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| January '06 Study Guide Photo "Illuminated Scroll" |
| Study Guide Archive Table of Contents |
THE CHICAGO GOLDSMITH GROUP
www.infinite-invisible.net
MEETINGS: (First and Third Sunday) The INN OF CHICAGO
162 E. Ohio, Chicago, IL, St. Clair or Windy City Room
(Second Tuesday) UNITY ON THE NORTH SHORE
3434 Central Ave., Evanston, IL
(Fourth Tuesday) 259 Skyline Drive, Carpentersville, IL
Meditation Starts 15 min. Before Meeting Time
Conducted by Bob Harper
MAIL AND TEL: Bob Harper, P.O. Box 337, Carpentersville, IL 60110
(847)428-4759, (847)710-4759 (cel.), (847)428-4835 (fax)
bob_harper@sbcglobal.net
STUDY GUIDE AND SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES
JANUARY, 2006
SUNDAY, JANUARY 1 - at THE INN OF CHICAGO - 11:00 A.M.
JOEL S. GOLDSMITH: THE 1962 CAPETOWN CLASS
"I Stand At the Door and Knock,” Tape 2, Side 1
12:30 P.M.
VIRGINIA STEPHENSON: THE 2003 ALBUQUERQUE CLASS
"The Genesis of Our Lives," Tape 1, Side 1 (No. 0301)
************************************************
TUESDAY, JANUARY 10 - at UNITY ON THE NORTH SHORE - 7:30 P.M.
GENESIS: AWAKENING FROM THE DREAM, by Virginia Stephenson, Chapter 1.
************************************************
SUNDAY, JANUARY 15 - at THE INN OF CHICAGO - 11:00 A.M.
JOEL S. GOLDSMITH: THE 1962 CAPETOWN CLASS
"Love Expressed,” Tape 1, Side 2
12:30 P.M.
JOHN STEPHENSON: THE 2005 CHICAGO CLASS
"Universal Wisdom," Tape 1, Side 1 (No. 0523)
*************************************************
TUESDAY, JANUARY 24 - at 259 SKYLINE DR., CARPENTERSVILLE - 7:30 P.M.
Class, and Tape: LUELLA OVEREEM: THE 1991 GREEN BAY EASTER CLASS
"Drop the Problem/ Spiritual Supply," Tape 3, Side 1
*************************************************************************************************************************************************
- STUDY CHAPTERS FOR JANUARY
THE MYSTICAL I,* Chapter 1: “I Stand At the Door and Knock;”
I STAND ON HOLY GROUND (‘76 Letters),* Chapter 1: “Living the Spiritual Life,”
GENESIS, AN AWAKENING FROM THE DREAM, by Virginia Stephenson, Chapter 1: “The Journey Within;”
DEVELOPING SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS Vol. II, by Luella Overeem: January, 1976 Lesson
*************************************************************************************************************************************************
- ANNOUNCEMENTS
CLASS IN HAWAII, BY JOHN STEPHENSON: FEBRUARY 17-20, 2006: WAIKIKI Princess Kaiulani Hotel,
Rooms from $100. Flyers will be out this October. CONTACT: Kehaulani Coleman: kehau_coleman@yahoo.com
- Many thanks for your warm holiday greetings, love, and gifts of support!
- PEACE AND BLESSINGS IN THE NEW YEAR!
*************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
- EXCERPTS FROM TAPES, FOR STUDY, PRACTICE, AND MEDITATION
SUNDAY, JANUARY 1 - at THE INN OF CHICAGO - 11:00 A.M.
JOEL S. GOLDSMITH: THE 1962 CAPETOWN CLASS
"I Stand At the Door and Knock,” Tape 2, Side 2
When I hold the word "I," remember secretly, sacredly, in my consciousness, no evil can come nigh my dwelling
place; and if I am crucified, I will be resurrected. If my "temple" has been destroyed, in "three days," I will build it
up again: I will build it up again. Remember, not "Joel will build it up again," Joel must be still so that I in the midst
of me can build it up again. If my business is lost, if my home is lost, if my family is lost, I, in three days, probably
not literally three days but in a short length of time, I in the midst of me will raise it up, if only I can be still and
let that I that I am, that I that is my true identity, if only I can be still, "Resist not evil," not fight this danger that
threatens me, not fight this evil that seems to be out in the world, but be still.
"Be still. … They have only the arm of flesh." Whether it is in the form of sin or of disease or lack or drought or
depression or business recession, they have only "the arm of flesh." We have I in the midst of me; and as long as I
can hold I right there, no evil can come nigh my dwelling place. I am dwelling "in the secret place of the Most
High," and more than this, I am fulfilling the 15th Chapter of John: I am holding myself one with the vine, with the
tree, with the trunk. I am holding myself one with the Source of life, which is I.
Now don't forget that when Joel and I become separate from each other, Joel becomes "a branch of a tree that
withers and dies." But as long as Joel abides in the word I and lets the word I abide in him, no evil can come nigh
his dwelling place, and if his temple is destroyed, the temple will be resurrected and raised up again.
… When you retire at night, let your last word be, "Thank you, Father, for the I that dwelleth in me." Let your first
thought on waking in the morning be, "Thank you, Father, that I go before me to make the crooked places
straight, that I walk beside me to protect me; that I is the wisdom of my day, of my judgment. Let me never
forget that 'I am the way and the truth and the life.'"
For Meditation: "I in the midst of me is mighty. I in the midst of me is the Father within me, greater than any
problem that exists in the world. " - Joel, from the tape.
For Study: THE MYSTICAL I, Chapter 1.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 1 - 1:00 P.M.
VIRGINIA STEPHENSON: THE 2003 ALBUQUERQUE CLASS
"The Genesis of Our Lives," Tape 1, Side 1 (No. 0330)
"I and the Father are one." How few of us can really say that and feel the truth of it, because we have such a
personal sense of ourself. We have God and man; and the Message tells us, "Call no man on earth your father, for
there is one Father [/Mother]God]," one Father of us all. We are all brothers and sisters; we are spiritually united.
This is the truth about everyone, regardless of their religion, their gender, their race, their age, their human
understanding. The reality is that God constitutes our being, and our consciousness is the one, infinite,
Consciousness that is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniactive. By identifying with our human
history, and our body, we shut the door to the Infinite Way of living. The Infinite way can only be lived when the
I is in its resurrected state, that is, that we have lifted up the I from the body. That means we recognize the one
Ego, the one Self, which is God. When we recognize this, we open a way of living that is called, "by grace," a way
of living that has infinite possibilities and it is without effort, without struggle.
The first starting point in your awakening, my awakening, mankind's awakening, is to recognize that there is only
one Ego, and that is God. Every time we use the word "I," identifying with our mortality, we crucify the Christ
within us. That's pretty strong language, isn't it? But every time we personalize that "I," we make ourselves
subjects to all the limitations of the personal sense of life. We put the genesis of our lives in our body instead of
the genesis of our life in the I that is omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, and omniactive. Without this
Consciousness, you couldn't breathe, your heart wouldn't beat, you couldn't digest your food, you would have no
intelligence, for the body without consciousness is dead: it is a corpse.
For Study: Virginia's Monthly Lesson For January, 2006; Subscriptions for Virginia’s Monthly Lessons:
Leslie Lewis, 340 108th St. West., Bradenton, FL 34209 (941)794-2150 llewis17@tampabay.rr.com
*************************************************************************************************************************************************
TUESDAY, JANUARY 10 - at UNITY ON THE NORTH SHORE - 7:30 P.M.
GENESIS, Awakening From the Dream, by Virginia Stephenson, Chapter 1: “The Inward Journey”
Consciousness is forever unfolding at the level of realization. The two creation allegories presented in the first,
second, and third chapters of Genesis reveal very different levels of consciousness, which result in very different
conclusions about God, man, and the universe.
The original compilers of the Bible put first the allegory that expresses the spiritual principle of Oneness and the
perfection of Being, and second, the story of Adam and Eve, who were expelled from the Garden of Eden. We
begin our study with this story in Genesis 2 and 3, because when this allegory is clearly understood, those who
ask, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" will find their answer and then be more receptive to the
principle of creation as revealed in Genesis 1.
A journey without a road map can be haphazard and difficult, whereas with guidance and direction we reach our
destination more easily. The allegories and symbols of the Bible serve as helpful guides, directing us on our inward
journey. Although spiritual teachers of long ago understood the spiritual significance of these stories and symbols,
over the centuries much of the inner meaning of the Bible has been hidden or misinterpreted.
According to St. Jerome, "The most difficult and most obscure of the sacred books, Genesis, contains as many
secrets as words, and each word contains several others." Seekers of truth have struggled to understand why
there are two stories of creation in this first book of the Bible. They try to reconcile the two, but this cannot be
done. The two versions of creation have remained side by side for centuries, one, a revelation telling mankind the
nature of spiritual consciousness, the other, an analysis of the nature of human consciousness. Mystics have
contemplated these two stories and have discovered secrets about the spiritual relationship of Oneness and
about the working of the mind.
The purpose of this study of the Genesis versions of creation is to expand our awareness of the kingdom of God
within us so that we can catch the spiritual sense of prayer. What we believe to be true about creation
determines our understanding of the nature of God and the nature of prayer. If we understand the first chapter
of Genesis, we have a God of Spirit, Light, and Love and a spiritual mode of prayer. If we accept the version of
creation in the second and third chapters of Genesis, we have a God who rewards and punishes, who gives and
withholds, and a totally different kind of prayer. The fundamental level of our state of awareness depends upon
what concepts we accept to be true about creation.
The language of Spirit is a new tongue. Such common words as day or night have deep spiritual significance. Let
us not consider day and night as opposites, but as the one Consciousness disclosing Itself in degrees. Day can
mean a solar day, but it can also mean a period of inspiration and illumination. It is in this latter context that day
is used in Genesis 1.
Night must not be thought of as an evil or negative experience, but rather as a period in which we wait for the
undisclosed, or the hidden, to be revealed. The Psalmist said, "… the darkness hideth not from thee; but the
night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee." [Psalm 139:3] Here the Psalmist
realizes that nothing real and true can be hidden from our spiritual sense, which knows the truth. "Unto the
upright there ariseth light in the darkness …" [Psalm 112:4] So it is with us. As we study and meditate upon
Scripture, the light dawns in our awareness and reveals all that is hidden so that we can say, "I see; I understand."
Numbers also have hidden significance that helps us understand the meaning of Hebrew literature. The number
seven signifies completeness. In the unfolding story of creation, the seven days of spiritual creation correspond
to our sevenfold spiritual experience. "Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest."
[Exodus 23:12] Our six days are periods of discovery and revelation; the seventh day is our Sabbath, when we rest
in the realization of omnipresent grace and fulfillment. Therefore, the seven days signify the completed spiritual
idea and not that creation was finished in seven solar days. Time is no part of spiritual creation, because time and
space are material concepts. Through spiritual discernment we accept the principle that past, present, and future
are united in the eternal Now.
For Meditation: "I AM THAT I AM" [Existence aware of Itself]
For Study: GENESIS, Awakening From the Dream, Chapter 1.
*************************************************************************************************************************************************
SUNDAY, JANUARY 15 - at THE INN OF CHICAGO - 11:00 A.M.
JOEL S. GOLDSMITH: THE 1962 CAPETOWN SERIES
"Love Expressed,” Tape 1, Side 2
The Master made some statements that, I suppose, centuries ago shocked the world, because they crucified him.
They don't shock the world today, because nobody repeats them anymore. But he did say this: "It profiteth you
nothing to pray for your friends. You must pray for your enemies if you want to be children of God." … Well, I know
as well as you do how hard that is. Believe me, I know some people that I wish God would let me out of having to
do that about! But He doesn't let me off any more than He is going to let you off. It's very clear in Scripture that if
you cannot pray for your enemies, pray that they be forgiven their sins, pray that their eyes be opened to the
Light, pray that they be divinely guided, pray that they be relieved of even the penalties of their sins. Unless you
can pray this way, you are not entering the spiritual life at all, you are still trying to add to your good humanhood,
and just make it a little better or a little more prosperous. Whereas, if you enter the spiritual life and be a child of
God, an heir of God, "joint heir," you have got to sit down and find a way, every single day, to pray for those who
are persecuting this world, pray for those who are despitefully using this world, pray for those who are misusing
their power. YOU'VE GO TO DO IT!! The only hope that their nature will change is through our prayer. Their nature
isn't going to change by our hating them, it's going to make them worse. Our nature isn't going to change by
fighting them, it's going to make them worse. The only way their nature is going to change is if we pray for them.
… It is with everything the same thing: no one of us really knows how to forgive. We pay lip-service to it,
sometimes, by saying, "I forgive you," but we remember the offense tomorrow just as much as we did the day
before. Very often we think we forgive; we "make up," as it were, but the hurt is still there. We never are going
to know how to forgive until we make a practice of forgiving about every day of the week, for two, three, or four
or five months, until the activity of forgiveness flows, constantly, constantly, so that every time that anyone
offends, the forgiveness is there as quickly as the offense is there.
For Meditation: "When your thoughts unite in spiritual contemplation, every person, place, or thing becomes a
spiritual delight" - Joel, Wisdom #123
For Study: THE MYSTICAL I, Chapter 1.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 15- 1:00 P.M.
JOHN STEPHENSON: THE 2005 CHICAGO CLASS
"Universal Wisdom," Tape 1, Side 1 (No. 0523)
Individually, we all refer to ourself by the same name. If that reference has any concept, let's put it aside. So if
we say, "I," there should be no sense of personality, not male nor female, old, young, no race, no occupation,
nothing that defines the outer self. I. There is an I that is deeper than material sense. There is an I within me
that has no material qualities hanging on to it. Now I can let go of my personal sense, I can let go of my concepts,
because as I enter into this silence, I have an assurance, I have a sense that I'm going into an atmosphere of love.
I'm going into a dimension that holds no sense of punishment, that holds no condemnation. I'm going into a
place, within, where I can relax and let go of the human sense of identity, the mental concepts of identity. Now
I'm not replacing any concepts with names or labels. We're going into a dimension that is undefineable. So as I go
into this, I am an observer, a witness. I am not going into a state of blankness, not going into a state of sleep. I
am not turning off my mind, because if this I that I am uses any sense of force to turn off the mind, I am
engaging in this conceptual realm, my attention is still in that realm of concept, of mental activity, and I want to
go beyond that. So the way I do that is by letting: letting the thoughts that come in come, but also letting them
go. It is observing, without judging.
Now when I go into this silence, for we are allowing this peace to come, so there is a silence with it, I'm not
losing my identity. I am aware, I am highly aware. Realize how cognizant you are with everything around you, and
realize that when there is no name or label and no judgment, that that awareness is pure, and it leaves with it a
strong sense of peace.
For Study: SEEK YE FIRST, Chapter 5.
************************************************************************************************************************************************
TUESDAY, JANUARY 24 at 259 SKYLINE DR., CARPENTERSVILLE - 7:30 P.M.
Class, and Tape: LUELLA OVEREEM: THE 1991 GREEN BAY EASTER CLASS
"Drop the Problem/ Spiritual Supply," Tape 3 Side 1
It says here in Matthew, "Judge not according to appearances." That seems to be a "hard one," but maybe no
harder than any of the others. When it looks like a devil, you have to know that it's really God there. God is the
only reality. There isn't any other reality, so whatever's there that you are seeing, no matter what the person,
individual, is doing or saying or whether they're appearing to be sick, sinning, poverty stricken, starving to death,
or out murdering, what you're looking at with your human eyesight is not what's really there. So you don't judge
by the appearances, you have to judge "righteous judgment." If there is anything there, and there has to be if
you are seeing something, hearing something, what's there is God, because God is the only presence, and it is
omnipresent and the only reality, and so the Devil's real name is God. We have to work with that. We have lots of
opportunities to work with it, lots of appearances to practice on. So you don't just decide all these things about
that individual and all the human things that ought to happen to him, and so on, or that you'd like to see happen.
You turn right around, turn it around, you drop the appearances. You drop the appearances, but you see the truth
within yourself, that there's just spiritual identity there; and it's this that you see within, out of your
consciousness of truth, that determines to some extent depending on their receptivity, to some degree - but at
least it determines what your experience with this individual is, determines your experience with them. How
someone else sees them is their demonstration or their work.
It's the same thing with resisting not evil. You don't resist it, because you know evil is just a misinterpretation of
good, or God, and you're not seeing something and calling it evil, and then resisting it, trying to get rid of it,
you're seeing what's there is God. In the same way, you can forgive: once or "seventy times seven." However
many times these things come that seem to call for forgiveness, we can do it, because we're looking through the
appearances. We're not judging by the appearances. And loving our enemies: it doesn't mean we love the evil
appearances of what they are doing or their behavior, that isn't what we love. We love the Christ within them.
We're seeing their spiritual identity and enfolding that in Love.
For Meditation: "When you have a so-called healing, you do not have an improved physical or material condition,
for there is no such: you have an improved concept of the spiritual reality of being, a better picture of what IS,
but no change has taken place in what is."
"The demonstration was not a demonstration of health or money or any human thing. The demonstration was a
demonstration, a proof, that God realized is your sufficiency. If you believe that it was a demonstration of
something material you will lose it. Pictures, images, no matter how good they are, are not your sufficiency. As
long as you continue to go to God for better pictures, you are not going to God at all, but are having a dream."
"No matter what you seem to be lacking, what you are really lacking is awareness of the presence of God,
awareness of the nature of God, and awareness of the nature of the appearances. Acknowledge this and drop
your sense of what the problem is, and seek God-realization." - Luella, from the January, 1976 Lesson
For Study:
Luella, From DEVELOPING SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS, Vol. II: January, 1976 Lesson
- SIGNPOSTS
We don't know what we don't know.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
All power is in Love.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
(The above came to me while working with this month's material - Bob)
"In Isaiah there are passages that warn the people about having faith in chariots and horses and soldiers. Twenty-
five centuries later we no longer have faith in these, but in airplanes and bombs. In other words we have just
transferred faith from one thing to another thing, instead of having just pure faith. No faith in, no fear of, and no
freedom from. That is saying it shortly and sweetly." - Joel, From CONSCIOUSNESS TRANSFORMED, pg. 118
