Meditation in the Infinite Way

Joel S. Goldsmith one of the great mystics of the modern age taught that a person’s spiritual growth could be greatly accelerated through the practice of meditation. From the beginning of his spiritual ministry he taught people around the world how to meditate and felt that meditation was the doorway through which they could find the “pearl of great price,” the inner kingdom of fulfillment and aliveness which exists like hidden treasure within them.

Mr. Goldsmith did not teach a form of meditation requiring complicated techniques or postures. He taught that the one prerequisite to beginning to meditate was that the meditator fine a quiet place where he or she could sit comfortably in a chair – or in any position where he or she would not notice the body - back straight, hands at rest.

Since the daily cares of life are hard to forget, and the mind used to busyness, Goldsmith recommended beginning meditation with contemplation. This is a simple method of taking a favorite verse from scripture, or a spiritual concept such as Love and contemplating that verse or idea for several minutes. Gently and quietly consider the deep meanings of the contemplation and let each thought unfold into a deeper thought about the verse, until gradually a feeling of peace and stillness begins to take over and there is a letting go, a relaxing from effort and striving…..and at that time a deeper form of meditation occurs very naturally as the words of the contemplation slow and come to an end. And it is in this next stage that the meditator is in a state of peaceful attentiveness and enters what Goldsmith called the state of receptivity.

In this state, the mind is still and free and there is a sense of openness, of listening, a waiting for “the still small voice.” Though this stage of meditation brings a quietness there is also an alert awareness - a listening without effort or strain. With practice there comes a stirring within, in answer to the state of listening - and it is as if there is a silent, vibrant back and forth of a communion with the divine, a listening and silent speaking. Gradually, the periods of time needed for contemplative meditation give way to more immediately being able to tap into that fullness of the presence within and to hearing the still small voice of one’s inner soul center.

And for the few, Goldsmith describes a still deeper stage of meditation: one may reach an ultimate stage of leaving behind any sense of there being a god and a meditator. The personal sense of there being a separate self and a divine Presence drops away – and there is just the Presence – no I or me or mine. This Mr. Goldsmith called union with the divine, the mystical experience of oneness or conscious union with God.