Practising the Present [Paperback]

I know a lot of sincere people who are very religious and yet they seem to be so unhappy and so unfulfilled. One even "confessed" to me, "Y'know, John, I believe in God, but I often wish that God was right here to help me go through with what I'm going through..."

I was completely shocked but then I remembered what it was like to believe in God and yet feeling like God was not around when I needed God. It wasn't because God wasn't there, it was because I had this belief that God's Life and my Life were two completely different things. It really blew my mind the first time I walked into a metaphysical church and heard this New Thought practitioner say with complete sincerity and yet with complete humility, "There is One Life and that Life is God and that Life is my life now..."

That simple statement brought tears to my eyes. I had been so brainwashed to think and feel and even act as though I was this completely unworthy, undeserving, sinner; that God the Living Spirit wanted nothing at all to do with my life, but all of the sudden I came face to face (or was it soul to soul?)with the beautiful Truth that my life was/is/and will always be the Life of God. It is what animates me, it is what heals me, restores me, renews me, and blesses me in every moment. To get to this point of knowing and feeling that God is Present as Presence, one must learn to sense this Presence, to feel it within every fiber of their being, and the only way we can learn to know that this presence is Present is to get still and when we get still enough to know and feel that this life is all around us and within us, we can be like the Psalmist and say from the depths of our soul, "Be still and know that I am God..."

Our "I AM" is God Itself. Our "I AM" guides us, directs us, leads us out of the wilderness of being alone and afraid and into the green valley of plenty and abundance. This plenty and abundance is already present within us. we do not ask to become rich, we ask God to see the riches that are already within us. we do not ask God to heal us, we ask God to show us how we are already whole and holy beings living in a Whole and Holy universe. Truly, God's Grace is our sufficiency and that everything we could possibly want, need, or desire is already present and we just have to be willing to let it flow through us, as us.

This book makes you realize that our purpose here is be that place/that space of Love, of Peace, of Goodness. We must not allow our vision to become clouded with thoughts of war, hatred, poverty and lack. We must put our attention and our focus on Heaven rather than hell...on God rather than sin...on Peace rather than war. This book will help you to remember that in each and every moment, God is and it is through this simple yet powerful awareness that God is always present where miracles take place. Miracles are supposed to happen. Miracles are our birthright.

If you are new to this way of thinking, welcome! Welcome to Life! Welcome to a new way of thinking, a new way of feeling, a new way of being in the world but not of the world. And if you have been in New Thought for awhile and haven't yet read this book, do your heart, your mind, your soul a true gift and allow yourself to remember why you are really here -- to Live and to abundantly well.

Peace and Blessings...

I love this book. It always calms and centers me. I have
learned so much here. Somewhere about pg. 58 or so, I was
able to overnight double my income/etc....due to the insights
of the author. Not about using God, but about understanding
how it all works. Basic concept was this: paraphrased...
"when I stop sitting at the feet of the Master waiting to be fed, and become the Master, feeding the unillumined, then I am
prospered."
Thy Grace is My Sufficiency. My consciousness is the
substance of my world.
Truth realized is Spiritual consciousness.
If you've found this review, you're probably ready for
Goldsmith...one of the most profound and aware mystics of
our century! Also read: Parenthesis in Eternity and
Thunder of Silence! WOW!

I own this book as a hardcover, purchased in the early 1980's. It has been so well read and used that the binding has come unglued and the white lettering on the black spine is wearing away. What more can I say?

My book is marked up with highlighting which I would apply whenever I'd read something that caused the 'light' to come on. The book is full of Joel's meditations in Italics which, when contemplated on, will guide you into all Truth.

When my elderly dad was laying in a hospital one time (not an Infinite Way student), I took this book and read the meditations to him out loud by his bedside. He told me it gave him such a sense of peace. Is it no wonder? God IS peace and was right there with us, AS us.

I've also been told that Practicing The Presence, by Joel Goldsmith, is required reading for a number of 'metaphysical' courses in the United States and abroad.

If you're thinking of which book to start with, this will be a great beginning!

Gail Gupton, Author: The 31-Day Diet of Spiritual Enlightenment and Seekers of Truth