NOON MEDITATIONS
December 1961NOON MEDITATIONS FOR BUSINESS, AND PROFESSIONAL MEN AND WOMEN
The following is a program that I carried out for a period of a week many years ago in Portland, Oregon, and the fruitage of it was so great that I hoped that some day this might be a permanent part of Infinite Way work.
This type of meditation and instruction can be carried on in many different ways. For instance, where there is a Study Center such as we have at present in Waikiki, in Los Angeles, in Chicago, where the rooms are in public buildings in the heart of the business districts, there can be a noon program arranged one week in each month, preferably the first Monday through Saturday of each month, daily starting at 12:10 P.M. and continuing for fifteen to twenty minutes. It could be arranged as a program for business and professional men and women.
The idea is to start with a meditation for three, four, or five minutes, and then have six Scriptural passages, so that there will be a different one for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, and then on Friday, those attending will not only be given their Friday Scriptural quotation, but will be given their Saturday work to carry with them, since there will undoubtedly be no session on Saturday, and the Saturday session will, in every case, be the same, as you will note later.
You will, of course, work with your concordance to the Bible, and find appropriate passages so that each month there will be a different set of quotations. I will now give you one set and my idea of how this program would be conducted.
It is 12:10 P.M. on Monday, and I start the meditation, which will continue from three to five minutes, and then announce that the quotation today is, Proverbs 3:5 and 6: "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy path."
Here I note that the essence of this quotation is ". . . lean not unto thine own understanding"; do not have too much reliance on what I myself know, or in my own wisdom or my own strength, or my own ability, but acknowledge always, and in all ways, that there is this infinite Invisible, closer to me than breathing, nearer than hands and feet, that is divine Wisdom, infinite Strength, Omnipotence. It is He that performeth that which is given me to do. It is He that goes before me to make the crooked places straight. It is this divine Presence within me that is greater than any problems that I have to face. Ah, yes, even more than this: this He that is within me is Omnipotence, and therefore, there is no power external to me. There is no power in person, thing, or condition, for the divine Presence within me is the infinite All-Power: Omnipotence, Omnipresence, Omniscience. Think of what those three words mean: Omnipotence, Omnipresence, Omniscience, and understand fully their meaning, and then you will see how impossible it is to fear what mortal man can do to me, or what mortal conditions can do to me, since there can be no power except that which is within me.
If you rightly understand this passage of Scripture, you can certainly speak on it for ten minutes, and then comes your instruction to the listeners to keep some part of this message alive in their consciousness throughout the day and night, and tomorrow morning, until the next noon meeting, because this truth held in consciousness is what makes you free. Then the final meditation, and the period is closed.
Tuesday, and our passage is Luke 4:4. "And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God."
Here we will interpret that word "bread" to mean anything or anybody in the external realm. That is, man shall not live by food alone or climate or air or pull or influence. Man shall not live by money alone or investments or property, but actually, man does live by every word of God. Ah, yes, but this means every word of God that is maintained in consciousness, that is, in the consciousness of individual you and me. You will remember that the Master said, "Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." You will also remember that it is written in our writings that truth maintained in our consciousness is the law of annihilation to any and every form of universal belief or hypnotism. And you will remember that the Master taught that if you "abide in the word and let the word abide in you, you will bear fruit richly." Do you not see, then, that from this moment until tomorrow noon when we meet again, that you must find occasion to maintain in your consciousness some word of truth, some passage of Scripture, some metaphysical truth or mystical revelation that will keep you consciously in the Word and will keep the Word of God consciously in your consciousness.
It is helpful to remember that since God is Spirit, all substance is spiritual, and all power is spiritual and, therefore, these must be omnipresent where you are, and these must likewise be omnipotent. Discipline yourself, train yourself, so that whether you eat or drink, whether you are out in business or at work in your home, that you are finding occasion throughout the days and nights to maintain truth in your consciousness, to remember many of the sublime passages of Scripture, and the principles revealed in our teachings.
It is Wednesday, and our quotation is Isaiah 26:3: "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." How, in the midst of a busy day and a tired evening, shall we keep our mind stayed on God, on truth, on the Presence that is within us? There are no formulas, therefore, each one must determine how to make this practice of the presence of God.
Certainly on waking in the morning, we can give a few moments to the realization that even while we slept, darkness was turning to light, and buds were being prepared to become blossoms and flowers, and barren trees were being supplied with leaves, and at the same time, winter was gradually, slowly turning to spring, or spring was in the process of becoming summer, or summer was in the process of becoming fall, and fall giving way to winter. All of this was taking place by an invisible action, and in each one of these seasons the evidence was visible. Just think, there was visible evidence in this world of an invisible Force, Power, Cause – call it what you will, it is God. Certainly with every meal or snack we can pause for a moment to realize that God's Grace is all that can grow crops. If we had seed and if we had ground and if we had rain and if we had snow and if we had sunshine, all of these would be of no avail, unless operating in and through all of these, the grace of God is functioning.
We may have occasion to remember that the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, and how easily we can prove this by remembering that in the ground there is not only the soil that grows our crops, but iron, copper, gold, silver, diamonds, oil, and oh! so many other things already discovered, and some not yet discovered. In the sea, hidden from view, there are fish, and the most wonderful plant life, and even pearls beyond price. It would be difficult for a student on the spiritual Path to find even five minutes in a row in which some phase or facet of God, the activity of God, the creation of God, the maintaining and sustaining power of God is not in evidence. Look at the great art, music, literature of the world, and ask yourself if any of this could really be without divine intervention.
And now we come to Thursday, and here we have a tremendous opportunity with John 14:27: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."
Here now is your opportunity to share what you have received and realized the first half of the week. Now you will not make a move inside or outside of your home without giving this peace: Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you, unto every individual you meet, or every individual who comes to you in thought. And this same peace you give unto every animal, and you speak to every doorway that you face, going in or coming out. Just think, the peace that you have attained on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday through your communion with God, now you share with all with whom you come in contact.
Never, never, never can you forget to give this peace: The Christ peace, the Spiritual peace give I unto you, not the kind of peace that the world gives. Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I unto thee: the Christ peace, the peace that passeth understanding, God's peace. Just think, not only must you not withhold this Christ peace from anyone, but you must actually seek opportunities to bestow it. And this you do always silently, sacredly, secretly. Always remember this: none of this is done outwardly or openly; it is done only silently, sacredly, secretly. This day gives us our greatest opportunity, because it enables us to cast our bread upon the waters and to carry the spirit of God wherever we travel.
Friday, and we have John 4:31: "In the meanwhile his disciples prayed him, saying Master, eat. But he said unto them, I have meat that ye know not of." Here we set the seal on our week of prayer and meditation in the realization that regardless of what claim or problem, fear, sin, or disease may confront us, that we have the invisible Meat, the Substance, the Christ with which to meet every circumstance and condition. We have spent many years of human life trying to attain, to get, to receive, to have, and now we come to a complete change in our consciousness, because now, regardless of what appearance of lack may appear, or what it is that we seem to need, we have recourse to the highest form of prayer revealed on earth. And that is the realization – that I already have Meat. I already have the Substance of all form, the Activity of all good. Here we bring our prayer and meditation up to the point of IS, and the continuous recognition of the meaning of IS as it is revealed in that statement, "I have meat;" always resting back in that statement, "I have." I have now. I am no longer seeking, I am no longer reaching out for, I am no longer reaching out to – not even to God, for I already have. The kingdom of God is within me now. I already have Meat, and it is invisible, the world recognizes it not, but I have it. You yourself will realize the many ways in which this passage can be presented so that on Friday we relax from all attempts to get, acquire, achieve, or receive, but live that entire twenty-four hour period in the realization of "Thank you, Father, I have an invisible Meat."
When your period has come to a close after your meditation, you now give your listeners their Saturday work, and this will be the same every Saturday of your work, and the quotation is from Isaiah 30:15: "In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength." Here you will explain that we now have a spiritual Sabbath. We do not pray on the Sabbath, we do not labor on the Sabbath, but in quietness and in confidence we refuse every opportunity to pray; we refuse every opportunity to give a treatment or receive a treatment. It is our spiritual Sabbath in which we have nothing to do but let God run the universe. This is the one day in the week when God needs no help from us and gets none, because this is our spiritual Sabbath in which we will not labor physically, mentally, or spiritually. We will relax in Him. We will relax in our confidence that God is running His universe, and running it well. Regardless of what temptations we face on our spiritual Sabbath, we will smile at it, and we will retire within ourselves in quietness and in confidence, and we will resist any and all temptations to come out of our spiritual shell.
Here you will remember that we have tapes on the spiritual Sabbath, and these will be helpful in explaining the nature of the spiritual Sabbath. There may also be an opportunity here to explain about Sunday. Sunday is really a time of communion, and from the writings and the tapes and the Letters, you will find so much on this subject of spending Sunday in an inner communion with God, and this you can share wherever the opportunity presents itself. To you who have tape groups at home or elsewhere, please make a thorough study of this manuscript until you feel capable of conducting and imparting this work. You can readily see that such sessions as these would be of equal importance to the members of your groups who could not attend noon meetings.
Remember the wide scope that you have in presenting this, because you have a Bible and a concordance, and you can find enough passages so that when your groups increase in size, or when you find those who would be interested in having such work two weeks a month or four weeks a month, you have enough material at hand to keep going for years and years to come, and then you could start all over again.
Naturally I will be happy to hear from you from time to time as to your presentation of this program and of the fruitage.
Aloha greetings, Joel
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