look, watch and wait for signs of the abatement of symptoms, or unfolding of better conditions.  But, as Goldsmith here points out, what we are truly seeking is the “peace” which abatement of symptoms might afford.

In some of the most inspiring spiritual healings, someone will affirm, “I knew in that instant I was healed,” but then it would be many days, or weeks, or even months later that the actual physical symptoms disappeared. Recognizing, experiencing the peace that the world knows not of, is the most direct, most practical route to reclaiming the living harmony that is our birthright.

Enough said?

(No, of course not. We’ll talk more about this topic in later posts.)