After publishing The Infinite Way and giving Bible classes in the late 1940's, Joel was invited to San Francisco to give his first classes in the Infinite Way teachings. At the request of students attending these lectures, tape recordings were transcribed and distributed for further study. They were later edited and compiled by Lorraine Sinkler for publication under the title Conscious Union with God. The material in Rising in Consciousness presents Joel's lectures in their entirety, as he originally gave them in 1948.