The following was taken from the 2011 Stamford class in which the following question was asked.<\/p>\n
This questioner wants me to elaborate about Internet sites that warn people about practitioners, telling them to \u201cbeware, discern the truth from the false.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you are looking for a practitioner I\u2019d follow what Joel had said \u2013 and this goes back to scripture \u2013 \u201cby their fruits shall they be known.\u201d\u00a0 If you get help, you get help.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t get help go to someone else.\u00a0 And what is the evidence of fruitage that you would use?\u00a0 The Fruits of the Spirit are joy, wholeness, love, compassion, peace, harmony and abundance.\u00a0 Are these evident in the lives of those you would call for help?\u00a0 If so, then you have someone you can work with.<\/p>\n
But I think this is addressing a bigger issue, the issue of organization.\u00a0 Joel was adamantly against organization.\u00a0 He considered it an organization if you had just one person saying this is what the Infinite Way is, or this is what you should do, or this is what you can\u2019t do.\u00a0 If you have an authority you have an organization.\u00a0 And when you have organization you don\u2019t have freedom.\u00a0 When you have organization you don\u2019t have the ability to let consciousness flow. *(See what Joel wrote to a student about organization at the bottom of this essay.)<\/p>\n
Joel asked a number of women to share the platform with him.\u00a0 He did that because they showed that they had the consciousness to impart the Truth. They had the consciousness not only to put the principles into words, but in their meditation, they brought people into an awareness of the spirit.\u00a0 This was completely individual.\u00a0 Joel never told those teachers what they should teach, how they should teach, how they should conduct their tape groups, or how they should conduct their work when he was not around.\u00a0 Joel knew that consciousness carried this message.\u00a0 It is consciousness that discerns the truth from the false; it isn\u2019t human knowledge, and it isn\u2019t an individual with a personal agenda.<\/p>\n
Keep that in mind when you are surfing the Internet.\u00a0 We are beginning to see an explosion of spiritual teachings on the web.\u00a0 The Internet has changed in the way we get information, the way we communicate, and the way we connect to that which we are attracted.\u00a0 It\u2019s not only on the Facebooks or the Twitters, or in the newscasts, that we see these changes, it\u2019s also in the way we explore spirituality, or discover what\u2019s going on in the field of religion.\u00a0 The Internet is the Wild West and you have to be more discerning about what you read there.\u00a0 In the past, with newspapers and some journals, an editor vetted the information and the facts were checked.\u00a0 On the Internet you have to make your own judgment call; \u201cIs this fit to print?\u201d or \u201cis this just gossip?\u201d\u00a0 Can this information be substantiated or is this just someone\u2019s opinion?\u00a0 Today, there are very few editors on the Internet.\u00a0 Anybody with a voice can say, \u201cthis is truth, and you better follow this because I\u2019m an authority and I heard it from above and it is true.\u201d\u00a0 It makes me think of that passage from Job where the Lord asked Job, \u201cWhere were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?\u201d<\/p>\n
As spiritual students we are searching for that which can elevate our life\u2019s experience. We are looking for that which frees us from the limitations of human sense.\u00a0\u00a0 Since there are no restrictions on the Internet, anybody can say that they have the secret of life.\u00a0 And there are plenty who will charge a lot of money for that secret, even if they don\u2019t have it.\u00a0 It\u2019s up to you to decide the facts and if this person knows the truth.\u00a0 It\u2019s up to you to find out where these people are coming from.\u00a0 What\u2019s their background?\u00a0 What spiritual fruitage do they demonstrate?<\/p>\n
If we are over fifty our conditioning is that what we read in the press, or what people publish, has more or less been vetted.\u00a0 We have a certain trust that what we read is true.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think that we can say that anymore.\u00a0 Except for some publications that still vet, that still present information in as accurate a way as they can, most information on the Internet is personal opinion.\u00a0 So in a way, yes, be careful.\u00a0 But realize that it is consciousness that is going to direct you, that is going to guide you, and it is consciousness that is going to put you in touch with that which speaks to your soul. It is your awareness of spiritual consciousness that ignites the inner flame of truth, nurtures it and feeds it.\u00a0 What keeps this flame of truth alive? Feeding it the truth.\u00a0 If you feed it error, if you start feeding it opinion, human concepts, you\u2019re going to smoother that flame.\u00a0 And if you feel that flame being smothered I suggest you look for another source for truth, for ultimately truth is within you.<\/p>\n
The only truth there is, is within your own consciousness.\u00a0 Everything that is written, even what Joel has written \u2013 and you are all here because you have connected with what Joel has written \u2013 has to direct you toward the Truth if it is to be of value.\u00a0 And what is this truth?\u00a0 It is a set of principles that if practiced, will lead you to a life that is free of material limitations.\u00a0 These principles are universal and have been available to mankind for thousands of years.\u00a0 Joel had a wonderful way of presenting them, and today these same principles are being presented uniquely and individually.\u00a0 But it\u2019s up to the individual to grab hold of the truth and practice it.\u00a0 Joel was the first to say to his students that if this message doesn\u2019t sit with you, go to something else.\u00a0 He was told to never seek a student, and this is something I\u2019ve followed.\u00a0 We\u2019re not part of an organization. We\u2019re not wanting students. What we\u2019re about is individual freedom.\u00a0 Our job is to help the individual find the truth within him or her self. The principles of the Infinite Way are universal.\u00a0 The principles we present are universal. They have been around since the old testament, since the Vedas of India; we can go back to the Buddha, we can go to any of the great religions and we will find these same principles and see that they are the foundations for those teachings.<\/p>\n
To me truth is universal.\u00a0 It has nothing to do with religion.\u00a0 If someone says that you must do something this way and if you do it another way you are wrong, what are they doing?\u00a0 They\u2019re creating an authority.\u00a0 They\u2019re creating a dogma, and the next thing you know you have a religion.\u00a0 The fastest way to kill spiritual revelation is through religion.\u00a0 Look at all the religions of the world; they took a truth that was experienced individually, a truth that freed those who experience it, and killed it.\u00a0 They said we have to put rules on this.\u00a0 They said you can only practice truth one way. Why? Because the human being wants power, he wants to control the truth.\u00a0 And that is impossible. Spiritual power is completely free.\u00a0 Spiritual power has nothing to do with control.\u00a0 Spiritual power is one.\u00a0 What is there to control?\u00a0 Spiritual power is not God and<\/em>\u2026 It\u2019s not spiritual power and an individual.\u00a0 It is one.\u00a0 So no one has the power to control somebody\u2019s behavior, or somebody\u2019s thought \u2013 not in truth.\u00a0 Spiritual power is omnipotent, and when you experience that state of oneness, you are omnipotent.\u00a0 You are that spiritual power.\u00a0 There is no authority but the experience of the Christ within.<\/p>\n That\u2019s our passion \u2013 freedom.\u00a0 That was Joel\u2019s passion.\u00a0 To be in the world but free of the material limitations that would bind our lives that would create anxiety, that would make us feel inadequate, that make us believe we don\u2019t have the means to pursue our dreams, or to pursue our passions.\u00a0 Success in this world isn\u2019t about anything material; it\u2019s about spiritual consciousness.\u00a0 Joel said in the book we are working from (The Art of Meditation) that if you believe that money is wealth you\u2019ve got it backwards.\u00a0 Consciousness is wealth.\u00a0 Money is an activity of consciousness; consciousness is not an activity of money.<\/p>\n *<\/span> <\/span>\u201cI myself will not interfere in any student\u2019s activity… The reason for this is that the moment one person has any authority over another person, or any responsibility for the activity of another person, you have organization, whether or not you incorporate it legally. The moment there is a head to anything, there is organization, and the very moment that one person is responsible for another, there is organization, and the only way that the message of The Infinite Way can be kept pure is for every individual to be responsible to himself or herself in God, and to be sure that their authority reaches nowhere at all outside of their own being. Even in helping other students to set up their own tape groups or other activities, no authority and no responsibility accompanies such an activity. Do not ask anyone to consult you about anything, but if anyone consults you of their own free will and accord, then your relationship to them could be advisory, but never authoritative, and never disciplinary. The moment anyone is asked to consult you we have an organized activity, and this we must not have, because this alone constitutes the purity of the message, in that each one is responsible only to the Father within.<\/span><\/p>\n Joel\u2019s letter to a student<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The following was taken from the 2011 Stamford class in which the following question was asked. This questioner wants me to elaborate about Internet sites that warn people about practitioners, telling them to \u201cbeware, discern the truth from the false.\u201d … Continue reading