1961 Los Angeles Closed Class Joel S. Goldsmith 395B - The Temple or Sanctuary, Continued

Transcription

1 1961 Los Angeles Closed Class Joel S. Goldsmith 395B - The Temple or Sanctuary, Continued Now let me show you a practical application of this truth. Back in the ancient wisdom days, the days of wisdom schools, this practice was known, and to this day it is practiced by some organizations. Where it is understandingly practiced, it is a very powerful influence. Where two or more are gathered together in My name, there am I. Of course, one with God is a majority that s true, but it is likewise true that where there are two or more, that the united consciousness, brings forth great fruitage. Now, we are a body of students, who have met together without a single selfish motive, because, there is nothing to be gotten here that would come under the heading of self-interest or selfishness. One cannot gain an understanding of God, for a selfish motive; one cannot gain an understanding of God or come together to unite in God consciousness, for a selfish motive, or for a dishonest one, or for an erroneous one. Therefore, to come together as we are in the consciousness of God awareness, or seeking God realization, or attaining God realization, our motive is pure, and this means that our prayer is effective. Now as we unite here, for only this one purpose: of witnessing God in action, of bearing witness to God s grace, to beholding God, to attaining God, what happens is that we are a complete, united, pure consciousness, and this itself is God. Therefore, we are in the presence of God, and where God is, there is fulfillment. Now this not only is a prayer or meditation, that will benefit all of us who are gathered here. But remember, that we exist not in bodies or in places but in consciousness. Everyone, any place on the face of this globe, who is reaching out for God realization is right here where we are, receiving the benefit of God s presence. Remember that. They may not be truth students, they need not be truth students they might be an aviator in trouble, they might be someone on the road in trouble. Any one reaching out, for the realization or the help of God, anyone reaching out to attain the presence of God is automatically here where we are. Because, we are in the presence of God; we are the presence of God in expression. But only for one reason our consciousness is unconditioned. It is not seeking any object. Think of it, we are not here seeking money, we are not seeking fame, we are not seeking anything that could be objectified. We are seeking only one thing: God attainment or spiritual realization. And therefore, we present to this world: pure consciousness, and pure consciousness is God. Therefore God being omnipresence everyone reaching for God is here where we are, and they are benefitting by this. Now, these organizations of old, and a few that I know about today... have a practice of this nature. They have a particular room, about which each one of them knows. And, each day at a certain hour, these people close their eyes and feel themselves in the presence, or in the actual room itself. Why this particular room? Because this room is kept pure. No one may enter this room, except in unselfish devotion; no one may enter this room for any other purpose than God realization. And, as those who are active in that particular work, go there occasionally, and no one else being permitted in there, not even to clean; you can understand that it presents not a room that is clean, but a consciousness that is clean. And those who reach toward it, reach that purified consciousness that consciousness that has no object, no purpose other than benediction. And, out of that daily inspiration, they receive of this hidden manna this hidden strength, this hidden health, this hidden supply.

2 Los Angeles Closed Class Now actually, it isn t necessary to have a room of that kind, it merely helps us in localizing our thought for the moment, but it isn t necessary. We can ourselves, make of our consciousness a holy temple, which indeed in its pure estate it is. Now even your body is the temple of God, but more so, your consciousness. As you would maintain your consciousness on the level, of spiritual unselfedness, that means: living your life in the constant prayerful attitude of being a blessing, being a benediction, being a center, a lodge room, your consciousness being a holy place. And as you would live in that, and not permit any selfishness, any evil to enter your consciousness, your consciousness would be as pure as what we call heaven. And anyone reaching to your consciousness, would receive healing, blessing, benediction. But remember, your consciousness already is this temple of God. That s the word we ll use temple; your consciousness is the temple of God. But, you soil it with selfishness, we soil it with selfishness, with self-interest instead of maintaining it as purely as we can, in the light of truth. In other words... the closest we come to it, of course, is The Sermon on the Mount and The Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have others do unto you. More especially, and this has been brought out in a previous class never malpractice. And never malpractice means: never bear false witness. To call any individual a human being is to bear false witness; to sit in judgment on any human being is to bear false witness; to hold them in bondage to their sins of the past or present, is to bear false witness. We have to live in a constant attitude of neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more. Leaving it with them themselves, whether they want to sin and be punished that s not your affair. Your affair is to live always in the Father forgive them, they know not what they do; neither do I condemn thee; thy sins be forgiven thee; I loose thee and let thee go; I release thee from any debt to me, to any obligation to me; I release thee from any responsibility or blame for your actions of the past or present. In other words, I am living in a constant attitude of forgiveness, of non-condemnation, no condemnation, no criticism, no judgment. How does this apply in our human experience, when we re called upon to read the newspapers and read of these evil doings? We re not fooled, we know what the human world is doing. Therefore, we re not saying they re not doing it; we re not walking around foolishly saying: You re God s perfect child in the face of their conduct. But we are saying: That insofar as I am concerned, thy sins be forgiven thee. My prayer is that you find God s grace whoever you are, whatever your crime. My prayer is that you find the peace that passeth understanding; that your consciousness be purified, so that even though your sins are scarlet, in this moment of awakening, you ll be pure as you ll be white as snow. And so in recognizing of course all of the human evil that we see, and regretting it, and making continued efforts to eradicate it, nevertheless, as this temple of God, which we are, we must keep the temple clean, and we do that by not bearing false witness. Of course, as one has reached even a small measure of the spiritual consciousness, one has lost the capacity, personally, to sin in what the ways, the major ways, the world calls sin. We re all sinning in some degree, but they are not on the spiritual path, the major sins of the world. And these minor ones are not ours by choice, but as Paul saw them: Not that I sin or want to sin, but I still note a sense of sin in me. In other words, I have not yet overcome completely, my humanhood. But this does not soil the temple which I am, because remember it is motive that counts. It is not the fact that we may not in one instant find full purification we are living by our motives, and our motives constitute the life we lead. Now, if we are one and we are the majority, we can take our brief period of meditation for

3 395B - The Temple or Sanctuary, Continued 3 the realization that: I am the temple of God, my consciousness is the temple of God; and nothing can enter my consciousness that defileth or maketh a lie, for I am seeking nothing. I am realizing God presence, but I am asking for nothing; there is no personal sense in my consciousness, I am not desiring anything. I am not desiring anyone. I am living within myself in the realization of God s presence, of God s grace, of God s benediction. We are taught that we must die daily die to ourselves. And there comes a period when we die, when life is no more lived for me life is just being lived for whatever purpose I may be called upon to perform. And it makes no difference whether in the business world, or the artistic world we can still be called on for whatever it is that is our natural function. And yet perform everything in the realization that as the temple of God, I am walking the Earth; and, I am only the temple of God in the absence of personal desire, self-will, greed, lust, anger all of these things that constitute mortality. It sounds more difficult than it is, because there is a law working in our inner parts; there is a law working in our consciousness, which is a law of purification. We cannot purify ourselves, but the law can the law of the presence of God. And It functions in our absence of selfed-ness, or selfishness. It functions in this empty room room devoid of self, room devoid of selfinterest. Now, of course it may not be that we can maintain this complete purity for 24 hours of the day; although ultimately, it becomes in great measure, the life we live. But for a long, long time we may not attain that complete purity where we can say: I know that my consciousness is the temple of God because there is no self there; it is completely empty of self self-desire, selfgain, self-will. But we can maintain it for periods of three or four or five minutes, and we can do that as many times a day as we are willing to do it. We can set ourselves apart, and realize: my consciousness now is the temple of God; there is absent from this temple all self-interest, self-desire; I am here only as a transparency for the Spirit of God; I am here only that all in the world who are seeking light may find entrance to my consciousness and be illumined; I am here only for one purpose: that the sick, the sinner, the dying, who are reaching out for life, who are reaching out for forgiveness, who are reaching out for health, may find entrance into this tabernacle which I am, and from which all sense of self is absent so that the benediction which is the grace of God, may touch all who enter here. And in that emptiness the world finds its entrance into your consciousness, and is dissolved, and in the end, the Master says, I have overcome the world. Why? I am pure! Purity does not consist as we are taught, in just being moral, or just being honest this is not purity. Purity is an absence of self, purity, the purity which is spiritual, is an absence of personal desire, personal ambition, personal hope; it is really what we have described in the past as abandon hope, all ye who enter here. As you enter the tabernacle of God, have no hope, have no desire. In fact don t even be there just let your consciousness be as devoid of you as it can be. Let it be an emptiness; let it be a holy tabernacle; let it be an ark of the covenant, let it have no person. And then, you really can say: I am the temple of God; my body is the temple of God; my consciousness is the temple of God; my soul is the temple of God and all who enter here find surcease from the world, find rest; my consciousness is the house of refuge even the sinner can

4 Los Angeles Closed Class enter here and not be apprehended. In this sanctuary, which I am, in this sanctuary, which I am, let the sinner find peace; let the thirsty find drink; let the hungry find meat; let the sick find health; let the dead find life in this sanctuary which I am, this holy temple where I am not, but I am. You see, we cannot live as mortals and as immortals. We must die to mortality on the spiritual path. Now, once we have learned that there is no far off God to whom we must sacrifice, to whom we must tithe, to whom we must give, we will know then that our tithing, our giving, our sharing, is not for a God. It is our mode of expressing gratitude for God s gift and God s grace to us. Our giving has no seeking of a return there is no giving of 10 percent to get 90 percent; there is no idea in giving except that and watch this: we are only children of God, as our life is an expression of good, without a single trace of desire for a return. On the human plane, when we do good for anyone, we look to them for good in return. We don t always get it. And the reason is, it isn t a natural or normal relationship. Our giving should be from the standpoint of: we are the temple of God and it is God s giving through us; it is God sharing through us. God asks no return any more than a mother asks a return of a child a mother gives, gives, gives, gives, sacrifice, sac never asks the child for a return. Because it isn t in the nature of motherhood to want something back! It is in the nature of motherhood to flow, give, share. So it is the motherhood which is God. What we do, we do; but then there is no personal self seeking a reward. And that is why the Master taught us, that when we pray to pray in secret when we give our benevolences, to give in secret. Why? There must be no selfhood around the claim credit; there must be no selfhood around to claim praise; there must be no selfhood around to receive thanks. Yes, the other person, for the sake of their own salvation, must express gratitude and thanks and recognition and acknowledgment, but not for our sake. In the same way we must express: joy, peace, gratitude, sharing, but not for the other fellow only as a mode and means of God flowing through us. Now, we are at this place, where this room becomes a temple of God. But can it? No! A room cannot be a temple of God only I can be a temple of God; only consciousness can be a temple of God. And, we make this room holy by being here in an attitude of this emptiness, this vacuum, this inner sanctuary, temple, which I am. Then, just as the Master s robe took on spiritual qualities, and became the means whereby the woman who pressed through and touched the robe was healed, so can people enter a room of this kind after we have left, and find healing, and comforting, and forgiveness to the same extent that they could if they entered an empty church, where there was a minister, a priest, a rabbi, of true spiritual dignity. Any church that is graced by a minister, priest, or rabbi, of true spiritual grace, becomes a sanctuary where anyone may enter and find peace, or healing, avenues of supply. Anything can happen, because the very room takes on the atmosphere of the consciousness of those responsible. This is coming forth tonight for this reason: throughout the United States and Canada, throughout England and Holland and Germany and Switzerland and Sweden, throughout Africa and Australia and New Zealand, and perhaps a few other places that I haven t mentioned there are groups of Infinite Way students who meet. Small groups mostly, here and there a large group, some daily, some weekly. But they meet, for only one purpose: they re either reading these writings or hearing these classes on tape, and therefore they are meeting as the temple of God. They are meeting only to abide in God realization, in God consciousness; they are meeting

5 395B - The Temple or Sanctuary, Continued 5 only for the purpose of being a blessing or a benediction they have no other motive in doing it; there is no possibility of self gain or selfish gain through such activity, or through such meetings. Many people have these books or these tapes in their homes, if they read, if they listen, it must be as the temple of God, because also, they are doing it for no selfish purpose, they are doing it to attain God realization and they do then. Let it be known, that wherever you are as one being the majority or, wherever you are two or more gathered together in the name of this message of The Infinite Way, for the purpose of God realization let it be remembered that you are the temple of God, and God is in His temple. And everyone who reaches to that temple, or everyone who reaches for the grace of God, reaches that temple and finds peace within you, finds rest, finds forgiveness. Because you have no censure within your consciousness, you have no condemnation, no criticism you are living as the Master lived. Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon thee. Not because I will it or God wills it, but because the karmic law operates, and what you do to another, you are doing to yourself. But from this standpoint and of this moment: thy sins be forgiven thee; thou art not in condemnation, thou art not under criticism. And so it is, we bear no false witness; then we are the temple of God. As we go into our business activities, our professional activities, if we go in in this Spirit: that our consciousness is a place of benediction for all who touch us, even if they come to us for a business purpose, or a professional purpose, or artistic purpose, they must be blessed. It all depends on whether we are going to them to get, or whether we are going to them to give and to share and to multiply. That we may benefit by it is not wrong because our benefiting by it is but the reflex action of the good that pours forth through us. In other words, love is reflected in love, and love does return where love is. The bread we cast upon the water, returns unto us. Our mission tonight, is a realization that God constitutes our consciousness; therefore, our consciousness is the temple of God, and nothing finds entrance into our consciousness that defileth or maketh a lie. And the reason is: my personal self is not there; the self-seeking is not there it is absent; the self-seeker isn t there. In this moment of holiness, I alone am here the Spirit of God alone is here; the light of God alone is here; and It is here as a benediction, as a blessing. And do you see how the self is absent from the body; the self is absent from the mind, and we are a pure temple or sanctuary. Now, see the difference as you go about your work, realizing now, that you don t have to pray to God for anything; that you don t have to sacrifice to get something; that you don t have to plead and implore with God to do something. Now, you have set the law of God, the presence of God, in operation within you by your absence from the body, by your absence from the mind, and letting your consciousness be the pure center of God. It is as if you ve made of your consciousness: a lodge room, a temple, a church, and you are determined that nothing would enter that church that defileth or maketh a lie. And remember this: invite all the sinners in, because they won t defile it, or make a lie; invite all the poor in, because they won t impoverish it. The only evil that could enter that sanctuary is our personal self alone. Everyone else that comes, comes seeking God s grace they re not seeking self or selfishness. The sinner comes seeking sanctuary, forgiveness, cleansing; the sick come seeking the presence of God for healing. No one brings any selfishness into my consciousness, unless I permit my self-desire, my self-interest, my self-gain, and then I soil the temple which I am... Closer than breathing, nearer than hands and feet, that is how close to us God is. And, God becomes most apparent to us, most manifest in our experience, as we are purified of desire. Now, in one of the writings you will find that, a chapter on that very subject of

6 Los Angeles Closed Class desirelessness, and that you will also find a statement, that the only sin is desire, the greatest sin is desire. Because, this means personal self which should have been dead long ago, isn t quite extinct. In the absence of personal sense, there is no desire; there is a tabernacling with God, and a tabernacling with the children of God. There is a communing with God. And there s no desire in that, because this very communion is a sense of fulfillment. First it fulfills us within, with an inner peace, an inner joy, an inner awareness of this hidden manna. And then afterward, as we come out of it, we find that this inner tabernacling, this inner communion, begins to feed us in the external: supply us, support us, care for us, companion with us. Nothing of a real good nature will take place in our experience, until it first takes place within us. So it is then that fulfillment itself, cannot come to the outer experience until fulfillment has come in the inner experience. And fulfillment comes, through tabernacling with that Spirit of God which I am this absence of self from the temple. Why do we live? And, if we answer humanly, there are thousands of answers, and every one of them is a reason why we know sin, disease, death, lack and limitation. But if we answer, Why do I live? with this: I live as the temple of God; I live as a sanctuary for all mankind; I live as an instrument through which God is made evident on Earth; I live as a transparency, through which God may function; I live well as the sun and the moon and the stars and the Earth...the heavens declare the glory of God, the Earth showeth forth His handiwork, and so do I live to show forth that God s grace is any man s sufficiency; God s grace is any man s sufficiency and I live for this purpose. There is no gain in that, there s no self in that, there s no desire and yet because of that, there is fulfillment! And we are filled full of every needful thing, person and companion. Whatever it may be that fulfills us on Earth, takes place because, we live as fulfillment to others because we live as fulfillment of God. As we live as that place in which God is met we are that sanctuary in which the world reaches and finds the presence of God. Now as you read the Master, you will understand the words: tabernacle, temple, sanctuary, I am. Who do men say that I am? And the answer s wrong. Whom do the ye say that I am? Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. How can this be? Because...Christ was evident as Jesus, but there was no Jesus around Jesus wasn t seeking anything, asking for anything, wanting anything, not even recognition or praise or homage. Why callest thou me good, there is but one good, the Father that sent me, the Father in heaven; if I speak of myself I bear witness to a lie. There was no Jesus; there was only Christ, the Son of God, the healer, the raiser from the dead, the benediction, the tabernacle, the temple of God. So it is that one day, we will live that way: even as now, we are starting to live that way; even with the tiny measure of Christhood that we can manifest; even in five minutes that we may steal away, and empty ourselves of ourself, and let ourselves become momentarily the temple of God that place to which the world can reach out and find sanctuary. Let us do this for five minutes and, there is no Joel; there is only Christ even for that five minutes, and in that five minutes, we are living as the temple of God. And never think that after that five minutes, we will every again be quite as mortal as we were before, or quite as venal, or quite as selfish, or quite as bigoted, or quite as envious, or quite as vengeful. No, no, no! Even that five minutes of daily purity, will begin to cleanse the temple which I am. And now you will understand better as you read the writings, why it is repeated so often:

7 395B - The Temple or Sanctuary, Continued 7 that here where I am God is; that I and the Father are one, and all that the Father hath is mine. There is always within me this recognition of God: God as fulfillment, God as the life, God as the light. And the more that this is brought to conscious remembrance, the less of Joel sticks around. And that becomes the temple, which is The Infinite Way. That becomes the sanctuary, which is The Infinite Way. For The Infinite Way is but a message of the purity of individual consciousness when it is unconditioned by personal self. The story of The Infinite Way is the story of individual consciousness. How many chapters do we have, how many tapes do we have on the subject of God as individual consciousness? Then individual consciousness is pure: individual consciousness is the healer, the messiah but only, as we take from consciousness, this sense of personal selfhood. And this is an act, that we perform: choose ye this day, whether you will live as personal sense, or whether you will live as Christ. And then, don t judge yourself too harshly; don t be too critical of yourself, as you find yourself failing to live up to that highest, which you have realized. But be like Paul who remembers that: he s forgetting those things which are past, and only looking forward to the higher and higher attainment of the Christ selfhood, which is our true Identity, our Spirit, and our Life. And it says, Come unto me all ye that are heavy laden, and here we have our activity, as we take the period for this temple meditation, and are empty of self. And then we invite the world: Come unto me, all ye that are heavy laden; drop your burdens here. Here there is sanctuary; here you will find no criticism, no judgment, but you will find forgiveness. Father forgive them they know not what they do; open their eyes that they may see; open their ears that they may hear; Father be a light, unto those who enter this temple; be the bread and the meat and the wine and the water; be the joy; be the renewal; Come all ye that labor; all ye that are heavy laden. I, the Spirit of God within me, gives you rest, security, safety, peace and joy. And more than all else: I am come, that ye might have life, and that ye might have life more abundant. This I, the Spirit of God in me, is here for the one purpose: that ye who look unto me, might find this life, and life more abundant. And I will be with thee, unto the end of the world. And in this peace we learn, that we have no need external to ourselves; for, Thy grace is my sufficiency. And then, as we come out into the world, we find, that the inner spiritual grace has translated itself into terms of those things needful for our every experience. No good thing is withholden from us; no good thing withheld from us. And then finally, from deep down within, there comes these words: My Peace, My Peace give I unto thee, not as the world giveth, but My Peace. And so it is! Thank you.