Living Between Two Worlds

"External forms of worship do not contribute to a person's spiritual life and development except in proportion as the outer rite is accompanied by an inner Spirit or Grace. It is the experience of the Presence Itself that is necessary for spiritual progress. While we cannot see, hear, taste, touch or smell the spirit of God, we can experience It by opening the inner door.

Meditation is the key that opens the door. By opening the door, we become aware of a realm, an activity, a law, which in spiritual language has been called "meat," "bread," "wine," "water," the substance of all life and of all form.

Once we have reached or touched the inner kingdom, we are no longer living unto ourselves, not even living unto our families exclusively, but we are participating more actively in the affairs of the world, and in those things that make for a happier, more successful, and more peaceful way of life.

The kingdom of God does not deal with something separate and apart from living. The kingdom of God concerns itself with our daily life. It is not meant to take us out of the world, but rather to leave us in the world, separate and apart from its negative aspects.

There is no use looking outside and wondering in what form that peace will come, because it does not come in a worldly form. Strange enough, however, when the inner peace comes it forms and re-forms our outer life. It changes our relationships with other human beings. It changes the nature and the amount of our supply because it is its function to see that we are fed and clothed abundantly. All things will be added unto us but they will not be added by taking thought for the things.

In our work, the emphasis is not on trying to be more loving, more just, or more gracious. Our entire attention is centered on admitting the Spirit, and then It will be more loving and gracious through us. It will be expressing patience and benevolence within us. We will not have to take thought for things: we will be instruments for Its grace and glory. We will bear witness not to our own goodness or our own benevolence: we will bear witness to God's grace functioning in us."

Excerpts from pages 2-4 of Joel S. Goldsmith's Living Between Two Worlds