"A Parenthesis in Eternity" by Joel S. Goldsmith

"A Parenthesis in Eternity" pdf file

Chapter 3 - The Spiritual Adventure

From earliest times this world with all its magnificence, yet punctuated by untold tragedy, has been a mystery, with man him self the greatest enigma of all. Here a man, and there a man, has sought to penetrate this mystery, but for the most part men have gone about their business, doing all that needed to be done humanly--some with great integrity and some with less, some with great ability and some with less, but all ha ving one thing in common: all that existed for them was what they could see, hear, taste, touch, or smell, or could reason and think about.

They might have looked up at the sky occasionally--a passing glance, a passing thought-but it had no meaning for them except that the sun was up there in the daytime, often very uncomfortable, and the sta rs and the moon were there at night, very beautiful. These things had no significance : they were just something they saw or felt, things they were aware of, but of which they had no knowledge, and in which, at the moment, no interest.

To these people it was as if there were no world other than the One in which th ey lived. They saw the horizon, and it was so real th at, to them, it represented the edge of the world, and they did not dare to go out to investigate. Had th ey only known the global nature of the earth and the laws of navigation, they could have sailed all around the world and found continents, islands, and unlimited wealth, but because of their ignorance, they were confined within the limits of their immediate environment.

Similarly, is not the world today filled with people, educated and uneducated, yet knowing nothing beyond what they see, hear, taste, touch, smell, or feel?

The human race, as we know it, is composed of men and women living completely shut off from divine aid, divine sustenance, and divine providence. From the most ancient of times up to modern days, man has not only lived by the sweat of his brow, but has engaged in strife to gain his ends, whether in the case of individuals, or companies under the name of competition, or as nations under the name of war.

Somewhere along the road, man lost sight of his identity and began to look upon himself as a person separate and apart from his Source, under the necessity of earning his living, having to provide for his family, and later being compelled to protect his family and community from neighboring peoples who had also lost the awareness of their true identity and, in seeking their livelihood, cared little whether they gained it by earning, stealing, or by going to war for it. Thus developed this world of human beings, each one of whom looks upon himself as an individual separate and apart from others, with interests of his own and with the responsibility on his shoulders of providing not only for the present but for the future.

Among even primitive peoples, however, there must have been some not earthbound, some able to rise above their surroundings, able to rise in consciousness, and at least begin to question the wonders of this universe. Those who watched the sky out on the desert on a clear night, the stars hanging low, probably a moon close by, or those who were alone on the sea surely must have sensed the mystery of the atmosphere, of the sky, and something even of the incomprehensibility of the desert and the sea.

The awesomeness of this great universe undoubtedly raised questions in the mind of the person who was already attuned to its mysteries, or who for one reason or another had come into this world unbound, not of the earth, earthy, walking the world, but not of it. At nighttime, as he looked up into those wondrous, faraway, unreachable stars, he must have felt th at there was a hidden mystery, something not known to the mind of man. Yet here it was; it existed. There must be a meaning to those stars in the sky; there must be a cause.

To him, whether on land or sea, came the inevitable questions: What lies behind this visible world? How did th is world come into existence? How did I come into existence? What am I doing on earth? Is this really life-being born, doing a little hunting and fishing, raising a family and carrying on a business, and th en getting old and dying? Is this universe the product of something greater than I, or am I just a little bit of protoplasm thrown out here on the earth for a time and for no good reason? Is this an accidental world? Am I here as a victim of chance and change, a victim of a merciless desert, of a tidal wave, a hurricane, floods, fire, or other cataclysmic disasters?

There must have been times in the experience of the men who sought to penetrate the mystery of life when they envisioned the possibility of being the masters rather than the victims, when they really believed that this world had been given to them, and that it was theirs. These may have been fleeting glimpses, but nevertheless they surely were there.

Probably long days and nights of riding a camel across the desert or waiting on board a small ship for a catch of fish led to extended periods of introspection, wondering and pondering. True, this may not have happened often, but someone, somewhere in the dim, dark past, thousands of years before recorded history, caught a glimpse of the inner man, the inner Self, and each one must have interpreted and evaluated it differently.

As the centuries rolled by, the record of these many revelations shows us clearly and unmistakably that these men of the long gone past knew that they, as huma n beings, were not th e men of God's creating. They discovered, centuries before Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that there is within every person what has been called the Christ, the spiritual man, the divine Self, the infinite Ego, the son of God, and although each of th ese ancient mystics coined new words and new terms to express this Withinness, they are all descriptive of the same experience.

Four thousand years before the birth of the Master Christ Jesus, there were teachers of spiritual vision revealing to their followers man's true identity and instructing them how to live by an internal Grace, rather than by external might and power. Those who were at all receptive were drawn to these teachings and undoubtedly some of them made the transition from the man of earth to the man who has his being in Christ. There perhaps were not too many because mankind as a whole has remained in complete ignorance of the spiritual way of life. This ignorance can be likened 'to a group of people, born and brought up on an island with no knowledge of, or contactwith, the outside world and therefore living as if their particular island were the circumference of the.entire world with nothing going on except what was taking place in that small and isolated sphere.

In much this same way the three-dimensional man, the man of earth, lives in a world circumscribed by his own limited concept of himself and his world, believing that that is all the world there is and that in order to survive it is necessary to lie, cheat, and to use all the tricks of the trade even up to, and including, warfare. To him, might is a right and normal way, and anything else is a sign of weakness. This is the life lived by the man who is in ignorance of the truth that there is another realm of consciousness which he could enter and there find a more glorious life, one not lived by might or by power, a world in which he could live at peace with his neighbors, with his competitors, and with all other races and religions on the face of the earth.

Just as the people on the isolated island could not move out into a world they did not know existed, or the American Indians of five hundred years ago could not move to Europe because they' were not aware that the re was such a place, so it has never been possible at any time in the past several tho usands of vears to tell man that he is living in the prison of his Own mind, hedged in by his own limitations. How could man visualize such a thing! How could he believe something so far beyond his wildest imagination!

There have been individuals, however, who first of all had some kind of an inner conviction th at there is something beyond and greater than this state of limitation, this stare of mental imprisonment, and glimpsed that there is a fourth-dimensional or spiritual realm about which they knew nothing. They merely had the feeling within themselves that th ere must be something more to life than being born, acquiring a family, making a livelihood, and dying; there must be something better, something beyond all this.

The few who experienced th is inner stirring were those who began the search. But where and how could they begin to search for the unknown? In those days, there were no books in which it could be found, no schools, and no public libraries. How, then, could man begin his search and where would he begin it? We can only speculate as to what he did, but that he had to begin within himself we can be almost certain: there was no other place to turn. So probably he began asking himself questions, pondering circumstances that surrounded him, thinking about the meaning of them, and trying to see beyond the appearance.

Miracle of miracles, one day something wonderful might happen, and he would meet another man in whom he felt some sense of kinship and attraction, and soon these two men would be talking to each other, and then it would come to light that they were both trying to fathom the same mystery and break through the veil of illusion.

It might be that one man would say, "You know, I have heard of a man over in the next village who seems to know something, a very strange man. Let us go and find him." And off th ey would go to find this strange character in a neighboring community. At first they may not have been able to get a word out of him, but their persistence finally might force their new-found acquaintance to recognize them as set apart and on the Path, and then he might begin to reveal to them the little secrets th at he had discovered. He rnight tell them of a temple miles away th at other men of like mind Were using as a meeting place.

In a temple, in a cave, or far back in the hills, they might come upon some group of men who had found spiritual truth, and they would then join this group. As time went on, these groups multipled until there were some who had received the full light of spiritual understanding. Experience soon taught them that there was no use going out into the highways and byways to tell this to other persons because most persons live inside their own minds limited by their own ignorance, and are unable to visualize anything beyond their present mode of life, and therefore they cannot accept any new teaching.

In the light of the gross ignorance of humankind, is it not quite a miracle that Jesus found even as many as a dozen disciples whom he could ask to leave their nets and follow him? The man of earth living in his shell of ignorance, could have responded only with "How can I earn a living without nets to catch fish, or without a farm to till? And you are telling me to leave all that! How can I do it?"

But evidently those who were drawn to the Master had enough mner intuition to understand that even if they did not know where he was leading them, at least they had the discernment to know that the Master knew, and they could trust him.

Today, as then, if we tell the world that it is not necessary to live m a dog-eat-dog world, but that there is another way, the question comes back, "Well, what is it?" And there is no answer. The materialist has no way of comprehending what is meant by living by Grace, or how to live "not by might, nor by power" but by the Spirit of God. This is a language that is as foreign to him as Sanskrit, and so today, as then, the spiritual message reaches' only those men on earth who for some reason or other have had their eyes opened to a Somethmg beyond themselves and their world of strife and struggle --not because anyone has told them or because they have read about It, but because of their inner feeling. These are the people who eventually are led to a spiritual teaching. These are the ones who already have eyes that can see and ears that can hear. These beginners on th e spiritual path are the neophytes, who even while living on this human plane of mind and body are expanding their vision and catchmg glimpses of another state of consciousness. They have begun the search.

With some, the search for ultimate reality is a very long search and a roundabout way with many, many false steps. But in the end, none of this is important. The only thing that is important is tha t the search be begun and then that the seekers maintain with in themselves a sufficient drive so that even if they have to take the long way around and meet with stumblings and barriers, with discouragements and problems, they do not give up, but always maintain within themselves the hope and the conviction that there is a way to reach this realm of the Real. With that inner conviction, step after step will unfold, until eventually they find themselves home in God. That was ensured right from the beginning of their journey on the spiritual path.

The reason they could not take the step directly or quickly is that the goal is something that as human beings they cannot conceive. They do not know how to go directly to it, and therefore they follow any litt le path that opens to them that promises it might take them there, and very often find themselves going down a blind alley or a dead-end street, having to retrace their steps and start all over again. If they could but know positively what the goal is, they might reach it more directly and quickly.

The things of God are such foolishness to the man of earth that even if he were told what the truth is, it would appear so ridiculous to him that he could not accept it, and for this reason alone he would be led into all kinds of bypaths, trying to find ways that seemed more sensible and reasonable to him. To the "man, whose breath is in his nostrils," the spiritual path is absolutely impractical and unreasonable.

To this man of earth, everything in the world is accomplished through external activities, and so when he begins to seek for truth, he tends to continue to search in the external, seeking in holy mountains or in holy temples, thinking to find it here or th ere, even though the Master stated very clearly that the kingdom of God is neither "Lo here! or, Lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." That is plain language, but human beings cannot accept or believe it, and the reason they do not believe it is that they cannot understand it. It is so foreign to their thinking th at it does not register with them as being plausible or even as a possibility.

After a person has been on the spiritual path for a sufficiently long period of time, however, eventually a revelation comes to him from within his own being, or he is led to a teacher who can reveal truth, and probably by the time he has found th is teacher, he has reached a readiness which enables him to assimilate the truth that is to be imparted to him.

Human beings are the unillumined; they are born and brought up in ignorance of their true identity, in ignorance of that indwelling Something, and uninstructed by the divine Master. This is the human race as we know it; these are the people we read about in the newspapers: those in prison, in the prison of lack, sin, and disease, in the prison of political and ecclesiastical slavery, and scholastic ignorance --these are the unillumined, the earthbound.

From the beginning of all revelation it has been pointed out that this need not be, that at any time we can tum within and begin our ascent out of the tomb of our darkness, out of the prison into the light, out of ignorance into understanding. The unillumined can become the illumined. The man living in darkness can become the light of the, world. The man living in sin, disease, and poverty can become the son of God, and thereb y an heir of God, joint-heir to all of heaven.

Knowing this marks the beginning of our spiritual journey, the ultimate end and purpose of which is illumination. In mystical literature this illumination is referred to as initiation, or attaining tha t mind that was also in Christ Jesus. What difference does it make how th is is expressed? The meaning is clear, and when our footsteps have been directed to a spiritual path, inevitably we shall arrive.

The ancients who discovered that within themselves was a Someth ing recognized that whatever it was they had touched was not out floating around in the air, nor did they have reason to believe that it was up in the sky. They sensed tha t there was a Something indwelling- a Something with a capital "S," Something that had a voice, Someth ing th at could impart, Someth ing th at could reveal, and SO they learned to be attentive. They learned the nature of the ear that can hear. They communed within themselves, and when the answer came, they knew that from some deep pool within themselves, some depth of Withinness, pearls of wisdom were being given.

So it was, then that some one or more among these ancients declared, and later wrote, that there is an indwelling Presence, that there is a Christ, or son of God, within, but they were wise enough to realize that this was really only another dimension of themselves. It was not some other person occupying them: it was some deeper, richer Self, and gradually they learned to commune with this inner, divine, spiritual Self. They learned to receive instruction, and the instruction that they received became the basis of the religious teachings of the great mystery and wisdom schools of India, Tibet, Egypt, and later of Greece, Rome, and the Holy Lands.

Long, long centuries before Jesus, it was revealed that there is this inner Self which is our true Self, and which is the Mediator between man and God. The connecting link between us and our Source is this divine Center within us, the Christ of which Paul speaks, the Father that dwelleth in us of which Jesus speaks. This is the Mediator by means of which we reach the ultimate and absolute Source of our being from whence we derive our experience on earth, our function, task, and duty, our life, immortality, harmony, and our preparation for the next phase of life, that which is to come when we have been graduated from this earthly experience.

No one can commune with his Mediator, with his Christ-Self, except by engaging in periods of introspection and inner communion. If we keep ourselves so unreasonably busy in the outer world, however, that we do not have frequent periods of turning within, we miss the ultimate experience of receiving the word of God out of the mouth of God.

The purpose of a mystical teaching is to reveal the son of God Within. It is not to instill in us the worship of another deitv in the person of the found er of a new religion. True, every spiritual teacher must evoke gratitude and appreciation because of his life of dedication, bu t not worship. The real mission of the teacher and his teaching is to turn us back within ourselves until we, too, like the teacher, receive impartations. When this begins in our experience, the earth melts, the problems disappear; the discordant experiences of earth are resolved and dissolved--not by any wisdom that we have, not by what we have learned in books, but by the thunder of that silence which is within us.

We need not hear an audible voice--we may, but it is not necessary. We need not see any visions--we may, but it is not important. What is necessary and important is that we enter the sanctuary, this temple of God that we are and in which the presence of God dwells. When we recognize this and go within, we then begin to commune with that Presence. Very soon we shall see fruitage in our life, and things will begin to happen for which we know we were not humanly responsible. Something has gone before us to make the way straight. Something has gone before us to prepare mansions for us. Something walks beside us to protect us from the discords and inharmonies of earthly living.

Only when we begin to understand that there is an inner kingdom, only when we can agree that there is a realm of knowledge unknown to "the natural man," only then can we begin our search. We must arrive at the point where we are able to perceive what the Master meant when he said, "My kingdom is not of this world.... Put up again th y sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword."

The mystical way, the infinite way, is not the way of the sword; it is not the way of might or force: it is the way of stillness. Sooner or later we must see that within us there is an inner realm. It will answer every question. It will teach us in the only place where we can be taught--within. The still small voice will instruct us in whatever our particular gift, talent, or field may be, whether in spiritual or mathematical wisdom, art, literature, science, or music.

So great a genius as Einstein was aware that there is a point in mathematics where the most brilliant mathematician comes to an end of reasoning and thinking and steps off into the intuitive. And so, if we wish to be limited by what everyone else has said about mathematics, or what everyone else has written about music, we will be, but we need not be.

All the art, science, mathematics, and religion have come out of the Soul of man through his turning within and bringing forth glories that have never before been known on earth, and there are still greater th ings yet to be revealed. How far we are from tapping the inner resources of our being! This makes it clear why it is necessary in our age to attain the ability to meditate, to cogitate, and to commune with our inner Self.

It is not too difficult to learn to do this after we come into the awareness that there is a Presence that dwells within us. That was God's gift to us in the beginning, and without this gift of God, man would be an animal. The fact, therefore, that we have risen this far above the animal stage proves that we have something within us that has been developed to a higher degree. We are only at the beginning, however, and just as the spider unfolds its web from within its own being, so we must unfold grace, divine wisdom, and divine power from within our own being.

The unillumined, unaware that they can have recourse to an inner infinite Soure, have to endure all the limitation s of this world. The illumined; who have touched the infinite Divinity at the center of their being, are never limited to time, space, place, or amount. There is no limitation when we realize that the whole kingdom of God is locked up within us. It does not have to be attained; we do not have to go to God for it : we have to loose it from within ourselves.

God, in the beginning, planted Himself in us and breathed into us His breath of life. He did not breathe into us human life: He breathed into us His life. God did not give us a limited soul, but the Soul of God-infinite, eternal, and immortal--if we but go to that Center.

When we have opened this Source within ourselves, we shall find the Master there. We are never the Master: we are always the servant. But once we are illumined, the Master within us is expressing, functioning, and performing.

"Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." Who is this He? The Master, the Spirit of God in us, the son of God that is raised up by virtue of our acknowledgment and humility--not humility in the human sense of permitting ourselves to be imposed upon or having to endure abuse, but humility in the sense of realizing that whatever it is we are, it is because of the Master flowing out through us. Without that, we would be nothing, less than nothing. The Spirit of God has lifted us above th e animal man into a people who can live not only according to the Ten Commandments, but who can go far beyond them into the Sermon on the Mount, and beyond the Sermon on the Mount into a life by Grace in that interior kingdom.

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