Joel S Goldsmith and the Infinite Way
Joel Goldsmith emerged from Christian Science to found the Infinite Way, and from 1947 until his death in 1964 he spent his life travelling and teaching. At his death there were an estimated 60,000 students world wide, and since then, his executors have continued the task of making his teachings as widely available as possible.
The official Joel Goldsmith site is
http://www.joelgoldsmith.com/introduc.htm
In The Contemplative Life, ch 2, Joel set forth his founding philosphy, which remained unchanged.
"In a few brief years, many thousands who have followed the particular way known as The Infinite Way, have, in a measure, found their peace, their harmony, safety, security, and their supply. In reading and studying The Infinite Way, however, you are in no sense bound to it. You are at all times a free spiritual agent, free to come to us or to any of our students who are active in this work, but just as free at any time not to come — always free to find your own way.
You have no obligations; you have no embarassments; and if The Infinite Way does not always prove effective in your individual case, you are at liberty always to seek further until you do find the particular teaching which is yours. You are under no obligation to me or to the message of The Infinite Way. There is nothing you can join, so there are no ties to dissolve. Come, enjoy, eat drink and be satisfied, but let each one of us maintain his oneness with God. In such a way lies true freedom, true liberty, and the obligation each one has is to his Maker and not to any man."
Joel laid no restrictions on those who claimed to teach or heal in his name. He believed that if they were indeed competent to teach or heal, they would flourish, and if not, they would simply disappear. As he remarked on one occasion, if he had taken on himself the right to certify healers or teachers, he would have been wrong about 1/3 of the time.
He reserved only the copyright of his written work and his taped lectures. For that reason, only the basic core of his teaching has been presented on this site. For the rest, for his books and tapes, refer to the website above, where you will find these central teachings expanded, and reiterated.
My personal favourites are:
The Contemplative Life
The Master Speaks
The Thunder of Silence, and
A Parenthesis in Eternity
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The Core Teachings
The New Horizon
God is One
Protection
Break the Fetters that Bind You
Contemplation Develops the Beholder
Introduction (Practising the Presence)
Love Thy Neighbour
The Relationship of Oneness
The following passage is an epigraph for all of Joel's published books.
Illumination dissolves all material ties and binds men together with the golden chains of spiritual understanding;
it acknowledges only the leadership of the Christ; it has no ritual or rule but the divine, impersonal, universal Love; no other worship than the inner Flame that is ever lit at the shrine of the Spirit. This union is the free state of spiritual brotherhood. the only restraint is the discipline of the Soul, therefore we know liberty without licence; we are a united universe without physical limits; a divine service to God without ceremony or creed. The illumined walk without fear. |
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