About Joel S. Goldsmith

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     Joel S. Goldsmith was born on March 10, 1892, in New York City. His father was a successful importer of European laces and textiles, and his mother was a cultured woman who instilled in him an appreciation for music. Despite his family's background, Goldsmith only attended school through the eighth grade. He then began traveling and learning his father's business.

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     Goldsmith grew up as a non-practicing Jew, grounded in the ethical principles of the Decalogue but with minimal Jewish education. In 1915, his father fell ill during a business trip to Great Britain. After his father unexpectedly recovered following an encounter with a Christian Science healing practitioner, Goldsmith began questioning the existence and nature of God. He started educating himself about Christian Science and other religious teachings.

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     At the age of 21, Goldsmith became a Mason, an affiliation he maintained throughout his life as an independent religious teacher. After serving in the U.S. Marines during World War I, Goldsmith returned to the family business, which eventually failed due to post-war competition. He then became critically ill with tuberculosis. Given a prognosis of only three months to live, he consulted a Christian Science healer and recovered within that timeframe.

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     Years later, while working as a traveling salesman, Goldsmith again sought help from a Christian Science healer when he fell ill in Detroit. This marked the beginning of his conversion experience, leading him to become a Christian Science healer himself. People began seeking him out for healing, and he gradually abandoned his sales career to focus on spiritual healing full-time.

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     Goldsmith joined a Christian Science church in New York and served as a spiritual advisor and healer at Rikers Island Prison. He adopted a policy of never charging for his services, relying on unsolicited income. By the early 1930s, he was successful enough to marry Rose Robb and support her two children.

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     The family moved to Boston, where Goldsmith built another successful Christian Science healing practice. Despite his lack of formal education, he was allowed to enroll in Sanskrit language courses at Harvard University, enabling him to study ancient Hindu wisdom and mystical philosophy. After ten years in Boston, Goldsmith moved to Florida with his wife, who passed away shortly after. Following a brief return to Boston, he relocated to California.

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     In California, Goldsmith married Nadea Allen in 1945. He began to feel that he had learned all he could from the Christian Science movement and decided to separate himself from organized religion. He believed a revelation of truth was unfolding to him, transcending existing religious structures. As an independent mystic, he published his first book, "The Infinite Way," in 1946.

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     Living in California, Goldsmith gained a reputation as a spiritual teacher. Despite disclaiming scholarly knowledge of the Bible, students sought him out for spiritual guidance. He developed a mystical method of biblical interpretation, which he described in "Spiritual Interpretation of Scripture" (1948). This method involved opening the Bible randomly and meditating on the passage until its esoteric meaning became clear.

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     Goldsmith received invitations to speak across the Pacific Northwest, and recordings of his lectures accumulated. In 1950, he was invited to give spiritual instruction at the Unity Center in Waikiki, Honolulu, prompting him to consider moving to Hawaii. This plan strained his marriage, as his wife did not want to leave California. Goldsmith eventually settled in Hawaii alone and, after several years of separation, divorced his wife in January 1956. He married Emma Lindsay in March 1957.

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     Initially, Goldsmith held classes in his home in Hawaii, but the influence of his writings led to demand for him to travel and lecture. His students formed groups known as Tape Groups, listening to recordings of his lectures. These groups sponsored his trips to Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, creating an international network of followers of the Infinite Way.

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     Goldsmith insisted that the Infinite Way should never become an organized religion. Instead, it was a mode of consciousness. He experienced this consciousness intensely over many years, beginning in November 1928 when he first heard an inner voice guiding him. This voice prompted him to meditate and led to a series of spiritual experiences he called "initiations," culminating in conscious union with God.

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     In November 1954, during a visit to Zurich, Switzerland, Goldsmith reached the peak of his mystical experience, which he described as becoming "Christed." The core of the Infinite Way is mystical monism, similar to neo-Platonism and Vedanta. It posits that all phenomena are transient manifestations of the infinite, eternal spiritual One. Each individual contains a fragment of this One, naturally inclined to return to its true nature.

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     Through prayer and meditation, individuals can achieve a super-rational understanding of unity with God, recognizing pain and suffering as illusory. Goldsmith reinterpreted Christianity in line with monistic principles, seeing Jesus' sonship as the perfect attainment of conscious union with God—a destiny he believed was achievable for all humans.

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    In his later years, Goldsmith published several books, including "The Art of Meditation" (1956), "Practicing the Presence" (1958), "The Art of Spiritual Healing" (1959), "Conscious Union with God" (1960), "Living the Infinite Way" (1961), "The Thunder of Silence" (1961), "A Parenthesis in Eternity" (1963), and "Leave Your Nets" (1964). After his death on June 17, 1964, additional books were published based on his taped and transcribed lectures.