Herb Fitch · Joel Goldsmith Meditation

The Secret of True Prayer: Not Asking, But Knowing

Herb Fitch unfolds Joel Goldsmith's meditation from Realization of Oneness — presented by Mike Spirit Ademola

Most prayer is asking. We bring God a list — heal this, fix that, provide the other — and then wonder why the heavens seem silent. In this lesson, Herb Fitch begins with a meditation instruction Joel Goldsmith gave in the "Across the Desk" section of Realization of Oneness, and it overturns everything the world calls prayer.

Joel Goldsmith's Instruction

"Set aside one meditation period each day — and a few minutes each time will be sufficient — to sit in meditation with the inner ear open. That is all. No praying, no asking, no seeking, especially no desires to be fulfilled. Just meditate with the inner ear open, and then go about your business… Do not let yourself watch for results, and in due time fruitage will appear in some form of harmony — within yourself, your home, your family, your business, your art or your profession."

The important phrases, Fitch says, are these: no praying, no asking, no seeking, no desire to be fulfilled. Just opening yourself and resting in the knowledge of the presence of God.

Why We Stop Asking

We complicate our meditations unnecessarily, forgetting that our Father knoweth — and that this knowing is backed by the Father's power. That which is needed is already here in invisible manifestation, awaiting only the receptive consciousness. Asking God for what is already given is the very posture that keeps it invisible.

And so Joel wisely tells us not to compete with God, but to yield — to dissolve the sense of a personal "me." The attitude of true prayer is not "Listen, Father, thy servant speaketh," but its reversal:

"Speak, Father — thy son heareth."

In this brief preliminary to the Infinite, we direct consciousness away from the external world entirely. There is nothing to tell God. What could we tell Omniscience? True prayer is not information going out; it is Presence being received.

Greater Is He That Is in You

Fitch anchors the practice in 1 John 4:4: "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world."

This "He in you" that is greater than the world is the mystical I — the same I that goes to the Father, the same I that embraces all that the Father hath. Prayer with the inner ear open is simply making room for that I to live your life. The moment prayer becomes listening instead of pleading, it stops being a plea from separation and becomes communion in oneness — and communion in oneness is the only prayer that has ever healed anything.

How to Practice Today

Once a day, a few minutes. Sit. Open the inner ear. No requests. No watching for results. Then go about your business. That is the whole discipline — and its very smallness is the point. You are not achieving contact with God; you are ceasing to obstruct a contact that already is. In due time, Joel promises, fruitage appears — in the body, the home, the work — not because you asked, but because you finally stopped asking long enough to receive.