"A Parenthesis in Eternity" by Joel S. Goldsmith

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Chapter 23 - Living In, Through, and By the Spirit

The attainment of the fouith-dimensional or illumined consciousness is the secret of harmonious, abundant, and gracious living, living without strife or struggle, completely free from the material sense of life. This freedom of the illumined is really a freedom from ignorance because only the ignorant can cleave to the belief that life is dependent on things and people in the external realm. Is not the whole material sense of life characterized by a faith, hope, and reliance on the external? To believe that life is dependent on a heart and sustained by food alone, or that strength is dependent on the development of muscles, in short, to believe that life is subject to, or dependent on, any thing or any thought is material sense.

The truth is that life governs the external realm, but to come into agreement with that, we must understand that our body and oui mind belong to us, and that it is I that governs that mind and that body, not the mind or the body that governs us.

In the degree that we realize that I governs the mind and I governs the body are we illumined and free from the domination of mind and body. The mind is given to us as a thinking apparatus so that we can think what thoughts we want to think. We have a mind and we therefore determine what is going to occupy our mind.

But inasmuch as we are human antennas, we often find ourselves thinking the thoughts that everybody else is thinking. That is why at times fear overwhelms us, a fear that is not OUT fear but the universal fear that we pick up through our everyday contact with the world. This that comes to us by way of the universal mind can be fear or it can be doubt, it can be almost anything; and until we are aware of the I, those things will continue to intrude into our experience and dominate us. But that domination will become less and less, the more we realize the I. There must be that recognition of I—I, Self-complete being:

I am the embodiment of all that God is. Because of my oneness with my Source, all that is true of the Source is true of me, for I and my Source are one.

Even when we come to a place where we are convinced of this truth, this is not yet illumination. Illumination does not take place merely by reading words and agreeing that they are beautiful, and hoping they are true. Illumination is that moment of realization when we know that whereas before we were blind, now we see.

Illumination is the attainment of that fourth-dimensional consciousness in which we no longer see materially, hear materially, or believe materially, but in which we see through the appearance, just as we would see through the appearance of a mirage on a desert.

The human being, living in the third dimension, sees an ailing body or a disturbed mind, and longs to do something about it, whereas the fourth-dimensional consciousness sees through it. This does not mean that this higher consciousness has no awareness of the existence of such things, but to the fourth-dimensional consciousness they do not have existence as reality. That is the difference. Even Jesus Christ saw the crippled man, but while his physical eye took cognizance of this condition, his inner eye saw through the appearance to the man's Christhood.

The fourth-dimensional consciousness sees the discords as well as the beauties of this world, but when it sees these, it does not become hypnotized, enthralled, or excited by them. This enlightened consciousness sees both abundance and lack as but temporary phases of human existence—here today, and perhaps gone tomorrow — full well realizing that it makes little difference what the appearance is because the reality is still there. And what is the reality? The reality is consciousness. If through our consciousness we manifest a certain amount of supply or abundance, and if for some reason it is wiped away, what difference does that make, if we still have the consciousness that brought it forth?

It is much the same as stripping a tree of its fruit. What difference does it make as long as we have the tree? If the tree is still intact, in due season it will have another crop of fruit because that is the nature of the tree. And so, too, it is the nature of our consciousness to produce and reproduce itself, to multiply, so that regardless of what may be taken away, the consciousness of it remains, and tomorrow it will begin producing again.

The substance of the fruit is consciousness, and whatever consciousness contains, consciousness can bring forth. Inasmuch as Cod is our consciousness, our consciousness, therefore, contains infinity, so the measure of our bringing forth the fruits of consciousness must be infinite. If, on the other hand, we believe that we have a consciousness of our own, we measure our fruitage in terms of our education and experience, and since these are limited, they cannot bring forth infinity. The fourth-dimensional consciousness is satisfied to have that mind which was also in Christ Jesus, but it requires illumination to be able to realize that, and until that illumination comes, we will continue to judge by appearances and thereby hold ourselves in limitation.

When the fourth-dimensional consciousness is attained, even in a measure, life begins to flow more by Grace than by effort. Things come more easily and more abundantly than ever before, because with illumination comes the realization that the I of us, individualized as our consciousness, embraces infinity, and good flows forth from our consciousness into visible expression. The more we abide in the truth, "I have meat to eat that ye know not of," the more we bring infinity into expression.

The only way we can arrive at a state of complete Self-reliance is to attain such a measure of the fourth-dimensional consciousness that we are content to know, "I and the Father are one, and all that the Father has is mine," and then close our eyes to the outside world. There has to be this inner conviction: "If there were not a soul in the world, I and my Father are still one. If I were a million miles from civilization, I and my Father are still one, and my unfoldment must come to me from within." As we abide in that, we are free of dependence on "man, whose breath is in his nostrils."

Illumination brings freedom from dependence on persons and things, and the only perfect human relationship there can ever be is one in which we do not look to anyone for anything. It is impossible to want anything from anybody and not have friction develop. No matter how close two persons may be, the moment one of them wants something from the other, a defense mechanism is set up, and conflict ensues. There is no way to enjoy perfect human relationships except to want nothing from anybody. Then we have normal, happy relationships because we are free to share without thinking of any return. We will never be free of needing money, companionship, or a home until we reach the stage of illumination in which we have no desire for any of those things because they are all in-built, all included in the consciousness which we are.

We do not try to demonstrate persons, things, or conditions because if we succeeded in gaining any desired object, we might be afraid to let it go, and on the spiritual path we must not be afraid to let anything or anyone go. In fact, at least once a day there should be a period of releasing this world and everything and everyone in it. We have no right even to try to hold on to the truth that we learned yesterday. If we could empty ourselves every day of all we know, we would make way for what God has to reveal and what man has never so far even yet received. If we are trying to hold on to anything or anybody, if we continue to live on yesterday's manna, we are living wholly in material consciousness, and we have no measurable amount of illumination. The manna falls day by day, and the more receptive we are, the greater the measure of it that we receive.

The three-dimensional consciousness thinks always in terms of that which has concrete form. On the other hand, the fourth-dimensional consciousness sees the form, but looks through it and finds concreteness in the Invisible. The real substance is in the Invisible, the Invisible which is the I AM, the invisible I AM which we are, the invisible Being, the invisible Life, the invisible Omnipresence which we are. All this seems so intangible that we cannot grasp it with our mind, and that is our safety and security, because if our mind were able to grasp it, we can be assured that that is not It.

The fourth-dimensional consciousness, Christ-consciousness, or our consciousness when it is illumined, does not have to labor or struggle: it has to be only a state of receptivity. It is always receiving by Grace; it is always receiving nourishment because of the ever-presence of that invisible meat, bread, wine, water, substance, law, and activity. "I have meat!" There is more power in the realization that we have meat that the world knows not of and that we embody within ourselves the divine Substance of all form than in all that we could attract to ourselves in the external world, because with this inner realization, supply will multiply itself over, and over, and over again, as the plants keep multiplying leaves, flowers, and fruit. It is just a continuous state of multiplication once we realize Withinness: within us is the kingdom of God, the kingdom of Allness.

Desirelessness attests to the degree of illumination. By the degree to which we no longer desire persons or things from the outside world, can we measure our progress. Our progress spiritward can also be measured by watching our own reactions. The less we feel called upon to use a power, the higher we are going spiritually. The less use we find for powers, even God-power, the closer we are drawing to the realm of Is.

God is! There is nothing we can say, do, or think that is going to make God do anything. The kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom: it is not of "this world," and the more we try to use spiritual power for the purpose of attaining the things of this world, the further we are from the attainment of spiritual enlightenment. We are free in proportion to our freedom from seeking for powers, even spiritual powers, and to the degree that we can relax in non-power.

"Resist not evil" is the realm of the Fourth Dimension. In the third dimension, humanhood teaches, "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." Not so the fourth-dimensional consciousness in which the command is "Resist not evil." The more we relax in this assurance, the more we are in the Fourth Dimension, and the higher is the state of our illumination.

Illumination frees us from the fear, hate, or love of any form in the external world. The nature of God is light, or enlightenment, but since we can never know light except through our consciousness, it is only our enlightened consciousness that constitutes our God. Consciousness, the universal Consciousness, is individually expressed, and our consciousness is that Consciousness, but not until the moment of illumination. Up to that moment, we are "the natural man [who] receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God"; we are not under the law of God, "neither indeed can be."

Only when we reach the stage where we realize God as our Consciousness have we reached the stage of immortality. The difference between the continuity of life after death and immortality is that the continuity of life after death is just a continuation of the same state of consciousness that existed prior to death, whereas immortality is the expansion of consciousness to the point of infinity.

The human being is bom, matures, deteriorates, and dies — all this as an existence separate and apart from God, all this as a personal selfhood that has in it no element of spiritual law, spiritual life, or spiritual creation, all this as a purely animal life. That is why, even when the heart has practically stopped beating, it can be kept active by means of a drug, but it is not the God-life that we are sustaining with a drug: it is the animal life. God-life cannot be affected by drugs: human life can be.

What a difference there is between the "natural man" who lives like a vegetable and is fed by food alone and the individual that we are when some measure of illumination takes place and we no longer live by bread alone, but "by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God"! What a difference there is between the individual that we are when we are not being fed just by books, but being taught of God — when inner light is coming to us directly from within, when we find ourselves experiencing Grace that we have not earned or deserved, but yet which comes to us!

The degree of our illumination will determine the degree of our freedom, freedom from personal sense, freedom from living on externals, freedom from outer dependencies, freedom that enables us to tabernacle and commune with our inner Selfhood, not only blessing us, but eventually making us forget ourselves and using us only as instruments for the blessing of others.

Spiritual freedom comes with illumination, and with that illumination, no more power is given to the things or thoughts of the outer world. At some period in our study or meditation, the light dawns, and whereas before we knew the truth intellectually, now we feel it, now we see it, and now we live it.

It is a great miracle when we can look out at all the people in the world, those close to us as well as those far away from us, and realize that we can tabernacle together, be friends, and can live in the same house, but always, under all circumstances and conditions, "I and my Father are one." There is that sense of oneness, that circle of joy and of sharing, and yet with it a separateness and a lack of dependence.

It is usually much easier to be free of places and things than to be free of persons; but to be able to See everybody in the world and have no sense of need or attachment, to see each one free as an individual unit maintained in oneness with his Father—this is the height of freedom. This is the supreme freedom. It is one of the last freedoms to be attained, and certainly the greatest freedom that can come on earth. When we have attained our freedom from persons, or freedom in our spiritual oneness, we are then united with everyone on a spiritual basis, and this is a relationship unlike any other in all the world. The strange thing is that in attaining that freedom, we find ourselves bound to people throughout the world, drawn to them, and they are drawn to us—in freedom, always in freedom.

There is the Spirit of God in man, the Spirit of life, of abundance, and of wisdom; there is the Spirit of God's presence in man. There is the Spirit of God in us; there is the Spirit of love, of peace, and of comfort. There is the Spirit of the divine kingdom within you and within me.

I live by the Spirit of God, not by external things, thoughts, or persons, but by the Spirit of God.

This is the real meaning of the life of Withinness, the mystical life that lives in and through the Spirit, rather than in and through the material world. It releases us from all attachment to the outer universe: we have no fears, no hopes, no ambitions. We are living in the Spirit, through the Spirit, and by the Spirit. And this is living the mystical life.

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