Customer Reviews

The Art of Meditation

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As with most of his work, The Art of Meditation does an excellent job of illustrating Joel Goldsmith's approach to prayer and meditation.

The key to happiness, says Joel, is to make conscious contact with the presence of God within. Prayer and meditation can be excellent assistances in this regard.

The Art of Meditation isn't so much a "how to" book as it is a "why to" book. After years of diligently praying and meditating, Joel Goldsmith himself received inumerable insights and helped thousands of people to heal.

Highly recommended, along with almost all of Joel's other work.

I bought this book about ten years ago and I only read about a chapter or two of it. The difficulty I had with this book was not that I didn't understand what he was talking about, it was that I couldn't follow the suggestions Goldsmith was making.

Joel Goldsmith suggests that when you meditate, you do not ask God for anything...nothing! And that's a very hard thing for most of us to do. Even when we think we're not asking God for things, we usually are. And it's not that I'm against asking God for things because I am of the opinion that "God loves to be used" but not during meditation...especially not during meditation!

Meditation is for the sole/the soul purpose of letting God be God in you. It's about letting the peace, the love, the joy well up from within and take over. Meditation is about being true to your True Self and letting the veil that "separates" the seen from the unseen drop away and realize with real eyes that everything is One.

I don't think this book is neccessarily for Christians as one reviewer said it was. A lot of the terminology is undeniably Christian, but if you are open enough to read this book, you're probably open enough to know that just because they may be Christian words, Christianity does not own them. Truth does not belong to a particular religion. Truth is an ultimate that every person must discover for themselves and it can be done by reading this book and attempting to do what it suggests.

May we let God be God in us, as us in all that we think, do, and say. May our only prayer be a prayer of thanks and may we dwell only on God's Perfect Kindom when we meditate.

I first read this book in 1973, I will never forget the day, when light dawned on my consciouness and I comprehended what Joel Goldsmith meant when he wrote; "God is individual Being". That day changed my life. I have since read everything Joel Goldsmith has written and highly recommend "A Parenthesis in Eternity" I also was very fortunate to hear, on tape, his last lecture. I have been a student of religion, philosophy and mystism for over 30 yrs and of all my readings, I have yet to disagree with anything Joel has written.

Being a Christian in a twelve step recovery program, I was in search of books on the topic of meditation. Goldsmith's "The Art of Meditation" surpassed my expectations and presented me with an alternate to the "mystical" appraches to meditation that are so popular today. It has been very helpful to me, uplifts me and glorifies God.

Goldsmith throughout all his works stresses the importance of meditation as the superior method to entering reality. But he does not provide many details as to how to meditate. If you have not read any of the authors other books it might be better to start with Living The Infinite Way. If you are looking for books on meditation you might want to examine Thomas Merton (Christian) or Hazrat Inayat Khan (Sufi) for instance.

This book is a life-changer. Joel Goldsmith presents a down to earth spiritual path that is genuine, universal, and not "religious". Joel uses the context of the Bible and Christian understanding to go much deeper into the true meaning of the Kingdom of God and how we can find our own connection to the Divine. I particularly resonated with the concept that one can follow only one principle (ie. love or peace...) and if we steadfastly meditate on that aspect our whole spirit gains insight and understanding.

I've read a lot of meditation books, and done a number of different retreats - Quaker, Buddhist, yogic, other. Sometimes the words get old, and I stop hearing them deeply. This book describes profound truths in largely Christian terms, but the trajectory goes way beyond mainstream (superficial) Christianity. It takes the reader to the heart of all true teachings: the kingdom of heaven IS; it is now; and it is within. The spiritual life is not so much about being a better somebody or affiliating correctly, as it is about looking beyond all preceived obstructions toward the depth and breadth of truth itself. Yes!

If you are looking for a way to connect with your inner self, and your religious background is Christian, look no further. I have read books on Buddism, Zen(what is it?)and other Eastern style "religions". Joel S. Goldsmith speaks to the heart of all who are looking for that connection within and have an understanding of the Bible. After all, there are many messengers, but the Message remains the same! Why retrain your brain

This book is on a par with Goldsmith's other books, i.e. of an equally high quality. He is now my favourite spiritual author, though I also highly appreciate Neville. After reading only a few pages of any of Goldsmith's books, I can feel a tangible elevation of consciousness, impossible for me to describe. I always read at least a chapter from one of his books before retiring.

This particular book differs from the author's other books in that the subject-matter is more specific - he explains to us in detail his system of meditation.

Firstly, it must be made clear that though many of us may think of meditation merely as a practice to enable us to find calm and harmony in our lives together with obtaining possible improvement in both our mental and physical health, Goldsmith's viewpoint was another. To his mind meditation was an absolutely essential practice (he spent 9 or 10 hours out of 24 in meditation) leading finally to "illumination, communion, and union" with God: he devoted his life to obtaining this union and to communicating his experiences and teachings.

The first third of the book deals with the "practice". The author states that anyone with "sufficient perseverance, application and fidelity" can "cultivate a Christ awareness". I found this first section to be extremely useful.

The second section dealing with "the experience" seemed a bit diffuse to me. But this remark has probably more to do with my own limitations as regards consciousness than anything else.

I found the third section, "the fruits", extremely inspiring. He describes union with God as a state where there no longer is any "I" - "There is no you; there is no I; there is only God being."

There are many wonderful writers on spiritual matters, but I know of no others whose teachings are at so high a level as those of Joel Goldsmith.

I would like to point out that in my opinion you do not have to be a Christian to appreciate this book - I am not. You just have to be able to look beyond the author's terminology.

I strongly recommend this work to all spiritually interested readers, particularly those with the ultimate spiritual goal - union with God.

Goldsmith demystifies all the "techniques" and makes it accessible to 'everyman'. Unquestionably a wonderful and classic book, this has helped many people. A parallel and remarkable book that achieves an equal clarity in a field filled with profound minefields is "THE Autobiography" by Richard Patton. This book like Goldsmith's clearly lays out the passage of spirituality and the making of it a reality in our daily lives. We need more committed authors like this to light our way. Highly recommended.