Saturday, February 27, 2010

Joel Goldsmith and St. Benedict


Anyone who knows me well can vouch for the fact that I have a great number of heroes. The title of this blog post names just two.

A few days ago, I was reading the daily portion of the Rule of St. Benedict on the Benedictine website (www.osb.org)and thought to myself, that is exactly the point that Joel Goldsmith made in his works. Joel Goldsmith and St. Benedict are separated by over 1,000 years but we conjecture that some truths are timeless.

The specific reference from the rule was "It is not in speaking much that we are heard" quoting a verse in Proverbs. Joel, on many occasions, points those on the Infinite Way to a practice of repeating a short phrase frequently to bring ourselves into the presence of God. My favorite pointer that Joel recommends is "I and the Father are one," quoting Jesus. Uncanny isn't it. Equally ironic, is that the Catholic Church had the rosary and a host of ejaculations that were aimed at a similar awareness of God's presence and the Orthodox Church had the Jesus Prayer. Outside of Christianity, I would place the mantras of the Bhuddist in the same category. We know that Joel spent years studying spiritual truth, so it really is not all that surprising that at his level of consciousness, we find a unity of thought with other spiritual masters and traditions.

All the same, if you are not acquainted with Joel Goldsmith's body of work, you might find it very helpful.

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