265A - Spiritual Power – Mental Power

1959 Hawaiian Village Closed Class

Joel S. Goldsmith

Good evening. I’m sure that most of you know that any teaching has to
be conducted in steps, because there are states and stages of
consciousness, and we are prepared at one time for a teaching, and at
another time for something further or deeper, and still further along in
our experience we begin to get ready for some of the mysteries of life.

Now ordinarily speaking, metaphysical teaching consists only of the

veneer of the subject—of the very, you might say, outside layer. There
is very little metaphysical teaching that goes any deeper than what I
would call primary grades; most of it is in the realm of kindergarten and
some little of it is on the level of primary grades. I don’t know of any
teaching available to the public that I can think of that goes any deeper
than what might comparatively be called fourth grade or fifth grade
schooling. And the reason is that spiritual truth is shocking; spiritual
truth can hardly be accepted at all, by a human being, until they have
had sufficient light to lift them above that primary grade of receptivity.

This is likewise true of mental teachings. I don’t know of any mental

teachings that go any further than what would seem to me to be primary
grade teaching, and for the same reason that if the truth were known
about the mind—no I won’t say that; the truth is known, but if the truth
were taught openly, about the mind, there would be far too much of
people hurting themselves by experiments for which they were not
prepared, and then there would also be too much use of mind power in
wrong directions. Probably it is for this reason that the truth about the
mind doesn’t at all reach the public; whereas, the truth about the Spirit
doesn’t reach it, because it wouldn’t be comprehended. It is available,
but it has to be found, and then it isn’t understood until one is prepared
for it.

Now I can illustrate that by answering this question first, and

incidentally I might tell you this: that before coming into this room I
was upstairs meditating, and in my meditation, the subject of this class
tonight unfolded in its completeness; then when I read these questions,
I know right well that I was in tune with this group of students, and it’s
a natural thing that these questions should be here. But, I’m not yet
quite so certain that you will accept the answers, for that will depend on
your own inner being and how far you have come.

Now here’s the first question: How can spiritual harmony be established
in the functioning of mechanical or electrical equipment? Is it possible
to prevent mechanical or electronic parts from wearing out or becoming
defective?

Now, just think how far your understanding will have to go for you to
accept the fact that to a certain degree the answer is yes, it can be so.
You see how at first it seems absolutely improbable and impossible that
the functioning of mechanical or electrical equipment is possible,
through these studies. Now actually it cannot be done spiritually, but it
can be done mentally.

I cannot tell you how many times I have had students tell me and write
me of experiences of their automobile getting out of order, in some
serious way, and yet their being able to go as far as a garage or the next
stop, and then to be told that it was absolutely impossible for them to
reach there—that the brake, or whatever it was, was of such a nature
that the car absolutely could not have reached there. But here it is! Or
how many times I have been told of experiences of those who have run
out of gas, and kept going until they reached the next station where they
could find it.

Now of course, I know that to the human mind, this is impossible, and it
is for this reason that these things cannot be taught more openly than
they are. I’m going to go another step and tell you this: that this question
came up, not about mechanical things, but about living things—in Seattle,
in one of our classworks, and I set out to show the students what could
be done.

Now on Monday, no on Sunday, the entire center was fixed up with

beautiful cut roses—they were on the platform and on the sides of the
church and the back of the church; and more cut roses were in my study,
in that center. And I said that “If I can prove this, these roses in this
study will be just as fresh when we finish this class on Saturday night,
as they are today on Sunday.” And that’s the way they were. They hadn’t
opened, they were still buds, and they were still fresh. Those outside
weren’t. This is not a spiritual demonstration. This is a proof that what
we call “matter” isn’t matter at all—it’s mind; it’s mind in formation, it is
mind expressed. And the reason I knew that was that I know what mind
is, and I have seen how it functions in the body.

Now remember this: there are three states of consciousness. That is:
the material sense, the mental, and the spiritual. In the days before the
middle of the last century, this was considered a material universe, to
such an extent that even materia medica practice was almost entirely
material; it was the application of remedies—whether pills or powders
or liquid or herbs or plasters or heat or cold, but practically all of the
medical practice was material, as if your body were a piece of matter,
something had gotten out of order and the doctors are going to take
that material body and in some way get it back functioning. And that was
about the major mode of practice of the healing art.

Now, in the middle, or before the middle of the last century—no no,
before that, it was in the century before—that Anton Messmer
discovered the relationship between mind and body. And he performed
experiments, and he did healing work by an essence of mind, which in
some way governed the action of the body; and evidently he was
successful enough with it in Germany, that he was invited to England and
to France. And he must have had quite some success there, because he
was driven out of business by those who felt it was probably too
competitive.

However, because there was a grain of truth in his teaching, it couldn’t

die. And so, between that and the last century, a greater unfoldment
took place as to the relationship between mind and body, or what you
would call mind and matter. And so, there was introduced into the world
teachings like: originally Christian Science—which was mind over matter;
New Thought—which was mind over matter or mind controlling matter;
psychology, psyche-atry, psychiatry (is that it?) psychiatry, and
psychosomatic medicine. In all of these, the power of the mind is
recognized as having something to do with the harmony of the body.

Now it isn’t necessary at this point, to say that there are some erroneous
concepts in all of those teachings; there are. And that part of those
teaching which are incorrect will ultimately be corrected. But it is
recognized, universally now, that there is a relationship between mind
and body.

Now, as some of the Christian Science teaching through Mrs. Eddy

evolved, another step was taken, and it became known that there is a
relationship between God, Spirit, and the body, health and the mind.
Here is a newspaper article quoting Dr. C.G. Jung, the psychiatrist, and
he says this: “Among all my patients in the second half of life, every one
of them fell ill because he had lost what the living religions of every age
have given their followers, and none of them has been really healed, who
did not regain his religious outlook.” So you see that with a recognition
of that nature, and the recognition of the nature of spiritual healing
itself, we do know that that which is called Spirit, or God, does function
in the mental life and in the physical life.

Now, in the days when there was only the subject of body as matter and
remedies as matter, the world was living in that particular dimension—
material dimension, and living totally unaware of the fact that it was
surrounded with a mental universe, a mental consciousness, a mental
dimension. Oh, that was ignored. Everything was matter and materiality,
material force and material power, and here we were surrounded, all of
this time, with a tremendous mental force. So then from the 1800's up
to this present time we find that more and more is becoming known about
the mental universe and its activities.

Now unfortunately, for this particular era, there is a mistaken idea loose
in the world that the mental realm and the spiritual realm are the same
one; that the realm of God and the realm of mind is the same. And this
is leading to quite disastrous results, mainly because as long as this
belief persists, there will be teachings combining the spiritual and the
mental, and going nowhere—actually preventing progress, because of
their failure.

One of these that I can point to is the New Thought movement, which
in the last thirty years has dropped ninety percent. There is not ten
percent of the New Thought activity in the world today that there was
thirty years ago. The main reason is this very mistake: that they are
continuously using God and mind as if they were synonyms. They’re using
God power and mental power as if they were the same thing, and they’re
just getting nowhere with it.

Now, this same mistake has, within the last ten or fifteen years, been
brought into the religious world; and believe it or not, there are
teachings circulating in the churches that would indicate or teach the
people that mind power is God power. One of the tragedies that comes
out of this is really the years that are lost before those mistakes are
corrected. I had occasion a short time ago to mention this: that a
minister has written a book about the power of prayer in plant life. A
minister of the church.

And in this book, he reveals the experiments in which he instructed a

group of people how to pray for the plants over here, and make them
grow and flourish, beyond their natural growth; and taught another
group over here how to pray so as to wither them and destroy them. And
this led him to the conclusion that prayer, properly understood, can be
destructive as well as constructive.

Now, when I say to you that this is sad, that this is tragic; you must
understand why I say it. The power of God is all good, and no one can
ever use the power of God for a selfish purpose, for a personal purpose,
for a destructive purpose, for it cannot be done. The nature of God is
good, the nature of God is love, the nature of God is life eternal, and no
one on the face of the globe will ever be able to pray, or to make use of
spiritual powers, for a selfish purpose or a destructive purpose. And that
is why so many of the so-called prayers of the world are powerless.
They’re prayers to do this for me or for my child, or for my nation, or
for my soldiers; and there can’t be answers to such prayers, because God
cannot be used in that way.

God is a universal good, the same today, tomorrow, and forever, and in
the sight of God there is neither Greek nor Jew, bond nor free, and
anyone who attempts by any manner of means to utilize the power of
Good for a personal, a selfish, or a destructive purpose might just as
well be touching a hot wire; they’re on their way to self-destruction. God
is no respecter of persons; God’s rain falls on the just and the unjust;
God’s presence is the power of forgiveness to every phase of discord,
whatever its name or nature.

Now this minister was not mistaken, in that these plants did grow, and
these were destroyed. His mistake was believing that it was spiritual
power or prayer or contact with God that was responsible for either one
of them, for God wasn’t. Anyone could duplicate that experiment, that
wanted to work at it a little way. It is entirely mental.

Now the modus operandi of it is this: mind—your mind or mine or

anybody’s mind, imbued with truth, will produce harmony. Mind, the same
mind, imbued with ignorance or error, will produce an opposite effect.
This we learn, long long centuries before modern civilization entered the
picture. The Aborigines of Australia are especially gifted, in both healing
and cursing—they can heal and they can kill. They know how to bring
health to an individual, and they know how to strike him dead, with mental
power, not by turning to God.

I have said this over and over again, until some people really believe I’m
anti-Semitic. I’m really not, but I must repeat this: that it was the
ancient Hebrew God that you could appeal to, to destroy your enemy—
God didn’t do it, but the Hebrews believed that God did or that God
would. But that is no fit prayer, or modern civilized thought, or belief
that the power of that which created the universe and maintains and
sustains it so perfectly, can be called upon to destroy it. No, it is not the
power of Spirit, but the power of mind.

Now, the Hawaiians, until the missionaries came here, could also heal and
could also kill. They had their good Kahunas, with the gift of healing;
they had their bad Kahunas, to whom you could go and have your enemies
murdered. And doubt not that your enemies died if you went to those
Kahunas, they did—because the Kahunas knew how to do it. So do the
“Hexers” in Pennsylvania; so do some of the old Central and South
American tribes; and down in the South Seas, the power of the mind was
so well known, that if someone or some ship or group landed on one end
of the island, everyone instantly knew it on the other end of the island.
That wasn’t a power of God; that was a mental power, and it is one which
can be duplicated. Anyone can train the mind to any degree, and for good
or for evil.

No one really knows the extent of the power of the mind; no one has
ever experimented to a far enough degree to learn what the actual power
of the mind is. I had the pleasure and privilege of being taught by a
teacher who taught me how to leave this body and how to travel to any
part of the globe that I wanted to be in.

And for many years I enjoyed that experience, practically every night
wandering out into this world, not that it proved anything from a spiritual
standpoint. It merely proved that the mind is not encased in a body. To
me that was only the step leading up to the realization that I am not in
this body; I am not in this room; I do not occupy space; I cannot be
confined either in time or space—and I can transcend either, at any time,
spiritually; but only because I learned first that the mind is not confined
to this shell.

Now the mind can read other minds. The mind can read minds close at
hand and far apart. The mind, when it transcends itself, often as in
wartime when mothers are almost living with their sons thousands of
miles away at the front—Mothers, over and over and over again know
actually what is happening and when it’s happening, at the front. Mothers
know more about their children than the Army Board does; because in
living so in such identification with them, they transcend their own
limitations of body and find themselves in far places.

Now the mind is not something separate and apart from body; the mind
is not something separate and apart from that plant; the mind actually
is the very substance of body.

Mind is actually the essence and the activity of body, and it is for this
reason, leaving God out of the picture entirely, that you can work on the
purely mental level and produce healings, and produce harmony.

There is one metaphysical teacher, who has taught for years and years,
“mind healing,” merely from the standpoint of mind and body; and of how
mind, when it is holding to certain truths, can produce an effect upon
the body.

Now anyone who will stay away from trying to mix up Spirit and mind and
remain purely on the mental level, can produce harmony in their bodies,
in their business, in all of the affairs of their life; as long—and this is
of course the major requisite—as long as they maintain their integrity.
In other words, as long as they never try to use their mind power
selfishly, injuriously, or to anyone else’s discomfort; as long as they
remain pure of mind, using this power only for the purpose of producing
harmony, whether in themselves or others—there’s nothing selfish about
producing harmony in one’s self, because harmony is the normal natural
state of being—but to produce harmony at someone else’s expense, or to
use the powers destructively is, of course, a sin against the Holy Ghost,
it must result inevitably in harm to the one who does it.

Now it has been done, people have used the power of their mind to get
other people’s money, and other people’s property, and other people’s
business; they have used the power of mind to benefit themselves at the
expense of others. It is a destructive thing, but don’t for a minute doubt
that it can be done, otherwise you will be living with your head in the
sand.

Now the mind has two powers, and that is “good and evil.” Do you not
understand that this body, in and of itself, can never be good or bad?
Do you not know—you probably haven’t thought of it, but you can now—
that your body can’t steal? Do you know that your body, in and of itself,
can’t be immoral, or do an immoral thing, or commit an immoral act? Don’t
you know that? Of course you do. There has to be a mind; there has to
be something you call “I,” and all the body can do is carry out the
instructions of the mind; and if the mind says “give,” the body gives, the
hand gives; if the mind says “withhold,” then the hand withholds; and if
the mind says “steal,” then the hand steals, or tries to. And so it is, the
mind is always governing the body on the human level.

It is only the person too steeped in mental inertia, who lets the body
control the mind—then we have a kleptomaniac; they can’t help it, their
hand just reaches out and steals, although the mind doesn’t want it to,
but the mind has no control over that body. And there are people of
sensual appetites who cannot control their appetite, whether for drink,
or for drugs, or for food... on all branches; and they have no control over
their body. Their body has control over them, but that is because they
have surrendered the power of their own mind, and they’ve let the body
run away with it—as you might let a garden run away and become overrun
with weeds, if you’re too lazy to get out there and take care of it. But
normally the body can’t steal; the body can’t overeat or over drink; the
body can’t do anything of itself—if there is enough control, so that you
know that, “No, I govern the action of this body,” that “I” being me
through the mind.

Now then, it is so with health. Health can be maintained mentally by

keeping the mind imbued with truth—the mind imbued with truth will
create and maintain health in the body. Mind imbued either with
ignorance or error permits the body to disintegrate and to develop its
ill health, but remember, this is all on the mental plane.
Now, because there is an interrelation between Spirit, mind, and body,
in our stage of unfoldment, we cannot reach the spiritual level without
first going through the mind. There are a few exceptions to that. There
have been some people receive divine grace, and automatically are
imbued with the Spirit without ever having to learn the truth of being—
sometimes without ever learning it in their lifetime, and yet always living
spiritually.

But there are not many such, and it would be foolish for us to wait around
to see if that particular spiritual lightning was going to strike us. We
may as well acknowledge this: that for us, we will have to reach the
spiritual levels through the mind, but not using the mind as “mind power”
as you would do if you were going to heal just mentally; but use the mind
as an avenue of awareness through which you learn truth, the letter of
truth—and then by that learning and practicing the letter of truth, you
develop your soul powers or spiritual powers, and then ultimately get
beyond the need for even the use of the mind in that direction.

Now don’t ever believe that you want to get rid of the mind that was one
of the old Christian Science mistakes: trying to nullify the mind or the
body. Let’s not get rid of the mind or of the body; let’s have both mind
and body for their proper usage.

The body is an instrument in which we are now functioning, or through

which we are now functioning. It’s a very handy instrument when you want
to walk down the street or drive a car or go somewhere. It’s a very
wonderful thing to have eyes to see with and ears to hear with and a
mouth to... tongue to speak with—it’s all beautiful, let’s not try to get rid
of it. It’s a wonderful thing to have a mind that functions clearly and
intelligently, let’s not try to get rid of it.

The one thing in this work that is taught in The Infinite Way is: do not
use the mind as a power, because then you’re leaving yourself back on
this mental-physical plane without consideration for the highest and the
real, which is the spiritual. When you reach the spiritual plane, both mind
and body are instruments for God. Then there’s no limit to the
understanding, the inspiration, the art, the literature, the music, the
invention, the science that can come through a mind that has made
contact with God—no limitation whatsoever.

Now you can’t do that strictly on the mental plane; you cannot! You can
increase its skill and ability, but only to the extent of the limitations of
mind itself. But once, once you open yourself to the higher consciousness,
there is absolutely no limit to what can be revealed, in and through your
mind, and then brought forth by the skill of your fingers or your body.

So it is that in answering this question: actually, I doubt that it could be

demonstrated that you could maintain mechanical or electrical equipment
very long, through mental means; although I am absolutely convinced that
it can be done throughout any period when it is of necessity to our
experience. In other words, if we run out of gasoline I am definitely
convinced that we can run that car until gasoline is available; although I
don’t believe that we can stop using gasoline entirely and depend on the
activity of mind. And so it is, that in the case of a brake, I’m certain
that our activity would in some way hold it together until we could arrive
at the place where it could be corrected; but I doubt very much if we
could continue to use it very long, without disaster.
Now, the same is true of this plant life. By mental means, you can
increase your crops; and by mental means, you can decrease them. But
to bring forth a permanent demonstration of multiplication of the
“loaves and fishes,” it would be necessary to go further than the
operation of mind. It would be necessary to be touched or to reach the
realm of Spirit—then there is no limitation, but neither would there be
a violation of natural law. In other words, you might double the amount
of flowers on this plant, but it would not be in violation of nature, it
would be because something in nature itself, that is not now being used,
would be brought into use. In other words, the fullness of the life of
this plant may not now be in action; the activity of the Spirit would see
to it that every seed came alive and bore fruit.

Mrs. Eddy wrote in, I believe it’s in the textbook, that: “The day will
come when a thief will not have to enter your home, but you will carry
your goods to the thief.” I’m sure that’s not often quoted, and I’m sure
there are not many people who believe it, but I’m sure now that in the
view of the success that was originally had by subliminal perception, you
must know that it’s true. If the powers of the mind are used in that
direction, you can be made to deliver yourself and your property.

You say “this is frightening;” of course it is, of course it is! That’s why
England has absolutely refused to permit the practice of subliminal
advertising in England. The Advertising Society of Great Britain has
refused permission for it to be used; the government has refused; the
radio, the television stations have refused; they have unanimously
refused to permit its use; because, if it can be used, it can be used to
make you give up your money for anything that they wish to advertise—
whether or not you need it, whether or not you can afford it. When last
month they tried to pass a bill in the California legislature, to outlaw its
practice, they failed to pass it. The interests behind the advertising
were too strong, and it is now legal to do all the stealing you want in
California, as long as you do it mentally—if you can do it.

Now, it is frightening, it must be frightening to you when you see an

exhibition of hypnotism, to know that one man or woman can control the
mind and body of as many people as are available. That should be
frightening to anybody, and it should be outlawed; it should be outlawed
in medicine, regardless of what good it could accomplish—the ill that it
can accomplish far outweighs any good. The practice of hypnotism should
be outlawed, because it is the activity of one mind controlling another.
Wherein is your freedom? Wherein is your freedom? You say “Oh but
you have the choice” You don’t have any such thing—if you’re ill, you want
to get well, and if the price is giving up your mental freedom, you’ll pay
it.

Now, it is frightening, and to the world uninstructed in spiritual truth

there isn’t even a protection, unless the law will give it to them, and even
the law can’t prevent individuals using their own mind any way they want—
more especially since it is possible to organize a mental activity and call
it religious, and get a license from the government. Actually however,
there is a protection against mental powers, and that is the protection,
which you understand, when you understand that the carnal mind is not
power, cannot rise above itself, and accept the first commandment: Thou
shalt have no other gods, no other powers but the one.

And as you consciously, remember consciously; as you consciously live in

the realization of God as the only power, the one power; and that so-
called human mind, mortal mind, carnal mind, selfish mind, mesmeric
mind, hypnotic mind—is not mind, is not God-ordained, is not God-
sustained; you are protected, you can’t be hypnotized, consciously or
unconsciously. You would never respond to subliminal advertising, nor
would you ever respond to an individual working on you with their mind.

Now, all mental power is not a conscious evil, but that doesn’t make it
less harmful. For instance, you only have to use the word Hollywood to
instantly think of a den of iniquity, or Sodom and Gomorrah and why?
Because of what has been taking place there for twenty-five or thirty
years. If you stop to think, you will ask yourself, “Do all these people who
come into the movies, or into that theatrical world—are they all evil, are
they all immoral, are they all bad, does it attract only bad people?” And
the answer is no. That industry doesn’t attract any more people than our
work does, or any other work: dry goods store or building or any other
activity.

No, but since it caters, as it does, to the flesh; and as it arouses in the
minds of audiences throughout the world, thoughts of sensuality, lust—
all directed at those individuals, men and women on the screen.

Never doubt for a minute that they feel that and respond to it, and the
first thing you know, begin to act it out. Not because they are bad, but
because the mental pressure on them is rousing in them that particular
activity, that particular response. In the same way, the great stars, like
Lionel Barrymore, John Barrymore, and several others whom I know,
have said that they respond instantly to their audiences. If they have
an audience interested in their play, interested in good acting, they rise
higher than themselves and give their best performances; and when they
are in places where the level of intelligence or art or culture, whatever
it might be, is not at that level, they’re going there merely because
there’s a star, or for some other similar reason, they can’t rise to that
level, and they give consistently bad performances.

This is no different than your walking into an office of somebody in a

bad mood, in a bad temper, angry and so forth—and coming away feeling
depressed; or going into the office of a person in good spirits and full of
cheer—and coming away feeling cheerful. It is the fact that on the
ordinary human level of life, we are subject to the mental atmosphere
about us. That is why the fears in a burning theater creates a panic,
because the people are subject to that mental stress and strain around
them and respond to it. It is why on sinking ships you’re apt to find more
heroism and bravery, because instantly, in time of danger, there are
those who seem to respond in such conditions to heights beyond
themselves and lift others with them.

In the human picture then, a mental atmosphere is an important thing.

Maintaining one’s self in a mental state of purity lets the person out here
feel clean; maintaining one’s self in a sense of mental impurity makes the
person out here feel unclean and restless and uncomfortable. In the
same way, maintaining an integrity in life makes the people out here trust
you; living in an atmosphere of dishonesty and deceit, you breed distrust
out here. That’s all mental, that is all mental “action and reaction.” And
as I said, much of it not conscious; unconscious. People do not realize the
extent to which their mental state affects others.

Now, and this is all on the mental plane, you have—and that is one of the
major functions of the message of The Infinite Way, to teach you how
to live so as to be unaffected by the mental atmospheres around you, by
the mental pressures, by the subliminal suggestions that are floating
through the air all the time about infections, contagions, danger, wars,
rumors of wars, fear of bombs—how to live above that. That is one of
our major points.

It comes under the heading of “man of earth, and man of Christ, man
who has his being in Christ,” and we’re going to continue with that, right
after we’ve had a rest from all of this, whatever it is that I’ve been
doing.