“Joel Goldsmith and I,” Story About Spiritual Health
and Development by Walter Starche
Walter Starcke’s story about his spiritual development is as cathartic as it is heartwarming.
As a young,
struggling actor he came across Joel Goldsmith through a happy introduction. His resulting successful, international
career was influenced strongly by Goldsmith although their relationship wasn’t always smooth. This roller-coaster
ride is laid out like a period novel with beautifully sketched characters in exotic locations.
On the surface “Joel Goldsmith and I” is a linear story. It follows the lives of the three main
characters; Joel Goldsmith, the spiritual guru of the Infinite Way, John van Druten, the Broadway and Hollywood
scriptwriter and producer and Walter Starcke, the actor, producer, developer, businessman and spiritual writer,
and examines the reasons for their life choices. Many of their decisions are made through their intuition
and meditation rather than by using a conscious plan. Synchronicity also plays a major role in the many life-changing
events that are described in Starcke’s richly detailed writing style.
Starcke has waited 40 years to write this book. His close, son to father relationship with Joel Goldsmith
is depicted as enlightening and frustrating. The struggle with his own understanding of the link between
our spiritual selves and our human selves drove Starcke away from his mentor. Joel Goldsmith, in the eyes
of his followers, was a man of enormous insight and a source of great inspiration. Starcke knew him also
as a flawed human being and “Joel Goldmith and I” is his tribute to Goldsmith’s humanity.
As someone who has often struggled with the concept of organized religion and the cult following of figures
like Goldsmith, the book spoke loudly to me. It is an important piece of education about the proper use and
futile abuse of the omnipresent force that surrounds us and shapes our lives. In “Joel Goldsmith and
I” Walter Starcke has given us an immensely readable account of the necessary struggle to find our own
version of spirituality and spiritual health.
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