"The Bible is not a book outside of you; it is not a series of events which took place thousands of years ago. Scripture is the unfolding of characters and movements or happenings that are taking place within you – right this minute. Every Biblical experience can be found in your consciousness at some time or other. You, therefore, embody within yourself every Bible of the world, every philosophy, character and story. There are no mortals, no human beings; you are immortal. All that exists lives within your consciousness.
You will never be characters or people in ancient Scripture; you will always live your present experience. True, it will be progressive. You are always unfolding in that place where you recognize that I am “I”. You are there now, but you are unfolding individually toward the recognition of that point. I am the Bible, the Book of Life. The entire history of life is revealing itself as your consciousness. It may appear as a past, the present, or future, but it is really the Here and Now unfolding to your awareness. It portrays the qualities of your own thoughts, the activities of your consciousness...
The first commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” is an admonition to look to one source for our good and it indicates that Me or I AM is that source. To this law all must render obedience. I am the one who must obey it. If I lived in the constant awareness of my true identity, it would be impossible for any one to interfere with my demonstration of harmonious, fruitful and eternal life, and if men always heeded the First Commandment, the journey into the Kingdom of God would be a quick one.
Obedience to this command requires strict mental discipline. It means that every time you are tempted to place confidence in a power outside yourself, you must mentally argue with yourself (use the law) until you have brought yourself back into the presence and power of your own consciousness. This mental warfare is the law – the letter of truth – and always leads to the Spirit of Truth when faithfully followed. This, the First Commandment, then, is a law which you must literally obey – have no other presence or power than the Universal Consciousness, which is the consciousness of the individual, of you.
You exist as infinite, individual, spiritual consciousness. You are not body. You are not limited mind or mentality. You are consciousness. What is this “I” which possesses body, business, home, talent, genius? It is not body. Feet, arms, legs, head – these are mine. But what is this “I” or “Me”, that possesses them? There is only one “I”, one Ego, one Consciousness. It is God. “I” am therefore universal. It is the “I” of me – individual Ego appearing as you, as me, as all so-called individual men and women. Individual existence is the continuous unfoldment of experience from within your own being. Nothing and no one exists outside your own consciousness. What we behold as person and thing is the idea of reality unfolding as our consciousness.
There is in all the universe but one power, and I am that law and power. The consciousness which I am, the only I or Me, this is the only power and therefore all power is good – and beside Me there is no power. Every evil is, therefore, a misconception of the one power, the all good power that I am. There is no condemnation when you are under a belief of error, whether it is of sin or of sickness. There is no error personal to you. All error is a universal belief which we accept and therefore manifest. It is this acceptance of universal beliefs which causes you to believe you are sick or sinful. There is only one power. This is the significance of the First Commandment. To fear or hate another power is to forfeit your God bestowed dominion. There is no such thing as good overcoming evil; nor God healing your diseases; nor God reforming sinners. Overcome false theology here and now by accepting the First Commandment.
The Bibles of the world tell of two powers, of good and of evil – but that is because Scripture has been accepted from the standpoint of literal translation instead of read in the light of spiritual inspiration. Scripture should not be interpreted merely as historical documents, but as the spiritually revealed Truth of inspired sages and seers. In this Light there is but one Presence, one Power – and I am that. In this spiritual Light, you find Christ consciousness, the Kingdom of Heaven; you find Grace and spiritual freedom. Here there are no battles, no mental powers, no opposites and no opposition. “Not by (physical) might nor by (mental) power, but by my Spirit.” Immortality without effort. Have no other consciousness but the universal, which is the infinite consciousness of the individual. Realize the omnipresence and omnipotence of the invisible Reality.
Understanding God as all does not deprive you of individuality. You do not lose individuality or personality by impersonalizing your sense of good. Do not attempt to annihilate God’s infinite individuality which is expressing as your particular personality. God being infinite must express Itself as infinite individuality and this gives each one his own particular personality, or the consciousness of his individual being. A blade of grass never becomes a rose, a cat or a star. Always, throughout eternity each is maintained in its own individuality.
Never subdue yourself. Let yourself come out. Never be afraid to be different. Always be yourself. Only in freedom can you be yourself. Assert your individuality. You are not learning more Truth. You are revealing, unfolding as infinite individual consciousness and you are the Light of the world. There is only one Truth and – I AM THAT – and it appears as infinite facets.
The Ten Commandments are stepping-stones to Christ consciousness. To make the transition you must for a while dwell tirelessly on these injunctions, just as in mental treatment you may affirm the truths and deny the errors. And the First Commandment is: There are no other gods or powers – there is but one Presence, Power and Law, and the divine or infinite Consciousness, the consciousness of the individual, is that Power.
Second Commandment: “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.” This law calls for you to refute mentally any suggestion of power in matter, mortal concepts, medical beliefs, theological theories, rites, ceremonies. It means that you must recognize what you see, hear, taste, touch or smell as finite concepts of Reality; therefore, you must not love, hate or fear that which is visible to sense, but realize the omnipresence of the invisible Real even while this Reality is not apparent to sense.
It means you are not to worship any human concept appearing as person or thing – regardless of how good or noble. “Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.” (The Invisible, of which the visible you is the finite concept.) Anything external to sense is the concept and is not to be worshipped, hated, or feared. Definite fears exist in the thought of many: fear of sin or its consequences; fear of disease and its ultimate effect; fear of the thoughts of other people. Remember that this is idolatry.
There is only one Power, and that is the Mind which is the Mind of the individual – of you – and that Mind is the only law unto you and unto all that concerns you. With this realization there can be no such thing as malpractice, or the transfer of evil thoughts from one person to another, or the thoughts of an individual exercising mental influence upon another. If one accepts the belief that another’s thought can control him, he has not attained the realization that there is but one Power and that the Mind of himself is that Power. Malpractice is the only basis of error, but this universal mesmerism disappears in the light of the First and Second Commandments.
Third Commandment: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” Do not identify spiritual Reality as a mortal concept. You and all that comes to your consciousness as person, place or thing, is divinely Real – yet as it appears through the testimony of the five senses, it is illusion or mortal concept.
Fourth Commandment: “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” This Sabbath has still another meaning for us: “in it (Sabbath) thou shalt not do any work.” In this Sabbath state of consciousness we do no mental work – we “take no thought” – we give no mental treatments for healing sin or disease. We rest and let God work in us, through us or, more rightly speaking, as us. It is a mental relaxing and a “thank you Father, I am”–“Speak, thy servant heareth.” – a letting go.
Fifth Commandment: “Honor thy father and thy mother.” There is but one creative Principle and it is Father-Mother to Jew and Gentile, white or black, yellow or brown, man, beast, animal or plant – and that Principle or Consciousness I AM. To rightly honor this causative Principle, we must see it in all things: we do not recognize men as enemies; nor do we believe in ferocious beasts, harmful reptiles or poisonous plants. It requires mental discipline (during the period of our Exodus) to keep thought in line with this truth.
Sixth Commandment: “Thou shalt not kill.” This Commandment does not deal with evil person or thing. There is nothing outside of your consciousness – and you would find no occasion to destroy anything within your own being. As Consciousness, your consciousness, embodies the universe, there is to you no evil person or thing. Only Truth fills Consciousness, therefore, do not attempt to injure, kill or exclude Truth or its ideas by entertaining a false concept of anyone or anything.
Do not accept the suggestion of a selfhood apart from God – or you will, in belief, be shutting out the true idea. As your consciousness is filled only with Truth and its ideas and activities, do not, in your thought, destroy any sense of reality by admitting false conclusions, erroneous concepts or evil suggestions. On the other hand, Truth itself (your consciousness) is a law of destruction to every belief or concept unlike itself.
Seventh Commandment: “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” Adultery is being false to a trust. To be false, to betray a trust or truth, is to betray God – which really means to leave God, Truth, Life, for idols, lies and death. To behold less than perfection is adultery. To attribute qualities of good to material or mental concepts, is also adultery. Let us have the single eye. As there is no one and no thing outside your own consciousness, loyalty to a trust or truth has nothing to do with human relationships. It has to do solely with beholding perfection as perfection; with seeing wholeness, completeness and harmony as the truth of being.
Eighth Commandment: “Thou shalt not steal.” As you are all-inclusive Spirit, substance, reality – as you are the infinite consciousness, embodying within yourself the universe, there is nothing to steal and no one from whom you can steal. “Son, all that ‘I’ have is thine.” There is not anything to desire or to demonstrate. You are the fulfillment – the presence of God’s allness.
Then theft, or even the desire for something outside oneself, is a belief of separation, which is a belief in God and man, instead of the understanding of God manifested as the individual, or Life expressing itself as man. The belief of being robbed is also a belief of selfhood apart from God. The temptation is to believe there is a thief – a selfhood apart from God, and one who is robbed – another selfhood apart from God, whereas what appears as the thief or the one robbed – all this is God – the One appearing as many. This Commandment is an injunction to remember your true identity as individual infinite consciousness, including within yourself all good.
Ninth Commandment: “Thou shalt not bear false witness.” This is a continuation and elaboration of the Eighth Commandment. The only way to bear false witness is to behold a selfhood apart from God.
Tenth Commandment: “Thou shalt not covet.” This is also a continuation and elaboration of the Eighth Commandment, “Thou shalt not steal.” These Commandments constitute the law of Moses, or letter of truth, and they are stepping-stones to the spirit of truth, which is the Kingdom of God, the Promised Land or Christ consciousness.
To make the transition from the law to the Spirit, we must for a while dwell daily in thought on these injunctions."
~ Joel S.Goldsmith, Spiritual Interpretation of Scripture
Joel S. Goldsmith (1892-1964), a monumental teacher of practical mysticism, devoted most of his life to the discovery and teaching of spiritual principles which he founded and called 'The Infinite Way.'
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