Infinite Way Writings

Weekly Passage - for week of 5/26/13



"Saul of Tarsus, the Prodigal Son, the woman taken in adultery, the thief on the cross -- what are these but you and me? They represent the tomb in which the Christ is buried; they represent the mortality of human life. .It makes no difference for the moment whether we are an earnest seeker as was Saul of Tarsus, the sinning woman, or the pleasure-seeking prodigal. The reference is still to us, to our human nature, to the mortal side of us, and in that very mortality is buried this Christ, this son of God which must be lifted up, exalted, and recognized. When that Christ is recognized, then what happens? We become still:

'Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." I will be still that I may hear Thy voice. I will be still that this Spirit in me may utter Its voice.'

"This Spirit is not floating around in the air; this Spirit is not sitting upon a cloud: this Spirit that is to utter Its voice is within us. The kingdom of God, the allness, the realm of God is within us, but then also the reign of God!

"As we learn though our meditations to be at peace, to be receptive and responsive to this that is within us, eventually we, too, will have an experience. I realize, of course, that the vast majority of our students do not enjoy the experience when it comes. Perhaps that is because they would all like it to come peaceably, gently, sweetly, and gradually, but this is not the way it has come to most of those who have experienced it. It usually comes as a blinding experience; it often is a very distressing and disturbing period. For Paul and for every mystic it has been a terrible experience! It is called the dark night of the Soul, and it would be comforting if there were only one such night.

"Unfortunately, there are many dark nights leading up the experience of being 'blinded,' being 'stricken dead,' or being 'mortally wounded.' But when we are helpless and hopeless, when there is not a trace of human strength or power left in us, or human wisdom, when we have come to that place of unknowing, when there is no possibility of our having any human ability to help ourselves, in that moment the Voice speaks within and says,

"Know ye not, I am in the midst of thee, and I am thy God. I am thy bread, and thy meat, and thy wine, and thy water. I am the resurrection, restoring unto you even the lost years of the locust. I am your life eternal."

-- from Joel Goldsmith's "Man Was Not Born to Cry"
Chapter 4 - Christ Raised from the Tomb


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