Feb06StudyGuide

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5 - at THE INN OF CHICAGO - 11:00 A.M.

JOEL S. GOLDSMITH: THE 1962 CAPETOWN CLASS

"The Unveiling," Tape 6, Side 1

12:30 P.M.

VIRGINIA STEPHENSON: THE 2003 ALBUQUERQUE CLASS

"Cleansing Your House," Tape 1, Side 2 (No. 0301)

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14 - at UNITY ON THE NORTH SHORE - 7:30 P.M.

GENESIS: AWAKENING FROM THE DREAM, by Virginia Stephenson, Chapter 2.

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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19 - at THE INN OF CHICAGO - 11:00 A.M.

JOEL S. GOLDSMITH: THE 1962 PRINCESS KAIULANI OPEN CLASS

"Infinite Way Healing Principles," Tape 4, Side 2

12:30 P.M.

JOHN STEPHENSON: THE 2005 CHICAGO CLASS

"The Paradox of Mystical Living," Tape 1, Side 2 (No. 0523)

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28 - at 259 SKYLINE DR., CARPENTERSVILLE - 7:30 P.M.

Class, and Tape: LUELLA OVEREEM: THE 1991 GREEN BAY EASTER CLASS

"Christmas To Easter," Tape 3, Side 2

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                                                            STUDY CHAPTERS FOR FEBRUARY

THE MYSTICAL I,* Chapter 2: "The Unveiling;"

I STAND ON HOLY GROUND (‘76 Letters),* Chapter 2:

"From Practicing the Presence, to the Prayer of Listening ,"

GENESIS, AN AWAKENING FROM THE DREAM, by Virginia Stephenson, Chapter 2:

"The Allegory of Adam and Eve;"

DEVELOPING SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS Vol. II, by Luella Overeem: February, 1976 Lesson

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                                                               ANNOUNCEMENTS

CLASS IN HAWAII, BY JOHN STEPHENSON: FEBRUARY 17-20, 2006: WAIKIKI Princess Kaiulani Hotel,

Rooms from $100. CONTACT: Kehaulani Coleman: kehau_coleman@yahoo.com

CLASS IN SAN FRANCISCO, BY JOHN STEPHENSON: APRIL 7-9: Crowne Plaza Hotel, Foster City,
Announcements will be out the end of January. CONTACT: Marty Parker (408) 910-0927 or email: marty@parkerbiz.com

EXTENDED CLASS IN CHICAGO, BY JOHN STEPHENSON: MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND, MAY 26-29: Allerton Crowne Plaza Hotel.
Announcements will be out the end of February.
CONTACT: Marilyn Rattray (970) 613-1576. After 4/30 (847) 658-3033 (Business - leave message.)

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                                      EXCERPTS FROM TAPES, FOR STUDY, PRACTICE, AND MEDITATION

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5 - at THE INN OF CHICAGO - 11:00 A.M.

JOEL S. GOLDSMITH: THE 1963 LONDON WORK

"The Unveiling," Tape 6, Side 1

Where is the "still small voice?" Again, you go back to the Master, and he says, "Neither, lo here, nor lo there:" not in holy mountains nor
in holy temples, but within you. This is where the still small voice is, within you. It may take you a month, a year, or ten, before you
can break the crust of personal sense and finally hear that still small voice within yourself. Then, someday, it says to you, "Be still. Be
still: I am God." It doesn't say to you, ever, that Joel or Mary is God. … It always says "I." And you know what else it says? "Fear not. I am
with you. Fear not: I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Fear not!" Well, in this moment, "whether your sins are scarlet," in this
moment of your recognition of I, "closer to you than breathing, nearer than hands or feet," I in the midst of me, in this moment you are
"white as snow." … If you were even the best human on the face of the earth, you are no closer to heaven than the worst one. No
human will get into the kingdom of God, even if he is as good as John the Baptist. "Even the least of these will get into heaven before
John" the Baptist, though he is the greatest Hebrew prophet. Why? Because he still had a God separate and apart from himself, he still
had someone else the light of the world, instead of saying, "Yes, indeed, he [Jesus] is the light, because he has recognized the Light and
is revealing to us, "Go ye, and do likewise."

In God, there is no time, there is only an eternal now; and do you know something, it is constantly being now. Do you know that this
never changes? It never gets to be yesterday or tomorrow. It is always just now, and now there is a sufficiency of Thy grace to meet the
need of now, of this moment. My realization of that makes this a continuing of grace for the next million years, because now is the only
eternal time there is. If there is a sufficiency of Thy grace now, for this moment, and this is a continuing moment unto eternity, that is
the answer. We do not have to demonstrate year after year after year. We only have to demonstrate God, and then we have
demonstrated good unto eternity. The moment we have demonstrated "I is God" in realization, that I is with us forever and forever.

For Meditation: "I have something. When you look at it, it's there, but when you look for it, it's not. What is it?"

                                                                                                                                          - Zen Koan

For Study: THE MYSTICAL I, Chapter 2.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5 - 12:30 P.M.

VIRGINIA STEPHENSON: THE 2003 ALBUQUERQUE CLASS

"Cleansing Your House," Tape 1, Side 2 (No. 0330)

There's one question, here: "Can such an experience as "the dark night of the soul" exist in spiritual reality?" No, it doesn't exist in
spiritual reality. "Is that just another dream within the dream?" I guess it is. I've had dark nights of the soul, and they've been very
painful; and I think it's mostly … with me, it's been disappointment in myself, that I've missed the mark someplace, I've seen that I've
hurt somebody, I could've been more helpful, and I wasn't. So I think it has to do with the emotions and judging oneself. That is very
human, but it also keeps us from being too superficial, in the sense of thinking we're always doing everything right. It comes to me,
sometimes, just the human equation in me. I know that it isn't spiritual, it isn't divine, but it raises its ugly head. I see it, and there's
disappointment, and then there's sort of a nose-dive into humanhood for awhile; but I know better. I think you always know better, but
nevertheless, when you look to the Christ, and then you measure some of your humanhood, you fall short of that glory, and then there is
that sadness there, that you couldn't have risen to the occasion. But then we're always given other chances, and the next time, maybe
we do rise to the occasion, and we give "the cup of cold water" in Christ's name, and we don't "pass by on the other side." You know,
we can't, at least I can't claim to have attained, that I've attained. I've seen the Christ, I've seen the Body - God the Father, God the
Son, God the Holy Spirit - through spiritual sense, through spiritual vision, an experience with Joel; and it's always there. But there's
such a veil between our human experience and that Reality, and I'm aware of it; and sometimes it makes me very sad; and I guess I don't
know if that is human or divine. There was a time when I was a very good metaphysician, and nothing made me sad. I had a tough
armor. But once you take that armor off, and you become very, very vulnerable through daily surrender to the Christ within, your
sensitivity increases, and you get more gentle and tender, and so there's a change.

For Study: Virginia's Monthly Lesson For February, 2006; Subscriptions for Virginia’s Monthly Lessons:

Leslie Lewis, 340 108th St. West., Bradenton, FL 34209 (941)794-2150 llewis17@tampabay.rr.com

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14 - at UNITY ON THE NORTH SHORE - 7:30 P.M.

GENESIS, Awakening From the Dream, by Virginia Stephenson, Chapter 2: "The Allegory of Adam and Eve"

The story of creation in Genesis 2 and 3 has sometimes been called the Adam dream, because it is an in-depth psychological story of man
falling asleep in the dream of material sense. It tells of his potential, his disobedience, and his expulsion from Eden. This story was told
around the family circle as an oral tradition by the ancient Hebrews of the Middle East.

The name of God given in the stories of the Bible indicates the author's degree of enlightenment. Genesis 1 is a mystical view of
creation. It was written much later than Genesis 2 and 3, probably around 500 BC by Second Isaiah, who was spoken of as the teacher of
righteousness. The name used for God in the first chapter of Genesis is Elohim. This is the name of the unnameable One, the Infinite
Invisible that maintains and sustains the universe. No human concept can be formed of this Deity, for this divine Consciousness is
constantly revealing to us Its divine nature and character as creation.

The name Lord God (Jehovah) of Genesis 2 and 3 is a humanized concept of Deity, which ascribes human form, personality, and
attributes to God. This humanized concept of Deity is influenced by man's changing beliefs in good and evil. In the Adam and Eve story,
man has made God in man's image and likeness, knowing both good and evil. This concept of God exhibits human qualities, whereas the
God of the first chapter of Genesis is Spirit and cannot be conceptualized.

Mind forms our human experience, and thought is the clay. The mind can only form and project pictures, or concepts, similar to a motion
picture projector. In our dreams we see a variety of forms, which are all mind formations. WE give the characters in our dreams mental
bodies, but when we awaken, the dreamer, the dream, and all its formations disappear. Such a mental picture is being formed for us in
this story.

In the anthropomorphic sense of God, there is a feeling of separation and loneliness. By naming and labeling all the creatures, Adam
builds a psychological and intellectual frame of reference from which to function. Instead of enjoying a oneness with creation as a living
soul, he is forming concepts of life, thus making existence a mental experience. When we begin to name and label things, we are
classifying and giving each a distinct nature and character. This fosters a sense of separation in us.

The nature of desire is the belief that something outside of ourselves can satisfy our emptiness. Desire always makes us feel that we are
lacking something, and with the sense of lack, there is also a sense of fear. Desire, lack, and fear are all part of the sense of separation
taking place in the dream.

Because of their disobedience, Adam and Eve now have double vision. Instead of seeing the one Life, they are double-minded, seeing
both good and evil forms of life. In their shame they cover their nakedness and hide themselves from the Lord God. The fruits of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil quickly appear as guilt, shame, and fear. How soon the dream of good can turn into the dream of
evil! Through desire, Eden, understanding, is lost to these two dreamers. Instead of listening to correct, or divine, reasoning, that God
had already provided for them every form of good, they listen to desire and fall more deeply into sleep. Having adulterated their
thinking with the belief in good and evil, they open the way for universal mental suggestion to operate in human consciousness.

For Meditation: GENESIS 2:4-25, 3:1-24

For Study: GENESIS, Awakening From the Dream, Chapter 2.

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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19 - at THE INN OF CHICAGO - 11:00 A.M.

JOEL S. GOLDSMITH: THE 1962 PRINCESS KAIULANI OPEN CLASS

"Infinite Way Healing Principles," Tape 4, Side 2

Let us start with God and God's creation, and if you have not yet experienced it, you will some day if you stay on this Path: there is no
imperfection in any part of God or God's creation, none whatsoever. God is absolute perfection, perfect Being, and so is all of God's
creation. No one was ever born, in God's creation, and no one will ever die, because no one ever began and no one will ever end. The
only way you will ever understand this is through the word "I." When you close your eyes and say, "I," you are identifying a part of you
which has no knowledge of birth or death. This I, or your identity, is actually an identity IN and OF and WITH God, coexists with God,
and is the eternal part of your being. It is that part of your being which has existed for billions of years and will continue to exist,
without interruption, for many more billions of years. In fact, as long as there is a God, there will be a "you," because "I and my Father
are ONE," and not TWO. The I which I am and the I which God is is one and the same I. Therefore, I am immortal. Now, very often,
when you think of mortality, you think of your life beyond the grave, but you do not stop to realize that if immortality is truth, it must
mean your life before you were born. You can't have a life begin and then become immortal. Immortality is from everlasting to
everlasting, without beginning and without end. In other words, you can no more imagine God having begun than you can imagine God
ending; and if I and God are one, you can certainly see that I, in that oneness, have never begun and will never end. My identity, and
this means yours, your identity remains intact, spiritual, perfect, not only after the grave, but it was so before you were born.

… Now, this is your premise in Infinite Way healing work, and if you want to heal, you must first of all remind yourself of this truth, you
must first of all be conscious of the fact that the I of me and the I of God is one, and all that constitutes the I which is God constitutes
the I which is me, for "I and the Father are one."

… Now, think for a minute what you have just declared about God and your spiritual Selfhood, and you will be better enabled to
understand that whatever appears CONTRARY to that infinite perfection which you have declared, exists not as a part of God's creation.
This must be your first remembrance. This is where you take your entire departure from all orthodox religion.

For Meditation: "Since sinlessness is the opposite of sin, it is not this. Since health is the opposite of disease, this is not it. But -
             this too is the Middle Path." - Joel, Wisdom #79
For Study: REALIZATION OF ONENESS, Chapter 11.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19- 12:30 P.M.

JOHN STEPHENSON: THE 2005 CHICAGO CLASS

"The Paradox of Mystical Living," Tape 1, Side 2 (No. 0523)

In contemplating the nature of I, and the nature of body, if we try and separate body from I, we are going to split ourself, we're going to
start looking at physical problems saying, "Oh, that's just the body; that's just the flesh." Yet, here I am placing myself in this spiritual
dimension, but if my body deteriorates, where is the demonstration in that? For this spiritual Awareness maintains and sustains the
environment, the world in which we live.

How does that work? It requires of us the ability to look at physical sense completely, unabashedly, without diverting our eyes. Now,
that is a statement from a great artist. A great film maker, Kirasawa, was asked, "What makes a great film maker? What is it that makes
your films great?" And he said, "Never avert your eye." Meaning that, if we have the courage to look at the complete human picture and
not turn away from the horrors, not become enamored with the "good," we'll start seeing that this human picture is a facade, it is a
shadow, you might say, of a spiritual reality existing right here and now. This spiritual reality is the core of the experience. The spiritual
reality, the spiritual nature of I, when realized, causes (because it is the only cause) a perfection of form, for there cannot be an
imperfect spiritual idea; there cannot be an imperfect spiritual expression. So as I am aware of the spiritual reality, and not holding any
concept of it - see, not even having any concept of body, not having any concept of I, but only having awareness: there is a spiritual
dimension, I am aware of it. As I look at form, and if I see a diseased form, an ugly form, and I do not avert my eyes, and I am not
judging, I am not reacting to what I am seeing, I am being the observer, I am being the witness, that activity (because it is an activity,
this bearing witness to the truth) reveals, spiritually, the perfection of Being; and that perfection of being is apparent in the material
form. So, we can be in the flesh, and we can experience the Divine, the Infinite, and in that experience of the Infinite, we find that
the flesh becomes the temple of God, that we do not have to give up body, that we do not give up this sense of life, to experience this
spiritual dimension, but we experience this spiritual dimension while still in this physical state. "And the Word is made flesh …. And the
Word dwells among us. That Word is I.

For Study: AWAKENING MYSTICAL CONSCIOUSNESS, Chapters 4 and 6.

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28 at 259 SKYLINE DR., CARPENTERSVILLE - 7:30 P.M.

Class, and Tape: LUELLA OVEREEM: THE 1991 GREEN BAY EASTER CLASS

"From Christmas to Easter," Tape 3 Side 2

This journey from Christmas to Easter … It seems to me that you could say, at Christmas we start out as a caterpillar. We spend this time
between, building a cocoon by dropping all the human beliefs and building consciousness; and then Easter is when we become a
butterfly. The cocoon, which is the period that's in the silence - and you are not in the silence unless you drop the human sense of
things. You aren't in it as long as you're thinking thoughts and trying to do something to the human picture. You aren't in the silence. So
our cocoon building takes quite a good part of the journey. Letting go of all this material sense and practicing all the principles, living by
them, and meditating so that we have the truth revealed to us. It usually seems to be a little at a time, but it is this cocoon of silence
where it's all taking place; and then we come out free and in a totally different dimension, as a butterfly. The caterpillar certainly can't
fly. That's the resurrection, the transformation from being a "worm in the dust" to being a butterfly.

This is the part that we have to keep with, and it's the whole Way and all there is to it, really. Our desire, spiritually interpreted,
whatever it seems to be, is really a desire for more light and more awareness of the Presence, that we may attain this "mind that was in
Christ Jesus," so we can see what's already present. It's already manifest, and we become aware of it. That's what our transformation is
about: it's a transformation in consciousness, from seeing with human sense to seeing spiritually, spiritual discernment.

For Meditation: "'Living the spiritual life begins with practicing the presence of God.'. Practicing the presence of God is not for the
purpose of improving our humanhood; it is for the purpose of making us aware of the truth that we are spiritual being, not human beings
at all. Humanhood is the mask covering up our spiritual identity,and through our practicing seeing God as our food, God as our clothing,
God as our health, God as our safety and protection, God as the activity of our days and nights, we gradually come into the realization
of the truth that God is the one and only power and presence."

"This LETTER makes it very clear hot to practice the presence of God, step by step, from morning to night,     and from night to
morning, abiding in the Word, acknowledging God in all our ways, and taking no thought for the human sense of life, but keeping our
minds stayed on God's life which is our life, and the only life we have."

"We are now spiritual being. We have been spiritual being from the beginning, and we will eternally be spiritual being. There is no
power that can change that truth. In the first chapter of Genesis it says that      God created man in His image and likeness. God created
the heavens and the earth, and everything therein, God created man in the image of God, and gave him dominion over everything on
earth. But it does not say that man realized the nature of his being, nor that he realized the nature of the dominion he had been given.
It does say that man was given the capacity to become aware, however: 'Be fruitful and multiply'."

"Contemplate that verse 28. Doesn't it mean to become aware of what God has created, to bear spiritual fruit? Doesn't it mean to attain
dominion over the appearances? Man was given all, and given the capacity to realize what he had been given. 'And God saw every thing
that he had made, and behold, it was very good."

- Luella, from the February, 1976 Lesson

For Study:

Luella, From DEVELOPING SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS, Vol. II: February, 1976 Lesson

                                                            SIGNPOSTS

How wonderful, this moment!
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fortunately, God's man is not of time or space. Therefore all "temporal" powers are of no power whatsoever.I am not to be found in "this
world."

(The above came to me while working with this month's material - Bob)
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"This is the function of The Infinite Way: to bring you to the place where you live by God, by the presence of God, not by statements of
truth. The one demonstration you can make in The Infinite Way is the demonstration of the presence of God - that moment when you
feel that "God is on the field." Then you are living by grace. Then you will realize: "Thy grace is my sufficiency in all things." Not that
quotation, but the actual realized grace or presence is my sufficiency, and there is sufficient grace present to meet the needs of this
moment. Everyone wants God ten years from now but, just as nature provides enough air in your lungs for this second, so God is
sufficient grace for this second. As God's grace never stops, you always have enough grace for this moment. There is no future heaven;
there is no heavenly heaven; this moment is the only heaven there is. The only heaven there is, is living in this moment, because only in
this moment do you have sufficient grace to provide you with the spiritual bread, meat, wine, water - even resurrection. There is
enough grace present in this moment to resurrect your body, your marriage, your fortune, your business - whatever the world says you
have lost; and as you live in this moment, that grace becomes a continuing experience bringing about fulfillment."

                                - Joel, From CONSCIOUSNESS TRANSFORMED, pp. 330-331