Source Text
There is no need to run outside For better seeing, Nor to peer from a window. Rather abide At the center of your being; For the more you leave it, the less you learn. LAO-TZE
Do not be deceived. Only those who have learned to keep their attention on spiritual things have tasted the full joys of home, companionship, and successful enterprise. Only those who have in a measure become centered in God have found safety, security, and peace right in the midst of a wartorn world. Spiritual sense does not remove us from our normal surroundings, nor does it deprive us of the love and companionship so necessary to a full life. It merely places it on a higher level where it is no longer at the mercy of chance or change or loss, and where the spiritual value of the so-called human scene is made manifest.
When confronted with any human problem, instead of laboring for an improved human condition, turn from the picture and realize the presence of the divine Spirit in you.
The first step in the attainment of immortality is living out from the center of our being, as in the idea of unfoldment from within, rather than accretion: It is the giving sense rather than getting; being rather than attaining. In this consciousness, there is no condemnation, judgment, hatred, or fear, but rather a continuous feeling of love and forgiveness.
Without illumination, we struggle with the forces of the world; we labor for a living; we struggle to maintain our place and position; we compete for riches or honors.
Illumination first brings peace, then confidence and assurance; it brings rest from the world’s contests, and then all good flows to us through Grace. We see now that we do not live by acquiring, gaining, or achieving. We live by Grace; we possess all as the gift of God; we do not get our good, because we already have all good. “Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.”
In the light of truth, the greatest earthly happiness and triumph are as nothing, whereas the treasures of Soul have a glory unknown and unfathomed by sense.
We will fear no change in the outer picture because the outer is but the reflection of the allness within. Safe in the realization that we are individual though infinite spiritual consciousness embodying all good, we need give no consideration to the evidence of the senses.
Illumined consciousness dispels the personal sense of self with its problems, ills, age, and failures. It reveals the real Self, the I that I am, unlimited, unfettered, untroubled, harmonious, and free. This Selfhood is revealed as we retire within ourselves each day and there learn to “listen” and to watch. Likewise, instead of anxious care about the work of the day or the events of the future, we let the Soul, or our divine Spirit, go ahead of us to smooth and prepare the way; we let this divine Influence remain behind us to safeguard every step from the illusions of sense.
When consciousness is afire with Truth and Love, it destroys all sense of fear, doubt, hate, envy, disease, and discord – and this pure consciousness is felt by all whom we meet, and it lightens the load they carry. It is impossible to be “the light of the world” and not dispel the darkness of those about us.
AI Summary
The Infinite Way by Joel Goldsmith presents key insights from the contemplative tradition. The 10 passages above capture the essential teachings.
Core Themes:
- [To be expanded]
Key Passages: Highlights 1, 3, and 10 are particularly representative.
This entry was generated from Readwise highlights. Expand with additional context as appropriate.