Joel S. Goldsmith

Joel S. Goldsmith was born in New York City on March 10, 1892.[3] His parents were non-practicing Jews, who were married in New York City in 1891. Joel was their first child. They had another son two years later, followed by a daughter two years thereafter.

In 1915, Joel's father became critically ill while in England and word was sent to the Goldsmith family to come for the body. However, according to Joel, his father was healed by a Christian Science practitioner in London.[3] From his early adulthood, Joel Goldsmith had many spiritual experiences.

He was a healer who spent many years in spiritual studies, reading original scriptures of Aramaic, Greek and Sanskrit origins. His first book, The Infinite Way, was published in 1948.[4]

After serving in the Marines during World War I, Goldsmith returned to work in the garment district of New York City, where he owned his own business. While on a return trip from Europe, he developed pneumonia. As was his father before him, Goldsmith was healed by a Christian Science practitioner who happened to be on board his ship at the time.

In 1928, strangers began approaching Goldsmith on the street, asking for prayer and healing. He had no religious training whatsoever, but these people allegedly were healed. To seek answers about this phenomenon, Goldsmith first entered the Christian Science Church and worked at Rikers Island prison as a First Reader. After 16 years, he left the Church and moved to Boston, where he set up his own office. He moved to California before World War II and maintained a successful healing practice there.

In 1948 Goldsmith wrote the book The Infinite Way, which came to the attention of Willing Publishers. The book's title also became the name associated with his spiritual message and work.[5]

Goldsmith’s stated that the “original unfoldment [] was given to me some time after 1909."[6]^:3 "[W]hen I was nineteen, whether it was the Voice or an impression, Something within me said, 'Find the man Jesus, and you will have the secret of life.' That was a strange thing to say to me because I knew nothing of Jesus Christ beyond the name and that Christmas was a holiday celebrating his birth."[7]^:9

Goldsmith recounted, “Thus the search began: Where is God? What is God? How do we bring God into our experience? Eventually, late in 1928, the Experience took place, that first God-experience. [...] an experience that could not be described. Whereas in one moment I was like every other human being, in the next moment my body was well, and many undesirable human habits were gone. I found that a healing power was present and that I was on the threshold of a whole new life. The old life was dead; a new one had begun [...].[6]^:4

Goldsmith described the Experience in greater detail elsewhere. “I was taken sick in the city of Detroit, went to a building that was filled with Christian Science practitioners, found the name of a practitioner on the board, went up to the man’s office, and asked him to help me. He told me that it was Saturday and that he didn’t take patients on Saturdays. That day he always spent in meditation and prayer."[7]^:16 Goldsmith convinced the practitioner to allow him to sit with him. “He talked to me about the Bible; he talked to me of truth. Long before the two hours were up, I was healed of that cold, and when I went out on the street I found I couldn’t smoke any more. When eating my dinner I found I couldn’t drink any more. The following week I found I couldn’t play cards any more, and I also found that I couldn’t go to the horse races any more. And the businessman had died.”[7]^:16 He noted that soon after, people began approaching him for healing.

Goldsmith self-published[8] his most famous work, The Infinite Way, in 1947, which was based on letters to patients and students. He also published The Spiritual Interpretation of Scripture.

The writings which followed were transcriptions of his lectures which had been recorded on the first wire recorders in the late 1940s. These were distributed by Goldsmith Publishing. They were: The Master Speaks, The First, Second, Third San Francisco Lecture Series, Consciousness Unfolding, God the Substance of All Form, and Metaphysical Notes. These original books were later republished during Goldsmith's lifetime by publishers in various countries, making over fifty books.

As Goldsmith was approached by large publishing houses around the world to produce books of his talks, he enlisted the help of Lorraine Sinkler[9] and her sister Valborg to edit his books, which were generally compiled from various lecture transcripts.[10]

Goldsmith's insistence on "no organization" insured that his message remained a personal journey with leaders naturally evolving from new generations. There is no service, ritual, dogma, or ceremony in the practice of the Infinite Way. Goldsmith students can be found in all walks of life, in all religions. His message is one that can be read and heard for a lifetime, always allowing new understandings to unfold in each individual.[11]

Goldsmith stressed "contemplative meditation" practice in his teaching. The method he generally taught involved short frequent meditation periods throughout the day. He told his student of 18 years, Walter Starcke, that the main reason to meditate was that through reaching the inner silence one could hear the still small voice and receive its intuitive guidance.[12] His teaching also stressed spiritual healing through conscious contact with God.

After writing the work, Goldsmith expected to retire to a life of contemplation. However, the work prompted people to seek him out as a spiritual teacher, leading to the extension of his career, teaching and writing.

Joel Solomon Goldsmith died on June 17, 1964, at the Piccadilly Hotel, Westminster, London, UK. His body was cremated at Golders Green in London on June 18, 1964, and his ashes and effects were released to his widow, Emma Goldsmith, who took them back to their home in Hawaii. Both were interred in Sun City, Arizona.[13]

• JoelGoldsmith.com, maintained by Sue Ropac, grand-daughter of Goldsmith's wife.
• Guide to the Joel S. Goldsmith Papers 1949-1964 at the University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center