neville goddard Imagination Is Reality

HIS NAME

by with No Comment ImaginationNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdom

Neville 02-26-1963

neville goddard Imagination Is RealityThe Bible is not a product of human beings; it is not constructed by man. It is the history of man’s discovery by God’s revelation of the changing name of God, and it increases in its value to man. In Genesis 4:26 we are told that a child was born whose name was Enosh, born to Sarah, and men began to call upon the name of the Lord.

That is the first time that man began to call upon the name of the Lord. The word Enosh means “mortal man,” something that is fragile, something that simply wears out and disappears. Mortal man began to ask concerning his origin: Why am I here, what is the cause of the phenomena of life?

The next time we see it is in the 32nd chapter of Genesis. This is the night, we are told, a man called Jacob (the supplanter) wrestled with God, and when it came to the breaking of the day God said to him: “Let me depart.” And he said: “I will not let you depart until you bless me.” And God blessed him. Then he said to God: “What is your name?” and God answered: “Why do you ask my name?” He would not tell him, so Jacob called the spot where God touched him “Peniel,” which means “the face of God,” for said he “I have seen God face to face and yet my life is preserved.” Then as the sun rose Jacob faltered because where God had touched shrank. It was the sinew upon his thigh. That is what man at that level of consciousness believed to be the creative power of the universe.

Today, 1963, you and I are witnesses to the most fantastic things that man has conceived. Missiles in space that can reach the sun, these IBM machines, electronic brain – but nothing that man has ever devised or brought to birth can compare to a child. Nothing in this world that man can conceive is comparable to the brain of a child. For the child conceived the instrument that now frightens us. We have a bomb, nuclear bomb, but that can’t compare to the brain that conceived it, no matter what we do with it. Read Genesis 32, where man once thought the sex act was God. The very act of producing the most sensitive thing in the world is the form of a child. (There isn’t a part of the world that someone hasn’t erected phallic images in its worship of God.)

Now we turn to the Book of Exodus, where the name changes because it wasn’t yet revealed. Man began to call upon the name of the Lord, but they didn’t know what to call upon; they thought it was sex. Read Exodus 3:13-15, how God reveals himself to his chosen vessel, Moses. And Moses said to the Lord: “When I come to the people of Israel and I say to them, ‘the Lord, your God, has sent me unto you,’ and they ask me ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say? And the Lord answered: “I AM who I AM.” The words are every form of the verb “to be” – “I AM that I AM” – I will be what I will be. “Say unto them, ‘I AM has sent me unto you.'” So when you come to the people of Israel, say to them the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob has sent me unto you, and this is my name forever: “I AM.” No other. And this will lead you out of the wilderness into the promised land. That was the second grand revelation of the name of God. Man thought it was the creative act. Who could deny that nothing in this world that man has ever created was comparable to that of a child – nothing. And he has to trace it back to his origin of the act, and all of a sudden it came out of this fantastic organism. And then comes a revelation of another kind, that the name is “I AM.”

Then comes the final revelation, which we find in the New Testament, and he brings something entirely different that man has not seen before. He reveals the name as “Father.” “Holy Father, keep them in thy name which thou hast given unto me, that they may be one as you and I are one.” He gave them the name that was his name and the name was ‘Father” – the final revelation of God to man concerning who he really is, his father. “So in many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets but in these last days he has spoken to us by a son.” If he has spoken by a son, then he is [a] father. And so God speaks to man in his final days through his son, and the son reveals to that man that he is the father of that son, and then – and only then, does man know who he really is. But until that day comes take the second revelation of the name of God, which is “I AM” and use it and use it wisely. You can use it for anything in the world. You are told if you blaspheme against his name you must be stoned to death, as told us in Leviticus 24:16: “Anyone who blasphemes against the name I AM,” and the name has already been revealed in Leviticus 3. Exodus 2 revealed the name. Now if you blaspheme against this name, stone him to death.

One who was born of a Hebrew woman who knew an Egyptian man, cursed the name of God, and they listened to see what God would say to do to such a man: stone him to death. Stone does not mean that you take stones and throw at him, as people will do. The stones are the literal facts of life. How could I blaspheme against the name of God? With God all things are possible, so his name is “I AM.” And I dare to say: “I am unwanted; I am poor; I am ill; I am completely ignored in this world.” Well, this is blasphemy against God. For it is not what I really want in this world, or for anyone else that I love. So here I am blaspheming against God.

I am told in John 8: “Except you believe that I am he you shall die in your sins.” “Sin” is missing the mark. If I don’t believe that I am the man I want to be, I remain where I am at that moment of not daring to assume that I am the man that I want to be, and remain in that limitation, so I die, missing the mark. So the being you really are – if the second revelation is true (and I can tell you it is true, that his name is “I AM”) – it doesn’t mean you worship something on the outside when you say, “I am.” And the day that you actually contact it as though the “I-thou” concept was within yourself, you feel who you really are.

Now here is a true story which I heard this last Saturday. I am not a member of the Turf Club, but I go occasionally when I am invited and someone takes me. So last Saturday I and my wife were taken to the Turf Club. I was introduced to this little man who sat just one row below. Strange, weird little fellow, and then they told me his story. He had come here penniless from Kentucky. How he got the money necessary to buy a small little plot of land, I do not know, that was not told me; but he bought a small little plot of land in Ventura County. He wanted to have oil, so he would sleep on the land itself. He didn’t build some little shack – he slept right on the ground. With his head to the ground he would hear oil coming in, he would smell oil, and he would come home sometimes in the morning at 6 A.M. and his wife was distraught. “What has happened to you?” He was sleeping on the land bringing it in.

Today the man – I would say he is ten years my senior, which is 68, pushing 70 – he has no financial problems. He has given away fortunes. He is worth over six million, so he told me himself, but now he has another problem, and he has forgotten the name of God. His present problem is boredom. He goes to the track five days a week, Tuesday through Saturday. If he drops ten thousand, it’s no problem, if he drops twenty thousand, that’s no problem. But he is bored and he is not physically well, and he doesn’t remember how he brought oil into being by the name of God. When he put his head on that earth and began to listen, who was listening? If you would say to him: “What are you doing?” “I am smelling oil.” That’s what he would say. You have called the name of God. “I am smelling oil. I am hearing oil,” is what he would say. He brought it all in, but he doesn’t remember the name of God.

Now he is saying: “I am unwell.” He is blaspheming the name of God. You are told: The man who blasphemes the name of God, stone him to death.” The stone is “showing the facts of life,” so he is showing the facts of life. “You aren’t feeling well, are you?” So you see all the things in the world wrong with him, and you tell him. These are the stones, but he has forgotten and those around him don’t know. He once used the name of God wisely and brought wealth into this world. He could bring health into this world if he would use the name of God.

“It is my name forever,” said God in Exodus 3. But I will reveal a still greater name as man begins to awaken, and the final name is “Father.” And so: “Show us the Father,” and you’ll be satisfied. “I have been so long with you and yet you do not know me, Phillip? He who has seen me has seen the Father, how then can you say ‘show us the Father?'” So here, I tell you, I am the father, and no one knows he is the father. ‘Holy Father keep them in thy name, which thou hast given me,’ that they may be one even as we are one.” There is no way in this world that you and I will know we are one, save through this last act of God revealing himself, when he gives you his last name, which is “Father.” I am the Father, that I do know, and you will be the Father of the same and only begotten Son of God. And when you see him, as I have seen him – and you will see him, and you are his Father – then you and I are one. For I can’t be the father of your son and not be you. And that is God’s final revelation to man on this level.

So, “In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son.” And the son reveals the nature of the father. No one knows the father except the son, and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him. Until that day comes, use the second revelation – which is forever his name – and use it wisely, as we are told in the 9th Psalm, 10th verse: “Those who know thy name trust in thee.” If you know the name. The name is the individual himself. God’s name is I AM and that is God. So tonight if you know the name, believe it, trust in his name. And you listen as though you heard what you would hear, were you the man you want to be, and trust in his name, and he will never forsake you.

Here the name changes as man begins to awaken as God, and the final revelation – I know of no greater chapter than the 17th of John, where he reveals himself and gives himself to man. “Holy Father glorify me with thine own self.” He doesn’t want any other glory. It’s God himself giving himself to man, for that is his purpose. And when he succeeds in his purpose the man to whom he has given himself is God and God is “Father,” the final revelation. Therefore, there must be a child. Where is the child if I am a father? And here comes the child into being and he is David, God’s only begotten son. “David, thou art my son, this day I have begotten thee.” That is concealed in man until that last moment when the veil is lifted and the fatherhood is revealed to man through the nature of the son. There you see David, and David tells you who you are. You are his father, he calls you father, and calling you father, then the 89th Psalm is fulfilled: “I have found David” and his cry unto me: “Thou art my father, my God and the Rock of my salvation.” And you see him and yet there is no change in your I AM-ness. The self that becomes his father is the same self that it was before, only a far greater self. It includes fatherhood, but the same sense of I AM-ness. You haven’t changed your distinct individuality, but now it is enlarged to include fatherhood, and that father is God. And you tell it to the world in the hope you can make it as clear as it is to you.

Whether you accept it or reject it, it is true and the day must come, in time, when each individual will have the same experience and he will pass through it all. Until that happens use his name wisely, as revealed to us through his prophet Moses in the 3rd chapter of Exodus. Use it for wealth, health, or recognition, but don’t blaspheme against the name of God. “Unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”

So, we are told: “They took up stones to throw at him, because he had offended them, that he had blasphemed the name of God for he claimed ‘I am God.'” That was blasphemy on their level and they took up stones to throw at him. What stones? They told him they knew his father. They knew his earthly mother, his brothers, and his sisters, and they named them. They said: I know your father and mother, Joseph and Mary, and they named the four brothers. They implied multiple sisters. And then they began to show him the facts of life, and the facts contradicted his claim. Therefore they were stoning him with the facts of life. These were the stones. Then he disappeared out of their midst. He could not argue with that mind, because they knew exactly his physical background, and he is telling them: “If you will receive what I tell you, I will give you power to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” This verse is something entirely different in Greek physiology. “To be born of blood” they meant that the seed of man mingled with the blood of woman, and from this union came a child. To be born of the “will of the flesh” is by sexual impulse. It wasn’t born that way. To be born of man is to have human parentage. It wasn’t born that way. It was born of God. Something entirely different, where man suddenly awakes within himself and he steps out of his own skull to find out that all along he has been sleeping.

Then you read these words in Revelation 1:18: “And he thought himself alive and he was dead.” Here a man was dead, and all along he believed he was alive. The whole vast world, the sleep is so profound, it is so deep, he doesn’t know he is sleeping. And the sleep is so deep he is likened spiritually to a dead man. Then one day, in God’s own wonderful time, he awakens himself in man and brings him forth, and then he awakes for the first time to realize all through the ages he has been dead but he didn’t know it. But now he is resurrected by the mercy of God. He thought he was asleep while he thought he was awake, and yet he was dead.

In the meanwhile, you who think yourself alive, try this principle by the use of God’s name. It will not fail you, I promise you it will not. For one thing bear in mind this: you may have wealth tonight and have it heavily insured – furniture, jewelry, furs, but you left it when you came here tonight, left it wherever you have this outside wealth. You may have stocks and bonds, they may be insured, but you left them wherever they are, maybe in vaults, your homes. Standing here just about two years ago I left this platform and looked out and saw these enormous flames and all these beautiful homes burning. They were all left behind wherever the people were, all consumed in a matter of moments. But one thing you can’t leave behind, and you always take it with you after you find the name. Can you go any place where you can leave behind your “I AM”? Where can you go in this world where you will leave behind you the only power in the world, “I AM”? “Those who know thy name put their trust in thee.” Not in the bank, not in their social position, their financial, intellectual, or any other position. “Put their trust in thee,” Who are you? “I AM.” So everyone who came here tonight brought that name with them. When you leave here you are going to take it with you. Maybe you don’t know you carried it with you. You can have a treasure and not know you have it. If I had a billion dollars deposited in the bank but I didn’t know it, I could die of starvation for want of a dollar; and yet I could sign a check if I knew I had it, and would withdraw it for my earthly need.

You can’t leave behind you God’s name. He’s put himself into you, your very being, your own I AM-ness – that is God. And because it is God, don’t blaspheme against the name. Use it wisely, use it lovingly, and I tell you: “What are you hearing?” And you tell me: I am hearing so and so, or I am thinking so and so. Well, see to it that what you are hearing, feeling, what you are thinking, is in harmony with your highest ideal. For you will draw it out just as this man drew out his oil from this little bit of dirt, and today he is worth millions – but bored. You will be able to use it wisely through your earthly days, and maybe in this embodiment the final one will be revealed to you, but only God knows when he reveals the final one.

I can talk about it and tell you about it but I cannot lift the curtain for you -only the son himself can reveal you as the father. I can tell you: you are going to be the father, that I do know, but I have no power to tear that curtain and show you David. He and he alone will reveal you as the father. “No one knows who the son is except anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him.” But I will tell you: one day he is going to tear that curtain from the mind and stand before you and call you father. You will know exactly who he is; there will be no doubt in your mind whatsoever. You are looking at your only begotten son. Begotten not by any woman in this world. Begotten out of your own wonderful being – your mind, and it’s David. And he will be just as he is described in the Book of Samuel, no doubt about it.

I can’t tell you the thrill that is in store for you after it happens. You are so excited you can’t think of anything but. You may bore your friends, you may bore everyone that you meet, because you can’t think of anything but this enormous event that has happened to you, this heavenly thing that has taken place. You may be a single man, a man who has never known a woman in this world, but all of a sudden you are a father, and you are a father in the true sense of the word. Then you will know he was “not born of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God,” and he calls you father, and you know God is his father. He tells you exactly who you are.

Then you have to walk the earth for the remaining years shut out, because you are still wearing the garment of flesh. And although you are now heir to a present and to a promise that has already been fulfilled, you still cannot share it with others, so that it cannot become to you actual or fully realized in you until you take off the garment for the last time. And then you are one with the heavenly host. Everyone is destined – you can’t brag about it, you can’t crow about it, because you didn’t earn it. It was all God’s plan from the beginning: “He who began a good work in you” at that moment brought it to completion “at the day of Jesus Christ.” And Jesus Christ is God the Father. Therefore, if Jesus Christ is God the Father, and David calls him “Lord,” who are you? Are you not then Jesus Christ? Then you realize the words: “Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in thee, unless of course you fail to meet the test.” I hope you realize that we have not failed in our effort.

Eventually you will read the words: And the whole thing disappears, and there was Jesus only. Moses was present, Elijah was present, they all saw the glory of God, and when it all subsided there was Jesus only. For at the name of Jesus Christ every knee will bend and every tongue will confess that he is Lord, the glory of God the Father. It is only Jesus and he has one son and he is sharing his son with you – not walking the street with you as a friend, but as your son. He gives himself to every being in the world, and there is no way he can prove that he actually gave that gift of himself to you, save as David, his only begotten son, as your son. The Bible in miniature is in John 3:10. “And God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son.” People think he gave his only begotten son and his name is Jesus Christ. No! Jesus Christ by his own confession is God the Father. “You see me Phillip and yet you do not know me. He who has seen me has seen the Father. How then can you say show us the father?”

So the son given could not be that being who calls himself father, and the father is Jesus Christ. Who called him father? David. So he asked the question; nobody asked him. He said: “I am the Father.” Then where is the child? So he brings up the question: “What do you think of Christ?” and they said: “The son of David.” Then why does David in the spirit call him Lord? If David calls him Lord, how can he be David’s son? And no one asked any further questions. David in the spirit calls him “Adonai,” a word used by every child when it refers to its father. Every child spoke of its father as “Adonai,” translated in the English: “My Lord.” So David called him “My father.” So he tells you who he is and who David is relative to himself. So David is going to call every being in this world: “my father.” And because God is one and his name is one, and at that name every knee must bow, you are destined to know yourself to be Christ Jesus, or God the Father.

But until it is revealed to you, use his name as revealed through his prophet Moses. “And when you go to them just tell them ‘I AM’ has sent me unto you.” Lead them out of the wilderness into light by my name. When you can lead yourself today, no matter where you are, whether you are now bewildered, whether you are unwanted (as you think you are), or unemployed, (as you may be) – lead yourself from these states of barrenness into states of fruition, a fruitful state, in the name. Just simply assume “I AM”, and you name it, hear it, smell it, see it to the best of your ability, and to the degree that you remain loyal to what you are imagining and hearing, you will actually externalize it in your world. Don’t judge it before you try it.

Now if what I have said this night offends, should it be in conflict with what you believed when you came here, again I go back to Scripture: “And he offended them and then they sold him for thirty pieces of silver.” Let me go back into the Book of Leviticus. Here we are told: “If an ox gored a slave, male or female, then the owner of the ox must pay to the owner of the slave thirty pieces of silver and then the ox must be stoned.” The symbol of Christ is that of an ox. If the Christian doctrine offends, well then he has gored you by whatever he has to say. And now, having gored it, the slave will be censured, that he must be sold for thirty pieces of silver. So, you always fulfill Scripture. The word will always be fulfilled. The prototype of Jesus the Christ was Joseph, and he was sold for twenty pieces of silver. Twenty means “disappointed expectancy.” Thirty is divine perfection. Reduce it to a three and three is also associated with resurrection. On the third day the earth rose up out of the deep. So here, if I should offend you by what I say, then make me sorry for my thirty pieces of silver, for Scripture is all about me. For “If the ox gores and in any way hurts a slave” . . . then the ox must be stoned with the facts of life.

People will always throw the bricks at you and remind you of “When they knew you,” or even as they know you – for we are all limited as we wear these garments. No man in this world can tell me while he wears the garment that he is not limited. President Kennedy is frightfully limited in his office as President. Bricks are coming all over the place – what he promised in his campaign to get the office, and what he has delivered. And the conflict between what he promised and what he has delivered so far, you could throw all the bricks in the world at him. And he is fully aware of it. You can throw it at the Pope, throw it at the Queen of England, throw it at any person in this world for the lack of getting any ambition of theirs. If I took you into my secret and told you my ambition, and you as a friend know I have not realized it, and you throw [at] me all the rocks in the world, and remind me of what I told you against what I have accomplished – that is true of every being in the world. Nevertheless, whether you accomplish them or not, go back and apply this principle towards the fulfillment of your dreams.

I can tell you: in my own case, small as it has been, it has all been when I was faithful to the use of God’s name. When I dared to assume that I am what at the moment reason denies and my senses deny it, and I remained faithful to it, then I invariably realized it. There have been unnumbered times when I have not been faithful to it. I coasted, as we all coast after a while. Then we are jacked up suddenly and we have to go back to the use of the name. And so, “Those who know thy name put their trust in thee.” Not in anything outside of thee. And your name is “I AM,” and it is your name forever and forever. So put your trust in the name of God by walking out of here tonight in the belief that you are already the man, the woman you would like to be and see the world as you would see it, were it true. And to the degree you remain loyal to that assumption, to that degree you will externalize it and reap it as fruit within this world.

Now let us go into the silence.

neville goddard Imagination Is Reality

I AM IN YOU

by with No Comment ImaginationNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdom

Neville Goddard 09-30-1968

neville goddard Imagination Is RealityAs Paul said to Timothy: “Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of our religion.” Scripture is not secular history, but a mystery which is most important that we understand!

Speaking to his disciples, Jesus said: “In that day you will know that I am in the Father, and you in me and I in you.” (John 14) The phrase “in that day” is an eschatological term meaning, “at the end of the journey.” In other words, when this age of Caesar comes to its end, you will experience the truth of scripture, and – understanding – you will say: “I am in the Father and you are in me and I am in you.”

It is in you, as a person, that the nature of God reveals himself in a series of supernatural experiences. When these take place in a first person, singular, present tense experience, all arguments, doubts, and questions regarding your true identity are hushed. From that moment on, like Paul, you will say: “When it pleased God to reveal his son in me, I conferred not with flesh and blood. I did not receive my gospel from a man. I was not taught it. It came through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

While in Barbados this summer, my sister asked if my Christ was once a man. My answer to her undoubtedly was the same Paul gave when asked a similar question. I said: “Was? He is the heavenly man!” Then quoting Paul I said: “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.”

Do not think of Christ as some little boy who was born in some strange manner two thousand years ago. We are dealing with a cosmic principle, where God actually became man that man may become God.

The process has started. Resurrection has begun, but it is not over. Those who teach that the resurrection is over are misleading the faithful, for – like Paul – everyone can say: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is not I who live, but Christ who lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Henceforth I regard no one from a human point of view. Even though I once regarded Christ from a human point of view, I regard him thus no longer.”

I have stood in the presence of the Risen Lord. I leave seen the Ancient of Days, who is gathering us one by one into his body to become one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one God and Father of all.

You, as a person, will not be less than the Risen Lord, for there is only one Spirit. There is only one Lord and you will know yourself to be He! No one will be above you. I AM the same body, the same Lord, the same Spirit, the same God and Father of all. Without loss of identity, we will all know ourselves to be this one unity of being. We will know from experience that I AM in you and you are in me!

When I had finished explaining this to Daphne, I don’t think she was any more impressed than that chair over there. It takes time, but it is so important for you to let go of all intermediaries between yourself and God!

Paul’s Letter to the Galatians is the first book in the New Testament. In this letter, Paul declares his independence from men and his dependence upon God. He repudiates all authorities, all institutions, all customs, all laws that interfere with the individual’s direct access to his God. Paul had no intermediary. He never knew a human Christ, only the Risen Lord, who appeared to him as he appeared to me.

In my own case, I was taken in Spirit into the presence of the Risen Lord, and – strangely enough – when he asked me what was the greatest thing in the world, I answered in the words of Paul. So I ask you: who is Paul? Is he not the first of the chosen who broke the seal and discovered the mystery which was shown to Abraham?

Paul persecuted everyone who claimed to be a member of the way, when suddenly the revelation broke, causing him to proclaim the truth. It was Paul who said: “If I have been united with Christ in a death like his, I shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”

Paul did not claim that the resurrection was over. He states that the crucifixion is over, because the garment of flesh is worn by one who is crucified. God chose you in him before the foundation of the world. We will be united with him in a resurrection like his – not because of any acquired merit on our part, but because he chose to be united to us in a death like his.

You were chosen in him before the drama we call the world began. And any suffering you may go through here means nothing. Paul knew this, and said: “I consider the sufferings of the present time not worth comparing to the glory which is to be revealed in us.”

Now, the Old [sic] Testament tells us: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The Word became flesh and dwells in us.” The Greek word logos (translated as “Word”) means “meaning; a plan; a plot; a purpose.” Here we see that God had a plan, a purpose – which was to give himself to you one hundred per cent. This he has done; so whatever he was before he became you, you will know yourself to be.

It is in you, as a person, that the nature of God reveals himself. This you will know when you experience the entire story of the Lord Jesus Christ in the first person, present tense. Then when you tell those who love you, they will not believe you, because they know your weaknesses and limitations.

Knowing you are not schooled in theology, they cannot see the relationship between you and the one spoken of in the seventh chapter of John: “How does this man have such learning seeing as how he has never studied?” Like the Sanhedrin, they will not understand how a man with no learning could claim that the Old Testament had been fulfilled in him.

The prophets foretold of the coming of God, but they did not say how. Having taken upon himself man’s nature, God unfolds his nature in man, and man becomes God. If God was a father prior to choosing you, and he becomes you – are you not a father? Yes, but there is no way to prove this, unless God’s son appears to identify you. Only when God’s son unfolds within you, will you know that you are God.

Only the Risen Christ is aware of his true identity. It is he who says: “I am in you and you are in me, Lo we are one.” The Risen Christ is the eternal heavenly man, who is God. You are a man. Learn to adore your own humanity, who is God. Man is looking for some impersonal force to worship, but God is man!

When I stood in his presence, I answered his question in the words of Paul. Since then I have asked myself: who is Paul? Was he not the beginner of the Christian faith? Our New Testament records thirteen of his letters, all written twenty years prior to the gospels.

In his first letter to the Galatians, Paul went out on a limb by declaring his independence from all organizations. That was in the day when you could not get a job unless you were a member of the synagogue; yet Paul refused to accept any intermediary between himself and the Risen Lord, whom he had persecuted in his blindness.

One day the Risen Christ will bring you into his presence. He will incorporate you into his body by an embrace from which you will be one forever and ever. This I know from experience.

So when I tell you I am in you, I mean it literally, for I am one with the Risen Christ. I am speaking the words of the Risen Christ, not Neville. After we embraced, he sent me, yet he has never separated himself from me. How can I be one with the body who sent me? Because “He who sees me, sees him who sent me.”

Limited to the concept of three-dimensional space, we think of being sent out of the room while the sender remains; but in the Spirit world of which I speak, when one is united with the Lord he becomes one with him in spirit.

Dwell upon this being who became you. Return to the point of being chosen before that the world was. Try to remember when he made known unto you the mystery of his plan which gives meaning to your life – this mystery which was set forth in Christ for the fullness of time.

The Word, giving meaning to the world, was with God and was God. That meaning is Christ, a plan which cannot fail to fulfill its purpose, which is to unfold and reveal you as God. Walking this earth right now, you are God’s Word, moving towards fulfillment.

Now, while we are here waiting for God’s plan to unfold, we should continue to apply God’s law. Here is a simple story. My friend wrote, saying: “When my little boy was quite young, as a family we called the Sears’ Christmas catalog, the “Wish Book”. Our son would spend hours looking through the pages of toys, deciding what he wanted for Christmas. This we have done for the past eight years. I am enclosing a card advertising the current issue of that catalog. As you will see, it is now called “The Sears Wish Book!”

Whoever has that account thinks this is an original idea, yet my friend knows she is its creator. You see, there is no fiction. How can there be fiction in a world where imagining creates reality? For eight years her son has known the catalog to be a wish book, and now that has become its official name. If something you have imagined is delayed producing its reality for you, keep this story in mind.

I know we are all children and want our desires instantly fulfilled, but countries plan for unborn generations. Parents with large estates plan, not only for the present little ones, but for the offsprings of their offsprings.

You and I, however, are anxious and find it difficult to wait. Time and time again, ladies have told me they wanted to be married now, only to confess they are not yet divorced. I have heard them say there was only one man.
Either that man or no man, yet they have married another. What they really wanted was to be happily married. Claiming it had to be that man, I have asked: “If he dropped dead right now would you still have the urge for companionship? If you would, then he is not the only man.”

Know what you want in life and do not condition it. If your desire is to be happily married, claim you are. Wanting a certain home, claim you have it. Don’t think you cannot afford it, simply play the wishing game.

Find your desire in God’s wish book. Speaking to you through the medium of desire, make your desire real by feeling its truth. View the world from its fulfillment. Lose yourself in the feeling of possession and give it all the tones of reality. Fulfill every desire as you walk towards the fulfillment of your real purpose in life, which is to awaken God in you.

You are not going to become a little god to run around with other little gods, for there is only one God. Don’t forget the great Sh’ma: “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” You are destined to awaken as that one God and Father of all.

When I awoke in this simple little thing called man, I wondered how this mortal being could bear such responsibility. Housed in this garment of flesh called Neville, aware of all of its weaknesses, God’s purpose has unfolded; yet I have no way to prove it to anyone.

I cannot convince you unless you have faith. I have shared my experiences in the written form, giving passages of scripture to support them. Having reached the end of the journey, I now know from experience that we enter human history to fulfill scripture.

I tell you: the story of Christ is an acted parable, a story told as if it were true, leaving the one who hears (or reads) it to discover the fictitious character and learn its meaning.

In the parable the actor takes a little child in his arms and says: “This is the kingdom of heaven. Unless you accept the kingdom as a little child, you cannot enter it.” One day you will be that actor, and the little child in your arms will symbolize your entrance into heaven. It is a signal of God’s birth – not from the womb of a woman, but from the skull of man, where God is crucified. His name is I AM. And when you awaken you will say, I AM awake. You will not look around for any other, for you will be alone; and from then on scripture will fulfill itself within you.

In the not distant future you will depart this world to discover that death will force you to modify, or radically change, any ideas which you have championed here. I received a notice today that my good friend, Randy, died. In 1952, while recuperating from a serious operation, Randy came to the hospital to visit me. He was my physician as well as my friend, but was not aware of what I teach. Seeing the Bible I had brought with me, Randy questioned my interest in it.

Taking the story of Esau and Jacob, I told him how Esau represented my outer world. That I could close my eyes to it and clothe Jacob (who represented what I wanted clothed in outer reality) with the skins of Esau. Believing in the reality of what I am doing, I deceive myself into believing that my subjective state is now an objective reality.

Well, to Randy that was not religion. To him religion meant going to church every Sunday morning and spending an hour there. That was something to be done, like walking with a cane because you had one and felt undressed without it. His week was not complete unless he went to church on Sunday. Randy has been gone now a few weeks and, undoubtedly is now modifying his beliefs – but it will take time.

You do not awaken there as some wise person. If you are foolish here, you are foolish there. If you are a thief here, you are a thief there. If a man is not a thief, no matter what is put before him he would not take it; therefore there is no temptation, no desire to change. Place all the liquor in the world before a man who does not drink and he will not be tempted. All of the world’s tobacco will not interest a man who does not smoke, therefore there is no temptation.

When a man is regenerated, he is no longer in the world of generation. Everyone could undress before him, yet he would not be tempted, because his energies have been turned up into regeneration.

Everyone will be regenerated and overcome without effort, for when the visions happen, you change. Change does not occur prior to the visions, because fitness is the consequence – not the condition – of the kingdom of heaven. You are not chosen because of your acquired merit. The minute the vision takes place, the consequence has occurred.

When you read the words of Christ in the New Testament, think of the Risen Christ, for the heavenly man is speaking. We are all rising into the one body of Christ without loss of identity. I will know you better and more intimately there than I could ever know you here, for the mask we wear here causes a barrier between us. But in the New Age we will be intimate eternal brothers, all sharing the one body as the one Spirit, the one Lord, the one God and Father of all.

Now let us go into the silence.

neville goddard Imagination Is Reality

I AM THE CAUSE

by with No Comment ImaginationNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdom

Neville Goddard 10-19-1969

neville goddard Imagination Is RealityAccording to a rabbical principle, that which is not written in scripture is non-existent. The story of Jesus Christ follows this principle.

The unknown author of the Book of Luke (like all the others) wrote only of his own experiences. Turning to his disciplined mind in self contemplation, he is Jesus turning to his disciples and saying: “`Scripture must be fulfilled in me. All that is written about me must be fulfilled.’ Beginning with Moses and the prophets, and the psalms he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. And they said to one another, `Did not our hearts burn while he opened to us the scriptures?’ Then he said to them, `Everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.” Luke is speaking of the Christ in you, for any Christ coming from without is a false Christ, taught by false teachers.

Peter tells us: “Scoffers will come in the last days scoffing and saying, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? Forever since the fathers fell asleep, all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation.”‘ Certainly they do. Graft, war, dirty politics, poverty – you name it, everything will continue forever in this age; so do not look for signs of his coming in the outer world, as this age will continue producing poverty, graft, war, and unlovely things. But when Christ comes it is like a thief in the night. When you least expect it, Christ awakens within you to reveal yourself to yourself.

“In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son,” for when the Son appears he reveals God as his Father. Until God’s son reveals himself in Man, Man searches on the outside to discover how things are made, but he cannot find the Maker. Our world is God’s handiwork, as told us in the 19th Psalm: “The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows forth his handiwork.” Our scientists have discovered how to go to the moon, from which they returned with earth. Then they analyzed it and discovered it to be dead. No matter where man goes he will discover that everything is dead, for God’s handiwork is here and here alone. But, no matter how much his handiwork is analyzed, it will not reveal its maker.

Today three of our citizens received the Nobel Prize for their great work in trying to analyze this wonderful land of ours. They will find many wonderful things about it, but they will never find its maker. He comes only when the individual finds the Son, for it is God’s Son who reveals his maker. I tell you: the Bible is all about you. It is your own personal, spiritual biography. Every child born of woman is recorded in the Bible – not as John Brown or Mary Smith – but as Jesus Christ; for he is the child’s true being, and the Old Testament is a prophetic blueprint of his life.

When you read the 9th chapter of Isaiah, you may wonder what it is all about, but may I tell you nothing could be truer. Listen carefully: “To us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called `Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” These revelations do not come in the order the prophets recorded them (or some scribe changed); but the names are true and are revealed in perfect order.

The first name given to you when you fell asleep was “El Shaddai” which means “God Almighty, or Mighty God”. But one day you will awaken! Now completely individualized, you will feel a vibration so great you will think you are going to die; but far from dying, the vibration will awaken you from your long, long sleep. You will awaken within yourself to discover that you have been entombed there for unnumbered centuries. You may not know how you got there and why, but I’ll tell you: you went voluntarily. No one took your life, you laid it down yourself.

You have the power to lay it down and the power to lift it up again. You deliberately entered the human skull and laid yourself down to dream the dream of life. Mystics claim you have been dreaming there for 6000 years. I have had no vision to support such a time interval, but I can say that when it happened to me I felt as though I had been entombed for unnumbered ages. For a moment I wondered how I got there, and then I remembered scripture: “He is not dead, but sleepeth, I go to awaken him.” One day you, too, will hear the voice of the Son of God and awaken from your sleep of death, for when God sends his Son into your heart crying, “Father,” you will hear it and awaken from your long, self-imposed sleep.

It takes an enormous power for Mighty God to stir himself and awaken to find the symbol of his birth as that of a child. You may think the child that is born and the son which is given are one and the same, but they are not. The son appears 139 days later. It is he who reveals you as God, the Maker and creator of it all. Prior to that moment in time you – like a scientist – look outside of yourself for the cause of all life; but when David – God’s only begotten son – comes from within and calls you Father, you have found the cause. And when your son reveals you as the Father, the cause of all life, you will bear the name Everlasting Father.

Now, the third great revelation is that of Wonderful Counselor. And in scripture the Wonderful Counselor is associated with a serpent. Referred to as the wisest of all of God’s creations, it was the serpent who suggested eating of the tree of knowledge. And when told he would die, the serpent said; “No, you will not truly die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The Wonderful Counselor did not lie, for believing himself to be you, he experienced death but did not really die.

Even though we depart this world and seem to die, we don’t. Instead we are restored to life in a world just like this, to continue our journey for unnumbered centuries.

Now, in the same 3rd chapter of Genesis, the Lord said to the gods: “Behold the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil,” just as the serpent said he would. Only by coming down into this world of experience can you eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and become as the gods. So we see the 3rd title, Wonderful Counselor, has much to do with the serpent. We are told that: “No one ascends into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the son of man; and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up.” When you read these words they do not make sense, but when you experience them – and you will – the third title of Wonderful Counselor is conferred upon you.

Your eyes will be opened then, and you will know good and evil from experience. You will know that you will not die, but will return to the heavenly state from which you – the son of man – descended. And you will ascend like a fiery serpent.

Now, the serpent of scripture is described in the 6th chapter of the Book of Isaiah as the seraphim which surround the throne of God. The seraphim is [sic], by definition, a fiery being with human face, human voice, and human hands. Isaiah gives him six wings: two to cover his face, to cover his feet (which is a euphemism for his creative organs) and he flies with two; but beyond that, this heavenly being, the wisest of all God’s creations, is not described. This is your true identity, for you are the gods who came down.

You are not some little amoeba which came out of the mud; you came down from heaven and emptied yourself of all that you were in order to assume the limitations and weaknesses of the human flesh. You are not pretending that you are man; you became man by assuming poverty, though you were rich. You assumed weakness, though you were strong. You – an infinite being – assumed all these things for their experience. The whole vast world declares your glory, but only here on this little earth is this wonderful work revealed.

Before we came here we were brothers, and one day we will awaken and return to our brotherhood as God the Father, of which it takes all of the brothers to form.

Now the 4th title, Prince of Peace, is sent in the form of a dove. This does not physically happen to you, and when it happens you are the only one who knows it. Read the first chapter, the 10th verse of the Gospel of Mark carefully, and you will see that only the one upon whom the dove descended was aware of it: “When he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens open and the Spirit descended upon him like a dove.” You are destined to have this experience as the fourth title, the Prince of Peace, is conferred upon you. You will bear the four titles, and in so doing you will fulfill scripture. Having foretold it you came down to fulfill it within yourself.

The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God. He is God’s word which cannot return to God empty, but must accomplish that which he purposed and prosper in the thing for which it was sent. You are God’s word which was in the beginning. You were not only with God, you were God. Then you fragmented into many sons, and it takes all of the sons to form the Father.

You came into this world to experience its horrors, not to change them. Our politicians promise to eliminate war and poverty, yet admit that they have sold over 13 billion dollars in conventional arms to poverty-ridden nations, as have the communist world. Our politicians have forced nations who can’t afford to feed themselves, to buy what we are manufacturing.

Then, with a pious look, ask people to sign papers to stop war. But you can’t stop it. This world was never intended to be other than what it is: a world of poverty, a world of war, a world of dirty politics, a world of graft. Just read the papers and you will see what is taking place in high places. You aren’t going to change it; it will go on and on because the story of Christ is one of redemption. He redeems himself by lifting himself out of this world in a spiral motion.

This world is based upon a circular principle which repeats itself over and over again, whereas redemption is based upon a spiral principle. Breaking away from the wheel of recurrence, one moves up in a spiral motion – like the seraphim – and is redeemed. We are told that: “As the lightening shines from the east to the west so will the coming of the son of man.”

People are looking for lightening to strike on the outside, but it strikes within. Your head is the Mount of Olives, and your body is that which is split from east to west. One half moves north as one half moves south, leaving a great valley. At the base of your spine you will see a pool of golden, liquid, pulsing light which is the blood of God. Fusing with it, you ascend into your skull like a fiery serpent and your skull reverberates like thunder.

I am telling you what you are going to experience, whether you can accept it or not and I know that you will never disprove it. I have awakened you, momentarily, but you may fall back to sleep again and continue your dream, of which you are its sole author. It’s very easy to be caught up in the reality that you, yourself, are making, even though what you see may frighten you.

You may have many horrors in your dream and believe what you are seeing is a reality outside of yourself and beyond your control, but you alone are writing the script. Haven’t you had a dream where you were scared to death, not knowing you were its cause? The same thing is happening in the waking dream, but man does not know that this, too, is a dream, until he awakes from it in the manner of which I have told you.

One night as you sleep, something will arouse you and you will awaken to find yourself in your skull. You know it is your grave, where only the dead are placed; but you know yourself to be very much alive. Someone must have thought you dead to have placed you there, or you may have entered the place voluntarily and fell asleep to such depth that others thought you were dead. But when the time was fulfilled you heard the cry of the son of God which awakened you, and as you come out of that tomb you are born from above. This is essential, for unless you are born from above you cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Everyone is in this world because he is born from below (from the womb of woman), but while here he must be born from above (from the skull). That which comes out has no mother, no father, no beginning of days, or ending of days; for that which is born from the skull is aware of being the Maker of all. You will discover this great truth only when God’s son stands before you and reveals you to yourself.

This tiny planet appears as only a speck when viewed from outer space, yet it is so important; for only here can this biological experiment which expands the power of God and the wisdom of God be cradled. Without this world, God could not grow in wisdom. He would be stagnant if he could not expand beyond what he is. God is an ever increasing illumination, an ever increasing creative power, an ever increasing wisdom and – by reason of this one little speck called earth, where he wears these little garments of mortality – God is holding to the promise he made himself: to awaken within himself and fulfill the play recorded in scripture.

The story of Christ is not what the world is talking about. He isn’t going to change the world. Tomorrow’s generation may think it will be different, but poverty will exist then as it does now. There will be changes in passion and eventually they will return to what they were. It’s like a wheel. It’s a circular principle where nothing changes. The individual changes only when he leaves the wheel in a spiral motion, and that is when he is redeemed. He returns to the world from which he came, enhanced by reason of his experience of death in this world called earth.

The principle of the rabbis is true, so let me repeat it: What is not written in scripture is non-existent. The presidents, kings, and dictators of the world are not recorded in scripture; therefore they are nonexistent. They are merely parts God is playing as he passes through states. The part of a president, a king, or a dictator is a state, and when entered it is animated. It seems so real to its occupant and to those who observe it, but it is only a state.

You can play any part – be it a rich man or a poor man, a beggar or a thief, the known or unknown – once you know they are only parts, only states of consciousness. But if you don’t know this, and are not willing to give up your present state, you will remain there, looking at your desire and not from it. You can become what you would like to be in the twinkle of an eye by the simple act of assumption.

And the day you dare to remain faithful to your assumption, it will begin to externalize itself. And when it does you may return to sleep, just as you do in your night dreams. Becoming possessed by the dream you created in your sleep, you observe your own creation; and if it is a noble dream, you can become so puffed up in your own concept that you forget its creator. Or you can create something ignoble and become so immersed in it you believe in its reality. Anything can be created by a mere assumption. When I dared to assume I was the man I wanted to be, I did not discuss it with others; I simply persisted in my assumption and watched it harden into fact. That persistent act taught me that this world was a dream.

My oldest brother at the age of 18 had no money and no prospects of getting any. But he had a dream. He dreamed of owning a building which housed the family business. Twice a day, on his way to work and return, he would stop opposite a building which occupied an entire block at the widest area of the main street, and there he would imagine seeing the words: Goddard and Sons” on its marquee.

He persisted in this act for two years, when one day a total stranger bought the building for the family, trusting them to pay him back over a period of ten years. That building, which became the foundation of our family’s growth, started in my brother’s imagination. Having nothing on the outside to turn to, my brother had the guts to imagine and believe that his imagination would create his reality. Today I don’t think you could buy the family out for multiple millions, because their gross business last year exceeded $30 million.

Do as my brother did and discover the depth of God in you. Test your imagination, for there is no other God. If you test him and discover that it is he who creates all things by producing tangible proof of his reality in what you did, then no one will be able to persuade you that what happened was a coincidence.

My brother lived by and built his fortune on imagination’s foundation. Of course, having created such a vast enterprise he may go to sleep and believe his one thousand employees are the cause of his incredible wealth. We are all inclined to forget that we are the makers of all that is happening, and – forgetting – we blame our dream. The world is yourself pushed out; but it is so easy to place the blame on an aspect of self rather than on you, the dream’s maker.

Learn to use your imagination consciously, for it will not fail you on this level or on the higher level. But you cannot depart this world by changing your thoughts. It will happen in the fullness of time, when the Father in you who fell asleep begins to stir. Then he awakens you, and when he does, you – Mighty God – will receive the name and carry the special powers of Everlasting Father, Wonderful Counselor, and Prince of Peace. And of your reign there shall be no end, for you will know yourself to be the Jesus Christ men worship outwardly.

The ministers of this world are talking about His coming, trying to interpret signs on the outside. But I tell you, Jesus does not come at the end of human history, for he comes individually. Tonight one of you could experience his coming. No one knows but the Father in you. Ever since that Father fell asleep all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation. So don’t look for any change on the outside.

When the politicians promise change, don’t argue; smile as you have through the centuries, knowing they aren’t going to change anything. The world is made up of infinite states which man falls into unwittingly – or deliberately, as my brother did. He was a poor boy who deliberately moved into the state of wealth. Not knowing how it was going to come about, he simply persisted in his assumption and it hardened into fact.

Do you like what the mirror reflects back to you and your background tells you? If it is not what you would like to live with, don’t accept it. Rather, look into the mirror of your mind and assume that you are what you would like to be. Declaring that you are now it, don’t look away and forget the image reflected there, but persist in your assumption. Live in that awareness morning, noon and night as though it were true, and no power can stop you from experiencing its truth.

This is a world of effects, as told us in the Book of James. If you look into the mirror and, seeing yourself, you turn away and forget what manner of man you look like, you will continue to perpetuate your unlovely state. But if you look into the mirror of your mind and – seeing what you desire to see, continue thinking from that state, you will see it reflect itself in your world. Then one day you will depart the world and return to the world from which you descended, for you are the Elohim, the God spoken of in the scriptures.

Do not be afraid to claim your birthright. An outside God never existed; therefore, don’t make little images of him and stick them on your wall to worship. Is there any cross or image of Jesus Christ in the world that wasn’t made by a man?

There is no description of a person called Jesus Christ, yet there are unnumbered pictures of him throughout the Christian world and people bow before that which is made by human hands. Read the 115th Psalm and see what the psalmist said about any image bowed to as some power that can help or hinder: “They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound out of their throat. Those who make them are like them; so are all who trust in them.” If anyone should say: “Look, there he is, or here he is,” believe him not; for when the Father of all life appears, you shall know him because you will be one with him!

The Bible is all about you, and you are here in the final picture to fulfill that which you dictated before you came down. The prophets you inspired were only organs of revelation. And God’s son, by his very nature reveals God as his father. So when God’s only begotten son stands before you and reveals you as his father, are you not God the Father? This I know from personal experience. I am not speculating. I am not theorizing. I did not hear it from a man, nor was I taught it.

Like Paul, it came through a revelation of the true meaning of Jesus Christ. It’s all in scripture and everyone will experience it. And when we take off these garments and rise, you and I – as the brothers who have returned – will be in a state of ecstasy, for we will all have the same son. If your son is my son, and our son is his son, are we not one father? There aren’t multiple sons – only one. We are all individualized. We will never lose our individuality, yet we are one in spirit because we have the one son; therefore we are brothers who collectively form God the Father.

Scripture is based upon the principle that the True Man comes here to fulfill. All that is said about the True you in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms, must and will be fulfilled. It is my pleasure and my privilege to open your mind that you may understand scripture. That is all I am here to tell you. But you will never really understand my words until you experience them, and you will.

There is no aristocracy of privilege in this story. We are all one! One is no better than the other. I have awakened from the dream of life. Now I only wait for others to awaken. There is nothing I want more than the awakening of all, because without all, the Father is not complete. So I tell my story over and over until everyone hears it and sets their hope fully upon this wonderful story that one day must erupt within them.

Now let us go into the silence.

neville goddard Imagination Is Reality

I AM THE LORD

by with No Comment ImaginationNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdom

Neville Goddard 02-21-1969

neville goddard Imagination Is Reality“I am the LORD and there is no other. I form light and create darkness. I make weal and create woe. I, the LORD, do all these things.” (Isaiah 45) Then John tells us, “As He is, so are we in this world.” Although man is taught the God who creates the weal and the woe is someone other than himself, scripture tells us that as God is, so are we!

The story of Jesus Christ, as well as all of the miracles recorded in the New Testament, are acted parables. In the Book of Luke we find Jesus, now twelve years of age, going up to Jerusalem for the Passover. When the feast ended, his parents – thinking Jesus was in the caravan – did not seek him out until the day was past. After searching for him for three days, when they found him in the temple, his father said: “Son, how could you do this to us? Do you not realize we have been seeking you anxiously?” And Jesus replied: “How is it that you sought me? Do you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” Here is Christ declaring God to be his father, while his parents, standing before him, do not understand. If you are seeking the cause of the phenomena of your life among your kinsfolk, your acquaintances, or teachers, you will never find it; for you are God’s temple, and the spirit of God dwells in you. The cause of the phenomena of your life is not on the outside, but in your own wonderful human imagination. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you? I tell you, the only place you will ever find him is within!

The life of Jesus is a pattern which will unfold in you, an individual, when you discover yourself to be the cause of your life; for as He is, so are you in this world. Our religious leaders teach Christ as someone on the outside who is different; who overcame, and is now living elsewhere; yet Christ in you is your hope of glory, for as He is, you are!

In his book, Luke tells the parable of Jesus, who – upon entering a boat with his disciples, falls asleep as they set sail. When a storm wind descended upon the lake they woke him, saying: “Master we are perishing.” Then He rebuked the wind, and the raging waves became quiet, and there was a great calm. I tell you: the one who fell asleep caused the storm, and is the same being as the one who – upon awakening – quells it; for there is no other.

In this world Christ is asleep, and the wars, confusions, depressions, and horrors, appear because of his dreams. And the world will know no peace, happiness, wealth, or joy, until Christ awakes. If you are unaware of your imaginal activity, you are asleep relative to it. You could be dreaming noble, lovely dreams or ignoble ones; but whatever you dream, Christ will externalize. Man is the ark of God in which Christ – God’s creative power – is contained. I am the ark of God, not a phantom of the earth and sea. I am the ship in which Christ sleeps as he dreams the storms of my life. And when He awakes, I will know calm and weal. Your own wonderful human imagination is Jesus Christ. Now individualized as John, Mary, Sam, or Sue, you are Christ’s outer projection, surrounded by woes and weals because of his dreams. God, as your imagination, can never be so far off as even to be near, for the nearness implies separation. Wherever you are, I am! To say: “I am” is near, is to claim God is another – but there is no other. You and God are one, for He is your wonderful human imagination!

A friend recently shared this vision with me. As he observed buildings, trees, and houses round about him, he realized they were caused by tiny magnetic seeds which were clustered about his feet. As he scraped them off, they instantly reformed themselves to produce automatic changes in his world. What a wonderful experience! In the 40th Psalm we read: “He lifts me up from the pit, out of the miry bog and places my feet upon the Rock.” Here we see the foot, the symbol of God’s creative power, is lifted up and placed upon the Rock – the human imagination! His vision is showing him that he has now become aware of the only causation, and has placed his creative power upon that Rock. In this 40th Psalm the statement is made: “In the volume of the book it is written about me.” My friend’s vision reveals that he has come to that point. That everything which appears magnified on the outside is caused by magnetic seeds around his feet. This is true; for the world is nothing more than a magnified shadow, caused by the magnetic seed called Man. Although the world appears to be large and overpowering, its causation is the power observing it.

Man is the ark of God and everything is contained within him. Asleep, the storms rage; but when man awakes, the stormy seas will be no more.

There is quite a difference between being awake to your imaginal activities and being asleep to them. Awake, you can trace the event taking place on the outside to an imaginal act; but asleep you will find someone or something on the outside to be its cause. But causation is within the one observing the effect. Causation is symbolized as the foot in the 40th and 69th Psalms, as well as in the 10th [chapter] of Romans. In the end, man will overcome and put all things under his foot.

My friend saw the clusters of magnetic seeds around his feet. Although he tried to scrape them off, they reappeared. As Blake said: “The oak is cut down by the ax and the lamb is slain by the knife, but their forms eternal remain forever, returning by the seed of contemplative thought.”

Our world is the storm spoken of in the 8th chapter of Luke. Having entered our body, we have fallen asleep to our creative power. But when we discipline our mind, we quell the storms. The disciples of scripture are disciplined aspects of the mind. Once your five senses are so disciplined you see, hear, taste, touch, and smell, only what you desire, then you quell the storms of doubt and fear within you, for you know who you are. No longer will you seek the phenomena of life among your kinsfolk or acquaintances; for when you awaken, you find life in the temple. The world is always looking for new teachers on the outside, when there is nothing there but shadows. Christ is not another. You are Christ, as he is your very self! You will find him, and when you do, you will know that you are God; for a series of events will unfold within you and you will bear witness to your own fatherhood.

I have often thought that the doctrine of the trinity should have been the doctrine of the being, for the trinity is difficult for man to grasp. It’s easier to speak of the doctrine of revealed Christianity as a unity, than as a trinity. When David stands before you as your son, there will be no more trinity. You and I are one when my son David calls you father! Then you will know that everyone in the world is that same being, as they will all have the same son. This is the great doctrine of the unity.

My old friend Ab always began his classes with the statement: “Praise be to that unity which is our unity.” He knew that although we are a diversity of faces, completely individualized, we are the same father of God’s one and only son, who will reveal himself to all, individually, thereby proving our unity of being.

Every scriptural miracle is an acted parable. It is imagination who enters the boat called man and falls asleep in order for the journey of life to begin. Then the financial, marital, physical storms arise according to man’s dreams. He could dream of something lovely and know healthy, happy storms. But if he does not know that the cause of the weal is his imaginal activity, he will continue to dwell in the storms of life until the disciples rouse him to remembrance.

Awake, you are aware of the thoughts you are creating every moment of time, and carry this awareness into your dream world. You will not falter, for – knowing the world you want to build and its cause – you will be constantly aware of what you are imagining. You will no longer seek your desires among things, but will turn within to find they are all waiting to be fulfilled in God’s temple.

Now, the numbers three and eight in scripture are always associated with resurrection. We are told that on the third day the earth rose up out of the deep, and in the Book of Exodus it is said that it came to pass on the eighth day. Luke tells us that when Jesus was twelve years of age, his parents searched three days before finding him in the temple, asking and answering his own questions. The number twelve is telling us that he had arrived at the point of creativity. That he has now resurrected and moved into the Father’s house, for when they found him he said: “Why do you seek me? Do you not know I must be in my Father’s house?” Having identified God as his Father, he goes on to claim: “I and my Father are one.”

Today, as in that day, men cannot believe that imagination is the cause of the phenomena of life. They will agree that an artist can imagine a lovely picture and bring it forth on canvas, but they cannot relate the same technique to a toothache. Yet there is only one cause! I, the Lord, am the cause and there is no other. Besides me there is no God. I form light and create darkness. I make weal and create woe. I, the Lord, am he who does all these things.You cannot blame anyone for your misfortune. You could claim a friend betrayed your trust, therein causing your misfortune; but your friend was not the cause, your dream prompted you to confide in your friend. Causation is not on the outside, it comes from within. As you begin to awake, you discover there is only one God, who is your own wonderful human imagination.

My friend saw tiny, magnetic seeds swirling around his feet, causing the outer world to appear so large. These seeds of contemplative thought are so tiny they are often ignored and even scraped off; but awareness causes them to reform themselves instantly to magnify their new formation in the outer world. If imagination’s seeds did not reform themselves, the outer world would vanish and leave not a trace behind; but they do, for the seeds are contained in man. You have the power to rearrange your thought-seeds to produce a different pattern in your outer world. This is done by a change of attitude. Think of the world as different, and as you do, you have scraped off the little magnetic seeds, thereby causing their rearrangement. This is the world in which we live.

Now, when imagination lifts us up from the pit and places our feet upon the Rock, we stand on our own feet. No longer will we stand upon the foot of another, giving the other either our praise or blame. We can, however, be gracious and kind and thank another for the role he played in our drama. But when we stand on our own feet, we realized that everything that happens – be it good, bad or indifferent – is because of our attitude towards life.

Every person, place, or thing, is animated and rearranged from within; for as He is, so are we. A good Christian would call that statement blasphemy; yet I am quoting the first epistle, the fourth chapter of the Book of John: “As he is, so are we in this world.” This thought follows on the heels of the definition of God as love. And because God is love, He will not change your imaginal act, but will allow it to be externalized. If God changed the act, there would be two of you: one who imagines, and one who changes the imaginal act. But, being all love, God instantly plays the parts designated in your imaginal acts and suffers with you because He is dreaming. But one day Love will awaken within your skull. He will resurrect and you will begin the real drama, which is to discover your true identity. Coming out of your immortal skull, all of the imagery of scripture will surround you. The child and the witnesses will be there; but they will not see you, for you will be spirit. While witnessing your spiritual birth, they will speak of you and identify the child as yours, but you will be invisible to their mortal eye. As the great drama unfolds, it appears to take place externally; yet it is within, for you contain eternity within yourself.

If to you a storm is raging remember, it is only raging because you are not aware of your imaginal activity. By disciplining your thoughts, you rise from the sleep of unawareness, and become aware of what you want to imagine. Then the world will change to conform to the change in you. The storm will subside and there will be a perfect calm.

Do not look for God outside of the temple, for you are God’s temple, and the spirit of God dwells in you. Ask the average person where he thinks God’s temple is, and he will point to a synagogue, cathedral, or church; but God does not dwell in houses made with hands. God is spirit and dwells in his living temple! Imagine – and God is acting. Believe in the reality of what you are now imagining! Rearrange those little clusters around the foot, and when they are fixed with feeling, relax in the knowledge that your outer world will conform to the new fixation. Although the world appears external, its reality is within, as you are its creative power, dreaming the world into being; for you are an immortal being, wearing a garment of mortality. One day you will awaken from this fantastic dream, to find yourself enhanced by having experienced the mystery of death.

I ask you now to take the challenge and change your thinking, although I know it is not an easy thing to do. I have known those who so enjoy hating another that they do not want to change. They seem to receive a certain pleasure out of hating and do not realize that they are only hating themselves.

I remember a man in New York City during the Second World War, who claimed he despised Roosevelt. Every morning when the man shaved, he would talk to himself in the mirror, imagining he was telling Roosevelt everything he disliked about him. The gentleman attended my meetings, and when I confronted him with his imaginal acts, he said: “I pay $10 to see a Broadway show which does not give me the joy I receive during that ten minutes in the morning.” Well, this man created his own storm, for the venom that he spewed out every morning returned to him. He lost his New York City home, then went to Florida, where he lost everything there. I tried to tell him to awake, that he was sleeping and only dreaming that Roosevelt was the cause of his world. But he could not believe me. He came from a Germanic background and could not get over the fact that we were at war with Germany. He blamed Roosevelt, even though he knew Germany had declared war on us. He could not see the war as a bad dream, and he was confusing it, making the storm rage by the pleasure he received telling Roosevelt off as he shaved.

It’s entirely up to you what you think. If you want to hate someone, you can augment it through intensity and persistence. The same thing is true if you want to love someone; for your human imagination is the only God you will ever know, and he is in his temple – that temple you are!

The parents (meaning tradition) sought Jesus on the outside, but when they found him within, he said: “Do you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” but they could not understand. When I have told rabbis, preachers, and priests, that I have seen David of Biblical fame, they laugh. And when I go further and tell them that David called me father in fulfillment of the 89th Psalm which states: “I have found David, he has cried unto me, ‘Thou art my Father, my God and Rock of my salvation'”,they stand silent, unable to make the Bible their biography.

As long as you think the Bible is speaking of someone other than yourself, you will never understand it. The entire book, from beginning to end, is all about you, individually. You are the one who will find David. It is you he will call “My Father, my God and the Rock of my salvation.” David will literally stand before you as a young man just coming into adolescence. It is the same David who cried out in the Old Testament: “You will not leave me in the pit, in the miry bog.” And you do not. You awaken and, after three days you find him in the temple and scripture is fulfilled.

I tell you: you are an immortal being whose autobiography is recorded in scripture. Having inspired the prophets of the Old Testament, you came into the world to fulfill their words in the New. As the universally diffused individuality, Christ is housed in every child born of woman, bringing him into the world by meditating him into being.

Take the story of my friend seriously. Think of your thoughts as magnetic seeds, invisible and miniature, and the world as bearing witness to their arrangement. And remember: all you need do is rearrange your power-filled thoughts, and you will produce a corresponding rearrangement in your outer world.

Now let us go into the silence.

neville goddard Imagination Is Reality

I REMEMBER WHEN

by with No Comment ImaginationNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdom

Neville Goddard  4-10-1968

neville goddard Imagination Is RealityWhen I receive a great revelation concerning the creative power of God I cannot keep it to myself, but must share it with all that will listen. Here is one I received many years ago. I found myself, in Spirit, in the interior of a stately mansion in New York City. It was the kind of home the great financial giants lived in at the turn of the century.

Fully awake and aware, I was visible to the three generations who were present. The son spoke to his children saying: ‘Your grandfather would stand on an empty lot and say: I remember when this was an empty lot.’ Then he would paint a word picture of his desire for that lot so vividly that those who heard him could see it completed right before their eyes. This is the grandfather who made the fortune we are now enjoying.”

I awoke, recorded the experience, returned to sleep, and re-dreamed the dream – only this time I was the grandfather. Speaking to those present I said: ‘I remember when this was an empty lot.” Then I pictured the building placed there so vividly the very stones molded themselves into the form I envisioned.

This principle can be used in a destructive or constructive way. You can say: “I remember when this was a glorious building and look at it now” as you become aware of rubble where once a glorious building stood. Or you can stand on rubble and say: “I remember when this was all rubble,” as you imagine a glorious building. You can say: “I remember when my friend had nothing and now he has much,” or: “I remember when he had much and now he is so poor.” You can say: “I remember when she was healthy,” which could imply she is now ill, or “I remember when they were unknown,” implying they are now famous. So you see what power was in that revelation. It’s entirely up to you how you use your imagination, but the operation of your creative power is completely up to you. You make the decision, and are therefore responsible for its effect on the world.

In the 12th chapter of the Book of Numbers, we are told: ‘If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision and I will speak with him in a dream.” A scriptural prophet is not one who tells your fortune, but one who hears the Word of God and fulfills it. If you asked me if I were a prophet I would answer in the affirmative. I am not one who prophesies by looking into a crystal ball, teacup leaves, cards, or astrology, but one who has fulfilled scripture. I know I am the central figure of scripture called ‘the Father.” I came into the world to fulfill scripture and share my revelations, my experiences concerning the power to create.

In this simple way God revealed his power to create, his power to remember when! Having nothing, you can become aware of being surrounded by wealth, and feeling wealthy you can say: ‘I remember when I had nothing.” Does that statement not imply that the state of poverty no longer exists for you? I remember when I was unknown. I remember when I couldn’t sell a book. I remember when I couldn’t sell anything I wrote. I remember when. Now you fill in the events, the desires and the fulfillments. I remember when. Do not those words imply memory?

In the first vision I heard of memory, but in the second vision I experienced it. As I stood on a vacant lot I remembered, and as I did a fabulous structure took form. And the dream was doubled, affirming that it was fixed, that the law was established by the Lord as told us in the 41st chapter of the Book of Genesis. I tell it to you now in the hope that you will put yourself in an I-remember-when mood and trust your memory, because memory is your own wonderful human imagination, the one and only creative power of God scripture calls Jesus Christ.

When people say Jesus Christ is coming again do not believe them, for Jesus Christ has never left you. Did he not say: ‘Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age?” Then how can you look for him to return? Scripture states that Christ was taken up into the kingdom of heaven (which is within) and that he will come in the same manner as he was taken up. If Christ (God’s creative power) is in you, he cannot come from without. Although he seems to be invisible, Christ has never left you, as you cannot detach yourself from imagination.

Yes, Christ will come, but not in the way you were taught. Listen to these words from the 8th chapter of John carefully: ‘If you remain in my word you are my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” Questioning this statement, the people said: ‘We are sons of Abraham and have never been in bondage to anyone.” To this Christ replied: ‘He who commits sin is a slave to sin.” You were taught to believe that sinning is when you do something wrong, but I say you are sinning when you miss your mark in life by failing to move! If, tonight you find yourself in a state you no longer desire to express, you must learn how to move into your desired state. If you do not move (mentally) you continue to live your undesirable state, thereby sinning and missing your mark in life! Regardless of what you may desire, persist in feeling its fulfillment, for if you do, feeling will become believing.

As sons of Abraham, the people claimed to have never known bondage, yet Jesus told them: ‘If the Son sets you free you are free indeed.” This is true, for only when you recognize God’s Son, David, as your son are you really free. When David stands before you doubt flees, and as you feel this wonderful relationship, belief sets you free.

In the beginning of creation the Spirit of God (his creative power called Christ) moved upon the face of the deep. Now, motion cannot be detected save by change in position relative to another object. Unless there is a fixed reference from which an object moves, no movement will appear. Let us use a weak, sick man as our fixed reference and looking into our mind see a strong, healthy man, and say: ‘I remember when he was weak and sick, but look at him now!” Do that and you have moved relative to the man.

Look at yourself in the mirror and dare to see radiant health and happiness reflected back to you. Then say within yourself: ‘I remember when my reflection was so different.” Persist in seeing your new image reflected there and you will resurrect that state. Your image, your concept of yourself or of another, is in your own wonderful human imagination who is Christ and Christ is the only God. God the Father and Christ your creative power are the same being, therefore he has never left you!

Tonight, regardless of whether your dreams are beautiful or horrible, you are aware of them because Christ has never left you. And when you awake in the morning Christ (your imagination) awakes with you, or you could not remember your dreams. The human imagination is the God the world honors (as they should) for imagination is the creative power of the world. Learn to control your wonderful imagination and you will discover that the whole vast world is yourself pushed out.

Last night I visited many of my friends, not only those who are here but those such, as my brother, who have gone through that little gate the world calls death. You see, to me this world is no more real than the world I visited last night. My friends, although gone from this sphere, are having the same experiences they had while they were here: hating, liking, loving, disliking. They are the same people, only young, with the same problems they had here. This I know, for being fully aware that I have already died, I can close my eyes to this world and enter that world instantly. I spent my entire night in a world, which is not real to this one, yet so solid and real to those who inhabit it.

Now, in the 14th chapter of the Book of John the central character of scripture said to those who were beginning to fulfill scripture: ‘You heard me say to you, I go away and I will come to you.’ If you loved me you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.” This statement appears to be conflicting, but it is not. In the audience tonight are three to whom I made this statement and they rejoiced, fulfilling scripture. Now I say to all: unless I go away I cannot come to you. If you love me you will rejoice in the depth of your soul, for you will know that, although I will be invisible I will never leave you. Becoming invisible, Christ became you, therefore, he cannot return. I have told you I am the Father. That the Father dwells in me and I dwell in you and you dwell in me, so when you find me you find yourself as the Father. This is the unity of our being and there is no other.

Take what I have told you this night to heart and put it to the extreme test in this world of Caesar. There is no limit to your creative power. Simply stand on your new belief and say to yourself: I remember when. See what you want to see in your mind’s eye in place of what you see on the outside.

May I urge you to always use your power in a loving way, for it can be used unlovingly with the same results. It is possible to take a business that belongs to another and tear it down. This is done many times unwittingly, but the effect is the same. A few years ago while in Barbados I asked my brother about the business and he replied quite innocently: ‘It is doing remarkably well. The man who owns two-thirds of it is a good manager, but his hours are long and I think he is getting tired.” Six months ago the man asked my brother to buy him out, stating that the hours were too long and the responsibility too great. My brother set that whole thing in motion, and because the man wanted out, my brother got the business at his price. Victor has done this many times before, but not from revelation unless my father told him. One day the two of them were standing on fifty acres of undeveloped land, which opened to the beach, when my father said: ‘You know Vic, this would be a good place to build homes and hotels.” The property was then owned by three sisters who were not interested in selling, but one day when they were ready to sell, the man who had really wanted the property was in Brazil so my father bought it.

The thought expressed by my father seemed to be an idle one, but it wasn’t, for thought only takes a moment of intensity to be made alive. A kettle of water placed on a low flame is slow to boil, but when the flame is increased the boil is assured. I was so intense in my vision of being the grandfather, that I built a word picture so clear that those who heard it saw the building as something objective to them. The key is this: While in a state you no longer desire to express, you must move inwardly by claiming: ‘I remember when I was in a state I did not like.” If you can remember it you are no longer in it. Instead you are becoming aware of your new state as a present objective fact. And if you will remain faithful to your new awareness, it will crystallize. You will find yourself moving across a series of events which will lead you to the fulfillment of your desired state. How it will come about I do not know. I only know it will unfold.

Start now to remember when your friend wasn’t well by imagining he is healthy. Remember when your daughter was single by imagining she is married. Go through life remembering when. Haven’t you heard people say: ‘Who does he think he is? I remember when he had nothing and was a nobody!” Now, you may have heard a little jealousy in their tone and that is good because envy adds fire to the statement, which causes the one spoken of to have more! He may never know who caused his success, but it was done by an act of remembrance with intensity.

My vision – although experienced many years ago – was doubled, thereby affirmed and made a principle for all to prove, so I ask you to try it. Compare what you want with what you have. If they differ you must make the effort to move. You must learn the secret of motion. Many years ago my friend Bob discovered this. In his vision he questioned me, saying: ‘How long have I been here?” and when I replied: ‘Two years” he asked: ‘Did I learn anything?” to which I answered: ‘Yes, you learned how to move.”

You must have a frame of reference by which you can detect movement. Memory is such a frame. Perhaps your friends remember you as poor and unknown. You can move by assuming you have changed so much that they no longer recognize you, and from that frame of reference you can observe the expression on their faces. Those who love you will empathize. Those who do not will show envy. If you see envy don’t try to change it, for their envy will become a resisting force which will help you move forward. Everything needs resistance in order to move. I couldn’t leave this platform without it.

You couldn’t drive your car without resistance, so if you discover one who desires to play the part of envy, let him play it. Dare to assume you are the one you really want to be. Use your same circle of friends, but this time see them from a different angle. Observe their faces and listen to their whispers as they look at the new you and remember when!

This is what I was shown when God spoke to me through the medium of vision and made himself known to me in a dream. If we know that God speaks to us in a dream or vision, is there anything more important in this world? Is there any TV program, movie, radio, or newspaper greater than a revelation which comes from the depths of the soul giving an eternal principle of creation? There is nothing in this world equal to it. I urge you this night to seek the kingdom of God and all these things will be yours!

Do not let anyone tell you that Jesus is coming again, for he has never left you. In you as your own wonderful human imagination, Christ is crucified in all and will eventually awaken in all as he gathers us together into himself, into his one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one God and Father of all.

Now, some of you are having physical and emotional problems. As I told a friend tonight, no one ever promised you that it was going to be easy to bring forth the greatest gift in the world, so don’t expect it. There will be problems, horrible problems; but be of good cheer, for we are told in the 16th chapter of John: ‘When a woman is in travail she suffers, but when the child is born she forgets everything because of the joy that the child is born.” You are destined to know such joy, for the child to be born in you is Christ Jesus, the creative power of God.

I am not promising you complete relief from all physical problems, but I have given you a law which will cushion the blows of life. Things are going to happen and you will find all kinds of challenges, but you now have a law which states: ‘Whatsoever you desire believe you have received it and you will.” That’s a law, which will never fail you and there is no limit to your power of belief. It’s entirely up to you as to how and when these revealed laws of God are used, but I do know that you are going to conceive and bring forth the greatest thing in this world which is the birth of God, the birth of joy, as Blake said in his poem, ‘The Mental Traveler”:

‘I traveled thro’ a Land of Men
A Land of Men and Women too
And heard and saw such dreadful things
As cold Earth wanderers never knew

For there the Babe is born in joy
That was begotten in dire woe
Just as we Reap in joy the fruit
Which we in bitter tears did sow.’

Here Blake is telling us what he saw in his mental journey, ending on this lovely note: ‘All is done as I have told.” And he meant exactly that. Everyone will experience scripture just as it was foretold: the resurrection, your birth from within, finding your Son David, your ascent into heaven, and the descent of the dove. This is your destiny, yours to experience when your memory is restored.

But don’t forget what I have told you this night. It came to me from the depths of my soul, which is God the Father. It is he who speaks to you from within, and when he appears you will know him for you will be just like him. And as he rises in you all impossibilities will dissolve as you will realize that everything is coming into your world from within.

Listen to these words carefully and you will see that the Father never left you: ‘I came out from the Father.” And where is the Father? In heaven. And where is heaven? Within! So I came out from within. The words ‘within” and ‘above” as well as ‘without” and ‘below” are the same in scripture. Coming out from within I see a world and ‘others” who have power over me. Now I want to leave the world and go to the Father. How is that done? By returning within, and since there is only one within where can I go that I can come again to be seen coming from without?

When you return to the source, the cause of all life, you will know that you and I are one. You will know it because there is only one Father and one Son. And when my Son calls you Father, memory will be yours and you will know the truth of what I say now, that I am in my Father and my Father is in me and I am in you and you are in me, for we are One.

Now let us go into the silence.

neville goddard Imagination Is Reality

IS CHRIST YOUR IMAGINATION

by with No Comment ImaginationNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdom

Neville Goddard 03-22-1963

neville goddard Imagination Is RealityTonight’s subject is in the form of a question: “Is Christ your Imagination?” When we ask the question we expect the answer in terms of our current background of thought, and quite often that is not adequate to frame the answer.

Now, I am asking the question, and in order to answer myself I should really clarify the terms, “imagination” and “Christ” I think there will be no problem tonight if I define – say – “imagination.” I think you will agree with me when I define “Christ.” If I say to that, that imagination is the power of performing mental images, you wouldn’t quarrel with that.

Sitting here tonight, you can think of anything and see it mentally. You may not see it as graphically as you see it in its present form in the room at the moment, but you could see it vividly in the mind’s eye and discriminate. Think of a tree, a horse, and you know the difference between one and the other, and they are two separate objects in your mind’s eye. Well, that is the power of imagination.

When it comes to Christ – and there are hundreds of millions in the world that call themselves Christians – the very use of the word instantly conjures in the mind’s eye a person. They think of Christ as a person, and no two have the same mental picture of this person. I know, many, many years ago in New York City this French artist went to the library on 42nd street and brought up 46 different pictures of Christ and screened them with his little lantern. No two were alike, and each artist claimed that this was an inspired picture as it was presented to him, and he painted the picture. There were blond and blue-eyed pictures, dark swarthy skin; there were those with a very black skin – all 46 pictures were projected as so-called originals. So, man has been conditioned to believe that Christ is a person. So I ask the question: “Is Christ your imagination?” Can I personify the imagination? I will.

Let us go back to the Bible. What does the Bible say of Christ? In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians (I will just give you the highlights) he defines Christ as: “The power and the wisdom of God.” (1:23, 24) In John 1 (which brings Christology to its height, as far as the Bible goes – there is no single book that takes the secret of Christ and brings it to this height as you will find in the Gospel of John) – in the Gospel of John, speaking now of this presence that was with God, his meaning, his power: “By Him all things were made and without Him was not anything made that was made.” It is the power and yet it is wisdom. So here is a creative power. If I take that now and analyze myself in another world, the sign goes to the end of the second letter to the Corinthians. He calls upon all of us who would read that letter: “Test yourself. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in thee?” Here we are told: “All things were made by Him.” He is the power of God and the wisdom of God. Every attribute of God is personified. So his power is personified, and may I confess I have seen that power – and it is a man. I have seen that wisdom – and it is a man. And when you stand in the presence of that personified aspect of infinite being, you know you are standing in the presence of infinite might. It is not just power, it is almighty-ness, and you stand in the presence – and yet it is a man. So here he calls it the power and the wisdom.

Now he asks me, and you who read his letter, to test ourselves: “Test yourself, do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in thee.” (2 Corinthians 13:5) And he made all these things – well then, let us put him to the test in us. I say he is our imagination, that is the power, the creative power of the universe. Look around. Do you know anything in the world of man that man has created – from the clothes that he wears to the homes that he inhabits – that wasn’t first imagined? Do you know of anything in this world that is now proved as fact, as a concrete reality, that wasn’t first imagined – only imagined, and then it externalized? Yes, using hands, using implements of the world, but it first began as an image, and an image is simply the product of this reforming image-making faculty in man, which is man’s imagination. Now, if “All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made,” I can’t come to any other conclusion than the fact that Christ of scripture is my imagination.

Now who is Jesus? If Christ is the power and the wisdom of God, and God sunk himself in us, that was his sacrifice. He actually became us that we may live; for were it not for this sacrifice of God, to actually limit himself to the state called “man,” man would – like the earth – wear out like a garment. As we are told in Isaiah 51:6: “Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will do likewise; but my salvation will be for ever and my deliverance will never be ended.” That word “salvation” means Jesus. The word “Jesus” is “Jehovah saves.” That is salvation. That is forever. Were it not that God became man that man may become God, to save man and lift him up to immortality, because the promise is: “The earth will wear out like a garment.”

Our scientists tell us today that the sun is melting in radiation. If it took unnumbered billions of years, if it started a process of melting, no matter how long it takes it has an end, and with its end we have our end as part of the system. So we, walking the earth, always have an end. To stop that process of bringing man to an end: “My salvation will be for ever and my deliverance will never have an end.”

So, God became man that man may become God. In becoming man (as God is the only creative power in the world) what in me creates? My imagination. I may not have the talent to put it on paper, I may not have the ability to execute it the way artists can, but I can imagine it. I can imagine a book and the joy of having a book. I can imagine a picture. Without being an artist I can dream. I cannot conceive of a picture that a man can paint on canvas that is more alive than my dream, yet I can’t put a thing on canvas. But I go to sleep and I can dream. And what is doing it, if not my imagination? And here when I lose the conscious faculty, this restricted area, I can actually dream. Dream as no artist in the world conveys; put color upon it, put motion upon it, and have the most wonderful drama – and that is my imagination.

But this is not the only power and wisdom of God. In the greatest of all the New Testament, which is John, John does not emphasize the power. He states in the beginning – yes, he declares might as power – but the emphasis is not on power; it is on redemption and revelation. Revelation in John’s gospel is an act of God in self-revealing. So, in the first chapter he tells us what this power will do for us. First of all there are two endings to John. Let us take the real ending, which is the 20th chapter, the first ending, and whoever the writer is who calls himself John: “Now Jesus did many other signs that are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ . . .and believing have life in his name.” He is the power and the wisdom of God. That is what the author is telling us in the very end. Many signs he did, but in spite of the number of the signs and the character of the signs, it did not evoke faith. The whole teaching of the Gospel of John is based upon faith and unbelief in him. Either one or the other. Have faith in him, or you disbelieve in him, and few believed in him – few, we are told, even his disciples. Only a few believed and they imperfectly.

Well now, who is Jesus? Christ is the power and the wisdom, but who is Jesus? We have this wonderful thought expressed in Paul’s letter to the Philippians (2:6-11): “Though he was in the form of God, he did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men.” That identifies man with a slave, every man. “And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name” (not an indefinite article) “which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” He gave him the name, and it is above every name, and at that name every power in the world must bend, at the name of names. That is the name called Jesus, which is Jehovah. Jesus simply is Jehovah’s name.

Every child born of woman in this world one day wears that name. There is only one name, only one being: Jesus. You go through the same story as told us in the gospel – everyone will – and when he passes through this series of events, that name is conferred. Conferred on the risen Christ. That power is latent in man, that is man’s imagination. Where it is lifted up, on that risen Christ, the name Jesus – the divine name, Jesus – is conferred, and that individual then enters a new age. An entirely different age that is immortal, eternal, because until the end of that age we are still subject to being worn out like a garment (as told us in the 51st [chapter] of Isaiah.) So everyone is moving on that wheel that is being worn out, wearing out like a garment and vanishing like smoke, like the heavens. But not one will fail, for God redeems us and God resurrects us, one after the other, lifts us up and confers on that risen Christ the name – the name, Jesus.

When Blake was asked quite innocently about the mysterious name: “What do you think of Jesus?” without batting an eye, Blake replied: “Jesus is the only God,” and then hastened to add: “But so am I, and so are you.” So in the end, all believed the name where the power – all Christ in man – is lifted up, lifted up so that the whole vast wonderful being that was sunk in man is now awake. What that body is like, I can’t describe it to anyone. I can’t find words to describe the glory that is yours, for everyone. It certainly isn’t this, I assure you, yet I will know you and you will know me in eternity. But for all the sameness of identity we will actually know each other. There will be a radical discontinuity of form (not the form I now wear here today and have for the last fifty-eight years) – but identity…yes, you will know me.

But how to display the glory of the being that you are when you are resurrected? This is shown us by the Sadducees, who do not believe in the resurrection. They are the modern scientists. The Sadducees of 2,000 years ago were the wise men. The Pharisees were the priesthood of the world. The Sadducees were the intellectual giants of that day and they – any more than today – could not even believe in survival, far less resurrection. Like the world today puts the two words together and they speak of survival as resurrection – and they are not. Survival is continuity; resurrection is discontinuity. You leave the field completely and enter the worlds of eternity.

So they ask the question based upon the law of Moses, and Moses said: “If a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man must take the wife and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and died without children; the second and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. Afterward the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be?” (Luke 20:27-33). It is a fable, because they did not believe in the resurrection. “And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are accounted worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die any more, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.” (Luke 34-36) They are completely above the organization of sex. What we call sex here, this garment of flesh, are shadows thrown by this fabulous being above. And the body you really have, you are told (as I quoted earlier, Philippians 2:6): “Being in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men, didn’t think it strange. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.” And then to find himself with all the limitations of man, all the weaknesses of man, everything that is man? Then God exalted him at the end when he resurrected him and gives him the name. That name is conferred only at resurrection.

So, everyone will get it, for everyone will be resurrected. Then you will not be wearing these bodies, wonderful as they are for us, filled with all the passions of the world, and they are all wonderful – but it is not the body you will wear. You will be completely above the organization of sex. No need for this kind of creativity. Imagination becomes completely awake and you will create at will, and your imaginal act will become an immediate objective fact. And what we call reality today, all this fabulous world of ours – may I tell you I have seen it – it is all imagination. When man has played his part and God has completed his purpose (which is to bring forth from us himself and make us all gods with him) then these garments – made up of all the elements that feel so permanent and so wonderful – they will vanish like smoke. There isn’t an element that wasn’t brought into being by the creative power of God, by his own wonderful divine imagining, and it is sustained in me because he sustains it by his imaginal act. When he ceases that imaginal act all the elements will melt, all vanish, and the world will be as though it never existed. But you and I will be lifted up above it all into an entirely different world, an eternal world.

So is Christ your imagination? I say Christ is the power and the wisdom of God, and this power and this wisdom creates everything in the world. I can trace to my own being an imaginal act that became fact, then I repeated it and it became fact. If I can repeat it and repeat it, and these imaginal acts externalize themselves in facts, then I have found it. Found that power in myself, for the Bible calls him Christ and personifies it and speaks of [this] presence as a man – but that man is Jesus. Jesus Christ is simply the resurrected being that is God now, because he has resurrected the power within him, which is Christ. Now he is called “the Lord,” and everything should bow before him when it happens. I say to you: the day will come you will have the experience, and you will be startled. No one will believe you; they aren’t going to believe you anymore than they believed the first person to whom it happened. He is the first that rose from the dead, but no one believed him. Up to the very end who would believe the story?

They were looking for a different kind of Messiah, a conquering hero who would come just like a man out of some glorious background of warriors, and then conquer the enemy of Israel and lead Israel to some victorious end. They always look for that kind of a Messiah. We have them all over the world today, these false Messiah’s who promise the nations they will lead them to some victory, even a little temporary victory. That’s not Messiah. Messiah hasn’t a thing to do with this world; he is resurrected out of this world. This world is vanishing, wearing out just like a garment. Christ in man is the power and the wisdom; and then, that in man that is man’s imagination, becomes a mercy because he exercises it lovingly.

If I read John correctly, not only my salvation is dependent on it; I must actually believe in him. Who is the being? My own imagination. If I don’t believe and test it – even though I fail – well then, I don’t believe in Christ, for Christ is really my imagination, your imagination. So you imagine something lovely of another, and if you don’t believe in the reality of that imagination, then you don’t believe in Christ. Though you can go to church every day and give ten per cent of your income to the church of your choice – all these things are lovely, give them if you feel that way about it – but that is not Christ. That is not believing in Christ.

To believe in Christ is to see someone in this world, and have a sweet feeling towards that one that hasn’t yet realized how to be lovely, something without his knowledge. Then represent him to yourself as though it were true, and believe in the reality of what you have done mentally. Believe in Christ, for all things are possible to Christ. Bring him before your mind’s eye and see him as he would like to be seen by himself, as he would like the world to see him. But you do it and believe in the reality of what you have done. That is believing in Christ. You will be surprised beyond measure how it works. At that very moment, because: “All things by a law Divine in one another’s being mingle.” At that very moment that you interfere with his life, you reshuffle the entire deck, and all things will completely rearrange to mirror the change that is going to take place in him; and everyone in this world who can aid that change will be used to bring it about without their knowledge or consent. You don’t need the consent of any being in the world; if they can be used to externalize what you have imagined, they will be used. And when you least expect it, because you believe in Him, then God resurrects you. Then you will live it out, and you stand bewildered when you see what God did for you.

Everything claimed of him that you thought, that your mother taught you, happened 2000 years ago – it is happening. It didn’t stop. Go back and read Paul’s letter to Timothy: “Those who teach that the resurrection is past are misleading the faithful.” It isn’t a past: it took place in one, and it is taking place in unnumbered. It’s all over, the crucifixion is over, yes – but not the resurrection. The resurrection is taking place in everyone that is called and lifted up. As we are called, God’s mightiest act is performed. and we are lifted up and pass through the series of events leading into the kingdom of heaven. Though we seemingly remain here still wearing this garment for a little while, the garment will be shown you that you will occupy. You can’t describe it to anyone, even to your own satisfaction. It is such a living thing, so luminous; it is just light, like the rainbow. You can’t describe it to any being in this world who thinks only in terms of a garment of flesh.

Now we are told in the 1st chapter of John (11-13) – he is speaking of an entirely different kind of birth: “And those who believe in his name will be born, not of blood, nor the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” Not born in any that this (the body) is born. “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,” only Spirit. When you are born, you are self-begotten. You have actually no parents. You come right out of a grain, the mystery of the grain of wheat that falls into the ground. If it doesn’t fall into the ground it remains alone; if it falls into the ground, it bears much fruit. The mystery of life through death, for God actually died to become you, to become me.

God is divine imagination and he limits himself to the very limit of contraction, called human imagination, and actually dies in the sense that all the power and all the memory of his glorious being had to be completely forgotten. So the cry on the cross is true: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me.” He himself has cried out, because he so completely gave himself to us he suffered total amnesia, complete forgetfulness of his divinity as he became us, and that was divine imagining becoming human imagining. Then we, building our little world – lovely as it is to many of us – it is so different, and the power we exercise is so fragile, compared with that same power when raised up, when lifted up and the great name which is above all names is conferred upon us. And the day will come, without loss of identity you will bear the name “Jesus.” Everyone is destined to be Christ Jesus – that power, with the name exercising infinite power – without loss of identity. We will know each other and all glorified, everyone. There is no limitation to the gift. Some will exercise it more than others, but certainly the gift is the same, the gift of Christ Jesus.

So my question, as far as I am personally concerned: “Is Christ your imagination?” I say: yes. And yet don’t limit it only to power and wisdom, for the emphasis is not on power and wisdom – it is on redemption, revelation. He reveals himself, and in that very first chapter, the prologue of John. The first eighteen verses are the prologue, and in the very last of the 18th verses he shows you the revelation: “No man has seen God at any time, but the son in the bosom of the father, he has made him known.” No one has seen him, but in the bosom of the father there is a son, and he reveals the father. Then we are told in the 10th [chapter] of Luke: “No one knows the son except the father. No one knows the father except the son and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him.” There will come that moment in time when the son reveals you, and you will know your name is Jesus Christ the Lord, for the son is going to call you, “My Lord.” He is actually going to call you his father, his Lord, the rock of his salvation, and then you will know who you are.

I can tell you from now to the ends of time, but I can’t tell you the condition that experience will carry when it happens. And when it happens to you, it will make no difference to you if all the wise people in the world rise in opposition and tell you: you started from some grand little amoeba. It will make no difference to you whatsoever. This is revelation, and the whole thing is lifted – the veil is lifted – and now you know why you couldn’t see the face of the father. You can see him only reflected in the son. There is no mirror to reflect the consciousness of the son. You can’t see your face because you are mirrored on earth; but that is not the face, and you only know your face in the beauty of your son. So, everyone in the world is destined to bear the name of Christ Jesus, the Lord.

Now let us go into the silence.

neville goddard Imagination Is Reality

NEVILLE’S PURPOSE REVEALED

by with No Comment ImaginationNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdom

Neville Goddard  25 June 1971

neville goddard Imagination Is RealityWhen purpose is revealed, all falls into place. The revelation of purpose gives meaning to everything, and there is a purpose in this wonderful, vast creation of God. Paul said: “He has made known unto us . . . . the mystery of His will, according to His purpose which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time.” [Ephesians 1:9, 10] There is a plan behind it all. 

Now let us turn to the most disputed verse in Ecclesiastes: “God has put Eternity into man’s mind, yet so that man cannot find out what Cod has done from the beginning to the end.” [Ecclesiastes 3:11]

The Revised Standard Version translates it as “eternity.” The meaning of the word translated “eternity” will determine what meaning you would give to that verse. The word is “olam.” The King James Version translates it as “the world.” “He put the world into man’s mind.”

But the word is “olam.” It really means — in a sense — “history”; but history to the one who wrote it, the Teacher, consists of all the generations of man, including their experiences, and all fused into one grand whole; and this concentrated time into which all things are fused, they call “eternity.” It is from this that all things spring. Now that is in your mind.

All the generations that ever walked the face of this earth, all of their experiences, all that are walking today, all that ever will walk, God placed in your mind. You are not limited to this small, little section of time — threescore and ten years. He took Eternity! Therefore, He gave you Himself! But He hid the gift from the beginning of time to the end.

The gift is God Himself! Believe it, and the whole incredible story of the Gospel will become to you possible. And the day will come, you will experience the gift, and you will know how true it is. God’s purpose is to give Himself to you individually, as though there were no others in the world — just you, for the gift is so complete, it is not you and God; it’s you as God. God became as you are, that you may be as He is. [Paraphrase of Blake’s statement in “Jerusalem”] So in the end, you will not see another as God. It is you as God! This is the story.

Now, in the 4th Chapter of Ecclesiastes, at the very end of the 4th Chapter, he said, “I saw all the living that move about under the sun, as well as that second youth, who was to stand in his place; there was no end to all the people; he was above all of them. Yet those who will come later will take no joy in him. Isn’t that also vanity and the striving after wind?” [Ecclesiastes 4:15,16J

This “second one” spoken of in Scripture is the Lord from Heaven. It begins in the very beginning of Genesis. The “second one” was Abel, the slaughtered, the murdered. As we move through, the “second one” was Isaac, — not Ishmael, the first. We come on through, and it was Jacob, not Esau. A strange reversal of order takes place in all of these adumbrations in Scripture. They are all a foreshadowing of what God has planned for us. There is that “second youth” in us that has to be awakened, and that is God Himself! He is reproducing in us His own image, and that is called the “second man” or the “Lord from Heaven.”

I will share with you, as I’ve done night after night, my own personal experience of Scripture. The story is the only true story in the world. God’s eternal purpose is taking place in time; but it is an eternal state. It’s something that is continuous. It is permanent, in contrast to this fragmented state in time where we seem to begin, and all things that begin here end. But there is something that does not begin. It is continuous. It is in man. It is buried in man, and that that cannot begin or end is God-in-man.

Paul asked the question: “Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?” [II Corinthians 13:5]

Well, the answer to that, if you are honest with yourself, if you have not had the experience, — you would say, “No, I do not. I could believe it, and I will believe it; but I do not know it. For, to experience it would be to know it. Not to experience it and only to believe it would be hearsay, but I want to actually experience it, that I may know it.”

Your purpose in this world is not what the world thinks it is. Therefore they said you do not rejoice. “Those who come later will not rejoice in Him” [Ecclesiastes 4:16, R.S.V.], because they will think their purpose is to make a fortune, to get a bigger house or more houses, to get a name among those who are departing this world, for all these appear, they wax, they vane, they disappear. No matter how long they prolong it, or they think they do, they all vanish; and they want to have some name among the shadows that are vanishing. There is a purpose, and the purpose is to awaken as God — God Himself!

The plan is definite in Scripture. He said, “I have come into the world only to fulfill Scripture.” That’s my purpose. “He who began a good work in me will bring it to completion at the unveiling in me of His plan, which is Christ Jesus” [Philippians 1:6]. He will unveil Christ Jesus in me. Well, when he does, “I am He.”

I have been taught that He dwells in me, but I have also been taught that He came from without. When one experiences the story, he realizes He is not from without at all. He was always buried in me — that Universal Christ, the Cosmic Christ. The whole of Him, riot a little piece of Him; but the whole is buried in the seeming part; and that individual, speaking of you now individually, will one day have the experience recorded in Scripture of Jesus Christ!

He said, “I am not of this world. I am from above. You are from below.” [John 8:23]

He isn’t speaking to the crowd on the outside. It’s taking place within the individual. I am speaking now to this conscious, reasoning mind “below” — this garment of flesh and blood, — you are from below. I am from above. I must be born from above. You, Neville, — the flesh-and-blood Neville — you were born from below — from the womb of a woman. I am being born from above — from that place where they laid me when I “died.” I died as God, to awake in man as man, and then to take that man in whom I am buried and raise him to the level of my Self as God.

He is buried in your skull. That is Golgotha. There is no other burial place for Jesus Christ. You can go all over the world looking for his so-called “holy sepulchre”; and you will not find it outside of your own skull. That’s where He is buried. And the day will come that you will find yourself awakening. You will awaken in your own skull, and you will be alone — all alone, and the skull will be sealed — completely sealed; but you now, having awakened within your skull, you have an innate wisdom as to what you should do. You have one consuming desire, and that is to get out.

You are completely sealed in your skull, and you are standing up alone; but you know if you push the base of your skull, something will “give.” And you do; you push it from within, and something rolls away, as described in Scripture: “And the stone was rolled away” [Mark 16:4J. You do it. And then you put your head through that little opening, and you squeeze, and you come out like a child being born, inch by inch by inch. And when you are almost out, you pull the remaining portion of your body out of your skull. And after a few seconds on the ground, you rise again and look back at that body out of which you came. It’s ghastly pale, tossing its head from side to side just like one in recovery from some great or major operation. Then you hear the wind that actually preceded the entire drama — a peculiar, unearthly wind.

Now, “wind” and “spirit” are the same word in both Greek and Hebrew. But you hear the wind; it’s a storm wind. You feel it in your head, and yet you seem to feel it’s coming from the corner of the room where you find yourself. You look over to that corner, not more than a few seconds; and as you look back, the body out of which you emerged has been removed, as told in Scripture: “They have taken away his body, and we do not know where they have laid it.” [John 20:2] The body is gone; it has been removed. But in its place now are seated three witnesses to the event. In my own case, they were my three older brothers. As tradition has it, — it is not in Scripture; but tradition has it, the three who came to witness the birth were brothers: the king of Arabia, king of Persia, king of India; and they were brothers. In my case, they are not earthly kings in my family; they were simply my own wonderful, loving brothers. And there they sat, one at the head, one at one foot, and one at the other. The body was gone, but that’s where it would have been had it remained there: the head and the two feet.

They are equally disturbed because of the wind. My brother Lawrence was the most disturbed; and he rose and started towards the same direction that I started. He hadn’t gone more than a step when something attracted his attention, and he looked down on the floor, and he announced to my other two brothers, “Why, it is Neville’s baby!”

They, in the most incredulous voices, asked, “How can Neville have a baby?”

He does not argue the point. He lifts the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and brings it over and places it on the bed. He didn’t see because I am now Spirit. I cannot be seen by mortal eye. They saw it, and they came and saw the sign that was foretold by the angels. “Go, and you shall find this as a sign, an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes” [Luke 2:12], — and that’s the sign that God Himself was born. “For a Saviour is born this day to you.” [Luke 2:11]

The only “saviour” in Scripture is the Lord God Jehovah. “I am the Lord God, your Saviour,” you are told in the 43d and 45th Chapters of Isaiah, “and beside me there is no saviour.” [Isaiah 43:11 and 45:21] So, the Saviour is being born. That’s exactly what is going to happen to you individually.

I took the infant up, arid then I looked into its face, and I said, “How is my sweetheart?” Then it broke into the most glorious, heavenly smile. As told you, “the name was called Isaac” [Genesis 21:3], which simply means: “He smiles.” The smile is a heavenly smile. While he is looking into my face and smiling, the whole thing dissolves.

Now we come to that “second youth”; and he comes (in my case) a hundred and twenty-nine (129) days after the “birth from above.” An explosion in my head -— the whole drama takes place in your skull. That’s where you were buried, and that’s where the whole drama is going to unfold. A hundred and twenty—nine days later my head began — there’s a vibration, and when it reached the limit — what I thought was the limit, it exploded; and then when the whole thing settled, I am seated at an ordinary table. Before me is a table; on it an enormous head severed from the body. Leaning against the side of an open door and looking out on a pastoral scene is my son David of Biblical fame. Yes, David of Biblical fame! That’s why I say the drama is permanent and continuous. It’s not something that took place, once and for all, two thousand years ago or four thousand years ago; it is taking Place now, and it will continue to take place until His purpose is fulfilled. It cannot he fulfilled until everyone experiences that predetermined drama — for the awakening of God in man as God, — that man in whom He awakes is God!
So, here is David leaning against the side of an open door and looking at me. I have never seen such beauty in my life. David has an unearthly beauty. You can’t describe the beauty of that lad of about 12 or 13. And while I drink him in and feast upon his beauty, the whole thing dissolves; and I know I am his father, and he knows that he is my son.

Until that moment in time, I had no idea there was any relationship between a Biblical character and the one talking to you now. It came as a complete surprise to me that the story told in the Bible is eternally true, and it’s all about us. That David is your “son,” but you do not know it. He put that in your mind in the beginning, “but so that you cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” That is the 11th verse of the 3d Chapter of Ecclesiastes. That is what He put in your mind. That is that “second youth” who is over all of them. As you are told, “He is prince forever [Ezekiel 37:21]. If he is “prince,” his father is “king.” “And the Lord will be king in that day, and his name shall be One; and all will be one.” He is king! The king has a son; the son is a prince. And David is the “prince” forever and forever.

So, here is the unfolding drama of God-in-you, and God is king. But He’s a father. Well, if He’s a father, there must be a son, and the son is David.

Now we read in the story of David:

I will tell of the decree of the Lord:
He said unto me: “Thou art my son.
Today I have begotten thee.” [Psalm 2:1]

And now the Lord speaks:

“I have found David, . . . . .
He has cried unto me, ‘Thou art my Father,
my God, and the Rock of my Salvation.”

[Psalm 89:20,21]

You will find David, and only when you find him will you really know that you are God. You will not in eternity be persuaded by someone other than yourself. You can only know it — actually know it — by finding David, and David will reveal to you Who-You-Are. That was God’s plan in the beginning. That’s His purpose.

So He set it forth in Christ. Well, the word “Christ” is the Hebrew word “Messiah.” That wonderful poem of Browning, when he tried in his wonderful manner, through the use of words, to reveal the coming of Messiah, — he called the poem “Saul.” If you are not familiar with the story, Saul was insane — King Saul; and David plays the lyre — plays the harp and soothed him when he was demented. Now the story as Browning tells it is this:

David stands before Saul, and he said to Saul: “Oh, Saul, . . . .
A face like my face . . . shall receive thee; a man like to me
Thou shalt love and be loved by forever: A Hand like this hand
Shall throw open the gates of new life to thee!”

Then standing before him, he said: “See the Christ stand!”
He is telling you who he is; he is the “Anointed One.” “Christ” means the “anointed one.’

“Rise and anoints him. This is he” [I Samuel 16:12], said the Lord to His prophet Samuel. “This is he.” Who are they speaking to? To Samuel. Of whom? He spoke of David. So Samuel took the ointment, — that is, the oil — the precious oil, and anointed David in the presence of his brothers; “and from that day forward the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David.” [I Samuel 16:13]

Now you are told, “Those who come later will find no joy in Him.” [Ecclesiastes 4:16]

They are so eager to make money, so eager to get a name among shadows, so eager to build monuments to themselves, that they have no time for the story, — they are all about the shadow world. Now, what does he mean, he was above all of them? Well, if you can take it, may I tell you? all these “garments” [indicating the physical body] are shadows. They are part of the eternal structure of the universe. You are “wearing” these garments, and they are you only for a temporary part of your time. They became a part of you when you penetrated them and annexed the brains of them; and so for a little while they are a temporary portion of the soul — but only for a temporary part of your journey. It is not You. These garments –you burn them up — put them into the oven and reduce them to ash, but that’s not You. Throw it into the furnace, and that Fourth One comes out, the Fourth One being your Eternal Being as you. You are told in the Book of Daniel: “Throw them into the furnace,” — reduce them to ashes; but here is the Immortal You that cannot die. But while you are here and you are a part of that little world in which you live, you think it is you, and you’ll die to protect it and do anything to save it while you go about your business trying to make more and more of this shadow world.

He said, “Those who will come later will not rejoice in Him. Is that not a striving after wind?” It’s just like “striving after wind” to build up more and more of the same shadows.

So here, I am sharing with you what I personally have experienced. All the adumbrations of the Old Testament, which are put into the form of a story told as if it were true, — for that’s what is told; it is told as if it were true, and you were taught to believe that it was physically true, and it’s not physically true. It takes place in man. It is more true than any physical story ever could be, for this is eternally true.

Now the third one, you will find yourself, — and this is a marvelous one; the day will come, you will be split in two from top to bottom, and you will see at the base of your spine golden, liquid, pulsing, living light. Although it’s liquid, pulsing light, you know it is your Self; and you fuse with it; and then like a fiery serpent, you rise into your skull. And when you enter, it is just like thunder. You reverberate; your whole head begins one grand, marvelous reverberation. You think it’s going to split; but no, — it subsides, and you have gone hack into Heaven! That’s how you take Heaven, and you take it violently, as told you in Scripture. [See Matthew 11:12,13; and Luke 16:16, R.S.V.]

And then comes the climax; and the climax is when the Spirit descends upon you in bodily form as a dove and smothers you with affection, kissing you all over your face, your head, your neck. He remains on you when the vision begins to fade. Then the drama has been brought to its climax.

You then tell it to the best of your ability, either in the spoken word as I am, or you can write it if you can write. But you tell it to anyone who will listen. It’s not very encouraging if you read the end of Acts because he told it “from morning to evening . . . . some believed him, and some disbelieved him. [Acts 28:23, 24]

Well, the same thing is true here, because man has been taught to believe it is a physical story — a secular story. When I tell them the true meaning of it, then they turn their ears — that is, they clasp their hands over their ears, for they can’t believe that what they were told is not true secularly.

But I tell you, it is not historically true, if by “history” I mean things that took place here on earth. It is eternally true in the Spirit world. And that is what is going to happen to you; and when it happens to you, you will leave this world. And the next time you close your eyes and men call you “dead,” you will be one of those who look down from Eternity upon this world and see all this taking place, and it’s all under you. That is what he meant: “I saw all those who go about under the sun, and he was over all of them.” All these things are simply under his control. Everything here is taking place by those who contemplate it above.

So when we are told the story: He stood before the judge, and the judge said, “Who are you?” he said, “For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to bear witness to the truth.”

He said, “Are you a king?”

He said, “You say that I am, but my kingdom is not of this world.”

It hasn’t a thing to do with this world; he came only to bear witness to the truth, and the truth was the Word of God. So, he cane to express that Word, and the Word had to find expression in him; then he tells it to the world. “Some believed, and some disbelieved.”

There is no personal description of Jesus in the Scriptures. So, forget all the pictures that you have seen, no matter how good the artist. No personal description of Jesus in the Bible because you are the Lord Jesus Christ. And the day will come, they will know you to be Jesus Christ, regardless of your sex. And they will know you, identified as you are, — you are Mary, you are John, you are Jim, you are Stanley, you are Benny; and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. They will know you as their friend, and still know that you are the Lord.

So, everyone will be the Lord Jesus Christ, They all form “one Body, one spirit, . . . one God and Father of all,” — without loss of identity. You are individualized; and you tend forever and forever towards an ever greater individualization. You reach that climax of it all as what you are individually but as the Lord! And they will see you and know that you are the Lord, while you are walking this earth, may I tell you? Not in some after-death state.

When this thing happens to you, there are those in your circle of friends who will see you, and they can’t believe their own eyes, but they can’t deny what they saw. They will know you are the Lord. They will dine with you the next night, have a drink with you, tell you a joke; you tell them one, and still they can’t get it out of their heads that they saw you and you were the Lord. They know that you are the Lord, and yet you are the same friend they have always known. But they saw you as you really are after you have been born from above.

So, man must be born from above or he cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Everyone will be born from above, for that One to be born is already in man dreaming. The Dreamer-in-man is Jesus Christ. You are dreaming this world. Now dream it nobly. Dream noble dreams. All can come to pass.

In your dreams dare to assume that you are the man that you want to be. Assume that you are it, and persist in that assumption; and that assumption, in a way you do not consciously know, will harden into fact. All assumptions if persisted in become what the world calls “reality.’ So, do not give up. The most fantastic dream can become true if you assume it and walk in the assumption as though it were true.

Night after night, sleep as though you are the man — the woman — that you would be or that you would like to be. And then, if tomorrow does not bring it to pass, it doesn’t matter. There are intervals of time between the assumption and its fulfillment. It’s like generation. So, if you dare to assume it, give it time. And then some bridge of incidents will be built for you without your conscious knowledge of it, and it will lead you across that bridge to the fulfillment of your assumption in a way that you do not know.

So, dare to assume a noble concept of yourself. Live in it as though it were true; and may I tell you? It will become true.

Now a lady wrote me this week and asked me if I could throw some light on this. She said, “I found myself in a dormitory. I recall the dormitory, for I was in that school from the age of 12 to 18. But here you are as an instructor, and you are teaching all of us how to solve puzzles. You did not actually do it for us; you allowed us to use our own talents, but you are instructing. You were the instructor teaching us how to solve puzzles, leaving us full freedom to make our own efforts.

“Then you sat next to me, and you asked me this, — and this puzzled me because I do not understand what it means. You asked me, ‘Do you know what twenty-seven is?’”

Do you know what twenty-seven is?

Now she said, “I do not, and I cannot throw any light on it whatsoever. If you can throw some light on it, please do.”

Well, there are twenty-two letters to the Hebrew alphabet; but really they are twenty-seven, for there are five finals. Twenty-two originals, but five are repeated and called “finals.” So, there are twenty-seven letters.

I would suggest to this lady to read the 27th Psalm tonight. Take the 8th verse. It’s a glorious Psalm. It is not long — a very short one.

Thou hast said to me, “Seek ye my face.”
My heart says to thee,
“Thy face, Lord, I seek.
Hide not Thy face from me.” [Psalm 27:8,9]

That’s the whole drama, the Father and the Son, for no one can reveal the Father but the Son. And this is the Son — David — speaking. He is speaking to his Father: “Hide not Thy face from me.”

Yet you told me to seek your face.

My heart says to you,
“Thy face, Oh, Lord, I seek.
Hide not Thy face from. Me.”

That’s the drama.

Now in her letter she said, “Recently I have been having these dreams where I know I am dreaming. I am trying so hard to see what I am seeing, but I know I can open my eyes and see differently; but I am struggling to open the eyes and they won’t open.”

They are actually on the verge of it, my Dear. You must open the in-current eye, because you are going to see inwards into the world of thought — into Eternity — that which is ever expanding in the bosom of God, — what is it? The human imagination.

As someone wrote, they had their ears pierced — not the lobes of the ear, but the very center of the ear. Yes, they must be pierced, too, as told you in the 40th Psalm: “Ears Thou hast pierced for me.” [Psalm 40:6] You have made holes in them, that I may hear the heavenly sphere; we only hear the sounds out here — the noises. But there are ears to be pierced, and there are eyes to be opened. Then in-current eyes open up into the world of Eternity, into the world of thought, and forever expand; and that eye is the human imagination, which is one with God. For:

“Man is all imagination; and God is man,
and exists in us and we in Him.”
“The eternal body of man is the imagination,
and that is God Himself.”
[Blake, from “Annotations to Berkeley”
and “The Laocoon”]

So, be careful what you imagine. I don’t care how trivial it is, it will come to pass. The whole vast world is nothing more than the confused imaginations of men and women. So, if it seems confused, it is because man is not in control of his imaginal acts. He thinks he can imagine anything with impunity, but he cannot. It all comes into the world to confront him, and to show him what his harvest is. He planted it somewhere along the way; and now here comes his harvest, and he doesn’t recognize his own harvest.

Now, this being my last night, — I have no plans for the future, — I am going to give you a full opportunity to ask questions. First of all, let us go into the Silence.
(Following the Silence): Now are there any questions? Don’t be embarrassed. This is my last night here; so take full advantage of it.

(A lady asks a question that is unintelligible on the tape.)

NEVILLE: The question is, — you will find it in the end of the Gospel of John when he asks Peter if he loves him. “Peter, lovest thou me?”

And he says, “Yes, Lord, thou knowest that I do,”

He repeats this question three times, and it annoys Peter at the end. That’s the story. [See John 21:15 and following.]

I can say in words that I love you. I want it carried to the depths of your own being; so I repeat it. I repeat myself here night after night after night, because people I think heard me, and then I discover they didn’t really. If they had heard me to the point of belief, they would live by it, because man lives by his beliefs. And when I find them not living by what they have confessed in words that they believed, I know that they really didn’t believe it at all, because man lives by belief.
Then I say, “Well, do you believe it? Do you really believe that what I have told you is true, that I was born from above? Do you really believe that David is my son, and he is the son of God; and therefore he revealed to me who I really am as against what I thought I was?”

You may say in words, “Yes, I believe you.”

Then I may find you after that disbelieving by your behavior. And so, at the very end he asks him three times; and you will find the word that he used to be “love.” There are different words. “Eros” is love on the lowest level, and man mistakes that for love. “Aphrodite”(?), that’s love — something entirely different. So, man thinks of sex. All right, I am not denying sex. Sex is a very important thing in this world — very important; but people will say, ‘I love you,” meaning sex. Others, an entirely different emotion permeates them.

I stood in the presence of Infinite Love, and it’s Man; but there was no feeling of sex about it. He embraced me, and our bodies became one body; we fused, when I answered his question. He said, “What is the greatest thing in the world?” and I answered, “Faith, hope and love; these three. The greatest of these is Love.” [I Corinthians 13:15] At that, he embraced inc. Now, our two bodies became one body. As we are told in Scripture, “The two shall be one.” [Matthew 19:5]

But on this level, sex plays a very important part; but the day will come, the body is going to be split in two from top to bottom, and that energy that went into generation will be reversed and move into regeneration. So, he asked the question at the very end of the drama.

Now, let me make this statement: When I said, “He asked the question,” — the Gospels were written by anonymous characters. No one knows who Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are, — no one. They are anonymous names. They were only relating their own experience, but they told it in the form of a story. So, here is an allegory.
An allegory is a story told as if it were true, leaving the one who reads it or who hears it to discover its hidden meaning and learn its truth. So, they related their own experience, whoever Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were. They took the name because a name in Scripture has great significance; it’s not just a title or, I would say, some little tag.

The name “Jesus” is the same as the word “Jehovah.” The same “Yod He Vau” begins both words. The root is the same. “Jehovah” is “Salvation.” Jesus is called the Saviour; that’s salvation. And so, the Saviour was born, — Jehovah was born in a man and they related their own experience and told it beautifully. But–

“Truth embodied in a tale
Shall enter in at lowly doors.” [Tennyson]

So, they told it in the form of a story, that it would be accepted that way; and then gradually as you accept it, it will unfold in its true form.

So, Peter was the one who denied him three times before the cock crowed. So, he is still reminding him that he did at the very last deny him. “You turned your back upon me three times, and I told you the cock would not crow until you had denied me three times, and then the third time you wept bitterly because you knew how prophetically true my words were.”
So, man will swear, “ I will live by this for the rest of my days.” All right, you don’t have to swear. Try it! Try living by it! It’s not the easiest thing in the world to watch one’s imagination morning, noon and night, and to actually control it as you would a boat at sea when you steer it in the direction you want it to go. But, it has to be done eventually. Therefore, get started now.

“If you say you love me, you will keep my word,” he says.

So Peter says, “You know I love you.”

Well, the only way you can love me is to obey my word. “Those who love me,” he said, “obey the word.”

“What must I do to be doing the work of God? [John 6:28]

“Believe in him whom He has sent.” [John 6:29]

Well, the only one you can believe in — what? A little man? No; believe in the teaching, for he tells you, “They aren’t my words, but the words of Him who sent me.”

So, if you really believe that, you will believe the words and live by them. So, he asked it three times and let Peter deny him three times.

Are there any other questions, please?

(A gentleman asks a question that is not intelligible on the tape.)

NEVILLE: That was a colored man in Barbados. His name was Jordan. I was a boy. Of course, I didn’t know the story until I was in my 20’s. It was never told me. But I am one of nine brothers and one sister. My brother Victor met the prophet Jordan. He was known as “the prophet.” He was light-skinned; he was a mulatto, and everyone looked upon him as one who really had the prophetic vision. And he met my brother Vic, and he said to Vic, “What number are you in the Goddard family?”

Vic said, “I am the second.”

He said, “Now, what do you want to be?”

He said, “I want to be a businessman.”

He said to my brother Victor, “You are going to be a very, very successful businessman.”

Now he said, “What does the third one want to be?” That was my brother Lawrence.

He said, “He wants to be a doctor.”

He said, “He will be a very good, successful doctor. But,” he said, “don’t touch the fourth one. He belongs to God. The Lord has sent him to do a definite work; so don’t touch him. You can’t persuade him to do anything outside of that work that God sent him to do.” So, I happen to be the fourth one. Now that is what my brother Victor told me when I went back after I was gone for twelve years.

 

neville goddard Imagination Is Reality

NO OTHER FOUNDATION (1)

by with No Comment ImaginationNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdom

Neville 11-04-1968

neville goddard Imagination Is RealityDefining Christ as God’s power and wisdom, Paul makes this statement: “No other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Christ. If you build on it with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay or stubble, your work will become manifest. It will be revealed by the day. If the work survives, you will receive a reward. If it is destroyed, you will suffer loss; but you yourself will be saved, but only as through fire.” Then he adds this thought: “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Cor. 3)

Paul was made an apostle for the purpose of laying the foundation of Jesus Christ. He did not commission himself as a physical man, but was drafted, called, and sent through an act of grace. When I was drafted, called, and sent, it was with the command: “Down with the bluebloods.” In other words, down with all church protocol, with anything that would interfere with the individual’s direct access to God. There is only one foundation upon which to build. That foundation is I am, and there is no other!

The temptation is always there to build upon other foundations. This morning I received a chain letter telling me that I would receive a great fortune if I would send twenty copies of the letter to friends. If I did not, something terrible would happen to me. After reading the stupid thing I threw it away. Had I accepted that letter, I would have been building on a foundation other than the one foundation, which is Christ.

In his infancy, man thinks everything outside of himself is the cause of the phenomena of life. Many believe in astrology. I must confess at one time I did also. Years ago I taught astrology to a dear friend who was a retired school teacher. Desiring to augment her retirement income, she became an astrologer. One day I found her in tears. It seemed that she was sitting next to an open window when a breeze blew the papers, causing her to draw the chart of a man who was born ten years later than her customer. Not realizing this, she convinced herself – and the man – that his business venture would be a success. The customer promised to wire her $100 if this were true.

Norma saw in the chart what the man wanted to hear, and she believed her little hieroglyphics. That is all that mattered. She was self-persuaded, so the whole thing was done. This is based upon the foundation: “Whatever you desire, believe you have received it and you will.”

By this time I had outgrown my belief in monkey bones, astrology, teacup leaves, numerology, or anything outside of my own wonderful human imagination; for having tested myself, I knew that all things were possible to the imagination. Although I told Norma this, I could not console her. But that evening I was there when a Western Union messenger brought her a check for $100 from the man who had promised it. Even though Norma understood the truth of the one foundation, astrology brought her a small income, so she remained a professional astrologer until her death.

Norma is not alone. Many a minister, priest, or teacher, knows that what he teaches is not true; but he is not willing to stand on his own feet and believe in the one foundation. But I was sent with the words, down with the bluebloods, knowing I had to eliminate every intermediary between myself and my God – for he and I were one.

God is your own wonderful human imagination and there never was another. He actually took upon himself all of the limitations and weaknesses of the flesh that you – in turn – may discover who God is, believe in yourself, apply your belief, and awaken one day to the realization that you are he in every sense of the word.

I was sent by the same being who sent Paul. I stood in the presence of the Risen Lord. I answered his question, and as we embraced we fused into one body. At that moment I was united to the Lord by becoming one spirit with him. Then I sent myself, so when you see me, you see the one who sent me, as I am never alone. You cannot see me with the mortal eye, for I am spirit, one with my spiritual sender. The same thing is true in this statement: “There is only one foundation, which is Jesus Christ, and besides me there is no other.” (1 Cor. 3)

Now, if to dream is to dwell in unreality, not known for such, what is life but one long, uninterrupted dream? Many times I have gone to bed, closed my mortal eye, to see a room – vivid in every detail, yet unseen from my bedroom. While my body is stretched out on the bed, I have stepped into that room, which – upon entering – became three-dimensional to me. As I did, that world closed in around me and this world was shut out. My wife, my children, all that I know as real here, was but a dream – a memory image -compared to the world into which I had stepped.

One night in particular I stood in a hotel lobby. Remembering what I had done to get there, I tried to explain to two ladies that it was a dream. They became so frightened, I realized that I must return to my bed before they called the police and had me arrested. So I closed my eyes to the hotel lobby and opened them, thinking I would see the familiar bedroom where my physical body was, only to discover I was still standing in the lobby. Then I realized that, although I had entered an entirely different world consciously, I did not know how to return.

Although I knew of no road that would lead me back, I knew that feeling was the secret. So, while standing in a solidly real body, I imagined my head was on a pillow. I persisted until I knew I was there. Then I realized that my body was dead. That I was a living presence which had moved into it. It seemed like an eternity before I could move my little finger, my arm from the elbow down, and finally to feel the warmth of my wife’s body and know I had returned.

The world we enter at night is just as real as this one. Like this world, everything there contains within itself the capacity for symbolic significance. At the end of your day (or night) dream, try to interpret it symbolically, as there is only one foundation for your dreams; and that is your own wonderful human imagination.

A friend wrote telling of a dream which, although it seemed as though years separated the events, it took place in one night. At four different moments in time, he entered a very plush eating establishment in England, where he was recognized and greeted as royalty. Deciding to disguise himself, he entered the rear door, when the maitre d’ pointed to him and said to a waiter: “He really is the Lord.”

This experience is more than a dream; it is a memory of a previous experience which must now be interpreted on a different level. My friend has reached the point where his shadow world is recognizing him as the Lord. Only when he reaches the end of his journey, will confirmation come to bear witness to his true identity.

May I tell you all: it does not matter what part you play in this dream of life. What does matter is that you are destined to become the Lord. You could be playing the part of a thief, judge, prisoner, or warden; but one day you will awaken and know yourself to be the Lord.

Now, when you think of your dream of the night, it will appear to be an experience in a shadow world; but if you had awakened there you would have known its reality. If I had not deliberately stepped into the hotel, but unconsciously found myself there, I would have called it a dream; for an experience, knowingly executed, seems real – while those slipped into unknowingly seem unreal. Yet all unrealities, not known to be such, are real; for the reality of a dream does not differ from the reality of this world – for it, too, is a dream.

Let nothing come between you and that foundation of which Paul speaks and defines as the creative power of God and the wisdom of God, no matter what it may appear to be. Allow no one to come between you and God, for God is your own wonderful human imagination, and who can lead you there?

Every moment of the day you are thinking. Be careful what you think, for your thoughts will be tested by fire, and if they survive you will receive a reward. Your thought (your imagination) is fireproof. But if you believe fulfillment is conditioned on a chain letter, another person, or going to church and praying to an unknown God, then something has come between you and the one foundation. Nothing must come between you and your imagination (thought), who is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Believe me. Make imagination your one solid foundation. Do this and you will enjoy a freedom you have not known before. It is a fantastic freedom! Just imagine and it’s done!

Imagination is the only foundation. No other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Man has tried to lay other foundations in the many isms of the world. These are not Jesus Christ, for he is man’s I amness, man’s human imagination, and there is no other God. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, whose name forever and ever is I AM!

Accept awareness as your way of life, and you will find a freedom you have never known before. You will become aware of the fact that everyone and everything is yourself pushed out. You will awaken as God, the father of all life, to realize that although things appear to die they do not, for nothing dies in Christ.

I know in my own search I laid many foundations. I was taught to believe that eating meat was one, so for seven years I was a strict vegetarian. I was so good I was good for nothing. I didn’t eat meat. I didn’t smoke. I didn’t drink and I was a celibate. At my tender age I did not realize that my attempt to be the celibate came from my complete disgust in my first marriage, so when we separated I took the vow of celibacy. I was not physically prepared for it, as I was every inch a man, but fortunately the starvation diet of vegetable life aided my decision.

At that time I was a professional dancer. While traveling across the country I would go into a restaurant and order soup, provided there was no meat stock in it. Now, what restaurant worthy of the name would make a soup without meat stock? Well, I would believe the waiter and have a good meal once in a while. Then one day before leaving for Barbados, my friend Ab said to me: “You will die, but you will not surely die.”

His prophecy proved to be true, for when I returned, I had died to everything I had not done for the previous seven years. He knew the time had come to break that spell within me. I do hope you don’t have to go through it. There is only one foundation and no other foundation – be it diet or celibacy – can anyone lay, but that which is laid, which is the human imagination.

My friend, Norma knew that her hieroglyphics meant nothing; yet she could not give up the money she derived from her clientele. She had almost everyone in the Metropolitan Opera as a client. You see, just because one breaks into the artistic world, it does not mean that he is wise. He can be just as stupid as all outdoors.

I have said to Norma: “You know I don’t believe in astronomy any more, but I do believe in my intuitive power. Tell me what the man wants and I will show you how to see it in the charts, that you may be self-persuaded. And when you are, where is the power of persuasion but in your imagination? It certainly isn’t in the chart!”

I urge you not to go to anyone on the outside. The desire you seek is housed within you. You can become self-persuaded of anything, and if you do, it will project itself on your screen of space. Take gold, the wisdom of revealed truth. Take silver, the knowledge which comes from experience, or the precious stones of noble and lovely thoughts; for fire will not destroy them. When you are in doubt, do the loving thing. If you think something terrible is going to happen, rub it out of your mind. There is no plot to destroy you as an individual, race, or nation. It’s not in scripture! Causation is in the mind of the one who is self-persuaded; and there is no other cause, for the world is awareness pushed out.

You are not fated to become wise or foolish, rich or poor. It’s entirely up to you what you build on the only foundation. If you had wise parents and they told you that you could live in comfort and freedom, be honored and wanted, because of your contribution to the world, and you believed them, you would become it. Many parents compare their children to the neighbors’ child and find theirs wanting, thinking that is the way to jack them up; but it is not. Instead, they are made to feel little and unwanted. But if you make a child feel noble and important, he will become it.

In scripture, the one who claimed that his father was God and that he was one with his father, was accused of blasphemy; but he walked as though he were, If you would do the work of God, you must assume that you are he. You cannot do the work of one that you do not feel you are. You must claim your awareness is Jesus Christ in order to know who you really are.

I tell you the world you step into tonight when you put your head on a pillow is just as real as this one. Men claim it is a shadow and unreal, yet from these so-called dreams they interpret their state of consciousness. How can anyone interpret that which is unreal? The reality of that world as opposed to this one is solely produced from the level upon which consciousness is focused. If you are thinking from that world it seems the only reality. Focus your attention on this level, however, and that world will seem unreal. So, objectivity and subjectivity are solely determined by the level of consciousness upon which the individual is focused.

I hope you will take me seriously, as there is no other foundation. You need not be born into a certain nation, race, or religious belief to experience your desire. You can become the lady or gentleman you want to be by standing on the only foundation. Many successful people had no social, financial, or political foundation to get them where they are. They simply believed in themselves. They imagined they were what they wanted to be by living as though they were. Then in a way no one could devise, their assumption externalized itself.

Most people, after externalizing their desire, forget the ladder by which they did ascend. I hope you will not. You don’t need to brag, but if anyone should ask you how you achieved your goal, tell them how – in spite of any so-called worldly requirements – you believed you already were the person you wanted to be, and possessed the section of the world you wanted to possess. Do this, that you may encourage him to do the same.

Can you believe in this one and only foundation? If the word Jesus Christ offends you, use another. I love the word because I know its meaning. Jesus Christ is the power and the wisdom of God who is your own wonderful imagination.

Dare to assume that you have your desire. You may feel you do not have the wisdom to find the means to get it, but you do. If it takes one thousand or ten thousand people to play their parts to bring you into the embodiment of what you have assumed you are, they will play their parts, knowingly or unknowingly. You don’t have to be concerned as to who is going to aid you. Simply dare to assume you are what you want to be, and you will compel everyone to play their part to bring about your assumption. That is life.

Live so that your mind can store a past worthy of recall, because any section of your past that cannot stand the fire will suffer loss. Build nobly, for you will continue to be confronted with your past until God awakens within you.

When this glorious knowledge awakens and you realize you are the one spoken of in scripture, you will be thrilled beyond measure. I know! And I will tell you from experience that the Bible is your biography and you are destined to experience everything recorded there as one called Jesus Christ. There never was another. He has always been you!

You are the dwelling place of God and the spirit of God dwells in you. His dwelling place is holy. That place you are, therefore you must be God. How will you know this? By dying to your delusions. Every foundation, every belief other than the belief in yourself, is a delusion that must die; for no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ, and that being you are!

Now let us go into the silence.

neville goddard Imagination Is Reality

NORTH OF THE STRIP

by with No Comment ImaginationNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdom

Neville Goddard 11-24-1959

neville goddard Imagination Is RealityOn this platform we believe that God is all Imagination and God is man (spiritual man, not the garment of skin he wears). Therefore man is all Imagination. We believe also that God, being the only creator, and God being man, then we are creators, that life itself is an activity of Imagination. The whole world in which we live is a world of Imagination. Tonight we hope to show it in such a manner that you will be encouraged to go out and prove it. Everyone can become what he or she desires to be, yet the real being is invisible and you see only its manifestation, for God is spirit, therefore man is spirit, and when we speak of spirit we mean imagining.

Here are two wonderful case histories, so follow closely and try to duplicate the technique. The lady who gave these to me does not differ from anyone here, for God is man. We are that man. I do not mean male/female, for these are the garments woven for man (generic man, which is God) to wear.

This lady says: “A year ago my husband decided to sell our home. I did not concern myself about it, for I knew from past experience (having sold two and bought two) that my home could not be sold until I stopped mentally sleeping in it. But I allowed him to exercise his right to sell it, for it is our home. For four months several real estate operators tried to sell it. It was not sold and they gave up. Soon after that we decided we would sell the house and get a bigger one really two units under one roof so that my mother and my aunt could stay with us, and there would be only one tax bill. I decided he was right and then I began to sleep in Imagination in the area of West Hollywood, and I slept thus for four successive nights. On the fifth day my husband stopped in to see a friend and met a stranger who wanted a home in the hills, and he brought him back to see our house. He walked through it once and bought it and paid our price. In ten days we had to get out and move in with my mother.

My husband likes to do things immediately and so he wanted a new house at once, but now there were four adults and we wanted a home with two separate living rooms, and yet within one area, and with space so no neighbor would be breathing down our necks. We also have ten cats, three dogs, and a parakeet. We needed a fenced place to protect the dogs. We made our wants known to all the real estate operators on the Strip, for I wanted to live north of the Strip. Everyone told us we were mad. The lady realtors laughed outright, and the men just looked sad. They said that such a place as we wanted did not exist in that area, and if it did they could get five times the price we offered, a price they said was ridiculous, I did not listen to their ridicule. I said: You have not heard me. That is the house we want, and the price. I also want it completely paneled on the inside. Now they knew we were mad!

This lady began sleeping in her Imagination in such a house. Then one day one of the agents said to another: Show her the place on King’s Road. (That was the area where she wanted her house.) The other said: You know the old lady would never split it. So then this lady said: Then lets go see it for laughs. The agents were reluctant, but they went. They turned into the private road and then the lady of the house took them through the place. There was this huge twenty-five foot room. It was paneled in redwood and the lady who wanted to buy said: I have never seen a more beautiful [room], even in a dream. The house was on two acres and was like two houses under one roof. There was a pool, but this lady didnt want a pool, only the house. After looking at the grounds and going back into the house, she stood on a balcony opening out of the dining room and looked down into the living room and saw her husband standing there by the fireplace with his pipe and with a look of complete satisfaction on his face. Then they all returned to the agents office, and the ladys husband said: Lets make them an offer. One lady agent said: I will lose my lunch! and the other said: Forget it! And then this ladys husband grew angry (which he seldom did) and hit the desk and said: Is it not your business to make the offer we suggest? Then make it! A third agent spoke up and said: Go slowly, for I have known that old womans husband to make a real estate operator wish he was dead.

However, they agreed to make the offer, the lady continued. We returned home and that night after we went to bed, having seen the house in Imagination, I stood on this same balcony above the living room and held onto its railing and looked again at my husband standing by the fireplace. And then she fell asleep in that imaginary act. Next day the phone rang and the agent said: You have bought yourself a house! The owners split the property in the middle and they got the house and one acre, just what they wanted and they got it at the price they had offered. She says: After twelve days of sleeping in a dream house we bought it, and are now going to live in a home that the realtors said did not exist. Our first house was sold after four days of sleeping elsewhere and we sold it without an agent and kept the five per cent commission in the family. A total stranger walked through it once and bought it.

That is how God creates. That is how you create if you know who you are, for you are God. You are not some little worm. They are now meeting in Chicago at this convention to tell us how we came from a worm, and that we are now evolving. God is not evolving. He creates out of nothing. He does not make something and hope He had the intelligence to make it better. Read it in the revealing word of God, the Bible. It is all created and what we call the animal world (which we say preceded us) is man himself pushed out, and as man is changing, so do the animals of the world change.

The whole vast world on the outside is dead, and man makes it alive. I know from my mystical experiences. I know that when I freeze an activity within me, it freezes outwardly, and when I started it again within me, it started. This lady did not sell the first house until she had stopped sleeping in it. And then, when she decided on a larger house (in spite of her problem of four adults, cats and dogs, and special privacy and north of the strip) she found it. I say you can be what you want to be and you need no preparation other than your desire. This lady was a better agent than the real estate men who could not sell her house in four months, and she kept the five per cent. She wanted to do so [and] she did it, because she is all Imagination. But you will not know it until you prove it as she did.

I tell her there is nothing impossible to her, and there is nothing impossible to you, for God became man that man may become God. God is the only actor. God alone acts in all existing beings and men. (Blake) If I re-act, that is the passive or negative side, called Satan, but if I act that is called God or Christ. If I go home tonight and conceive a scene that implies the fulfillment of my dream and then lose myself in it, I know that no power in the world can stop its coming into being.

Today brought me a letter asking for help. I do not need to be next door to help another. There is no separation or time without consent. You make this work for another, no matter where they are. This letter was from New York, telling me about a fine doctor there. He got these growths on his face and feared they might be malignant, and then it was found that he had Parkinsons disease. This friend wrote me to tell me about it, and he said: Can you do anything when you are so far away? I am not 3,000 miles away, for everything is within me. I brought this doctor, in Imagination, before me and I put my hand on his face. I put it on a face that had no lumps. I felt only smooth skin. And then he and I walked together and he did not stumble; he walked like a well man would walk. That is what I did.

Now comes this letter telling me that me that something has happened within him. These lumps are gone and he is no longer shaking and he now can go to his office again. Yet as a doctor he knows his condition is incurable. It is not unless he thinks so. If I had seemingly failed with him it would not matter, for I would still be exercising my wonderful talent. If that next letter had said if he had died it still would not mean I failed, for there are worlds within worlds, and God cannot fail. All we are called on to do, is to imagine and then let it be true. I cannot concern myself with what the doctors say. We are not little worms; we are of God, for God became his image and made [it] alive and it became a living soul, and then he transformed it into a life-giving spirit. But if you do not become a life-giving spirit, you do not know you are the cause of the livingness of your world. And then you cannot change it.

Here is another story from the lady who bought the house: Going into a certain restaurant she saw some unusual rose-colored water glasses, and she asked if she could buy them. Both the waiter and the hostess said it would be impossible for her to do business with the person who did the buying for the restaurant, as she was such an unpleasant person. Also, they said the glasses were manufactured in the east and the supply was very limited. The lady went home, but every day she saw those glasses on her table eight of them. A month later she and her mother were again in the restaurant, and there was [a] new hostess, who introduced herself and then brought up the subject of the glasses and said she had heard the buyer would not sell any of them. And then she smiled and excused herself, returning in a moment with a box, which she gave to this lady. In it were not only eight glasses but twice that number. And they were without charge. Jehovahs gifts are without price. She was willing to pay even an excessive price for the glasses, but she got them as a gift.

If you know what you want in this world you can get it. And let no one tell you that you are acquisitive. Those who tell you that would not mind having the same thing for themselves. So be completely disinterested in what people say and go out and live a full, wonderful, rich life, for what you want to do you can do if you know who you are. You are all Imagination and Imagination is God, and only God creates.

This lady learned to use the Western Gate closed in most of us which is touch. That was her secret. She saw what her husband looked like standing by the fireplace the night she recreated the scene but she held onto the balcony with her hand to prove it to herself that she was there.

So what would you desire? I cannot stress too much the use of touch or the Western Gate. I have seen people take imaginary paychecks and touch them. They had brought the other senses of seeing, and hearing comments, etc. but when they had brought the sense of touch it worked like a charm, for when you bring touch you open the closed Western Gate and then nothing seems impossible. If I could snuggle into a bed 10,000 miles away and then view my world from that place, I would gravitate there. For I am all Imagination, so I must be where I am in Imagination. Though I am physically here, if I view my world from that other place I am there, and if anyone is a sensitive they will be able to see me there. I have [been] seen in points of space when I was physically here but desired to be seen there. I am where I am in Imagination, so if I imagine I am the person I want to be and walk in that state as though it were true, then everything in the world will rush to make it so. If I would only live in Imagination as I desire to live in the flesh, then everything that seems detached will be joined to make it real.

Try it in your office, and if things are not right or as they ought to be, then you assume that this person is acting as he should and you hear the conversation and what they would say if they were now the kind of individual you want them to be. And if they act tomorrow as you imagined they are acting, then where is reality? It will come to you some day.

When weary man enters his cave
then he meets his Savior in the grave.
Some find a female garment there
and some a male woven with care.
(Blake)

But that is not man. God is the reality, and male and female is the garment. This (the body) is the cave, and this is also the grave of which Blake speaks. This is where God laid himself down. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ liveth in me, and the life I now live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. So it is all woven within me, for God is the eternal man and I am he. He weaves himself into us for educative purposes and in my case it is male, but that is not man. He wears garments of male and female, but that is not man. And then Blake turns to Satan:

Oh Satan, true thou art a dunce;
thou canst not tell the garment from the man.

The day will come when you will see this fabulous world of garments frozen, but the man you do not see, for you are that man. And you become aware of what you want and then you see the whole world is infinite response to you. So, whatever you activate, you get the response. The world has to respond after I start the action within me.

Tonight you take your dream and make it a noble one, and create a scene that would imply its fulfillment of your dream, and open that Western Gate, which is touch. There is one man here who made deposits (mental ones) at his bank. You know the story of Archie Franklin. He mentally went into two different banks and asked for his balance and heard what was said to him. He did it three times a day for two months. Then he went to Caliente and returned with $32,000. What he won was $3.00 more than the bank deposit he had mentally added up. I do not say go to Caliente, but I say put yourselves in that same state and do not let someone tell you it is not spiritual, for while they are saying that, they are already wondering if they can borrow some of that check when you get it.

Everything in this world is God’s creation and God is all Imagination. Even the clothes we wear, the chairs we are sitting on, were once imagined and then brought into being. Let no one tell you this is wrong. Those who tell you to kill out desire have not gone far enough, for if I wanted to kill desire I would have to start with the desire not to desire, and where would [I] go? How far?

So, go out and do what you want to do and fulfill your dreams. Someone without academic background is telling you this. I am going out on a limb to tell you that everything in the Bible is true on a higher level, but it is revealed figuratively, and man confused literal truth with metaphor. I do not crawl on my belly and no little serpent spoke to me, as it says in Genesis; yet what is meant is true in metaphor. The serpent was called the most subtle of all the creatures and it represents the wisdom of man, who takes all his arts and religions for his own glamour and dedicates them to the creator. And then comes one who never went to any school (Blake) and shows them reality. And now those who thought themselves so wise are figuratively crawling on their bellies in the presence of such as he. In the Bible things are told on a higher level and told in metaphor, but I know from mystical experience things I could not have found in any book.

The statement: You must be born from above or you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven is an example. It is literally true, but it is told in metaphor. The rich young man said: How is it possible to again enter my mothers womb and be born a second time? But the womb is below and not above. It is speaking of the birth of the second man, the spiritual man. From Genesis right to the end of the Book, it says that God created all things and that he said: It is good. Seven times he repeats: It is good − the perfect number. One day you will see the whole vast world, and you will say: It is good! And you will animate it. I know everything depends on the activity taking place in MAN − and spell it with large letters, for the garments are male-female. You are MAN, this generic man that is God. The whole vast world is man pushed out. Not a man, but MAN. All that you behold though it seems to be without, it is within, in your own wonderful Imagination of which this vegetative world is but a shadow. It is hard at this stage to think that your world is a shadow, and it is cast by you and you are activating it.

When you dream, do not think that because there seems not a fact to support it, it cannot come. It will come, so dream nobly. If you want fame, have it. But I would suggest that you suggest to yourself that you are awakening and can see this frozen wonderful world and you as the activator. I hope many of you have the desire to do what I am doing and will go out and tell this. First prove it to yourselves. Learn the art of repentance, which means a change of mind. Try it, and try it again, and prove that a change in you will produce an outer change. Go out and prove it and then tell others. Imagine what you want to imagine and continue to imagine until you are confronted with it. It does not matter what your senses tell you; if you learn to live by this you will not fail.

Bear in mind that this, the body, is only a garment and one day you will take it off. But you are invisible, and when you [are] completely awakened, you join the Divine Society and become one of the Gods who create. Remember that every moment of time God is begetting himself in us and you cannot fail.

Now let us go into the silence.

 

 

neville goddard Imagination Is Reality

PERSISTENT ASSUMPTION

by with No Comment ImaginationNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdom

Neville Goddard 03-18-1968

neville goddard Imagination Is RealityI tell you a truth: There is nothing greater than your own wonderful human imagination! It is he who inspired Blake, Shakespeare, and Einstein, for there is only one spirit in the universe! “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.” That one spirit is the human imagination! When Blake was asked what he thought of the divinity of Christ he answered: “Christ is the only God, but so am I and so are you.” Don’t think of Christ as someone greater than yourself. He is the only God, but so am I and so are you! Don’t consider yourself less than Christ, for there is only God, who is your own wonderful human imagination.

Daring to assume that all things are possible to imagine, put this one reality to the extreme test by assuming you are the person you would like to be. Your reasonable mind and outer senses may deny it; but I promise you: if you will persist, you will receive your assumption. Believe me, you are the same God who created and sustains the universe, but are keyed low; so you must be persistent if you would bring about a change.

In the Book of Luke, the story is told of a man who came to a house at the midnight hour, and said: “A friend has arrived who is hungry. Would you let me have three loaves of bread?” The man upstairs replied: “It is midnight. My children are in bed asleep and I cannot come down and give you what you want.” Then this statement is made: “But because of the man’s importunity, he was given all that he desired.” The word “importunity” means “brazen impudence.” Having a desire, the man would not take no for an answer!

When you know what you want, you don’t ask God as though he were another; you ask your individual self to bring about your desire, for you are he! And God – your own wonderful human imagination – will respond when you will not take no for an answer, as your denial is spoken from within and there is no other. It is within your own being that you persist in assuming you have received what you want. The story is, even though it was midnight and the family was asleep, the father came down and gave what was needed.

The God of a Blake, a Shakespeare, or an Einstein, does not differ from the God housed in you, as there is only one human imagination. There cannot be two. He is not a dual God. You and your imagination are not less than anyone, but you must learn to be persistent.

A friend recently shared a vision with me, in which I appeared and said: “The story of Jesus is persistent assumption.” If this is true, and we are told to imitate him as a dear child, I must dare to assume I am the being I want to be. I must continue in that assumption until that which I have assumed is objectively realized. And if I am one with everyone, how can anyone be greater than I? Do not believe that someone is greater than you because of some influx of spirit or validity. Your imagination is the only God, and there is no other being greater than He! Claim you are what you want to be. Persist in that assumption. Continue to assume that role until that which you have assumed is reflected in your world.

Although the churches teach that another, greater than yourself, said: “Unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins” – these words were spoken by the human imagination! And because imagination is one, and you can’t get away from that oneness, don’t think of another. Accept these words in the first person, present tense; for unless you believe that you already are what you want to be, you will die in your sins by leaving your desire unfulfilled. If you do not believe you are all imagination, you will continue in your former belief, worshipping a God on the outside and not within.

On this level, we are fragmented, but we are all that one imagination. The word “Elohim” is a compound unity of one made up of others. Although we seem to be many, in the most intimate manner possible, we are one! On this level, you and I are keyed low for purposes beyond our wildest dreams, yet called upon to make the effort to rise above it. This is done in a physical, scientific, and artistic sense, as we begin to discover and express our human imagination. We rise above this level through the act of assumption; for an assumption, though false, if persisted in will harden into fact. As William Blake said: “If the fool will persist in his folly he will become wise.”

There is nothing God cannot do! Do not think that one who is fabulously rich has an influx of spirit which differs from yours. He is imagining wealth, either wittingly or unwittingly; but you can do it knowingly. If he does not know what he is doing, he can lose his wealth and not know how to recover it. I am asking you, regardless of your financial situation, to assume wealth, knowingly. If, tomorrow you would again return to your former state, bring wealth back by claiming “I am wealthy,” for there is only one God. He who creates poverty also creates wealth, as there is no other creator.

The world thinks of numberless gods, but there is only one. That one is your own wonderful human imagination. Possessing only one son, when imagination awakens, God’s only begotten son will reveal you as God. The same thing will happen to another, then another – and eventually everyone will see the same son, who will reveal the individual as God the Father.

This world is a play, where divine imagination becomes human imagination by inserting himself into an olive skin, a black skin, a white skin, and a red skin. Although we appear to be different, we all will see God’s only begotten son – proving that there is only one God. The purpose behind the play is to expand imagination’s creative power. Here we are fragmented into numberless parts, destined to gather ourselves together into the one God, the one Father of all.

Begin now to actively, constantly, use your imagination; for as you prove its creative power on this level, you are awakening to a higher level and birth into the spirit world where you know yourself to be God. Prove to yourself that you are God by feeling your desire is now an accomplished fact. Listen to your friends talk about you. Are they rejoicing because of your good fortune, or are they expressing envy? Imagine their words are true. Persist in imagining they are true. Continue to imagine your desire is already an accomplished fact; and when it is objectively realized, proof will be yours.

Think of something lovely you would like to give another. Then ask yourself if you gave it to him and he wouldn’t accept it, would you want to keep it for yourself? If, for instance, you gave a friend a million dollars and he would not accept it, would you be willing to keep it? I’m sure you would. Then imagine giving the money to him, then give to others in the same way. You may not even have a bank account; but you can still give, because there is no one to give to but yourself! There is only God whose name is I am!

“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” This great confession of faith is recorded in the sixth chapter, the fourth verse of the Book of Deuteronomy. The Lord is not two, not a dozen – just one. If I say “I am” that’s one, but if I say “we are” I am speaking of many.

Jesus’ name is “I am.” He is not some superior being other than yourself. He is the inspiration for everything you write, be it trivia or profound. Inspiration does not come from some other being, because there cannot be another. When you sit down to write, the thoughts come from your own being! It is nonsense to think of some other being as possessing you.

The great poets – the Shakespeare’s, the Blake’s – had no great spiritual influx moving in them that is greater than the spiritual influx in you. It cannot be, for there is no one greater than self! When someone tells me he is under the influence of some greater power, I tell him that is not possible. The inspiration is coming from the depths of his own soul. Perhaps you have an item you would like to advertise. As you think of what your customer needs, the answer will come from the depth of your own soul, and you will know what needs to be said to promote your product. You do not receive some influx of spirit outside of yourself, for there is no one greater! There is only God, and God is one!

In the Book of Psalms, you are told to; “Commune with your own self.” Sit quietly. Be at peace with yourself and suddenly thoughts will begin to flow within you, from God. In the beginning you were God! And in the end, you and I and the whole vast world of billions will be regathered into the one God. One imagination fell into this fragmented world of seeming others, yet the whole is within each one of us. A man’s enemies are those of his own household, for they are all within him. Not knowing this, man fights within himself until he realizes there is no other, just himself. Then he tells others in the hope he can convince himself. And as he rises from within, he is called back into the one being he was before that the world was. The fall into division was deliberate for God’s expansion into unity.

There was no other way to expand your creative power but by falling into limitation and overcoming it. As you fell, your being fragmented. I saw this so clearly in vision. First, a rock appeared. Then it fragmented and as it gathered together it took the shape of a man sitting in the lotus posture, meditating, glowing. And I knew I was looking at myself! And as it began to glow like the sun, I awoke in my apartment in New York City.

I am telling you what I have done, what I have seen, and what I have experienced. Each one of us has a being within who is meditating us. The being in you and the being in all, form the one perfect being, who fell and fragmented himself. One day, everyone’s living being will unite into the one God, who fell and fragmented himself. Do you know what you would you like to be? Dare to assume it and, for one week, claim: “I have assumed I am the one I want to be. I am still assuming I am, and I will continue to assume I am until that which I have assumed is objectively realized.” Fall asleep assuming it is true, and let that living being in you give it life.

God the Father is dreaming in the depth of your soul. It is he who began a good work in you, and it is he who will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. On that day you will be brought to the same perfection as the Father in you, for God is dreaming himself into a greater image of himself and you, the dreamer, are dreaming yourself into the image of yourself.

While you are here, you can assume any desire for yourself and those you love. Then you can dare to believe in what you have assumed. And if you continue your assumption, you will express it. But you must believe, or you will die in your sins. Always talking to yourself, you are telling yourself that unless you believe you are the man you want to be, you will remain being the man you don’t want to be, thereby dying in your sins.

To believe in another – whether he appear as a Blake, a Shakespeare or an Einstein – you have a false God. You must believe in yourself or die in your sins! You must believe that God actually became you that you may become God – for he did. His name is I am and unless you say within yourself: “I am what I want to be” and believe it, you will remain saying within yourself: “I wish I were what I want to be” and die in your frustration (your sin). I urge to you learn how to believe in yourself. It may appear to be difficult at first, but not when you are willing to go out on a limb and try it.

I admire the great, inspired poets. Shakespeare is marvelous. Blake is altogether wonderful, and Einstein truly great in his field. These were inspired men; but they did not have any influx of spirit that made them greater than your human imagination, for their imagination and your imagination are one grand, divine imagination, imagining! Their work did not come from something outside of themselves, but from their own imagination, awakening. That same imagination is yours because there is only one spirit. The spirit of man is one with the spirit of the universe and there is no other!

Start now to capture the feeling of being this one spirit. Fall asleep in the feeling that you are God, and as you come hurtling back from the depth of unconsciousness toward this level, you will have numberless crazy little dreams based upon this person you are coming through. You will give importance to these dreams; but oh, what depths you will reach in that which is unconscious relative to this level!

Let no one frighten you, for you are an immortal being who cannot die. Although I have awakened to my Godhood before you, I am no better because I got there first, for there is no such thing as being first. Everyone is moving toward that level, and no one can fail. And when all have returned, what joy will be expressed as we form the one body, the one spirit, the one Lord, the one God and Father of all! Everyone will have the vision and prove to himself that he is God the Father.

I urge you to apply this principle and cushion yourself against the normal blows of life. If your friends and loved ones cannot believe, cushion them anyway; for no matter what you leave them here, you are not going to stop the blows given by the depth of their own being. If you left each friend one hundred thousand dollars, you would cushion them for the moment; but the depth of their being will continue to take them through experiences, in order to awaken to the knowledge that they are the father of God’s only begotten son, David.

The world is searching for the cause of the phenomena of life, not knowing he is their very self. What responsibility is yours when you discover that your awareness is the cause of everything that has happened, is happening, and will happen to you. But when you realize that you are causing all the blows, the heartaches, and pains, that happen to you, you will begin to change your thinking; and as you do, scripture will unfold in you.

Now let us go into the silence.

neville goddard Imagination Is Reality

POWER CALLED “THE LAW”

by with No Comment ImaginationNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdom

Neville Goddard 04-21-1969

neville goddard Imagination Is RealityAny presentation of a doctrine must show that it has specific reference to life now, as well as hereafter, for secularized man is far more concerned with the present than with the future. So, if you would interest anyone in the truth, you must first appeal to the power they can experience here and now; for the promise is so fantastic that if they heard it first they might turn away in disgust. Show them what they can do right here and now. Get their interest in the power called “The Law,” and then perhaps they will desire to know of the promise.

Let me share with you now a couple of stories a gentleman shared with me this week. He said: “About ten days ago my wife told me of a little girl only fourteen months old who had developed lumps on her neck [in] which – when the doctor removed and tested a lump – there were signs of cancer. Three specialists had been brought in and each separately had declared the child had cancer. Only one doctor, looking at the results questioned the verdict, but they were keeping the child in the hospital for further examination. As I listened to her story I cued my wife’s voice out to the point that I couldn’t even hear what she was saying, but hearing her voice, I reconstructed the story and heard its revision in my minds eye. That night as I fell asleep I listened again and heard my wife tell me the revised story. A few days later the doctors made another test from another lump and the vote was unanimous, the child did not have cancer. And since they had performed no remedial treatment in the hospital, they determined she never did have cancer, for without treatment the child could not have overcome the condition. When my wife heard the new verdict she told the grandmother and the mother what I had done, but they could not believe that an imaginal act has any power of causation.”

To the world it is the height of insanity to believe that imagining creates reality, yet every mystic knows that every natural effect has a spiritual cause. A natural cause only seems to be. It is a delusion of this world, as man’s memory is so poor he cannot relate what is taking place now to a former imaginal act. Always looking for physical causation, man cannot believe he imagined anything that could have produced such a physical effect; yet I tell you: as you sit alone and imagine you are setting a cause in motion, and when you see its effects you may deny the imaginal state, but your “now” is alive and real to you because of an imaginal act on your part and for no other reason. Your imagination sets everything in motion, but your memory is faulty; therefore you may look upon one who claims life is caused by imagination as a fool – yet Blake would call you an idiot reasoner, not a man of imagination. Now, my friend continued, saying: “Driving home from work the other night I was thinking I could use a little more cash, as Uncle Sam would be making demands upon my income. Then I began to imagine lovely, green, crisp currency raining down on me. For about one minute I lost myself in a little shower of green currency. Then the traffic demanded my attention and I assumed my normal, alert state and forgot all about my imaginal act until the morning of the fifteenth of April. At that time my boss entered the office and said: `You will receive a ten per cent raise in salary retroactive to April first,’ and handed me a check.”

Now, let me warn you tonight, wait until you get home to try it. It’s much better to imagine the crisp currency falling on your bed than on the freeway! But do it, for I tell you everything is an imaginal act. There is no such thing as physical causation. It’s all imaginal, but the world will not accept it. They laugh at the man of imagination but they cannot disprove it. A man may physically strike another. That was the physical cause while the blow he received was the effect; therefore the whole thing appeared to be constructed physically, but I ask you: what preceded the impulse to strike? That impulse was the unseen cause, which was an imaginal act. The world is brought into being by imagination and sustained by imagination, and when imagination no longer sustains it, it dissolves and leaves not a trace behind. One must approach the gospel on this level first. If one’s interest is aroused on this level and it is proved to be true in the testing, then they may be interested in hearing about the promise.

Now I go back to the little girl. Judged by human standards the garment she wears is only fourteen months old, but the wearer of that garment is as old as God himself, and God has no beginning and no end. He chose us in him, not when we came out from our mother’s womb, but before the foundation of the world. Before physical creation you and I were chosen in him for a purpose, for without purpose what would anything matter if death was final? Many tyrants believe that, and with those kinds of thoughts you cannot blame them for being a tyrant. If you believed death ended it all you would no doubt do as they do. You would agree with Macbeth, when Shakespeare had him say: “It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing.” That’s what the world would have to be if there was no promise, no purpose or meaning behind it. But if you can get their interest in the law enough to test it and it proves itself in performance, then you can tell them the greatest story in the world in the hope that they will believe or begin to believe it.

Not a thing said of Jesus can be proved outwardly. He can only be known by the visionaries. While living in this mortal body and known only by the mask I wear, the incredible story called Jesus Christ has unfolded in me. I have taken you, my friends, into my confidence and shared my experiences with you in the hope that you will believe me. You see me as alive and well, yet I know what it is to be crucified, buried, and resurrected. While in my heavenly body I chose one among you to give my immortal eyes that have been turned inward, not outward, that confirmation of my words may come from her. She has seen me nailed on a cross, which was burned to the ground leaving golden, liquid light at its base, just as I told her it had happened to me. No one can persuade her that she did not have that experience, any more than someone could persuade me that I did not have the experience.

Now this lady knows who Jesus is. Knowing me as a man with all of the weaknesses of the flesh and its limitations, she had gone beyond the mask through vision and seen who Jesus really is. He has made known unto me the mystery of his will according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, that he may unite all things in him – things in heaven and things on earth. Jesus is God’s plan of salvation which is in you. That plan has erupted in me and I have shared my experiences with you who come here, and also in my book, Resurrection.

Now, only the visionary, only he who has the immortal eyes, will actually know who Jesus is, for he is from above and is not of this world at all. It was he who said: “You are from below and I am from above. You are of this world and I am not of this world”; yet, throughout history, man has been looking for Jesus in the Near East. Those who have not had the visions claim they know the spot where he was crucified and buried, the road he walked, and even claim to have a little piece of wood from the cross upon which he was nailed. They perpetuate a tradition, making void the word of God as told us in the 15th chapter of Matthew. Keeping the traditions of a physical Jesus alive, the truth has been made void, as Jesus is not a physical being but a pattern buried in every one. When this pattern erupted in me, I was as surprised as anyone could be, and although I still remain in this weak little garment of flesh and continue to suffer through all the temptations of the world, I cannot deny my visions.

Now I have given my immortal eyes to one who in turn gave them to another, who will in turn give them to another, that they may all become eyewitnesses, as Luke speaks of in the beginning of his story, saying: “Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things which have been accomplished among us, just as they were presented to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses…” Then he added this thought: “…and ministers of the word, it seemed good to me also, to write a narrative, most excellent Theophilus, concerning the things which have been accomplished among us.” Luke was able to tell all who loved God (called Theophilus) the truth because of the eyewitnesses. But when the eyewitnesses depart this world the ministers multiply. They are men without vision who never knew the one who, while walking in the flesh, gave his eyes to those who bore witness to his story. Having witnessed the drama as it unfolded within him, they depart this world and leave only the ministers of the word, who build organizations and make a little god out of the man who – while like all other men – experienced God’s plan of salvation in him. They say nothing of the pattern’s eruption, but only of the external man – when there is no external Jesus.

You could look from now until the end of time and never find any convincing evidence of the historicity of one called Jesus – yet he is real. He is your true being, your hope of glory. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless, of course, you fail to meet the test. Test him on his level. Test your creative power, called the law. Imitate my friend and allow a gentle shower of currency to fall upon you. Believe you have received them and you will. Then share your knowledge with others and show them that scripture has a specific reference to life, now! Do not start with the hereafter. You can tell them of the promise later. And remember: nothing is impossible to imagination and the world is created in the imagination.

As a reasoning being you are not responsible to make anything happen. But as a man of imagination you simply imagine it is! My friend knows nothing about cancer. If he saw a cancer cell under a microscope he wouldn’t recognize it. He is not a doctor and knows no more about the human body than I do, but he does know what his wife would tell him if the verdict was reversed and the child was well. When his wife told her friend of her husband’s imaginal act, the friend (as the world) dismissed the idea, for she could not believe that causation was mental. To her everything has a physical cause and must be cured physically, yet I tell you: life itself is an imaginal journey. My friend heard his wife tell him of the child and then, knowing what he wanted to hear, he changed her words in his imagination. That is all he did. And those words could not return unto him void, but had to accomplish that which he purposed on the inside. He did nothing on the outside to bring it to pass. He simply remained faithful to his imaginal act and it was fulfilled.

I ask you to try it, and then turn to your neighbors and say: “Did it ever occur to you that your world is caused – not by the obvious, but by an unseen imaginal act?” You may interest them that way and if you do, ask them to try it. If they do, and it comes to pass then you can present them with the promise. You can tell them how their weak little garment is transformed as they rise from the dead into life everlasting. I tell you: you will be a completely transformed being with a human face, human hands and voice; but the form you wear cannot be described other than light.

The one thing that separates man from all other creation is his hand. The monkey doesn’t have a hand. It cannot fashion, but with a hand you can become a builder. The first word in the name YOD HEY VAV HEY means “hand.” It is the hand of the creator that fashions. If you could not fashion a suit of clothes for your body you would have to go nude, but given a hand you can turn yourself into the Father’s image, which is a fiery being that you will awaken and know yourself to be.

The majority of the people you speak to will not listen to you. They would rather remain the same little being they know themselves to be and to continue to wear a garment of flesh and blood which must be taken to the bathroom several times a day to perform its normal functions. Can you imagine the hell you would experience if restoration were perpetuated forever? But this is not the body you wear when you know yourself to be God. It is entirely different. It is a heavenly body – a body of fire and air that you are destined to awaken as, for that is the one body we will all know ourselves to be. But while you are here, don’t neglect the law. Use it every moment of time. Nothing is beyond your ability to imagine it. You are not responsible for making it so, you simply imagine it is so and let it be so! That is how the world in which we live came into being.

Before you judge me I ask you to test my words. It would be foolish to pass judgment on something you haven’t tested. I have known those who claim they do not like something even though they have never tried it, but I tell you: you can acquire a taste for anything. I remember the first time I had an oyster. I was about eleven years old when mother and I visited the little island of St. Croix. In those days there were no hotels, only rooming houses and we all sat at the same common table. Everyone there spoke Danish and I couldn’t understand one word they were saying, so I watched and did as they were doing. On the plate before me sat a dish with six little things in shells placed on it. Since I had never seen anything like it before, I watched the hostess. She picked up a little fork, stuck it into one of the things, and as she placed it in her mouth her face burst into a wonderful smile. Expecting the same thing, I picked up my fork, stuck it in the thing and put it in my mouth. Well, it wouldn’t go down and I couldn’t spit it out. Paralyzed, I realized that if I died in the attempt I had to swallow that thing, and when I did I looked down and turned green as I realized I had five more to go. But I did it, and now I love oysters in any form.

So I say: you can acquire a taste for anything in this world as well as the heavenly world. Start with the law. Learn how it works, and after proving it in performance you may desire to discover who Jesus really is. You may have been taught that a woman called Mary was impregnated by God and brought forth a physical son who was named Jesus; yet I tell you: I am a normal person, not formerly educated, married, once divorced, with two children – but I have experienced everything said of Jesus Christ in the gospel. And I gave my immortal eyes to a friend (who, married twice, with children from two different men) that she may see me
hanging on a cross which was set aflame and reduced to molten, golden liquid light. Seeing the body that sleeps on the bed placed on a pallet, and then on a cross, she has seen the body I wear at night, and now knows who Jesus really is. No, he is not the little garment of flesh you wear, but an eternal pattern of redemption who sleeps in it. He awoke in a garment the world knows as Neville. Having awakened, I know I am He who became humanity that humanity may become God.

God now sleeps in you. He will awake and you will experience the identical drama as recorded in the gospels by one called Jesus Christ, for there is no other and there never will be another being. Those who have been enriched by the law you have taught them may turn from you, because it takes quite a while for traditions to die – as told us in the 15th chapter of the Book of Matthew: “For the sake of your traditions you have made void the word of God.” Keeping traditions alive by wearing all these silly little red and purple robes on the outside, the unthinking millions consider themselves blessed if – as he walks by – they touch his garment, or attend a service where the great one is conducting mass. But because of those traditional beliefs the word of God is made void.

I am telling you what I know from experience. Take me seriously, because I must soon depart and those of you with the incurrent eyes will see as I have told you that you would. Then you will depart to leave behind only the ministers, who will turn my experiences into their institutional concept and once again void the word of God.

Tonight use the law and prove its power by becoming the man you imagine yourself to be. But don’t forget the promise, for without the promise what would it matter if you owned the earth? I recently read the book Stalin’s daughter wrote about her father. In it she told of being present when he died. She said that he was paralyzed on one side, his brain was gone, and he was physically blind; yet he saw something that caused him to raise his good hand and motion with, it as an expression of extreme hate covered his face. It was as though he were defying the devil himself who stood before him. He could have seen a composite picture of the twenty million lives he destroyed, personified as one man, causing his little hand to be raised in defiance as he departed. He didn’t believe in life hereafter. He didn’t believe he would be restored to life, therefore he felt free to do everything and anything he wanted to. Standing on the balcony watching thousands cheer him, he would say: “Fools!” He saw them as the chaff of life, yet today these trivial people balloon Stalin as an important figure in history. But, he has to face himself now. No longer playing the part of Stalin, the same being is now a young man, healthy and strong, continuing his life, doing something that is consistent with his life to bring out that plan of salvation called Jesus, which – hidden in him – he denied while he was here.

I ask you to use this power called the law. Simply determine what you want and imagine a scene which would imply you have realized it. Enter into the spirit of the scene. Participate in it by giving it sensory vividness. Then relax as you feel its reality. Don’t consider the means. Know your desire is already an accomplished fact and you are now reveling in it. Then have faith, for faith is loyalty to your unseen reality. Your imaginal act, although unseen, is reality for God did it. If I asked you who is imagining it, you would respond: “I am” and that is God’s name forever and forever.

Learn to live in your imagination morning, noon, and night. This gentleman whose experiences I shared with you tonight told me that when he first heard me he thought I was crazy; but he tried it, and although it didn’t make sense it worked. I know the law and the promise do not make sense from a worldly point of view, yet I tell you: there is a plan of redemption buried in you which will erupt in the fullness of time and you will experience all that is said of a man called Jesus in scripture. Then you will know he was never a physical being, but the name of a plan. Jesus is Jehovah, who is your own wonderful I AM.

The root of the Greek word translated “gather” in the expression used in the first chapter of Ephesians is “head.” That is where we will all gather together, for that is where we were all crucified and buried. And it is from the head that we resurrect. Returning from this external world, we gather all together into the one state which is in the head. James Dean once said: “The creator of this infinite unity resembles an infinite brain and we but brain cells in the mind of the dreamer.” And now the brain cell is expanding within the one brain!

Now let us go into the silence.

neville goddard Imagination Is Reality

PROPHETIC BLUEPRINTS

by with No Comment ImaginationNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdom

Neville Goddard 01-08-1963

neville goddard Imagination Is RealityTonight’s subject is “Prophetic Blueprints.” Now we could take it on this level, but I will not. To summarize it on this level, may I tell you: if you could conceive of an infinite might as a great computer, and if the imaginal activities of all of us – every man, woman and child in the world – make us free to change this activity at any moment in time, then you could predict the future for this level; for this level is the outpouring or outpicturing of the imaginal activities of men, women, and children in this world. You can prove it in your own individual life by setting a goal and imagining that you are at the end of that goal. Remain faithful to your goal, and no power in this world can stop it in your peculiar individual life. Take it and multiply it by the world, and you will see what it would be on this level. You will see that you and I are free to imagine things that are in conflict with God’s purpose, and in the short run we can accomplish them. Yet, it is God’s purpose that is ultimately the only true end and that is realized. So, tonight we will take it from a higher level.

If you would know your future, study the story of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the actual realization of God’s prophetic blueprint for man’s redemption. Everything said of Jesus Christ will one day be said of you, individually. Everything that he ever experienced, you will experience. Jesus Christ is only the fulfillment of all that was told us in the Old Testament. The old is the plan, the plot, the purpose of God – and Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of that purpose. There is a rabinnical principle that what is not written in Scripture, is non-exisistant. Now, when they speak of Scripture, they meant only the Old Testament. There was no New Testament. The drama of Jesus was this principle. As I stand here tonight, I am speaking from experience. I make no claim to be any other than the man you know me to be. I do not differ from you at all – just a man with all the weaknesses and limitations of any man in this world. Yet, I know this story to be true, and I know it to be true from experience. The five words in the end of Luke could summarize the entire Gospel: “They told what had happened.” Moffit describes this phrase in Greek. As he translated it: “They related their own experience.” Tonight, I will relate my own experience, to tell you how true this is.

The entire drama of Christ Jesus took place in the fall of man. It did not take place on the surface, like this. It did not take place here at all. Therefore, no one believed him. At the very end of the journey a few – just a remnant – accepted it, and the rest rejected it because he could not share with the world what he had experienced in the depth of his own soul. The cue was given in the earliest of the gospels, Mark. Here, we are told the very first sign to appear: “Immediately the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit like a dove descending upon him” and then we hear the words – seemingly from out of space – “This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.”

Now it is said (if you read it carefully): no one experienced this but Jesus. It is recorded in scripture, but he must have told it, because no one saw the heavens open or saw the spirit like a dove descending upon him, but him upon whom it descended. If Mark records it as an experience, then it could only be an experience that was told him by the one who experienced it. The other gospels modify it somewhat and imply that John saw it, but they pull forcefully upon the earliest gospel, which is Mark. I can tell you my experience of that scene, and it is true. The same simple man, limited as I am, had that experience. No one saw it from this level. I can tell you, and you can either believe it or reject it.

You are told: “Immediately the heavens opened.” It does, suddenly, and you see nothing but infinity, translucence, infinite expansion- and hovering above you is a dove of a light beige color, and the dove is looking at you and you look at the dove unconcerned, and it is all anchored on you. It remains there over you, seemingly without effort on its part, and yet it is alive and looking at you. Then you automatically lift your hand (in my case it was my left hand) and it descended and perched on my index finger. I brought it down to my face, and it smothered me with kisses. I had the impulse to take it across my head, and it kissed and kissed me.

Then a woman on my left made this statement: “He loves you.” I heard no voice saying: “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.” I only heard the woman’s voice, and she said: “He loves you,” meaning the dove, symbolizing the Holy Spirit. Then she said to me: “They (now using the plural, and speaking of birds) do not come near man,” And she gave me the reason: “To them, we are like a large bowel – a consuming bowel, and we give off to them a most offensive odor, so they try to avoid contact with man. But this one pierced this ring of odors and came through because of his love for you.” And the only sign of “I love you” was the demonstration – the actual physical demonstration – of a dove smothering me with kisses all over my head and ears and neck. So I know that story is true. I can share it with you only in words. You may believe it or disbelieve it. The choice is yours.

We are told in John 7:3-8: “So his brothers said to him, ‘Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples may see the works you are doing. For no man works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.’ For even his brothers did not believe in him. Jesus said to them, ‘My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify of it that its works are evil . . . Go to the feast yourselves; I am not going up to the feast, for my time has not yet fully come.'” The disciples had not yet seen any demonstration of the power of which he spoke.

Our time is always here, and this time is curved, and we are moving on a circle that is a recurring circle, and we have a short memory and cannot remember the things that have happened; therefore we cannot foresee the things that are going to happen, for this is a wheel of recurrence. Our time is always here, but he has tasted of the power of the New Age and can only describe the satisfaction of that power of the New Age, but cannot demonstrate it to the satisfaction of anyone in this age. Here he speaks of this power and he knows, and tells them quite firmly: “You will experience it.” He knows everyone will experience it. It was on this level. In this age none believed it – it is too fantastic. He rises into a world completely subject to his imaginative power. Now, here is a sign: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” Bear in mind the symbol: this [the body] is the earth, and I, if I be lifted up from this garment called “earth,” I will call all men unto me.

I see in the audience tonight a gentleman who wrote me a letter last Saturday. His experience preceded mine. He is much younger than I am. He does not look any older than my son, who will be 39 in May of this year. In his letter he said it happened to him in 1940. In my case, it happened in 1941. I was coming through the Caribbean Sea on a freighter from Port-of-Spain, Trinidad to Mobile, Alabama. I retired early that night. Suddenly I am lifted up from this earth, and as I am lifted up, a heavenly chorus comes into view and they are singing: “Neville is risen, Neville is risen.” Here I am – I do not need the sun, or the moon, or the stars for light, for I am light unto myself. It is not brilliant, but it is luminous beyond the wildest dream – but it is a gentle light. Then I came upon an infinite sea of human imperfection – the blind, the withered, the halt. I had no human compassion, may I tell you. As I walked by, there was not a shred of human compassion in me. I simply demonstrated this new power called, “the power of God.” As I walked by, I fed every one of the thousands waiting for my appearance. Not everyone wants meat or bread. I gave them their most urgent need. One wanted eyes, another wanted arms for empty sockets – and lovely eyes were molded into empty sockets and arms into empty sockets. Everything that was missing in the human body came into being as I walked by. As I came to the end and the last one was completely satisfied with whatever he needed, then this chorus exalted: “It is finished.” Then I – in a world of luminosity, of infinite expansion – contracted into this world of opacity, and reached the limit of this contraction called “earth,” which is the body I am now wearing. Here is this experience verifying the truth of that statement that “I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.”

These experiences are adventures of the soul. It did not take place on this level. To this day, in 1963, our most brilliant scholars, reading this ancient manuscript do not understand it, because you cannot grasp it without these experiences. And here is one who has had them, and I am going to say to you: I am confident that some of you present tonight must have it before you taste death. Of that I am convinced. This is the statement made in Mark 8:36: “For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” Then he said: “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.” (Mark 9:1) I tell you: there are some seated here tonight that will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power. It has all to do with the age to come, and you will taste of the power of that age to come. In other words, you will experience that power before you taste death, for all things in this world die. These are mortal garments and they all die. Who are you? No one knows – no, not the angels of heaven, only the Father. When the curtain begins to lift in him and Christ is in him, wherever he goes there is a remnant – whether ten, or a thousand, or a million – a remnant present will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God come with power. Who you are, I do not know. That is hidden from me.

Listen to these words: “The prophets who prophesied of the grace that was to be yours, searched and inquired about this salvation. They inquired what person of them was indicated by the Spirit of Christ within them when predicting the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glory.” It was revealed to them that they were searching not themselves, but you. Not the things that are now announced to them by those who preach the good news – things unto which angels long to look; therefore, set your hope fully upon the grace that is coming to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Here are men organized by divine providence for spiritual communion, and from the depths of their soul Christ is speaking. Listen: “Christ in them predicts this.” Not Christ on the outside – there is no Christ on the outside. If any man tries to influence you to trust him as a leader, do not believe him. Christ in you is slowly being unveiled, the only Christ in the world. “The prophets who prophesied of the grace, that was to be yours,” meaning God’s gift of himself to man, unearned, unmerited – you cannot earn it. It is too good. No one could ever in this world earn it. It is given to you by God. You will receive it as an inheritance. God tells us “They shall have no inheritance; I AM their inheritance; and you shall give them no possession in Israel; I AM their possession.” (Ezekiel 44:28) You inherit God – you inherit his kingdom, for there cannot be a kingdom without a king. You inherit the whole as he slowly unveils himself in you, and the plot of his unveiling is described in the New Testament.

They searched the scripture (the Old Testament) and could not find the Christ of whom they were told. They searched it from beginning to end and could not find who he is. “What person of them was indicated by the Spirit of Christ in them when predicting the sufferings of Christ and his subsequent glory?” They could not find it. Have you ever had a toothache? Who suffered? Christ did. Have you ever been cut? Christ was cut. You witnessed a friend go through “the gate” and you wept? It is Christ weeping. Christ suffers. There is nothing but Christ, and he is your own wonderful human imagination. He suffers until the moment of that last day, when he begins to unveil himself in you as you.

And so, the prophetic blueprint for you, individually, is revealed to us in the New Testament. You cannot find it in the Old Testament until it begins to unfold itself in the New, and then you go back and see where the prophets have recorded it – but they could not understand it. Like all of us, they were looking for a person. Where will he come from? They asked a simple question. When Christ comes, no one knows where he comes from. The last words asked him by Pilate were: “Where do you come from?” He does not answer. If he answered he came from a certain area, he is not speaking of the outer garment, and he could not tell them because they would not understand it. So, that is the fulfilled scripture in the last book of the Old Testament.

Suddenly he appears in a temple, and no one knows where he comes from. Who appears? The Lord. He appears so suddenly in you that you do not have the slightest idea what is taking place. (Malachi 3) And suddenly you are in possession of a power no being on earth dreams of – greater than any power on earth. What power on earth could take unnumbered eyes and hands and arms and legs and mold them in perfect bodies? They cannot make a hair of your head. Here, a man walks by, unmoved by human compassion, and he could make anything appear that was urgently needed. He is exercising a power. Seeing this human imperfection, the question is asked: “Who sinned? This man, or his parents?” “Neither this man nor his parents, but that the works of God be made manifest.” What did I care who sinned, when I saw the blind and the lame and the halt made perfect! It is an entirely different world into which we are all moving.

Every being is moving into this world, and God’s will surely will be manifest, even by the cruel surgery of war. “He has made everything for its purpose – even the wicked for the day of trouble.” His purpose is to give us himself, that we may inherit God. We inherit God, that we may live and function as God in an entirely different age. But you do not change your identity. I have not changed my identity. From my own experience, there will be a radical discontinuity of form. The lady said to me: “We are to them (the birds – the symbol of the Holy Spirit) but large bowels giving off the most offensive odor to these beings of peace and gentility. The dove is not only the symbol of gentleness and peace, but the symbol of the creative power of God. When he is smothering you with kisses, he is transferring to you the creative power of his own being. Slowly the whole thing begins to unfold in symbols – actual mystical experience – and you will see that that offensive area of your body will be completely transformed. You cannot describe it to anyone. Identity remains; hands, feet remain, but what that large bowel is transformed into, I cannot tell you.

Look for the large bowel on the leaf in the cabbage patch and you see the caterpillar – but you cannot see the butterfly. Suddenly comes the state of the limit of contraction -or chrysalis – unmoved. Out of that seemingly dead state comes the butterfly. You could not have predicted it when you looked at the large bowel consuming the leaf. Something altogether different comes out. Hands, feet, legs remain, but what the transformed bowel is, is a power beyond the wildest dream of man. It creates without the divided image it sees. It does not need any transforming itself. It, in itself, is life. You are life in yourself and need nothing to sustain life – no food. I know on this level when one enjoys a good meal, it may not be the most desired anticipation. But in that age, you are life in yourself. No need of any substance from without. You will have these demonstrations of the power of the New Age. I am speaking from experience.

There is a strange reversal of order in these experiences. The first experience recorded in Mark is the descent of the dove. In my many mystical experiences, that has been my latest. It happened on the 1st of January of this year. So, I do not know. I will not speculate. He has nothing recorded earlier than that. How close to departure from this level, I have not the slightest idea. It makes no difference to me at all. The earliest recorded in Mark is my last experience. Those he recorded all the way down, coming to the end, were my earliest experiences. When he said: “I am the Light of the world,” I have had that experience. It happened when I had just turned twenty. An infinite sea of liquid light, and I am it. That comes late in the story as he unfolds it, and the one that comes first, is my latest. If this thing recorded for us in the scripture is by design or by accident, I do not know. If the evangelist recorded it by design and mixed the things up so you would not question as to how they would unfold, I do not know. It could be that the parchments were dislocated. We had no printers in those days. I only know: if I told you the story as it has unfolded in me, the order of arrangement would radically change, because we are all unique in God’s eyes, and the experiences would naturally come differently.

My friend who is here tonight had this experience in 1940. I do not think he could have been more than a boy in his teens. He was a scoutmaster. He was happy with the boys and felt delighted with their accomplishments. He went to bed feeling pleasure with the accomplishments of the day. This night, he too, was lifted up on high and heard this heavenly chorus. I heard the words: “Neville is risen.” In his letter to me, he used the pronoun “he.” Whether he heard that as recorded in scripture, or his own name called, I do not know. I heard my own name called over and over, and that was the theme of this heavenly chorus as it swelled through the heavens. But because we are different in God’s eyes, these eternal experiences would take on certain changes as we individually experience them. We could sit tonight in a concert and no two here would have heard the same thing. But I do hope you will hear and believe it. There are some seated here tonight who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power. One here tonight – and he has not left this garment of flesh – has tasted of this experience. There is always one, everywhere, who has tasted the unveiling of Christ. Everyone will be Christ-like without losing his distinctive individuality. Not one will fail, because God would fail, and that is an impossibility.

So I tell you: believe this prophetic blueprint of which I speak this night. It may not be to the satisfaction of those who want a bigger and better job tomorrow. But that is simple – all that is easy. You can have a plot and plan contrary to God’s purpose, and execute it. But you will not thwart God’s purpose. He is not concerned whether you are rich or poor, known or unknown. He does not care about these superficial values on this level. “What does it profit a man who would gain the whole vast world and forfeit his soul.” Yet, there are such men. I saw in this morning’s paper – and undoubtedly he has left hundreds of millions behind him – suddenly he fell back and is gone. The dust to dust returns from whence it was taken, and the spirit returns to God.

Don’t for one moment forget this, when people tell you they need not suffer. They predict the sufferings of Christ. Only through suffering can you turn into Christ. God is looking for the guileless heart, not the guileful heart. He does not care how you can out-trick any being in the world. He is looking for other than that. He is looking for the heart of the Israelite: only the pure in heart can see God. Nothing in this world matters but the unveiling of Christ, and Christ is buried in every being. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is not I who live but Christ lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” He actually became me, and I did not know it. I went about my business between receiving the promise, and receiving that which was promised.

There is a vast difference between receiving the promise and receiving what is promised. When we receive the promise, we are recipients of the inheritance. We are declared recipients of the inheritance. When we receive what is promised we obtain the inheritance. And, between these two points, of receiving the promise that I will inherit God, and actually receiving what is promised – that is God Himself – lies the life of the individual.

And, so, we move from receiving the promise to receiving what is promised, and we pass through hell. That is the Hades through which Christ passes after the crucifixion. In the beginning we are crucified with God and then come all of these experiences. And then comes the end, and the end is an unveiling process. And everything said in the gospels about Christ Jesus will be one day experienced by you as your own personal experience, and then and only then, will you know who Christ Jesus is. Revelation is the unveiling of Jesus Christ in you. And when you are unveiled, then you resurrect.

Now let us go into the silence.

neville goddard Imagination Is Reality

RELEASE BARABBAS AND CRUCIFY JESUS

by with No Comment ImaginationNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdom

Neville Goddard 10-17-1957

neville goddard Imagination Is RealityAs you know, we feel that life should be a perpetual increase of the things you love! That, to me is the art of living. In man’s ability to live in the end, to live in the feeling of the wish fulfilled, lies man’s capacity to live the more abundant life. I do not care what your objective is; feeling that you have it is living a more, abundant life.

First, tonight, let us turn to three who were awake, and by three I mean three men. The whole purpose of life is to awaken and join the chorus of awakened humanity, which is God. We will turn to a great poet, one who passed from this sphere only within the last two or three years, Walter de La Mare.

“So flows experience, the vast without.
It is the microcosm of the soul within,
The day-distracted eye may doubt,
But no longer as the dreams begin.”

Think of it! This vast “without” is the microcosm of the soul within. The day-distracted eye cannot believe it, but you take this and expand it to the nth degree and see that the “vast without” is only the microcosm of the soul within. How can man believe it?

Now we will turn to the great bard – Shakespeare: Everything in the world is the projection of something that activated within myself. I meet a friend and I say that I love him and I see in him something that I would like to change. Everything in this world is the microcosm of this vastness in my own being. Everything in the world, “no matter what it is, all the so-called evil could be changed, would man, observing, distill it out.” If I knew this I could look at anything, any condition, as a scientist could look at bubbling mash, and know I could extract something from it that is good. Blake tells us: “He who does not imagine in stronger and broader lineaments, and in stronger and brighter light than his perishing and mortal eye can see, does not imagine at all.” This is in a way a parable. A parable is a story told to illustrate a truth.

In Second Corinthians 3:6, in the letter which Paul writes to the Corinthians – these are not the people of Corinth. You are Corinthians, for these are stories of the mysteries, and so this is Corinth, so the letters are addressed to those who are interested in rising to another level of consciousness: “We are the ministers of a new covenant, not written in the code but in the spirit.” Now remember the teaching: “The letter killeth but the spirit giveth life.” So we are ministers of a new covenant. You be the judge, for I am not here to judge you. But if I came and whispered in your ear that you were harboring a robber, would you react violently? You be the judge, but I will tell you a story, in the code written in the form of a letter. This is the story of Jesus and Barabbas.

Now it was the season of the year when it was customary to release a man who was imprisoned. “Whom will you have me release unto you? Barabbas or Jesus? And they cried, Release Barabbas! Crucify Jesus!” “And when the wife of Pilate said to him, will you do this thing? he washed his hands,” etc.

Now you take that, and that is the code – but what does it really mean? That it took place, actually? We are warned of those who “depart from the truth,” and those who think that the resurrection has already taken place, they have wandered from the truth, for if it has already taken place then I cannot know the power that resurrects every dream in the world. The resurrection must be taking every moment in time in all men. The Passover does not take place at a certain time of year, like Easter. The Passover takes place every moment of the day, if we are willing to pass over into another state. There must always be a passing over from one state to a higher state. So, which will you have me release, the robber or Jesus? Which will you let go of, and to which will you hold fast? I must release the robber, for I am housing him. Who is he? If this moment you want something and reason tells you that you cannot have it, than you are entertaining the thief that robs you of being what you want to be in this world. This is the “son of Satan,” something in me that robs me of that other Son who will save me. The thing that will save me from what I am, is Christ Jesus. And what is keeping you from what you want? That is Barabbas.

So, they crucify Jesus; they fix the state desired. The whole drama takes place in you. You must release Barabbas and crucify the Lord. You must learn the art of doing it. I can tell it best now by telling a case history I have just received. This is what she told me: She had a neighbor, a woman who had been divorced for nineteen years, and who was up to her ears in debt. She worked hard but she could not get beyond a day-to-day existence. She could not afford a vacation, though she had one due. And in four weeks college was starting and her son wanted to go to college, and there was no means with which to send him. She had prayed over her problem, but she had got nowhere, and then she asked this lady who wrote the letter to pray for her. This lady explained to her this teaching that I am giving you here, and then she did what follows for her neighbor. She asked her first: what do you really want? Well, this woman had been divorced for nineteen years and she had lost her faith in men, but still she said that above all else she would like to be happily married and out of debt.

Every night for a month this lady from the class here went to her neighbor’s house and talked with her and made her think of the qualities she most wanted in a husband: gentleness, kindness, tolerance, attentiveness, honesty, etc. All the qualities she felt a man should have she had to name over and over. And then the lady asked her: “Can you feel the embrace of such a man?” and the other lady said: “Yes, I think I can.” And then she did something else. She went through the marriage ceremony with her neighbor, the part of putting on the ring and hearing the words pronouncing the couple man and wife. And then she left her neighbor with the suggestion that she sleep in that state and promised her that she would do the same thing – that is, sleep in the state herself of having just seen her neighbor married.

They did this for four weeks. And then a man came into her office (the office of the neighbor) and in talking, he asked her where she was going for her vacation. She was ashamed to confess that she was not going anywhere, so she said she thought maybe she might go up to the High Sierras, and the man said: “Then you must be my guest, for I own a hotel up there.” He booked rooms for three of them: the woman and her son, and the lady who had helped her. The man was very kind and helpful to them. He told the woman that he had lost his wife a few months before. But he also told her that he would never marry again. The woman had grown fond of him and was distressed by this and told the lady who had helped her. “What will I do now? He is never going to remarry. He said so.” The lady said, “You are happily married, so we are not going to discuss this. You slept every night in the feeling of having a wonderful husband, a man who has the qualities you desire. So how can we discuss the matter? You are married.”

That was over two years ago. She has been married to this man for two years. Yes, he changed his mind about marrying again. He is sending this woman’s son through college. She said recently to the lady who had helped her with this teaching: “You have no idea how kind and good he is, how wonderful.” The woman said: “Haven’t I?” She said: “I set up these qualities with you and helped you. Do you think I don’t know what he is like?”

Now back to the crucifixion. You must release the consciousness Barabbas, the robber. This woman robbed herself for nineteen years. She robbed herself of the lovely things of life. Finally she faced a choice: either Barabbas released or Jesus released, or Jesus crucified. If I want to be anything in this world and say I cannot be that, then I am robbing myself of the ability to be it. Man can be anything in this world that he wants to be, for man awake is the son of God. There is only one son and that is Christ Jesus and that son is human imagination, the only Christ Jesus in the world. There will never be another. So I look out on the world and I think it towers over me and I do not know that actually it is the microcosm of the soul within me. If I do not know it, start the dream to prove it. Can you feel embracing arms around you? This woman began the dream and then realized it. The whole vast world without only mirrors the soul within. The Passover means the passing over into another. When we were children we were told that Jesus sacrificed himself for us 2,000 years ago. That is belief in a lie. You depart from the truth if you believe [the] crucifixion is already past. It is not over; it is constant fact every moment of time. It is not past and it must be continually taking place. The whole vast drama unfolds within us. We can distill out of any situation the good that is in it. You can take it as you take a mash and distill the essence from it.

You are told the Old Testament is one covenant and the New Testament is another covenant. Do not believe it. There is only one Book. When you find the spirit of it that sets you free, that is the new covenant. The letter killeth, the spirit giveth life. Take the same “code” and re-read it, and strike as it were the rock and then draw forth the water and make it into wine. Rock, as we are told you, means literal fact. Water means psychological understanding; wine means the application of that truth. If you know this, every dream in the world can be realized. In the capacity to live in the wish fulfilled lies your capacity for living the more abundant life. These stories which I tell you are “stone” if you take them literally, but “water” if you understand them, and then they become “wine” if you apply what you have learned. You can get all the results as this lady got them.

But the lady who is now married, though she is happy she may slip into a way of life and forget how this was brought about. People quickly “recover” from this teaching. I could tell you many stories of friends of mine who wanted help and who told me the dream they wanted to come true. And with them I listened as though I heard and looked as if I saw what they wanted to see, and the thing became true in their world. There is the story of my brother-in-law, told in one of my books. He knows that story is there, and though all my other books are in evidence in his library, that particular one he has put up so high that no one can reach it. He is such a factual, realistic person that though the dream he wanted most in the world was brought about, now he is embarrassed when he thinks about the way it was brought about. He is too down-to-earth to want to remember it.

So I tell you we must remember the story of the crucifixion. As Paul said: “I die daily.” I should be dissatisfied: I should have always a “divine dissatisfaction” and transcend and transcend, to become one of the awakened brothers. I cannot live on what I learned today. Extend the borders of your tent. Not only must I grow, but also I must also outgrow or I am not growing. Let no one tell you that this world is your end. You are a fabulous being. You do not change worlds by spatial travel; you change by a change in consciousness. Subjective or objective is determined by the level on which my consciousness is focused.

I ask you to construct a little drama that implies you have realized your dream. This lady went through the ceremony of marriage and with a man who had all the qualities she wanted. And in five weeks the drama began to unfold. The whole thing took three months and now this lady is happily married. Everything you want is within, for the vast without is only the microcosm of the soul within. But though you doubt, you will no longer doubt when the dream begins. “He who does not imagine in stronger and brighter lineaments than this perishing and mortal eye can see, does not imagine at all.”

Smell a rose. See it. You can see and smell it the degree your attention is centered on it. If you let it posses your mind you will see it and smell it. That is being creative. You see what you want to see, and enter into and live it as if it were true. Others may call it fantasy and when it becomes real they will believe you did it this way. But let anyone else believe what they want to believe. I told a friend of mine who was critical without taking the trouble to know what he was being critical of: your taste and your opinion do not qualify you to criticize. You must first know what I am trying to do, and then you may venture your opinion. But if you do not know what I am doing or what I am trying to do, then how can presume to criticize?

Everything in this world is done through imagination, but many people do not see it. But do you know of anything that was made that not first imagined? But you make your dream and walk in it as if it is true, and others will come along like workmen following you to execute it.

Edison told Tesla that it would not be possible to have alternating current. Edison said it could not be, but Tesla told him: “I can see it. I can see the machine. And I am starting it and stopping it, and I am taking out the kinks in it before I make it in the laboratory.” Read that story in the book called Prodigal Genius, the story of Tesla [ed. The Life of Nikola Tesla]. They called him mad before he died. You know why? He said he was communicating with Edison, who was dead. Because others could not understand this, they called Tesla mad.

Ecclesiastes 3: “I am the beginning and the end” and “there is nothing to come that has not been and is.” Creation is finished. We are only becoming aware of increasing portions of that which is. If everything is, am I still creative? I am in this sense: I become a selector of that aspect of reality to which I want to respond and then I bring that into my world. It is like taking the alphabet. Shakespeare and Blake used only twenty-six letters. A moron would use exactly twenty-six letters. But think of the difference. Think of an infinite alphabet and we select what we will from that alphabet. But you just put yourself in relation to it and then it becomes real in your world.

The two factors which are most important in my world, I would say, are my personality and then my relation to reality. Any real change in my personality should make a change in my outer world. I can interfere with the purely mechanical action of my brain by accepting what my brain does not register. If I can imagine, then produce in myself a shift of personality and then it works, the One condition is imposed on man: that he believe that he already has that which he wishes. And one that confirms this: “When you stand praying, if you have aught against your brother, forgive him,” etc. You think this means to have something against someone? No. Forgiveness in the mystical sense tests man’s ability to enter into and partake of the nature of the opposite. I think I cannot do something. That belief is what I must forgive. If I can do this, then I am forgiving myself. If I can take a friend who is ill and accept the fact that he is ill, then I have that against him. I must forgive him by seeing him looking well, and to the degree that I am self-persuaded, I am forgiving what I held against him.

Can you forgive a man by mumbling some words and saying you have forgiven him? You can only forgive to the degree that “complete” change of consciousness takes place. When I think of you, I should see a different you, a new you. If I do not see a different you then I have not forgiven you. This lady I told you of tonight “forgave” her friend, for she saw her happily married. And that marriage was consummated.

I tell you that no matter what your dream is it can be realized, you will enact the crucifixion. If you think the “resurrection is past already, you have departed from the truth” (Second Timothy 2:18) It must be going on eternally. It is up to you what you do now. Everyone can do it. That is the purpose of this platform – so that you may not only realize your dreams here, but that you awaken and slip into other worlds. There are worlds within this world, and worlds within worlds. I know – I have seen them and I have been in them. It does not matter what people say to me about whether I can do it or not. I know I can do it, and I do it. I know that I live in a home in West L.A. and come here on Monday and Thursday nights. You might as well tell me that I do not come here, as to say that I cannot enter some other sphere. I cannot take you with me, for the world only calls “reality” what can be shared. But it was not a subjective illusion; it was real.

There are many things that cannot be shared at the time, for the background of the other is not such that they are ready to receive it. But that does not make it less real. In time all will come to it.

Now let us go into the silence.

neville goddard Imagination Is Reality

REVEALED TRUTH

by with No Comment ImaginationNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdom

Neville Goddard 11-03-1969

neville goddard Imagination Is RealityWhen the Rev. Dr. Trusler criticized Blake, saying he needed someone to elucidate his ideas, Blake replied: “You ought to know that what is grand is necessarily obscure to the weak. You also ought to know that what can be made explicit to the idiot is not worth my care. The wisest of the Ancients considered what is not too explicit as fittest for instruction because it rouses the faculties to act. I name Moses, Solomon, Aesop, Homer, Plato.” Then he asked this question: “Why is the Bible more entertaining and instructive than any book? Is it not because it is addressed to the imagination which is spiritual sensation and only but immediately to the understanding or reason?”

Tonight I will ask you a riddle based upon scripture and try to solve it for you. What is it that becomes its own grandson and vice versa? And how can the Divine Creator be my Father, yet my child? Now this riddle is not addressed to the reasonable and logical mind, but to the human imagination, as its answer must be revealed.

Let us turn to the Book of Isaiah. In the 7th chapter we are told: “The Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold a maiden will conceive and bring forth a son and call his name Immanuel, which means God is in us.” (This is confirmed in the New Testament as: “The Kingdom of God is within.”)

Now, in the 9th chapter of Isaiah, we read: “Unto us a child is born and his name shall be called the Everlasting Father.” So what we, individualized, will bring forth as a sign, is a child whose name is Everlasting Father; therefore are we not bringing forth that which created us? Here we see the Everlasting Father and the child are one, for that is the child’s name. He is the Everlasting Father, the self-existent, ever-created being who created and sustains the universe, and we are told that we will bring him forth as our child.

Now let us turn to the 11th chapter of Isaiah, where we read: “There shall come forth a shoot out of Jesse, a branch shall grow out of his roots and the branch will be the ruler of all.”

The riddle’s solution can be found in the names. “Jesse” means “I AM”, which is the eternal, everlasting name of God. The shoot which comes out of Jesse is his son, David, and out of David comes a branch who is one with his grandfather. In the 20th chapter of the Book of Luke, the 43rd and 44th verses, this same riddle is asked but not answered: “How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David, when David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord?” Let me take these passages and put them together for you.

The son is Immanuel, meaning “God is in us.” His Father is David, the beloved, and his grandfather is Jesse, who is I AM, the Everlasting Father. Here we find three separate generations, as it were, yet the son is one with the grandfather.

Now let us unriddle the riddle. David is called the beloved. He is the personification of all the generations of humanity, and their experiences. It is out of David that God begets himself, for the dream is nothing more than the reproduction of the Divine Imagination in the human imagination. There is not a thing in the world but God, who is reproducing himself in humanity. God (Divine Imagination) is wearing the masks of humanity in order to experience its horrors, so in that sense humanity is his son. And when the journey is over for the individualized God, his experiences fuse into a single youth, whom he recognizes as his son, David. Then out of David (humanity) comes which would be the grandson, who is one with the individual, now the grandfather. So the riddle is this: Who becomes his own grandson who becomes the grandfather? Divine imagination!

Speaking of David, God the Father said: “I have found in David a man after my own heart who will do my will.” So God the Father, having begotten himself on humanity, causes humanity to do his will, for man is completely under the control of this supreme being. And while on Man, God begets his grandson, for Man his son and the child, Immanuel, his grandson. So you see: the grandson and the grandfather are one, and you are that one. You are what you begot, and you are its begetter, for you come out as God the Father. Looking down on humanity personified as David who calls you Father, you realize that David brought forth you, his begetter; therefore you are the grandfather and the grandson. You, humanity, are that upon which the child is begotten. And when humanity gathers itself together into a single youth and personifies itself as David, he calls you Father, making you the grandfather, and Christ the grandson, one.

I do not say that this is easy for you to grasp, but I am telling you it is true. A fantastic miracle takes place. It is truly the riddle of riddles. Now, the question is asked: “why do the wise men say that Christ is the son of David, when David in the Spirit called him Lord?” Christ is the child, the sign that God is in us, just as the Lord promised, saying: “This shall be a sign. A maiden will bring forth a son and she shall call his name Immanuel which means ‘God is in us.’ And when the Christ is born, he shall be known as the Everlasting Father. Therefore God, through humanity, begot his own grandchild. As human imagination, I am God’s son, but when he raises me to His level, I beget His grandchild. And when my son stands before me, I see David, the being out of which the Christ came. Therefore, who am I? I am the grandfather, the I AM who is one with the grandson (the human imagination).

I know this is difficult for you to grasp, but I feel we have reached the point in time for you to hear it. Out of Jesse (I AM) God the Father’s eternal name, will come a stem (David) humanity, and out of David will come a branch (Christ). Now, the question is: “What do you think of the Christ? How can the scribes say he is the son of David, when David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord?” I tell you: David is humanity – that upon which Imagination molds himself and brings himself out of, then raises the individual out of which he came, back to himself along with the knowledge that the grandfather and the grandson are one glorious imagination. Humanity however will remain, for that is what Imagination molds himself on, throughout eternity. And when Imagination, individualized, has had all of the experiences of man, they will be gathered together and fused into one single whole, and appear as the eternal youth, David. You must go through all of the experiences of humanity before God’s son David will come forth to reveal you as his Father. It is he to whom the sign was given, for the child comes out of David; therefore the child is the grandson of God the Father and one with his grandfather, whom David reveals you to be.

I tell you: you are God Himself. The eternal Divine Imagination is reproducing itself in human imagination so that your I AM is one with the universal I AM. There can’t be any other. All the horrors you have known or may still know will add up to the birth of that wonder child. “To us a child is born.” It is to us, the human personality, that the child is born whose name is Everlasting Father. Then we experience His glorious son, David who made it possible. So Divine Imagination became humanity (human imagination) in order to beget himself. It takes all of the horrors of human history to produce that son who is the grandson of and one with the Eternal Father. The son, however, remains humanity, who condenses itself into a single youth called David.

I hope you will dwell upon my words. There are many things to be said and time is short, so I feel it is time to tell it. This is the riddle. The Eternal Being (who is God the Father) entered into the eternal structure of the world (which is humanity). Man as you know him is part of the eternal structure of the world, and on it God the Father is reproducing himself. And when his work is finished, he brings out his likeness as his grandson. Then the grandson claims that David calls him Lord and the Lord is David’s father; therefore the grandson (the Christ) is the identical image of and one with his grandfather, the Eternal, Everlasting Father.

Dwell upon my message tonight. Sense it until its meaning is revealed to you by a wonderful mystical experience. Believe me, for you are the Eternal God the Father. The universal I AM and your I AM are one and the same I AM. God is forever bringing himself forth by molding himself upon that part of eternity called the human family. It’s a very painful process to reproduce the Divine Imagination in the human imagination, but there is no better way to do it than in this manner.

The three passages in the Book of Isaiah and the 20th chapter of the book of Luke propound the identical riddle which, put in our language, would be: How can that which begot you become your child, and in so doing, raise you to your begetter, who is God the Father? And how can you then look back on humanity and see all of its experiences fuse into a single being who stands before you and calls you Father?

Dwell upon my words, for you will find them most stimulating and, far from not being practical, they are the most practical words you have ever heard. The Bible is far more exciting than anything you heard or read today, for not a thing said by any person could compare to the words you have heard tonight. All of the plots and plan of men concerning bringing this world to an end are not part of the divine plan. Divine Imagination’s plan is to reproduce Himself in the human imagination, for God is only begetting Himself. Divine and human imagination are not two, but one imagination, which differs only in the degree of intensity. The purpose of it all is that you will be able to wish anything into realization. I have come that you may have life and have it more abundantly. No longer will you be a slave to the world or afraid of anything, for you will know that you are one with its creator. In that awareness, you will ask and receive instantaneous return. All this will be yours when the complete revelation of what I have told you this night is fulfilled.

When you read scripture you will not find this spelled out as I have told you, but having heard my story over and over again you can follow my argument. The riddle is: What is it that becomes his own grandson and vice versa; the grandson becomes his own grandfather? If this is so, then where does David the father of the grandson fit in? Ask yourself and it will be revealed to you, for you will bring forth the wonder child whose name is the Everlasting Father. You will awake a few months later to discover that, instead of being God’s son, you are David’s Father. So instead of coming out of humanity as humanity’s son (which you did), you come out as God, the Everlasting Father.

It takes humanity and all its horrors for God the Real Father to experience in order to produce his likeness which is Himself. Humanity remains, but this time not a multitude of faces, but only one face. All of the faces are put together and fused into in the one body of your son (who is God’s son) David, who calls you my Lord. How then can you be David’s son when David, in the Spirit calls you my Lord?

Do you follow me? I hope so. It is a profound truth and I think nothing deeper will come to you, for this is the story of scripture. Blake was perfectly right when he said: “Why is the Bible more entertaining and more instructive than any book? Is it not because it is addressed to the imagination which is spiritual sensation and only immediately to the understanding or reason? Therefore, what can be made explicit to the idiot is not worth my care. The wisest of the Ancients considered what was not too explicit to be fittest for instruction because it rouses the faculties to act.” Here we have a riddle and must respond to its challenge.

How can a grandson become his own grandfather? You say that the Christ is the son of David, but tell me: how then can David, in the Spirit, call him my Lord? If he is David’s son and David’s Father is my Lord, and David in the Spirit calls him Lord, is he not his own grandfather?

Dwell upon this and maybe, because it has been given to you this night, something may explode within you to lead you to its understanding. But the full understanding will come when scripture unfolds within you like a wonderful unfolding flower.

You will find these three generations constantly throughout scripture. The Book of Matthew begins the New Testament with the three generations: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham.” Here is Abraham, the father of the multitudes. Then David, the beloved human being who brought forth the image of God called Christ the Lord. And God and his image are one, so we go back now to the grandfather being one with the grandson.

Tonight may seem to be profoundly spiritual, yet I must repeat what I have said time and time again. Whatever is most profoundly spiritual will prove, in time, to be the most directly practical. Instead of wrestling with your problems, dwell upon these revealed truths, for as you do, your problems will solve themselves. Rather than going to bed worrying about how you are going to meet a pressing commitment, go to bed dwelling upon what I have told you and the commitment will be met. Your Father knows what you have need of. Seek first the kingdom of heaven and all these things will be added unto you.

When you sit down to work out one problem, you simply involve yourself with another and still another. But if you will dwell upon revealed truth, all the things you need will be taken care of. As you dwell upon revealed truth, try to solve these wonderful riddles. You may not unravel them, but think about what I have told you, because I am telling you what I know from experience. I did not arrive at these conclusions by logic. I am not a philosopher. I am simply one in whom the Word unfolded. And when it unfolds in you, you too will tell it from experience.

You who heard me this night, dwell upon the thought that you are giving birth to Christ. That he will be your son because he comes out of you. And that this wonderful child is one with your Father who would have to be his grandfather. If he comes out of you and he is one with his grandfather (which is your Father) you will awaken to the realization that you are the Everlasting Father. Then you will look down upon yourself, called Man, and see it personified as David, who calls you the Everlasting Father, my Lord.

You cannot awaken as the Everlasting Father, however, until you bring forth Immanuel (which is the wonderful child) as the child is the everlasting sign that you have brought forth God, born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God – for God is begetting himself. This is literally true. The child that comes forth from you is the Everlasting Father. The minute you bring forth Immanuel, God in you comes forth revealing you as the God who wrought it. Then humanity, out of which the sign came, stands before you as a single being whose name is David, and David calls you – not grandfather, but Father.

Think of humanity as the soul of man, the bride of the Lord whose maker is her husband. The Lord so fell in love with humanity (his bride) that he left all and has cleaved to his wife until they became one flesh. So humanity is Mary, destined to bring forth the Christ child. And the child and the Holy Spirit are one, and the child and his grandfather are one. When you bring forth the son, God has finished his work in you and his cleavage on you is complete. Then you aren’t two any more, but one. This is Divine Imagining reproducing itself upon humanity, which in the end comes out as God, the Everlasting Father.

Now let us go into the silence.

neville goddard Imagination Is Reality

SEEDTIME AND HARVEST

by with One Comment ImaginationNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdom

Neville Goddard  June 10 1956

neville goddard Imagination Is RealityAs you have been told, this morning’s subject is Seedtime and Harvest.

Although it bears the same title as my latest book, it is not to be found in that book, for that book is an attempt to interpret some of the more difficult passages of the Bible. I have given you in the nine chapters a mystical view, and also a certain approach how you yourself may approach the interpretation of the Bible, for, as you know, it is not a book of history. And so, when I became aware of deeper meanings in the passages than those normally assigned to them, I began to see them or to apprehend them mystically, and so I have given you a mystical interpretation of many of the darker passages.

For instance, when Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon, he made himself – no one made it for him. That’s what you must do – that’s what I must do – that’s what everyone must do – and in that chapter, I showed you the wood is not wood as you know wood. It means the wood of Lebanon is the incorruptible mind. But you make it for yourself, and we showed you the sides, what they were made of and what the meanings really are.

Then we took that very strange passage, the instruction to the Disciples to take off their shoes or provide no shoes when they travel, and we showed you the word “shoe” is not just the thing I wear on my foot; it is the symbol of the spirit of ‘let me do it for you’. For the shoe takes upon itself not only the dirt and the muck that would normally fall upon the wearer’s foot, but it protects the wearer from any contact with the outer world, and so anyone who offers to do for us what we should do, and could do far better ourselves, is offering himself as our shoe, and if I would awaken spiritually I must do it for myself.

I must take my own mind and control it – take my wonderful imagination and actually control it and set it to noble purposes and not have some intermediary come between myself and God. For the God of this world is an internal God. He is that inevitable force that expresses in outward facts the latent tendencies of the soul, and so, if I would discover that God I cannot have you do my work for me. I cannot have you eat my spiritual food and expect to grow spiritually. So that is really the attempt of the nine chapters in the book “Seedtime and Harvest”.

But this morning’s subject – I want to approach it differently. This statement is taken from the Book of Genesis, the 8th chapter of Genesis – it is a promise made to man that “while the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, hot and cold, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease.” We are told that man was placed in a garden – the garden was completed – every tree was bearing fruit – everything in the world was finished – and he was placed in the garden to dress it and to keep it. He doesn’t plant it, he doesn’t do a thing but dress it and keep it. He is not called upon to make trees or to grow new trees – everything is finished!

As we are told in John – “I have sent you to reap that whereon you bestowed no labor”- for Creation is finished. Every conceivable human drama, every little plot, every little plan in the drama of life is already worked out, as mere possibilities while we are not in them, but they are overpoweringly real when we are in them. So man can get in touch with that particular state of his choice, for my imagination can put me in touch inwardly with the state desired so I and in it. If I am in it I will realize it in my world. The states in which we find ourselves are the seed time. The harvest is simply the encountering of events and circumstances of life.

But man’s memory is so short he forgets the seedtime, but all ends run true to origins, so if the origin, say is misfortune the end will be misfortune. But when you reap misfortune, you wonder “Why should it happen to me? When have I set a thing like this in motion? Haven’t I given to the poor? Haven’t I attended service? Haven’t I prayed daily, and why should these things happen?” But you see my God never forgets because He always gives the end in harmony with the origin, and you and I are selectors: we don’t make; we are not creators; – creation is finished, the whole vast world of creation, as told us in Ecclesiastes “I am the beginning and the end. There is nothing to come that has not been and is.”

So look upon creation as finished – and you and I are only selectors of that which is. By selectors I mean that you and I have the privilege (we may not exercise it) but it is our privilege to select that aspect of reality to which we will respond, and in responding to it, we bring it into existence for ourselves. Not knowing that we are so privileged, we simply go through the world reflecting the circumstances of life, not realizing we have the power to create or to out-picture the circumstance of life.

So now let us now analyze what I personally mean by seedtime. If everything is finished and completed, then why the promise there shall be seedtime and harvest as long as the earth remains ? Now seedtime, to those who are here this morning, as we should really know, we are not taking it literally, our seedtime is that moment in time when you and I react to anything in this world. It may be to an object, it may be to an individual, it may be to a bit of news that we have overheard, but the moment of reaction, that emotional response, is our attitude. Our attitudes are the seedtimes of life, and although we may not remember the seedtime or the moment of response, nature never forgets, and when it suddenly appears in our world, that suddenness is only the emergence of a hidden continuity. It was continuous from the moment of reaction until it appeared in the world.

Its appearance in the world is harvest so you and I may harvest anything we desire but we must first have a seedtime. It must be preceded by a moment of response or an attitude. How often you say, “I approached it in the wrong attitude” or “He is in the wrong attitude” or “You must change your attitude if you would get on in this life”. I have said it – you have said it – maybe we have said it to each other – but we know the importance of right attitude. We know this much: that I can change my attitude if circumstances change – that’s automatic. We know that if something happens suddenly in my world of which up to that moment I was not aware, I, becoming aware of a change of circumstance would automatically produce in myself a change of attitude. We all do that, morning, noon and night, but that’s not important, that is a reflect of life. Ninety-nine percent of the world reflect life.

Now, can I consciously, can I voluntarily, can I deliberately produce in myself a change of attitude, one of my own discretion, one that I myself single out, and not one that is determined by or in any way is dependent on a stimulus of a change in the object itself. Must you change before I will change my attitude towards you? We know that if you do change I will change my attitude towards you, but must I go through life simply reflecting these changes in the objects, and can I not deliberately determine the change prior to the change in the object?

For if I can, I am moving towards complete control of my fate and becoming the master of my fate if I can assume an active, positive attitude and not depend upon changes in the object for changes in myself. If I can do it, I really am, if not a complete master, I am becoming more in control of the circumstances of life, but ninety-nine percent of the world waits for things to happen on the outside and then they reflect; that’s no accomplishment at all. If we would awaken and become real selectors of the beauty of this garden that God gave us so that we can single out that particular aspect to which we will respond, then we will do it by deliberately changing our attitude towards life itself.

There is a little fable given us to show us how it is done. If you will study the fable carefully, you will see the importance of imagination. The fable is the fable of the fox and the grapes. You all know it. When he failed to obtain the grapes then he persuaded himself that the grapes were sour, and by imagining the grapes to be sour he evoked in himself a change of attitude. He no longer felt about the grapes as he formerly felt. Now that’s a little fable on a negative tone or a tragic tone. You and I take the same story but now we put it on a positive tone. We contemplate our ambitious dream, our noble concept of life. It may seem we haven’t the talents to realize it – instead of saying what the fox did, that the thing is beyond us and therefore it is sour anyway, we can take the same technique and wonder what it would be like had we realized it. What would the feeling be like were we – (and we name it) – if I can contemplate what the feeling would be like were I the man that I want to be, were you the person that you want to be, and rejoice in that state as though it were true, I am producing in myself that emotional response necessary for seedtime.

I may not see an immediate harvest, maybe the thing that I am now giving expression to in the form of seedtime is an oak, it is not a little mushroom that would grow overnight. Maybe my dream would take a little longer interval of time between the actual planting and the reaping, but if I know that all these things are consistent, – “See yonder fields! The sesamum was sesamum, the corn was corn. The Silence and the Darkness knew! So is a man’s fate born” – so, if that moment of response is the actual planting of the seed, and if it was corn, it must be corn when it appears in harvest time, then I can select the nature of the things I want to encounter in my world. I can take not just Neville as a man, I can take the request first of my circle, my intimate circle, as a family man – my wife’s desires for her child, for her husband, for herself – the child’s desire for itself – and move beyond my little circle as a family man into the circle of friendships, move beyond that into my acquaintances, move beyond that into total strangers, impersonal states, but if I know the law holds good, no matter when I operate it, if I do it unconsciously or consciously, you get results regardless, and the results are in harmony with the planting, with the actual seedtime.

Now what is now our seedtime today. There are maybe two thousand odd here, we have two thousand odd different requests, multiplied by a large number because we have requests for others but you can take, today, as you sit here and you can actually contemplate what it would be like – suppose it were true. Suppose I could turn now to a friend and rejoice with him because of his good fortune and actually carry on a mental conversation with him from the premise that he or she has already realized the dream. Now as I do it in my imagination I am setting up within myself a certain changed attitude in regard to that individual. I am producing within myself a certain positive, deliberate, emotional response, and that very moment that I do it, is seedtime. I will encounter that individual tomorrow or next week or next month and he will bear witness of that thing I plant now.

He may be totally unaware that I planted it in this garden. I am not seeking his praise, I am not seeking credit – I am seeking results. If I see the man become the embodiment of the success I know that he desires and I desire for him, that’s praise enough, that’s payment enough. What more payment would anyone desire other than the results, for everything is a gift. Why should I be given more! My Father gave me the garden – the whole thing is in complete and full bloom and gave me choice – the greatest gift of all, complete freedom of choice of the nature of the fruit I will reap in my world; but I cannot just barge into the garden and start picking fruit – there must be a seedtime, but I must always bear in mind I will reap that whereon I bestowed no labor. I don’t labor to make it so, I simply plant it, for in that moment of response is contained all the plans, all the energy necessary to unfold that plan into a perfect wonderful objective fact which I will then harvest by becoming aware of it as an external reality, but I don’t labor to make it so; I simply must know it is so.

So that is our privilege, that is our choice. If you believe it, aren’t you amazed at the kind of things that you planted, at the kind of seedtime that in our ignorance, in our sleep, we allowed to actually scatter in our world? You see some will say, “But why does God allow it?” You cannot conceive of an infinite God that is not infinite in every respect. If I was incapable, actually incapable of assuming, say, an unlovely state, I could not be my Father’s son because my Father is infinite, and if He were actually incapable of assuming any state then He would not be God. Everything is within me – but everything. You cannot conceive of something that I don’t contain – the most horrible thing in the world were it not so I could not be infinite, and, therefore, not the son of my infinite Father. So God is infinite and gave us everything, but He gave us freedom of choice that we may become selective, discriminative and bring out everything that is beautiful out of that garden. If I took the piano, the eighty-eight notes of the piano, if I could extract from that piano keyboard every discord, I would not have a piano keyboard. If I could strike a discord and because it frightens me or it disturbs me, the thing grates upon my nerves; if I could now extract the notes that produce the discord and then keep on extracting the notes that produce the discord, I would remove the eighty-eight notes – there would be no notes left on which I could play tomorrow’s harmony. But let me leave the notes and learn the art of playing the piano so I can from the same eighty-eight notes bring out all the harmonies of the world.

The same thing is true of man. Instead of looking at someone and accepting as final the evidence of the senses; there is someone who brought out into his own world, say disease: he is trying to analyze it from the outside – when did I contract the bug, when did I come in close contact with someone who had the bug and they are taking me into the laboratory with my blood and try to find it there. You will never find it there, in spite of all the wisdom of man. You will find it only in the consciousness of the individual, who, at a moment now long forgotten, planted the thing he is now harvesting – and you are not going to find it in any external analysis at all because things seen were never made of things that do appear. You are warned time and time again in all the books of the Bible, but especially in that 11th chapter of the Book of Hebrews, that “things seen were not made of things that do appear” but no man believes it.

He insists on finding it in things seen, so he extracts my blood, he extracts a little piece of my skin, and he starts to make an analysis of that, and he will tell me yes, he has found it. It’s in my blood. I am not denying he has found it in my blood, but why is it in my blood ? It is in my blood or in my body, or in my world because at some point in time, I, exercising the right as a free child of God, singled out some unlovely state relative to another. It need not be to myself; it could be to another, wherein I rejoiced in the hurt of another; where my emotional response to the news I heard was “good” so, I set it in motion, but when it happened in my world, I did not think it was so good but it was my harvest – and all these things are the harvest of things you and I have planted; for all things run true to form. Don’t be surprised at the suddenness in our world – someone is ill – it is only sudden because we have forgotten, and man’s memory is very, very short.

You know that lovely little poem of George Meredith:

Forgetful is green earth;
The Gods alone Remember everlastingly; they strike Remorselessly, and ever like for like.
By their, great memories The Gods are known.

If man could only remember these moments of seedtime, he would never be surprised when the harvest appears in his world. But because he has no memory as to that moment in time when he dropped that seed, which is simply his emotional response to something he contemplated, something he overheard, something he observed, at that moment the thing was done; he didn’t have to labor to bring it to harvest – he simply encountered it as something already full grown, so he reaps now that on which he bestowed no labor, outside of choice. He selected it by his attitude, by his reaction.

Now, am I responsible for others in my world? I certainly am! When I take my little mind, my little imagination and think because it’s mine – my Father gave it to me, that I can simply misuse it, it isn’t going to hurt another. I tell you you do have to use more control for the simple reason I am rooted in you and you are rooted in everyone and all of us are rooted in God. There is no separate individual detached being in my Father’s Kingdom. We are one. I am completely responsible for the use or misuse of my imagination.

Do you recall seeing on TV, a dramatized version of the sinking of the Titanic? Do you recall it? Have you read the book. “A Night to Remember”? Well the book itself is by Walter Lord: but 14 years before the actual harvest or that frightful event of the sinking of the Titanic a man in England wrote a book. He conceived this fabulous Atlantic liner and there he built her just like the Titanic, (only the Titanic was not built for 14 years) but he, in his imagination, conceived the liner of 800-ft. She was triple screw, she carried 3000 passengers, she carried few lifeboats because she was unsinkable; she could make 24 knots; and then one night he filled her to the brim with rich and complacent people, and on a cold winter night he sunk her on an iceberg in the Atlantic. 14 years later the White Star Line builds a ship. She is 800 ft., she is a triple screw, she can make 24 knots, she can carry 3000 passengers, she has not enough lifeboats for passengers but she, too, is labeled unsinkable. She is filled to capacity with the rich, if not complacent, but the rich, because her passenger list was worth in that day, when the dollar was one hundred cents, two hundred and fifty million dollars was the worth of the passenger list. Today it would be a billion dollars. All the wealth of Europe and the wealth of this country was sailing on that maiden voyage out of Southampton. Five nights at sea in this wonderful glorious ship and she went down on a cold April night on an iceberg.

Now that man wrote a book either to get something off his chest because he disliked the rich and the complacent, or he thought it might sell or he thought this is the means of bringing him a dollar as a writer. But, whatever was the motive behind his book which, by the way, he called “Futility” to show the utter futility of accumulated wealth, but the identical ship was built 14 years later and carried the same kind of a passenger list and went down in the same manner as the fictional ship.

Is there any fiction? There is no fiction! Tomorrow’s world is today’s fiction. Today’s world was yesteryear’s fiction – the dreams of men of yesteryear. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if I could talk with someone across space and just use a wire? And I couldn’t see that one: it would be a mile away beyond the range of my voice – then maybe five miles and maybe a thousand miles – fantastic dreams – then they came true. When they came true, suppose I could do it without the means of a wire. And it came true; suppose now I could do it not just in an audio sense but in a video sense. Suppose I could be seen? And that came true, but when they were conceived, they were all fictional, all unreal.

There is nothing unreal, because God is infinite, and God has finished creation. You cannot conceive of something that your Father has not only done and conceived of it, it is worked out in detail, in all its ramifications. You and I are only becoming aware of increasing portions of that which already is. We are not making a thing – we are discovering God’s wonderful world. But now in this church – at least here it should be done, for this is a church of the mind: this is Science of Mind, where there is a science to planting and you do it in a certain scientific manner. You just don’t walk the street and reflect; read the papers and reflect – you go out a more positive person than people who gather in similar areas, for the simple reason they go just to hear a service and to be told how bad the world is.

You’re not coming here to be told how bad the world is, for if you believe it is bad, there is something you must do about it because you have planted the world. You have your seedtime. So here people gather to be told how to operate this wonderful gift that the Father gave them. There is this wonderful mind and imagination. So you are told to go out and be choosey in your selection; single out that aspect of reality to which you want to respond, success, health, dignity, nobility, something wonderful that you contribute to the good of the world. As you walk by you are contributing to society, you contribute to the community in which you live, not necessarily by giving dollars but you contribute by your wonderful seedtime. If, in your community, you see the need of maybe a church, you see the need of some wonderful school, you don’t wait until people get together, you actually, in your mind’s eye, contemplate the joy that is yours because of the wonderful school here for the children, a wonderful church here to lift man spiritually, and you wonder what it would be like were it true; – you feel the thrill of witnessing it within. That is seedtime. Then in a way that you do not know and you need not labor to produce, you will encounter that school and that church and these lovely things in your community.

So you plant the seed and let others, who think that they are bringing it into being, let them think so. You go about this world planting the good – that is why you are here. We are gathered here on Sunday mornings to discover more and more about this wonderful gift that God gave us, that we may single out all the lovely things in the world and bring them to birth in our world;

This morning you take not only yourself – start with self – then turn to a friend in your mind’s eye, and congratulate him on his good fortune – congratulate him on his expansion in his world, and actually feel the thrill of such contact – at that moment of response that was a changed attitude in regard to that friend- at that moment you planted. Now, in a way you do not know and you need not know, that seed is going to go through its normal natural hidden passage and appear as a reality in your world. Then you will know the power latent within you and you will stop reflecting life and you become one what I call a true creator in the sense that-I mean creator – that you are creating by selecting wise, wise, lovely things in this world and giving them expression in this world of ours.

So that’s what I mean by seedtime and harvest; the importance of the right attitude: and you can do it, you need not wait for circumstances to change, you need not wait for the stimulus of a change in the object to produce in yourself the change of attitude. In your office, does the boss act in a rude way towards you ?

Well then what would it be like if he now saw in me the lady, the helpful person that I really am, or want to be. Suppose he saw in me someone he could praise for my work and raise me in the salary world, give me an increase in salary because of my added effort; suppose he could see that in me, well, contemplate the boss seeing that in you as though he saw it and rewarded you with an increase.

That moment is the moment of planting. It may not come tonight, it may not even come this week in the paycheck, but it will come. You simply keep on planting the lovely things; but if every day when you leave the office you say, “What a skinflint”, and you go home and you discuss him with your mother or your husband or someone else, and they sympathize because they really believe you, for they are playing the same reflective, negative approach to life; but if as you ride home or walk home, you walk in the attitude that he had done it – he had increased your income, he had praised your work, and day after day, in spite of other things to the contrary, you persist in it, do you know he will do it? You will produce in him the change of heart because you first produced it in yourself, and he will see in you qualities that he cannot now see, and then your whole vast world begins to blossom – you do it in every sense of the word. You know someone who  is lonely – one who really should be happily married in this world. What would it be like if you were told, not by the individual necessarily, but by a third party of the good news concerning John, concerning Mary or someone else. Someone desirous of a lovely home and a gracious home. What would it be like ? Don’t be envious. Try to rejoice. Feel the joy that is theirs, and that moment is seedtime for them. They will harvest it – and that is our opportunity to go through the world planting and planting wisely.

Unfortunately, too many of us in church movements – I don’t think you will find it in this church – but too many of us in church movements have a very serious attitude towards life. And, of course, the basic attitude is the attitude towards life, not necessarily the individual attitude towards an object or towards an individual, but the attitude itself that the individual adopts through life, towards life, and they have a very serious one. Well, Orage very wisely and very humorously said the serious attitude is this, – they really believe that God has an enormous struggle against helpless odds, and he said that produces in the individual the emotion of “helping poor Father”. They go to help poor Father who has created the world and gave it to his children.

Now he brought up another interesting point of the scientific attitude towards life. Having discovered the little molecule or the little atom and the wonderful construction, that is, theoretically – having discovered this wonderful orderly construction of the bricks that make up the world, their attitude is one of orderly insignificance because they believe the world is gradually burning itself out, so no matter how orderly it is, if they really believe the sun will eventually go out and the earth will consume all its resources, what other attitude could they adopt than all dressed up with nowhere to go, because if eventually it is all going to be in nothing anyway, no matter how orderly it is today, it could only be orderly insignificance, but I tell you, as one who has seen beyond the veil, there is no such thing as coming to an end. Life is forever and forever and forever – and forever you are moving up this everlasting pilgrimage revealing the infinite glories of your Father.

So go out wisely today – go out determined to become more selective, more discreet in your choice of ideas you will entertain and single out the idea that would bless an individual and produce in yourself the emotional response that you have witnessed that state in his world, and know at that moment of response, you planted for that individual, and he is rooted in you, there is no such thing as he will not be found in your world for he is rooted in you. Everyone is rooted in you – therefore you will not lose them. It is planted relative to that being and that being is going to harvest it, and you will know the harvest when it appears in his world. You simply plant and let the harvest take care of itself.

Now my time is up.

neville goddard Imagination Is Reality

THE CORE OF MAN

by with No Comment Belief is everythingChanging Reality With Your Mindchanging your reality with your imaginationcreate your reality with your imaginationEmmet Foxfeeling is the secretFlorence Scovel ShinnFocusFocus is powerHow to Manifest moneyImaginationImagining creates realityJosephy MurphyMental AttitudeMental ScienceMind ScienceMoneyNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdomPower In The Spoken Wordpower of imagesPower Of Imaginationpower of the mindPower of Thoughtpower of wordsThe Complete Neville Goddard Readerthe conscious mindThe Power Of FaithThe power of the mindthe power of the spirit withinthe secretthe spiritthe spirit of truth is withinthe subconsciouswe create our own reality

Neville Goddard 11-17-1967

neville goddard Imagination Is RealityThe last chapter of William Blake’s poem, “Jerusalem,” (Plate 77), is addressed to the Christians. In it he says: “Devils are false religions. I know of no other Christianity and no other gospel, than the liberty both of body and mind to exercise the divine arts of Imagination. Imagination, the real and eternal world of which this vegetable universe is but a faint shadow, and in which we shall live in our eternal or imaginative bodies when these vegetable, mortal bodies are no more. The apostles knew of no other gospel. What is that talent which is a curse to hide? What are the treasures of heaven which we are to lay up for ourselves? Are they any other than mental studies and performances?”

This is the only Christianity Blake could affirm. He never knew any other gospel, or Christ, other than his own wonderful human imagination! If you will accept your human imagination as Christ, and practice the divine art of imagining, called repentance, Christ will rise in you and you will experience scripture. When you repent, a radical change of thinking must occur. If life is bad, and you practice this divine art of imagining, you will think that life is good.

Imagination can see, touch, hear, taste and feel things other than what your senses are experiencing right now. If you persist in acknowledging what your inner senses are telling you until you are persuaded of their reality, you will see their evidence. Then you will know from experience who Christ really is. Imagination is the only Christ Blake ever heard of. The apostles knew of no other, and any other belief was a false religion Blake called the devil. When you believe in someone on the outside, you have put him in conflict with the Second Commandment. You have made a graven image, yet [you were] told to “Make no graven image unto me.” And when you think that someone other than yourself is Christ, your religion is false and you have a devil.

Now let me share this perfectly marvelous experience with you. A friend writes: “At the office I was confronted with a problem; so – believing that imagination creates reality – I took two words that would be written by a certain person if the problem was solved, and formed them in my imagination. During the day, however, these words would rearrange themselves into a negative thought and I would have to correct them time after time.

“That night I fell asleep seeing these words, and in my dream they once again rearranged themselves to indicate the continuity of the problem. As I tried to correct them, a white-robed arm appeared and wrote the two words in the identical handwriting of the one who would write the script – were it true. “Seeing it, I fell into a deep sleep and when I awoke, remembering the experience, I moved through the day like a sleepwalker. That night upon retiring, as I thought of these words, I felt an energy build within me so fierce I could not return to the state of doubt. I took this feeling as a wonderful answer, and dropped all desire to review the words once more.

I do not know whether the event has come to pass or not, but I do know that it will, for imagining creates reality. The human imagination – buried in all – is Christ Jesus, and there is no other. Christ must awaken in you; and when he does, you – individually – will experience Christ.

Everyone suffers! You may live in a healthy state and not know physical suffering, but you will suffer at the loss of a friend. The shortest verse in scripture is, “Jesus wept.” Here is God shedding a tear. When someone leaves your life and you can no longer touch him physically, you suffer in your imagination; therefore Christ suffers. Like Blake, I know of no other Christianity, or other gospel. If you believe in any other, you have a false religion which is a devil.

Now let me share another experience of my friend. He said: “I found myself in the Near East, in a primitive, yet commercial and intellectual, community of its time. I was there for the sole purpose of listening to you speak to the crowd from a grain store. Wanting to hear every word you said, even the chance involuntary remarks, I asked the villagers to quote anything they had ever heard you say. It seemed to take me weeks to listen to you and the villagers’ reports. Then my earthly parents came, troubled about my dwelling place, and I was completely indifferent to them. But as my father sat on a bag of grain and listened to you, I realized that he, too, was beginning to understand. “Then I encountered you on a side street. You were wearing a long, white robe. As I told you of my experiences, I felt great joy as you assured me that I had done them all.”

He saw correctly. Now let me show you where he is in scripture. In the Book of Luke, Jesus – at the age of twelve – was taken to the Passover in Jerusalem. (Now, twelve is the age of puberty, when a man can create.) When his parents returned to Galilee, they discovered that Jesus was missing and searched for him three days. Finding him in the temple, questioning the teachers, his mother said: “Son, how can you do this to us? Do you not know that your father and I have sought you anxiously?” Then Jesus replied: “Why do you seek me? Do you not know I must be in my Father’s house?”

The King James Version translates this phrase as “about my Father’s business,” but the question asked implies space or location. If Jesus is being sought, it must be some place; so the Revised Standard Version translates it as a place, calling it ‘my Father’s house’. But do not dismiss the King James Version, for I have come to do the will of him who sent me and that is to accomplish his work. Speaking of something entirely different now, Jesus ignored any physical parentage and said: “I must be about my Father’s business.” Then it is said: “They did not understand the saying which he spoke to them.”

My friend has reached his journey’s end. He did not conjure up this experience, it just happened. And when scripture unfolds from within, it cannot be denied. We are here to fulfill scripture – the word of God, not to build monuments to ourselves or have books written about us; for what is not recorded in scripture is nonexistent. In the spirit, I told him he was playing the part of Christ at the age of twelve. He is now moving towards the inevitable end, when he knows the truth that all he beholds: though it appears without it is within his imagination, of which this world of mortality is but a shadow.

This morning I awoke too early to rise, so I remained in bed and eventually drifted off into a certain state of sleep where I was with my wife, my brothers, friends, and many of you. While there, I told you it was a dream, and that if I awoke I would vanish and you would cease to be – to me. Then I awoke, and as far as I was concerned, you were gone and I had vanished from your sight.

At this moment my body is elsewhere. If I awoke right now, I would vanish from your sight and awaken there. And if I awoke from the greater depth where I am talking now, I would vanish there, also. You see, the whole vast world is man pushed out, as there is nothing but God – who is your own wonderful human imagination!

Take me at my word and test yourself. Take a sentence as my friend did, or a picture that would imply the fulfillment of your desire. Hold it in your mind’s eye. Don’t tell anyone, but persuade yourself of its truth and drop into a deep sleep. If you do this, no power on earth can stop your desire from objectifying itself.

Now, Amos tells us: “I will send a famine upon man. It will not be a hunger for bread or a thirst for water, but for the hearing of the word of God.” When this hunger comes, it is so intense that nothing will satisfy you but an experience of God. And when nothing else enters your mind, you have reached the end of the road.

We are told: “He read from the book, the law of God with interpretation, so that those who heard it understood the reading.” On the surface the Bible is a closed book, read with the eyes veiled. But when one comes whose eyes have been opened by experiencing scripture, he shares the book’s deeper meaning and interprets its reading from revelation. In the Book of John, the question is asked: “How did this man receive such learning when he has not studied?” Scripture cannot be intellectually discerned. It is understood only through revelation. Only when the drama of Jesus Christ unfolded within me, did I understand the Christian mystery.

Now, with Blake I know from experience that the human imagination is Christ, the Father of all life. Man is forever looking for the cause of the phenomena of life, called ‘God’ in the Old Testament and ‘Father’ in the New. But man will only find its cause at his journey’s end, when David reveals him as the one and only God. It is said that Jesus opened the eyes of the blind, but who are they? Are they not those who cannot see the truth of scripture? If I tell you that your human imagination is God, the Father of all life, and [if] you do not believe me to the point of testing your imagination – you are the blind. But if you try it, your eyes will be opened to the cause of all life.

My friend saw me teaching in a grain house, sowing my grain (the word of God) on four different types of soil. Some fell upon the busy highway of life, some among rocks, others, among thorns, as well as soil that had been prepared to receive it. Although my friend traveled half way around the world to find me, and see his earthly father beginning to understand, his interest now is in finding his heavenly Father as his human imagination. He is now putting his imagination to the test and proving it beyond measure. He knows that every moment of time he must plant and harvest, plant and harvest.

He conjured me, from himself, as a teacher he trusts. Although I stand before you as another, if I am not in you, this drama would not be true. If everything in my world is in me, then everything in your world is in you. And if I am in your world, then I am in you.

Every dream is egocentric. When he saw me in the grain house, he was looking at a projection of himself. Everything is coming out of Christ, the core of your being. My friend pulled me out of himself to tell him he is at the end of his journey. He and I are not two, but one. I am in you and you are in me, mutual in love divine. Although there seems to be many of us – each imagining – the word ‘Elohim’ is a compound unity of one made up of others; therefore I am in everyone and everyone is in me.

Everyone will fulfill scripture, for life is not finished until this happens. No man is going to come from outer space, or from some holy womb, and save you! Christ comes to you from within you, because that is where he is buried. Your body is his sepulcher, from which he rises and unfolds. And only when this happens will you know the truth and be set free.

Now, you either believe me, and use your imagination – consciously, or you do not. If you do not act now, you will eventually, as no one will be lost. If you die tonight your belief will not be transformed, but you will be restored to life in a world just as real as this one. You will know the same limitations as you know here. You will suffer, be deceived, betray and be betrayed, until you believe to the point of action. Then scripture will unfold within you, and you will depart this age of death to enter the age of life by controlling your own wonderful human imagination.

My friend so believed the two words he heard as he fell asleep, that he carried them into a dream and saw the hand write them in script. This is what I am asking everyone to do.

You sent yourself into the world for a purpose and you will not return until you have accomplished the work you came to do. Death does not finish the work God began in you, for the world does not terminate at the point where your senses cease to register it. You may no longer hear, touch, or see, the one you love; but when you leave this body you are instantly restored to one which is as solid and real as the one you now wear. You will be about twenty years old, in an environment best suited to the work yet to be done in you. While there, you will hear these words and you may still refuse them; but God is not mocked, he will try again and again until you hear them with understanding. Then you will begin to live by God’s word and awaken to discover that you are He. That you are the one spoken of in scripture, and all the promises of God find their Yes in you.

The promises made to Abraham, David, and the prophets, are fulfilled in Christ, as your imagination is your hope of glory. “He has made known unto me the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in heaven and in earth.” Everything is brought back, and redeemed in you, and in the end we are all one.

The Cosmic Christ is not someone who was born two thousand years ago, but a pattern of salvation which is buried in every child born of woman. His story is laid out in scripture as a pattern to spiritually follow.

My friend was taken in spirit half way across the world – not to hear a person called Neville, but to hear the Father within him. Turning his back upon his earthly father, he has found the heavenly Father he trusts. He has now reached the point of realizing that he is the Father, projecting and instructing himself. But the only way he will ever know this is through God’s only begotten son David, the David of Biblical fame.

When David stood before me there was no uncertainty as to the relationship. I knew he was my son and he knew I was his father. You may be uncertain as to someone you pass on the street, but when David stands before you, there is no uncertainty whatsoever. You will know David, your son who was lost because you fell asleep to dream the dream of life. He was dead and is alive again. David never lost a battle, because the Lord was with him. And when the whole of life is over and you are at the end of the journey, David – a man after your heart who does all of your will – will appear and call you Father. Then you will leave this world, no longer to be restored to life; for you will be aware of being its life-giving force.

Scripture must be experienced to be understood. It is not secular history, but the history of salvation. It is the story of God, who died and buried himself in humanity. The story of how He rises, individually, from the state of death, to become the one Father of the one and only son. If I know I am the father of David and you know you are his father, are we not one father? As impossible as it seems to be, without loss of identity, we will have the same son and know we are the same father.

Would it make any difference to you if you owned the world – but did not know it? You created the world and all that is in it, but have fallen asleep and are dreaming you are limited, poor, sick, and hungry. And you will continue your dream in the world of time, until you hear me in the grain store and believe me to the point of action!

Now let us go into the silence.

neville goddard Imagination Is Reality

THE FATHER

by with No Comment Belief is everythingChanging Reality With Your Mindchanging your reality with your imaginationcreate your reality with your imaginationEmmet Foxfeeling is the secretFlorence Scovel ShinnFocusFocus is powerHow to Manifest moneyImaginationImagining creates realityJosephy MurphyMental AttitudeMental ScienceMind ScienceMoneyNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdomPower In The Spoken Wordpower of imagesPower Of Imaginationpower of the mindPower of Thoughtpower of wordsThe Complete Neville Goddard Readerthe conscious mindThe Power Of FaithThe power of the mindthe power of the spirit withinthe secretthe spiritthe spirit of truth is withinthe subconsciouswe create our own reality

Neville 09-23-1968

neville goddard Imagination Is RealityThe Bible begins with Abram, a character whose name means “exalted father.” Abram was placed in a profound sleep, told of the trials and tribulations he would pass through, and the length of time which he would suffer. Then the Lord God said to him: “Behold my covenant is with you. No longer shall your name be Abram, but Abraham for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.” The insertion of the letter “he” [pron. “hey”] (the fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, which is “grace”) changed the name from Abram to Abraham. Now, grace is Jesus Christ, for we are told: “Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” So into the name of Abram goes the letter “he” and grace is inserted into the exalted father. Then the journey begins.

Scripture tells us that God speaks to man through the language of dream and makes himself known in a vision. If God speaks to me in a dream and makes himself known to me in a vision, there is nothing more important than to record that vision. Here is a vision I had in 1934. I was alone in my living room. My eyes were closed and I was meditating, but not on anything in particular. I love to just turn my eyes inward and watch the liquid, golden clouds form. (If you try it you will find it very easy to do. Simply turn your eyes inward, close the lids as though asleep, and suddenly all of the dark convolutions of the brain will grow luminous. They will pulse and form themselves into clouds around your head.)

Here I am, not thinking of anything in particular, simply observing these golden forms, when suddenly before my vision appears a large, rough quartz. As I watch, it fragments itself into numberless little pieces. Then some magnetic hand or invisible force took all of these pieces, and gathering them together, molded them into the human form. Here is a man seated in the lotus posture in deep, deep meditation. As I looked at him I saw myself. Here I am observing myself meditating myself. As I watched, it began to pulse with life. Then it began to glow like the sun, and when it reached the limit of intensity it exploded. I broke the silence and returned once again to the normal state in this world.

That was an adumbration, a forecasting of my last days in this age. I saw my exit. When the moment comes for this garment to be taken off for the last time in this age (which will be this present little stretch of time) I will explode into eternity. There was no form. The form preceded it. That meditating figure in the lotus posture was perfect. It could not be improved upon. It’s difficult to conceive such perfection, yet I was looking at myself. I knew he was meditating me, and that I do his will. I came to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work, which is to fulfill scripture. And when that is completed he will explode and we will be one.

We are told: “Call no man on earth Father, for you have but one Father who is in heaven, and the kingdom of heaven is within.” You have a being just like yourself, meditating you! What you think is an original thought, an original desire, is nothing more than the will of your Father, the one meditating you. So in the end no matter what you have done, you are forgiven because you only played the part he willed you to play. To him you are David, the son of Jesse (I am) a man after his own heart who will do all his will. You have always done his will and you will always do it, and in the last days, to you alone he will appear.

We are told: “Scoffers will come in the last days scoffing and saying, ‘Where is the promise of his coming, for ever since the fathers fell asleep all things have continued as they were from the creation of the world.” Man is looking for the Father to come from without and not to resemble the one who is looking for him, but when he finds him he finds himself. You are God the Father meditating your projection for the experience of this world, and you will redeem yourself in the last days.

Let me show you how scripture reveals this. Bear in mind the Bible is a mystery, not as something to be kept secret, but mysterious in character. You must search the scripture to find the Father. When the letter “he” [pron. “hey”] was placed in the name of the exalted Father, he became Abraham, the father of a multitude of nations. “And the scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham.” The gospel is the play.

Let us see how this is revealed to us. At the end of the journey, one that should know better said: “Master, show us the Father and we will be satisfied.” He then replied: “I have been so long with you and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How then can you say, ‘Show us the Father?'” They do not believe he took upon himself the form of Man and became obedient unto death upon the cross of Man. But I know that the being I saw meditating me as my very self was Christ, who is God the Father.

Now, if God is a father he must have a son, and if he was the Father before he began to meditate this projection of himself, then he had a son before he began this projection. So he asks the question: “What think ye of the Christ? Whose Son is he?” And when they answered, “The son of David,” he said, “Why then did David, in the Spirit, call him my Father?”

(The word “adonai” is translated “Lord,” as every son referred to his father as “my lord”). But David called him Father in the Spirit, and not in the flesh! Here he reveals who the Father is and who the Son is, but no one understood it. The evangelists recorded it. I read it over and over, but didn’t see it until I experienced it. Not until David stood before me and I experienced the relationship of Father/Son did I really understand that passage. I have talked to priests, rabbis, ministers, and truth teachers, but none see it, and because of their fixed belief they will not see it. They do not believe that the character in scripture called Jesus Christ is God the Father, and the character in scripture called David is the Son of God, even when they read the 2nd Psalm, where David says: “I will tell of the decree of the Lord, he said unto me, ‘Thou art my Son, today I have begotten thee.” In spite of that, they still cannot see it.

Now, I say the Bible is completely consistent in imagery and symbolism. I saw the rock, and the meditating figure who is the cause of my behavior. The thing that is cause is Father, for he is the source of all. I saw a man who did not just resemble me but was me, raised to the nth degree of perfection – alive, breathing and radiating until it exploded like the sun. We find the same symbolism in the 89th Psalm: “I have found David, he cried unto me, ‘Thou art my Father, my God and the Rock of my salvation!” The Rock, the Father, and God. This meditating being has me in his power. There is not a thing I can do but fulfill his will. And in the end when he explodes we are one, and he has gathered, from the experiences he has put me through, that which was necessary for his own personal expansion, his own personal luminosity, going beyond what he was prior to the deep sleep into which Abram, the exalted Father, was placed.

So a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and as he slept the Lord God said to him: “Your descendants shall be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and they will be slaves there for four hundred years.” In the Hebrew world (especially in the mysteries) every letter was a numerical value as well as a symbolical value. The last letter, tau [pron “taf”] has a numerical value of four hundred. Its symbol is the cross. Four hundred does not mean years as you and I count them. It means as long as you wear the cross of Man. At the very end, when you take off the cross, you will explode into a new being – a new body, a new age, a new world. The exalted Father had to take upon himself the limitation of Man to enter the world of three dimensions, but when he has completed his journey, he and his projection which he put through hell explode, and they are one.

We are told: “No one comes unto me unless my Father calls him, and I will raise him up at the last days.” Now, this is a difficult passage for anyone to understand. No one comes to me unless my Father calls him. Well, I saw my Father, and he calls everyone into my world; but he is calling a certain remnant in the last days and these, with my explosion, will be raised. The day you hear Neville is dead, far from being dead I will be in an entirely new age, and I will raise with me those that my Father designates. I cannot name one of them. When they said: “John and James, let them sit at your right hand,” he said: “It is not mine to give, but my Father’s who is in heaven.” He knows who he is calling. And when the real end comes, far from being restored into a world just like this with my Father still in meditation, still putting me through the paces, I will explode and return to the Father, expanded, greater than that which I was before that the world was. I came out from the Father and came into the world. Again I am leaving the world and returning to the Father, taking with me everyone my Father calls.

The Father is not something you are going to find in some cathedral, some retreat, or holy place; he is wherever you are. The Father is within you, and one day you will be sitting quietly, not thinking of anything in particular, when the symbolism will take place. The rock (the quartz) will shatter into pieces, then reassemble itself into the perfect statue of you as a meditating Buddha. Then it will begin to glow like the sun, brighter and brighter, until it explodes and you return to the awareness you were when the vision possessed you.

So do not go beyond where you are in search of the Father. When you see a picture drawn by an artist who claims it is a picture of Christ and it doesn’t resemble you, don’t believe him. Every Sunday morning sculptures and paintings are sold in all the churches in the world claiming they are in the likeness of Christ, yet they don’t look like anyone you know – or like anyone in this world, for that matter. Those who buy them have forgotten that Christ is God’s Power and Wisdom which was put into the Father as the Father when he fell asleep to dream the sons of God into being.

Carl Jung had a vision similar to mine about ten years after I did, but it frightened him, which indicates to me that he is not at the end of the journey. When he saw himself in the lotus posture he was afraid, because he knew when he awoke he, Carl Jung, would be no more. But the Father does not see the projection that is the dream of himself, the real self who could not enter the sphere. He must dream it and make it real. He cannot pretend, for complete incarnation is essential to individualization. It’s a tragedy, yes. It’s a separation from the Father, for I was looking at him. It’s a fall into decay and death, for that is what this world is. It’s a fall into hell, for this world is hell, but the end will justify the means. Paul said: “I do not consider the sufferings of the present time worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed in us.” No matter what you have gone through and still have the memory of, or what you are going through, or may go through, no suffering can compare to the glory that will one day be yours. That glory is the unveiling of God within you as you. You are not going to see him as another. You are God.

But the one passage I quoted earlier is still puzzling, for I tell you: your Father is meditating you and yet here is a passage saying that my Father has called a certain number which I will raise at the last moment. Are they to be exempt? Will they be freed by reason of the fact that I will raise them up? I do not know. I only know that scripture cannot be broken. We are told: “You must be born again, for unless you are born again you cannot enter the kingdom of God.” The same one who made that statement claims that when he is raised, he will raise all that his Father (which is himself) calls in the last days.

But while he, the Christ in you who has come only to fulfill scripture, projects himself on the screen of space, he has no choice but simply executes his Father’s will. “My meat is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work” and the only work he came to accomplish was to fulfill scripture. He never attempted to change Caesar’s world. If there was slavery he left it in slavery. All of the things that are happening today, you and I think never happened before, but it has always happened. Cruelty there, cruelty here, slavery there, slavery here, and he never attempted to change one thing. He said: “You want to pay taxes? Give me the coin. Whose inscription is this? Caesar’s? Then render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.”

Now this happened to me in 1934, and the mighty acts of God did not start to awaken me until 1959, so my Father knows all. He knew in ’34 that regardless of what happened (wars or rumors of wars) I would be here in a garment of flesh and blood in ’59, for in the interval of time between ’59 and ’63 he knew what he was going to do to his projected image. He also knows the moment of my departure. I only know it is this interval of time, for I have finished the race. I have fought the good fight and I have kept the faith, but the day of my departure I do not know. That hour only he knows. Whenever it comes I know an explosion awaits me and I will awaken as the very being that I saw, only it will not be man as we know man, but an entirely different being.

Your Father resembles you. He looks like you and is in love with you because you do his will. If you did horrible things in the past it is because he willed it. If today you do lovely things, he wills it, but you will not escape the doing of one thing in the play. Before we fell asleep we all agreed to dream in concert, that we may enter this world of three-dimension, this world of dream.

May I tell you: the dreamer cannot be destroyed by his dream because he is dreaming in a remote region of the soul. Not a thing that happens in this world can ever touch him. If you blew the whole earth apart you couldn’t touch the Father who is dreaming, and because he can restore the dream, he will restore the earth. He will restore anything. His projected self dies at the age of eighty. She looks old and is old, when suddenly she is formed into a lovely girl of twenty. She is totally unaware of how it happens, but her Father is doing it. He is all powerful. Having dreamed and projected her, his dream for eighty years, he simply restores her to youth with everything in place. Nothing is missing and she is twenty and no longer eighty. Now, isn’t that a miracle?

I see this constantly. They are not babies or children, but young men and ladies, twenty years of age. They procreate there and have their children too. They work there as they do here. The world is terrestrial just like this and solid just like this, and they do not know the Father. So he said: “If you knew me you would know my Father also, but because you know not my Father, you do not know me.” If you only knew me you would not kill, but you kill because you do not know me or the Father. That’s what he is saying. That’s the one who is dreaming us into being.

I hope that this will be your experience in the not distant future, for you can mark it down. From ’34 to ’59 was the time allotted in my case. Then from ’59 to ’63 the four mighty acts unfold. The first is your resurrection and birth from above. The second is the discovery of David, who calls you Father. The splitting of the temple (which is your body) from top to bottom and your ascent like a serpent into heaven is the third. The descent of the dove which smothers you with love is the fourth and final mighty act of God.

Now the first word uttered by the figure called Jesus Christ was when he was twelve years old. Appearing in the temple he turned to his earthly parents and said: “Do you not know that I must be about my Father’s business?” At the end of the journey he is still speaking of the Father when he announces: “Father, into thy hands I commit my Spirit. Thou hast redeemed me.” (If he completes the verse of the 31st Psalm which he is quoting he would add: “O Lord, faithful God.”) Then he commits himself into the hands of himself, for he has withdrawn and the race is over.

Tonight, don’t even feel the nearness of the Father, for the Father is never so far off as even to be near, as nearness implies separation. When you fall asleep this night remember his name is “I AM.” That’s the one on the pillow. And may it be this night that he will seem to be another, but that’s the way it has to be done in the language of symbolism and imagery.

Now let us go into the silence.

neville goddard Imagination Is Reality

THE FIRST PRINCIPLE

by with No Comment Belief is everythingChanging Reality With Your Mindchanging your reality with your imaginationcreate your reality with your imaginationEmmet Foxfeeling is the secretFlorence Scovel ShinnFocusFocus is powerHow to Manifest moneyImaginationImagining creates realityJosephy MurphyMental AttitudeMental ScienceMind ScienceMoneyNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdomPower In The Spoken Wordpower of imagesPower Of Imaginationpower of the mindPower of Thoughtpower of wordsThe Complete Neville Goddard Readerthe conscious mindThe Power Of FaithThe power of the mindthe power of the spirit withinthe secretthe spiritthe spirit of truth is withinthe subconsciouswe create our own reality

Neville Goddard 06-09-1969

neville goddard Imagination Is RealityDo not accept any statement from scripture, the church, or an individual (including the speaker) as true until you have found God or a living truth in what is being said. What I tell you I know from experience, but I ask you not to accept my words without questioning them within yourself. It is silly to accept something simply because the church said it, or you read it in the Bible, or heard it from Neville. You must pursue the thought ceaselessly by questioning yourself.

Why do I stress this? Because among the spirit world there are many Babel’s where no two speak with the same tongue. One may tell you to give up meat, while another will tell you something entirely different. This we are told in the 11th chapter of the Book of Genesis. I am not speaking of multiple tongues as the many languages we have today. We can overcome those with an interpreter; but if someone tells you: “This is the way,” and another says: “No. This is the way,” and they don’t agree – you are in Babel, a city of confusion in the pathway of the spirit.

So tonight I want to talk to you about the first principle, which you can always fall back on when in doubt. This first principle is: “Be still and know that I am God.” No matter what happens turn within and be still. Know that your awareness is God and that all things are possible to you. Test yourself and you will prove this statement in the testing; then you will be free from your former limitations of belief. No matter what is happening on the outside turn to the first principle. Start by being still, then claiming: “I am God.” Ask yourself: “Is this true?” You will never know the truth until you test it.

Let us now look at some of the “I am” statements of scripture. I am the resurrection. I am the life. I am the way. I am the truth. Are these statements really true? Yes, I have stilled myself and know that every statement is true, from experience. Being human I wanted things in the world of Caesar, as undoubtedly you do, too.

I wanted a trip I could not afford, yet I traveled over 5,000 miles by being still and saying to myself: “My awareness is God and all things are possible to him. therefore what I am imagining will come to pass.” Then I began to imagine I was on a ship sailing towards Barbados. I remained faithful to that act, when suddenly – after twelve years – I received a letter from the family saying they would take care of all of my expenses if I would come home for Christmas. So I proved it. Then I tried it again and again, and the more I tried it the more I realized that the statement in the 46th Psalm was true: that God really is my own wonderful consciousness, for I learned to be still and know that I am God.

I couldn’t prove the other fantastic ‘I am’ claims by taking the same action. I had to wait, and then one day I proved that I am the life. That night I moved in spirit into an environment where I intuitively knew that, although what I was seeing seemed to be independent of my perception, if I arrested that feeling within me everything would stand still. I did it and discovered that not only the animate, but the so-called inanimate objects stood still. The falling leaves stopped in mid-flight. The blades of grass ceased to move. The bird in flight, the diners as well as the waitress – all were frozen as I stopped the feeling within me. Then I knew the truth of the statement: “I am the life.”

After proving to myself that I am the life of a state, I questioned the statement: “I am the resurrection.” Then came the day when I felt myself resurrect within the grave of my own skull. I proved that I am the Father, when my son came in the Spirit and called me “Father.” I discovered that I am the one who was sacrificed, for – knowing I am the Father – my spiritual body was split from top to bottom. Then I discovered that I was the one upon whom the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form as a dove.

These things I now know to be true from experience, therefore I speak with authority. But I say to everyone: whether you hear it from me, a church, or the Bible – question yourself ceaselessly until you have found the living truth in that which was said. Accept the words but then go back to first principle and ask these eternal questions to the only one who can answer them: your own wonderful I AMness.

Relax. Be still and question yourself, saying: “Are you really God?” Address yourself as though you were two. “If you are God and can do all things, prove it to me by giving me my desire so I can feel its presence now.” See if he will prove himself in performance and when he does, do it again. Keep on asking and when he proves himself here on this level, then let these things which can’t be put to the test come through, for they will.

Now, the Bible tells us that Christ is in us and that we are in Christ. On the surface it seems to mean the same thing, but there is all the difference in the world. Christ in us is our hope of glory. That’s a universal assumption, for Christ has assumed the body of every child born of woman. But when you are in Christ you are a new creature.

Christ in you does not make you new. Christ in you is your life, for in him is life and his life is your consciousness of faith. But when you are in Christ you are called and incorporated into the body of the Risen Lord. Because Christ is in you, you are a son of God; but when you are elected – called into the presence of the Risen Lord and incorporated into his body – you are in Christ. There is all the difference in the world, for from then on scripture begins to fulfill itself within you.

If you question everything you hear from any pulpit, the speaker, or the Bible, you will find God or the living truth in what you have heard or read. I hope that you trust me, but even though you do, question everything I tell you. Don’t question me or some priest or rabbi, but turn to the first principle. Be still and say to yourself: “I am God. I heard this statement tonight – is it true?”

I tell you: although it is difficult to believe, we are living in a fabulous world of shadows. This past Thursday morning as I was returning to the surface, I saw the finish of the Triple Crown race at Belmont in detail. Now this was Thursday and the race was not to be run until Saturday, but I saw the finish so clearly that if I had a million dollars I would not have hesitated to bet it all on the one I knew to be the winner. In fact I knew the race could not be reversed. It was fixed and finished. Then I asked myself: “What is this world? Is it not a school of educated darkness?”

Man thinks that in some strange way he is going to improve this world, but it is a schoolroom and will remain just that. The kingdom of heaven is not interested in improving this world; it is only interested in taking people out of this world by drawing them into itself – which is an entirely different world. But we can change the events in this schoolroom through the act of revision.

I had no desire to revise that race. I could have, and that which was completely finished, in detail, would have been changed. In scripture the word is “repentance,” which means “a radical change in thinking.” Tomorrow morning as you come to the surface mind, observe and record what you are seeing, for you are observing that which will take place tomorrow or next week in this world of shadows. And if you don’t like what you see, change it. Don’t do as you normally do, by jumping out of bed, washing your face, and once again find yourself locked in this world of shadows; take a moment and observe your future.

I urge you to question everything that I tell you, everything you read in the Bible, and everything you hear from some pulpit, ceaselessly. Keep on questioning and questioning until you find God or the living truth in what is being said. I am telling you what I know from experience. It is true. One day you will discover that you are the life of the world, that everything you think of as permanent and independent of your perception is within you. You will know that the world reflects your thoughts.

It is a shadow and you are its life. You will realize that its activity is not out there, but in you; and you will stop it and start it again, all within yourself. So when you read: “In him was life, and his life was the light of men,” you will know its truth. God is in you, yet you know him not. But when he begins to stir in you, as you, you will say: “I am the way, the truth and the life, and besides me there is no other.”

Then comes that moment in time when you know the truth of the statement recorded in the 11th chapter of John as: “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.”

Knowing you are the life, you will resurrect from the dead to die no more. You will still not know you are the one the angels spoke of, when they told the shepherds they would find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, until you hold that sign in your arms. God’s son, David, will call you Father, and your spiritual body will be split in two from top to bottom. Then you will know you are the sacrificed one. And finally, you will discover you are the one upon whom the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form as a dove; then you, too, will have found the truth.

I know scripture is true, because I questioned it. I started questioning the law because I was interested in things. Having no money, I wanted a trip and I got it. Then I began to tell others, as I wanted to see them take the same principle and test it. As they proved it they told others. I invite you to prove the truth on this level, and have faith that the truth is equally true on the higher level of your being. Continue to test the law for things in this world and accept God’s promises on faith, based upon what you have proved by the law.

Do you know what you want? I will tell you a simple way to get it. Simply catch the feeling that you have it and sustain that feeling. Persist in acknowledging the joy of fulfillment. In your imagination tell your friends your good news. Hear their congratulations, then allow him who heard your friends and felt your joy of fulfillment, bring it into your world, for he who can do all these things is within you as your own wonderful I AMness, your Imagination, your consciousness. That is God.

Test God, for he will not fail you. Then, when he proves himself in performance, tell a friend, and continue telling others as you exercise this law. And walk knowing all the other I am statements are yours. Prove this in the world of shadows and you will prove the other in the world of reality.

Your I AMness is the true eternal reality. Living in a world of shadows, as you declare your I AMness you are declaring eternal truth. When you say, “I am the resurrection,” that is eternal truth. “I am the life” is eternal truth, as well as “I am the way.” All of these bold certainties preceded with the “I am” are eternal truths.

So, do not listen to anyone who screams at you from their tower of Babel and tells you of another way, for there is no other way. You don’t have to give up meat or only eat fish on Friday in order to enter the way, for the way to the cause of all life is within you. Believe in your I AMness for there is no other God.

In First Timothy, we are told that it is God’s desire that every man be saved. If it is God’s desire and God is in every man, then God is saving himself. This I know to be true, for I have proved to myself that I am God. I know I am the life, the resurrection, and God the Father; yet I do not differ in any way from any other. I have shared my experiences with you in the hope that you will test my words and prove them in the testing.

Ceaselessly question yourself. Don’t go to a priest and ask him if I am telling the truth, for he is Babel, screaming his belief, as is the rabbi. Do not go to another; turn within and apply the first principle by being still and claiming: “I am God.”

The 46th Psalm is truly a beautiful psalm. I have read where certain people in their little jokes, claim Shakespeare wrote it, incorporating himself into the chapter by making the 26th word “shake” and the 46th word from the end “spear.” Others claim it was Rufus’ song. Living in the 16th century, Rufus did claim that this psalm inspired his majestic hymn, which moves everyone who hears it, but he certainly did not lay claim to the psalm itself. It is “A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.” Who knows who the Sons of Korah are; I do not know. The word “Korah” means “a shaved head.” But you and I know it is a fantastic psalm; and in the 10th verse it is said: “Be still and know that I am God.”

Tonight when you go to bed just say: “I am.” Add any condition you want to that I am and believe it. Speak to your imagination as though you are speaking to the God who created the universe and sustains it, for you are. When you imagine something ask yourself who is imagining it, and you will say: “I am.” That’s God’s name forever and ever.

Imagine and fall asleep imagining. Believe that all things are possible to your own wonderful human I AMness. Test yourself! You don’t need to get down on your knees and pray to anyone on the outside. There is no need to cross yourself before any icon, for the Lord is your human imagination, your consciousness, your own wonderful I AMness.

Nothing can ever cease to be, for God – he who is in you as your consciousness – created it in love. At the present time Christ is in you, making you a son of God. But one day scripture will unfold within you and you will be in Christ, knowing yourself to be God the Father.

Do not take anything on face value. I have proved that the Bible is true, but you prove it to yourself. Ask yourself what is meant by the statement: I am the resurrection. I am the life. I am the truth. I am the way. Question yourself and you will discover the answers unfolding within you.

In the 25th chapter of Matthew, the story is told of ten virgins. Five, having no oil, are told there is none to spare, so they must go get their own. Ask yourself why they did not give to those who had nothing and it will be revealed to you that, prior to the coming of the bridegroom (who is the Lord), you thought there was a limit to that which you could give; but when you have union with the true bridegroom – who is all love – you know no limits, for everything is possible to you.

In his Book, Mark speaks of the adulteress generation. Do you know what an adulteress is? One who turns away from the truth, for when you turn from the truth you turn from the Lord. Anyone who has heard the truth and still looks for an outside cause, rather than to his inner thoughts, has committed adultery. He has turned from his spouse, whose name is “I am.” It’s just as simple as that.

If you watched the race last night, you would have heard all these wise men tell of what should have happened, yet the race was perfect. Not one person on that field could have done anything other than what he did. I could have told them, but who would listen to one who can’t even ride a horse, let alone train one. Having seen the race prior to its running, I couldn’t get excited when I watched it on television, for I knew exactly who was going to win. Then I realized that if everyone knew the end there would be no excitement.

We live in a wonderful world, thinking we are going to change things, but nothing is changed on the outside. They can only be changed from within. I had no desire to change the race, so I saw it just as it would have to come out unless someone who knows the law had changed it from within.

I ask you to apply the law and change the seemingly inevitable ends – from within. I am telling you the truth based upon my own experiences. Your I AMness is God, he who is the resurrection in you. He is the life of your physical body, the life of the bird in the air and the leaf on the tree. One day you will feel a vibration within you and know that if you arrest it everything you perceive will die, yet not vanish. It will not decay, but will remain frozen in time and space forever, for it has no life. You – life itself – animate it. Then you will release that vibration and everything will become animated once more.

In the 4th chapter of the Book of Luke, we read the statement made in the 61st chapter of Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me.” This statement I know to be true, yet I ask you not to accept my experiences, but to question them by questioning the one being who can give you all the answers. He will, when he feels himself in you. Then he will reveal himself to you in the first person singular in a present tense experience.

Everyone is going to have these experiences, but when I do not know. Don’t let anyone tell you that you have so many days, months, years, or lifetimes to come. Challenge it now! I have experienced scripture. Take my words and ask yourself to prove them to you now. Then let him unfold within you, and when he does, this world will lose its value to you. You will wonder what the fighting is all about. Why should anyone fight over shadows? Don’t criticize anyone. If those who have a billion want two – so that they can be the richest dummy in the grave – pray for them by asking the only being who can grant your prayer, and that being is your own wonderful human imagination.

Don’t struggle doing it. Ask yourself who is hearing the good news you just heard and you will answer: “I am.” That’s God. That’s the being who heard the request. Now grant it and let it happen. God heard it when you heard it because God is your own wonderful I Amness, and remember: all that you ask in your Father’s name he will grant you and your Father’s name is I AM.

Now let us go into the silence.

neville goddard Imagination Is Reality

THE FOUNDATION STONE – IMAGINATION

by with No Comment Belief is everythingChanging Reality With Your Mindchanging your reality with your imaginationcreate your reality with your imaginationEmmet Foxfeeling is the secretFlorence Scovel ShinnFocusFocus is powerHow to Manifest moneyImaginationImagining creates realityJosephy MurphyMental AttitudeMental ScienceMind ScienceMoneyNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdomPower In The Spoken Wordpower of imagesPower Of Imaginationpower of the mindPower of Thoughtpower of wordsThe Complete Neville Goddard Readerthe conscious mindThe Power Of FaithThe power of the mindthe power of the spirit withinthe secretthe spiritthe spirit of truth is withinthe subconsciouswe create our own reality

Neville Goddard 12-1-1959

neville goddard Imagination Is RealityWe believe that man can create anything he desires. We believe the Universe is infinite response and the one who causes it is the individual perceiver. Nothing is independent of your perception of it. We are so interwoven we are part of the machine, but as we awake we detach ourselves from this machine and make life as we wish it to be. “For man is all Imagination and God is man and exists in us and we in him.” “The eternal body of man is the Imagination: that is God himself.” You can imagine and I can imagine, and if we can be faithful to the state imagined it must appear in our world. This is not new. This was given centuries ago, for we have it in the Bible; but people do not know how to read the Bible, so they got together and organized it into an “ism.” It is not an “ism,” but it is the great plan to free man. The Bible shows this plan in detail. We will turn to a few passages and show you what those who wrote it intended we should see.

Isaiah 28:16: “Thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I am laying in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: He who believes will not be in haste.'” Now, we are told in the Book of Psalms that the world rejected the stone. “The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner.” “You cannot lay any other stone.” “On this stone you may build gold, silver, hay or stubble and the day will reveal it.” I tell you that this stone is your Imagination, and it is called in the Bible: Christ Jesus, or God, or the Lord. It is your Imagination, which is one with the Divine Imagination which created, sustains, changes, and even destroys parts of the creation. This is the stone that is tested and it is a sure foundation, and he who believes in it will not be in haste. If I can but imagine and know that imagining creates reality I will not be impatient or lead a superficial life. When a man does not live in his Imagination he will become impatient of the outcome of what he desires, and finally he will become violent in his effort to get things.

Here is one who asks the question: “Who do men say that the Son of Man is?” Some said this and some that, but again he asked: “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:13) “And Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in Heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.”

The churches tell you that it means a man called Peter. It is not an individual. The whole thing takes place in the mind of you the individual. You imagine a certain state and it is called Peter. If it were a man called Peter, you would not find what you find six verses later. For there he turns to the same character, Peter, and says to him: “Get behind me Satan: You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men.” That is what every man in the world does. He gets a revelation and he realizes the foundation stone is Imagining. He sees a friend who needs help and he imagines he has what he wants. If he believes it, he is not in haste. He is imagining what he wants and he is not violent, and he is not concerned, and he does not give suggestions to the friend as to what to do physically to bring his desire to pass. If the foundation stone is true, there is only one power to support it. If he knows that, he will not allow himself to be turned; he will remain faithful to his assumption. But we are told in the Bible story that the one who had been commended, Peter, turned and became violent, and then Jesus said to him, “Get behind me, Satan.” You turn back to the ways of men to get things to go as you want them to go. You pull all the wires and therefore you have turned from the only foundation in the world, and that is Christ Jesus, which is human Imagination. If you believe this you will not reject the stone.

“Stone” is “even” [in Hebrew] and it means to create, or build, or beget children. Here is a stone in “Zion” (which means a high pinnacle or a barren place). That is man, before the stone is sunk in him. He is the waste, the desert. Sunk in man as his Imagination is the only foundation stone, for [there is] no other foundation of the living God and he has sunk himself in me. Therefore, I am the son of the living God, for there is only one and I Am he. If I believe this, I will not be impatient. “He who believes it will not be in haste.” This is the Lord’s way. I ask you to test it. Bring before your mind’s eye what you want to see in this world. It may be business or a friend’s good fortune. It can be anything, for on this foundation you can put stubble, or wood, or hay. You are building with hay when you say of someone: “I know – he was no good.” They lived in that state concerning another and then it came to pass – and they say: “I always thought he was like that.” Some of us build strange things for another. We were imagining on the only foundation, but we have put stubble on it instead of gold or silver, and the day revealed it, and then we cannot relate what happens to anything we have done.

The Hebrew meaning of the “stone” is to beget children. All the events of my life are my children. Everyone can build on this one foundation. “I am laying in Zion a stone.” What stone? God is burying himself in everyone in the world. It is a true stone, a precious cornerstone, and one who believes will not be in haste. I have seen an imaginal act take two years to come forth, but when it appeared – what a giant! I have seen it come in an hour. But do not be in haste or think there is any other foundation and – like Peter – turn to another foundation, growing violent toward those who would lead Jesus to the cross. But Christ said: “I came to move toward the cross. Get behind me, Satan. You are a hindrance to me.”

If I am still in the machine, I think the good things come only by accident or chance. Let the wheel turn, for each must go through all the furnaces until he awakens and sees the whole universe as infinite response. The day will come when every person, at a certain degree of awakening, will freeze an activity within himself, and as it comes to a stop within him, that whole section is “dead.” The laws of nature are only free action, repeated until they become accepted as a law. Yet you will see leaves in mid-air not falling, and people moving in space will cease to move but will not fall, for as you stopped the action within yourself the whole thing stopped. And you will see the whole thing as Zion – the desert – and the only thing that makes it alive is the stone buried in it. But man becomes lost in the things he has made and gives to them the power. For example, through the use of his Imagination he brings money into his world; then he forgets that it was the activity of his mind that did this, and he sees in the money itself the power to get what he desires. But when he awakes he will no longer lose himself in his own creation.

I say to everyone here: there is only one stone. If tonight there is someone very ill who needs your help and you imagine the best for him and then you get news that he is worse tomorrow, do not be impatient, but remain faithful to the one stone laid in Zion. What more can you do after you have imagined? Someone writes to you about a problem. Imagine for them what they desire and then do not turn aside to do anything to make it come true. You remain faithful, and it will create the conditions necessary to bring fulfillment.

You can look at someone with deep concern and want a change. You do not voice it, but lock it in, and then forty-eight hours later there is initiated what you set in motion. And they wonder: “Could my problem be traced to so-and-so?” Just the very thing you had been thinking! You entertained their problem with deep concern, and then you will ask: “Did you influence me or did I influence you? When did you entertain this thought?” And they say: “Just now,” and then you say: “Forty-eight hours ago I entertained this thought, but I did not say it aloud.” That makes no difference. All things by a law divine in one another’s beings mingle. We all influence each other. We are all interpenetrated, and the more one is deeply concerned for another, the more he is penetrated by another.

I say the universe is infinite response, but it also gives back more than you imagine. It is pressed down and running over. Therefore, to be negative can be frightening. The good will come back a thousandfold, but so will the negative. But if I am optimistic and do not waver, I will bring that also pressed down and running over. It is something wonderful; it will come like a gusher. The world responds more than it takes, and it gives to the individual more than he imagines – good or bad.

I say to everyone that the greatest of books is the Bible, but people have organized it, and even say they have found the remains of Peter or some other Biblical character. Peter is not a man, but a state. You rise up to the crown of it all and that is Christ. States are permanent but I am not fixed; I am a living moving being. I can be praised for one state and then I see a morning headline, say, and move from that true foundation, and then the power rebukes me as Satan, for I reacted instead of acted. Would you like to be in the state called Peter, the one addressed in Matthew 16? How? Let me say, and mean it: “My Imagination is God and there is no other.” It is one with the supreme power and let me live in that state, and then I am being addressed: “You are blessed, Simon Bar-Jona.” It means the depth of my being is giving it to me. Can I do it? The day that you do it and remember you did it, at that moment you are relating that story. When Peter confessed: “Thou art the Christ,” that is the stone on which the whole thing rests, but when he got away from that and reacted, then he was called Satan, or the re-actor.

God is begetting sons by means of the stone. He buries himself in every man in the world, but he is rejected. I can tell you these things here, but if I told them across the airways I would be immediately turned off. People cannot believe they are responsible for their imaginal acts. They do not want to believe it. I cannot be free of the results of what I imagine. Go out determined to prove it, and having proved it, keep the stone alive. There is no other stone. “No other can any man lay, which is Christ Jesus,” But on this build anything – but build gold, do not build hay or stubble. I want everyone here to test it. Take someone who is really distressed, and if you believe in the foundation you will leave here tonight without any concern for them, even if you receive wires stating things are worse. It might take a week or a month, but that which you have imagined, if you remain faithful to the stone, will come.

I have seen a man looking at a building – which is an inanimate thing – and you would say it could not respond. How can he look at it and see his name on it when he does not have a nickel? But he did it. I know the man. [Neville’s brother] and in a way he could not have devised, the building became his. Let no one tell you that something cannot respond, but when we are still part of the machine, we cannot quite see that we are the cause of everything in our world, and we hope good fortune will smile on us. Then when you set something bad in motion, as the machine turns you cannot see what caused it, but when you become awake you can control the machine. It responds to the imaginal acts of the awakened man, for the awakened man is in control.

A thrill is in store for you when you can finally stop all activity and the whole thing will freeze. You will know what the so-called wise men say, but you will hear only these words: “I thank you Father that you have hid these things from the wise and pious and revealed them unto babes.” For you will know that it is the perceiver who is making everything alive. For you will find that nothing is independent of the mind of the perceiver. A truly awakened teacher could freeze certain sections for the edification of his students if he chose. By normal standards everything would die if you suspended activity; but it does not die, for there is nothing outside of your perception of it. Take your boss or an employee and represent them to yourself as you want them to be, and believe in the reality of the foundation stone, and then you will not make haste to bring it to pass. For Imagination is creating reality, and in a way no one knows it will be brought to pass if you remain faithful to that foundation stone. It makes no difference who you are or what you have. The man who cannot always sign a check to realize a dream is better off, for he is more awake; for he must use the talent God gave him, which is God himself. If I can always put pressure on someone to get what I want, I will never know I am this machine. But if I have to do it all within myself, then I know.

A story was told me tonight of a man who had lost his wife at the birth of his son, and the child was taken to St. Louis to be brought up by his wife’s sister. This man had tried for seven years to get enough ahead to take a trip to St. Louis to see the child. He constantly tried to see himself getting a job with more money so he could make the trip. He was told that by the right use of this law he should only see himself with his child and let the way be left to God. Following this he was given a job that took him from Los Angeles to New Orleans. But that was not near St. Louis. He took the job and persisted in his dream, and in three months he was transferred to the St. Louis run and given a twenty-four hour layover there every week.

The best thing that ever happened to me was when I was fired from Macy’s during the depression. I might be captain of the elevators if I had stayed there. My father lost everything he owned, and that proved to be the beginning of the great dream he brought to pass. One person believed in him and he started on that, and when he made his exit last October, he had given to his community much that no one had ever given before. The blackest day of his life turned out to be the bright day of his life. No matter what you have done, forget it. You are God and God is untarnished, for he is all imagining.

Now, you start to imagine and make it something of which you can be proud. Make it big. If it is truly the stone being laid in Zion, do not turn to any argument of man. You be faithful, and whatever you put on the stone as an imaginal activity will come into your world. Of course, you may go back to the world of men, like Peter. He denied the stone three times but he did then return to it again. You may do that, but in the end you will learn, for in the depth of your being the words are being said: “Get behind me, Satan.” But I have seen people forget. I have seen them rise from nothing to great heights and then say: “It would have happened anyway.” They do not believe that their imaginal activity was the foundation on which they built that structure. There is only one stone and that is your wonderful Imagination.

This works better if you do not try to aid it on the outside, for it is not flesh and blood that revealed it to you. You got it from the Christ.

Now let us go into the silence.

  • – – – – – – – – –

Notes by the Transcriber:

The “Stone” is Jesus or the Foundation, your Imagination
Laws of nature are only habits of Imagination.
Only one stone laid in Zion.
Look with deep concern but don’t show concern.
The more one is deeply concerned for another the more he is penetrated by another.
We must not be impatient or waver from the stone.

Concept of being Awake:

The awake man is in control. Now you can leave a state and cancel out the furnace process.
The more awake the man, the less he needs to use political, social, or economic pressures.
As you awaken more and more, you go more and more into detail.

neville goddard Imagination Is Reality

THE FOURFOLD GOSPEL

by with No Comment ImaginationNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdom

Neville Goddard 3-5-1963

neville goddard Imagination Is RealityAs you know, and I think you do, the Bible is a mystery. A mystery to be known only by revelation. As I told you in the past, a mystery is not a matter to be kept secret but a truth which is mysterious in character. The four Gospels are the flower of the entire Bible. Everything that was promised Israel, as we have it recorded in the 39 books of the Old Testament, came into flower – in the fulfillment of the four Gospels. But even to this day, 2000 years later, many women came seeking, – in the Bible, – for the Christ of whom the prophets spoke and whose coming is told. As we are told, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that was to be yours inquired and searched about that salvation. They inquired what person or time was indicated by the Spirit of Christ within them when predicting the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glory, but they could not find him. They are all looking for a man, and today the whole vast Christian world turns to a man. Those who deny it think in terms of a man that they deny, but they do not know the Christian mystery.

Paul makes the statement: “From now on we will regard no one from the human point of view, even though we once regarded Christ from a human point of view we regard him thus no longer.” Yes, even though I once thought of Christ from a human point of view I think of him so no longer. It is something entirely different.

To understand this mystery we have to find the root, and that is in the Old Testament. What did they promise? They found it in the Messianic Book, – Isaiah 11:1-3, – one of the many chapters – but this one is prominent. “There shall come forth a stem from the stump of Jesse and a Branch will go out of that root, and the Spirit of the Lord shall be upon him: The imagery turns from a root, – from a Branch, from a stem, into a man. “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him; the Spirit of understanding, the Spirit of Knowledge, the Spirit of Counsel, the Spirit of the fear of the Lord.” All these will be upon him. “And he shall not judge by what his eyes see, or desire by what his ears hear.” So here, something is said about a Branch, something is said about a stump out of which the Branch will come. We search the Scripture and we find in the Book of Daniel: “And the king said: ‘I beheld in the visions of my head as I lay in bed, and behold, a watcher, a holy one, came down from heaven. He cried aloud and said this, “Hew the tree down, cut off its branches, strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. But leave the stump.” Do not disturb the stump. And now he turns from the imagery of the tree with its branches, leaves and stump, to that of a man. “Let him be watered with the dew of heaven,” speaking now of the stump, – and it becomes now a man. “Let him dwell with the beasts of the field. Take from him the mind of a man and give to him the mind of a beast. And let seven times pass over him until he knows that the Kingdom of Heaven, or the Most High rules the kingdom of men, and gives it to whom he will.” And you ask: “What is it all about?” This is the prophecy that is fulfilled in our Gospel.

The word Jesse means “I AM”. It is called “The stump of Jesse.” The word “I AM” which we call Jehovah, – the name of God. In its root meaning means “to fall” or “To cause to fall.” The only Being that fell, – this tree of life, – is God Himself, and for us God fell. He sacrificed Himself to redeem us, to give us life in ourselves. The mystery of life through death, – the death of God, – is that stump. So I am this branch. Now we turn and study the word “Branch”. The stump is “I AM”. The Branch comes out of the stump of Jesse.

The first presentation is in Matthew. Matthew presents the Lord as a king. So where is the Branch identified in the Bible as a king? You find it in Jeremiah 23:5: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king.” So here we find the presentation of this Branch, which is not a tree, – we see now it is a man. Here he is presented as a king. So Matthew gives him the genealogy of a king. He comes down through the royal line. Matthew begins the book: “This is the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David.” David is the source of the dynasty. The first king of Israel was Saul, chosen by the people, but Jehovah rejected Saul and chose David, and David is the first king of Israel, as chosen by God.

This is the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David. When I trace the genealogy of a king I must always begin at the source of the dynasty and come down and finish with the king. When I trace the genealogy of a man, I begin with his father and go back as far as I may; but not with a king. You do not say: “This is king so and so, the son of so and so.” You go right back to the source of the dynasty then you bring it forward and it culminates in the king himself. That is how we get the genealogy of a king. That is what Matthew does in presenting the Lord as king to fulfill Jeremiah 23:5.

Mark presents him as a servant, therefore there is no need for a genealogy. The perfect, the ideal servant. So God is now presented as a servant. And here, – where is the branch of the servant? Zech. 3:8. “Behold I will bring forth my servant, the Branch. All this is prophecy, it hasn’t brought him forth, he is bringing him forth. So, Mark does not have a genealogy. Who are you? “I am the servant of the Lord.” Well, that’s good enough. If you are the servant of the Lord there is no need for any further credentials. So his credentials are simply his position in life as the ideal servant, – that’s Mark. In Mark 10:5 he makes this statement: “I come not to be served but to serve.” He is the servant.

Luke presents him as the ideal man, – Jehovah’s man. Where is the Branch concerning it? Read Zech. 6:12. First of all Isaiah claims it in the 40th Chapter: “Behold the man”. He doesn’t use the word Branch, but Zechariah to fulfill the prophecy brings in the Branch: “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch.” So, Luke presents him the ideal man and should have a genealogy. When you read the two genealogies in Matthew and Luke they differ.

At the beginning of David, the king, they part, and David’s older son, Nathan becomes the line through which Luke takes Jesus Christ. His younger son Solomon becomes the one he takes bringing him into a king. Here you find a complete different genealogy for fourteen generations and another fourteen following them. Here you have these many generations where they are entirely different background and people think you can’t be telling the story of the same person, but people don’t know the mystery. You are presenting not a person, you are presenting, not a man, you are presenting something altogether different. Christ is not a man, a king, a servant. Christ that saying, is a series of mystical experiences through which God reveals Himself for the salvation of man, – that is Christ.

The whole vast New Testament is based upon the assumption that a certain series of events happened in which God revealed Himself in action for the salvation of man. Did they happen? We are told in the Scripture they did happen. I claim the evangelists were telling their own story, as told us in the end of Luke: “And they told what had happened.” Moffitt takes that phrase and describes it and translates it; ‘They related their own experience.” They are relating a series of mystical happenings in the soul of the individual where God revealed Himself in these actions for the salvation of that individual. So, Luke presents God as the ideal man: “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch.” He must have a genealogy and this goes all the way back unbroken to Adam, the son of God.

John, on the other hand, presents him as God Himself, – no need of a genealogy. Now, this you find is Isaiah 4:2. “And the day is coming,” it’s always in the future, it’s all prophecy, – “When the Branch of Jehovah will be beautiful and glorious.” And men are still looking for this Branch to flower in some mighty conqueror who will come and save humanity from the tyrants who are loose in the world. He doesn’t come that way. They denied he was a king because they did not read carefully. “My kingdom is not of this world.” They are still expecting him in some way to entrench himself in the world and establish a kingdom; and reveal what they believe to be David’s kingdom, – and all these must be spiritualized.

All the characters mentioned as his background, his genealogy, are states of consciousness. Here it begins: “This is the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David.” The very end of the genealogy Joseph’s father is called Jacob. Matthew 1:17 and two verses on the 20th verse: “The angel of the Lord appears unto Joseph in a dream and says: “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife.” Three verses before it is said in the genealogy that his father was Jacob, and just a few verses down the angel of the Lord addresses him as “Joseph, son of David.” Here in the genealogy Joseph is called the father, and the genealogy begins with “Jesus Christ, son of David.” Don’t you see it? You have to spiritualize all of these characters. They are states of consciousness. They are not persons any more than Jesus Christ is a person. Jesus Christ is that series of events unfolding like a tree in man for the salvation of that man in whom this series unfolds. But man cannot think that way if he wants to personify it and put it in a wall, or in some little hole and do something with it. And it isn’t that.

So, here in Mathew we find the presentation of God as a king. In Mark he is presented as the ideal servant. In Luke God is presented as the ideal man and in John – God Himself. So in John he speaks and calls Himself constantly “I AM”. “I am the vine; I am the way; I am the truth; I am the resurrection; I am the door.” All through he is emphasizing who He really is, the Being that you are. But the series of events, I promise you, will unfold within you. When they unfold within you, you know who you are, and you could no more keep it to yourself than the evangelist who experienced Christ could have kept it to himself. They couldn’t. Having experienced Christ, they could not keep their experience of Christ to themselves, so they told it.

Now let us show you what Luke tells us in his own words. Why they translated it this way I do not know. Luke begins his book: “Inasmuch as many have undertaken to encircle a narrative of the thing which have been accomplished among us, as it was revealed to us by those who were eye witnesses from the beginning, it seemed good to me also, having observed closely for sometime past.” Now that phrase, “For sometime past”, is a translation of the Greek word Zecharias, which means “from above”. When it is used in the 3rd chapter of John it is used “From above”, when he said to Nicodemus: “You must be born from above. Except you be born from above you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” Yet here in the book of Luke the same words, no alteration, the identical word is translated in this phase: “For sometime past.” So he is telling you if you go back to the original tongue where he got it. “Having observed all things closely from above it seems good to me also to write an orderly account to you Theophilus, – a lover of God, one who seeks God, – and he is telling him where he got it. He is not making any claims that his arrangement is a greater chronological arrangement of the false material. What he is telling us is he got it from above and he is going to write it in an orderly arrangement which he claims is a better arrangement, better understood by man. So he begins with a birth and he ends, for man’s sake, with a crucifixion.

That is not the way in which Luke got it, for Luke is not his name. All this is anonymous. Whoever calls himself Luke did not receive it in that order. But he thinks it is a better arrangement to be understood by mortal mind, until they themselves have the experience. So, what the Gospels are telling us, believe it. Believe it for the works’ sake.

Now he tells us how to prove the Law of God and in proving the Law of God you may believe his Promise. Then he tells us what to do about the Law of God: “Ask anything in my name” – don’t forget the name, – the name is “I AM”, – “And it will be done unto you.” Don’t call it by any other name, and when you call upon my name, call with my name. Don’t say: “In the name of I AM.” Just declare yourself to be “I AM”. I am what? You name it. Whatever you want to be just name it, but call with my name. So, call “I am healthy, I am lovely, I am loved, I am anything you think lovely in your world, call upon it by calling with the name.

Then he tells them: “I come to testify of things that I know and that I have seen. If you will not receive the testimony that I bring from things of earth, how will you receive the testimony of mine if I tell you of things of Heaven.”

Let me give you a vision of mine that happened many years ago to show you how it was revealed to me long before it began to awaken in me. Just like the vision of the 4th of Daniel, only in my case it wasn’t a tree. But just as he starts off the vision: “The visions of my head as I lay in bed.” Suddenly I saw this fabulous field, and consciousness followed vision and I entered the field. It had no limit, it was infinite. At first I thought them to be flowers, long tall flowers like sunflowers. As I approached them they were not flowers, they were all rooted like a flower into the earth; but they were human faces, everyone was a face. As I came upon them they moved in concert as though someone led them in some orchestra, and they all moved and bent over. If one smiled they all smiled. They all did everything in concert. While I walked among them admiring these beautiful human faces, that were anchored like a flower, I realized right at that moment that I, – not comparable to them in beauty, – nothing in that rhythm and yet I enjoyed greater freedom, limited as I was, than all of them put together. They moved in concert and I had freedom of movement even though my motion was not in harmony. I had freedom of choice even if I made the wrong choice. I could choose evil, they could do nothing. They could do nothing of themselves. And I realized that with all of my limitations, I was greater. I could make a mistake and they couldn’t. I could actually move without the consent of another; they couldn’t. And beautiful as they were, I realized how much infinitely greater I was, limited as I was, because I was detached from that field. And I thought in the depths of me that at one time I must have been one of that orchestra. And God in his infinite mercy, fell with me, and then took up residence in me.

Then seven times had to pass over me, the fiery ordeal. I had to be given a human face, – “Take the mind of man from him and give him the mind of a beast.” Let him know this was the beast of the field. “Sever everything from him; cut off the branches, strip the leaves, scatter the fruit but don’t disturb the roots,” – and the root is God Himself. That is Jesse. But, “Seven times must pass over him until he knows that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom He will.” And He gives it in that moment that He gives us Christ; and Christ is that series of mystical experiences taking place in the individual soul, for the soul’s salvation.

I can see that field of flowers now, perfectly beautiful human faces, – not a blemish, everything perfect, everything in perfect rhythm as if some invisible director directed them. You and I were once part of that harmony and then the harmony became broken for our salvation, and we descended because God descended with us. He didn’t push us out. The word He Vau He means “to fall” and that is the root of the verb Yod He Vau He, which we call Jehovah, the great sacred name. The name by which all things are made.

So, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John presents this mystery of the Branch. I tell you it grows in us. As Blake said: “The Gods of the Earth and the Sea sought through Nature to find this Tree, but their search was all in vain, there grows one in the human brain.” And that tree is turned down. If you saw the human being and take off the skin and see just the nervous system, it is just like an inverted tree. Where the brain is, is the root, and the whole tree grows down. But that tree is going to be turned up, and one day you will see it turned up and there will be a complete severance of your being, called the “Curtain of the temple”, – and then you, that was living down not even knowing it, will be turned right up and all the currents of eternity are now reversed in you, and from then you grow up.

The vision I had of this many years ago startled people. I first told it in San Francisco. Why the reaction was horrible. Yet the Book of Mark, speaking of the servant of the Lord, who is the Branch, speaks of it. When the Lord opened the eyes of the blind man and said: “What do you see?” He said: “I see men like trees walking.” There it is: “I see men like trees walking.” That night I had this vision of the majesty of man when he is turned up. You will think, “How can I be a tree?” The beauty, the joy when you see it, – something altogether different; but how can you describe it? You can’t describe it to the satisfaction of anyone because who wants to be a tree? And yet, here inverted, – and we are called the Branch. Don’t forget it. “And there shall come forth from a stem from the stump of Jesse,” from the stump of “I AM”, “and a branch will grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. (Isaiah 11:1-3) “Fear” means “the reverence of the Lord.”

Again these same four, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John is revealed to us in a strange way when the child is given a name. Isaiah 9:6. “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor.” Two entirely different experiences; – a child is born, a son is given. Don’t put a comma between Wonderful and Counselor as so many Bibles have. Bear in mind there were no punctuation marks in the ancient Hebrew, not even breaks or paragraphs, it is all continuous. There are four names given in keeping with the fourfold Gospel. “His name shall be called; Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” There are four titles.

Wonderful Counselor, – that is Omniscience itself. You can add nothing to a Being who is completely awake; they would not have the automatic answer. So, here is Omniscience. Mighty God, – Divine Omnipotence. That is when the third title comes. Then, Prince of Peace, that is at the very end when you are about to take off the garment for the very last time, as told us in the book of John. “My peace I leave with you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you.” He gives us peace that is beyond understanding. You can’t disturb that peace for he is the “Prince of Peace.” He is an “Everlasting Father”, – he is Father forever. “When you see me you see the Father.” “Almighty God.” – A might beyond the wildest dreams of anything you have ever seen. And when you see that Might you see it personified as a man. You look into his eyes and you see might as you have never known it before – and it is a man. Then “Wonderful Counselor”. He promises he will send the Counselor. When he withdraws he will send the servants who have the understanding to follow him as he reveals what happened to him.

So when you read the Gospels, whether it be Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, do not see a man walking through the pages, see the magnificence of Christ the Branch unfolding in you, and it takes root. There will come out a root from that stump. How does it take root? Well, you first hear the story and you believe it. Then the Word is planted. When one believes it, he has accepted the Word. The Word as translated in the Book of John is called Logos. “In the beginning was the Word,” that is the Greek Logos: “And the Word was with God and the Word was God.” That is really the translation of the Hebrew which means “The word of God, which contains within itself the power of it’s own expression.” That “Word” in the first verse of the Book of John is Christ. “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”

Now turn to Isaiah 55:11. “So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purposed and fulfill that where I sent it.” So the word when it comes is The Word called Christ. I tell you the story, believe it. The minute you believe it you have accepted it, it has fallen on fertile ground. It will then take root; and the word contains within itself the power of it’s own expression. The whole vast program of God for man’s salvation is contained in that Word, “the seed”, and it falls upon man and man hears it. He either believes it or he rejects it.

Here we move across the world and seven times pass over us until one day we hear it with acceptance and then the little root takes place in that stump of Jesse, the stump of “I AM.” Then out of it comes the Branch, and then the Spirit of the Lord descends upon him. From then on he moves and you can’t stop him. You can’t earn it, – accept it. Believe the story as it was intended when you first listened; completely misunderstood through the centuries.

He tells it of a certain individual who was born in a strange way; raised in a strange way and died a horrible death. That’s not the story at all. If I would comfort you with the death it is Romans 6:5: Here we are told: “If we have been united with Christ in a death like his, we shall be united with him in a resurrection like his.” He uses the past tense when it comes to death, the future when it comes to resurrection. So the unity took place in his death, or He fell, and all of us are in it and now he is asking us for acceptance of the Word. We have union with him in a death like His, we shall have union with him in a resurrection like His. And He resurrects us one after the other by a series of fantastic, wonderful mythical experiences one after the other. We can’t contrive them, they come like a thief in the night when least expected. Everything said in the Gospel concerning the central figure is all about you, from beginning to end.

I tell you the death has already taken place, even though the death took place to free us all. It has been felled. You downed the tree, cut off the branches, that is all over. Stripped the leaves, scattered the fruit, given the mind of a beast. Well, haven’t we the mind of a beast? Go back 20 years. What beast in the world would have conceived by ovens to burn innocent people by the millions? Isn’t that the mind of a beast? Have you read here recently the current stories of Stalin, the things the man did with those even in the most intimate circles? That no one felt at ease in his presence? From Molotov down, all like little children shaking, everyone of them. It came out last Sunday in the Times, in yesterday’s Observer, in today’s New York Times. All these stories because today is the tenth anniversary of his death. There is no beast that would have done the things the man did to his own people. He hated everything in the world and so did Hitler. So, “Take the man’s mind from him and give him the mind of a beast.” Who gave the order? God. And this is the order from on high.

Now in the eyes of the world they seemed to be so far advanced because they were so powerful. In the exercise and misuse of power they are on the down, they are descended. Seven times must pass over the mind of the beast before they could accept the story of Christianity. Both rejected it, both called it foolish, said the whole thing was stupid, the opium of humanity, said one, quoting his master, Karl Marx. The other looked upon Christianity as the weakest thing in the world. The Christ to him was nothing but a weakling because he couldn’t kill. He said “Put up the sword” and “Turn the other cheek” and “Father forgive them they know not what they do.” So here you see the beast of beasts and all at God’s command. “Take from him the mind of a man and give him the mind of a beast, and let his lot be among the beasts, but do not disturb the root, leave the stump and let it be watered with the dew of Heaven.”

And then there is a reversal and all of a sudden the stump puts out a shoot. It can’t put out the shoot until it first heard the Word of God. We must all go and tell the world and it must start in Jerusalem and spread to Judea, to Samaria, to the ends of the earth. Go and tell it. And some will accept it and some will reject it. Those that reject it, alright, because seven times must pass over. And what are the seven times/ Read the 3rd Chapter of the Book of Daniel. “And heat the furnaces seven times more than they were wont to be.” Then comes the three Hebrew boys and they are put into the furnace, clothed. Then the king said: “Were there not three?” They answered “Yes”. “But I see four and the fourth has the form of the Son of God.” Three were put in, the three-fold man, the three dimensional man, but goes with them the fourth, God Himself. For the fourth is God Himself. When they came out, “Their hair was not singed, nor even the smell of fire upon their garments.” Then he, Nebuchadnezzar, worshipped the God of Israel, worshipped the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

The whole thing is a mystery to be unfolded in the simple way it began by telling you of Christ of the Scripture. He is unfolding in you in a series of events, revealing to you your salvation. Peter in his Epistle said: “The prophets told how they searched and inquired about the grace that was to be yours: and how they inquired about their salvation, asking what person, what time was indicated by the Spirit of Christ within him when prophesying and predicting of the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glory.” But they didn’t find it. They couldn’t find the Christ of whom they wrote and whose coming they foretold, because they were looking for a man. Today they are still looking for a man, and looking for a time. They think maybe 1963 will bring it, or 1964. All through the ages people have thought a certain moment in time was the coming of Christ, or the coming of a person; but he doesn’t come that way. He comes in you and when you have him, you share him with everyone who will listen. Many will say, because they know you so well: “Don’t I know him? Isn’t he Mary’s child? Isn’t his father named George? Doesn’t he work in the factory with me. I know him so what is he talking about?” They expect an entirely different kind of person to come. They don’t expect the garment to have in it an experience that no mortal man could possibly have. It all happens in the depths of the soul of a man. Then he goes back and he sees where it was all foretold but: “Naught could he himself foresee.”

It’s all there but he couldn’t dig it out anymore than the scholars can until it happens. And after it comes to the surface in him he is bewildered. When the dust settles so that he really can talk about it without excitement, a few will listen and the majority will turn their backs. They say: “He’s talking about a Christ I never heard of before. I’d rather have my old Christ, because to him I can kneel, to him I can say a prayer in the hope that he will have compassion on me and respond; but this Christ.” A series of mystical experiences in the soul of man where the whole tree has fallen, and suddenly the tree that was felled and downed turns around? And then the whole thing goes back into the stump itself, the skull of man, and from then on it begins to really grow; and then he knows what the glory is Paul spoke of?” “For there is laid up for me in Heaven a crown of glory.” He himself grows it, no one puts it upon him. It is a living crown, not a crown as the human eye sees when they see the queens crown. Do you know of any crown comparable to the antlers of a stag? Did you ever see such majesty in your life when you see this beautiful thing. Did you ever see such majesty as a tree in full bloom? No. Don’t even try to visualize it, because it frightens people. The writer of the Book of Mark could see it correctly. What do you see now with the eye open: “I see men like trees walking.”

Believe the story as I told you this night concerning Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. You are the fourfold man. One presents you with a king to fulfill the 23rd Chapter of Jeremiah. He said: “I have come to fulfill the Scripture. Scripture must be fulfilled in me. “And beginning with Moses and all the prophets he interprets with them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” It was all about this being that you are.

Then comes the presentation of the ideal servant. Zech. 3:8 “Behold, I will bring my servant the Branch.” (6:12) “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch.” Then comes the fulfillment of the 4th of Isaiah. All must be fulfilled. So, these four branches must take root and all grow and mature in man. We have king, servant, the ideal man and God Himself.

neville goddard Imagination Is Reality

THE GAME OF LIFE

by with No Comment ImaginationNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdom

Neville Goddard 03-07-1969

neville goddard Imagination Is RealityThe game of life, like every game, is played within the framework of certain rules, and any violation of those rules carries a penalty. You and I are playing this game from morning to night, and should therefore learn its rules in order to play it well.

Ecclesiastes gives us this rule: “Even in your thought do not curse the king, or in your bed chamber curse the rich, for a bird will carry your voice or some winged creature tell the matter.” And Mark gives us another, as: “Whatever you desire, believe that you have received it and you will.” If you must believe you have received your desire in order to attain it, then you must start your game by believing it is finished. You must feel yourself into and partaking of your goal. And you must persist in that feeling in order to achieve it.

Now, another rule is said in this manner: “Cast your bread upon the water and you will find it after many days.” In other words, do not be concerned as to how it is going to happen – just do it. This statement hasn’t a thing to do with doing good as the world defines the word. Jesus was a carpenter. The word means one who produces from seed – as a flower, a tree, the earth.

The prophecy of the Old Testament is the seed which a carpenter called Jesus brings to birth. He comes not to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfill them.
The word, ‘bread’ in the statement: “Cast your bread upon the waters,” means to devour; to consume. Water is a euphemism for semen, that living water which carries the sperm of man. The creative act is psychological, not physical; yet the intentions are the same. You must cast your bread upon the waters with passion! You must be consumed with the desire and literally on fire with love for its possession, for an intense imaginal act will always draw unto itself its own affinity.

Winston Churchill departed this world a very successful man; however, during his life he had many failures. Then one day he made this discovery, which changed his life. These are his words: “The mood decides the fortunes of people, rather than the fortunes decide the mood.”

Let me put it this way: The game of life is won by those who compare their thoughts and feelings within to what appears on the outside. And the game is lost by those who do not recognize this law. Being consumed by anger, they see no change in their world. But if they would change their mood, their circumstances would change. Then they would recognize the law behind their world.

There are those who are depressed all day long and remain that way all of their life. I remember back in New York City, when I would see certain people walking in my direction I would want to cross the street, because I did not want to hear their depressing stories. They would spend hours telling about their wife or husband, their children or grandchildren, and each story geared to depression. Never changing their mood, their world never changed. Seeing no change, they would not recognize a law between the inner world they maintain and the outer world of response.

But if you apply this law you can predict your future. Feel a new mood rise within you. Sustain it and soon you will meet people who embody this new state. Even inanimate objects are under the sway of these affinities. In a certain mood I have gone to my library and removed a book I have not touched in years. And when I casually open it, I find confirmation of my mood. A table, though remaining the same, will be seen differently based upon your momentary mood, for everything reflects it. It is your mood which decides your fortune, not your fortune that decides your mood. People feeling poor attract poverty, not knowing that if they felt rich they would attract wealth.

In the Book of Proverbs, it is said: “The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord.” Now, the lamp of the Lord is the light of the world. We contain that light; and nature – the genie – is our slave, fashioning the world as our mood dictates. By nature I mean all of humanity – the animal, plant, and mineral world. In fact, everything that appears on the outside is a slave of this lamp. Fashioned from within, this slave will fashion your world to reflect your thoughts; and no power can stop their fulfillment.
Become aware of what you are thinking, and you will recognize a law between your mood and your surrounding circumstances. Then you will predict with certainty, because you know certain events – being in harmony with your mood – must appear. Everything – whether a living being or an inanimate object such as a book – must appear to bear witness to your mood.

Now, in order to play the game of life, you must know what you want to replace what you have. When you know what it is, you must assume the feeling that you have it. Although your reason and senses will deny its existence, persistence will cause your assumption to harden into fact and objectify itself upon your screen of space. Play the game this way. You may think it doesn’t work, but that’s because you have not tried it. You may believe the idea is stupid, but I tell you: the mood decides your fortune. Believe me, for I have proved this principle over and over again in my life.

It was Winston Churchill who galvanized the Western world by putting his words into practice. In spite of the horrors and bombing in London, Mr. Churchill sustained the mood of victory, and even in the darkest days he would not waver. Knowing the mood would externalize itself around the world, he sustained the mood – while his opponents, not knowing the law, put their trust in armies and machinery of war.

Mr. Churchill’s wonderful statement, recorded in the “New York Times,” has proved itself to me. By simply catching the mood I have changed the circumstances of my life. Now I teach others how to do it. I invite you to ask yourself how you would feel if your desire was now fulfilled. Toy with the thought. Play with it a while and the mood will come upon you. Keep that mood by playing with the senses it evokes, and watch your world change to match your new mood.

Let me tell you of a lady I know who, in her middle sixties, had nothing when she put this principle into practice. Every morning as she soaked in the tub prior to going to her $75 a week job, she would say to herself: “Something wonderful is happening to me now.” She kept playing upon the mood, toying with the feeling that something wonderful was happening. That very week she received her first breakthrough.

For thirty-odd years this lady had attended the opera, concerts, and Broadway shows, with an intimate friend. Every night they dined in some fabulous restaurant, but he had told her many times he would never give her any money. But he suddenly had a change of heart and signed over a one hundred thousand dollar trust fund to her, to be spent immediately as she so desired.

A short time later, she began to apply the law to a greater degree and he again set up another one hundred thousand dollar fund for her. Now, this lady – whose rent is $165 per month – can’t spend the income she receives from a two hundred thousand dollar fund, plus her social security; but she isn’t satisfied and wants more!

The old gentleman has a little hardening of the brain now and they have parted company. And, because he refuses to see her, she curses him, though we are warned: “Even in your thoughts do not curse the king, or in your bed chamber do not curse the rich, for a bird of the air will carry your voice, or some winged creature tell the matter.” This lady calls me every week to tell me she is overcoming the cursing. I hope so, because other things can come into her world if she continues to do so.

The law has its positive as well as its negative side. I am not here to judge how you use the law, but leave you to practice it as you will. If you are in the habit of thinking negatively, you are not going to sustain the thought that you are all you want to be. You may hold it for a few seconds, and if it does not prove itself instantly you may deny it. But in order to play the game of life you must know the rules and apply them. And remember: as in every game, there are rules whose violation causes failure. You cannot deceive yourself, for God is not mocked; as you sow, so shall you reap.

In the world you may get away with a violation that the referee did not see; but you cannot get away from the observer in you, for he and you are one. If you know what you did, then he knows, for your awareness and the father of your world are one. You cannot deceive yourself. You cannot mock yourself. God is going to record your every violation and mold your world in harmony with your feelings.

Let me now share a letter I received from a friend. In it he said: “Last Monday night a friend asked me for help, so that night I spent a half hour imagining I heard the words he would say if his desire were realized. Just before I awoke the next morning, the friend’s wife appeared in my dream and thanked me for my help.
“Then Tuesday evening, while enjoying some music in my living room, my friend appeared in reverie. Speaking with authority, power, and joy, he used the identical words I heard when I imagined him confirming the fulfillment of his desire, and I felt the thrill of completion.”

It is my hope that confirmation will come in the immediate present, and my friend will hear the man tell him in person of the fulfillment of that imaginal act which was set on fire by his friend. Now, in another part of his letter, my friend said: “In a dream I entered a hotel lobby, registered at the desk, and asked to be called at 7:00 o’clock the next morning. As I watched, the man marked a bold seven over my name on the card; then I awoke.”

This is a marvelous vision, as seven is the numerical value for spiritual perfection. It also has much to do with gestation and incubation. In the insect and animal world, I am told, that 280 days is a multiple of seven. We know that a hen’s egg, if properly incubated, takes 21 days – again a multiple of seven. Here we find birth has multiples of seven, but in his case it is incubation of spiritual perfection.

Another lady wrote, saying: “I saw myself lying in bed, ghastly pale as though dead. Suddenly a giant of a man rose out of my body.”

Let me tell you the story of a wonderful artist, who was also a mystic. His name was George Russell, but you know him best as A.E. He said: “I will tell this vision, but where it happened I will not say. It was a vast hall with the columns made of living opal as though the colors of dawn and evening had blended into something alive.
Between the columns were thrones upon which fire-crested kings were seated. One wore a crest of the dragon, another, plumes of fire. In the center a dark body was stretched out on the floor as though in a deep trance. At the far end of the hall, on a throne higher than the others, sat a being with the sun’s glory shining behind him.

As I watched, two crested kings rose, and stretching their hands over the body on the floor, sparks of light came out of them. Suddenly a figure as tall, as majestic as these fire-crested kings rose out of that dark body. Looking around, he recognized his kin and raised his hand in salutation. Then they leaped from their thrones, raised their hands in the same wonderful greeting and – like brothers – walked toward the end and disappeared into the sun.”

Each vision is a foreshadowing of what will take place. A.E. perceived him as coming from another, while this lady saw him as coming from her own being. They are both adumbrations of a wonderful event which will take place in everyone; for that crested king, who is the Son of God, is housed in all.

It does not matter whether the body be that of a woman or a man, or what the pigment of the skin may be; within each one of us is the Son of God, who – radiating his glory and bearing the express image of his person – is the great lamp of the Lord. And one day this majestic being will rise out of your garment of death, and you will enter the land of life.

But while we are here, let us learn the rules of the game of life and play it. Life itself is caused by the assemblage of mental states, which occurring creates that which the assemblage implies. My friend mentally heard the words he would hear if his desire for his friend were fulfilled. Its assemblage, occurring within him, created the event to be played out in the game of life.

After you have assembled your mental state and allowed it to occur within you, you do not have to repeat the act. You cast your bread upon the water the moment you felt relief. Although you do not have a physical expression in a sexual manner, relief is possible; and of all the pleasures of the world, relief is the most keenly felt. When someone you dearly love is late, you anxiously await that key in the door. And when you hear their voice, your relief is keenly felt. That is the same kind of relief you will have when you have imagined correctly.

If you find it necessary to recreate the act every day, you are not casting your bread upon the water. You may imagine over and over again, but you are only going to impregnate once; and if you reach the point of relief, your bread has been cast upon the water to return, perhaps in the matter of an hour. I have had the phone ring – minutes after I have imagined it – to hear confirmation that it has happened. Sometimes it has taken days, weeks, or months; but I do not repeat the action once I have done it and felt the feeling of relief, for I know there is nothing more I need to do.

Learn to consciously play this game of life, for you are unconsciously playing it every day. I am sure the millions who are on relief feel the government owes them a living; but there is no government, only we who pay taxes. The government has no money and can only give what it takes from our pockets. Those on relief are complaining, claiming they are not getting enough out of our pockets, and that mood persists throughout their day.

Their mood never varies, so they see no change and recognize no law between the mood they are sustaining and the outer world they dislike. If they were told that their mood was causing the phenomena of their life, they would deny it. No one wants to feel that he is solely responsible for the conditions of his life, yet there is no other cause. God is the only cause and he is man’s own wonderful human imagination.

When I speak of imagination I am referring to God in you, of which there are two sides: imagining and contacting. Contacts are what imagining is all about. When you imagine, you contact a feeling, and the feeling you imagine, you create. You are the same God who created the world and all within it, but while you are clothed in a garment of flesh and blood your power is keyed low.

I do hope you understand the rules to the game of life; and – because there is a positive as well as a negative rule – I urge you not to curse anyone. Ecclesiastes used the words ‘king’ and ‘rich’ because they are the ones most often envied. A person need not be a millionaire, however, to be envied. He could simply be a little bit better off than another. Someone could live in a better neighborhood, pay more rent, maybe even go to a better restaurant, or buy better clothes, to be envied. So we are warned not to curse the king or the rich in our thoughts, for they cannot be concealed, as all thoughts are completely one; and by a law divine they mingle in one another’s being.

Awareness seems to be scattered, as everyone on the outside is aware. But no one needs ask another to aid in the change of his world if he changes it on the inside. If another is necessary to bring about the change, he will – with or without his consent. You do not have to single out the individual to play the part in bringing about the change you have imagined. He will play his part if necessary because we all intermingle. All you have to do is stand at the end, from within.

I remember visiting my family in Barbados, when I was told I could not leave the island for seven months; but I wanted to leave on the next boat out. To me, being on that boat was my end; so – while sitting on a chair in my parent’s home – I entered the boat in my imagination and viewed the island as I was departing. I did not know how I would get on it, but a week later when the boat left the island I was there. This I know from experience.

In your desire to go anywhere you must first go there in your imagination, and even those who may deny your request will aid you when the time is right. I got out of the army that way. Knowing I wanted to be honorably discharged and in my apartment in New York City, I slept as though it had already happened and I was already there. Then my captain – who had previously disallowed my discharge – had a change of heart and aided in my release. Anyone can do it. This game is easy to play and can be lots of fun in the doing. Think of an object you would like to hold. Think of a place you would desire to be. Then find an object in that room and feel it until it takes on sensory vividness.

Don’t make it a lamp, but that lamp; not a table, but that table. Sit in that chair until you feel the chair around you. View the room from that chair and you are there, for you are all imagination and must be wherever you are in your imagination. Now, cast your bread upon the water by feeling the relief of being there, and let your genie – who is your slave – build a bridge of incident over which you will cross to sit in that chair, hold that lamp, and touch that table.

In Genesis, the story is told of Isaac – who was unable to see, but capable of feeling – calling to his son, Jacob, saying: “Come close my son that I may feel you. Your voice sounds like my son Jacob, but you feel like Esau.” At that moment Jacob – the imaginary, purely subjective state – possessed the qualities of Esau, the objective world. So Isaac gave the imaginary state the right to be born.

As Isaac, you can sit quietly and with your imaginary hands you can feel the difference between a tennis ball, a baseball, a football, and a golf ball. If they are nothing (because they are subjective and not objectively real to you at the moment) then you could not discriminate between them. But, if you can feel the difference between these so-called unrealities, then they must be real, although not yet made objective to your senses. The moment you give them reality in your mind’s eye, they will become real in your world.

Try it just for fun. Take an object and thank the being within you for the gift. Then thank the one on the outside, for within and without are vicarious, as is life; for by observing an odor, a look, or a feeling within, you will discover you are life itself.

Yes, life is a game. Paul calls it a race, saying: “I have finished the race, I have fought the good fight and I have kept the faith.” I call it a game. Both are competitive; but the opposition is with self and not with another, for there is no other. Do not try to get even with another. Grant him the right to use the same law to achieve his goal, even though it may be similar to yours. The knowledge you share will never rob you. Simply determine your goal. Feel you have achieved it and cast your bread upon the water. Then drop it and let the game of life be fulfilled in your world.

Now let us go into the silence.

neville goddard Imagination Is Reality

THE GOSPEL

by with No Comment ImaginationNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdom

Neville Goddard 01-22-1968

neville goddard Imagination Is RealityWhen you hear the word “gospel” you usually think in terms of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but tonight I want to introduce you to the gospel as found in the letters of Paul.

Listen to these words carefully: “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and turning to a different gospel, not that there is another gospel, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or any who hear him, should preach a gospel that is contradictory to that which we preached to you, let him be accursed.” Then he repeats this saying: “I have said before so now I say again. If anyone teaches a gospel that is contrary to the gospel we preach, let him be accursed.” You will notice that Paul includes himself in that statement, because it is possible under the threat of death or pain or torture for man to confess that he was wrong. (The churches made Galileo confess, under the threat of Cain, that the earth was stationary and not moving around the sun, even though today we know Galileo was right.)

The churches still teach a Christ that never existed, but Paul taught what he had received through revelation, saying: “Paul, an apostle, not from men nor through man, but through a revelation of Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead. I will have you know that this gospel, which I preach is not man’s gospel. I did not receive it from a man, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” Then he tells us who Jesus Christ is, saying: “From now on I regard no one from a human point of view; even though I once regarded Christ from a human point of view, I regard him thus no longer.”

Now, the word “Christ” and “Messiah” are the same in scripture. Confessing “I am a child of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin,” Paul was a master in the law of Israel. Looking for some physical descendant of Jehovah to come as a messiah and destroy the enemies of Israel, the mystery unfolded in him, and he said: “I want you to know how greatly I strive for you that you will have an assured understanding and knowledge of God’s mystery of Christ in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

To Paul, the wisdom and power and knowledge of God which suddenly erupted in him was Christ, for when the visions came he understood who the messiah really was. Paul realized that God, called “the Word”, was buried in man and had three stages to its history: its planting, its death, and its resurrection. First the Word is sown (or imparted). Entering the world of death, it is forgotten in the struggle for food and clothing, rent and taxes. Then the Word is heard with understanding, quickened, and as it erupts all the promises of God to Abraham unfold from within the individual. When it erupts in you, you will no longer search for a physical Christ, for you will know Christ as the wisdom and power of God in you! Like Paul, you will then say: “I no longer regard anyone from the human point of view. Even though I once regarded Christ from the human point of view I regard him thus no longer.” Knowing that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, you discover who can!

Paul, speaking to the Thessalonians, said: “When you received the Word of God that we preach to you, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it really is, the Word of God that works in you, the believers.” In this statement Paul is speaking to those who hear God’s eternal story and believe it. They are the ones who, when the world calls their dear ones dead, persist in believing they are not dead but alive, and that God will fulfill his promise in them. They believe, not in the words of men, but in the Word of God buried within.

Now, here is a story I received last Friday night. This will illustrate how you will know when the Word is quickened in you. This lady found herself, in dream, in a huge crowd, seated on a grassy hillside. A man was standing on a small, raised platform speaking into a microphone. In his hands he held an open Bible. Then a gentleman stood up and said: “I challenge anyone to disprove my knowledge of the Bible.” (This lady, in keeping with the character that she really is – and she certainly is not lukewarm in anything that she does) rose, and quoting the 22nd chapter of the Book of Matthew, the 42nd, 43rd, and 45th verses (she omitted the 44th verse which is a quote from the 110th Psalm) said: “Question, please! What think ye of the Christ? Whose son is he? They answered, ‘The son of David’ Then he said to them, ‘Why then did David in the Spirit call him Lord? If David thus calls him Lord how can he be David’s son?'” Completing the quote, she continued to explain to the crowd the relationship between Christ and David, saying: “Christ is the Father and David the Son in fulfillment of scripture.” Then in the dead silence that followed the statement, she awoke. The Word has become so quickened in her that it is only a matter of moments before it will erupt and the story of Jesus Christ will be her story.

No individual called Jesus Christ was ever crucified on a wooden cross. When Paul said: “I have been crucified with Christ” he was speaking of the Cosmic Christ who is crucified on humanity that humanity may become a living soul. It’s the wisdom of God and the power of God that is crucified, died, and is buried in you. And it is that same power and wisdom which awakens to reveal you as God’s power and wisdom.

In the state of Paul you, too, will say: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is not I who live, but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.” You may think a person is speaking but it is God himself, who so loved you he gave you his power and wisdom called Christ, that in time you would awaken to the realization that you are God.

In Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he asks this question: “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?” Now I am going to ask you: Are you going to think of a physical man called Jesus Christ? An external savior who will come through the loins of the descendants of David? Or are you going to think of the Christ-Spirit that is buried in you when I speak of the Christ? Will you accept the idea that the Spirit of Christ is crucified on you and buried in you? Will rise in you as you? Or are you going to continue to see a physical being called Christ as God’s power and wisdom?

Paul confesses: “I did not receive this from men, nor was I taught it by man. It came through a revelation of Jesus Christ, which is God in the act of self-revelation!” Then he continues, “When it pleased God to reveal his Son in me I did not confer with flesh and blood.” How could you ask another to explain a revelation, which came from within you? They could tell you all kinds of things about the outside, but they cannot tell you a thing about this great mystery until it has unfolded in them. In the 2nd chapter of Colossians Paul says: “I want you to have the assured understanding and knowledge of God’s mystery of Christ.” He tells you Christ is a mystery, as all the treasures of the wisdom and the knowledge of God are hid in him.

Christ was never a single little man who walked the earth. The Christ-Spirit, God’s very own power and wisdom, is crucified and buried in you, and one day that power will rise in you and you will know that you are He. “Let any one who teaches another gospel be accursed.” Well, the whole vast world teaches another gospel. They tell you that a little man was physically born from the womb of a woman who was spiritually impregnated, and that’s not the story at all! Everyone will give birth to Christ! This will be a sign unto you when you hold that babe in your own arms, for at that moment you will be holding the sign of your birth into life itself!

Let me share with you a vision of George Russell (known to us all as AE) from his book, The Candle of Vision, which he begins by quoting from Proverbs and Job, saying: “The Spirit of man is that candle of the Lord and when his candle shines upon my head, by its light I walk through darkness.” His vision begins: “Where I saw this I will not say. There was a hall vaster than any cathedral, with pillars that seemed built out of living and trembling opal. High between the pillars were thrones upon which sat Divine Kings, all fire-crested. One wore the crest of the serpent, another plumed with feathers of flame. At the end of the hall sat one greater than the rest who radiated light as the sun. Below on the floor lay a dark figure, and two of the Divine Kings made motions with their hands above it over head and body. Where their hands waved, sparkles of fire like flashing jewels broke out. Then out of this body rose a being as tall, as glorious and majestic as those seated on the thrones. As he woke to the hall and became aware of his brothers, he lifted up his hands in greeting, and the tall golden figures leaped up from their thrones, raised their hands in greeting, and quickly faded into the light where the great one sat.” AE had eavesdropped upon a god who was awakening from his passage through darkness into light.

Now so entranced in this world, you have forgotten that vast hall where you laid yourself down to dream this world into being; but one day you too will awaken, and your brothers, all vested kings, will be there to greet you. One by one everyone will awaken in that same manner to be incorporated into that single body which was at the end, waiting for the return of all.

You and I agreed to dream in concert and this world is our dream. It is a world of darkness, a world that is a nightmare, but in the end you too will return enriched by the dream. You will awaken to find yourself glorified by it, glorious and majestic because of your experience in this world of darkness, this world of death.

Now, another lady gave me a letter on Friday, saying: “I have been having the strangest thing happening to me. I have been having double vision. While in my living room doing the normal housewife chores I see a roadway there, bathed in living light, with a light of greater intensity at its end. All day long the two worlds converged to remain with me, yet one world did not seem to disturb the other.

“The first night of the double vision, as I lay down to sleep I saw a tall being robed in white. He was so magnificent I felt that I must be at his feet, yet I knew I was on my bed. Standing erect with his arms raised above his head, I see he is holding a lamp which illuminates everything round about him. Then I am looking through his eyes and seeing my husband sleeping on the bed. Suddenly I realized that I am the being having the experience and the one who is conveying it.” Then she asked this question: “Could I be this glorious being I saw?”

May I say to her: You are infinitely greater than you think you are, for you are the being looking through the eye and the one stretched out on the bed called your husband, as you are the invisible cause of all! You are awake, really home, and it’s only a matter of moments before you will be completely awake from this dream of life. Oh, you will have many fantastic experiences, which may frighten your friends and disturb relatives, but you cannot help it, for you have arrived.

Now, Paul wrote his Gospel to the Galatians before 52 AD. All of his letters were written before the four gospels came into existence. Mark, the earliest gospel, was written in the year 70 A.D. and John, the last, was written in 90 A.D. Read the Book of John and you will see that it has drawn heavily on the story of Paul. All of the promises of God awoke in Paul. Telling the story as it unfolded in him, he said: “Anyone who tells another gospel, let him be accursed.” Any other gospel destroys the truth and keeps men as slaves. Even today, after 2,000 years, men are still led astray by being taught the historicity of Christ, for it is a mystery.

When Paul read the Old Testament without its revelation, he believed that Abraham was a being of flesh and blood. In the Book of Galatians he tells the story of Abraham and his two wives: Hagar, who bears children into slavery, and Sarah, who bears children into freedom. Then he said: “This is an allegory.” Now, an allegory is a story that is told as if it were true, leaving the one who hears it to discover its fictitious character and extract its meaning. If the story of Abraham as stated in the 4th chapter of Galatians is an allegory, and the New Testament begins: “This is the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” – is the story of Jesus Christ not an allegory, written for us to learn its message? This doesn’t mean the story is a lie, but because man cannot grasp the mystery of God, it is told in the form of a tale. Unfortunately, man has accepted the story instead of its message. The story of Jesus is an allegory, yet it is truer than anything known to man, for the wisdom of man is foolishness in the eyes of God, who wrote the story.

In 1929 at the age of twenty-four, I stood in the presence of the Risen Lord, and when he asked me a simple question I answered in the words of Paul: “Faith, hope, and love, these three, but the greatest of these is love.” When I came back to this world I must confess I wondered why I used the words of Paul rather than one of the evangelists. I am not saying that which is recorded in the four gospels is not true. It is all true, but the experiences recorded there were built from this original gospel, and any teaching contrary to it is a lie. There is no historical Jesus Christ. There never was one and there never will be.

Paul was looking for the Messiah to come from the outside, and when he came from within, Paul was honest enough to record what happened to him, and for that he was condemned by the Sanhedrin, his own earthly brothers. They imprisoned him, chained him, and wanted his death because he dared to bring a translation of the prophecies of God that differed from what they expected.

They wanted an external Messiah, but Christ does not come that way. He awakens from within, for it is He who is playing all the parts. So the Word, having been received by man, awakens to discover himself! It has been him all along, and when he returns from his passage through darkness into the heavenly guild, all of his kingly brothers will be waiting for him. Arriving there, he will contribute to the wisdom and the power and the glory of God, for everyone returns with his gift!

Read Paul’s thirteen letters carefully and you will realize that the system of the Christian faith was fully matured before Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John came into existence. Paul calls his system the Gospel of God, the message of salvation.

Having fulfilled scripture, I know that everything said there is non-historical and yet true. One story is told of the feeding of the five thousand. Calling himself the bread of life that came down from heaven and referred to as the great fish, he tells us all that we must eat his body and drink his blood, so in this story the five thousand are spiritually fed. This is my experience of that story.

In the year 1946 I was sailing through the Caribbean toward Mobile, Alabama, when suddenly I was lifted up on high in one spiral motion. As I rose, a heavenly chorus began to sing over and over again: “Neville is Risen” and I felt as though I had been encased in a conflict with death and I was its victor. Clothed in a body of fire, I was a fiery being dwelling in a body of air. Before my eyes I could see an infinite seat of human imperfection and I knew they were waiting for me. Knowing that if I be lifted up to a state of perfection, I lift all men unto me, I glide by them completely undisturbed and unconcerned. And as I do, each and every person was made perfect, as missing members of their bodies appeared out of the nowhere and remolded themselves into the bodies. All this time the heavenly chorus accompanied me, singing: “Neville is Risen.” When everyone was made perfect the chorus exulted: “It is finished,” and then – for the first time since I left eternity – I knew the cramped stage of being here, for at that moment I felt myself come down and condense once more into the straightjacket of this body on the bunk of a freighter coming into Mobile, Alabama.

In that vivid experience I fed the thousands – not a little bread, but myself. Having conquered death, I was perfect as my Father in heaven is perfect, and I fed them what they wanted. The one who wanted the eye got it, he who wanted that arm got the arm. Whatever they wanted they got in its fullness, and when everyone was made perfect the chorus exulted: “It is finished,” and I was crystallized into this little thing called Neville, where I have remained since 1946. Now I know what is in store for me when I break the bonds of this straightjacket and return to the heavenly guild, as I know my brothers are waiting for my return from this journey through darkness into light.

Now let us go into the silence.

neville goddard imagination creates reality

THE GREAT MYSTERY

by with No Comment ImaginationNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdom

Neville Goddard 04-12-1968

neville goddard imagination creates realityEaster Sunday is the day the world celebrates the greatest mystery of the Christian faith. I use the word “mystery” advisedly, for in the Book of Mark, Jesus turns to his disciples and says: “To you it has been given to know the mystery of God, but to those outside, everything is in parables.” (Mark 4) Here we see that the mystery of God is revealed from within, while the story of God is told as a parable to those on the outside. A parable is a story told as though it were true, leaving the one who hears it to discover its fictitious character and learn its lesson. On Good Friday, possibly hundreds of millions of people will attend the three-hour service. An equal number – and maybe even a greater number – will go to Easter service on Sunday, not knowing they are worshiping a parable which must be experienced from within to be known.

Paul said: “Great indeed is the mystery of our religion.” This is not something to be kept as a secret, but is mysterious in character. Its mystery is not easily accepted. We are told in the Book of John that many followers could not accept his words. They left never to walk with him again. (John 6)

The Christian world celebrates Good Friday as the day Jesus died, yet scripture tells us this is not true. In the Book of Galatians, Paul states: “I have been crucified with Christ; nevertheless it is not I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2) You could hang on the cross forever, and not experience the death of the Son of God. Matthew, Mark, and Luke, record his death as taking place when “He cried again with a loud voice and yielded his spirit. And behold the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and all the rocks were split.” (Matthew 27; Mark 15; Luke 23)

There are two sides to the coin of the Easter celebration. The yielding of the spirit, and the severance of the body of God. “I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ who is within me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.” God gives himself to you the moment the curtain is torn. Spirit fell from unity into diversity, into a world of generation and death. But when your spiritual body is split in two, spirit takes your individuality with him and once more ascends into unity and regeneration. This is the true story of Good Friday. The world, however, will not believe it. Looking on the outside, they hear the parable and believe it is a fact.

Now, as the disciples entered the tomb, a young man sitting at the right said: “You seek Jesus who was crucified? He has risen and is no longer here. See the place where they laid him.” This statement discloses the fact that Jesus has risen, as well as the place of the resurrection. But no effort is made to describe how he rose or when it happened. In these two statements we find a fantastic mystery, which I hope to unfold for you from experience. But first, I want to explain what I mean by calling those into my circle and teaching them from within.

This week I received two letters. In the first letter, the lady dreamed she was summoned to me, to discover others were there. Calling her and two others to me, I said: “I must die.” They were so delighted with the news, and as she turned to tell the others, she awoke. The following night, one of the friends in her dream found herself with two others, being taught a new language by me and making an effort to understand and learn from me. She awoke, wrote it down, and returned to sleep – to discover that now the three were linked together, as they attempted to speak the language. I was standing off to one side, helping whenever they needed it. Again she awoke and recorded the dream. And again she closed her eyes, re-entered the dream, to discover that now the three of them were one. I stood before them, called them forward, and said: “I must die to the flesh in order to live in you. From now on you will find me within.”

On this level these dreams are a parable, a story of the inner man, which – falling into diversity, is separate, linked together in the search for the cause of all life, ultimately discovering the unity of all. It is true. It is necessary that I die, but I have already. On the 8th day of April, 1960, I died to all generation. My creative powers have now turned into regeneration and now, night after night, I beget on the higher level.

It is said, that as he cried the loudest, he yielded his spirit; and the curtain of the temple was torn from top to bottom, the rocks were split, and the earth shook. This is true. When my spiritual body was split, I felt every little vertebra of my spine separate. Then, like a serpent, I moved up into the Holy of Holies. This is how your creative power, called the Son of man, is lifted up. In his 12th chapter, John tells us: “When I am lifted up from the earth, I draw all men to me.” The evangelist who is telling the story added this remark: “He said this to show by what means he would die.” This is not true. He said this to disclose the kind of death that would be his.

Only by yielding the spirit, can you die and ascend into a new being. You must draw yourself into yourself, otherwise you will hang on the cross forever.
Everyone is hanging on the cross, manifesting the flesh. Having been crucified with Christ, it is not the flesh which lives, but Christ, who lives in a fleshly garment. The life you now live in the flesh you live by faith in the Son of God, who loved you and gave himself for you. I remember the moment I cried out – splitting the curtain, and finding myself part of that pool of golden, liquid light at the base of my spine. Then I moved up into the Holy of Holies.

One man fell into diversity. Now asleep, he sees millions of others and does not realize they are himself pushed out. The lady saw three others, separate and individualized, then linked together, and finally one. Well, multiply three a million times, and you will see multitudes, all separate. Then the linking, the meshing, the weaving, of one thought into another; and finally the unity of all.

These marvelous experiences did not take place on this level; and if you try to interpret them as something that will happen here, you go amiss. When you meet me at night, it is because you have conjured me out of the depths of your own being. I am always with you, but not on this level. I died in 1960, and from that day on I have revealed the secrets of God from within.

We are all on this cross, but we have not died, for only God dies. It is God who is speaking in William Blake’s beautiful statement: “Unless I die thou cans’t not live. But if I die I shall arise again and thou with me. Would thou love one who never died for thee? Or ever die for one who had not died for thee? And if God dieth not for Man and gives himself eternally for Man, Man could not exist.” So God dies, and everyone who is raised becomes one with him. You know me as a person, but I am one with God, so in that sense I died. I have to die to the flesh in order to lie in you. From now on you will find me within, not without.

The parable the Christian world will celebrate on Easter Sunday belongs to this level, but its meaning is within. Walking with you on the outside, I eat and drink and do all the normal things of life here. If you ask anything of me, I will do it for you. But when you meet me in the depth of your own being, I will be teaching the spirit.

Good Friday and Easter are two great mysteries. Good Friday comes first in the parable, but scripture tells us that the first is last, and the last is first. This is true, for the resurrection, which we celebrate on Sunday, is the first of the great events.
In fact, two events take place that very moment: the awakening within and the departure of your spiritual body from the tomb. “In a moment, in the twinkle of an eye, at the last trumpet all will be changed into the imperishable one.” This is the great eschatological trumpet of the 27th chapter of Isaiah. When this great trumpet sounds, all those who entered the land of Egypt will be called back to worship in Jerusalem. The word “trumpet” means “reverberation.” There is a peculiar reverberation that takes place. You feel as though every bone in your skull is breaking but instead, you awaken within yourself, come out to leave your tomb empty. That is your spiritual birth!

The Easter story begins with the resurrection. God is buried in you and this is the story of his seed. “Unless a seed falls into the earth and dies it remains alone, but if it dies it brings forth much.” Here is the story of life through death. God dies for your salvation. His death is your redemption. He was with you from the beginning, experiencing all of your pain and joy. But when he gives up this world the curtain is split, and as he is lifted up he takes himself – now individualized – with him. That is your ascension. Now, the resurrection is not the ascension. Your resurrection and birth from above come first. This is followed by the ascension nine months later.
To the Christian world this is only a parable, for they have not stirred themselves to question it. And not everyone who hears the truth will believe it, because they have not been called to hear it – and that goes from the Pope down.

No matter what name man calls himself, or what robes he clothes himself in, he is sound asleep. Anyone who believes in a man who lived two thousand years ago, thinks things happen on the outside, and has no desire to question the meaning behind the parable. But one day, a man will know from experience that everything is taking place within. That the world is but a mirror, reflecting that which is within. So her vision was perfect. It started with separation, then – linking together – it ended with unification.

I have told you the great mystery of the crucifixion. Every child born of woman has been crucified with Christ. But only when his spiritual body is split, does Christ die to the flesh. Today I read the work of a brilliant scholar who stated he thought it was merciful that Jesus only had to suffer three hours. Here is a man who knows his Greek, Latin, and Hebrew backwards, but cannot see the mystery behind the parable. He added the thought that they did not break his bones because scripture had to be fulfilled, yet he hasn’t the slightest concept as to what that means. Bones represent the law of God which cannot be broken by man. It is the law of the identical harvest. Jesus is the fulfillment of the law and the promise, but those who worship the parable think the bones of his feet were not broken so that scripture may be fulfilled.

God’s law was established in the beginning, as everything must bear fruit after its own kind. If it’s a pear tree, it bears pears; a plum tree bears plums, and an apple tree, apples. Bones represent the law of identical harvest. Assuming you are known or unknown, wanted or unwanted, wealthy or poor, your assumption is your seed and because of God’s law you will bring forth that which you have assumed you are. So when Jesus Christ had risen, the curtain had been torn and he had left this sphere. But having left this law behind, they could not break his bones.

A great scholar sees everything on the outside and therefore speaks of a parable. But you have been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven. Not everyone will receive it, so it is offered to more than can accept it. There will always be a remnant, however, who will understand and believe; and that is how we go up.

In the lady’s vision, she saw how protean I am. First there were three, then linked together they became one. In that same way I am part of your being, always speaking to you from within. And when you see me in vision, I will not be talking about this visible garment I wear, or when I will depart from it, for no one knows the hour or the day. When asked: “Teach us the number of our days,” no reply was given (Psalm 39). If anyone tries to tell you they know when you will depart, do not believe them.

It is my desire that everyone will soon celebrate the splitting of the spiritual temple and move into an entirely different world to exercise a power of which mortal man knows not of. I can’t explain this power, but it is in my head. I can move mountains by simply exercising it as this power is my very being. Hearing it in my head, I control it there. My five senses have synthesized into a power so great I can do anything, and as I exercise this power it grows and grows and grows. It has been eight years since God died, and since that time I have grown in power, grown in wisdom, and expanded in the bosom of God. It is my prayer that you will know it, too.

Now let us go into the silence.

neville goddard Imagination Is Reality

THE GREAT SECRET

by with No Comment ImaginationNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdom

Neville Goddard 09-29-1969

neville goddard Imagination Is RealityJudas is called the betrayer, but what was it that he betrayed? Judas betrayed the great secret of the messiah and where Jesus might be found. His is the most important role in the great mystery of God.

“I have found in David, the son of Jesse, a man after my heart who will do all my will. Of this man’s posterity God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised. Then in the 43rd chapter of Isaiah, the Lord reveals the Savior saying; “I, I am the Lord, and besides me there is no savior.” If God brought a savior to humanity, he had to bring himself – as Jesus, which simply means “I am.” This he revealed in the great “I am” statements: I am the vine; I am the door; I am the shepherd; I am the bread. In those statements Jesus is declaring that unless you believe that your “I am” is Lord, you die in your sins; for your “I am” is Jesus – your Savior – the man who will rule as God, as he promised.

When you hear the word “Jesus” you may think of someone outside of yourself; but I tell you: your I AMness is Jesus – sound asleep. He is buried in you and will one day awaken in you. Asleep, you are a son of God; but when he awakes, you are God the Father. Sending his sons into the world to conquer death, the sons return as the Father of all life. “Beloved, we are now the sons of God. It does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, and see him as he is.”

As a son of God, it does not appear what you will be; but when God appears, you will know him, because you will be just like him! That is the great messianic secret! And when that secret is unveiled in you, you will see the importance of separating the words “Jesus” and “Christ”- as stated in the Book of Revelation: “Come Lord Jesus and his Christ,” for Christ is the messiah – God’s great son David, who reveals you as his Father, Jesus.

Man has completely forgotten the mystery and speaks of Jesus as a little man who was born of a woman two thousand years ago – when Jesus is God himself. Your awareness of being is Jesus, who is God the Father. The great secret of the Christian faith is the revelation of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. The fatherhood of God is Jesus in you. Do you not realize that Jesus and his Christ are in you? Did not David (the Christ) come in the spirit and call Jesus “Lord”? If David were not in you, you would never know that you are God the Father.

One day David came out of me. He stood before me and I knew exactly who he was and our relationship with one another, even before he called me father. Now I know that everyone will one day have the identical experience, for there is only one God, only one Father. We are all members of that one body which share in this wonderful promised end, as everything resolves itself into the one who is God the Father.

So Judas reveals the messianic secret by telling you that you will find the Lord Jesus in heaven, and that heaven is within you. If anyone should say; “Come – look: here he is, or: there he is,” don’t believe him; for the kingdom of heaven is within you. When you find Jesus, your journey is over. Then your heart will go out to everyone, for you will know they are your brothers. You are not going to become sons of God; you are already gods, sons of the Most High, becoming God Himself.

God is able to give himself to you as though there were no other – just God and you. Believe that, and the most incredible story ever told – which is the pattern of salvation – will unfold in you to reveal you as God the Father. That is the story of the Bible.

The Old Testament is an adumbration, a foreshadowing, while the New is its fulfillment, written as a rough draft. Paul wrote his thirteen letters at least twenty years – chronologically speaking – before the first gospel, which is Mark; yet no book spells it out completely. I have tried my best to make it clear just how it unfolded within me, and how I came to the full realization of myself as God the Father.

I tell you, there is no other God, no other being. God actually sent his sons into this world. He chose you in himself before the foundation of the world.

You are here to perform a certain job; and when you do, you will say: “Father, I have finished the work thou gavest me to do. Now return unto me the glory that was mine, the glory that I had with thee before that the world was”. As a son, you radiate the glory of God; but when you return, you are that glory, you are that God. God the Father transforms his sons into himself by giving us his own son, who reveals our true identity. This is the mystery of life through death.

There is a pattern in those 39 books of the Old Testament that fulfills itself in the New. Paul urges everyone to “Follow the pattern of the true word which you heard from me.” Here, he is telling you that his words are true, but he doesn’t spell them out. He makes the statement: “When it pleased God to reveal his son in me, I conferred not with flesh and blood,” but he doesn’t tell the experience.

Paul was the first to use the word “Christ” which is the word “messiah” and means “God has touched; made contact.” Descending upon a son in bodily form as a dove, God has contacted that son through the sense of touch. That contact is the gift of the Holy Spirit, and in that act God seals his gift. In the Old Testament, God decreed David to be his son.

And in the New Testament, David comes in the Spirit and reveals you as his father. This is the great secret that Judas betrayed. Having had the experiences, Judas betrayed the messianic secret and tells where Jesus might be found, and who he is.

Jesus is in you as your breath of life. One day he will awaken, and as he rises in you, you rise. At that moment you are saved from this world of death and transformed into the God of all life. That is the story of Christianity.

Don’t look for Christ to come on the outside. Hundreds of millions are waiting for him to come and change the world, but it is not going to change. It’s a world of educated darkness, a school; and you do not change a school into a home, and heaven is your home. One day you will graduate from this school and receive the gift of God himself. As this gift is given, you awaken to discover you are in the grave where you first laid yourself down to sleep. Then the pattern of the true words that you have heard from me will unfold in you.

Paul tried to tie his experiences into the Old Testament, as he quoted the 39 books one after the other; but he didn’t expound on them. But, as Blake said: “That which can be made explicit to the idiot is not worth my care.” Maybe Paul felt the same way. Why spell it out, when desire to understand will force you to search the scriptures and ask yourself why, what, where, and when. If you will ask yourself these questions, you will find their answers within you.

I tell you: God literally became you that you may become God. And in becoming God the Father, you do not lose your individuality. You are not only a member of this wonderful body – sharing in the purpose end of all things – but you are the body, for you are its animating spirit.

You are a member, yet the whole, for in God there is no division. And no one will be lost. Although the evangelists tell us how we are sinning and will be lost, it is not God’s will that one be lost, because God would be lost. You cannot say “I am” unless God is in you. You may be a moron, yet you still know that you are. You may not know who you are, where you are, or what you are; but you cannot stop knowing that you are. That awareness is God, and there is no other.

Judas reveals the good news that God has wrought it. What courage one should take from this message. The evangelists are giving good advice tonight, telling everyone how to live, what to say and how to act. But the gospels give us the good news of salvation, telling us that God actually became his sons in order to transform them into himself, that they may rise as God the Father!

Not all of the sons came out. In the story of the prodigal son, we are told that the one who remained complained. He thought he didn’t have anything – yet he had it all. You may own the world, but if you do not know it, you can die of starvation for the want of food. A bank can be holding a billion dollars of yours, but if you do not know it you will not write a check. But when you become aware of who you really are, you will know that the whole is yours. Then you will say: “I and my Father are one, and all mine are thine and thine are mine.”

After the great resurrection, you will play the part of Judas, and tell everyone who comes into your world who the messiah is and where Jesus might be found. I can’t tell you my thrill when I receive letters from you containing scriptural experiences you have had. I received a letter from a young lady who is still in school. She is majoring in music as she wants to be a composer. In her letter she said: “I have a dear friend who was having a birthday and I wanted to give him something special. It didn’t have to be material, it could be something I said or did that he would be proud of. I fell asleep dwelling on this, when I awoke at 2:00 a.m. with a vivid memory of this dream. I was sitting on my bed with my mother and father standing near. My father handed me three records saying: ‘Keep two and give him the third. He will love it and never tire of listening to it.’ Then I held a sheet of music containing the notes from which the record was made. I saw that the composition’s title was ‘Christ’, and the composer’s name was “Olam”.

She saw correctly. The word “Olam” means “something hidden; kept out of sight; a lad; a youth; a stripling,” and is translated “eternity” in the statement, “God has put eternity into the mind of man, yet so that man cannot find out what God has done until the end.”

When your journey comes to its end you will find that eternal youth who is God’s son, David. He is Olam, the eternal youth, the composer of the music – which is all about himself; for he is the Christ of scripture. Jesus – the Lord, and Christ – his son, are in you. Separate the two. Christ is not a title given Jesus, but his power and wisdom, which came out into the world to do his will. Jesus is the Savior, of which there is only one. “I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior and besides me there is no savior.” Here is a young girl, still in school, who has found Christ, the composer, and the composition.

You can’t exhaust the subject of Christ, but man is forever misunderstanding it. The crowds believe some little man was crucified on a cross by Jews, but John tells us: “You know not whom you worship, but we know who we worship, for salvation is from the Jews.” If you think of a physical Jew you are in error. A Jew is an Israelite who is not a descendant of Abraham after the flesh, but the elect of God of any race or nation. The Old Testament is the Book of the Jews, of which you – as the son of God – came into this world to fulfill. Every mystical experience, if foreshadowed by a word in the Old Testament, is predestined, written by God’s servants – the prophets.

The chronological order of both the Old and the New Testament is not accurate. Matthew is the first book in our New Testament, yet Mark came before Matthew; and the letters of Paul came before the four gospels. Our forefathers of the church arranged the books as they now appear, but they do not give the true order of the unfolding picture any more than the books in the Old Testament do. Paul found the pattern unfolding in him and shared his experiences. In his second letter to Timothy, he urged him not to deviate from “my gospel,” but he did not spell it out. I have told you the chronological order just as it happened to me.

The crucifixion begins the journey into time. Coming out from the Father, you came into the world by being crucified on humanity. As Paul said: “I know only Christ and him crucified.” But the drama of redemption begins with your resurrection from humanity and your spiritual birth. Then you will discover the Fatherhood of God through your son, David (who is Christ) calling you father. This is the gift God gave himself through his sons – the gift of fatherhood.

One day you will know this truth by the betrayal of the great secret of the messiah. Judas not only reveals the great secret, but tells you where to find Jesus. He is in the garden as the tree of life. Blake knew. That is why he said, “The gods of the earth and sea sought through nature to find that tree. But their search was all in vain, there grows one in the human brain.” One day that tree – whose roots are in your brain – will reverse itself, and the story of Jesus and his Christ will unfold in you.

You and I were sons of God before we entered these garments of death. When we return, we will have added to God the Father, yet remained individualized. I can’t tell you the joy, the ecstasy that is in store for you on your return, for you came out from the Father and came into the world. Now you will leave the world and return to the Father, as the Father.

So, God’s gift to you is Christ, who is his son, David. And Christ’s gift is the spirit of truth which unfolds to reveal your true identity. As the son, you have come into the world to do the will of him who sent you. And in the end you will discover you sent yourself, for you will have found David, the son of Jesse (I AM) – one after your own heart who does all your will. Asleep, the messiah does the will of the Father; but when he awakes, the messiah and the Father are one.

We came out from the world of life to enter the world of death in a grand experiment, not knowing if we would succeed. He chose us – in him – for the experiment, then made us victorious over death by giving us himself, that we may know we are God the Father. I am speaking from experience. I am not theorizing or speculating. Jesus is in you as your own wonderful human imagination. When you say, “I am,” that is Jesus. One day your awareness will awaken and rise. Then everything said of the Lord in the Old Testament will be fulfilled in you. And from that moment on your adventure will be over, and you will walk conscious of being God the Father.

What a glorious concept. God actually gave himself to everyone for a grand experiment which cannot fail in any one, not even a Hitler or Stalin. No monster can fail, because the resurrection is now a fact. It has been proven so. Everyone will return – not as the son of God (which is glorious enough) but of God himself. That is my message to you. And it is true.

I want to thank this sweet young lady for sharing her experience with me, that I may share it with you. Desiring to express herself in a loving way towards one she respects, she sees her parents – the symbol of her creative power – enter her room. Her father tells her of three records – were there not three who stood before Abraham when the birth of the child was announced? They were called men, not records, but it is the same symbolism. She was told to keep two and give him the other, as he would love it so and never tire of listening to it. The music was composed by Olam, the eternal youth and its title was Christ. Here is the composer writing about himself, just as man does here.

Every book you read is a man’s thoughts, beliefs, and feelings, in the written form. He had to acquire the ability to write, and anyone can do that. Go to school, apply yourself, and master the technique of writing. Then, as you start to write, you will discover you can only write the thoughts that permeate your own mind. You may think you are detached from your thoughts; but you and your thoughts are one, so you are writing all about yourself. So, Olam – the eternal youth – composed the composition “Christ,” which is all about himself; and you, O Christ, will never tire of listening to your incredible story.

Now let us go into the silence.

neville goddard Imagination Is Reality

THE HEART OF THE DREAMER

by with One Comment ImaginationNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdom

Neville Goddard 12-01-1969

neville goddard Imagination Is RealityThe Christian world calls this the season of Advent; the coming of the great event or person; the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course Paul, in his letter to the Galatians doesn’t condemn it, but wonders if they really got the message, saying: “I notice you observe days and months and seasons and years! I am afraid I have labored over you in vain.” There is nothing wrong with observing this season of the year, as long as you understand it as the coming of the great event or person.

Tonight I will tell you what I know from experience, from which my conviction was born. I must, however, use certain imagery in order to explain it. so I ask that you follow me in your imagination. Your wonderful human imagination is a reproduction of the Divine Imagination. Think of the human imagination as brain cells in the mind of the dreamer, which Divine Imagination sent out to infinity for a divine purpose. These brain cells are destined to return, like a boomerang, right back into the center of Divine Imagination as the dreamer who is God the Father.

The going out as sons is not easy. It was never intended to be. It takes the horrors of the world to awaken and expand his sons into God the Father. I promise you: the day will come when the divine breath will breathe over you and you will awaken in your immortal tomb. You, too, will leave that tomb to hold the infant child in your arms. He will be the symbol of your return, revealing the end of your horrors. Although you are then God the Father, you will not discover this for yourself until one hundred and thirty-nine days later, [when] God’s son, David, will reveal your true identity.

Before I retired last night I was wondering what I would talk to you about, and this morning about 1:30, I found myself preparing dinner for three friends. (I took care of the funeral of two of them many years ago in New York City. The third may be gone, as I haven’t heard from her for a very long time.) I was serving Barbados yams, which are unlike the ones we have here. It is a root weighing anywhere from two to thirty pounds. Its covering is dark brown, while the interior is snowy white.

As I approached the table, two jackals or silver foxes, approached, jumped on the table, and in the most vicious manner the father jackal tore a large hunk out of the back of his son and began to nail his son upon a board with its center gouged out to fit that hunk. The extended portion of the cross was wood, while the son’s body formed the upright part of the cross. Then I awoke.

This morning, I went to The Lost Language of Symbolism, by Bayley, where I read that the jackal is the pathfinder in the desert. He is equated with the Egyptian god, Osiris, who, as the “opener of ways to the gods, he brings three to the mountains.”

In the audience tonight are two ladies whose experiences I would like to share. One lady found herself in a crowd, looking at a woman surrounded by three men, who suddenly disappeared. The lady approached and asked their names, to which my friend replied: “Faith, hope and charity.” (The word “charity” is translated “love” in the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, and love is right.) What a wonderful vision for her. She saw the three that he brought to the mountaintop, and knew their names.

The Father took us, the brain cells of his own being, and nailed us upon the cross that we may go out to infinity in a horrible nightmare. Then, like a boomerang, we will curl around and return to the center of the dreamer of the dream as God the Father.

This is the great mystery of Christmas, the day when God the Father is born as Jesus, which means “savior”. In the 43rd and 45th chapters of the Book of Isaiah, we read: “I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your savior and besides me there is no God.” Here we discover that Jesus, our savior, is the Lord God Himself.

Everyone will return to the very heart of the dreamer as the dreamer himself. You were nailed down and sent out to infinity to experience all of its horrors; and when you have experienced them all, you will return as the being who conceived the world and played all the parts. This is the mystery of Christmas. Everyone, eventually, will know that he is the one called Jesus. The word “Christ” is the Greek word for “messiah”, and simply means, “the anointed of God; to rule all of the people of God.” Jesus is the Lord God Himself and Christ is his anointed, who will save the people from their sins and deliver them from their conquerors.

Who is this anointed one? David. He who delivered Israel from the Philistines and brought down the giant Goliath. When you return to your source, you will know that you are God the Father and that his son, David, is your son, for David will stand before you and call you, “Father.” Then and only then will you know who you really are.

What I saw in vision was beautiful imagery of he who finds the path in the wilderness. Nailed upon your cross, you play the part of man until you return – not as a son of God, but as God Himself. Leaving paradise as a little one, you overcome death and return – expanded to encompass all – as the dreamer himself. This is the mystery of Christmas, which is taking place every moment of time.

Another lady shared this experience, saying: “You were with me all through the night, explaining the mystery of imagining. At one point you said: ‘Come, brothers, show how it works’ and instantly a man appeared at my left, and another man – holding an open ledger – appeared at my right. Approaching the man on my left, he said: ‘Our funds are exhausted.’ Looking at him intensely, the brother said not a word, but simply turned and disappeared. Then you said to me, ‘you see? It is just as easy as that. You simply do what is to be done and go your way.’ The one with the ledger, now with an expression of joy on his face, looks at the ledger and sees that – through some miracle – the money is recorded there.” I showed her how imagination works. Believing in the reality of an unseen state, my brother imagined the ledger showed a healthy balance, just as the man desired it to be.

Now, in Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he says: “Paul, an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ – not by men nor through man, but through the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead.” Although the letter is signed “Paul” it is a corporate letter “from the brethren who are with me.” The brethren are those who have awakened from the dream of life. I introduced her to the brethren, who showed her how easy the law of imagining works. Looking intently, he saw the ledger reflect back a balance in the black, then went his way, unconcerned as to how it would come about, as the look of amazement on the other man’s face indicated the change.

This is what I am trying to convey to everyone who will listen. You can prove the law, but the story of Christ cannot be proved on this level. Its truth can only be known from experience. If you will but imagine you are the man (or woman) you want to be and walk convinced that you already are, in the twinkle of an eye the ledger will change. Things will happen in your outer world and your desire will be fulfilled. You need not be concerned as to how it will come about, simply let your Imagination create it.

It will appear in such a normal, natural way that you will be inclined to credit the means employed, rather than the imaginal act which did it. The world will say it would have happened anyway; but let me tell you: it would not, for imagining creates reality. It could not have happened without your imaginal act to support it, but when it comes to pass, it always appears by a natural means. It is miraculous only to the individual who sees the radical change and remembers his imaginal act which created the means that produced the end result.

In a few days, we will be celebrating the birth of Imagination in the individual. Don’t think some little individual was born 2,000 years ago. Everyone agreed to go out and experience the horrors of his own making, knowing that he would return to the mind of the dreamer as the Dreamer Himself. This return is told in the gospel. The story begins with the resurrection, for without it there could be no birth, no expansion, necessary to encompass God the Father.

The divine breath will breathe upon you and you will awaken in your immortal tomb with a built-in, innate wisdom as to how to get out. We are all in that same immortal tomb, as told us in the 87th Psalm. Pointing out different places in the same immortal tomb, he said: “This one was born here, that one there and that one here.” Coming out of that tomb, everyone is destined to hold the infant Christ in his arms and say: “Let me depart in peace according to thy word.”

Having heard salvation’s story, believe it and simply continue your journey until you fulfill it. May I tell you: no one will falter. No one can fail – even the most horrible being imaginable, for he is a son of God, playing the part he has to play. Everyone will play every part in order to say: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” I have played all the parts. My memory is now returning, and I am remembering the horrors of my deeds; so I can now forgive everyone for whatever he is doing – or will do – because these things he agreed to do, as he moves towards the end of the drama. Then, having moved out to infinity, he will curl like a boomerang, to return to the mind of the dreamer as the one who cast him out.

My dream was not a pleasant sight to see. Here was this huge father, tearing a large portion out of the back of his son; and then – as though he had human hands – he placed him on his back and nailed him to the wood, leaving the upright as the body itself. That was the jackal, the Egyptian Osiris, the pathfinder in the desert who knows the path and brings the three to the mountaintop. The three that you bring with you to the mountaintop are not Peter, Paul, and James – but faith, hope, and love, the three the lady saw so clearly in her vision.

The lady who learned how to use the law saw it perfectly, too. The law operates by faith. If you believe, no effort is necessary to see the fulfillment of your every desire. If you go to the bank and have money deposited there equal to your check, you will give them your check in the belief that – because of your faith – they will give you the money you desire. Treat your desire in the same manner. Knowing your desire exists in your imagination, simply expect its fulfillment in your outer world. Try it. I have lived by this law all of my life and know, that by applying this principle, all of your desires will be fulfilled.

Now, tradition tells us that the Christmas season begins on Andrew’s Day, which is the first Sunday nearest the 30th of November. In the gospel story, Andrew is the first disciple in the list of twelve, so his day is the beginning of the four Sundays known as Advent: the coming of the great event or person; the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But when Jesus comes you will not see a being on the outside, for he is in you, and his coming is his awakening in you – as you. You already are the Lord Jesus Christ, but you will not know it until you return to the very center of the one who sent you out into this world of hell. If you don’t believe this is hell, read the morning papers. They are filled with the happenings of people who do not know what they are doing. But it is necessary to experience all the blows of life in order to awaken and expand that little brain cell in the mind of the dreamer, who is God the Father. Contracting, you go out to the very limit of infinity, to return – expanded – into the very center of the mind of the dreamer, as the dreamer himself.

A way for your return was prepared for you before that the world was. This was done by setting up a son called David, the anointed one, as told us in the Book of Samuel. After the Lord had rejected everyone, David – he who was watching the sheep – was brought in, and the prophet Samuel was told to “Rise and anoint him. This is he.” Then the spirit of God came mightily upon David from that day forward. And in the Psalms, the Lord declared: “Thou art my son, today I have begotten thee. I have found David; with my holy oil I have anointed him. He has cried unto me, ‘Thou art my Father, my God and the Rock of my salvation.’” This is implied in the New Testament, when Paul said: “It pleased God to reveal his son in me.” He did not say who that son was, however, and the priesthoods of the world have changed scripture to make it conform to their misconceptions of the story.

Jesus is Awakened Imagination, who is God the Father; and if he is a father, he must have a son. His son is David, the sum total of his journey through humanity. You will know your journey through humanity is over when David stands before you and calls you Father. He is the symbol of the Christ, the anointed one, a man after your own heart, who did all your will.

In this world you have done – are doing, and will continue to do – the will of the Father; and believe it or not, you are doing it in love. And when you have finished the work you set out to do, you will return as the Father, to discover that it was all a dream. This universe, which seems so real, is a dream. We are eternal dreamers, dreaming non-eternal dreams. Falling asleep, you have the illusion of a fabulous journey in space, interlocked with time; but when time is finished, you will awake to discover that you never left your eternal home. That you were never born and have never died, save in your dream.

When time is finished, the breath of the divine being will breathe upon you. You will awaken within that immortal tomb, to come out and see the symbolism which was prepared before that the world was. Taking the infant child wrapped in swaddling clothes in your arms, you will see a heavenly smile appear upon his face, telling you that your journey into the world of death is over. But, because your brothers are still asleep, you will remain here for just a little while to encourage them; for they are all coming back, whether they have just started their journey, or are now returning. Those of you who are here now are returning. I know, for no man comes to me save my Father calls him, and I and my Father are one. Having returned to my Father as the Father, I am only drawing those who are returning, to encourage you to continue for the little while that is left.

The story of Christ is not the anniversary of a little boy who was physically born 2,000 years ago, but about the individual’s spiritual birth from within. This will happen in you when the fullness of time comes. Then he will send the spirit of his son into your heart crying, “Father.” If the spirit of God’s son calls you Father, are you not the one who is dreaming the entire dream? The time has come for this experience to be yours, or you would not be here. But when that moment comes I do not know; only your heavenly Father knows.

There is a peculiar, innate fear in man that he will never find the Father. That is because he does not know what he is looking for. Man thinks it is wealth or security, fame, or marriage and a family, when he is really looking for the Father. But how long, vast, and severe, the anguish ere he finds and knows the Father, is long to tell. He will find him, however, but only through his son. I could tell you from now until the ends of time that you are God the Father, but for you it would only be hearsay until it is experienced. But one day you will know the truth of my words; for God’s son, David, will call you “Father,” and – strangely enough – you will know this relationship more surely than you know anything here on earth.

Now, here is a statement from the 4th chapter of Ecclesiastes: “I saw all the living that move about under the sun, also the second youth which shall stand in his place. There was no end to all the people. He was over all of them, yet those who will come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a striving after wind.” Tonight there are hundreds of millions of people who would not be interested in hearing what you have heard this night. They are those who will come after. At the present time, they would rather have a huge diamond that’s worth a million dollars, or stocks and bonds that pay good dividends. Their hunger is for some little trinket – which will turn to ash – rather than the revelation of the second youth, who will reveal their Fatherhood. Surely this is vanity and a striving after wind. In his 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians, Paul speaks of this youth as the second man, saying: “The first man is of the earth, a man of dust. The second man is from heaven and as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall bear the image of the man of heaven.” I wish he had called him the second youth, in keeping with Ecclesiastes, but it doesn’t really matter. It is the second being, called the “New Man”, in whom we all aspire.

I know that the sensation of resurrection is one of waking. I actually awoke and wondered how long I had been there and who put me there. Blake explained it so beautifully in his poem, “The Mental Traveler.”

“I traveled thro’ a Land of Men
A Land of Men and Women too
And heard and saw such dreadful things
As cold Earth wanderers never knew

For there the Babe is born in joy
That was begotten in dire woe
Just as we reap in joy the fruit
Which we in bitter tears did sow

And if the Babe is born a Boy
He’s given to a Woman Old
Who nails him down upon a rock
Catches his shrieks in cups of gold.”

I saw this in the symbolism of the god of Egypt with the jackal face, yet with hands, which nailed him down. I gasped as I watched the horror, yet he had no compassion, as he tore the back of his son and removed an area equal to the gouged out area of the board. This occurred just as I began to serve those who are dead.

In the 4th chapter of the Book of Daniel, the decree was made to: “Let his mind be changed from the man’s and let a beast’s mind be given him.” Are we not animals here in this world? Today’s paper certainly could convince anyone that we are. This is part of the unfolding horror, because the heart and mind of God was taken when the tree of life was felled. Then the heart and mind of the animal was substituted until one finds the Father; and when you find him, you will discover that you never left your immortal home. In the true sense of the word you were never born and have never died, save in your Imagination.

Now let us go into the silence.

neville goddard Imagination Is Reality

THE HEAVENLY VISION

by with No Comment ImaginationNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdom

Neville Goddard 11-15-1968

neville goddard Imagination Is RealityThe most that can be expected of any man is that he be true to the vision he has seen. Paul, the greatest and possibly the most influential figure in the history of Christianity, was such a man. When brought in chains before the king, he said: “Here I stand on trial for hope in the promise made by God to our fathers. Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead? O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. Here I stand testifying, saying only what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass.’ As he made his defense Festus said, ‘Paul, you are mad; your great learning is turning you mad.’ But Paul said, ‘I am not mad. I am speaking the sober truth. I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has wrought in me.'”

Paul knew no physical Christ, but defined him as the power of God and the wisdom of God, telling us: “From now on I regard no one from a human point of view; even though I once regarded Christ from a human point of view, I regard him thus no longer. I know only Christ and him crucified.” Paul urged us to always bear in mind that scripture was a mystery – a shocking mystery. It is told so beautifully, unless you take the trouble to look up the words as you read them you will accept their surface meaning, as one billion Christians do. Tonight, if I used the word, “crucified”, the average Christian would see a man impaled upon a wooden cross, or maybe hanging on a tree, but that is not what Paul meant when he used the word, “crucified.”

If you will look up the word, “crucified” in the James Strong’s Concordance, you will discover that it is made up of two Greek words. The first word means “union by association; companionship; completeness” and the second word means “to extinguish passion.” That is the purpose of the union.

Paul, seeing Christ as the creative power of God, says: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is not I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.” Then he continued by saying: “You were bought for a price, so glorify God in your body.” The price paid is union with Christ. That is the heavenly vision Paul referred to when he said: “Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead? O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.” For by this act God gives you himself, thereby transforming your mortal body of beliefs into a body of glory. This is done by a creative act.

You will find scripture is filled with creative acts. In one story, the Risen Christ is made to say: “Who touched me, for I perceive that power has gone forth from me.” (The word “touch” here means “to set on fire” and is a euphemism for “to lie with a woman,” as touch is a creative act.) The story is told of a woman who touched the hem of the garment of a man called the Son of God and was healed, but Christ is not a man, Christ is the creative power of God. That power is expressed through man supernaturally, not physically, for God, his Father, is Spirit and therefore he is Spirit. You cannot separate Christ from God, for God and his creative power are one, but it takes a man to express God’s power.

In the Book of Matthew, his disciples came to him, saying: “Explain the parable of the sower,” and he answered: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of man; the field is the world. The good seed means the sons of God.” When the Son of man comes he plants his spiritual seed in those whom he calls. This act of crucifixion (which is the planting of the seed), far from being painful, is the most ecstatic experience possible. No union on earth can compare in ecstasy to this spiritual act. And when you, an individual, are called, you are told to “There remain with God.” There is no need to change your job, join a monastery, or go into a nunnery after the act. If you are a housewife, mother, father, businessman, or doctor when you are called, there remain with God and lock the memory of what has happened within you. Do not broadcast it to the world, for – not understanding – they would condemn you for talking such nonsense; yet this is the way God raises the dead.

Only Christ is raised. “We are born again through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” But to be raised, the seed must be penetrated by Christ. This ecstatic union takes place your own wonderful human imagination as you walk the earth doing earthly things. Then, in due time you are raised and born from above as the drama of Jesus Christ unfolds within you.

The word translated “seed: is the Greek word “sperma,” which means “the male sperm.” Penetrated by Spirit, he leaves his spiritual sperm which bears his image of God which you carry within you, until it completes itself and you are raised, born from above, and unfold within yourself everything said of Christ in scripture. This is how God, being the Son of man, produces sons for the kingdom.

Now the Risen Lord asks this question: “Who do people say that the Son of man is?” and they answered: “Some say John the Baptist come again, others say Elijah and still others say Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” Then, identifying himself with the Son of man, he asked: “But who do you say that I am?” (You will notice that when he first asked the question concerning the Son of man they brought in a physical state, but when he asked: “Who do you say that I am?” Peter answered: “Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God.” Then he said: “Blessed are you Simon bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to your but my Father who is in heaven.” Here we see that the drama must unfold within the individual, for no man of flesh and blood could have told Peter, it had to be revealed to him.

In Paul’s case, as in Peter’s their seat of authority was not in scripture as a dead written code, but in experience. Having experienced scripture, they could identify the Son of man with the I AM and Christ, for he is the power of God who impregnates the chosen ones. Eventually all will be called, and all will be raised through the impregnation of Christ, the Son of man who is God.

I know that on the surface this shocks people. If anyone read the Bible as I have just explained it to you, they would close the book and call it pornographic, yet from beginning to end, the Bible speaks only of the creative power of God. You can take that same creative power and use it here in the world of Caesar, for it is your own wonderful human imagination. If you will conjure a scene which would imply the fulfillment of your dream and remain faithful to that vision as Paul was to the heavenly vision, your desire will come to pass.

Paul did not expect the vision. It came upon him suddenly, like some great catastrophic earthquake. You cannot conjure the vision, it simply happens. But you can conjure a scene which would imply the fulfillment of your desire, remain faithful to it and it will project itself upon the screen of space. I’ve done it unnumbered times.

Take a simple scene. Would someone congratulate you if they heard of your good fortune? Then allow them to do so. Accept their congratulations, just as you would if they came to you in the flesh. Now remain faithful to that vision. If you need a more complex scene, like two people discussing your success, eavesdrop on them. Listen to their words of praise or envy, then do not forget that vision. Conjured in your imagination, carry it with you, knowing that what it implies will come to pass, for its potency is not in the scene itself, but what the scene implies.

So Paul, in this heavenly vision, saw the creative act of God. He saw individuals being raised and singled out to play their part, for God needs man as his agent. Every error (as well as truth), needs man to express it. God uses man as his agent to express everything in this shadow world, as well as the spiritual world. And so in the creative act of God it takes man, but not a man of flesh and blood.

Everything here is reduced, as we are completely encased and insulated. What thrills you here pales to nothing when the garment is taken off and you are Spirit, performing the act of God by glorifying him in your body. As his image, called Christ, you radiate the glory of God and are the express image of his person as you impregnate, but it is done selectively, never haphazardly.

The night I was called and taken into the presence of the Risen Christ, I had no idea it would happen. The year was 1929. Having read scripture before the vision, I thought the words “Faith, hope and love” were the words of Paul, but this night I discovered they were the words of God spoken by Paul, for he said: “I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has wrought in me,” therefore these were the words of Christ.

The night I was taken into the presence of the risen Christ (the embodiment of God’s creative power) all I could see was infinite love. All I could think of was love. And when he asked me the simple question: “What is the greatest thing in the world,” I answered automatically: “Faith, hope, and love. These three, but the greatest of these is love.” At that moment he embraced me and we fused. That was my heavenly vision, my union with the Risen Lord. I can’t describe the thrill I experienced when I became one with the Spirit and the body of the Risen Lord.

Then I was taken to stand before a being who seemed to radiate infinite power. In him I felt no compassion or love, simply raw power. As his eyes penetrated mine, I heard his thoughts, as a voice rang out in the heavens, with this command: “Time to act.” At that moment I was propelled out of that divine assembly to find myself back in this little insulated body and – like Mary – I pondered what had happened to me.

I was only twenty-four at the time and knew nothing of the mysteries and wondered what had happened, as my room was flooded with an unearthly light which remained for the longest time. Then, in good time the mystery unraveled itself within me. We are told: “When he was about thirty years of age, he began his ministry.” Thirty years later I experienced my resurrection and birth from above. That pregnancy took thirty years to ripen and come to fulfillment in me.

If today you took me before any person who had the power to put me in prison or put me to death, like Paul I would still remain faithful to the vision. Paul said: “O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.” The word “Agrippa” means “a wild horse tamer”. The mind is symbolized as a horse. Here is a wild mind that Festus considered mad, but Paul knew he was not mad. He was speaking the sober truth, but it is shocking and difficult to believe that this is what God told the prophets.

Paul told the Galatians that the story of Abraham was an allegory. In the story, Abraham was told that, in spite of his age and the fact that the womb had ceased to be after the way of women for Sarah, his wife, she would conceive and bear a son. If this story is an allegory and Abraham is the origin of all humanity (for he is the father of the multitudes) then everything that comes from this origin must be an allegory, for all things run true to their source. If the origin is an allegory, no matter how you bring it down to culminate in Jesus Christ that. too, has to be an allegory. But that does not mean it is not true.

Scripture is a great truth told in the form of an allegory. Try to find out the fictitious character of its stories and discover the meaning. And when you do, hold onto your discovery until vision either confirms or causes you to modify your belief. The story is told that Abraham had two wives and two sons, one born of a free woman and one born of a slave. The free woman, called Sarah, bore Isaac; therefore he was spiritually born and not something of the flesh. Sarah was told that she would be blessed with a child of God. If I am blessed with the begetting of the son of God then I must be his bride, his emanation yet his wife ’til this great sleep of death is past.

Paul experienced this heavenly vision and remained faithful to it. He did not waver even though they tortured him. Time and again he was brought before some tribunal. Being a very learned man and one of the Pharisees, he was born a Roman, yet was also a Jew; therefore, he could claim whatever suited him. If the Jews began to persecute him, he would claim his Roman citizenship – or his Jewish ancestry when necessary. He had everything, but in spite of his great learning, when the vision possessed him he could do other than live by it.

Paul was used in the capacity of Christ as one who expresses the creative power of God. Having experienced the crucifixion, he wrote these lovely stories concerning his experience, saying:” “I have decided to know nothing whatsoever but Jesus Christ and him crucified”” The average person will see a man impaled upon a cross, but having had union in order to extinguish passion, one becomes the sower, sowing seeds to the selective. And the one selected should not scream it from the housetops, but like Mary was told in the 2nd chapter of Luke, keep the vision locked in your heart and ponder it until the time is fulfilled.

No physical child is born, for the child you meet in the mystery is only a sign of your spiritual birth; but you couldn’t be born from above except through the resurrection of Christ within you. Therefore, man is born again through the resurrection of Christ, who has to be within him in order to rise from within. Only that which is now in you can rise in you. Only that which descended can ascend. So the seed descends into man, and when it matures Christ rises and Man is born from above.

I know it doesn’t make sense on this level. It cannot, for it does not take place here. As a child I was taught the Christian story by my mother and my Sunday school teacher. I believed them and never once questioned the historicity of Jesus Christ or the physical reality of the being. Then came the night of the shock when I discovered that Christ was the power of God buried in me, waiting for the fullness of time when it would explode and reveal me to myself. I didn’t realize how literally true the statement: “Unless you believe that I am he you die in your sins,” was, until the night he erupted in me and I discovered who I really was. Even then I did not know I had been singled out to play the part of the apostle. But it’s all done on a high spiritual plane, all within the individual.

In the Old Testament the story is told of Jacob who wrestled with the Lord and was touched on his thigh, causing it to shrink. Read this story carefully. Look up the word “thigh” in your Concordance and you will discover what is really being revealed. The truth is being told in a gentle manner so that the so-called “good” people of the world will not be shocked.

Perhaps if you are here for the first time you, too, will be shocked by my words, but those of you who have been coming regularly will not be, for you have been trained to understand. Like Paul, “If you will not receive the things I tell you of the earth, how will you receive the things I tell you of heaven?” What images can I use to tell you of the heavenly state when there are no images here to describe it? Do you know that “Eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, nor has it entered into the hearts of men the things already prepared for those who love the Lord?” What image of earth could I use to describe things that cannot be seen by the mortal eye? Or understood by the mortal mind?

I can describe the moment of the crucifixion, but I cannot describe the ecstasy. That night, in vision I led a throng in procession to the house of God, when suddenly a voice came out of the nowhere saying: “God walks with them.” A woman at my right questioned the voice, asking: “If God walks with us, where is he?” And the voice replied: “At your side.” Taking the words literally, she turned to her left (she could have turned to her right) and looking into my face she began to laugh and said: “What! Neville is God?” and the voice answered: “Yes, in the act of waking.”

Then the voice spoke from within me and to me alone, saying: “I laid myself down within you to sleep and as I slept I dreamed a dream. I dreamed…” and I , knowing the end of the sentence would be that he is dreaming he is I, became so emotional that I was sucked into this body on the bed as my hands became vortices, my head a vortex, my side a vortex and the soles of my feet vortices. These six vortices created the greatest ecstasy imaginable, a feeling that was the exact opposite of intense pain!

Having experienced the vision, I have not been able to forget the moment he buried himself within me. And because He did, in due time He rose in me; yet I am still encased in this insulated body until that moment when he calls me to return to the glory that was mine before I was sent, restoring my rank at that time. I do not know when; I only know that when the moment comes that he calls, no power on earth can stop me from answering his call.

So the heavenly vision is a glorious experience. Everyone is destined one day to awaken as God, because everyone was selected in the beginning. One day you will have a mystical experience that is sheer ecstasy. Its purpose will be revealed later when you rise and are born from above. Then, if you are a teacher or an apostle (or whatever your role will be) you will play your part until that moment when your insulation is removed and men call you dead. But far from being dead, you will be in the kingdom.

You will not have gone through the little gate called death to be restored to like in a terrestrial world like this one, to do all of the things we do here. That’s the normal passage of death until that moment in time when Christ rises with you and you are a Son of the resurrection and die no more. For you there will be no more passages through the little gate called death, but – wearing a body of glory which was the price paid by Christ – you will live in an entirely different age.

There was never any money exchanged for your life. God paid the price by dying that you may live. He exchanged his life for yours, and you bear his seed which has the power to save you. God is the sower and you are the field. The purpose of the planting of that seed is so that you could become the Son of the kingdom. God is now waiting for the unnumbered sons which he promised to Abraham – more sons than the stars of the heaven, more than the sands of the sea.

In the end everyone will be saved, but there are degrees in the kingdom, just as there are in the army here on earth. Not everyone is an apostle, a teacher, or a miracle worker. The highest rank is the apostle who God calls, selects, and sends in his name so the apostle can say: “He who sees me sees him who sent me, who is God the Father, for I know my Father and you know not your God.”

May I tell you: when you experience the heavenly vision you will never forget it or turn aside from it. After it happens in you, your values change. You have no desire to possess things any more, because you know you own it all. King Agrippa had everything and possessed nothing. Paul had nothing and possessed everything. What could Paul want when he knew the truth of the 50th Psalm: “If I were hungry I would not tell you for the earth is mine and all within it. I would simply slay and eat, for the cattle on a thousand hills are mine.” I know this statement to be true, and have no desire to possess things anymore. All I need now is enough to pay Caesar his taxes. I want to give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, but I have no ambition to pile up things of this world.

Tonight, take any passage from scripture and check each word in the Concordance, for the meaning of words changes. Perhaps 2000 years ago those who heard the word “crucify” understood what Paul meant, but through the years our priesthoods have organized the great truth and changed the meaning of the word. Now we see a man impaled upon a cross and can ask ourselves the same question asked the Galatians: “O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish having begun with the Spirit, you are now ending with the flesh?” Are you seeing a man of flesh, rather than the dramatization of the power of God?

When you read scripture, see a man step on the stage (like a moving picture) and think of it as an allegory. Learn to distinguish between what you are seeing and what you are being told. And when you discover the fictitious character, extract its meaning and abide by it. Jesus Christ is portrayed as crucified, as having union by association to extinguish passion, at which time the seed (which is the image of the Living God) is planted, making your redemption assured.

You cannot be born from above (which is essential to enter the kingdom of God) unless first Jesus Christ rises in you. So you are redeemed by the resurrection of Jesus Christ in you . Nothing can emerge from man which was not first submerged, so Christ has to descend. When one the being who has already been raised and selected for that part plants the seed, the image of God descends, and nothing can ascend but that which first descended.

Now let us go into the silence.

neville goddard Imagination Is Reality

THE HIDDEN CAUSE

by with No Comment ImaginationNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdom

Neville Goddard 03-28-1969

neville goddard Imagination Is RealityThe dream of life unfolds on this level, as well as on a higher one. On this level we see things happen and are given reasons for wars and revolutions, as well as the geological causes for the convulsions of nature. But we do not know and cannot perceive their hidden cause, for it lies in the imagination of man. All things spring, not from the ostensible causes to which they are attributed, but from that which is hidden – man’s own wonderful human imagination!

In the April issue of the Atlantic Monthly, there is an article by General David M. Shoop, retired commandant of the Marine Corps. In this article, he claims that there is an ambitious elite of high-ranking officers who are turning this country into a militaristic and aggressive nation. They are promoting war in the belief that through it they will receive the promotions and glory they desire and cannot achieve while serving in a peacetime army. They dream of a war they can command in glory. Where? In their own wonderful human imagination, the hidden cause of all life! Imagination can be used infernally – as these men are doing – or towards the kingdom of heaven. This is done by thinking of a friend and hearing him tell you his good news. You can watch his facial expression change as he speaks to you. You can see him stand erect, wearing clothes he is proud of, as you feel the thrill of his change. And if you will believe that what you are now seeing is real, you can relax in the knowledge that one day your friend will conform to what have you done in your imagination!

Do you know that you can take that same individual and hear him tell you sad news? You can see him dirty and ashamed, and he will conform to that image which you have created in your imagination? Your creative power, which is Christ, can be used infernally or in a heavenly way. Its use is entirely up to you. General Shoop claimed that our involvement in Vietnam was a direct result of the ambition of an elite group of high-ranking officers who prefer war to peace, in order to receive glory and prestige in their chosen field! You and I are now burdened with the enormous task of continuing their effort, which began in the imagination of a small group of men.

The prophets and poets, inspired by the same voice, have told us this throughout the centuries. Yeats said: “I will never be certain that it was not some woman treading in the winepress who started that subtle change in men’s mind. Or the passion, from which so many countries have been put to the sword, did not begin in the mind of some poor shepherd boy, lighting up his eyes for a moment before he ran upon his way.” Who knows who is treading in the winepress this night? Who knows what a person in solitary confinement is imagining? Is he using this only power in the universe infernally or blissfully? I hope you use your imagination in the state of bliss, for the outside world is alive because of this hidden power within you. I know that a man, imagining intensely can influence millions. He can act through many men and speak with many voices. This little group of men, imagining their promotions, are influencing millions and moving through unnumbered men toward their goal. Those who cover their costumes with medals, like the Stalins and the Hitlers of the world, are displaying their complete misunderstanding of God’s power of imagination.

I ask you to believe me, for I am speaking from a level of one who has awakened from the dream of life. I have experienced scripture and know it is a true story from beginning to end. The gospel tells us of a pattern which repeats itself in everyone, for every child born of woman has within him an ancestral self, a heavenly being who supports him. This is the one who said: “I will never leave you or forsake you.” A child is alive because a son of God – who is the emanation of that ancestral self – is in it. We are told that bounds have been set to the peoples of the earth according to the number of the sons of God. You were given the gift of awareness because of the immortal son of the ancestral you who will never forsake you, not in eternity. See how precious you are in the eyes of he who is the power of powers?

Now, do not misuse this power, but use it only in love. Every person you meet, regardless of his pigment of skin, the nation behind him, or the so-called sect he is associated with, is alive because your ancestral being who has no beginning and no end is behind his mask, as he is behind yours. That one is taking him through the necessary experiences to make him one with himself, as the ancestral you is taking you through the necessary experiences to make you one with himself. Eventually you and he will return to that one being who sent you out in the first place. That is your destiny.

Now, in the gospels we are told that the Risen Christ turned to his apostles and said: “There are those standing here who will not taste of death until they see the kingdom of God.” Scholars claim this prophecy failed because they do not know what or where the kingdom of God is. It is not a realm, but a body. And it is not out there, but within. If, as Luke tells us, the kingdom of heaven is within you, who would know you entered it but yourself? And if you told your friends and it was not what they expected, would they believe you? No! They would continue to claim the promise was not fulfilled, yet I say the promises of God will not be broken. There are some standing here who will not taste of death before they enter the kingdom of God.

The kingdom, being within, is entered when the curtain is split. Only then can you see the blood of your ancestral being who died to become as you are. Recognition causes you to fuse with it, and rising like a fiery serpent, you enter that holy sepulcher where the drama began. Matthew knew that the violent took the holy sepulcher by force. The word translated ‘violent’ here means life; to press oneself into; to find a place within.

Life is in the blood. Contemplating the blood of God Himself, you fuse with it and become life itself. The Father, having life in himself, has granted you his emanation to be life itself. Becoming one with your ancestral being, you are no longer the emanated, but the Godhead through which the emanation occurred. So the statement is true: there are some standing here who will not taste of death before they enter the kingdom of God. But the only ones who will know it are those who experience it. This goes on forever and ever. If you are looking for the kingdom of God on the outside you will look in vain, for the kingdom is within and cannot be entered from without. In his 16th chapter, Matthew claims they will see the Son of man entering his kingdom, but in the 9th chapter of Mark and Luke, it is called the kingdom of God.

Now, after making the statement that some standing here will not taste death before they enter the kingdom of God, Peter, James, and John are taken into a high mountain where his countenance is completely altered before them. You may think this took place on the outside, but it takes place within. The evangelists took this appearance of resurrection and recorded it as Jesus’ external ministry; just as when I tell you what happened in me I speak externally, yet the three people who witnessed my transformation appeared within.

Recently a lady wrote telling of finding herself in a cage, observing three men etched in gold, and a woman holding an infant. This is a perfect adumbration. The three first appeared to Abraham in the Book of Genesis, and were confirmed in Peter’s second letter, where he remembers when Peter, James, and John were formed to witness the majesty of the one who was born. There are always three. The cage in which this lady found herself is the holy sepulcher, her immortal skull – where the drama began, and where it comes to its fulfillment. She saw the sign of her approaching birth from above, in the form of a woman holding a child and the three witnesses to this event. She – the emanation of her ancestral being – will awaken in that cage to return to her ancestral being, enhanced by becoming one with her celestial self.

While in this world of Caesar, seemingly detached and lost, you are not, for your human imagination is a wonderful power. It is yours to use lovingly, or as unlovingly as those men did with their dreams of wars, in order to get a little medal and be promoted. So what if they do? Eventually they will all be buried, and two generations later no one will know they ever existed. Our cemeteries are filled with monuments to those who thought themselves so important, yet no one recalls who they were. So I say: what does it matter if you own the world and lose your life?

I urge you to seek the kingdom of God, for when you do, you come into a power unknown to mortal man. All of the atom bombs in the world cannot compare to the power you are destined to fall heir to. You will possess a power that can still the world. But you will never know this power without love. With this power, unrestrained, you would still a nation, face its inhabitants toward the ocean, and put the idea of entering it in their mind. Then when you release this power they would all march into the ocean. But you will never know a power greater than you know love. The power known to earthly man is nothing compared to the power of love. With that power you can stop the thought process of another, change it completely, and when you allow that energy to flow once more, he will move in a different direction, not even realizing that a change had taken place within him.

When the embodiment of reason asked the Risen Lord: “Do you not know that I have the power to crucify you and the power to set you free?” Imagination replied: “You have no power over me were it not given you from above.” Just imagine knowing you have that kind of power! You came to play a part called Man, and when you have experienced it, you will play the part called Jesus Christ. His play takes place in heaven, which is within. And when you tell your story, those who hear your words on the outside will either believe or disbelieve you, and you will have no power to persuade them otherwise. Those who do not believe sit in darkness, breathing war as recorded in this month’s Atlantic Monthly. Although the salaries of these men come from the pockets of civilians, they are believing our country into a militaristic and aggressive nation, in order to become more glorious in their own little minds.

But I tell you, your ancestral being called the son of God shed his blood for you that you may have life in yourself. I know, for when my body was torn in two from top to bottom, I saw that blood of God as my own wonderful ancestral self. I am an extension of that self, not another – for that would imply there was a greater creative power than I am. I have seen this body of love. I wore it when we embraced. I will return to it and wear it forever when I leave this body of death for the last time. Then we will not be two, for I – an extension of myself – will return to myself, adding to God’s glory, His luminosity, and translucency, giving him a greater creative power by reason of the part I played, called Neville.

I urge you to use your imagination lovingly on behalf of everyone, and believe in the reality of your imaginal acts. If you have a friend who would like to be gainfully employed, listen carefully until you hear his voice tell you of his new position. Feel his hand clasp yours. See the smile on his lips. Use every sense you can possibly bring to bear into the imaginal scene. Persist until you feel the thrill of reality, then drop it and let that scene fulfill itself on the outside. We are told that the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. Your imaginal act created for your friend in the kingdom of heaven is that seed. Don’t pick it up to see if it is growing; just leave it alone, and it will grow and bloom as a solid fact in your world. Then you will have found this hidden cause within you called Christ.

Christ, the power and wisdom of God, is in you as your own wonderful eternal being. He will never leave you or forsake you as told us in the 13th chapter of Hebrews. If, perchance, one day you are swept into an unlovely state and go through hell, remember: there is that in you who will not leave you or forsake you; and if you know this principle you can detach yourself from the state and it will vanish, as you move into a more desirable one.

There is truly nothing new under the sun. That which was recently recorded in the Atlantic Monthly is the same as that which was recorded in Genesis as the first frightful act, when Cain slew his brother Abel. This same act is taking place over and over again, and if a man knows how to detach himself he need not be pulled into that state. While in the army I was told I could not get out, but I dared to assume I was out. I acted, in my imagination, as I would act were I free to come and go as I chose. I persisted in this assumption for nine days. Then the one who first denied my request granted my freedom, and that day I was honorably discharged.

People plan a depression for personal gain. There are those who sell short for a personal gain. All kinds of things are done in order to be known as a billionaire; yet in time they die, to leave their billions behind for those who can’t even remember their names. Leaving this little section of time, he who was known as a billionaire here, moves into another section of time to once more seek his fortune. So the words are true: there are some standing here who will not taste of death.

May I tell you: no one can leave this earth until he awakens, because the earth does not terminate at the point where the senses cease to register it. When you shed your little garment, you will still be on this earth in a body like the one you left behind, only young, vital, and wonderful – but your environment will change. You may leave this world a billionaire to find yourself shining shoes, if that is to be your lot to fulfill. Your ancestral being knows what it will take to weave you into the likeness of himself, for you must be perfect as he is perfect. You will not be brought to the end until you can actually be superimposed upon his image and fit it perfectly. Then you are one!

No one ever leaves this age of death until he awakens. This earth stretches for a length of time long beyond the three score and ten. The world remains terrestrial, with all of its struggles. We continue to marry and die, to know sickness and health, sorrow and joy, just as we do here, as we go from one little section of time into another and then another until – in the eyes of our ancestral self – we are as He is. So you see that statement is true: “There are those standing here who will not taste of death.” The apostles who are called will not taste of death. No power can sweep them away from this section of time, until they go up that spiral roadway into the sepulcher where their drama began.

No mortal eye can see the kingdom of heaven, and it cannot be entered from without, but must be taken violently. This I know from experience. When I went up, it was with such force I felt a tremendous pressure in my head where I was pressed in, just a little bit left of center. I tried my very best to go beyond it, but I could not. It was so crowded I pressed myself right into the kingdom as a living mural, having entered it with a force akin to violence. I have now fulfilled the 11th chapter of the Book of Matthew: “The kingdom of heaven is taken by violence and the violent take it by force.” The old age of the law and the promise up until John the Baptist is behind us now. There is no need to do violence against your body in order to get into the kingdom. No diet or suppression of the normal urges of life will get you in. Only when you are one with your eternal self so that you can be superimposed upon him and fit perfectly will you find yourself split in two to be absorbed by the life of the being who kept you alive here as something on the outside and, like a sponge, you become one with it. Then, having life in yourself, you will return to your skull where the dream began, arriving with such force your head reverberates like thunder. But, knowing that there are people in this world who plot and plan violence, don’t try to compensate; rather plot and plan things of love and affection. Do that and you cannot be drawn into another’s circle.

I tell you: you are an immortal being. You were the Son of God long before the universe came into being. It was you who brought it into appearance for this great experiment. You are a ray of the being you really are, one with He who is radiating you. And He will not forsake you, but will continue to put you through the paces as He fashions you into his likeness. Then He receives unto himself all of the experiences through which you will have passed, and is enhanced and glorified by them. He is afflicted as you are afflicted. He suffers as you suffer, and when you return you and He are one, for the being radiating is one with the ray.

Take me seriously! Know what you want and then claim you have it. Tell a friend about it and feel his excitement for you. Persuade yourself that what you are imagining is true. Believe in its reality and it will come to pass as an objective fact on this level, I promise you. Then when the image is perfect, you will return to your ancestral self, and time will no longer be necessary between the imaginal act and the fact.

There are many levels: a level here, a dream level, and a level of spirit waking, where every thought is a fact and is known. From that level you return through various barriers to this, the lowest level, where everything is completely concentrated and limited in these little garments of flesh. Here we are slaves to our mortal bodies, serving them morning, noon and night as we feed, clothe, and shelter them. When you feed your body you must assimilate what it eats. Then you must eliminate its waste and care for it.

Every child born of woman is a slave to the body he wears. There is no slavery comparable to the slavery of the body. If I were a slave to one who had purchased me and I must feed and clothe him, though he has millions and I have nothing, he is as much a slave to his body as I am to mine, for he and he alone must assimilate and eliminate for himself. No matter how many slaves he may have, he cannot command them to perform the functions of his body for him. He must perform them all for himself. Everyone who comes into this world becomes a slave to the body he wears.

We are told in Philippians: “He emptied himself of all that was his and became obedient unto death, even death upon the cross.” When God came here he found himself a slave and was born in the likeness of men, thereby entering slavery. And I can’t conceive of any slavery comparable to the slavery of the body. Just imagine: you must wash it, shave it, bathe it, and do everything for it. And when it begins to wear out, you must get glasses for its eyes, false teeth, hearing aides and heart transplants – to name but a few. You must continue to patch it up while remaining its slave to the very end. Do you know of any greater form of slavery? While in our teens and twenties we never think that our body might get old and wear out, yet one day we turn a little corner of time and it becomes so obvious. Although the body wears out and becomes weaker and weaker, you are still its slave. I cannot conceive of any greater slavery.

But try to live a noble life, for you are immortal and cannot die. He who radiates you will never in eternity forsake you. He could not, for you and He are one; and when you return from your journey, you will be with the one who radiated you, just as you were before the journey began.

Now let us go into the silence.

neville goddard Imagination Is Reality

THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD

by with No Comment Belief is everythingChanging Reality With Your Mindchanging your reality with your imaginationcreate your reality with your imaginationEmmet Foxfeeling is the secretFlorence Scovel ShinnFocusFocus is powerHow to Manifest moneyImaginationImagining creates realityJosephy MurphyMental AttitudeMental ScienceMind ScienceMoneyNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdomPower In The Spoken Wordpower of imagesPower Of Imaginationpower of the mindPower of Thoughtpower of wordsThe Complete Neville Goddard Readerthe conscious mindThe Power Of FaithThe power of the mindthe power of the spirit withinthe secretthe spiritthe spirit of truth is withinthe subconsciouswe create our own reality

Neville Goddard 11-8-68

neville goddard Imagination Is RealityLast night I fell asleep dwelling on two thoughts which parallel each other. One is from Paul’s letters to the Corinthians and the other from the Gospel of John. Paul said: “I cannot address you as spiritual men, but as members of the flesh, babes in Christ. I feed you milk, not solid food for you cannot take it.” And in the Gospel of John, the central character said: “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” When I awoke this morning my mind was crowded with the knowledge of God. This is not easy to speak of or to accept, but if you are a good student of scripture you will know that what I tell you is true.

In the Book of Genesis it is said that Adam knew Eve, his wife. That she conceived and bore Cain saying: “I did it with the aid of Jehovah.” And in the Book of Luke, we are told that when the angel told Mary she would conceive and bear a son, Mary asked; “How can this be seeing that I know not a man?” The words “know, knew, foreknowledge, or foreknew” are used as a euphemism for the creative act. And the one who performs this act is Jehovah.

Now, it takes man to express everything, whether it be evil or good, truth or error. This is also true with the creative power of God. We are told: “This is eternal life, to know thee – the only true God, and Jesus Christ (the creative power of God) whom thou hast sent.” Again we find the word “know.”

When God awakens his creative power which he sent into the world as man, that man performs the marriage act, spiritually. The majority of those known by him do not know they are pregnant until they bring forth God’s creative power and know themselves to be the personification of the Lord Jesus Christ.

One who was with him all the time said: “Show us the Father and we will be satisfied,” and he replied: “I have been with you so long and yet you do not know me, Philip?” In other words, you follow me and follow me, yet you are not ready to receive me; for I am spirit and you are seeing me as a man of the flesh. These are mysteries he could not tell, for he knew they would be too hard to bear. Now, the knowledge of God requires a complete surrender of self. There are variations of that surrender in the person that is known, so not everyone receives the imprint of God to its fullest extent. The one who completely surrenders receives the gift of apostleship, which is the highest order in the body of God. That one is qualified to be sent and speak from experience. The prophets, teachers, healers, and miracle workers will tell it from hearsay; but all will tell of the imprint, based upon what happened to them. But the one who comes as the apostle does so because he stood in the presence of the Lord and so completely surrendered himself that he speaks from experience, and says: “He who sent me is with me. Lo, we are one.”

The creative act on the highest level is an embrace, a complete fusion of the two, where one melts into and becomes one with the other. I know that. I who answer to the name of Neville, and my Father who men call God, are one. He sent me, yet he is with me, for I am not alone.

Having awakened this morning with my mind overflowing with the knowledge of God, I knew I must tell you, whether you accept it or not. And you are not to judge anyone as to whether he or she is qualified to believe it or not. I feel like Jeremiah, when he said: “If I say, ‘I will not mention him or speak anymore in his name,’ there is in my heart as it were a burning fire and I am weary with holding it in and I cannot.”

In the eighth chapter of Romans, we are told: “Those whom God foreknew (had this intimacy with before) he predestined to conform to the image of his son.” (Bear in mind now, that the son is he who reflects the glory of God and is the express image of his person). “And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” Your complete surrender brings you to the point of glorification as you reflect God’s glory. I am not speaking of you as a man born of flesh, but as spirit, for God is spirit!

In the current issue of the Saturday Evening Post, there is an article written by an English anthropologist who makes little of the Bible, claiming it teaches cosmology. But the Bible does not teach cosmology, astrology, astronomy, or biology. It is concerned with only one thing, and that is God’s plan of redemption.

The Bible tells of how Spirit comes out of this biological thing called Man, who is one with God yet endowed with a creative power within himself. It’s not something which is an animated body, but a life-giving spirit. As the Father has life in himself, he has given to that which he brings out, life in itself, so that one can speak in the name of the Father, knowing he is the Father. God begets himself in the sense that he brings out of these so-called animated bodies, images of himself that are endowed with life-giving spirit.

Scripture has nothing to do with this little body of flesh and blood, which is an eternal part of the structure of the universe. While animated by a spirit of God, the body knew horrors beyond horrors; but nothing could come out of it. Then the decision was made to make man in the image of God, and the creative act was committed.

How did I make my children in my image? By planting my germ into that which was prepared to receive it. Then, in the fullness of time that which bore my image came out endowed with a certain independence. That is just a shadow of what God does; for when Adam knew Eve she conceived and said: “I have begotten a man with Jehovah.” That’s the literal translation of the Hebrew. Those who translated the Bible added the words, “with the help of,” but these words are not in the original manuscript.

In order to bring forth a man by Jehovah – whose name is I AM – you must bring forth your own wonderful I AMness. And when you know yourself to be the creative power of God, your work is complete. Then, knowing you are God’s perfect image, you will be sent as an apostle to play the part of the creative power of God. The act is spiritually performed in the same manner as the marriage act is committed here on earth. But there are levels within levels within levels of the body of God.

Now, those whom he foreknew, means those he impregnated and predestined. If a woman is impregnated, she is predestined to bear the image of the one who impregnated her. That’s a simple way to put it. Then those who are predestined are called and justified. Justification means divine acquittal. No matter what an individual has done, he is completely acquitted, for he could not have done it had he not been performing the will of God. And in the end everyone is glorified and will say: “Return unto me the glory that is mine, the glory that I had with thee before that the world was.”

I now reflect the glory of God. Not physically, but I know myself to be the express image of his person. I use the word “person” advisedly, for God is man in spite of our anthropologists or scientists, who think in terms of an impersonal force. The mystics know that God is man. The great poets know it. “Thou art a man, God is no more, thine own humanity learn to adore.”

When I stood in the presence of the Risen Lord, he was not some peculiar abstract. He was infinite love, yet he was man. After asking me a very simple question, I answered quite honestly. Then I knew the moment of divine impregnation as I became one with God.

Infinite might sent me back with the words: “Down with the bluebloods.” This is not some social order, but any ritual, creed, or ceremony, that would interfere with your direct access to God. I know there was no need to form an organization to destroy these, but that if I ignored them they would die for want of attention.

When you fall in love, you are attentive. You bring her flowers and candy. Then you marry, and if you stop the tender words and gifts, your romance will fade away and finally come to an end. The same thing is true for any outside ceremonies that would interfere with your direct access to God. Ignore them and they will die for lack of awareness. But if you believe in the rituals, creeds, and ceremonies on the outside, you will keep them alive, even to the very end.

In our fabulous world, God so loved you, individually, that he gave himself to you in the most intimate manner. He did it by becoming you that you may become God.

How can I explain that even though I am one with God, He sent me. That He is with me, yet remains the Risen Lord. This does not make sense to the rational mind, but when He embraced me we completely fused like a drop of ink in a glass of water.

Being sent, I had no loss of identity; yet I felt like power – the being who sent me. And when I stood in the presence of God’s only son, David, who acknowledged me as his father, I felt the love of the being who embraced me.

No one can see God, for he is invisible to the mortal eye; yet his presence can be felt. It is difficult to explain how God completely fused with me, yet sent me individually, without loss of my identity. I feel him, not as another, but as myself. I know he is the Risen Lord. That he came with me, as me; yet I also know he remains the Risen Lord.

I have tried to explain this so you could catch the mood and not try to understand it rationally, but it seems difficult for you to understand. That is why I have many things to say, but you cannot bear them now, so I feed you milk.

In my own case I cannot wait for the morning to come after a vision to share it with you. Someone once said: “Do you always throw these pearls before swine?” and I replied: “I do not meet any swine.” I share my visions with all, and if they cannot accept them, they will leave them – but nothing will be lost. I will pick up all the scraps and put them back to be shared once again. I cannot become the critic and determine who should hear what. How do I know who is willing to completely surrender to God? Or to what degree they will surrender! If not today, one day everyone will join that one body and know themselves to be the one Lord, one Spirit, one God and Father of all.

This morning, as I researched the words “know” and “knowledge”, the impact of the words took on greater meaning. You would not think that the statement: “You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free,” would denote a creative act, but it does. I am the personification of the truth that, when known, will set you free. I have been so long with you and yet you do not know me? If you only knew me, you would know my Father also. One day you will know the truth in an intimate manner, at which time He will leave his imprint upon you. Having been sent as the image of the invisible God, you will receive this imprint by a complete and utter surrender of Self. Then in due time that image will come out, for I AM in you and you are in me, for we are truly one!

Scripture is the most creative book in the world. It is not based upon anything known to man, yet it is the only way to eternal life. If you had great wealth, were honored by all, voted the handsomest man or the most beautiful woman – what would that amount to compared to knowing God, which leads to eternal life? And this is eternal life, to know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, who is the personification of God’s creative power.

When God knew Man, God’s creative power became personified; so when you meet a man on the spiritual level you will automatically surrender. This surrender will even involve objects, for nothing will be left out of God’s temple. The whole God is in Man, but on different levels based upon ones willingness to surrender.

I hope I have fired your curiosity so that you will open your Concordance and follow through the word “know”. There are many words translated now which have a different meaning, so take nothing for granted and check them all out.

The statement: “To know God is eternal life” means to have an intimate relationship with God so that He buries his image in you. At that time God gives you his life, for you are his emanation yet his wife, till the sleep of death is past.

In the 54th chapter of Isaiah, you are told: “Your Maker is your husband, the Lord of Hosts is his name.” If your maker is your husband whose name is the Lord of Hosts, are you not his wife? Will you completely give yourself over to him as the perfect wife, or will you be restrained in the act?

In my case I seemed to have no choice. I was spirited into His presence, and when asked: “What is the greatest thing in the world?” I answered without hesitation: “Faith, hope, and love, these three, but the greatest of these is love.” With that He embraced me and I completely fused with him and now wear the body of God, which is infinite love!

While in that oneness, yet without loss of identity, I was sent with the cry: “Down with the bluebloods.” God, now clothed as Infinite Might, power without compassion, spoke these words to me: “Time to act.” I heard the words. I witnessed the event, so for thirty years I told the law. I did not tell the promise, for I did not know it until I brought forth the child to bear witness to the fact that I and my father (who men call God) are one. It takes the child to bear witness to the truth that I, as an individual, knew and had become one with my Father.

Leaving all, God cleaves to his wife – the one he impregnates – who then brings forth God’s likeness as the infinite Christ child. Being God the Father, when you and He become one consciously, are you not the one Father? You may bear the child, not even knowing you are pregnant. But when you bring it forth, you know the union of the two is complete. As long as you believe there are two – you and God – there is conflict. But when the partition is removed, you know yourself to be one with God who so loved you He became you. And when you bring forth his image in the form of his son, you know he has finished the work he set out to do in you.

May I tell you: if the world rose in opposition to my words it would make no difference to me, for my words will live forever – while all that took place this past week will be forgotten.

Human history and everything man has ever accomplished will prove to be false. Every great accomplishment will be modified in time, many times. Even so-called facts will prove to be error. In the end everything will be rubbed out, leaving no trace of ever having been present; for the only thing that is really forever, is what God is bringing out of humanity – which is himself. So in the end there is nothing but God – only God!

But in this world of Caesar, if one wants more of its fruits, let him have them. Eight years ago when Nixon ran against Kennedy, a friend of mine sent Nixon my phonograph record – at which time he wrote the lady and thanked her for it, saying that it had been added to his library and that he would have many moments of joy listening to it. That year he lost the election. Two years later Nixon lost his bid for governor of this state, but four years later his dream came true. I am quite sure, with his background of listening to his inner voice, that my record – which was on the law and the promise – sparked something in him. On the record, I spoke of the difference between thinking of your desire and thinking from it. When you think from your desire’s fulfillment and sleep feeling as though it were true, it becomes a fact. This is a simple technique to get things in this world.

Nixon didn’t win by an enormous majority, but he won. I firmly believe he did not just listen to my record once, but played it many times. When you know exactly what you want, you are thinking of your desire. Turn your thoughts around and think from its fulfillment. You can think of what you want and desire it forever, keeping it always beyond your reach; but when you think from its possession, your desire is yours. I’ll show you what I do. While in Los Angeles, I think of San Francisco as 600 miles to the north. Closing my thoughts to Los Angeles, I imagine I am in a hotel room in San Francisco and think of Los Angeles as 600 miles to the south of me. When possible, I take a short nap in that awareness. Now, when I open my eyes I find myself back here in Los Angeles, knowing from experience that within a short period of time I will physically be in San Francisco.

The average person, believing only that which can be seen and touched physically is real, will think I am crazy. A very intelligent, wonderful man who attended my meetings in New York City, once told me he enjoyed listening to my words; but when he did, he planted his feet into the carpet and held the sides of the chair to remind himself of the reality and profundity of things. Otherwise he would take off into some dream world. Call it a dream world if you will, but if there is evidence for a thing, does it matter what others think? I had evidence for my belief and I tried to share my experiences with him, but he would not even test his imagination.

Not everyone who hears the truth will believe it, even though he seems to be so wise in the eyes of the world. So I say: I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot hear them now. I am not speaking of the law. Mark puts that quite simply: “Whatever you desire, believe you have received it and you will.” I am speaking of the promise and urge you to search the scriptures, for if you do you will find me there. And when you find me, you will know, from experience that you and I are one.

Now let us go into the silence.

neville goddard Imagination Is Reality

THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

by with No Comment Belief is everythingChanging Reality With Your Mindchanging your reality with your imaginationcreate your reality with your imaginationEmmet Foxfeeling is the secretFlorence Scovel ShinnFocusFocus is powerHow to Manifest moneyImaginationImagining creates realityJosephy MurphyMental AttitudeMental ScienceMind ScienceMoneyNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdomPower In The Spoken Wordpower of imagesPower Of Imaginationpower of the mindPower of Thoughtpower of wordsThe Complete Neville Goddard Readerthe conscious mindThe Power Of FaithThe power of the mindthe power of the spirit withinthe secretthe spiritthe spirit of truth is withinthe subconsciouswe create our own reality

Neville Goddard  10-3-1969

neville goddard Imagination Is RealityIn all the revelations which await you, there is none so fundamental as the revelation of Jesus Christ. He cannot be known outwardly, but must unveil himself from within. This experience will be yours when your immortal eyes are opened inward, into eternity, the world of thought.

He who awakens in you is the Lord Jesus Christ, but he is unseen by the mortal eye. As an individual the world knows you by your records. They know your date of birth, your parents, your brothers and sisters. Your friends know your weaknesses and limitations, but no one can know the being who awakens within you until the revelation is theirs.

Tonight I will try to show you the Lord Jesus Christ, for he is your true identity. His most fantastic claim: “I am the light of the world” was not claimed by one little individual, but by the universal being who is the life of every child born of woman.

The mortal mind, unable to understand this statement, questioned him, asking him to tell them who he really was and he answered: “Even what I have told you from the beginning.” The beginning of what? The year 1 A.D.? No. Before that the world was, you and I were told that we would descend into and experience death. Then we would return, enhanced by reason of our experiences.

Knowing me and my mortal beginning of only a few years, you may question my words, but I am not speaking about a physical being. The Lord Jesus Christ has unveiled himself in me, yet I remain here in this body of flesh until the silver cord is snapped.

Only then can I return to the world that was mine before that the world was and receive all the glory I was promised when I agreed to enter and experience death. Who is this being I know myself to be? The Lord Jesus Christ, of which we are all one.

Now, we are told: “You are born anew through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” Here we see that our birth is conditioned upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You may think this happened 2,000 years ago, but John tells us in his Revelation that “Jesus Christ is the faithful witness, the first born of the dead.” Do not think of this in terms of time, but rather in order of events, for we are dealing with a mystery.

There is only one faithful witness who declares himself to be the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. That witness is Jesus Christ, he who came out from the Father and came into the world to bury himself in every child born of woman. He is in you right now, identifying himself as you. And when he awakes, in you, his first act is to resurrect from the dead. This is followed by your birth from above.

When the story of Christ awakens within you, you are no better than one who will awaken tomorrow for you do not precede him, as his story does not take place in time. I am speaking of the order of events.

Listen to the words carefully: “Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first born of the dead.” There are two events which take place here simultaneously. “We are born anew through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” Christ must first awaken in you, then resurrect himself from the dream in which he died before he (as you) can be born from above. Christ is in you.

He is not some being who lived 2,000 years ago, was crucified on a wooden cross, and rose from the dead for your salvation. The Christ is buried in you individually. This is the age of the awakening and everyone is going to awaken. No matter what a man (or woman) has done here he is forgiven, because God played the part and all things are moving toward the fulfillment of a predetermined end.

We are told in the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians, the 51st verse: “We shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkle of an eye, for the trumpet will sound and we shall rise from the dead.” At the end of your long, long journey you will be changed, individually. This I know to be true from experience.

You are so unique that you alone hear the trumpet which causes you to awaken and brings you back into the infinite being that you really are – to play your distinct part, for no one can take your place. We shall all – not just a few, but all – be changed – in a moment, in the twinkle of an eye, for the trumpet will sound and we will awaken and rise from the dead.

What is the “trumpe”? The word means “a vibration,” and may I tell you it is the most unusual vibration you have ever felt. I have heard numberless vibrations, as you have. A concert is a series of vibrations synchronized into harmony. The piano, the violin, the cello – all are vibrations; but the trumpet Paul refers to is a peculiar vibration which is centered in the head and cannot be stopped.

When the vibration occurred in me it continued until I awoke to find myself in my skull. How long I had been there I do not know. I will go along with Blake, but I do not know from experience. I only know that a peculiar vibration awoke me. This was followed by my birth from above. And it only took a moment for the trumpet to sound and Christ, in me to awaken.

Yes, Christ is the first born, for his birth begins the series of events which continue for 42 months. And when the revelation has completed itself in you, you will still be tied to your physical body by its silver cord, so you will tell your experiences to encourage others.

Nothing in this world is really important and will prove itself to be pure nonsense. Men are given Nobel prizes, money and honors relative to their findings here which are non-existent. No one will ever find life in a test tube, for life exists only within individual man.

The day is coming when you will feel an activity within you, arrest it, and see the world stand still. Then you will know that you are life itself, and the life you now know yourself to be will never be found in any test tube.

Jesus cannot be known or proved to exist externally. Only the incurrent eyewitnesses can know him. Only those whose immortal eyes are opened inward into the world of thought will see the truth of which I speak, for I have awakened from the dream of life and know myself to be the light of the world.

This is a fantastic claim, one I know you are going to experience. The day will come when you will know you are not only the light of the world, but that you are the sender of infinite, pulsing, living light of which there is no circumference. As light you will be pure, as not a thing will be in it; no worlds, no suns, no planets – but nothing! Just you, and you are infinite light. You will see me as light, yet we will know one another as beings of love, for God is love and in that awareness we are one with God.

Everything said of Jesus Christ in scripture you are going to experience, and those whose eye is opened inward into the world of thought will see you clothed in the garments of love, of power, of wisdom, and of light.

Then, eventually everyone will return to the one being, yet all will be individualized. There is no absorption into, just union with the one being of love, power, wisdom, and light, for this one being is the Christ of scripture. And so I repeat: of all the great revelations which await us, there is none so fundamental as the unveiling of Christ in us.

Let the world do all the unlovely things it is capable of doing, remembering that behind the mask of everyone here, a being is buried who will awaken, rise, and come out. And when he does all will be forgiven, because he will know he was the one who did the unlovely acts as he wore his many masks.

In last Sunday’s New York Times Magazine I read a story written by one of Hitler’s right-hand men. In it he said: “I can’t describe it, but Hitler had the capacity to make everyone obey his will. He seemed to have no center and was in such complete control of himself that we were like puppets to him.”

Hitler slaughtered millions, yet blamed his own people when he did not succeed, saying: “The stronger power has succeeded. They will rule now. It serves my people right.” Here is the voice of hell which is always self justification. In the end Hitler failed and blamed the people he had controlled for many years. He thought he had control forever, but he lost it, for God has planned everything as it has come out and as it will be consummated.

Hitler was used for a purpose. To us it was a horrible purpose, but – as we are told in Genesis: “You intended it for evil, but God meant it for good.” Joseph (the dreamer in you) was sold into slavery, for God knew he could be used for His purpose. The brothers intended evil against him, but God meant it for good and raised Joseph to the level of the Pharaoh, where he saved civilization from starvation.

Read the story of Job, and once again you read of an innocent man who was used. Everyone is Job, who in the end will bring forth that which is buried within, which is the plan of redemption, to say with Job: “I have heard of thee with the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees thee.”

After you have gone through all of the furnaces, he who is buried within you (who is your reality of Being, your true identity) will erupt like a tree coming into blossom and bear its fruit. The first fruit to appear is your awakening and your birth from above. The second great event is to discover your Fatherhood. The third occurs as you ascend back into the heavenly sphere where you were before you came down, for no one returns to heaven but he who first came down from heaven, the Son of man.

You came down from heaven. That’s why you are going to go back, enhanced by the experience of this world of hell. The fourth act is a glorious one, when the seal of approval is placed upon your return, for then you are redeemed; and when you leave this sphere you will join your brothers to become one of the watchers from above, faithfully and lovingly awaiting their return.

No one will be lost, not one. Listen carefully: “All will be changed.” Paul begins his story by saying: “Behold I tell you a mystery.” The mystery is that all will be changed. It doesn’t take long. In a moment, in the twinkle of an eye, you begin to awaken and are born from above. Those with mortal eyes cannot see spirit, but those who witness your spiritual birth will see the sign of it. That sign is a child fulfilling scripture: “Unto you a child is born,” for your spiritual birth is when God is born. At that moment he brings back his son (which is yourself) – only now you are expanded from what you were prior to your descent into this world.

You will see your witnesses and read their thoughts. In fact, their thoughts will become objectified just as yours do here. As you think, God sees your thoughts and objectifies them. He sees everything you are thinking, every­thing you have planned, and projects them for you even though God you cannot see.

Take my message to heart and try to remember what was told you before that the world was. In the last chapter of the Book of Ecclesiastes, the Preacher tells of the snapping of the silver cord and the breaking of the golden bowl and pitcher before the dust returns to the earth. Then he calls upon us to dwell upon his words for “The sayings of the wise are like goads, like pegs firmly fixed are the collected sayings which are given by one Shepherd.” One who has had the experiences tells them and they become pegs driven into the minds of many. Beyond this he warns us not to think of anything, “For of the writing and the making of many books there is no end.”

I ask you to dwell upon my experiences. Tomorrow you may be carried away with the news of the day. Although it may be very exciting, it is not important. What someone did, does not matter, and the reason it was done should not interest you. Rather you should be interested in the collective sayings of the wise, all found in scripture and given to you by one Shepherd. Dwell upon the words recorded there and try to find out what is being said.

“Who are you?” they asked. “Even what I have told you from the beginning.” Yes, I am the same being who spoke to you when we all gathered together in eternity. Before we came down you and I were one. Calling you gods, Sons of the Most High, I told you that we were going to have the experience of dying and falling as one man. And then I called you princes. And one day you will know yourself to be the prince of light, the prince of love, and the prince of power, for everything recorded in scripture will be experienced by you. That is your destiny.

It would be my pleasure to pass my immortal eyes on to you who are here, but I cannot do it from this level. It must be done from a higher level, done with the consent of the watchers in eternity, those who are already redeemed from this world. It seems stupid for a little man, weak and limited, to claim to be infinite, living, pulsing light; yet those to whom I have given my eyes have seen me as the prince of light, the prince of love, and the prince of power and wisdom.

I know myself to be the Lord Jesus Christ, yet I also know that I will continue to remain here in this mortal frame until the silver cord is snapped and the golden bowl and pitcher are broken. Only then can I return to those I have always known, those who are eagerly waiting for my return from the world of death.

So it is from death to life, from darkness to light, from bondage to freedom. We voluntarily came down and assumed this bondage of flesh. As we entered the world of darkness we forgot we were the light of the world. Eternally alive, we entered the world of death. We took it on in confidence that we possessed the power and the wisdom to return.

Everyone here will go back, regardless of what you have done, what you are doing, or what you are planning to do. Everyone, including Hitler and Stalin, including every monster who ever lived – all will be redeemed, for they were used for a purpose. No, you don’t love the individual who played the part, but beyond the mask of the body is God. One day the incurrent eyes will be yours and you will see the Lord Jesus Christ behind that mask.

Jesus cannot be proved as having ever existed or known by any outward means. No matter where you search, or what the priests tell you, you will never find any genealogy of Jesus Christ, for he is not to be found outward­ly. Only those whose immortal eyes are open into the world of thought can find him. They know the truth concerning Jesus Christ from experience, and in the world of men they will share their story for those who hear to believe or disbelieve.

When John told his story he said: “I am a witness to what I have heard and seen with my own eyes; which I have handled with my own hands concerning the word of life.” Now, John is not some professor who is trying to give society a convincing set of arguments. Rather he is simply telling what he heard and saw in a region beyond that which can be explained with the rational mind. He invites everyone who hears his story of redemption to believe him, but he allows the individual to decide whether he will accept or reject it, just as I do.

Now, the Christ that you accept on faith comes to you as one unknown, yet one who in some mysterious manner lets you experience who he is. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul asks this question: “Did you receive the spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish, having received the spirit by faith, are you now ending with the flesh?”

Now I ask you: are you thinking of Jesus as a being of flesh and blood when you know that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven? Are you thinking of a physical savior? Didn’t you receive the spirit by hearing the story and accepting it with faith, for your acceptance was the spirit. If after hearing this incredible story you believe it, go your way and it will unfold within you. But if you reject it, your rejection will simply delay its experience, for you are destined to know the truth which will set you free from this bondage to decay.

All of the things that man is now discovering concerning the secret of life aren’t so at all. I tell you, you are the light of the world. One day you will come upon a scene, arrest it, and stop all of the intentions of those there. Then you will know that everyone is dead and you alone are alive and life itself. And as you release their activity in you, the scene will take on life once again, and then you will know from experience that you surely are the light of the world.

Now let us go into the silence.

neville goddard imagination creates reality

THE MYSTERY OF INSPIRATION

by with No Comment Belief is everythingChanging Reality With Your Mindchanging your reality with your imaginationcreate your reality with your imaginationEmmet Foxfeeling is the secretFlorence Scovel ShinnFocusFocus is powerHow to Manifest moneyImaginationImagining creates realityJosephy MurphyMental AttitudeMental ScienceMind ScienceMoneyNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdomPower In The Spoken Wordpower of imagesPower Of Imaginationpower of the mindPower of Thoughtpower of wordsThe Complete Neville Goddard Readerthe conscious mindThe Power Of FaithThe power of the mindthe power of the spirit withinthe secretthe spiritthe spirit of truth is withinthe subconsciouswe create our own reality

Neville Goddard – 1-27-1969

neville goddard imagination creates realityInspiration is a divine action which qualifies the individual to receive and communicate sacred revelation. The prophets, apostles, and incurrent eyewitnesses are those who receive such inspiration.

The prophets’ visions are foreshortened. They see as present what is really future. Prophesying of the grace that is to be yours, they searched and inquired what person or what time was indicated by the spirit of Christ in them, when they predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glory. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves, but you!

The apostles are sent by the Risen Lord to fulfill the prophecies of the Old Testament and to share their experiences with all.

Individual man, having been conditioned to believe that God is somewhere in space as someone on the outside, cannot believe that everything he beholds is within his own human imagination. But it is.

We are told: “He who receives you, receives me, and he who receives me, receives him who sent me. If Christ is in you, although your body is dead, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will raise you also through his Spirit within you.” (Matthew 10 & Romans 8) The first quote, from Matthew, tells you that God is in you, for the writers of the New Testament identify the Christ who governs your life with Jehovah, who inspired the prophets.

Paul tells us that Christ is in you, although your body is dead. This I know to be true. I have stopped time and witnessed how dead this body is. Time and again I have moved into a society, arrested the activity in me that causes the animation I am observing, and everyone has stood still. They appear to be as dead as the statues of clay or marble in a museum. I have entered a room to become possessed by the motion that inspires things. I have arrested this action, and everything has stood still. I have walked among those present to discover they are all dead. Now I know that Paul’s statement is true: “If Christ is in you, although the body is dead, he who raised Christ from the dead will raise you also, through his Spirit within you.”

But how do I convince you that the Lord God Jehovah is actually in you? That Jehovah is dreaming he is you, and in the end will awaken as you? How do I convince you that you will witness the images the prophets used? They tell us that Christ is the Rock. That you have forgotten the God who gave you birth.

The prophets equate the Rock with the Lord God Jehovah. This I know to be true. One day I sat in the silence, when quartz appeared before my vision. As I watched, the rock fragmented into numberless pieces and instantly molded itself into the human form, seated in the lotus posture in profound meditation. As I realized I was looking at myself, the form began to glow. It increased in intensity until it reached the limit of translucency. Then it exploded and my vision came to its end. Now I know I am the Rock that begot me.

Out of that solid state of death comes life, for you put this limit of contraction and opacity called Man upon yourself. At the present time three and a half billion of us walk the earth, individualized, because the being which gives us life is asleep.

Believing the world is taking place independent of our perception, we do not realize that our dreams are projecting themselves on this screen of space, and that we are in conflict with our dreams. But one day God will awaken within your dead body; and when he does, all of the imagery of scripture will surround you, identifying you as the central figure of the Bible — the Lord God Jesus Christ.

Scripture is all about God, as there is no one else. God and his name are one! That name is I AM! Falling asleep, God breathed upon your body and it became animated, as He dreams your world into being. One day God will awaken and all of your confusion will end. Then you will take off your garment of death to return to the being you were before that the world was. You will be enhanced beyond your wildest dreams, for there is no limit to your expansion and translucency. A limit was set to contraction and opacity, which is the body of death called Man; but your expansion and translucency is limitless.

Who would have thought that the imagery recorded in the 32nd chapter of Deuteronomy was true: “Of the Rock that begot you, you are unmindful and have forgotten the God who gave you life.” In this verse God is equated with the Rock that fragmented itself and is defused in all.

Although now a universally diffused individuality, the Rock’s name forever and ever is I AM! Every child born of woman says, I am! That is the fragmented rock. In the end, when the fragments gather together to form one being, you – wearing your face – will realize no one exists independent of your perception, for the world is contained within your own wonderful human imagination, and projected by you.

When I tell you what I know from inspiration, it is true, for it happened to me. And when it does, I turn to the Old Testament to find a passage in the word of God that parallels my experience. If I do, then I have two witnesses that agree in testimony, making it conclusive.

I saw myself begotten out of a rock, for the rock fragmented, then gathered itself together to form a person I knew to be myself – not the being I shave in the morning, but myself raised to the nth degree of perfection. That being was meditating me, and I must become as perfect as He is. And when I am He awakes and I am eternal life, the one who came down into a body that was dead, to dream the dream of life. Everyone is this completely diffused being. Knowing that you are, you are mentally saying I am; and that is God’s name forever and ever.

Now, not everything in the Bible is inspired. Paul’s passages about marriage are not. Paul confesses he is not married and wishes that everyone were as he is; but if that were true there would be no offsprings. Paul did say: “It is far better to marry than to burn.” In other words, it is better to have union with what he calls the marriage state, than to long for such satisfaction. This was his opinion, not his inspiration. In his letter to the Romans, Paul states his opinion about the homosexual – only because he forgot that in the Old Testament God made everything and pronounced it good and very good. If God made everything, then God made the homosexual, did he not? So not every word of scripture is inspired; but you will know the passages that are, for when you awake, scripture unfolds in you.

It is said that, beginning with Moses and all the prophets and the psalms. Paul interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things that concerned him. Remember: in Paul’s day there was no New Testament. It was written to record the passages of the Old Testament which were fulfilled. So when you read the New Testament, pay strict attention to any passage that is quoted by the Risen Lord and taken from the Old Testament.

In the tenth chapter of John, the Risen Lord says: “I and my Father are one. Why do you condemn me for saying I am the Son of God? Is it not written in your law…” – (and he quotes the 82nd Psalm) saying: “‘I say, you are gods’? If it is written, ‘Ye are gods and scripture cannot be broken, why do you condemn me, whom God consecrated and sent into the world?’ “Here is the Christ in you, quoting scripture after having risen from the sleep of death. And the moment Christ awakens in you, you are the Risen Christ!

There is only one Risen Christ and everyone is being gathered together into that one being. Although we have different talents, everyone will know God’s embrace, qualifying him for apostleship.

If you are meant to experience scripture consciously, you will be sent, and tell your experiences to those who will be drawn to you, to show them the parallel between what happened to you and what the word of God said through His inspired prophets. When the prophets inquired, they were told that they were not serving themselves, for their time had not come. But scripture has been fulfilled now, and the time is here for all to awaken.

We are in the act of awakening as God, and when the visions come they cannot be stopped. Coming suddenly and unexpectedly, their power possesses you as though something is wearing you. Then you begin to see and hear that which kings and prophets long to see, and cannot because the time has not fully come for them.

As passage after passage of scripture unfolds within you, you will recognize the inspired ones as they take place; but not everything written in scripture was inspired. They wrote certain dietary laws based upon what they called the need of the time, but these are not inspired. There are passages in both the Old and the New Testament that were not inspired, but man-made traditions which have enslaved the minds of men. We are asked: “Why do you deny the word of God for the traditions of your fathers?” If you are going to accept the man-made traditions, you will never know the inspired word of God.

The inspired word of God comes to certain individuals because God is rebuilding his shattered temple with living stones. This temple is not made with human hands, but with the redeemed. When one awakens, he becomes a living stone in that one divine body.

Now, “If the Spirit of Christ is in you, although the body is dead, he who raised Christ from the dead will raise you also through his spirit, which dwells in you.” If His Spirit wasn’t dwelling in you, He could not raise you. I know that when I awoke, there was no one there to lift me up. The wind was there so the invisible God was present, but I saw no other garment. I awoke within myself and when I came out, my body lying on the bed appeared to be dead.

Have you ever been in a recovery room in a hospital? In 1952, I had my gall bladder removed and my body was wheeled into a recovery room after the operation. When I came to, I looked at the four others who were there, and thought they were dead and we were in a morgue. Well, these mortal bodies we wear are dead. They are animated and seemingly alive because of the presence of God in them. That God, you are! You cannot go to eternal death in that which cannot die, for God is life. The body God wears returns to dust, out of which it was made; but you cannot die, for you are God Himself!

Spirit entered your body of flesh as your breath of life. At that moment God became human, and humanity became a living being. Inspired scripture happens each time the Risen Lord prepares to disappear from the visible world. His breath is his baptism with the Holy Spirit, which quickens your dead body into a life-giving spirit.

Having experienced scripture, when I disappear from this world I cannot go without, for – containing all within myself – I must go within.

This is the mystery of inspiration. You will be possessed by a vision, to find yourself playing the central role in a drama that is taking place within yourself. And when the vision fades you will search the scriptures to find the inspired word of God you have just fulfilled.

When you tell your experiences to all who will listen, few will believe you, for they have been conditioned to believe in some little external Jesus Christ and prefer to remain that way.

It is the Christ within man who is his hope of glory. That is the Christ who fulfills scripture. Having had scripture fulfill itself in me, I have interpreted to you in all the scriptures the things concerning – not a man called Neville, but God’s power, in me, called Christ.

Do not be embarrassed when I tell you that you are God. Instead, walk believing you are that important. You don’t have to become arrogant, but you must assume you are God. Think about it! Stop believing in God and start believing as God. Do this and the visions will come to confirm your assumption.

Scripture is all about Christ, the Jehovah you are. The spirit and the flesh are one; therefore, when David appears, in vision, you are revealing your true identity to yourself. This I know, for I have found David. He called me Lord. I know I am the Rock that begot him, for I have played all of the fragmented parts and put them together to form David.

When David calls you father, the Rock of his salvation, you will remember you are the Lord. Then you will tell salvation’s story, and if God is still asleep in those who hear, they will think you are mad. That’s all right, as all inspired men – being judged by the garment they wear – will appear mad to those who hear them. When you claim you have a spirit, you will be called mad, just as it is said of the Risen Christ in the tenth chapter of John.

Today, as in the past, people believe scripture will be fulfilled in a secular manner. But while occupying their garment of death, everyone will individually fulfill God’s word.

You are destined to know the power of stopping and starting time. Possessed by the Spirit, you will be taken into a room. Knowing intuitively who you are and the power you are feeling, you will arrest that activity within you and everything will stand still. As you examine that which was so alive and seemingly independent of your perception only a moment ago, you will discover it is all dead. Then, releasing their activity in your imagination, everything will once more become animated and continue its purpose. If a bird was in flight when you arrested it, it will continue to fly when released. If someone is carrying food to a table when arrested – although you can keep them in that position for as long as you like – when you release the power you know yourself to be, they will continue to serve the meal as if nothing had happened.

Can you imagine doing that? I tell you it is true, but as long as you identify yourself with a body of death and believe it is you, you will not realize you are your own hope of glory.

The body you care for and keep well is dead, while I – the awareness who entered it – AM a living being, who will experience scripture while in this dead body. I came into the world and took upon myself the body of a slave when I was born in the likeness of man. Now, wearing the human form, I AM obedient unto death, even death upon the cross of man. While in this state, I will experience the word I inspired the prophets to write, for I AM the God in you!

Having created an incredible adventure, I prophesied that I would die and overcome death. The prophecy has been fulfilled and will continue to be fulfilled in all, for I am God, capable of overcoming my last enemy, which is death. I will awaken in my grave and come out unassisted to find myself greater than I was before the adventure.

Those who think of me in terms of the outer form I wear will see the things that were foretold; but not me, for I AM spirit and cannot be seen with the mortal eye. Having eyes that see not and ears that hear not, I will give them eyes that they may see and bore ears that they may hear what kings and prophets long to see and hear, but cannot. A retreat will not cultivate inspiration. It doesn’t come that way. The fire that rises within you is the same fire that descends like a bolt of lightening and splits you in two. You cannot consciously lift this power through contemplation. Only He who first descended can ascend into the kingdom of heaven. Descending like a bolt of lightening, the curtain of the temple is split, releasing His spirit that was trapped inside. Then your power is raised back into the heavenly state from which you came, for you are the God of scripture who said: “I say, ‘You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you. Nevertheless you will die like men and fall as one man, O princes.’ ”

From now on, think of yourself as spirit, not flesh and blood. People are so proud of their physical line, yet if they knew its background they might be ashamed of it. Many a person has paid a fortune to trace his lineage and then spent another fortune to forget it.

Recently I read of a questionnaire which was sent out to various church officials in England, asking what they thought was going to happen to them when they died. One minister replied: “I assume I will enter into the joy of the Lord, but why bring up such an unpleasant subject?” This is true the world over, because man does not know he is immortal and cannot die.

You came into a world of death. The body you now wear will return to dust from whence it came; but you, its occupant, cannot die. Rather, you will simply dream yourself into another body of death, animate it in a terrestrial world like this, and continue to do the same things you are doing here. You will be in an environment which the depths of your being finds best suited for what He still wants to do, and you will continue doing it until you awaken in that garment and fulfill scripture.

Then you will take off your garment of death and return to the glory that was yours before that the world was. We knew each other intimately before we descended, and we will know each other just as intimately when we take off all of these masks and ascend.

In this world, we wear separate, individual bodies; but in eternity we form the one body. We are many, yet one. “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” In that state there will be only one Lord, one God and Father of all, and all form that one. No matter what type of dreams an individual has, in the end they will be but dreams; for when he awakes and returns, we will love him as dearly as we did before the descent.

Inspiration is a gift of God, which cannot be acquired. Because God is in you, scripture is inspired from within. At the present time, Christ – God’s power and wisdom – is personified as you. Although the body you wear is dead, He who raised Christ from the dead will raise you also. Christ in you is the one who rises. His spirit is your breath. Breathing his inspiration, you hear and feel the wind. Then you who radiate the glory of that God breath will awaken as God Himself.

Now let us go into the silence.

neville goddard imagination creates reality

THE PERFECT IMAGE

by with No Comment Belief is everythingChanging Reality With Your Mindchanging your reality with your imaginationcreate your reality with your imaginationEmmet Foxfeeling is the secretFlorence Scovel ShinnFocusFocus is powerHow to Manifest moneyImaginationImagining creates realityJosephy MurphyMental AttitudeMental ScienceMind ScienceMoneyNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdomPower In The Spoken Wordpower of imagesPower Of Imaginationpower of the mindPower of Thoughtpower of wordsThe Complete Neville Goddard Readerthe conscious mindThe Power Of FaithThe power of the mindthe power of the spirit withinthe secretthe spiritthe spirit of truth is withinthe subconsciouswe create our own reality

Neville Goddard 04-11-1969

neville goddard imagination creates reality“He is our peace, who will make us both one by breaking down the wall of hostility, that he may create in himself one new man in place of the two, so bringing peace.” This being of peace is a person, not a doctrine or philosophy. He is a person who breaks down the wall of hostility between you who are seated here and your true identity, who is a son of God, one with his Father.

Now, a lady wrote, saying: “I saw myself in vision as radiantly perfect, yet I knew that we were two. Remembering the words ‘Be ye perfect,’ I knew that at one time I was not, but now my present reflection is one of perfection. Then I awoke, got out of bed and stumbled into the door, then lost my temper and yelled at my children for pouring soap on my nice clean carpet. So it must have happened in some other dimension of my being, for I certainly am not perfect here.” She is right. While we wear these garments of flesh and blood, we lose our temper; we run into doors and do all the things people do here. Did not the perfect one, who was the pattern man, call Herod “that fox,” and the scribes and Pharisees “Whited sepulchers, outwardly beautiful and inwardly full of hypocrisy and iniquity”? While you are here, encased in your body of flesh and blood, certainly you will lose your temper. Maybe not as you did before you were perfect, but you will to some degree as long as you remain here.

Now, how does he who is our peace, break down the wall of perdition and make the two of us one? By fulfilling his primal wish, which was: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” God fell asleep to his true awareness and began a good work in you, which he will bring to completion on the day of Jesus Christ – who is described as being the perfect image of God, one who reflects and radiates God’s glory. When his good work is finished, in you, then you – the image – will be superimposed upon him, and you will know yourself to be the Father. There is only God in the world. Having taken upon himself the limitation of man (as you are) he is working you into his image from within. And when you – the made, are as perfect as he – the Maker, you rise as one man, enhanced by reason of the experience of making an image which radiates and reflects your glory. So her vision was perfect, all based upon scripture. Here is another beautiful one.

This lady said, “I found myself in a forest, sitting on the ground leaning against a tree, when I heard a voice calling, ‘Father, Father,’ but I did not answer, because I did not want to be discovered. Suddenly you appeared, dressed as a shepherd boy, and said to me: ‘Why did you not answer me? I have been searching for you.’ And I replied: ‘You are always searching and finding me, in spite of the fact that the Good Book says I can rest on the Sabbath day.’ Then you looked at me and smiled the smile of an indulgent father; yet strangely enough, I – very female – felt I was the father.” In the 4th chapter of Galatians it is said: “When the time had fully come, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying: ‘Abba! Father!’ But the Father, sound asleep in Man, doesn’t want to be found, although the Son is always calling: “Rouse thyself, why sleepest thou, O Lord! Awake!”

And when one who is called the Son of God awakens to Fatherhood, he is sent into the world to awaken his brothers, but finds they still want to postpone the day of waking, still wanting to hold onto these little garments of flesh and blood. But I will always find you and will not let you rest, for “Truly, truly I say unto you, the dead will hear the voice of the son of God and those who hear it will live.” This lady heard the voice and recognized it, so she is not far from waking. Sent as a shepherd boy, the son of God does the Father’s will by calling the Father (in Man) to awaken and rise from the dead. God entered this world for the sole purpose of making you perfect as he is perfect. When his work is finished, he will superimpose himself upon that image and they will be perfectly one.

This lady knew she was perfect. She recalled the words: “Be ye perfect.” The completed sentence is: “as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Yes, be ye perfect for then you become one with your Maker; awake from this dream of life and resurrect from this world of death into a world of eternal life. Without the resurrection you would know infinite circuitry, repeating the same states over and over again. But, after moving around the circle unnumbered times, the perfect image is formed, removing you from the circle to enter a spiral and move up as the person who created it all. You can join every doctrine, sign every contract between people and nations; yet you will not know perfection until He (in you) finds you perfect and the two of you become one. So, he who is your peace will make you one with him by breaking down the dividing wall of hostility.

Then, without telling others you walk knowing who you really are. If you tell the world, they will only laugh at you because – while in this world, like my friend who had the vision – you will run into a door and lose your temper. Everyone is here for a definite purpose, which is revealed through revelations, thereby giving purpose to the whole of life. Without purpose, what does the world have to offer? If you owned everything that you could buy with money, if you had all the money necessary to live comfortably – and your soul is called, what would it matter? The world may call you dead, cremate your body and scatter your ashes, but you are immortal and cannot die.

Rather than being dead, you are in a world just like this one, mentally walking the same tracks over again and again. Oh, maybe you will not experience the same situations, but your world will be just as solidly real. You will return to a lovely twenty-year-old form, to marry, and age, and lose your temper as you bump into a door – until your image is so perfect it is superimposed upon its Maker. Then up you go to know yourself to be the one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one God and Father of all. That is the great living body of the Risen Lord. It seems incredible, but it is true. You are destined to know yourself to be the creator of the world. You are destined to share in the unity of that one body, that one Spirit, that one Lord, that one God and Father of all. I know, for I have experienced it. I was sent back to tell my experiences in the hope that those who are on the verge of moving into the same body, as the same Spirit, may hear my words and be encouraged by them.

Paul makes the statement: “I stand before you on trial for the hope in that promise that God made to our fathers. O King Agrippa, why should it seem incredible to any of you that God raised the dead? Is this not the promise to our fathers?” Search the scriptures and you will find that the promise was made in the 46th chapter of Genesis. “The Lord spoke to Israel in visions of the night saying, ‘Jacob, Jacob.'” (As you know, Jacob’s name was changed to Israel which means, a man who rules as God because he knows he is God.) Jacob answers: “Here I am” and the Lord said: “I am God, the God of your father. Fear not to go down into Egypt, for there I will make of you a great nation. I will go down with you into Egypt and I will also bring you out again.” Egypt is not a little place in North Africa; this world of death is Egypt, where everything appears, waxes, wanes, and vanishes. I have gone down into Egypt with you and I will keep my promise and bring you up.

When this world was coming to its end, Paul stood in chains before the prince whose kingdom was fading; but he could not let go of it, and said: “Why do you think it incredible that God raises the dead?” and the king could not answer. I tell you: God literally assumed the weaknesses and limitations of the flesh, in order to know you and to make you into his image. And when that image is perfect as He is perfect, you are no longer two, but one. Then you awake from the dream of life and ascend into your true being, called the kingdom of heaven. Our commonwealth is in heaven and we are sojourners in this strange land where we are enslaved. But have faith and set your hope fully upon that moment in time when the image is perfect. Then it will be unveiled within you to reveal you as the being who made it.

Though you are the made, you are the Maker; for the Maker breaks down the wall of hostility between you, making you and He one. Then you return to your heavenly state as the one who came down, but greatly enhanced because of your journey into Egypt. Having purposely imposed this limitation upon myself, I felt as though I were speaking to another, making requests of him and thanking him for their fulfillment. Now I have no sense of another. I feel only as the one who formed me into his likeness; for when I awoke He and I were not two any more, but one. This lady saw me clothed as a shepherd boy. She saw correctly; for although the Father and the son are one, it is the Spirit of his son who is sent into the heart, crying: “Father, Father.” She heard the cry and knew herself to be not only Man, but a father; yet in this world she is very much a lady. She heard my call, yet not wanting to be disturbed she did not respond; but may I tell you, the son of God will never let the Father rest. He is forever calling: “Awake you sleeper! Why sleepest thou, O Lord?” But the Father in you cannot awaken until he has completed his work.

He began it in you and will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. That day, the image of God himself is formed in you, and you awake to express that image by radiating and reflecting God’s glory. Night after night I am crying and crying to the Father in all; and those who hear my voice will begin to awaken from the dream of life and start their journey back to the being they were before that the world was, to find themselves to be more glorious, more wonderful, than they were when they descended. Tonight some friends are here who haven’t heard me speak in a number of years. When they were last with me I was speaking only of the law, as the promise had not fulfilled itself in me. So for their sake let me say: the promise is the law on a higher level, and the law is very simple.

There are infinite number of states. The state of health, the state of sickness, the state of wealth, the state of poverty, the state of being known, the state of being unknown – all are only states and everyone is always in a state. We all have one state in which we are very comfortable, so we return to it moment after moment. That state constitutes our dwelling place. If it is not a pleasant state, we can always get out of it. How this is done is the secret I will now share with you. All states are mental. You cannot remove yourself from your present state by pulling strings on the outside. You must mentally adjust your thoughts to proceed from the desired state, all within yourself. You fell into your present state either deliberately or unwittingly; and because you are its life, the state became alive and grew like a tree, bearing its fruit which you do not like. Its fruit may be that of poverty, or distress, heartache, or pain. There are all kinds of unlovely fruit. But you can detach yourself from your unlovely harvest by making an adjustment in your human imagination.

Ask yourself what you would like to harvest. When you know what it is, ask yourself how you would feel if your desire was ready to harvest right now. When you know the feeling, try to catch it. In my own case I find it easier to catch the feeling by imagining I am with people I know well and they are seeing me as they would if my desire were now a fact. And when the feeling of reality possesses me, I fall asleep in that assumption. At that moment I have entered a state. Now, I must make that state as natural as I have made my present state. I must consciously return to my new state constantly. I must feel its naturalness, like my own bed at night. At first the new state seems unnatural, like wearing a new suit or hat. Although no one knows your suit is new, you are so conscious of it you think everyone is looking at you. You are aware of its fit and its feeling until it becomes comfortable.

So it is with your new state. At first you are conscious of its strangeness; but with regular wearing, the new state becomes comfortable, and its naturalness causes you to constantly return to it, thereby making it real. Now most of us, knowing what we want, construct it in our minds eye, but never occupy it. We never move into the state and remain there. I call this perpetual construction, deferred occupancy. I could dream of owning a lovely home and hope to go there one day; but if I do not occupy it now, in my imagination, I postpone it to another day. I may wish my friend had a better job. I may have imagined him having it; but if I don’t occupy that state by believing he is already there, I have merely constructed the state for him but not occupied it.

All day long I can wish he or she were different; but if I don’t go into the state and view him from it, I don’t occupy the state, so he remains in the unlovely state relative to me. This is the world in which we live. You can’t conceive of a thing that is not part of a state, but the life of any state is in the individual who occupies it.

Life cannot be given to a state from without, because God’s name is “I am.” It is not “You are” or “They are.” God’s eternal name is I Am! That is the life of the world. If you would make a state alive, you must be in it. If you are in a lovely, gentle, kind state, you are seeing another as lovely, living graciously, and enjoying life to the utmost. Now, to make that state natural, you must see everyone in your world as lovely, kind, and gentle. Others may not see them in that light, but it doesn’t really matter what they think. I am quite sure if I took a survey of what people think of me, no two would agree. Some would say I am a deceiver, while others I am the nearest thing to God. I would find a range stretching from the devil to God, all based upon the state in which the person is in when called upon to define me. You can be what you want to be if you know and apply this principle, but you are the operant power. It does not operate itself.

You may know the law from A to Z, but knowing is not enough. Knowledge must be acted upon. “I am” is the operant power in you. Put your awareness in the center of your desire. Persist, and your desire will be objectified. Learn to use the law, because there is a long interval between the law and the promise. Those who heard me prior to 1959 are unfamiliar with my experiences since that time, and my words may seem strange to you. I cannot deny the law, for I came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them.

This I have done. I have told you that in the resurrection, Man is above the organization of sex, and that Man can change his sex at will. This week I received a letter telling of a vision which testifies to the truth of this statement. This gentleman is married to a lovely girl and is every bit a man, yet this is his experience. He said, “I found myself lying on a bed feeling as though I am a woman. Desiring a man of oriental descent and olive skin, I assumed I had found him. Instantly he appeared and, although no act was performed, I felt the thrill of imagining and instant fulfillment of my imaginal act. Then I awoke.” This man’s vision verifies what I have been telling you: that in the resurrection Man changes his sexual garments at will, and being above the organization of sex, he does not need the divine image of male/female to create. I think his vision is marvelous.

When he returned to this world, he was surprised at the experience; but I say to all: you are destined to know you are every being in the world, bar none! Like the lady who is so feminine, responding when a shepherd boy called her “father”. Although she would not answer my call, she knew I would always find her. I always will, for I – the Word of God – was sent as the son of God, and I shall not return to my father void. I must bring back that purpose for which he sent me.

I stirred the feeling of the fatherhood of God in her, and I will take back with me those that my father gave me. But while you are in this world of Caesar, it is important that you master the law. Think of everyone as representing a state. There is no such thing as a good man or a bad man, only good or bad states as you conceive them to be; but the occupant of every state is God. Blake said in his “Vision Of The Last Judgment”: “On this it will be seen that I do not consider either the just or the wicked to be in a supreme state, but to everyone of them states of the sleep which the soul may fail into in its deadly dreams of good and evil when it leaves Paradise following the serpent.” Identify yourself with a state and you are pronounced by others to be either good or evil; but you are only in a state.

Tonight if you are unemployed, or find it difficult to get a promotion in your present employment, remember: the solution to your present state is still a state! I hope I have made it clear how to move into states. It is done through the act of assumption with feeling and persistence. Assume health. Stand in its center and clothe yourself with its feeling. Persist in claiming a healthy body and a healthy mind, and your assumption will harden into fact as you move into and objectify the state of health. Now let us go into the silence.



neville goddard imagination creates reality

THE PROMISE EXPLAINED

by with No Comment Belief is everythingChanging Reality With Your Mindchanging your reality with your imaginationcreate your reality with your imaginationEmmet Foxfeeling is the secretFlorence Scovel ShinnFocusFocus is powerHow to Manifest moneyImaginationImagining creates realityJosephy MurphyMental AttitudeMental ScienceMind ScienceMoneyNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdomPower In The Spoken Wordpower of imagesPower Of Imaginationpower of the mindPower of Thoughtpower of wordsThe Complete Neville Goddard Readerthe conscious mindThe Power Of FaithThe power of the mindthe power of the spirit withinthe secretthe spiritthe spirit of truth is withinthe subconsciouswe create our own reality

Neville Goddard  26 June 1970

neville goddard imagination creates realityThe Bible tells the story of a promise – of a dream that existed two thousand years only in the imagination of Israel; and when their dream came true, Israel did not recognize their own harvest, and rejected their own harvest – denied it, for they were looking for it in an entirely different way. That is really the essence of the Bible, a promise made to man, and then man believed it. It was to Abraham, and Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him as righteousness. So, he had the faith to sustain it and pass it on to generations, and they all believed it; and they maintained, only in their imagination, for two thousand years the dream. Then the dream erupted within an individual – within Israel; and he told the story, but they did not believe……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… … Now we turn to the story. It’s an old man, a hundred years old, and a wife ninety years old; and it is said that “it had ceased to be with her after the manner of women.” In other words, it would be impossible for her to have a child. And the promise was made that she would have a child, and that child would be “your heir, and you will call him Isaac, which means, “he laughs.” Abraham had, from a slave, a son called Ishmael. It was said of him that his hand was against every man, and every man’s hand was against him……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. …

This same story repeats itself all the way through. It begins with Abraham, and then the two – Ishmael who came first and then Isaac. Isaac was the promise. Then the grandchildren: Esau and Jacob, and God said “Jacob I love; Esau I have hated,” – the same pattern following all through Scripture coming into the New Testament. And in man it erupted – the story………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ….

Now we find a wonderful story in the Book of John, the 3rd chapter of John. It is not repeated in the Bible; it is only in John. It is not mentioned in Matthew, Mark, or Luke,–where a member of the Sanhedrin -a Pharisee by the name of Nicodemus, –a member of the Sanhedrin is the highest body of a religious order. And Israel was a theocracy; it was ruled by the Rabbis, and here was the highest of the Rabbis. He identified something from what he knew of his own scripture, but couldn’t quite put the pieces together. So, he sought Jesus “in the night,” we are told. He came during the night, seemingly in a furtive manner – not to be identified or recognized by other members of the Sanhedrin. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. ..

He addressed him as “Rabbi,” whence the fact that the man knows what others seemingly are not aware of. The conversation takes place in this manner; ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. He said, “I know that you are the one that is sent, for no one who is not sent by God could do the things that you do;” and then a sudden break takes place in the conversation, and Jesus said to him; ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. …. ..

“Unless one is born from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”…………………………………………………………………………………………………….. …

Nicodemus answered, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”…………………………………………. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. …

And Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say unto you, unless one is born from above, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I have said unto you that you must be born from above, for I tell you that the wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you cannot tell whence it comes not whither it goes. So is every one who is born of the spirit. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ……………. …Nicodemus answered, “How can this be?” …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. …

And Jesus answered him and said, “Are you a teacher of Israel and you do not understand this? I tell you – I tell you what I know, and I bear witness to what I have seen, but you do not receive my testimony.”…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. …

That is the story in essence. Man was looking for it to take place, as Nicodemus did, as all births take place, never having heard of an entirely different kind of a birth. Here, that which is born of the flesh is flesh; that which is born of the spirit is spirit; but he never heard before that Isaac represented what which is born of the spirit……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. …

Now, when you read the Bible, the characters of the Bible are not persons as we are; they are eternal states of consciousness through which you and I – the Immortal Being -we pass through these states. The end of it – the climax of it is simply Jesus Christ. Each is destined to awaken one day as Jesus Christ, who is nothing less than God Himself! Every one is destined to awaken as God!………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …

The birth cannot be of the flesh, for flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. It cannot enter the Kingdom of God – only Spirit, for God is Spirit. So this represents – Isaac represents – the birth of the Spirit……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. …

Nicodemus saw only physical birth. He could not understand any kind of a birth outside of a physical birth. Paul, now, explains in his 9th Chapter of his Letter to the Romans, the difference between the two births, and he speaks of the descendants of Abraham after the flesh and that which comes out of Isaac – and “we are named out of Isaac,” he said………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …

Well, I will tell you now from my own experience which duplicates that recorded in Scripture. You could not find a more beautiful recording than that which I have just repeated for you from the 3rd Chapter of John. It is accurate. It is perfect. When he uses the word “wind,” some translators said he should have used the word “spirit;” but the words “spirit” and “wind” are identical, both in Hebrew and in Greek – the same word. But he used the right word, for when it happens to you, you think only in terms of wind. When you are “born from above,” and the child is placed in your hand – this wonderful child actually laughs. You pick it up and you look into its face and say in the most endearing manner, “How is my sweetheart?” This heavenly smile breaks upon his face; but you hear a wind. It’s an unearthly wind that I can’t describe by anything known to my physical senses, and yet I heard it through, seemingly, senses, for I heard the wind. I heard it coming from within me and seemingly coming from without……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. …

So when one is “born from above,” it is the moment when he is resurrected from the grave. This whole thing is dead – just as dead as it can be, but we animate it because we are in it. We are the Dreamer in it dreaming and keeping alive the dream – the promise that is made. May I ask you not to reject it. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. …

A man – a little man – stands before you, with all the weaknesses, all the limitations of the flesh; but everything that you are heir to I am. I am still heir to it, in spite of what has happened to me; and yet I tell you it has happened to me, and plead with you not to reject it, but accept it, for the day is not long from now when this little thing [indicating his physical body] must be shed. That which has already happened within me, which is forever, just simply escapes. That is the Imprisoned Splendor waiting – bursting to get out permanently. It gets out night after night on a certain work to be done; but it is waiting for that moment when, for the first time, it takes off this little garment, and the silver cord is snapped and the Imprisoned Splendor set free, that which is within a man. It comes when he is “born from above.” ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. …

So, the conversation between them is all about the Kingdom of Heaven and the only way that it can be entered. There is no other way you can enter it. So, until the “birth” takes place, you are still flesh and blood. You will “die” here – yes, but you cannot die, may I tell you? It seems silly. It seems stupid to tell you when a man dies and you cremate the body and you scatter the ashes that he is not dead. Yet, I know from my own experience of many who have gone – I have seen them. I have talked with them. I am talking to you. They don’t even know they are “dead.” They say to me, “Who is dead?”……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ..

I say, “You’re not dead, but you ‘died.’ I was at your funeral. You are buried,” – and I tell them the cemetery where they are buried. They can’t believe it, because they are not dead. They are so alive to themselves, they can’t believe it for one moment. And you can bring back certain things: “You recall so-and-so?” ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. … …”Yes. Did he die?” they begin to think. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. …… …”Well, yes, he did die.” ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. ….. …”Well then, look at him. Is he ‘dead’? There he is – he died. You went to his funeral, didn’t you?” -and then they begin to think…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. ….. …”Yes, I did.” “Well then, look at him. He isn’t dead, but he died.”

…”Well, you died, too, Jack; but you are not ‘dead’ because nothing dies in God’s world, for God is the God of the living.”…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. …….. … Every one that “dies” here is instantly restored in a body just like this, but young -unaccountably new – unaccountably young with nothing missing. If you had parts missing, they aren’t missing then. If you were deaf, blind, dumb, you aren’t deaf,–none of these things happened. You are simply completely restored, and you are perfect. But you are still in a world just like this, and you will still go through all the things you do here. You will work. You will marry; you will do all the things you do here, just as you do it here, until that moment when you are “born from above.” ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. ……… … When you are “born from above,” you can die no more. That is behind you, as told you in the 20th Chapter of the Book of Luke, when they asked the question: “Tell me, in the Resurrection whose wife will that one be?” because she had married seven brothers. And he said to those who questioned him, because they were all great scientists – in those days they spoke of the Pharisee and the Sadducee; and the Sadducee was what we would call today the scientist – the agnostic or even the atheist. He won’t believe in survival because nothing could convince him that the body was not the reality – that something could escape from this body. So they asked him the question, “In the Resurrection, whose wife will she be?” for she married seven………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. …

And he said to the Sadducees, “The children of this age marry, and they are given in marriage; but those who are accounted worthy to attain to that Age and to the Resurrection from the dead, they neither marry, nor are they given in marriage, for they cannot die any more, being sons of the Resurrection. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ..

So, the whole drama begins with the Resurrection, which is the “birth from above.” They are two sides of the same coin; it happens only moments apart. You feel the most terrific vibration within your head. You feel – as I did – that “this is it!” meaning this is now a hemorrhage – a brain hemorrhage that must be massive, and therefore they will find the body tomorrow morning on the bed, and Neville is gone from this world.

Instead of that, I felt myself waking – waking from a dream. I had no idea it wasn’t a normal dream; but when I awoke, I was not in this world. I was in my skull, and I knew instantly that my skull was a sepulcher and I had been placed there. How I got there, I did not know; but I only knew that somebody who put me there knew of thought I was “dead.” So, I was buried as one that was dead, and you are now buried as one that is dead; and you are dreaming this dream of life in your skull. And that’s where you are. Your Immortal Being is there. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. …

When I awoke to find myself completely sealed, I had an intuitive knowledge – as you are told, “The one who wakes is the wisdom of God, and he is the power of God,” for that’s how Christ is defined in Scripture: “the power of God and the wisdom of God.” And I knew exactly what to do. I would push the base of the skull. May I tell you? All things being relative, I stood within my skull. This [indicating his head] is a little tiny thing. How could Neville, 5’ll”, stand in a skull? I stood in my skull! It is the Immortal Skull – and the Immortal Head. I stood in it just like I stand here on the stage, and I went to the base of it, and I pushed from within. As I did so, something rolled away. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. …

That stone rolled away, and then I came out, inch by inch, head first, just like a child being born; but I’m a man, and a whole man came out; and then when I was almost out, I pulled the remaining portion of me out of that body. And then the wind became even more intense – “the wind blowing where it wills.” I heard the sound thereof, but I could not tell whence it came or whither it would go. So, I looked over to the corner, having just seen the body; I looked over and couldn’t see anything that could be the cause of it, but still it intensified like some enormous hurricane. I looked back to the body and it was gone…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Then three witnesses, as told us in the Book of Genesis,–they then stand before – you didn’t see them approaching – they stand before Abraham, to whom the promise was made. Now I am playing the part of Abraham, for here the promise is made; and these three witnesses sent from God, and one is not only the spokesman of God, it is God Himself! As he looks up, he doesn’t see them approaching. There they are! I looked and I didn’t see these three men approaching. There they sat where the body was, and they are discussing.

And in Scripture, whenever vision breaks into sound – into speech, the presence of David is assured. They began to talk, discussing the wind; and then one is completely disturbed and walks towards the same direction where I thought the wind originated. He goes two steps and he sees the infant, the sign. As told us in Scripture, the child is only a sign of the “birth” of God. He announces the father of the child. They question his right. They say, “How can,” – calling me by name – “have a baby?” He doesn’t argue the point; he lifts the child and presents it, and then I take the child. And then is when it smiles in my face………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Are we not asked in the 30th Chapter of the Book of Jeremiah, “And the Lord said unto Jeremiah,” -and the word “Jeremiah” means “Jehovah will rise.” It is Jehovah who is buried in you. Jehovah will rise. And then Jehovah speaks to His prophet whose name, as I’ve just defined for you, is “Jehovah will rise,” – “Can a man bear a child?” Obviously the answer is, No. And then the Lord speaks:………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ..

“Why, then, do I see every man with his hands drawing himself out of himself just like a woman in labor? Why has every face turned pale?” …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… .

That is just as it happens. The face is ghastly pale like one in death practically, only it is moving, because the head moves, like one in recovery from a great ordeal. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

But here, you draw your Self out of yourself, just as you are told. But the Old Testament is an adumbration: it is a forecasting in a not-altogether conclusive or immediately evident way. The whole thing is adumbrated. One reading it could not read the sketch. It’s like a sketch. But when it actually happens in one as the cubic reality, and he reinterprets Scripture, taking you from the sketch to the reality of it, they would not accept it. They could not believe it…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. …

Now, the Bible begins with the Self-revelation of god. He said to Moses, –and this is the Lord speaking: “I speak unto my servant Moses. I appeared unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name The Lord I did not make myself known unto them.”

The word translated “the Lord” is “Yod-He-Vau-He,” which means “I Am.” It is to Moses that He reveals His intimate identity, which is I Am. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. …

But Moses said, “When they ask me, What is his name, what must I say?”………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …… …”Say I Am has sent me unto you.”…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …

He didn’t reveal this intimacy to the three states called Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They saw Him purely as Power – sheer power that was a destructive power, like the lightning, like the thunder, like the earthquake. Thy saw It only as power…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. …

Now He comes into the more intimate revelation of Himself in one called Moses, and there He reveals Himself as I AM. It is an intimate relationship. You say, “I am.” That’s He! But the word “Moses” means “One to be born.” So we are told in the story, Moses was not allowed to enter the Promised Land, because it was not yet born. The revelation of God came to that point of an intimate relationship of the presence being felt, which was I AM; but something more had to be born. So we are told he was not allowed to go into the Promised Land, but one called Joshua went into the Promised Land…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. …

Well, the word “Joshua” is the same as the word “Jesus.” It is the Hebrew form of the Anglicized form “Jesus,” which means “Jehovah Saves,” which is the same thing as “Jehovah.” “Joshua” and “Jehovah” and “Jesus” are identical in meaning. So, Moses couldn’t go because he was not yet born into the further unveiling of God………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …

What was the other unveiling of God? The final revelation of God-in-man is that of Father. When He unveils Himself as Father, that’s the final revelation of God to man, for then he has completed His task in giving Himself to man. For it’s God’s purpose to actually give Himself to man. So, there’s no two – just you; and you and He are one. So, you can’t say, “God and I,” -for you are God! You actually become God. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …

That is the story of the Bible. So, God as Father – only when you find Him now as Father. How would I find Him as a father? To see a man standing before me that I know to be my father? No. I see his son standing before me who knows me as his father……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. ..

So, when I find God’s only begotten son standing before me,–and he doesn’t even have to call me “Father;” I know he is my son, and he knows I am his father; but he does call me “Father.” He calls me his lord, and I know I am his father. He stands before me, and who is he? He is the one mentioned in the Old Testament, for “I’ve come only to fulfill Scripture.”………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. …

The only “scripture” spoken of in the New Testament is the Old Testament. So when he said, “I come only to fulfill Scripture. Scripture must be fulfilled in me; and beginning, ” – not with the Gospels, not with the Letters, he begins with the Old Testament; he begins with the law of Moses, then he comes to the Prophets, he comes into the Psalms; and “he interprets to them in all the scriptures of the Old Testament the things concerning himself.”…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ..

So, when one fulfills Scripture – that is the Old scripture,–then the story has come to its end, and in the fulfillment God unveils Himself, and that’s the last unveiling, and that is “Father.” So, he has come to make known the real name of God, and the name is “Father.” So, he smiled, “I have made known Thy name, and I will make it known that the love with which Thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them.” He begins the whole thing by calling upon the Father. Then he said, “I and my Father are one.”………………………………………………………………………………

 

neville goddard imagination creates reality

THE PRUNING SHEARS OF REVISION

by with No Comment Belief is everythingChanging Reality With Your Mindchanging your reality with your imaginationcreate your reality with your imaginationEmmet Foxfeeling is the secretFlorence Scovel ShinnFocusFocus is powerHow to Manifest moneyImaginationImagining creates realityJosephy MurphyMental AttitudeMental ScienceMind ScienceMoneyNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdomPower In The Spoken Wordpower of imagesPower Of Imaginationpower of the mindPower of Thoughtpower of wordsThe Complete Neville Goddard Readerthe conscious mindThe Power Of FaithThe power of the mindthe power of the spirit withinthe secretthe spiritthe spirit of truth is withinthe subconsciouswe create our own reality

Neville Goddard 1954

neville goddard imagination creates realityThis morning’s subject is “The Pruning Shears of Revision”. I firmly believe that if you will wisely and daily use the pruning shears of revision that you will find there is no objective beyond your ability to realize. And I mean that seriously, no objective beyond your ability to realize.

When I was a boy of seven, a lady said to me, “I have had a vision concerning you. I’ll make it now very, very clear to you–I do not know what it is you are going to do, but I’ve been shown you will do something that through the centuries after you are gone man will not undo it. I can see it and through the centuries you will grow in stature long after you have gone. And then three men will be mentioned in hundreds of years to come and you will be one of the three when something is discussed that was done for man.”

I feel that this morning’s subject that this could be it, that if I never said another word, and you heard it and believed it, and really used it, this would be the planting that would spread from us here that tomorrow could not undo. For it is magic, this pruning shears of revision. It really is not only the achievement of objectives, but if you do it daily, it will awaken in you the spirit of Jesus, which is continual forgiveness of sin.

In this teaching the sinner should always go free; you will never condemn him, for when the spirit is awake in you you will realize in him there is no condemnation, only forgiveness, and forgiveness is not as man of the world thinks when he omits the actual execution of his revenge. What we mean by forgiveness the identification of the other that we would forgive with the ideal that other wants to embody in the world. And so we do to him what we expect or would like the world to do to us. So whatever I myself would like to embody that is the vision that I must hold of every man that I meet in my world; that no man is to be discarded, every man is to be redeemed, and my life is the process whereby that redemption is brought about. And I do it by simply identifying the other with the ideal I want to externalize in my world.

Now we will go back to the 2nd of Genesis. It is said “And God placed man in the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” Now when you read the story you think it happened thousands of years ago. I have come to tell you it is now. You are now in the garden of Eden and you think you are shut out or banished. You are in it, and the garden is your mind, but you need–like every gardener–you need pruning shears. For you have slept, as you are told in that second chapter; having slept, weeds have appeared in the garden and the weeds are revealing themselves by the conditions and the circumstances of life. For your garden is always projecting itself on the screen of space, and you can see by looking carefully at your world what you allow to grow in the garden of God. But you have a mission, you have a purpose, it is not to amass a fortune–you can do it if you want to–it’s not to be famous, it is not to be some mighty power, but simply to tend the garden of God. That’s your purpose. You are placed in the garden to dress it and to keep it, that only the lovely things grow in the garden of God.

Now every man in the world is rooted in you who look out and see that world. Every man is rooted in me; he ends in me as I am rooted in and end in God. Because he is rooted in me he cannot bear other than the nature the root allows. So he is in me and any changes desired in the outer world can be brought about only if I change the source of the thing I see growing in my world.

“You see yonder fields?
Don’t be surprised when you see sesamum:
The sesamum was sesamum,
The corn was corn,
The silence and the darkness knew
So is a man’s fate born”

So don’t judge it, because you are the source of the thing that you are beholding. Now turn within and prune it by using these pruning shears of revision.

Now this is how we do it. At the end of my day, I review the day; I don’t judge it, I simply review it. I look over the entire day, all the episodes, all the events, all the conversations, all the meetings, and then as I see it clearly in my mind’s eye, I rewrite it. I rewrite it and make it conform to the ideal day I wish I had experienced. I take scene after scene and rewrite it, revise it, and having revised my day, then in my imagination I relive that day, the revised day, and I do it over and over in my imagination until this seeming imagined state begins to take on to me the tones of reality. It seems that it’s real, that I actually did experience it and I have found from experience that these revised days, if really lived, will change my tomorrows. When I meet people tomorrow that today disappointed me, they will not tomorrow, for in me I have changed the very nature of that being, and having changed him, he bears witness tomorrow of the change that took place within me. It is my duty to take this garden and really make it a garden by daily using the pruning shears of revision.

I know from experience it will not only bring about these objectives, and bring about these changes, but the glorious thing is, it awakens in you, who use it, the spirit of Jesus, and you find yourself then not justifying but forgiving, and you will realize that freedom and forgiveness are indissolubly linked. You cannot be free and not forgive, for the one that you would bind and judge and condemn anchors you by your own judgment of him–for he is in you. And so by identifying him with the ideal you want to really realize you free yourself.

You are told “Forgive and you shall be forgiven. Forgive not and then you shall not be forgiven”. It’s automatic; it can’t be otherwise for the whole springs from you who behold it. And as you begin to practice it the very spirit arouses itself within you and you know that you are he that others spoke about and thought lived 2000 years ago.

So, when you realize it, you realize it through actual knowledge, you know it; no argument, you don’t tell others, you know that you are he. And then you will read the words in the ninth of Hebrews, “He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself”. And you will know you are the one that put away sin by the sacrifice of self and by the sacrifice of self it’s not being a brave one who throws himself in the line of fire to protect a brother, it doesn’t mean one who gives his body to be burned, one who is nailed on a cross, but the self of man is the sum total of all that that man believes and consents to as true. So that’s the self that is sacrificed.

I heard of this lady and she would make some man a wonderful wife, and yet she is unwed. She desires to be the companion of a great noble person, but she is unwed, I heard that. That becomes a part of myself, that’s my knowledge; I must sacrifice that self, that that aspect of my being be as happy as I am and those in my world are. For that’s the self I must sacrifice and put away sin, for sin to the mystic means missing the mark; it doesn’t mean the violation of certain codes, unless of course you have a mark and the violation fell short, but sin to the mystic is simply haying an aim in life and failing to realize it. So when you miss the mark you have sinned; so he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, and knowing that himself is only all that he consents to, all that he accepts, all that he believes to be true, then what am I believing concerning that one–he is unemployed and he can’t find a job? I’m believing it. Now put away that sin where he is missing his mark and then by the putting away of the sin I do it only by the sacrifice of myself and myself is that belief, so now I revise. I can’t say well, I will no longer believe he is unemployed: I believe he’s employed.

I do it by the pruning shears of revision. I bring him before my mind’s eye and I congratulate him on his good fortune because he is now gainfully employed. I allow him to accept my congratulations, because I do not see a man unemployed, I see him employed and he knows he is in my mind’s eye for in that state I have pruned him from the unemployed state and once more reshaped the branch that grows in the garden of God. Tomorrow people will see him as they could not have seen him before the pruning that took place within me and he will be gainfully employed.

That one is unwell, you prune that branch. You don’t accept one thing in the world as final unless it conforms to the ideal you want to realize in the world. But you do it daily; if you do not prune it daily you will get out of the habit, then weeds will grow. Every man who really is a gardener who calls himself a gardener, a gardener in the garden of God, for every day is the opportunity to really prune the tree, this wonderful tree. And so everyone that you meet is a branch rooted in the vine that you are and you are that special tree in the garden of God, a tree bearing life, a tree bearing fruit for the food of the nations. You are that one.

If you take me seriously today, tonight do not let the sun descend upon any vexation of the day. Just look at it, don’t deny it, don’t duck it, look at it that you may prune it and then reshape it. Take the conversations with your friends today, were they pleasant, were they arguments, no matter what it is, were they negative?

Then rewrite the script and just imagine the conversation to have taken place that now you are rewriting for the first time. And it will take place, for everything in your world that you behold, though it appears without, it is within, in your imagination. And this wonderful imagination of yours is Christ Jesus. Imagination is the actual habitation of every created thing. No matter what you see in the world, it springs from your imagination. So that’s where you go, that’s the workshop, the garden of God.

And now you have a mission, you have a purpose in life; it’s a noble purpose, because you have been selected to really become the chief gardener in the garden of God, and in the garden you must have pruning shears, and pruning shears is revision. You simply revise, and as you revise the day you repeal the day, for the day is not slipping into the past, it does not recede as people think, it is always advancing into the future to confront you, either pruned or in some strange weed-like state.

So it’s entirely up to us–I hope that every man and woman here today will take me seriously and start this day pruning your garden. pruning your mind. I know before I leave this city in a matter of two weeks that you will be able to tell me of the new things that spring in your world or that spring from the pruned tree that is your own lovely imagination. You try it: then you will know what Blake meant when he said. “In heaven, the only art of living is forgetting and forgiving.” The only art of living is complete forgetfulness by putting something in its place, no vacuum, but putting something in its place.

So when you read these strange stories that you read in the daily press, you simply ignore them. They mean nothing. Men who are calling themselves leaders, shepherds of the flock, they excommunicate–not just one religion, all religions the leaders take it upon themselves to excommunicate, not knowing nothing is to be discarded, not a thing in the world can you discard for it is forever, but it can be pruned and made to conform to the ideal image. The man who will not revise his day either does not know it or he has lost the vision of that life into the likeness of which it is the true labor of the spirit of Jesus that transformed this life. So you don’t discard them.

In the current issue of “Time” magazine there is that noble soul who is known to us as Spinoza, Baruch de Spinoza, who has given so much to the world of philosophy, so much everyone has been enriched because he walked the earth. And here 300 years later, the ex-premier of Israel, Ben-Gurion, has asked the leading rabbis today to rescind that excommunication of 300 years ago, and they tell this noble soul today that they cannot rescind the works of their forefathers, that the curse remains forever, and you should read that silly, silly curse as it’s printed in the current issue of “Time” magazine. They call upon all the angels to curse him, as though angels would curse; they call upon everything to blast him, you could not walk within four cubits of the man’s shadow; no one should talk to him, no one should show him kindness, no one should write him and never read anything he ever has to say; and that’s 300 years ago.

The rabbis who so cursed him have long been forgotten and if they do live, they live only by reason of their curse. And no one knows really who they really are, but you can’t forget if you read in this world the works of Spinoza. Everyone in this audience possibly has used one of his phrases; did you know it was he who said “nature abhors a vacuum”? Now you use it; I use it, but what is the source of it–it was Spinoza. For here was this giant of a mind that after 300 years little minds who think they’re leading the flock; they call themselves shepherds. They should go back and read well the Book of Jeremiah, “You shepherds who spoil my vines and you who have come into my garden and you have taken my vines, now it bears no grape and it bears no leaf, and the garden of Jerusalem now has become a weed.” Read it in Jeremiah, how he cries out because shepherds, who call themselves shepherds, are blind leaders of the blind.

You take me this morning at my word; you owe me nothing, it costs you not a thing to come here this morning, you come you give me your time and I give you my time, but you go out and try it and start this day pruning that wonderful imagination of yours. Do you know someone that is evil? Stop knowing it by bringing him before your mind’s eye and carry on with him the most wonderful conversation in the world, with a tender spirit, a loving spirit, and believe in the reality of this communion, because if you really do it, you are entering the kingdom of heaven, for you enter heaven by a loving, knowing communion with a friend. So make him a friend, if he is a lovely one, no matter what he is, you can prune him and then as you prune him you are doing the work which you were sent to do for man–and you are that man–you are placed this day in the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. Don’t let it continue growing weeds in your world.

You are absolutely responsible for every being you meet in this world; that’s your responsibility. Just like the teacher we told you of who took this little child that was just about to be expelled; no, the child is not expelled because she heard what you are hearing this morning. So she brought before her mind’s eye the child that the principal, the psychiatrist and all the faculty had agreed unanimously to expel her on her l6th birthday, for she was rude, she was crude, she was unethical; and she went home on a Sunday night and brought that child before her mind’s eye and communed with her and saw in her a tender child, a considerate child, a loving child. The next day, Monday, in class she expressed all the kindness of that revision of the night before, and ten days later when it was seen and witnessed by all the faculty, and the psychiatrist, another meeting was called and they repealed their verdict of ten days before and the child is not expelled. She still sits in the George Washington High School in New York City, which is considered an excellent school; and so there she is. with no black marks against her because one teacher sat in the audience, as you are here, and she believed, what I hope everyone here will believe, and she redeemed a branch of her own tree. She didn’t realize the child was herself. She saw up to that very moment all the children that she taught in pure objectivity. Blind man sees the world objective to himself, something detached from himself. When man begins to awake he sees everything subjectively related; everything he meets is part of himself, and what he does not now understand, still he knows that it is related by affinity to some as yet unrealized force in his own being. So he doesn’t discard it, he knows his life is the process by which he will redeem it and he redeems it by using the pruning shears of revision.

So I feel that if after these fifty years of walking this earth that this is what that lady saw when I was but seven, I could really close the eye on three dimensions at any moment knowing you will not disprove it: you may never use them but you will never disprove this art of revision. And any man who will try it will prove it to his own satisfaction that he can rise beyond the wildest dream of men, and rising he awakens the spirit of forgiveness. He will rise in the early stages in the successful venture; he will increase his income, he will do all these things, but he will realize after a little while that wasn’t the purpose. They were only toys to tickle him, toys to amuse him until he awoke within himself the spirit of Jesus; then he sees an entirely different mission, not the amassing of wealth but the redeeming of society, the redeeming of every man in the world. He comes to do his Father’s will and we are told in the 6th chapter of John, “This is my Father’s will, that of all that he has given me I should lose nothing but I should raise it up again.”

Lose nothing–no, you don’t excommunicate, you don’t rub out, you simply raise it up again and as you raise it up you raise yourself up and the journey is forever. You are moving up an infinite vertical line in your own wonderful imagination, and you only move up by lifting others up. Blind men think they can save themselves, and because they think they can save themselves and discard the rest. The blind man also said this hundreds of years ago. He saved as he saved others; himself he cannot save. I say to you that it’s a false statement; it was put into the mouth of the Pharisee, put into the mouth of the Sanhedrin, the leaders who thought they were leaders, but I will tell you a man saves himself by, and only by the saving of his fellowman. There is no other way of saving self other than by saving the real self and every man is rooted in you who observes men. And so don’t discard, raise them up, prune the tree, and become the real gardener in the garden of God.

Take anything; you have a child today: we took all the requests this morning, there were dozens and dozens of requests this morning. Everyone must be answered, none must be discarded; don’t say one is impossible, there is nothing impossible to your imagination and your imagination is Christ Jesus. With Him all things are possible. Use him, stir him, wake him from his sleep; he has been sleeping through the centuries: because he has slept he has dreamed into being all these strange misshaped states. For the world only bears witness of the use or misuse of imagination. As we are told, he is the only thing in the world. What he is the only thing in the world? –Your imagination, for it is the habitation of every created thing and by it all things are made and without it is nothing made that is made. So use it wisely, use it lovingly and any time you use your imagination lovingly on behalf of another you are at that moment literally mediating God to man. Imagination is the redemptive power of the world and you are actually mediating God to man by using it in a loving, wonderful way.

neville goddard imagination creates reality

THE SECOND VISION

by with No Comment Belief is everythingChanging Reality With Your Mindchanging your reality with your imaginationcreate your reality with your imaginationEmmet Foxfeeling is the secretFlorence Scovel ShinnFocusFocus is powerHow to Manifest moneyImaginationImagining creates realityJosephy MurphyMental AttitudeMental ScienceMind ScienceMoneyNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdomPower In The Spoken Wordpower of imagesPower Of Imaginationpower of the mindPower of Thoughtpower of wordsThe Complete Neville Goddard Readerthe conscious mindThe Power Of FaithThe power of the mindthe power of the spirit withinthe secretthe spiritthe spirit of truth is withinthe subconsciouswe create our own reality

Neville Goddard 9-11-1959

neville goddard imagination creates realityWe make the statement with Blake that, “All that you behold, though it appears to be without, it is within, in your imagination of which this world of mortality is but a shadow.” I mean that literally. The whole of humanity is contained in you, for that is the being you really are, and that is God. “And we exist in Him and He in us. The eternal body of the Imagination: that is, God Himself.”

Did you hear President Eisenhower speak just recently on his reaction to his recent trip? Then he came to what he felt was the very spirit of our land – the freedom of the individual. He said we have two great documents: one, the Declaration of Independence, the other is one that takes precedence over it, and that is the Bible. I wish he spoke for every one of us in the world, but even the majority who accept it as the Word of God do not understand it. It is a series of visions from beginning to end. The Old Testament shows what is taking place in the whole; the New Testament tells what is taking place in the single or individual man. The whole vast vision in both Old and New is actually taking place in the individual.

I told you of the experience that took place on July 21st in San Francisco, and that parallels the first vision in the books of Matthew and Luke. I actually gave birth to this Christ Child as it was enacted in me. I was its father. My reality is invisible, for I held in my hands what I formed as my own son, but I did not need a body. So when God conceives of Himself, He conceives of man. So you are God, conceiving Christ Jesus and forming out of your own being unaided by any other person in the world the only-begotten Son of God.

The vision began to unfold in me and twenty-four days later came the second vision, and the second vision is the death of Herod. The child is taken into Egypt to save him from being killed at the command of Herod. Herod is compiled of two words; one means “Hero” and the other, “Edeos” means to fashion, or “a thing formed.” And the thing formed has to die, for the being you really are is God, which is spirit, without form or figure. But you display this body in every form in the world. So the second vision came. Twenty-four days later, I am seated at a table with friends, and as I rose, my body dropped dead. And then came a manservant and tied it up with a rope as you tie up a piece of beef for the oven. You could see the flesh jump as the cord drew tight. And he said, “You were not sick; why did you die?” And I said “There is a time to be born and a time to die; and a time to plant and a time to reap, and the time has come.” That is the death of Herod, or form. It is when you find that the “form” or “hero” that you thought so wonderful comes to an end. Then the Child comes out of hiding in Egypt. But now Herod’s son, Archelaus, rules in his place; and the word means “mighty political power.” For there is still the danger or the chance that one could sell his soul, become a part of some ”ism” or some great organization for profit or for acclaim of men. But He goes to Nazareth to become a Nazarene. The word simply means, “to separate.” It does not mean humanity being separated into two camps – the sheep and the goats. It only means putting off form and putting on the lamb. It has nothing to do with this meat of an animal called a lamb that we eat. Blake wrote:

“Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?
Gave thee life, and bid thee feed
By the stream and o’er the mead;
Gave thee clothing, wooly, bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice?
Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?

Little Lamb, I’ll tell thee,
Little Lamb, I’ll tell thee;
He is called by thy name,
For he calls himself, a lamb.
He is meek, and he is mild;
He became a little child.
I a child, and thou a lamb,
We called by his name.
Little Lamb, God bless thee!
Little Lamb, God bless thee!

Blake is not speaking of a little lamb of the field. What could it tell you if you asked it? Nothing. It is the symbol of the Christ Child that comes out of the mind of man. This is the symbol of the separation of the form from the lamb. How do I do it? By living completely by faith. If you do not live by faith you delay the coming of the Child, for it does not come by the passage of time, it comes out of the mind of man when that mind is prepared for the coming. I must learn to actually live in the reality of invisible states.

No matter what it is, start with a job or a house that seems beyond your reach, and then live in the feeling that you have it. In the degree that you are faithful to these images you are preparing the way for the coming of the Child. I place my image in a garden (Eden), and then out of it comes a river and it parts into four sections. It is not actually water. If I wanted to realize my dream, what must I do to make it real so I can share it with this, my shadow world called man? I must know the taste and touch and sight and sound of what it would be if it were true. If I could see what I would see if my dream were true, and remain faithful to that imagery, I would make it real in the world of shadows. The only risk is that after it becomes real, man is likely to lose himself in the thing he created in the world of effects and deny his faithfulness to the image that produced it. So then he goes sound asleep once more. So many people do that. It is nice to meet, now and then, someone who has not forgotten.

I have told you the story of this man before. He was a young lawyer of thirty, without funds, when a few years ago after coming to my lectures he decided to use his Imagination to obtain an immense objective. He desired to control a multimillion-dollar concern — the Berkeley Savings and Loan Company. At the time he had no connection with them, but within six months he was in con­trol. He turned over the wheels of industry so fast that he doubled its assets. Now he has sold out control and gone into the building business. He has recently returned from Hawaii where he built four hotels. Now he is building the largest co-op on the west coast, the Comstock, named after the famous Comstock Lode. It is on San Francisco’s Nob Hill and is costing $8 ½ million. He is president of the company. He wrote me a letter and said, “I have a deep and abiding conviction in the power of my Imagination from listening to your lectures. If Imagination creates Reality and I walk in the direction of my image, then I will predict my future.” Now he is president of this company and building this 120-unit co-op, which will be the highest on Nob Hill. He has not forgotten. I wish I could say the same of others. They build big dreams and make them real and then forget how it was done. So, after Herod is dead, his son then rules in his place, and they say, “It would have happened anyway.”

So the Child is taken to Nazareth to be separated. Many of you think that a Nazarene is one of some sect that does not cut his hair. It has nothing to do with that. It is one who is separated within himself, and knows his own invisibility and his difference from the form that appears. Herod dies, and it means form or figure — the thing you can see, and then the child is taken to be separated from all states that are visible. He is Invisible Reality.

And then we are told you do not see Him for twelve years. It means more than a length of twelve years. It means the point at which one reaches emotional maturity, or imaginative puberty, where one can now create out of his own being. Then he reappears. And the first thing He does is to deny his earthy parents. “I am about my Father’s business, etc.” He turns his back on his earthly parents. “I and my Father are one.” And then He starts the work and goes through to the very end. There is only this short interval before he reappears. This did not take place, it is taking place in the mind of everyone as the way is prepared for His coming, and you prepare the way by living by faith. “Faith is the evidence of things not yet seen.” Faith means, “meaning.” “Things that are seen are not made from things that do appear.” Science thinks that things come from substance that does appear. They are taking over a million organic substances and an equal number of inorganic substances and are now reducing the whole to electricity – positive, and negative. They think the whole vast world comes out of this, but it does not; it comes out of your wonderful imagination. Any change in your image will result in a change in the world. When man knows this, he is beginning to awaken, but until he is sure of that, he is still asleep. “Father, I thank thee thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes.”

“Prudent” comes from a word which means, “those who pray and act piously.” Note the world around you and you will see these who act piously. But this is hidden from the scientists, the “wise men.” Would you tell a scientist his imagination is creating this world of confusion? He could not believe an attitude will bring about a change in the visible world. Is it not psychical? If a man can pre-determine an attitude, where is causation? Causation is within the Imagination of man, and man is God, spiritual man, that is. When you live by it, the visions begin to unfold and you will see if the Bible is historically true or psychologically true.

Most of the eastern world says the Christian Bible is the opium of the people, and the western world says it is history. But it is a series of visions that will come only after the way is prepared. And that is by faith. But try to tell someone you are being born of your own being, and you rise from the floor and see your body lying on the bed, its head moving from side to side like someone coming out of an anesthetic. You will think it is wind that is causing the terrific vibration in the room. Then you look back where your body was and it will be gone, but in its place will be three wise men, and they too think vibration is caused by the wind, and one goes to investigate, and the others will say, “How could that be?” And you will take the child and hold it and know it is your self-begotten son and you will know that you have given birth to Christ Jesus. From then on you begin to awaken, and you find out who you really are, and you will know that you are God. You are not dependent on anything in the world, for you are making everything in the world. Everything is taking place in the mind of the single individual, for the whole vast world is contained in you.

I must tell you these things, no matter if you believe them or not. The birth of that child was mine, and I know who I am and who he is. This is a child born of a virgin. It is not a physical virgin. It comes out of the mind of man, and that is the womb of God. You are told in Hebrews 11, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

That is the preparation and the event comes like a thief in the night, it does not come by observation. This has nothing to do with holiness. A physical Christ is blasphemy. Christ is spirit and is born from above, and not beneath. The physical comes from below, but “unless ye be born from above ye cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” Christ is not of flesh, but comes out of your hands and smiles into your face.

Until you know it, it seems stupid, but throughout eternity it is taking place. “For God enters death’s door (this body) with those who enter and lies down with those who sleep to enter in the dreams of eternity until they awaken.” But when the door is opened these twelve crystals begin to vibrate in what is called the pineal gland, these twelve translucencies through which the Christ spirit shines. And the whole thing gives just as if the child were being born in the physical sense, and then you can stand no more and you are pushed down to the floor. You cannot get any lower, so that symbolizes the manger. The wise men call it your child, for you are being individualized, and the name he calls will be your name, and in your hand will be placed the child, and you will know it. For the symbolism is true. Out of the brain of man comes the Christ Child. The three wise men are always present.

But you to whom it is happening do not know what has happened. You hear the wind, the “thermal” and it means the “spirit of the divine wind.” He does not precede you, he cannot come before you for it is God giving birth to his son. But man does not know what is happening for he cannot believe that he is God. Though you cannot believe it now, you have a wonderful experience in store. If not here, then it is beyond the veil. It does not matter. This is not from the study of any philosophy, but it is an actual mystical experience. The four Gospels are the beginning of the drama unfolding in the mind of man.

You want a job? Could you drive your car into the parking lot and occupy that space which would be yours were you the vice president, or any position you wish to occupy? Then do it mentally and do it over and over until it seems natural. Then the shadow world will rearrange itself and make way for the car in a physical manner. But then don’t forget how it happened, for then you will go sound asleep again, and then it might take you a very long time to again live by faith. When you have too much of the world in focus, you do not live by faith. How can you, if you can write a check for anything you want? Jacob is the eternally beginning one and I am called on to bring Him, and I can only do it through faith. So today, no matter what you desire, if you know that Imagination creates Reality then you can bring about a change of attitude and following this change in this shadow world around you. When you react, actually you penetrate. But when I change something within myself, I am acting, and only God acts in existing beings and men. Satan is that aspect of mind that reacts to life instead of affecting life. So do not argue but decide what you want in place of what you have or see. Until I can change a thing I can tolerate it, for I know I can change it, for when I change within, it will have to change outwardly, no matter what it is. “All that you behold, though it seems to be without, it is within, in the Imagination, of which this world of mortality is but a shadow.”

The whole vast world is the world of Imagination. You will see those visions and you will know they are in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. It has everything to do with your awakening. How soon the third vision will come after the death of Herod, I do not know. It’ll all depend on me and how I live by faith. And then comes another vision, and another, and they go through to the very end. The first man is clothed in this garment of skin, but the second man is waiting within everyone for birth.

If you would today transform your life, all you need are sound and sight and touch and taste. These are the four Rivers that flow out of Eden – these are the senses and you water your Eden by these, and if you are faithful to your image it will flow into what you call reality, but it is the shadow, only the idea is the real.

Now let us go into the silence.

neville goddard Imagination Is Reality

WALK BY FAITH

by with No Comment Belief is everythingChanging Reality With Your Mindchanging your reality with your imaginationcreate your reality with your imaginationEmmet Foxfeeling is the secretFlorence Scovel ShinnFocusFocus is powerHow to Manifest moneyImaginationImagining creates realityJosephy MurphyMental AttitudeMental ScienceMind ScienceMoneyNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdomPower In The Spoken Wordpower of imagesPower Of Imaginationpower of the mindPower of Thoughtpower of wordsThe Complete Neville Goddard Readerthe conscious mindThe Power Of FaithThe power of the mindthe power of the spirit withinthe secretthe spiritthe spirit of truth is withinthe subconsciouswe create our own reality

Neville Goddard 11-06-1967

neville goddard Imagination Is RealityBlake asked the question: “Why is it that the Bible is more entertaining and instructive than any other book? Is it not because it is addressed to the Imagination, which is spiritual sensation, and only immediately to the understanding, or reason?”

The one book, called the Bible, is composed of sixty-six books. Take this challenge. Read each book as though the depth of your soul is speaking to your surface mind. As though the ineffable Imagination is speaking to the human Imagination, and not to your immediate understanding or reasoning mind.

Let us examine this thought. In his 2nd letter to the Corinthians Paul says: “We walk by faith and not by sight.” When we walk by sight, we know our way by objects that the eye sees. But Paul tells us to order our life by objects seen only in the imagination. In other words, when you know where you want to go and what you want to be, you are told not to rearrange your physical structure, but to walk by faith, viewing only the rearranged structure of your mind. And if you will remain faithful to that state of consciousness, what is seen only in your imagination will objectify itself in your world.

Paul now adds another observation, saying: “This one thing I do. Forgetting what lies behind, I strain forward to what lies ahead.” Paul’s goal was the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, but you need not have such a goal. Your desire could be a successful business. Now, everything begins in the imagination, for man is all imagination and God is man. God and man differ only in the degree of imagination’s intensity. Now keyed low, man walks by sight or by faith in his human imagination. Walking by sight is easier, because buildings rarely move. But when you walk by faith, the objects in your mind’s eye must remain as stable as those of the physical eye.

My brother Victor wanted to be a successful business man, and he knew how to remain faithful to what he imagined. In 1924, when our family didn’t have a cent, Victor rearranged the name on a building (in his mind’s eye) to imply we owned it. This he did for two years, when – without any more money than when he started imagining – a casual acquaintance purchased the building for us without collateral for $50,000. Eight years ago we sold the building to a bank for $850,000, and there is no capital gains tax in Barbados!

Walking by faith, every day as Victor passed that building, he saw “J. C. Goddard and Sons” on the marquee in place of the existing name of “I. N. Roach & Company”. Sight told him the building belonged to another, but faith said the building was his. By simply rearranging the structure of his mind every day for two years, our family’s fortune changed.

Now, we are told: “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for; the conviction of things not seen, so that what is seen was made out of things that do not appear.” (Hebrews 11) Only my brother Victor saw his mental act. Others saw the sign, “J. N. Roach & Company” – by sight, but Victor saw the words, “J.C. Goddard & Sons” – by faith.

Someone once asked Blake what he saw when he looked at the sun, and he replied, “I see a host of angels singing, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty.”‘ We can all see the same tree but see it differently, just as we can the same man. One may see him in need, while another sees him gainfully employed, both using the same power. You have the power to either live by faith or by sight. If you live by sight, accepting everything that happens, you remain an automaton, unable to change the conditions and events in your world. Only as you begin to live by faith will your life change.

Paul tells us that no matter what he has done or did not do, he puts it behind him and stretches forward towards what lies ahead. Paul’s ideal was to be called to the highest point of God. I hope this is your ideal, too, but perhaps it is not. Maybe other things are pressing upon you, such as the need for money. If so, make that your objective, but use the same technique.

Put the past behind you. Do not look back and become like Lot’s wife who turned into a pillar of salt – which is a preservative. You always put what you want to preserve in brine. If you turn back and dwell upon the state you want to leave behind, you have placed it in brine and will become it once more. But if you will turn your back upon the past regardless of what you have or have not done, and stretch forward to what you want to be or do and remain faithful to your desire – nothing can stop you from achieving it. You will become the man you assume you are, if you persist in the assumption that you are already there!

Like Blake, I have found the Bible most entertaining, challenging, and instructive. It is not an easy book to read, however. If it were, it would not be worth my care, for as the ancients discovered, that which is not too explicit is fittest for instruction, as it rouses the faculties to act.

Take this simple statement in Hebrews: “In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his son who reflects the glory of God and bears the stamp of his nature.”

The prophets, instruments through which God spoke, recorded their visions of what God intended, saying: “The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows forth his handiwork.” (Psalms 18 & 19) But in the last days God speaks to us by his son, David. This is a fantastic revelation, for in the end God is going to reveal himself.

I could tell you until the ends of time that you are He, but only David can make you believe it. I’ll tell you why. Many people, like Bishop Pike, question the authority of scripture; but it will never be questioned after it is experienced.

In the Book of Revelation, Jesus Christ is called “the word of God”. And in the Book of John he declares his word is truth. May I tell you: only when a truth is experienced can it be known. I know what I have experienced is true. You have heard my words and believe me, but you will not know their truth to the degree that I do until they are experienced.

I have told you how my brother walked by faith rather than by sight, and created a fabulous business in the islands. Sight told him he didn’t have a penny to his name. But in faith he began to alter his life by that which only his imagination could see. Your sight registers what is before you right now. If you do not like it, you have an “I” within that is Christ in you. He is the power of imagination which, through faith, can change your life.

As the operant power of your imagination, you can tell where you are going and what you are doing by watching your thoughts. If certain events in your past are unlovely and you remember them, you are ordering their experience. But if you turn your back on the past by forgetting what lies behind and stretch forward to what lies ahead, you will order your conversations aright and become what you behold. This truth will never be disproved, but you are its operant power and must live by it. You need nothing on the outside, but can start just where you are; but you must walk in the direction you set up in your imagination.

Ask yourself this simple question: What would it be like if it were true that I am now the person I want to be? Then reach for its feeling, its spiritual sensation. What is that? I’ll show you in a very simple way. Feel a piece of glass, now feel a baseball. Does the baseball feel like glass? Can you feel a tennis ball? Does it feel like a baseball or a piece of glass? Can you feel a piece of cloth, a violet, a piano? Do they all feel alike? Of course not. That’s spiritual sensation – a vivid way of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and feeling reality.

A few years ago I gave a similar lecture in New York City and a lady in my audience decided to test me. While sitting in her chair she embraced a large bunch of roses. She smelled them, felt their velvety petals, and saw their beauty in her mind’s eye. Then, breaking the silence she left my meeting and returned to her hotel room at the Waldorf Astoria.

The next day the queen mother, Queen Elizabeth, was given a party at the Waldorf Astoria, with two thousand people in attendance. After the reception the maitre d’, not wanting to discard the flowers there, instructed his men to take three dozen roses up to this lady’s room. And when she came home that evening, all she could smell were those lovely roses. She had embraced and lost herself in the feeling of the possession of beautiful roses. She walked by faith and not by sight, and the next day her room was filled with the heavenly aroma of roses.

Now, perhaps because of its memory, you find yourself continuing to look back at what you were (and are) and not ahead into what you want to be. If you will order your conversations aright, right now, their truth will happen in the simplest way.

A seamstress and dress designer I know wanted more money. Using her imagination, she held an envelope in her hand and listened to the paper tear as she opened it. Shaking the contents out, she counted the money to the very penny. This she did for seven nights. On the eighth day, a lady called, offering her a job which paid her, to the penny, what she had imagined. Do you know – that lady could have counted out much more and she would have received it, but she was quite satisfied with the amount she had imagined.

Now, if there is evidence for a thing, does it matter what the world thinks? Could you ever take this lady’s experience from her? No! The truth, experienced by her parallels scripture, for all things are possible to one who believes. How did this lady believe what she was imagining? She did it by bringing forth all of her senses to bear upon this event. Using her sense of hearing, she heard the paper tear. Shaking the contents of the envelope, she heard the money fall on the table. She felt the envelope and saw the bills inside. Do you know, money has an odor unlike anything else? So you can smell money. She determined what she would do if she had the money and she did it.

Another lady went to Sterns Department Store in New York City, saying to herself: “Neville says I can have anything I want if I will imagine and believe in my imaginal act.” Having no money, this lady walked over to the hat department, took off her hat and tried on a new one. Walking around the area, she admired herself in front of all the mirrors, but when she returned, her hat was gone. When she described it to the sales lady, she learned that her hat had been sold! The section manager was called in, and he told her to take any hat she wanted, compliments of Sterns. She liked the one she had been wearing, so she left the store with her new hat on her head, and she hadn’t paid a dime for it.

Here is another story of a similar nature. This lady’s profession was that of being a lady of the evening. She attended all of my meetings, and one day she said to me; “You know, Neville, the strangest thing happened. You told me that I could have anything I wanted if I simply imagined it.

One day I saw a beautiful hat in the window of a department store on Broadway. It was $18, but I loved it so I imagined wearing the hat. As I walked up the street I kept looking at my reflection in the shop windows, seeing that hat on my head. Arriving home, I imagined placing the new hat in the closet instead of my old one. Every day, for the next week or ten days, as I put on my old hat, I imagined it was the new one. Then one day a friend called and asked me to come see her. While there, she brought out a hat box and said; ‘I must have been insane when I bought this hat. I wouldn’t wear it to a dog fight; yet strangely enough I feel it would look lovely on you.’ She opened the box and brought out, not a hat, but the hat, the very hat I had seen in the window and worn in my imagination.” Then she asked: “Neville, why didn’t God give me the money to buy the hat myself, instead of giving it to me in this manner?”

Knowing her profession, I said, “Ann, do you owe any rent?” and she replied, “Yes, two weeks.” “What do you pay, about $17.50 per week?” “Yes.” “So you owe $35. What price hats do you usually buy? Three or four dollar ones? Have you ever bought a $17 hat?” “Never.” “Then tell me honestly. If, when you were looking at the hat, you had seen a $100 bill on the ground, would you have brought the hat?” She said “No.” Then I said, “No matter how much money God might have given you, you still would not have bought the hat, so someone else had to buy it for you, and they did.”

I have bought clothes, brought them home, and wondered what possessed me to buy them. I did it because someone was treading in the winepress elsewhere. Someone imagined a suit of clothes, so I went to my tailor, chose the cloth, and paid for the suit. But when I brought it home, my wife wouldn’t let me bring it into the house. Then a friend who wanted something just like it contacted me and got the suit. He was treading the winepress while I paid for the suit.

Believe me, imagination is spiritual sensation. It is a vivid sight, a vivid sound. When Beethoven went deaf, all sound to the outer ear came to its end. Then Beethoven began to hear with the inner ear and wrote all of the beautiful music we so enjoy.

You can now think of someone you love and hear him speak. If you can’t hear him, use one of your other spiritual senses. A touch, a sound, a sight, or an odor will do. I know in New York City, years ago, as I walked through Harlem, I smelled the odor of cooking that instantly took me to Barbados. Although I was physically in Harlem, my sense of smell told me I was 2000 miles away in Barbados.

You can remember a sound, a touch, a sight, and put yourself any place. Like Paul, learn to walk by faith and not by sight. Forget what lies behind and stretch forward to what lies ahead. In the third chapter of Philippians, Paul names his desire as the calling of God in Christ Jesus, but it need not be yours.

I urge you to try this, for your life is forever. Nothing dies. The little rose that blooms once blooms forever, for nothing passes away. If a loved one ceases to be in this little sphere he doesn’t die, but is instantly restored to life to carry on his wonderful journey in this age until that moment in time when God speaks to him through his Son, who calls him Father. Only then will he know he is the author of his world. Then his journey will be over, and when he takes off his little garment it will be for the last time.

Paul tells us in Philippians; “I desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is better by far, but it is more necessary that I remain in the flesh on your account.” Paul longed to depart and be one with God the Father, but he knew it was necessary for him to remain in the flesh and continue his instruction, just as I do.

Take my words to heart and achieve your every desire. Learn to walk by faith and not by sight and, like Paul, turn your back upon everything you have ever accomplished and go forward – by faith – towards the goal you have set for yourself. Knowing what you would see if your goal were reached, how you would feel if you were there, what you would do now if it were true? Walk in that state and you will achieve it.

Now let us go into the silence.

neville goddard imagination creates reality

WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

by with No Comment Belief is everythingChanging Reality With Your Mindchanging your reality with your imaginationcreate your reality with your imaginationEmmet Foxfeeling is the secretFlorence Scovel ShinnFocusFocus is powerHow to Manifest moneyImaginationImagining creates realityJosephy MurphyMental AttitudeMental ScienceMind ScienceMoneyNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdomPower In The Spoken Wordpower of imagesPower Of Imaginationpower of the mindPower of Thoughtpower of wordsThe Complete Neville Goddard Readerthe conscious mindThe Power Of FaithThe power of the mindthe power of the spirit withinthe secretthe spiritthe spirit of truth is withinthe subconsciouswe create our own reality

Neville Goddard 10-30-1967

neville goddard imagination creates realityMany times I have heard someone say: “I believe that imagining creates reality, but I once imagined something and it never came to pass.” Then I ask: “What are you doing, saying: ‘I once imagined it’ and not imagining it now? For God’s name is I Am, not I did! Always thinking of God as someone outside of himself, man finds it difficult to keep the tense, but God is the human imagination and there is no other God.

When you imagine you may include others, but do not think in terms of influence. Rather, think only in terms of clarity of form.

Perhaps a friend would like a better job, more money, and greater responsibility. Before you imagine, take a moment and clarify the form your imaginal act will take. Are you giving the celebration party or is he? Who will be there? Fill the room with those who would want to share in the celebration. Raise your glass and say: “Here’s to your fabulous new job, your salary increase, and the challenge of your greater responsibility!” Don’t think in terms of trying to influence the friend’s boss, for he could die or be discharged. Just go to the end. Toast the event, and do not think of influencing others.

The law, to be effective, needs feeling with form. Build a structure that would imply your desire is already fulfilled, and enter its form with feeling. You do not have to be concerned about influencing others, as they are not the cause – your imaginal act is! Those who have a billion dollars are not causing your world. You and you alone are doing it, as your imaginal acts influence people. Everyone is yourself pushed out, so when you imagine, you are influencing yourself!

Knowing what you want, place your attention on its clarity of form, and then watch what you are imagining. Are you remembering when you imagined something greater than what you have? If so, you are confessing you are not now imagining your desire fulfilled. If imagining creates reality, you must change your memory and become aware of what you are imagining right now.

Let me now tell you of a series of dreams I received from a friend. The series began one night when she found herself with a group of children, trying to find something that was lost. Seeing a brown paper bag tied with string, she opened it and removed a watch, as one of the children said: “That is a treasure,” and the dream ended.

The next night she found herself moving as if on wheels, with everything she sees moving with her. Then she said to herself: “This is not what I want. Everything is moving, while I still have the sense of longing,” and she awoke.

The following night, she felt herself walking with an enormous crowd across fields, on roads, and sidewalks. She went up hills and down stairs, attending my lectures in many places. Listening attentively, she was thrilled to hear the revelations which were being shared. Entering a beautiful, old, ivy-covered building, she tried to mentally remember every word I said; but when she awoke on her bed, their memory was gone.

The next night she entered an expansive white house, which she knew her father had built. All of the rooms were empty, except the one in which I was teaching and the adjacent room where her father was. (Don’t forget this aspect of the dream, as the father is unseen.) Addressing all of my remarks to her, she is filled with joy. Then, with profound authority I announced: “My name is Friday.” Recognizing its tremendous significance, she said: “Yes! And that means, O my darling.” I smiled, nodded, and she awoke.

My friend heard and saw correctly, for my name is Friday, as I am the God of love. In mythology (which is only part vision) love is a goddess. But in vision, love is man. Having been incorporated into the body of the Risen Lord, I am the embodiment of love; I am one with that one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one God and Father of all.

The word “yachid” is used only ten or twelve times in scripture. It is defined as “my darling, my only son”. Anyone who is incorporated into the body of love is yachid, and called my darling. The word first appears in the 22nd chapter of Genesis, when the Lord – speaking of the promised child – says to Abraham: “You did not withhold your only son (yachid),” Then, in the Gospel of John, when the crucifixion and resurrection had taken place, this passage from Zechariah is quoted: “They shall look upon him whom they have pierced, and mourn for him as one mourns for an only child (yachid).” (John 19 & Zechariah 12) I have experienced scripture. I now tell its truth to those who will listen. Those who believe my words will encounter me as I teach night after night. My friend could not recall the words I spoke, but she did remember my name, for my name is Friday, as I am the God of love.

The first definition given to the word yachid is unity; sole (in the sense of being unique); the only one. Everyone incorporated into that one body is unique and the only one, for there is only one body, only one Spirit, only one Lord, only one God and Father of us all. In that body there is a unity, yet an individuality; and when you wear it you are Friday, the God of love.

On this level no one sees that body, but she saw it in the spirit and brought the memory of the experience back with her. In the ivy-covered walls I instructed others, but in the white house there was only one door to the room occupied by her unseen father and where I spoke to her alone. Do you see the symbolism?

Now a dream is egocentric, with every aspect of it taking place in the individual. Although the dream unfolds in one, that one contains all. In her dream the father is unseen, but projects himself into the teacher – who tells her that her father is the God of love.

Returning to this level, the first words given us by the one who comes to reveal this truth – that imagining creates reality – are: “Repent and believe in the gospel.” Repentance, which is a radical change of attitude, can cause your powerful imagination to burst through this world of death. So I ask you to repent. To test this wonderful law by changing your attitude towards life and watch what happens.

A gentleman recently dreamed he was peeling his head, bringing the skin down to his neck then pulling it back again. As he did, he realized that he was generating light from the inside and knew that the outside was completely dark. This gentleman saw the truth. Blake said it so beautifully: “All that you behold, though it appears without it is within, in your imagination of which this world of mortality is but a shadow.” Now he knows that the outer world is being lit by the light of awareness which comes from within.

While listening to a taped lecture of mine, this gentleman fell asleep and was awakened by two terrific blows on the right side of his head and saw the index finger of the right hand extended. Having peeled his head, he has removed the outer skin of Esau. Knowing he must continue to wear it while here, this gentleman will put it back on; but now he knows the world is made alive from within – and that in itself is quite a blow. This man has been coming to hear me for only a short time. He has appeared at the eleventh hour and is receiving the same fruit as those who came at the first hour. Everyone receives the same message and the same blows, as they are essential to the awakening of the sleeping one within all.

In his wonderful hymn, Isaac Watts says: “Wrapped within the silence of the tomb the great redeemer sleeps. Hail and death combined their force to hold our Lord, but the great conqueror arose and broke the fragile chain.” Your heavenly Father sleeps within you as your own wonderful human Imagination. One day He will break the chain and you will rise as He! But in the meantime, put him to the test, and you will discover that neither hail nor death combining their force will keep your desires from being fulfilled.

Now, there is an eternal brotherhood and fatherhood, for every individual is the father of the same child. How would I ever know that you and I are one were it not for this symbol? God placed eternity (his only son, David) in the mind that man may know he is his father. And if you know David to be your son, and I know I am his father, are we not one? There is no other way of proving our brotherhood, save through our common fatherhood.

If you had a son and I had another, we could question this common fatherhood; but there is only one son, who is loved by all. We are all one, but we will know it only as we are gathered into that one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one God and Father of all.

Always think in clarity of form, for as you do, you are influencing others. When I wanted to get out of Barbados, I didn’t think of influencing anyone. I simply used clarity of form and walked up the gangplank in my imagination. That act caused someone five thousand miles away to cancel their passage. And although there were hundreds ahead of me waiting for passage, the one who had the power to distribute the tickets chose us, so I did influence others. I imagined, and we came back, while thousands who preceded us in applying for passage continued to wait their turn.

Do you know that the moment you draw a line you encompass energy? That without an outline, everything is nothing? Draw your outline and make your picture as clear as possible. Perhaps you are giving a party to honor one who is present. Sit at the table with friends and raise your glass. Congratulate your friend on his new position, his greater salary and more responsibility. Stick to that thought, and it will not matter to you who is influenced.

The moment you think of influence, you reduce a miracle to magic. All the people in the world are only yourself pushed out. No one has the power to hold you back or promote you, for you are self-promoted or self-restricted.

Blake tells us to enter into – not just observe, but enter into – images in our imagination. To approach them on the fiery chariot of contemplative thought. To make a friend and companion of any one of these images of wonder, for if we will, we will rise from the grave and meet the Lord in the air and be happy.

Let us say you are in Los Angeles and want to be in New York City. You could enter the city on the fiery chariot of your contemplative thought by thinking from it, and no longer thinking from Los Angeles. You enter New York City by rising from your grave of flesh and blood in Los Angeles and meeting your Lord (your I AM) in the air. Do that and you will be happy in the doing, for that is how reality is created.

When you enter the state you desire to express and believe it is true, no earthly power can stop it from objectifying itself. And although you do not deliberately influence others, you influence everyone. As Sir James [Frazer?] said: “A man on this planet cannot raise a hand without influencing the farthest star in the heavens in its unified form.”

Practice the art of imagining, and you will discover you can go anywhere and enter any time without the aid of anyone. Move in your imagination, and people will respond because of your action. Dare to assume you are wealthy, and watch everyone play their parts to provide you with the wealth you claim to have. They will, for they are only yourself pushed out.

The world goes on and on, as the actors – playing their numberless parts – desire more and more things that vanish. Man is forever fighting for something that passes away; yet he is told: “Do not lay up treasures on earth where thieves can take and the moth corrupt, but lay up treasures in heaven where no man can take from you.”

The treasures of earth can be withdrawn at any moment, but the treasures in the instructions I am giving you now are forever. Only one being was pierced, and that is Jesus Christ, your true identity. The crucifixion is over. You have been crucified with Christ, and your resurrection will take place in you, in its own wonderful time.

I ask you to test your imagination! Go all out and believe in what you have imagined. Do not try to influence anyone. Instead, put all of your energies into clarity of form.

If a certain desk designates that you are occupying a desired position, occupy that desk. Enter into the image, and you will realize your vision. Sit in the chair behind that desk and view the room. Persist in thinking from that point of view. If you do not physically occupy that chair tomorrow, and begin to doubt, ask yourself: “What am I doing, remembering and not imagining?” Then return to your chair behind that desk!

Now let us go into the silence.

neville goddard Imagination Is Reality

YOU CAN FORGIVE SIN

by with No Comment Belief is everythingChanging Reality With Your Mindchanging your reality with your imaginationcreate your reality with your imaginationEmmet Foxfeeling is the secretFlorence Scovel ShinnFocusFocus is powerHow to Manifest moneyImaginationImagining creates realityJosephy MurphyMental AttitudeMental ScienceMind ScienceMoneyNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdomPower In The Spoken Wordpower of imagesPower Of Imaginationpower of the mindPower of Thoughtpower of wordsThe Complete Neville Goddard Readerthe conscious mindThe Power Of FaithThe power of the mindthe power of the spirit withinthe secretthe spiritthe spirit of truth is withinthe subconsciouswe create our own reality

Neville Goddard  03-29-1963

neville goddard Imagination Is Reality“You Can Forgive Sin.” That, to most people, will be blasphemy as you will hear later on, quoting from scripture. It is so common among all of us to ascribe our ills and troubles to outward things – like the present conditions of the world, to our environment, or simply to things. And these things may be things that are absent from our world, or things we have in our world, but still things, while all along the real cause of our ills is sin. So we are told he was called Jesus because he came to save men from their sins; his only concern was the saving of men from sin.

Now what is sin? Sin means “missing the mark,” missing the road, “missing the goal” in life. If you haven’t a mark you can’t sin. If you have a goal in this world and do not realize it and miss it, then you have sinned. So his purpose is to show man how not to sin in this world. No condemnation. Tell me you sin – tell me your goal, and I will tell you God’s word. That is what he said. He has come only to show man how not to miss his objective in this world.

Now we turn to Mark 2:3 – or the same thing with a different twist in Matthew 9:2. It is the story of the paralytic. We are told he was preaching the word, that is, the story of salvation, and they brought in a paralytic carried by four men; and seeing their faith, he said to the paralytic: “My son, your sins are forgiven.” (2:5) And scribes sitting around thought in their heart, “Why does this man speak thus? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” And discerning in their hearts what they contemplated, he said, “Why do you question thus in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say ‘Rise, take up your pallet and walk?’ So he said to him, “Take up your bed and walk and go home” and he rose and went on his way. Then we are told, “. . . they were all amazed and glorified God . . .” who had given such authority to men, for it was a man who did it. We are that man. It is to us that this authority to forgive sin has been given. And the world thought they were simply the exclusive power of some being outside of man. Read it in Mark 2 and Matthew 9.

Now what is this ability to forgive sin? We know that “sin” means missing the mark. The one that forgave it called himself, “The Truth.” He said: “I am the Truth. If you know my word and abide in my word, then you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free.” (John 8:31, 32) For the whole story begins he was teaching the truth – the word. Now, he calls himself “the truth.” If I said to you tonight, what would you like to be in this world? And you name it – I would like to be_____(no matter what it is) and I turned to you and said: You are that, you are it; right now you are it – you would say: I am it? I can’t believe it! Then you are denying the truth. He said: “I am the Truth” – I AM everything in this world; everything man can ever imagine, I AM. So, you imagine what you would like to be. If you cannot remain faithful and loyal to that vision of yourself, then you are sinning. Not to sin is to have a goal. What would it be like? If I remain faithful to that vision as though it were true, no power in this world could stop me from realizing it – but no power. I could realize it. How? Don’t ask me. But if it took the entire world of three billion to play parts to aid me in the fulfillment of my vision, they would play it without knowing they had played it. It would make no difference if they knew or did not know. They would have to contribute to the fulfillment of my vision, if I remain loyal to that vision.

So, what would it be like if I were the man I would like to be? If I said to you tonight: is there a man in this room who is rich? And no one said, I am rich – that is not your goal, and if it is, you are missing the mark. If there is a man in this room – general man – who is known, who is contributing to the world’s good, and no one replies, I am he, then either it is not your goal – or if it is your goal, you are missing it. So the name is “I AM he”, as told in John 8:24: “I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he.” This is not a man talking to me. This is taking place in the depths of the soul of man. If you don’t believe now that I AM the one that I would be, then you are missing your goal and you are sinning. So it does not come from without; it is not caused by anything on the outside at all. My health problems are not caused by conditions and by environment, or anything else; it is caused only by sin – and sin is missing the mark. There is only one being – one person in the world – who can hit that mark, and it is God. God forgives sin, as told us in Isaiah: “I am the Lord, I am thy Savior, and there is no other savior.” “I, I am the Lord, and besides me there is no savior. No one has formed before me or no one will be formed after me. I am the Savior.” (Isaiah 43:3; 43:11)

You will be saved from what you are. There is only one being in the world that can save you, and that Being is “I AM.” So, you save yourself. What would it be like were it true – if I were now the man or woman I would like to be? Assume it and dare to believe it and walk as though it were true, and no power in this world can stop it – but no power! There is no one greater than God. Say, “I am” – that is God. You stand in the presence of a being and because he has a little tag – or because he is the Premier of a certain country, or Queen, or President of a certain land, you think he is greater than you are? You are missing the mark. You can’t stand in the presence of anyone who is greater than you, if you know who you are. You are not going to lord it over them, knowing, but no one will be smaller, either – all are God. Then you are told to go and tell them. (Ezekiel 3:18, 33:8) – “go and tell them. If you do not tell them, and they sin and you do not tell them – they will die in their sin, but their blood will be upon your head. If you tell them and they do not repent, they will die in their sin, but the blood will not be upon your head. So tell them.” So Jesus is made to confess that he told them, that the blood might not be upon his head.

I Acts 20:26, 27 Paul makes the confession: “. . . for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.” He told them that, that he may not carry that secret to the grave and not share it with the world. So I have told them all, that this is a principle that cannot fail.

Now let us come back to the paralytic. You came here tonight on your own steam, as it were. If I tell you we are the paralytic of scripture, you will be surprised. They were brought into the place by four men. Do you know who the four men are? The ancients always called us by the four senses – the four rivers that ran out of Eden. They did not speak of five, they spoke always of four. They joined taste and touch together because they depended upon contact. To taste something or touch something, it must be contacted. But they separated sight, sound, and scent. These three were separate in the great symbolism of scripture. But taste and touch were joined. They called them the four senses, and we came here tonight borne by these four men. I know my bank balance, and in two weeks Uncle Sam wants part of what I earned. I do not even know Uncle Sam. They tell me he exists somewhere, but I do not know where; so I am supposed to pay on the 15th of next month “x” number of dollars. Regardless of how I live, I must save something to pay him. It is the land of Caesar, I am fully aware of that. I can see my bank balance. I know what it is in my world. I can take my senses and bring it to play on what is taking place.

I was brought here tonight on the shoulders of these men. He tells me: your sins are forgiven, and, walk. How can I do it, knowing what I must pay on the 15th, knowing what I must do between now and the 15th? How will I do it? Your sins are forgiven, but who can forgive but God? Only God can forgive, and God is I AM. All right, I will now see the world as I would see it were it now May 1st and all things behind me, completely paid, paid in full.

Suppose I was unemployed. I was brought here tonight on the backs of these men. I know I have rent to pay and food to buy – all of these things – and he tells me my sins were forgiven, to rise and take up my bed and walk! How? I was brought in here on the backs of four men and called upon to rise – ignore these four and walk on my own steam now. Don’t walk based on what the four allow me to see, to hear, and smell, and to be. Walk out of here unaided by these four. Walk on my own. How? I ignore the evidence of the senses. They brought me in here. I completely ignore what they tell me I really have in this world, and I see what I would like to see and assume things are what I would like them to be, and influence every being in the world to play their part to fulfill what I am assuming that I am in this world. I came in a paralytic, and walk out on my own steam. That is the story.

Every being in the world is called upon to rise and walk out, for he forgives your sin. He comes into the world only to free man of sin, no matter what you have ever done in this world. Don’t look back on things as they are; look on things as they ought to be, the man or woman you would like to be, and assume that you are and see that only. And then you will know what it is to forgive sin. Who forgives? God forgives. He forgave you. I assumed. Who assumed? I assumed, that is – God. “I AM” is His name. I AM assuming I AM the man I would like to be. That is God. I begin to name it and walk in that state, and that is God. There is nothing but God. Forget what you have done. or what you are seemingly doing, and dream of the man or woman you would like to be and dare to assume you are it.

Now we are told by the great Blake: “The spirit of Jesus is continual forgiveness of sin” – forgiveness of sin every moment of time. Tonight when we go into the silence we can sit here for a minute and forgive each other. Suppose I could hear everyone here rise and tell the most fantastic story in the world about themselves or a friend, or a relative – or someone. Suppose I, really wanting it to be told from this platform, sit in the silence and listen to that and that only – the most fantastic story in the world that you could tell me individually. If I walk out of here tonight convinced that I heard it and remain loyal to what I have imagined I heard, I must hear it – no power can stop it, if I remain loyal. If anyone says it has not worked, I am not asking any questions, but as far as I am concerned, it has worked. I am sure when I know the vision I am holding for you “has its own appointed hour, it will ripen and it will flower. If it seems long in coming, wait. It is sure, it will not be late.” If I actually assume things are as I would like them to be of every being here, and I remain loyal, I either know the story is true or it is false. I know it is true. It can’t fail. There is no power in the world to make it fail.

Another word for sin in the Bible is “trespass.” In our wonderful Lord’s Prayer, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” It is a minor infraction of this principle. “Trespassing” means an individual lapse, a temporary relapse. You and I begin to discuss a personality. What am I doing? He is only in a state. So, I must think he is unemployed when you and I get into the discussion. I discuss a man who is unemployed and we see him as unemployed and begin to say: Well, conditions are bad, or maybe he was not good enough for the job, and you and I are discussing a man that is unemployed and we see only the state. I am trespassing. He is in the state. But I may fall into this little trap. We all do it, every day, all day long.

We read the paper, and a man is called a great man because he happens to be President, or maybe some other person in this world. We read some columnist about him and you are carried away with what the columnist tells us, and suddenly we begin to think as he would have you think, and you are trespassing. “Lord, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” It is a slight departure from our goal. We are moved aside by what we read, or heard, or saw in this world. So, that is trespassing. So, I discuss someone who cannot find the job – well, will he qualify? I am asking all these things, and they are irrelevant to this principle. Not with this principle do they have any value whatsoever. What does he want? He wants a job. And how much does he want? He names a figure. Suppose that he had what he wanted – then let me assume it is true and I begin to see the world as I would see it for him were it true and feel the joy that would be mine were he now gainfully employed, earning that sort of money. This is either true, or it is false. I tell you: it is true.

If today you and I can say The Lord’s Prayer – but really say it – and ask forgiveness for our trespasses and let him show mercy for having gotten off the mark as it were. Read the story. He is brought in on the backs of four men. He himself had no faith. But in spite of what they knew, there was still a certain faith, and they brought him into the presence of God, knowing God could forgive sin. And he said: “Because of your faith” – he speaks now to those who brought him; he did not speak to the man at first, then he addresses the paralytic: “My son, your sins are forgiven you.” Here, a vicarious faith. So, I can have the faith for you if you do not have it for yourself. You can have it for me if I don’t have it for myself. Quite often vicarious faith is easier than the direct faith. If I can turn to you, if you really believe an imaginal act is a fact, and you could actually believe I am now what I would like to be, and although at the moment I doubt and am not faithful, you can say – in spite of myself you can pull me out – for a minute I would know faith. Those who brought him on their backs showed faith in bringing him into the presence of God. God commended them for their faith. And he turned to the paralytic and said: “My son, your sins are forgiven.” Those who heard thought it blasphemy. Who could forgive sin but God alone?

He did forgive sin, for he was the “I AM.” “Unless you believe I AM he, you die in your sins.” So, I ask you tonight, turn to your neighbor, and maybe you can hear what the other wants and rejoice in their good fortune, and they can rejoice in your good fortune Actually feel it is true, and see the world as it would be were they what they wanted to be – and they will become it.

So, this is the story of our ability to forgive sin. They were afraid when they saw what happened and then they crucified God because he had given such authority to men. We are told: “If you retain it, it is retained. If you release it, it is released.” I see a man and judge him by my senses. I retain it. But I could release him by seeing him standing on his own feet and moving in this world in a glorious manner. So the material I formerly would discard as no good, I don’t discard anymore. I take it and use it. I take the same man that formerly I would discard and see him as gainfully employed, loved, and loving, and believe that the thing I am seeing for him is true; and to the degree I am faithful to the concept for him, it becomes true in this world.

That is our power. We have power to forgive sin. If you don’t have a mark in this world, you can’t sin. If hasn’t a thing to do with moral issues. No. Do you have a goal? Do you have some objective in this world? Then this is how you realize it. Suppose it were true. In Romans 8:4: “. . .walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Flesh would be my senses. My senses deny that I am what I would like to be. Let us not walk by flesh – let us walk by the Spirit. Spirit is to see it in my imagination as though it were true. Tonight I may go home to find an empty cupboard or a notice at my door: “Tomorrow, or else.” It is all right. If I believe what I am imagining, it would make no difference what threat was given me – if I really believed. “Now believe it,” we are told. If you believe it, it will crystallize into fact. It does not really matter what threat at the moment my senses tell me -I have to ignore it. I have to ignore the four who brought me in this place. I will not now be borne anymore by these four. I will simply walk by spirit and not by flesh.

So, I ask you to try it. If you try it you can’t fail and – realizing your objective, may I also ask you to share it with me so that I may tell it to you. [the audience].

About three months ago a man sat in this audience, and he wrote me a sweet, wonderful letter which I received this morning. He expected a big bonus. He had worked hard with all the promise, and one who was never on the job, but by his estimate “one of the girl friends of the boss” – she got the big bonus. He, who had done all the work, got practically nothing. So, he and I agreed mentally that he would have the most wonderful job, with more money and everything. This is now going on April. It seemed a long while, but today he is on the job, with more money than he had – more than he expected – more responsibility and opportunity, and everything. I remained faithful to that letter I knew would come when he would write it. And all I did, I heard him tell me (mentally) what he would tell me were it true, and I never wavered.

So, I only ask you to be as faithful to any imaginal state in this world, no matter what it is. In everyone God resides. Everyone has to say, “I am.” That is God. I am Einstein, I am Neville. I AM is God. Neville is a tiny thing resting on the foundation that is God. I am rich – that is a tiny thing on the foundation of God, and God is Infinity, God is Everything. Therefore, whatever you say, before you say it, you say, “I am” – and you listen and you notice the four men who brought him in, brought him in paralyzed. He isn’t that at all. But they deny it – the four senses are bringing him in and the four senses deny it, the four senses ignore it.

When you call on the name of God, you don’t say in the name of God, so-and-so; you ask with the name of God, and to ask with the name of God you say: “I AM wealthy, healthy, secure” – then you believe it. If you ask with the name of God and believe it mentally, you will see the world as you have never seen it before you made the claim, and remain faithful to that claim and it must crystallize in your world.

This is this principle and it goes with every being in the world, regardless of nationality or pigment of skin. It is all God. Everyone has to say, “I am” before he says, “I am – this . . .” “I am a man” – you say, “I am” before you said, “man.” “I am American,” “I am Indian,” “I am Japanese,” “I am Chinese.” What kind of a being would you like to be? You name it. “I AM” is doing it. Take this fabulous world of ours and take all your dreams and put them on the only foundation – no other foundation than God – and God is I AM.

So, the paralytic came here tonight in all of us, and we were borne on the backs of four men, and the four are our four senses: sight, scent, [sound], taste, and touch. Taste and touch are joined into one because they depend on contact. These are the four streams – the four rivers of life that come from the Garden of Eden. Any moment of time we are in the presence of I AM! Let him forgive me my sin. I forgive myself by daring to assume I am what I would like to be and assuming that I walk in that assumption and it crystallizes into fact. No power in the world can stop it – but none!

When we speak of sin, don’t let anyone scare you about sin. He comes to forgive the sinner. His only interest is in the sinner. The so-called moral violations – forget it! I do not ask you to violate them, but forget them. Everything will be ironed out. It is my duty. Through the consciousness of Paul, Ezekiel, Jesus – “If I don’t tell you what I know of God’s law, then your sin is upon my head; but if I tell you and you still will not believe me, you will die in your sin, but your blood will not be upon my head.” So Paul said: “I will tell them. I have declared the entire counsel of God to them, so I am innocent of their blood.” Infinite states. A man falls into a state and so he is in the state, but he is not the state. Take him out of the state by saying while he is in the state: “What would you like?” and he names the state that he would like to enter. And you put him into that state by asking what it would be like if he were now the thing he would like to be; and you remain faithful – leaving him where he is – but you remain faithful to this concept and he comes out of it. On reflection, he might say: “It would have happened anyway.” It is all right – you know. Tell everyone the story, and tell them it is entirely up to them. If they believe it – as we are told: “If you do not believe I AM He you die in your sins.” (John 8) When you read it, you might think a man is telling you: I am God, and you are not. The whole story is taking place in the soul of man. That is the story.

Now he tells us the truth: “You shall know the Truth and the Truth will set you free.” And they complained: “we are free.” Here they are enslaved, and we thought we were free. We are Americans, we are free. To what extent are we free? You can’t pay the rent or buy the food, and we think we are free. I can only be free if I know the art of forgiving sin, and the only one that can forgive sin is God – and God’s name is “I AM.”

In this world today, in our wonderful land, there are hundred of thousands in prisons physically – but they are Americans. There are hundreds of thousands who are unemployed, who can’t pay the rent. Free? They are Americans. I say go and tell every being in the world the story of God – as told us in both the Old and New Testament – and set them free. They can be free if they know who they are. I must tell them the story. There is not one being in jail tonight, if you ask him who he is and how old he is, he will say: “I am John Smith, and I am . . .” and he will tell you his age. But before all these things, he tells you “I am.” I have seen this, you see. It frightens people, as you are told in Matthew 9:8: “When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.”

In San Francisco, when I told this story, a lady who sat in my audience had just received notice from the army that her brother had been tried, court marshaled, and sentenced to six months of hard labor. She went home and said: “If this man is telling the truth, I can set him free.” She sat in her hotel apartment where she would see if anyone came in. She lost herself in the imaginal state that the bell was ringing and she ran down the stairs, threw the door open, and embraced a brother who was waiting there. She did it for one solid week. The next Sunday morning, before she came to my meeting, it happened. When she came to my meeting, she could not restrain the impulse to rise and she jumped up in the audience of 1,000 and said she must tell the story, and she told it. He was honorably discharged, though he had been court marshaled and sentenced to six months at hard labor.

Everyone can be forgiven. He is not the same being he was – whatever he did to warrant the court martial – why should he pay the last ounce, if she could redeem him by pulling him out of the state that caused him to do whatever he did. If I am pulled out of the state into another state – if I had someone tonight who was the most horrible beast in the world and I am determined to make him a loving, nice person, then he comes into my world and demonstrates his kindness by his act, by everything – he is not the same being he was when I disliked him – the same immortal soul, but he is in a different state. Always I was judging the state, but should I keep him in that state and make him pay a price that belongs only to that state? You see, there is such a thing in this world as God’s mercy. No sins can be expiated unless God intervenes and is merciful – for you are God and you can intervene. He gave it to you. Only God can forgive sin, and you can forgive sin: therefore, are you not he? God is merciful. Can’t you be merciful and completely transform any being in the world? And oh! What a thrill it is to transform a being and see them different in a little while!

So I ask you to try it, it cannot fail. But believe the statement in the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive us our trespasses.” We have actually trespassed. We have heard a rumor and we got off the beam. We see the signs all over the place: “No Trespassing,” but we step upon it. Don’t. No matter what you hear of anyone, have no ears to hear it unless it is something lovely, for they are only discussing a state, and they are keeping that being in a state. Don’t listen. Pull everyone out, but don’t forget to pull yourself out. Put yourself into the most glorious state of being successful, being wanted, being happy. You try it. I promise you it will not fail you.

Now let us go in to the silence.

neville goddard imagination creates reality

YOUR SUPREME DOMINION

by with No Comment Belief is everythingChanging Reality With Your Mindchanging your reality with your imaginationcreate your reality with your imaginationEmmet Foxfeeling is the secretFlorence Scovel ShinnFocusFocus is powerHow to Manifest moneyImaginationImagining creates realityJosephy MurphyMental AttitudeMental ScienceMind ScienceMoneyNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdomPower In The Spoken Wordpower of imagesPower Of Imaginationpower of the mindPower of Thoughtpower of wordsthe conscious mindThe Power Of FaithThe power of the mindthe power of the spirit withinthe secretthe spiritthe spirit of truth is withinthe subconsciouswe create our own reality

Neville Goddard 1953

neville goddard imagination creates realityAs you have been told, this morning’s subject is “Your Supreme Dominion”. As a man does not possess it or he does not know that he possesses it for he certainly is not exercising it. As we read in the very first chapter of the Book of Genesis, “And God made man in His own image, in the image of God made He him. He made them male and female, and God blessed them.” And God said unto them, “Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it and have dominion over all the fish of the sea and all the fowls of the air, and every moving thing that moves upon the earth. And God saw all that He had done, all that He had done, all that He had made, and they were very good.”

Now, you and I reading the Bible, not knowing it to be a psychological truth and seeing it as historical fact, we cannot understand the word. But when man knows the Bible is the greatest collection of psychological truths and was never intended to be seen as history or cosmology, then he gets a glimpse into this great wonderful book. For man himself is the great psychological earth that must be subdued. In man move all the passions, all the great emotions symbolized as creeping things and animals. In the deep of man actually live the invisible states symbolized as fish. In the deep of man actually live all the unnumbered infinite ideas symbolized as the fowls of the air. It is this man that must be self subdued, for subdue it, then comes the promise and have dominion over this vast wonderful country that is man. If man does not know that he himself is the earth spoken of, he thinks he must go out into the world and conquer it. The world reflects the work done on man. And so when he looks upon this wonderful world round about him, he thinks himself so little.

The Bible also tells us he calls himself a grasshopper, and referring to himself as a grasshopper, he sees giants in the land, the giants of industry, the giants of economics, the giants all round about him, and he feels smaller and smaller because he does not know how to go about actually subduing the earth, which is himself. When man knows it, he will realize that man as an individual is supreme within the circle of his own consciousness, for within the circle of his consciousness the entire drama of life is re-enacted over and over again. He has to start with self and then he will see this outer wonderful world, this visible world, is not what he thinks it to be, a place of exile from God; it is the living garment of the Father, and although to many of us its discordant harmony needs some interpretation, to the wise it has a voice and the voice speaks of hidden things behind the veil hidden things behind the veil of man’s mind, for this whole vast wonderful world is a response to the arrangement of man’s mind. For when he knows it he will look within for the hidden causes, look into the deep to see the fish and how they swim and how they are related, for this arrangement of the deep is going to project itself as circumstances and conditions of life.

And so today, if you haven’t started, today is the time to start to really put into practice this teaching, and make of this violence a garden of God. It is called Eden and man was placed within it to keep it and to care it, for the garden of God is man. It is the mind of man. You never find a garden unless a man is present, for without a man there would be a forest of wilderness. But when a man is placed in it he begins to cut the trees or the seeds of wrong thinking; he clears the ground and he cultivates the ground, and then plants wisely. Then you will have dominion, for you will select the seed you will plant, the ideas you will entertain, and you will cultivate them. Knowing the outer world constantly bears witness of the inner arrangement of mind, you will only select the things you want to project into the living garment of your Father. For the whole vast world round about you is a living garment worn by your Father.

So how did he reap? He said He made man in His own image; well, the methods of mental and spiritual knowledge are entirely different. You and I can know a thing mentally by looking at it from the outside, by comparing it with other things, by analyzing it, by defining it, by even giving a description of it, but we can know a thing spiritually only by becoming it. We must be the thing itself if we would know that thing spiritually. We must be in love if we would know love. We must be God like if we would know what God is. For God made me, not out of something other than Himself; He made me perfect, so He made me by becoming me. There was no other way in the world that God could have made me unless He became me. So God became man that He may know man in the only way that He could know anything, for He knows all things spiritually and He calls them very good.

So He made me by becoming me, and now I am called upon to go and take care of the earth, and to subdue it, and take dominion. And I am the earth – I must learn to plant as He planted, and He planted the world by becoming the world. I must now plant as man, by becoming the man I want to be. So I will itemize all the things, name them, give a name to everything I want to express as a man, and then know it spiritually by becoming and I become it as He became me. I identify myself with it and live in that identity and I clothe it in flesh, I clothe it in fact. Not one thing in the world that is mine can be taken from me save by detachment from the state where that thing I love has its natural life. If I live in a world of beauty, if I live in a world of friendship, of comfort and all the lovely things that men enjoy, no power in the world can take one of them from me save I, who live among them, detach myself from the state where these lovely things have their natural life. When you and I know it, we begin to cultivate the earth, we actually weed the mind of all negative states, all unlovely emotions, and we bring into subjection not the outer but the inner, and then the outer reflects that cultivation on self.

Now, how is it done? You are told in the first book of the Bible how it’s done. For the promise is to the man who does it and the promise is a complete expansion beyond his wildest dreams of the state he plants. The one who first did it was called Jacob; well, I am Jacob. You are Jacob if you start to plant; every man is the potential Jacob, and Jacob did it by righteousness. As you are told, he did it through righteousness and he multiplied exceedingly, so that he increased a thousand fold his flocks, his cattle; he increased and grew beyond the measure of man in having all the maid servants and men servants and the camels. And this is what he said, “My righteousness shall speak for me in time to come.”

Righteousness is right consciousness. The only right consciousness is the consciousness of already being the man you want to be, for that attaches you with an invisible state. You can’t see it yet but you become attached to the state that you dare to assume you are, and you go fishing in the deep, you are beginning now to subdue the deep. You enter a state through the medium of feeling , through feeling that you are already what you want to be. And that is how you grow exceedingly great in your world, for you will be the Jacob expanding in your world.

The next one we come upon is Job. Here in the midst of all the trials and tribulations of a man, Job says, “I will hold fast to my righteousness and then my heart shall never judge me harshly as long as I live.” He will hold fast to righteousness in the midst of storm, in the midst of all the problems of the world he will assume that he is free and hold fast to that right consciousness knowing that not in eternity could his heart ever judge him harshly.

Then we are told, “The meek of the earth seek righteousness and it is to the meek of the earth that the earth is given. As you are told the meek shall inherit the earth. You might have been taught to believe it meant the beaten man, the man who falls and grovels like the grasshopper; it doesn’t. The word “meek” if translated actually means to be tamed as a wild animal is tamed. To the man who tames the mind, the man who tames his being that he can set it any task and have it execute that task, that man is meek and the meek inherit the earth. And the meek always seek righteousness, so if I today began to subdue this earth, I must make righteousness my watchword, and so if I were righteous I would now single out the nature of the trees I would plant, the nature of the flowers I would plant, the nature of the animals I would cultivate, the nature of the fish that I would catch, and I would name them as desirable states, called in the Bible beauty instead of ashes, called in the Bible the spirit of joy instead of mourning, called by all these lovely things. As you are told, all the things that are good, dwell on these things. To every good thing, for He called it very good. Every thing that I would call the good, which is a righteous judgment, will be the right judgment. I, in spite of the evidence of my senses that would deny it, in spite of reason that would tell me that it was impossible of realization, having discovered that I am the one planting my garden, that this is the only garden to cultivate, that this is the only earth to subdue, I would start now and boldly assume the good, first for myself – always start with Jerusalem – then go into the world and preach the goodness by knowing the goodness.

When you meet someone, regardless of what the appearance would reveal, know the truth for that one and set him free. Know that knowing as he ought to be known first by himself, but if he hasn’t known it as true of himself, you at least know it for him. And though you never meet him in the flesh again keep on knowing the truth that sets man free by knowing he is already free, and you are cultivating your garden. You are bringing it into subjection, you are subduing it and then you shall have dominion. So you are supreme in your world if you only know the world that you really are; so man is the psychological earth on which this wonderful whirl of events takes place. Man is the psychological earth on which all the animals move; every emotion is symbolized as the animal. Every fowl of the air is truly the idea you entertain. Every fish of the deep is the invisible state that you could catch if you only knew how to cast your net on the right side. For you fish all night and catch nothing, but then comes one who knows, who is righteous, and he casts it on the right side, always that right side, and the right side is righteousness or right consciousness. And I will catch it; I may not see them, I don’t have to see them. I don’t have to wait for the evidence of my senses to confirm, for I am told, “And faith was accounted unto him for righteousness.” So I will have faith in the reality of the deep; I will have faith in the reality of invisible states. So it’s now invisible, I know it, it’s a fish, but I have faith in the existence and the reality of the invisible state I want to externalize, knowing I can externalize it, for every time I externalize it I add to this wonderful garment of my Father, and that is my job, my duty.

So here, everyone of us, begin to believe that you are the only earth spoken of in the Bible. You are the one chosen to live in the center of the garden, but make it a garden, for the words are, “Keep it, keep it and plant it well”. You have dominion over every idea in your mind. You say you haven’t. Well, some may be to you disturbing, but you do have the choice of rejecting it or accepting it.

If you accept it, you identify with it and the state with which you are identified must, by the very law of your being, objectify itself within your world, that you may see by it how you plant that garden. Now, don’t wait one second beyond the time that you observe weeds instead of flowers. Start right at the moment of observation, and start to replant the garden. Start really to subdue it. Become the meek and the meek is the bold. The meek is the bold of heart who does not ask assistance. He walks knowing he can do it. He can fish. He can actually bring into subjection every bird of the air, every idea of the mind. He will begin to know these things spiritually. He will know them in the only way that you and I should know anything, by becoming it, not to have a world of information concerning objective things, and knowing these things only mentally. I must learn to know things spiritually; I must learn to know what love is spiritually by being in love. I must learn to know what security is spiritually be becoming conscious of already being secure. I must learn to know what health is by becoming conscious of already being healthy, and sustain these states in the name of righteousness, knowing that my righteousness shall answer for me in time to come.

Make me no promise for when the father-in-law said to Jacob, “What promise should I make you? ” “Just tell me that the offspring born in a certain manner shall be mine and no other promise, and no wages and no salary, all the spotted ones are mine. There isn’t a spotted one among the parents but every offspring that is spotted.. though the parents are not, that is mine. That’s my wage and my righteousness shall know it for me in time to come.” And he begins to assume that his world is peopled with the spotted calves, and everyone born that was healthy was born spotted. And he increased beyond the wildest dream of a man.

Well, become that man, and start from the simple beginning as he started. There wasn’t one thing in the world to encourage him that one calf could ever be born from parents that were not spotted and be a spotted calf. Yet he knew and he assumed that they had given birth to such things in numbers, they would come and they came a thousand fold. So in your case, maybe it’s business, maybe the doctors have given you a final, final verdict and it’s fatal. Well, I say in spite of this, and the doctor in his own way is doing his best, he would not have said it to hurt you or to frighten you. He firmly believed it, but you have another law and your law is that you can assume, in spite of that verdict, that you are well. And then, though tomorrow and the next day the tree doesn’t appear, know that in time your righteousness shall speak for you, and like Job in the midst of all the storms, when he should have gone to the grave, he held fast to the consciousness of already being what he wanted to be, that his heart may not in time speak harshly against him. Well, it didn’t – you know the story.

And so, all through we are told, “Break off the sins, break off missing marks by righteousness. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”

Now you are told, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all things shall be added unto you.” Well, the kingdom of God is within you. You have been told that a number of times. The Bible affirms it over and over – “The Kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven are within you.” They aren’t without. You see them seemingly without; that is the response to the within-ness where they are. Now, seek it and His righteousness. So assume within the mood that would be yours were you already the man that you want to be. Sustain that mood, occupy it as often as you can, and see how that righteousness shall draw things unto itself, and the things it draws are always in harmony with its nature. It never draws anything foreign to itself. If I assume that I am the man I want to be, I cannot then encounter events that are in conflict with my assumption. For my world mirrors the being I am.

So, here, today when you return read the whole chapter. It’s beautiful. But I started with the 27th verse, “And God made man in his own image, in the image of God made He him. Male and female made He them.” Then comes what is to be done. Then comes the promise if you do it. Then comes the judgment, “It is good and very good.” So you start knowing that you are the earth on which you now start to labor. If you do it, you shall be fruitful, and you will multiply, and you actually replenish this world, though it seemingly is barren you replenish it, if you subdue it. And the earth is self to be subdued, not by beating self as some people have misunderstood, not by isolating the self in some little secluded spot, not by running away from life, but in the midst of life is the opportunity to become meek: to take the violence that is man, it is individual man, and then bring it into the state of the meek, to transcend the violence by not fighting against conditions; know that conditions can only reflect what is within the one who observes that condition. So don’t rage against it; leave it just as it is. If conditions remain the same, that is a sure, sure sign that you have not been faithful to righteousness.

Had you been faithful to the consciousness of already being the man you want to be, conditions would have to change in harmony with that righteousness. So don’t rage against it; leave it as it is, and start today to take this wonderful earth, which is the foot stool of the Lord, which really is the mind of man, and start really to work upon it. Then you will not turn from left to right; you will keep the narrow path. You will go out knowing you can do it.

I know from experience it will not take long to see shoots appear; it will not take long to see the flowers appear. They will all appear, if you will take yourself in hand and by an uncritical observation of self watch the being you are; see the condition of the earth as it is now by the uncritical observation of your reactions to life. When you see who you are that is showing you the state of the earth as it is now. Don’t condemn it, just start to subdue it, and know that you do have dominion over all the fish of the sea, the fowls of the air, and all the animals that move upon the earth. Knowing them to be the moods of thought, the desires, the passions that move in you, start to entertain only the good and the very good.

Dwell upon them and you will re-people your earth for you are supreme within the circle of your own consciousness. Now you may say it’s a very little one; may I tell you that though you have a body and a life of your own, you are rooted in me, and you end in me, as I am rooted in God and end in God.

So every man can say the same thing no matter if you look into a world of 2,500,000,000 of them and every year they slip through the gates into the invisible state relative to this world, but as they come and go every man in the world is actually rooted in you and ends in you, and you are rooted in the ultimate that we call God, the Father. So the whole vast (world) is simply centered in you; start now to rearrange it that it may reflect the beauty that you want to live about and live in in this world. You do it by assuming the best. Always imagine the best of self; always imagine first with Jerusalem and then go out and radiate what you have given to self. If you live in that wonderful state yourself, you will only have the good to shower upon others, for you have one gift that is truly yours to give and that is yourself. You have no other gift. If you are good, you can give only the good. If you are not – well, whatever you are – that you give.

So the story is you may find today when you observe yourself, by observing your reactions, that it’s not a very pleasant land but it is still a fertile land; it can be cleared of all these trees of traditional wrong thinking and can be replanted in harmony with the beauty that you desire. And in the immediate present it will bear fruit in harmony with the seeds you plant.

So let us go out determined to bring about a better arrangement of our mind that we may produce more noble garments for our Father to wear. For this wonderful, visible, objective universe is only the living garment of my Father, it’s not a place of exile, as so many believe, talking about home and their going home, as though they are not now in the very midst of their Father. When you see me, you see my Father. Whenever you see me, you see the state of my mind, for you will see the world in which I live and the state of my mind, that inner arrangement, that’s my Father. When you see me projected, you then call it the Son, and my world round about me tells me where I am. All these inner states are places in this fabulous psychological consciousness. Inner state is equal to place and where I stand within myself determines what I see when I look outside the self. So, when I look out upon the world, that area of my Father’s garment, whether it be torn by reason of the inner place where I stand or whether it be lovely, I see only the inner arrangement of myself. I am forever surrounding myself with the true image of myself, and what I am in consciousness that only can I see. Knowing that, let me be determined today to seek righteousness, or right consciousness, that I may reap in the immediate present all the lovely things that I desire.

Now in summary, single out some noble aim in life. Having defined it clearly to yourself as a desirable state. the state you would like to externalize, ask yourself this very simple question, “What would the feeling be like were it true if I already embodied that noble state?” In response to your question will come a feeling; assume that feeling; it has reality outside of the present moment. Its being is in complete independence of present objective fact. It has real structure; it has reality in the deep of it. It came in response to your call when you said, “What would the feeling be like were it true?” And you named what you were thinking of – if it was security, if it was health, if it was any state, that fish came from the deep; it’s located and you took the “I” and placed it in that feeling. You were actually standing upon it though it is invisible. Now remain on it.

If you remain in that state, you are told in the Bible three days, you will be “spewed out on dry land.” “Three” doesn’t mean three days; “three” means fullness, “three” means complete. So if I will live within that fish for three days until the whole thing seems natural and seems real, and it has the sensory vividness of reality. I will then be spewed out as something objective, and something that is commonly called in the Bible “land” or “dry land.” But it does have reality, as you feel it, only people get away from it because it doesn’t have immediate objective fact to confirm it. But you ride it for your three days and you will know what it was to enter that fish and remain in it until fullness was attained, until reality was attained within. In that state you were righteous and your righteousness will speak for you in time to come. It will not fail you; it cannot fail you.

neville goddard imagination creates reality

YOURS FOR THE TAKING

by with One Comment Belief is everythingChanging Reality With Your Mindchanging your reality with your imaginationEmmet Foxfeeling is the secretFlorence Scovel ShinnFocusFocus is powerHow to Manifest moneyImaginationJosephy MurphyMental AttitudeMental ScienceMind ScienceMoneyNeville Goddardneville goddard feeling is the secretneville goddard law and promiseneville goddard law of assumptionneville goddard lecturesneville goddard power of awarenessneville goddard power of imaginationneville goddard quotesneville goddard wisdomthe conscious mindthe power of the spirit withinthe secretthe spirit of truth is withinthe subconscious

Neville Goddard  09-18-1967
neville goddard imagination creates realityThere is only one cause for the phenomena of life. That cause is God. Housed in you, God is a person in the most literal sense of the word. Believe me, for I know this from experience. God, the only creator, is pure imagination working in the depth of your soul. God began a good work in you and He will bring it to completion on the day God’s creative power is unveiled in you! God’s creative power and wisdom is defined in scripture as Christ. When Christ unveils himself in you, you will know you are God’s power and God’s wisdom.

God, your own wonderful human imagination, underlies all of your faculties, including perception, and streams into your surface mind least disguised in the form of creative, productive fantasy. When you ask yourself what you can do to transcend your present limitation of life, you are dwelling upon the means. God does not ask you to consider the means, but to define the end. Speaking to you through the medium of desire, God asks the question: “What wantest thou of me?” Then he tells you not to be concerned with the ways and means, for his ways are unsearchable. They are inscrutable and past finding out. This statement you will find in the 11th chapter of the Book of Romans. So don’t be concerned as to how God will fulfill the end, only know that He will. Can you believe your desire is fulfilled? Can you believe it is true? If you can, it is yours for the taking, for nothing is impossible to one who believes.

Now, let me share with you three stories which came to me during the summer. The first letter was from my friend Bennie. In it he told of lying prone on his bed, face down, when he felt as though someone grabbed his shoulders; and as he was lifted up he heard the words: “Take a stand!” Intuitively he knew he had to make the decision now as to whether he was going to believe that imagining creates reality or disbelieve it.

Scripture tells us, “He who is not with me is against me.” There is no neutral ground, for “I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. To set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother.” Why? Because a man’s enemies are within him. Everyone must eventually take the stand that imagining creates reality and swim or sink with this concept.

Now, a few days later while in meditation, Bennie felt himself being held from behind by three men. As they raised him, he watched the sun rise and heard the words: “Look! Behold!” and “Recognition!” And he remembered a passage from my book, Your Faith Is Your Fortune: “Recognition of this truth will transform you from one who tries to make it so, into one who recognizes it to be so.”

Soon after this, a friend asked Ben to pray for him. He wanted to be the property manager of the company he worked for. Although he had been passed by year after year, Bennie told him what to do, and imagined hearing the friend tell him the job was now his. A few months later the job was vacated and his friend was given the position with an increase in salary and greater responsibility, just as he had imagined. What did Bennie do? He imagined! To whom did he pray? To his own wonderful human imagination! God, the creator of all life, is like pure imagining in you, underlying all of your faculties – including perception. He streams into your surface mind least disguised in the form of productive fantasy. Bennie took a stand. He prayed for his friend and believed his prayer was answered. He tested himself, and the windows of heaven opened and poured forth blessings for all to see. Now Bennie knows that with God all things are possible.

God is your mightier self. Emptying himself, God took on the form of a slave and is now found in the likeness of man. Abdicating his power, Pure Imagination took upon himself the limitations of flesh, thereby becoming human. It is God who weaves your every desire into cubic reality, waiting upon you effectively and swiftly, regardless of whether your desire is for evil or for good. The one who conjures thoughts in the mind of a Hitler or Stalin is the same power as the one conjuring thoughts in the mind of a pope or the Arch Bishop of Canterbury. There aren’t two Gods. There is only one!

The 14th and 53rd chapters of the Book of Psalms are identical, each telling us: “The fool says in his heart there is no God, but the Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of the many to see if there are any that act wise and seek the Lord.” Here we find that in the eyes of God, wisdom is equated with seeking the Lord. And if God is all-wise and all powerful, then any search other than for the Lord is stupid. You may be the greatest mathematician or scientist, the most intelligent and honored man among men, but if your search is not for God, you are stupid in His eyes.

Called upon to look for the cause of creation, what are you doing losing yourself in the phenomena of life? When something happens, search your thoughts and you will discover your own wonderful human imagination to be the cause of your experience, because God is a person. At the present time He is wearing a mask called Neville, but the one speaking to you now knows himself to be the Ancient of Days. Every being in the world is a mask worn by God; for housed in man, is man’s imagination.

A thought acted upon is an imaginal act. Think (imagine) a horrible earthquake and God will give it to you. Imagine (think of) a war and God will provide that, too. Imagine peace and you will have it. God will give you health if you will but imagine being healthy. Imagine success and you will have it. The moment you think, you are feeding your imagination, which is a person. I use the word person deliberately, for you are a person. You are the mask God is now wearing, for God became you that you may become God.

Now let me share another letter with you. Last year this lady, living about sixty miles north of San Francisco, was possessed with the desire to come to Los Angeles and attend my lecture. Leaving word at her office, she drove her car to the San Francisco airport, where she took a plane to Los Angeles. There she was met by a friend and immediately came to the lecture. After the lecture she joined a group of four women and one man for coffee, where she expressed her hunger, having missed lunch and dinner that day. The gentleman sitting beside her then said, “I’d like to buy you a steak.” And as she looked into his face she heard a voice within her say, “This is your husband.”

Now, this lady has been married and divorced four times, so she had specific desires for a husband which she felt must be fulfilled. She wanted to be happily married to a man who lived by this truth. She wanted him to love and respect her as well as her seventeen-year-old son. Having imagined such a man in September, she attended my meeting in October, and married the gentleman she met here the following January.

The gentleman added his story to her letter, saying: “Having played with the idea of being married, I went to a pawn shop last September and purchased a plain gold band which I placed on the third finger of my left hand. Every day I wore the ring and every night I slept in the feeling of being happily married. (My friend thought he could not get the feeling of being married without a physical aid, but you don’t need anything outside of your imagination to catch the mood.)

Having been an alcoholic, this gentleman imagined his wife never mentioned his past; for although he had not tasted alcohol for nine years, he had paid the price in his search for God. You see, the alcoholic is searching for truth. Thirsty, he finds a false spirit in the form of alcohol, while those who will not touch it – and criticize those who do – haven’t even started their search. But I have news for them. One day they, too, will know a hunger which will not be satisfied by bread. They will know a thirst so great they will make the mistake of clothing it in the form of a bottle. But because it will be a false thirst, the thirst will remain. Then they will discover the true hunger and the true thirst, which is for the hearing of the word of God.

Now, in the third letter a gentleman writes: “Having borrowed from the bank, every month when I sent in my payment I reduced the total amount in my record book. One day, as I was writing my check and recording its payment, I closed my eyes and saw two zeros under the balance due column. Then I gave a sigh of relief because the note was paid. For the next thee months I persisted in seeing those double zeros and rejoicing in being debt-free. Then came an unexpected surprise! Our company paid us all a mid-year bonus which was so large I was able to pay all of my bills, including the bank loan, and deposit the rest in the bank.”

Now I think this gentleman and I must be two peas in the same pod, because money seems to burn in his pocket, too. Instead of keeping the money in the bank as the rational mind would do, my friend began to think about how to spend it, so of course he found a way. He bought a tape recorder to bring and record my message!

To whom did my friend turn when he wanted the bank loan paid? He turned to God! He did not get down on his knees and ask some outside God to do it for him. He didn’t go to church and consult a priest, rabbi or minister. He didn’t contact a so-called truth teacher, but simply closed his eyes to the obvious and saw two zeros in the balance due column. Then for the first time in the history of his company a mid-year bonus was paid. This happened to him because of his use of the law, and his knowledge of who God is.

Not everyone who seeks God finds him, but there are those – like Philip -that when they find him, they bring their brother Nathanael. Andrew found Jesus and brought Peter. You, too, will find Jesus when you exercise your imagination, and bring those you love to his awareness. If great wealth befell you, would not your wife (or husband), your children, as well as those in your immediate circle benefit from your good fortune? And if it befell them, would it not befall you? So we benefit each other as we search out God and test him.

Revelation tells us to be either hot or cold, but never to be lukewarm. If you do not believe me to the point of testing the law, you are lukewarm. But one day, like Ben, you will take a stand. You will either be for me or against me. You will try to believe that imagining creates reality, or reject it. You will be hot or cold about it, and that is better than being lukewarm. I have discovered that those who hated me at first when I took from them their idols, the icon in their mind called Jesus, have become my finest students. So many people claim they believe in Jesus, but cannot define him. Unable to place him in time and space, they are defiant when I say: Christ in you is your hope of glory. Full of insults, they are cold. Some have even been violent. But one day they will find him of whom Moses and the prophets wrote, turn around, and be embraced by the Lord.

I started telling this story in the 1930’s and here we are in the 1960’s. During these thirty-odd years I have found those who really opposed me – those who were so moved and disturbed they were determined to disprove my words. But since they couldn’t do it, they too have found God to be their own wonderful human imagination. The Bible is addressed only to the human imagination. In Blake’s famous letter to the Rev. Dr. Trusler he makes this comment: “Why is the Bible more entertaining and instructive than any other book? Is it not because it is addressed to the imagination, which is spiritual sensation, and only immediately to the understanding, or reason?”

The Bible is imaginative instruction. When it unfolds in you it is more real than anything here, yet it is all imagined, for God is all imagination and so is man. The eternal body of man is the imagination, and that is God Himself. There is nothing but this one body called Jesus, who is the Lord God Jehovah.

I tell you, God became as we are that we may become as He is. No one took God’s life. He laid it down himself saying: “I have the power to lay it down and the power to lift it up again. The fall into fragmented space was deliberate. And He who fell has the power to gather us all together, one by one, into that single body who is all love. His body is above the organization of sex. In it there is no Greek, no Jew, no bond, no free, no male, no female. When you wear it you understand Paul’s statement: “I consider the sufferings of this present time not worth comparing to the glory that has been revealed in me.” In that body you know yourself to be the real Man, and this fleshly body as nothing. You will realize that you were never male or female, but have always been God.

Remember, everything is yours for the taking. If you want it, take it. If you cannot claim it for yourself, ask a friend for help. If you want to be happily married, do what my friends did. You want to pay off all of your debts? Whatever you desire is yours. All you have to do is imagine you have it, for everything in life is yours for the taking!

Now let us go into the silence.