The Art of Meditation

Most men and women are convinced that there is a divine Power of some sort operating in human affairs; but they are not sure what it is, nor do they know how to bring this divine Presence and Power into their daily experience.

1. The Way
2. The Purpose
3. The Practice
4. The Indissoluble Union
5. The Difficulties
6. The Meditation of My Heart (Foreword to Part Two)
7. The Earth Is the Lord's
8. For God So Loved the World
9. Ye Are the Temple
10. The Silver Is Mine
11. The Place Whereon Thou Standest
12. For Love Is of God
13. For He Is Thy Life
14. Fear Not
15. The Tabernacle of God
16. The Beauty of Holiness
17. The Fruit of the Spirit
18. Illumination, Communion, and Union
19. A Circle of Christhood

• Standard reference inside the Infinite Way community and a recurring recommendation in Christian-Science-adjacent contemplative reading lists. Goldsmith's audience is smaller than Holmes's or Murphy's but unusually devoted; his 30-plus books still circulate steadily through Acropolis Books decades after his death. Outside the lineage the book is rarely cited and academic religious studies treats Goldsmith as a footnote to mid-century New Thought rather than a primary figure. The slim format and devotional voice are part of the appeal for his readership.

  Index reception note

What is The Art of Meditation about?

Joel Goldsmith's 1956 short manual on contemplative listening as the core practice of his Infinite Way teaching. The book treats meditation not as relaxation but as the path from petition-prayer to direct apprehension of what Goldsmith calls the Christ-presence within.

What is the Infinite Way?

A mid-twentieth-century Christian-mystical teaching founded by Joel Goldsmith (1892–1964), drawing on Christian Science, the Bible and the apophatic tradition. The Art of Meditation is one of its four foundational books, alongside The Infinite Way, Practicing the Presence and The Art of Spiritual Healing.

How does Goldsmith's meditation differ from petition-prayer?

Goldsmith argues that asking God for things keeps the practitioner inside the human mind, whereas meditation is a stilling of that mind so the practitioner can become aware of a Presence already present. The shift, in his vocabulary, is from prayer-as-asking to prayer-as-listening.

Author

Joel Goldsmith

Title

The Art of Meditation

Original title

The art of meditation

Publisher

Allen & Unwin

Year

1 January 1956

Pages

154

Language

English

ISBN

9780062503794

Shelf

Meditation · Presence · New Thought

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