Stillness · “Stillness Reveals”
The Infinite Way Meditation
Through short, frequent periods of contemplation that ripen into wordless silence, become receptive enough to hear ‘the still small voice’ — culminating in ‘the click,’ a felt release Goldsmith called the experience of the Presence.
Sit in a listening attitude. Gently ponder God as the Presence within until thought stops on its own. Rest in the silence, receptive. Let the deep breath / release (“the click”) come of itself. Repeat in short periods through the day.
What it is
Joel Goldsmith made meditation “the very foundation” of his Infinite Way teaching. Its purpose, he insisted, is not to seek or get at-one with God but communion with the Father within — and specifically to grow silent and receptive enough to hear “the still small voice” and receive its guidance.
The practice is contemplative: brief, frequent sittings in a listening attitude, ripening from gentle pondering into thought-free silence, often marked by “the click” — a deep breath or sense of release Goldsmith read as the Presence becoming active in consciousness.
The Method
Goldsmith taught two movements — contemplation, then silence — done in short periods many times a day:
- Sit and assume a listening attitude. Settle quietly “as if you were waiting to hear the answer.” Receptivity, not effort, is the whole posture.
- Contemplate God. Gently ponder a spiritual idea — “What is God?” — thinking of the Father within as “omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient,” the source of being. Let the mind dwell on it without straining.
- Let thought come to rest. “Someday, while meditating and pondering the idea. you will suddenly find that you cannot think any more.” Contemplation gives way to stillness.
- Rest in the silence. “You will sit there quietly, at peace, with no more thoughts, no more questions, and no more answers. Just peace.” Hold the listening receptivity; do not grasp.
- Receive the click. “The inner ear will open, and a long, deep breath like a sigh of relief or a sense of release will probably come to you” — “as if a burden were dropping off your shoulders.” Goldsmith called this release the felt activity of the Presence. Then return gently to the day.
- Repeat often. Many brief meditations through the day — on waking, before tasks, before sleep — matter more than one long sitting. (Sourcing note: quoted phrases reflect Goldsmith’s published descriptions of contemplation, the silence, and “the click”; the numbered structure is attributed paraphrase.)
Source & Lineage
Joel S. Goldsmith (1892–1964), a former Christian Science practitioner, founded The Infinite Way and taught a mystical, non-dual New Thought. Meditation is its central practice, set out in The Art of Meditation (1956) among other works and class recordings.
The “still small voice” image is biblical (1 Kings 19); “the click” is Goldsmith’s own descriptive marker of receptivity.
Common refinements
Trying to make it happen. Goldsmith’s stance is waiting/listening; effort to produce the click prevents it.
- Treating it as petition. It is communion and listening, not asking God for things.
- One long sitting. The teaching is short and frequent; brief meditations woven through the day outperform a single marathon.
- Chasing the click. The release is a by-product of receptivity, not a target; demanding it breeds frustration.