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Neville Goddard Influential New Thought Teacher (1905-1972)

December 22, 2013

by Wisdom Master with 2 Comments Imagination Neville Goddard neville goddard feeling is the secret neville goddard law and promise neville goddard law of assumption neville goddard lectures neville goddard power of awareness neville goddard power of imagination neville goddard quotes neville goddard wisdom

Neville Goddard, better known as just Neville, was one of the quietly dramatic and supremely influential teachers in the New Thought field for many years…In a simple, yet somehow elegant one-hour lecture, Neville was able to clarify the nature of God and God’s relationship to every person. He spoke of God in intimate terms as though he knew God very well, which he did.

Joseph Murphy, a writer and lecturer, who studied with Neville in New York City, said of him: “Neville may eventually be recognized as one of the world’s great mystics,”

Born on Barbados in the British West Indies, Neville was the fourth child in a family of nine boys and one girl. One day some of them were playing near an old wind-swept hut by the sea. A seer lived in the hut and told them their fortunes, The older sons would go into the professions, into medicine, into business. The predictions for them came true. The Goddard family is one of the most prominent and influential families on the island.

“Do not touch the fourth one,” the seer said, pointing to Neville, “he has a special mission to perform in the world – from God.” And to Neville, “You will journey to a distant land and spend your life there.” This prediction also came true. As a young man he went to America and worked in some of the department stores in New York City. Later, he worked in the theatre with the Schubert’s.

Under unusual circumstances, he met a black Jew, named Abdullah, who lectured on Christianity. Neville went to hear him, somewhat under protest, to satisfy the constant urging of a friend, “Whose judgment I did not respect,” Neville said, “because he made such poor financial investments.”

Neville said he was seated in the auditorium waiting for the lecture to begin, when the speaker – who had never met Neville came down the aisle from the rear of the auditorium to the stage.

“You are late, Neville!” Abdullah said, “six months’ late! I have been told to expect you.” From this introduction, Neville studied with Abdullah seven days a week for seven years.

“Abdullah taught me Hebrew, he taught me The Kabbalah, and he taught me more about real Christianity than anyone I ever met,” Neville declared.

Neville originally came to the United States to study drama at the age of seventeen. In 1932 he gave up the theater to devote his attention to his studies in mysticism when he began his lecture career in New York City. After traveling throughout the country, he eventually made his home in Los Angeles where, in the late 1950’s, he gave a series of talks on television, and for many years, lectured regularly to capacity audiences at the Wilshire Ebell Theater. In the 1960’s and early ‘70s, he confined most of his lectures to Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco.

Neville once said that if he was stranded on an island and was allowed one book, he would choose, The Bible, without hesitation. If he could squeeze in more, he would add Charles Fillmore’s Metaphysical Dictionary of Bible names, William Blake, (“… Why stand we here trembling around, Calling on God for help, and not ourselves, in whom God dwells?”) and Nicoll’s Commentaries. These were the books he recommended at his lectures.

In his lectures and books, Neville dealt solely with The Law until the year 1959, “For I did not know of The Promise until I began to experience it and have it unfold within me beginning that summer and continuing during the next three-and-one-half years. And this is Scriptural,” he would say, “read it in the of Book of Daniel where it is referred to as ‘a time, times, and a half.’ It comes to 1260 days in your experience of it.”

In his use of The Law, he related how he made a sea voyage from New York to see his family in Barbados during the Depression, without any money of his own. He related how, by the use of imaginal power, he was honorably discharged from military service to continue his lectures during World War 11. He gave his audiences in San Francisco in the 1950’s and ‘60s accounts of how others had made use of The Law. He discussed it on television in the Los Angeles area, “Learn how to use your imaginal power, lovingly, on behalf of others, for Man is moving into a world where everything is subject to his imaginal power,” he taught.

In the latter part of the 1960’s and early ‘70’s Neville gave more emphasis to The Promise after he had experienced it. The use of imaginal power can change circumstances, but it is all temporary, “– and will vanish like smoke,” he asserted with another sweep of his hand. “Oh. – you can use it to make a fortune, to become known in the world – all these things are done – but your true purpose here is to fulfill Scripture,” so he subordinated it and became as eager to hear accounts by those who had experienced The Promise, and sharing such accounts, as he had of those with The Law.

In the last years of his life he said, “I know my time is short. I have finished the work I have been sent to do and I am now eager to depart. I know I will not appear in this three-dimensional world again for The Promise has been fulfilled in me. As for where I go, I will know you there as I have known you here, for we are all brothers, infinitely in love with each other.”

This discovery Neville called God’s “Promise.” There is nothing any person can do to earn it. It is sheer Grace and comes in its own good time.

If you do not experience it in this life, then what?

“You pass through a door — that’s all that death is,” Neville said, “and — you are restored to life instantly in a world like this — just this world,” he was fond of saying to his audiences with a sweep of his hand, “and you go on there with the same problems you had here with no loss of identity – not old, not blind, not crippled, if you depart this life that way, but young. They grow, and they marry, and they die there, too, with all the fear of death that we have here. And if they die there without experiencing The Promise, they are restored to life again and again in a place best suited to the work yet to be done on them. And it continues until ‘Christ be formed in you’ and as ‘sons of The Resurrection’ you leave this world of death never to enter it gain.”

“You are born once through the womb of woman, once from above,” Neville insists you don’t go through any womb again.

What about the fear many have of eternal hell and damnation? In response to this often asked question, Neville replied with a quote from Scriptures, “’Not one shall be lost in all my holy mountain.’ You are God and how could God eternally condemn Himself?”

Until we awaken and make this discovery, we are privileged to use a Law, given by God, to “cushion the blows of life.” The Law, stated succinctly is this, In Neville’s words: “Imagining creates reality,”

Neville spoke without notes and followed his lectures with questions and answers. When he was asked if he had tapes of his lectures for sale, he replied, “I have no tapes. Others here are making tapes for their own use, Perfectly all right. But I have no tapes.”

There are many tapes of his lectures In Los Angeles and San Francisco circulating, thanks to the loyalty and dedication of many of Neville’s students and friends who have preserved much of What he said. His books are also in print.

Neville departed from the Earth plane on October 1, 1972, in Los Angeles.

Although Neville’s career peaked in the late 1950’s and early 60’s, his message continues to find a place in the hearts of spiritual readers throughout the world today.

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HOW TO USE YOUR IMAGINATION

December 22, 2013

by Wisdom Master with One Comment Imagination Neville Goddard neville goddard feeling is the secret neville goddard law and promise neville goddard law of assumption neville goddard lectures neville goddard power of awareness neville goddard power of imagination neville goddard quotes neville goddard wisdom

Neville Goddard 1955

The purpose of this record is to show you how to use your imagination to achieve your every desire. Most men are totally unaware of the creative power of imagination and invariably bow before the dictates of “facts” and accepts life on the basis of the world without. But when you discover this creative power within yourself, you will boldly assert the supremacy of imagination and put all things in subjection to it. When a man speaks of God-in-man, he is totally unaware that this power called God-in-man is man’s imagination. THIS is the creative power in man. There is nothing under heaven that is not plastic as potter’s clay to the touch of the shaping spirit of imagination.

Once a man said to me, “You know, Neville, I love to listen to you talk about imagination, but as I do so, I invariably touch the chair with my fingers and push my feet into the rug just to keep my sense of the reality and the profundity of things. Well, undoubtedly he is still touching the chair with his fingers and pushing his feet into the rug.

Well, let me tell you of another one who didn’t touch with her fingers and didn’t push that foot of hers onto the board of the streetcar. It’s the story of a young girl just turned seventeen. It was Christmas Eve, and she is sad of heart, for that year she had lost her father in an accident, and she is returning home to what seemed to be an empty house. She was untrained to do anything, so got herself a job as a waitress. This night it’s quite late, Christmas Eve, it’s raining, the car is full of laughing boys and girls home for their Christmas vacation, and she couldn’t conceal the tears.

Luckily for her, as I said, it was raining, so she stuck her face into the heavens to mingle her tears with rain. And then holding the rail of the streetcar, this is what she did: she said, “This is not rain, why, this is spray from the ocean; and this is not the salt of tears that I taste, for this is the salt of the sea in the wind; and this is not San Diego, this is a ship, and I am coming into the Bay of Samoa.” And there she felt the reality of all that she had imagined.

Then came the end of the journey and all are out.

Ten days later this girl received a letter from a firm in Chicago saying that her aunt, several years before when she sailed for Europe, deposited with them three thousand dollars with instructions that if she did not return to America, this money should be paid to her niece. They had just received information of the aunt’s death and were now acting upon her instructions. One month later this girl sailed for Samoa. As she came into the bay it was late that night and there was salt of the sea in the wind. It wasn’t raining, but there was spray in the air. And she actually felt what she’d felt one month before, only this time she had realized her objective.

Now, this whole record is technique. I want to show you today how to put your wonderful imagination right into the feeling of your wish fulfilled and let it remain there and fall asleep in that state. And I promise you, from my own experience, you will realize the state in which you sleep – if you could actually feel yourself right into the situation of your fulfilled desire and continue therein until you fall asleep. As you feel yourself right into it, remain in it until you give it all the tones of reality, until you give it all the sensory vividness of reality. As you do it, in that state, quietly fall into sleep. And in a way you will never know – you could never consciously devise the means that would be employed – you will find yourself moving across a series of events leading you towards the objective realization of this state.

Now, here is a practical technique: The first thing you do, you must know exactly what you want in this world. When you know exactly what you want, make as life-like a representation as possible of what you would see, and what you would touch, and what you would do were you physically present and physically moving in such a state.

For example, suppose I wanted a home, but I had no money – but I still know what I want. I, without taking anything into consideration, I would make as life-like a representation of the home that I would like, with all the things in it that I would want. And then, this night, as I would go to bed, I would in a state, a drowsy, sleepy state, the state that borders upon sleep, I would imagine that I am actually in such a house, that were I to step off the bed, I would step upon the floor of that house, were I to leave this room, I would enter the room that is adjacent to my imagined room in that house. And while I am touching the furniture and feeling it to be solidly real, and while I am moving from one room to the other in my imaginary house, I would go to sound asleep in that state. And I know that in a way I could not consciously devise, I would realize my house. I have seen it work time and time again.

If I wanted promotion in my business I would ask myself, “What additional responsibilities would be mine were I to be given this great promotion? What would I do? What would I say? What would I see? How would I act? And then in my imagination I would begin to see and touch and do and act as I would outwardly see and touch and act were I in that position.

If I now desired the mate of my life, were I now in search of some wonderful girl or some wonderful man, what would I actually find myself doing that would imply that I have found my state? For instance, suppose now I was a lady, one thing I would definitely do, I would wear a wedding ring. I would take my imaginary hands and I would feel the ring that I would imagine to be there. And I would keep on feeling it and feeling it until it seemed to me to be solidly real. I would give it all the sensory vividness I am capable of giving anything. And while I am feeling my imaginary ring – which implies that I am married – I would sleep.

This story is told us in The Song of Songs, or A Song of Solomon:

It is said, “At night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth. I found him whom my soul loveth, and I would not let him go until I had brought him into my mother’s house, right into the chamber of her that conceived me.” If I would take that beautiful poem and put it into modern English, into practical language, it would be this: “While sitting in my chair I would feel myself right into the situation of my fulfilled desire, and having felt myself into that state I would not let it go. I would keep that mood alive, and in that mood I would sleep.” That is taking it “right into my mother’s chamber, into the chamber of her that conceived me.”

You know, people are totally unaware of this fantastic power of the imagination, but when man begins to discover this power within him, he never plays the part that he formerly played. He doesn’t turn back and become just a reflector of life; from here on in he is the affector of life. The secret of it is to center your imagination in the feeling of the wish fulfilled and remain therein. For in our capacity to live IN the feeling of the wish fulfilled lies our capacity to live the more abundant life. Most of us are afraid to imagine ourselves as important and noble individuals secure in our contribution to the world just because, at the very moment that we start our assumption, reason and our senses deny the truth of our assumption. We seem to be in the grip of an unconscious urge which makes us cling desperately to the world of familiar things and resist all that threatens to tear us away from our familiar and seemingly safe moorings.

Well, I appeal to you to try it. If you try it, you will discover this great wisdom of the ancients. For they told it to us in their own strange, wonderful, symbolical form. But unfortunately you and I misinterpreted their stories and took it for history, when they intended it as instruction to simply achieve our every objective. You see, imagination puts us inwardly in touch with the world of states. These states are existent, they are present now, but they are mere possibilities while we think OF them. But they become overpoweringly real when we think FROM them and dwell IN them.

You know, there is a wide difference between thinking OF what you want in this world and thinking FROM what you want. Let me tell you when I first heard of this strange and wonderful power of the imagination. It was in 1933 in New York City. An old friend of mine taught it to me.

He turned to the fourteenth of John, and this is what he read: “In my father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also.” He explained to me that this central character of the Gospels was human imagination; that ‘mansion’ was not a place in some heavenly house, but simply my desire. If I would make a living representation of the state desired and then enter that state and abide in that state, I would realize it.

At the time I wanted to make a trip to the island of Barbados in the West Indies, but I had no money. He explained to me that if I would that night, as I slept in New York City, assume that I was sleeping in my earthly father’s house in Barbados and go sound asleep in that state, that I would realize my trip. Well, I took him at his word and tried it. For one month, night after night as I fell asleep I assumed I was sleeping in my father’s home in Barbados. At the end of my month an invitation from my family came inviting me to spend the winter in Barbados. I sailed for Barbados the early part of December of that year.

From then on I knew I had found this savior in myself. The old man told me that it would never fail. Even after it happened I could hardly believe that it would not have happened anyway. That’s how strange this whole thing is. On reflection, it happens so naturally you begin to feel or to tell yourself, “Well, it would have happened anyway,” and you quickly recover from this wonderful experience of yours.

It never failed me if I would give the mood, the imagined mood, sensory vividness. I could tell you unnumbered case histories to show you how it works, but in essence it is simple: You simply know what you want. When you know what you want, you are thinking of it. That is not enough. You must now begin to think FROM it. Well, how could I think from it? I am sitting here, and I desire to be elsewhere. How could I, while sitting here physically, put myself in imagination at a point in space removed from this room and make that real to me?

Quite easily. My imagination puts me in touch inwardly with that state. I imagine that I am actually where I desire to be. How can I tell that I am there? There is one way to prove that I am there, for what a man sees when he describes his world is, as he describes it, relative to himself. So what the world looks like depends entirely upon where I stand when I make my observation. So, if as I describe my world it is related to that point in space I imagine that I am occupying, then I must be there. I am not there physically, no, but I AM there in my imagination, and my imagination is my real self! And where I go in imagination and make it real, there I shall go in the flesh, also. When in that state I fall asleep, it is done. I have never seen it fail. So this is the simple technique upon how to use your imagination to realize your every objective.

Here is a very healthy and productive exercise for the imagination, something that you should do daily: Daily relive the day as you wish you had lived it, revising the scenes to make them conform to your ideals. For instance, suppose today’s mail brought disappointing news. Revise the letter. Mentally rewrite it and make it conform to the news you wish you had received. Or, suppose you didn’t get the letter you wish you had received. Write yourself the letter and imagine that you received such a letter.

Let me tell you a story that took place in New York not very long ago. In my audience sat this lady who had heard me, oh, numerous times, and I was telling the story of revision – that man, not knowing the power of imagination, he goes to sleep at the end of his day, tired and exhausted, accepting as final all the events of the day. And I was trying to show that man should, at that moment before he sleeps, he should rewrite the entire day and make it conform to the day he wished he had experienced.

Here is the way a lady wisely used this law of revision: It appears that two years ago she was ordered out of her daughter-in-law’s home. For two years there was no correspondence. She had sent her grandson at least two dozen presents in that interval, but not one was ever acknowledged. Having heard the story of revision, this is what she did: As she retired at night, she mentally constructed two letters, one she imagined coming from her grandson, and the other from her daughter-in-law. In these letters they expressed deep affection for her and wondered why she had not called to see them.

This she did for seven consecutive nights, holding in her imaginary hand the letter she imagined she had received and reading these letters over and over until it aroused within her the satisfaction of having heard. Then she slept. On the eighth day she received a letter from her daughter-in-law. On the inside there were two letters, one from her grandson and one from the daughter-in-law. They practically duplicated the imaginary letters that this grandmother had written to herself eight days before.

This art of revision can be used in any department of your life. Take the matter of health. Suppose you were ill. Bring before your mind’s eye the image of a friend. Put upon that face an expression which implies that he or she sees in you that which you want the whole world to see. Just imagine he is saying to you that he has never seen you look better, and you reply, “I have never felt better.”

Suppose your foot was injured. Then do this: Construct mentally a drama which implies that you are walking – that you are doing all the things that you would do if the foot was normal, and do it over and over and over until it takes on the tones of reality. Whenever you do in your imagination that which you would like to do in the outer world, that you WILL do in the outer world.

The one requisite is to arouse your attention in a way, and to such intensity, that you become wholly absorbed in the revised action. You will experience an expansion and refinement of the senses by this imaginative exercise and, eventually, achieve vision in the inner world. The abundant life promised us is ours to enjoy now, but not until we have the sense of the creator as our imagination can we experience it.

Persistent imagination, centered in the feeling of the wish fulfilled, is the secret of all successful operations. This alone is the means of fulfilling the intention.

Every stage of man’s progress is made by the conscious, voluntary exercise of the imagination. Then you will understand why all poets have stressed the importance of controlled, vivid imagination.

Listen to this one by the great William Blake:

“In your own bosom you bear your heaven and earth,

And all you behold, though it appears without,

It is within, in your imagination,

Of which this world of mortality is but a shadow.”

Try it, and you too will prove that your Imagination is the Creator.

MENTAL DIETS

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 1955

Talking to oneself is a habit everyone indulges in. We could no more stop talking to ourselves than we could stop eating and drinking. All that we can do is control the nature and the direction of our inner conversations. Most of us are totally unaware of the fact that our inner conversations are the causes of the circumstance of our life.

We are told that “as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” But do we know that man’s thinking follows the tracks laid down in his own inner conversations? To turn the tracks to which he is tied in the direction in which he wants to go, he must put off his former conversation, which is called in the Bible the Old Man, and be renewed in the spirit of his mind. Speech is the image of mind; therefore, to change his mind, he must first change his speech. By ‘speech’ is meant those mental conversations we carry on with ourselves.

The world is a magic circle of infinite possible mental transformations. For there are an infinite number of possible mental conversations. When man discovers the creative power of inner talking, he will realize his function and his mission in life. Then he can act to a purpose. Without such knowledge, he acts unconsciously. Everything is a manifestation of the mental conversations which go on in us without our being aware of them. But as civilized beings, we must become aware of them and act with a purpose.

A man’s mental conversations attracts his life. As long as there is no change in his inner talking, the personal history of the man remains the same. To attempt to change the world before we change our inner talking is to struggle against the very nature of things. Man can go round and round in the same circle of disappointments and misfortunes, not seeing them as caused by his own negative inner talking, but as caused by others.

This may seem far-fetched, but it is a matter which lends itself to research and experiment. The formula the chemist illustrates is not more certainly provable than the formula of this science by which words are clothed in objective reality.

One day a girl told me of her difficulties in working with her employer. She was convinced that he unjustly criticized and rejected her very best efforts. Upon hearing her story, I explained that if she thought him unfair, it was a suresign that she herself was in need of a new conversation piece. There was no doubt but that she was mentally arguing with her employer, for others only echo that which we whisper to them in secret.

She confessed that she argued mentally with him all day long. When she realized what she had been doing, she agreed to change her inner conversations with her employer. She imagined that he had congratulated her on her fine work, and that she in turn had thanked him for his praise and kindness. To her great delight, she soon discovered that her own attitude was the cause of all that befell her. The behavior of her employer reversed itself. It echoed, as it had always done, her mental conversations with him.

I rarely see a person alone without wondering, “to what conversation piece is he tied? On what mysterious track is he walking?” We must begin to take life consciously. For the solution of all problems lies just in this: the Second Man, the Lord from heaven in all of us, is trying to become self-conscious in the body, that he may be about his father’s business. What are his labors? To imitate his father, to become master of the Word, master of his inner talking, that he may mold this world of ours into a likeness with the Kingdom of Love.

The prophet said, “Be ye imitators of God as dear children.” How would I imitate God? Well, we are told that God calls things that are not seen as though they were seen, and the unseen becomes seen. This is the way the girl called forth praise and kindness from her employer. She carried on an imaginary conversation with her employer from the premise that he had praised her work, and he did.

Our inner conversations represent in various ways the world we live in. Our individual worlds are self-revelations of our own inner speech. We are told that every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account thereof. For by their words they shall be justified, and by their words they shall be condemned.

We abandon ourselves to negative inner talking, yet expect to retain command of life. Our present mental conversations do not recede into the past as man believes. They advance into the future to confront us as wasted or invested words. “My Word,” said the prophet, “shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in all the things whereto I sent it.”

How would I send my Word to help a friend? I would imagine that I am hearing his voice, that he is physically present, that my hand is on him. I would then congratulate him on his good fortune, tell him that I have never seen him look better. I would listen as though I heard him; I would imagine that he is telling me he has never felt better, he has never been happier. And I would know that in this loving, knowing communion with another, a communion populous with loving thoughts and feelings, that my word was sent, and it shall not return unto me void, but it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

“Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.” It is only what is done now that counts, even though its effects may not be visible until tomorrow. We call, not out loud, but by an inner effort of intense attention; to listen attentively, as though you heard, is to create. The events and relationships of life are your Word made visible. Most of us rob others of their willingness and their ability to be kind and generous by our fixed attitudes towards them.

Our attitudes unfold within us in the form of mental conversations. Inner talking from premises of fulfilled desire is the way to consciously create circumstances.

Our inner conversations are perpetually out-pictured all around us in happenings. Therefore, what we desire to see and hear without we must see and hear within, for the whole manifested world goes to show us what use we have made of the Word.

If you practice this art of controlled inner speaking, you too will know what a thrill it is to be able to say, “And now I have told you before it come to pass, that when it is come to pass, ye might believe.” You will be able to consciously use your imagination to transform and channel the immense creative energies of your inner speech from the mental, emotional level to the physical level. And I do not know what limits, if any, there are to such a process.

What is your aim? Does your inner talking match it? It must, you know, if you would realize your aim. For as the prophet asked, “Can two walk together except they be agreed?” And of course the answer is, “No, they cannot.” The two who must agree are your inner conversation and the state desired. That is, what you desire to see and hear without, you must see and hear within.

Every stage of man’s progress is made by the conscious exercise of his imagination matching his inner speech to his fulfilled desire. As we control our inner talking, matching it to our fulfilled desires, we can lay aside all other processes. Then we simply act by clear imagination and intention: we imagine the wish fulfilled and carry on mental conversations from that premise. The right inner speech is the speech that would be yours were you to realize your ideal. In other words, it is the speech of fulfilled desire.

Now you will understand how wise the ancient was when he told us in the Hermetica, “There are two gifts which God has bestowed upon man alone and on no other mortal creature. These two are Mind and Speech, and the gift of Mind and Speech is equivalent to that of immortality. If a man uses these two gifts rightly, he will differ in nothing from the Immortals. And when he quits his body, Mind and Speech will be his guides, and by them he will be brought into the troop of the gods and the souls that have attained to bliss.”

With the gift of Mind and Speech you create the conditions and circumstances of life. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The Word, said Hermes, is Son, and Mind is Father of the Word. They are not separate one from the other, for life is the union of Word and Mind. You and your inner talking, or Word, are one. If your mind is one with your inner conversations, then to be transformed in mind is to be transformed in conversation.

It was a flash of the deepest insight that taught Paul to write:

“Put off the former conversation, the Old Man which is corrupt, and be renewed

in the spirit of your mind. Put on the New Man.” “Put on the New Man,” and “be

renewed in the spirit of your mind,” is to change your inner conversation, for

speech and mind are one – a change of speech is a change of mind.

The prophet Samuel said, “The Lord spake by me, and his Word was in my tongue.” If the Lord’s Word was in the prophet’s tongue, then the Lord’s mouth that uttered the Word must be the prophet’s mind, for inner conversations originate in the mind and produce little tiny speech movements in the tongue. The prophet is telling us that the mouth of God is the mind of man, that our inner conversations are the Word of God creating life about us as we create it within ourselves.

In the Bible you are told that the Word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.

“See, I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil, blessings and cursings. Choose life.”

The conditions and circumstances of life are not created by some power external to yourself; they are the conditions which result from the exercise of your freedom of choice, your freedom to choose the ideas to which you will respond.

Now is the accepted time. This is the day of salvation. Whatsoever things are of good report, think on these things. For your future will be formed by the Word of God which is your present inner talking. You create your future by your inner conversations. The worlds were framed by the Word of God, that is, your inner talking.

See yonder fields? The sesamum was sesamum, the corn was corn. The silence and the darkness knew! So is a man’s fate born. (The Light of Asia)

For ends run true to origins. If you would reap success, you must plant success. The idea in your mind which starts the whole process going is the idea which you accept as truth. This is a very important point to grasp, for truth depends upon the intensity of imagination, not upon “facts.” When the girl imagined that her employer was unfair, his behavior confirmed her imagination. When she changed her assumption of him, his behavior reflected the change, proving that an assumption, though false, if persisted in will harden into fact.

The mind always behaves according to the assumption with which it starts. Therefore, to experience success, we must assume that we are successful. We must live wholly on the level of the imagination itself, and it must be consciously and deliberately undertaken. It does not matter if at the present moment external facts deny the truth of your assumption, if you persist in your assumption it will become a fact.

Signs follow, they do not precede.

To assume a new concept of yourself is to that extent to change your inner talking or Word of God and is, therefore, putting on the New Man. Our inner talking, though unheard by others, is more productive of future conditions than all the audible promises and threats of men. Your ideal is waiting to be incarnated, but unless you yourself offer it human parentage it is incapable of birth. You must define the person you wish to be and then assume the feeling of your wish fulfilled in faith that that assumption will find expression through you.

The true test of religion is in its use, but men have made it a thing to defend. It is to you that the words are spoken, “Blessed is she that believed, for there shall be an accomplishment of those things which were spoken unto her from the Lord.”

Test it. Try it. Conceive yourself to be one that you want to be and remain faithful to that conception, for life here is only a training ground for image making. Try it and see if life will not shape itself on the model of your imagination.

Everything in the world bears witness of the use or misuse of man’s inner talking. Negative inner talking, particularly evil and envious inner talking, are the breeding ground of the future battlefields and penitentiaries of the world. Through habit man has developed the secret affection for these negative inner conversations. Through them he justifies failure, criticizes his neighbors, gloats over the distress of others, and in general pours out his venom on all. Such misuse of the Word perpetuates the violence of the world.

The transformation of self requires that we meditate on a given phrase, a phrase which implies that our ideal is realized, and inwardly affirm it over and over and over again until we are inwardly affected by its implication, until we are possessed by it. Hold fast to your noble inner convictions or “conversations.”

Nothing can take them from you but yourself. Nothing can stop them from becoming objective facts. All things are generated out of your imagination by the Word of God, which is your own inner conversation. And every imagination reaps its own Words which it has inwardly spoken.

The great secret of success is a controlled inner conversation from premises of fulfilled desire. The only price you pay for success is the giving up of your former conversation which belongs to the Old Man, the unsuccessful man. The time is ripe for many of us to take conscious charge in creating heaven on earth. To consciously and voluntarily use our imagination, to inwardly hear and only say that which is in harmony with our ideal, is actively bringing heaven to earth.

Every time we exercise our imagination lovingly on behalf of another, we are literally mediating God to that one. Always use your imagination masterfully, as a participant, not an onlooker. In using your imagination to transform energy from the mental, emotional level to physical level, extend your senses – look and imagine that you are seeing what you want to see, that you are hearing what you want to hear, and touching what you want to touch. Become intensely aware of doing so. Give your imaginary state all the tones and feeling of reality. Keep on doing so until you arouse within yourself the mood of accomplishment and the feeling of relief.

This is the active, voluntary use of the imagination as distinguished from the passive, involuntary acceptance of appearances. It is by this active, voluntary use of the imagination that the Second Man, the Lord from heaven, is awakened in man.

Men call imagination a plaything, the “dream faculty.” But actually it is the very gateway of reality.

Imagination is the way to the state desired, it is the truth of the state desired, and the life of that state desired. Could you realize this fully, then would you know that what you do in your imagination is the only important thing. Within the circle of our imagination the whole drama of life is being enacted over and over again. Through the bold and active use of the imagination we can stretch out our hand and touch a friend ten thousand miles away and bring health and wealth to the parched lips of his being. It is the way to everything in the world. How else could we function beyond our fleshly limitations? But imagination demands of us a fuller living of our dreams in the present.

Through the portals of the present the whole of time must pass. Imagine elsewhere as here, and then as now. Try it and see. You can always tell if you have succeeded in making the future dream a present fact by observing your inner talking. If you are inwardly saying what you would audibly say were you physically present and physically moving about in that place, then you have succeeded. And you could prophesy it from these inner conversations, and from the moods which they awaken within you, what your future will be.

For one power alone makes a prophet – ‘imagination’, the divine vision. All that we meet is our Word made visible. And what we do not now comprehend is related by affinity to the unrecognized forces of our own inner conversations and the moods which they arouse within us.

If we do not like what is happening to us, it is a sure sign that we are in need of a change of mental diet. For man, we are told, lives not by bread alone but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And having discovered the mouth of God to be the mind of man, a mind which lives on Words or inner talking, we should feed into our minds only loving, noble thoughts. For with Words or inner talking we build our world.

Let love’s lordly hand raise your hunger and thirst to all that is noble and of good report, and let your mind starve e’er you raise your hand to a cup love did not fill or a bowl love did not bless. That you may never again have to say,

“What have I said? What have I done, O All Powerful Human Word?”

CONSCIOUSNESS IS THE ONLY REALITY

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard Lesson 1

This is going to be a very practical Course. Therefore, I hope that everyone in this class has a very clear picture of what he desires, for I am convinced that you can realize your desires by the technique you will receive here this week in these five lessons.

That you may receive the full benefit of these instructions, let me state now that the Bible has no reference at all to any persons who ever existed or to any event that ever occurred upon earth.

The ancient story tellers were not writing history but an allegorical picture lesson of certain basic principles which they clothed in the garb of history, and they adapted these stories to the limited capacity of a most uncritical and credulous people.

Throughout the centuries we have mistakenly taken personifications for persons, allegory for history, the vehicle that conveyed the instruction for the instruction, and the gross first sense for the ultimate sense intended.

The difference between the form of the Bible and its substance is as great as the difference between a grain of corn and the life germ within that grain. As our assimilative organs discriminate between food that can be built into our system and food that must be discarded, so do our awakened intuitive faculties discover beneath allegory and parable, the psychological life-germ of the Bible; and, feeding on this, we, too, cast off the form which conveyed the message.

The argument against the historicity of the Bible is too lengthy; consequently, it is not suitable for inclusion in this practical psychological interpretation of its stories. Therefore, I will waste no time in trying to convince you that the Bible is not an historical fact.

Tonight I will take four stories and show you what the ancient story-tellers intended that you and I should see in these stories. The ancient teachers attached psychological truths to

phallic and solar allegories. They did not know as much of the physical structure of man as do modern scientists, neither did they know as much about the heavens as do our modern astronomers. But the little they did know they used wisely and they built phallic and solar frames to which they tied the great psychological truths that they had discovered.

In the Old Testament you will find much of the Phallic worship. Because it is not helpful, I am not going to emphasize it. I shall only show you how to interpret it.

Before we come to the first of the psychological dramas that you and I may use in a practical sense, let me state the two outstanding names of the Bible: the one you and I translate as GOD or JEHOVAH, and the one we call his son, which we have as JESUS.

The ancients spelled these names by using little symbols. The ancient tongue, called the Hebraic language, was not a tongue that you exploded with the breath. It was a mystical language never uttered by man. Those who understood it, understood it as rnathematicians understand symbols of higher mathematics. It is not something people used to convey thought as I now use the English language.

They said that God’s name was spelled, JOD HE VAU HE. I shall take these symbols and in our normal, down to earth language, explain them in this manner.

The first letter, JOD in the name GOD is a hand or a seed, not just a hand, but the hand of the director. If there is one organ of man that discriminates and sets him apart from the entire world of creation it is his hand. What we call a hand in the anthropoid ape is not a hand. It is used only for the purpose of conveying food to the mouth, or to swing from branch to branch. Man’s hand fashions, it molds. You cannot really express yourself without the hand. This is the builder’s hand, the hand of the director; it directs, and molds, and builds within your world.

The ancient story-tellers called the first letter JOD, the hand, or the absolute seed out of which the whole of creation will come.

To the second letter, HE, they gave the symbol of a window. A window is an eye — the window is to the house what the eye is to the body.

The third letter, VAU, they called a nail. A nail is used for the purpose of binding things together. The conjunction “and” in the Hebraic tongue is simply the third letter, or VAU. If I want to say ‘man and woman’, I put the VAU in the middle, it binds them together.

The fourth and last letter, HE, is another window or eye.

In this modern, down to earth language of ours, you can forget eyes and windows and hands and look at it in this manner. You are seated here now. This first letter, JOD, is your I AMness, your awareness. You are aware of being aware — that is the first letter. Out of this awareness all states of awareness come.

The second letter, HE, called an eye, is your imagination, your ability to perceive. You imagine or perceive something which seems to be other than Self. As though you were lost in reverie and contemplated mental states in a detached manner, making the thinker and his thoughts separate entities.

The third letter, VAU, is your ability to feel you are that which you desire to be. As you feel you are it, you become aware of being it. To walk as though you were what you want to be is to take your desire out of the imaginary world and put the VAU upon it. You have completed the drama of creation. I am aware of something. Then I become aware of actually being that of which I was aware.

The fourth and last letter in the name of God is another HE, another eye, meaning the visible objective world which constantly bears witness of that which I am conscious of being. You do nothing about the objective world; it always molds itself in harmony with that which you are conscious of being

You are told this is the name by which all things are made, and without it there is nothing made that is made. The name is simply what you have now as you are seated here. You are conscious of being, aren’t you? Certainly you are. You are also conscious of something that is other than yourself: the room, the furniture, the people.

You may become selective now. Maybe you do not want to be other than what you are, or to own what you see. But you have the capacity to feel what it would be like were you now other than what you are. As you assume that you are that which you
want to be, you have completed the name of God or the JOD HE VAU HE. The final result, the objectification of your assumption, is not your concern. It will come into View automatically as you assume the consciousness of being it.

Now let us turn to the Son’s name, for he gives the Son dominion over the world. You are that Son, you are the great Joshua, or Jesus, of the Bible. You know the name Joshua or Jehoshua we have Anglicized as Jesus.

The Son’s name is almost like the Father’s name. The first three letters of the Father’s name are the first three letters of the Son’s name, JOD HE VAU, then you add a SHIN and an AYIN, making the Son’s name read, JOD HE VAU SHIN AYIN’.

You have heard what the first three are: JOD HE VAU. JOD means that you are aware; HE means that you are aware of something; and VAU means that you became aware of being that of which you were aware. You have dominion because you have the ability to conceive and to become that which you conceive. That is the power of creation.

But why is a SHIN put in the name of the Son? Because of the infinite mercy of our Father. Mind you, the Father and the Son are one. But when the Father becomes conscious of being man he puts within the condition called man that which he did not give unto himself. He puts a SHIN for this purpose; a SHIN is symbolized as a tooth.

A tooth is that which consumes, that which devours. I must have within me the power to consume that which I now dislike. I, in my ignorance, brought to birth certain things I now dislike and would like to leave behind me. Were there not within me the flames that would consume it, I would be condemned forever to live in a world of all my mistakes. But there is a SHIN, or flame, within the name of the Son, which allows that Son to become detached from states He formerly expressed within the world. Man is incapable of seeing other than the contents of his own consciousness.

If I now become detached in consciousness from this room by turning my attention away from it, then, I am no longer conscious of it. There is something in me that devours it within me. It can only live within my objective world if I keep it alive within my consciousness.

It is the SHIN, or a tooth, in the Son’s name that gives him absolute dominion. Why could it not have been in the Father’s name? For this simple reason: Nothing can cease to be in the Father. Even the unlovely things cannot cease to be. If I once give it expression, forever and ever it remains locked within the dimensionally greater Self which is the Father. But I would not like to keep alive within my world all of my mistakes. So I, in my infinite mercy gave to myself, when I became man, the power to become detached from these things that I, in my ignorance, brought to birth in my world..

These are the two names which give you dominion. You have dominion if, as you walk the earth, you know that your consciousness is God, the one and only reality. You become aware of something you would like to express or possess. You have the ability to feel that you are and possess that which but a moment before was imaginary. The final result, the embodying of your assumption, is completely outside of the offices of a three-dimensional mind. It comes to birth in a way that no man knows.

If these two names are clear in your mind’s eye, you will see that they are your eternal names. As you sit here, you are this JOD HE VAU HE; you are the JOD HE VAU SHIN AYIN.

The stories of the Bible concern themselves exclusively with the power of imagination. They are really dramatizations of the technique of prayer, for prayer is the secret of changing the future. The Bible reveals the key by which man enters a dimensionally larger world for the purpose of changing the conditions of the lesser world in which he lives.

A prayer granted implies that something is done in consequence of the prayer, which otherwise would not have been done. Therefore, man is the spring of action, the directing mind, and the one who grants the prayer.

The stories of the Bible contain a powerful challenge to the thinking capacity of man. The underlying truth — that they are psychological dramas and not historical facts — demands reiteration, inasmuch as it is the only justification for the stories. With a little imagination we may easily trace the psychological sense in all the stories of the Bible.

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, and after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him” Gen. 1:26, 27.

Here in the first chapter of the Bible the ancient teachers laid the foundation that God and man are one, and that man has dominion over all the earth. If God and man are one, then God can never be so far off as even to be near, for nearness implies separation.

The question arises: What is God? God is man’s consciousness, his awareness, his I AMness. The drama of life is a psychological one in which we bring circumstances to pass by our attitudes rather than by our acts. The corner-stone on which all things are based is mans concept of himself. He acts as he does, and has the experiences that he does, because his concept of himself is what it is, and for no other reason. Had he a different concept of himself, he would act differently and have different experiences.

Man, by assuming the feeling of his wish fulfilled, alters his future in harmony with his assumption, for, assumptions though false, if sustained, will harden into fact.

The undisciplined mind finds it difficult to assume a state which is denied by the senses. But the ancient teachers discovered that sleep, or a state akin to sleep, aided man in making his assumption. Therefore, they dramatized the first creative act of man as one in which man was in a profound sleep. This not only sets the pattern for all future creative acts, but shows us that man has but one substance that is truly his to use in creating his world and that is himself.

“And the Lord God (man) caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman.” Gen. 2: 21, 22.

Before God fashions this woman for man he brings unto Adam the beasts of the field, and the fowls of the air and has Adam name them. “Whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.”

If you will take a concordance or a Bible dictionary and look up the word thigh as used in this story you will see that it has nothing to do with the thigh. It is defined as the soft parts that are creative in a man, that hang upon the thigh of a man.

The ancient story-tellers used this phallic frame to reveal a great psychological truth. An angel is a messenger of God. You are God, as you have just discovered for your consciousness is God, and you have an idea, a message. You are wrestling with an idea, for you do not know that you are already that which you contemplate, neither do you believe you could become it. You would like to, but you do not believe you could.

Who wrestles with the angel? Jacob. And the word Jacob, by definition, means the supplanter.
You would like to transform yourself and become that which reason and your senses deny. As you wrestle with your ideal, trying to feel that you are it, this is what happens. When you actually feel that you are it, something goes out of you. You may use the words, “Who has touched me, for I perceive virtue has gone out of me? ”

You become for a moment, after a successful meditation, incapable of continuing in the act, as though it were a physical creative act. You are just as impotent after you have prayed successfully as you are after the physical creative act. When satisfaction is yours, you no longer hunger for it. If the hunger persists you did not explode the idea within you, you did not actually succeed in becoming conscious of being that which you wanted to be. There was still that thirst when you came out of the deep.

If I can feel that I am that which but a few seconds ago I knew I was not, but desired to be, then I am no longer hungry to be it. I am no longer thirsty because I feel satisfied in that state. Then something shrinks within me, not physically but in my feeling, in my consciousness, for that is the creativeness of man. He so shrinks in desire, he loses the desire to continue in this meditation. He does not halt physically, he simply has no desire to continue the meditative act.

“When you pray believe that you have received, and you shall receive.” When the physical creative act is completed, the sinew which is upon the hollow of man’s thigh shrinks, and man finds himself impotent or is halted. In like manner when a man prays successfully he believes that he is already that which he desired to be, therefore he cannot continue desiring to be that which he is already conscious of being. At the moment of satisfaction, physical and psychological, something goes out which in time bears witness to man’s creative power.

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Our next. story is in the 38th chapter of the book of Genesis. Here is a King whose name is ]udah, the first three letters of whose name also begins JOD HE VAU. Tamar is his daughter-in-law.

The word Tamar means a palm tree or the most beautiful, the most comely. She is gracious and beautiful to look on and is called a palm tree. A tall, stately palm tree blossoms even in the desert — wherever it is there is an oasis. When you see the palm tree in the desert, there will be found what you seek most in that parched land. There is nothing more desirable to a man moving across a desert than the sight of a palm tree.

In our case, to be practical, our objective is the palm tree. That is the stately, beautiful one that we seek. Whatever it is that you and I want, what we truly desire, is personified in the story as Tamar the beautiful.

We are told she dresses herself in the veils of a harlot and sits in the public place. Her father-in-law, King Judah, comes by; and he is so in love with this one who is veiled that he offers her a kid to be intimate with her.

She said, “What will you give me as a pledge that you will give me a kid? ”

Looking around he said, “What do you want me to give as a pledge? ”

She answered, “Give me your ring, give me your bracelets, and give me your staff. ”

Whereupon, he took from his hand the ring, and the bracelet, and gave them to her along with his sceptre. And he went in unto her and knew her, and she bore him a son.

That is the story; now for the interpretation. Man has one gift that is truly his to give, and that is himself. He has no other gift, as told you in the very first creative act of Adam begetting the woman out of himself. There was no other substance in the world but himself with which he could fashion the object of his desire. In like manner Judah had but one gift that was truly his to give — himself, as the ring, the bracelets and the staff symbolized, for these were the symbols of his kingship.

Man offers that which is not himself, but life demands that he give the one thing that symbolizes himself. “Give me your ring, give me your bracelet, give me your sceptre.” These make the King. When he gives them he gives of himself.

You are the great King Judah. Before you can know your Tamar and make her bear your likeness in the world, you must go in unto her and give of self. Suppose I want security. I cannot get it by knowing people who have it. I cannot get it by pulling strings. I must become conscious of being secure.

Let us say I want to be healthy. Pills will not do it. Diet or climate will not do it. I must become conscious of being healthy by assuming the feeling of being healthy.

Perhaps I want to be lifted up in this world. Merely looking at kings and presidents and noble people and living in their reflection will not make me dignified. I must become conscious of being noble and dignified and walk as though I were that which I now want to be.

When I walk in that light I give of myself to the image that haunted my mind, and in time she bears me a child; which means I objectify a world in harmony with that which I am conscious of being.

You are King Judah and you are also Tamar. When you become conscious of being that which you want to be you are Tamar. Then you crystallize your desire within the world round about you.

No matter what stories you read in the Bible, no matter how many characters these ancient story-tellers introduced into the drama, there is one thing you and I must always bear in mind — they all take place within the mind of the individual man. All the characters live in the mind of the individual man.

As you read the story, make it fit the pattern of self. Know that your consciousness is the only reality. Then know what you want to be. Then assume the feeling of being that which you want to be, and remain faithful to your assumption, living and acting on your conviction. Always make it fit that pattern.

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Our third interpretation is the story of Isaac and his two sons: Esau and Jacob. The picture is drawn of a blind man being deceived by his second son into giving him the blessing which belonged to his first son. The story stresses the point that the deception was accomplished through the sense of touch.

“And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not. And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him…. And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was yet scarce gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.” Gen. 27:21, 30.

This story can be very helpful if you will re-enact it now. Again bear in mind that all the characters of the Bible are personifications of abstract ideas and must be fulfilled in the individual man. You are the blind father and both sons.

Isaac is old and blind, and sensing the approach of death, calls his first son Esau a rough hairy boy, and sends him into the woods that he may bring in some venison.

The second son, Jacob, a smooth skin boy, overheard the request of his father. Desiring the birthright of his brother , Jacob, the smooth skinned son, slaughtered one of his father’s flock and skinned it. Then, dressed in the hairy skins of the kid he had slaughtered, he came through subtlety and betrayed his father into believing that he was Esau.

The father said, “Come close my son that I may feel you. I cannot see, but come that I may feel.” Note the stress that is placed upon feeling in this story.

He came close and the father said to him, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” And feeling this roughness, the reality of the son Esau, he pronounced the blessing and gave it to Jacob.

You are told in the story that as Isaac pronounced the blessing and Jacob had scarcely gone out from his presence, that his brother Esau came in from his hunting.

This is an important verse. Do not become distressed in our practical approach to it, for as you sit here you, too, are Isaac. This room in which you are seated is your present Esau. This is the rough or sensibly known world, known by reason of your bodily organs. All of your senses bear witness to the fact that you are here in this room. Everything tells you that you are here, but perhaps you do not want to be here.

You can apply this toward any objective. The room in which you are seated at any time — the environment in which you are placed, this is your rough or sensibly known world or son which is personified in the story as Esau. What you would like in place of what you have or are is your smooth skinned state or Jacob, the supplanter.

You do not send your visible world hunting, as so many people do, by denial. By saying it does not exist you make it all the more real. Instead, you simply remove your attention from the region of sensation which at this moment is the room round about you, and you concentrate your attention on that which you want to put in its place, that which you want to make real.

In concentrating on your objective, the secret is to bring it here. You must make elsewhere here and then now imagine that your objective is so close that you can feel it.

Suppose at this very moment I want a piano here in this room. To see a piano in my mind’s eye existing elsewhere does not do it. But to visualize it in this room as though it were here and to put my mental hand upon the piano and to feel it solidly real, is to take that subjective state personified as my second son Jacob and bring it so close that I can feel it.

Isaac is called a blind man. You are blind because you do not see your objective with your bodily organs, you cannot see it with your objective senses. You only perceive it with your mind, but you bring it so close that you can feel it as though it were solidly real now. When this is done and you lose yourself in its reality and feel it to be real, open your eyes.

When you open your eyes what happens? The room that you had shut out but a moment ago returns from the hunt. You no sooner gave the blessing — felt the imaginary state to be real — than the objective world, which seemingly was unreal, returns. It does not speak to you with words as recorded of Esau, but the very room round about you tells you by its presence that you have been self-deceived.

It tells you that when you lost yourself in contemplation, feeling that you were now what you wanted to be, feeling that you now possess what you desire to possess, that you were simply deceiving self. Look at this room. It denies that you are elsewhere.

If you know the law, you now say: “Even though your brother came through subtlety and betrayed me and took your birthright, I gave him your blessing and I cannot retract.”

In other words, you remain faithful to this subjective reality and you do not take back from it the power of birth. You gave it the right of birth and it is going to become objective within this world of yours. There is no room in this limited space of yours for two things to occupy the same space at the same time. By making the subjective real it resurrects itself within your world.

Take the idea that you want to embody, and assume that you are already it. Lose yourself in feeling this assumption is solidly real. As you give it this sense of reality, you have given it the blessing which belongs to the objective world, and you do not have to aid its birth any more than you have to aid the birth of a child or a seed you plant in the ground. The seed you plant grows unaided by a man, for it contains within itself all the power and all the plans necessary for self-expression.

You can this night re-enact the drama of Isaac blessing his second son and see what happens in the immediate future in your world. Your present environment vanishes, all the circumstances of life change and make way for the coming of that to which you have given your life. As you walk, knowing that you are what you wanted to be, you objectify it without the assistance of another.

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The fourth story for tonight is taken from the last of the books attributed to Moses. If you need proof that Moses did not write it, read the story carefully. It is found in the 34th chapter of the book of Deuteronomy. Ask any priest or rabbi, ‘who is the author of this book?’, and they will tell you that Moses wrote it.

In the 34th chapter of Deuteronomy you will read of a man writing his own obituary , that is, Moses wrote this chapter. A man may sit down and write what he would like to have placed upon his tombstone, but here is a man who writes his own obituary. And then he dies and so completely rubs himself out that he defies posterity to find where he has buried himself.

“So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-poer: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day. And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.” Deut. 34:5, 6,7.

You must this night — not tomorrow — learn the technique of writing your own obituary and so completely die to what you are that no man in this world can tell you where you buried the old man. If you are now ill and you become well, and I know you by reason of the fact that you are ill, where can you point and tell me you buried the sick one?

If you are impoverished and borrow from every friend you have, and then suddenly you roll in wealth, where did you bury the poor man? You so completely rub out poverty in your mind’s eye that there is nothing in this world you can point to and claim, that is where I left it. A complete transformation
of consciousness rubs out all evidence that anything other than this ever existed in the world.

The most beautiful technique for the realizing of man’s objective is given in the first verse of the 34th chapter of Deuteronomy:

“And Moses went up from the Plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the Lord shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan.

You read that verse and say, “So what? ” But take a concordance and look up the words. The first word, Moses, means to draw out, to rescue, to lift out, to fetch. In other words, Moses is the personification of the power in man that can draw out of man that which he seeks, for everything comes from within, not from without. You draw from within yourself that which you now want to express as something objective to yourself.

You are Moses coming out of the plains of Moab. The word Moab is a contraction of two Hebraic words, Mem and Ab, meaning mother-father. Your consciousness is the mother-father , there is no other cause in the world. Your I AMness, your awareness, is this Moab or mother-father. You are always drawing something out of it.

The next word is Nebo. In your concordance Nebo is defined as a prophecy. A prophecy is something subjective. If I say, “So-and-so will be, ” it is an image in the mind; it is not yet a fact. We must wait and either prove or disprove this prophecy.

In our language Nebo is your wish, your desire. It is called a mountain because it is something that appears difficult to ascend and is therefore seemingly impossible of realization. A mountain is something bigger than you are, it towers over you. Nebo personifies that which you want to be in contrast to that which you are.

The word Pisgah, by definition, is to contemplate. Jericho is a fragrant odor. And Gilead means the hills of witnesses. The last word is Dan the Prophet.

Now put them all together in a practical sense and see what the ancients tried to tell us. As I stand here, having discovered that my consciousness is God, and that I can by simply feeling that I am what I want to be transform myself into the likeness of that which I am assuming I am; I know now that I am all that it takes to scale this mountain.

I define my objective. I do not call it Nebo, I call it my desire. Whatever I want, that is my Nebo, that is my great mountain that I am going to scale. I now begin to contemplate it, for I shall climb to the peak of Pisgah.

I must contemplate my objective in such a manner that I get the reaction that satisfies. lf I do not get the reaction that pleases then Jericho is not seen, for Jericho is a fragrant odor. When I feel that I am what I want to be I cannot suppress the joy that comes with that feeling.

I must always contemplate my objective until I get the feeling of satisfaction personified as Jericho. Then I do nothing to make it visible in my world; for the hills of Gilead, meaning men, women, children, the whole vast world round about me, come bearing witness. They come to testify that I am what I have assumed myself to be, and am sustaining within myself. When my world conforms to my assumption the prophecy is fulfilled.

If I now know what I want to be, and assume that I am it, and walk as though I were, I become it and becoming it I so completely die to my former concept of self that I cannot point to any place in this world and say: that is where my former self is buried. I so completely died that I defy posterity to ever find where I buried my old self.

There must be someone in this room who will so completely transform himself in this world that his close immediate circle of friends will not recognize him.

For ten years I was a dancer, dancing in Broadway shows, in vaudeville, night clubs, and in Europe. There was a time in my life when I thought I could not live without certain friends in my world. I would spread a table every night after the theatre and we would all dine well. I thought I could never live without them. Now I confess I could not live with them. We have nothing in common today. When we meet we do not purposely walk on the opposite side of the street, but it is almost a cold meeting because we have nothing to discuss. I so died to that life that as I meet these people they cannot even talk of the old times.

But there are people living today who are still living in that state, getting poorer and poorer. They always like to talk about the old times. They never buried that man at all, he is very much alive within their world.

Moses was 120 years, a full, wonderful age as 120 indicates. One plus two plus zero equals three, the numerical symbol of expression. I am fully conscious of my expression. My eyes are undimmed and the natural functions of my body are not abated. I am fully conscious of being what I do not want to be.

But knowing this law by which a man transforms himself, I assume that I am what I want to be and walk in the assumption that it is done. In becoming it, the old man dies and all that was related to that former concept of self dies with it. You cannot take any part of the old man into the new man. You cannot put new wine in old bottles or new patches on old garments. You must be a new being completely.

As you assume that you are what you want to be, you do not need the assistance of another to make it so. Neither do you need the assistance of anyone to bury the old man for you. Let the dead bury the dead. Do not even look back, for no man having put his hand to the plow and then looking back is fit for the kingdom of heaven.

Do not ask yourself how this thing is going to be. It does not matter if your reason denies it. It does not matter if all the world round about you denies it. You do not have to bury the old. “Let the dead bury the dead.” You will so bury the past by remaining faithful to your new concept of Self that you will defy the whole vast future to find where you buried it. To this day no man in all of Israel has discovered the sepulchre of Moses.

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These are the four stories I promised you tonight. You must apply them every day of your life. Even though the chair on which you are now seated seems hard and does not lend itself to meditation you can, by imagination, make it the most comfortable chair in the world.

Let me now define the technique as I want you to employ it. I trust each one of you came here tonight with a clear picture of your desire. Do not say it is impossible. Do you want it? You do not have to use your moral code to realize it. It is altogether outside the reach of your code.

Consciousness is the one and only reality. Therefore, we must form the object of our desire out of our own consciousness.

People have a habit of slighting the importance of simple things, and the suggestion to create a state akin to sleep in order to aid you in assuming that which reason and your senses
deny, is one of the simple things you might slight.

However, this simple formula for changing the future, which was discovered by the ancient teachers and given to us in the Bible, can be proved by all.

The first step in changing the future is Desire, that is, define your objective — know definitely what you want.

Second: construct an event which you believe you would encounter FOLLOWING the fulfillment of your desire – an event which implies fulfillment of your desire – something which will have the action of Self predominant.

The third step is to immobilize the physical body and induce a state akin to sleep. Then mentally feel yourself right into the proposed action, imagine all the while that you are actually performing the action HERE AND NOW. You must participate in the imaginary action, not merely stand back and look on, but FEEL that you are actually performing the action, so that the imaginary sensation is real to you.

It is important always to remember that the proposed action must be one which FOLLOWS the fulfillment of your desire, one which implies fulfillment. For example, suppose you desired promotion in office. Then being congratulated would be an event you would encounter following the fulfillment of your desire.

Having selected this action as the one you will experience in imagination to imply promotion in office, immobilize your physical body and induce a state bordering on sleep, a drowsy state, but one in which you are still able to control the direction of your thoughts, a state in which you are attentive without effort. Then visualize a friend standing before you.
Put your imaginary hand into his. Feel it to be solid and real, and carry on an imaginary conversation with him in harmony with the FEELING OF HAVING BEEN PROMOTED.

You do not visualize yourself at a distance in point of space and at a distance in point of time being congratulated on your good fortune. Instead, you MAKE elsewhere HERE and the future NOW. The difference between FEELING yourself in action, here and now , and visualizing yourself in action, as though you were on a motion-picture screen, is the difference between success and failure.

The difference will be appreciated if you will now visualize yourself climbing a ladder. Then, with eyelids closed imagine that a ladder is right in front of you and FEEL YOURSELF ACTUALLY CLIMBING IT.

Experience has taught me to restrict the imaginary action which implies fulfillment of the desire, to condense the idea into a single act, and to re-enact it over and over again until it has the feeling of reality. Otherwise, your attention will wander off along an associational track, and hosts of associated images will be presented to your attention, and in a few seconds they will lead you hundreds of miles away from your objective in point of space and years away in point of time.

If you decide to climb a particular flight of stairs, because that is the likely event to follow the fulfillment of your desire, then you must restrict the action to climbing that particular flight of stairs. Should your attention wander off, bring it back to its task of climbing that flight of stairs, and keep on doing so until the imaginary action has all the solidity and distinctness of reality.

The idea must be maintained in the mind without any sensible effort on your part. You must, with the minimum of effort permeate the mind with the feeling of the wish fulfilled.

Drowsiness facilitates change because it favors attention without effort, but it must not be pushed to the state of sleep in which you no longer are able to control the movements of your attention. But a moderate degree of drowsiness in which you are still able to direct your thoughts.

A most effective way to embody a desire is to assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled and then, in a relaxed and drowsy state, repeat over and over again like a lullaby, any short phrase which implies fulfillment of your desire, such as, “Thank you, thank you, thank you” as though you addressed a higher power for having given you that which you desired.

I know that when this course comes to an end on Friday many of you here will be able to tell me you have realized your objectives. Two weeks ago I left the platform and went to the door to shake hands with the audience. I am safe in saying that at least 35 out of a class of 135 told me that which they desired when they joined this class they had already realized.
This happened only two weeks ago. I did nothing to bring it to pass save to give them this technique of prayer. You need do nothing to bring it to pass – save apply this technique of prayer.

With your eyes closed and your physical body immobilized induce a state akin to sleep and enter into the action as though you were an actor playing the part. Experience in imagination what you would experience in the flesh were you now in possession of your objective. Make elsewhere HERE and then NOW. And the greater you, using a larger focus will use all means, and call them good, which tend toward the production of that which you have assumed.

You are relieved of all responsibility to make it so, because as you imagine and feel that it is so your dimensionally larger self determines the means. Do not think for one moment that some one is going to be injured in order to make it so, or that some one is going to be disappointed. It is still not your concern. I must drive this home. Too many of us, schooled in different walks of life, are so concerned about the other.

You ask, , ‘If I get what I want will it not imply injury to another?’ There are ways you know not of, so do not be concerned.

Close your eyes now because we are going to be in a long silence. Soon you will become so lost in contemplation, feeling that you are what you want to be, that you will be totally unconscious of the fact that you are in this room with others.

You will receive a shock when you open your eyes and discover we are here. It should be a shock when you open your eyes and discover that you are not actually that which, a moment before, you felt you were, or felt you possessed. Now we will go into the deep.

SILENCE PERIOD………

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I need not remind you that you are now that which you have assumed that you are. Do not discuss it with anyone, not even self. You cannot take thought as to the HOW, when you know that you ARE already.

Your three-dimensional reasoning, which is a very limited reasoning indeed should not be brought into this drama. It does not know. What you have just felt to be true is true.

Let no man tell you that you should not have it. What you feel that you have, you will have. And I promise you this much, after you have realized your objective, on reflection you will have to admit that this conscious reasoning mind of yours could never have devised the way.

You are that and have that which this very moment you appropriated. Do not discuss it. Do not look to someone for encouragement because the thing might not come. It has come. Go about your Father’s business doing everything normally and let these things happen in your world.

ASSUMPTIONS HARDEN INTO FACT

December 22, 2013

by Wisdom Master with No Comment Imagination Neville Goddard neville goddard feeling is the secret neville goddard law and promise neville goddard law of assumption neville goddard lectures neville goddard power of awareness neville goddard power of imagination neville goddard quotes neville goddard wisdom

Neville Goddard Lesson 2

This Bible of ours has nothing to do with history. Some of you may yet be inclined tonight to believe that, although we can give it a psychological interpretation, it still could be left in its present form and be interpreted literally. You cannot do it. The Bible has no reference at all to people or to events as you have been taught to believe.The sooner you begin to rub out that picture the better.

We are going to take a few stories tonight, and again I am going to remind you that you must re-enact all of these stories within your own mind.

Bear in mind that although they seem to be stories of people fully awake, the drama is really between you, the sleeping one, the deeper you, and the conscious waking you. They are personified as people, but when you come to the point of application you must remember the importance of the drowsy state.

All creation, as we told you last night, takes place in the state of sleep, or that state which is akin to sleep — the, sleepy drowsy state.

We told you last night the first man is not yet awakened. You are Adam, the first man, still in the profound sleep. The creative you is the fourth-dimensional you whose home is simply the state you enter when men call you asleep.

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Our first story for tonight is found in the Gospel of John. As you hear it unfold before you, I want you to compare it in your mind’s eye to the story you heard last night from the book of Genesis. The first book of the Bible, the bock of Genesis, historians claim is the record of events which occurred on earth some 3,000 years before the events recorded in the book of John. I ask you to be rational about it and see if you do not think the same writer could have written both stories. You be the judge as to whether the same inspired man could not have told the same story and told it differently.

This is a very familiar story, the story of the trial of Jesus. In this Gospel of John it is recorded that Jesus was brought before Pontius Pilate, and the crowd clamored for his life, they wanted Jesus. Pilate turned to them and said:

“But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the Passover; will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews? Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.” John 18:39, 40

You are told that Pilate had no choice in the matter, he was only a judge interpreting law, and this was the law. The people had to be given that which they requested. Pilate could not release Jesus against the wishes of the crowd, and so he released Barabbas and gave unto them Jesus to be crucified.

Now bear in mind that your consciousness is God. There is no other God. And you are told that God has a son whose name is Jesus. If you will take the trouble to look up the word Barabbas in your concordance, you will see that it is a contraction of two Hebraic words: BAR, which means a daughter or son- or child, and ABBA, which means father. Barabbas is the son of the great father. And Jesus in the story is called the Saviour, the Son of the Father.

We have two sons in this story. And we have two sons in the story of Esau and Jacob. Bear in mind that Isaac was blind, and justice to be true must be blind folded. Although in this case Pilate is not physically blind, the part given to Pilate implies that he is blind because he is a judge. On all the great law buildings of the world we see the lady or the man who represents justice as being blindfolded.

“Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. ” John 7:24.

Here we find Pilate is playing the same part as Isaac. There are two sons. All the characters as they appear in this story can apply to your own life. You have a son that is robbing you this very moment of that which you could be.

If you came to this meeting tonight conscious of wanting something, desiring something, you walked in the company of Barabbas.

For to desire is to confess that you do not now possess what you desire, and because all things are yours, you rob yourself by living in the state of desire. My saviour is my desire. As I want something I am looking into the eyes of my saviour. But if I continue wanting it, I deny my Jesus, my saviour, for as I want I confess I am not and “except ye believe that I AM He ye die in your sins.” I cannot have and still continue to desire what I have. I may enjoy it, but I cannot continue wanting it.

Here is the story. This is the feast of the Passover. Something is going to change right now, something is going to passover. Man is incapable of passing over from one state of consciousness into another unless he releases from consciousness that which he now entertains, for it anchors him where he is.

You and I may go to physical feasts year after year as the sun enters the great sign of Aries, but it means nothing to the true mystical Passover. To keep the feast of the Passover, the psychological feast, I pass from one state of consciousness into another. I do it by releasing Barabbas, the thief and robber that robs me of that state which I could embody within my world.

The state I seek to embody is personified in the story as Jesus the Saviour . If I become what I want to be then I am saved from what I was. If I do not become it, I continue to keep locked within me a thief who robs me of being that which I could be.

These stories have no reference to any persons who lived nor to any event that ever occurred upon earth. These characters are everlasting characters in the mind of every man in the world. You and I perpetually keep alive either Barabbas or Jesus. You know at every moment of time who you are entertaining.

Do not condemn a crowd for clamoring that they should release Barabbas and crucify Jesus. It is not a crowd of people called Jews. They had nothing to do with it.

If we are wise, we too should clamor for the release of that state of mind that limits us from being what we want to be, that restricts us, that does not permit us to become the ideal that we seek and strive to attain in this world.

I am not saying that you are not tonight embodying Jesus. I only remind you, that if at this very moment you have an unfulfilled ambition, then you are entertaining that which denies the fulfillment of the ambition, and that which denies it is Barabbas.

To explain the mystical, psychological transformation known as the Passover, or the crossing over, you must now become identified with the ideal that you would serve, and you must remain faithful to the ideal. If you remain faithful to it, you not only crucify it by your faithfulness, but you resurrect it unaided by a man.

As the story goes, no man could rise early enough to roll away the stone. Unaided by a man the stone was removed, and what seemingly was dead and buried was resurrected unassisted by a man.

You walk in the consciousness of being that which you want to be, no one sees it as yet, but you do not need a man to roll away the problems and the obstacles of life in order to express that which you are conscious of being. That state has its own unique way of becoming embodied in this world, of becoming flesh that the whole world may touch it.

Now you can see the relationship between the story of Jesus and the story of Isaac and his two sons, where one transplanted the other, where one was called the Supplanter of the other. Why do you think those who compiled the sixty odd books of our Bible made Jacob the forefather of Jesus?

They took Jacob, who was called the Supplanter, and made him father of twelve, then they took Judah or praise, the fifth son and made him the forefather of Joseph, who is supposed to have fathered in some strange way this one called Jesus. Jesus must supplant Barabbas as Jacob must supplant and take the place of Esau.

Tonight you can sit right here and conduct the trial of your two sons, one of whom you want released. You can become the crowd who clamors for the release of the thief, and the judge who willingly releases Barabbas, and sentences Jesus to fill his place. He was crucified on Golgotha, the place of the skull, the seat of the imagination.

To experience the Passover or passage from the old to the new concept of self, you must release Barabbas, your present concept of self, which robs you of being that which you could be, and you must assume the new concept which you desire to express.

The best way to do this is to concentrate your attention upon the idea of identifying yourself with your ideal. Assume you are already that which you seek and your assumption, though false, if sustained, will harden into fact.

You will know when you have succeeded in releasing Barabbas, your old concept of self, and when you have successfully crucified Jesus, or fixed the new concept of self, by simply looking MENTALLY at the people you know. If you see them as you formerly saw them, you have not changed your concept of self, for all changes of concepts of self result in a changed relationship to your world.

We always seem to others an embodiment of the ideal we inspire. Therefore, in meditation, we must imagine that others see us as they would see us were we what we desire to be.

You can release Barabbas and crucify and resurrect Jesus if you will first define your ideal. Then relax in a comfortable arm chair, induce a state of consciousness akin to sleep and experience in imagination what you would experience in reality were you already that which you desire to be.

By this simple method of experiencing in imagination what you would experience in the flesh were you the embodiment of the ideal you serve, you release Barabbas who robbed you of your greatness, and you crucify and resurrect your saviour, or the ideal you desired to express.

Now let us turn to the story of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. Bear in mind that a garden is a properly prepared plot of ground, it is not a wasteland. You are preparing this ground called Gethsemane by coming here and studying and doing something about your mind. Spend some time daily in preparing your mind by reading good literature, listening to good music and entering into conversations that ennoble.

We are told in the Epistles, “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Phil. 4:8

Continuing with our story, as told in the 18th chapter of John, Jesus is in the garden and suddenly a crowd begins to seek him. He is standing there in the dark and he says, “Whom seek ye?”

The spokesman called Judas answers and says, “We seek Jesus of Nazareth.”

A voice answers, “I am He.”

At this instant they all fall to the ground, thousands of them tumbled. That in itself should stop you right there and let you know it could not be a physical drama, because no one could be so bold in his claim that he is the one sought, that he could cause thousands who seek him to fall to the ground.

But the story tells us they all fell to the ground. Then when they regained their composure they asked the same question.

“Jesus answered, I have told you that I am He: if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way.” John 18:8.

“Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly.” John 13:27

Judas, who has to do it quickly, goes out and commits suicide.

Now to the drama. You are in your garden of Gethsemane or prepared mind if you can, while you are in a state akin to sleep, control your attention and not let it wander away from its purpose. If you can do that you are definitely in the garden.

Very few people can sit quietly and not enter a reverie or a state of uncontrolled thinking. When you can restrict the mental action and remain faithful to your watch, not permitting your attention to wander all over the place, but hold it without effort within a limited field of presentation to the state you are contemplating, then you are definitely this disciplined presence in the garden of Gethsemane.

The suicide of Judas is nothing more than changing your concept of yourself. When you know what you want to be you have found your Jesus or saviour. When you assume that you are what you want to be you have died to your former concept of self (Judas committed suicide) and are now living as Jesus. You can become at will detached from the world round about you, and attached to that which you want to embody within your world.

Now that you have found me, now that you have found that which would save you from what you are, let go of that which you are and all that it represents in the world. Become completely detached from it. In other words, go out and commit suicide.

You completely die to what you formerly expressed in this world, and you now completely live to that which no one saw as true of you before. You are as though you had died by your own hand, as though you had committed suicide. You took your own life by becoming detached in consciousness from what you formerly kept alive, and you begin to live to that which you have discovered in your garden. You have found your saviour.

It is not men falling, not a man betraying another, but you detaching your attention, and refocusing your attention in an entirely new direction. From this moment on you walk as though you were that which you formerly wanted to be. Remaining faithful to your new concept of yourself you die or commit suicide. No one took your life, you laid it down yourself.

You must be able to see the relation of this to the death of Moses, where he so completely died that no one could find where he was buried. You must see the relationship of the death of Judas. He is not a man who betrayed a man called Jesus.

The word Judas is praise; it is Judah, to praise, to give thanks, to explode with joy. You do not explode with joy unless you are identified with the ideal you seek and want to embody in this world. When you become identified with the state you contemplate you cannot suppress your joy. It rises like the fragrant odor described as Jericho in the Old Testament.

I am trying to show you that the ancients told the same story in all the stories of the Bible. All that they are trying to tell us is how to become that which we want to be. And they imply in every story that we do not need the assistance of another. You do not need another to become now what you really want to be.

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Now we turn to a strange story in the Old Testament; one that very few priests and rabbis will be bold enough to mention from their pulpits. Here is one who is going to receive the promise as you now receive it. His name is Jesus, only the ancients called him Joshua, Jehoshua Ben Nun, or saviour, son of the fish, the Saviour of the great deep. Nun means fish, and fish is the element of the deep, the profound ocean. Jehoshua means Jehovah saves, and Ben means the offspring or son of. So he was called the one who brought the fish age.

This story is in the 6th book of the Bible, the book of Joshua. A promise is made to Joshua as it is made to Jesus in the Anglicized form in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

In the gospel of John, Jesus says, “All things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.” John 17:7. “And all mine are thine, and thine are mine.” John 17:10.

In the Old Testament in the book of Joshua it is said in these words: “Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you.” Joshua 1:3

It does not matter where it is; analyze the promise and see if you can accept it literally. It is not physically true but it is psychologically true. Wherever you can stand in this world mentally that you can realize.

Joshua is haunted by this promise that wherever he can place his foot (the foot is understanding), wherever the sole of his foot shall tread, that will be given unto him. He wants the most desirable state in the world, the fragrant city, the delightful state called Jericho.

He finds himself barred by the impassable walls of Jericho. He is on the outside, as you are now on the outside. You are functioning three-dimensionally and you cannot seem to reach the fourth-dimensional world where your present desire is already a concrete objective reality. You cannot seem to reach it because your senses bar you from it. Reason tells you it is impossible, all things round about you tell you it is not true.

Now you employ the services of a harlot and a spy, and her name is Rahab. The word Rahab simply means the spirit of the father. RACE means the breath or spirit, and AB the father. Hence we find that this harlot is the spirit of the father and the father is man’s awareness of being aware, man’s I AMness, man’s consciousness.

Your capacity to feel is the great spirit of the father, and that capacity is Rahab in this story. She has two professions that of a spy and that of a harlot.

The profession of a spy is this: to travel secretly, to travel so quietly that you may not be detected. There is not a single physical spy in this world who can travel so quietly that he will be altogether unseen by others. He may be very wise in concealing his ways, and he may never be truly apprehended, but at every moment of time he runs the risk of being detected.

When you are sitting quietly with your thoughts, there is no man in the world so wise that he can look at you and tell you where you are mentally dwelling.

I can stand here and place myself in London. Knowing London quite well, I can close my eyes and assume that I am actually standing in London. If I remain within this state long enough, I will be able to surround myself with the environment of London as though it were a solid concrete objective fact.

Physically I am still here, but mentally I am thousands of miles away and I have made elsewhere here. I do not go there as a spy, I mentally make elsewhere here, and then now. You cannot see me dwelling there, so you think I have just gone to sleep and that I an still here in this world, this three-dimensional world that is now San Francisco. As far as I am physically concerned, I am here but no one can tell me where I am when I enter the moment of meditation.

Rahab’s next profession was that of a harlot, which is to grant unto men what they ask of her without asking man’s right to ask. If she be an absolute harlot, as her name implies, then she possesses all and can grant all that man asks of her. She is there to serve, and not to question man’s right to seek what he seeks of her.

You have within you the capacity to appropriate a state without knowing the means that will be employed to realize that end and you assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled without having any of the talents that men claim you must possess in order to do so. When you appropriate it in consciousness you have employed the spy, and because you can embody that state within yourself by actually giving it to yourself, you are the harlot, for the harlot satisfies the man who seeks her.

You can satisfy self by appropriating the feeling that you are what you want to be. And this assumption though false, that is, although reason and the senses deny it, if persisted in will harden into fact. By actually embodying that which you have assumed you are, you have the capacity to become completely satisfied. Unless it becomes a tangible, concrete reality you will not be satisfied; you will be frustrated.

You are told in this story that when Rahab went into the city to conquer it, the command given to her was to enter the heart of the city, the heart of the matter, the very center of it, and there remain until I come. Do not go from house to house, do not leave the upper room of the house into which you enter. If you leave the house and there be blood upon your head, it is upon your head. But if you do not leave the house and there be blood, it shall be upon my head.

Rahab goes into the house, rises to the upper floor, and there she remains while the walls crumble. That is, we must keep a high mood if we would walk with the highest. In a very veiled manner, the story tells you that when the walls crumbled and Joshua entered, the only one who was saved in the city was the spy and the harlot whose name was Rahab.

This story tells what you can do in this world. You will never lose the capacity to place yourself elsewhere and make it here. You will never lose the ability to give unto yourself what you are bold enough to appropriate as true of self. It has nothing to do with the woman who played that part.

The explanation of the crumbling of the walls is simple. You are told that he blew upon the trumpet seven times and at the seventh blast the walls crumbled and he entered victoriously into the state that he sought.

Seven is a stillness, a rest, the Sabbath. It is the state when man is completely unmoved in his conviction that the thing is. When I can assume the feeling of my wish fulfilled and go to sleep, unconcerned, undisturbed, I am at rest mentally, and am keeping the Sabbath or am blowing the trumpet seven times. And when I reach that point the walls crumble. Circumstances alter then remold themselves in harmony with my assumption. As they crumble I resurrect that which I have appropriated within. The walls, the obstacles, the problems, crumble of their own weight if I can reach the point of stillness within me.

The man Who can fix within his own mind’s eye an idea, even though the world would deny it, if he remains faithful to that idea he will see it manifested. There is all the difference in the world between holding the idea, and being held by the idea. Become so dominated by an idea that it haunts the mind as though you were it. Then, regardless of what others may say, you are walking in the direction of your fixed attitude of mind. You are walking in the direction of the idea that dominates the mind.

As we told you last night, you have but one gift that is truly yours to give, and that is yourself. There is no other gift; you must press it out of yourself by an appropriation. It is there within you now for creation is finished. There is nothing to be that is not now. There is nothing to be created for all things are already yours, they are all finished.

Although man may not be able to stand physically upon a state, he can always stand mentally upon any desired state. By standing mentally I mean that you can now, this very moment, close your eyes and visualize a place other than your present one, and assume that you are actually there. You can FEEL this to be so real that upon opening your eyes you are amazed to find that you are not physically there.

This mental journey into the desired state, with its subsequent feeling of reality, is all that is necessary to bring about its fulfillment. Your dimensionally greater Self has ways that the lesser, or three-dimensional you, know not of. Furthermore, to the greater you, all means are good which promote the fulfillment of your assumption.

Remain in the mental state defined as your objective until it has the feeling of reality , and all the forces of heaven and earth will rush to aid its embodiment. Your greater Self will influence the actions and words of all who can be used to aid the production of your fixed mental attitude.

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Now we turn to the book of Numbers and here we find a strange story. I trust that some of you have had this experience as described in the bock of Numbers. They speak of the building of a tabernacle at the command of God; that God commanded Israel to build him a place of worship.

He gave them all the specifications of the tabernacle. It had to be an elongated, movable place of worship, and it had to be covered with skin. Need you be told anything more? Isn’t that man?

“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you ? ” I Cor. 3:16

There is no other temple. Not a temple made with hands, but a temple eternal in the heavens. This temple is elongated, and it is covered with skin, and it moves across the desert.

“And on the day that the tabernacle was reared up the cloud covered the tabernacle, namely, the tent of the testimony: and at even there was upon the tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire, until the morning. So it was always: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.” Num.9:15,16

The command given to Israel was to tarry until the cloud ascended by day and the fire by night. “Whether it were two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud tarried upon the tabernacle, remaining thereon, the children of Israel abode in their tents, and journeyed not: but when it was taken up, they journeyed.” Num.. 9:22

You know that you are the tabernacle, but you may wonder, what is the cloud. In meditation many of you must have seen it. In meditation, this cloud, like the sub-soil waters of an artesian well, springs spontaneously to your head and forms itself into pulsating, golden rings. Then, like a gentle river they flow from your head in a stream of living rings of gold.

In a meditative mood bordering on sleep the cloud ascends. It is in this drowsy state that you should assume that you are that which you desire to be, and that you have that which you seek, for the cloud will assume the form of your assumption and fashion a world in harmony with itself. The cloud is simply the garment of your consciousness, and where your consciousness is placed, there you will be in the flesh also.

This golden cloud comes in meditation. There is a certain point when you are approaching sleep that it is very, very thick, very liquid, and very much alive and pulsing. It begins to ascend as you reach the drowsy, meditative state, bordering on sleep. You do not strike the tabernacle; neither do you move it until the cloud begins to ascend.

The cloud always ascends when man approaches the drowsiness of sleep. For when a man goes to sleep, whether he knows it or not, he slips from a three-dimensional world into a fourth-dimensional world and that which is ascending is the consciousness of that man in a greater focus; it is a fourth-dimensional focus.

What you now see ascending is your greater self. When that begins to ascend you enter into the actual state of feeling you are what you want to be. That is the time you lull yourself into the mood of being what you want to be, by either experiencing in imagination what you would experience in reality were you already that which you want to be, or by repeating over and over again the phrase that implies you have already done what you want to do. A phrase such as, “Isn’t it wonderful, isn’t it wonderful,” as though some wonderful thing had happened to you.

“In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed. Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction. ” Job 33: 15, 16

Use wisely the interval preceding sleep. Assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled and go to sleep in this mood. At night, in a dimensionally larger world, when deep sleep falleth upon men, they see and play the parts that they will later on play on earth. And the drama is always in harmony with that which their dimensionally greater selves read and play through them. Our illusion of free will is but ignorance of the causes which make us act.

The sensation which dominates the mind of man as he falls asleep, though false, will harden into fact. Assuming the feeling of the wish fulfilled as we fall asleep, is the command to this embodying process saying to our mood, “Be thou actual.” In this way we become through a natural process what we desire to be.

I can tell you dozens of personal experiences where it seemed impossible to go elsewhere, but by placing myself elsewhere mentally as I was about to go to sleep, circumstances changed quickly which compelled me to make the journey. I have done it across water by placing myself at night on my bed as though I slept where I wanted to be. As the days unfolded things began to mold themselves in harmony with that assumption and all things that must happen to compel my journey did happen. And I, in spite of myself, must make ready to go toward that place which I assumed I was in when I approached the deep of sleep.

As my cloud ascends I assume that I am now the man I want to be, or that I am already in the place where I want to visit. I sleep in that place now. Then life strikes the tabernacle, strikes my environment and reassembles my environment across seas or over land and reassembles it in the likeness of my assumption. It has nothing to do with men walking across a physical desert. The whole vast world round about you is a desert.

From the cradle to the grave you and I walk as though we walk the desert. But we have a living tabernacle wherein God dwells, and it is covered with a cloud which can and does ascend when we go to sleep or are in a state akin to sleep. Not necessarily in two days, it can ascend in two minutes. Why did they give you two days? If I now become the man I want to be, I may become dissatisfied tomorrow. I should at least give it a day before I decide to move on.

The Bible says in two days, a month, or a year: whenever you decide to move on with this tabernacle let the cloud ascend. As it ascends you start moving where the cloud is. The cloud is simply the garment of your consciousness, your assumption. Where the consciousness is placed you do not have to take the physical body; it gravitates there in spite of you. Things happen to compel you to move in the direction where you are consciously dwelling.

“In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” John 14:2, 3

The many mansions are the unnumbered states within your mind, for you are the house of God. In my Father’s house are unnumbered concepts of self. You could not in eternity exhaust what you are capable of being.

If I sit quietly here and assume that I am elsewhere, I have gone and prepared a place. But if I open my eyes, the bilocation which I created vanishes and I am back here in the physical form that I left behind me as I went to prepare a place. But I prepared the place nevertheless and will in time dwell there physically.

You do not have to concern yourself with the ways and the means that will be employed to move you across space into that place where you have gone and mentally prepared it. Simply sit quietly, no matter where you are, and mentally actualize it.

But I give you warning, do not treat it lightly, for I am conscious of what it will do to people who treat it lightly. I treated it lightly once because I just wanted to get away, based only upon the temperature of the day. It was in the deep of winter in New York, and I so desired to be in the warm climate of the Indies, that I slept that night as though I slept under palm trees. Next morning when I awoke it was still very much winter.

I had no intentions of going to the Indies that year, but distressing news came which compelled me to make the journey. It was in the midst of war when ships were being sunk right and left, but I sailed out of New York on a ship 48 hours after I received this news. It was the only way I could get to Barbados, and I arrived just in time to see my mother and say a three-dimensional “Good-bye” to her .

In spite of the fact that I had no intentions of going, the deeper Self watched where the great cloud descended. I placed it in Barbados and this tabernacle (my body) had to go and make the journey to fulfill the command, “Wherever the sole of your foot shall tread that have I given unto you.” Wherever the cloud descends in the desert, there you reassemble that tabernacle.

I sailed from New York at midnight on a ship without taking thought of submarines or anything else. I had to go. Things happened in a way that I could not have devised.

I warn you, do not treat it lightly. Do not say, “I will experiment and put myself in Labrador, just to see if it will work.” You will go to your Labrador and then you will wonder why you ever came to this class. It will work if you dare assume the feeling of your wish fulfilled as you go to sleep.

Control your moods as you go to sleep. I cannot find any better way to describe this technique than to call it a “controlled waking dream.” In a dream you lose control, but try preceding your sleep with a complete controlled waking dream, entering into it as you do in dream, for in a dream you are always very dominant, you always play the part. You are always an actor in a dream, and never the audience. When you have a controlled waking dream you are an actor and you enter into the act of the
controlled dream. But do not do it lightly, for you must then reenact it physically in a three-dimensional world.

Now before we go into our moment of silence there is something I must make very clear, and that is this effort we discussed last night. If there is one reason in this whole vast world why people fail it is because they are unaware of a law known to psychologists today as the law of reverse effort.

When you assume the feeling of your wish fulfilled it is with a minimum of effort. You must control the direction of the movements of your attention. But you must do it with the least effort. If there is effort in the control, and you are compelling it in a certain way you are not going to get the results. You will get the opposite results, what ever they might be.

That is why we insist on establishing the basis of the Bible as Adam slept. That is the first creative act, and there is no record where he was ever awakened from this profound sleep. While he sleeps creation stops.

You change your future best when you are in control of your thoughts while in a state akin to sleep, for then effort is reduced to its minimum. Your attention seems to completely relax, and then you must practice holding your attention within that feeling, without using force, and without using effort.

Do not think for a moment that it is will power that does it. When you release Barabbas and become identified with Jesus, you do not will yourself to be it, you imagine that you are it. That is all you do.

Now as we come to the vital part of the evening, the interval devoted to prayer, let me again clarify the technique. Know what you want. Then construct a single event, an event which implies fulfillment of your wish. Restrict the event to a single act.

For instance, if I single out as an event, shaking a man’s hand, then that is the only thing I do. I do not shake it, then light a cigarette and do a thousand other things. I simply imagine that I am actually shaking hands and keep the act going over and over and over again until the imaginary act has all the feeling of reality.

The event must always imply fulfillment of the wish. Always construct an event which you believe you would naturally encounter following the fulfillment of your desire. You are the judge of what event you really want to realize.

There is another technique I gave you last night. If you cannot concentrate on an act, if you cannot snuggle into your chair and believe the chair is elsewhere, just as though elsewhere were here, then do this: Reduce the idea, condense it to a single, simple phrase like, “Isn’t it wonderful.” or, “Thank you.” or, “It’s done.” or, “It’s finished.”

There should not be more than three words. Something that implies the desire is already realized. “Isn’t it wonderful”, or “Thank you,” certainly imply that. These are not all the phrases you could use. Make up out of your own vocabulary the phrase which best suits you. But make it very, very short and always use a phrase that implies fulfillment of the idea.

When you have your phrase in mind, lift the cloud. Let the cloud ascend by simply inducing the state that borders on sleep. Simply begin to imagine and feel you are sleepy, and in this state assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled. Then repeat the phrase over and over like a lullaby. Whatever the phrase is, let it imply that the assumption is true, that it is concrete, that it is already a fact and you know it.

Just relax and enter into the feeling of actually being what you want to be. As you do it you are entering Jericho with your spy who has the power to give it. You are releasing Barabbas and sentencing Jesus to be crucified and resurrected. All these stories you are re-enacting if now you begin to let go and enter into the feeling of actually being what you want to be. Now we can go…..

SILENCE PERIOD ……..

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If your hands are dry , and if your mouth is dry at the end of this meditation, that is positive proof that you did succeed in lifting the cloud. What you were doing when the cloud was lifted is entirely your business. But you did lift the cloud if your hands are dry.

I will give you another phenomena which is very strange and one I cannot analyze. It happens if you really go into the deep. You will find on waking that you have the most active pair of kidneys in the world. I have discussed it with doctors and they cannot explain it.

Another thing you may observe in meditation is a lovely liquid blue light. The nearest thing on earth to which I can compare it is burning alcohol. You know when you put alcohol on the plum pudding at Christmas time and set it a flame, the lovely liquid blue flame that envelopes the pudding until you blow it out. That flame is the nearest thing to the blue light which comes on the forehead of a man in meditation.

Do not be distressed. You will know it when you see it. It is like two shades of blue, a darker and a lighter blue in constant motion, just like burning alcohol, which is unlike the constant flame of a gas jet. This flame is alive, just as spirit would be alive.

Another thing that may come to you as it did to me. You will see spots before your eyes. They are not liver spots as some people will tell you who know nothing about it. These are little things that float in space like a mesh, little circles all tied together. They start with a single cell and come in groups in different geometrical patterns, like worms, like trailers, and they float all over your face. When you close your eyes you still see them, proving that they are not from without, they are from within.

When you begin to expand in consciousness all these things come. They may be your blood stream objectified by some strange trick of man that man does not quite understand. I am not denying that it is your blood stream made visible, but do not be distressed by thinking it is liver spots or some other silly thing that people will tell you.

If these various phenomena come to you, do not think you are doing something wrong. It is the normal, natural expansion that comes to all men who take themselves in tow and try to develop the garden of Gethsemane.

The minute you begin to discipline your mind by observing your thoughts and watching your thoughts throughout the day, you become the policeman of your thoughts. Refuse to enter into conversations that are unlovely, refuse to listen attentively to anything that tears down.

Begin to build within your own mind’s eye the vision of the perfect virgin rather than the vision of the foolish virgin. Listen only to the things that bring joy when you hear them. Do not give a willing ear to that which is unlovely, which when you heard it you wish you had not. That is listening and seeing things Without oil in your lamp, or joy in your mind.

There are two kinds of virgins in the Bible: five foolish and five wise virgins. The minute you become the wise virgin, or try to make an attempt to do it, you will find all these things happen. You will see these things, and they interest you so that you have not time to develop the foolish sight, as many people do. I hope that no one here does. Because no one should be identified with this great work who can still find great joy in a discussion of another that is unlovely.

THINKING FOURTH-DIMENSIONALLY

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard Lesson 3

There are two actual outlooks on the world possessed by every man, and the ancient story tellers were fully conscious of these two outlooks. They called the one “the carnal mind,” and the other “the mind of Christ.”

We recognize these two centers of thought in the statement: “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” I Cor. 2:14

To the natural mind, reality is confined to the instant called now; this very moment seems to contain the whole of reality, everything else is unreal. To the natural mind, the past and the future are purely imaginary. In other words my past, when I use the natural mind, is only a memory image of things that were. And to the limited focus of the carnal or natural mind the future does not exist. The natural-mind does not believe that it could revisit the past and see it as something that is present, something that is objective and concrete to itself, neither does it believe that the future exists.

To the Christ mind, the spiritual mind, which in our language we will call the fourth-dimensional focus, the past, the present, and the future of the natural mind are a present whole. It takes in the entire array of sensory impressions that man has encountered, is encountering, and will encounter.

The only reason you and I are functioning as we are today, and are not aware of the greater outlook, is simply because we are creatures of habit, and habit renders us totally blind to what otherwise we should see; but habit is not law. It acts as though it were the most compelling force in the world, yet it is not law.

We can create a new approach to life. If you and I would spend a few minutes every day in withdrawing our attention from the region of sensation and concentrating it on an invisible state and remain faithful to this contemplation, feeling and sensing the reality of an invisible state, we would in time become aware of this greater world, this dimensionally larger world. The state contemplated is now a concrete reality, displaced in time.

Tonight as we turn to our Bible you be the judge as to where you stand in your present unfoldment.

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Our first story for tonight is from the 5th chapter of the Gospel of Mark. In this chapter there are three stories told as though they were separate experiences of the dominant characters.

In the first story we are told that Jesus came upon an insane man, a naked man who lived in the cemetery and hid himself behind the tombs. This man appealed to Jesus not to cast out the devils that bedeviled him.

But Jesus said unto him, “Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.” Mark 5:8.

Thus Jesus cast out the devils that they may now destroy themselves, and we find this man, for the first time, clothed and in his right mind and seated at the feet of the Master. We will get the psychological sense of this chapter by changing the name Jesus to that of enlightened reason or fourth-dimensional thinking.

As we progress in this chapter we are told that Jesus now comes upon the High Priest whose name is Jairus, and Jairus the High Priest of the Synagogue has a child who is dying. She is 12 years old, and he appeals to Jesus to come and heal the child.

Jesus consents, and as he starts toward the home of the High Priest a woman in the market place touched his garment.
“And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? ” Mark 5:30.

The woman who was healed of an issue of blood that she had had for 12 years confessed that she had touched him. ” And he said unto her, Daughter, Thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.” Mark 5:34

As he continues toward the home the High Priest he is told that the child is dead and there is no need to go to resurrect her. She is no longer asleep, but is now dead.

“As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe.” Mark 5:36

“And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.” Mark 5:39

With this the entire crowd mocked and laughed, but Jesus, closing the doors against the mocking crowd, took with him into the household of Jairus, his disciples and the father and mother of the dead child.

They entered into the room where the damsel was lying. “And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.” Mark 5:41

“From this deep sleep she awoke and arose and walked, and the High Priest and all the others were astonished. And he changed them straightly that no man should know it; and he commanded that something should be given her to eat.” Mark 5:43

You are this very night, as you are seated here, pictured in this 5th chapter of Mark. A cemetery is for one purpose: it is simply a record of the dead. Are you living in the dead past?

If you are living among the dead, your prejudices, your superstitions, and your false beliefs that you keep alive are the tombstones behind which you hide. If you refuse to let them go you are just as mad as the mad man of the Bible who pleaded with enlightened reason not to cast them out. There is no difference. But enlightened reason is incapable of protecting prejudice and superstition against the inroads of reason.

There is not a man in this world who has a prejudice, regardless of the nature of the prejudice, who can hold it up to the light of reason. Tell me you are against a certain nation, a certain race, a certain “ism,” a certain anything — I do not care what it is — you cannot expose that belief of yours to the light of reason and have it live. In order that it may be kept alive in your world you must hide it from reason. You cannot analyze it in the light of reason and have it live. When this fourth-dimensional focus comes and shows you a new approach to life and casts out of your own mind all these things that bedeviled you, you are then cleansed and clothed in your right mind. And you sit at the foot of understanding, called the feet of the Master.

Now clothed and in your right mind you can resurrect the dead. What died? The child in the story is not a child. The child is your ambition, your desire, the unfulfilled dreams of your heart. This is the child housed within the mind of man. For as I have stated before, the entire drama of the Bible is a psychological one. The Bible has no reference at all to any person who ever existed, or any event that ever occurred upon earth. All the stories of the Bible unfold in the minds of the individual man.

In this story Jesus is the awakened intellect of man. When your mind functions outside of the range of your present senses, when your mind is healed of all the former limitations, then you are no longer the insane man; but you are this presence personified as Jesus, the power that can resurrect the longings of the heart of man.

You are now the woman with the issue of blood. What is this issue of blood? A running womb is not a productive womb. She held it for 12 years, she was incapable of conceiving. She could not give form to her longing because of the running of the issue of blood. You are told her faith closed it. As the womb closes it can give form to the seed or idea.

As your mind is cleansed of your former concept of Self, you assume you are what you want to be, and remaining faithful to this assumption, you give form to your assumption or resurrect your child. You are the woman cleansed of the issue of blood, and you move towards the house of the dead child.

The child or state you desired is now your fixed concept of yourself. But now having assumed that I am what formerly I desired to be, I cannot continue desiring what I am conscious of being. So I do not discuss it. I talk to no one concerning what I am. It is so obvious to me that I am what I wanted to be that I walk as though I were.

Walking as though I am what formerly I wanted to be, my world of limited focus does not see it and thinks I no longer desire it. The child is dead within their world; but I, who know the law, say, “The child is not dead.” The damsel is not dead, she but sleepeth. I now awaken her. I, by my assumption, awaken and make visible in my world what I assume, for assumptions if sustained invariably awaken what they affirm.

I close the door. What door? The door of my senses. I simply shut out completely all that my senses reveal. I deny the evidence of my senses. I suspend the limited reason of the natural man and walk in this bold assertion that I am what my senses deny.

With the door of my senses closed, what do I take into that disciplined state? I take no one into that state but the parents of the child and my disciples. I close the door against the mocking, laughing crowd. I no longer look for confirmation. I completely deny the evidence of my senses, which mock my assumption and do not discuss with others whether my assumption is possible or not.

Who are the parents? We have discovered that the father-mother of all creation is man’s I AMness. Man’s consciousness is God. I am conscious of the state. I am the father-mother of all my ideas and my mind remains faithful to this new concept of self. My mind is disciplined. I take into that state the disciples, and I shut out of that state everything that would deny it.

Now the child, unaided by a man, is resurrected. The condition which I desired and assumed that I had, becomes objectified within my world and bears witness to the power of my assumption.

You be the judge, I cannot judge you. You are either living now in the dead past, or you are living as the woman whose issue of blood has been stanched. Could you actually answer me if I asked you the question:

“Do you believe now that you, without the assistance of another, need only assume that you are what you want to be, to make that assumption real within your world? Or do you believe that you must first fulfill a certain condition imposed upon you by the past, that you must be of a certain order, or a certain something?’

I am not being critical of certain churches or groups, but there are those who believe that anyone outside of their church or group is not yet saved. I was born a Protestant. You talk to a Protestant, there is only one Christian, a Protestant. You talk to a Catholic, why there is nothing in the world that is a Christian but a Catholic. You talk to a Jew, and the Christians are heathens, and the Jews are the chosen. You talk to a Mohammedan, Jews and Christians are the infidels. You talk to someone else and all these are the untouchables. It does not matter to whom you talk, they are always the chosen ones.

If you believe that you must be one of these in order to be saved, you are still an insane man hiding behind these superstitions and these prejudices of the past, and you are begging not to be cleansed.

Some of you say to me, “Do not ask me to give up my belief in Jesus the man, or in Moses the man, or in Peter the man. When you ask me to give up my belief in these characters you are asking too much. Leave me these beliefs because they comfort me. I can believe that they lived upon earth and still follow your psychological interpretation of their stories.”

I say, Come out of the dead past. Come out of that cemetery and walk, knowing that you and your Father are one, and your Father, who men call GOD, is your own consciousness. That is the only creative law in the world.

Of what are you conscious of being? Although you cannot see your objective with the limited focus of your three-dimensional mind, you are now that which you have assumed you are. Walk in that assumption and remain faithful to it.

Time in this dimension of your being, beats slowly and you may not, even after you objectify your assumption, remember there was a time when this present reality was but an attitude of mind. Because of the slowness of the beat of time here you often fail to see the relationship between your inner nature and the outer world that bears witness to it.

You be the judge of the position you now occupy in this 5th chapter of Mark. Are you resurrecting the dead child? Are you still in need of having that womb of your mind closed? Is it still running and therefore cannot be fertile? Are you now the insane man living in the dead past? Only you can be the judge and answer these questions.

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Now we turn to a story in the 5th chapter of the Gospel of John. This will show you how beautifully the ancient story tellers told of the two distinct outlooks on this world- one, the limited three-dimensional focus, and the other, the fourth-dimensional focus.

This story tells of an impotent man who is quickly healed. Jesus comes to a place called Bethesda, which by definition means the House of Five Porches. On these Five Porches are unnumbered impotent folk- lame, blind, halt, withered, and others. Tradition had it that at certain seasons of the year an angel would descend and disturb the pool which was near these Five Porches. As the Angel disturbed the pool, the first one in was always healed. But only the first one, not the second.

Jesus, seeing a man who was lame from his mother’s womb, said to him, “Wilt thou be made whole?” John 5:6

“The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool – but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.” John 5:7

“Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.” John 5:8

“And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked, and on the same day was the Sabbath.” John 5:9

You read this story and you think some strange man who possessed miraculous power suddenly said to the lame man, “Rise and walk.” I cannot repeat too often that the story, even when it introduces numberless individualities, takes place within the mind of the individual man.

The pool is your consciousness. The angel is an idea, called the messenger of GOD. Consciousness being God, when you have an idea you are entertaining an angel. The minute you are conscious of a desire your pool has been disturbed. Desire disturbs the mind of man. To want something is to be disturbed.

The very moment you have an ambition, or a clearly defined objective, the pool has been disturbed by the angel, which was the desire. You are told that the first one into the disturbed pool is always healed.

My closest companions in this world, my wife and my little girl, are to me when I address them, second. I must speak to my wife as, “you are.” I must speak to anyone, no matter how close they are, as “You are.” And after that the third person, “He is.” There is only one person in this world with whom I can use the first person present and that is self. “I am,” can be said only of myself, it cannot be said of another.

Therefore, when I am conscious of some desire that I want to be, but seemingly am not, the pool being disturbed, who can get into that pool before me? I alone possess the power of the first person. I am that which I want to be. Except I believe I am what I want to be, I remain as I formerly was and die in that limitation.

In this story you need no man to put you into the pool as your consciousness is disturbed by desire. All you need do is to assume you are already that which formerly you wanted to be and you are in it, and no man can get in before you. What man can get in before you when you become conscious of being that which you want to be? No one can be before you when you alone possess the power to say I AM.

These are the two outlooks. You are now what your senses would deny. Are you bold enough to assume that you are already that which you want to be? If you dare assume you are already that which your reason and your senses now deny, then you are in the pool and, unaided by a man, you, too, will rise and take your couch and walk.

You are told it happened on the Sabbath. The Sabbath is only the mystical sense of stillness, when you are unconcerned, when you are not anxious, when you are not looking for results, knowing that signs follow and do not precede.

The Sabbath is the day of stillness wherein there is no working. When you are not working to make it so you are in the Sabbath. When you are not at all concerned about the opinion of others, when you walk as though you were, you cannot raise one finger to make it so, you are in the Sabbath. I cannot be concerned as to how it will be, and still say I am conscious of being it. If I am conscious of being free, secure, healthy, and happy, I sustain these states of consciousness without effort or labor on my part. Therefore, I am in the Sabbath; and because it was the Sabbath he rose and walked.

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Our next story is from the 4th chapter of the Gospel of John, and it is one you have heard time and time again. Jesus comes to the well and there is a woman called the woman of Samaria, and he said to her, “Give me to drink.” John 4:7

“Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, asketh drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.” John 4:9

“Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.” John 4:10

The woman seeing that he has nothing with which to draw the water, and knowing the well is deep, says: Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?” John 4:12

“Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again- But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” John 4:13,14

Then he tells her all concerning herself and asks her to go and call her husband. She answered and said, “I have no husband.” John 4:17

“Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband. ” John 4: 17, 18

The woman, knowing this to be true, goes into the market-place and tells the other, “I have met the Messiah.”

They ask her, “How do you know you have met the Messiah?”

“Because he told me all things that I have ever done.” she replies. Here is a focus that takes in the entire past at least, and tells her now concerning the future.

Continuing with the story, the disciples come to Jesus and say, “Master, eat.” John 4:31

“But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. ” John 4:32

When they speak of a harvest in four months, Jesus replies, “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” John 4:35

He sees things that people wait four months for, or wait four years for; he sees them as now in a dimensionally larger world, existing now, taking place now.

Let us go back to the first part of the story. The woman of Samaria is the three-dimensional you, and Jesus at the well is the fourth-dimensional you. The argument starts between what you want to be, and what reason tells you that you are. The greater you tells you that if you would dare assume you are already what you want to be, you would become it.

The lesser you, with its limited focus, tells you, “Why you haven’t a bucket, you haven’t a rope and the well is deep. How could you ever reach the depth of this state without the means to that end?”

You answer and say, “If you only knew who asks of you to drink you would ask of him.” If you only knew what in yourself is urging upon you the embodiment of the state you now seek, you would suspend your little sight and let him do it for you.

Then he tells you that you have five husbands, and you deny it. But he knows far better than you that your five senses impregnate you morning, noon, and night with their limitations . They tell you what children you will bear tonight, tomorrow, and the days to come. For your five senses act like five husbands who constantly impregnate your consciousness, which is the great womb of GOD; and morning, noon, and night they suggest to you, and dictate to you that which you must accept as true.

He tells you the one you would like to have for your husband is not your husband. In other words the sixth has not yet impregnated you. What you would like to be is denied by these five, and they hold the power, they dictate what you will accept as true. What you would like to accept has not yet penetrated your mind and impregnated your mind with its reality. He whom you call husband is really not your husband. You are not bearing his likeness. To bear his likeness is proof that you are his wife, at least you have known him intimately. You are not bearing the likeness of the sixth; you are only bearing the likeness of the five.

Then one turns to me and tells me all that I have ever known. I go back in my mind’s eye and reason tells me that all through my life I have always accepted the limitations of my senses, I have always looked upon them as fact; and morning, noon, and night I have born witness to this acceptance.

Reason tells me I have only known these five from the time I was born. Now I would like to step outside the limitation of my senses but I have not yet found within myself the courage to assume I am what these five would deny that I am. So here I remain, conscious of my task, but without the courage to step beyond the limitations of my senses, and that which my reason denies.

He tells these, “I have meat ye know not of. I am the bread that droppeth down from heaven. I am the wine.” I know what I want to be, and because I am that bread I feast upon it. I assume that I am, and instead of feasting upon the fact that I am in this room talking to you and you are listening to me, and that I am in Los Angeles, I feast upon the fact that I am elsewhere and I walk here as though I were elsewhere. And gradually I become what I feast upon.

**************

Let me give you two personal stories. When I was a boy I lived in a very limited environment, in a little island called Barbados. Feed for animals was very, very scarce and very expensive because we had to import it. I am one of a family of 10 children and my grandmother lived with us making 13 at the table.

Time and again I can remember my mother saying to the cook in the early part of the week, “I want you to put away three ducks for Sunday’s dinner. “This meant that she would take from the flock in the yard three ducks and coop them up in a very small cage and feed them, stuff them morning, noon, and night with corn and all the things she wanted the ducks to feast upon.

This was an entirely different diet from what we regularly fed the ducks, because we kept those birds alive by feeding them fish. We kept them alive and fat on fish because fish were very cheap and plentiful; but you could not eat a bird that fed upon fish, not as you and I like a bird.

The cook would take three ducks, put them in a cage and for seven days stuff them with corn, sour milk and all the things we wanted to taste in the birds. Then when they were killed and served for dinner seven days later they were luscious, milk fed, corn fed birds.

But occasionally the cook forgot to put away the birds, and my father, knowing we were having ducks, and believing that she had carried out the command, did not send anything else for dinner, and three fish came to the table. You could not touch those birds for they were so much the embodiment of what they fed upon.

Man is a psychological being, a thinker. It is not what he feeds upon physically, but what he feeds upon mentally that he becomes. We become the embodiment of that which we mentally feed upon.

Now those ducks could not be fed corn in the morning and fish in the afternoon and something else at night. It had to be a complete change of diet. In our case we cannot have a little bit of meditation in the morning, curse at noon, and do something else in the evening. We have to go on a mental diet, for a week we must completely change our mental food.

“Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Phil. 4:8

As a man thinketh in his heart so is he. If I could now single out the kind of mental food I want to express within my world and feast upon it, I would become it.

Let me tell you why I am doing what I am doing today. It was back in 1933 in the city of New York, and my old friend Abdullah, with whom I studied Hebrew for five years, was really the beginning of the eating of all my superstitions. When I went to him I was filled with superstitions. I could not eat meat, I could not eat fish, I could not eat chicken, I could not eat any of these things that were living in the world. I did not drink, I did not smoke, and I was making a tremendous effort to live a celibate life.

Abdullah said to me, “I am not going to tell you ‘you are crazy’ Neville, but you are you know. All these things are stupid.” But I could not believe they were stupid.

In November, 1933, I bade goodbye to my parents in the city of New York as they sailed for Barbados. I had been in this country 12 years with no desire to see Barbados. I was not successful and I was ashamed to go home to successful members of my family. After 12 years in America I was a failure in my own eyes. I was in the theatre and made money one year and spent it the next month.
I was not what I would call by their standards nor by mine a successful person.

Mind you when I said goodbye to my parents in November I had no desire to go to Barbados. The ship pulled out, and as I came up the street, something possessed me with a desire to go to Barbados.

It was the year 1933, I was unemployed and had no place to go except a little room on 75th Street. I went straight to my old friend Abdullah and said to him “Ab, the strangest feeling is possessing me.
For the first time in 12 years I want to go to Barbados.”

If you want to go Neville, you have gone.” he replied.

That was very strange language to me. I am in New York City on 72nd Street and he tells me I have gone to Barbados. I said to him, “What do you mean, I have gone, Abdullah ?”

He said, “Do you really want to go? ”

I answered “yes.”

He then said to me, “As you walk through this door now you are not walking on 72nd Street, you are walking on palm lined streets, coconut lined streets; this is Barbados. Do not ask me how you are going to go. You are in Barbados. You do not say ‘how’ when you ‘are there’. You are there. Now you walk as though you were there.”

I went out of his place in a daze. I am in Barbados. I have no money, I have no job, I am not even well clothed, and yet I am in Barbados.

He was not the kind of a person with whom you would argue, not Abdullah. Two weeks later I was no nearer my goal than on the day I first told him I wanted to go to Barbados. I said to him, “Ab, I trust you implicitly but here is one time I cannot see how it is going to work. I have not one penny towards my journey, I began to explain.”

You know what he did. He was as black as the ace of spades, my old friend Abdullah, with his turbaned head. As I sat in his living room he rose from his chair and went towards his study and slammed the door, which was not an invitation to follow him. As he went through the door he said to me, “I have said all that I have to say.”

On the 3rd of December I stood before Abdullah and told him again I was no nearer my trip. He repeated his statement, “You are in Barbados.”

The very last ship sailing for Barbados that would take me there for the reason I wanted to go, which was to be there for Christmas, sailed at noon on December 6th, the old Nerissa.

On the morning of December 4th, having no job, having no place to go, I slept late. When I got up there was an air mail letter from Barbados under my door. As I opened the letter a little piece of paper flickered to the floor. I picked it up and it was a draft for $50.00.

The letter was from my brother Victor and it read, “I am not asking you to come, Neville, this is a command. We have never had a Christmas when all the members of our family were present at the same time. This Christmas it could be done if you would come. ”

My oldest brother Cecil left home before the youngest was born and then we started to move away from home at different times so never in the history of our family were we ever all together at the same time.

The letter continued, “You are not working, I know there is no reason why you cannot come, so you must be here before Christmas. The enclosed $50.00 is to buy a few shirts or a pair of shoes you may need for the trip. You will not need tips; use the bar if you are drinking. I will meet the ship and pay all your tips and your incurred expenses. I have cabled Furness, Withy & Co. in New York City and told them to issue you a ticket when you appear at their office. The $50.00 is simply to buy some little essentials. You may sign as you want aboard the ship. I will meet it and take care of all obligations.”

I went down to Furness, Withy & Co. with my letter and let them read it. They said, “We received the cable Mr. Goddard, but unfortunately we have not any space left on the December 6th sailing. The only thing available is 3rd Class between New York and St . Thomas. When we get to St. Thomas we have a few passengers who are getting off. You may then ride lst Class from St. Thomas to Barbados. But between New York and St. Thomas you must go 3rd Class, although you may have the privileges of the lst Class dining room and walk the decks of the 1st Class.”

I said, “I will take it.”

I went back to my friend Abdullah on the afternoon of December 4th and said, “It worked like a dream.” I told him what I had done, thinking he would be happy.

Do you know what he said to me? He said, “Who told you that you are going 3rd Class? Did I see you in Barbados, the man you are, going 3rd Class? You are in Barbados and you went there 1st Class.”

I did not have one moment to see him again before I sailed on the noon of December 6th. When I reached the dock with my passport and my papers to get aboard that ship the agent said to me, “We have good news for you, Mr. Goddard. There has been a cancellation and you are going 1st Class.”

Abdullah taught me the importance of remaining faithful to an idea and not compromising. I wavered, but he remained faithful to the assumption that I was in Barbados and had traveled 1st Class.

**************

Now back to the significance of our two Bible stories. The well is deep and you have no bucket, you have no rope. It is four months to the harvest and Jesus says, “I have meat to eat ye know not of. I am the bread of heaven. ”

Feast on the idea, become identified with the idea as though you were already that embodied state. Walk in the assumption that you are what you want to be. If you feast on that and remain faithful to that mental diet, you will crystallize it. You will become it in this world.

When I came back to New York in 1934, after three heavenly months in Barbados, I drank, I smoked, and did everything I had not done in years.

I remembered what Abdullah had said to me, “After you have proven this law you will become normal, Neville. You will come out of that graveyard, you will come out of that dead past where you think you are being holy. For all you are really doing you know, you are being so good, Neville, you are good for nothing”

I came back walking this earth a completely transformed person. From that day, which was in February 1934, I began to live more and more. I cannot honestly tell you I have always succeeded. My many mistakes in this world, my many failures would convict me if I told you that I have so completely mastered the movements of my attention that I can at all times remain faithful to the idea I want to embody.

But I can say with the ancient teacher, although I seem to have failed in the past, I move on and strive day after day to become that which I want to embody in this world. Suspend judgment, refuse to accept what reason and the senses now dictate, and if you remain faithful to the new diet, you will become the embodiment of the ideal to which you remain faithful.

If there is one place in the world that is unlike my little island of Barbados, it is New York City. In Barbados the tallest building is three stories, and the streets are lined with palm trees and cocoanut trees and all sorts of tropical things. In New York City you must go to a park to find a tree.

Yet I had to walk the streets of New York as though I walked the streets of Barbados. To one’s imagination all things are possible. I walked, feeling that I was actually walking the streets of Barbados, and in that assumption I could almost smell the odor of the cocoanut lined lanes. I began to create within my mind’s eye the atmosphere I would physically encounter were I in Barbados.

As I remained faithful to this assumption, somebody canceled passage and I received it. My brother in Barbados, who never thought of my coming home, has the commanding urge to write me a strange letter. He had never dictated to me, but this time he dictated, and thought that he originated the idea of my visit.

I went home and had three heavenly months, returned lst Class, and brought back quite a sum of cash in my pocket, a gift. My trip, had I paid for it, would have been $3,000, yet I did it without a nickel in my pocket.

“I have ways ye know not of. My ways are past finding out.” The dimensionally greater self took my assumption as the command and influenced the behaviour of my brother to write that letter, influenced the behaviour of someone to cancel that 1st Class passage, and did all the things necessary that would tend toward the production of the idea with which I was identified.

I was identified with the feeling of being there. I slept as though I were there, and the entire behaviour of man was molded in harmony with my assumption. I did not need to go down to Furness, Withy & Co. and beg them for a passage, asking them to cancel some one who was booked 1st Class. I did not need to write my brother and beg him to send me some money or buy me a passage. He thought he originated the act. Actually, to this day, he believes that be initiated the desire to bring me home.

My old friend Abdullah simply said to me, “You are in Barbados, Neville. You want to be there; wherever you want to be, there you are. Live as though you are and that you shall be.”

These are the two outlooks. on the world possessed by every man. I do not care who you are. Every child born of woman, regardless of race, nation, or creed, possesses two distinct outlooks on the world.

You are either the natural man who receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, because to you in the natural focus they are foolishness unto you. Or you are the spiritual man who perceiveth things outside of the limitations of your senses because all things are now realities in a dimensionally larger world. There is no need to wait four months to harvest.

You are either the woman of Samaria or Jesus at the well. You are the man waiting on the Five Porches for the disturbance and someone to push him in; or you are the one who can command yourself to rise and walk in spite of others who wait.

Are you the man behind the tombstones in the cemetery waiting and begging not to be clean, because you do not want to be cleansed of your prejudices? One of the most difficult things for man to give up is his superstitions, his prejudice. He holds on to these as though they were the treasure of treasures.

When you do become cleansed and you are free, then the womb, your own mind is automatically healed. It becomes the prepared ground where seeds, your desires, can take root and grow into manifestation. The child you now bear in your heart is your present objective. Your present longing is a child that is as though it were sick. If you assume you are now what you would like to be, the child for a moment becomes dead because there is no disturbance any more.

You cannot be disturbed when you feel you are what you want to be because if you feel you are what you wanted to be, you are satisfied in that assumption. To others who judge superficially you seem no longer to desire, so to them the desire or damsel is dead. They think you have lost your ambition because you no longer discuss your secret ambition. You have completely adjusted yourself to the idea. You have assumed that you are what you want to be. You know, “She is not dead, she but sleepth.” “I go to awaken her.”

I walk in the assumption that I am, and as I walk, I quietly awaken her. Then when she awakens I will do the normal, natural thing, I will give her to eat. I will not brag about it and tell others I simply go and tell no man. I feed this state I now like with my attention. I keep it alive within my world by becoming attentive to it.

Things that I am not attentive to fade and wither within my world, regardless of what they are. They are not just born and then remain unfed. I gave them birth by reason of the fact that I became conscious of being them. When I embody them within my world that is not the end. That is the beginning. Now I am a mother who must keep alive this state by being attentive to it. The day that I am not attentive, I have withdrawn my milk from it, and it fades from my world, as I become attentive to something else in my world.

You can either be attentive to the limitations and feed these and make them mountains, or you can be attentive to your desires; but to become attentive you must assume you are already that which you wanted to be.

Although today we speak of a third-dimensional and a fourth-dimensional focus, do not think for one moment these ancient teachers were not fully conscious of these two distinct centers of thought within the minds of all men. They personified these two, and they tried to show man that the only thing which robs him of the man he could be, is habit. Although it is not law, every psychologist will tell you that habit is the most inhibiting force in the world. It completely restricts man and binds him and makes him totally blind to what otherwise he should be.

Begin now to mentally see and feel yourself as that which you want to be, and feast upon that sensation morning, noon, and night. I have scoured the Bible for a time interval that is longer than three days and I have not found it.

“Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it Up.” John 2:19

“Prepare you victuals; for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it.” Joshua 1:11

If I could completely saturate my mind with one sensation and walk as though it were already a fact, I am promised (and I cannot find any denial of it in this great book) that I do not need more than a three day diet if I remain faithful to it. But I must be honest about it. If I Change my diet in the course of the day, I extend the time interval.

You ask me, “But how do I know about the interval?” You, yourself determine the interval.

We have today in our modern world a little word which confuses most of us. I know it confused me until I dug deeper. The word is “action.” Action is supposed to be the most fundamental thing in the world. It is not an atom, it is more fundamental. It is not a part of an atom like an electron, it is more fundamental than that. They call it the fourth-dimensional unit. The most fundamental thing in the world is action.

You ask, “What is action?” Our physicists tell us that it is energy multiplied by time. We become more confused and say, “Energy multiplied by time, what does that mean?’, They answer, “There is no response to a stimulus, no matter how intense the stimulus, unless it endures for a certain length of time.” There must be a minimum endurance to the stimulus or there is no response. On the other hand there is no response to time unless there is a minimum degree of intensity. Today the most fundamental thing in the world is called action, or simply energy multiplied by time.

The Bible gives it as three days; the duration is three days for response in this world. If I would now assume I am what I want to be, and if I am faithful to it and walk as though I were, the very longest stretch given for its realization is three days.

If there is something tonight that you really want in this world, then experience in imagination what you would experience in the flesh were you to realize your goal and deafen your ears, and blind your eyes to all that denies the reality of your assumption.

If you do this you would be able to tell me before I leave this city of Los Angeles that you have realized what was only a wish when you came here. It will be my joy to rejoice with you in the knowledge that the child which was seemingly dead is now alive. This damsel really was not dead, she was only asleep. You fed her in this silence because you have meat no one else knows of. You gave her food and she became a resurrected living reality within your world. Then you can share your joy with me and I can rejoice in your joy.

The purpose of these lessons is to remind you of the law of your own being, the law of consciousness; you are that law. You were only unconscious of its operation. You fed and kept alive the things you did not wish to express within this world.

Take my challenge and put this philosophy to the test. If it does not work you should not use it as a comforter. If it is not true, you must completely discard it. I know it is true. You will not know it until you try either to prove or disprove it.

Too many of us have joined “isms” and we are afraid to put them to the test because we feel we might fail; and, then, where are we? Not really wanting to know the truth concerning it, we hesitate to be bold enough to put it to the test. You say, “I know it would work in some other way. I do not want to really test it. While I have not yet disproved it, I can still be comforted by it.

Now do not fool yourself, do not think for one second be that you are wise.

Prove or disprove this law. I know that if you attempt to disprove it, you will prove it, and I will be the richer for your proving it, not in dollars, not in things, but because you become the living fruit of what I believe I am teaching in this world. It is far better to have you a successful, satisfied person after five days of instruction than to have you go out dissatisfied. I hope you will be bold enough to challenge this instruction and either prove or disprove it.

Now before we go into the silence period I shall briefly explain the technique again. We have two techniques in applying this law. Everyone here must now know exactly what he wants. You must know that if you do not get it tonight you will still be as desirous tomorrow concerning this objective.

When you know exactly what you want, construct in your mind s eye a single, simple event which implies fulfillment of your desire, an event where in self predominates. Instead of sitting back and looking at yourself as though you were on the screen, you be the actor in the drama.

Restrict the event to one single action. If you are going to shake a hand because that implies fulfillment of your desire then do that and that only. Do not shake hands and then wander off in your imagination to a dinner party or to some other place. Restrict your action to simply shaking hands and do it over and over again, until that handshake takes on the solidity and the distinctness of reality.

If you feel you cannot remain faithful to an action, I want you now to define your objective, and then condense the idea, which is your desire, into a single phrase, a phrase which implies fulfillment of your desire, some phrase such as, “Isn’t it wonderful?”

Or if I felt thankful because I thought someone was instrumental in bringing my desire to pass, I could say, “Thank you,” and repeat it with feeling over and over again like a lullaby until my mind was dominated by the single sensation of thankfulness.

We will now sit quietly in these chairs with the idea which implies fulfillment of our desire condensed to a single phrase, or to a single act. We will relax and immobilize our physical bodies. Then let us experience in imagination the sensation which our condensed phrase or action affirms.

If you imagine yourself shaking another person’s hand, do not use your physical hand, let it remain immobilized. But imagine that housed within your hand is a more subtle, more real hand, which can be extracted in your imagination. Put your imaginary hand into the imaginary hand of your friend who stands before you and feel the handshake. Keep your physical body immobilized even though you become mentally active in what you are now about to do.

Now we will go into the silence.

REMAIN FAITHFUL TO YOUR IDEA

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard Lesson 5

Tonight we have the fifth and last lesson in this course. First I shall give you a sort of summary of what has gone before. Then, since so many of you have asked me to elaborate further on Lesson 3, I shall give you a few more ideas on thinking fourth-dimensionally.

I know that when a man sees a thing clearly he can tell it, he can explain it. This past winter in Barbados a fisherman, whose vocabulary would not encompass a thousand words, told me more in five minutes about the behaviour of the dolphin than Shakespeare with his vast vocabulary could have told me, if he did not know the habits of the dolphin.

This fisherman told me how the dolphin loves to play on a piece of drift-wood, and in order to catch him, you throw the wood out and bait him as you would bait children, because he likes to pretend he is getting out of the water. As I said, this man’s vocabulary was very limited, but he knew his fish, and he knew the sea. Because he knew his dolphin he could tell me all about their habits and how to catch them.

When you say you know a thing but you cannot explain it, I say you do not know it, for when you really know it you naturally express it.

If I should ask you now to define prayer, and say to you, “How would you, through prayer, go about realizing an objective, any objective?” If you can tell me, then you know it; but if you cannot tell me, then you do not know it. When you see it clearly in the mind’s eye the greater you will inspire the words which are necessary to clothe the idea and express it beautifully, and you will express the idea far better than a man with a vast vocabulary who does not see it as clearly as you do.

If you have listened carefully throughout the past four days, you know now that the Bible has no reference at all to any persons that ever existed, or to any events that ever occurred upon earth.

The authors of the Bible were not writing history, they were writing a great drama of the mind which they dressed up in the garb of history, and then adapted it to the limited capacity of the uncritical, unthinking masses.

You know that every story in the Bible is your story, that when the writers introduce dozens of characters in the same story they are trying to present you with different attributes of the mind that you may employ. You saw it as I took perhaps a dozen or more stories and interpreted them for you.

For instance, many people wonder how Jesus, the most gracious, the most loving man in the world, if he be man, could say to his mother, what he is supposed to have said to her as recorded in the second chapter of the Gospel of St. John. Jesus is made to say to his mother, “Woman, what have I to do with thee?” John 2:4.

You and I, who are not yet identified with the ideal we serve, would not make such a statement to our mother. Yet here was the embodiment of love saying to his mother, “Woman, what have I to do with thee?”

You are Jesus, and your mother is your own consciousness. For consciousness is the cause of all, therefore, it is the great father-mother of all phenomena.

You and I are creatures of habit. We get into the habit of accepting as final the evidence of our senses. Wine is needed for the guests and my senses tell me that there is no wine, and I through habit am about to accept this lack as final. When I remember that my consciousness is the one and only reality, therefore if I deny the evidence of my senses and assume the consciousness of having sufficient wine, I have in a sense rebuked my mother or the consciousness which suggested lack; and by assuming the consciousness of having what I desire for my guests, wine is produced in a way we do not know.

I have just read a note here from a dear friend of mine in the audience. Last Sunday he had an appointment at a church for a wedding; the clock told him he was late, everything told him he was late.

He was standing on a street corner waiting for a street car. There was none in sight. He imagined that, instead of being on the street corner, that he was in the church. At that moment a car stopped in front of him. My friend told the driver of his predicament and the driver said to him, “I am not going that way, but I will take you there.” My friend got into the car and was at the church in time for the service. That is applying the law correctly, non-acceptance of the suggestion of lateness. Never accept the suggestion of lack.

In this case I say to myself, “What have I to do with thee?” What have I to do with the evidence of my senses? Bring me all the pots and fill them. In other words, I assume that I have wine and all that I desire. Then my dimensionally greater Self inspires in all, the thoughts and the actions which aid the embodiment of my assumption.

It is not a man saying to a mother, “Woman what have I to do with thee?” It is every man who knows this law who will say to himself, when his senses suggest lack, “what have I to do with thee. Get behind me.” I will never again listen to a voice like that, because if I do, then I am impregnated by that suggestion and I will bear the fruit of lack.

We turn to another story in the Gospel of St. Mark where Jesus is hungry.

“And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find anything thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.”

“And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.” Mark 11:13, 14

“And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.” Mark 11:20

What tree am I blasting? Not a tree on the outside. It is my own consciousness. “I am the vine.” John 15:1. My consciousness, my I AMness is the great tree, and habit once more suggests emptiness, it suggests barrenness, it suggests four months before I can feast. But I cannot wait four months. I give myself this powerful suggestion that never again will I even for a moment relieve that it will take four months to realize my desire. The belief in lack must from this day on be barren and never again reproduce itself in my mind.

It is not a man blasting a tree. Everything in the Bible takes place in the mind of man: the tree, the city, the people, everything. There is not a statement made in the Bible that does not represent some attribute of the human mind. They are all personifications of the mind and not things within the world.

Consciousness is the one and only reality. There is no one to whom we can turn after we discover that our own awareness is God. For God is the cause of all and there is nothing but God. You cannot say that a devil causes some things and God others. Listen to these words.

“Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut.”

“I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron.”

“And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.” Isaiah 45: 1, 2, 3

“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.” Isaiah 45:7.

“I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.”

“I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the Lord of hosts.” Isaiah 45:12, 13

“I AM the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me.” Isaiah 45:5.

Read these words carefully. They are not my words, they are the inspired words of men who discovered that consciousness is the only reality. If I am hurt, I am self hurt. If there is darkness in my world, I created the darkness and the gloom and the depression. If there is light and joy, I created the light and the joy. There is no one but this I AMness that does all.

You cannot find a cause outside of your own consciousness. Your world is a grand mirror constantly telling you who you are. As you meet people, they tell you by their behaviour who you are.

Your prayers will not be less devout because you turn to your own consciousness for help. I do not think that any person in prayer feels more of the joy, the piety, and the feeling of adoration, than I do when I feel thankful, as I assume the feeling of my wish fulfilled, knowing at the same time it is to myself that I turned.

In prayer you are called upon to believe that you possess what your reason and your senses deny. When you pray believe that you have and you shall receive. The Bible states it this way:

“Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

“And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

“But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.” Mark 11:24, 25, 26

That is what we must do when we pray. If I hold some thing against another, be it a belief of sickness, poverty , or anything else, I must loose it and let it go, not by using words of denial but by believing him to be what he desires to be. In that way I completely forgive him. I changed my concept of him. I had ought against him and I forgave him Complete forgetfulness is forgiveness. If I do not forget then I have not forgiven.

I only forgive something when I truly forget. I can say to you until the end of time, “I forgive you.” But if every time I see you or think of you, I am reminded of what I held against you, I have not forgiven you at all. Forgiveness is complete forgetfulness. You go to a doctor and he gives you something for your sickness. He is trying to take it from you, so he gives you something in place of it.

Give yourself a new concept of self for the old concept. Give up the old concept completely.

A prayer granted implies that something is done in consequence of the prayer which otherwise would not have been done. Therefore, I myself am the spring of action, the directing mind and the one who grants the prayer.

Anyone who prays successfully turns within, and appropriates the state sought. You have no sacrifice to offer. Do not let anyone tell you that you must struggle and suffer. You need not struggle for the realization of your desire. Read what it says in the Bible.

“To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.”

“When ye come to appear before me, who hath required that at your hand, to tread my courts?”

“Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.”

“Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates: they have become a burden to me, I am weary of bearing them” Isaiah 1:11-14

“Ye shall have a song as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the Lord, to the mighty One of Israel.” Isaiah 30:29

“Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth.” Isaiah 42: 10.

“Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.” Isaiah 44:23

“Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head. They shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.” Isaiah 51:11

The only acceptable gift is a joyful heart. Come with singing and praise. That is the way to come before the Lord — your own consciousness. Assume the feeling of your wish fulfilled, and you have brought the only acceptable gift. All states of mind other than that of the wish fulfilled are an abomination; they are superstition and mean nothing.

When you come before me, rejoice, because rejoicing implies that something has happened which you desired. Come before me singing, giving praise, and giving thanks, for these states of mind imply acceptance of the state sought. Put yourself in the proper mood and your own consciousness will embody it.

If I could define prayer for anyone and put it just as clearly as I could, I would simply say, “It is the feeling of the wish fulfilled.” If you ask, “What do you mean by that?” I would say, “I would feel myself into the situation of the answered prayer and then I would live and act upon that conviction.” I would try to sustain it without effort, that is, I would live and act as though it were already a fact, knowing that as I walk in this fixed attitude my assumption will harden into fact.

Time does not permit me to go any further into the argument that the Bible is not history. But if you have listened attentively to my message these past four nights, I do not think you want any more proof that the Bible is not history. Apply what you have heard and you will realize your desires.

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“And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.” John 14:29

Many persons, myself included, have observed events before they occurred; that is, before they occurred in this world of three dimensions. Since man can observe an event before it occurs in the three dimensions of space, then life on earth proceeds according to plan; and this plan must exist elsewhere in another dimension and is slowly moving through our space.

If the occurring events were not in this world when they were observed, then to be perfectly logical they must have been out of this world. And whatever is THERE to be seen before it occurs HERE must be “pre-determined” from the point of view of man awake in a three-dimensional world. Yet the ancient teachers taught us that we could alter the future, and my own experience confirms the truth of their teaching.

Therefore, my object in giving this course is to indicate possibilities inherent in man, to show that man can alter his: future; but, thus altered, it forms again a deterministic sequence starting from the point of interference — a future that will be consistent with the alteration.

The most remarkable feature of man’s future is its flexibility. The future, although prepared in advance in every detail, has several outcomes. We have at every moment of our lives the choice before us which of several futures we will have.

There are two actual outlooks on the world possessed by everyone — a natural focus and a spiritual focus. The ancient teachers called the one “the carnal mind,” and the other “the mind of Christ.” We may differentiate them as ordinary waking consciousness, governed by our senses, and a controlled imagination, governed by desire.

We recognize these two distinct centers of thought in the statement: “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” I Cor. 2:14

The natural view confines reality to the moment called NOW. To the natural view, the past and future are purely imaginary. The spiritual view on the other hand sees the contents of time. The past and future are a present whole to the spiritual view. What is mental and subjective to the natural man is concrete and objective to the spiritual man.

The habit of seeing only that which our senses permit renders us totally blind to what, otherwise, we could see. To cultivate the faculty of seeing the invisible, we should often deliberately disentangle our minds from the evidence of the senses and focus our attention on an invisible state, mentally feeling it and sensing it until it has all the distinctness of reality.

Earnest, concentrated thought focused in a particular direction shuts out other sensations and causes them to disappear. We have only to concentrate on the state desired in order to see it.

The habit of withdrawing attention from the region of sensation and concentrating it on the invisible develops our spiritual outlook and enables us to penetrate beyond the world of sense and to see that which is invisible. “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen.” Rom. 1:20. This vision is completely independent of the natural faculties. Open it and quicken it!

A little practice will convince us that we can, by controlling our imagination, reshape our future in harmony with our desire. Desire is the mainspring of action. We could not move a single finger unless we had a desire to move it. No matter what we do, we follow the desire which at the moment dominates our minds. When we break a habit, our desire to break it is greater than our desire to continue the habit.

The desires which impel us to action are those which hold our attention. A desire is but an awareness of something we lack and need to make our life more enjoyable. Desires always have some personal gain in view, the greater the anticipated gain, the more intense is the desire. There is no absolutely unselfish desire. Where there is nothing to gain there is no desire, and consequently no action.

The spiritual man speaks to the natural man through the language of desire. The key to progress in life and to the fulfillment of dreams lies in ready obedience to its voice. Unhesitating obedience to its voice is an immediate assumption of the wish fulfilled. To desire a state is to have it. As Pascal has said, “You would not have sought me had you not already found me.”

Man, by assuming the feeling of his wish fulfilled, and then living and acting on this conviction, alters the future in harmony with his assumption. Assumptions awaken what they affirm. As soon as man assumes the feeling of his wish fulfilled, his fourth-dimensional Self finds ways for the attainment of this end, discovers methods for its realization.

I know of no clearer definition of the means by which we realize our desires than to EXPERIENCE IN THE IMAGINATION WHAT WE WOULD EXPERIENCE IN THE FLESH WERE WE TO ACHIEVE OUR GOAL. This imaginary experience of the end with acceptance, wills the means. The fourth-dimensional Self then constructs with its larger outlook the means necessary to realize the accepted end.

The undisciplined mind finds it difficult to assume a state which is denied by the senses. But here is a technique that makes it easy to “call things which are not seen as though they were,” that is, to encounter an event before it occurs. People have a habit of slighting the importance of simple things. But this simple formula for changing the future was discovered after years of searching and experimenting.

The first step in changing the future is DESIRE, that is, define your objective — know definitely what you want.

Secondly, construct an event which you. believe you would encounter FOLLOWING the fulfillment of your desire — an event which implies fulfillment of your desire — something which will have the action of Self predominant.

Thirdly, immobilize the physical body, and induce a condition akin to sleep by imagining that you are sleepy. Lie on a bed, or relax in a chair. Then, with eyelids closed and your attention focused on the action you intend to experience in imagination, mentally feel yourself right into the proposed action; imagining all the while that you are actually performing the action here and. now.

You must always participate in the imaginary action; not merely stand back and look on, but feel that you are actually performing the action so that the imaginary sensation is real to you.

It is important always to remember that the proposed action must be one which FOLLOWS the fulfillment of your desire. Also you must feel yourself into the action until it has all the vividness and distinctness of reality.

For example, suppose you desire promotion in your office. Being congratulated would be an event you would encounter following the fulfillment of your desire. Having selected this action as the one you will experience in imagination, immobilize the physical body; and induce a state akin to sleep, a drowsy state, but one in which you are still able to control the direction of your thoughts, a state in which you are attentive without effort. Then visualize a friend standing before you. Put your imaginary hand into his. Feel it to be solid and real, and carry on an imaginary conversation with him in harmony with the action.

You do not visualize yourself at a distance in point of space and at a distance in point of time being congratulated on your good fortune. Instead, you make elsewhere HERE, and the future NOW. The future event is a reality NOW in a dimensionally larger world and oddly enough, now in a dimensionally larger world is equivalent to HERE in the ordinary three-dimensional space of everyday life.

The difference between FEELING yourself in action, here and now, and visualizing yourself in action, as though you were on a motion-picture screen, is the difference between success and failure. The difference will be appreciated if you will now visualize yourself climbing a ladder. Then, with eyelids closed imagine that a ladder is right in front of you and FEEL yourself actually climbing it.

Desire, physical immobility bordering on sleep, and imaginary action in which Sell feelingly predominates HERE AND NOW, are not only important factors in altering the future, but they are also essential conditions in consciously projecting the spiritual Self.

When the physical body is immobilized and we become possessed of the idea to do something — if we imagine that we are doing it HERE AND NOW and keep the imaginary action feelingly going right up until sleep ensues — we are likely to awaken out of the physical body to find ourselves in a dimensionally larger world with a dimensionally larger focus and actually doing what we desired and imagined we were doing in the flesh.

But whether we awaken there or not, we are actually performing the action in the fourth-dimensional world, and will in the future re-enact it here in the third-dimensional world.

Experience has taught me to restrict the imaginary action, to condense the idea which is to be the object of our meditation into a single act, and to re-enact it over and over again until it has the feeling of reality. Otherwise, the attention will wander off along an associational track, and hosts of associated images will be presented to our attention, and in a few seconds they will lead us hundreds of miles away from our objective in point of space, and years away in point of time.

If we decide to climb a particular flight of stairs, because that is the likely event to follow the realization of our desire, then we must restrict the action to climbing that particular flight of stairs. Should the attention wander off, bring it back to its task of climbing that flight of stairs, and keep on doing so until the imaginary action has all the solidity and distinctness of reality. The idea must be maintained in the field of presentation without any sensible effort on our part. We must, with the minimum of effort, permeate the mind with the feeling of the wish fulfilled.

Drowsiness facilitates change because it favours attention without effort, but it must not be pushed to the state of sleep, in which we shall no longer be able to control the movements of our attention, but a moderate degree of drowsiness in which we are still able to direct our thoughts.

A most effective way to embody a desire is to assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled and then, in a relaxed and sleepy state, repeat over and over again like a lullaby, any short phrase which implies fulfillment of your desire, such as, “Thank you, thank you, thank you, ” until the single sensation of thankfulness dominates the mind. Speak these words as though you addressed a higher power for having done it for you.

If, however, we seek a conscious projection in a dimensionally larger world, then we must keep the action going right up until sleep ensues. Experience in imagination with all the distinctness of reality what would be experienced in the flesh were we to achieve our goal and we shall in time meet it in the flesh as we met it in our imagination.

Feed the mind with premises — that is, assertions presumed to be true, because assumptions, though false, if persisted in until they have the feeling of reality, will harden into fact.

To an assumption, all means which promote its realization are good. It influences the behaviour of all, by inspiring in all the movements, the actions, and the words which tend towards its fulfillment.

To understand how man molds his future in harmony with his assumption — by simply experiencing in his imagination what he would experience in reality were he to realize his goal – we must know what we mean by a dimensionally larger world, for it is to a dimensionally larger world that we go to alter our future.

The observation of an event before it occurs implies that the event is predetermined from the point of view of man in the three-dimensional world. Therefore to change the conditions here in the three dimensions of space we must first change them in the four dimensions of space.

Man does not know exactly what is meant by a dimensionally larger world, and would no doubt deny the existence of a dimensionally larger Self. He is quite familiar with the three dimensions of length, width and height, and he feels that, if there were a fourth-dimension, it should be just as obvious to him as the dimensions of length, width and height.

Now a dimension is not a line. It is any way in which a thing can be measured that is entirely different from all other ways. That is, to measure a solid fourth-dimensionally, we simply measure it in any direction except that of its length, width and height. Now, is there another way of measuring an object other than those of its length, width and height?

Time measures my life without employing the three dimensions of length, width and height. There is no such thing as an instantaneous object. Its appearance and disappearance are measurable. It endures for a definite length of time. We can measure its life span without using the dimensions of length, width and height. Time is definitely a fourth way of measuring an object.

The more dimensions an object has, the more substantial and real it becomes. A straight line, which lies entirely in one dimension, acquires shape, mass and substance by the addition of dimensions. What new quality would time, the fourth dimension give, which would make it just as vastly superior to solids, as solids are to surfaces and surfaces are to lines? Time is a medium for changes in experience, for all changes take time.

The new quality is changeability. Observe that, if we bisect a solid, its cross section will be a surface; by bisecting a surface, we obtain a line, and by bisecting a line, we get a point. This means that a point is but a cross section of a line; which is, in turn, but across section of a surface; which is, in turn, but a cross section of a solid; which is, in turn, if carried to its logical conclusion, but across section of a four-dimensional object.

We cannot avoid the inference that all three-dimensional objects are but cross sections of four-dimensional bodies. Which means: when I meet you, I meet a cross section of the four-dimensional you — the four-dimensional Self that is not seen. To see the four-dimensional Self I must see every cross section or moment of your life from birth to death, and see them all as co-existing.

My focus should take in the entire array of sensory impressions which you have experienced on earth, plus those you might encounter. I should see them, not in the order in which they were experienced by you, but as a present whole. Because CHANGE is the characteristic of the fourth dimension, I should see them in a state of flux — as a living, animated whole.

Now, if we have all this clearly fixed in our minds, what does it mean to us in this three-dimensional world? It means that, if we can move along times length, we can see the future and alter it if we so desire.

This world, which we think so solidly real, is a shadow out of which and beyond which we may at any time pass. It is an abstraction from a more fundamental and dimensionally larger world — a more fundamental world abstracted from a still more fundamental and dimensionally larger world — and so on to infinity. For the absolute is unattainable by any means or analysis, no matter how many dimensions we add to the world.

Man can prove the existence of a dimensionally larger world by simply focusing his attention on an invisible state and imagining that he sees and feels it. If he remains concentrated in this state, his present environment will pass away, and he will awaken in a dimensionally larger world where the object of his contemplation will be seen as a concrete objective reality.

I feel intuitively that, were he to abstract his thoughts from this dimensionally larger world and retreat still farther within his mind, he would again bring about an externalization of time. He would discover that, every time he retreats into his inner mind and brings about an externalization of time, space becomes dimensionally larger. And he would therefore conclude that both time and space are serial, and that the drama of life is but the climbing of a multitudinous dimensional time block.

Scientists will one day explain WHY there is a Serial Universe. But in practice HOW we use this Serial Universe to change the future is more important. To change the future, we need only concern ourselves with two worlds in the infinite series; the world we know by reason of our bodily organs, and the world we perceive independently of our bodily organs.

I have stated that man has at every moment of time the choice before him which of several futures he will have. But the question arises: “How is this possible when the experiences of man, awake in the three-dimensional world, are predetermined?” as his observation of an event before it occurs implies.

This ability to change the future will be seen if we liken the experiences of life on earth to this printed page. Man experiences events on earth singly and successively in the same way that you are now experiencing the words of this page.

Imagine that every word on this page represents a single sensory impression. To get the context, to understand my meaning, you focus your vision on the first word in the upper left-hand corner and then move your focus across the page from left to right, letting it fall on the words singly and successively. By the time your eyes reach the last word on this page you have extracted my meaning.

But suppose on looking at the page, with all the printed words thereon equally present, you decided to rearrange them. You could, by rearranging them, tell an entirely different story, in fact you could tell many different stories.

A dream is nothing more than uncontrolled four-dimensional thinking, or the rearrangement of both past and future sensory impressions. Man seldom dreams of events in the order in which he experiences them when awake. He usually dreams of two or more events which are separated in time fused into a single sensory impression; or else he so completely rearranges his single waking sensory impressions that he does not recognize them when he encounters them in his waking state.

For example, I dreamed that I delivered a package to the restaurant in my apartment building. The hostess said to me, “You can’t leave that there,” whereupon, the elevator operator gave me a few letters and as I thanked him for them he, in turn, thanked me. At this point, the night elevator operator appeared and waved a greeting to me.

The following day, as I left my apartment, I picked up a few letters which had been placed at my door. On my way down I gave the day elevator operator a tip and thanked him for taking care of my mail, whereupon, he thanked me for the tip.

On my return home that day I overheard a doorman say to a delivery man, “You can’t leave that there.” As I was about to take the elevator up to my apartment, I was attracted by a familiar face in the restaurant, and as I looked in the hostess greeted me with a smile. That night I escorted my dinner guests to the elevator and as I said good-bye to them, the night operator waved good-night to me.

By simply rearranging a few of the single sensory impressions I was destined to encounter, and by fusing two or more of them into single sensory impressions, I constructed a dream which differed quite a bit from my waking experience.

When we have learned to control the movements of our attention in the four-dimensional world, we shall be able to consciously create circumstances in the three-dimensional world. We learn this control through the waking dream, where our attention can be maintained without effort, for attention minus effort is indispensable to changing the future. We can, in a controlled waking dream, consciously construct an event which we desire to experience in the three-dimensional world.

The sensory impressions we use to construct our waking dream are present realities displaced in time or the four-dimensional world. All that we do in constructing the waking dream is to select from the vast array of sensory impressions those, which, when they are properly arranged, imply that we have realized our desire.

With the dream clearly defined we relax in a chair and induce a state of consciousness akin to sleep. A state which, although bordering on sleep, leaves us in conscious control of the movements of our attention. Then we experience in imagination what we would experience in reality were this waking dream an objective fact.

In applying this technique to change the future it is important always to remember that the only thing which occupies the mind during the waking dream is THE WAKING DREAM, the predetermined action and sensation which implies the fulfillment of our desire. How the waking dream becomes physical fact is not our concern. Our acceptance of the waking dream as physical reality wills the means for its fulfillment.

Let me again lay the foundation of prayer, which is nothing more than a controlled waking dream:

1. Define your objective, know definitely what you want.

2. Construct an event which you believe you will encounter FOLLOWING the fulfillment of your desire — something which will have the action of Self predominant — an event which implies the fulfillment of your desire.

3. Immobilize the physical body and induce a state of consciousness akin to sleep. Then, mentally feel yourself right into the proposed action, until the single sensation of fulfillment dominates the mind; imagining all the while that you are actually performing the action HERE AND NOW so that you experience in imagination what you would experience in the flesh were you now to realize your goal. Experience has convinced me that this is the easiest way to achieve our goal.

However, my own many failures would convict me were I to imply that I have completely mastered the movements of my attention. But I can, with the ancient teacher, say:

“This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize.” Phil. 3:13,14

‘*’*************

Again I want to remind you that the responsibility to make what you have done real in this world is not on your shoulders. Do not be concerned with the HOW, you have assumed that it is done, the assumption has its own way of objectifying itself. All responsibility to make it so is removed from you.

There is a little statement in the book of Exodus which bears this out. Millions of people who have read it, or have had it mentioned to them throughout the centuries have completely misunderstood it. It is said, “Steep not a kid in its mothers milk.” (King James version, “Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mothers milk.” Exodus 23:19).

Unnumbered millions of people, misunderstanding this statement, to this very day in the enlightened age of 1948, will not eat any dairy products with a meat dish. It just is not done.

They think the Bible is history, and when it says, “Steep not a kid in its mother’s milk,” milk and the products of milk, butter and cheese, they will not take at the same time they take the kid or any kind of meat. In fact they even have separate dishes with which to cook their meat.

But you are now about to apply it psychologically. You have done your meditation and you have assumed that you are what you want to be. Consciousness is God, your attention is like the very stream of life or milk itself that nurses and makes alive that which holds your attention. In other words, what holds your attention has your life.

Throughout the centuries a kid has been used as the symbol of sacrifice. You have given birth to everything in your world. But there are things that you no longer wish to keep alive, although you have mothered and fathered them. You are a jealous father that can easily consume, like Cronus, his children. It is your right to consume what formerly you expressed when you did not know better.

Now you are detached in consciousness from that former state. It was your kid, it was your child, you embodied and expressed it in your world. But now that you have assumed that you are what you want to be, do not look back on your former state and wonder HOW it will disappear from your world. For if you look back and give attention to it, you are steeping once more that kid in its mother’s milk.

Do not say to yourself, ‘I wonder if I am really detached from that state,” or “I wonder if so and so is true.” Give all your attention to the assumption that the thing is so, because all responsibility to make it so is completely removed from your shoulders. You do not have to make it so, it IS so. You appropriate what is already fact, and you walk in the assumption that it is, and in a way that you do not know, I do not know, no man knows, it becomes objectified in your world.

Do not be concerned with the how, and do not look back on your former state. “No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62

Simply assume that it is done and suspend reason, suspend all the arguments of the conscious three-dimensional mind. Your desire is outside of the reach of the three-dimensional mind.

Assume you are that which you wish to be; walk as though you were it; and as you remain faithful to your assumption — it will harden into fact.

A DIVINE EVENT

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 12-08-1969

Christmas is the proclamation of a divine event to which all creation aspires. It is an event which puts an entirely different light upon human life, for it proclaims that man has been saved. I question seriously whether an nth part of one per cent of those who call themselves Christians know what this event is about. Tonight I will tell you from my personal experience.

Paul tells us in his letter to the Corinthians that “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.” Now, the Holy Spirit is nothing more than the individual’s personal experience of the event, for in the Book of John, the Risen Christ proclaims that he will “send the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, who will lead you into all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” In the beginning you were told that which seemed incredible, and the Holy Spirit is your experience of that event, for only then can you know that Jesus is Lord.

Now, who is Jesus? He is your awareness, your I AMness. In the Book of Exodus, Moses was told to “Say unto the people of Israel, ‘I am has sent you.’ This is my name forever. By this name I shall be remembered throughout all generations, and besides me there is no other Lord.” Jesus is the Lord, your I AMness; your consciousness of being. “Joshua” is the Hebraic form of our word “Jesus” and means “Jehovah is savior.” There is no other Lord than I am. “Our God is a God of salvation. To God, the Lord, belongs escape from death.” God is buried in humanity to make man a living being. And he will rise in the individual as his own wonderful human imagination.

The discovery of the God within is the one far-off divine event to which creation moves. The only resurrection spoken of in scripture is when he rises in you, and the only birth spoken of there is when he comes out – and that is Christmas. The event seems to be single and separate from the other events, but they are all part of a complex whole. We are now approaching one part we call Christmas: the birth of God, the birth of I am!

Where could you go that you are not aware of being? Therefore, where can you go and not find God? If you lived in hell would you not be aware of being there? So God is in hell. If you lived in ecstasy you would be aware of your ecstatic mood, and that awareness is God, for I am is the only name of Jesus.

In his Book called Acts, Luke said: “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” To call Jesus? No! To be aware! Without using words, when you are aware you are saying I am. That is Jesus, who is buried and rises in you. And when he escapes from the tomb of your skull, Christ is born. We are taught that this happened 2,000 years ago among people who are long gone from the world, but I know from experience that when it happens in you it is strangely contemporary. Yes, Christ was born. That is a fact, but it is not over, as it is still taking place in the individual the world over. Christmas is that one far-off great divine event to which the whole vast world is moving.

If you ask someone who calls himself a Christian, who Christ is, the chances are he would tell you that Jesus is the son of God. And if you told him that he must be God to know that, he would be horrified and tell you that you are blasphemous to suggest such a thing. But if you return to the proclamation of the great event, you will find that “No one knows who the son is except the Father.” So if you know God’s son is Jesus Christ, then you have to be God the Father. And, since no one knows who the Father is except the son, Jesus Christ must have revealed you as his Father. Well, man cannot rationalize this because he has not had the experience; for no one can know that Jesus is Lord (which is God the Father) except by the Holy Spirit, for it is he who brings you the experience of the great mystery.

We are told that when Paul rose up into the third heaven he heard unutterable words. Some translations say they were “words which man may not utter,” but it isn’t that. What Paul saw and heard was incapable of expression in words. There are no words to express a body that one wears when he rises within himself, for it is not a body of flesh and blood, but an indescribable form divine. In his 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians, Paul said: “What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body which is to be, for God gives it a body as he has chosen.” I will know you in eternity, but for all the identity of purpose there will be a radical discontinuity of form.

Yesterday morning when I returned to this level of my being, I arrested the body I was wearing to spend some ten to fifteen minutes right on the surface of my being. The form is alive. It is all energy, all power, all wisdom, and all love. I wear that body as I do the suit I am wearing now, only I know it to be my very self. I am always in control, by intensifying my energy or modifying it. In that body I looked out over glorious scenes never seen on earth. They were all three-dimensional visions in vivid colors and indescribable forms. I would observe one, then let it go to observe another – all heavenly treasures which are in me.

When your eyes begin to open inwardly into the world of thought, into eternity, you will see what no mortal eye turned out could ever see. There are no images in this outer world to describe the eternal world which is imperishable, the world you will see when you are wearing Christ, the New Man.

This is an indescribable, ineffable, mystery; for God comes to us as one unknown, yet one who will allow the individual to experience who he is. When you experience Christ, you are experiencing who you are, for you are the Jesus of scripture. You are the Lord God Jehovah. The event toward which you are moving is the awakening of the Lord in you. Then and only then will you know who you are.

Christmas is simply the proclamation of this one far-off divine event to which creation moves. It is not about one who lived a long time ago, but about you. The Bible is very personal. It is your own spiritual biography, your salvation history. To see the characters of scripture as characters of history is to see truth tempered to the weakness of the human soul. They are not characters on the outside, but within you, for the drama unfolds in your imagination. You are buried in yourself and do not know it. But when you reach the fullness of time you will awake to Christmas.

Last lecture night I told you of an experience of a friend who tasted of the power of the age to come. She had found herself, in dream, in the home of people who have not changed the fashion of their outer garments for 300 years. The woman’s second husband had been killed by the group and she tried to persuade them that what they had done was wrong, but they would not believe her. A group of men all dressed in black and carrying machine guns arrived, ready to kill everyone, and when she tried to persuade them that it was wrong they could not understand. Then she began to awake in her dream to realize that, although they all seemed to be independent of her perception of them, they were only aspects of her dream. Arresting her power of perception, everything froze. She changed their intentions, released the activity in her which allowed them to become reanimated again, and watched as the man put down his gun and with outstretched arms went over to embrace the woman.

This is the power of which I speak. It is a power unknown to the mortal, rational mind. We think power is in the atom bomb, in hydrogen energy, money in the bank, or securities. Tonight, undoubtedly a dozen or more very wealthy men will die and not take one penny with them. They simply left the garment of flesh and blood they made so real, along with their securities. But you can never lose the power of which I speak, for it is forever. These bodies die, and all that they possess will die with them; but the power of imagination is imperishable, for it is the power of God in man, called Christ. Man is slowly awakening to this power and when he hears and senses it, this is the power he will exercise.

Now, in my friend’s case, she awoke in her dream to discover that, although everything seemed to be taking place independent of her perception of it, the dream was only herself pushed out. Knowing that she could control the dream, she changed the motivation of the man from murder to love. Then she released the activity which allowed them to become reanimated again, and they obeyed her command. This is your future, your inheritance where everything is under your control.

These bodies of flesh and blood are only garments God wears. Even though they are consumed in a furnace (called cremation), the bodies are restored for others to occupy. The world is restored, but you – the actor in the drama – move up until you finally awake, and that is what we call Christmas.

Christmas is the awakening of God in man. It’s not an event which took place 2,000 years ago, but is taking place all over the world in those who have reached the fullness of time. When the fullness of time has come for you, you begin to stir, to awaken from this dream of death and come out of your skull, which is your birth from above. These two events take place the same night. We separate them by three and a half months, and then add a few months to the discovery of the fatherhood of God, then more time to the ascension of the spirit; but there are four parts of the one grand event. The first is resurrection. The second is birth. The third is the discovery of the fatherhood through the son, and the fourth is the ascension: the rising of the son of man (who you are) into heaven in a serpentine form.

Tonight many are preparing for the great event and singing their heads off on Christmas morning. I’m all for it. Let them have fun. But they will be singing of one they do not know. They will sing their hallelujahs thinking that someone in time and space is responding to their adulation – but that’s not Christmas. In the world, moving among them walk those who have experienced the event. They know that Jesus is Lord and that he is their wonderful human imagination, their I AMness.

I am is Jehovah’s name forever. By this name I shall be remembered throughout all generations. You are now a living being because Jehovah is buried within you. And you are destined to become a life-giving spirit, as my friend discovered she was. Stopping the activity in herself which allowed others to be alive, she changed their motivation by giving a command which was in conflict with their intentions. Then she released the activity in her and they became reanimated once more – not to carry out their former intention, but to execute her command. She has now tasted of the power of the age to come.

On this level we argue, trying to persuade the other that he is wrong when he knows he is right, so we end up just where we stand. This is life in a world of death where everything waxes, wanes, and vanishes.

But you are destined to enter the world of which I speak. It is eternal and cannot be entered with a body of flesh and blood, but requires a new body. So unless what you sow dies, it cannot be made alive. And what you sow is not the body which is to be, but God (who is yourself) gives you a body as he has chosen. It is a glorious body of power and wisdom and called the body of Christ. It is worn as you would a garment, only you are in control of your power through your innate wisdom – a wisdom to which no doubt is attached. This proclamation is not discovered by some rational argument. The gospel is not discovered, it is disclosed. It is not something you can logically prove, but a self-revelation of God. Scholars can study the life and teachings of Jesus until the end of time but never find in the study who the Father or the Son is. If they did, they would not tamper with the Bible.

In the earliest of all the books, the Book of Mark, the statement is made: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God.” The phrase, “the son of God,” is an addition by a scribe. The earliest and best manuscripts that we have, omit the phrase, “the son of God,” and read: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

The word “gospel” means “good news.” This is the good news, that Jesus is the Lord Jehovah and Christ is his power and wisdom. He is buried in us and he will rise in us. You will know of his rising because the day he rises in you, the very imagery of scripture will surround you, and you will know that you are the one spoken of as the Lord Jesus Christ. Then you will discover who the son is, for you will not know that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit (by experience.) And you can only know your son from experience. David, the personification of humanity fused into a single being, stands before you and calls you Father

You are told at the end of the Old Testament that “A son honors his father. If then I am a father, where is my honor?” In other words, where is my son? The New Testament begins by revealing the son, but man cannot understand. He does not know that Jesus is the Lord who is God the Father, until he has the experience of waking and rising in his skull. Of coming out of that skull and holding the Christ child, the sign of his resurrection, in his own hands. He must stand before the son of God and David must call him Father. And may I tell you: at that moment there will be no doubt in his mind as to who the son is and who he is relative to that boy. He will know he is David’s father and David will know he is his son.

In the Book of Samuel we read: “When you lie down with your fathers I will raise up after you your son, who will come forth from your body. I will be his father and he shall be my son.” Now we jump to the Book of Revelation, where the Lord is speaking, saying: “I am the root and the offspring of David.” I am the root, the cause which is the father. And I am the offspring of my son, David; therefore I am one with my grandson. All of the members of the human race are fused together into a single being called David. And what comes out of that? David’s offspring. If David’s root is the Lord, what comes out of David must be one with his root, so I am the root and the offspring. I am the grandfather and the grandson and David is my son. Man matures when he becomes his grandfather, for the grandfather is the Lord.

We are dealing with a mystery. If you think when you read the story of the Old or New Testament that you are going to reach truth by some rational argument, you are searching in vain. The wisest of the wise cannot see it, and because it isn’t rational they call it a myth. But I tell you: he gives himself to whomever he will, even the lowliest among men. Those who have all their degrees, honors, money, and reputation are dead but do not know it. I do not condemn them or argue with them, but simply walk by, looking for willing ears to tell my story to, and usually it is to those who are not the scholars of the day. Those who hear my words may not understand them, but locking my message in their hearts, they ponder it; and one day, believing as I hoped they would, it will erupt within them. Then they, too, will know that the Lord Jesus is he who the world calls the God of the universe. They will know it because the Holy Spirit brought to their remembrance all that I have told them.

Let the world go blindly on, as it will. Eternity awaits. It doesn’t matter how long it takes. Everyone eventually will come into this knowledge. But no one will come until he hungers, until he thirsts after God with a thirst that only an experience of God can satisfy.

The world, not understanding scripture, thinks that God will send a physical famine. Oh, that is possible, it happens all over the world anyway. It’s not because we cannot supply the food – the problem is economic. We are told to curtail production, as we cannot find bins large enough to house our supply. We put an enormous weight on the taxpayer because we allow food to rot, as we do not know how to give it away. People are paid not to grow food, while our government talks about not being able to supply. Our southern states alone could grow enough to feed and clothe the world, but how to do it under the present economy? I am not an economist so I cannot tell you how; but I do know it is not a lack of production, but rather a lack of economy.

The economic problem I cannot solve, but I can tell you that Christ in you is your own wonderful human imagination, that the God of scripture and the Lord Jesus Christ is your I am. Let the world scoff at it. That is perfectly all right; they are only fulfilling scripture. “Scoffers will come scoffing saying, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things have continued as they were from the foundation of the world.”’ So let them scoff, but you accept my message and put your hope fully upon the grace that is coming to you. Hope it will erupt within you now, in the not distant future; and then – when you shed this garment of flesh (as you must), you will be clothed in power; clothed in wisdom; clothed in love.

Those who have not had the experience before they depart this world are restored to life to find themselves in a world just like this. They will be faced with all the problems they have neglected here. They may leave the garment of a billionaire to find themselves a shoeshine boy or one who cleans latrines, if that is what must be done to rouse them to believe the incredible story.

Don’t think that your present position in life is any indicator of what you will be when you leave here. If Christ has not awakened in you, you will find yourself in a terrestrial world like this, in a body like these, new and young, but not a baby. You will be doing something best suited for the work yet to be done in you. Until that power in you awakes, you will continue using your rational mind in a rational world just like this.

The Christmas that we now look forward to celebrate is one aspect of the great event. There are four definite acts in the single event, which begin with your resurrection. This is followed by your birth from above. Then David reveals your fatherhood, and the fourth and final act appears when you ascend into heaven in a serpentine form and enter it violently, clothed in power.

Now let us go into the silence.

A LESSON IN SCRIPTURE

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 10/23/1967

In the second chapter of the Book of Luke the story is told of Jesus’ parents, worried and seeking him for three days, finding him and complaining, to which Jesus said: “How is it that you sought me? Know you not that I must be about my Father’s business?” I ask you not to put yourself in that frame of mind. Your earthly parents seek you and, at the tender age of twelve, you dare to say to them: “I must be about my Father’s business.”

This statement has reference to the 40th Psalm and the 4th chapter of John. In the 40th Psalm you are told: “In the role of the book it is written about me.” Every man is destined to discover that scripture is his autobiography. It’s not written about individual beings like Jesus Christ, Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and so on who lived unnumbered years ago, but about the individual you! The 4th chapter of the Book of John begins with a discussion between the Lord Jesus Christ and a woman of Samaria about a well and water. After this discussion the disciples say to Jesus: “Master you have had nothing to eat” and he replies: “I have food you know not of. My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”

This is true. You have come into this world only to finish the work of him who sent you. And who is he? The Father. “He who sees me, sees he who sent me. I came out from the Father and came into the world. Again I leave the world and return to the Father. He who sees me sees the Father, for I and the Father are one.”

Conceiving the thought in the beginning, God had to have an agent to express it. Everything in this world needs man to express it and may I tell you: God is man. In the beginning God made man in his image. “Male/female made he them and called their name Man.” Read it carefully in the 5th chapter of Genesis. Creating Man to express himself, God comes into the world to express and finish what he conceived in the beginning. Conceiving a state and knowing it takes a man to express it; God sent himself from the depth of his own being into this world to fulfill the state.

“In the beginning was the Word (the purpose) and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” The Old Testament is God’s Word (his plan) which he made known through his servants, the prophets. The New Testament interprets the Old. The story of Jesus Christ is the interpretation of the prophecy recorded in the Old. Read it carefully, for everything said of Jesus Christ, you are going to experience. It is said: “His name shall be called the Word of God.” Called God’s Word, his seed, his creative power, your imagination is God’s creative power and wisdom. Can you conceive of any greater wisdom than your own wonderful human imagination? Think of something. The moment you do, it’s right before your mind’s eye. Maybe you can’t draw a straight line, yet you can imagine your mother even though she is gone from this world. Think of anyone and they instantly appear before your mind’s eye. That is your own wonderful creative power-filled imagination who is Jesus Christ in you. It is he who has come into the world to fulfill the Word of God, and everything must be fulfilled by the Jesus Christ in you, who is your hope of glory.

We are told in the 22nd chapter of the Book of Luke: “Scripture must be fulfilled in me,” so you must be about your Father’s business by experiencing everything said of Jesus Christ in scripture. The miraculous birth will be yours, the discovery of the Fatherhood, the ascent into heaven and the descent of the Holy Spirit upon you in the bodily form of a dove. Then like the psalmist you will say: “Thou hast delivered me from the world of death,” for you will know from experience that in the volume of the book it was all about you!

I have been sent from the depth of my soul to act as a magnet to those who are about to fulfill scripture, and they come, each in his own order. Last Friday morning my friend Bennie found himself cataleptic. Unable to open his eyes or move his body, Ben could hear within himself the cry of a child as he felt an unearthly wind in his skull. Then a star exploded from his skull and a child wrapped in swaddling clothes fell into his arms. Looking at the child he said: “Oh, my darling” and knew that no one in eternity could care for that child but himself. As the vision faded he was given a photograph of the child.

The birth from above came to Bennie that way. He was left with a photograph. This happened on the 20th day of October. Now, if the current record of order is correct (and it has happened to my friend Bob and myself), five months from now Bennie will experience the coming of God’s only Son, David, who will reveal him as the Father. I am basing my interpretation from what he told me, and I say the birth has happened to him. Why should the birth occur in the same manner to any two when God is infinite in his creation? Of all the children who come into the world, seemingly from the womb of woman, no two births are exactly alike, there is always something different.

Only a couple of days before this happened to Bennie, he said:, “In the spirit you were teaching the word of God when someone said: ‘Tell us the story of Jesus’ and you replied: ‘The story of Jesus is a persistent assumption that you are what you want to be, that things are as you desire them to be.’“ This is true, for unless you believe that you are the being you now worship on the outside, you remain desiring and die in your sins of unfulfilled desires. You’ve got to begin to believe that you are Jesus Christ, the Word of God, which – having gone out will not return empty, but will fulfill your purpose and accomplish that which you sent yourself to do. What is that? To fulfill scripture. That’s all you are here for.

On this level you can be rich if that is your desire, but remember the story of Jesus is persistent assumption. You can persist in the assumption that you are wealthy. I have many friends across this country who are very, very wealthy, yet I would say ninety-nine percent of them are miserable; but they will all tell you the same thing. I think of one in particular now. She has a fortune in diamonds. Tiffany, who sells diamonds marked up 300-400%, offered her $100,000 for one piece. When she joins us for dinner in New York City she wears a broach, a ring, and a pendant, worth a half million dollars. Ruth was born a very poor girl and – desiring wealth – she persistently assumed she was married to tremendous wealth. She had no money. Her only claim to any social status was that she was a descendant of the Adams who were in the White House. He, on the other hand, came out of a line of rascals. His great-grandfather was a bishop in New York; therefore, had good advice as to his descent and how to guard it. Ruth married and lived in hell for twenty-odd years, bearing him three sons. Now well into her seventies, her only desire is to marry more wealth and have more diamonds.

That is all right. The story of Jesus is a complete and undeviating persistence in the assumption that you are what you want to be. If you haven’t experienced wealth and that is what you want, persistently assume “I am wealthy.” If you have not experienced fame, assume you are famous, but “The day will come,” saith the Lord “when I will send a famine upon you. It will not be a hunger for bread or a thirst for water, but for the hearing of my Word.” If that hunger hasn’t come to you, then take the same story of Jesus and fulfill your every desire.

When I am in New York, my friend comes to every meeting. She is a delightful person, but she is brutally honest with her desires. She wants more and more diamonds, more emeralds, more museum pieces. She confessed that she had no hunger to hear anything about David, but wants more and more money to leave her two sons. She wants more and more worldly illusions; but it is my hope that the hunger has come to you who are here – not for more and more bread and water, but for hearing the word of God with understanding.

The Book of Luke begins: “I have come to fulfill scripture. Then beginning with Moses in the law and the prophets and the psalms, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” Questioning his earthly parents, he asks: “Why do you seek me? Do you not know that I must be about my Father’s business?”….fulfilling scripture? Entering the temple, he is given a book which he opens and reads the first verse and half of the second of the 61st chapter of Isaiah, saying: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to preach glad tidings to the poor and suffering. To open the prison doors to all who are in prison.”

Now, claiming to have come only to fulfill scripture, he tells you that the Spirit of the Lord God was upon him that day. It is not expressed that way in Luke, but he says – as you heard it “this day” – it was fulfilled. What does he mean? That he saw the Spirit descend in bodily form as a dove. It has been fulfilled in him and he is urging everyone to follow his pattern, for no one comes to the Father save by this pattern. The Spirit of the Lord God descended in bodily form as a dove. The same dove who returned to Noah in the ark. Man is the ark of God and the dove – coming to bring assurance that everything is all right – descends upon one, and as it remains he is told to “Rise and anoint him, for this is he.” Luke tells you how he is fulfilling scripture, for he knows that “In the volume of the book it is all about me.”

Like Paul, I have not restrained my lips. I have told of your deliverance. I have told of your everlasting love to anyone and everyone who will listen. They may not accept my words, but I do know that within a certain group the hunger is there and they will all begin to awake.

Now, in the 30th chapter of the Book of Jeremiah, the Lord speaks, saying: “Can a man bear a child? Why then do I see every man with his hands pulling himself out of himself like a woman in labor.” The Hebrew word “chalatz” (translated in both the King James Version and the Revised Standard Version as “loins”) means “to take off; to pull oneself out of oneself; to deliver.” When the Psalmist said: “He has delivered my soul from death” he was speaking of the physical body. It is a garment of death which appears in the world, waxes, wanes, vanishes, and turns into dust. The word translated “delivered” in the Psalms, is the same word which was translated “loins” in Jeremiah.

So, can a Man bear a child? Yes. Let us go back to what I quoted earlier. “Male/female made he them and called their name Man.” There is a womb in the male/female unlike that of an earthly woman. This womb is the skull of generic Man. It is there that God has planted His Word which cannot return unto him void, but must accomplish that which is His purpose and prosper in the thing for which he sent it. That purpose is to fulfill scripture, for God has an entirely different world awaiting those who fulfill His Word.

We are told: “This Word is truth.” Everyone enters the world to fulfill the truth and will not depart until God’s Word is accomplished. If God’s Word has not been fulfilled in you when the world calls you dead, you are restored to a life just as real as this, in a world just as real as this, to continue your journey until the hunger comes upon you and you will be drawn to that final point.

In his book called Urizen, William Blake tells of the serpent in the womb of Enitharmon who, shredding the scales of death, his hissing changes into the cry of a child and

“The dead heard the voice of the child

And began to awake from sleep

All things heard the voice of the child

And began to awake to life.”

You actually hear the cry of the child in your skull. It seems impossible, but may I tell you: it is true.

Now, to encourage those who are not interested in that aspect of the truth, let me go back to what Bennie heard me say in the spirit: “The story of Jesus is a persistent assumption.” This is true in every aspect of your life. You want to be rich? That’s the story of Jesus, which is a persistent assumption in the conviction that “I am rich,” for unless you believe that “I am rich” you die in your sins and continue to claim “I am poor.” You want to be known? Then persistently assume: “I am known.” Want to be healthy? “I am healthy!” Regardless of what you want to be, you must declare you already are it and persist in that assumption. An assumption is an act of faith, and without faith it is impossible to please God. Your reasoning mind may deny wealth. Your senses deny it too, but if you have faith you will dare to assume wealth, thereby becoming the man you want to be.

Maybe, tonight you would rather continue to worship a Jesus Christ on the outside. Maybe you would rather continue to walk with the sheep of the world and not be the shepherd, but you would like to feed on green pastures by still waters, instead of climbing the steep hills of doubt and fear as most people do. You can, if you will persistently assume: “I am well fed. I am wanted. I am known and everything is as I want it to be.” But remember: to bring all these things into being, there must be a persistent assumption. That’s the story of Jesus.

Now we are told in Jeremiah that God’s word will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his mind, which is that you become God. “In the later days you will understand it clearly.” It is God’s purpose to give himself to man and he will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his mind. So in the final days he sends a hunger unto your heart – not for bread, a larger home or jewelry – but for the hearing of the Word of God. When this hunger possesses you, nothing will satisfy you but an experience of God. And if it is God’s purpose to give you himself as himself, when you have experienced his Word you are God!

Here is the story: “What is the greatest commandment, master? “Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” In the original manuscript the word “hear” is “sh’mA” whose last letter is larger than the other letters in the word. This is also true of the world “echaD” (translated “one”) at the end of the sentence. Put the two words together and they spell a word meaning “witness.”

At the very end of the Book of Luke you read: “You are witnesses of these things, but remain here until you are endowed with power from on high.” What power? The power of God called Jesus Christ. You are destined to put on and wear the Lord Christ Jesus as you would a garment. Wait for it, for it will be born within you. And when God’s power and wisdom is born, you will find the sign of his birth in the form of a little child. Then all of these signs will unfold in you and you will wear the garment of Jesus Christ. So I tell you, you will be witnesses of all that I have told you, for now I am returning to the very source out of which I came.

I came into the world completely forgetful of the being that I AM. I had to. When I first met my friend Abdullah back in 1931 I entered a room where he was speaking and when the speech was ended he came over, extended his hand and said: “Neville, you are six months late.” I had never seen the man before, so I said: “I am six months late? How do you know me?” and he replied: “The brothers told me that you were coming and you are six months late.”

I was late because the one who told me of Abdullah was a Catholic priest. I loved him dearly, but I thought he was almost a moron. His father, a rumrunner in the days of prohibition, left him two million dollars, which he proceeded to lose on Wall Street the first year. The only wonderful thing he did was to take the last $15,000 and give it to a Catholic organization to care for his mother the rest of her earthly days. So, having no respect for his judgment, when he told me about Abdullah I postponed going to hear him until one day I could find no excuse. When Ab called me by name I said: “I don’t know you” and he replied: “Oh yes you do, but you have forgotten. We were together in China thousands of years ago, but you promised to completely forget in order to play the part you must play now.”

Last Friday night a lady gave me a letter saying: “The previous Monday as you stood on the platform I could not see you as Neville, but as an ancient Chinese philosopher. I have seen my friends change from moment to moment, but you remained changed during your entire lecture. This bothered me, so I questioned the experience on the way home and then I remembered. Several years ago in a psychic experience, I was walking up a hill with other students to attend a class. Falling away from the group, I saw an ancient Chinese in a white garment at my side. Beckoning me to follow him, we approached a cave where I saw huge granite stone with a peak at the top. Two hands containing a cocoon covered the top of the stone. Removing the cocoon, the ancient Chinese broke it on the peak of the granite, and water, mixed with colorful oil, came out as life took on the sense of heat rising. Then the ancient Chinese took my hand and led me back to the group, where they had not realized that I had been away. “Now I know whose face you wore last Monday night.”

Well, that’s what Abdullah told me in 1931, but to this day I have no knowledge of it, because I swore in the beginning to empty myself completely of all memory and take on the form of a slave, but to have faith in him who sent me. Now knowing that he and I are one, I have no other place to go but back to myself, the sender. Having played every part I have completely wiped out the memory, but I know that no one can arrive at the end of the road until he has played it all. I do know from my intuitive knowledge that, just as an actor must feel the part he is playing and imagine himself the character he is depicting, you will imagine yourself into every part, and when the play is over for you, the signs will come to show you the being that you really are.

You who are here are hungry for the Word of God. You are thirsty for the Word of God. You could be at home this night watching TV and it would cost you nothing, but you have given up your time and your money to be here because of your hunger. I have been sent to tell you not only that you become God when he is fulfilled in you, but how to cushion the blows in this world of reason by delighting in his law. His law is simply a persistent assumption in the claim: “I am what I want to be.” Do not judge one who does not have the hunger for the Word of God, but tell him how to become what he wants to be.

Tell him that the story of Jesus is a perpetual, persistent assumption in whatever he wants to be. That Christ in him is the power of God and his imagination is that power and wisdom. Tell him that imagination knows how to bring his assumption to pass, but that he must persist.

Now I ask you: are you willing to persist in the assumption that you are what you want to be? Or are you going to go home tonight and say: “That was a nice little talk he gave, but after all he has a million dollars in the bank and I have nothing.” If you think that, you are disobedient, for by that thought you have lack of faith in “I am he!” That’s the fundamental sin of the universe. There are only two sins recorded in scripture that offend God. One is: “Unless you believe that I am he you die in your sins,” and the other is eating of the fruit of tree of knowledge of good and evil. Ask our generals tonight if it would be good to stop bombing Vietnam and they would say No. Go across the ocean and ask the Vietnamese and they would say Yes – so what is good and what is evil?

I am not asking anyone but you! What would be good for you? Tell me, because in the end every conflict will resolve itself as the world is simply mirroring the being you are assuming that you are. One day you will be so saturated with wealth, so saturated with power in the world of Caesar, you will turn your back on it all and go in search for the Word of God. I remember when I had so much wealth. I did not have one home, but many, each fully staffed from secretaries to gardeners. That was a life of sheer decadence. I recall walking out of it and not returning. Whether they ever found the body I do not know, but I do know I deliberately walked away. Then about ten years ago in one of my journeys in spirit, I walked back into the world and saw it just as it was before. Strangely enough, everyone recognized me and welcomed me with open arms, but I stayed only for a moment then returned here bringing with me its vivid memory. So I do believe that one must completely saturate himself with the things of Caesar before he is hungry for the Word of God.

I am convinced you are here because of your hunger. I know you have obligations to society, you must pay Caesar’s debts, so you want more money, but your hunger is greater for the hearing of the Word of God than for things of Caesar. That is why you are here, and you are blessed by it.

Now let us go into the silence.

A MOVEMENT OF MIND

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 11-24-1969

In the 33rd chapter of the Book of Job we are told that God speaks to man in two ways, but man does not perceive them. It is said: “In a dream, in a vision of the night when deep sleep falls upon men while they slumber on their beds, he opens the ears of men and seals their instructions.”

Tell that to a psychiatrist and, because he separates the dreamer from God, he will tell you that all dreams come from the individual dreamer and not from God. But I tell you: God’s eternal name is I AM, and if I asked who is dreaming the dream would the individual not say, “I am?” And are we not told that that is God’s name forever and ever?

You cannot separate the dreamer from God, and all dreams proceed from Him. Some are simple and need no interpretation, while others are revealed in a symbolic language and need an interpreter, as told us in the story of Joseph. His true identity is revealed when he looked into the faces of those who had had a dream and saw they were disturbed, for he said: “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dream.” Then he interpreted the dreams of the butler, the baker, and even Pharaoh himself, and they all came to pass just as he had said they would. Now, if only God can interpret a dream, why tell Joseph? Because he is a personification of God. His name was changed from Joseph (meaning “salvation”) to Joshua, which means “Jehovah is salvation.”

Now back in 1954, I awoke from a dream hearing these words: “You do not move in waking any more than you move on your bed in sleep. It is all a movement of mind. The intensity is determined by the strength of the vortex you create, which is just like a whirlwind with a center of perfect stillness. You only believe that you are moving when you are awake, as you think you move in sleep.” Well, I am a rational being and reason could not accept that statement, but I wrote it down and placed it in my Bible to await further revelation.

Psychiatrists would say this message came from myself. I will not deny that, but I do know that it came from a depth of my own being which my rational mind does not reach. Today our three astronauts returned from a trip of half a million miles. You and I came here tonight in our cars, and throughout my lifetime I have traveled all over the world in ships and planes. And like Blake, in my dreams “I have traveled through a land of men, a land of men and women, too. And heard and seen such dreadful things as cold earth wanderers never knew.” We have all traveled, yet I know what I heard and wrote down. I know that I have traveled in my dreams and yet I know I have not physically left my room, for when I awoke in the morning I was still on the bed upon which I fell asleep. So I ask you: is this waking state no more than a dream? Is there a dreamer in the depths of my being who looks upon this world as a dream, just as I who – having gone to a little lower of the dream at night – awake to find I haven’t left my bed at dawn?

Paul tells us that “We are born anew through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” I remember that night, for I felt myself waking from a deep, deep sleep, feeling a vibration which, although centered in my head, it seemed to be coming from without. Then I awoke within the sepulcher – the skull – in which I was buried, to come out to find all of the symbolism of the Christian mystery surrounding me. I saw the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and the three witnesses to the event. Although unseen, as I was spirit, the witnesses spoke of me as the father of the child – the sign that my savior was born, fulfilling scripture: “This shall be a sign unto you, you shall find a child wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”
That night I awoke from a far deeper level of my being to find the symbolism of my waking from the dream of life, just as day after day I wake from the dream of the night. So, could it be that the revelation I heard back in 1954 is literally true? Reason questions it, reason doubts it, and reason rejects it. So if the vision is true then reason is rejecting Jesus Christ, for Jesus Christ defines himself as the truth, saying: “I am the truth…” If the revelation is true, and reason rejects it, is not reason Satan, the doubting one?

This statement cannot be logically proved. Its truth must be experienced. I had completely forgotten it until I discovered my note today while looking in my Interpreter’s Bible, and there it was – the note I wrote on the 28th day of November 1954: “You do not move in waking any more than you move on your bed in sleep. It is all a movement of mind. The intensity is determined by the strength of the vortex you create, which is just like a whirlwind with a center of perfect stillness. You only believe that you are moving when you are awake, as you think you move in sleep.”

Scripture speaks of two ages: this age of darkness and decay, and that age of light and eternal life. This age is one of motion and violence, turbulence and storms, as the dreamer in men is sound asleep and does not know that he is God. In the 44th Psalm, however, he is urged to “Rouse thyself, why sleepest thou, O Lord. Awake! Do not cast us off forever.” While occupying his dream God has the sensation of travel, motion and violence; but when he awakes he will find himself in the sepulcher, the skull of Man, where he deliberately laid himself down to sleep and was buried. God crucified himself on the cross of man and is dreaming this dream of life so that man may become God.

Now I want to clarify a few points. In the Book of John this statement is made: “His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, neither does his word abide in you because you do not believe him whom he has sent.” Many of you have completely accepted the fact that I have been sent. You believe me when I tell you that I stood in the presence of the Risen Lord, who embraced me and I became one with. Having been incorporated into the body of Love, Almighty God sent me to tell my experience. Having accepted my words, many of you have had a sexual experience with me, in vision, and have interpreted this to be a physical experience on this level; but it is not, as this is a shadow world. Your acceptance brought about this union, yet I – the speaker – am totally unaware of it. The true story of Christ which I have brought you has now been made alive in you. It will erupt in time and your experience of scripture will be identical to mine.

The males who have completely accepted my words will not experience a sexual act, but an embrace. Wearing the body of the Risen Lord, who is Infinite Love and with whom I am now one, you will see my face. You will be asked to name the greatest thing in the world and, as though divinely inspired, you will quote the words of Paul saying: “Faith, hope, and love; these three, but the greatest of these is love.” I will embrace you, and you will fuse with the one body of the Risen Lord, and he who is united with the Lord becomes one Spirit with him.

All of these are symbols, telling you that, having believed him whom he sent, you will hear his voice and see his form as his word is now abiding in you. It’s a complete break with the past, as told us in the first words the Risen Lord spoke in the Book of Mark: “Repent and believe in the gospel.” The gospel is the good news that man is not lost; that scripture is not secular history, but divine history, which was plotted and planned before we came out from the Father and came into the world to enter our own creation and play all the parts.

It is God who awakes in you. One man, containing all, fell into diversity as told us in the 82nd Psalm: “I say, ‘You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, you shall die like men, and fall as one man, O princes.”’ (I have quoted the Revised Standard Version in the marginal setup which is the true translation of the Hebrew.) It takes all the sons who fell, to form God the Father; so we are gathered together one by one into that same body which fell into humanity. And from humanity, God extracts himself individually because we are all so unique. No one can be duplicated or lost, because God is buried in all and God is redeeming himself.

Today I watched the exciting touchdown of the astronauts who had traveled to the moon and back. Then I reread what I had written back in 1954: “You do not move in waking any more than you do on your bed in sleep.” Now, reason could not accept that statement. I saw the astronauts return. We have a record of their journey of a half-million miles, yet they did not move? Well, I must confess that I have traveled in my dreams, as I am sure you have; yet we always wake on our bed in the morning, do we not? Could there be a dreamer far deeper than the one who is dreaming this seeming waking state? And when he awakes from the dream of life, would he not look upon it as you look upon the dream of the night?
I know that when I awoke from within, I realized that I had been there for unnumbered centuries, dreaming violence, love, hate, concupiscence, and pain – dreaming everything to be real, just as I did in any dream. I awoke to discover that I had been in that skull for centuries, dreaming I was a man walking the earth, dying, being restored to life to die again. This I continued to do until that moment in time when I awoke in Golgotha, the sepulcher where I was buried in the beginning of time. That’s my Calvary.

I seem to move here. I get up and shave in the morning, bathe, eat, make an effort to earn a dollar to pay the rent, and do all sorts of things; yet it’s all a dream, a dream with a purpose. God limited himself to the limit of contraction and opacity called man and began to dream this world into being. Now believing himself to be you, you can dream noble dreams or ignoble ones. I urge you to dream noble dreams, because when you know you are the dreamer you can make all of your dreams come true.

A dream is a very fluid state. Knowing what you want to dream, bring your inner circle of friends before your mind’s eye and allow them to see you as you want to be seen. When you are self-persuaded this is now a fact, relax in the vision’s gestation period. There is an interval of time between impregnation and birth. Having seen the expressions on their faces and heard the sound of their voices, break the spell and wait for that impregnation to take place in the world of dreams, while you live in the world of Caesar awaiting its coming.

I have told you that the story of Jesus Christ has unfolded itself within me. What I shared with you tonight is not recorded in scripture; but in the very last verse of the 21st chapter of John he makes this statement: “Many other things Jesus did which are not recorded here. Were every one of them to be written, the world itself could not contain the books.” There was no need to record the words which were revealed to me; so it does fit in with the very last verse of the epilogue of John, for John ends on the 20th verse and the 21st is the epilogue. All of these things happened and many more, but only these were recorded that you may believe.

Thank you for sharing your visions with me, as they are showing me that you have completely accepted the story as I have told it. I have shared with you the true story of Jesus Christ. Over the centuries, barnacles have gathered around the ship. Men, in the interest of their own doctrines, have added to the scriptures. In spite of the warning not to add to or take from the words of the prophecies of the Bible, men have added to, to support their own traditions and conventions. When the original text was written, the one who had the vision simply recorded it. He did not understand it, but wrote it down, as I did, knowing that a greater revelation would come.

I could not understand what I heard in 1954; but in 1959 I knew its truth, for I awoke from a profound dream to discover that I was not on my bed, but in my skull and completely alone. I came out of my skull to find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and the witnesses to the event. Seeing the babe, they witnessed the sign of my spiritual birth, but they could not see me as having been born of the spirit. I am Spirit, while they, not yet born of the spirit, are flesh. I didn’t bring forth a little baby; the child is but a sign that God is born. Having begotten himself, he brings forth that which he buried in humanity, for God is redeeming himself, as there is only God in the universe.

The Bible hasn’t a thing to do with any morals as the pulpits teach. It makes no attempt to change the world, as it is a schoolhouse. You don’t turn a schoolroom into a home. This is a school of educated darkness, where we travel towards the light. Scripture does not attempt to change things; rather it urges all to “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.”

To try to make this world a nice, sweet little place in which all are happy and have enough to eat and drink is fine, but that hasn’t a thing to do with the mystery of Christ. Were there no struggle, no effort would be made to awaken from the dream of life. Rather, the sleeper would fall deeper into sleep. So, let them march along telling the world how to become good and kind. It’s all nonsense, for as long as man wears the garment of the animal he must express it. Taking from himself the heart and mind of Love, God took upon himself the body, heart, and mind of the animal, as told us in the 4th chapter of Daniel. This is an animal world, but while in this world of violence Jesus Christ awakes to discover it was only a dream. Were it not that Jesus Christ was in you, you could not breathe, for your very breath is his life.

The day will come when you will awake to know this to be true; for David, the sum total of all of the experiences you have had in your dream of being man, will stand before you and call you “Father”. Then you will fulfill the 89th Psalm knowing, “I have found David. He has cried unto me, ‘Thou art my Father, my God and the Rock of my salvation.’ “Having played all the parts of Man, humanity, fused into a single youth, reveals your Godhood.

As the Father, you will know that your son has always done your will; for you will have found in David, the son of Jesse (I AM) one who has done all your will. You, the Father, dreamed it and you, the son. played all the parts. And when the play is over you awake to come out of Golgotha to be born from above. Peter tells us: “We are born anew through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” While the world worships him as someone coming from without, you will find him rising from within – not as another, but as your very Self, the dreamer of life.

The great poet, Shelley, saw it so clearly when he said: “He has awakened from the dream of life. ‘Tis we who, lost in stormy visions, keep with phantoms an unprofitable strife.” That’s what the world is doing, fighting self-created phantoms. The world is yourself pushed out and you are in conflict with yourself until that day when an unearthly wind possesses you and you awake in your skull with the consuming desire to get out. With your innate knowledge, you will push the base of your skull and something will move. Then you will come out just as a child comes out of the womb of a woman; but this time you are being born, not from below, but from above -from the skull of Self. The word “anothin” is translated “from above.” When Pilate said: “Do you not know that I have the power to crucify you or the power to set you free,” the Risen Lord replied: “You have no power over me unless it were given to you from above.” Here is the same word “anothin.” The power to kill or make alive comes from within.

Everything is taking place from within. Having fallen into a profound sleep, you are the Lord Jesus Christ, dreaming the dream of life. And because there is only one Being, everyone will awaken as Jesus, for everything else will vanish and leave Jesus only. And no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Wind. When that wind possesses you, you awake within yourself. Only then will you know you are the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now let us go into the silence.

A MOVEMENT WITHIN GOD

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 10-16-1967

If you find yourself miserable or helpless here, may I tell you that you are not condemned to the state by a deity outside of yourself, for everything that takes place in your world is but a movement within God.

We are told that in the very beginning the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters and things came into being. Everything – your misery, your helplessness, your joy, your sorrow – no matter what it is, comes into being by a movement within God, and he is not a deity outside yourself. You are not a helpless being, but the operant power of God. Seated as you are now, you can move without moving physically because your eternal body is all Imagination. Called Jesus Christ in scripture, you are God’s power and wisdom. So if you find yourself in a place where you are miserable and feel helpless, it is because you either knowingly or unknowingly fell into that state, and not because of the condemnation of some deity outside of you.

Every conceivable situation that you could ever think of exists now as a fact in God but cannot be made visible to you until you occupy it, for you are God’s operant power. Everything in this world needs man as the agent to express it. Hate or love, joy or sorrow, all things require man to express it. We glorify or condemn the man, but he simply represents a state which God entered knowingly or unknowingly and remained there until the state was externalized. Everyone is free to choose the state he wishes to occupy. You imagined yourself into your present state. If you don’t like it, you must imagine yourself out of it and into another. It is all a matter of movement.

We are told that “He chose us in him before the foundation of the world.” Collectively forming one glorious being, we conceived a play and speaking as one being, we said: “It is time for the play to begin.” Then individually we said: “I AM,” and the play began. We conceived a play containing every horrible thing as well as every lovely thing in the world. Every problem and its solution were conceived. In fact you cannot think of something that was not in that original conception. Then it was time to start, and saying simply: “I AM,” God took upon himself that which He had conceived, and your journey into this fabulous world began. So no matter what you are experiencing now, you are not condemned by some being outside of yourself, for you either wittingly or unwittingly fell into the state, be it good, bad, or indifferent. Now, how to move?

We are told in the very beginning of Genesis that “The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” And in the Book of Joshua (which is the Hebraic name for Jesus) the Lord said: “Wherever the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given you.” Now, you can choose where you want the sole of your foot to tread, for the world is yours and all within it; but remember: whatever you tread upon will be given you!

When I speak of Joshua or Jesus, I am not speaking of any historical creature, but the Christ in you who is the hope of glory! I am trying to get you to realize that Jesus Christ is in you as your own wonderful human imagination. So when I say: “God became Man that Man may become God” I mean: “Imagination became you that you may become all Imagination.” Man has difficulty associating Imagination with God. Somehow the word “God” denotes some being that created the world, yet remained apart from it, but when I use the word “Imagination” it is my hope that the separation ceases to be. May I tell you: the whole vast world is all imagination. Our realists think they are nearer to the truth, yet they do not realize they are dictating nothing more than their imagination. They laugh at those who are mystically inclined, but may I tell you: leave them alone and go your way in confidence that what you are imagining you already are, you will become.

You imagined yourself into the state you are now occupying, and you can imagine yourself into any state you desire to express. No outside deity moved you into the state of misery you are now expressing; you did it yourself because you forgot who you are. You are the being who conceived every state in the beginning and deliberately started your journey by moving into a state, for you are Jesus, the Lord.

When I speak of Jesus, I am not speaking of some holy person as the world calls holy. The true story of Jesus is not as the churches teach. Their teaching is as far removed from the truth as Dante’s “Inferno” is from The Sermon on the Mount. Dante had the capacity to spin beautiful worlds together, but what a state he fell into when he wrote his words. He was supposedly writing scripture and that is what the churches follow, yet it is so completely different from the real, true story of Christ.

Jesus is the very being of everyone in the world. The word “Jesus” means “Jehovah saves,” and there is only one savior. Jesus is He who fell and He who saves himself. No one else saves you. You are saved by your own being. Becoming aware, you begin to remember; and remembering, you turn around and come out of the very play in which you sent yourself. And in the end all are united to form once again the single being that fell. The Lord God Jehovah, containing all, fell into diversity. In the end not one will be lost, but all will be gathered into the unity that is the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the story.

This week I received some beautiful letters. One was from a lady who said: “I heard you ten years ago and shortly after hearing your message I found myself in vision on top of the highest mountain in the universe. I was looking towards the horizon into a fantastic vastness without a shore. Clouds were below me, but as I looked into the distance I saw a little flicker of light, then a spark, and then others. As I watched the flickering lights round about me, I noticed that the cloud below me was making an imperceptible forward motion. Then a burst of white light came through the clouds and filled infinity. The clouds began to disburse, and pointing to the light, I said: “That’s Paul.” Then the light diffused and a burst of light appeared in living colors, and, pointing to it, I said: “That is Neville.” Then came a shower of golden needles which penetrated my brain, and I awoke to write it down. For years I have contemplated this vision, not understanding its meaning until last Monday night, when you spoke of the being of light who shoots his fiery arrows into the brains of those who are called.”

May I tell you: it’s the same story over and over again. You are the only Christ, the only Lord, the Only God and Father of all! Having conceived the play, you are playing every part and each in his own wonderful time will play the part of Jesus Christ, for in the end we will all know that we are God. Then you will hate no one, for you will realize that we agreed to play all the parts while hiding behind the masks we wear. Now completely masked, we think we are many and do not recognize ourselves as the one who conceived and predicted the play of life.

You are not now in a fatalistic state. You fell into the state because it was arranged in the beginning that you could fall into and move out of every state. So keep on going and complete the play, for when the play is finished, you turn around and return to the very being you were in the beginning!

Now, a gentleman wrote, saying: “I saw a man, about 26 years of age. He had golden curls on his head and seemed to be sunk into the ground. Two men appeared to be working on the top of his head towards the back of his skull. As I watched the young man raised his arm, and touching his head he put his hand into his skull. Curious, I came closer to see an enormous skull made of clay or some form of plastic, which was completely empty. Moving to look at the front of the man, the scene changed, and now I see his chin resting on the sands of the desert. The mask looked like those shown in Africa or Hawaii, where you only see the mask but never the wearer. I knew I was seeing a mask, but its wearer was unseen.”

That is the world! You don’t know it, but when you are looking at a seeming other you are seeing an intimate being, one you knew in the beginning, one you will remember when all of the masks are removed – for we are all wearing masks in order to play this play called life. In this world Imagination plays the role of the weak man, the strong man, the poor man and the rich man, for the roles were conceived in the beginning by Imagination, and Imagination is playing all the parts.

You, imagining, are God – who is all Imagination. That’s all there is. The universe is nothing more than Imagination creating while it is fast asleep! You and I move from state to state, either deliberately (by knowing what we are doing), or unintentionally (by falling into a state as we read the headlines of the paper). Listen to the radio or watch TV tonight, and although you may know none of the facts, if you accept what is said you will fall into a state and buy things you do not need. You will fill your house with all kinds of trivia that you have no room for because Imaginations is operating! Someone conceived a plan to get you to empty your pockets and buy their products, and you will, because Imagination is sound asleep. And Imagination will continue the journey until you turn around and head for home by becoming more and more awake!

Those who think they are so very wise in this world know nothing about Jesus. Only the seers, the mystics, know who He is. Only those who have seen the light he claims he is and know his form without seeing the face, know him. There are not thousands of lights, but only one vast, infinite light. If one takes on a white light and another multi-colored lights, it’s still the same wonderful light of Jesus only. There is only God who is playing all the parts, and in the end you will know that you are light, that you are Spirit, that you are God, from personal experience.

But tonight as you sit here, you can mentally shut out the facts of life and move anywhere in your imagination. Do that and no one looking at you physically can tell where you have mentally moved. And if you dwell in imagination where you would like to be, and see what you would see were you there, you will have moved within your own being. Persist and everything here will die because of your move within God.

In the beginning, the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, saying: “Wherever you go and stand, I will give you.” You were given everything in the beginning, and one day – having finished the play – you will begin to awaken. Then I who came out first will stand there as an anchor for all to come through by performing the same deed. You will be drawn by a fiery brooding upon this wonderful mystery, drawn to the Risen Christ, who is formed out of all. As you enter we fuse, and the mortal you reassumes immortality. You fell into the mortal state in order to experience death, and when you turn around, you rise to become one with immortality.

I tell you: you are the Lord God Jehovah, who conceived the play and deliberately entered it. You did nothing wrong. It was an adventure and without adventure, what is life? If someone left you a billion dollars so you could be cushioned for the rest of your life here, they would be robbing you of your creative adventure. In the beginning you left all by emptying yourself of all that you were aware of being. Then you took upon yourself the form of a slave. Wearing a slave-mask right now, no one knows who you really are, and you cannot recognize those who you have known throughout all eternity.

Bennie came to my home a week ago, and sitting beside him I could see nothing but love pouring forth from him. I couldn’t see his face, for his skin is dark, but when I looked at Bennie all I could see was the being of love I knew in eternity. In the beginning we were all the elohim, which is a compound unity of one made up of others. Bennie has as dark a skin as I have ever seen on a man, and I am as fair as man can be, so you might think we came out of different beings – but these are only masks we wear. Bennie has turned around and now knows he is the light of the world. He knows he is infinite love.

May I tell you: when you see infinite love you will see Man. You will see he who is the gathering togetherness of all! I will know you by the light and you will know me by the light; but when we know each other as One, it will be as Love, and that is Man. Everyone is gathered into the human form divine! Not one will be lost, for in the beginning we agreed to dream this world into being, in concert. Then we went our separate ways, to falling into different states of consciousness and blaming others for the discords in our world. That’s all right, for one day we will return and all the discords will be resolved into perfect harmony, as we expand beyond what we were prior to the play.

You can put me to the test tonight by learning how to move. My brother Victor learned how to move into riches when he had nothing. Living on borrowed money and trying to operate a little shop on a side street, Victor would stand before one of the largest buildings in the island and see “J.N. Goddard and Sons” on the marquee, rather than the existing “F.N. Roach and Company”. This he did every day until the idea was fixed in his mind’s eye. Two years later, the business failed. (You may think that was wrong, but nothing is wrong in God’s name. We ate of the tree of millennium and fell into right and wrong). When the building was put up for sale, a man we hardly knew bought it for my brother, and the sign was changed from “F.N. Roach and Company” to “J.N. Goddard and Sons”.

What did my brother do? He moved his imagination. He had no money when he purchased the building in 1922. Now, in 1967, I don’t think you could buy the family out for $25 million. I own ten per cent of the stock, but I do not know its value. I came here to tell you, not how to make money, but how to operate the law of identical harvest so that if everything is taken from you tonight you can rebuild it tomorrow.

This is how it works. I imagined myself into what I am, and I can imagine myself into what I want to be. I am forever becoming what I imagine myself to be, be it good, bad, or indifferent. There is no deity on the outside who condemns and causes you to do what you are doing. You moved into the state you are now occupying either wittingly or unwittingly, for God and your own wonderful human Imagination are one. So when you say: “I and my Father are one” you are speaking of your human imagination!

I have been sent to clarify scripture and take off the barnacles off the story called Jesus Christ. This is a small beginning, but what does it matter? You who hear me will tell the story and bring it back to somewhere near its original form, for the story as interpreted by the churches of the world is not anything near the truth. This morning I read Buckley’s column. I enjoy his use of words and I find him quite an interesting fellow. Today he wrote about the Bishop of Canterbury, saying: “I don’t believe the good Bishop would recognize a Christian if he met one, or scripture if he read it.” I don’t always agree with Buckley, but this time I agreed, after reading what he quoted the Bishop as having said. Now, this is not only true of the present bishop but of all the bishops I have met, whether they call themselves cardinals or popes, for their rituals, beliefs, and teachings are so far removed from the true story of Jesus.

I am here to tell you that God became you! How? By seeing the mask (one like you see in Africa or in Hawaii) and identifying himself with it. Now disguised as that which God wears, you can no longer see who you really are. But I tell you: the being behind the mask you now see as your brother, your sister, your wife, your husband and children – is a part of the elohim who created the play and is playing every part. One day that being will take off the mask and you will resurrect and leave your empty skull. So I say to my friend who saw the mask with the empty skull made of plastic: the day will come when you will ascend with one of us whose mask is already taken off, and pointing to that skull, you will say of it: “I once dwelt there.” Then you will know as I do that you were never the mask you wore. And in eternity we will all know each other and all be enhanced beyond what we were, by reason of the journey that we made.

Tonight you try this. Test it. Learn how to move. The test is simple. Just like my brother, take a simple little thing like asking yourself: “What do I want?” Now, looking at the world as you now see it, if you had what you wanted, would you continue to see the world as it is now? I doubt it. It need not be a change from where you live, but if there were a change you would see the world differently and, naturally your closest circle of friends would see a changed you. Well, begin to move in God by seeing your world from a different angle, and let your friends see you there. You are the operant power and move in your own being.

If you move from where you are to where you would like to be, you could detect that motion only by a change of position relative to another object. Motion in itself cannot be done without some frame of reference from which it moves. If your income had just been increased to say $30,000 a year from your present income of less than $10,000, how would you feel? How would your present circle of friends see you? Would they know it? Would they discuss it? Would they speak of the change in your life? Tell them, and then eavesdrop and hear your friends discuss you as one who is now making $30,000 a year. That’s a motion in God and that movement will produce results! Everything in this world is nothing more than the result of a movement in God, which is a motion in your wonderful imagination. The slightest imaginal act that is a change (I don’t mean just an act, for you can imagine things you don’t believe), but if you imagine something you believe is a change, a thrill is sent through divine being. At that moment you have actually entered another state and made it alive and real in your world!

Try it tonight. It costs you nothing, not even a nickel. But may I tell you that when you stand in the presence of the one being who is drawing all towards itself, you are sent into the world to tell them your fantastic story; and if they do not apply what you tell them, they become disillusioned and hate you who invited them to dream. I am sent to invite everyone to dream consciously, to dream deliberately, for this is a dream world. They say that where he comes, he is always rejected, for he tells man: “Whatever you desire, believe that you have received it and you will.” Anyone who makes that bold assumption and gets the confidence of those whose sphere he reaches, runs the risk of rejection, for when they try it and do not quite know how to do it, they become disillusioned and invariably hate the one who invited them to dream. That’s the risk every teacher who is sent must run.

But I tell you: it’s true anyway, and if one fails to bring their dream into being and becomes embittered, I say to myself: “How often must I tell them? Seventy times seven.” I must tell them until they really understand, and those who hear me, will carry my message forward. They will be heard and in the end we will all be gathered back into the one being, to know that we were that one being who conceived the play and took the plunge. So when we said in the beginning: “It is time for the play to begin,” not one of us failed to respond in the first person, present tense: “I AM”.

Now let us go into the silence.

A PARABOLIC REVELATION

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 06-06-1969

It is in you as a person that the nature of God is revealed, for a scriptural episode is not a record of an historical event, but a parabolic revelation of truth. To see Jesus or David as an historical character is to see truth tempered to the weakness of your soul. You must see what the characters represent, rather than the characters themselves. This is true for every story in scripture, for every episode will unfold within you.

The title of the 54^th Psalm is translated as “David is hiding with us” in the King James Version, and “David is in hiding among us” in the Revised Standard Version; but the title should read: “David is in hiding within us,” for that is where he is, as well as every character in scripture. When I say, with Blake: “All that you behold, though it appears without it is within, in your Imagination of which this world of mortality is but a shadow,” I mean that literally, for the drama of life unfolds from within.

The characters Jesus, David, Abraham, and Moses are but personifications of eternal states, which you individually will encounter as you move towards the ultimate awakening of being God himself. In his poem, “Saul” Robert Browning tells the story recorded in the 16^th chapter of the Book of First Samuel, of how David cured Saul of the evil spirits which the Lord had sent upon him.

Do not see Saul as a man, but as humanity. He is the human being referred to in the 4^th chapter of the Book of Daniel: “And the great watcher said ‘Hew down the tree, cut off its branches, scatter its leaves and its fruit, but leave the stump.’” Then the tree becomes personified as: “Let him be watered with the dew from heaven; and let him move with the beasts of the earth. Take from him the mind of man and give him the mind of a beast. Let seven times pass over him until he knows that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will, even the lowliest of men.” Saul personifies the mind of the beast, for Saul went insane; he was violent and could not remember who he was. Then David appears and cures him of his insanity by telling him of the coming of the Messiah, saying:

“O Saul, it shall be

A Face like my face that receives 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 a new life to thee! See the Christ stand!”

You may think this is an episode in the pages of history, but it is a drama, which will take place in you. As an insane being who is looking for an external savior, one day you will encounter David – he who never walked the face of the earth – and save yourself!

All revelations have the mode of certainty about them. When David stands before you, you who were insane only a moment before, having forgotten who you are, will remember. Then, as Saul, you will see the true relationship between you and your son, and the revelation as to who you really are. Then you who were formerly Saul will become Paul, and say: “Henceforth I regard no one from the human point of view, even though I once regarded Christ from the human point of view, I regard him thus no longer.”

Paul was trained to believe in an external, historical past of Israel. To him David was the king of kings. But when God revealed his son in him, Paul claimed he did not see anyone as flesh and blood. What man, believing in the historicity of scripture, could understand what Paul was talking about, when he was the one who formerly tormented anyone who would not accept the historicity of the Old Testament! But, when discussing the Messiah, Paul confessed that he could no longer believe in any historical character of the Old Testament. (The New, of course had not been written yet). Through revelation Paul knew who the Messiah was and who the Lord was. Seeing himself as the Lord, the one the world believes to be Jesus, Paul knew that what the world believed to be a mighty king was his only begotten son who was never flesh and blood. He knew the entire episode took place in the spirit, and said: “When it pleased God to reveal his son in me, I discussed it not with flesh and blood.”

To see Jesus, Abraham, Moses, Jacob, or any of the characters of scripture as men of flesh and blood and external to yourself in the pages of history, is to see truth tempered to the weakness of your soul, because until the revelation takes place, you are unable to stand the force of the light of revelation. There is nothing more difficult than to give up a fixed idea, especially concerning religion or politics. Born into a certain religious group, your mother taught you what she was taught by her mother. The school and church you attend confirms your mother’s words and you believe that the characters of scripture lived in time and space and left behind a record of their physical existence – when it isn’t so at all. These are all revelations of an eternal drama which is in you, for your true being is your own wonderful human imagination.

Many times I have been asked if I believe there was once a man called Jesus, and I always answer, “No.” I did believe it, but I no longer believe in the historicity of any character of scripture, for I encounter them as personified states. I have entered the final state, which is Jesus, and in that state it was revealed to me that I am Jesus and Christ is my son. Christ, my creative power and wisdom, is the one who was anointed with the oil of gladness and called David. It was in the spirit that David called Jesus, Father. He does not do this in flesh for, if you take the events chronologically you will see that they are separated in time by one thousand years – and I tell you the story is contemporary. It is not something of the past. The Lord Jesus is with you now at this very moment, for he is your very being, your reality. We are told that he is a Father in the 17^th chapter of John, as: “Holy Father, keep them in thy name that thou hast given me, that they may be one even as we are one.” The Father/son is an inner action relationship. At one moment the son is speaking, and the next moment it is the Father who speaks; then without warning he jumps back to that of the son, and man is confused. Man thinks of one being of flesh and blood when it is an inner-relationship of Father/son.

I received a letter this week from a lady who is here tonight. In a vision she saw a man and his young son sitting at a table. At that moment she knew she was the son and the father and that they were one. Now, this same lady had another vision in which a friend proclaimed to the crowd in a very loud voice that the lady was pregnant and was bringing forth the Son of God. She is right, for this lady is bringing forth the Son of God, as she isGod. This son will be born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. She is the Jesus of scripture, bringing forth God, and because God is a Father his last gift to her is himself.

If God is the Father and he gives you himself, he gives you his son to reveal it. So he sends the Spirit of his son into your heart, crying: “Father.” And if God’s son calls you Father, then you must be God. And if God the Father is the Lord Jesus and Christ is his anointed one, then your son is David, for he is the one the Lord anointed, and proclaimed: “Thou art my son, today I have begotten thee.” This comes as a great shock to those who were raised in the Christian or Jewish faith, for there is no more historicity in the characters of the Old Testament then there is in the New. Every character represents an eternal state through which you, an individual, must pass in your journey from darkness to light. And when you come to the journey’s end you move into the state personified as God the Father.

David is in hiding within us. This we are told by the Ziphites, of the tribe of Judah. If you read scripture correctly you will see that the only son of Jacob mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus is Judah. This brings us to Saul, who was notified that David was hiding within him. As an insane man, Saul could not understand. If David is hiding within me, where do I look for him? But wait. David will come out. I know. At one moment in time there will be an explosion within you which will release David, who is hiding in you, for we are all the insane of Daniel. Look at the world today and ask yourself if we aren’t all insane, when we murder each other and cheat one another – when there really is no other. The prayer is that they be one as we are one. That is because they do not realize we are all one being. Nothing can bring you to this realization other than the revelation of the son to the Father.

I know so many of you are bringing forth the Son of God. Another lady in this audience tonight wrote saying she was sleeping at the home of a friend, when she sees a baby boy, devoid of clothes, lying on a blanket. As she picks it up she hears the doorbell ring. Answering the door with the child in her arms, she sees her daughter, who says: “Mother, put some clothes on your baby because I have brought a friend.” As they enter the house the friend pats the baby on the back and says: “What a beautiful child.” She returns to the room and as she covers the baby with a blanket (the swaddling cloth) she awakens. This is a wonderful adumbration forecasting the real event recorded in scripture. Then she will know the truth concerning the birth of God.

Another lady saw the child as her sister’s boy. Holding it close she looked into its face, which turned into that of a cherub, who smiled at her. Then she knew she could not give the child up as it was hers. This, too, is an adumbration. All of these are foreshadowing. These ladies are all mothers with children of their own. The last lady has five children; yet the child of their vision is spiritual, for the whole Bible from beginning to end is a supernatural document and not an historical fact as man has been led to believe.

If you see Jesus as an historical character, it is because you do not have the courage to face the brilliant light of the revelation of truth. I know when it came to me, everything within me fell. We are told that in the end all of the buildings will fall. These buildings are the structures of the mind by which we live. The belief in the historicity of Jesus is a building; the belief in the historicity of the Bible is a building. Externalized as churches and cathedrals, they are beautiful, but they will all fall within you in your last days. And from their ashes that which is permanent will rise, for from then on you will not live by any external belief. You will know that everything unfolds from within.

The story is told that Judas would go into a garden and give a sign designating the one who holds the secret. The sign was a kiss. You will find this story in the 14^th chapter of the Book of Mark. When you read it you may think this is an episode which took place in some historical past, but it is not. It is something you will experience. Then you will discover that the drama is contemporaneous. It is with us now, for I have had that experience.

I am teaching the word of God from experience, therefore, I am the word that went out. I sent it out from myself by clothing myself in flesh (for the Word became flesh and dwells within). When all that the Word implies unfolded in me I told my experiences to a group of twelve men, and when one departed I knew he was going to reveal my teaching. Then a handsome, wonderful man entered to fulfill the 14^th [chapter] of Mark: “This is the sign I give you. The one I shall kiss is the man. Treat him kindly, but do not let him go.” (If this is the truth don’t let go, for it is the truth that I am going to kiss.) Approaching me, the man extends his arms in adoration, embraces me, and kisses me on the left side of my neck.

Now, the word “Judah” means, “to praise with extended arms.” It was Judah who embraced and kissed me, he severed my sleeve revealing the arm of the Lord, thus fulfilling scripture. “And who has believed our report? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” The arm is the symbol of the creative power of God. That is what was revealed in its beautiful imagery. Here was a handsome man, about forty, gloriously dressed, fulfilling everything scripture said he would do when he comes. Believe my words, for they are true. Let everything you formerly believed in go – but do not let the word of truth go.

I know it is difficult to give up the belief in the historicity of scripture. When I first came to Los Angeles it was back in 1945. At the time I was invited by a very prominent man in the metaphysical field to conduct a series of lectures on the Bible. The night I arrived, I was to address 400 or 500 of his graduates. About five minutes before I took the platform, the man took me aside and told me that I could not speak on the non-historicity of the Bible, because he teaches the Bible as history and did not want his people disturbed. I thanked him, told him that because I was his guest I would abide by his decision this night, but in the future he could not tell me what to say. Then I reminded him of scripture: “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge.” I can only speak of what I have seen and heard. I know the Bible is not historically true, but is eternally true. The records recorded there are forever and to be experienced by all.

Scripture is a revelation of truth which carries with it such certainty it cannot be denied. Having heard the truth from someone who has experienced it, you may feel my message is too much to grasp; but when it happens in you doubt leaves, for you know the truth from experience. Every story is true, but not as recorded. They were not writing secular history, but divine or sacred history, which is forever. It is not something that happened in the past or that will come; the climax has been reached and is always being reached every moment in time.

The Jesus of scripture is seated here tonight. And his son, bearing witness to his Fatherhood, is hiding in you. In the 54^th Psalm, Saul was told that David was hiding within, just as I am telling you now. David is hiding in you and will come out when an explosion takes place within you. And when you see David he will be standing. That is why I believe Browning had the experience, because the symbolism he used is perfect. “See the Christ stand!” When I saw David I was seated but he was standing.

The word “Christ” means the “the messiah.” Standing before Saul, David tells of the coming of the messiah, saying: “His face will be like my face. He will be a man like me. You are going to love the messiah and he will love you forever.” This relationship between you and David is one of infinite love and it is forever. Here David is telling Saul that he is the messiah, for he is the Christ, the anointed of the Lord. Then he said: “A hand just like this hand will open the door of a new life to you.” And standing before him, he says: “See the Christ stand” – but Saul could not understand.

Those who read Browning miss this point because it is in conflict with their fixed ideas concerning Jesus. They think he is the Christ, but I tell you: Jesus is God the Father whose final revelation to man is the gift of himself. God gives himself to you by sending his son into your heart, crying: “Father,” thus revealing your true identity. Until then you do not know that you are Jesus and remain confused by the hearing of many different beliefs.

I speak of this only from the platform where you come to hear it, but I would never go into your home and volunteer this information. That would be silly and completely out of order. I would be taking my pearls and throwing them before those who are not yet qualified to receive them, so I do not disturb them. But you who know it are called upon to voice what you know. And you who are moved to teach – teach the true words of the pattern which I have given you, but do change the pattern. Paul called the pattern “my gospel.” Paul was very proud of the fact that he was born a Jew, saying: “I was born of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee of the Pharisees.” Then the whole thing unfolded within him and he realized the non-historicity of his own great Book, yet its truth. He recognized the characters recorded there as eternal state through which every individual must pass.

One day you will experience the state of Abraham and know what faith really is. When you see that giant of a man leaning against a tree, you will see a serpent wound around its trunk. The serpent will have a human face with the wisest expression. (In Genesis the serpent is recorded as the wisest of all of God’s creatures.) And you will see Abraham’s eyes are looking into time, as recorded in the Book of Galatians: “The scripture, foreseeing that God would justify all by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham.” So, before the events took place Abraham was shown the end, and when you look at him his attention is focused, not on the distance of space, but of time. And the tree under which he stands looks like the human brain. When you see Abraham you will know you are seeing the beginning of the journey. Wisdom is present in the form of a serpent and faith is present in the form of Abraham. His name is changed from Abram – which means “exalted Father” to Abraham – which means “father of the multitude.” The change occurred when the letter “He” was added. This letter carries the symbol of grace. So grace was put into the name to indicate that God had given himself to his creation (the work of his hand.) Putting the gift of grace into the name of the father of the multitudes, the journey begins.

So, when you read scripture try to bear in mind that you are reading about infinite states of consciousness, which are eternal. Remember you are Jesus, and when you find the Christ you have found the Lord’s anointed, who is David. You will know him for he will come to you in the spirit and call you Father. How then can you be his son? Because the words Father/son are interchangeable. “I and my Father are one. He who sees me (the son) sees the Father.” Always keep this in mind when reading scripture.

If you will accept what I have told you this night, life will be much easier for you. Knowing this truth, you can’t pass the buck any more; but knowing you are the Lord you can do anything, because you are all imagination and imagining creates reality. You can imagine anything and sustain it with faith. As you walk in the faith that that which you have imagined is so, it will become so. This I know from experience.

Back in 1943 when I came out of the army I was looking for an apartment. My wife and I had determined how much we were going to pay for it, but when we found the apartment the rent was more than we had planned to pay. Realizing this, my wife said: “Well, that’s not demonstrating this principle, is it.” I said nothing. I simply paid the months of September and October, but when I went to pay the November rent the manager said: “I have an apology to make to you. An authority of the city came in and looked over my books. He discovered that the apartment you have was formerly rented for less.” Then he quoted the new rent figure to me, which was to the dollar the amount I had originally chosen to pay. It took me three months of being faithful to what I had imagined I was paying, even though during that time I was paying more. But, since the reduced rent was retroactive to the day I moved in, I got it all back at the beginning of the third month.

I committed myself in my imagination, to what I was going to pay. I went looking, and because I was going to pay more – in his eyes – he gave me all kinds of concessions he would not have done had I paid him what the former tenant did. First of all he allowed us to pick out the wallpaper, the colors and rooms we wanted painted. He even built a bookshelf for me which covered an entire wall, for all my books. He did everything I wanted; but if I had gone in there and gotten the rent for the amount I said I would pay, he would not have built the bookcase for me, given me the wallpaper, or painted the entire apartment to my specifications. Only then was the rent reduced to the amount I had imagined it to be, and we remained there almost fourteen years.

I tell you: imagination will not fail you if you are faithful. What could I say when I was confronted with the negation of my assumption? Nothing. I simply would not give up, and when the time was right my assumption became a fact. I urge you to set your goal high. Assume the feeling it has been reached and sleep in that feeling. Persist and I promise you that not one thing in this world can rob you of that which you have assumed. But the most important thing is to know that which is housed within you is God’s plan of redemption, and he only redeems himself. God came down into the world and housed himself in you. Now he is going to discover who he is, for it is in you as a person that the nature of God is revealed.

Now let us go into the silence.

A PROPHECY

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 12/16/1968

In his poem called “Europe,” which is a prophecy about you, William Blake said: “Then Enitharmon woke, nor knew that she had slept, and eighteen hundred years were fled as if they had not been.”

Told in the form of a story, Blake used the name “Enitharmon” to express any emanating desire or image. Enitharmon is the emanation of Los, who – in the story – had the similitude of the Lord and all imagination. Entering into his image (his Enitharmon), Los dreams it into reality; and when he awoke he knew not that he had slept, yet eighteen hundred years had fled.

In my case, 1,959 years had fled as though they had not been. And I had no idea I had entered into an image called Neville and made it real. But I, all imagination, so loved the shadow I had cast, I entered into it and made it alive.

To those in immortality I seemed to be as one sleeping on a couch of gold, but to myself I was a wanderer. Although lost in dreary night, I kept the divine vision in time of trouble. I kept on dreaming I was Neville until I awoke, not knowing I had slept; yet 1,959 years had fled as though they had not been.

Blake tells us that in the beginning we were all united with God in a death like his. Then we heard the story and entered into our shadows. Now, a shadow is a representation, either in painting or drama, in distinction from the reality portrayed. Paul recognized the shadow when he asked the 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, by seeing Jesus Christ as someone on the outside?”

Having heard the story of Jesus Christ, you are called upon to enter into it as the central character and remain there until the story externalizes itself.

God destined us, in love, to be his sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will. Falling in love with his image, God entered it and became his son. Having declared what he was going to do, God does it through his pattern called Jesus Christ.
Knowing what you want, when you conceive a scene that implies you have it, that objective becomes the pattern for your desire to unfold. Jesus Christ is God’s pattern, his purpose which he set forth for the fullness of time. Christ is the plan, the image God entered and made so real he claims he is the image.

God’s plan has completely unfolded in me. When I awoke I knew not that I had slept, and 1,959 years were fled as though they had not been. This is true for every child born of woman, for we were all gathered together and united with him in a death like his; therefore, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

Blake, writing in 1794, knew that 1,800 years had fled when he – Enitharmon – awoke. Blake knew he was the emanation, the shadow God entered and identified himself with. Blake tells us it was the image that awoke, knowing not that she had slept.

The emanation is always feminine. Eve came out of Adam. Every desire is feminine, regardless of what it is, be it a house, money, or a new car. Imagination is the male, which must leave every doubt, every thought of impossibility behind, and cleave to the desired emanation until they are one. To do this, imagination must enter into the shadow and remain there until there is only the awareness of being or possessing the fulfilled desire.

In this world of Caesar it could take an hour, a day, a week, or a month, to awaken the desire within and project it on the screen of space. But you must enter into the image and remain there, just as God did in the foundation of time, in order to make you, himself. God so became me, that when He awoke in the tomb, I did not know I had slept. In fact, I did not know I had been placed there, as I had become so one with it.

In his book of Milton, Blake tells us that when he entered into his shadow, he appeared to those in immortality as one asleep on a couch of gold. But to himself he was a wanderer, lost in dreary night. Is that not the story of everyone? Lost and confused, imagination is faithful to the image he has assumed, saying: I am John, I am Ray, or I am Natalie.

Now in the image of the being I fell in love with, Neville is my emanation, my shadow, and the image I have been faithful to. Many a time I have thought myself a wanderer in dreary night, confused and not knowing where to turn for a dollar. But those who contemplate on death saw me as one asleep on a couch of gold. They knew the purpose behind my entering into the state of sleep, but they did not know what I was experiencing.

You are in this world because you are in love with the being you believe yourself to be. You may say that is not true, but I say it is impossible for thought greater than itself to know. Do not believe anyone who claims to know. Do not believe anyone who claims to love someone else more than they do themselves, for they do not. It is impossible for thought to be greater than the image it believes itself to be. Yes, you want companionship, security, and health, for these are all part of the image you fell in love with and entered.

You are now alive because you – a living being – have given the image called by your earthly name, life. And you will transform it into a life-giving spirit, because that is what you really are. Before this drama called life began, you predetermined a perfect pattern called Jesus Christ, which would lead you back to where you were prior to entering into the image.

Now, in this world a man who wants to be a success in business can sit down and map out a pattern (a scene) which would imply he has the success he desires. Then if he enters the scene and believes its truth, the pattern of success will unfold and the world will confirm it. But he must persist in the image of success, just as God has persisted, for the day will come when God will awaken and express the success he believes himself to be.

God enters into the image of every child born of woman to give it life. At that moment God’s real and immortal self is – to those who dwell in immortality – as one sleeping on a couch of gold; but to himself he seems a wanderer, lost in dreary night. The day will come when he will awake and – unknown to him, 1800 or 2000 years will have fled as if they had not been.

Use the same technique God used to become you. As one whose name forever is I AM, God fell in love with you, his image, and entered it. Now knowing you are, you say I am; so God is occupying his image and now answers to the name you were given at birth.

Intrigued by the idea of expressing himself in a body of flesh and blood, God entered this body by dreaming he is Neville. God laid himself down within me to sleep, and as he slept he dreamed he was I; for 1,959 years later, when God awoke, I knew not that I had slept. And, upon reflection, it was as though it had not been; for when God achieved his objective (which was to awake) and was conscious of the fact that he was the one he loved, all time vanished.

Before awakening there are barriers that separate God and his image, but once his objective is achieved, God awakes to the awareness that He and his image are one. This is the story the world celebrates and calls Christmas.

Christmas is not the incarnation of God, but the awakening of man as God. Having fallen asleep and entering his image, God made it a living being. In Blake’s case it took 1800 years. Why does it take one 2,000 and another 1,000 years to awaken? It depends upon the degree God is lost in the dream.

To what degree are you lost in your dream of success? Your world is your dream pushed out. When you can persuade yourself 100% that you are successful, success is yours! You must become so intense that you completely forget it was only a desire. You must tame the wild, new state you have entered until its naturalness causes you to forget all else. That is how God became you.

Jesus Christ, God’s pattern of salvation begins to unfold as you awake and resurrect from the tomb God entered. Being life itself, God entered you – his shadow, which has no life of its own – and made it alive. Entering death’s door, his image – God – lay down in the grave of that image, in visions of eternity until he awakes.

In the Old Testament, the question is asked: “Rouse thyself, O Lord, awake. Why cast us off forever?” And in the New Testament, the Lord awakens to discover he is one with the image he fell in love with. Having fallen in love with being you, individually, when God awakes, you are He. That is Christmas.

When God incarnated himself in the image he so fell in love with, time was divided between BC and AD. Blake tells us that for him, it took 1800 years for God to move from BC to AD. In my case it was 1,959 years. Each case is different, as we are told: “Each in his own order.” I do not know whether this order was predetermined or not, for the Book of Ephesians tells us that he destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will.

The God that dreamed in me is the same God that dreams in you. Was it really an order that I could not have awakened before 1959? I do not know. I only know that was the year in which God awoke in me, yet I did not know I had fallen asleep in that skull. But when I emerged, the symbolism recorded as revealing the birth of God surrounded me. That was the moment God awoke and was born into a higher region of his being. Having identified himself with the one he loved, that one was raised and born as God.

God is in love with his image, his shadow, which – like a reflection on oil or water – is dead. Having no life in itself, God so loves his shadow he enters it and dreams he is it. Being a life-giving spirit, God first animates the shadow and it becomes solid and real in his world. He walks and talks, knows sorrow and joy, sickness and health, until the dream is complete. Then God awakens a pattern by which he will know he has arrived at the end.

This pattern was predetermined. The first segment is to awaken and rise from his sleep of death, to be designated Son of God in power. Then he discovers his fatherhood when his son calls him father. A short interval later he cuts himself in two. This is his sacrifice for this wonderful accomplishment. Fusing with his blood, which he finds at the base of his spine, God ascends as a fiery serpent. Then the final sanctification comes in the form of a dove, which descends and smothers him with love, for God has now accomplished what he set out to do.

You can imitate God while here in this world. If, for example you desire to be a great artist, acclaimed throughout the country, map out a plan of success, just as God mapped out a plan of fulfillment which he called Jesus Christ. There are multiple ways to imagine success. Choose a scene which would imply you already have achieved success and when it unfolds, you will know how it came about. Do this, and you are testing the infinite power that you really are.

Having entered the shadow that I conceive myself to be, I walk the earth wondering where the next dollar is coming from; yet those in great eternity see me as dreaming on a golden couch. But I am still faithful and keep the divine vision in time of trouble. Then, like a woman in labor who bears its pains, after the child is born the pain is forgotten in the job of fulfillment, so it is when Christmas comes and you – individualized – become God.

The same technique God used to make you real can be used to bring your desire into being. Blake said: “If the spectator could only enter into the image in his imagination, approaching it on the fiery chariot of contemplative thought; if he could only make a friend and companion of one of these images, he would rise from the grave and meet his Lord in the air and then he would be happy.”

God entered into his image, therein giving us life. Being a life-giving spirit, God wants us to be just as he is, so he mapped out the pattern that through it we may be God. When we completely fulfill his predetermined pattern, the barrier will be torn down and we will be one with infinity.

Christmas as celebrated by the Christian world is not Christmas. It is not something that takes place on the outside. Christmas consists of a series of events which begin when God awakens within the shadow He entered. Rising, God desires to come out; and since all things are possible to God, He pushes, and a seemingly unbreakable seal falls away and infinite power comes out.

The predetermined symbolism must be there. If it isn’t, then the vision is an adumbration indicating nearness. It is a shadow cast before coinciding with the actual vision.

These visions are recorded in the four gospels, of which three were written in or about 150 AD. Scholars believe the Book of John was written at the end of the first century, however, making it possible for him to draw on the source material of all the others.

John eliminates the story of a genealogy, or virgin birth, but emphasizes the need of rebirth. He doesn’t tell you how it is done, but using the word anothin, he tells you the birth is from above.

There are two births: The first is from the womb of woman and the second from the tomb above, and each birth is essential. Also, you must rise in the same manner as Moses raised the serpent in the desert.

John claims that God Himself became you, saying: “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.” Here we see that God became flesh – as you are – and says, “I am”. So God is incarnated as an animated being, but that is not enough. He wants you to be as He is, and God is a life-giving spirit. In order to do this his pattern must be fulfilled. And when it is, you enter an entirely different sphere, called the kingdom of heaven.

Having fallen in love with your image, God entered that shadow and made it alive by falling asleep. Now dreaming he is human, he loves you – the being you identify with today. You may not be in love with being poor, but that is not you! You could be rich if that is your desire, but you are in love with being yourself! You would not give up your individuality for any other being. You may desire to have what someone else has, but not if you have to give up your identity.

At one time, that which you have so identified yourself with was only a shadow, an image God entered. It was dead, and by God’s entry, He made it a living being. And when God awakes, that living being becomes a life-giving spirit.

If it is a true awakening, and not just a fore-shadowing, the drama called Jesus Christ will unfold in 1,260 days, as foretold in scripture. Do not be discouraged if your visions are fore-shadowings; the promise will be fulfilled, for you are keeping the vision in time of trouble. At times, like Peter you may have denied that you are God, but you are still keeping the divine vision.

I fell in love with being Neville, as you fell in love with the being you are now. You have dreamed poverty into being, health, being loved, being ignored, but you have never lost your vision of individuality You will never lose it, for that is the one you fell in love with. And in the end you will awaken as God, individualized. You will know yourself to be a life-giving spirit as you move towards ever greater and greater individualization. That is the purpose of the entire drama, and that is what Christmas means.

When it will happen I do not know. Blake certainly was not 1800 years old judged by the world of Caesar. He was born in 1757 and wrote his poem, “Europe” in 1794. Blake was speaking of that second birth, believing that if we have been united with Christ in a death like his, we shall be united with him in a resurrection like his. Blake looked upon this division of time between BC and AD as the beginning, claiming he was one with God when, falling in love with his image, he became universally diffused individuality. Starting as we did, the God in him took 1800 years to complete the drama and awaken.

In his poem, “Europe,” Blake speaks of the cavern man and his five openings. His eyes, which see only a small section of infinity. His ears, which will hear the music of the heavens. His breath and mouth, totaling four; but Blake does not tell us where the fifth one is. He does, however, tell us that through this opening man may leave at any time and return, but man does not choose to do so. What is that one but imagination? Standing here, I can imagine myself elsewhere. What opening do I use to imagine myself there? The fifth one of the five openings of the cavern man.

Soon the Christian world will celebrate this wonderful mystery, which is completely misunderstood. But one day you, individuality, will experience scripture and know the true mystery of Christmas. Then you, too, will say I woke and knew not that I had slept.

The sensation is one of waking, not resurrection. You know you are in your tomb, yet your skull. Because of an innate knowledge, you will push from within, and the stone will roll away as you are born from above.

Three witnesses will be there; two will deny your birth, and one will confirm it, for you are fulfilling scripture: “Where two or more persons agree in testimony, it is conclusive.” One witness declares you as the father of the sign, the child wrapped in swaddling clothes. You – the father – witness the event, and scripture – the written word of God – bears you out; so you have three witnesses, all agreeing in testimony: the Bible, you, and a third.

This is the story of Christmas, the time when the prophecy made to you before that the world was, is fulfilled.

Now let us go into the silence.

A RIDDLE

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 4/28/1969

Tonight I will call this, “A Riddle,” for every creative mind rises to the challenge of a riddle. Now a riddle is defined in the dictionary as “an imperial object or person; that which is difficult to understand.” It is also “a sieve to separate the chaff from the wheat, or a puzzling question.”

Now I ask you: who is the greatest of the great of earth, who was never mortal born, or lived – as you and I understand the term – in this secular world? I could use the plural and say “they” who were never mortal born, but tonight I will confine myself to the greatest of the great of earth, the one that is worshiped by all. As far as I am concerned, he is Jesus Christ.

I think you will agree with me when I say you did not choose the environment in which you first found yourself at birth. But you quickly adjusted to everything you found here in this section of space/time; the habits, the classrooms, the religion, and the doctrine. This is true with everyone in the world. If they were honest with themselves, everyone would admit that they did not choose their environment, but simply found themselves there.

God the Father placed you in this particular age, as it is best suited for the work he is doing on himself in you. He did it willingly, prepared to accept all the consequences of this confused world of beings with all of its tangles and enigmas. This he did in Jesus Christ in you, for Christ is God’s power and his wisdom buried in us all.

Now let us turn to scripture. We are told in the 6th [chapter] of Isaiah, that the Lord God blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they turn and be saved. So when someone awakens by reason of the long, long journey he has taken, and scripture fulfills itself in him and he tells it, there are only a few who will accept his message and believe him. The majority will reject him, for they will see only his mortal form in the world of men. They will know his father and mother, his sister and brothers. But when he tells them exactly how it unfolds and they cannot believe, so his story is completely discounted. But those who hear it and believe will experience scripture. They too will tell their experiences, yet it will still be denied by the mass because He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they see with their eyes and perceive with their hearts, turn and be saved.

Now, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? That the words I speak are not my words, but the words of him who sent me? Believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me, for truly I say unto you, the work that I have done you shall do also and even greater works than these. If you don’t believe me, believe it for the sake of the works themselves.” God the Father is not on the outside. I am in the Father and the Father is in me. If you turn you will see Him and, becoming what you behold, you will vanish from sight. All that you see now, that appears so real before your face, is only a shadow made real by the world. This I know from experience.

There is a little boy in New York City who bears my name. He is now about fifteen. Before he was born he stood before me in vision and I felt I was his father. Appearing to be about four years old, he told me his name was Neville Mark. When I asked him when he was coming, he said the 10th of November. This was now September. The next morning I told my wife that a little boy was coming to us on the 10th of November. Well, she admitted that she believed in miracles and in me, but she knew she was not pregnant. Regardless, I told her he was coming anyway.

A friend of mine who was expecting her baby in December wanted a little girl, as she already had a little boy. I said to her: “If your child is born on November 10th and it is a boy, his name is Neville Mark.” She agreed, although she was certain that the child would be born in December. But when November 10th arrived, Neville Mark was born.

About five years ago, while visiting them in New York City, the little boy came in, walked over to me and said: “You know, Neville. I feel that if I could turn around I would see who I really am. I know I am wearing a mask and I can’t wait to die, cause then I will turn around and see my true identity.” His mother was a very poor girl who married wealth, and anything relative to death frightened her. The thought of losing her diamonds, her home, and all of her possessions, scared her to death, so she was upset when the child spoke of death. No doubt having grown up in the meantime, the boy’s attention has been diverted; but that is what he told me five years ago.

Now let me tell you my own experience. While lying on the bed, on my left side, I felt a force coming from beyond my head – yet near it – enter it. The force as so powerful I wanted to turn around and see who was applying it. I felt as though some person – not an impersonal force but someone – was doing it. Although my body was just as alive as it is now, the force at the base of my skull was so intense I could not turn around. Had I turned, that day I would have seen the being that I am and instantly vanished from this world.

So, he blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes and perceive with their hearts and turn and be saved. These same words are used, in the Greek sense, of the prodigal son who came to his senses and turned. Remembering his father, he turned and went home to receive the great robe, the ring, the fatted calf, and shoes for his feet.

You and I have been purposely blinded by the Father in us. Our hearts have been hardened by the Father in us. So the words are true, and when you reach the end you will say: “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” God the Father uses the tyrants of the world for ends beyond their own. Every person in the world is only a mask God the Father wears while playing that part. Man sees and judges the mask; but the occupant he does not see, for his eyes have been blinded and his heart hardened. God is playing each part based upon the environment in which he was placed – not by his own choice, for we were made subject unto futility; – not willingly, but by the will of him who subjected us in hope; and we cannot turn back until His predetermined goal is reached. That is when we reach the end of the journey and go through the series of events called the story of Jesus Christ, at which time Christ is formed in you.

Christ is not and never was a mortal person. Those who believe that he was born from the womb of woman have no ears to hear and understand when told who Christ really is, or who the Father really is. To them “He who sees me sees the Father” is a riddle, which cannot be understood. But when the sum total of all experience of man is formed into a youth who calls you Father, the riddle is solved. David is he who sees you and thereby sees the Father; yet he, too, like the greatest of the great of earth, had no mortal birth.

Called Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus Christ, you and I – clothed as we are in these mortal garments – make their drama alive; for it’s the Father alone who is playing all the parts. Willing to take all the consequences of this horrible experience unto himself, in Christ, God the Father thinks Christ is other than the one who sent him; but he who sees me sees him who sent me: lo we are one.

The whole in me sent me to clothe myself in this garment of flesh you see. He placed me on the tiny island of Barbados in 1905, with many brothers, in a limited environment and no social, intellectual, or financial background. Then, because I was sifted prior to 1905 (the sifting was the riddle, separating the grains of wheat) I couldn’t stand the environment I had been inducted into and felt the restlessness of a boy to continue my search. My one outstanding corporal punishment in this world was for the Bible. In response to my schoolmaster’s question, I said, “Take up thy bed and walk.” When he asked me for my Bible and I couldn’t show it, he was allowed to beat me. I was beaten from my buttocks down to my feet for the Bible. But all of my life I have been restless for the Word of God. I came all the way across the ocean in my search and joined the theater, all in preparation to stand before you and tell you of my experiences.

I know from experience that if a man could only turn around, his eyes would no longer be blind or his heart hardened; for he would see that he and the very being who sent him into the world are one. You and your Father are one. You would see God’s only begotten Son as a radiant being, the only God and you would see yourself as you really are.

Now, we are taught that all who are baptized into Christ have put on Christ, and all are one in Jesus Christ. This is true, for when you meet him, you are baptized. He who is infinite love sent you into this world of horror, where you murder and are murdered, rape and are raped, mutilate and are mutilated. And when you have experienced it all, you will turn and all is forgiven. Then you will return to your eternal home more brilliant because you have raised the one you wore.

“You must be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.” The moment you turn, you are perfect, for you are the Father. Clothed in your body of perfection, the blind see, the deaf hear, the dumb shout for joy, as everything you behold is made perfect. I know, for it is the end of my journey. So I say to you: be of good cheer. No matter what you have gone through, what you may still have to go through or what you are going through right now, one day you will be baptized into Jesus Christ, you will turn around and – seeing him – you are incorporated into his being.

To be baptized is to be completely covered with fluid. It doesn’t mean water, because the Messiah is Christ and the Messiah is the placenta, one who is anointed with oil. What the pope does here hasn’t a thing to do with it. There is a living fluid, living water you break through to merge with, just as a drop of water merges with the ocean; yet your identity or individuality is never lost.

All are One and all will be baptized into that One. All will put on the Lord, which simply means to live as, to move into the garment and flow with it. The last words of Christ in the Book of Luke are: “Remain in the city until you are imbued with power from on high.” Power is Christ; wisdom is Christ, and to imbue is to clothe. In other words, wait until I have clothed you with myself, and on that day you will literally say: “I am in Christ and Christ is in me.”

Believe me when I tell you I am in the Father and the Father is in me. If you can’t believe that, then believe it for the works themselves; for truly, truly I say unto you: the works that I do you shall do, and greater than these shall you do because I go unto the Father. I came out from the Father and came into the world. Again I am leaving the world and returning to the Father.

The entire drama of scripture unfolds in us and hasn’t a thing to do with any being that was mortal born. Christ in you who is your hope of glory is born from within, and does not walk the earth, as you who are born from the womb of woman. So who is Christ? This, the riddle of riddles, is asked all through scripture. In the Book of Proverbs the question is asked, “Who has established all of the ends of the earth? What is his name and what is his Son’s name? Surely you know.” Who has established all of the ends of the earth? The Father of fathers, one of infinite love, whose son is David. It is he who established all of the ends of the earth and sustains them from within you. You are his suffering servant, who is Himself.

The 53rd chapter of Isaiah, called “The Last of the Suffering Servants of God”, begins: “Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” My arm has been revealed. It has been completely unveiled before those who are being prepared to tell the story.

So I tell what has happened to me, but who will believe it? This power which is to be revealed in you is not worldly demonstration, but for the unfolding of your godhood. After your arm has been revealed, when you leave this world you are one at the right hand of the Father, for you are David, his right hand. God the Father unfolds himself in you, for there is nothing but God. Not God and you – just God.

You will discover diversity in unity as well as unity in diversity for, “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.” Here is the compound unity, one made up of others. Diversity in unity as well as unity (I am) in death (diversity). I dwell in them and they dwell in me and we are one. Just as I am in the Father and the Father in me, I am (plural) and you (plural) are in me (singular). Here is diversity in unity. I look upon myself and see my world pushed out. Now I can see the diversity in unity as all within me. All that I behold, though it appears without, it is within me. All that I behold, though it appears without, it is within me in my own wonderful human imagination, of which this world of mortality is but a shadow.

May I tell you: it has been determined what the last will do, and how they will do it. Having become separated, all are moving toward the final event. I am not saying this to flatter you who attend my meetings, because whether you come or not, it makes no difference to my way of life. I am no longer interested in things of this world or to shine among shadows, for I know that the greatest of the great never walked the earth and was never mortal born. I have no desire to establish something here for shadows to say how wonderful I am. No, all of us are moving toward the inevitable end. To turn around as the prodigal son and be embraced by the Father, thereby becoming the Father. And on that day you can forgive everyone, knowing they know not what they do. Believe me: every word of scripture is true, for I have experienced it. But it is not secular history. It is salvation history.

I heard Ben Gurion the other day on “Meet the Press.” He is a grand old fellow of 80 now, who still sees the world as a history book and hasn’t the slightest idea about scripture. Oh, he can quote it from cover to cover, but he’s not alone. My sister’s maid can quote the Bible from beginning to end, but she doesn’t know a thing about life. Ben Gurion quotes the Bible beautifully, but he hasn’t the slightest concept of who Abraham really is, or Isaac, or Moses, or Jacob, or any of these who were never mortal born. They are eternal spiritual states through which all men pass. Starting with the state of Abraham – the friend – the companion of the Father who is buried with him whispers in your ear and tells you the story of redemption. He tells you that you will be enslaved as long as you wear the garment of death. Then he will bring you up to have much, much more than you had before you entered; for God’s power and his wisdom will be enhanced by reason of this challenge which God put upon himself. Then, in the end, you will turn around and see yourself as infinite love, fuse into and become one with the Everlasting Father. Everyone will turn to the Father and enter this wonderful unity of Christ. So here is diversity, and yet there is unity in diversity as there is diversity in unity.

You dwell upon what I have said tonight. It’s a riddle, and riddles are difficult to understand. There is no greater riddle than this – the riddle of riddles, which is Christ. I tell you an incredible story. The story of one whose birth will influence all. Who tells the only truth. Who was born, yet was not mortal born. I tell you of one who dies, yet rose from the dead. This incredible story is summed up in one person, called Christ. He was not mortal born; he never walked the earth except within you; but rising from within, you experience everything that was said of Jesus in scripture, thereby un-riddling the riddle of Christ. The Old Testament is the riddle, and when Christ awakens within you, he un-riddles the riddle. Then when you tell of this un-riddled riddle, those who hear you will judge you by human standards, not knowing that the vision took place before you came into the world.

I was sifted a long time ago. I now know that I came into this world to be stirred in Christ. I was not satisfied with the environment into which I was placed at my mortal birth and became restless, knowing I was destined to grow into something different; so I started my search to completely unveil the Christ in me, and now I am telling the story. I tell it to the best of my ability, but I know that only a few will hear it with faith. The mass will reject it. There will be those who will hear and believe, but they will be afraid of the reactions of society and, therefore will be silent. This is told us in the 12th [chapter] of John, where it is said that many heard and believed, “but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it lest they should be put out of the synagogue.” The synagogue of the ancient world is still with us today, in all denominations of churches where anything that disagrees with their traditional concept of a secular is excommunicated.

Today the present pope is asking that Luther be brought back into the fold. He was excommunicated a hundred years ago and now they want to bring him back. Have you ever heard such nonsense? Isn’t that “Alice in Wonderland”? How can you forgive a man who has been dead one hundred years? I tell you, forgive them for they know not what they do, and that goes for the pope down to the one who shines his shoes and thinks he’s blessed because he is allowed to do it.

Let Christ awake in you and one day you will turn around and find joy in your return. I was sent into the presence of the Risen Christ. I didn’t turn around. Had I turned around I would not be here. I was sent into his presence to answer the question asked of me, then to be incorporated into his body, that I may complete the journey. Any moment between now and my departure from this world I can turn around, and when I do, you will read of Neville’s obituary. My journey is at its end. I have fought the good flight. I have finished the race. This I know from my own personal experience.

Tonight I hope I have been able to un-riddle the riddle, for the greatest riddle in the world is in Jesus Christ, he who is your own wonderful human imagination.

Now let us go into the silence.

ALL THAT IS DIVINE

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 06-16-1969

In the nature of things it is impossible for any child born of woman to go unredeemed, for the moment he says, “I am,” he is proclaiming all that is divine in his flesh. Therefore, God cannot cast away that which constitutes the “I” of man without casting himself away, and that is impossible.

Scripture teaches in the form of parables, and we must learn to distinguish between the parable told and its message. In the 18th chapter of the gospel of Matthew we read that he placed a child in the midst of them and said, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven.” The word ‘‘angel’’ means ‘‘a messenger; to bring forth,’’ and the word translated “child” means “an infant; a term of endearment.” Here we find a child is always beholding the face of the Father who is in heaven and bringing forth his message by becoming what he beholds.

The reality of man is symbolized as that of the Christ-child, the incorruptible seed which is always beholding the face of the Father, molding man’s reality into the Father’s image that he may become one with his Father. Casting his shadow into a certain role, we judge the role, not knowing that the innocent child is doing it as he molds himself into the image of the Father. In the world we play our parts by saying, I am rich, I am poor, I am known, I am unknown; yet all the while the innocent Christ-child (this incorruptible seed) is beholding the face of the perfect one, molding itself into the image of that which it beholds. It is my desire to constantly see truth so clearly that I become its image and share it with everyone who will listen.

Not understanding the horrors of the world, man thinks he is damned and not saved; but I tell you, every child born of woman is already redeemed. The being that is the child’s reality is molding himself into the image of the Father and becoming what he beholds. But in the world he is casting himself into the many parts to be played. At the moment he may be playing the part of a rich man or perhaps a poor man; still he is free to choose yet another state by applying the precept, “Whatever you desire, believe that you have it and you will.” You are always molding yourself into the image of what you are beholding, whether in this world of death or that world of life. But your Christ-child is always beholding the face of your Father and molding himself into his likeness, that you may know who you are and say within yourself, “I am He!”

This seems fantastic, but it is true, for I am telling you what I know, not what I am theorizing or speculating about. No one can fail. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that he could not let his people go. Then giving them blow after blow, he again hardened his heart – so who is responsible? The child is dreaming he is Job as he casts his shadow and plays the many parts. But in the end you will understand why you put yourself through hell, and you will be given a hundred times more than you had before.

You are playing a role now, and have played unnumbered roles in the past. Many of you here are playing the last role, but every role was for the purpose of molding you into the image of that which you are beholding. Always beholding the perfect image, hopeful that you will not deviate from it, you will become an image of truth.

Now he tells you, “If you abide in my Word you will know that I am the truth.” You will know this when God’s son sets you free, and when your son sets you free, you are free indeed. In the meantime you are molding your face into the image of that which you are beholding. Now you see only the shadow world, but if you believe me and remember my words in your moments of despair, they will support you in your times of trouble.

In the 8th chapter of Proverbs, the little child tells us, “In the beginning, when the Lord created the universe, I was beside him as a little child. I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always. He who finds me, finds life. He who misses me, injures himself; all who hate me, love death,” for they are in love with this world of death.

When you view consciousness you must see the two relationships: the pure, unconditioned I AM, and the conditioned I AM. Now conditioned, I am aware of being Neville, a speaker and teacher. Another condition placed upon pure awareness is that of a banker, a lawyer, or that of a thief. These are all conditioned states of being the little child has cast you into, and you are playing your part perfectly.

You do not see that little child until the end of the play, at which time you will hold that infant in your arms and your intense feeling towards him will come forward into speech. In my own case I said, “How is my sweetheart?” The child calls forth a term of endearment, for when you find that child, you find life. You find he who was beside the Lord when he created the world, and you will know that. He who misses me, injures himself, and he who hates me is in love with the world of death.

Everything here is mortal, and in time the billionaire will leave his billions and the honored general will leave his medals. The billions will decay and the medals will tarnish. Everything here will vanish and leave not a trace behind, but he who played the part of the millionaire and the general cannot vanish. He is that little child within, who was one with God, and is God. It is he who watches and changes the image until he is as perfect as his father in heaven is perfect. He is building the same image and when he reflects and radiates it, you will find that child and speak words of endearment to him.

The child is but a sign of your true being who is casting himself into these many roles. He cast me into the role of a poor boy, in a family with no intellectual, social or financial background. Then he brought me out as the perfect image of the Father for me to discover my own being. That is the story of everyone in this world.

Now, he gives you a cushion by telling you that, through the act of assumption, you can fulfill every desire of your heart. Knowing what you want, you must assume that you have it in the same sense that the Christ child is assuming he is what he is beholding. You must behold yourself as secure if that is your desire. You must behold yourself as healthy if that is what you want. You must feel yourself into the state desired with the same persistence as Christ in you is feeling himself into the image of the Father, for he never deviates from that wish.

When you know who you are, you will discover that you are free to be anything, go anywhere and possess every desire of your heart. You will also know that, no matter what you have gone through, what you are going through or what you may go through, you will be redeemed, for he, in you, will not falter watching the face of the Father. As Blake said so beautifully, “You will see from what I teach, that I do not consider either the just or the wicked to be in a supreme state, but to be everyone of them states of the sleep into which the soul may fall in its deadly dreams of good and evil when it left paradise following the serpent.”

It was the serpent, the symbol of eternal life, that said, “Did God say you would die? I tell you, you will not really die, but will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Eating of the tree of good and evil, you remain in the world as you judge another; but behind your mask is the Christ child, who is molding you into the image of the Father. If you find yourself in a state you do not like, apply this principle and assume you are free from all encroachments, knowing in the depth of your soul that you are seeing the face of your Father. When you first see him you do not know he is the Father. Just as a child knows its parents before he knows they are his parents, you will know God before you know he is the Father, and you know the Father before you know he is yourself. This is how consciousness awakens in the world.

The son of man comes to save those who are lost by their wandering consciousness. You simply wandered from the state, that is all. You are not lost. When you say, “I am” you are in, of and moving towards the I AM. Always in him and of him, you are moving towards consciously thinking from being the one I AM. Everyone is moving towards being that I AM, for everyone is in imagination, of imagination, and moving towards knowing consciously that he is all imagination.

Everything in this world invites you to wander away from the I AM. Urged to believe in that pill, this diet, a man, you move away from your true identity and become lost as your consciousness wanders. But it doesn’t really matter, for you cannot be lost, as the son of man will come. He is the one in whom the ideal has been realized. Called Jesus, he is the personification of the incorruptible seed which awoke, budded, flowered, and bore its fruit. And in that state you move towards Fatherhood when your son David reveals your true identity.

Last lecture night I tried to make my message clear, but there were those who did not understand, so I shall repeat it briefly now. The message is simple. In scripture, the expression “Christ” is used of the human race and of the human who has achieved the ideal. The human race, with all of its generations and experiences, is personified as the eternal youth, David. Now the being in whom the ideal is realized, is called Jesus, who is God the Father, whose son is David. Everyone in whom the ideal is attained is Jesus, and in the end there is Jesus only, who is the one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one God, and Father of all. You, individually, will attain the ideal when you are confronted by your son who bears witness to the fact that you are God the Father.

This may not be the easiest thing to grasp, but you dwell upon it. Lean against this truth in time of trouble. That is what Paul meant when he said, “I consider the sufferings of this present time not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed in us.” Paul never doubted this heavenly vision was the promise God made to the fathers, but he didn’t spell it out. I am trying my best to make it as clear as possible. The sum total of your experiences in this world of humanity – no matter how cruel they may have been – when fulfilled, produce David; so in the end you will say, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” On this level we judge and condemn, but these parts must be played by you, an individual, before you can produce David, and when you see David you know you are God the Father and that is Jesus.

Now, he calls a child and puts him in the midst of them saying, “Let no one despise one of these, for I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of my Father, who is in heaven.” Why? Because a man always becomes what his “I” beholds. You can take anyone and represent him to yourself as the man (or woman) you would like him to be and, if you do not waver in that representation, he will conform to it. If you want someone to be big in your world, you must make him big in your mind first, and treat him that way morning, noon and night. If you see him as that being, he cannot fail, because he must become what you behold. But you cannot waver. The moment you listen to a rumor, you change the picture, and you cannot.

Many years ago I read the story of famous theatrical mothers and their sons. One was Milton Beryl. He was her only child and she built her world around him. She would join the group of boys playing ball and tell them that Milton was the star, and whatever he said, they were to do. If they did not, she would take their ball and bat away. The story listed a dozen such children whose mothers held that ideal of their sons in their mind’s eye. They did not falter and therefore their sons could not fail. They had to become what their mother beheld of them. If a mother compares her son to another child and finds hers wanting, she has broken the image. She sees him less than, but she must see him as great and never falter in her image of him if she really wants him to be great.

Now, there is something in you that has never taken his eyes off the face of the Father and will not deviate until you are perfect. In the meantime, it casts its shadow and you play the part of a bum, a part necessary to bring the image into focus. Then it will cast another image and yet another until you are perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect. But what is the reality of your flesh? “I am.” When you say “I am” you are proclaiming that which is divine and cannot be cast off unless God is willing to lose himself, for the “I” in you is God. Therefore, God cannot fail to achieve his predetermined goal, which is to fashion himself into and eventually become the Father.

What a mystery! Just think, before that the world was, you were predestined to become its author, its actor and the one who supports and sustains it. You, who have played many horrible parts, are Jesus. And when your image is perfect, you will awaken as he who is God, the Father of humanity. And when humanity is gathered together into a single being and projected, you will see your son David. That is the mystery.

What the next play will be I do not know. I only know that, until everyone has awakened, this play is not complete. So, don’t criticize, or condemn, because – from above – we will aid every being here to come home. We are the ones called, “Those who came to save the lost.” First we seek him, then save him by bringing that wandering consciousness back to the vision of the Father. Now my one consuming desire is to see truth so clearly that I become an eye-witness and can tell my experiences just as they happen m me.

I am not asking you to stop giving your money to charity if – in the giving -it gives you pleasure; but giving to the poor and needy is not going to save you. Only that which is in you, whose face is focused on the eternal Father, can save you by becoming what he is beholding. As he sees it, he casts its shadow. Knowing you need a certain experience embodied, he casts its shadow, yet gives you a cushion, telling you that whatever you desire, if you will but believe you have received it, you will. You may now be cast in the role of a poor man, but you need not anchor yourself there by claiming you cannot become rich. Rather, you can cast yourself in the role of a rich man by believing you are rich. You can cast yourself, consciously, into any role you desire to express while you are molding yourself into the image of the Father.

The Bible is filled with wonderful stories which the scholars have misunderstood. Like the one I quoted today. “He put the little child in the midst of them.” Scholars wonder who the little child was and what became of him, for they read it as a secular story and the Bible hasn’t a thing to do with any happening on earth. Jesus is not a man of secular history. He is a representative of every man within whom that incorruptible seed blossomed and bore its fruit. The resurrection, the birth, the discovery of the Fatherhood – all of these are the fruit you are bearing.

There is nothing comparable to this truth. If you owned the world, what would it matter if tomorrow you died and left it all? What would be the point of living if there were no end to this mortal life? But what I am telling you is true. You are an immortal being who cannot die. Dead though the body seems, you, its reality, cannot die for your I AM is God. There never was another God and there never will be another God.

You are slowly awakening to the realization that you are the God who created everything and that no one is greater than the other. In this world we all try to be better than the other, but when the truth is revealed, we will know that there is only one son and only one Father. And, if I am the father of David, and you are the father of David, are we not one? Then we will understand the great Sh’mah: “Hear, 0 Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one.” He is the one Father, and cannot be two, but if he is a father there must be a son to bear witness to his fatherhood. If you have the identical experience as I do are we not one? So in the end there is only one God, one Father, and one son. The one fell asleep and is dreaming this scattered, divine state into being. In the end we all will awake as the one who fell asleep, yet we will not lose our identity. I will love you dearly as a seeming other, yet know that we are one. It’s a peculiar mystery. We are all God the Father, for there is no other being. God first reveals himself as almighty power, then as “I am” and finally as infinite love, the Father.

So, why are we here? Blake put it beautifully: “We are put on earth a little space that we may learn to bear the beams of love.” In your present state you could not stand the beams of love, for God’s infinite love is sheer power. We see power used in going to the moon, and we contemplate going to Venus and Mars, but the power to get us there is as a firecracker compared to your true being who brought the world into being and sustains it.

One day the play will be over and, I don’t care what a man has ever done, he will awaken as God. Put yourself now, in the part of a father whose son is accused of a horrible act. Loving your son, would you not want him to go free? I know I would. I would regret that he did it, but I would forgive him and want him to go free. Read David’s story carefully and you will find that there is not a thing that man could do that David did not do. He sent Urias into battle, knowing he would be killed so David could have Bathsheba. Although he had a thousand wives of his own, he stole a man’s wife because he wanted one more; yet he was called the perfect man, the Lord’s son, “A man after my own heart who will do all my will.”

David is not a little man born of a woman. He is spirit. Personified as an eternal youth, David is the result of your journey into the world of death. When the Christ child, in you, has put you through all the generations of men and you have experienced everything you agreed to in the beginning, you are perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect, and you have formed David, your son, to reveal you to yourself. The world thinks Jesus Christ is the son of God, but I tell you Jesus is the Lord. This is a mystery. David comes in the spirit and calls Jesus “Father.” Humanity is Christ, the son and Jesus is God the Father.

I cannot open your skull and force the solution to this mystery into it. I can only give it to you in words, but I can tell you that the day is coming when you will experience my words. Your skull will explode and you will experience everything said of Jesus Christ in the first person, singular, present tense. Cast in the major role, you will know you are he, even though you will remain a very limited being in this world of mortality. You came into this world of death to overcome it, bringing with you the incorruptible Christ seed who is beholding the Father, transforming you into his image. And since the Father cannot beget another, he is begetting himself.

But while you are here, take his wonderful precept and believe that you can have anything you desire. There is no restriction placed upon the power of belief. There is no need to first consult some holy man to see whether you should have it or not. You be the judge. Choose your desire and, to the degree that you are self-persuaded that you have it, you will get it. And, because we are all one, if it takes one million people to aid the birth of your assumption, they will do it, without their knowledge or consent, so you don’t have to ask anyone to aid you. They will do it not even knowing that they are. All you are called upon to do is to assume that you have it. An assumption, though false, if persisted in will harden into fact. That is the principle.

Behind this fantastic play where you are awakening as God, we have a secondary state. In it you may be cast into the role of a poor man and need Caesar’s coins to meet his demands of taxes, rent and food. So you can render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s by assuming that you have that which Caesar demands, and remain faithful to that assumption. In the meantime something else is taking place in you which is infinitely greater than Caesar’s world, for this world will come to an end, but the kingdom of heaven is forever as it is eternal. Caesar’s world is one of death, but the human imagination is eternal life. It is the human imagination who will reveal your true identity to you when you are perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect. Then you will see David, the sign that you have reached the end of the journey. Having played all the parts, you are the conqueror and your crown is waiting for you as your son reveals your Fatherhood. If the Lord tells David, “Thou art my son, today I have begotten thee,” and David calls you Father, are you not the one called God in scripture?

It seems so silly for a little man, one of billions, to make these extravagant claims, but they are true. Einstein was a man of small stature, but he conceived an idea that has changed the thinking of the entire world. So God, wearing the mask of a little man, takes it off to reveal his true identity, and the little man’s words, believed, will change the world.

So the little child was brought and put in the midst of everyone. Don’t despise him, for he is the one who was with me in the beginning of time. When I laid out the foundations of the world he was beside me as a little child. He was daily my delight, delighting forever in the affairs of men. He who finds him, finds life. He who misses him injures himself. He who hates him, loves death.

The little child is a symbol of you, molding yourself into the image of the Father. You are casting yourself into these shadow worlds and when you are perfect you will radiate your Father and bear the very stamp of his nature. Then David will stand before you, in the Spirit, and call you “Father.”

Now let us go into the silence.

ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 11-03-1967

Jesus Christ is the true identity of every one! His name, forever and ever is I am! Therefore, when you say I am, you are declaring your true identity! Do you believe that all things are possible to someone called Jesus Christ, but not yourself? If you do it is because you do not know who you are!

In 1929, believing Jesus Christ to be another, I stood in His presence. We embraced and I became the infinite love that I beheld, for at that moment I was incorporated into His body and became one with the Risen Lord.

Scripture tells us: “No one has ever seen God except his only Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.” This is true, for thirty years later God’s only Son made himself known to me. When I was incorporated into the body of God, I thought I was Neville. But thirty years later, when David of Biblical fame exploded from within and called me father, I knew I was God.

Although to me the David who said – “I will tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to me, ‘Thou art my Son, today I have begotten thee,”’ – lived 1000 B.C., and was not in any way related to me. Yet now I know the truth of the words: “No one has ever seen God until he who is in the bosom of the Father makes him known.” Only when my whole being exploded and God’s Son David appeared in the spirit and called me father, did I know my true identity.

Now I know from experience that I am Jesus Christ and that there is no other God, no other savior. I also know that you and I came out of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it is to that one body, one Spirit, one Lord, and God and Father of all, that we return via these experiences which take place within.

Let me explain it in this manner. At the end of the 7th chapter of Luke it is said that Jesus forgave a woman of her sins, at which time those who sat at the table with him said: “Who is that who forgives sins?” Then he went from village to village, teaching the good news of the kingdom of God. Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Susanna went with him, providing for him out of their means.

The scholars of the great Interpreter’s Bible, considered the most scholarly work as of the moment, made this observation regarding this passage (and I am quoting accurately): “Jesus did not depend upon chance hospitality, but was supported by wealthy women.”

Can you believe that? They are speaking of the man who said: “Whatever you desire, believe you have received it and you will,” and: “All things are possible to him who believes.” Yet we are asked to believe that Jesus depended upon others! Why would these scholars say such a thing? Because they had not experienced Jesus Christ!

This is not a story of three wealthy women, but of those who saw the empty tomb. These characters are eternal. They are those who told what they had seen by relating their own experiences! It is said that the apostles who heard did not believe, as it seemed to them but an idle tale.

This is followed by a story that the Risen Lord walked with these women and – although they did not recognize him – he asked: “What is it all about?” and one replied: “Do you not know they crucified the great prophet who was delivered into the hands of the elders and the authorities?”

Then he said: “Is it not necessary that Christ should suffer these things and then come into his glory?” And, beginning with Moses in the law and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Since it was late they asked him to remain, and while seated at the table he took bread, blessed and broke it. As he handed it to them they recognized him and he vanished out of their sight.

This is not a story of a man who while dining breaks a piece of bread. I am the bread of life. One day, like a seed bursting itself, the bread of life will erupt, and the plan of salvation contained within that seed will unfold from within.

When the bread of life breaks in you, David will call you Father in the spirit. Prior to this revelation you will stand in the presence of the Risen Lord, embraced and incorporated into his body. This incorporation is your baptism, for it is then that you are united; and remember: “If you have been united with him in a death like his, you certainly shall be united with him in a resurrection like his.” Notice the difference in tense. You have been united with him in death, and shall be united with him in resurrection.

The seed has been broken and is breaking in all. You came out of yourself to enter this world, and you will return to yourself enriched by the experience.

The word translated “suffer” in the sentence: “Is it not necessary that Christ should suffer these things and then come into his glory?” means “to experience sensations.” In order for you to experience sensations, you emptied yourself of your Divine Being and accepted the limitations of a slave. You committed yourself unto death, to experience its sensations. Becoming one with death, you overcome it when you break this bread and are born from within; for unless this happens, you cannot enter the kingdom of God. When this happens, you will have lifted the son of Man to the knowledge that I am He! Unless you know that, you will remain missing your goals and continue to die in your sins.

There is no being talking to you from the outside, as Jesus Christ is not another. You and I fulfill everything said of him individually, because of our uniqueness. There is no one else like you and you cannot be replaced in the kingdom of God. Although what I tell you seems like a wild, wild tale it is true, for in my Father’s house are many rooms. Were it not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

Now, the women mentioned in Luke’s story are witnesses! You shall be my witness. I will take you into the Father’s house, where I will instruct you and tell you who I am. I can take you no farther. You must find the Father in you, and this you will never do while looking at me as another. When you see me, you see the Father; but I am not the Father when you look at me. You will find the Father only when his only begotten son, David, calls you Father!

The Old Testament is a prophetic blueprint, and the New Testament interprets its prophecy. When this prophecy is experienced it is so unlike what appears to be on the surface, for the Old Testament is simply a foreshadowing – an adumbration – in a not altogether conclusive or immediately evident way. When it happens in you (and it will) you will be born from above and discover God’s Son, who reveals you as his Father. The temple of your spiritual body will be torn from top to bottom and the Holy Ghost will descend upon you in bodily form as a dove. Then God’s plan of salvation will have fulfilled itself in you.

Men, thinking themselves so very good, are saying that Jesus was kept by wealthy women, and millions of people believe them. There are those in my own profession who will point to this passage and get wealthy women to support them – and they will. Believing they are doing God’s work, as you would milk cows. How could a man who said: “Whatever you desire, believe you have received it and you will,” depend upon wealthy women for support!

I have been offered diamonds, jewels of all kinds, money, my rent paid for five years at a time, all kinds of things – but I have never accepted any of these. I have paid all of my debts but not through gifts such as these. When they told me this was common practice, I assured them that I was not common and was not in the market for what they offered.

But the women spoken of in Luke were his witnesses, those who recorded their visions to support his claim; for one must have proof that everything said of Jesus Christ, in scripture, has been experienced by him. Should not Christ experience these sensations, these emotions, and then enter into his glory?

I have to have scripture confirmed, for I am not just talking to you on this level, but on every level of your being. One friend followed me from place to place, from level to level, as I taught scripture. In her letter she said: “At each lecture I became so excited my heart began to split, and at the very end I could hardly contain myself.” Are we not told: “Did not our hearts burn within us when he opened unto us the scriptures?” What else is there?

If you read a doctor’s report in the morning paper and remember what the same doctor reported a year ago about the same condition of the human heart, you would find that the doctor had completely contradicted himself. Or, perhaps he is only quoting another doctor. Well, if there are one-million doctors, do you know you will find one million different treatments for the same disease? Treatments are more fashionable than the clothes you wear, changing often – but the word of God is forever!

We are told: “I am from above. You are from below. You are of this world. I am not of this world.” If this is true, how can scripture be secular? He is telling you that he belongs to an entirely different region. That he is from the skull, where he was buried in the beginning of time, and not from the womb of any woman who bears children into time!

Everything you have ever done was done by Christ! He is your life and without Jesus Christ in you, you could not breathe. Allowing everything to happen, he will experience it all, as you!

Believe every precept literally, for it will be fulfilled literally. Believe that all things are possible to you and that you are what you want to be. Persist in that assumption and it will harden into fact. Having assumed the life you now live, no one can take it from you but yourself! You have the power to lay it down by no longer being conscious of it, and the power to pick it up again through consciousness.

You are the Cosmic Christ who nailed your power on humanity in six vortices as the six-pointed Star of David. At the moment of sheer ecstasy God began a good work in you, and He will bring it to completion as His predestined state unfolds from within!

Now let us go into the silence.

ALL THINGS EXIST

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 05-24-1968

“All that you behold, though it appears without, it is within, in your imagination of which this world of mortality is but a shadow.”

(William Blake)

The world of imagination is infinite and eternal, whereas the world of generation is finite and temporary. In that eternal world, the permanent realities of everything exist. Their reflections are here, cast in a glass called nature.

“The oak is cut down by the ax
And the lamb falls by the knife,
But their eternal forms exist forever,
And are renewed by the seed of contemplative thought.”
(William Blake)

The permanent realities of an extinct bird, animal, or fish, live! They can be resurrected and externalized by the seed of your contemplative thought, for everything lives within you!

This world of generation I call the world of Caesar should not be neglected, as it is an important aspect of reality, even though it is only a shadow. Scripture urges us to revise, to forgive, and change our thoughts, thereby changing the conditions of our life. This is how it is done.

A friend recently wrote saying: “Three weeks ago a friend called, saying he was afraid he was going to be fired. I instantly revised his call. Hearing his voice bubbling with excitement, he told me how he had been praised for his work and I felt the thrill of rejoicing with him. Today he came to my office and said the very words I heard in my imagination.
“This morning, while dressing I was thinking about an ad I was working on which carried the name of a very prominent man in San Francisco. As I ran the ad through my mind I said to myself, I want to put the word ‘Mister’ before his name. I did it and it felt right. I made a mental note to do it when I arrived at the office, and promptly dropped the thought. That afternoon the man called, asking that I insert ‘Mister’ before his name – not in the ad, but in a radio commercial where his name was used.”

Then my friend added this thought: “I stand in awe at the operation of this law. You asked about the little pig I saw. He was small, but fat, and the way I am stuffing him today, in no time at all he will be so large he will fill this room.

For those who are not familiar with this symbol, the pig is the symbol of Christ, the power and wisdom of God. Every time you exercise your imagination lovingly on behalf of another or yourself, you are feeding Jesus Christ. My friend is stuffing his pig, because every moment of time he is alert and putting this law into practice.

Now a lady wrote, saying: “I found myself looking at an enormous building at the edge of a vast body of water where your classes were held. A man at my side asked: ‘How do the students get to the classes?’ Pointing to another student who was walking on the water towards her destination I answered: ‘That’s how it is done.’” “Unwilling to accept my answer the man said: ‘But how do you do it?’ and I confessed: ‘I have placed stones just below the water.’ Then the scene changed and I am with a friend who said: ‘I am pregnant.’ Shocked, because I knew she had no husband I asked: ‘By whom?’ and before she could answer, I awoke.

“Three nights later I found myself in a very large building containing a theater, where you were the one actor who was playing every part. As you assumed the role of the blind man, I realized there was no one to lead you, so I ran to help. As we walked, we came upon a young boy sound asleep. Then you said: ‘I told him to meditate and he has fallen asleep again.’

“The scene changed, and I am viewing paper decorations hanging above a door. I reached up to pull them down, when an enormous wind caught me and I felt as though I was borne in the arms of a very strong man and awoke saying, ‘I love thee, O Lord.’”

This marvelous series of dreams revealed much. This lady admitted crossing the water while walking on a solid foundation. Now the Bible is a parable from beginning to end, and water is the symbol of its psychological truth. The literal interpretation of a parable is solid as a rock. When the meaning behind the parable is discovered, the stone is rolled away and the water found. However if a little solid reality in this world is desired while playing with this psychological truth, it becomes stepping-stones below the water. Loving what is heard is not enough. One must be willing to go all out and walk on the water. Instead, feeling she must be practical as she was living in a world of reality where rent must be paid, food bought, and clothes purchased, she is unable to walk by faith at the present time.

Let me give you a definition that came to me concerning the word faith. Faith is the subjective appropriation of an objective hope. When my friend revised the first telephone conversation, he subjectively appropriated what he hoped would objectify for his friend. He remained faithful to his imaginal act, and confirmation came.

Do as my friend does, and you will experience the glorious sensation of walking on the water in your mystical world. In my own case I was pulled by a wonderful goose, the symbol of the Holy Spirit. Having lassoed him with a silver chain – the symbol of knowledge – he propelled me over this fabulous water. This is He who will lead you into all things, as recorded in the 14th chapter of the Book of John.

The lady saw the protean man when she saw me playing all the parts. As the dreamer of the dream, she has been impregnated by the one she spoke to when she awoke, saying: “I love thee, O Lord.” Mary did not know the name of the one who impregnated her, yet it was the same Lord, the same I AM.

In this lady’s dream she was so brutally honest with herself when the man insisted that she tell him how she crossed the water. She could have said she walked on the water. Instead she told him exactly how it was done, thereby admitting to herself that she has not gone all out and lived by the law, but has a little anchor on the side, in the event it doesn’t work.
In Barbados we have a saying: “I have a hind-claw,” meaning there is some money tucked away in the bank, a little income from the family, or something I can fall back on just in case. We have these beach crabs on the island that are almost impossible to catch. Running at top speed, the crab can run right over a precipice and disappear. If you followed him you would break your neck in the fall, but the crab has a hind-claw that stops his fall. He grabs the earth just below the surface, and there the crab can pause and get his breath before climbing back and entering the race again. I urge you not to have a hind-claw. Be for me or against me, but be one way or the other.

Now, I want to share an experience of a lady who wrote, saying: “About a year ago I was deeply concerned for my mother. While lying on my bed, I began to imagine her face radiantly happy, and hear her tell me she had never known such happiness before. As I listened, I heard my name whispered softly three times.

“Startled, I raised myself off the pillow to see you standing in mid-air. Dressed in a gray suit, you smiled, raised your arms, and removed the eyes from your head. Then you came over and calling me brother, you pressed them into my eyes. Bending your head, I watched it grow transparent and enormous in size. Then I saw that every living thing in the universe was there. You straightened up, and as you did your head returned to its normal size. Again, raising your right hand, you took off the top of your head and handed it to me, where I saw the greenest of green grass growing there, and you vanished.”

Yes, I called this lady brother advisedly, for regardless of the sex worn here, we are immortal brothers, all of us. So I say: “Go unto my brothers and say to them, ‘I have ascended unto my God and your God, unto my Father and your Father.

It was over a year ago when I placed my eyes into her sockets and gave her sight. Now she has become the incurrent eyewitness. In her vision she saw a long table. A man dressed in the white robe of a judge, carrying a gavel in his hand, entered the room. Looking directly at her, the gavel hit the table and he said: “I pronounce you the incurrent eyewitness.”

The word incurrent means, giving passage to a current that flows inward. This lady is now so conditioned that I can reveal all things to her so that she can know the truth of the statement: “All that you behold, though it appears without it is within, in your Imagination, of which this world of mortality is but a shadow.” She saw that every living thing was contained in my immortal head. Destroy the garment I now wear or anything in my world and I will reproduce it again, for my immortal head cannot be destroyed.

Start now to practice what the Bible calls repentance, which is a radical change of attitude. No matter what it is, if it does not conform to your ideal change it by subjectively appropriating your goal. Remain faithful to it and no earthly power can keep you from attaining it.

Go all out and walk on the water! Don’t be like Peter, whose understanding told him imagination didn’t make sense (symbolized as his feet), or you will drown in the sea of illusion. Imagination, speaking to his faith, said: “Peter, come,” and as Peter walked, he looked down to see how this was possible, and sank. My friend, who did not look down, walked on the water in the direction of his wish fulfilled – and it was.
All of the Bible stories will be fulfilled literally on different levels of your being. You will experience them all, because you are Jesus Christ. Blake tells us so beautifully: “Desires and perceptions of Man, untaught by anything but organs of sense must be limited to objects of sense; therefore, God becomes Man that Man may become God.”

If you only knew what your organs of sense reveal, you would never perceive anything beyond them. It would be horrible to remain an organ of sense and never transcend it. But God brought creation with him when he became humanity, and you are here to awaken to that fact! If God did not become you, you would be an animated body, limited to all that your sense organs would reveal. But having become you, God is awakening and will give you desires and their fulfillments, far beyond the wildest dreams of those who are still limited to the organs of sense.

When Blake said: “All that you behold, though it appears without, it is within you,” he meant it. Being an incurrent eyewitness like my friend, Blake saw God’s mystery of salvation clearly.

I urge you to exercise your divine right by using your imagination. Be like my friend who is now consciously feeding his pig. Every moment of time you have the opportunity to feed your pig. When someone phones to tell of their misfortune, revise their words. Go about your business of creation on the inside, and do not do a thing on the outside. Use your imagination and let your words come into being!

All things are possible to you, because you are all imagination and imagination creates reality. Knowing what you want, imagine you have it. Knowing what you want to be, imagine you are it. Subjectively appropriate your objective hope and you have assumed a virtue you did not have. Ask no one to help, and do not feel below the water for something to fall back on if imagination doesn’t work. Instead, learn to count on your true Self, who is Jesus Christ!

Jesus, your own wonderful human imagination, is your hope of glory, and there is no other Christ. Defined as God’s power and wisdom, Imagination is in travail until Christ is formed in you. On that day your history will be changed from BC to AD, and every year thereafter will be the year of the Lord. Having been formed in you, Christ is born, and the words of Isaiah become yours: “For to you a child is born and a son is given. The government shall then be upon your shoulders, and you will be the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And of your reign there shall be no end.”

Start now to look upon the great mystery of creation as the subjective appropriation of your objective hope. Dwell upon my words. Put them into practice, and you will experience their fulfillment, for all things exist within you!

Now let us go into the silence.

AN INNER CONVICTION

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 03-15-1968

I tell you that imagination creates reality and I ask you to imagine a state, any state, which would imply the fulfillment of your desire. It doesn’t really matter what anyone else thinks; it’s what you think that matters to you! If you create a scene which implies the fulfillment of your desire and dwell in it until you have an inner conviction that it is real, what does it matter what another thinks?

In the Book of Habakkuk (which means “to embrace”) the prophet speaks to the Lord as: “Thou who art of purer eyes than to behold evil.” Then he asks the question: “Why are you silent when the wicked swallows up the righteous? I will take my stand upon the watchtower, to see and hear what people say to me and what I will answer.” Now the Lord speaks, saying: “Write the vision plain upon the tablets so that he who runs may read it. For the vision has its own appointed hour; it ripens and it will flower. If it be long, then wait, for it is sure and it will not be late.”

There are those who try to rush everything into being. They try to force birth from conception, but it cannot be done. There are many experiences not recorded in scripture, and I am not here to stand in judgment of anyone as to whether they have experienced scripture or not. But I do know from experience that on this level, if you dare to assume you are what you want to be, your inner conviction, your feeling of certainty will bring it to pass. When you embrace the desired state, you have assumed its impregnation, and its fulfillment has its own appointed hour. It will ripen and flower. If the state is slow in objectifying itself wait, for it is sure and will not be late.

I know that when I was told I could not get out of the island of Barbados for at least six months and I desired to leave immediately, I assumed I was walking up the gangplank of the ship. I felt the dampness of the rail and tasted the salt air of the sea with the feeling of certainty that I was leaving for America. I made that gangplank so real that I hadn’t even broken the spell before the phone rang and I was offered passage for the following week. Although I had been told that I was on the bottom of a list of over two thousand names, my family and I were singled out to board that ship. So I know that the truth of any concept is known by the feeling of a certainty, a peculiar knowingness that it is true.

You can take this same concept into all levels of your being, for any desire is a concept. You can move into any desire and express it. Ask no one if you are entitled to it or if you did it – only you know what you did. It happened to you. Now wait for the vision (the desire’s fulfillment) for it has its own appointed hour. It ripens, it will flower. If it seems long then wait, for it is sure and it will not be late.

Returning to the overall picture of God’s rising in Man, let us go back to the Book of Exodus, where we are told: “The time that the people of Israel dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. And at the end of four hundred and thirty years, on that very day all the hosts of the Lord departed from Egypt. It was a night of watching by the Lord.” Then Moses is told to keep this night in memory.

Scripture teaches a mystery. “Great indeed is the mystery of our religion.” The word “mystery” is defined as “a religious truth revealed by God that man cannot by reason alone discover.” Here is a doctrine of revealed truth.

We are told in the 15th chapter of Genesis that “You and your descendants will be enslaved for four hundred years.” Now, the number four hundred is the twenty-second letter of the Hebrew alphabet whose symbol is the cross. Your body (of beliefs) is the cross referred to as four hundred, and as long as you wear it you are enslaved in a land that is not yours. But in the end you will be brought out with great possessions!

In the 12th chapter of Exodus, thirty years has been added to the four hundred, and in the New Testament it is said that Jesus began his ministry when he was about thirty years of age. In this world you are enslaved, and here you remain playing your part until you are embraced, impregnated, and thirty years later Christ is born in you and your trials and tribulations are over! So four hundred does not mean years, but thirty does. Four hundred records the length which Blake calls 6,000 or 8,500 years. Call it what you will, it is the period of time man plays his part in this world. Then comes the moment when, as Man, you are selected, called and embraced, and told to stand upon your watch; for the sign has its own appointed time to ripen and to flower, and that time is thirty years!

My friend, Benny, does not remember the embrace, but I remember it well. It was in 1929. I was fully aware of the embrace, just as I was fully aware of its fulfillment in 1959, so I can tell anyone from my own experience how it happens, but I can’t tell you when if you cannot remember the embrace. Only after impregnation can I prophesy as to what, and when these things will come into being.

But I do know that God’s law reflects all the way down to this world of Caesar. I do not know how long it takes for each egg to hatch in a nest, but I do know each one will hatch in its own time. And so it is with an assumption. If I desire to be wealthy, I may not know how long it will take me to reach the conviction that I possess great wealth, but when I feel wealth is mine I have conceived. Conception is my end. The length of time between my desire and its conception depends entirely upon my inner conviction that it is done. A horse takes twelve months, a cow nine months, a chicken twenty-one days, so there are intervals of time; but it comes down to the simple fact that the truth concerning every concept is known by the feeling of its certainty. When you know it, not a thing can disturb your knowingness!

In my own case, as I felt the gangplank under my feet and the salt mist on the rail of the ship in Barbados, the phone rang and passage was mine. There have been other times when it has taken longer. Unfortunately we do not keep an account to see how long it takes to come about after we have done it. But a concept is an egg and remains so until occupied. Occupy your desire! Feel its certainty and you can prophesy its fulfillment.

Although I did not know what would become of it, I kept a record of what happened to me in 1929, so when I was born from above and raised from within myself in 1959, I looked back to discover that it was thirty years. I discovered that Jesus began his ministry when he was thirty years of age, and that Israel made their exodus thirty years after the four hundred recorded in Genesis. We are going to celebrate this exodus in the immediate future as the Passover, “a day to keep in memory forever.” For “this is a night of watching by the Lord. On this day the Lord will bring the entire host of Israel out of the land of Egypt” and they will come out one by one. So if someone tells me a story that is not part of my experience, I cannot confirm it or deny it; I only know that my experiences parallel scripture.

But I say to you: everything has its own appointed time. It ripens and will flower. If fulfillment seems long, wait, for it is sure and will not be late. Everything comes on time, but we do not know the time interval because we do not record the conception. In my case, I keep a diary. I check scripture to find out where the passage is that I have experienced and record the date beside it. Now I know the length of time it takes to fulfill scripture. I also know that when it comes to the world of Caesar, I have received confirmation while in the silence. I have exploded right into the now and, having felt the thrill I knew it had to happen, but I did not know when. It could be a day, a week, or a month. Three weeks ago I heard good news for a friend, and today I received confirmation that it was completed. I will not catalog that event to say that particular desire equals all desires, because a desire can be as different as a chicken’s egg is from the egg of an elephant. I do know, however that events of scripture do have definite time periods. Scripture fulfills itself in God’s time, and you cannot delay it or hasten its coming.

A friend wrote me this week, saying: “I found myself sitting at a table looking at a beautiful plate containing a raw steak, when I heard the words, ‘Eat it’. Obeying the command I then heard voice say, ‘You have eaten the body of God.’” This lady has fulfilled the 51st to 56th verses of the 6th chapter of the Book of John: “My flesh is the bread of life. He who eats thereof has eternal life.” She has completely eaten the body of revealed truth and eternal life is now hers. I cannot tell her when she will be called, but she has accepted the revealed truth, which is the body of God.

Another letter came, telling of how this lady spent the day working on her husband’s books. She was so very tired that as she fell asleep, she said: “Father, I cannot take every aspect of the day and change it, but I can imagine that it never happened.” So she began to create a scene which would imply that all the problems of the day were resolved, when out of the nowhere she saw an enormous scene of mountains clothed with magnificent trees. As she watched, she discovered that her mental activity caused the trees to move. And that the world pictured on the outside adjusted itself to be in harmony with her thoughts. Then she said “I came to the conclusion that my God is a God of action, for I saw everything I was imagining taking place now. I feel as though the world is moving in me like being on parade.” That’s how God sees Man. We are forever adjusting to his perfect being. He is looking out, yet everything is taking place within.

Tonight I ask you to take the most fantastic thing in this world and find an inner conviction within yourself that it is yours, for the truth of any concept is known by the feeling of certainty which that conviction inspires. Once you have that inner feeling of certainty, don’t ask me to confirm it. What would it matter what I think? Do not be disillusioned if your experience has not been mine. Believe in yourself and trust your inner feeling. Test yourself and if it works on this level it will work in the depths of your being.

If, in my imagination I climb a gangplank, and as I look with nostalgia at the little island of Barbados and the phone rings, offering me the passage I desire, am I not influencing my outer world? Was the phone call not reflecting my mental activity? I arrived at the point of feeling a peculiar certainty, and that certainty was its inspiration.

You can always tell the truth of any concept by the feeling of certainty which it inspires. When you imagine seeing the world as you desire it to be and are inspired as to its truth, it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. I don’t care what it is; when you know what you want, you can make your desire so real, so natural that you will reach a feeling of certainty which no power in the world can stop. When that feeling is yours, drop it. Don’t ask anyone if what you did was right or wrong; you did it and that’s all that is necessary.

Now let me share the letter I received from Benny. He said: “Friends of mine (Negroes), a man and his wife, invited me to a party. On the way we stopped at their home, where a group of Caucasians in their teens were having a party. Suddenly my friends appeared in the doorway, coat and hat in hand, and said, ‘You stay and mind the children.’ I was shocked, but turned to look at the boys and girls, when out of the nowhere a blond, blue-eyed, fair skinned lad came toward me, and as I looked at him I knew he was David. He looked me in the eye and said, ‘I know that our Father will never leave us.’ At that moment I knew my son David, yet I also knew I fathered them all. This was on Wednesday. The following Friday as I told this experience to my friends, I awoke to discover that I had been dreaming, for I awoke on my bed.”

Here is the doubling of a dream, the confirmation as told us in the 41st chapter of Genesis. Now, you cannot violate the story of scripture. David is described in the 16th chapter of 1 Samuel, and you will not change this description no matter who you are. The Christ child is not described, for he can be black, pink, white, or yellow. There is no description of Jesus either, but I will tell you who he is. He is the Ancient of Days as described in the Books of Daniel and Revelation. When you see David, he is the youth of the ancient one he observes. Benny is now wearing a very dark skin, but in the eyes of his fair skinned, blond and blue-eyed son David, Benny is the Ancient of Days, the Holy One of Israel. The one we recognize and call Benny now knows himself to be the Risen Lord. Now I will tell him that on the 8th day of July he will be split in two from top to bottom. I know, for the vision has its own appointed hour, it ripens, it will flower. If it seems long, wait, for it is sure and will not be late.

Now the Book of Ezekiel begins: “In the thirtieth year the heavens opened and I saw visions of God.” Ezekiel gives you a day and a month, meaning nothing. The important thing is that in the 30th year the heavens opened and visions of God were his. “And as I looked, behold, a stormy wind.” That’s exactly what happens. An unearthly wind comes in that thirtieth year, and you are born from above, born anew through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Jesus Christ is God’s pattern of salvation buried in you. His death in the most literal sense is your life, and his resurrection is possible only after he impregnates himself.

God the sender and Man the sent are one. Falling in love with the one he sent, God impregnates him. He plants his seed, which takes thirty years to germinate and [is] his mission to start. This experience comes to Man after he has borne his cross in this wilderness world for thousands of years. In spite of the horrible things that take place in the world, when the individual is called and embraced, what does it matter what he has to go through before he awakens? In a short period of only 30 years he will be born into an entirely different age, for during that time he is taken out of this age and placed in that age, the age of the kingdom of heaven.

Now, because you know this concept, don’t feel that you are better than someone else, you are creative power. Stand upon your tower and watch to see what God will say and how you will answer. Do this by assuming you are the person you want to be and seeing what you would see if your assumption was real. Remain there until you feel its certainty, until you reach the point of satisfaction, until you are convinced of its truth; and although the world may collapse around you, you will become that which you have assumed you are.

In the 21st chapter of the Book of John it is said that if all things were told concerning Jesus Christ, the world itself could not contain the books; so do not think that because I have not had your experience, that it is not true – but do not try to force me into accepting it. Believe what you choose and go your way this night. My pattern has followed scripture completely, from the embrace to the descent of the dove, but I am not saying it is the only way.

I am saying, however, that you can be the man (or woman) you want to be, but not by simply wishing. You must make the effort to look at the world mentally and see it reflect your fulfilled desire. And when it does you must remain in that state until you reach the inner conviction that what you are seeing, touching, tasting, smelling, and hearing is true, clothe yourself in the feeling of its reality – and explode! Do that and you are pregnant. And what do you do after pregnancy? Nothing! You simply wait for its birth to appear in its own appointed hour. And it will! When you least expect it your desire will objectify itself in the world for you to enjoy, whether it be health, wealth, or fame. That’s how God’s law works.

Now, to the one who had this experience the other night, I know you are anxious to give it birth right away, but what is thirty years in this fabulous eternity? You were awake when it happened, and you will never lose its memory. Should you depart tonight to find yourself a young lady of twenty, you would only be fifty when you brought forth the Christ child. Then you would see the complete pattern fulfill itself in three and a half years and enter a new age, which is the world of eternity. My dear, you are destined to know departure from this world of death and entrance into the world of eternal life as you move from darkness into light. But your reaction was natural.

It reminded me of a story I heard in New York City. This young girl came rushing into the subway, and standing in front of a gentleman she said: “Would you please let a pregnant lady have your seat?” Jumping up, terribly disturbed, the gentleman said: “When is the baby expected?” And she replied: “I don’t know, it just happened.” But this lady knows it will be thirty years, but what is thirty years when you have been called, you have been selected, you have been chosen. You are one of the elect!

Now let us go into the silence.

ARISE

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard

When our great scientist, Dr. Robert Millikan was young and very poor he set a goal for himself. Condensing his dream of greatness and security into a simple statement, he silently repeated the thought over and over again. This he did until the feeling of greatness and security crowded all other thoughts out of his consciousness.

These are his words: “I have a lavish, steady, dependable income, consistent with integrity and mutual benefit”
As I have said repeatedly, everything depends upon your attitude towards yourself! That which you will not affirm as true of yourself cannot develop in your life!

Dr. Millikan wrote his dream of greatness and security in the first person, present tense. He did not say, “I will be great,” or “I will be secure,” implying that he was not great and secure. Instead, he made his future dream a present fact by saying, “I have a lavish, steady, dependable income, consistent with integrity and mutual benefit.”

If you seek to realize your future dream, it must become a present fact in your mind. You must experience, in imagination, what you would experience in reality if you had achieved your goal, for the soul, imagining itself into a situation, takes on the results of that imaginary act. If it does not, the goal remains unfulfilled.

The purpose of this teaching is to stir the highest in you to confidence and self assertion. The command constantly given us in scripture is to arise. If we are to understand the reason for this, we must recognize that the universe, understood internally, is an infinite series of levels, and man is what he is according to where he is in that series.

As we lift up our consciousness, our world reshapes itself in harmony with the level to which we have risen. One whose prayer has been granted, rises from his prayer a better man.

To change your present state you, like Dr. Millikan, must rise to a higher level of consciousness. This rise is accomplished by affirming that you already are what you want to be, and assuming the feeling of your fulfilled desire.

The drama of life is a psychological one, brought about by your attitudes rather than by your acts. There is no escape from your present predicament other than a radical psychological transformation. Everything depends upon your attitude towards yourself, as that which you will not affirm as true of yourself, will not develop

in your life.

The meek men of the gospels are not the proverbial poor, groveling door mats, as a meek man is generally conceived to be, but the Dr. Millikan’s of the world who, while poor and unproven, dare to assume wealth and greatness.

These are the men who inherit the earth. Any concept of self less than the best robs you, and the promise is, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

In the original text, the word translated “meek” means “tamed, as a wild animal is tamed.” A tamed mind may be likened to a pruned vine of which it is said, “Behold this vine. I found it a wild tree whose wanton strength had swollen into irregular twigs. But I pruned the plant and it grew temperate in its vain expense of useless leaves, and knotted as you see into these clean, full clusters to repay the hand that wisely wounded it.”

A meek man is so self-disciplined he sees only the finest and thinks only the best. He is the one who fulfills the statement, “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

We rise to a higher level of consciousness, not because we have curbed our passions, but because we have cultivated our virtues. In truth, a meek man is one who is in complete control of his moods. And they are the highest, for he who desires to walk with the highest, must keep a high mood.

It is my belief that all men can change the course of their lives. I believe that Dr. Millikan’s technique of making his desire a present fact is of great importance. His high purpose was to be of mutual benefit which is, inevitably the goal of us all. It is much easier to imagine the good for all, than to be purely selfish in our imagining. By our imagination we can change our future, and to the man of high purpose, this is a natural measure.

If you are observant, you will notice the swift echo or response to your every mood and key it to the circumstances of your daily life. When you understand the relationship between circumstances, you will know that everyone you meet is part of yourself.

In the creation of a new life, you must begin with a change of mood which opens the door to a higher level. Start now to mold your life around a community of high moods.

Individuals, as well as communities, grow spiritually in proportion to their higher ideals. If your ideal is low, you sink to its depths, but if it is exalted, you are elevated to heights unimagined. You must keep a high mood if you would walk with the highest.

All forms of creative imagination imply elements of feeling, for it is the ferment without which no creation is possible. There is nothing wrong with the desire to transcend your present state. The world would not progress without man’s dissatisfaction with himself.

It is natural to seek a more beautiful personal life. It is right to wish for greater understanding, health and security. This is so beautifully stated in the 16th chapter of the Book of John, “Heretofore you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you shall receive that your joy may be full.”

Accept my challenge! Embody a new and higher value of yourself as Dr. Millikan did. A nation can exhibit no greater wisdom in the mass than it generates in its units. For this reason, I have always preached self-help. Knowing that if we embody a new and higher concept of ourselves, all other help will be at our service.

The ideal you serve and hope to achieve is ready and waiting for a new incarnation, but it is incapable of birth unless you offer it human parentage. You must assume that you already are what you hope to be and live as though you were.

You must know, like Dr. Millikan did, that your assumption, though false to the outer world, will harden into fact by your persistence. The perfect man judges not after appearances, but judges righteously. He hears what he wants to hear and sees only the good. Knowing the truth that sets him free, he is lead to all good.

Character is largely the result of the direction and persistence of voluntary action; therefore, think truly and your thoughts shall the world’s famine feed. Speak truly and each word shall be a fruitful seed. Live truly and your life shall be a great and noble creed.

AT YOUR COMMAND

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard

SNELLGROVE PUBLICATIONS

NEW YORK

1939

At Your Command

By Neville

This book contains the very essence of the Principle of Expression. Had I cared to, I could have expanded it into a book of several hundred pages but such expansion would have defeated the purpose of this book.

Commands to be effective – must be short and to the point: the greatest command ever recorded is found in the few simple words, “And God said, ‘Let there be light.’”

In keeping with this principle I now give to you, the reader, in these few pages, the truth as it was revealed to me.

Neville

At Your CommandCan man decree a thing and have it come to pass? Most decidedly he can! Man has always decreed that which has appeared in his world and is today decreeing that which is appearing in his world and shall continue to do so as long as man is conscious of being man. Not one thing has ever appeared in man’s world but what man decreed that it should. This you may deny, but try as you will you cannot disprove it, for this decreeing is based upon a changeless principle. You do not command things to appear by your words or loud affirmations. Such vain repetition is more often than not confirmation of the opposite. Decreeing is ever done in consciousness. That is; every man is conscious of being that which he has decreed himself to be. The dumb man without using words is conscious of being dumb. Therefore he is decreeing himself to be dumb.

When the Bible is read in this light you will find it to be the greatest scientific book ever written. Instead of looking upon the Bible as the historical record of an ancient civilization or the biography of the unusual life of Jesus, see it as a great psychological drama taking place in the consciousness of man.

Claim it as your own and you will suddenly transform your world from the barren deserts of Egypt to the promised land of Canaan.

Every one will agree with the statement that all things were made by God, and without him there is nothing made that is made, but what man does not agree upon is the identity of God. All the churches and priesthoods of the world disagree as to the identity and true nature of God. The Bible proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that Moses and the prophets were in one hundred per cent accord as to the identity and nature of God. And Jesus’ life and teachings are in agreement with the findings of the prophets of old. Moses discovered God to be man’s awareness of being, when he declared these little understood words, “I AM hath sent me unto you.” David sang in his psalms, “Be still and know that I AM God.” Isaiah declared, “I AM the Lord and there is none else. There is no God beside me. I girded thee, though thou hast not known me. I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil. I the Lord do all these things.”

The awareness of being as God is stated hundreds of times in the New Testament. To name but a few: “I AM the shepherd, I AM the door; I AM the resurrection and the life; I AM the way; I AM the Alpha and Omega; I AM the beginning and the end”; and again, “Whom do you say that I AM?”

It is not stated, “I, Jesus, am the door. I, Jesus am the way,” nor is it said, “Whom do you say that I, Jesus, am?” It is clearly stated, “I AM the way.” The awareness of being is the door through which the manifestations of life pass into the world of form.

Consciousness is the resurrecting power – resurrecting that which man is conscious of being. Man is ever out-picturing that which he is conscious of being. This is the truth that makes man free, for man is always self-imprisoned or self-freed.

If you, the reader, will give up all of your former beliefs in a God apart from yourself, and claim God as your awareness of being – as Jesus and the prophets did – you will transform your world with the realization that, “I and my father are one.” This statement, “I and my father are one, but my father is greater than I,” seems very confusing – but if interpreted in the light of what we have just said concerning the identity of God, you will find it very revealing. Consciousness, being God, is as ‘father.’ The thing that you are conscious of being is the ‘son’ bearing witness of his ‘father.’ It is like the conceiver and its conceptions. The conceiver is ever greater than his conceptions yet ever remains one with his conception. For instance; before you are conscious of being man, you are first conscious of being. Then you become conscious of being man. Yet you remain as conceiver, greater than your conception – man.

Jesus discovered this glorious truth and declared himself to be one with God – not a God that man had fashioned. For he never recognized such a God. He said, “If any man should ever come, saying, ‘Look here or look there,’ believe them not, for the kingdom of God is within you.” Heaven is within you. Therefore, when it is recorded that “He went unto his father,” it is telling you that he rose in consciousness to the point where he was just conscious of being, thus transcending the limitations of his present conception of himself, called ‘Jesus.’

In the awareness of being all things are possible, he said, “You shall decree a thing and it shall come to pass.” This is his decreeing – rising in consciousness to the naturalness of being the thing desired. As he expressed it, “And I, if I be lifted up, I shall draw all men unto me.” If I be lifted up in consciousness to the naturalness of the thing desired I will draw the manifestation of that desire unto me. For he states, “No man comes unto me save the father within me draws him, and I and my father are one.” Therefore, consciousness is the father that is drawing the manifestations of life unto you.

You are, at this very moment, drawing into your world that which you are now conscious of being. Now you can see what is meant by, “You must be born again.” If you are dissatisfied with your present expression in life the only way to change it, is to take your attention away form that which seems so real to you and rise in consciousness to that which you desire to be. You cannot serve two masters, therefore to take your attention from one state of consciousness and place it upon another is to die to one and live to the other.

The question, “Whom do you say that I AM?” is not addressed to a man called ‘Peter’ by one called ‘Jesus.’ This is the eternal question addressed to one’s self by one’s true being. In other words, “Whom do you say that you are?” For your conviction of yourself – your opinion of yourself will determine your expression in life. He states, “You believe in God – believe also in me.” In other words, it is the me within you that is this God.

Praying then, is seen to be recognizing yourself to be that which you now desire, rather than its accepting form of petitioning a God that does not exist for that which you now desire.

So can’t you see why the millions of prayers are unanswered? Men pray to a God that does not exist. For instance: To be conscious of being poor and to pray to a God for riches is to be rewarded with that which you are conscious of being – which is poverty. Prayers to be successful must be claiming rather than begging – so if you would pray for riches turn from your picture of poverty by denying the very evidence of your senses and assume the nature of being wealthy.

We are told, “When you pray go within in secret and shut the door. And that which your father sees in secret, with that will he reward you openly.” We have identified the ‘father’ to be the awareness of being. We have also identified the ‘door’ to be the awareness of being. So ‘shutting the door’ is shutting out that which ‘I’ am now aware of being and claiming myself to be that which ‘I’ desire to be. The very moment my claim is established to the point of conviction, that moment I begin to draw unto myself the evidence of my claim.

Do not question the how of these things appearing, for no man knows that way. That is, no manifestation knows how the things desired will appear.

Consciousness is the way or door through which things appear. He said, “I AM the way” – not ‘I,’ John Smith, am the way, but “I AM,” the awareness of being, is the way through which the thing shall come. The signs always follow. They never precede. Things have no reality other than in consciousness. Therefore, get the consciousness first and the thing is compelled to appear.

You are told, “Seek ye first the kingdom of Heaven and all things shall be added unto you.” Get first the consciousness of the things that you are seeking and leave the things alone. This is what is meant by “Ye shall decree a thing and it shall come to pass.”

Apply this principle and you will know what it is to ‘prove me and see.” The story of Mary is the story of every man. Mary was not a woman – giving birth in some miraculous way to one called ‘Jesus.’ Mary is theawareness of being that ever remains virgin, no matter how many desires it gives birth to. Right now look upon yourself as this virgin Mary – being impregnated by yourself through the medium of desire – becoming one with your desire to the point of embodying or giving birth to your desire.

For instance: It is said of Mary (whom you now know to be yourself) that she know not a man. Yet she conceived. That is, you, John Smith, have no reason to believe that that which you now desire is possible, but having discovered your awareness of being to be God, you make this awareness your husband and conceive a man child (manifestation) of the Lord, “For thy maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; the Lord God of the whole earth shall he be called.” Your ideal or ambition is this conception – the first command to her, which is now to yourself, is “Go, tell no man.” That is, do not discuss your ambitions or desires with another for the other will only echo your present fears. Secrecy is the first law to be observed in realizing your desire.

The second, as we are told in the story of Mary, is to “Magnify the Lord.” We have identified the Lord as your awareness of being. Therefore, to ‘magnify the Lord’ is to revalue or expand one’s present conception of one’s self to the point where this revaluation becomes natural. When this naturalness is attained you give birth by becoming that which you are one with in consciousness.

The story of creation is given us in digest form in the first chapter of John.

“In the beginning was the word.” Now, this very second, is the ‘beginning’ spoken of. It is the beginning of an urge – a desire. ‘The word’ is the desire swimming around in your consciousness – seeking embodiment. The urge of itself has no reality, For, “I AM” or the awareness of being is the only reality. Things live only as long as I AM aware of being them; so to realize one’s desire, the second line of this first verse of John must be applied. That is, “And the word was with God.” The word, or desire, must be fixed or united with consciousness to give it reality. The awareness becomes aware of being the thing desired, thereby nailing itself upon the form or conception – and giving life unto its conception – or resurrecting that which was heretofore a dead or unfulfilled desire. “Two shall agree as touching anything and it shall be established on earth.”

This agreement is never made between two persons. It is between the awareness and the thing desired. You are now conscious of being, so you are actually saying to yourself, without using words, “I AM.” Now, if it is a state of health that you are desirous of attaining, before you have any evidence of health in your world, you begin to FEEL yourself to be healthy. And the very second the feeling “I AM healthy” is attained the two have agreed. That is, I AM and health have agreed to be one and this agreement ever results in the birth of a child which is the thing agreed upon – in this case, health. And because I made the agreement I express the thing agreed. So you can see why Moses stated, “I AM hath sent me.” For what being, other than I AM could send you into expression? None – for “I AM the way – Beside me there is no other.” If you take the wings of the morning and fly into the uttermost parts of the world or if you make your bed in Hell, you will still be aware of being. You are ever sent into expression by your awareness and your expression is ever that which you are aware of being.

Again, Moses stated, “I AM that I AM.” Now here is something to always bear in mind. You cannot put new wine in old bottles or new patches upon old garments. That is; you cannot take with you into the new consciousness any part of the old man. All of your present beliefs, fears and limitations are weights that bind you to your present level of consciousness. If you would transcend this level you must leave behind all that is now your present self, or conception of yourself. To do this you take your attention away from all that is now your problem or limitation and dwell upon just being. That is; you say silently but feeling to yourself, “I AM. Do not condition this ‘awareness’ as yet. Just declare yourself to be, and continue to do so, until you are lost in the feeling of just being – faceless and formless. When this expansion of consciousness is attained, then, within this formless deep of yourself give form to the new conception by FEELING yourself to be THAT which you desire to be.

You will find within this deep of yourself all things to be divinely possible. Everything in the world which you can conceive of being, is to you, within this present formless awareness, a most natural attainment.

The invitation given us in the Scriptures is – “to be absent from the body and be present with the Lord.” The ‘body’ being your former conception of yourself and ‘the Lord’ – your awareness of being. This is what is meant when Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Ye must be born again for except ye be born again ye cannot enter the kingdom of Heaven.” That is; except you leave behind you your present conception of yourself and assume the nature of the new birth, you will continue to out-picture your present limitations.

The only way to change your expressions of life is to change your consciousness. For consciousness is the reality that eternally solidifies itself in the things round about you. Man’s world in its every detail is his consciousness out-pictured. You can no more change your environment, or world, by destroying things than you can your reflection by destroying the mirror. Your environment, and all within it, reflects that which you are in consciousness. As long as you continue to be that in consciousness so long will you continue to out-picture it in your world.

Knowing this, begin to revalue yourself. Man has placed too little value upon himself. In the Book of Numbers you will read, “In that day there were giants in the land; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers. And we were in their sight as grasshoppers.” This does not mean a time in the dim past when man had the stature of giants. Today is the day, the eternal now when conditions round about you have attained the appearance of giants (such as unemployed, the armies of your enemy, your problems and all things that seem to threaten you) those are the giant that make you feel yourself to be a grasshopper. But, you are told, you were first, in your own sight a grasshopper and because of this you were to the giants – a grasshopper. In other words, you can only be to others what you are first to yourself. Therefore, to revalue yourself and begin to feel yourself to be the giant, a center of power, is to dwarf these former giants and make of them grasshoppers. “All the inhabitants of the earth are as nothing, and he doeth according to his will in the armies of Heaven and among all the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, nor say unto him, “What doest thou’?” This being spoken of is not the orthodox God sitting in space but the one and only God – the everlasting father, your awareness of being. So awake to the power that you are, not as man, but as your true self, a faceless, formless awareness, and free yourself from your self imposed prison.

“I am the good shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they will follow me.” Awareness is the good shepherd. What I am aware of being, is the ‘sheep’ that follow me. So good a ‘shepherd’ is your awareness that it has never lost one of the ‘sheep’ that you are aware of being.

I am a voice calling in the wilderness of human confusion for such as I am aware of being, and never shall there come a time when that which I am convinced that I am shall fail to find me. “I AM” is an open door for all that I am to enter. Your awareness of being is lord and shepherd of your life. So, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want” is seen in its true light now to be your consciousness. You could never be in want of proof or lack the evidence of that which you are aware of being.

This being true, why not become aware of being great; God-loving; wealthy; healthy; and all attributes that you admire?

It is just as easy to possess the consciousness of these qualities as it is to possess their opposites for you have not your present consciousness because of your world. On the contrary, your world is what it is because of your present consciousness. Simple, is it not? Too simple in fact for the wisdom of man that tries to complicate everything.

Paul said of this principle, “It is to the Greeks” (or wisdom of this world) “foolishness.” “And to the Jews” (or those who look for signs) “a stumbling block”; with the result, that man continues to walk in darkness rather than awake to the being that he is. Man has so long worshipped the images of his own making that at first he finds this revelation blasphemous, since it spells death to all his previous beliefs in a God apart from himself. This revelation will bring the knowledge that “I and my father are one but my father is greater than I.” You are one with your present conception of yourself. But you are greater than that which you are at present aware of being.

Before man can attempt to transform his world he must first lay the foundation – “I AM the Lord.” That is, man’s awareness, his consciousness of being is God. Until this is firmly established so that no suggestion or argument put forward by others can shake it, he will find himself returning to the slavery of his former beliefs. “If ye believe not that I AM he, ye shall die in your sins.” That is, you shall continue to be confused and thwarted until you find the cause of your confusion. When you have lifted up the son of man then shall you know that I AM he, that is, that I, John Smith, do nothing of myself, but my father, or that state of consciousness which I am now one with does the works.

When this is realized every urge and desire that springs within you shall find expression in your world. “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me.” The “I” knocking at the door is the urge.

The door is your consciousness. To open the door is to become one with that that which is knocking by FEELING oneself to be the thing desired. To feel one’s desire as impossible is to shut the door or deny this urge expression. To rise in consciousness to the naturalness of the thing felt is to swing wide the door and invite this one into embodiment.

That is why it is constantly recorded that Jesus left the world of manifestation and ascended unto his father. Jesus, as you and I, found all things impossible to Jesus, as man. But having discovered his father to be the state of consciousness of the thing desired, he but left behind him the “Jesus consciousness” and rose in consciousness to that state desired and stood upon it until he became one with it. As he made himself one with that, he became that in expression.

This is Jesus simple message to man: Men are but garments that the impersonal being, I AM, the presence that men call God – dwells in. Each garment has certain limitations. In order to transcend these limitations and give expression to that which, as man – John Smith – you find yourself incapable of doing, you take your attention away from your present limitations, or John Smith conception of yourself, and merge yourself in the feeling ofbeing that which you desire. Just how this desire or newly attained consciousness will embody itself, no man knows. For I, or the newly attained consciousness, has ways that ye know not of; its ways are past finding out. Do not speculate as to the HOW of this consciousness embodying itself, for no man is wise enough to know the how. Speculation is proof that you have not attained to the naturalness of being the thing desired and so are filled with doubts.

You are told, “He who lacks wisdom let him ask of God, that gives to all liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given unto him. But let him ask not doubting for he who doubts is as a wave of the sea that is tossed and battered by the winds. And let not such a one think that he shall receive anything from the Lord.” You can see why this statement is made, for only upon the rock of faith can anything be established. If you have not the consciousness of the thing you have not the cause or foundation upon which thing is erected.

A proof of this established consciousness is given you in the words, “Thank you, father.” When you come into the joy of thanksgiving so that you actually feel grateful for having received that which is not yet apparent to the senses, you have definitely become one in consciousness with the thing for which you gave thanks. God (your awareness) is not mocked. You are ever receiving that which you are aware of being and no man gives thanks for something which he has not received. “Thank you father” is not, as it is used by many today a sort of magical formula. You need never utter aloud the words, “Thank you, father.” In applying this principle as you rise in consciousness to the point where you are really grateful and happy for having received the thing desired, you automatically rejoice and give thanks inwardly. You have already accepted the gift which was but a desire before you rose in consciousness, and your faith is now the substance that shall clothe your desire.

This rising in consciousness is the spiritual marriage where two shall agree upon being one and their likeness or image is established on earth.

“For whatsoever ye ask in my name the same give I unto you.” ‘Whatsoever’ is quite a large measure. It is the unconditional. It does not state if society deems it right or wrong that you should ask it, it rests with you. Do you really want it? Do you desire it? That is all that is necessary. Life will give it to you if you ask ‘in his name.’

His name is not a name that you pronounce with the lips. You can ask forever in the name of God or Jehovah or Christ Jesus and you will ask in vain. ‘Name’ means nature; so, when you ask in the nature of a thing, results ever follow. To ask in the name is to rise in consciousness and become one in nature with the thing desired, rise in consciousness to the nature of the thing, and you will become that thing in expression. Therefore, “what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them and ye shall receive them.”

Praying, as we have shown you before, is recognition – the injunction to believe that ye receive is first person, present tense. This means that you must be in the nature of the things asked for before you can receive them.

To get into the nature easily, general amnesty is necessary. We are told, “Forgive if ye have aught against any, that your father also, which is in Heaven, may forgive you. But if ye forgive not, neither will your father forgive you.” This may seem to be some personal God who is pleased or displeased with your actions but this is not the case.

Consciousness, being God, if you hold in consciousness anything against man, you are binding that condition in your world. But to release man from all condemnation is to free yourself so that you may rise to any level necessary; there is therefore, no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus.

Therefore, a very good practice before you enter into your meditation is first to free every man in the world from blame. For LAW is never violated and you can rest confidently in the knowledge that every man’s conception of himself is going to be his reward. So you do not have to bother yourself about seeing whether or not man gets what you consider he should get. For life makes no mistakes and always gives man that which man first gives himself.

This brings us to that much abused statement of the Bible on tithing. Teachers of all kinds have enslaved man with this affair of tithing, for not themselves understanding the nature of tithing and being themselves fearful of lack, they have led their followers to believe that a tenth part of their income should be given to the Lord. Meaning, as they make very clear, that, when one gives a tenth part of his income to their particular organization he is giving his “tenth part” to the Lord – (or is tithing). But remember, “I AM” the Lord.” Your awareness of being is the God that you give to and you ever give in this manner.

Therefore when you claim yourself to be anything, you have given that claim or quality to God. And your awareness of being, which is no respecter of persons, will return to you pressed down, shaken together, and running over with that quality or attribute which you claim for yourself.

Awareness of being is nothing that you could ever name. To claim God to be rich; to be great; to be love; to be all wise; is to define that which cannot be defined. For God is nothing that could ever be named.

Tithing is necessary and you do tithe with God. But from now on give to the only God and see to it that you give him the quality that you desire as man to express by claiming yourself to be the great, the wealthy, the loving, the all wise.

Do not speculate as to how you shall express these qualities or claims, for life has a way that you, as man, know not of. Its ways are past finding out. But, I assure you, the day you claim these qualities to the point of conviction, your claims will be honored. There is nothing covered that shall not be uncovered. That which is spoken in secret shall be proclaimed from the housetops. That is, your secret convictions of yourself – these secret claims that no man knows of, when really believed, will be shouted from the housetops in your world. For your convictions of yourself are the words of the God within you, which words are spirit and cannot return unto you void but must accomplish whereunto they are sent.

You are at this moment calling out of the infinite that which you are now conscious of being. And not one word or conviction will fail to find you.

“I AM” the vine and ye are the branches.” Consciousness is the ‘vine,’ and those qualities which you are now conscious of being are as ‘branches’ that you feed and keep alive. Just as a branch has no life except it be rooted in the vine, so likewise things have no life except you be conscious of them. Just as a branch withers and dies if the sap of the vine ceases to flow towards it, so do things in your world pass away if you take your attention from them, because your attention is as the sap of life that keeps alive and sustains the things of your world.

To dissolve a problem that now seems so real to you all that you do is remove your attention from it. In spite of its seeming reality, turn from it in consciousness. Become indifferent and begin to feel yourself to be that which would be the solution of the problem.

For instance; if you were imprisoned no man would have to tell you that you should desire freedom. Freedom, or rather the desire of freedom would be automatic. So why look behind the four walls of your prison bars? Take your attention from being imprisoned and begin to feel yourself to be free. FEEL it to the point where it is natural – the very second you do so, those prison bars will dissolve. Apply this same principle to any problem.

I have seen people who were in debt up to their ears apply this principle and in the twinkling of an eye debts that were mountainous were removed. I have seen those whom doctors had given up as incurable take their attention away from their problem of disease and begin to feel themselves to be well in spite of the evidence of their sense to the contrary. In no time at all this so called “incurable disease” vanished and left no scar.

Your answer to, “Whom do you say that I AM”? [sic] ever determines your expression. As long as you are conscious of being imprisoned or diseased, or poor, so long will you continue to out-picture or express these conditions.

When man realized that he is now that which he is seeking and begins to claim that he is, he will have the proof of his claim. This cue is given you in words, “Whom seek ye?” And they answered, “Jesus.” And the voice said, “I am he.” ‘Jesus’ here means salvation or savior. You are seeking to be salvaged from that which is not your problem.

“I am” is he that will save you. If you are hungry, your savior is food. If you are poor, your savior is riches. If you are imprisoned, your savior is freedom. If you are diseased, it will not be a man called Jesus who will save you, but health will become your savior. Therefore, claim “I am he,” in other words, claim yourself to be the thing desired. Claim it in consciousness – not in words – and consciousness will reward you with your claim. You are told, “You shall find me when you FEEL after me.” Well, FEEL after that quality in consciousness until you FEEL yourself to be it. When you lose yourself in the feeling of being it, the quality will embody itself in your world.

You are healed from your problem when you touch the solution of it. “Who has touched me? For I perceive virtue is gone out of me.” Yes, the day you touch this being within you – FEELING yourself to be cured or healed, virtues will come out of your very self and solidify themselves in your world as healings.

It is said, ‘You believe in God. Believe also in me for I am he.” Have the faith of God. “He made himself one with God and found it not robbery to do the works of God.” Go you and do likewise. Yes, begin to believe yourawareness, your consciousness of being to be God. Claim for yourself all the attributes that you have heretofore given an external God and you will begin to express these claims.

“For I am not a God afar off. I am nearer than your hands and feet – nearer than your very breathing.” I am your awareness of being. I am that in which all that I shall ever be aware of being shall begin and end. “For before the world was I AM; and when the world shall cease to be, I AM; before Abraham was, I AM.” This I AM is your awareness.

“Except the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build it.” ‘The Lord,’ being your consciousness, except that which you seek is first established in your consciousness, you will labor in vain to find it. All things must begin and end in consciousness.

So, blessed indeed is the man that trusteth in himself – for man’s faith in God will ever be measured by his confidence in himself. You believe in a God, believe also in ME.

Put not your trust in men for men but reflect the being that you are, and can only bring to you or do unto you that which you have first done unto yourself.

“No man taketh away my life, I lay it down myself.” I have the power to lay it down and the power to take it up again.

No matter what happens to man in this world it is never an accident. It occurs under the guidance of an exact and changeless Law.

“No man” (manifestation) “comes unto me except the father within me draw him,” and “I and my father are one.” Believe this truth and you will be free. Man has always blamed others for that which he is and will continue to do so until he find himself as cause of all. “I AM” comes not to destroy but to fulfill. “I AM,” the awareness within you, destroys nothing but ever fill full the molds or conception one has of one’s self.

It is impossible for the poor man to find wealth in this world no matter how he is surrounded with it until he first claims himself to be wealthy. For signs follow, they do not precede. To constantly kick and complain against the limitations of poverty while remaining poor in consciousness is to play the fool’s game. Changes cannot take place from that level of consciousness for life in constantly out-picturing all levels.

Follow the example of the prodigal son. Realize that you, yourself brought about this condition of waste and lack and make the decision within yourself to rise to a higher level where the fatted calf, the ring, and the robe await your claim.

There was no condemnation of the prodigal when he had the courage to claim this inheritance as his own. Others will condemn us only as long as we continue in that for which we condemn ourselves. So: “Happy is the man that condemneth himself not in that which he alloweth.” For to life nothing is condemned. All is expressed.

Life does not care whether you call yourself rich or poor; strong or weak. It will eternally reward you with that which you claim as true of yourself.

The measurements of right and wrong belong to man alone. To life there is nothing right or wrong. As Paul stated in his letters to the Romans: “I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself, but to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.” Stop asking yourself whether you are worthy or unworthy to receive that which you desire. You, as man, did not create the desire. Your desires are ever fashioned within you because of what you now claim yourself to be.

When a man is hungry, (without thinking) he automatically desires food. When imprisoned, he automatically desires freedom and so forth. Your desires contain within themselves the plan of self-expression.

So leave all judgments out of the picture and rise in consciousness to the level of your desire and make yourself one with it by claiming it to be so now. For: “My grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

Have faith in this unseen claim until the conviction is born within you that it is so. Your confidence in this claim will pay great rewards. Just a little while and he, the thing desired, will come. But without faith it is impossible to realize anything. Through faith the worlds were framed because “faith is the substance of the thing hoped for – the evidence of the thing not yet seen.”

Don’t be anxious or concerned as to results. They will follow just as surely as day follows night.

Look upon your desires – all of them – as the spoken words of God, and every word or desire a promise. The reason most of us fail to realize our desires is because we are constantly conditioning them. Do not condition your desire. Just accept it as it comes to you. Give thanks for it to the point that you are grateful for having already received it – then go about your way in peace.

Such acceptance of your desire is like dropping seed – fertile seed – into prepared soil. For when you can drop the thing desired in consciousness, confident that it shall appear, you have done all that is expected to you. But, to be worried or concerned about the HOW of your desire maturing is to hold these fertile seeds in a mental grasp, and, therefore, never to have dropped them in the soil of confidence.

The reason men condition their desires is because they constantly judge after the appearance of being and see the things as real – forgetting that the only reality is the consciousness back of them.

To see things as real is to deny that all things are possible to God. The man who is imprisoned and sees his four walls as real is automatically denying the urge or promise of God within him of freedom.

A question often asked when this statement is made is; If one’s desire is a gift of God how can you say that if one desires to kill a man that such a desire is good and therefore God sent? In answer to this let me say that no man desires to kill another. What he does desire is to be freed from such a one. But because he does not believe that the desire to be free from such a one contains within itself the powers of freedom, he conditions that desire and sees the only way to express such freedom is to destroy the man – forgetting that the life wrapped within the desire has ways that he, as man, knows not of. Its ways are past finding out. Thus man distorts the gifts of God through his lack of faith.

Problems are the mountains spoken of that can be removed if one has but the faith of a grain of a mustard seed. Men approach their problem as did the old lady who, on attending service and hearing the priest say, “If you had but the faith of a grain of a mustard seed you would say unto yonder mountain ‘be thou removed’ and it shall be removed and nothing is impossible to you.”

That night as she said her prayers, she quoted this part of the scriptures and retired to bed in what she thought was faith. On arising in the morning she rushed to the window and exclaimed: “I knew that old mountain would still be there.”

For this is how man approaches his problem. He knows that they are still going to confront him. And because life is no respecter of persons and destroys nothing, it continues to keep alive that which he is conscious of being.

Things will disappear only as man changes in consciousness. Deny it if you will, it still remains a fact that consciousness is the only reality and things but mirror that which you are in consciousness. So the heavenly state you are seeking will be found only in consciousness, for the kingdom of heaven is within you. As the will of heaven is ever done on earth you are today living in the heaven that you have established within you. For here on this very earth your heaven reveals itself. The kingdom of heaven really is at hand. NOW is the accepted time. So create a new heaven, enter into a new state of consciousness and a new earth will appear.

“The former things shall pass away. They shall not be remembered not come into mind any more. For behold, I,” (your consciousness) “come quickly and my reward is with me.”

I am nameless but will take upon myself every name (nature) that you call me. Remember it is you, yourself, that I speak of as ‘me.’ So every conception that you have of yourself – that is every deep conviction – you have of yourself is that which you shall appear as being – for I AM not fooled; God is not mocked.

Now let me instruct you in the art of fishing. It is recorded that the disciples fished all night and caught nothing. Then Jesus came upon the scene and told them to cast their nets in once more, into the same waters that only a moment before were barren – and this time their nets were bursting with the catch.

This story is taking place in the world today right within you, the reader. For you have within you all the elements necessary to go fishing. But until you find that Jesus Christ, (your awareness) is Lord, you will fish, as did these disciples, in the night of human darkness. That is, you will fish for THINGS thinking things to be real and will fish with the human bait – which is a struggle and an effort – trying to make contact with this one and that one: trying to coerce this being or the other being; and all such effort will be in vain. But when you discover your awareness of being to be Christ Jesus you will let him direct your fishing. And you will fish in consciousness for the things that you desire. For your desire – will be the fish that you will catch, because your consciousness is the only living reality you will fish in the deep waters of consciousness.

If you would catch that which is beyond your present capacity you must launch out into deeper waters, for, within your present consciousness such fish or desires cannot swim. To launch out into deeper waters, you leave behind you all that is now your present problem, or limitation, by taking your ATTENTION AWAY from it. Turn your back completely upon every problem and limitation that you now possess.

Dwell upon just being by saying, “I AM,” “I AM,” “I AM,” to yourself. Continue to declare to yourself that you just are. Do not condition this declaration, just continue to FEEL yourself to be and without warning you will find yourself slipping the anchor that tied you to the shallow of your problems and moving out into the deep.

This is usually accompanied with the feeling of expansion. You will FEEL yourself expand as though you were actually growing. Don’t be afraid, for courage is necessary. You are not going to die to anything by your former limitations, but they are going to die as you move away from them, for they live only in your consciousness. In this deep or expanded consciousness you will find yourself to be a power that you had never dreamt of before.

The things desired before you shoved off from the shores of limitation are the fish you are going to catch in this deep. Because you have lost all consciousness of your problems and barriers, it is now the easiest thing in the world to FEEL yourself to be one with the things desired.

Because I AM (your consciousness) is the resurrection and the life, you must attach this resurrecting power that you are to the thing desired if you would make it appear and live in your world. Now you begin to assume the nature of the thing desired by feeling, “I AM wealthy”; “I AM free”; “I AM strong.” When these ‘FEELS’ are fixed within yourself, your formless being will take upon itself the forms of the things felt. You become ‘crucified’ upon the feelings of wealth, freedom, and strength. – Remain buried in the stillness of these convictions. Then, as a thief in the night and when you least expect it, theses qualities will be resurrected in your world as living realities.

The world shall touch you and see that you are flesh and blood for you shall begin to bear fruit of the nature of these qualities newly appropriated. This is the art of successful fishing for the manifestations of life.

Successful realization of the thing desired is also told us in the story of Daniel in the lion’s den. Here, it is recorded that Daniel, while in the lion’s den, turned his back upon the lions and looked towards the light coming from above; that the lions remained powerless and Daniel’s faith in his God saved him.

This also is your story and you too must do as Daniel did. If you found yourself in a lion’s den you would have no other concern but lions. You would not be thinking of one thing in the world but your problem – which problem would be lions.

Yet, you are told that Daniel turned his back upon them and looked towards the light that was his God. If we would follow the example of Daniel we would, while imprisoned within the den of poverty of sickness, take our attention away from our problems of debts or sickness and dwell upon the thing we seek.

If we do not look back in consciousness to our problems but continue in faith – believing ourselves to be that which we seek, we too will find our prison walls open and the thing sought – yes, “whatsoever things” – realized.

Another story is told us; of the widow and the three drops of oil. The prophet asked the widow, “What have ye in your house?” And she replied, “Three drops of oil.” He then said to her, “Go borrow vessels. Close the door after ye have returned into your house and begin to pour.” And she poured from three drops of oil into all the borrowed vessels, filling them to capacity with oil remaining.

You, the reader, are this widow. You have not a husband to impregnate you or make you fruitful, for a ‘widow’ is a barren state. Your awareness is now the Lord – or the prophet that has become your husband.

Follow the example of the widow, who instead of recognizing an emptiness or nothingness, recognized the something – three drops of oil.

Then the command to her, “Go within and close the door,” that is, shut the door of the senses that tell you of the empty measures, the debts, the problems.

When you have taken your attention away completely by shutting out the evidence of the senses, begin to FEEL the joy, (symbolized by oil) – of having received the things desired. When the agreement is established within you so that all doubts and fears have passed away, then, you too will fill all the empty measures of your life and ill have an abundance running over.

Recognition is the power that conjures in the world. Every state that you have ever recognized, you have embodied. That which you are recognizing as true of yourself today is that which you are experiencing. So be as the widow and recognize joy, no matter how little the beginnings of recognition, and you will be generously rewarded – for the world is a magnified mirror, magnifying everything that you are conscious of being.

“I AM the Lord the God, which has brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; thou shalt have no other gods before me.” What a glorious revelation, your awareness now revealed as the Lord thy God! Come, awake from your dream of being imprisoned. Realize that the earth is yours, “and the fullness thereof; the world, and all that dwells therein.”

You have become so enmeshed in the belief that you are man that you have forgotten the glorious being that you are. Now with your memory restored DECREE the unseen to appear and it SHALL appear, for all things are compelled to respond to the Voice of God, Your awareness of being – the world is AT YOUR COMMAND!

AWAKE, O SLEEPER

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 01-08-1968

The Bible is addressed to the Imagination – which is spiritual sensation – and only immediately to the understanding, or reason.

In the fifth chapter of the Book of Ephesians we are told to: “Awake O sleeper and rise from the dead.” Now, reason could never comprehend these words, but the Bible is calling upon Imagination to awaken, telling Him that he is sleeping, dreaming his world into being. But Imagination, now a rational being, does not know this and therefore cannot believe it.

All of the commands of scripture are addressed to and fulfilled by the Lord, who is all Imagination! It is your own wonderful human Imagination who is called upon to “Rouse thyself! Why sleepest thou, O Lord? Awake!” (Psalms 44)

The greatest confession of faith man has ever received through revelation is called the Sh’ma. It is recorded in the 6th chapter of Deuteronomy as: “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” The Lord spoken of here is the Elohim, which is a compound unity of one, made up of others. I know, for I have stood in His presence. He embraced me and incorporated me into His body. Since that day back in 1929, I have been one with the body of the Risen Lord.

I believe we are the gods spoken of in the 82nd Psalm, which is quoted in the tenth chapter of John as: “God has taken his place in the Divine Assembly. In the midst of the gods he holds judgment, saying: ‘You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, you shall die as men and fall as one man, O princes.’” You will notice that this statement begins in the past, claiming men are gods, sons of the Most High. Then the future is prophesied as: “You will fall as one man.”

This fall was not a punishment, but a plan – a pretense by an assumed appearance in order to conceal the real intention, which is an expansion of further existence and ultimate birth! Having chosen us in Himself before the foundation of the world, one man fell, fragmenting itself into the unnumbered men that now appear. We are the gods in disguise who do not recognize our brothers, or ourselves.

In the beginning of Genesis it is said: “The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon man, and while he slept took one of his ribs. God made a woman from the rib and brought her to the man who said, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, for she is taken out of Man.’ Therefore, man must leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, as they become one flesh.”

This statement is myth when viewed through the eyes of reason, but it is true. You will understand it perfectly when it is revealed in you.

Having had the vision, I say you have no body distinct from your soul. The body that scripture calls Eve is a portion of the soul discerned by the five senses. The physical body you wear, be it male or female, is emanated by Eve. She is the Jerusalem from above, who is the emanation of the Lord.

Although hidden from view, you are so one with Eve that if you were struck and felt pain, you would proclaim, “I am in pain,” and I am is God’s name. Imagination is joined to you and you are joined to me by our emanated Jerusalems. The Jerusalem from below bear’s sons into slavery, and the Jerusalem from above bears sons into freedom

When questioned by the Jews, Jesus said: “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again.” Not understanding, they said, “It has taken us forty-six years to build this temple, and you will raise it up in three days?”

That’s how the mind of man thinks. Thinking of an external thing made with human hands, they did not know that Jesus was speaking of the temple of the soul. Paul knew this, for he questioned the Corinthians, saying: “Do you not know that you are the temple of the Lord and the spirit of God dwells in you?”

Eve is your temple, your emanation, and your wife till the sleep of death is past. She is your soul, which God (Imagination) cleaves to and has become one with. There is no other Eve.

Falling in one body, you entered your cave and met your savior in the grave. Some found a female garment there and some a male, woven with care. I found a male garment. My wife found a female garment, but she is not female and I am not male, for in Christ there is no male or female, no bond or free, no Greek or Jew, no black or white. Being one with Christ, you – all imagination – are above the organization of eternal death.

In his great work called “Jerusalem,” Blake speaks of the sleep of Albion and his passage through eternal death – which is life as we know it. This world seems to be endless and without purpose, for when a rich man dies, he leaves his wealth behind. And when a poor man dies he is placed in a pauper’s grave. But given the same length of time, their bodies will turn into dust and bones, and no one will be able to distinguish one bone from the other.

Regardless of what man seems to achieve here, the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of the Lord. And the strength of man here is the weakness of God. Yet this world has purpose, for man has to pass through it in order to enter into eternal life.

In Blake’s poem, “Jerusalem,” he tells of the sleep of power as it passes through eternal death, and of its awakening into eternal life, saying: “This theme calls me in sleep night after night and every morn awakens me at sunrise. Then I see the Savior over me, spreading his beams of love and dictating the words of this mild song.”

In his letter to Mr. Butts, Blake spoke of this poem, saying: “I can praise it because I dare not pretend to be anything other than the secretary whose authors are in heaven. It’s the grandest poem this world contains, for the spirit of truth dictated it morning after morning, sometimes twelve, sometimes twenty or fifty lines at a time. What now seems to be the labor of a long life was produced without labor or study and quite often against my will.”

This is how the poem begins: “Awake! Awake O sleeper in the land of shadows, wake! Expand! I am in you and you in me, mutual in love divine.”

The being in whom we were contained deliberately fell into this state called death, for the purpose of expansion into glorious life. His story is told in the parable of the grain of wheat, which unless it falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it brings forth much. Here is the story of the mystery of life through death. Being all Imagination, if I want an extension of reality, I must contract and die. I must empty myself of the glory I had with the Lord, and enter the one body, which falls.

The world tells us the fall was a mistake but that is not so, for God planned everything as it has come out and as it will be consummated. One day you will awaken, your mask will come off, and you will be enhanced beyond your wildest dreams as you awaken to eternal life. And when we all awaken, we will know each other more intimately than is possible to know one another here. My wife and I often think the same thoughts; but no matter how intimate we may be, we cannot know the intimacy that will be ours when these garments are taken off and we are once more awakened into eternal life.

Everyone will awaken in time, but not by any effort on their part while here. Your awakening was predetermined and it will happen on time, regardless of whether you are shining shoes or employing a million people. Our government undoubtedly has a million people on its payroll, with the president as its head. So in a technical sense he employs a million; yet tonight the one who shines his shoes could awaken, while the president continues to sleep, yet no one can die. That is the glorious part!

Your body is your emanation. Cut off its head and – believing you are it – you will instantly renew the same body, but with no missing parts. You will step out of the garment you now wear and men will call you dead; but you will have just stepped into another garment with no bridgework, no fillings in your teeth, no gray hair, no need to wear glasses or a hearing aid, to discover you are a young man (or woman) about twenty years of age. You will be in a terrestrial world just as real as this one, and continue your journey until you awaken.

I have awakened and know that when this garment is taken off I will no longer be in this world of death. This world, however, does not terminate at the point where the senses cease to register it.

You cannot follow those who are called dead, because of your limitation. But your friend who emanated the body you knew here is not dead to himself. Rather, he now emanates the same body, only young, where he continues to dream his world into being, not even knowing that he has gone through the door called death.

It’s like leaving one room and entering another. Your friend is in the same fabulous, terrestrial world which the mysteries call eternal death, and from which he will one day awaken into eternal life. Having descended and entered the world of death, one day he will awaken to discover he has expanded and fulfilled his purpose. God made a limit to contraction and opacity, but not to translucency or expansion.

In the 1st chapter of Genesis it is said: “God made man in his own image. Male and female made he them.” The 2nd chapter changes this somewhat, but it is not a contradiction if you see it through imagination.

“The Lord God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his mouth the breath of life, and man became a living soul.”

Man’s destiny is to become a life-giving spirit, not just to remain an animated body. The purpose of your fall is to transform you into an entirely different world, one where you are a life-giving spirit, animating everything around you. There you will stop time at will and start it again. That is your destiny. Now, reason cannot understand this, and you can’t blame anyone who has not had the vision. Scholars believe the Bible is all myth, and certainly it is. If you take my body apart you will find no rib that is missing, yet scripture tells us one was removed.

The word rib is the Hebrew word “tselah,” (TSAY-la), which literally means, a portion of the soul that emanates, that leaves everything and cleaves to his emanation until they become one flesh.

You have cleaved to and become your emanation so completely you believe you are it. When you introduce yourself you always say, “I am” before you give your name. And if you are hurt you say, “I am in pain.” Always calling upon the name of God, you don’t say, “God is in pain,” but “I am,” and that is God’s name forever, because the gods came down.

Now let me repeat: I not only believe in God, I believe that all men are gods and that collective Man is God. I believe that when you hurt men, you hurt God. And when you hurt men you hurt yourself, because you are God and there is no other.

In spite of the horrors of the world, God is love! When you stand in His presence you can’t feel anything but love. And when love embraces you and you become one with God, you will know an ecstasy you have never known before. And with this union, you are incorporated into His body and know yourself to be all love!

“He who is united to the Lord becomes one Spirit with him.” (Romans 6) When you are incorporated into the body of love, you are united with the one body, the one Spirit, one Lord, one God and Father of all, knowing that you are He. Then you will awaken as the one who commanded the fall, for you will have fulfilled your purpose.

You will awaken in this world of death knowing you are God, the Father of God’s only begotten son, David. It is recorded that in the spirit David called Jesus “Adonai”, which is the Hebrew name for Father (Lord). (In Hebrew the name YAD HE VAU HE [pron. “YOD HEY VAV HEY” is so sacred the word “adoniyah” [corr. adonai, pron. “a-do-NAI”] is substituted.) In the spirit, David will call you father, and you will have fulfilled the 2nd Psalm. It is David who says: “I shall tell of the decree of the Lord. He said to me, ‘Thou art my son, today I have begotten thee.’”

One day when your time here is fulfilled, you will awaken and be born from above. Then David will appear and the entire drama of scripture will unfold within you, revealing your true identity. Then you will know you are one of the gods who agreed to dream in concert.

Now dreaming in concert, you and I see a building identically. You may see it through the eyes of one who would like to own it. I may see it through the eyes of one who admires it with no desire of possession, but we see the same building. We see the same streets and recognize the same number so we can go where we want to. But the world is a dream and we are the gods who agreed to dream in concert in order not to have any confusion. Had we agreed to dream individually and all play solo parts, this would be the wildest, maddest play possible!

I invite you now to go all out and imagine you really are the man or woman you want to be. But do not doubt, for the minute doubt steps in, a mental division descends, as doubt is the devil. If you will believe that regardless of what the world tells you, you are the man you want to be, you won’t go mad. Instead, you will become that man. Your dream world will rearrange itself to fit your new image into it without any difficulty or help on your part.

When someone born into poverty persists in dreaming he possesses great wealth and his dream comes true, his wealth seems perfectly natural to those who do not know his dream. You are dreaming. If you try to make your dream come true while doubting its possibility, you are heading toward a nervous breakdown. But if you go all out in your wonderful claim, you will fulfill it, for all things are possible to the God you are, for you are the God of whom the Bible speaks.

When the gods came down in the likeness of men, some found a female garment and some a male. Entering death’s door with those who enter, and lying down in the grave with visions of eternity, the gods are dreaming the dream of life until they awake and see Jesus and the linen clothes which were woven with the cooperation of a male and female. These were emanations of the soul which is neither male nor female.

“As it was appointed for all men to die once and after that comes the judgment, so Christ was offered once for the sins of many and will appear a second time, not concerning sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” (Hebrews 9)

You may hear of someone’s death, but he has not died to himself, as it was appointed that all men would die only once. We died when we left our heavenly home to come down and assume the limitations of the flesh. At that moment we were united with Christ in a death like his, with the promise that we would be united with him in a resurrection like his.

Your death is over. When you go through the gate called death, you don’t die, but instantly emanate a young, unaccountably new body. Most of those who go through the gate do not even know it. They simply take their young body for granted, just as they do everything here.

All day long a miracle goes on in your body. Unknown to your conscious reasoning mind, tonight’s dinner is being converted into blood, tissue, and bones. No man can make a drop of blood, grow a new heart, or make one hair on his head.

The other day it was recorded that a doctor had stated that his patient could not live three weeks without a heart transplant. He operated on the man, gave him a new heart, and the man lived 18 days! No matter what the doctors do, no man will live one hour beyond his span of time as told us in the Sermon on the Mount. “Who by being anxious can add one hour to his span of life?” Yet man goes blindly on believing he can. All he is doing is publicizing his surgeons and the medical world. You are not the body you wear, so when its heart, liver, or lungs wear out, you will simply step out of it and emanate a new one.

Made in the image of God, you are God’s prodigal son who came out from the Father. You have cleaved to the body you wear so tightly, you have become one flesh with it, so that whenever it is hurt, you are hurt. That is the Adam and Eve of scripture, therefore, it is not a myth. Your emanation does come out of you, but not from a rib. You have no body distinct from your soul. Your called body is a portion of soul discerned by the five senses, the chief inlet of soul in this age. You are now a living soul, destined to become a life-giving spirit.

Having fallen, you emanate a body, which is necessary to function in this world, and you automatically do it with not one part missing. I meet those who have left this time/space and do not even know they have died.

If I told you right now that you are not only sound asleep but you are also dead, you would think me mad and the possessor of a demon. That’s what they said of the Risen Christ. “Why listen to him, he is mad and has a demon.” Taking up stones to stone him they said, “We stone you for blasphemy, for you being a man claim you are God.” Then he replied, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I say you are gods?’ If he calls you gods to whom the word of God came, then why do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world that he blasphemes?” (John 10)

Jesus never claimed he was greater than another. Those who heard him did not know they were God, and he was only trying to awaken them to the memory that they were the sons who came down. He said: “Go tell my brothers that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”

He never claimed that his Father differed from theirs or that his God was different, but they could not understand the mystery. They tried to grasp it with the reasoning mind, yet everything takes place in the Imagination, which is God. “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.” (William Blake)

Now let us go into the silence

AWAKENED IMAGINATION

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 1954

As you have heard, this morning’s subject is “Awakened Imagination”. It is my theme for the entire series of nineteen lectures. Everything is geared towards the awakening of the imagination. I doubt if there is any subject on which clear thinking is more rare than the imagination. The word itself is made to serve all kinds of ideas. many of them directly opposed to one another. But here this morning I hope to convince you that this is the redeeming power in man. This is the power spoken of in the Bible as the Second Man. “the Lord from Heaven”.

This is the same power personified for us as a man called Christ Jesus.

In the ancient text it was called Jacob, and there are numberless names in the Bible all leading up and culminating in the grand flower called Christ Jesus.

It may startle you to identify the central figure of the Gospels as human imagination, but I am quite sure before the series is over, you will be convinced that this what the ancients intended that we should know, but man has misread the Gospels as history and biography and cosmology, and so completely has gone asleep as to the power within himself.

Now this morning I have brought you the means by which this mighty power in us may be awakened. I call it the art of revision. I take my day and I review it in my mind’s eye. I start with the first incident in the morning. I go through the day; when I come to any scene in my unfolding day that displeased me, or if it didn’t displease me if it was not as perfect as I thought it could have been, I stop right there and I revise it. I re-write it, and after I have re-written it so that it conforms to the ideal I wished I had experienced, then I experience that in my imagination as though I had experienced it in the flesh. I do it over and over until it takes on the tone of reality, and experience convinces me that that moment that I have revised and relived will not recede into my past. It will advance into my future to confront me as I have revised it. If I do not revise it, these moments, because they never recede and they always advance, will advance to confront me perpetuating that strange, unlovely incident. But if I refuse to allow the sun to descend upon my wrath, so that at the end of a day I never accept as final the facts of the day, no matter how factual they are, I never accept them, and revising it I repeal the day and bring about corresponding changes in my outer world.

Now, not only will this art of revision accomplish my every objective, but as I begin to revise the day it fulfills its great purpose and its great purpose is to awaken in me the being that men call Christ Jesus, that I call my wonderful human imagination, and when it awakens it is the eye of God and it turns inward into the world of thought and there I see that what formerly I believed to exist on the outside really exists within myself. No matter what it is, I then discover that the whole of Creation is rooted in me and ends in me as I am rooted in and end in God. And from that moment on I find my real purpose in life and my real purpose is simply to do the will of Him that sent me, and the will of Him that sent me is this –that of all that he has given me I shall lose nothing but raise it up again.

And what did he give me? He gave me every experience in my life. He gave me you. Every man, woman and child that I meet is a gift to me from my Father, but they fell in me because of my attitude towards society, because of my attitude towards myself. When I begin to awaken and the eye opens and I see the whole is myself made visible, I then must fulfill my real purpose, which is the will of Him that sent me, and the Will is to raise up those that I allowed in my ignorance when I slept to descend within me.

Then starts the real art of revision; to be the man, regardless of your impressions of that man, regardless of the facts of the case that are all staring you in the face, it is your duty when you become awakened to lift him up within yourself and you will discover that he was never the cause of your displeasure. When you look at him and you are displeased, look within and you will find the source of the displeasure. It did not originate there.

Now let me give you a case history to illustrate this point. I know a few of you were at the banquet and maybe a few of you heard me last Thursday on T. V. but I doubt in this audience of say twenty-three or twenty-four hundred of us, that more than say a hundred and fifty heard it, and even if you heard it you can hear it time and time again for it is this, that if you hear it will cause you to act upon it because as I told you, and I think I did last Sunday, but if I didn’t let me tell you now; if you attended the entire nineteen and you became saturated with all that I have to tell you, so that you had all the knowledge you think it takes to achieve your objectives, and you did not apply what you received, it would avail you nothing; but a little knowledge which you carry out in action, you will find to be far more profitable than much knowledge which you neglect to carry out in action. So by repeating this case history this morning, though say a hundred or two hundred of you have heard it, it will help you to remember you must do something about it.

This past May in New York City, there sat a lady who had been coming for years and I made a simple observation that people must become doers of the word and not mere hearers only. For if a man only hears it and never applies what he hears he will never really prove or disprove what he has heard; and then I told the story of a lady who had only heard me three or four times and how she transformed the life of another, and this lady hearing what one who came only three times and this miracle took place in her life, she went home determined that she would really apply what she had heard over the years, and this is what she did.

Two years before, after a violent quarrel, she was ordered out of her son’s home by her daughter-in-law. Her son said “Mother, you need no proof from me that I love you: it’s obvious: I think I have proven that every day of my life, but if that is Mary’s decision, and I regret it, it must be my decision, for I love Mary and we live in the same house and it is our house: it is our little family, and I am sorry she feels this way about it, but you know these little things that culminate in an explosion as took place today. If that is her decision, it is mine”. That was two years ago. She went home and she realized that night after night for over two years she had allowed the sun to descend upon her wrath. She thought of this wonderful family that she loved and felt herself ostracized from it, expelled from the home of her son. She did nothing about revising it and yet I had been talking revision to my New York audience for the past year.

This is what she did now. She knew the morning’s mail brought nothing. This was a Wednesday night. There had been no correspondence in two years. She had sent her grandson at least a dozen gifts in the two years. Not one was ever acknowledged. She knew they had been received for she had insured many of them; so she sat down that night and mentally wrote herself two letters–one from her daughter-in-law, expressing a great kindness for her, saying that she had been missed in the home and asking her when she was coming to see them; then she wrote one from her grandson in which he said “Grandmother, I love you”. Then came a little expression of thanks for the last birthday present, which was in April, and then came a feeling of sadness rather because he hadn’t seen her and begging her to come and see him soon.

These two short notes she memorized and then, as she was about to sleep, she took her imaginary hands and held these letters and she read them mentally to herself until they woke in her the feeling of joy because she had heard from her family; that she was wanted once more. She read these letters over and over feeling the joy that was hers because she had received them and fell asleep in her project. For seven nights this lady read these two letters. On the morning of the eighth day she received the letter: on the inside there were two letters–one from her grandson and one from her daughter-in-law. These letters were identical with the letters she had mentally written to herself seven days before.

Where was the estrangement? Where was the conflict? Where was the source of the displeasure that was like a running sore over two years? When man’s eye is opened he realizes all that he beholds, though it appears without, it is within–within one’s own imagination, of which this world of mortality is but a shadow.

She gave me permission to tell that story. When I told it, and we came to the period of questions and answers, there was a strange reaction from that crowd. They wondered what joy life would hold for any of us if we had to write our own letters; if we had to do everything to ourselves that seemingly is done in joy; that seemingly is spontaneous coming from another; but I don’t want to write myself a love letter from my wife, or my sweetheart or my friend. I want that one to feel this way towards me and to express it unknown to me that I may receive a surprise in life.

Well, I am not denying that sleeping man firmly believes that is the way things happen. When a man awakes he realizes that everything he encounters is apart of himself, and what he does not now comprehend, he knows, because the eye is opened, that it is related by affinity to some as yet unrealized force in his own being; that he wrote it but he has forgotten it, that he slapped himself in the face but he has forgotten it; that within himself he started the entire unfolding drama, and he looks out upon a world, and it seems strange to him, because most of us in our sleep are totally unaware of what we are doing from within ourselves.

What that lady did, every man and woman in this audience today can do. It will not take you years to prove it; what I tell you now may startle you; it may seem to be bordering on insanity for the insane believe in the reality of subjective states and the sane man only believes in what the senses will allow, what they will dictate, and I’m going to tell you when you begin to awake, you assert the supremacy of imagination and you put all things in subjection to it. You never again bow before the dictates of facts and accept life on the basis of the world without.

To you Truth is not confined by facts but by the intensity of your imagination. So here we find the embodiment of Truth, which I say is human imagination, standing in the world drama before the embodiment of reason personified as Pontius Pilate. And he is given the authority to question truth and they ask him, “What is the truth?” and Truth remains silent. He refuses to justify any action of his; he refuses to justify anything that was done to him, for he knows no man cometh unto me save I call him: no man takes away my life, I lay it down myself.

You didn’t choose me, I have chosen you. For here is Truth seeing nothing hereafter in pure objectivity, but seeing everything subjectively related to himself and he the source of all the actions that take place within his world; so Truth remains absolutely silent and says nothing when reason questions him concerning the true definition of Truth. Because when the eye opens it knows that what is an idea to sleeping man is a fact to the awakened imagination, an objective fact, not an idea. I entertain the idea of a friend and I make some wonderful concept of him in my mind’s eye and when I sleep it seems to be a wish, it seems to be the longing of my heart, but purely subjective, just an idea. And the eye within me opens, and he stands before me embodying the quality that I desired in my sleep to see him express. So what is an idea to sleeping man, the unawakened imagination, is an objective reality to awakened imagination.

Now, this exercise calls for, I would say, the active, voluntary use of imagination as against the passive, involuntary acceptance of appearances. We never accept as true and as final anything unless it conforms to the ideal we desire to embody within our world, and we do exactly what the grandmother did. But now we start it and we do it daily. You may get your results tomorrow; it may come the day after; it may come in a week, but I assure you they will come.

You do not need some strange laboratory, like our scientists, to prove or disprove this theory. Here in 1905 a young man startled the scientific world with his equation that no one could even test. It is said not six men lived who could understand his equation. It was 14 years later before Lord Rutherford could devise the means to test that equation and he found that it was true, not 100%, because he did not have the means at his hand to really give it a complete test. It was another 14 years before further tests could be made. And you know the results of that equation that Einstein gave us in 1905. For today man, not knowing the power of his own imagination, stands startled at the results of that unlocking of energy. But he was the man who said, and I put it in the first page of my new book–“Imagination is more important than knowledge”

That was Albert Einstein. Imagination is more important than knowledge. For if man accepts as final the facts that evidence bears witness to, he will never exercise this God-given means of redemption, which is his imagination.

Now I’m going to ask you to test this: you will not take the three weeks that I am here to prove it or disprove it, but the knowledge of it cannot prove itself, only the application of that knowledge can prove it or disprove it. I know from experience you cannot disprove it. Take an objective, take a job, take some conversation with your boss, take an increase in salary. You say well, the job doesn’t allow it, or maybe the Union will not allow it. I don’t care what doesn’t allow it.

Yesterday morning’s mail brought me one, where, in San Francisco, this captain, a pilot, and he writes me that I saw him backstage after one of my meetings, and there he said, “But Neville, you are up against a stone wall. I am a trained pilot; I have gone all over the world, all over the seven seas; I’m a good pilot and I love the sea, not a thing in this world I want to do but go to sea; yet they restrict me to certain waters because of seniority. No matter what argument I give them the Union is adamant and they have closed the book on my request.” I said, “I don’t care what they have done, you are transferring the power that rightfully belongs to God, which is your own imagination, to the shadow you cast upon the screen of space.

“So here, we are in this room; need it remain a room? Can’t you use your imagination to call this abridge. This is now a bridge and I am a guest on the bridge of your ship, and you are not in waters restricted by the Union; you are in waters that you desire to sail your ship. Now close your eyes and feel the rhythm of the ocean and feel with me and commune with me and tell me of your joy in first proving this principle. and secondly in being at sea where you want to be. He is now in Vancouver on a ship bringing a load of lumber down to Panama. He has a complete list that will take him through the year what this man has to do. He is going into waters legitimately that the Union said he could not go. This doesn’t dispense with unions, but it does not put anyone in our place- -no one, kings, queens, presidents, generals, we take no one and enthrone him and put him beyond the power that rightfully belongs to God. So I will not violate the law but things will open that I will never devise.

I will sit in the silence and within myself I will revise the picture. I will hear the very man who told me “No, and that’s final” and hear him tell me yes, and a door opens. I don’t have to go and pull strings or pull any wires whatsoever. I call upon this wonderful power within myself, which man has forgotten completely because he personified it and called it another man, even though it is a glorious picture of a man but that is not the man: the real man is not in some other world. When religion speaks, if it’s a real religion, it speaks not of another world; it speaks of another man that is latent but unborn in every man that has attunement with another world of meaning, so that man sat and he tuned in with another world of meaning and brought into being a power that he allowed to go to sleep because he read the laws of man too well. He accepted as final the dictate of facts for they read him the by-laws, they read him the laws of the Union. And here today he is flying the ocean as he wants to do it. The grandmother is no longer locked out from the home she loved, but she is in communion, but she was locked out by herself for two years. And he was locked out by himself for well over 18 months, and burning up day after day allowing the sun to descend upon his wrath when he had the power within himself and the key to unlock every door in the world.

I say to each and everyone of you I wouldn’t take from you your outer comfort, your religion, for all these things are like toys for sleeping man, but I come to awaken within you that which when it awakes it sees an entirely different world. It sees a world that no man when he sleeps could ever see, and then he starts to raise within himself every being that God gave him; and may I tell you God gave you every man that walks the face of the earth. He also gave it for this purpose that nothing is to be discarded. Everyone in the world must be redeemed and your individual life is the process by which this redemption is brought to pass.

So we don’t discard because the thing is unpleasant, we revise it; revising it we repeal it, and as we repeal it it projects itself on the screen of space bearing witness to the power within us, which is our wonderful human imagination. And I say human advisedly–some would have me say the word divine. The very word itself means nothing to man. He has pushed it off from himself completely and divorced himself from the thing that he now bows before and calls by other names. I say human imagination. As Blake said “Rivers, mountains, cities, villages all are human”. When the eye opens you see them in your own bosom, in your own wonderful bosom they all exist, they are rooted there. Don’t let them fall and remain fallen; lift them up for the will of my Father is this, that of all that he has given me I should lose nothing but raise it up again, and I raise it up every time I revise my concept of another and make him conform to the ideal image I myself would like to express in this world. When I do unto him what I would love the world to do unto me, and see in me I am lifting him up.

And may I tell you what happens to that man when he does it? First of all, he is already turned around within himself. He no longer sees the world in pure objectivity, but the whole world subjectively related to himself, and hang it upon himself. As he lifts it up do you know he blooms within himself. When this eye of mine was first opened I beheld man as the prophet saw him. I saw him as a tree walking: some were only like little antlers of a stag, others were majestic in their foliage, and all that were really awake were in full bloom. These are the trees in the garden of God. As told us in the old ancient way of revision in the 61st chapter of the Book of Isaiah—“Go and give beauty for ashes, go and give joy for mourning, give the spirit of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may become trees of righteousness, plantings to the glory of God.”

That is what every man must do, that’s revision. I see ash when the business is gone; you can’t redeem it, you can’t lift it up, conditions are bad and the thing has turned to ash. Put beauty in its place; see customers, healthy customers, healthy in finances, healthy in the attitude towards you, healthy in every sense of the word. See them loving to shop with you if you are a shopkeeper; if you are a factory worker, don’t see anything laying you off, lift it up, put beauty in the place of ash, for that would be ash if you were laid off with a family to feed. If someone is mourning, put joy in the place of mourning; if someone is heavy of spirit, put the spirit of praise in place of the spirit of heaviness, and as you do this and revise the day you turn around, and turning around you turn up, and all the energies that went down when you were sound asleep and really blind now turn up and you become a tree of righteousness, a planting to the glory of God. For I have seen them walking this wonderful earth, which is really the Garden; we have shut ourselves out by our concept of self and we have turned down.

As told us in the Book of Daniel, we were once this glorious tree and it was felled to the very base, and what formerly sheltered the nations and fed the nations and comforted the bird and gave some comfort to the animals from the sun of the day, of the heat of the day; and suddenly some voice said from within, “Let it lie, let it remain as it is, but do not disturb the roots; I will water it with the dew of heaven and as I water it with the dew of heaven it will once more grow again, but this time it will consciously grow, it will know what it really is and who it is. In its past it was majestic but it had no conscious knowledge of its majesty, and I felled it- -that was the descent of man. And now, he will once more spring from within himself and he will be a tree walking, a glorious, wonderful tree.

Now to those who are sound asleep this may seem to you too startling: this may be just as startling as Einstein’s equation was; that was startling too. But I tell you I’ve seen it and I see it–men are destined to be trees in the garden of God. They are planted on earth for a purpose and they don’t always remain men, they are transformed as they turn in and turn up. This is the true meaning of the transfiguration. There is a complete metamorphosis taking place like the grub into the butterfly. You don’t remain what you appear to be when man is asleep, and there is no more glorious picture in the world than to see this living animated human being, for every branch within him is represented by an extension of himself called another, and when he lifts the other up that branch not only comes into leafage but it blossoms and the living human blossoms that blossom upon the tree of man who awakens.

So that’s my message for you this year; I’ll give it to you to stir into being that which sleeps in you, for the son of God sleeps in man and the only purpose of being is to awaken him. So it is not to awaken this, nice as it appears to be, but this man of sense-is only a casing: it is called the first man, but the first shall be last and the last shall be first. So that which comes into being second, like Jacob coming second from his mother’s womb, he takes precedence over his brother Esau who came first. Esau was the one like this, he was made of skin and hair, and Jacob was made a smooth skinned lad, but that one that comes second suddenly becomes the lord of all the nations and that one sleeps in every man born of woman, and it is the duty of a teacher or a true religion to awaken that man, not to talk of another world, not to make promises to be fulfilled beyond the grave, but to tell him as he awakens now he is in heaven and the kingdom is come now, this day, on earth. For as he awakens he revises his day and he repeals his day and projects a more beautiful picture onto the screen of space.

BE IMITATORS OF GOD

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 10-21-68

“It has been taught us from the primal state, that that which is, was wished until it were.” (William Shakespeare)

God started with a wish, saying; “Let us make man in our image.” And we are told that we will be perfect as our Father is perfect, and holy as our Father is holy. Therefore, whatever God was, when his work is completed, man must be. We are told to be imitators of God as dear children, so we must discover how he became us in order to imitate him.

It seems God lives as one possessed by a dream. Jeremiah tells us: “The will of the Lord will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his mind. In the latter days you will understand it perfectly.” God, refusing to turn back, remains lost in his dream until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his mind.

If you want your dream realized, imitate God by becoming totally possessed by your dream. Do this and you, too, will reach your desire’s fulfillment, just as God has brought – and is bringing – his dream to completion. Have an intense wish. Clothe it in tones of reality and imitate God by living as one possessed by a dream. Like God, do not turn aside until you have executed and accomplished the intents of your mind.

God began the good work in you and when he brings it to completion on the day of Jesus Christ, you will reflect the glory of God and bear the express image of his person. If God will not stop until that wish is completely realized, then you must be equally persistent. Regardless of things to the contrary, persist until your dream is completely realized.

See the story of Jesus Christ as God’s plan of redemption. Read the directions, and you will discover that it is only as the Risen Christ that Jesus makes himself manifest. When Judas asked: “How will you manifest yourself to us and not to the others?” he answered: “Any man who loves me will keep my word and my Father will love him and we will come and make our home with him. He who does not love me does not keep my word for the word I speak is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me.

Scripture is the Father’s word. First recorded as individual expressions of the Risen Lord, each vision is complete within itself. With nothing in the paragraphs to indicate their chronological order, the writers wrote a story – which appears to be history, but it is not.

I will take one such paragraph, as it fits a letter I recently received. In it she said: “I fell asleep requesting a deeper understanding when you appeared as the Risen Christ and handed me the number 26. I have tried to understand this and can only come up with the number eight.”

If you add the two and the six together you have the number of the Risen Lord. It was on the eighth day (the first day of the new week) that Christ rose; therefore, eight is always associated with resurrection, regeneration, and the number of the Lord. But I gave her the number 26!

There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, of which five are repeated and called finals. We have kaph as 20, but when used as a final it becomes 500. Mem is 40, whose numerical value becomes 600 when used as a final. Nun is 50, and when encountered as a final it is 700. When peh is first encountered it is 80, but as a final it becomes 800, as its tone does not change. The symbolical value of this letter is the mouth; in its final form it is the mouth of God: “My word that goes forth from my mouth shall not return unto me void but must accomplish that which I purpose and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”

You are Christ, the Word sent forth from God’s mouth as his hope of glory. God is making you into his perfect image to possess all that he possesses, as God’s Word cannot return void. This is the mouth I have given this lady. Recently she has been wondering why – when she knows something intuitively – she is hesitant to speak out. Questioning herself, she fell asleep and saw me as the Risen Lord, at which time I gave her a voice of authority to speak out, regardless of what others may say.

Only the Risen Lord will be seen. I can tell you: I have ascended from earth and entered the highest heaven, but you will not know it until my Father reveals it to you. When asked: “Who do men say that the Son of man is?” they said: “Some say John the Baptist come again, others say Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets of old.” But when he asked: “Who do you say that I am?” Peter answered: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The Risen Lord then replied: “Flesh and blood could not have told you this, but my Father who is in heaven, he has revealed it to you.”

Many will tell me they love what I teach, but walk away, not believing it to the point of application. But those who truly love me believe and apply my words. They are the ones who will see me as the Risen Lord. They will recognize a man called Neville – not as a man of flesh and blood, but as a completed pattern; for the pattern which God placed within me, has erupted. If you love the idea of completing such a pattern, then you are in love with me. Not as flesh and blood, but the Christ who has risen within me. When I manifested myself to this lady she knew I was Neville; yet she also knew I was the Risen Christ; thereby, having the same experience as Peter. Having heard and loving the message, Peter recognized the Risen Lord – while others heard it, but – not loving the telling – they did not have the experience. Such is granted through the discernment of love.

Many claim to love Christ, but worship an icon on the wall. Called the image of God, Christ is God’s plan, which was in the beginning with God, when he said: “Let us make man in our image.” Christ reflects the glory of God and bears the express image of his person. That image is found in the pattern. I have described this image in a more chronological manner than recorded in the Bible.

I know those who have fallen in love with the story which awoke within me. One who departed last July saw me as the Lord. Another lady here saw me as the Risen Lord. They did not see me as a man of flesh and blood, but as spirit, God’s power and wisdom raised out of the physical world and into the kingdom of God. Just as God has deluded himself and lives as one possessed by a dream to bring it to fulfillment, you can imitate him while you wait for his work to be completed in you. And if you are equally persistent in your dream, no power can stop it from coming to fulfillment. But you cannot deviate. You cannot turn from the dream to see what others are doing, or what they think about it; you must be willing to lose yourself, to be possessed by your dream. No man of flesh and blood is Christ. “If any one says: ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is’ believe him not.” (Mark 13) When Christ comes, it is from within and its knowledge is without uncertainty. No one can ever deny the truth of what this lady saw. The man who stands before you now is full of weaknesses and limitations of the flesh. Tomorrow this lady could hear of some unpleasant happening in my life, but it would not disturb what she saw and heard when – in vision – she saw me as the Risen Lord and I gave her the voice of authority. From now on she will have the courage to speak out when she intuitively knows she is right.

Now, when you experience Christ and tell your friends, 99.99% of them will turn their back upon you, because they will see you as a mortal with human weaknesses, and you will not impress them. But don’t share your experiences to impress anyone, rather to show the truth of God’s word. Do that, and there will be a remnant who will believe; then you will appear to them as the Risen Christ.

Read scripture carefully and you will discover that no one saw him as the Risen Christ until after the ascension, which occurs while wearing the body of man. I know, for on the eighth day of April, 1960, I ascended; and from that day on everything in me has turned around, although I am anchored here during the day. I have been seen as the Risen Lord in New York, San Francisco, and all over, by ones who are in love with the word which they have heard from me. They love the hope I have held out to them, that in a body of flesh and blood with all of its weaknesses, there is a plan of salvation that will awaken and unfold in all. That plan is the Christ they love.

No man born from the womb of woman is Christ. If there is another Christ other than he who was crucified and buried within you, he is false, and false teachers teach him as another. Christ is God’s plan of redemption. “He has made known unto me the mystery of his will which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time.” Christ is the word who is one with the individual who speaks it.

Imitate God as a dear child, by having a controlled dream. Make a composite picture of what you want. Ask no one to aid you or if it is right for you. Desiring life to be full, do what God does. Make a wish and possess it. Turn neither to the left nor the right, but persist, just as God is doing, and nothing can keep you from expressing it.

Then, when you have finished the work you came to do, you will understand that the furnaces you have gone through were necessary to bring you out as an image who reflects the glory of God and bears the express image of his person, for you will be endowed with life in yourself. Having become one with God, you will have inherited all that God is!

In my book, Resurrection, I have shared my visions in their chronological order. I know of no other book, including the Bible, which has given it that way. The Bible in its manuscript form is a series of paragraphs. These paragraphs were used to tell a story, because those who were eyewitnesses were leaving this world of Caesar, and if the events were not recorded, there would only be an oral tradition and confusion would reign. Luke starts his book saying:”Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of things that have been accomplished among us, by those who from the beginning were eye-witnesses and ministers of the word, it seemed good to me also to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the truth concerning the things of which you have been informed.”

The word Theophilus means one who loves God. Luke is writing his orderly account for the individual who, loving the word, enters the state of Theophilus and sees the Risen Lord.

Now, Luke did not claim to make an exact presentation of the source material, but to present it better than those who preceded him in the telling. He tells us that many had undertaken to compile a narrative, yet we only have four records. John tells us that we must be born from above, but he does not bring any of the symbolism into it. But because of Luke’s account, the world has taken the story as fact. Believing that Jesus was born from the womb of a woman, they believe he came in the same normal manner as all children do – with one exception, his mother did not have a husband.

Luke tells the story in its normal state, using shepherds rather than kings (as recorded in Matthew). Today’s scholars are convinced that the three kings Matthew speaks of were definitely inserted. The witnesses are three normal people, not kings; and the child is only a sign of your birth from above, which can happen when you are fifty or eighty, and has nothing to do with your so-called appearance in this world. While walking the earth as a normal, natural, individual it happens; and when it does you simply record the event next to the parallel passage in scripture. I ask you now to fall in love with my message of salvation. Christ rose in me. God’s son appeared to reveal me as God the Father. All is Self, as there is no other. I AM the being called Jesus Christ. I AM the plan, the Word which cannot return void, for I have accomplished that for which I was sent.

Believe me! Fall in love with my message, and Christ will unfold in you; and you, too, will tell it; and those who fall in love with what you say – in the hope that it will unfold in them – will have the joy of seeing you as the Risen Lord, for in the end there is Jesus only.

Because of the nature of the grace that He bestowed, we have different gifts. There are those who have the gift of the apostle; others the gift of prophesy; some are teachers, healers, or miracle workers. All will differ in the kingdom, but the gift itself is unmerited. It is not your due and cannot be earned. The measure of your gift determines the nature of the part you play in the body of the Risen Lord. All parts are important and good, and the least there is greater than the greatest here.

Those who see clearly – as many of you do – are prophets and are so very high in the kingdom. You are the voice of God Himself! Hearing what is being said from within, you are dictated to by the Spirit of Christ – who is yourself. How much closer to God can you get than to be his voice, than to be his mouth? That’s what the prophet is. But he is not granted the right to interpret what he hears and sees. That belongs to another aspect of being.

Start now to imitate God by having a glorious dream of the man or woman you would like to be. Don’t ask anyone if it is possible, for all things are possible to God. Don’t ask anyone if you should want it, simply claim it. Because there is no death in the true sense of the word; if your desire is not fulfilled here, it will be completed, so start your dream and imitate God. You could be ninety and still have things you want to experience, goals you want to realize, so claim them now!

Personally, I hope you will set your hope fully upon the grace that is coming to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; but if you have no memory of affluence, and want to taste it here, become possessed with the idea and refuse to become diverted. Whatever your hunger may be, make it a part of your dream.

And dream nobly! Imitate God as a dear child! He started with a wish, saying: “Let us make man in our image,” and God has persisted in his wish as though it were true. Do as God has done. Take a wish and persist in believing it is true. Do not deviate; just continue believing in its truth, and in the end you will unveil your wish. You will project it on the screen of space, just as God has unveiled his wish as Jesus Christ.

As a man in whom Jesus Christ unveiled himself, I always thought myself to be the body of flesh, not knowing I was that glorified being who reflected the glory of God and bore the very stamp of His nature. I did not know I was perfect as my Father, yet I had not earned it. That I was as holy as my father, but had not earned it. It was all a gift, because it was my Father’s wish that I might possess it, and I did.

Now let us go into the silence.

BEFORE ABRAHAM, WAS I AM

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 10-11-1968

The drama tonight opens to the 8th chapter of the Book of John, where the evangelist writes of the state into which he has entered, saying: “Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham, was I am.”

The Bible is a recordation of the eternal spiritual states of the soul which everyone must pass through, beginning with the state of Abraham and culminating in the state called Jesus Christ. It is important, therefore, to distinguish between the man and the state he occupies at the present time.

Always remember that the Bible is address to the man of imagination and not to any mortal man. Blake said: “It must be understood that the persons Moses and Abraham are not here meant, but are states signified by those names. The individuals being representatives (or visions) of those states as they were seen by mortal man in a series of divine revelations and recorded in the Bible.” I have seen these states in my imagination. At a distance they appeared as one man; however, as I drew near they became a multitude of nations. One man – represented by multitudes and multitudes of men in harmony – appears as a single being. The ancients saw Him and believing in what they saw they prophesied of the ultimate state, and personified him as Jesus Christ.

No one knows the true authors of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, but I can tell you, they were relating their own experiences when they put words into the mouth of a personification of this ultimate truth called Jesus. Turning to those who were present he said: “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day. He saw it and was glad.” Those who heard him said: “Why, you are not yet fifty years of age, and Abraham saw you?” And he replied: “Before Abraham, was I am.” With that remark they took up stones and stoned him.

Now this was not a drama that took place in the secular world. The evangelist is telling the truth, however, for being in the state of Jesus Christ he knew he was the immortal being who was before Abraham. He knew he was God himself, the author of the play called life. This truth every child born of woman will know from experience.

Let us now turn to the Book of Galatians, which is the earliest book of the New Testament. The thirteen letters of Paul were written, distributed, practiced, and called the gospel at least twenty years before the gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were written. In it, Paul speaks of “my gospel,” saying: “I did not receive it from a man, nor was I taught it, it came by revelation of Jesus Christ.” Then he tells this story: “Abraham had two sons, one by a slave and one by a free woman. The son of the slave was born according to the flesh, the son of the free woman by the promise. This is an allegory: these two women are two covenants. The one who bears the child by promise is Jerusalem from above.” This is the state called Sarah.

Paul states quite boldly here that the story of Abraham, Hagar, and Sarah is an allegory. And an allegory is a story told as if it were true, leaving the one who hears (or reads) it to discover its symbolic representation and learn its lesson. Hagar and Sarah symbolize two covenants, one bringing in slavery and one freedom.

My mother was not named Hagar and the chances are your mother was not either, but every woman who has a child – in the language of symbolism – is Hagar. The child may be born in a palace and his mother a queen. He may know enormous wealth and a life of ease, but he (or she) is still a slave. Whoever wears a garment of mortality must take care of it, for it assimilates and must expel, through some artifice, that which it cannot assimilate. Whether the garment be that of a queen or a scrubwoman, it enslaves its occupant. And no matter how strong the garment, it waxes and waxes until it reaches a peak and then it wanes and wanes and no one can stop its inevitable change and death. So every child born from the womb of woman is a slave.

But there is another birth – a birth into freedom – which is essential, for unless you are born from above you cannot enter the kingdom of God. And the womb from which that birth takes place is the human skull, called Jerusalem from above.

Blake identifies Jerusalem from above with liberty, for after this second birth one is liberated. Having been placed into a world of slavery and death, the second birth is our victory over death. Everyone will be victorious … but everyone! We came into this world of death, have fought the good fight, and will continue to fight it. We are running a race with our enemy, death, [in] which all will be victorious. Everyone will be resurrected. Everyone will be born from above and all will enter the kingdom of God.

Ask no man to describe the kingdom for you, as eyes have not seen, nor ears heard, nor has it entered into the hearts of men the things God has already prepared for those who enter that state. There are no images here on earth to aid you in trying to visualize that state, so let no man tell you he knows and can describe it to you, for it can’t be done.

The New Testament begins: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” If the story of Abraham is an allegory, then the end of the story – called Christ – must be an allegory, for it was established in the beginning that everything would bring forth after its own kind. A carrot seed contains within itself the capacity to become a carrot. An apple seed when planted will bring forth an apple tree, and so forth. So if the origin of any story is an allegory, the end is an allegory. Not knowing how to read scripture, man believes it is secular history and worships states, making mental pictures of them, painting and even sculpturing them; yet every character recorded there is only the personification of a state.

Let me share an experience of mine with you. In my vision I came upon a man in his fifties, about six feet tall, and looking as though he had an infinite capacity of faith. I didn’t have to ask his name, for I recognized him instantly. (Wisdom from above is without uncertainty. When you come upon these states in vision, you know who they are). The moment I saw him, I knew I was looking at the state called Abraham. He was standing erect, yet leaning somewhat against the trunk of what looked like an oak tree totally devoid of leaves. Its branches were curled and knotted, resembling the human brain. Twisted around the trunk of the tree was a serpent with a human face, bathed in wisdom and the symbol of the final state called Christ. Abraham was looking – not into space, but time, and I wondered what this wisest of all of God’s creatures had whispered into his ear.

Paul personifies scripture by saying: “The scriptures foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham.” The scriptures must be personified in order to preach. So three thousand years before the coming of Christ, Abraham was given a preview of God’s plan of salvation in the form of the gospel. Therefore, Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day; he saw it and was glad.

When I say “I” (or “my”) I mean “we,” for we are the gods who collectively form God. In the great play, God is fragmented and the one becomes the many. But before the state of Abraham we – in perfect unity – wrote the play for a divine purpose. We agreed to enter the world of death and completely forget who we are in order to make the play real. This we have done and we will return enhanced by the play, but we cannot stop half way or turn back, we must finish the race. Everyone will fight the good fight. Everyone will go to the end and keep the faith we began in the state called Abraham.

The tree I saw was a perfect symbol of the tree of life. In Blake’s “Songs of Experience,” 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.” That’s where the tree of life is. Having been felled, its roots are inverted in the brain with its branches as man’s nervous and circulatory systems. Man is the inverted tree, like the one you would see reflected in the still waters of a lake. Turned down into generation, that tree symbolized as man, will be turned up from generation to regeneration. On that day man is resurrected and returns, bringing back the fruit (the experiences) of this great play of decay and death.

So Abraham is not a person as you are, as I am, any more than Isaac, Jacob, David, and all the others are persons. They are personifications of the eternal states of the soul. So if the origin called Abraham and the fulfillment called Jesus Christ are an allegory, then the fruit (glorious as it is) is also an allegory. And you will reap it to return greater than the being you were when you came out from the Father and came into the world, and no one will be lost… not one.

In the kingdom, however, we will play different parts, just as we play them here. Although sharing one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one God and Father of all, there are ranks in the kingdom just as there are ranks in the army. Those who fill the stars of the crown do so not by merit, but by election – which remains a secret of the Most High. But remember: the least in the kingdom is greater than the greatest on earth. “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord than live in the house of the wicked.” Well, a doorkeeper may be on the threshold, but he is in the kingdom. We are told that no one born of woman is greater than John the Baptist, yet the least in the kingdom is greater than he.

No matter how great, wise, strong, or handsome one is here on earth, he is less than the least in the kingdom of God. So do not be concerned as to what part you play in the body of God, for the least part is greater than anything on earth. In the third great act of God’s awakening, you reenter the kingdom violently to discover your position. Entering the body of the Risen Lord like a bolt of lightening, you are the cause of its reverberation, and your entrance denotes your position. There will be no menial parts there, for all will be a necessary part of the body of the Risen Lord.

So, before Abraham, was I am. That is God’s name forever and by this name he shall be known by all generations. God preceded his play, so the evangelist is telling the truth when he says, before Abraham, was I am.

Dwell on the words I have given you tonight. Know how truly great you are, then allow everyone to play their parts perfectly. If someone tells you he wants to feel important, let him feel it. If he wants to make an impression, let him make it. He is playing a part in the world of Caesar and maybe he has to make that impression for a certain self-satisfaction as he passes through the state. If you look at a person spiritually you can see the spiritual state he is in and realize that while he is in the state, he is playing his part perfectly.

We are all immortal beings who pass through states until we reach the state of Jesus Christ, the state designating the end of the journey. And when you enter that state scripture unfolds in you, casting you in the role of the central character and you are awed and thrilled. Prior to that moment in time you would have thought it blasphemy to claim such divinity, but when it happens you can no more deny it than you can the simplest evidence of your senses. And having experienced scripture, you have fulfilled the only purpose of life and you know it.

All of the stories of the Bible are supernatural truths which take place in a remote region of the soul. A lady here tonight said: “As I examined a translucent box covered with skin, you appeared and began to peel transparent skin from your cheeks.” She saw correctly. At the end of the journey the skin you wear – which was so responsive to the inner you, that you thought you were it – will be taken off, and your true identity revealed.

I have a little namesake in New Your City. His name is Neville Mark. I saw him a month before he was born and when I asked when he was coming on earth he answered quite innocently: “The tenth of November.” A very dear friend of ours was pregnant at the time and expecting her child in December. I shared my experience with her and told her that should her baby be born on the tenth of November and he was a boy, his name was Neville Mark. Well, even though she did not believe me, her baby arrived on the tenth of November and she named him Neville Mark. About three or four years ago I visited the family, and Neville Mark – twelve or thirteen at the time – said to me: “Neville, I know that I am not what I appear to be. If I could only get my body to stand perfectly still while I turn around in it, I would know who I am. I also know I cannot do it until I die, and I can hardly wait to learn my true identity.”

This little lad knew what my friend saw, for he knew that the skin which was tightly woven over him hid his true identity. This is true, for everyone here is wearing a mask. One day the mask will be taken off and we will all meet unmasked, yet we will know each other as we did before Abraham. There will be one grand, wonderful, joyous moment when- having returned – we recognize the being we were prior to putting on our masks to play the play of life.

The evangelist knew from his own experience that before the state called Abraham was I am, yet those who heard his story took up stones to throw at him. Now, a stone symbolizes a literal fact. The stones they threw were the facts of his life here on earth. They knew his parents, his brothers and sisters, as well as his educational and social background. They knew he was not yet fifty, yet he was speaking of one who was recorded to have lived two thousand years ago.

Friends here have thrown the same facts at me. I recall one night at a dinner party I told the late Aldous Huxley that these characters were not persons, and he said: “Neville, Caesar and Herod lived and they are mentioned in scripture” And I replied: “I speak of the scripture which is the Old Testament, and they are not there. If you want to accept Jesus as a man, the only book he could have read was the Old Testament. In the temple he was given the book and read the words of the prophet Isaiah. Everything he quoted was from the Old Testament, as the New hadn’t been written.”

I am not denying that Paul and the evangelists lived, but they are anonymous. The Old Testament is a recordation of eternal states, and the prophets who recorded them were doing a work the full import of which they did not understand. They inquired as to what time or person was meant, and it was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves, but us.

When the time fully comes, the secret will be uncovered and we will see the end, as we fulfill the state called Jesus Christ. Each will enter it, one after the other, and all will experience everything that is recorded in the scripture concerning Jesus Christ. And when each one of us has had the identical experience, who are we? Are we not Jesus Christ, the perfect man who reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his person!

When you reach that state the work is done and you return to where you were before your deliberate fall. You did nothing wrong, but took the challenge, for only God could die in confidence that he would rise. We are the gods who took the challenge, who came down and entered these masks that decay and die, to find ourselves restored, waxing once more, waning, and dying. Restored, waxing, waning, and dying, over and over and over until the end is reached. Then there is no more restoration – only resurrection – as we are lifted out of the world of death to enter the kingdom of heaven, the world of life.

Everyone is destined to be in that kingdom, to play his predetermined part, for “Those whom he foreknew he predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, and those whom he predestined he called, and those whom he called he justified, and those whom he justified he glorifies.” Everyone, even the least in the kingdom, will be glorified in the body of the Risen Lord and remember: before Abraham, was I am.

Now let us go into the silence.

BEHOLD THE DREAMER COMETH

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 09-19-1969

In the 37th chapter of Genesis we read the story of Joseph, a dreamer whose dreams always came true. His father, Israel, loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, and made him a long robe with sleeves. Now I ask you, who is Joseph? He is the foreshadowing of Jesus Christ, your true identity. Historical evidence for Jesus, the man, is nonexistent, yet he is the only reality and the true identity of every child born of woman. When you say within yourself, “I am,” that is Jesus Christ, he who is dreaming this whole vast world into being.

One day you will understand this truth, for:

“Real are the dreams of gods
And smoothly pass their pleasure
In the long, immortal dream.”

Your thoughts are your dreams, which weave your world into being and sustain it. You and I are inserted into the dream. “`Tis we who, lost in stormy visions fight with phantoms, an unprofitable strife.” And we will continue the dream until we awaken to discover that we are the dreamer, who is God himself.

This is not an idle dream, but one designed for the divine purpose of extending imagination’s creative power. Expanding by entering his dream, God appears as you and I. And he is going to awaken from his dream, and, because there is only God, although we number into the billions we will all be resolved into the one Lord God Jehovah, who is Jesus Christ.

Now, Joseph could dream and interpret the dreams of others, regardless of their complexities. Certain dreams are simple and need no interpretation, but most of our dreams are symbolic and few understand the language of symbolism. Joseph understood and interpreted the dream of the sheaves as well as his dream of the sun, the moon and eleven stars bowing before him. When his father heard the dream he said, “What is this dream? Shall I and your mother and brothers bow down to you?” He didn’t criticize him, but set these things in his heart.

Now, in the state of Moses the name Joseph is changed to Joshua, which is the Hebraic form of the Anglicized word, “Jesus”, or “Jehovah saves.” So here we find Joseph the dreamer, becoming Jesus the savior, by awakening from the dream he dreamed, interpreted, and fulfilled.

Right now you think this room is real, and tonight you might have a dream and – if you are lucky – remember it as a dream, but not as reality. Well, if to dream is to dwell in unreality not knowing it as such, what is life but one uninterrupted dream? Until you have certain experiences, you will no doubt question my sanity, but when you have them you will know that this which seems real is no less a dream than the dream of the night.

Travel with me in your mind as we read the morning paper. On the first page we read of an air crash, a war, a hold-up, a murder, and embezzlement. Turn the page to the social column. See the pictures of the bride and groom and read all about their wedding and the guests attending. Another page lists the deaths, and finally we turn to the financial page, which tells us who is making money and who is losing it. Isn’t that disjointed? Lost in the reading, we have traveled from violence to a wedding, to gossip, deaths, and finance. All written by ten or twelve men who are sound asleep, and dreaming their columns into being, while you – and the millions who read the paper – will see the outpicturing of all that you thought during the reading.

How do I know this? Because I have awakened from the dream of life. I know that God laid himself down within me to sleep, to dream that he is I; for when he awoke, I was he! How do I know that I am he? Because his only begotten son, David, called me father.

While I remain in this body of blood and flesh, I must abide by its restrictions and limitations; yet remembering it is a dream, I can change it. If this world is reality I cannot change it; but if I am its reality, I can change my world relative to myself. I can imagine a desire fulfilled and watch it come to pass in my outer world. But first I had to know it was a dream. This I do know, for he who is in the depth of my own being said to me: “I laid myself down within you to sleep and as I slept I dreamed a dream. I dreamed that I am you.” Yes, he dreamed that he is I, for he awoke and he was I. A few months later he revealed his mystery to me by bringing his son David to call me father. Through an innate wisdom I knew he wasn’t just a boy who called me father, but the David of Biblical fame who is God’s only son.

When God awakes within you he is the same God who awoke within me. There aren’t two Gods. You and I are really one. Although there appears to be billions of us here, we are all one being, one God acting out this play, to expand our creative power and wisdom.

A very dear friend of mine is in the audience tonight. I am so thrilled for him and for anyone who comes and has such an experience and shares it with me. This is his experience. While in his living room watching TV he felt drowsy, closed his eyes, and allowed himself to fall asleep. Remembering he was watching TV, he finds himself driving his car with his wife at his side. Feeling a sense of impending disaster, as his wife grabbed the wheel he awoke in the dream, and succeeded in getting control of the wheel again. Up ahead he saw a man he recognized as a great actor, and suddenly remembering where he was when the dream began, he inwardly proclaimed I AM. At that moment he awoke seated on his chair facing the TV. Then he said, “Since this is the first time I awoke in a dream to know who I am and where I am, I can’t help but be pleased with myself.” Well, he should be. All of these experiences are little breakages to the brain that bind us to the dream, which means that he is on the verge of awakening from this dream of life.

Unnumbered times I have sat in my chair and found myself slipping into what reason tells me I should not see. I have stepped into that world; it closes around me and becomes just as real as this. I am in a terrestrial world, talking to people who are just as solid and real as you are and I am. Awake, I am aware of where I was when I entered this section of time. and I also know that there is no road to take me back to the year and place I left.

You see, all things are taking place now. Eternity exists and all things in eternity independent of creation, which was an act of mercy. Entering a certain section of the dream, we animate it and become aware of that which already is. The past has not ceased to be. It is taking place as it took place and still takes place when anyone enters that section of time. The same is true with the future. The year 1969 finds us standing on the moon. It always has been so. The world is, and we are placed upon this little space called earth to learn to bear the beams of love, for God is infinite love. I know, for I stood in His presence, then came down and entered a specter in order to learn to love and take on substance.

Not long ago I was in another section of time instructing a group of maybe a dozen men all seated around me. In the center with me was a spectrum, a shadow of a man. I could move him about and do with him as I willed. Then I said to him, “Go and love. To the degree that you love, you will acquire substance. Only then can you take part in the drama and awake with life in yourself.”

What I said to those men I say to you now. At the present time you are only an animated being, not a life-giving spirit. One day you will acquire substance (acquire love) then you will become one with life in your self, knowing that all things were made through the creative act of love (the act of mercy) and without it was not anything made. As life-giving spirits we all return to the one being as that one being, yet retaining our own identity. We will never lose our identity, but rather we will grow ever-greater individualization.

While In San Francisco, a chap who attended my meetings there told me a story. One hot summer’s day he stopped in a bar for a nice cold beer. Taking the only unoccupied seat at the bar, he was soon visiting with the man sitting next to him who told him this story. “The strangest thing happened to me years ago and it haunts me still. I was wounded during the Korean War and shipped to a hospital in Japan. While lying on that bed in the hospital and knowing I am an American, I felt the room fade from my view and suddenly I am in Europe, dancing with a lady who is dressed, like all the other ladies there, in hoop skirts. Knowing who I am, I said to my dancing partner, `You know, this is a dream,’ and with that remark she became frightened. As people gathered around me I told them that I was really an American soldier who was wounded in a hospital in Japan. I even told them what year it was, but to them the year had not yet arrived so the crowd became angry and I decided it was time to leave. So I simply assumed I was on my bed in the hospital in Japan, and when I opened my eyes, I was there.”

This man hasn’t yet completely awakened, but one day he will awaken from this dream that seems so consistent, just as you will. And when you do, you will experience every precept of scripture in what the world will call a dream.

Now, the 6th chapter of I Timothy tells us that “The love of money is the root of all evil,” and in the 13th chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews, Paul tells us to: “Keep your life free from the love of money.” When I was a little boy in the island of Barbados, every Sunday four of us boys would ride a big male donkey we used to sire horses to produce mules, down to my grandmother’s house, where she would give each of us a coin. I received a penny. When we got out of my grandmother’s sight, a man would meet us with a female donkey, and for my penny he would get on the back of his donkey and we would have wild ride home as our jackass chased his female donkey. This went on for a long time before my mother found out, and then she said: “You know, Nev, you aren’t going to have anything, for you give everything away.” I knew, intuitively, that the love of money was the root of all evil.

Now, to show how scripture fulfills itself in experience, I will share with you now a recent waking dream of mine. I knew where my physical body was, and I knew what year it was, but I found myself standing on a street corner holding an enormous packet of bills of all denominations. As a woman passed by she reached over and grabbed some of my money. In her eagerness, several bills floated away from her and were grabbed by the other people passing by. Suddenly this lady became very angry and demanded that they all give her money back to her! She had just stolen it from me, but was now accusing the others of stealing it from her! Isn’t that life? A man can trace the ownership of his property back to his forefather’s who stole it, but he would be as mad as can be if a relative of the original owner tried to reclaim his property.

Now, in my dream I kept on moving through the labyrinthine ways of my mind, objectifying what I am encountering. Suddenly a man approached and asked if I wanted a taxi. Still holding my money I refused his invitation. Then many men began to gather around me and when I saw their faces, and their knives, I realized they were going to take my money as well as my life, so I reminded myself of where I was when I began the dream. I knew that if I awoke I would defeat their intention. I would survive, but none of us would get the money. The moment my decision was made, I dropped the money and returned to my bed. Now I know the truth of the statement, “The love of money is the root of all evil” for my vision is part of the eternal structure of the universe.

You, too, will have a vision such as mine after you have lost all desire for money. Yes, you will desire the necessary means to meet the needs of Caesar: to pay rent, taxes, and buy food and clothing; but you will know that you don’t need a billion to meet them. Those who are hungry for more and more billions are sound asleep. If they heard what I am telling you now they would think me insane; but I would tell them that their dreams reveal a far deeper insanity, for they are sound asleep, believing their dreams to be reality.

Now, in the story, Jesus [sic] was a dreamer whose father so loved him he made him a robe with long sleeves. I wondered what was the importance of the sleeves, and then one night I had this experience. I was teaching the great mystery of God when a man entered the room and severed the sleeve of my robe to expose my right arm from the shoulder to my fingertips. The next morning I turned to the Book of Isaiah and read, “Who will believe our report? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” That night the sleeve of the robe worn by Joseph the dreamer, was severed, revealing my arm – the symbol of my imaginative power.

I know, now, that I – all imaginative power – have awakened from the dream. I know that is what you are also. I am trying to convince you of this, and ask you to test yourselves. If this world is real, you can’t change it, for you cannot change reality; but you can change a dream. Feel the changes have now come upon you. Immerse yourself in that feeling and sustain it. If this is a dream, that which you are feeling will produce objective facts for others to see as real. But you will remember its origin was a dream. Once it becomes objective and real, don’t get lost in the dream, for like all dreams, it will fade away. Everything comes into being, waxes, wanes, and vanishes. A tree may be 8000 years old, but it will eventually die. The stars are melting away because they are the dreams of the gods and

“Real are the dreams of gods
And smoothly pass their pleasure
In a long, immortal dream.”

Imagination (gods) brought the world into being and sustains it while this grand experiment is taking place. We are those gods (called sons) who collectively form God the Father.

No child is born that is not clothing a son of God, as told us in the 32nd chapter of the Book of Deuteronomy. “He has put bounds to the people according to the number of the sons of God.” A child could not breathe without God’s entrance as his breath. “God himself enters death’s door, the human skull, and lays down in the grave of man in visions of eternity until he awakes and sees the linen clothes lying there that the females wove for him at the gate of his Father’s house.”

When I entered this garment that my mother – a female – wove for me, God – whose name is I AM – entered with me and began his dream. My mother called me Neville, and as time went by, I began to claim that I am Neville. Then one day we became one new being, for the “I” who entered the garment named Neville awoke to discover I am God. Then to prove to myself that I truly am He, God’s son appeared before me and called me Father. Now, restrained by the body that I wear, I am limited and weak. But when I take it off and the world calls me dead, I will return to the one being out of which I came, for I came out from the Father and came into the world. Again I am leaving the world and returning to the Father.

If you know that you are God the Father, you will know that it does not matter what the world dreams. No matter how horrible the dream may appear to be, the dreamer is untouched by his dream. He who dreamed he was Stalin and murdered millions, is untouched by his dream and in the end will discover that all things work towards God’s awakening.

The plea in the 44th Psalm “Rouse thyself, why sleepest thou O Lord. Awake. Do not cast us off forever,” is directed to God, the God in everyone who is struggling to awaken. He is waking in my friend Bill, who had the experience of driving his car, knowing he was seated in his living room. These kinds of experiences break the threads that bind one to his dream, and as these threads begin to break he awakes within his own skull, for that is where the drama takes place.

Now in the story, when Joseph joined his brothers, they said to one another: “Let us kill him.” But his brother, Judah pleaded for his life, saying: “No, he is our flesh and blood. Do not let his blood be upon us. Let us sell him into slavery.” So they stripped him of his robe and threw him into a pit. Then a caravan, on its way to Egypt carrying gold, incense, and myrrh (the same things the kings brought to the Christ child at his birth) agreed to buy him; and Joseph was taken into Egypt, where he rose to the power of Pharaoh. Joseph then saved civilization from starvation. And when the brothers were sorry for what they had done, Joseph said: “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” Then his name was changed from Joseph to Joshua, which means Jesus.

Remember, scripture unfolds within you. The dreamer in you has been thrown into a pit. Now, in the 40th Psalm (which is so often used in the New Testament concerning Jesus) the 2nd verse reads: “They raised me up from the pit, out of the miry bog and placed my feet upon the rock, making my steps secure.” The word “mire” is defined as “spongy earth.” Can you think of anything that better describes the human brain? And man is called the earth, for the word “Adam” means “red earth.” So the dreamer is taken out of the pit – the skull where he has been locked in – by awakening from his dream and being born from above.

You must experience two births: a physical one and a spiritual one. You are spiritually born through the awakening and resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. It is not another being born; you are he; for you are all alone, and when you leave your tomb is empty.

The New Testament is all about the dreamer in you who awakens as Jesus Christ, and everything said of him is true. His history is divine, not secular.

You will never find any evidence of an historical Christ here on earth. Bishop Pike went looking, yet never found who Christ really is. The Pope, as well as the leaders of all Christian religions, have millions of people looking to them as guides; yet they are all blind leaders of the blind. The historical evidence of Christ as a man is nonexistent, yet he is the only reality and the true identity of every child born of woman.

You are Jesus Christ, sleeping, dreaming horrible dreams mixed with lovely ones; but in the end you will awaken from the dream to know you are Jesus Christ. You will then remain a little while to tell your experiences to those who are willing to be disillusioned and will allow their false ideas of the past to fall away; then you will leave this little shadow that walks across the earth to enter eternity as God.

What I have told you will live in your minds. Hold fast to the visions I have shared with you, for in time my Word will take root and grow within you. Then this wonderful story will erupt in you, and you will know you, too, are Jesus Christ. And, because there is only one Jesus Christ and only one son, when God’s son calls you Father, you and I are one. That is the fantastic mystery. How we, retaining our individuality, are one!

Now let us go into the silence.

BELIEVE IN HIM

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 2-28-1969

When asked: “What must we do to be doing the work of God?” he answered: “Believe in him whom he has sent.” That’s all you have to do. Salvation is yours when you believe in him. There is no aristocracy of privilege, and to believe that Jesus exists means nothing. The question is: can you believe in his story?

He tells us he was sent, and everyone who is sent is Jesus, the sender. Those who are called from the world of death do not volunteer or choose the task. They are selected, called, incorporated into the body of the Risen Lord and sent as the sender, and can say: “He who sees me sees him who sent me.” After incorporation into his being, the individual is sent – not to tell that he has a large family, a lovely home, or lots of money, but that he has fulfilled scripture.

When Jesus entered the synagogue he began to teach, and those who heard him wondered how he had such learning, since they knew he was only the carpenter’s son. They knew his mother’s name was Mary, his brothers’ James, Jose, Simon, and Judas, as well as his sisters.

Here we see a large family, and a man with little or no learning teaching the scholars of the day. He tells them that he was sent – not to build a house or to tell others how to do it, but to fulfill scripture. Then, beginning with Moses and the law and all the prophets and the psalms, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Not realizing that scripture was all about him, a normal man from a large family whose trade was that of a carpenter was called, incorporated into the Risen Man, and sent, knowing he was one with the one who sent him.

I can’t divorce myself from the being that incorporated me into his body. He sent me to tell you that if you believe my experiences, you will also do the works that I do. If not, you will not do them, for there is no other way to salvation. Unless these mystical experiences unfold in you, you will never leave this world of death to live in the world of life.

In Adam all die. In Jesus all are made alive. He made me alive, in him, and sent me to tell you of my experiences – for the need was great – and to say that if you believe me, you will experience them and be saved, as they are your departure from this world of death and your entrance into the world of life.

I tell you: in spite of the fact that I have an earthly father and mother, brothers, and a sister, I am no longer of this world. I am from above and you are from below. If you will believe me, you, too, will be born from above. Then you will no longer be from below, but will be an entirely different being, living in an entirely different world.

Now, in the 16th chapter of Acts, we read the story of a slave girl who possessed the spirit of divination and was making a lot of money for her owners as a soothsayer. And when Paul came by with his associates, she said: “These men are proclaiming the way of salvation,” and she followed them for many days. This story is followed by the imprisonment of Paul and a mighty earthquake, which awakened the jailer, who – trembling with fear – said: “What must I do to be saved?” And he was told to believe in the Lord Jesus.

To believe in a man? No. The Lord Jesus is only a pattern of salvation which is now encrusted with barnacles. I was called, incorporated into the body of love, and sent into the world to scrape off the barnacles by telling the path of salvation I have experienced.

You may think that the few hundred or thousand people I have told would mean nothing against three billion people in the world; but I know a remnant has been prepared, and they believe. That is all that is needed. Having heard, their belief causes it to happen in them; and salvation’s story spreads once more, until those without vision organize and make a business out of it. Then it will once more grow barnacles and become a tradition, minus the spirit.

In 1929 I did not volunteer, but was called. I stood in the presence of Infinite Love, who incorporated me into his body. I was sent as love – the body of the Risen Lord – back to a physical garment which is fragile, to tell those who are equally fragile that God is their own wonderful human imagination. Many, knowing my biological background, my large family with its limitations, reject my words. A few, however, have accepted them, and to that remnant it will happen.

So what must you do to be doing the work of God? Believe in him whom He has sent. I tell you He has sent me. You may or may not believe me, that is your privilege. But I tell you: the experience so changed me that I have walked by faith in this vision through the mire of doubt, even when it came from my intimate circle.

One is first called, incorporated into the body of love, and then sent. This goes on eternally until all are redeemed, for not one will be lost. Just as by Adam all die, so also by Christ shall all be made alive. This Christ is a pattern of the eternal purpose of God, for there is only one way to escape this world.

The pattern begins by your birth as spirit. This is followed by the discovery of the fatherhood of God. Your spiritual body will be torn from top to bottom as you ascend into heaven. And the symbol of the Holy Spirit will descend upon you to smother you with love, completing the pattern.

Jesus Christ is not a man, but a pattern, which I have come to renew. To believe that Jesus Christ existed is not a belief in him, for he is the way to salvation!

Now, once the ship is encrusted with barnacles, one is called and sent to scrape them off by retelling the story as something that happened to him. When I told my family, they could not believe me and questioned me, saying: “Neville, you mean you do not believe in Jesus Christ?” And I replied: “I believe in him far more than you do!” “Don’t you believe that he existed?’’ ‘‘Yes, but not as a man.”

To believe in Jesus Christ, you believe in the pattern of salvation of which he is. If you believe in a man, you believe in Neville, and Neville means nothing. If Neville was called and incorporated into the spiritual pattern of salvation, he is sent bearing the pattern which erupts within him. This pattern has erupted in me and I have told my story as I was sent to do.

It is said that Jesus began his ministry when he was about thirty years of age. That doesn’t mean thirty physical years, for he was not speaking as a biological man. Thirty years after he was incorporated into the body of love, he was qualified by the eruption to tell what had happened to him. He told his visions and pointed out their fulfillment of scripture, and some believed while others – so conditioned to believe in a physical Christ – could not understand.

The splitting of God’s temple is told in its symbolic manner in the 14th chapter of Zechariah, as: “The Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west as one half moves north and the other half moves south leaving a very wide valley.” It is told as a metaphor, but you are its reality. Scripture is all about you, and that splitting is yourself. Taken in a secular manner, David lived unnumbered years ago; but in the spirit, he will call you father.

When I share my visions and their scriptural confirmation, some believe me, but the majority think I am sharing a fantasy; yet I still walk with faith through the mire of doubt as I tell my story. My background is known. I have no education, no wealth or social position, yet I do know that I was chosen to be called and incorporated into the body of love and sent.

Love could have called a financial or intellectual giant, or someone handsome and wonderful, judged by human standards; yet he called me in the spirit. I was not initiated in the flesh, but was taken in spirit; for God is spirit, and those who worship him do so in spirit and in truth.

It was a spiritual incorporation into the body of love, yet it seemed to be solidly real. As Spirit, I returned to the garment I had left on the bed. It was that spiritual body which unfolded his plan of salvation. Now I know that this is the only way man can depart this world of death, and his departure begins by simply believing the story.

Don’t believe in Neville as a man, for he is frail and subject to all of the weaknesses of the flesh. Rather, believe in what I have experienced. I have unfolded scripture for you and shown you where my experiences were foretold. I have repeated this over and over in the hope that those who hear my words will believe them, for I have tied the gospel to its reality.

The Book of Acts, once part of the Book of Luke, was detached for a purpose. The story of Jesus, the pattern man, is not found in the Book of Acts. Rather, the story of the apostles is recorded there; for the apostles are sent to tell exactly how it happened in them. I do not know, however, of any part of scripture where the story is told as graphically as I have told it to you.

In the Old Testament, the question is asked: “Can a man bear a child? Why then do I see every man with his hands pulling himself out of himself just like a woman in labor. Why does every face turn pale?” “To us a child is born; to us a son is given.”

When a woman forms a child within herself, is that child not part of her body? And when she is in labor, does she not pull a part of her body out of herself? Primitive women did not go to a hospital. While working in the field, these women would stop for a moment and pull that which they had formed within themselves, out of themselves. This is exactly what I did. I pulled myself right out of myself.

Five months later I fulfilled the 89th Psalm. When David stood before me, I knew I was his father, as there was no uncertainty as to this relationship. I am telling you what I have experienced. Scripture foretold these visions, which must take place before you can depart this world. What must you do to bring them about? Believe in the story I have been sent to tell; for if you do, and set your hope fully upon having these experiences, your salvation is assured. Eventually everyone will believe. Rejection delays the birth, however, for it comes only after acceptance of the story told by the one who was sent.

I did not choose to be sent. When I fell asleep that night, I would have been the last person I would have chosen as worthy to be called into the presence of the Risen Lord. The Beatitudes tell us that only the pure in heart will see God, and I certainly did not feel myself to be pure in heart. My wife and I were separated, and my little boy was moving back and forth between us. With the conflicts which go with all these silly little things, I would never have judged myself worthy of being pure in heart.

But God does not see what man sees. God sees the heart. He sees the motive behind the act, never the outer picture. Was the thought brought forth in love, or to get even? Was its motive to inflict pain, or to express love? God sees the heart, and when He judges it as pure, that individual is called.

In 1929 I was called, and for thirty years I only taught the law. The promise was there in scripture, but I did not know it until it erupted in me thirty years later. From that moment on I could do nothing but think about it, talk about it, and share my experiences of it; for that is what I was sent to do.

My genealogy is known. My biological background – my father, mother, brothers, and sister, as well as my lack of education – is known; yet it is all recorded in scripture. When I shared my experiences with my family, they rejected them one hundred percent! My earthly father came the closest to understanding. One day a minister was at the house, and when he could not answer my questions, or throw any light upon my visions, my father said: “Son, you must be an apostle.” My mother felt it in her womb when I was coming into this world; but she had no confirmation, as I became a dancer – and she had thought I would be a minister in the Anglican church.

But I tell you: this is the only way to salvation. Don’t believe in Neville. He is not the way. I could go out with you every night and thoroughly enjoy matching you drink for drink. No food is distasteful to me, as I enjoy it all.

I am told I am not discriminating enough, for I can find nothing to condemn. I do, however, admit to all of my weaknesses of the human flesh; yet in spite of that I was called and sent. At the time I did not know God’s purpose; but after his message erupted within me, I knew I was sent to refresh the atmosphere, and clean it up after centuries of misunderstanding of the Christian mystery.

Christianity fulfills the promise of Judaism. Fulfilling the pattern called Jesus, we are gathered one by one into that one resurrected man, to be that one being in Christ. I don’t care what name you bear on earth, you will be sent as Jesus. You will play his part and share your experiences with all who will listen. Do not elaborate; but tell them that unless they believe, it will not happen to them and they will remain in the world of death.

It is not enough to believe only that Christ existed. That is like saying to a friend: “I believe you exist.” What an insult! The question is: do you trust Christ? Do you believe in him? Now I – a man – tell you the story of salvation as I have experienced it. Do you believe in my story? If you do, you believe in me; then forget all you hear about me as a man.

A friend recently told an acquaintance the story of my experiences, then later mentioned that I had been divorced and had remarried. The moment the lady heard I was divorced, she closed her mind and could not accept the story that I was called, incorporated into the body of God, and sent to tell. She judged the outer man and could not believe in him whom God has sent. She could go across the street, however, and believe that if she only ate corn she would be saved, because the person who told her so wasn’t divorced.

I tell you: you can eat corn from now on, but you will still remain in this world of death until you believe salvation’s story as I have experienced it. I don’t care what you have done or are doing; if you believe my story and set your hope fully upon that grace which is coming to you, He who sees your belief will call you and erupt within you. God sees your heart. He sees that you are capable of believing the incredible story of Christ and fulfills it.

Ask the doctor who brought you out of your mother’s womb to explain how the bones grew there, or how they were covered with flesh; and – although he can give you reasons why they appeared – he cannot tell you how it is done; as we are told in the books of Ecclesiastes and Proverbs: “Who knows how the bones grow in the womb of woman?

Now I tell you of another birth, which is greater than that which comes out of woman. No one sees this birth, yet it is real, for it is the birth of God. He is born out of this body of death and takes you with him into the body of life. It is not necessary to understand this birth, only to believe in it. So, what must you do to be doing the work of God? Believe in him whom he has sent. And what must you do to be saved? Believe in the Lord Jesus, who is the pattern you have heard [about] from me. Then go about your business and live fully; enjoy life and all that it has to offer.

A lady recently called, who had heard me many years ago in Detroit and Minneapolis. Although she and her husband had nothing, she believed what I said and imagined having lots of money. Her husband spent many years in different mental hospitals, depleting the little money they had, and then one day he took his own life.

Her only brother was a very thrifty businessman, who lived frugally. He died, and three weeks later his wife died, leaving everything to this lady. Now she has the money to live in luxury, just as she had imagined. This lady assumed wealth without knowing where it would come from, and now she has it.

The law will not fail you here or in the world of God, for you must believe both stories. I tell you: an assumption, though false, if persisted in will prove itself in the world of Caesar, as it did in her case. I also tell you an incredible story: that you will awaken in your skull and experience a spiritual birth as described in scripture; for you are the one spoken of there.

Can you believe both stories? If you believe one enough to test it, and it proves itself in performance, try to believe the other; for unless you believe both, you cannot prove them. If you believe the one in the world of Caesar, you can have money as this lady has. But you must believe the other in order to live where you do not need money, for there you know that the earth is yours and all within it. When you are incorporated into the body of God, you know you are God and everything is yours. Then you will tell your story, depart this world, and return to the Father – who is yourself!

But while you are here, where you do not know the world is all yours, apply the law of assumption. Assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled and let God’s law work for you. Learn to believe the story on this level through application, and one day you will believe the incredible story on the higher level.

What must we do to be doing the work of God? Believe in him whom he has sent. Though born of flesh and blood, with four brothers and sisters, and a carpenter by trade, after the second birth he was no longer the man one knew, but an entirely different being. After telling you what happened in him, he asks you to believe it. If you do, you believe in the way you are saved. If you do not, you believe in and will remain in the world of death with its many blows.

Hundreds of millions of people call themselves Christians and believe in the existence of Jesus; but they do not believe in him, for if they did they would believe his story. I have told it in my book, Resurrection. The story is true. I have come to bear witness to it. God incorporated me into his body and sent himself with me, so whoever sees me, sees him who sent me. You will never see the one who sent me by looking at the outer man. It is only the inner man who bears God’s likeness, for that is who I am!

Now let us go into the silence.

BELIEVE IT IN

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 10-06-1969

The objective reality of this world is solely produced by the human imagination, in which all things exist. Tonight I hope to show you how to subjectively appropriate that which already exists in you, and turn it into an objective fact. Your life is nothing more than the out picturing of your imaginal activity, for your imagination fulfills itself in what your life becomes.

The last year that Robert Frost was with us, he was interviewed by Life Magazine and said: “Our founding fathers did not believe in the future, they believed it in.” This is true. Having broken with England, our founding fathers could have established their own royalty here by making one of them the king, thereby perpetuating a royal family. They could have chosen a form of dictatorship, but they agreed to imagine a form of government that had not been tried since the days of the Greeks. Democracy is the most difficult form of government in the world, yet our founding fathers agreed to believe it in. They knew it would take place, because they knew the power of belief – the power I hope to show you that you are, tonight.

To say: “I am going to be rich,” will not make it happen; you must believe riches in by claiming within yourself: “I am rich.” You must believe in the present tense, because the active, creative power that you are, is God. He is your awareness, and God alone acts and is. His name forever and ever is “I am” therefore, he can’t say: “I will be rich” or “I was rich” but “I am rich!” Claim what you want to be aware of here and now, and – although your reasonable mind denies it and your senses deny it – if you will assume it, with feeling, your inward activity, established and perpetuated, will objectify itself in the outside world – which is nothing more than your imaginal activity, objectified. To attempt to change the circumstances of your life before you change its imaginal activity, is to labor in vain. This I know from experience. I had a friend who hated Roosevelt, yet wanted him to change. Every morning while shaving, my friend would tell Roosevelt off. He found great joy and satisfaction in this daily routine, yet could not understand why Roosevelt stayed the same. But I tell you, if you want someone to change, you must change your imaginal activity, for it is the one and only cause of your life. And you can believe anything in if you will not accept the facts your senses dictate; for nothing is impossible to imagine, and imagining – persisted in and believed – will create its own reality.

Now, all things exist in God, and he exists in you and you exist in him. Your eternal body is the human imagination, and that is God Himself. Your imagination is an actual body in which everything is contained. When you imagine, the thing itself comes out of that divine body, Jehovah. The story of Jesus is a wonderful mystery that cannot be solved until you discover, from experience, that he is your own wonderful human imagination.

We are told that God speaks to man in a dream and unveils himself in a vision. Now, vision is a waking dream like this room, while a dream occurs when you are not fully awake. A few years ago this vision was mine: I was taken in spirit into one of the early mansions on 5th Avenue in New York City at the turn of the century. As I entered, I saw that three generations were present and I heard the eldest man telling the others of their grandfather’s secret. These are his words: “Grandfather used to say, while standing on an empty lot: `I remember when this was an empty lot.’ Then he would paint a word picture of what he wanted to build there. He saw it vividly in his mind’s eye as he spoke, and in time it was established. He went through life in that manner, objectively realizing what he had first subjectively claimed.”

I tell you: everything in your outer world was first subjectively appropriated, I don’t care what it is. Desire can be your empty lot where you may stand, remembering when that which you now have, was only a desire. If I now say: “I remember when I lectured at the Woman’s Club in Los Angeles” I am implying I am no longer there, and am where I want to be. Remembering when you were poor, I have taken you out of poverty and placed you in comfort. I remember when you were sick, by taking you out of sickness and placing you in the state of health. I remember when you were unknown, implies you are now known. By changing my memory image of you, I can now remember when you, with all your fame and fortune, were unknown and broke. That was the secret of grandfather’s success.

This is what I learned in vision. Do not put this thought aside because it came to me in vision. In the 12th chapter of the Book of Numbers it is said that God speaks to man through the medium of dreams and makes himself known through vision. If God makes himself known to you through vision, and speaks to you in dream, what is more important than to remember your dreams and visions? You can’t compare the morning’s paper or any book you may read, to your vision of the night, for that is an instruction from the depth of yourself.

God in you speaks to you in a dream, as he did to me when he took me on a trip in time to that beautifully staffed mansion at the turn of the century. As spirit, I was invisible to those present; but I heard more distinctly than they, and comprehended the words more graphically then they, because they had their millions; and who is going to tell one who already has millions how to get them. I entered their environment to hear their story, in order to share it with those who will hear and believe my words and then try it.

This doesn’t mean that, just because you heard my vision you are going to enjoy wealth; you must apply what you heard, and remember when. If you would say: “I remember when I couldn’t afford to spend $400 a month for rent,” you are implying you can well afford it now. The words: “I remember when it was a struggle to live on my monthly income,” implies you have transcended that limitation. You can put yourself into any state by remembering when. You can remember when your friend expressed her desire to be married. By remembering when she was single, you are persuading yourself that your friend is no longer in that state, as you have moved her from one state into another.

When I say all things exist in the human imagination, I mean infinite states; for everything possible for you to experience now, exists in you as a state of which you are its operant power. Only you can make a state become alive. You must enter a state and animate it in order for it to outpicture itself in your world. You may then go back to sleep and think the objective fact is more real than its subjective state into which you have entered; but may I tell you: all states exist in the imagination. When a state is entered subjectively, it becomes objective in your vegetative world, where it will wax and wane and disappear; but its eternal form will remain forever and can be reanimated and brought back into being through the seed of contemplative thought. So I tell you: the most creative thing in you is to enter a state, and believe it into being.

Now, causation is the assemblage of mental states, which occurring creates that which the assemblage implies. Let us say that I have two friends who would empathize with me (not sympathize) if they heard my good news. I put them together and listen (all in my imagination) as they talk about me and what has happened in my life. Being true friends, I hear their words of joy and see their happiness reflected on their faces. Then I allow myself to become visible to them and feel their handshake and embrace as I accept their congratulations as a fact. Now I have assembled a mental state, which occurring, created that which the assemblage implied; therefore I am its cause. As I walk, firmly believing in the reality of what I have done, and that imaginal act becomes a fact, I may question myself as it how it came about. Then, remembering my imaginal act I would say: “I did it.” If I did it, then did not God do it? Yes, because God and I are one “I am”.
Are you going to continue to believe there is another on the outside; or are you going to believe the great confession of faith, which I would urge you to accept? It’s the great Sh’ma: “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.” If the Lord is one he can’t be two; therefore, if his name is I am and you say “1 am,” you must be one with the Lord who brought the world into being.

Listen to these words: “By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God, so that things that are seen were made out of things which do not appear.” Here we see that the word of God is an imaginal activity, which -joined by faith – created the world. And faith is nothing more than the subjective appropriation of an objective hope. Now, when you discuss your desire with me, you cannot see my imaginal act relative to you. If you tell me you need a job and I accept that thought, when I think of you I remember your need. But if I changed your words and heard you tell me you loved your job, I could remember when you needed one; for now my memory bank contains the fact that you have a job you like very much. And when we meet again you tell me that you have it, you are only bringing confirmation of my imaginal, creative act.

Now, if imagination works this way, and it proves itself in the testing time and time again, what does it matter what the world thinks? It costs you nothing to try it, and what a change in life it will produce for you. Try it, for you will prove it in performance.

This may be in conflict with what you believe God to be. Maybe you still want him to be someone on the outside, so that there are two of you and not one. That’s all right if you do, but I tell you: God became you that there would not be you and God. He became you, that you may become God. If God became you, his name must be in you, and it is; for if I ask you anything, you must first be aware of the question before you can respond, and your awareness is God.

You may not be aware of who you are, where you are, or what you are; but you do know that you are. Aware of what your senses and reason dictate, you may believe that you are limited, unwanted, ignored, and mistreated; and your world confirms your belief in your imaginal activity. And if you do not know that your awareness is causing this mistreatment, you will blame everyone but yourself; yet I tell you the only cause of the phenomena of life is an imaginal activity. There is no other cause.

If you believe in the horrors of the world as they are given to you in the paper and on television, your belief causes the horrors to continue. Believing the news of a shortage, you will buy what you do not need, blindly accepting the pressure to perpetuate an imaginal activity that keeps you frightened. All through scripture you are told to let not your heart be troubled, be not afraid, and fear not. If fear could be eliminated, there would be no need for psychologists or psychiatrists. It’s a bunch of nonsense, anyway. Every day this branch of medicine changes their concepts and they are always in conflict as to what a man’s attitude towards life is.

I say to everyone: the whole vast world is now in your human imagination, and you can bring any desire out of it by believing it into being.

First, you must know what you want, then create an image that fulfills it. Would your friends know and talk about it? Imagine they are with you now, discussing your fulfilled desire. You could be at a cocktail or dinner party that is being given in your honor. Or maybe it’s a little get-together over tea. Create a scene in your mind’s eye and believe its reality in! That invisible state will produce the objective state you desire, for all objective reality is solely produced by imagination.

The clothes you are now wearing were first imagined. The chair in which you are seated, the room that surrounds you – there isn’t a thing here that wasn’t first imagined; so you can see that imagining creates reality. If you don’t believe it, you are lost in a world of confusion.

There is no fiction. What is fiction today will be a fact tomorrow. A book written as a fictional story today comes out of the imagination of the one who wrote it, and will become a fact in the tomorrows. If you have a good memory or a good research system, you could find today’s facts. Not every fact is recorded, because not every thought is written; yet every person imagines. A man, feeling wrongfully imprisoned and desiring to get even, will disturb the world, because all things by a law divine in one another’s being, mingle. You can’t stop the force that comes from one who is imagining, because behind the mask he wears, you and he are one. Start now to become aware of what you are thinking, for as you think, you imagine. Only then can you steer a true course to your definite end. If you lose sight of that end, however, you can and will be moved by seeming others. But if you keep your mind centered in the awareness of dwelling in your destination, you cannot fail.

The end of your journey is where your journey begins. When you tell me what you want, do not try to tell me the means necessary to get it, because neither you nor I know them. Just tell me what you want that I may hear you tell me that you have it. If you try to tell me how your desire is going to be fulfilled, I must first rub that thought out before I can replace it with what you want to be. Man insists on talking about his problems. He seems to enjoy recounting them and cannot believe that all he needs to do is state his desire clearly. If you believe that imagination creates reality, you will never allow yourself to dwell on your problems, for you will realize that as you do you perpetuate them all the more.

So I tell you: the greatest thing you can do is to believe a thing into existence, just as our founding fathers did. They had no current example of democracy. It existed in Greece centuries ago, but failed because the Greeks changed their imaginal activity. We could do that too. Don’t think for one second we have to continue as a democracy. We could be under dictatorship within twenty-four hours, for everything is possible. If you like democracy, you must be constantly watchful to keep its concepts alive within you. It’s the most difficult form of government. A man can voice an opinion and stage a protest here, but in other forms of government he cannot. If you want to enjoy the freedom of a democracy, you must keep it alive by being aware of it.

Now, if you keep this law, you don’t have to broadcast what you want; you simply assume that you have it, for – although your reasonable mind and outer senses deny it – if you persist in your assumption your desire will become your reality. There is no limit to your power of belief, and all things are possible to him who believes. Just imagine what an enormous power that is. You don’t have to be nice, good, or wise, for anything is possible to you when you believe that what you are imagining is true. That is the way to success.

I believe any man who has been successful in his life’s venture has lived as though he were successful. Living in that state, he can name those who aided him in achieving his success; and he may deny that he was always aware of success, but his awareness compelled the aid he received.

To believe your desire into being is to exercise the wonderful creative power that you are. We are told in the very first Psalm: “Blessed is the man who delights in the law of the Lord. In all that he does, he prospers.” This law, as explained in the Sermon on the Mount, is psychological. “You have heard it said of old, thou shalt not commit adultery, but I say unto you, anyone who lusts after a woman has already committed the act of adultery with her in his heart.” Here we discover that it is not enough to restrain the impulse on the outside. Adultery is committed the moment the desire is thought!

Knowing what you want, gear yourself towards it, for the act was committed in the wanting. Faith must now be added, for without faith it is impossible to please God. Can you imagine a state and feel that your imaginal act is now a fact? It costs you nothing to imagine; in fact you are imagining every moment in time, but not consciously. But, may I tell you: if you use your creative power by imagining a desire is already fulfilled, when you get it, the circumstances will seem so natural that it will be easy to deny your imagination had anything to do with it, and you could easily believe that it would have happened anyway. But if you do, you will have returned to sleep once again.

First of all, most of us do not even realize our own harvest when it confronts us. And if we do remember that we once imagined it, reason will tell us it would have happened anyway. Reason will remind you that you met a man (seemingly by accident) at a cocktail party who was interested in making money. When he heard your idea, he sent you to see his friend, and look what happened – so really, it would have happened anyway. Then, of course, it is easy to ignore the law, but “Blessed is the man who delights in the law of the Lord. In all that he does he prospers.”

Don’t forget the law while you are living in the world of Caesar, and apply it wisely; but remember you are not justified by its use. Justification comes through faith. You must have faith in the incredible story that God promised to bring himself out of you, as you! This is God’s promise to all, and all are asked to believe it.

It is not what you are, but what you trust God to do, that saves you. And to the degree that you trust God to save you, you will be saved. But he has given us a psychological law to cushion the inevitable blows of life. The law is simple: “As you sow, so shall you reap.” It is the law of like begets like. As you imagine, so shall your life become. Knowing what you want, assume the feeling that would be yours if you had it. Persist in that feeling, and in a way you do not know and could not devise, your desire will become a fact. Grandfather made his fortune by standing on an empty lot and saying to himself: “I remember when this was an empty lot.” Then he would paint a beautiful word picture of the structure he desired there. This is a wonderful technique. You can remember when you were unknown, penniless, and ill, or a failure. Remembering when you were, implies you are no longer that, and your power is in its implication.

Use the law and it will take you from success to success, as you conceive success to be. As far as I am concerned, success is to fulfill the promise, and you cannot do that through the law. The promise is fulfilled through faith. Are you holding true to the faith? Examine yourself to see if you are. I have told you an eternal story. Believe it, but do not change it. The story is this: God became you that you may become God. Use the law to cushion the blows while God keeps his promise; and then one day, when your journey is over, you will say: “Into thy hands I commit my spirit. Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.” That’s the cry on the cross. Commit your spirit to your imaginal act, relax and fall asleep knowing its redemption is assured. Then when you least expect it, God will prove to you that he has redeemed you by awakening in you, as you. Then you will be born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.

Now let us go into the silence.

BIBLICAL LANGUAGE

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 09-26-1969

“All are Men in Eternity. Rivers, Mountains, Cities, Villages,

All are Human, and when You enter into Their Bosoms,
You walk In Heavens and Earths;
Just as in Your own Bosom You bear Your Heaven And Earth,
and all that You behold, though it appears Without, it is Within,
In Your Imagination of which this World of Mortality is but a Shadow.”

(William Blake’s Jerusalem, Plate 71:17)

You may ask yourself what Blake is talking about, yet this is the language of the Bible. Biblical language evokes rather than describes. It is telling of another world, another Man and another age; for in truth, all of the places in the Bible are human.

In the Book of Revelation, John sees Jerusalem become a woman, descending out of heaven adorned like a bride for her husband. And in the 5th chapter of Micah we are told that Bethlehem is that woman out of which God comes. Listen to the words carefully: “You, O Bethlehem, are so little to be among the thousands of Judah, yet from you will come forth for me, one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient times. Therefore, he will give them up until that time when she who is in travail has brought forth.” Then we read in the 63rd [Chapter] of Isaiah, “O Lord, thou art our Father, our Redeemer from of old is thy name.” Here we see the Ancient of Days as our Father and Redeemer and, like Bethlehem, we are all in travail, redeeming everything and bringing forth the Father of all life as our very self!

One day you will know an imaginative world where the mountains, rivers, cities, and villages are human. Everything will be possible to you there, for when your imaginative faculties awaken, every thought is objectively real. I don’t care what it is, your every imaginal act will instantly become an objective fact. This we are told throughout the Old Testament, but its language evokes and man finds it difficult to understand.

In the 14th chapter of Jeremiah you will find these words: “Thou, Lord are in the midst of us. We are called by thy name; leave us not.” The Lord’s name is “I am.” How could anyone exist and have the name “I am” taken from him? If you couldn’t say “I am” you would cease to be. You could suffer from total amnesia and not know where you are, who you are, or what you are; but, because God remains faithful to his pledge, you can’t stop knowing that you are. And that which is buried in your soul must come forward, and when it does, you are God.

You don’t boldly claim, “I am God” without any assurance that you are. That would be silly. To walk the streets proclaiming, “I am God,” not having had his plan of salvation unfold within you, would be the height of insanity. But when he reveals himself in you, you don’t proclaim it to anyone, you simply know it and live by this knowledge. And the only way he will ever reveal himself in you, as you, is to have his son stand before you and call you “Father.” Then, having fulfilled the 89th Psalm, you too will say: “I have found David. He said unto me: ‘Thou art my Father, my God, and the Rock of my Salvation.'” When this lad stands before you, you know exactly who he is and who you are, for this relationship was established before that the world was.

Knowing you are the Eternal God who is Father, you will share this fantastic knowledge, not expecting a hundred percent acceptance, but allowing everyone to respond to what you say. Seeing your weaknesses and limitations, some will believe you and some will disbelieve. Don’t let it matter to you, simply tell it and go your way until the end of your allotted time. Then, with the discarding of your garment of flesh and blood, your weaknesses are removed and you awaken as God. Those who heard and accepted your experiences will prove your words in the not distant future and they, too, will awaken as the Ancient of Days.

Mortal eyes cannot see the being I really am. I know I am the Ancient of Days. I never began and I will never end. I appear to have begun in time. That is because I buried myself in my creation, in time. I am the Melchizedek of scripture – he who has no father, no mother, no genealogy, no beginning of days, or ending of days. I am eternity, buried in and waking in my creation. And because I am the Father of all life, my son, David – the personification of everything I have given life to, through experience – will stand before me to witness my fatherhood. David’s father was called Jesse, which means “I am.” It is that father who, recognizing David, says: “Thou art my son, today I have begotten thee.”

This experience will be yours when you come out of the fiery furnaces, which each one of us must and will go through. Did the Lord not tell us: “I have tried you in the furnace of affliction (experiences) for my sake; for my own sake I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.” There is only God, so he cannot give his glory to another. Having buried himself in his creation, when he rises from his burial place, he is still God, but enhanced beyond measure by reason of becoming his own creation and rising in it, individualized. We are all members of a body which shares in this grand play of rivers, mountains, cities, hills, and villages – all of which are humanity, all men in eternity.

Have you ever reclined in a chair with your eyes closed as in sleep and pictured a stream of water so real you could put your mental hands in it and they are wet? When you cupped your hands and brought them to your mouth, could you feel the water going down your throat? If you have, you know that the state you have entered is very real and personal. That is the power which is in store for you. That is your power tomorrow, when everything will be at your disposal, all based upon your own wonderful human imagination, for that is God.

Taking upon himself all the weaknesses and limitations of the flesh, God became as you are, that you may become as he is. And when he awakens within you, you are he. If you will believe in your own wonderful, imaginative world, everything will be under your control – but everything! And you will know that everyone in your world is within you, to be contacted at will. That no one can escape you; and when you rise within yourself, everyone rises with you. That is the story of scripture.

While you are here you can test your creative power based upon your desires. You may desire something you think you cannot afford, or you don’t have the time or the know-how to enjoy it. You can think of a thousand reasons why its possession is impossible; but – hearing that imagination creates reality – you can imagine you have it. But to imagine is not enough; you must have faith enough in your imaginal act to believe in its reality. When you imagine you are the person you want to be, you must firmly believe you already are it; then wait in faith for your assumption to appear in your world, for that imaginal act has its own appointed hour. It will ripen and flower. If it seems long to you – wait, for it is sure and will not be late.

The link between your imaginal act and its fulfillment is your faith, which is nothing more than your subjective appropriation of your objective hope. Hoping your desire – subjectively appropriated – is true, faith is your link to its objectivity. Act as God, and simply let it be so. God said: “Let there be light, Let the sun appear. Let the moon appear.” After his imaginal act, God let everything appear, sustaining it by faith, knowing that without faith it is impossible to bring it to pass. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen.” If you have faith in the reality of your imaginal act, it must objectify itself in your world.

Now, in order to really understand scripture, you must have some knowledge of the experiences recorded there, because they are not of this world. The Bible speaks of the New Man who is in you. It is that Man of Spirit that I am appealing to, as he can believe in the reality of an imaginal act. The outer you knows a reality which it can touch, see, and hear. Its belief is based upon the evidence of its five senses and reason. But I am appealing to the Christ in you, who is your own wonderful human imagination, and one with the Lord. This magnificent creative power is buried in you and will rise in you – not as another, but as your very self. This will be done when the wall of perdition, which divides the two of you, is broken down. If I speak of him I am implying the existence of two; but when I say, “I am,” I am speaking of only one. So Christ becomes one with me by becoming my very self. But I will not know that I am he until I have experienced everything scripture tells me only happened to him.

My rebirth is the result of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, for it is said that he rose from the same grave in which he was buried. Since there is only one skull, only one grave, and I awoke within my skull to discover I am alone, am I not the one who lay down there to sleep? If asked who was having this experience, I would answer, “I am,” and “I am” is not two – “I am” is one. I awoke in Golgotha – my own skull – and I came forth from that skull, as it is said that Bethlehem will bring forth someone for me, one who will rule as God.

Try ruling as God! Knowing that all things are possible to your imagination, imagine something that your reason and senses deny, and see if it works. If it does, then did you not rule your world as God? That’s how God acts. He imagines and lets it appear. And who is he? The Ancient of Days.

In the Book of Daniel, you are told: “There came one, like a son of man, who was presented to the Ancient of Days and they became one.” The word translated “son of man” is the Aramaic for the word “I” or “one.” That’s all it means. So when Jesus uses the word, “son of man” he is designating his function as the mediator between the world of man and the kingdom of God. In the Book of John he says: “O Holy Father, I have made known unto them thy name, the name thou gavest me.” Here he tells you the name is “Father,” saying, “Holy Father.” Now he wants something else. “May the love with which thou hast loved me be in them and I in them,” for the Holy Father wears the body of love.

When you step into the presence of the Ancient of Days, you see God in the human form divine, which is infinite love. And when he incorporates you into himself through an embrace, you fuse with love, thereby becoming the Ancient of Days. You know this because you feel it, but love cannot be seen with mortal eyes; and when you tell your story, those who hear you will say: “You? Why you are not yet fifty.” In the speaker’s case they would say: “You are not yet seventy, yet you know Abraham?” And I would answer, “Before Abraham, was I am.” They would then pick up stones to stone me with the facts of life.

Your birth certificate, place of birth, your social, intellectual, and financial backgrounds, are all cataloged, all available as stones to be thrown when you dare to claim that you are known by one who – as a forefather – lived unnumbered centuries ago. One who not only rejoiced to see your day, but saw it and was glad. To claim that you not only know him, but came before him, does not make sense, but is true. That which has no origin, buried itself in that which began in time, in order to raise that which began in time to its own level – which has no origin.

Here we find the story of Nebuchadnezzar and Melchizedek all rolled up into one. Nebuchadnezzar was an insane king – just like Man in this world. And Melchizedek, who has no father or mother, no origin, no beginning or ending in time, is buried within Nebuchadnezzar. Rising in that which began in time, he transforms time into eternity. Here again we have the story of the coming of the Father.

To find the Father of all life is all that is worthwhile. What else is worth finding? To find a million dollars would be wonderful for the moment, but one day the money will be gone, for everything dies here. Even the very heavens are dissolving; but your imagination cannot dissolve, for he is the Father who was before that the world was. So when imagination rises in you, you are God, even though you are still in a garment which wears out. And when the world calls you dead, it is because you have returned to the Father, as the Father.

As imagination rises in you, you understand the words: “I came out from the Father and I have come into the world. Again I am leaving the world and returning to the Father.” Now the same “I” makes this statement: “Go to my brothers.” If we are all brothers, we do not differ from this one “I” in whom the whole thing took place. The gospel is only the record of experiences seen and heard in the soul. So, “Go and tell my brothers I am ascending unto my Father and their Father, to my God and their God.” There is no other Father but the one Father, and no other God but the one God, who is in us all as our own wonderful human imagination. When you say, “I am,” that’s he, and there is no other God.

You will not know you are God, however, until scripture becomes alive and fulfills itself in you. For that purpose and that purpose only did you come into the world. You did not come here to put things right, as the priesthoods would say. This world is a schoolroom, where man is searching for his father; and how long, vast, and severe the anguish before he finds his father, is long to tell. I do not know when God will awaken within you; but I do know that he will, and then you will see the reason behind it all. So leave the world just as it is and make no attempt to change it.

Every day politicians are trying to change the world. We have many who claim to be our saviors, yet each – like the Hitlers and the Stalins of the world – have clay feet. Still, people will believe in them and you can’t stop them, because they are dreaming. Being all imagination, you can’t stop man from imagining, and imagining creates reality. Tonight they are trying to stop cigarette smoking. They tried to stop alcohol back in 1919, and in their doing, those who lived in the gutter became billionaires, making billions that they could not – and did not – declare for taxes. Al Capone made 130 million dollars net a year for fourteen years without paying taxes. They got him for a few thousand on some small infraction – but what happened to the 130 million a year? So, the do-gooders will do it all over again. Now they are going to start banning cigarettes; and instead of receiving six billion dollars in taxes from the industry, the money will go into the hands of those who will see to it that those who want cigarettes get them.

Man never learns his lesson. I can remember prohibition well. I came to New York City in 1922 and remained there until 1952, so I know New York City well. Old man Rockefeller, the one who really made the fortune, owned about six blocks between 5th and 6th Avenue. His entire family occupied one block on 54th Street. Before Radio City was built, he owned and rented out the two- and three-story buildings there. One day his son said: “Do you realize that all of those buildings are speakeasies?” Here was a Baptist – who gave millions for the dry campaign – renting houses to be used as speakeasies. So you see, you can blind yourself to anything.

I tell you: prohibition is stupid. You can educate a man out of a state, but you cannot prohibit him from occupying it. If I told you I would give you the earth if you would not think of a monkey for the next 24 hours, I would keep my earth, for you could not do it. Every commandment that is negative will be broken, for “God has consigned all men to disobedience that he may have mercy on all.” The moment I give you a command that is negatively worthy, I have consigned you to disobedience. There is only one commandment which is not negative. That one is “Love thy father and mother.” Every commandment has to be broken, yet man thinks he is so holy.

A man who recently celebrated his 100th birthday was asked what he thought contributed to his longevity, and he answered, “Smoking! I have been smoking every day of my life since I was eight years old.” Another lady, dying of throat cancer at the age of 30, told reporters that she had never smoked a cigarette in her life. My mother never smoked or drank, yet she died a very painful death at the age of 62. My father drank like a fish. He broke every health code. He never read anything concerning what he should eat in order to live, he just lived. He ate what he wanted when he wanted it. He drank what he wanted when he wanted it, and died at 85 from sheer exhaustion. Having these two examples before me, I don’t believe in this nonsense relative to what I should eat and drink. I will wear out this body just as I have a suit of clothes, and when I do, men will call me dead; but I will not be dead, I will be one with the Awakened Christ, for I have experienced scripture. David, in the Spirit, called me Father, so now I know my name and will return to that awareness.

Remember, the Bible evokes, it does not describe. There are three kinds of writing: journalism, literature, and scripture. You can study journalism or literature, but not scripture; for it is all revelation, all vision – written to evoke, not describe. As the visions possess you, you will discover that everything in scripture becomes man. The rivers, mountains, cities, villages – all are man.

In the 4th chapter of his book, Daniel shared his vision, saying: “I saw a watcher, a holy one come down from above and heard him say, ‘Cut down the tree, cut off its branches, strip its leaves, scatter its fruit, but leave the stump bound in iron and bronze.'” Now the tree becomes a person. “`Water him with the dew of heaven. Take from him the mind of man and let his habitation be among the beasts until seven times pass over him and he learns that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will, even to the lowliest among men.’ “The tree spoken of here is the tree of life, which grows in the human brain. It has been cut down to the root; but out of that tree of life (called Jesse) will come a shoot, which is what the Father is waiting for. He is waiting for himself to come out of man, individualized as the man he is bringing with him.

So God – he who created the world and all within it – descended into his creation. And when he rises, in all, he wipes away time and space as we know it, and becomes the only reality.

Now let us go into the silence.

BLAKE ON RELIGION

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 03-26-1963

When you are discussing Blake you are discussing one of the greatest spiritual giants of all time. You might just as well discuss St. Paul, for they had the identical visions, the vision of reality. Tonight we can cover only a portion of his gift to the world. In his “Auguries of Innocence” he says:

“To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.”

What is the sequence? The most inanimate thing in the world, a grain [of] sand, and in it to see a world. Then he moves to the first animation, a flower; and then to see harmony, which is Heaven – to see a “Heaven in a Wild Flower.” And now he comes to space: “Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand.” And then to time: “And Eternity in an hour.”

He moves on now to the bird world, to show us the relationship of the whole vast world, the unity of the world, that we are all actively related. That you can’t disturb anything at this moment in any way and not actually affect the whole.

“A Robin Red breast in a Cage
Puts all Heaven in a Rage.”

We think we can catch the little bird and cage it for our amusement, that which should be set free. He said:

“How do you know but ev’ry Bird that cuts the airy way,
Is an immense world of delight, clos’d by your senses five?”
(“Marriage of Heaven and Hell”)

So, the little

“Robin Red breast in a Cage
Puts all Heaven in a Rage.
A dove house fill’d with doves and Pigeons
Shudders Hell thro’ all its regions.”

Then he moves on to the next state, in what the world would call evolution, but he doesn’t call it that. Now into another aspect of the animal world:

“A dog starv’d at his Master’s Gate
Predicts the ruin of the State.
A Horse misus’d upon the Road
Calls to Heaven for Human blood.”
(“Auguries of Innocence”)

And he takes the stages right through. You will read it as you go along. (“Annotations to Berkeley’s Siris” in his Pickering MS.) Here is this mental giant who saw the complete relationship of all of us. So I think I could be isolated were I in a dungeon and I thought of you – my thought is affecting the entire universe. I thought of you with envy, or with hate, or with love, whatever the thought was as I conjured you in my mind’s eye and represented to myself as I want you to be, whether it is in hate or in love, I am affecting the whole vast world. And if I believe in the reality of what I have done, it will come to pass. And because we are all one, all interwoven, I will use you without your consent, your knowledge, to fulfill that which I have imagined at that moment.

Then he makes this statement:

“What seems to Be, Is, To those to whom
It seems to Be, and is productive of the most dreadful
Consequences to those to whom it seems to be, even of
Torments, Despair, Eternal Death; but the Divine Mercy
Steps beyond and Redeems Man in the Body of Jesus.”
(“Jerusalem,” Plate 36)

He steps beyond. Because of this principle man could be lost forever, not knowing what he is doing, but “Divine Mercy Steps beyond and Redeems Man in the Body of Jesus.” “God is Jesus” and we are but members in this divine body, therefore, only one name – we are he. So Blake made this statement: “Man is all Imagination. God is Man and exists in us and we in him.” (“Annotations to Berkeley’s Siris”)

“The Eternal Body of Man is The Imagination, that is, God himself,
The Divine Body, Jesus; we are his Members.”
(“The Laocoön”)

He makes every world, and now he asks us to join with him in putting this to the test. When you read his works from beginning to end, he never waivers from this premise. One thing he asks us all to do and to always bear in mind at every moment in time – to distinguish between the immortal man, which he saw… He said: “When I first did distinguish the immortal man that cannot die. . . that immortal man was Imagination.” Imagination has a body and he describes that body when he begs us to always discriminate between this immortal man — your wonderful human Imagination —and the state into which it has fallen.

And so, you may be this night in the state of love (I hope you are), the state of tenderness, the state of affluence. I don’t know, but you may not be. You may be in the opposite state. But were you in the opposite state, or some friend of yours, or some total stranger in the opposite state, he begs you, he begs all of us, to always bear in mind the distinction between the occupant of the state and the state, and lift everyone out of the state if it is an unlovely
state. For man is like a pilgrim passing through states, as though I pass through the states of this country. If this night I pass through Chicago, Chicago remains, but I — the pilgrim — pass on. If I pass through any state — the state of poverty, when I leave poverty it doesn’t really dissolve, it hasn’t disappeared. I left it for anyone to enter. I hope they will avoid it, but anyone may fall into it or deliberately go into it by feeling sorry for himself, feeling unwanted. And so he tells us of these enormous states, infinite states in the world. That everything possible that could happen to man is already created in the form of states. When man enters the state, the state unfolds because he — the operant power — has entered the state, and unknowingly he simply unfolds the state. If the state is one of wealth, in a way he does not know everyone in the world that can aid the unfolding of that state must aid it. If he enters any state — the state of poverty — though at the moment when he enters it he may have everything in the world, in no time he will grow the fruits of poverty in this world, for he is in the state of poverty. But he, the occupant of the state, is neither rich or poor.

So, Blake calls upon everyone to bear this in mind constantly and forgive every being in the world. For he says: “Mutual forgiveness of each sin, such are the Gates into Heaven in our world.” If I could only remember every moment of time when I see someone I dislike, that he is only in a state. That is why I dislike him – I dislike the state. I identify him with the state I dislike, but I think it is the occupant. It is not the occupant. He could come out at any moment in time, or I could get him out if I pulled him out and put him into another state, and I wouldn’t dislike him. If I bear this in mind, knowing my power to pull him out of the state I could save him, at least temporarily, until he is actually redeemed by this “Divine Mercy that steps beyond and Redeems Man in the Body of Jesus.” And that is a true vision. We are “Redeemed in the Body of Jesus.” The day will come when you actually will be pulled into his presence, for it is he, divine mercy, that steps beyond, in spite of what we have done, and pulls us right into his presence.

Then we are asked a very simple question. The world will answer correctly or he would not have told us. It is automatically done — we are divinely prompted what to answer, what to say when the question is asked. We cannot make a mistake, for we are actually prompted from the depths of our soul and we answer. At that very moment he embraces us and we become one with him – Jesus. We are fused into the body of Jesus.

And you say: “Is Jesus a man?” Yes, he is a man. So Blake makes the statement:

“If Thou Humblest Thyself, Thou humblest Me;
Thou also dwell’st in Eternity.
Thou art a Man, God is no more,
Thy own Humanity learn to adore.”
(“Everlasting Gospel”)

So when you stand in his presence you are standing in the presence of Man and it is Infinite Man. It is Jesus, and you are actually saved in the body of Jesus, because he embraces you and you are locked in his body, one with his body. You are the body. You aren’t locked in the sense that you disappear — you are that being. You become one with Jesus, yet you do not lose your identity. No loss of identity and yet one with God, for God is Jesus. Now this is Blake’s teaching and I have proven much of it to my own satisfaction by my own mystical experiences.

Now he comes to discuss the story of the “Virginity of the Virgin.” For are we not told in Isaiah 7:14: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” The word Immanuel means “God is with us.” Listen to it carefully: “She will conceive and bear a son, and call his name Immanuel.” The child will be given the name as a token. The child is not the great event; the child will be given a name and is the token of deliverance. The child himself is not the deliverer. The child is simply the sign of an event taking place. Now Blake writes one single little verse and he speaks of it as the “Virginity of the Virgin.” You are the virgin, whether you be male or female, I am the virgin, we are all the virgin. I didn’t know what was happening to me any more than you will know what is happening to you. He puts it in four little lines:

“Whate’er is done to her she cannot know,
And if you’ll ask her she will swear it so.
Whether ‘tis good or evil none’s to blame:
No one can take the pride, no one the shame.”
(“Poems from the Note-book”)
[On the virginity of the Virgin Mary and Johanna Southcott]

So we said in the story: “How can this thing be, seeing that I know not a man?” And through the centuries thousands of columns have been written condemning the act, for it was out of wedlock and they take it on this level. It is not on this level. You are the bride of God, as told us in Isaiah 54:5: “For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name.” So the one who made me is going to sire me, without my knowledge, without my consent. So

“Whate’er is done to me I cannot know,
And if you’ll ask me I will swear it so
Whether it is good or evil, none’s to blame:
No one can take the pride, no one the shame.”

No one can take the pride when I confess openly I gave birth to a child out of wedlock. For no one sired that child and no one can claim he sired it. Now whether it was a shameful thing to perform — well, the world must judge. Whether it be good or evil, well, who knows? But one thing I know: no one can claim they did it, therefore “No one can take the pride, no one the shame” — if it’s shame. So the prophecy was made and he writes in four little lines the story of the “Virginity of the Virgin.”

He is telling every being in the world that they are that virgin. And you will be sired by the Holy Spirit, and you will produce in visible form an infant, just as told us in the Gospel. Having produced it you stand amazed because how could you produce it in such an unnatural way? It doesn’t happen in a natural way. Therefore, you were the virgin who conceived unknowingly, for she said: “How can I conceive, how can I have a child seeing I know not a man?” Then you are told the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the child will be the child of God. But it will only symbolize an event that is taking place, and you will be the son of God. In that act you were the child, who symbolized your acceptance. But the son of God is also God the son, and the son of God is made to say: “I and my Father are one.”

Blake saw the whole vision so perfectly, so clearly, and told us in his fabulous works. Said he of the Bible: “I know of no other Christianity and no other Gospel than the liberty both of mind and body to exercise the Divine Arts of Imagination. Imagination the real and eternal world into which we shall all go after the death of this vegetable mortal body.” He would accept no other form of Christianity. And he said: “All ritual, all creeds,” everything in the form of a ritual “was anti-Christ.” No religion means by definition a time, devotion to the most exalted reality that one has experienced. But religion as practiced is simply artifice, creed, ceremony, confession, and all outward show, and Blake would have none of it. The whole thing to him was anti-Christian, because to him the whole thing was from within, something the individual experienced that no one by argument could shake.

Years later, another brilliant mind, William James, made this observation and wrote it in a letter (not in a book) to his son. The son allowed it to be published in 1920 in The Atlantic Monthly. In this letter, James said: “The mother seed, the fountain-head of religion, begins in the mystical experience of the individual. All theology, all ecclestiastism, are secondary growth, superimposed. These experiences belong to a region that is deeper, wiser and more practical than that which the intellect inhabits. For this they are indestructible by intellectual arguments and criticism.” Blake would have endorsed that one hundred per cent.

You couldn’t disturb him. They called him a mad person. Even to this very day they speak of him as one who was unbalanced. He confessed in one of his letters that William Cowper [came to him. Cowper was] one of the great poets and himself considered one of the six greatest of all writers of letters in the English tongue. He was a contemporary. He died in 1800, Blake in 1827. He was much older than Blake, and Blake in his letter did not say whether Cowper came to him while he walked this earth or after he made his exit from this earth, because Blake could not conceive of death in any sense of the word — nothing died, all things survived. He said: “Cowper came to me and said to me: ‘Would that I were mad always, I cannot rest. Would you not make me truly mad?’ Then he said: ‘Look at you, you are healthy, and yet you are more mad than all of us. Would that I were as mad. I cannot rest until I am as mad as you are.’” He claimed that was what Cowper said to him. That he would now be a “refugee from unbelief.”

We think we are sane when we believe in the evidences of the senses, when we believe in some mathematical state that proves itself in performance. He spoke of Blake as one who was a “real refugee from unbelief.” I tell you a fantastic story and you don’t believe it. Would that you would believe! Believe it, though reason would deny it and your senses deny it. Just to believe it and become a refugee from unbelief, because true religion cannot be analyzed. You can’t rationalize it; it is based upon these mystical experiences in the depths of the soul.

Blake said of the Bible: “The entire Hebrew Bible” . . . he did not mention a few of the works. He didn’t mention Ruth, Nehemiah, and things of that sort, but he said: “The Five books of the Decalogue; the books of Joshua and Judges, Samuel , a double book, and Kings , a double book, the Psalms and Prophets, The Four-fold Gospel, and the Revelations everlasting.” (“Jerusalem,” Plate 48) He did not name the prophets, which he called the latter prophets (also the major): Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. He said these are true vision. He did not mention the Epistles, but he said the four Gospels, Revelation, and the Hebrew Bible are eternal visions of what really exists. He saw it so clearly, that all these characters are personifications of eternal states and communed with these states, for when you commune with them they seem as real as you are. But they are personifications of God’s infinite mind; every aspect of his mind is personified. You are not an aspect of the mind, something entirely different. You are one with God. “Man is All Imagination. God is man and exists in us and we in him.” (“Annotations to Berkeley’s Siris”)

“The Eternal Body of Man is The Imagination, that is God himself; The Divine Body Jesus; we are his Members” — part of the body of Jesus, and because there is only one name, we are he. So we pass through a process, a simple process which you can’t evoke, you can’t hasten it. But when you least expect it, divine mercy steps beyond and redeems man right into the body of Jesus. Then he passes through these stages, where he is born from above, where suddenly he beholds the divine Son [David] as his son; then the great woven structure of the body, the temple, is torn from top to bottom and he ascends to be one around this infinite throne of Jesus, who is God.

I actually believe it. I can’t prove it to you and I can’t take you with me into that moment of time where I experienced it. I can only tell you I have experienced it and ask you to believe it and share with me in belief, that you yourself may become a refugee from unbelief. For the man who cannot leave what he can touch with his hands and rationalize, cannot believe. And this is something you are called upon, although you have not seen it. “Blessed is the man who has not seen and still believes.” That is how the Gospel of John 20:29 ends. Those who heard about it, who would eventually experience it, like Job (42:5) — he said: “I have heard of thee with the hearing of the ear but now my eye sees thee.” He heard about it and then came the experience, and he saw exactly what Blake is talking about, because Blake saw it.

I ask you to believe with me and take his works. I wouldn’t attempt to interpret for you. I have so many commentaries of Blake and they cost much more than all of Blake’s works put together, any one of them. You can buy Blake for $5.00, all this including his letters. I have invested in Blake’s works at home close to a thousand dollars in commentaries, and no two agree as to what Blake means by his fantastic experiences. But I bought all these commentaries of Blake before I had the experience. I could have saved a thousand dollars. I don’t regret it. I have them at home and there they stand in my library. Three volumes I paid $100.00 for, published by a dealer just back from England. These are rare volumes. Others he made me pay $55.00 and $65.00 for single volumes. And I have the whole of Blake in a nonesuch volume.

So you read him and all of a sudden you see exactly what he is trying to tell you, because you had a similar experience. Then comes the unfolding of the flower within you, the tree, and you have the experience, the same thing because all will have the identical experience, colored a little bit differently because we are all unique in God’s eye. So we have the same experience as we unfold on this great tree of life. Just think of it. If I can tell you what I would feel from Blake. Someone said: “He was the last civilized man.” Well, I hope not, but that is what was said of him. Blake had no venom in him, no impulse to hurt. He didn’t have to restrain the impulse; being all virtuous he acted from impulse and not from rules. He was simply a virtuous man in the sense that he loved people.

If I would take a summary of Blake and tell you what I get out of it, I would say tell your children while they are little tots and teach them: never unnecessarily hurt a creature or desecrate a flower. That is the beginning of reverence, and reverence is the beginning of wisdom. If you couldn’t hurt a flower, you couldn’t desecrate it. You see little children — not knowing what they are doing but in the presence of adults who should know better — and they will take a lovely rose and tear it and desecrate it. If the parent at that moment (or the adult, whether he is the parent or not) would stop the child and explain not at any time to unnecessarily hurt a creature, take the wings from a butterfly. I did it myself. To take the wings from a fly, to take the wings from something else. No reason for it, but I did it as a child. But I did it when possibly there was no one around like my father or mother to stop me in the act. But I know today from experience: you can take a child in its youth, in its infancy, teach it never unnecessarily to hurt a creature or desecrate a flower. That would be to it the beginning of reverence, and reverence is the beginning of wisdom.

Take George Washington Carver, who would take a flower in his hands and talk to it. The man couldn’t hurt it, he was incapable of hurt. He would talk to a sick flower and ask the flower what was wrong with it and try to tell him, that he in turn may bring in the solution to that rose bush — which he did. And he gave us, because he couldn’t hurt, this synthetic world of ours. He took the ordinary little peanut. He talked to the peanut and wondered “What are you for why did God make you? He made you for a purpose.” And then the peanut communed with George Washington Carver. And today we have 300 by-products from the peanut and hundreds of by-products from the southern pines, and from other things. I heard that gentleman the year he died. Just before he died he spoke in New York City at the forum held every year by the Herald Tribune, always held at the old Waldorf Astoria. He said (and I heard him, I saw him) that: “This concern about tomorrow’s not being able to feed the world. From the southern states of this country, forget the northern states, the southern states, we could feed the entire world, and clothe the entire world from the by-products. What we could extract from the southern pine and the peanut and all things, the synthetic world.” (He called it “the synthetic world.”)

Today you can go into a store and they brag about the synthetic garments. They call it Dacron or some other name and tell you how much better it is than the so-called natural thing that you would normally wear. All these are synthetic garments and they claim they are better in feeling, lasting wear, and everything else. All that goes back to a man who couldn’t hurt. And he was born a slave (I think he was sold for a horse or something). So we have to redeem him. Here was a man born into slavery who couldn’t hurt, and he is one of the mental, spiritual giants of the world. If you met him beyond the grave you would see a glorious being like a Blake, because he couldn’t hurt.

So I would say to everyone here who is in contact with tomorrow’s children: start it. If you start and tell the children never hurt unnecessarily. By that I mean if a horse breaks its foot then you have to destroy it. You can’t mend it and the merciful thing to do would be to blow its brains out. That would be a merciful act, but then you would do it not unnecessarily. Blake said:

“A Horse misus’d upon the Road
Calls to Heaven for Human blood.
A dog starv’d at his Master’s Gate
Predicts the ruin of the State
A Robin Red breast in a Cage
Puts all Heaven in a Rage.”

To take this wonderful thing and cage it for your own amusement when it should cut the airy way. And then he says:

“A Skylark wounded in the wing,
A Cherubim does cease to sing.”

You wouldn’t think a cherub, one with the seraphim around the throne of God, would — at that very moment when we wound the skylark in its wing — would be silent. But in the inter-related world, all things by a law divine in one another’s being mingle. So you could not wound a skylark in the wing and expect a cherubim to continue to sing. All of a sudden things come to an end by our misuse of this fantastic power that is ours. For being all imagination, as we misuse the power that is imagination we cause cherubim to become silent. We cause the whole of heaven to cry out when we cage something that should be set loose and free in this world.

But you start, and I am quite sure it wouldn’t take more than one generation, if the world would believe it, if you start it in the home with children. Take them into the garden and let them see and then watch their reactions. Some may be more violent and tear it off, but stop them right there. Don’t hit them, just stop them and explain to them that it is a creation of God — the one who made the stars made this for your enjoyment, not for your destruction — and explain they should not desecrate the flower. Then if you see them taking off the wings of the butterfly, because they are human that way, explain they should never unnecessarily hurt a creature. They would believe it, they trust you, and then suddenly that’s part of their structure. They couldn’t violate that conditioned mind. Why, it wouldn’t take any time to really become a world like a Blake, and what a world that would be!

So I say to you: Blake, read him. I could talk about him from now to the end of time and never exhaust him. He lived to be seventy years old. He never went to school. His visions began at four, and he thanked his father for not sending him to school to be flogged into memorizing the works of a fool. Even in today’s paper, the New York Times, a science editor wrote the story of a man’s new concept of the universe – radical departure from what was held last year. Well, this is not final you know. This will be a radical departure from what it will be called next year, and that is man’s concept. Whether the thing is really expanding to the limit of complete explosion, or whether it is like a breath — where it will go to a certain point and then once more begin to contract, taking unnumbered trillions of years — they don’t know and they hope to find it out through telescopes. So they are experimenting through the telescope to the mathematical concept. But Blake made this observation:

“God is not a Mathematical Diagram.”
(“Annotations to Berkeley’s Siris”)

Not in eternity will you find God as a mathematical diagram. When you find him you’ll find him as man. So he said:

“God Appears and God is Light
To those poor Souls who dwell in Night,
But does a Human Form Display
To those who Dwell in Realms of day.”
(“Auguries of Innocence”)

When you meet him, it’s man. But how can I describe him when he himself describes the body and the form as love. (How do you describe love? Yet I stood in the presence of love and he was human.) But he said:

“For Mercy has a human heart,
Pity a human face
And Love, the human form divine.
(“The Divine Image”)

So how are you going to describe love? When I stood in the presence of love it was human and it was Jesus and it is form, but it is infinite love. Then you understand the words concerning forgiveness:

“In Heaven the only Art of Living
Is Forgetting and Forgiving.”
(“Notes,” Plate 81)

And you stand in his presence and you hear these words ring out: “Forgive them; for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34) “Mutual forgiveness of each vice; such are the Gates of Paradise.” No one can get through holding any resentment, because you are holding it against a being when it should be a state, and the states are fixed forever through which we pass.

I would encourage everyone to read Blake. He grows every year bigger and bigger in the minds of men, yet he died and is buried in an unknown grave. I doubt if anyone truly knows where he is buried. Possibly, because he was poor in those days in England, they buried the paupers four and six to a grave. So who knows where he is buried? At least we have his works, those that survived. And so, after 200 years here is this giant, and in his day we had men that can only be remembered because there was certain violence, like George III, who reigned where he lived, when this was a colony. And here this mad George, truly mad, and nothing was more sane than Blake. And George who was then King of England – we founded his colony – could give away sections of it, vast areas to those that he favored – mad as a hatter! And they called Blake the madman! And Cowper, who did go mad (three times he was put away) – he appeared to Blake and asked Blake to make him truly mad. Not mad as the world judges it, because there are unbalanced mental states, no question about it. “Make me as mad, Blake, till I become like you, a refugee from unbelief.” He was torn between the two.

If I could only go all out and believe in the reality of my imaginal act and not look back. Just go all out, and believe that things are as I desire them to be. But don’t look down now to my understanding to see if it is really happening, like pulling up the little seed to see if it is taking root. Really believe that it is going to take root and in its own way it unfolds within itself and grows. But don’t pull it up; walk right out in the belief that things are as I desire them to be, even though at the very moment it seems darker than ever. And if I do that, that is what Blake did.

They said that many a day he had not a potato in the house and no money. His wife must have been an angel of angels. To remind him there was no food in the house – and then he would have to go out and sell one of his paintings, or get a commission to make a painting – she would put before him on the bare table an empty plate and a spoon, so when he came to dinner, well, that’s it. He took the hint and then would go out and either borrow a pound or a few shillings, or try to get a commission for a picture he had not yet painted. He lived in that so-called dream world. But what he has done to posterity! How he has affected the entire world. And when you think today that no one who understands the English tongue, called upon to make a list of the six greatest users of English tongue of all times, has the same order of value, but within six they could not omit the name of Blake. And he never went to school. Just that inspired mind, the greatest most wonderful mind.

He said he talked to Isaiah and Ezekiel and he asked them about Imagination and they said: “In ages of imagination this firm perswasion removed mountains; but many are not capable of a firm perswasion of any thing.”
(“Marriage of Heaven and Hell,” Plate 12)

Well now, I could not if I told you for the rest of my days exhaust or do justice to Blake, but just enough to encourage you to read him for yourself. And take my experience, having paid one thousand dollars for the works of Blake, you buy Blake and omit the commentaries. I have them at home and I read them and they remain read but not to be re-read. But I make Blake my daily companion as I do the Bible. So take Blake and take the Bible and read it. If you don’t understand him at first reading, re-read it and keep on re-reading. I’ll tell you one thing it will do for you: it will increase your vocabulary and lift your use of words to the heights.

Now let us go into the silence.

QUESTION: What is the symbol of the Lark?

ANSWER: When he said: “A Skylark wounded in the wing, a Cherubim does cease to sing,” he identifies that skylark as but the externalized shadow of the song of a cherubim. He calls this the world of shadows (“Jerusalem,” Plate 71) faintly reflecting an activity that cannot be seen by mortal eye; that the heavenly world enacted has thrown its shadow to interest man in some strange way in this world. For man is in a world of sea, it is on the sea. His greatest poem, “Jerusalem,” begins on the theme: “Of the Sleep of Ulro!” This fantastic world is called “Ulro” by him, where we are so sound asleep it is likened unto “Eternal Death.” And he calls upon us to “Awake.” So all these will aid us to awake. So, if the cherubim by his song in this world, through the shadow of a bird called the “Skylark”…

But we go out and we doubt, for instance, as friends of mine (I call them my friends) – wait eagerly for the dove season. And of course, I have always refused their dinner invitations to come and dine on doves. I love the doves. They come all over my place, and when the mourning doves are beginning to coo… And coming from Barbados as I did we have a certain native feeling toward the dove, and so they are fed. If you listen to him carefully the male dove is actually saying: “Moses spoke God’s word,” and then the female answers: “He did, he did.” I listen to it every morning. And then someone shoots him and asks me to come and dine! He tells us of the little lamb: “The Lamb misus’d breeds Public Strife and yet forgives the Butcher’s knife.” For that purpose, to feed these vegetable bodies — the shadow, the mortal body — you forgive them that use of the knife. But to abuse it: “The Lamb misus’d breeds Public Strife, and yet forgives the Butcher’s knife.”

BRAZEN IMPUDENCE

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 09-27-1968

A new idea will not become part of your common currency of thought until it has been repeated over and over and you begin to live by it.

You have been taught to believe that God exists outside of you, but I say you are all Imagination. That God exists in us and we in him. That our eternal body is the Imagination, and that is God Himself. I mean every word I have just said, but it is a new thought. Until this new idea becomes a part of your thinking, every time you hear the word, “God,” your mind will go out to something you have conceived God to be.

When I say I am, I am speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ of the New Testament and the Jehovah of the Old. When you go to bed tonight and put your head on a pillow, you are aware of being. That awareness is God! I want to show you how to use your awareness as brazen impudence.

In the 11th chapter of Luke, it is said that Jesus was praying when one of his disciples said: “Lord, teach us to pray,” at which time he gave them the Lord’s Prayer. Now, the Lord’s Prayer that you and I have is translated from the Latin, which does not have the imperative passive mood necessary to convey the meaning of the prayer. In its original Greek, the prayer is like brazen impudence, for the imperative passive mood is a standing order, something to be done absolutely and continuously. In other words, “Thy will be done,” becomes “Thy will must be being done.” And “Thy kingdom come” becomes “Thy kingdom must be being restored.”

That is not what is being taught, however, as he taught in the form of a parable such as: “Which of you who has a friend would go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey and I have nothing to set before him,’ and from within he says, ‘Do not bother me; the door is shut and my children are in bed. I cannot rise and give you anything.’ Yet I tell you, although he will not rise because he is a friend, yet because of his importunity, he will rise and give him whatever he needs.” The word importunity means brazen impudence. In other words, he would not take No for an answer!

Jesus was not teaching a disciple on the outside how to pray. He was telling you how to adjust your thinking so you will not take No for an answer. In the story the friend knew what he wanted. He assumed he had it and continued to assume he had it until his assumption took on the feeling of reality and he got it. This is how you find God in yourself, by being persistent in your assumption.

Then this story is told to show how you should pray and not lose heart: “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor regarded man. There was a widow in that city who came constantly, asking him to vindicate her against her enemies. At first he refused, then he said to himself, ‘Although I neither fear God nor regard man, yet because this woman bothers me I will vindicate her before she wears me out.’” Again we see the need for persistence in prayer.

When you know how to pray, you will discover that everyone in the world can be used as an instrument to aid the birth of your prayer. They may be condemned in the act and pay society’s price, while you are saved; yet you are the cause of their action.

I will now share with you a very personal story. I tell it to illustrate a principle. Society blamed this lady for what she did, and she paid the price, but I was the cause of her misfortune. I am not going to justify my story and if you can’t take it, I’m sorry. When I first told it, one lady was very upset and I regret that; but I have noticed that when someone has recently given up alcohol, tobacco, meat, or sex, they invariably condemn the state. They feel too close to it to feel secure. I am not saying that this lady had a similar experience where she was the victim; I am only speaking of a principle. Now here is my story:

When I decided to marry the lady who now bears my name I applied this principle. At the time I was terribly involved. I had married at the age of eighteen and became a father at nineteen. We separated that year, but I never sought a divorce; therefore, my separation was not legal in the state of New York. Sixteen years later, when I fell in love and wanted to marry my present wife, I decided to sleep as though we were married. While sleeping, physically in my hotel room, I slept imaginatively in an apartment, she in one bed and I in the other. My dancing partner did not want me to marry, so she told my wife that I would be seeking a divorce and to make herself scarce – which she did, taking up residence in another state. But I persisted! Night after night I slept in the assumption that I was happily married to the girl I love.

Within a week I received a call requesting me to be in court the next Tuesday morning at 10:00 A.M.. Giving me no reason why I should be there, I dismissed the request, thinking it was a hoax played on me by a friend. So the next Tuesday morning at 9:30 A.M. I was unshaved and only casually dressed, when the phone rang and a lady said: “It would be to your advantage, as a public figure, to be in court this morning, as your wife is on trial.” What a shock! I quickly thanked the lady, caught a taxi, and arrived just as court began. My wife had been caught lifting a few items from a store in New York City, which she had not paid for. Asking to speak on her behalf I said: “She is my wife and the mother of my son. Although we have been separated for sixteen years, as far as I know she has never done this before and I do not think she will ever do it again. We have a marvelous son. Please do nothing to her to reflect in any way upon our son, who lives with me. If I may say something, she is eight years my senior and may be passing through a certain emotional state which prompted her to do what she did. If you must sentence her, then please suspend it.” The judge then said to me, “In all of my years on the bench I have never heard an appeal like this. Your wife tells me you want a divorce, and here you could have tangible evidence for it, yet you plead for her release.” He then sentenced her for six months and suspended the sentence. My wife waited for me at the back of the room and said: “Neville, that was a decent thing to do. Give me the subpoena and I will sign it.” We took a taxi together and I did that which was not legal: I served my own subpoena and she signed it.

Now, who was the cause of her misfortune? She lived in another state, but came to New York City to do an act for which she was to be caught and tried. So I say: every being in the world will serve your purpose, so in the end you will say: “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” They will move under compulsion to do your will, just as my wife did.

I tell this story only to illustrate a principle. You do not need to ask anyone to aid you in the answer to a prayer, for the simple reason that God is omnipotent and omniscient. He is in you as your own wonderful IAmness. Everyone on the outside is your servant, your slave, ready and able to do your will. All you need do is know what you want. Construct a scene which would imply the fulfillment of your desire. Enter the scene and remain there. If your imaginal counselor (your feeling of fulfillment) agrees with that which is used to illustrate your fulfilled desire, your fantasy will become a fact. If it does not, start all over again by creating a new scene and enter it. It costs you nothing to imagine consciously!

In my own case the scene was a bedroom of an apartment, with my wife in one bed and I in the other, denoting that I was no longer living in a hotel alone. I fell asleep in that state, and within one week I had the necessary papers to start action on a divorce.

This is what the Bible teaches. It is my text book. “Whatever you desire, believe you have already received it and you will!”

There is no limit to the power of belief or to the possibilities of prayer, but you must be brazenly impudent and not take No for an answer. Try it! When I say you are all imagination, I mean it. While standing here on the platform I can, in a split-second, imagine I am standing on the outside, looking at this building. Or, in another second be in London and view the world from there. You say that’s all hallucination? That it is all in my imagination? All right, now let me share another experience with you.

I was in New York City when I heard that my seventeen-year-old nephew, my sister’s oldest child, was in a terminal state of cancer. I knew how she felt and wondered what I could do to comfort her – to show her that the boy she so loved was not flesh and blood, but spirit. So while in New York City, I went to my bedroom, closed the door, and lay down on my bed. Knowing that my sister lived in the old family house in Barbados, I assumed I was on the bed where I knew Billy to be. I assumed my sister entered that room but could not see her son, only her brother, Neville. I lost myself in that assumption until my sister, Daphne, entered the room. Looking startled, she came forward, stared at me, then turned and left the room. When I was satisfied that I had seen her, and she had seen me and not her son, I broke the experience and returned to our living room to be with my wife and a friend who had come for cocktails.

Ten days later I received a letter from my sister, in which she said: “Nev, I just can’t understand it.” Giving the day and the hour which coincided with mine in New York City she said: “I went into Billy’s room and I was startled to see you there. I knew you were in New York City, yet I could not see Billy on the bed, only you. I must confess I was a bit afraid, so 1 left the room and when I returned I could see Billy again. She could see Billy because by then I had departed. If I am all imagination, I must be where I am in imagination. When I gave the scene sensory vividness, with all the tones of reality, I was seen by my sister two thousand miles away. No, I didn’t save Billy. He died, but my presence did convince my sister that her son was not flesh and blood. If her brother, in New York City, could appear to her in Barbados, she knew there was something that inhabits a body which cannot go to eternal death.

I tell you: there is an immortal you that cannot die. That night I gave my sister the conviction of a reality in her son that would survive when the doctor said he was gone. Gone where? Restored to a terrestrial world like this as a young lad, to continue a journey that was set up for him in the beginning. And that is to form the image of Jesus Christ in him. When that happens, Billy will awaken as Jesus Christ, the one being who is God the Father.

Practice the art of movement. In New York City, my telephone was in the hallway and my chair in the living room. While sitting in my chair, I would assume I was at the telephone. Then I would assume I was looking into the living room. I practiced this exercise. until I discovered I could move anywhere in a split second of time. Try it and perhaps, like my sister, someone will have the strange experience of seeing you where you have not physically been. Make it fun. I do it all the time.

A lady, thinking I was still in Barbados – where she last saw me painfully thin and weighing only 138 pounds – was hoping I was feeling better, when I instantly appeared in her living room. I was brown from the Barbados sun, wearing a gray suit (which I did not own when I left here, but purchased in New York City) when I said: “There is no time,” and vanished. Well, she is accustomed to these things, so she was not afraid.

I urge you not to limit yourself to a little body of flesh and blood, for you are spirit. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, so one day you must take it off. And he who takes it off is immortal. He is your own wonderful human imagination who is God, the Father of all life. When you learn to live this way, life becomes so exciting. Your days are full and you are never alone. I spend all day at home reading the Bible and meditating. I close my eyes and travel the world. It’s fun and educational. It expands me and makes me become more aware of the infinite being that I really am.

Now, the two stories from scripture that I have shared with you show the importance of persistence. When you pray, do not get down on your knees and pray to any unknown God. Instead, go to bed and dare to assume you are now who you want to be. Fall asleep assuming it is true and you will be on the road to success, for this is how things are brought into being.

Right now imagine something lovely for another. They need never know who was the cause of their fortune – but you will. My first wife did not know I was the cause of her action. Had she thought that her act would mean my freedom and her disgrace do you think she would have done it? She moved under compulsion, and I was the compelling force. When you realize this, you forgive everyone for everything they have ever done, because you may have been the one who was the cause of their action.

Blake said: “Why stand we here trembling around calling on God for help and not ourselves in whom God dwells.” Why call on any god, when the only God dwells within you? He is not pretending, but actually became you. When you confine yourself to the little garment you wear, you are confining God, because it is he who is wearing it.

You need no intermediary between you and yourself, who is God. Don’t run from this city to another in the hope of finding something better, because the one person you are going to take with you is yourself; so resolve your problems here. Do not compromise. Decide exactly what you want and assume you have it. If your world would change, determine what it would look like; then construct a scene which would imply you are there. If your mental construction comes close to your fulfilled desire, your little day dream will become a fact! And when it does, will it matter what others think about your principle? Having proved itself in performance, share your experience with another that they may share theirs. Keep sharing this principle, because in the end we are all the one being who is the Lord Jesus Christ. One body, one Lord, one Spirit, one God and Father of all. Don’t be ashamed to claim it. Man sees the Lord Jesus Christ as some little being on the outside; but he is in you, and when you see him, he will look just like you!

A friend recently shared this sweet vision with me. She said: “I saw a man in a white robe standing on a hill, building a canopy over the entrance to a temple. As I approached I could see that the stripes used for the canopy were translucent green and I remarked how radiantly beautiful they were. The man turned to look at me and I realized it was you, Neville, and yet you were Michelangelo. Then you addressed me saying: ‘I have been working on this throughout eternity and it still remains invisible to others’. Taking the stripes, I wove them into the form of a basket and you thanked me and said: ‘Great work’ and I awoke.” That was a beautiful dream. I have been telling the story of the resurrection throughout eternity, but it has never been put into living form. It still remains dead, like Michelangelo’s Pieta, or his David made out of marble.

Let David become alive in the minds of others. Give life to the Pieta, the crucified one on the mother’s lap. The story is public property, now a dead written code awaiting life in the imagination of men. Dramatize salvation’s story. Make it into a play or a television show and let Michelangelo’s Pieta become alive. I have made the story alive because I have experienced it.
Michelangelo, with his tremendous know-how of the human form, created the dead forms made of marble. I came along, unable to mold a stick, to find the dead forms taking on life in me. It is my hope that one day this wonderful story will be told as it really is, against the story that we have heard for over two thousand years.

Now let us go into the silence.

BUILDING YOUR TEMPLE

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 11-20-1967

William Blake, in his poem “The Four Zoas: a Dream of Nine Nights,” tells of God’s fall into division and his resurrection to unity – his fall into generation, decay, and death and his resurrection into the unity of the one Father. Associating his poem with the 6th chapter of Ephesians, the 12th verse, he states: “We wrestle not with flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places.” So we see that the fall into division and the resurrection into unity is mental.

From beginning to end, the Bible speaks of a certain temple that is being constructed. And every day we are building our temple for the dwelling place of God the Father. In the 2nd chapter of the Book of Ephesians, we are told: “The whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built into it as a living structure of God in the Spirit.” In other words, as you bring your building and I bring mine, we are fitted together as living stones in the building of God.

Let me explain this with a story told me just this past week. This is an experience of a lady who is very much a lady and only recently had a little baby. She said: “In my dream I am three people. I am myself, yet I am a man. As myself, I long for a little green dog. Becoming another, I see my dog standing among others. He shines like the sun and because I have ordered him I know all I have to do is wait for his arrival.

“Now, in my dream I am always the sender. When something is to be told, I tell it to another (which is myself), then I become the other in order to retell the story to the third. Becoming the third, I then tell the second to tell the first. I know it doesn’t make sense on this level, but as the third person speaking, I hear the message as the second, and say to myself – the first: ‘The dog is yours now.’ And as the first I am so happy to hear the news.

“Again as the third person, I tell the second to say to the first: ‘Your building is finished. All you have to do is turn around to take it.’ Now as the first person, my little dog disappears and I am looking at my many new buildings being constructed. Then I remember that my building is finished and all I have to do is turn around and claim it – when my little baby cries and awakens me.”

On the surface her vision appears to be nothing, but it has tremendous significance. Her green dog shining like the sun is Caleb in scripture. Caleb is he who goes with Joshua into the Promised Land. In the story, Caleb – having faith in the God who promised Israel land – was sent by Moses along with other spies into Canaan. Upon returning, Caleb said: “Attack immediately” but the men who had gone with him were afraid; so only the two, Caleb and Joshua (the Hebraic form of the word “Jesus”), entered.

In her dream she is waiting for a little green dog. The word “green” in this dream means “pressing with sap; luscious; health.” Bursting with all that is mine, I will take you to lie down in green pastures. Full of faith in the God who promised land to Israel, Caleb is highly recommended, as only two can enter. Others had the dog and others will find him, for she is not the only one who enters the promised land. Now, who was waiting for his companion? God! As the third, the second is told and tells the first that the dog is now hers. Then the experience is repeated, as she once more becomes the sender (the teller), but she is never the receiver, for God only acts and is in existing beings or men.

Now, as the first person she realizes that the little dog has disappeared. Why? Because she has already entered the promised land. Seeing the fabulous construction going on, she is reminded that her building is finished and all she had to do is turn around and see it. There are two passages in scripture, one in the 12th chapter of Acts and the other in the 15th chapter of Luke, where the Greek word “heautou” is translated “he came to himself.” In the Book of Luke these words were spoken of the prodigal son. And in the Book of Acts, Peter was imprisoned and shackled in chains. His garments were sold and he was alone in the cell, when the angel of the Lord entered, touched him, and as he rose, it is said: “he came to himself.” Now, this word “heautou” could have been translated, “he turned around; it is fulfilled; it is finished; to be married.” And she heard the words: “All you need to do is turn around.” Turn around and you will behold the finished structure. As a living stone you have now contributed to the overall structure, which is the temple of the Living God. I know from my own experience, everyone contributes to that one Living Stone called the kingdom of heaven! You will be turned around by a force that is greater than anything known to man, but it will not happen until the end. You cannot physically turn around, nor can you force the mind to do it.

Now, Blake tells us: “God fell into division” and this lady divided herself into three. Now heading for the end of the journey, when the force that is holding you to this world is relieved, you will turn around to see the structure your Father built and you will know that you are He. Your temple is not built by another. “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Who is he? I am he who began the good work in you. “I have tried you in the furnaces of affliction. For my own sake I do it, for my own sake, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.” Your journey is at its end, my dear. You saw the perfect vision. Your building is finished and all you have to do is turn around. This will come at the end, for if you should turn around you will vanish, for, like Paul, you have fought the good fight. Let no one tell you Paul was exaggerating; it is a fight, for we are contending not with flesh and blood.

At the present moment someone is treading the wine press of hate, and – unrestrained – the thought is sent on its wings of feeling. Perhaps sitting in a dungeon this night, someone is treading the wine press of war, and some little boy out in the field catches the idea and wanting to be a hero dreams of becoming a great general, commanding the destruction of the world. He is dreaming and you can’t stop his dream. So you are not warring against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers and spiritual wickedness in heavenly places, and heaven is within. In the inside of your mind these abominable, loathsome beings are carved. They are unseen forces impinging upon you morning, noon, and night.

But oh, what a thrill to get a letter of this nature! Her building is finished. She now knows that she only sends! She gave the order, saw herself as another, receiving, but when the message must be retold she once more became the teller. And when it is to be experienced, she will be the one who experiences it. So God only acts and is in existing beings or men, for God is playing all the parts.

In the end everyone brings his living temple to the house of God. Ephesians tells us how the structure is joined together and how the holy temple grows in the Spirit. It’s a spiritual temple, not one in this world. Scripture calls the church “the body of Christ”, but the word translated “church” is “communion of the assemblage of the redeemed.” It’s the assemblage of those whose building is finished. Playing the part of the receiver, we are the one being who is the builder. Finding Caleb, you (as Joshua, who is Jesus) are led into the Promised Land, as scripture is fulfilled. Having shone like the sun in order to lead you in, Caleb disappears leaving Jesus only. And who is Jesus? Your own wonderful human imagination!

Now let me share another story. Three years ago, in a dream, this lady saw a man who embodied everything she could ever desire. They fell in love and an engagement was announced. Then, thinking she was awake, she put on her nightgown and retired in the hope that he would join her. But as he entered the room the man shook his head and said: “Not yet, but I will return.” This month the same man returned and implied by his look that he had come to complete the promise of marriage. I can tell her that, although it hasn’t been accomplished, she had the perfect revelation of that which is coming to her. She now has the assurance that: “I will come again and receive you into myself, that where I am there, you shall be also.” This is all beautiful symbolism. This lady is not about to be married in this world of ours to a flesh and blood man of such magnitude. No, he is the symbol of the being spoken of in Isaiah: “Your maker is your husband, the Lord of Hosts is his name.” The promise is being kept in her. and one day she will turn around within herself and become that living temple of the Risen Lord.

I have seen the temple, and when I leave the garment relative to this age I will enter an entirely different age. And like Paul it is my desire to depart and be with Christ, but it is more important at the moment to remain and encourage you, even though you are fighting against principalities, powers of darkness, and all the horrors of the world. But I have seen the building being constructed for you, not by another, but by your deeper self, who is God the Father.

In 1952, while living in New York City, I had a thirst that only an experience of God could quench. “As the hart panteth after the waterways, so panteth my soul after thee, Oh God.” Then one night out of the blue I found myself fulfilling the 42nd Psalm: “These things I remember, as I pour out my soul. How I went with the throng and led them in procession to the house of God.”

That night I found myself leading an enormous procession toward the house of God. It was still in the distance, but as I led them a voice rang out: “And God walks with them.” A woman at my side questioned the voice, saying: “If God walks with us, where is he?” And the voice replied: “At your side.” Looking at me and seeing a man of flesh and blood, she said: “You mean Neville is God?” and the voice replied: “Yes, in the act of waking.” Then the voice spoke only to me, saying: “I laid myself down within you to sleep and as I slept I dreamed a dream. I dreamed…” and suddenly I knew that he was dreaming he was me. At that moment memory returned, and I became six vortices, which I felt enter my hands, my feet, my head, and my side. That was when I knew the ecstasy of the crucifixion.

Paul, in his letter to the Romans, divided the tenses, saying: “If we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” The crucifixion is past. “He chose us in him before the foundation of the world.” If this is true, then the universal Christ gave us himself, for did he not say: “No man takes my life, I lay it down myself. I have the power to lay it down and the power to lift it up again.” And we are laid down with him, because he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. So, if you are united with him in a death like his, you will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. I know this is true, for he was resurrected in me, confirming the story of scripture. This is how the structure is enhanced and grows in God. And when the final curtain comes down and the temple is perfect, you will be God the Father and I will be God the Father, yet none of us will lose our identity!

Now I ask you to continue to test your creative power by practicing revision. If you hear something that is unlovely, don’t accept it, but instantly revise it. Hear the words that ought to have been spoken and persuade yourself, to the best of your ability, that it is so. What would it matter if you owned the world tonight and departed tomorrow to find yourself working as a fry cook, serving up flap cakes? Live your life fully while here, but remember you can’t take your money with you.

So, enjoy the things of this world and apply this wonderful law for yourself and others, for imagining truly does create reality. And remember: you are not wrestling against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and darkness of the rulers of this world and spiritual evil in heavenly places. And one day, you who have fallen into division will resurrect into unity!

Now let us go into the silence.

BY WATER AND BLOOD

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 6-24-1956

My subject this morning is taken from the First Epistle of John. Now these twenty-one letters (or as we call them, epistles) are not really addressed to individuals or groups. They are mysteries, as is the entire Bible. Whether the Bible in the Old Testament tells the story in the form of history, or whether they tell it in the form of a parable, or whether in the form of a letter, they are all revelations of the mind of God expressed in symbolism.

Now, I do not claim that I can give you an exhaustive interpretation of any single story of the Bible. Because they are revelations of the mind of the Infinite, no single interpretation could ever be exhaustive. On one level it may be true, and then you and I expand in consciousness and we re-read the letter and see it differently, and a further expansion in consciousness causes us – even when we re-read it for the fiftieth time – to still see the letter in a different light. So in this morning’s interpretation I will try to keep it on a level that is most practical.

We are told in the First John, 5: “This is He that came by water and blood even Jesus Christ, not by water only, but by water and blood.” So these are symbols of birth. Every natural birth in the world is accompanied by the flowing of water and blood. It’s trying to tell the individual of a certain mystery of birth, but he uses the words Christ Jesus and that is the symbol of a truly mysterious birth – something out of nothing. That is the mystery. Out of death, life. Man cannot conceive it. How can something alive come out of that which is dead – how can something come out of nothing? Man accepts it in the mineral world, for he sees, if he goes back far enough in time (he could push the mystery in some remote past), he will accept the fact that sometime, in a way not known to modern science, out of non-organic substance came organism. He will call it by some little tiny name: an amoeba, and that will satisfy his mind. But he stops; he still will not admit that he stated that there was a non-organic substance, or nothing, or something that was dead, out of which came life, out of which came something. He doesn’t want to wrestle with that problem, so he leaves that, jumps over the pages of history, and comes to some little thing more complex. Then he teaches evolution from that state. But when he goes far enough back he finds no answer for the appearance of life out of nothing or death.

So here is the mystery. It comes by water and by blood – not by water only, but by water and blood. This is the great mystery of the incarnation, the death, and the resurrection. What incarnation? What death, and what resurrection? The mind instantly thinks in terms of 2,000 years ago and we think that was the great mystery. But before I jump into the mystery let me quote you the very last verse of this wonderful 5th chapter: “Little children keep yourselves from idols.” No matter how officialdom justifies them and tells you this is the image of your savior revealed through the minds of a saint or a great artist, you are warned in this chapter to keep yourselves free of idols, in harmony with the second commandment: “Thou shall make no graven image unto the Lord thy God.” No matter how it is justified by officialdom or orthodox society, you are asked please not to make anything external to your own mind and bow before it as creative power, for here he is trying to reveal the true creative power that is in man. It sleeps in man as his passive mind. As you unfold the mystery, it awakens from its passive state into its active state, and the birth of active mind is truly the resurrection of Christ in man. It is Christ in man. It is Christ in man that is the hope and the glory.

Now, here in another verse he gives you a test. He asks you to ask whatsoever thing in this world in my name, that the Father may give it you. He did not restrict you to one desire; ask whatsoever thing you desire in my name and the Father will give it to you. Now, if you take it literally, as I have heard thousands of prayers in my own homeÂ… Raised in a Christian atmosphere, we said grace at meals and Mother invariably said it, and invariably ended with the words: “For Jesus’ sake, amen” – but nothing happened. We ate the food and enjoyed the food. And you will say prayers, long verbal appeals to God for something, always ending: “For Jesus’ sake, amen,” thinking that if I said it was for his sake that I would [thus] tempt my Father to give it to me. For did he not say: “Whatsoever thing ye desire, ask it in my name, and the Father will give it to you”? Well, you ask it forever in that name, and nothing happens – therefore, he didn’t understand the mystery. So what is the mystery? Even Jesus Christ, who came not by water only, but by water and the blood.

We have put it into the most practical manner in the world – something out of nothing, life out of death. Conceive of something you desire. Just think of it. The mere thinking of something – that is a conception unaided by another. Is that not an “immaculate conception?” You knew no one in the formulation of your desire. Now you intend to “realize it.” It is clear in your mind’s eye; it is a holy conception, it is a virgin conception. Can you bring about that something that seemingly is not existing – it is non-existent, it has no existence in fact – and embody it? Can you incarnate it? For this is the mystery of the incarnation that comes by water and blood. Here is a birth that could take place if I am willing to give it human parentage. I must give it human parentage. It cannot of itself be born, for unless I myself become it, it cannot be born; so I desire to be something other than what I am.

Now what is the water? The water is the great mystery, the great psychological truth that I must discover which will enable me, if I accept it, to live a life according to that truth and give expression to my desire. For water is the truth and the blood is the application of that truth. I could know everything in the world to be known of the mystery, but never live by it – still continue to live as I have always lived, passively accepting the evidence of my senses as fact, accepting the dictates of reason as my guide. I could overhear a conversation or could read it in a book, or hear it in a place like this on Sunday morning. That if you desire something intensely and you truly desire it, and you have a clear mental picture of what you would like to be or what you would like to accomplish, or what you would like another friend to realize – you know exactly what you would like in this world. Now, this is the water by which it could be born. But it cannot be born of water only; it must be born of water and blood. So I will give you the water. When you know what you want, you make as vivid and as lifelike a representation of what you would see, of what you would hear, and what you would do, were you physically present and physically moving about in such a situation.

To take an example: Suppose I desired a certain apartment, or home, or business. (Take one, so you will not be confused. We will take an apartment.) But reason tells me I cannot afford it. Reason tells me I haven’t enough furniture for so big an apartment. Reason tells me a thousand things that would deny that I could ever realize it, but I still would like it. Now this is what I would give you in the form of water, for something must come out of nothing and life out of death. To embody that state I make it real. You pull it seemingly from a state that is non-existent, therefore something out of nothing. To make it real and to incarnate it and to become alive to it and it to you, you are pulling life out of death.

Now this is what you do. There is a death involved but it is not the kind of death that men call death. There is a death – there is a radical change of state of mind. You completely give up the belief that you are not living in such a place. That is irrational. But that is what you are called upon to do, to completely deny the evidence of your senses and to boldly assume that you are already in that state that you occupy. There you dwell in a state that reason denies. You dwell in an assumption that your senses deny. That is [not] just the water. If you do it, you are applying the blood. If you are told to do it you are given the truth, for it will work. That water, if you could only add the blood to it, will bring the invisible state into the visible world, and what seemingly is non-existent will crystallize and harden into fact. But if you only know it as too many of us know it, and think the mere knowledge is enough, we will come here on Sunday and thoroughly enjoy this wonderful hour – the music, the message, the meditation, the feeling of companionship you find here. And the whole thing is a thrill for an hour – but such knowledge cannot bring Christ Jesus to birth. In this state, Christ Jesus (now I’ll analyze it for you)… on a lower plane the word, “Jesus” (Heb. Jeshua) means “salvation, to save.”

So if I desire something and I don’t realize it, then I simply continue a life of frustration. If I realize my objective, I have been saved from frustration. Take a simple matter: Suppose I wanted a suit of clothes because I was in need of raiment. If I don’t realize the suit of clothes, I am not saved from my nudity. If I realize the suit of clothes, I have been saved. For this is an all- inclusive savior, not just a man. If I wanted water, literal water, a lecture will not quench my thirst. If I wanted food, literal food, the most wonderful revelation would not actually satisfy my hunger. So Jesus is all-inclusive, meaning everything you desire. He is it, because if you embodied that desire, you embodied your Jesus. Now, to embody Jesus, he cannot be embodied by the knowledge of what to do only. He can only be embodied by the application of that knowledge. So the knowledge of what to do is called water, the “water of truth”; but the use of that lovingly is called the flowing (shedding) of the blood.

So here we find the symbols that always accompany birth, that which is presented in this mystery. You are told the limit is within you. You make the limit; there is no limit. Whatsoever you desire, ask in my name, for name simply means nature. If I wanted to be in a house and to feel that I am the occupant of that house, there is a certain feeling, a certain nature that goes with it. I must appropriate it as though it were true. Here I am called upon to bring something alive out of a state that is dead. For if I told you what I have done, you would question my sanity and you would feel I am trying to give expression to something that is being pulled out of nothing. For you cannot see it -you don’t see me in the house, you don’t see me actually occupying and enjoying the life that you know I desire to enjoy. So if I persist in that assumption, to you (if you should know my persistence) you might think I am headed towards a form of insanity. But if tomorrow the house becomes an embodied fact and I the occupant, then you look at it passively and you will still try to justify it by tracing its appearance back to a visible cause. You will see that in some way, unknown to you, my resources were lifted up, that in some way I became more eligible for that house and you will trace it back to a change in my fortune. You will trace it back to a change in something in my world, but you won’t trace these changes back to the unseen assumption in which I dwell.

So, as the mystic tells us in Hebrews 11: “Things unseen were not made of things that do appear.” Man refuses to accept it, so he takes everything in his world and tries to take it back to some visible cause, even with the aid of his microscope. He takes the microscope and he will peer through it to prove to his own satisfaction there is a visible, tangible cause; or he goes off into space with his telescope. He must find in the outer world causes of the changes in the outer world. He cannot believe that the whole vast outer world is held together from within. And if we are only on the surface looking at it from without – trying to analyze it and to understand it from without and all that appears without – though it seems there, it isn’t. It is all from within, all within the mind of man, and that is the mystery!

So do not make an idol, no matter who makes you the idol, no matter what holy man tells you this is a wonderful thing that will bless you. There is no blessing in states on the outside. Bow to nothing on the outside. We have wondered why throughout the centuries a certain race of people did not become greater sculptors, greater artists in the form of painting, great religious teachers. Maybe they were really taking that second commandment very, very seriously. Make no graven image – no not one- unto me. Make nothing that is graven, that is objective, as image of your Father that is free, for I AM Spirit. If you were to worship me, worship me in spirit and in truth but not in anything that you can turn to on the outside and bend the knee before, whether it be a church, a synagogue, or some statue that hangs upon your wall. He is not there. He is in your mind. He is housed within you; there is the living God within the temple and the temple is man. “Ye are the temple of the living God.”

So when I speak of the water and the blood, I speak not of the things that you can see with the eye, such as water and blood. They are only symbolized functions of the mind and the function first comes with water. I must first know what to do before I can do it. So water comes first. He takes water and puts it into a stone jar gives it something like a shape, and from that stone jar filled with water, he draws – not water, but he converts it; he draws wine (blood).

So here is the first miracle. I know what to do. I take this little world of mine that is one, and then I extract from it something that is not seen. Not quite as hard as that – I call it water. I see something bringing all this into being. I know how it’s brought into being. That a man living in luxury is not to be judged harshly because he has it and you haven’t it. He is living in a state of consciousness that solidifies in the form that you see now and call luxurious. One in a state of health, one who is recognized, one who is accomplished, one who is contributing much to the world -don’t judge them. These are states made visible. Find out if you can. Get into a similar state. He is not occupying the only state in the world. There are infinite states and if you try even to duplicate that state (if it can be duplicated, or you can get close to it or you can transcend it) find out within your own mind’s eye what you want. Don’t be envious of him. Leave him alone for he is applying the law. He is entitled to everything in this world that he can actually conceive and desire and put himself into and live it, for man is living in an infinite world of invisible states and an individual wisely or foolishly occupies a state. While he remains faithful to the state, the state will externalize and become the circumstances and the conditions of his life. The moment he detaches himself in consciousness from that state, the things that he enjoyed before vanish from his world.

Now, if everything in my world depends upon a state of consciousness, it would be the height of insanity to seek the thing before I actually fix within myself the state on which the thing depends, for that which requires a state of consciousness to produce its effect cannot be effected without such a state of consciousness. So when I know what I want, to support that there is an invisible state of consciousness. The world calls that invisible state a non-existing nothingness. They cannot even call it a thing, for to them it has no existence, no reality. That is the mystery: a self-begotten child conceived unaided by another and carried faithfully in the womb of God – which is the mind of man. It was placed there without the aid of another, by man’s desire. That was the immaculate conception; that’s the virgin conception.

Now, the virgin birth – can I bring it from its invisible state and really make it a tangible fact within my world? Try it! As you try it with one thing and you succeed, you will try it with two and four and eight and so on, and eventually the sleeping giant in man – which is the Son of God in man called Christ – will awaken. He will awaken by moving from the passive state to the active state. The passive state is simply the complete and utter surrender of man to appearances, to live believing that life is on the outside, and he moves from that state where he surrenders and believes all these things to be causes to the active state, where he puts everything in subjection to that something within himself which is his awakened imagination. He imagines a thing to be so; he persuades himself that it is so and walks faithful to his assumption.

Then you will know why in Romans 14 he tells us that every man be fully persuaded in his own mind (don’t persuade her, leave her alone). You persuade yourself of the changes you desire expressed in her. If you desire a change in your relationships at home or in business, you don’t argue, you don’t persuade them. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. So can I persuade myself that you are as I desire to see you? Then, to the degree that I can persuade myself, you will conform in the outer world to that persuasion. If I hope to see changes there before I myself will start the change on the inside, the chances are I will hope in vain. You, yourself, may desire certain changes and I might see them change in my world, but they were not caused because I moved into an active state. I am still reflective, and most of us in this world are reflecting life; and the purpose of a church of this nature is to make us not reflect but to affect life. If I affect, then Christ is awakened within me. If I only reflect it, then I sleep with Adam, and the purpose is to move from the sleep of Adam to the wakefulness of the Son of God called Christ. Adam too, is called the son of God but in the state of profound sleep. But he moves from that state of sleep – or the passive state of mind – to the active state, will be no nearer the proving of it than you are now. But if you took a little bit, one drop of this water, and went out even to disprove it – in order to disprove it, you must seriously and sincerely try it. If you try it, you won’t disprove it. You will be encouraged to drink more water and still more and bring about this birth of your savior, and you decide what will save you today from your present predicament. It may be a job, it may be an increase of funds, it may be companionship, it may be something I don’t know – but whatever it is that you this day desire (and unless you get it you feel thwarted, you feel frustrated), then it would save you if you got it. Now take that as your savior. Look into your mind’s eye and see it clearly. It may seem almost sacrilegious to the orthodox mind to tell you that when you see clearly in your mind’s eye the state desired – either for self or another – you are actually looking into the face of Jesus, for you are seeing the state that could save you from where you are or what you are.

So you try it and the mind will expand. You will find yourself not only increasing in this world, in the outer world, but you will find mystical revelations taking place within you, which is the purpose of the teaching. It is not just to bring about changes in the inner that man ascends on higher levels of consciousness. The purpose of the whole appearance is to awaken from the lowest descent on the ladder to the highest. He is ascending to the highest, for we are told in the vision of Jacob: above it all stood God – on the ladder stood these heavenly beings ascending and descending – but above all stood God. So the real destiny of man is to reach the height that he may awaken as God.

So the mystery is: God became man that man may become God. He came down as man. Take the same verse and give it a higher interpretation. So here God died – yes, died – to become man. The death of God is complete forgetfulness of the fact that he is God. He had to completely forget that he is God, therefore died to awaken as man. If he remembered he was God, he just couldn’t be as man, but a complete and utter death, which is forgetfulness that I am God to become man. So the poet wrote it beautifully and said: “God became man that man may become God.” He said: “Unless I die you could not live, but if I die I shall arise again and you with me.” Then he goes on to ask a man: “Could you love one who had never died for thee or could you die for one who had not died for thee,” and so he is putting this into the most wonderful poetical mystery in the book, “Jerusalem” by Blake.

He reveals to the mind who can see it, that you who believe yourself because you are visible, and you must do what man passively must do – he traces your origin back to a germ. As long as you began as a germ, you are no more than a big germ. If you begin as something else, you are only something enlarged of the same thing. For all ends run true to origins. If I can take you back where you cannot see it, and take you back to the great mystery that you are actually begotten of God – if your origin is God, your end is God. If your origin is a bug then your end is a bug. So you have the “choice.” The passive mind (which is really the scientific mind) must still insist on finding causes external to itself. It cannot find causes in that passive state within itself.

I tell you: the great mystery is that you came out of a seeming death. It is a death. God died to become man, because he desired the companionship of men as Gods, as the poet told us:

Man should not stay a man.
His aim should higher be.
For God will only Gods accept as company.

So you cannot in your present state of the passive mind be companions of your Father, who longs and desires that every son, every child, awakens to become companions of Deity. So to do it, he had to die as God, and became his creation in the hope that the creation would awaken and become his companion.

But you see he gave us such a gift. He completely freed me of the responsibility of returning. I don’t have to awaken; I am as free as the wind. He gave me complete freedom of will. I may hurt myself, ruin myself, but because of the gift of God to me, to make me alive, he cannot interfere and make me awake. He may appeal through awakened children and they may appeal to their sleeping brother, but they cannot by the same law interfere and make me awake. They can only appeal and try in some subtle way to suggest, but the gift was absolute. God gave himself to become me, finding myself, man. I think my origin was man, so my destiny – no matter how big a man I become, no matter how wise a man – it will still be a man. But if my origin is God my destiny is God, and I will awaken one day to discover this wonderful unfolding mystery within me.

CATCH THE MOOD

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard

You will find tonight’s message a very practical one. I don’t think it will disturb anyone, but there are adjustments to be made concerning what man believes God to be, and what God really is. We are told in Scripture, in the birth of the twins, which begins the great drama as told in Scripture, “In your limbs…” and I am speaking now, not of anyone, but of you individually:

“In your limbs lie nations twain, rival races from their birth; one the mastery will gain, the younger o’er the elder reign.” (Genesis 25:23, Moffatt translation)

These are in you individually. We are told that the younger, which naturally is the second – the “second man” – is the Lord from Heaven. That’s the Second Man; He sleeps in you. You will rouse Him, and He will become the Master. He will reign. At the moment, in the majority of the world, they are totally unaware of it. So, He sleeps, and so He doesn’t reign. That one known in Scripture is called Jesus Christ; The Lord Jesus Christ is your own wonderful human imagination. That is God!

Now, the whole vast world, and all within it, is nothing more than the appeasement of hunger. That’s the whole of life: the appeasement of hunger. And there are infinite states from which the Lord may view the world to appease that hunger. The “first man” can’t do it. He can only feed upon what his senses dictate. Wherever he is, he feeds upon the facts of life as he sees the facts.

It takes the “Second Man” to disengage Himself from that restriction and enter into a state – any state in the world – and feed upon it, and then – in time – bring the “first man” to feed upon it.

We are told in the 14th chapter of John: “Let not your heart be troubled, neither be afraid. Ye believe in God, Believe in me also.” (John 14:1) Now, this is not a man talking to you from the outside. “Believe also in me.” “You believe in God, believe also in me.” In the same chapter He is going to tell you He is God! But what man would actually believe that this Presence within himself is God?

Now, He tells you: “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10) This is not another man speaking to you, other than yourself, “Be still, and know that ‘I Am’ is God.” Can you believe that? If you can believe that, then all things are possible to you. For, “all things are possible to God.” (Matthew 19:26) Can a man really believe that? That’s what I am told in the 46th Psalm, “Be still, and know that – I…”. Put the little word is in there now.

Now we are told, He sleeps, and then came the call, “Rouse thyself. Why sleepest thou, O Lord? Do not cast us off forever.” (Psalm 44:23) This one sleeps in man. Man has to rouse Him. He doesn’t know that his own wonderful human imagination is God!

Now, “In my Father’s house are many mansions. Were it not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? When I go I will come again, and I will receive you to myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:2, 3) Now, this conversation takes place in you individually, between the two.

I am speaking now to my self, “In my Father’s house” – I am the Father “…are unnumbered mansions” – states of consciousness. “Were it not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go, I will come again, and I will receive you to myself, that where I am there ye may be also.”

I am standing here, and my senses tie me here in this room but I don’t want to be here. I want to be elsewhere. I know my bank balance. I know my obligations to life. I’m tied by what I know. The “outer man” feeds upon that, but he wants more than that. There is something in me – the “Second Man” who is born from Heaven – who is telling me there are “unnumbered mansions” into which I can go – you can’t go – I can go and prepare it for you. But, “when I go to prepare it for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there ye shall be also.” Now, how do I do it?

I take a look at my world, and I am very restricted. Everything about me is something I would like to break through – transcend it, become a bigger person, a more secure person, where I’m doing a greater job in the world. All these things I would like to do but reason tells me I am not doing it, and my senses confirm my reason. Now, is there something in me that is my True Self that can do it? Yes, my imagination can do it.

In my imagination, I go and prepare the state. I actually go into the state and fill that state with my own being, and view the world from that state. I don’t think of it; I think from it. When I think from it, I’m actually preparing that state.

Then I return to where I left this – “the outer man,” and once more fuse with it, and we become one, once again. Now I take him across a bridge of incidents – some series of events – that takes me towards the thing that I’ve prepared, and I take him with me and enter into the very state itself. He feeds now, literally, upon that state. This is what I call prayer. I don’t vote for it; I don’t petition, I ask no being in the world – no one, including what the world would say is God. For, when you find God by being still, and know that “I Am” is God, then to whom can you turn for anything in this world, if you really believe Scripture, “Be still and know that I am God”? (Psalm 46:10) If you are not familiar with Scripture, read it in the 46th chapter of the Psalms of David, the 10th verse “Be still, and know that I am God,” – then, to whom could you turn? It’s an inner communion with Self. But man talks to an outside god and pleads with an outside god, and begs an outside god.

This reminds me of a dinner party that William Lyons Phelps gave. If you do not know who he is – in fact, who he was, he was one of the truly great educators in our country in this twentieth century: William Lyons Phelps. He and Mrs. Phelps entertained Edna Ferber, the writer. As they sat down to dinner, Mrs. Phelps said to him, “William, will you please say grace.” He closed his eyes, bent his head, and after maybe ten or fifteen seconds he said, “Amen.” And she said to him, “Why, William, I did not hear one word that you said”; and he said to her, “I was not talking to you, my Dear…”.

People sit down to say grace as: “Bless the hands that prepared this food,” all these words meaning nothing. You go within, and you don’t petition: you appropriate. Prayer is nothing more than the subjective appropriation of the objective hope. I hope for so-and-so; I want it as an objective fact. Now, I must go within and appropriate it subjectively..

So, prayer is the subjective appropriation of the objective hope. That is what I call “faith in God,” which is nothing more than faith in my Self, for the Self of man – the true identity of man – is God! That is the “Jesus Christ” of Scripture..

“Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you? Test yourselves and see.” That is what we are told to do in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. Read it in the 13th chapter, the 5th verse, of II Corinthians. “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are holding to the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?” (II Corinthians 13:5, Revised Standard Version).

Well, if He is in me, then where will I go to meet Him? How will I address Him? He is in me. He is in my very Self. I simply commune with my Self..

There are unnumbered states in the world, so I single out the state that I want to express in this world, and I don’t ask you or anyone else in the world if it is good for me. I don’t consult anyone. Does it come within the frame of the Golden Rule? What I am now asking, would I ask it for another? Would I ask another, if what I am seeking now for another is something I would ask for myself? Well, the Golden Rule is: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” If you keep that in mind, you cannot go wrong..

What’s wrong with asking for anything in this world for another that you would ask for yourself? Is there anything wrong in being secure? Nothing. Anything wrong in being clean and wholesome and decent? Anything wrong in being one who contributes to the world’s good? What’s wrong with that? Is there anything wrong in being happily married, proud of the girl who bears your name, or she proud of the man whose name she bears? What is wrong with that?.

Forget that. The whole vast world is a field to reap. You don’t pick out this woman or that woman. Pick out the state. I want to be blissfully happy, and if I were, how would I see the world? And how would the world see me? Well, shut out the world and go within and appropriate that state. And from within, you let your friends see you, as they would have to see you if what now you are assuming that you are is really true..

That is why I have titled tonight’s talk, “The Mood” – catching the mood. This whole thing is based upon that mood. The 25th chapter of the book of Genesis: and she brought forth twins, for in her limbs were these rival races – rival races from their birth, called in Scripture “Esau” and “Jacob”; and you think they were two individuals who lived thousands of years ago. No, they are right here in everyone in this world! These are the eternal states of consciousness personified in Scripture as two little boys..

Scripture is not secular history. It is salvation history. And, so, they did not live thousands of years ago; they live now in you, and you have to give birth to both of them. You have given birth to the first one. The first one is your “outer man,” the man who is now a man of the senses – a man who is covered with hair, as we are told. Esau came out first, and he was covered with hair all over. Whether you be female or male, you are covered with hair all over. That is the external you, the man of the sense world..

Then in comes the “Second Son,” and he is the smoothest skin lad, called Jacob. The name “Jacob” means to supplant. He is going to supplant his brother; he is the second, but he will come first. The Second Man is the Lord from Heaven, and the Second Son is your own wonderful human imagination. When you stir it and rouse it and make him come into being, you can do wonders in this world..

Try it right now. You sit here in this room – I stand here; I could, in the twinkling of an eye, put myself outside of this room and view it from there, and see the interior of this room, not from this lectern, but see it from the outside. That is exercising the Inner Man. Go outside mentally, not physically, and view this room from the outside. While seated here, I can put myself in my hotel room downstairs, and then view this room and think of it, but thinking from my room downstairs. I can put myself in any part of the world and think from it, and think of the world and everything else. That is the secret: thinking from what I want, instead of thinking of what I want..

When I know what I want in this world, when I am thinking of it, it is always beyond me. When I know what I want, I enter into that state and think from it. Put yourself mentally into your own home tonight now, and view this building – this club – from your home, and you see this building, not from it; you think of it, and you are viewing it from your room..

Now, the state of consciousness to which you most constantly return is the place you really dwell – that habitual state from which you view the world. Do you view it from poverty, saying, “I am poor?” Do you walk the street feeling, “How poor I am?” You are then viewing the world from the state of poverty. Am I viewing the world from the state of one who is completely unknown and unwanted? Well, that’s my home. The place to which I habitually return constitutes my dwelling place. I need not dwell there..

“In my Father’s house are unnumbered mansions. Were it not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” And when I go and prepare the place, I will return again and take you with me, that where I am – in that state prepared – you shall be also. So, I now take a state. I want to be known. I want to contribute to the world’s good. I want also to live well – and I mean well. I want to feel secure, not only financially, but secure socially, that when I enter a room I am not embarrassed, no matter who they are. They can have all the degrees in the world. They can come from all the great universities in the world and be honored by the world. But I want to stand in their presence and not feel little. I want to feel a man. I am not to bow my head in shame because of any restriction in my past. If I were born “behind the 8-ball” socially, financially, intellectually, it doesn’t matter. I want to feel important; I want to feel great. I want to feel right..

All right, what state would that be if it were true? I conceive a state that, if it were true, that would make all my wishes come true. I go into that state. Now, the first time I enter the state and view the world from it, it is wonderful, but I may never re-enter that state. Therefore, it is not my home. I want to make that state my perpetual home, so I automatically dwell in that state, and if I dwell in it so that automatically I am in that state, it becomes my dwelling place. So, “I will go and prepare a place for you.” I am not talking to you; I am talking to myself: “I will take you, Neville, born behind the 8-ball – born unknown, unwanted, poor – everything that is simply behind the 8-ball, and I am going to take you, Neville – now that you have found me, the Second Man, the Lord from Heaven, your own wonderful human imagination – now that you rouse me, I will go.”.

And I will dwell in the state and feel myself to be Neville – that “outer man” I just left on the chair or left on the bed, and I will see the world as Neville would see it if he were with me now. I view the world from that state. And, then, when it seems natural to me, I return to the physical “outer man” that I left on a chair – that I left on the bed and as I return, we fuse and become one person, not two. Then I move across a bridge of incidents that I don’t really, rationally build – it simply appears, and I move across a series of events that I do not reasonably determine – they simply happen. I will move across this bridge of events up to the state where I entered and now dwell. But when I get there, it seems so natural!.

The man that thought, because of his past limitations, he could never enter that state – now he finds himself in that state. No matter whom he meets, he meets them from that state, and it is perfectly natural to him. This is the story that Scripture teaches to you, to me, and to every one in the world. But until you find God, which is your own Self, you aren’t going to do it. “Be still, and know that ‘I Am’ Is God.” There is no other God!.

And you think that’s blasphemy? All right, the one who teaches the story was also accused of blasphemy, for he said, “I am God,” and they picked up stones to stone him. It doesn’t mean a man is making a bold statement on the outside. The “outer man” takes the facts of life – these are the “stones” – to stone him, and then he quotes Scripture, and he quotes the 82nd Psalm:.

“Is it not written in your scripture that I say, ‘Ye are gods, all of you sons of the Most High’? If, then, I say that I am the Son of God, and the Son of God and God are one and the same Being, why do you stone me when scripture teaches you, you are the sons of God?” (See John 10:34-37).

So they could not stone him then because he was only quoting their book. Well, I am only quoting tonight your book, which is my book. It’s the book to set every man in this world free if you know Who-You-Are. Your true identity is Jesus Christ! And Jesus Christ is not a being who came two thousand years ago and then departed. He said, “I am with you always, even unto the very ends of time.” (Matthew 28:20).

If He is with me always, where is He? He said, “I am with you always, to the very ends of time.” Then where is He? I surely know where He is..

The conversation now – I am quoting from the 8th chapter of the book of John. It is taking place in you. No one else is hearing it. I am only now quoting from a passage from the 8th [chapter] of John, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. I say you will die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am He.” (John 8:23, 24) I am only quoting from the 8th chapter of the Gospel of John..

In Scripture, above and within are the same; below and without are the same. So, when you read, “I am from above,” he’s telling you, “I am from within”, for he tells you, “the kingdom of heaven is within you.” (Luke 17:21) So, I am from above, therefore I am from within. You, the ‘outer man’ – you are from without, therefore you are from below. You are of this world. I don’t have to remain anchored to what my senses dictate and tell me that I am. I need not be here. You, looking at me from the outside, as the “outer man,” will say, “Neville is on the platform.” Knowing my complete outer world, you would know my restrictions, my limitations. You do not know my ambitions, my dreams, my wishes. I, and I alone, know my ambitions and my wishes. The “Inner Man” knows them, and He knows how to enter these states and prepare a state for the “outer man” to fulfill it. The “outer man” can’t do it. The “outer man” is completely anchored by his senses and confirmed by his reason..

Now, let me share with you a simple story. At the time that it happened, it seemed an impossible thing. Right after the war was over, I took the first trip out with my wife and little girl to the Island of Barbados in the West Indies. I made no preparation for return. I sailed from New York. I thought I would go and stay a few months in the island with my family, who were all in Barbados, making no preparation for my return..

Then it came time for my return, for I had a schedule in New York in the first week of May. I arrived in Barbados the last of December and had these four heavenly months – or almost four. When I went to the steamship company, they showed me a list which was as long as from here to there [indicating] of people waiting to get on the boat. That was only in the Island of Barbados. There were lists equally long in all the other islands: Trinidad, St. Vincent, Grenada – all the islands, and only two ships servicing all the islands: one little one taking sixty passengers, and one taking a hundred and twenty-five passengers; and hundreds and hundreds in each island waiting..

Well, they said, “Why, Mr. Goddard, you couldn’t get out of this island until the month of October at the earliest.” I said, “Is that your final verdict?” They said, “Why, that’s final. Look at the list, and this is only in Barbados.”.

This is the month, now, of April. I never thought of applying before that. My brother Victor said, “How on earth could you have left New York, the capitol of the world – the financial capitol of the world – they know everything there how to do these things. Why didn’t you arrange there when you left for return?” I said, “It never occurred to me. It doesn’t really matter.”.

I sat in my hotel room in Barbados and got comfortable, and then I assumed that I was in a little boat – a little tender, taking me off to the waiting ship in the bay. I could feel the rock of the little boat. In that boat I placed my family – a few members of my family: my brother Victor, my sister Daphne, and one or two others, and naturally my wife and my little girl. Then I felt the ship come alongside the main ship that would take us back to New York. And, then, in my imagination I assumed that my brother Victor took my little girl and stepped on the gangplank and walked up with her and I aided my wife next, and then my sister Daphne, and then I got on, and we went up. When I got to the top of the gangplank – all in my imagination, giving it all the sensory vividness, giving it all the tones of reality – I have no committed stateroom, so I could not go down to the stateroom. I simply turned at the top of the gangplank, walked three or four steps, and then put my hands on the rail, so I could smell the rawness of the sea, I could feel the salt driven by the wind. I could feel it on the rail, and then I looked towards the island with nostalgia. I was leaving a perfectly lovely island with so many members of my family, and yet it was a divided feeling. I was happy to be leaving because I had to get back to New York on my way to Milwaukee, and then, at the same time, I was split in my emotion because there was a sadness – like a sweet sadness leaving them and still happy to go. And that’s the mood that I caught. I caught that feeling. I can’t tell you if you haven’t had the experience of going any place being divided between wanting to go and yet reluctantly so, because you are leaving something precious behind you. Well, that was my mood. I caught the mood. And then I kept on looking at the island, and then I broke it and here I am, sitting in my chair in the room in the hotel in Barbados!.

The next morning the phone rang. As I answered, it was the Alcoa Steamship Company calling: “Mr. Goddard, we’ve Just received a cable from New York canceling a passage sailing on the next ship, which could put you in New York on the first day of May. Would you like it for you, your wife and your daughter? It’s a smaller stateroom, really, there are only two bunks, but your little girl is only three years old, and so she could sleep either with you or with Mrs. Goddard, but there are two bunks, and there is a private bath. Everything is perfect but you know; the ship is small. It will only carry sixty passengers.”

I said, “I’ll be right down.” So, I went down, and I thought I would find out some more details. I asked the agent, “Why the cancellation?” “Well,” she said, “I could only speculate. They didn’t tell us: they cabled us. There was a cancellation for the return trip.” I said, “All right, it’s canceled. Why didn’t you give it to any of the others waiting?” There were hundreds and hundreds waiting. “Well,” she said, “we have one lady here – an American lady who has been bothering us week after week to get her out of Barbados back to New York, so we called her first, and she said, ‘It’s not convenient for me to go now.’ So, then we called you because you have three to go, and I thought you could use the room for the three of you. And we will not notify any of the other hundreds waiting.”

So, I asked no further questions. I took it and got back in time for my place in New York and then my place in Milwaukee.

When I first tell that story, the usual reaction is: Was that a fair thing to do? Can you imagine that! Was that a fair thing to do with all the others who were waiting? I wasn’t running the Alcoa Steamship Company. I was applying the principle of God. I wouldn’t care if one million people were there; I’d jump over one million. That’s not my concern. I am simply applying the Law of God: “When you desire, believe that you have received it, and you will,” as I am told in the 11th chapter of the book of Mark, 29th verse, and whatever you do, whatever you say, if you do not doubt that it will come to pass, it will be done for you. Well, I did what I’m told in Scripture I ought to do, believe that I had received it, and act upon that belief. So, I acted upon the belief. What would I do if it were true? I would go up the gangplank.

In those days, back in 1945, we did not have a deep-water harbor; we have one now. But then you had to go out to the ship by a little tender, so I did exactly what I would have to do if I went aboard the ship. So, I got aboard the little ship, and then, as we got to the big ship, strangely enough, my brother Victor went up with my little girl in his arms – the very first one to step off. And then here came my wife, here came my sister, just in the order that I had imagined it. I wouldn’t care if that order was broken or not, but it did happen in the order that I imagined it. So, I tell you, I have found Him. Who? Found who? I have found the Lord Jesus Christ. You did? What does he look like? He looks just like me! Have you found Him? Well, don’t look at me, because when you find Him, He’s going to look just like you! That’s the Lord Jesus Christ – just like you. There is no other Lord Jesus Christ.

He actually became you, that you may become the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you see Him, He is just like you.

So, do not turn to any one in this world and say, “There he is,” for that’s a lie, or, “Here he is” – that’s a lie. So, anyone telling you that Neville is the Lord Jesus Christ – your Jesus Christ, deny it! Deny it completely. Neville is not the Lord Jesus Christ for you. But I have found the Lord Jesus Christ in me as my own wonderful human imagination. And I share with you what I have found. One day you will find Him as your own wonderful human imagination. Then will come the day that everything said of the Lord Jesus Christ in Scripture, you are going to experience in the first-person, singular, present-tense experience – everything said about him. Then you will know who the Lord Jesus Christ is. Then you will know who the Father is, who – really – God is!

Meanwhile, test him. Go to the extreme test. I tell you, you will find Him never failing. He’s your own wonderful human imagination.

Well, in this story that we started tonight, the two sons are brought now to the father. The father is Isaac, and Isaac is blind. There were two sons; the first one is Esau. He is covered with hair. That’s every child born of woman; that is the “outer man,” for hair means the most external, objective thing in the world. In man, the hair comes first, then you get the skin, then you get the fat, then you get the bones, but the hair is the most external part of man. So, he is covered with hair. The next one has no hair. He is hairless. He is Jacob, The word means supplanter.

The father has requested a meal. That is why I told you earlier the whole vast world – the whole of life is nothing more than the appeasement of hunger. So, the father is hungry, and he wants venison properly prepared as he always loves it and he gives that command to his first son, Esau. Esau was a hunter. He goes hunting for the venison, and prepares it to please his father.

Jacob overhears the request of his father. Remember, his name is supplanter but the command was given to his brother Esau, So, he slays a goat and skins it, and puts the skin upon his body to deceive his father into believing that he is Esau. He prepares the goat and brings it to his father, and he says, “Father,” and Isaac answers, “Yes, my son.” Then Isaac said, “I am blind, my son. I cannot see. Come close that I may feel you, that I may touch you.” And covered with the skin of the goat, he comes close, and Isaac stretches forth his hand and touches him. He said, “You know, your voice sounds like my son Jacob, but you feel like my son Esau,” and then he gave him the blessing. And, then, having been given the blessing, Jacob disappears.

Then his son Esau comes with the venison, and he said, “Who are you?” He said, “I am your son Esau.” “Well,” he said, “it must have been your brother who came, and I thought him to be you, and I gave him the blessing; and I cannot reverse it. I cannot take it back. I have blessed him, and the blessing remains his.”

So, you close your eyes, and you are Isaac; you cannot see. Isaac is blind. Shut your eyes, and you can’t see the room. Now, inwardly you have the two sons. The outer room is your Esau. You shut it out completely, and they both go hunting. Esau comes after; Jacob comes first, and he gives the tones of reality to his father. His father is his own wonderful “I AM.” Well, that’s God! God’s name forever is “I AM.” So, I AM is waiting to feel the tones of reality of what he wants, and he feels it to be so real, so natural.

Now, he knows this thing is subjective, so he said, “You sound like Jacob, but come closer, my son, that I may feel you”, and he feels him as I felt the rail on the ship, as I could smell the salt of the sea in the wind, as I could see mentally the island, as I could feel the ship rolling a little under my feet. All this was the tone of reality. This, now, is Esau; it seems real, and so I am giving a reality to this state – I am giving a blessing to it.

Then I open my eyes to find I am sitting on a chair in my hotel room. Well, suddenly Esau returns. Well, Esau was the place that I left. The room that I sat in was my Esau; that was the objective world. It comes back. And I say, “What have I done?” I went into a state and I clothed it with reality. I gave it all the tones of an objective world, and it seemed so real to me that I gave it the blessing to be real – to be born. Now this comes back, and without one word spoken, it is telling me, “You deceived yourself. You were deceived by my brother, the subjective state called Jacob.” And I say to myself – knowing who God really is, He can’t take back His blessing. He gave it the right to be born – the right to become objective – the right to become real, and in 24 hours it was born, – it was real.

And, then, three weeks later I sailed on that ship and completed the entire journey. I’ve repeated it over and over again, and it never fails. And those who will believe it and who will put it to the test cannot fail. They cannot fail. This is the principle of Scripture.

So, will you actually give it the tones of reality? Will you actually, first of all, believe that the God that you now worship as something without, actually exists within you as your own wonderful human imagination? If you will believe that, and not think me blasphemous for telling it and think me something accursed for having spoken it – but may I tell you, I hope for your sake you will believe it. But really, in my heart of hearts, whether you believe it or not, I am not concerned, because the day will come you will have to believe it, because you will experience it. If only I can aid you to hasten the day – that’s why I am here. But to actually say I am going to hit you over the head and make you believe it – no. I am not indifferent to your believing it; I can only appeal to you to believe it for your own good, that you may take whatever you have and transcend it by the use of this Law. Whatever you have in this world, may I tell you, no one is really satisfied! I dined well today, but tomorrow I am going to be hungry. And hunger is forever with man, and God is the ultimate satisfaction of hunger, but that hasn’t yet come upon the majority.

He tells us in the 8th chapter, the 11th verse, of Amos: “I will send a famine upon the world; it will not be a hunger for bread, or a thirst for water, but for the hearing of the word of God.” Now, that comes at the very end, for the average man is not hungry for the word of God. He is complacent. He will say, “I am a Christian!” So, what! “I am a Christian. I go to church. I contribute to the church,” and so he thinks that means all that he does as a Christian – it stops right there.

Well, the hunger is not satisfied, because when He sends that hunger upon the individual, nothing but an experience of God can satisfy that hunger. Well, until He sends that hunger, all the other hungers can be satisfied, like the hunger for security, the hunger for a better job, the hunger for a raise in authority in your present position, the hunger for – you name it. Every hunger can be satisfied if you apply this principle. But then will come that day He will send the famine upon you, for you are the earth of which He speaks. It hasn’t a thing to do with the world, the famine in the world, or whether there is famine all over the world, because they don’t know how to satisfy their hunger. There is famine, but that is not the famine of which he speaks. He says it’s not a hunger for bread; it’s not a thirst for water, but for the hearing of the Word of God!

So, I am giving you the Word of God as I personally have experienced it. So, tonight you try it. Close your eyes to the obvious. That’s Esau; send him hunting. And, then, become self-deceived. In his absence, bring in the “second son,” who is the Lord from Heaven, and clothe him in the tones of reality, and feel how real it is. Give him all sensory vividness, and when it takes on the tones of reality, open your eyes! Then Esau comes back from the hunt, and then you tell him what you’ve done, and he cries out because your son – the “second man” – has deceived you and betrayed him the second time.

Every day you can apply this principle and become self-deceived, but it works. But always keep it within the frame of the Golden Rule, so that no one will be hurt. I do not care who did not get the passage north. I do not care what prompted the woman not to take it. I do not care what prompted the passenger from New York to cancel it. I have no complaints, no words; I simply did what I was called upon to do. I wanted to get out. I found myself locked in – locked in until October at the earliest, with my commitments in Milwaukee going. I couldn’t do that. I had to get back, and get back, I did!

So, I tell you, this principle cannot fail you. But we are the operant power. And you do not get down on your knees and pray to an external god. Do exactly what the great William Lyons Phelps did, and say to the whole vast world, “I am not talking to you, my Dear,” – I am communing with my Self. And if I give thanks for what has happened, I don’t give it to you; I give it to the Being-within-me – constant praise for this miraculous power that is housed within me. And you walk in the consciousness of being constantly praiseful for this miraculous power that became you, that you may become It! And that power is the Lord Jesus Christ who is in you, and there is no other.

So, when the whole vast world is looking for Him to come from without, as the great evangelist today has said, “It is immanent. He is on us. He is coming. I am here to greet Him.” He will wait forever in vain. For when He comes, He is not coming from without. When He comes, He rises from within, and you are He! So, he’s reaching millions of people, but he’s in kindergarten. And what do you expect? He cannot give them more than milk. But in time, you have got to be weaned from milk, and take meat, and then the true meaning of the great mystery of the Christian faith.

So, the world has accepted it in a little story. All well and good, but don’t forever and forever go on seeing only the little story. Learn to extract the meaning of the story, and hope it unfolds within you.

Meanwhile, you apply what you have heard tonight, and before I leave the City at the end of next week, you should be able to tell me that what you tonight desire you have.

Now let us go into the Silence.

neville goddard imagination creates reality

CHANGING THE FEELING OF “I”

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 1953

For the benefit of those who were not present last Sunday, just let me give you a quick summary of the thought expressed here. We claimed that the world was a manifestation of consciousness, that the individual’s environment, circumstances and conditions of life were only the out picturing of the particular state of consciousness in which that individual abides.

Therefore, the individual sees whatever he is by virtue of the state of consciousness from which he views the world. Any attempt to change the outer world before he changes the inner structure of his mind, is to labor in vain. Everything happens by order. Those who help or hinder us, whether they know it or not, are the servants of that law, which constantly shapes outward circumstances in harmony with our inner nature. We asked you last Sunday to distinguish between the individual identity and the state they occupy. The individual identity is the Son of God. It is that I speak of you or to you, or speak of myself, I mean really our imagination. That is permanent. It fuses with state and believes itself to be the state with which it is fused, but at every moment of time it is free to choose the state with which it will be identified.

And that brings us to today’s subject, “Changing the Feeling of I”, and I hope I will not get the same reaction that is recorded in the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John. For we are told that when this was given to the world they all left him, leaving just a handful behind. For when he told them there was no one to change but self, they said this is a hard, hard teaching. It’s a hard thing. Who can hear it? For he said, “No man cometh unto me save I call him.” And then it’s recorded when he repeated it three times they left him, never again to walk with him. And he turned to the few who remained and asked them, “Would you also go?” And they answered and said, “To whom would we go ? You have the word of eternal life. ‘I In other words, it’s so much easier when I can blame another for my misfortune, but now that I am told that no man cometh unto me save I call him, that I am the sole architect of my fortunes and misfortunes, it’s a difficult saying, and so it’s recorded “It’s a hard saying. Who can hear it? Who can grasp it? And who will believe it?” And so he said, “And now I sanctify myself that they also be sanctified through the truth, for if this is the truth, then there is no one to change, no one to make whole, no one to purify but self.”

And so we start with the “I” . Most of us are totally unaware of the self that we really cherish. We have never taken one good look at the self, so we don’t know this self, for the “I” has neither face, form nor figure, but it does mold itself into structure by all that it consents to, all that it believes, and few of us know really what we do believe. We have no idea of the unnumbered superstitions and prejudices that go to mold this inner, formless “I” into a form which is then projected as a man’s environment, as the conditions of life.

So here, read it carefully when you go home, “No man cometh unto me save I call him. You didn’t choose me; I have chosen you. No man can take away my life; I lay it down myself . There is no power to take from me anything that is part of the inner arrangement of my mind. All that you gave me I have kept and none is lost save the son of perdition or the belief in God, and because nothing can be lost but the belief in loss, I will not now assume loss of anything you have given me that is good. And so I sanctify myself that they be sanctified through the truth”.

And now, how do we go about changing the “I”. First of all, we must discover the “I” and we do this by an uncritical observation of self. This will reveal a self that will shock you. You will be altogether, I wouldn’t say afraid, but ashamed to admit you’ve ever known such a lowly creature. And had it been God Himself who drew near in this despicable form, you would have denied him a thousand times before a single cock would crow. You couldn’t believe that this is the self that you’ve carried around and protected and excused and justified. Then you start changing this self after, by an uncritical observation, you make the discovery of that self. For the acceptance of self is the essence of the moral problem of the world. It is the epitome of a true outlook on life, for it is the sole cause of everything you observe.

Your description of the world is a confession of the self that you do not know. You describe another, you describe society, you describe anything, and your description of the thing you observe reveals to one who knows this law the being you really are. So you must first accept that self. When that self is accepted, then you can start to change. It’s so much easier to take the virtues of the Gospel and apply them as the word of life, to love the enemy, to bless those who curse us, and to feed the hungry. But when man discovers the being to be fed, the being to be clothed, the being to be sheltered, the greatest enemy of all is that self, then he is ashamed, completely ashamed that that is the being, for it was easier to share with another something that I possess, to take an extra coat and give it to another, but when I know the truth it’s not that. I start with the self, having discovered, and start with change of that self.

Now, let me tell you a story. A few years ago in this city I was giving a series of lectures down near that lake – I can’t even recall the name of the lake but it was some Parkview Manor was the place where I spoke, and in that audience was a gentleman who sought an audience before the meeting. And we went across the street into the little park there, and he said to me that he had an insoluble problem. I said, “There is no such thing as an insoluble problem. “But”, he said, “you do not know my problem. It’s not a state of health, I assure you; it is look at the skin that I wear” . I said, “What’s wrong with it; it looks lovely to me”. He said, “Look at the pigment of my skin. I, by the accident of birth, am now discriminated against. The opportunities for progress in this world are denied me just because of the accident of birth, that I was born a colored man. Opportunities for advancement in every field, neighborhoods that I would like to live in and raise a family I couldn’t move in, where I would like to open up a business I couldn’t move into that area.”

Then I told him my own personal experience, that I came to this country. Well, I didn’t have that problem but I was a foreigner in the midst of all Americans. I didn’t find it difficult. “Yet”, as he reminded me, “but that’s not my problem, Neville. Others have come here speaking with an accent, but they haven’t my skin, and I was born an American” . Then I told him an experience of mine in New York City. If I were called upon to name a man that I would consider my teacher, I would name Abdullah. I studied with that gentleman for five years. He had the same color skin, the same pigment as this gentleman. He would never allow anyone to refer to him as a colored man. He was very proud of being a negro didn’t want any modification of what God had made him. He turned to me and he said, “Have you ever seen a picture of the Sphinx?” I said, “Yes”. He said, “It embodies the four fixed quarters of the universe. You have the lion, the eagle the bull and man. And here is man that is the head. The crown of that creature called the Sphinx, which still defies man’s knowledge to unriddle it, was crowned with a human head. And look carefully at the head, Neville, and you will see whoever modeled that head must have been a negro. Whoever modeled it had the face of a negro and if that still defies man’s ability to unravel it, I am very proud that I am a negro.” I have seen scientists, doctors, lawyers, bankers, from every walk of life seek an audience with old Abdullah, and everyone Who came thought themselves honored to be admitted to his home and to receive an interview. If he was ever invited out, and he was, he was always the honored guest. He said, “Neville, you must first start with self. Find self, don’t be ashamed ever of the being you are. Discover it and start the changing of that self”.

Well, I told this gentleman exactly what Abdullah had taught me, that there was no cause outside of the arrangement of his own mind. If he was discriminated against, it was not because of the pigment of his skin, though he showed me signs as large as all outdoors denying him access to a certain area. The sign is there only because in the minds of some men such patterns are formed and they draw unto themselves what now they would condemn; that there is no power outside the mind of man to do anything to man, and he by the arrangement of his own mind, by consenting to these restrictions in his cradle and being conditioned slowly through his youth, waking into manhood believing himself set upon would have to be set upon, but “no man cometh unto me save I call him”. So then someone comes to condemn or to praise. They couldn’t come unless I call them. Not a man called Neville, but that secret being that is not called Neville. The secret being that is the sum total of all of my beliefs , all of the things that I consent to, that form a pattern ofstructure, that secret being draws unto itself things in harmony with itself. Well, that man went away and wrestled with himself. He couldn’t believe everything I told him, not that night, but last Sunday morning in the lobby, he came forward and we renewed the friendship. He took me next door to show me the fruit of this teaching .

He said, “Neville, it took me almost three years to really overcome that fixed idea that I, by the accident of birth, would be a secondary citizen, but I overcame .it. Now here is my office on Wilshire Boulevard. I picked this one not because it was the only one offered; four equally wonderful spots were offered me. I took this one because it had greater telephone facilities , but the others were equally good. Now here is my office. Now you couldn’t judge my income from this office, lovely as it is. Everything is nice about it, but, Neville, this year I will net a quarter of a million dollars”. Well in America that is still a fabulous sum of money. It would be staggering in any other part of the world, but even in fabulous America a man to net a quarter of a million is really up in the very highest of brackets. And that was the man that a few years ago told me the whole vast world was against him by reason of the accident of birth. He knows now he is what he is by virtue of the state of consciousness with which he is identified, and the choice is his to go back to the restrictions of his childhood when he believed the story or to continue in the freedom that he has found.

So you and I can be anything in this world we desire to be if we will clearly define our aim in life and constantly occupy that aim. It must be habitual. The concept we hold of self that is noble must not be put on just for a moment and taken off when we leave this church. We feel free here; we feel that we have something in common, that’s why we are here, but are we going to wear the noble concept we now hold of self when we go through the door and enter that bus, or are we going to return to the restrictions that were ours prior to coming here? The choice is ours and the hardest lesson to learn is that there is no one in this world that can be drawn into your world unless you, and you alone, call him.

So do not do what they did thousands of years ago, for that is the beginning of the secession of the great truth. So we are told they turned away from it, never again to walk with it, and the few who remained didn’t like it either, but where would they go if this is the word of eternal truth? Not that it’s true for this day and age, but if this is the law of being, and in all the dimensions of my being it holds good, if this is eternally true, then let me learn the lesson now, though I wrestle with myself as he did for three years.

So, the changing of the feeling of “I” is a selective thing because unnumbered states are infinite states, but the “I” is not the state. The “I” believes itself to be the state when it enters and fuses with it, so he was presented with a state and without the faculty of discrimination in his youth, he fused with the state and believed these restrictions were true, and it took him three years to disentangle the “I” from these fixed ideas with which he had lived for so many years. Now you may take only a moment or you, too, may take your three years. I can’t tell you how long it’s going to take you but I’ll tell you this much. It can be measured by the feeling of naturalness. You can wear a feeling until it’s natural. The moment the feeling becomes natural, it will begin to bear fruit within your world.

So I told this story at a small gathering here in the city, and not very many asked questions about it, but three people asked, “But he must have had money before. He must have known the right people. He must in some way have had some substance to start it, because how can you go out to loan a hundred million dollars and call that a real fact of being that you have that to loan and tell me you didn’t have some one who had it or you, yourself, didn’t have it”. I did not ask the gentleman about the individual facts of the case. I went into the office, I saw it, I didn’t look at his books; he volunteered this information, and gave me the figure of a quarter of a million net for the year. I have not checked or in any way verified the statement; I believe it implicitly. But I will not go along with those who believe that unless you have certain things to start with you can’t apply this law.

You can start now from scratch and choose the being you want to be. You aren’t going to change the pigment of your skin but you will find your accent or the pigment of skin or your so-called racial background will not be a hindrance, for if a man is ever hindered it can only be the state of consciousness in which he abides that hinders him. Man is freed or constrained by reason of the state of mind in which he persists. If you persist in it, well, then I will say, “persist in it”, but I warn you no one cares and that is an awful blow when a man discovers that no one, no one but himself really cares. So we find ourselves weeping with ourselves in the hope of getting others to weep with us. And what an awful shock when the day arrives we discover that no one really ever cared. They will give us some little listening ear for a moment just as they were passing by, but they really didn’t care.

When we make that discovery we shake ourselves out of it and boldly appropriate the gift our Father gave us before that the world was. So let me show you the gift. You’ve read your Lord’s Prayer possibly daily, but you read it as a prayer from a translation of a translation which does not reveal the sense of the evangelist. The real translation, you will find in Farrar Fenton’s work where in the original it is written in the imperative passive mood, which is like a standing order, a thing to be done absolutely and continuously. So that you can look now upon your universe as one vast inter-knit machinery where all things happen.

There isn’t a thing to become; all things are taking place, so it is written in this manner, “Thy will must be being done. Thy kingdom must be being restored.” It is the only way you could express it if you would express the imperative passive mood. But from the Latin from which our translation was made there is no first aorist of the imperative passive mood. So we have it in the way we have it but it does not reveal the intent of the mysteries. If you will see all things are now, you don’t become, you simply select the state that you would occupy. Occupying it you seem to become but it is already a fact, every aspect of that state in its most minute detail. It’s worked out and taking place. You by occupying the state seem to go through the action of unfolding that state, but the state is completely finished and taking place. So now you can choose the being you want to be and by choosing a being other than what you are now expressing you start the change of the feeling of “I”.

Now, how will I know that I have changed the feeling of “I”? By beginning first with an uncritical observation of my reactions to life and then noticing my reactions when I think I am identified with my choice. If I assume that I am the man that I want to be, let me observe my reactions. If they are as they were, I have not identified myself with my choice, for my reactions are automatic and so if I am changed I would automatically change my reactions to life. So the changing of the feeling of “I” results in a change of reaction, which change of reaction is a change of environment and behavior. But let me warn you now. A little alteration of mood is not a transformation; it’s not a real change of consciousness. Because as I change my mood for the moment it can quickly and rapidly be I would say, replaced by another mood in the reverse direction. When I say that I was changed, as that gentleman changed his mood, his basic mood, his state of consciousness, it means that having assumed that I am what the moment denied, what my reason denied, that I remain in that state long enough to make that state stable. So that all of my energies are flowing from that state. I am no longer thinking of that state. I am thinking from that state. So that wherever a state grows so stable as to definitely expel all of its rivals, then that central, habitual state of consciousness from which I think defines my character and is really a true transformation or change of consciousness. Whenever I reach that state of stability, watch my world mold itself then in harmony with this inner change. And men will come into my world, people will come to aid and they will think they are initiating the urge to help. They are playing only their part. They must do what they do because I have done what I did. Having moved from one state into the other. I have altered my relationship relative to the world round about, and that changed relationship compels a change in behavior relative to my world. So they have to act differently toward me.

So in changing the “I”, you start with desire, which we will unfold and elaborate on tomorrow night. For it starts with desire. Desire is the spring of action, for you must want to be other than what you are. We fail because we do not fall in love enough with an idea. We aren’t, I would say, moved enough to want to be other than what we are. If I could get you to be completely in love with some state to the point where it haunted the mind, I could almost prophesy that you would in the not distant future externalize that state within your world. And the reason we fail we aren’t hungry enough to change. For either we do not know the law or we haven’t the urge or the hunger to really bring about the change.

For the changing of the feeling of “I” results in the change of reaction, which change of reaction results in a change of world. If you like your world and you are complacent about it, you haven’t started on the road of the mysteries, for the very first beatitude appeals to one who is not complacent. “Blessed are the poor in spirit”. You must be poor in spirit, not complacent, not satisfied. The man who thinks that by reason of birth, the religion that he inherited at birth, is good enough for me, that he is not dissatisfied, he is not, I would say moved that being is complacent and therefore he is not poor in spirit; he is very rich in spirit. Theirs is not the kingdom of God. For if I could stir you, make you dissatisfied with self, then you will recognize that self and set about to change it. For the only field of activity for man is within himself and on himself. You do not work on the other. The day you change self, that day you change your world.

Now I see my time is going to its quick end. And so in the remaining minute I have left here let me not urge you, because if you come to the meeting tomorrow night not really hungry, you wouldn’t benefit, but I do hope that many of you are there. Even if you are stirred to the point of trying to, I would say, disprove what I told you, I would accept that challenge for in the attempt to disprove it, I know if you were sincere in your attempt, you would prove it. So I hope many of you will come and take this feast with us. We are here in the city at the Ebell for 15 nights, Monday thru Friday, as Mr. Smith told you, for three consecutive weeks. If you can’t take all, and I do hope many of you will take all, then pick out the title s that appeal to you. Tomorrow night to me is basic; it is the importance of defining an aim in this world, having a goal, for without an aim you are aimless. And you were warned in the Book, or I would say, in the Epistle of James that “the double minded man is unstable in all his ways. Let not such a man believe that he shall receive anything of the Lord; for he is like a wave that is driven and tossed by the wind.” That man never reaches his goal. So you must have an aim, and tomorrow night we will show you the importance of defining desire. There are certain schools who teach you to kill out desire; we teach you to intensify desire and show you the reason for such teaching, show you what the Bible teaches about desire.

And now we will come to the help that many of you have asked for today. Those who were not here on Sunday let me remind you it is a very simple technique. As I told you on Sunday, any time that you exercise your imagination, and do it lovingly on behalf of another, you are mediating God to man. So we sit quietly and we simply become imitators of our Father. And He called the world into being by being the thing he would call. And so we sit and we listen as though we heard someone congratulating us on having found what we seek. So we go to the end of the matter and we listen just as though we heard, and we look as though we saw, and we try in this manner to feel ourselves right into the situation of our answered prayer, and there we wait in the silence just for about two minutes, and so they will lower the lights to aid you. And let me remind you if you want to clear your throat, please do so. If you want to shift your position in the chair, do so. Feel as though you are alone at home, because if you don’t and you try not to disturb the neighbor, you will not be able to exercise your imagination on behalf of anyone. So now I will take the chair and just simply listen attentively, just as though you heard. I’ll make you this promise – the day you are very still in mind and really become attentive, you will hear as coming from without what really you are whispering from within yourself.

ESCHATOLOGY – THE DRAMA OF THE END

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 04-05-1968

The word “disciple” means “learner”, and anyone who hears God’s pattern of salvation from one who has experienced it and believes, hungering to learn more, is a disciple. Tradition tells us Peter, James, and John were disciples. No, you are a disciple if you believe my words!

Now, when I speak of Jesus, I am speaking of the pattern man, for “He has made known unto me the purpose of his will which he set forth in Christ as a plan (a pattern) for the fullness of time.” That pattern has unfolded in me and I can tell you from experience: Jesus Christ is the unfoldment of the Father and the Son. If you believe me, you are my disciples.

Now, I have a few perfectly marvelous eschatological dreams to share with you. Here is an experience of one who heard and believes. This is his dream: He said: “You were on the platform, teaching. Although you smiled at me there was great intensity in your eyes. Taking a golden arrow from your side, you placed it in your bow and shot it directly at me. As it came toward me I could read the word, “resurrection” imprinted upon it as it penetrated my forehead. Then you shot a second arrow, which read “David” and it penetrated my chest. The third arrow carried the word “ascension” and it penetrated my belly, touching my spine. The fourth arrow carried no word, only a white dove, and as it hit me I felt as though every pore of my body had been struck. I have never known such ecstasy of love before. I felt like a spiritual fountain of pure, pure love.”

“The following night in a dream, a man I have never seen approached me. Radiating love he said: ‘I am preparing a great feast and I will come on the seventeenth to take you with me.'”

Now this could literally mean the seventeenth, but in symbolism seventeen is a marvelous number. In Hebrew you do not write the number seventeen as “one-seven,” but “seven-ten,” denoting greater importance. This number first appears in the 37th chapter of Genesis as “Joseph was seventeen years old.” Then in the 47th chapter of Genesis, Joseph and his father are taught by Jacob [sic] for seventeen years. So seventeen, denoting a combination of seven and ten, is broken down to read: seven – as spiritual perfection, and ten – as order perfection. In this gentleman’s preceding vision the order was perfect, beginning with resurrection, then David, the ascension, and finally the dove who smothered him with love. Here is order perfection and spiritual perfection! I can say to him tonight: the arrows have penetrated you and nothing can stop them from reaching their destiny in the world beyond the world of dreams. You are a complete being now, as the pattern is buried in you; and in the not-distant future Jesus Christ, the pattern man, will unfold from within.

Now, the earliest gospel begins with these words: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” The world “gospel” means “good news”, not “good advice.” So the gospel is “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ,” the good news of how God actually becomes Man that Man may become God. That’s the good news I share with all.

Here is another dream: This lady found herself walking with members of the group who attend these lectures. Coming towards them were groups of people moving as though being conveyed by a power not their own. The first group was dressed in black with shawls covering their heads. They seemed to be a mournful group with many of them crying. They appeared to be Catholic to her. The next group wore stern, uncompromising faces. Representing religious fundamentalists, they were self-righteous and without compassion. They were followed by a friendly group of men and women, animated, smiling, and asking questions, as seekers often do. When questioned by this group, the lady said: “You will find who you really are and who God really is, and when you do you will know it is all here.” And with that remark she extended her right index finger and pointed to her forehead. Then she ran to join the group as she awoke.

In the earliest gospel you will discover that the turning point is repentance. The very first words spoken by the pattern man are: “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel.” Believe the good news that you have heard from me. To repent is to radically change your mind. Regardless of what you believe, when God’s pattern of salvation is presented, can you accept it? Can you completely turn from the belief in a physical Christ on the outside, to the belief in a man of spirit on the inside? Or are you like the foolish Galatians, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? Do you know what the word “portray” means? “To make a picture of; to describe in words; to play a part like a drama on the stage.” Jesus Christ was portrayed as crucified; so “Let me ask you only this, did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish having received the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?”

Repentance is turning around from the belief of a fleshly being called Jesus Christ, to the spirit that is Christ, the pattern man who is trying to awaken in you. Turn around by exercising your right to change your mind. Dare to believe the opposite, in spite of the facts that seem to be screaming at you. This is what I call “revision” and the Bible calls “repentance”. To revise is to repeal and if you have repealed a thing you have changed it. You can modify your concept of Christ and not completely change it by holding onto a little bit of the physical nature; but eventually you will drop it and turn around to start moving upward with the spiritual Christ, as the pattern which must unfold in all, unfolds in you.

Now here is another dream. This lady writes: “In my dream I am at a neighbor’s house which is filled with numerous people. Suddenly realizing it is my responsibility to feed them all, as I extend my hands everyone is fed. Feeling detached and no longer a part of the group, I depart to discover a shovel, a pitchfork, and a rake have been placed in front of my house. Entering the house I find a friend there whose husband has been dead for many years. Smiling at me, she says: ‘My husband wants to see you.’ Going to the window and looking out I watch my friend’s husband, wearing a uniform of either a general or a colonel, bring the most beautiful white horse I have ever seen into my house.” (The only one who rides a white horse in scripture is the Word of God called Jesus Christ. The white horse is hers, for she has the implements used to care for one: a shovel, a pitchfork and a rake.)

As her dream continued, someone gave her a very friendly white dog, which weighed exactly sixty pounds. Taking an oval basket about 14″ long, she made a little bed and placed the dog in it on its back. Then she covered it with a blanket, and as she tucked the blanket around him, he felt just like a baby. (A dog is the symbol of faith. Called “Caleb” in scripture, he is the only one who crosses over Jordan into the Promised Land with Joshua, the Hebraic name of Jesus.) Faithful to the pattern man, she felt the child that is promised and it didn’t seem strange at all. Awakening to discover it was 6:00 o’clock in the morning, she said to herself: “I must remember the dream in detail,” then she fell asleep again.

Suddenly a man is standing before her. Bending forward he removed the top of his head and said: “Look into my skull.” As she looked, instead of seeing brains she saw a tiny head the size of a pin. It was perfectly formed and wearing a crown, and as she looked it seemed to grow. Then the man stood up and said: “Feel my head” and when she did, it was soft like a pillow. She then began to tell him how imagining creates reality, when he spoke, saying: “If a surgeon does not come immediately, my head will split open and I will imagine myself out of this world.” Here is a perfect vision which is all scripture: The white horse (that’s revelation – the whole unfolding from within) and the child in the skull.

Another lady writes, saying: “I was looking at a deep cavern in the earth watching water running into it as though from a long trough. A child, about eight months old, was sitting on its bank looking at his extended hands. You, Neville were standing high above us, looking down at the child and me. Then I heard the words: ‘Can a man bear a child?’ and I awoke repeating that question over and over again.” Those are the very words you will find in the 30th chapter of Jeremiah, and when you begin to express scripture you are at the very end of your journey.

All of the dreams I have shared with you tonight are eschatological. Here is another one. This lady finds herself in a huge corral with an awareness of being the center of unlimited expanse. The corral gate is open, and hanging on the top of the gatepost is half of the carcass of a human being. It seemed natural for it to be there and as she looked the feeling of infinite freedom possessed her.

In the 26th chapter of the Book of Exodus, the 12th verse refers to the half curtain. The significance of the curtain is given in the 10th chapter of Hebrews, the 20th verse: “He opened a new and living way through the curtain that is his flesh.” The flesh she saw represented the curtain of the temple, which is torn from top to bottom in order to free yourself from the world of sin and death and enter the new and living way of life. And with this experience, freedom is yours.

Now another lady wrote saying she dozed off for just a few moments to find herself in a small boat in a turbulent sea. There was no steering gear and no sails, just the mast and a crossbar like a cross on a crown. She was in the nude, and climbing the mast she extended her arms on the crossbar to use her body as the sail, that which would give power and direction towards a haven.

This experience has tremendous significance. Let me quote the 7th chapter, the 2nd verse of Daniel: “I saw in my vision by night, and behold the four winds of heaven were stirring up the deep sea.” The Hebrew word translated “stirring up” is translated “labor” in the 4th chapter, the 10th verse of Micah as “like a woman in labor.” So I say to her: my dear you are in labor. You sat in your chair and nodded for seemingly only a moment, but in that short interval of time you saw the depth of your own being (who is you) now in labor bringing forth God’s power and wisdom, called Christ.

I can’t tell you my thrill when I receive all of these letters. Every one of them is eschatology, denoting the end of the drama. That’s all that matters, for the purpose of life is to fulfill scripture.

Tonight our whole country is disturbed because of the death of a man by a man; yet I tell you: the man who was killed and the man who killed him are one, and both will be gathered together in the bosom of the Risen Lord as intimate brothers. Having played their parts in this world, they will know themselves to be brothers, with a love transcending anything known to man on earth. They did not know it, nor does the world know it, but one being played both parts and that being is God. And maybe this death (unless violence erupts and takes away its significance) will foster and further what he stood for far quicker than anything else. If on the other hand there is a denial of the sacrifice, it will again be delayed. But he of one race who was killed and he of another race who killed him are both one, for in Christ there is no bond, no free, no Greek, no Jew, no male, no female, no black, no white, no yellow, no pink, no red, just one…all are one!

So what I am trying to say is that the culmination of the teaching of Jesus Christ is found in the thought of a mystical union of the one who hears and believes, with the Father and the Son. This is brought about through the Spirit. When you receive the Spirit by hearing with faith, you will no longer see a physical savior on the outside, for you (the son) will have found your Father (your savior) to be your very self.

I pray this night as John did in his glorious 17th chapter, saying: “O righteous Father, the world has not known thee, but I have known thee, and these believe that thou hast sent me. I have made known unto them thy name, I will make it known that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them.” Where can I go if I am going to the Father and the Father is in you? So when I go I will never be so far off as even to be near, for nearness implies separation. If I go to the Father and I and my Father are one, where can I go? And when I come to you it will be to unfold myself (which is the pattern) in you. Don’t look for me to come as flesh and blood on the outside, but as the pattern unfolding from within! In the end all will awaken to be the one body, the one Lord, one hope, one faith, the one God and Father of all. Returning one by one, we are that one body, one Spirit, one Love!

Dwell upon my words for, in spite of all the turmoil in the world, we are all one. Thinking on the lowest level, men are trying to solve the problems of the world there, and it cannot be done. It’s all done by repentance, by radical changes in attitudes of mind. A fact is confronted. All right, isn’t it a fact that everything is possible to God? And if all things are possible to God and his name is “I am” can a fact not be changed? Can it not be resolved? At this very moment I can ignore the fact and assume things are as I want them to be, can I not? And when I assume, God is assuming, for his name and I are one. If all things are possible to God, are not all things possible to me? So if I have faith in God I must have faith in my imaginal acts. Faith in your imaginal acts turns you around and you will keep on turning around by practicing repentance, and as you do, you awake. Then you will find a group and tell them that if they will but turn around they will find God. That He’s not coming from without but, pointing to your forehead, you will tell them He’s all there. Then you will speak from experience, for as He unfolds himself within you, you will experience the perfect pattern my friend received with the four golden arrows. As I mentioned a few months ago, who knows what the awakened Man is doing when he shoots his arrows beyond the world of dream? You can’t deviate from God’s plan. If you awaken within yourself and it’s the plan that awakens, you are the plan that awoke, so you shoot the plan to those you love.

Take the passages I have quoted tonight and see how they relate to the visions. Each passage dwells with eschatology, the doctrine of the last days, when Man turns from this age of sin and death to that age of Eternal life.

Now this may seem a deep spiritual night to many of you, but may I tell you it is directly practical, for while you were with me this night you left all of your worries and cares of the day on the conveyer belt which is moving automatically. Your heavenly Father knows your needs and is caring for them while you travel in the spirit world with me. You have left those who are self complacent, content with their own little circle. Those who know they are right are in hell where there is no forgiveness of sin. In hell it’s all self-righteousness, all justifying oneself. One of the greatest of all human weaknesses is the necessity of always being right, and that is hell until one becomes loose enough to ask questions. Whether the truth is accepted or not is irrelevant, but when they ask, answer directly: “When you find God you are going to find yourself. And when you find the truth you will discover that you and God the Father are one.”

If you haven’t read the beautiful 17th chapter of John, I urge you to do so. I think it is the most glorious prayer ever written. “O Father, I have manifested thy name to those thou gavest to me. They were yours and you gave them to me that they may be one even as we are one.” Here he tells you that God and his pattern are one. In the beginning was the Word (the plan, the meaning of it all) and the Word was with God and the Word was God. So the pattern and he who sent it are one. The pattern is what was sent.

Always claiming that he was sent, he tells you that the sender (the Father) and the sent (the pattern) are one; therefore the Father sends himself as the pattern which unfolds. Then the man in whom it unfolds tells it, and he always has a remnant who hears and believes. He won’t get the world to believe him, for they are busy moving down on the conveyer belt. Although they hear the call to repent, they will not stop to change their beliefs for one little moment.

I have an aunt, now in her nineties. She was born and raised in a group called “The Brothers”, the most bigoted Christian organization there ever was. One day while visiting her, I said: “Don’t you know that the Bible teaches that Jesus had brothers?” Well, she almost slapped me in the face as she denied it. She attends church seven days a week, yet when I opened the Bible to the 6th chapter of Mark and read it to her she would not change her thinking relative to Christ. Unwilling to accept a foreign thought, she chooses to remain on the conveyer belt. Her mind is made up and she is not willing to read the Bible with a different understanding.

She will eventually die, to find herself restored to life in a world just like this, with a body the same as before only young with nothing missing – and she will not even realize what took place. She will still have the same fixed beliefs and she’ll go through another pattern of events to become proximate matter – matter that is made to receive a form, like taking a piece of wax and making it soft enough to receive a seal.

In the 1st chapter of Hebrews, we are told that Jesus is the express image of his Father. He is not someone that looks like his Father, but is identical, like the imprinting of a seal on wax. My friend saw proximate matter in the skull. She saw that which is being molded and shaped and made more pliable to receive the impression.

Now let us go into the silence.

Experience Scripture

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 5-28-1971

To unravel the mystery of Christ from all the interpretations put upon it is quite a different task. We are up against all kinds of misunderstandings of the mystery. Most people believe that it is secular history, and the story has something to do with some historical occasion; and it isn’t. It is salvation history.

The whole thing is taking place in you, the individual. It’s not taking place on the outside at all. But how to convince men that this is true? Well, tonight we will try. I will try to explain what I know from my own experience. The story is told of Christ; and the term called “Son of Man” is a term used most to describe the Christ, the Messiah.

We are told in the Book of Daniel: “And on like a son of man came to the Ancient of Days, and was presented before him, and he was given dominion and glory and kingdom.” [Daniel 7:13]

Well, “dominion” means “complete control of all human and non-human forces”―complete control. That’s dominion.

“Glory” is God Himself, as told us in the Book of Exodus: “I make my glory pass before you,…and when I pass by.” [Exodus 33:18 and following] So he equates “glory” with “I.” So here, it is God Himself.

And now “Kingdom” is simply the realm where a monarchical ruler dominates all things―the king.

In the New Testament it is said of Him, which is the central figure, that he is the Son of Man. So he asks this question: “Who do men say that the Son of Man is?” [Matthew 16:13-16]

And they answered, “Some say John the Baptist come again, others Elijah, other Jeremiah, and still others one of the prophets.”

Then he turned to them and said, “But who do you say that I am?” He equates himself with the Son of Man.

Then Peter answers, “You are the Christ, the son of the living God.”

He accepts that definition. So here we find the Son of Man, the “I” and then “Christ” all equal. They are one and the same. So here tonight, we speak of This-in-You.

And when the Son of Man, as we are told in the Third of John: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up” [John 3:14]. Now we have just seen that the Son of Man is the “I” of man―the pronoun “I.” It means “I” or it means “one.” So here we can say, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must ‘I’ be lifted up,” or “…so must one be lifted up.”

I am not speaking of anything outside of you. That “I” is the One spoken of in Scripture. You must be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me” [John 12:21]. This is the drama of Scripture.

Today the world―I hear it on TV, I read it in the papers; and these very prominent and very popular teachers from the pulpits and from the TV screen are speaking of the signs, and they tell you that we can see the signs of the end of the world. There aren’t any signs!

You are told in Scripture that “of that day and hour no one knows but the Father.” [Mark 13:32]

“It is not for you to be given the time or the signs.” [Acts 1:7]

When the sign comes, you’ll understand it. Everything will happen in you just as described in the story of Christ; but earthquakes and convulsions of nature, cosmic catastrophes haven’t a thing to do with the end. This is a unique story all about you. It hasn’t a thing to do with the end of the world. It’s the end of your journey though the tribulation of human experience, that’s “the end.” Then comes, with shocking suddenness, the “I” awakening in you. It is not another; it is you. You are the Lord Jesus Christ. You are the Lord God Jehovah. You are the central figure of Scripture. It has not a thing to do with another.”

So, catastrophes? Well, a year ago in San Francisco I read in the New York Times that every 24 hours we have approximately eighteen hundred what are called “natural” catastrophes in the world like volcanoes, earthquakes, storms, typhoons―all kinds of horrible things; but every 24 hours there are at least eighteen hundred of these normal, natural convulsions of nature. And yet, here are our religious leaders interpreting an earthquake, interpreting some convulsion of war.

You are told, “There will be wars and rumors of wars” [Matthew 24:6 and Mark 13:7]; but that is not it. If anyone should ever come to you saying, Look here is the Christ, or there is the Christ, believe him not.” [Mark 13:21]

There is no outside “Christ.” Christ is buried in you; and when he comes, he can only come by awakening in you. Even though one has actually had him completely awake within himself, don’t believe he is the Christ. He has awakened in me, the speaker, but I am not the Christ that you are looking for. The Christ that you are looking for is now buried in you. and must awaken in you as you. it is the “I” of you.

The personal pronoun “I”―that is Christ; but man doesn’t know it, and he is looking on the outside for Christ. And there is no other Christ. So when any one tells you because of an enormous following that he can interpret the signs,–there aren’t any signs on the outside.

Let me show you one simple little story. In the 13th Chapter of Mark [Mark 13:1,2] and the 24th Chapter of Matthew [Matthew 24:1,2] it is said that he turned, after having heard from his Disciples,–they said, “Look at these building,”―speaking of the temple. “Aren’t they wonderful?” meaning that they are forever.

And he said, “You see these buildings? I tell you, not one stone will be left standing upon another but what it will be thrown down.” Not one stone―all will be thrown down.

Then they said, “When will it be?”

Now this is called the “Little Apocalypse” in Scripture. Whether these are words of the Evangelists or words of the central figure,–they are all words of the Evangelists anyway; they are all relating their own experience. These “buildings” are not on the outside. So, when Blake said, “Cities, mountains, valleys, all are human,” he meant it,–that in your own wonderful imagination these structures are erected. These are the beliefs by which you live, and they are powerful in your mind. The day will come, you will see it. They will seem to be, to you, external to yourself, and they are structures; they are buildings.

In my own case, on the 21st day of December 1960 I saw a city. They were not enormous buildings like the Empire State―12, 15 or 16―story buildings; but they seemed to be everlasting. At the very moment, I knew everyone was going to fall. And here came the first one. It all crumbled before my eyes. I knew the next one―it crumbled. Everything crumbled, because prior to that day, which is the 21st day of December 1960, I had had the experience of the “birth from above” and the discovery of the Fatherhood of God and the Son of God who actually called me “Father,” revealing who the Father really is. I had the experience of that Ascent of the Son of Man. Then all of my previous beliefs by which I lived―they all collapsed. I, too, believed―as the whole vast world of Christendom believes―in the historicity of Christ, in the secular history of Christ; and suddenly the whole thing was not there at all. it’s all about me! It is all about you. And when I arose from within myself, then all that I formerly believed in had to collapse. These are the structures spoken of. He is not speaking of these buildings falling.

If the whole vast city tonight moved into the Pacific, it is not the end. The end come to the individual. It doesn’t come to us collectively; it comes to us individually. And all the things that you, throughout the centuries, have erected within you by which you live and believe―when it actually happens in you and you realize you are the central Being of Scripture―you are the “God” spoken of, you are the Christ Jesus spoken of, then all the things on the outside that you turned to for comfort, they collapse. But they are now projected within you as “buildings.”

So, he said, “See these buildings? Not one stone will be left standing upon another,”―no one. They shall all come down, and it happens within you.

Now we are told, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” Well, you have just heard that the Son of Man is the “I” of man―the personal pronoun “I”; so it’s not something on the outside. You are lifted up just in the same manner that Moses in the wilderness lifted up the serpent. And that is true.

You actually find yourself―now we will take the story. He was standing on the Mount of Olives, as you read it in the 13th of Mark [Mark 13:3,4] and the 24th of Matthew [Matthew 24:3]. Now we go back to the 14th Chapter of Zechariah. “Zechariah” means “Jehovah remembers.” This is the last chapter of Zechariah [Zechariah 14:40]. “And he was standing on the Mount of Olives,”―and this expression “Mount of Olives” is only used twice in the Old Testament. Here is the Mount of Olives. It is used first in Second Samuel concerning David [II Samuel 15:30]; but here is the second use of it at almost the end of the Old Testament, the 14th Chapter of Zechariah. Remember, the word means “Jehovah remembers.” This is his pledge, his covenant:

“Now, the Lord is standing upon the Mount of Olives, and the Mount of Olives was split from east to west, forming a very wide valley; and one half of the mount moved northward, and one half moved south.”

And then came out of Jerusalem,–for the Mount of Olives faced Jerusalem,–came “Living water,”―came living water. [Zechariah 14:8]

Now I tell you, the “Mount” is your Self. Everything about the story is all within you. On the morning of the 8th of April 1960 suddenly I am split from east to west, — meaning my body, — from the top of my skull to the base of my spine; and it parted about six inches―a vast valley between the two sections of my body. At the base, which would be the spine, is a pool of living, golden light―“living water.” Then I looked at it, and I could say with Blake, “I knew it was my Self.” I am looking at it, and I not only knew it was my Self, I knew it was my own Creator and Redeemer; and I am my own Creator and Redeemer! I fused with it, and then like a fiery serpent I went up into my skull. That’s Heaven! “For the Kingdom of Heaven is within you.” That’s where the Kingdome is. It’s all within you. And when I entered, I made every attempt―I can’t tell you the force I used to get through my skull, but I couldn’t get through my skull, for that is Reality. It’s within. You don’t get out of it. The whole thing takes place within.

The best I can use on earth to illustrate it would be a rivet. Have you ever seen someone taek a hot, hot rivet and throw it to the one who catches it, and then takes it and actually puts it into the steel to make it secure? It’s a fascinating sight to see them rivet these steel structures. Well, I actually felt myself being moved right into it. If I could describe it, it’s right here―a little left of the straight line down my forehead; just a tiny fraction left of this area [indicating]. That’s where I felt myself riveted. I made every effort to penetrate and go through, but I couldn’t; I was stuck right there.

So, you are told in Scripture, in the 11th Chapter of Matthew [Matthew 11:12]: “And the Kingdom of Heaven is taken by violence, and the violent take it by force.” That’s how you take the Kingdom. The whole Kingdom is in your skull. The whole thing is being constructed in your own wonderful human skull!

So here, I am talking only about you; I am not talking about any convulsion of nature. Let them have all their so-called enormous crowds, telling people how they can read the signs that we are at the end of the world. End of what world? This is a unique reconstruction of the Temple of God, and it’s reconstructed out of living stone, not dead stones. For when the temple fell, it was made of simply living, but not life-giving, stones. Now we are being turned into life-giving stones, and every stone must be fitted into that temple. And everyone will be called in order. Not one will be missing, may I tell you? Not one in eternity can fail to be called, and he goes through the same identical process. You are called, and then you are raised from within the “I” of man. You are raised. You are awakened; and when you are awakened, you see no one but yourself. You are all alone. That’s the Christ, entombed in your own skull; and you, and you alone, come out by an innate wisdom as to how to do it. It’s built in within you, for Christ is not only the power of God, he is the wisdom of God. So, there is an innate wisdom how to do it.

I knew exactly how to do it. And you push the base of your skull, and something moves, and you come out. When you come out, and I ask, “Who did it?” and you say I,” that’s Christ. That is the Son of Man. That is the Son of God who can claim, “I and my Father are one.” [John 10:30]

In the world, yes, I seem to be less than my Father, for I am now doing a job. I am in the world as one that is “sent”; but the Sender and the “sent” are one. I am only inferior to my Self―the Sender―when I am playing the part of the “sent,” but I’ll return to my Self―the Sender, and I’ll be one with my Self―the Sender.

“I will leave the world and return to my Father.”

And “I and my Father are one.”

But how to explain that to those who believe in the “Christ” on the outside? When throughout the centuries they have been taught to believe in some external savior, and there is no external savior. You, and you alone, decided to do what you did. We collectively decided to do it: to come into the world of “death” and die―literally die, and then be victorious and overcome death. That’s Who-We-Are. And everyone, in spite of what he has done, what he is doing, or what he may do,–he is that Christ spoken of in Scripture.

And so, how to tell a man that although the imagery seems strange, it is actually true? You rise just like a fiery serpent. Who would believe that? Who would believe that Mount of Olives is his own body? I stand on the Mount of Olives and I face Jerusalem; and then it’s split from top to bottom, as told in the great 13th of Mark and the 24th of Matthew [Matthew 24:27 and Luke 17:24]: “As the lightning comes from the east and shines towards the west, so shall be the coming of the Son of Man.

It’s a bolt of lightning, and you did it. You split yourself right down the middle, and the mountain parts in two. So, the Mount of Olives is now cut in two from east to west, and one half moves northward, and one half moves southward. And then out of Jerusalem―because you can view Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives―come living water. And I tell you, it is living water! It’s golden, liquid, pulsing, living light. And as you look at it, you know it’s your Self.

How can I―a man―know that I am liquid, liquid light? But I am! And I fuse with it; and as I fuse with it, like a fiery serpent, I go right up into my skull. So, “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,”―in the same manner, after the Mount is split in two from top to bottom.

When they are looking now, as they are,–they go off to Jerusalem physically. They have these enormous productions where some nations give them millions to excavate all kinds of things to try to find where he was buried. Where he was buried! The only place where Christ was ever buried is in the human skull; and it’s called in Scripture “Golgotha.” IN the Book of Luke they actually call it by the name “skull.”

“When they had brought him to the place called The Skull, there they buried him.” [Luke 23:33]

Now “Golgotha” means “skull,” but it’s the Hebrew form of “skull.” We speak of “Calvary.” Well, “Calvary” is the Latin form of “skull.” And so, the whole thing is simply your own wonderful human skull. That’s where the whole drama takes place. It all takes place in the imagination of man. There is nothing but God, and God is the human imagination. And the drama of God is unfolding within us.

So, let no one tell you they can see signs of the end of the world. “The end of the age,” but the “end of the age” is the end of the tribulation of human experience. That’s the end. There is no other end. You and I have gone through “hell,” and when we come to the end of the tribulation of human experience, then suddenly―with shocking suddenness―the whole thing erupts within us. So, you are told: “Do not ask. It comes like a thief in the night.” When you least expect it, He will come. Therefore, be alert, but there shall be no signs. This generation seeks a sign, and there shall be no sign. I tell you, it will come just―maybe tonight. I hope so.

I know in my own case, I went to bed as innocent as I had in any previous day. It was a lovely day. I lectured to an audience of eleven hundred or twelve hundred. I went off to brunch, because I didn’t have breakfast, with two friends―husband and wife. We went to a simple little place and had what I would call “breakfast.” There was no liquor served, and I didn’t feel like a drink at the time. I had a normal, simple breakfast: orange juice, bacon and eggs, and coffee. Then we went riding all through San Francisco. And that night a friend of mine who worked as a checker in the Fairmont Hotel, who had to be up early came through―he had to be on the job, I think, between 4:30 and 5:00, checking all the food coming in. So, we had a very early dinner―as early as the restaurant would allow; and we dined at the Sir Francis Drake where I was living. We had a roast-beef dinner―a simple dinner; roast beef and a baked potato. I did have a couple of Martinis, but may I tell you? That is only a beginning with me. I can go to many, and it doesn’t phase me at all. I can take five or six; it doesn’t bother me. I had two Martinis―simply whetting my little tongue. Then I went upstairs because he had to go early. And then at about 9:00 o’clock I called my wife, who was living in Beverly Hills, and then put him on the wire because we are all friends; and then he said goodbye a little after 9:00.

After he left, then I undressed and got ready for bed. I was too early; so I read a little Blake, and then I turned to my Bible; and I must have turned in about 11:00.

At 4:00 in the morning, this strange, peculiar vibration began in my head―something I had never felt before. And my interpretation of what I felt was, “This must be a massive hemorrhage.” I never had anything wrong with me physically of that nature, but I thought this must be what they call a “massive hemorrhage,”―this must be it, because I couldn’t see how I could survive what I was feeling. My head began to vibrate, and the whole thing was simply like an enormous vibration. Instead of blowing my brains, I began to awake. But instead of waking on the bed as I thought I would, I awoke within my skull! And here I am, completely entombed within my skull, and I knew my skull to be a tomb. I was a sepulcher. I was completely entombed within it, all alone. And then from the horizontal position, I arose within my skull, and my one consuming urge was to get out. And I knew exactly what I ought to do: push the base of my skull from within.

Well may I tell you?―all things being relative, when I awoke within my skull, it was a place big enough, say, about a quarter of this room here, and it was my skull! And I stood up within my skull―a place about the area of a quarter of this room. I knew exactly where the base was. I pushed it from the inside, and something rolled away from the outside. As we are told, “And the stone rolled away.”

Then I knew what to do. I put my head through the little opening, and I pushed it; and then I squeezed myself out like a little child coming through the womb of a woman,–only instead of through the womb of a woman, this was out of my own skull! When I was almost out, I pulled the remaining portion of me out of my skull.

Then I stood up and looked back at this [indicating the physical body] out of which I came, and it was ghastly pale, as told us in Jeremiah:

“Can a man bear a child?”

The obvious answer is, No. “Why, then, do I see every men drawing himself out of himself just like a woman in labor? And why does every face turn ghastly pale?”

[Jeremiah 30:6]

Well, the face was just as white as snow as I came out of it. And then the entire drama unfolded around me. There were witnesses to the event, but they could not see me because God was born at that moment. The sign of my “birth” was there; the child they could see. And I saw the child and could take it in my arms. But they could not see me because “God is Spirit,” and no mortal eye can see Him. So, they could not see the one that was born at that moment. It’s God-in-man that is buried. It is God-in-man, which is the “I” of man―the personal pronoun “I.” That’s God-in-man, and that is “born.” It awakens in him and comes out. The pattern by which He does it all is told us in Scripture, and it is recorded as the story of Jesus Christ. Well, Jesus Christ refers to himself constantly as the Son of Man.

“Who do men say that the Son of Man is?” And when they answered, concerning men, he did not answer. He asked another question: “Who do you say that I am?” So, he equates himself with the Son of Man.

Then one answered and said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood did not reveal this unto you, but my Father who is in heaven.” And “I and my Father are one.” So, I revealed it to you. I allowed you to know Who-I-Am. That’s what he is saying.

That same drama takes place in you. So, I am telling you, every one in this world is going to awaken, not only as the Lord Jesus Christ, but as God Himself, for the Lord Jesus Christ is God. That is the story of Scripture, but man has not understood it. And today when you see Monday morning’s paper, you’ll read all this palaver, all this non-sense, concerning Scripture―concerning the signs that are coming because some rumor of war―this goes on forever. This is the conflict. It is after the tribulation of human experience that it happens. And through “hell.” You will have glimpses of it at the very end because then you can stand it. But, oh, the things you have suffered in this world! The things you have come through―it is good and merciful that you cannot remember them.

In the end, you can take it, but you had to pass through all. As you are told in Scripture [Isaiah 48:10]: “I have tried you in the furnaces of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I did it,for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.”

His “glory” is Himself. He cannot give Himself to another. He has to make you Himself―to give Himself to you―because there’s only God. In the end, there is only God.

So, here, you are trained not to argue when some one brings up all the stories concerning Scripture. You ater trained to answer; and you can confront them, even though you have not had the complete experience. Many of you have had many of these experiences. Not the complete? All right. You will have the complete experience. I am not alone. I am only at the moment one who has been “sent” to tell it. I have been sent to tell it.

So, that Seventh Chapter of Daniel [Daniel 7:13] when this one like the Son of Man came before the Ancient of Days, and was presented to Him,–that happened to me in 1929. I was taken, in spirit, into the Divine Assembly; and having gone before the Recording Angel, where my name was checked off this huge ledger, as told you in the 12th Chapter of Daniel [Daniel 12:1]. “If your name be written in the book,”―well, every one’s name is written in that book! And she simply looked at me―this angelic being. Not one word was spoken between us; she just looked and made a check against the name.

Then I was taken into the presence of the Ancient of Days. He is the Ancient of Days―Infinite Love―nothing but Love. As I stood before him, I could not think of anything but Love, and he asked me, “What is the greatest thing in the world?” and I answered, “Love.” It has no other answer. How could you answer anything when you are actually looking at the Infinity of Love? And it’s man―just man.

Then he embraced me. And in that embrace, we fused; we became one being. And “He who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.” “One body, one spirit, one lord, one God and Father of all.” Then he “sent” me―sent me into this world. But he didn’t send me as Love. The One who sent me was Himself, because God is a protean being. He assumes every shape; and the One who sent me was Infinite Power. I could not feel in him compassion at all. I could not feel in that one Love, but he sent me. And the words rang out in my ears: “Down with the bluebloods!”

It doesn’t mean those who call themselves prominent socially,–no. All that is trivia anyway. “Down with all church protocol,–all the trappings of the outside world mean nothing. They mean nothing! All the ceremonies, all the rituals, all the things on the outside,–down with it all. Don’t tear it down, but do not become a part of it. Just completely ignore it.

Well, I can’t tell you how many opportunities I have had from those who are entrenched in the protocol of churches to join them. I didn’t have to go to any school. They said, “I will now ordain you, and then you can do all the things that we do by law. You can marry, you can bury; you can do all these things.”

I said, “No; I want no part of it.” These words ringing out in my ears, and I would simply disobey the order: “Down with the bluebloods”―which means protocol, and accept the offer?

One chap, he had an audience of over six thousand people. That is, they were all registered; they all contributed every month. And he offered that entire whole thing to me if I would take it.

I said, “I am sorry. I cannot take it. Give it to someone else, but I cannot take it. I have orders. I have orders that I must obey, and it came from the Ancient of Days,” Well, he couldn’t understand that

“Ancient of Days”―these are just words to the average preacher. They mean nothing; they are simply idle words. And yet, every word is true in Scripture. Here stands the Ancient of Days―no father, no mother; no beginning,–the Ancient of Days. He has no origin. You stand before Him, and He actually embraces you, and you become one now―without father, because you are the Father. And as Father, you have no father. You are the Father. Now go and, “Down with the bluebloods,”―down with all churchianity, all external things in this world. So, no inducement whatsoever could get me to join any -ism.

Now the end of my days―it doesn’t really matter. At least, I kept the faith; so I could say with Paul [II Timothy 4:8]: “I have finished the race. I have fought the good fight, and I have kept the faith. Now there is laid up for me the Crown of Righteousness,”―which means the crown of faith. I have kept the faith.

So, when the little garment is taken off now, it is for the last time. So, here I am just as an example for you, because it’s going to happen to you. Whether you now are believing or not, it’s still going to happen to you, because not one can be missing in the reconstruction of the Temple. You are the Son of Man spoken of in Scripture, which is the title most often used as Christ. It simply means “I”―the personal pronoun “I” or “One.”

So, when I am lifted up, that’s the Son of Man; and as the Son of Man must be lifted up like the serpent, you can say, “When I am lifted up,” like that fiery serpent; and you will be. Just like it. It’s a fiery serpent. You enter violently into that skull of yours, and you are riveted into that area prepared for you. Everyone has a special unique spot in the Infinite Brain of God. And you are not only going to be in that unique spot, you share the whole.

Cut me here [indicating]. All right, that’s cut, and it hurts. The whole body hurts. Don’t’ tell me because the little finger is not my eye that the eye isn’t something, too. The whole body suffers when one little piece suffers. So, everyone is fitted into the Restored Temple, and yet each is the whole Temple, for God is one, and His name is one.

So, everyone in this Universe is going to experience Scripture. And I can’t tell you the thrill in store for you when you experience Scripture. Something changes. You see, we begin within history. That is the incarnation when God becomes man. God became as I am―a man, weak and limited and restricted, that I may become as God is! So here, we begin within history. Then comes that moment in time when we go beyond history. And that is called “Bethlehem.” We begin. The incarnation is the birth of a child, and the “birth of God” is called “Bethlehem,” when from above God awakes, and you are God.

The “I”―may I tell you? there is no one else when you awake in that skull. You are not in eternity going to see Christ coming from without. He is within―buried within, and he rises from within. He is the “I” of you. And how would you know? Watch the imagery as it unfolds before you. All this pertains to Christ.

Here is the child wrapped in swaddling clothes. What are they told? “Go, and you will find a child wrapped in swaddling clothes. This shall be a sign unto you,”―what sign?―“that God is born.” This is a sign that the Saviour was born. Well, the only Saviour in the world is God. “I am the Lord your God, your Saviour; and beside Me there is no saviour,”―the 43rd―45th of Isaiah [Isaiah 43:11 and 45:21].

If the Saviour is born, the God is born. “And this shall be a sign unto you that a Saviour was born this day.” Where? “In Bethlehem.” And “Bethlehem” and “Jerusalem” and “Zion” and the “City of David” are one and the same, and it’s the skull of man. That’s where He was born, and that’s where He was crucified, and that’s where He was buried. It’s right there!

So, I tell you, play your part fully. Whatever you are doing today, play it fully. Let no one scare you. self-purification? Forget it! You can be as pure as all outdoors in your own mind’s eye, it means nothing. This salvation comes suddenly, out of the Nowhere, just like a thief in the night. And when it comes, you are completely possessed. And then it unfolds within you; and all you can do is share it with others. Tell them about it. Oh, they may deny it, as they will, because they know your physical background; they do not know your eternal being. So, they know your father and mother and your brothers and sisters; and they will ask the same question: “Is he not Joseph’s son?”―the carpenter’s son,–“and how can he tell us now he came down from Heaven?” How can he tell us these things? That man is mad. He has a spirit.

I tell you, the same thing will happen to you. It doesn’t mean that suddenly in the world of Caesar you are going to become a billionaire. You own the Universe. What do you want with the billion when you own―“All thine are mine, and mine are thine.” You have no desire for the billions or for glamour or for recognition,–none whatsoever. You are quite satisfied to go through life telling your story to those who will listen until that moment in time when you take off the “cross,” for this [indicating the physical body] is the only “cross” that Christ wears―the human form. You take it off for the last time and rejoin those who preceded you into Heaven, and rejoice with them. And then you will know what “dominion” really is, where it’s the whole vast world, in time.

You have the power to stop time, change motivation, and then start time. that’s what I mean by “dominion.” “To him who was given dominion,”―you can actually stop it. In stopping time, everything stands still. Then you change the motivation of that which is now “frozen” in time. Then you release it within you―not on the outside; and they move forward; believing they initiated the change of heart to execute your command, because you have become God.

Now that is what I mean by how difficult it is to take the mystery of Christ and unravel it to those whose fixed ideas will deny it. They will simply get up and walk away. “Why, he is anti-Christ,” they will say. “He is against my Christ,” because they take their “Christ” and stick him on the wall and cross themselves for luck. That’s what they do. They go to church, and they can’t cross the aisle before they face the alter and genuflect. I tell you, leave them alone. And what I have told you tonight―every word is true. I am telling you what I know from my own personal experience.

FEED MY SHEEP

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 7-01-1956

This morning’s subject is “Feed My Sheep.” This is simply saying: practice the truths you have heard, for it means to shepherd the thoughts of the mind. For most of us, our thoughts are like rambling sheep that have no shepherd. We are called upon now to rule the thoughts, to rule the mind.

As you know, the kingdom of heaven is as a man starting into a far country, and he calls unto himself his servants and gives them his property, his goods. To one he gives five talents, to another he gives two, and to another he gives one – “every man according to his several ability.” And when he returned he asked for a reckoning. The one who had five traded and produced another five. He was highly commended and told as he was faithful over a few things he would now be ruler over many. The one who had two, he too traded and produced four, and he too was highly commended and told to enter into the joy of the Lord. But the one who had one was afraid because his master – so he thought – was a hard man, and so he buried his talent in the earth and did not expand it. But I think you know the story. He was condemned for his misuse of the talent. It was taken from him and given to the one who had the most, the one who had ten.

Well, now you have received talents in the last few days or few weeks, each one according to his ability. Some of us came with more prejudice to overcome, with more superstition, some with other beliefs that did not quite coincide with what we heard from the platform, and many of us had to overcome certain things before we could accept others. So, some got one talent, some two, some five, some maybe more. Now, a talent that is not exercised, like a muscle that is not exercised, finally sleeps, and as far as we are concerned, it atrophies. It doesn’t really die, but it goes so sound asleep, it might just as well not be part of ours. We must practice what we have heard, for without practice the most profound understanding in the world will not produce the desired results. So a little talent (call it a talent now) if you really expand it, if you exercise it, will be far more profitable than many talents that you do not exercise.

This morning we will just take one or two of the talents that we offer you. I can’t force them upon you – “we offer you.” Here is a statement from the Book of Amos: “I will sift the House of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.” I will sift him and scatter him all over the nations of the world, but not the least grain shall fall upon the earth. Do you know who Israel is? Who this Jacob is? The Israel means “Is Real.” You can’t find it on the earth – don’t look for it on the earth, and yet you must find him, for ” formed him in the womb to be my servant and to bring Jacob – which is Israel – again unto me.” [Isaiah 49:5] So you and I were formed from the womb to be the servant and to bring Jacob unto the Lord.

He is scattered all over the world but you will not find him – no, not the smallest grain – upon the earth. But you will find him within yourself, for the cue is given in Jacob. Jacob is the smooth-skinned lad. He is not like his brother Esau, who has hair, which means something external. So the Israel you are looking for this day is the thing you want to realize in the world. Do not look out and hope to find it or even to be encouraged that you will find it, by judging after the appearances of things. Do you seek health for a friend? That’s Israel scattered, but not on earth. In all the nations of the world I have scattered the house of Israel, but do not look into the eyes of a doctor for hope. Do not look into the eyes of the patient for hope of his recovery because you will not find him on earth. Not the least grain has fallen upon the earth.

So do you know what you want in this world? If you know exactly what you want, where do you see it? You see it in the mind of yourself. So when you know what you want, here is a part of Israel scattered, and you didn’t see him on earth. You saw him in the kingdom within you, for the Kingdom of God is within. So you saw a piece of Israel, now go bring him. I formed you from the womb to be my servant and to bring Jacob again unto me. You take that thing you have seen in the mind’s eye, which to make it practical, we will think of as a friend in need. It may be physical need, maybe he is unwell, or it could be he needs a job. Well, now you be the one who will decide what part of Israel you will bring to the Lord and prove to the Lord you are a perfect servant.

For the promise is that when you prove you are the perfect servant, then you will no longer be called servant; he will call you his friend. “I no longer call you servant for now I call you friend for you do whatsoever I command you and, therefore, if you do what I command you, you are no longer my servant, you are my friend.” And now we will commune as a man to a friend, face to face. Another “you” has had this association for a while, for that is the purpose of it: to move from the servant to the friend; and after we become the friend of God for a while, then we turn to that of the Son. We no longer are the friend. We become his Son, but we cannot recognize the Sonship of God until we first prove ourselves as a servant. So the servant is to bring Israel, i.e., imagine lovingly and believe in your imaginal activity.

Now, we come back to the friend in need. Represent him to yourself as though he now embodied the state you want him to realize in this world. If it is a job, see him gainfully employed, take your imaginary hand, which is Jacob’s hand, and put it into his imaginary hand. Leave it in that imagined state until it takes on the tones of reality. When it seems to you real, that you are actually touching him, clothe it with all the reality of the external world. So Jacob clothed himself in the skins of Esau to deceive his father into believing that he, Jacob, was Esau. So you take the Jacob within you, which is the smooth-skinned lad, which is simply now the wish.

You want to congratulate him. You want to hear his voice. You want to hear him tell you he has never been so happy in a job in his life, he has never been so gainfully employed, that he loves going to work, he just loves everything about his job. You actually hear him as though you heard him. Now you clothe it with all the tones of reality. If you have two talents, give it two; if you have five, give it five. Begin to make it more and more real. The day will come, maybe this day, you will so clothe your Israel with the skins of Esau that you can actually bring it as an objective fact to your Father and prove you are a servant.

For he formed you from the womb to actually be his servant. And what is the servant to do? To bring Jacob unto me again. So here Jacob is, scattered – lost in all the minds of men. You won’t find him on the earth. You will only find him if you know where to look. Now to prove you know where to look, to prove you are a good servant, go bring me Jacob. So when you bring Jacob, you bring Jacob clothed in your own mind’s eye as though you heard what you want to hear, as though you touched and you witnessed what you would like to touch and see in this world. And when you remain faithful to your vision, the vision will make for itself that perfect body in which to abide.

Then you will see an objective corresponding fact, but it is not there. It is all within your own mind. It is there where he scattered it; it is there where he sustains it. He will simply project it for you onto the screen of space that you may have tangible evidence that you do know how to find and bring Jacob. If I know how to go searching for my Israel, if I know how to go looking for him and how to clothe him and give him the appearance of reality and I don’t do it, then I am not the good servant who took the five talents and expanded them; I am the one who buried it.

Now, some of us are almost afraid to test it because we are comforted if we can believe this without quite putting it to the test; for if we put it to the test and we fail, then we have no faith. We cannot go back to the former comfort that we enjoyed, say, in a more orthodox meeting. We thought we would find it here, and if I don’t test it and prove it to my own satisfaction, then I have neither the old comfort of the orthodox concept nor the comfort that I enjoyed here, for I disproved it. So I invite you to attempt, if you will, to disprove it.

You can’t disprove it, but if you go out knowing where to look for your Israel, knowing why you are fashioned from the womb to be a servant, that is the first stage. Until you test yourself, until you prove you can do it, you are not a servant, not a servant of the Lord. But as you become a servant of the Lord, he will make you his friend. Then the relationship will be on a higher level. You will commune with your Father as a man does with a friend, face to face. You will not see him as an object in space, but you will actually know how to bring about a wished-for state of mind – bring it about at will.

As you can bring about a wished-for state of mind, you have made of the deep – which is your Father – a friend, and you will actually know that companionship between the deep of self and you, the being that is really a wonderful imagination. Then the day will come, having been a wonderful friend of God, the seal will be broken and you will be revealed as the being you really are, which is the Son of God and the Father. Every person in the world is the child of God believing itself to be a man born of man.

I have tried in the past two weeks to convince you that your origin is God. It is not what the world would tell you – a little bug. For if you were a little bug, a little spermatozoa, though you seem to embody yourself and expand in the form of a man, your end will be a little spermatozoa, for all ends run true to origins. So whatever the origin, you can determine the end. I tell you your origin is God, therefore, your end is God. But to arrive at that end, you pass through the stages of the servant, then the friend, then God, which is the Son of God. For I and my Father are one, yet my Father is greater than I.

Yes, I do not claim that this union, this oneness, entitles me to the same identical feeling of being Father. I and my Father are one, but my Father is greater than I. For the thing symbolized that bears witness of this unseen state is not really as great as that which it symbolizes. So we are one and I will know it, and I will see my Father and see that he and I look alike, yet we are Father and Son relationship. But before I can get near it, I must prove I am a good servant.

Now, you take it this morning. We invite you to try it for a friend. We ask you to try it for yourself. We have given you many angles how to test it, how to think of what you want first and see in your mind’s eye – Israel. For when I know clearly in my mind’s eye what I want, I am actually looking at Israel, something that is real. It is real, but I must clothe it now in what the world calls reality by giving it external tones. But the thing was real long before it became a visible fact in the world. I see it in my mind’s eye by making as vivid and as lifelike a representation as possible of what I would see and what I would do and what I would actually hear, were I physically present in such a situation now.

When I see it clearly I am looking into the eyes of Israel, and I found him scattered in the world – but not on the earth, for it is not on earth that I see him. I see him in my mind. Now I am looking at it, and thinking of it, but the secret is to think from it, to occupy that state and get into it. When I get into it I will clothe it with reality. I can think of a place and then close my eyes and assume that I am in that place. When I assume I am in the place, I am clothing it with what the world calls reality. It was real before I clothed it – when I saw it clearly this was Israel – but he wants me to bring him, and the only way I can test that I can bring him and prove that I am the servant, is to occupy the state.

So, I occupy the feeling of my wish fulfilled. When I get into the feeling of the wish fulfilled and remain faithful to that state, then I am walking in my vision and – as we are told – if one would only advance confidently in the direction of his dream and endeavor to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected. Let me remain faithful to my vision by occupying my vision – don’t just see it. He demands that I bring him, bring Jacob again unto the Lord.

So Jacob is not a man who walked the face of the earth thousands of years ago, and Israel is not a nation now gathered together on the shores of Africa. He scatters the house of Israel in all the nations of the world. You might have been taught to believe that the person who calls himself a Jew in the presence of a nation is scattered Israel. Don’t believe it. Everyone in the world is that which actually contains and holds Israel. As you think of something and desire it to be a reality in your world, you are seeing Israel. Now he wants you to bring him and he wants you to prove that you can bring him and become the perfect servant of the Lord. Don’t be afraid to be the servant; become the perfect servant of God and then become his friend, and then realize you are his Son.

Let us go out determined that we will take the requests brought in here this morning There were a hundred odd that came in, but there are many more. Maybe you do not know them; you can take them collectively. But you can take an individual friend, a member of your family, and decide this day you are going to bring about some blessing in the individual’s life, you have it – you have the power to bless; for the power to confer reality on your wish for the friend is the power to bless that friend. If your friend is not well and you want the friend to be well, you simply assume that you and he (or she) are carrying on a conversation from a premise which you establish now, and the premise is that he or she never felt better in their lives, and you hear it and you witness it. Take your hand, your imaginary hand, and embrace them.

Tell them what you feel about them, actually feel it. And then you do nothing outwardly to make it so, for things that you are going to see are not made of things that do appear. So you do not prescribe anything for them. You do not change their physical diet. You don’t offer any recommendation as to what they should do. You simply assume that they are already the embodiment of the state you desire for them, so you don’t start prescribing. Leave that out completely. You simply walk faithful to your image of the friend and you transform that image in your own mind’s eye.

You do it and see if you can bring him, because if you can’t do that and prove it to yourself, you have not yet proven you are a servant; therefore, the friendship is far removed from you. Everyone must prove that he is first a servant, as we read in Isaiah 49: “I formed you from the womb to be my servant and to bring Jacob again unto me.” Then I am told: even though Israel is not altogether gathered I am blessed. The individual who does it, he doesn’t have to bring the whole body of Israel. If he brings Jacob – one individual transformed – and proves he can transform him, he is blessed and receives a certain glory long before the body of Israel is collected and brought back.

So here you wonder why he is called “the king of Israel.” Why is he called the king? People thought it meant a man who looked out upon a small little nation and thought he was king, or they thought he was king (or even in irony when they said it). He isn’t that. The individual who becomes Son is truly king of the whole vast world of Israel, or [of] the ideas floating in the mind of man. For he is their shepherd, he is their king. He can command any idea to clothe itself in form. That is the king of Israel. That is the one that can make real a state that is only a wish. “Is Real” is the true Israel. Here, long before we become that – lifted up – we must start to discipline the mind to become the perfect servant.

There is no better time to start than now. If you are afraid to try it, then I wouldn’t know what to tell you, because in this place you must test it. They do not have a religion where you just come here and sit on Sundays and gather together and form a nice little friendship this way. This is not that kind of a religion at all. This is all to awaken the mind of man and make him a shepherd, make him something that rules. In fact, the very word translated “feed” in John 21 is translated many times in the Bible as “shepherd,” as “rule.” In Matthew 2, one shall come from Bethlehem; he shall have dominion over Israel.

Well, in that one (he shall rule Israel) the word translated “rule” is the same word translated in John 21 as “feed.” So don’t take it literally. It simply means to take this mind of yours and discipline the whole mind by gathering things together and walking faithful to an invisible state, for Jacob is invisible. You thought he was a man who was a smooth-skinned lad.

That is the way the mystic has of telling you this is a subjective state, and that you must learn to clothe [it] with objectivity. You walk faithful to the subjective state, and then in time it takes on the tones and the appearance of something external. The moment you detach your mind from that state – though at the moment of detachment it had some corresponding external witness – it will begin to fade.

If you detach your mind from success in the midst of success, success as a reality outside of you fades and vanishes from your world. And then whatever you put your mind on, it takes the place of, proving success was not on the outside at all; it was within you. You clothed it for a moment and gave it the appearance of reality. But the day you are not faithful to the consciousness of being successful, the seeming solid reality of success vanishes from your world, proving itself to be the shadow it always was, and the reality – the light of success – was the idea in you with which you were identified. So if I assume that I am _____ (and I name it) and I remain faithful to it, it comes out and makes itself seemingly real. If I cease to assume it and sustain it, it slowly vanishes from my world, and if it vanishes I might think the reality was there. I have forgotten how to bring Jacob. I have forgotten how to bring him to the Lord.

So here let us remember where Israel is. It’s not in the Near East. Israel is scattered in all the nations of the world, in your mind – that is where he is. And now you have a purpose in this world and if you really love the teaching (as the words are: “Lovest thou me?”) you say you are faithful. “Peter do you love me?” He doesn’t call him Peter by the way, he calls him Simon. He never calls him Peter in any parts of the Bible; He is referred to as Peter, but whenever he is addressed by the central figure of the gospels, he always calls him Simon, and Simon means to hear, it means to listen.

Well, have you heard, have you really heard, Simon? Yes. Then do you love what you have heard? Lovest thou me, or what I have told you that I am? I am the thing that I teach, so do you love me? Then feed my sheep. Become ruler of this mind of yours and prove you really love the thing you tell me you have heard. If you have heard it, then you are Simon; and if you have really heard it to the point of acceptance, prove you have accepted it by taking the talent received and expand it. Don’t let the shepherd come and when he asks you for the talent, you say you were afraid and you buried it. Let us not be afraid to actually test the truth of the principles we try to explain here.

So, all these are our truths that we have accepted. Now, some got one, some two, some got five. We have done our best in the past two weeks to give you all that we could within two weeks, unfolded from the Bible. We showed you the Bible as a mystery, that all your members are buried, not in one little book, but in all the books. They are all telling you the story about yourself. How God became you that you may become God. How God died to become man in the sense of forgetting that he was God, as he awoke as man.

Man walking the earth has no knowledge he is God, and the individual who dares to claim that he is, and tells you that you are, is usually condemned by those who appoint themselves as teachers. That is the blind leading the blind, and they will call you arrogant if you dare to even demonstrate the power of the mind. And they will tell you that’s not right – you are taking back from God the thing that belonged to God. You see, they are sound asleep. They don’t realize that God became man for one purpose, that he may have the companionship of sons as Gods. So man must awaken and realize who he really is, and he realizes that by starting first as a servant.

I have given you, I think, a perfect technique to prove that you are a servant. Try it today! If you succeed in the simplest little way of taking an invisible state and making it become a reality, like the job for a friend or even the getting of a hat, or even the finding of the proper apartment, or even the getting of some little thing – you try it. If you lost something, “Nothing is lost in all my holy mountain,” sayeth the Lord, for if it isn’t lost it is scattered now in Israel.

Prove that it isn’t lost. What is it that you have lost? Well, take it in your own mind’s eye and then mentally touch it and mentally appropriate it and feel that you have it, that it is yours now, and remain faithful to that assumption and see if the thing returns. If the thing is recovered, you have proved that you have found Israel (a portion of him anyway) and you know how to take him and clothe him in such tones of reality that you can bring him to the Lord, for the Lord is your own wonderful consciousness. When you say: “I AM,” that is the Lord.

Go tell them I AM hath sent you. So when you walk in the feeling “I am so and so,” it is not seen as yet, but that is something you are bringing to the Lord, and the more you feel it to be real, the more natural it becomes. Then it clothes itself in external facts, but the external fact is not the truth of it. Truth and fact oppose each other. Truth does not depend upon fact.

Truth depends upon the intensity of your imagination. Therefore, if I actually am intense about it, that is true. I might tomorrow find a corresponding fact to bear witness – but, as I said earlier, let me not continue in that assumption and the fact will fade, proving it was not reality at all. Reality was in my assumption, and so truth depends not upon fact, but upon the intensity of imagination.

Then you will understand the drama when truth faces what is called fact or reason, and when asked: what is the truth – truth remains silent. He would not answer because fact or reason thinks that a true judgment must conform to the external reality to which it relates. If I say: “Aren’t these lovely” and I mention something that no one present can see, you say my judgment isn’t true, for if it isn’t on something on the outside.

Then what I say has no reality. I must be suffering from some illusion. If I persist in it, and you cannot see it, then it is hallucination. But I know from experience that I can take an illusion, and through the medium of an illusion I can relate myself to reality or “Is Real” by walking faithful to what you call my illusion. I simply assume a state knowing I have found it; it is scattered in the nations of the world and finding it in myself as a desirable state, I appropriate it. Walking faithful to my appropriated state I gradually become it. Disentangling myself from that state eventually, I cease to be it, for that which requires a state of consciousness to embody itself cannot be embodied without such a state of consciousness.

When I know that the whole thing depends upon my appropriation of the parts of Israel to bring Jacob to my Father, then I will start to do it, and then my talents will run from five to ten and to twenty, and finally when I have all these talents I will be worthy of being a friend. When I have been faithful in a few things, he will make me Lord over much. Then he will tell me: I no longer call you servant. I call you friend, for you did what I commanded you.

Now, having done what I commanded you, you are my friend indeed. We will walk in that association for a while, communing with the deep, knowing the deep of self is my real being that men call God. I won’t see him as another. I will commune with him as though he were another, and he and I will talk across that invisible state just as though man spoke face to face with a friend.

For after this invisible state when I commune with the deep is reached to a point of complete satisfaction, the last seal will be broken. He will break the seal and reveal me as his son, and when I see him and look into his face he will be just like me and I will be like him. Then you will know the mystery of the Epistle of John: “Beloved what manner of love.”

Just imagine what love God has bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God. And then, although at this moment, that I feel it from the deep, I don’t quite know what I am like or what he is like, yet I do know this much: that when I see him I will know him. And why will I know him? Because I’ll be like him. I will look right into the mirror of my own being, and realize it was for that purpose that I, the Father, embodied myself as man, hoping that eventually he would awaken and become a conscious being, moving completely from a passive reflector to a conscious cooperator in my kingdom. So, man gradually moves from the passive state to the active state, and the process is the servant, the friend, the Son.

FEEL DEEPLY

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 05-30-1969

What you feel deeply is far more important than what you are thinking. You may think about doing something for a long time and never do it, but when you feel something deeply you are spurred to act – and God acts! He who is the cause of all life acts through the sense of feeling. You can think of a thousand things, yet not be moved to act upon one of them. A deep conviction – felt, is far more important than anything you could ever think.

Let us turn to the first chapter of the epistle of James. “Ask in faith with no doubting, for he who doubts is like the wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. Let not that person believe that a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways, shall receive anything from the Lord. But be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourself. For if you are a hearer only and not a doer, you are like a man who observes his natural face in the mirror and then goes his way, forgetting what he is like. But if you are a doer of the word and not just a forgetful hearer, you will look into the perfect law of liberty, and persevere. That man shall be blessed in all his doings.”

How do you go about being a doer in place of a hearer only? By acting in faith. Scripture’s central character, called Jesus, set no limit upon the love of God and the power of faith. In fact all of his great deeds were prefaced with the words: “According to your faith.” Now, faith encompasses feeling. If you have faith you will act, and if you act God in you is acting, for God is your own wonderful human imagination whose eternal name is I AM. He acts only when you feel it. This is true even in the most practical way.

If I tell you what I would like to be and you tell me to go my way, as I am already it – and for one fleeting moment I see the world as I would see it if it were true, then turn and walk away, forgetting what the world looked like only a moment before – I am a forgetful hearer. But if I am a doer of the word and not a hearer only, I persevere; or – as the word is translated in the King James Version – I “continue in” the state, for all things are possible to the power of the word.

Look in a mirror and you will see your face reflected there, but you have another mirror which you can look into. That is the mirror of your friends; if they heard your good news, their faces would reflect it would they not? Assume your desire is now a fact. Feel its substance and reality. Then let your friends see you in that state. They are your living mirror.

Now persevere in that state and do not turn away and quickly forget what you are like. Walk through this door tonight in the assumption that you are the man (or woman) you want to be. It doesn’t make any difference if the outside denies it; you have seen the expression on the faces of your friends and heard their congratulations on the inside, with faith. Now, carry this feeling into the deep and persevere. Conjure a living mirror of friends and acquaintances who have heard your good news and accepted it as permanent. See your face reflected in theirs. If they love you, you will see empathy. They will be rejoicing because of your good fortune. Now, persevere in that awareness and do not forget what you have seen in your living mirror. If you do, you will be blessed in the doing, as you are told in the first chapter of the Book of Psalms: “Blessed is the man who delights in the law of the Lord; the perfect law of liberty, for in all that he does, he prospers.”

Were you not liberated from your past when you saw your friend’s faces reflecting what you wanted them to see? If you had left the state of poverty, sickness, or weakness behind and moved into the state of wealth, health, or strength – and your friends knew it – you would be set free from your former limitation. So, looking into the perfect law of liberty and persevering, you are blessed in all that you do.

I tell you from personal experience that this works, but we are the operant power. It does not operate itself. You may have heard this law by the hearing of the ear and read of it in a book, but do you know that the law works from experience? Have you put it to the test? Have you proved it? If you have, then you can speak with an authority, which was not yours prior to the proving. May I tell you: through the use of this law you are completely set free.

I have been in many places where I was forced to test this principle. While on the little island of Barbados, which had only two small ships servicing it as well as the hundreds of islands nearby, I made a commitment to give a series of lectures in Milwaukee on the first of May. When I called, the shipping agent informed me that due to the fact that the ship sailing out of New York City carried only sixty passengers and the one from Boston carried only one hundred, that there was no passage available before the first of September. He promised to put my name on the waiting list, but gave me no encouragement as the list was very long.

I hung up the phone and sat in my chair in the hotel room, closed my eyes and assumed I was aboard a ship heading toward New York City. I assumed eight or ten of my family were coming aboard with me, and that my brother Victor was carrying my little girl. I could feel the motion of the plank. Having no stateroom committed, I remained on deck and placed my mental hands on the rail and felt the salt of the sea there. Then I looked back nostalgically at the little island. I repeated that action over and over again, feeling every step I made on that gangplank. I felt the rail and smelled the salt of the sea. I did everything that feeling could be brought to bear upon, and when my actions seemed natural, I broke it.

The very next day I received confirmation that I would be sailing on a ship which would land in New York City one week before my commitment in Milwaukee, which I did. When I asked the agent how I obtained the tickets, he said they had a cancellation in New York and the one person he had called on the waiting list felt that the timing was inconvenient; so – knowing he could accommodate my wife, our little daughter and myself in one cabin – he let us in. I never heard why someone canceled in New York or why the one he called in Barbados could not take the ship at that time, or why the agent did not call all the others on the waiting list. I only know that I got the reservation I had imagined.

I have told this story before, and someone in the audience once said; “Was that a Christian thing to do? You might have caused someone to cancel their trip.” But I tell you, as I told her: it was the only Christian thing to do, for I used the Christian principle of fulfilling God’s law. How it is going to be fulfilled is not my concern. I am told that whatever I desire, if I will but believe I have received it, I will. God never creates a desire in the human heart that he has not already provided its satisfaction. This is true of every desire in this world, as well as the greatest of all desires, which is the thirst for God.

Do you really want an experience of God? Apply this principle towards it. Do what I did when I wanted to leave Barbados and come to America. I looked into the perfect law of liberty and persevered. God doesn’t give you one law for your desires of this world and another law for your search for him. It’s the same law. If you have had the experience of which I speak, would you tell someone about it? Is it a consuming desire, or do you want something other than that first? Perhaps you want a lovely home, security in the sense of money in the bank that you can touch, or stocks and bonds that pay dividends. If you want to feel wealthy, travel, and have lots of things before you thirst for an experience of Christ, it is secondary, so don’t try it. But if an experience of Christ is your consuming desire then don’t hesitate to put it to the test. Put first things first. If your first desire is to be recognized in the work that I am doing, then apply this principle towards it and let that thirst for God take its own good time to envelop you, and when it does apply this principle towards it.

Feel in depth, for what you feel deeply is more vital than what you think. Every day you can think about how wonderful it would be if – and never act. But if every day you would feel how wonderful it is now, it will become true. Shakespeare said: “Assume a virtue if you have it not.” A virtue must be felt to be assumed. Refrain from the assumption tonight and it will be easy to refrain next week and still easier the next. But if you will assume your desire is fulfilled now, and persevere in that assumption through the sense of feeling, it will be externalized as a literal fact in your world.

I am calling upon everyone to put this into practice. Every desire contains its own satisfaction to be fed upon. It’s entirely up to you. You may feed your hunger by thinking of your desire, or feed its satisfaction by thinking from its fulfillment. It is God who gives you every desire, be it for things of this age or the age to come – as told us in the Book of Amos: “I will send a famine upon the world. It will not be a hunger for bread or a thirst for water, but for the hearing of the word of God.”

When you want to speak the word of God, your hunger is not for the hearing of the word, but for the glamour connected with the teaching. It is the spotlight you desire and that too has been provided for. Every desire can and will be satisfied if you will look into the law of liberty and persevere. Then you will be blessed in all you do.

A chap came to see me from New York City yesterday. When I heard his request I would not tell him my reaction to it, but that I would hear that he had it. This chap, now retired from the antique department of Macy’s, has been teaching in one of these isms back East. Then he started corresponding with a group out here, who – unable to believe in themselves – wants a leader; so they have asked him to come lead them. When he told me the nature of his desire I was sorry that all he could see in life was the spotlight, but I granted it to him. He is tired of playing third, fourth or fifth fiddle to a leader who has milked a million dollars out of those who are buying bricks into heaven. Having nothing, this man’s followers are building heaven for him and giving it to him as their gift. They have bought valuable land in New York City and built a building on it. Then he threw a banquet at a large hotel and they paid $50 for the privilege of seeing the mortgage they paid for burned, but the land and building are in his name.

Back in 1943, this same man told me he was coming to New York for only one purpose and that was to make money in the so-called New Thought movement. When I heard him say this, I thought he was in the wrong profession. If he wanted to make a lot of money he should go into steel, oil, or coal. If you want to do this work you can live well, but will not have the ambition for millions. Well, he wanted lots of money and now he has it, as well as homes in the country, an apartment in the city, and a lovely, large building in New York City – which those who love to be milked paid for. The chap who came to see me assisted this man. He has seen how phony it has been, but he hasn’t completely overcome it. He still wants the spotlight and now he has the opportunity to get it. I will pray for his success – not as a teacher for he is not one – but for the glamour he will receive by those who want the nonsense, as they are going to start off by not eating meat, smoking, or drinking – in fact a complete loss of the palate.

His request does not offend my moral code, so I can easily say that he is successful; but I urge you who are sincere to try to create within yourself a longing for the deepest of all desires, and that is to know God from experience. If you can really thirst for God above everything else, then use the same law of liberty. Look into the faces of your friends and say with deep conviction and feeling: “I have had the experiences of which Neville speaks. The entire series, from the resurrection through the descent of the dove, has unfolded within me.” Then persevere, for God has provided a satisfaction for that hunger and you will know it. But if this hunger is not yet upon you and you sincerely want a better way of living that is not wrong, simply use the same principle of the perfect law of liberty and persevere. Having acted, don’t turn and forget what you have done but sleep in that conviction, and in a way you do not know, it will be yours.

Tonight many of our friends are not here because it is Memorial Day. But I tell you: not one moment in time is holier than another and there is no earthly place more sacred than the other. Wherever you stand is sacred ground because you are there. Today millions are celebrating Memorial Day, remembering the dead and placing flowers on a grave their loved ones do not occupy. This morning just prior to waking, I saw my brother Lawrence. He died at the age of sixty-two, but looked much older because he had suffered so much before his departure. This morning he was only about twenty-three years of age. We were both fully awake and he asked me to tell his wife that the money he left her was for her, and not to save it for the children. I said: “Lawrence, you don’t have to go through me to tell Doris, she wouldn’t give one penny to anyone anyway. She never has. Do you think she would change now? Her only concern is that you did not give it all to her, but shared equally with your four children.” But I was with Lawrence. He was strong, strapping and handsome, blond with brown eyes. He is the same Lawrence, with the same intelligence he had when he left here. He is younger now, but he still has the memory of the family he left behind. The veil is no clearer to him there than it is to those on this side. Only one who is awake can penetrate the veil consciously. It is easy now for me to go beyond the world of dream and enter the world of spirit waking and meet my friends there.

But on Memorial Day men think of the dead, while I am speaking of life everlasting. “Let the dead bury the dead,” and follow me, for I have risen from the dead and I speak of a Living God who is real. I cannot go to a cemetery and put flowers or a flag on that which is not there. The body may have been placed there, but not the spirit.

You are buried in the skull and in that skull you will remain, dreaming your dream of life until you awaken and are born the second time. It is from there you are going to find David, who reveals you as God the Father. It is from there you are going to be split in two and ascend into the Holy of Holies. You were begotten in that skull and you will end the drama there, to know you are one with the one and only Living God.

In the 25th and 27th chapters of the Book of Genesis, the story is told of Isaac, who had two sons. The first son, Esau, had hair all over while the second son, Jacob, was hairless. Being blind, Isaac calls Esau and asks him to go get some venison for dinner. Jacob, having overheard the request, clothed himself in the skins of his brother Esau and took the venison to his father. Isaac, hearing Jacob’s voice began to doubt, until he felt his reality and caught his odor. Satisfying himself that the son was real, Jacob was given the father’s blessing. When Esau returned from the hunt Jacob disappeared, but Isaac said: “Although your brother came through deception, I have given him your blessing and I cannot take it back.”

After smothering yourself in feeling, you have sent it on its way and cannot take it back, for prayer is nothing more than the subjective appropriation of an objective hope. Imagine by giving objective reality to your hope. Hair is the most objective thing on a man. Bring your hope so close that you can feel what it would be like if it were objective to you.

Clothe yourself in that feeling – and you have clothed yourself in the reality of an Esau. The world will not immediately reflect your feeling, but you have set your desire in motion and cannot take it back. You have given a subjective state your blessing by giving it objective reality. Now it must fulfill its destiny so that you will be blessed in all that you are doing.

If you don’t give your subjective hope objective reality, you can’t be blessed in its fulfillment. You must clothe yourself in the feeling that your wish is fulfilled. Jacob is your desire, waiting to be clothed in the feeling of external reality. Catch the feeling, and you have clothed Jacob with the external reality of Esau. Now deceive yourself into believing that your desire is externally real, and give it your blessing by subjectively appropriating your objective hope. Who is the blind Isaac? You are, for you cannot see what you are asking for in your outer world. It’s a hope and you are blind to it. But when you clothe yourself in the feeling of its fulfillment, you are eating the feeling of satisfaction. Feast upon this feeling morning, noon, and night, and in a way you do not know your desire will become an objective reality in your world.

In this story we see the importance of feeling. Isaac asked Jacob to come close and kiss him. The word translated “kiss” means, “to set on fire; to burn; to touch.” That’s an emotion, an intense feeling. Reality is felt through the sense of touch. Feeling is touch. Tasting is touch. Scripture tells us he tasted death for all of us. How do you taste death? By experiencing it. Jesus tasted death by dying in all, that all may know who he is.

Now I urge you to put his teaching into practice. He taught you to simply appropriate a subjective state which is your objective hope, and know it must externalize itself in your world. Do that and it will. Ask in faith, without a doubt, for those who doubt are like the wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. They are double-minded, for they know what they are while desiring to be something else. You must be single-minded by dropping what you believe you are and assuming that you are already what you desire to be, for you cannot desire something you already possess. Look into the wonderful law of liberty which sets you free, and you will see your freedom in the faces of your friends. Persist in your assumption and it must come to pass.

Now let us go into the silence.

FOLLOW ME

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 11-11-1968

We are told that when Jesus found Philip, he said: “Follow me.” Then Philip told Nathanael: “We have found him of whom Moses and the law and the prophets wrote.” Philip is one who is interested in the workings of the mind. Looking for one who is searching for the source of the phenomena of life, Jesus finds one in whom he can reveal himself.

The Book of John begins: “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Now turning into a person, it is said: “He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the consciousness of men.”

Read this statement carefully and not superficially, and you will discover that from the beginningless beginning there has been God, and another through whom God acts and by whom God expresses himself. One who is to God what man’s imagination is to a man. They are inseparable, for the Word is not only with God, but is God!

Man finds it difficult to identify himself with his imagination, but the word “logos” – translated “Word” means a purpose; a plan; a pattern. The Word which was with God in the beginning is Divine Imagination, through which all things are made. There is not one thing in the world today which was not first imagined. Perhaps you cannot grasp the idea that nature was first imagined, but you cannot deny that man’s clothing, home, business, and transportation, were imagined.

Man expresses himself through his human imagination, just as God expresses himself through his Divine Imagination. There is no clear-cut separation between God and Imagination, or man and his imagination. I tell you, Imagination is God Himself. He is the divine body Jesus, of which we are his members. Identifying Divine Imagination with Jesus, Blake claims Imagination became Man, that Man may become God’s power and wisdom, called Christ. Any Christ other than he who is crucified, buried, and rises in an individual is false, for there is no Christ other than man’s own wonderful human imagination.

God’s creative power is buried in you. Just as a seed buried in the womb of woman must bring forth after its own kind, God’s power is brought forth as your spiritual birth. Your imagination is spirit buried in you. God – being spirit – has planted his seed, which will erupt one day, and you will experience a spiritual birth.

In the 3rd chapter of the Gospel of John, he speaks to one who is a member of the Sanhedrin, saying: “Unless a man is born from above he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.” Why? Because it is impossible to physically enter that which is spirit. The kingdom of heaven, being spirit, can only be entered through a spiritual experience. Nicodemus, accepting this statement on a physical level, asked: “How can a man who is old re-enter his mother’s womb and be born again?” His question was answered in this strange way: “The wind blows where it will and you hear the sound thereof, but you cannot tell from whence it comes or whither it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the spirit. (wind).”

When I was born from above I was aware of a peculiar, unearthly wind. This wind is a must in order for man to leave this sphere of death and enter the eternal sphere of life called the kingdom of heaven.

One cannot speculate upon God’s kingdom by using images of earth for, “Eyes have not seen or ears heard what God has prepared for those who love him.” If your eyes have not seen or your ears heard of that age, don’t try to speculate using images of earth, for there is nothing here that remotely resembles the kingdom.

Now let me share my experiences with you. I retired one night, never suspecting that the time of delivery was upon me. I had been carrying God’s plan of salvation within me since the beginning of time. It had been growing, yet I did not suspect its birth.

That night as I slept, I felt an unearthly vibration possess me. It increased in intensity until I felt I must explode, when suddenly I began to awake. Expecting to see the room I had fallen asleep in and the normal awareness I have known after a dream of the night, I awoke to a greater awareness – to discover I was in my skull, which was a tomb in which I was buried.

Alone, I arose to discover my skull was sealed and there was no escape. I knew I had awakened in my head, yet all of the outlets through the eyes, ears, and mouth were sealed. Intuitively I knew that if I pushed the base of my skull I would be set free. I did and as something moved I squeezed myself through that little opening, just as a child comes out of the womb of a woman. When I was completely free, I looked back at the head from which I had come. It was ghastly pale, turning from side to side as though recovering from a great ordeal.

I had no idea I had been sleeping in that head, but thought it was my very being. It had never occurred to me that the spirit which gave me life was the cause of my breathing and consciousness. I thought my physical body was me, not realizing it was simply where the real me was buried.

Once out of my skull, an unearthly wind caused my head – as well as the house – to rattle. Looking for the cause, my attention was diverted for a few seconds. And when I looked back, my body was gone and in its place were my three brothers. One was sitting where the head had been, while the other two were sitting at the feet. Disturbed by the sound, one rose and moved in the direction of the wind. Looking down, he said: “Why, it’s Neville’s baby.” The other two questioned his words, saying: “How can Neville have a baby?” Without arguing the point, my brother reached down, picked up a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, and placed it on the bed. Then I, as though having rehearsed the drama in eternity, took the babe in my arms and said: “How is my sweetheart?” as the child broke into a heavenly smile. Then the scene dissolved and I awoke.

We are told that each individual is born again through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. I, an individual, have found him of whom Moses and the law and the prophets wrote, for when I awoke in that tomb no one else was there. I recognized that tomb to be my skull and when I came out from its base I found the sign of my spiritual birth as a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying on the floor. The word translated “manger” means “floor; the lowest point in the area”. So you see: a child is not born. The child is only a sign of your individual spiritual birth.

It was I who rose in the sepulcher and pushed myself out. It was I who was born anew through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. After this experience all of my concepts of Jesus Christ crumbled and dissolved, for I knew that the being who was in the beginning with God actually became me that I may become God in the most literal sense. I knew that God was not only crucified upon me, but was buried within me. That I carried in my body the death of Jesus, that his life might be made alive in me.

I was awed at this experience. Knowing all of the things I had done and was still capable of doing, I wondered how I could be the Christ of scripture. Yet I have searched scripture and cannot find any other explanation. I now share with you what I have experienced, for everything recorded there as an event in the life of one called Jesus Christ has unfolded in me.

We are told: “You search the scriptures thinking in them you will find eternal life, yet it is they which bear witness to me.” One hundred and thirty-nine days after my resurrection and birth from above my head began to vibrate intensely. Suddenly it burst and I found myself seated in a modestly furnished room. A youth, handsome beyond measure, was leaning against the frame of an open door. As looked at him I knew he was my son, yet I also knew he was David of Biblical fame. At that moment I had found my son and he had found his father.

The next morning as I searched scripture to find out who saw David and whom David called father, this is what I found. In the 89th Psalm, the Lord declared: “I have found David. He has cried unto me, `Thou art my Father, my God and the Rock of my salvation.’”

If David called the Lord his father, and David called me father, am I not the Lord? This is the plan that God established in the beginning when he gave himself to you and to me. Being a father before the pledge, when God succeeds in the giving you and I must be God.

Dwell upon these words: “I am the true and living way to the Father. No one comes unto the Father save by me.” This true and living way is a pattern buried in all which leads the individual to the discovery of being God the Father. This truth is revealed by David, for it is he who says: “I will tell of the decree of the Lord. He said unto me, ‘Thou art my son, today I have begotten thee.’”

Now, Christ, being God’s creative power and wisdom, cannot be separated from God. Christ was not some little boy who was born two thousand years ago, but God’s semen, his creative power that is buried in humanity. The image of God is contained within that semen; and if God is a father, when the semen awakens in the individual he will know himself to be God, the father of all life.

One hundred and twenty-three days after the revelation of being God the Father, I fulfilled the 3rd chapter of John, wherein Nicodemus was told: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up.” (That which is recorded in the Book of Numbers is an adumbration of the event, for when the Son of man is lifted up it is an extremely personal experience.)

That night a bolt of lightening split my body from the top of my head to the base of my spine, becoming a pool of golden liquid light. Knowing it was myself, I knew I was self-redeemed. I fused with the light and becoming one with it I ascended my spine to enter my skull, where the drama began. As I did my skull reverberated from the intensity of the vibration, and once again scripture was fulfilled.

There is no other purpose in life other than to fulfill scripture. You may own all of Caesar’s belongings, but when you depart this world you must leave it all behind. But when God’s pattern erupts in you, you enter an eternal world, knowing yourself to be its creative power. Then you are used to express God in any aspect your very being so desires.

The fourth and final revelation occurs 998 days later. This event brings the total number of days from the birth from above to the discovery of the dove to 1210 – as foretold in the books of Daniel and Revelation. On this final day my skull became transparent, as a lovely beige dove floated about twenty feet above me. As I raised my right hand the dove descended and lit upon my index finger. Then I brought it to my face and it smothered me with affection.

Here again scripture was fulfilled as the Holy Spirit descended upon me in bodily form as a dove, revealing the story of Jesus Christ as a personal experience. When I was physically born, it was through the action of powers not my own and I had no consciousness of it. But my spiritual birth was consciously experienced from beginning to end.

This is my story. It is my hope that you will follow me. That you will believe my experiences. If I tell you earthly things and you do not believe me, how can I expect you to believe the heavenly things I share with you?

Everyone imagines! Can you believe that Christ, Imagination’s power, is in you? If so, then God is in you! And if God is in you, you cannot be lost for then God would be lost. Everyone has to be redeemed. Everyone will be saved because God – the savior of each individual – is redeeming himself, bringing the individual awareness in whom He is buried back into the kingdom with him.

The moment God buried himself in you he imprinted himself upon you, predestining you to not only radiate and reflect God’s glory, but to be the express image of his person. God is not some impersonal force, but a person. The unknown author of the letters to the Hebrews claimed he was the express image of God’s person. This is a true statement. Not one will be lost because all of us will be gathered together into that one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one God and Father of all. In the end there will be one grand fulfillment of the greatest of all commandments: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.”

When I speak of my imagination there appears to be two of us: Neville, and my imagination. I know imagination cannot be seen, yet I also know I cannot separate myself from it. If I lose myself in a daydream and move from my living room in Beverly Hills to Central Park in New York City, I have not separated myself from my creative power. I cannot, for my imagination is my very being. I can speak of my imagination, but I cannot separate myself from it any more than God can be separated from Divine Imagination, for through Divine Imagination’s creativity God creates and sustains the world. Should God change his imagining the world would cease to exist, because it must be, and is supported by an imaginal act. The same thing is true in your world. It will change only when you cease to continue to dwell in your current imaginal state!

But there is a pattern buried in you that will not change. Told in the form of a story, man thinks an individual was born two thousand years ago. But the creative power of God did not assume only one man; he took human nature into his sacred Self. The one creative power of the universe is buried in humanity. It is the same creative power in one who murders, as in the one who is murdered. God allows you to misuse Christ, his creative power. But in the end He will awaken and all violence within you will cease to be, for you will discover yourself to be infinite love, infinite wisdom, and infinite power. Then the world will become a shadow, and you will know there is no need to fight shadows.

Now let me share two experiences of one who knows herself to be an incurrent eyewitness. She has the capacity to turn her thoughts inward and see a world as solid and real as our outer one appears to be.

This particular day she decided to leave the scene that was before her eyes by turning inward and claiming it had vanished. But instead of vanishing, the scene froze and everything became a cold, dead statue. Realizing that she had the power to arrest it, she decided to test herself to see if she could re-animate the scene once more. So she imagined the scene was alive and instantly life flowed through the room, as though no action on her part had ever stopped its flow. Then she said to herself: “If I can stop and start what the world calls vision, I should be able to stop and start what the world calls reality.” She can, for in that brief vision she learned where life really is. Christ in her gave her a taste of the power she will exercise consciously in the not distant future.

Although this world appears so very real, it is a vision. “All that you behold, though it appears without, it is within, in your Imagination of which this world of mortality is but a shadow.” If life is in God and God is your imagination, then what the world calls life is only an activity of your imagination. If you stop imagining and arrest that which seems to be animated and independent of your perception, you will prove to yourself that it can be done. Then you will know who Christ is, for you will have discovered that “In him is life and his life is the light of men.” God animates Man within himself. Although humanity appears to be independent, with life in themselves, their life is but an activity of imagination, for that is what I AM!

My friend also shared this experience. One night in dream she was in a classroom listening to a woman teach the law. Claiming to believe and practice the law, the woman began to rant and rave against Neville, claiming he was insane, as she did not believe in the promise. The lady then asked the teacher: “Do you believe that imagining creates reality?” and when the woman replied, Yes, the lady asked: “How would you feel right now if you began to imagine you were God?” With that the teacher screamed: “”You should be in the same institution with Neville!”

It is easy to mouth the words: imagining creates reality, but are you willing to imagine you are God? And if you did would you become God? At that thought a line was drawn, so she does not really believe that imagining creates reality. She is willing to believe that she can imagine things are better than they seem to be, but to believe she is God is an insane thought.

Her dream fulfilled the 10th chapter of John, where the question is asked: “Why listen to him? The man is mad and has a demon.” When one comes to tell the story of God becoming Man that Man may become God, he is called mad, because his words are in conflict with what the world believes.

This is always true. If anyone told our forefathers that electricity was a fact – that by merely turning a switch a room would be ablaze with light, he would have been called crazy and condemned. In certain sections of time, if a thought was in conflict with what the churches taught, one could be burned at the stake.

Every man who awakens to his infinite power is considered mad. His words are considered those of the devil, for his experiences do not conform to what men think Christ is. Men are looking for some super being to come out of the clouds and save the people who are now dead, and treat the others horribly. But if someone comes and claims that there is only one savior and that one is in everyone as his awareness, that one is considered mad and possessed by the devil.

But I tell you: God acts the moment you imagine. You are the temple of the living God and the spirit of God dwells in you. In the 10th chapter of Hebrews this temple is identified with the curtain which, when torn from top to bottom, opens up the new and living way. Then, ascending in consciousness, you take your own blood into the presence of the Living God.

Paul asks the question: “Do you not know you are the temple of the living God and the spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16) If the curtain of that temple is torn from top to bottom, it has to be you! The spirit who ascends is he who is buried in you, and will rise in the same manner as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. So when I ask you to follow me, I mean it literally, for I am telling you what I know from experience. I am not theorizing or speculating. Redemption is a very personal experience that takes place in the individual you.

No one really dies, for the world does not cease to exist when your senses cease to register it. Your friends and loved ones who have departed this world are just as real to themselves as when they were here. Now clothed in bodies like yours and mine, they are in a terrestrial world fulfilling their unfulfilled desires. While there they will know the same struggles, joy and sorrow, peace and war, as Christ continues to awaken God’s image in them.

When God said: “Let us make man in our image,” He placed that image in you. And when Christ is born in you, you – the express image of the invisible God – enter the kingdom, radiating and reflecting God’s glory.

There are those who believe they are reborn by changing their attitude and giving more money to the church. That is because they do not know the mystery of Christ. My visions would frighten them and they would call me mad; yet I am telling the truth which I know from experience. I am not trying to share some workable philosophy of life.

Another lady wrote telling of a dream in which she found herself standing in a long line, moving towards a man sitting behind a desk. When she arrived, he stamped the back of her left hand with indelible ink and she intuitively knew this was her entrance into heaven. A few nights later she found herself on a highway protected by chains. Seeing two secondary roads leading off the highway, she knew she had formerly walked there, but was now on the road towards the kingdom of heaven.

These dreams are foreshadowings – healthy experiences to encourage her to persist. She has now found the one and only way to the Father. That way is I am! Believing in the Father, she will find him, and when she does she will find her very self!

We are told that God speaks to man through the medium of dream and makes himself known in vision. If this is true, no voice should interest you more than that which is heard in your dreams and visions. Words spoken by men of the world are spoken from theory. They voice their opinions, but I am telling you my revelations.

This night I have told you how Christ is formed. As Paul said: “My little children [with] whom I am again in labor until Christ be formed in you.” Just like a child is being formed in the womb of a woman, when Christ is formed in you it comes forth. Then you awaken to discover you have been sound asleep throughout the centuries, although you did not know it.

The world, seeing a mortal body cremated and turned to dust, cannot understand how there can be a head that survives such an experience; but it does, for the real Man is all Imagination. He imagines a body there just as easily as he imagines one here. When you see a friend or dear one who has departed you will recognize him, but he will be young, as he is continuing the work that he set out to do, which is to form Christ in him.

One of the signs of your spiritual birth will be the three witnesses. As I stood watching them their thoughts were objective to me. I was unseen by them because spirit was born. As spirit, I was invisible to my mortal brothers who came to witness the event.

Unless one is born into the spirit world, when he leaves this world of flesh and blood he is not spirit but solidly real, as we are here. He is not seen by mortal eye because a veil has been drawn. But after your spirit is born the veil is removed from your spiritual eyes, and you will realize humanity is doing what must be done in order for God’s image to be formed in them.

Every man’s words are his judge. Believe me and follow me into an entirely different sphere known as the kingdom of God.

Now let us go into the silence.

FOLLOW THE PATTERN

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 03-25-1968

“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.” (William Blake) We are told that the Bible is the word of God; therefore, if God and man are one, it must be man’s word. Now, a scriptural episode is not a record of an historical event, but a paradoxical revelation of truth. Accept this, even though you may not understand it, for when scripture is experienced, you will know it is literally true!

Paul tells us to follow the pattern of the sound words which you have heard from me. Guard the truth which has been entrusted to you by the Holy Spirit which dwells within us. (II Timothy) Here we are called upon to guard this truth, for only as we follow the pattern – which is the truth – are we saved. If all things are possible to your imagination, and you are all imagination, you should be able to accomplish anything and fulfill every desire. But first you must be willing to believe you are all imagination! It’s entirely up to you. Do you believe you are mortal man – or all imagination?

Living in infinite states, the basic state from which we operate is our body of belief. If you believe you are limited, your thoughts flow from that belief. But if this principle is true, and you place a modification on that body of belief, you should produce a corresponding change, as your outer world is forever reflecting your inner thoughts.

Genesis tells us that the serpent, the symbol of our fall, is the most subtle (often translated as “wisest”) of all of God’s creatures. In Proverbs, the personification of wisdom says: God created me at the beginning of his ways, the first of his acts of old. Then in 1 Corinthians, Christ is defined as the power and wisdom of God. If this is true, then who is the serpent? The churches teach that some strange dragon led man into this world of sin and death. But when you understand scripture you will realize that Jesus Christ (God’s power and wisdom) is the serpent! It is he who brought us into the world of generation, and it is he who redeems us by raising us into the world of regeneration. This I know to be literally true. John tells us: “No one ascends into heaven but he who first descended, even the Son of man. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up.” (John 3) Here we see that infinite power and wisdom took the form of man – the limit of contraction, by entering the state called Satan – the limit of opacity. To Satan there is nothing beyond the physical sense of sight, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touch, as he is confined to the limit of opacity and contraction.

We are called upon to exercise this power that sacrificed itself and became us. As Blake said: “I know of no other Christianity, no other gospel than the right both of body and mind, to exercise the divine art of Imagination.” By exercising the divine art of imagination, you can prove to yourself that you can go beyond what your eyes, reason, and senses dictate. Exercise this art by daring to assume you are what your reason and senses deny you. Persist, and to the degree you are self-persuaded of its truth, the outer world will change, for it is forever conforming to the belief housed within you.

Infinite power and wisdom took on the form of a person by descending into you. His descent is your capacity to generate here. One day he will turn around and, as the son of man, you will ascend into heaven. But no one can ascend into heaven who has not first descended. He who descended came in the form of a serpent. This I know from experience. You, too, will know this to be true when your body is split from top to bottom, and the furnaces of affliction become fountains of living water. We came here to experience our own, individual furnaces of affliction. But when your spiritual body is split, you become living water springing from humanity, and like a fiery serpent you ascend your spinal cord. The 21st chapter of Numbers tells us: “The Lord God said to Moses, ‘Make a fiery serpent and set him on a pole and it shall come to pass that everyone who is bitten, when he looks upon it, shall live.’” Why? Because he enters into life in himself! This statement, as every little episode in scripture, is a rough sketch, an adumbration, a foreshadowing for time to fulfill in experience.

Now let me share an experience of a friend. In his dream he is constructing a large building, knowing that his father is creating one greater than his. Although he never sees his father, he knows that one day he will be as great as he. Suddenly he sees a black and white tree snake, picks it up and watches it coil around his right arm. Then the snake began to speak, telling him of the husband she loves, but has lost. The scene changes and my friend is now standing on a new building site with a pole standing upright in the center. Ascending the pole is the same snake, who turns around and starts its descent as he awoke. Here is a perfect adumbration, for only that which descends can ever ascend. I know it doesn’t make sense on this level; but just as Moses lifted up creative power in the wilderness, so have I, as the Son of man, been lifted up. How? In the form of a serpent! The creative power of Imagination descended by turning his head down into generation. His power, now reflecting in this world, must be reversed. This cannot be done by any conscious effort. The reversal takes place when the spiritual body is split in two from top to bottom. Seeing the fountain of living water, your creative power fuses with it, and up you go into heaven, just like a serpent. Blake described this as: “The furnaces of affliction suddenly become fountains of living water, all springing from humanity.” Everyone is destined to enter that fountain of living water, rise from this level into which he descended, and understand the words of Blake: “I do not consider the strong man, the weak man, the rich man or the poor man, to be in an ideal, supreme state, but to be everyone of them states of the sleep which the soul may fall into in its deadly dreams of good and evil when it left paradise following the serpent.”

In the third chapter of Genesis, wisdom (the serpent) speaks, saying: “Did God say you would die? You will not surely die.” And in that same chapter God declares: “Behold, man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil.” Now, knowing good and evil, the serpent promised that if you would descend and partake of this knowledge, you would awaken like the gods. Simply automatons, knowing nothing, you lived in a dreamlike state until infinite wisdom said: Follow me. So you left the world of innocence, and entered the world of experience to return to the world of Imagination, from whence you started. And when you return, you are all Imagination, and nothing is impossible to you. But before you do, you can test your creative power knowingly. Do you know someone who is in need? Bring him before your mind’s eye and see his need fulfilled. Lose yourself in the thrill, the feeling of joy for your friend. Do nothing on the outside to make it so, simply persist in seeing him in his new state, and no power on earth can stop it from being so. If you think he can oppose you, you are looking at the world of Satan, for there is no physical other. God is one. There is no opposition save that which you create for yourself!

Try to follow the pattern of these words which you have received from me. It is the same pattern as recorded by Paul, as the same God who revealed his Son in Paul revealed his Son in me, revealing me as the Father. Paul knew he was God the Father when he said: “When it pleased God to reveal his Son in me.” This truth comes from revelation; so, like Paul, I am asking everyone to follow the pattern of the true words which you have heard from me, for I have experienced scripture and know it is not secular history. The stories of scripture are paradoxical revelations of truth, which happen naturally. The golden liquid light you see is the living water which you become as you merge with it. Then, as a living fountain, you ascend from humanity in a serpentine motion.

Now, another friend wrote saying she found herself in the depths of the earth, in a cave whose walls were hewn out of rock. The only object present was a jar with a human face carved upon it. As she became aware of moving in and out of the jar, she realized that the jar itself was a head with its top removed. Returning to investigate, she found it empty, and awoke. Again I go back to Blake: “He has a sepulcher hewn out of a Rock ready for thee. And a death of eight thousand years which he has forged for thyself.” Blake saw the sepulcher forged out of rock, ready to receive the death of eight thousand years. In Blake’s symbology 8000 does not necessarily mean years. Eight is resurrection, a new beginning. The Sabbath is the seventh day, the day prepared to lead one up to the eighth day, called resurrection.

This lady entered the sepulcher in which Man is placed, to meet the one who sent her, who is the Lord of the air! Blake, whose works are all vision, said: “God Himself enters death’s door with all who enter, and lays down in the grave with him in visions of eternity until they awake.” So her vision was perfect, as it parallels those of Blake. The Book of Mark begins: “Repent.” That’s revision! That’s changing your thinking, thereby changing your belief, which causes a corresponding change in your world. In this lady’s vision, she reminded herself to revise now and not put it off until a later date. This is so true! Imagining creates reality, for waiting will cause you to find the problem more difficult to overcome, so change it the moment you sense it. Always revise now! Let me repeat. You are destined to awaken as God! Although the serpent – the symbol of your redemption – seems to have betrayed you, he has led you from innocence to experience, to one grand Awakened Human Imagination.

Learn to adore your humanity, your spirit of life! Worship God by worshipping your own wonderful Human Imagination! You want to love God? Love your own spirit, for he is Christ. Remove humanity from you and you will not exist, so learn to adore your humanity, for that is your spirit of life. You may not be able to draw a straight line, yet you can create a smile on the face of a friend, or erase the lines of worry or age. You can do all these things, not by turning to another, but by using your creative power, the only God! Blake makes this statement: “Thou art a Man, God is no more, thine own Humanity learn to adore.” Humanity is your spirit of life! Turn to the only God, who is your own wonderful Human Imagination! Learn to adore him. All things are possible to God, therefore, all things are possible to imagine! Knowing what you want, ask yourself if you believe that your imaginal acts are committed by God. I tell you, they are!

In his 14th chapter, John tells you that imagination is his spirit of life, saying: “You believe in God? Believe also in me.” Can you believe your imaginal acts will come to pass? That your desire is real, and live as though it were? If you imagine – and imagining does create reality – you will see your desire appear in your world. If it does not, then you have proved that the principle is false. I tell you the principle is true – according to your belief! There is no limit placed on your ability to believe or on what belief can accomplish. No matter what you desire, when you believe you have received it, you will. Can you believe that the only true God is in you? That you can follow the pattern of the sound words you have heard from me? I urge you to guard this truth which has been revealed to you by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. Don’t look for any Holy Spirit on the outside! There is no one to run to but self, for everything is within you!

Now let me share another experience of the man who had the dream of the pole and the serpent. He said: “I wanted to make more money, but I did not feel qualified for a better position. Regardless of this fact, I decided that I wanted to earn twice as much as I was presently making, and I imagined having it now! Within two weeks I was contacted for an interview. In the past, I have had to sell myself, but this time the company was urging me to take the position offered, which included a salary greater than double the present one. Strangely enough, the man who had recommended me was a man who formerly worked for me, and when he left, there was intense dislike on both our parts. After the interview we met on the outside, and when I told him of my fears he said, ‘I know you are the best man for the job.’”

I tell you: there is only one cause, and that is the Human Imagination. When you change your body of beliefs, everyone must and will play their part to produce evidence of that change in you. One who was formerly an enemy will play the part of a friend. I thank my friend for sharing this story with me and urge you to follow his example. Dream nobly! Think of lovely things you want to recall, and you will experience them in your tomorrows.

Blake was so awake! It was he, who said: “Everything is Man. The lion, the tiger, the horse, the elephant, mule, dove, fly and worm, all are glorious persons. Clothed in gems, they fly away to humanize in the forgiveness of sins according to thy covenant, O Jehovah.” Awakened Imagination knows there is nothing but God, and God, being Man, becomes the worm to feed the weak. Knowing there is nothing but Imagination, Blake said:

“Double the vision my eyes do see.
Double vision is always with me.
With my inner eye it is an old man gray,
with my outer a thistle across the way.”

Every day, with my old friend Abdullah I would practice this art. At dinner he would ask me to look at the lampshade. He didn’t mean for me to see the lampshade – anyone can do that – but to focus my attention through it. Looking beyond, I would see living, breathing human faces. Other times he would ask me to look at a car, a house, a wall – not with my outer eyes but with my inner eye; and when I did, I would always see Man. When I first began to do this I had to break it, because I could feel myself moving through and beyond this world, to see an entirely different world. That’s Imagination!

Although this world seems to be the only reality, it is but a gossamer dream. And when you leave here, you will once more feel that where you are is the only reality. This you will do over and over again until God’s pattern of salvation unfolds in you. Then you will follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me and guard the truth which will be imparted to you by the Holy Spirit who dwells in all. He has revealed salvation’s pattern to me. Having entrusted me with that truth, I have told it and will continue to do so until I can tell it no more. Then someone else will pick it up and continue the pattern.

The Bible, from beginning to end, is simply a book of patterns. Claiming there is only one source of all dreams, who is God, the story is told of a man called Joseph, the dreamer who was placed in a coffin in Egypt. So who was placed in that coffin, but God! It is God who descends and takes upon himself this concrete, opaque state called Joseph. It is recorded that Joseph was the third son of Jacob, born to him in his old age. And Jacob was the son of his mother’s old age. And Jacob’s father was the son of his mother’s old age. Do you see the pattern repeating itself over and over again here?

This book of patterns will unfold in each one of us. How long it will be before the pattern unfolds in you, individually, only your heavenly Father knows. I can tell you this, however: it will happen in your old age! When you have had all of the experiences life here can give you and you seem to be barren, the child will come. That is my promise!

Now let us go into the silence.

FUNDAMENTALS

December 22, 2013

From INTA Bulletin, “New Thought” summer 1953

FUNDAMENTALS — NEVILLE Author of “The Power of Awareness”

WITH so vast a subject, it is indeed a difficult task to summarize in a few hundred words what I consider the – most basic ideas on which those who seek a true understanding of metaphysics should now concentrate. I shall do what I can in the shape of three fundamentals. These fundamentals are: Self-Observation, Definition of Aim, and Detachment.

The purpose of true metaphysics is to bring about a rebirth or radical psychological change in the individual. Such a change cannot take place until the individual first discovers the self that he would change. This discovery can be made only through an uncritical observation of his reactions to life. The sum total of these reactions defines the individual’s state of consciousness, and it is the individual’s state of consciousness that attracts the situations and circumstances of his life.

So the starting point of true metaphysics, on its practical side, is self-observation in order to discover one’s reactions to life, reactions that form one’s secret self – the cause of the phenomena of life.

With Emerson, I accept the fact that “Man surrounds himself with the true image of himself . . . what we are, that only can we see.”

There is a definite connection between what is outer and what is inner in man, and it is ever our inner states that attract our outer life. Therefore, the individual must always start with himself. It is one’s self that must be changed.

Man, in his blindness, is quite satisfied with himself, but heartily dislikes the circumstances and situations of his life. He feels this way, not knowing that the cause of his displeasure lies not in the condition nor the person with whom he is displeased, but in the very self he likes so much. Not realizing that “he surrounds himself with the true image of himself” and that “what he is, that only can he see,” he is shocked when he discovers that it has always been his own deceitfulness that made him suspicious of others.

Self-observation would reveal this deceitful one in all of us; and this one must be accepted before there can be any transformation of ourselves.

At this moment, try to notice your inner state. To what thoughts are you consenting? With what feelings are you identified? You must be ever careful where you are within yourself.

Most of its think that we are kind and loving, generous and tolerant, forgiving and noble; but an uncritical observation of our reactions to life will reveal a self that is not at all kind and loving, generous and tolerant, forgiving and noble. And it is this self that we must first accept and then set about to change.

Rebirth depends on inner work on one’s self. No one can be reborn without changing this self. Any time that an entirely new set of reactions enters into a person’s life, a change of consciousness has taken place, a spiritual rebirth has occurred.

Having discovered, through an uncritical observation of your reactions to life, a self that must be changed, you must now formulate an aim. That is, you must define the one you would like to be instead of the one you truly are in secret. With this aim clearly defined, you must, throughout your conscious waking day, notice your every reaction in regard to this aim.

The reason for this is that everyone lives in a definite state of consciousness, which state of consciousness we have already described as the sum total of his reactions to life. Therefore, in defining an aim, you are defining a state of consciousness, which, like all states of consciousness, must have its reactions to life. For example: if a rumor or an idle remark could cause an anxious reaction in one person and no reaction in another, this is positive proof that the two people are living in two different states of consciousness.

If you define your aim as a noble, generous, secure, kindly individual – knowing that all things are states of consciousness – you can easily tell whether you are faithful to your aim in life by watching your reactions to the daily events of life. If you are faithful to your ideal, your reactions will conform to your aim, for you will be identified with your aim and, therefore, will be thinking from your aim. If your reactions are not in harmony with your ideal, it is a sure sign that you are separated from your ideal and are only thinking of it. Assume that you are the loving one you want to be, and notice your reactions throughout the day in regard to that assumption; for your reactions will tell you the state from which you are operating.

This is where the third fundamental – Detachment – enters in. Having discovered that everything is a state consciousness made visible and having defined that particular state which we want to make visible, we now set about the task of entering such a state, for we must move psychologically from where we are to where we desire to be.

The purpose of practicing detachment is to separate us from our present reactions to life and attach us to our aim in life. This inner separation must be developed by practice. At first we seem to have no power to separate ourselves from undesirable inner states, simply because we have always taken every mood, every reaction, as natural and have become identified with them. When we have no idea that our reactions are only states of consciousness from which it is possible to separate ourselves, we go round and round in the same circle of problems – not seeing them as inner states but as outer situations. We practice detachment, or inner separation, that we may escape from the circle of our habitual reactions to life. That is why we must formulate an aim and constantly notice ourselves in regard to that aim.

This teaching begins with self-observation. Secondly it asks, “What do you want?” And then it teaches detachment from all negative states and attachment to your aim. This last state- attachment to your aim – is accomplished by frequently assuming the feeling of your wish fulfilled.

We must practice separating ourselves from our negative moods and thoughts in the midst of all the troubles and disasters of daily life. No one can be different from what he is now unless he begins to separate himself from his present reactions and to identify himself with his aim. Detachment from negative states and assumption of the wish fulfilled must be practiced in the midst of all the blessings and cursing of life.

The way of true metaphysics lies in the midst of all that is going on in life. We must constantly practice self-observation, thinking from our aim, and detachment from negative moods and thoughts if we would be doers of truth instead of mere hearers.

Practice these three fundamentals and you will rise to higher and higher levels of consciousness. Remember, always, it is your state of consciousness that attracts your life.

Start climbing!

Neville

GOD SPEAKS TO MAN

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 01-18-1968

“In a vision of the night when deep sleep falls upon men, while they slumber on their beds, he opens their ears and seals their instructions.” (Job 33)

Tonight you may find yourself in a terrestrial world like this one, and you feel just as real to yourself as you do here.

And when you return with its memory you may think it was a dream, but it was a vision. You are dreaming right now, for this world is the dream you and I agreed to complete. Its end will appear when we turn around through a series of visions.

The Old Testament outlines the dream, interspersed with vision, while the New Testament tells of the awakening. The trinity which the churches refer to as God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, can be taken in a simple way as Mighty Father, the proceeding Son, and the returning Holy Spirit – for they are all one.

The dreamer in you is God. Tonight as you dream ask yourself where you are. Many times while lying on my bed I have left this body I know so well, to enter a world just as real as this. Remembering where my body was when I started my journey, when I desired to return I had to feel myself in the body – now cataleptic – on the bed. I could not move it or open its eyes. The body felt dead, yet I was very much alive. Gradually I was able to move a finger, then the toes. But only as I opened my eyes and saw the familiar objects on the wall and dresser did I know I was back. But was I really? Am I not dreaming this world just as much as I was dreaming that one? If so then where am I right now?

Man cannot remember where he laid himself down to dream this dream of life. If he could, he would return through the secret of feeling. Finding myself in a world like this, I remembered where I left my body and felt myself back into it. I returned with the memory of people who were there. They were clothed and real and the world was terrestrial, just as it is here. I talked to them and they answered. Now if that world was a vision then this one is also, for one world does not differ from the other. So God has two ways of speaking to man, but man does not perceive it.

A dream contains one central thought. Like a thank you note. You don’t try to interpret every word in it, just the message it is trying to convey.

I have a friend who dreamed it was his birthday and many people had arrived to attend his party. There were two large cakes, with one lady very adamant about the design she had placed on hers. (This is not significant to the dream, but only part of getting the story started.) Leaving to find candles for the table, my friend returned to discover one cake was missing, as well as all of the guests. Disappointed because he had not seen or heard me speak, the dream ended. Suddenly he finds himself on a beach with a friend. Asking where everyone was, his friend points to a rock in the middle of the water, and said: “There they are, away out to sea.” Seeing another rock near it supporting a child, afraid and alone, he said: “How did they get there?” and his friend answered: “Mentally.” Then he mentally went to the child, took her by the hand, and placed her on the big rock. Now the dream changes and my friend finds himself in a lecture hall with a stairway in the center of the stage. Coming down the stairs, I place his hands in mine and say: “I’m glad you have made it, chosen one.” Then he awoke.

This is a very significant dream, whose single jet of truth is the rock. It’s not the birthday, the party, or the cake, but the language of scripture that will reveal the truth of any dream. The journey of life is a mental one, which is taking place in the sea of illusion. And only when you find yourself on the Rock will your journey be at its end.

We are told: “You are unmindful of the Rock that begot you and have forgotten the God who gave you birth.” (Deuteronomy 32) This passage of scripture tells us that the Rock is equated with God. And in the New Testament it is said: “They drank from the supernatural Rock that followed them and the Rock was Christ.”

This gentleman is now standing on that Rock. Since all dreams are egocentric, he conjured me from within himself Containing the whole vast world within him, he called forth those he chose to play a part he wrote for himself. This he did without our knowledge or consent. My friend has now reached that foundation stone upon which he will build his house. No longer will he build on shifting sands, where the winds and storms destroy the structures, but upon the Rock who is Christ; and Christ is God who is the Human Imagination.

The central figure of Christianity is the Human Imagination. When you accept this as the first principle of religion, then all governments, rituals, and external worship will have heard the trumpets of Joshua. All of the buildings that are of any structure than that Rock – which is your own wonderful Human Imagination – will fall. This gentleman had a wonderful experience. He is on the Rock, but he may move from it. He may turn his back and forget that the cause of all of the phenomena of his life is the Human Imagination. It is my hope that he will not.

There is only one source of all creation. “By him all things were made, and without him was not anything made that was made.” If anything or anyone comes into your world, remember the cause is your Human Imagination, who is the God of scripture and the dreamer in you.

Stand upon that Rock, knowing you are God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as these three are the chosen One. In the 1st Epistle of John, the 5th chapter, these three are called the Spirit, the water, and the blood.

Knowing that God is spirit and there is life in the blood, the Risen Christ calls himself the Living Water, saying: “If you had asked, I would have given you living water that you would never thirst again.” Living water is the truth. Once truth has been experienced, you will hunger and thirst no more. “I will send a famine upon the land. It will not be a hunger for bread or a thirst for water, but for the hearing of the word of God.” This gentleman has found the word of God, for he has found the Rock.

Another friend shared this vision with me. (I call this a vision rather than a dream, for it was her own back door.) Although it was early in the day, my friend became so sleepy, she lay down on the couch and closed her eyes. Suddenly she heard a knock at the back door. Upon opening it she found a pleasant looking young man there, obviously hungry. She invited him in and as she was preparing his food, she realized it was 5:30 P.M. and her husband would be home shortly. Wondering how she was going to explain the stranger’s presence, her little daughter woke her, to discover that it was only 11:00 a.m. in the morning. Lying there she remembered she had not fed the man, so she did so in her Imagination.

That’s what I mean when I tell you to carry Imagination to the extreme point and feed the world. Although my friend did not feed the man in her vision, she did so in her Imagination, knowing she was feeding Christ. She knows that when she does this to the least of one of these, she is doing it to Christ. And when she does not do it, she is not doing it to Christ – who is her very self. My friend has learned her lesson, and is at the end of her journey. Having a vivid memory of what had transpired, she carried through her intention and fed the man in her Imagination.

All of this may seem insane to the world, because they do not understand this great mystery. In 1946 I wrote a little booklet called The Search. I ended it on this note: “The universe which we study with such care is a dream and we the dreamers, dreaming non-eternal dreams. One day, like Nebuchadnezzar, we shall awaken from our nightmare in which we fought with demons, to discover that we have never really left our eternal home; that we were never born and have never died – save in our dream.”

Since that time nothing has happened to cause me to change one word in that little book for, like Nebuchadnezzar, I have awakened from this dream of life. Now when I close my eyes in meditation, I sometimes have a little dream; or other times I enter a world just like this, where I am totally awake and aware of what is happening.

You see, one day the being that is really dreaming your life will awaken, and you will be enhanced beyond your wildest dreams because of your experiences.

You never descended in body, but in consciousness. Descending in your dream, you entered this world called eternal death to see things appear, wax, wane, and vanish. They appear to die, yet you are dreaming their death. One day you will discover that you have never gone anywhere, save in your dream.

This past weekend I was visiting with a doctor, who told me that he was fascinated with anthropology, and if he ever came back again, he was going to be an anthropologist. He said: “Neville, in spite of what you say, we go back millions and millions of years.” And I asked: “Are you proud of the fact that your ancestor was an ape? If all ends run true to origin, and your ancestor was an ape, no matter how wise you are, you are still only a wise ape. Well, my origin is God. I assumed this limitation for a purpose, and when that purpose is revealed, my end is God.”

I cannot see any relationship between the physical body and the ape, as there are still apes with us. Did it ever occur to you that change does not need to be gradual, but can be a combination in a sudden mutation? Think about it. God is a dreamer. He could take a root or a branch, and by forcing mutation among members of a certain colony of apes, when they multiply the new feature is transferred, and man suddenly appears.

Man thinks in terms of millions and millions of years; yet one generation could be more instantaneous than the nth part of a second, if you are going to measure life in terms of time.

I’m not saying this is true. I am only giving you something to think about. If you do, you will change your mind about having an ape for an ancestor.

As God, you started your dream by coming down in consciousness to the level called man. You died in order for humanity to be made a living soul. Now, bound by what you took upon yourself, you are dreaming a predetermined, horrible dream; yet the results of these experiences will transcend your wildest dreams. The story of Jesus Christ is your story, which you will fulfill – in vision – in a three-dimensional world.

Now, I used the word mutation for a purpose. We are told that at the end: “In the twinkle of an eye, our lowly bodies will be changed to be one form with His glorious body.” This does not take time. The moment you are embraced by the Risen Lord, your lowly body is transformed to be one form with His glorious body of light, of love, and wisdom. These bodies of flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. You need an entirely different body to function in that age. That body is a mutation, as it comes suddenly.

When I stood in the presence of the Risen Christ I was asked to define the greatest thing in the world. I answered with the words of Paul, “Faith, hope, and love, these three, but the greatest of these is love.” Then Infinite Love embraced me. We fused and I became one with the Risen Lord.

There is no creative power comparable to love! I know, for I am one with that body; and when this aspect of myself is called dead, I will wear that body, for my dream is over. Then you can say of me what Shelley said of one who had departed: “He has awakened from the dream of life. `Tis we who, lost in stormy vision, fight with phantoms, an unprofitable strife.”

Everyone will awaken from this dream to know he is love; for there is nothing but God and God is love. The most horrible being is God, as the most glorious. In the end, when the curtain comes down, we will collectively form the one Man, the one Spirit, the one Body. Then we will understand why we conceived the dream and played it, as we will have expanded into a further existence as a result of this experience of coming down into the world of eternal death.

I know that when I have entered other sections of time, in vision, the experience was real, just as this is now. The world may say my experience was just a dream. But if this is reality and that just as real as this, then this is a dream. The difference is that when I was there, I remembered where my body was and was able to return to it.

Could you remember the being you were before you started this dream of life, and use the same technique, you would feel yourself there and vanish from sight to awaken in that body.

For myself, I have worn that wakened body since 1929, when I was embraced by the Risen Lord. At that time we became the one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one God and Father of all, who is above all, through all, and in all. I have heard Him say: “I laid myself down within you to sleep, and as I slept I dreamed a dream. I dreamed . . .” and I knew exactly what He was saying: “I am dreaming I am Neville.”

One day you will know that the visions of the day are no more real than those of the night, for you will know you are their reality. You will realize that you cannot encounter strangers, regardless of whether they be harmful or helpful, as they came out of you to play the part you had already played from within.

The world and all of its conflicts appear to show us that Imagination can and does run amok. Imagination is the only foundation. It is the Rock upon which one builds his house. No matter what happens, blame no one, but remain on that Rock; for Christ (your own wonderful Human Imagination) is He, and the only cause of the phenomena of life. Accept this truth and you will have a firm foundation upon which to build.

As you dwell upon this power vested in you, you will discover it will help you far beyond your wildest dreams. You will realize that you do not need the help of anyone. All you need do is assume you have what you want. Then dare to walk in that assumption; and if it takes a thousand people to aid its birth, they will appear and play their parts, not knowing why or what they do. They will do it without their permission or consent, just as I did in my friend’s dream.

Man prays to an outside Jesus and believes in an outside God, because he has forgotten the God who gave him birth. Scripture tells us that when Moses revealed the true God as I AM, he hadn’t been gone more than moments when the people once more turned and worshipped the golden cow as the cause of their fortunes, good or bad. They started worshipping things made with the human hand in violation of the eighth commandment: “Make no graven image unto me,” either with your hands or in your mind!

If you see a Jesus Christ as other than your own wonderful Human Imagination, you have made a graven image. But when you find the true Christ – called the Rock – and start building on it, no rumors or arguments can knock your house down. Build on the sand and your house will slip away, but if you create your world believing in your own wonderful Human Imagination – called Jesus Christ – nothing will destroy it.

Your Imagination is Christ, dreaming in you and creating your world. Feed him noble thoughts. Become selective and dare to assume something wonderful for yourself. Our newspapers are telling us how to transcend death and live to be one hundred, adding years to life – yet no one thinks of adding life to years!

Schubert lived only thirty-one years, yet he gave us a thousand pieces of music. Keats died at twenty-six. So many of the great poets died young but look what they gave us! They didn’t add years to their life, but crowded a lifetime into a few years. Now there are those who are trying to have transplants in order to live to be one hundred, and vegetate.

Well, that’s not what we are here for. We’re here to fulfill scripture, and no matter what appears on the outside I promise you: you will not die. You cannot go to eternal death in that which cannot die. You are the God of the living, not the dead – dreaming of death, of birth, health and illness, poverty and wealth. You have never left your eternal home. Your descent was in consciousness and it is in consciousness that you will ascend.

Now let us go into the silence.

GOD’S ALMIGHTY POWER

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 12-02-1968

God’s almighty power and wisdom expresses itself most characteristically in the acceptance of what the world calls weakness or foolishness.

Matthew tells the story of one who – Knowing himself to be the personification of God’s creative power and wisdom – questions himself, saying:

“If you are the Son of God, turn this stone into bread.” (Matthew 4) Then he quoted the 8th chapter of Deuteronomy, saying: “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ “Here we discover that his hunger is no longer for bread made with flour, but for the hearing of the word of God, with understanding.

The conflict recorded in this chapter is taking place in the mind of the individual, although it appears to be happening on the outside. Standing on the pinnacle, his adversary quoted the 91st Psalm, saying: “If you are the Son of God cast yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will give his angels power to lift you up lest you dash your foot against a stone.'” Then, quoting the 6th chapter of Deuteronomy, he replied: “It is written, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”

In the third and final temptation he is shown all of the kingdoms of the earth and their glory, when the adversary said: “All of these are yours if you will bend down and worship me.” Again, quoting the 6th chapter of Deuteronomy, he replies: “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ “Then the adversary departs, and the great ministry begins.

Who is the Lord your God, that you should worship and serve? Your own wonderful human imagination, he who is one with the God who created the world. The richest definition of God given to us in scripture is: the Father of the Lord our God. I discovered I was God’s son by experiencing scripture, but the son and God the Father are one!

Both the Father and the Son are defined as power, with wisdom added to the Son. In the Book of Mark, the high priest asked: “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” and he replied, “I am, and you shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of Power.” Power is capitalized in this passage, as it is the name given to God. In the Book of Luke, he is first called the Blessed, then Power, I am called the wisdom of God.

Matthew tells of one who knows God has unfolded within him, and all of the characteristics of God as belonging to him – but he is puzzled and puts himself to the test. Scripture tells the story as though another being appears; but when God unveils himself, you question yourself, saying: if this is true, I should be able to do anything, for all things are possible to God. But I must not tempt the Lord. The only way is to trust him. So again let me repeat: God’s almighty power and wisdom expresses itself most characteristically in the acceptance of what the world calls weakness or foolishness.

When I was drafted, and we as a country were at war, in the eyes of the world I was foolish to believe that I could be honorably discharged without going to war. As far as the world was concerned, I was in for the duration, but I didn’t want any part of it. I firmly believed that Jesus Christ was my own wonderful human imagination, that he was one with God, and that all things were possible to him. I knew I could not compel God to do anything. That He would act only as I imagined!

Trusting God, I slept as though I were honorably discharged and out of the army. I did everything in my mind’s eye that I would do were it a physical fact, and fell asleep in that knowledge. Then, in vision, I saw my discharge paper with the word “Disapproved” crossed out and the hand of God write “Approved” above it in bold script. And when I heard the words: “That which I have done, I have done. Do nothing!” I did nothing. Nine days later I was honorably discharged and back in my home in New York City.

Remembering what I had done to get out of the army, when I was confronted with a similar problem a few years later, I applied the same principle to get out of the island of Barbados. Like Paul, I knew whom I have believed; so when I was told I could not leave the island for months, I assumed once more that I am where I would like to be. I slept in the assumption it was true, and within hours the confirmation was mine.

So you see, I know, from experimental faith, the one in whom I believe. You must believe in your human imagination and make him the rock upon which you stand. He is the Lord your God, and the only one whom you serve. If you are going to serve another, then you do not know God. If your boss tells you to do what he says and eventually you will get a raise, and your trust is in your boss, then you don’t trust the Lord your God. Put your faith in anyone outside of your own wonderful human imagination and you don’t trust God, for there is no other creative power!

If you put your trust in knowing the right people, having stocks and bonds, or money in the bank, you are trusting false gods. In 1925 I was in London, dancing for one hundred pounds a week. That was $480 U.S. dollars. We had an offer to go to Paris and on to Germany if we would accept payment in marks or francs, but we declined, for they were of no value.

Their money was printed so fast, the paper was more valuable than that which was printed on it. I had traveled to London with a German family who were American by adoption. They had enormous securities in marks, and thought themselves very rich; but when we returned, they were poorer than church mice, as every cent they had was gone. Putting their trust in German marks was trusting a false god. Your boss is a false god. I don’t care what it is – everything outside of self is false.

Now, after the third temptation we discover the mind is at peace, and there is no more conflict within. There is no devil, no Satan – only doubts. Doubt, in the mind of one who was born by the grace of God, gives God the feeling of impossibility. In Blake’s “Vision of the Last Judgment” he so wisely personified doubt, saying: “Satan thinks that sin displeases God. He ought to know that nothing displeases God but unbelief and eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”

Unless you believe you are the one you formerly believed to be up in heaven, and therefore outside of you, you will continue to miss your mark in life. Believing in himself when confronted by the last temptation, he said: “You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.” Are you serving him? If so, things will come to pass, for there is no other channel that one can accept, other than confidence and trust in self!

Believe in the Lord thy God one hundred per cent! If you need a certain amount of money and you have no collateral or anyone to turn to on the outside, will you trust the Lord your God to provide it for you? Knowing that all things are possible to God, will you turn to him in absolute confidence and trust, and mentally assume you had the money? Not being concerned as to how the money will come to you, will you test God’s power and wisdom by falling asleep aware of having the money?

If you will, you are serving God and in a way your surface mind could not devise, the money will be yours. Then, having tested the depths of your own being, you will know whom (not what) you have trusted. You will know whom you have believed. And that sure knowledge will vindicate your past trust. This is how God’s wonderful principle works.

One night in New York City I was on the radio from midnight until 6:00 o’clock in the morning, with a panel of five men and one moderator. When I spoke of imagination creating reality, a professor said: “If that is true, turn this white pencil into a yellow one.” I said: “All right. Bring me some yellow paint and I will do it.” Wanting me to use my imagination and change the pencil instantly, I said: “You know, you are the scoffer of the Bible. I tell you, you shall not tempt the Lord your God.” Then he questioned: “Are you my God?” and I replied: “I didn’t say that. You must find the Lord your God, because you are tempting him.

You do not know it, because you haven’t found him yet, but you will.” Every child born of woman will reveal himself as the Son of God, and know he is God’s power and wisdom. And since all things are possible to God, all things are possible to him. Then, confronting himself, when his adversary says: “Turn this pencil into a yellow one,” he will imagine it yellow. If the pencil remains white when he thinks of it, he has not trusted the Lord. But if he persists in having a yellow pencil, by trusting the Lord completely, someone he may admire or does not want to offend, will give him a yellow one.

Whatever your desire may be, imagine it is fulfilled, and trust the Lord your God implicitly. If it takes a million people to play the part they must play in order to produce what you have assumed you are, they will do it. This is the world in which we live.

Jesus Christ is your own wonderful human imagination! Believe me. The Father’s name is I AM. Everyone who can say I AM is God’s image, yet there is only one God the Father! Learn to trust your I Amness and firmly believe in him, and you will know the day when the Lord shall be king over all the earth, and his name shall be one, and the Lord one! I have found the Lord of whom Moses and the law and the prophets wrote. I heard of him and learned to trust him, long before He unveiled himself in me in a series of events which belong only to the Son of God. Then I knew I was the identical being that the world worships on the outside, and calls Jesus Christ.

Men go to church and pray to a god who does not exist, when the only God makes man alive, for man could not breathe, were God not housed within him. So when you find God, trust him implicitly; but let me warn you: He will not accept your orders! Only as you imagine the wish fulfilled, will He act upon it. Tonight, as you put your head on that pillow, snuggle into the mood of the wish fulfilled in absolute confidence, and trust that God has ways and means your surface mind knows not of. I urge you to believe me, that you also may say with Paul: “I know whom I have believed.” You will not fail, when you find the Lord your God, who is your own wonderful human imagination.

You will learn to trust him completely. Knowing there is no need to help God by devising the means to fulfill your desire, you will move under compulsion, when the time for its fulfillment appears.

A lady I know took off to Paris with her two children, leaving her maid in charge of her apartment in New York City. When the lady returned, the apartment was empty, and the maid was no where to be found. The lady contacted the police, hired private detectives, and did everything humanly possible to find her furniture – to no avail. Then she came to me. We sat quietly in the silence and she returned to her apartment in her imagination. She walked through the rooms, feeling conscious of being there, now! She saw the furniture just as it had been before, touched the keys of her piano, and knew everything was back in place again.

A few days later, this lady went to her bank on Madison Avenue. Leaving the bank, she turned in the wrong direction and walked one block before she realized what she was doing. Looking down, she saw a familiar pair of ankles, and suddenly realized she had found her maid. As the light changed, she grabbed the girl and made her take her to where the furniture was stored.

This lady now has her furniture back, every piece intact. All we did was trust the Lord our God. What would I have done to find the furniture for her, when the New York police or private detectives could not? But we trusted the Lord, our God. We didn’t get down on our knees and plead for help, but simply sat in the silence and imagined.

I assumed she was telling me she had found the furniture, and everything was in perfect order. When we broke the silence, I – trusting the Lord to bring it to pass – simply forgot it.

So I ask: who is the Lord who creates all things? I am! Scripture tells us that all things were made by the Lord, and without him was not anything made that was made. I know exactly what we did and I know what happened, therefore, I know exactly how it was made! Man finds it difficult to believe that such a power is housed within him. He reads the scripture: “Do you not realize that Jesus Christ, the power and wisdom of God who is one with God is in you?” and still bows before man-made little altars, and believes that someone on the outside is especially equipped to interpret God for him.

There are those who dare to claim that they are the sole deposit of the wisdom of God. What nonsense! God is housed in every child born of woman. But, being misled, man worships a false God, one who never existed and never will exist. There is no intermediary between you and God.

Don’t think of God with Jesus Christ as the intermediary between you and Him. There is only God! He became just as you are, that you may become as He is! This is the story.

The King James Version of the 20th chapter of the Book of Acts gives the true, literal translation of the Greek as: “By the blood of God we are redeemed.” The RSV translated the word as “Lord”, which always means “Jesus”. But redemption comes from God. Becoming just as you are, with all of your weaknesses and limitations that you may become as He is, God redeems you, for you are his love! Trust God completely.

He uses the weakness and foolishness of man, because the wisdom of this world is foolishness in his eyes. Men think themselves so wise. Rationalizing everything, man thinks he will find God one day on some planet or in a corner, but he never will. Man will go to the moon, the stars, and every place he desires, because whatever man can imagine, man can do!

Someone, today, who knows nothing of science, is dreaming fiction; and tomorrow the so-called scientific mind will devise the means to fulfill it, because God is the one who is writing the fiction and fulfilling it, and all things are possible to God. I urge you to dream your fiction and trust the Lord, your God implicitly that you, too, may say: “I know whom I have believed.” Then let it happen, and it will.

Many years ago my father and brother, Victor, went to see a spot overlooking the water on 35 acres, which is quite large on the island of Barbados. Three sisters lived in a home there, and sold their cattle to my father. At the time he mentioned he would be interested in purchasing their property if they should ever desire to sell. Then, turning to Victor, he said: “This would be the ideal spot for a hotel.” A few years later the ladies decided to sell.

One man with a great deal of money wanted those 35 acres very much, but was in Brazil the day my father – who had imagined owning it – bought it. Now a beautiful hotel is on that spot. It is very popular and always crowded winter and summer, all because my father had a dream and dared to trust the Lord his God, who he knew to be within himself.

My father would never go to church. He didn’t like the minister at all. What wonderful stories we have of my father and the minister. One day the minister said to my father: “I am one of the chosen.” My father looked at him and said: “I wouldn’t have chosen you.” He was just as brash as that with everything he did. He had no respect for the man. He never saw the inside of a church, except when we children were baptized. When my sixth brother was to be baptized – by this same minister – my father took two sea captains as godfathers.

At the last moment the minister asked if the two gentlemen were Episcopalians, and when one claimed to be a Presbyterian and the other a Methodist, the minister informed my father that the child could not be baptized with these men as godfathers. With that my father said: “Give me my son. I will baptize him myself.” He took the child out of the minister’s arms, dipped his free hand in the water, sprinkled it on the child’s face and said: “In the name of Jesus, your name is Fred” and walked out. And that’s his name -Fred Goddard.

That’s the kind of man my father was and still is. Not a bone in his body lacked courage. He found the Lord as his own wonderful human imagination, so when he wanted something he simply imagined he had it, and walked in that knowledge.

I promise you, when you find the Lord and really trust him, you will know a peace you have never known before. You will never again bow before anything or anyone. Knowing that only your own wonderful human imagination is holy, He will be the only one you will ever serve!

Now let us go into the silence.

GOD’S CREATIVE POWER

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 02-09-1968

We are told in the Book of Exodus: “God said to Moses, ‘I AM the I AM. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name I AM I did not make myself known to them.’” And if you read the 1st chapter, the 24th verse of 1 Corinthians, you will discover that the I AM (the creative power of God) is personified as Jesus Christ! Now you and I are called upon to find this creative power.

The Christian world claims to believe in Christ, but they do not know him for he must be found. This challenge is given in scripture. “Examine yourselves to make sure you are holding to the faith. Test yourselves!” If you want to find Jesus Christ you must test yourself!

Are you really convinced that Jesus Christ is in you? Have you tested him? If you have and are still not sure, then you have failed the test. Ask the highest leader of the Christian faith down to the lowest if he believes that Jesus Christ is in him, and if he is not convinced that the creative power of the universe is within and personalized as himself, then he has failed to meet the test regardless of what his man-made rank may be.

You can attend all the churches in the world, give to the sick and poor on the outside, but if you do not know from experience that Jesus Christ is in you, you have failed the test. I tell you that Jesus Christ is your own wonderful human imagination, who is the eternal creative power of God. If you do not know that, you do not know Jesus Christ! You may say: “He is a person.” Well, you are a person, aren’t you?

Jesus Christ is God the Father and God the Father is Spirit, And those who worship him do so in Sprit through the art of feeling! I have imagined a state and seen it externalize itself and become a physical fact that I may share with another. This I have done unnumbered times and taught others to do it.

So I have found him and know him to be the only creative power of the universe. Everything in your world which is now a fact to be shared with others was once only imagined. And if you know that Jesus Christ is the creative power that brings things into this world, that all things must be first imagined, then you have found him. Having found him, you must learn to trust him and live by this principle. Do this and you will find yourself moving into the stream of eternal life by fulfilling scripture and knowing that “All power in heaven and earth is given unto me.”

The true meaning of power is “effectiveness in achieving a purpose.” Today as a nation we have the power of the atom bomb, but are not willing to use it because it is not our objective to wipe out cities; so where is the power that could bring about our purpose? Man does not know Jesus Christ, therefore he thinks there is power in nuclear energy, in money, in his intellectual or social position; but the only power is Jesus Christ who is the human Imagination!

I was born and raised in a Christian environment, yet I did not learn this truth in Sunday school, in church, or at home. I was taught to believe in a being outside of myself. Some person who was born two thousand years ago who was crucified on a wooden cross by people who did not believe he was the Son of God. This is the story my mother taught me as her mother had taught her. The story comes down this way, yet it is not the true story of scripture.

I tell you a mystery: Christ in you is the hope of glory, for God, your human imagination became man that man may become God. This is a mystery that we are called upon to test, for the power that created the world became as you are, that you may know yourself to be all creative power, as He is! I did not receive this knowledge from a man. I did not read it in a book, nor did I ever hear of it from another. It was revealed to me that God, in man, is his own wonderful human imagination!

Having no place to turn, or no one to turn to, I began to experiment; and as it proved itself in the testing, I found myself fulfilling scripture. Instead of another, I was playing the central role fulfilling the only belief! Then I began to tell it and those who heard and believed began to test themselves, and as they did, they moved into the mainstream and scripture fulfilled itself in them.

We are told: “Remain in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Scripture personifies this fantastic power as Jesus Christ, but man is taught that Jesus Christ is some distinct individual outside of himself and turns to him to grant his wishes and respond to his prayers. Then one day man hears who Jesus Christ really is, and turning to no one on the outside, God reveals himself to that man as I AM. God said to Moses: “I made myself known unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name I AM I did not make myself known to them.”

If God’s name forever and forever is I AM, how can you look outside of self? You cannot point to another and say: “I AM.” You can observe this or do that, but you cannot point to another when you say:” I am.”

Having revealed himself as Almighty Power, then I AM, God’s third revelation, is that of Father. And if God is a Father, he must have a Son. The world has been taught to believe that Jesus Christ is God’s Son, but I know from revelation that Jesus Christ is God Himself. There is a son, however, as told us so clearly in the 2nd Psalm. That son is David, who says: “I will tell of the decree of the Lord. He said unto me, ’Thou art my son, today I have begotten thee.’” I tell you scripture does not record secular history, but supernatural history. Its message is sacred and hasn’t a thing to do with anything that took place in a secular manner.

Yesterday I read where someone in Ohio, who claimed he had traced his background back to David, died at the age of 84 or 85. Of all the nonsense of the world, if he meant it secularly. David is not a character of human history, but the eternal state one enters when he believes in God’s power as his own imagination, exercises it, and enters the mainstream and awakens. Personifying God’s creative power, David will stand before you and call you Father, revealing you to be one with your creative power.

Listen to these words carefully: “The high priest said to Jesus, ‘Are you the Christ, the Son of Blessed?’ And Jesus answered, ‘I am, and you will see the son of man sitting at the right hand of Power.’” This he said in fulfillment of the 100th Psalm: “The Lord said unto my lord, ‘Sit at my right hand til I make your enemies your footstool.’” Here we see Power equated with a man! So God’s first revelation is that of sheer power. Then comes his name, I AM, which is followed by his true character, which is that of a Father who loves.

It is God’s purpose to give himself to everyone, and – being a Father – when he gives himself to you he gives you Fatherhood. First he gives you Power, then the awareness of being that power as you test yourself.

Now I ask you to examine yourself. When confronted with a problem, do you turn to someone on the outside for its solution, or do you believe that all power resides in your human imagination? Do you believe in the hydrogen bomb, meeting the right people, or living on the “right” side of the street? Or do you believe in your own wonderful human imagination? I have found he of whom Moses and the law wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, to be my human imagination and I turn only to him for the solution of my problems. I do it by asking myself what I would see if my problem dissolved and its solution rose in its place. What would I hear? How would I act? Having discovered Jesus to be my imagination, I act as though the problem was solved, and have found from experience that I have brought things not seen by mortal eye into the world to be seen by all. I have proved it and encourage everyone to try it.

Examine yourself to make sure, really sure, that you have completely accepted Jesus Christ as your human imagination, so that when confronted by any challenge you turn to the only Jesus Christ and not to a false one. If you turn to anyone outside of yourself you have turned to a false Jesus Christ and failed the test. Turn only to God and not to anyone or anything on the outside. No one can tell your future, for your future is to fulfill Scripture, and you have no other!

I received a letter last week from a lady, who said: “In the dream I knew I was twenty years old, just married, and living in the Basque country among the shepherds. My husband was driving an old truck. I sat next to him with my sister-in-law next to me. In the rear sat my brother-in-law with my father-in-law directly behind me. Having spent the night on a mountain top, we travel over dusty, rugged mountainous roads as I become very tired and weak. My father-in-law had authority over everything, and knowing the way, he said: ‘Just one more curve and we will be home.’ As the final curve is completed I see a heavenly valley covered with green grass and a sparkling, crystal-clear river flowing through it. In the distance I see a beautiful home with barns and flocks of white sheep.

Two shepherds are there with their crooks, their dogs, and a flock of geese. Then I turn around, and as I face my father-in-law I see he has suddenly grown tall and young. As I look at him I remember having seen that face somewhere in the dim, dim eternity. Then the face became brilliant and as I dissolved into the brilliance, I awoke.”

In this letter my friend played the part of Tamar, as told us in the 38th chapter of the Book of Genesis. Judah, the fourth son of Jacob, is listed in the genealogy of Jesus Christ: “Abraham begat Isaac, Isaac begat Jacob, Jacob begat Judah and his brothers.” In the story, Judah left his brothers, married outside, and had three sons. Choosing Tamar for his first son, Er, who displeased Jehovah and was killed, Judah told his second son to marry her and raise offspring for his brother.

Knowing that every offspring would not be his, but his brother’s, Onan spilled his seed so that Tamar would not have a child. Displeasing Jehovah because of this act, Jehovah killed him, for the command was to be fruitful and multiply and increase the world. The third son was not given as he was too young.

Then came the day when Judah went down to observe the shearing of the sheep, as he was rich and had enormous flocks. Tamar, upon hearing of his visit, took off her widow’s clothes and sat in a public place, veiled as a harlot of the temple. When Judah proposed, she asked: “What will you give me?” and he replied: “A kid from my flock.”

Asking for a pledge that the kid would be sent, he gave her his ring, his bracelet, and his staff, and knew her intimately. Three months later it was brought to Judah’s attention that his daughter-in-law, Tamar, was pregnant. When Judah heard the news, he said: “Let the law be fulfilled. She shall be burned to death.” When they came to execute the law she took the ring, the bracelet, and the staff and sent them to Judah with the message: “The man who gave me these is the father of the child.” Upon seeing them, Judah said: “The sin is mine, not hers,”

Now don’t think of Tamar as having union in a physical sense, but union with a state, for every time we enter a state there is union. In my friend’s vision, everyone present was an in-law, telling her that she has entered the mainstream.

She has had union with memory, and no power on earth can stop her from bringing scripture to its fulfillment, for her father-in-law is the one spoken of in the 49th chapter of Genesis as “the lion’s whelp, and from his hand the scepter will never pass.” She has entered the state which leads her up to the climax as Jesus Christ, who is God the Father!

The day will come when you will reach the Fatherhood degree and David will stand before you and call you Father. Then you will know a power that is greater than the human mind can fathom. You will know real power. It hasn’t a thing to do with the ability to destroy a nation.

Tonight we could release X number of bombs and destroy every city in Russia and they could do the same thing to us – so what? May I tell you: the millions who would die on both sides would not be dead, but still trying to find the Father! Everyone is really searching for the Father of all life, and that Father is Jesus Christ.

Although men have created pictures of him, Jesus is not on the outside. We are told: “It does not yet appear what he shall be, but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” God’s son cannot appear and not be just like the person to whom he appears. You will never see him as someone coming from without, but coming from within you. He will call you father in the Spirit and then you will know who you really are!

In the meanwhile you can exercise your power on this level if you will accept this challenge. Examine yourselves and make sure you are faithful to your imaginal act! Let no one else examine you, but test yourself! Have you completely accepted the fact that Jesus Christ is in you? If you can answer, “not quite” then you have failed the test.

If, like one billion Christians, you believe in some other Jesus Christ, you have a false Christ. And you will never find him by going to church or giving to the poor, for he is not on the outside, but in your own wonderful human imagination!

Let no one prophesy for you! The only prophecy you are destined to fulfill is scripture. When someone tries to tell me what some astrologer or medium said I get so annoyed I want to shout: “Have you ever heard me?” Believe in all that nonsense, and you worship false Christs! If you want to be famous in this world of men, use this principle and you will shine for your little moment, but I ask you: are you in the mainstream of fulfilling scripture? Do you really believe in the only Jesus Christ, who is your human imagination? I say: there never was another Christ and there never will be another Christ.

Now, some will say that is blasphemy, just as they did long ago. In the 14th chapter of the Book of Mark, the question is asked: “Are you the Christ?” And Jesus said: “I am; and you will see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of Power.” Then the high priest said: “Do we still need witnesses? You have heard his blasphemy.” And in the Book of John, when accused of blasphemy “because you, being man, make yourself God” Jesus said: “Is it not written in your law, ‘I say, you are gods’? If scripture says you are gods, and scripture cannot be broken, is it blasphemy for me to say I am the Son of God, and the Son and the Father are one?” If you are creative power, you must be one with the creator, who is a person as you are, as I am.

So I say to everyone: accept Christ as your own wonderful human imagination and don’t falter, for scripture must be fulfilled in you. It is not done physically! I have experienced a physical birth, for I was born in Barbados and just as you, I know the limitations of the flesh. I came into this world with nothing and do not have much today.

But because I didn’t have much, I had to stand upon my own two feet and believe in myself. Asking no one to help me and not stealing from another, if I had nothing I went without it. I have seen those who had more than they needed, but I didn’t take it from them,

I simply pulled in my belt. I have walked fifty blocks to find a friend who had a dime to buy some soup beans. When he could not be found I would return and perhaps the next day earn a quarter to buy the beans, but it never occurred to me that because others had food and I didn’t that they should give it to me.

I was determined to believe in myself and because of that I got into the mainstream of life and scripture began to unfold in me. No one owes me a living; all I have to do is trust Jesus Christ, trust my human imagination!

I have no desire to pile up a lot of money. Why pile up a million shadows? My desire is to tell you who Jesus Christ really is. He is your own wonderful human imagination. There never was another Christ and there never will be another.

If you will trust him – and I use “him” advisedly because God’s creative power and God is a person (and you are that person) – you will never fail, for he will never fail you! Tonight if you know what you want, just believe that you have it. Sleep as though it were true, and because Christ is in everyone, he will use as many as necessary to aid the birth of your assumption.

In the end of the Bible, the 22nd chapter of Revelation, Jesus Christ is speaking, saying: “”I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star.” And in the 2nd chapter of the same book it is said: “To he who conquers” (who witnesses the truth of scripture) I will give the morning star.” In other words, he gives you himself as God the Father.

He is the root of David. The root of a tree is its father. God the Father is the root of David, for David is all Spirit, not a being of flesh and blood. He is the eternal state of the Son, who calls everyone to come to the mainstream and climax as the Father. So the story ends when you have finished the race and kept the faith, for you are given the morning star and know yourself to be the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star!

Tonight test yourself|! I will not test you. I am not here to test anyone. I only urge you to examine yourself to see if you are really keeping the faith, or are you going to call a friend and tell him how horrible things are and appeal to him on the outside? I ask you: are you really keeping the faith? Do you always turn to your imagination and, no matter what happens, do you remain faithful to the state imagined? If you do, you have passed the test.

But if every little rumor, doubt, or fear can move you around like a pawn on a chessboard, then you are not keeping the faith! It’s entirely up to you. Are you testing yourself or not? Can you say within yourself: “I always turn to my imagination when confronted with a problem and solve it there. Then I remain faithful to that imaginal act.” If you can, you have passed the test. It’s just as simple as that.

May I tell you: we remain in this world of death until we enter the mainstream and come to the climax. You can’t believe how much this world is really a world of death, whose life is in you as your human imagination. Life itself is an activity of imagining where everything is a symbol. Your closest, dearest friend, your wife, your mother, father, brothers and sisters are all symbols, all dead symbols revealing to you who you really are.

Now let us go into the silence.

GODS PLAN OF REDEMPTION

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 03-24-1969

God’s plan of redemption for us is the most incredible, exciting, and amazing story ever told It is the story of the creator of the universe, who so loved us he became us; and how he is transforming us into himself, so that we are no longer the created, but the creator No longer the made, but the maker.

The gospel tells us how this is accomplished In the Book of John, we read: “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God He was in the beginning with God All things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made In him was life and the life was the light of men,” Here we see the Word was not only with God but was God and then personified

Let us continue: “He was in the world and the world was made by him, yet the world knew him not” It has been established he is the Word, for: “The Word was made flesh and dwells within us.” (The Greek word translated “among” is the preposition “in” or “within”) John completes this statement as: “He dwells within us full of grace and truth” (John 1:1-18) Suddenly now the name Jesus Christ is introduced into the narrative, and the secret is revealed, for “Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” So the Word, full of grace and truth, is Jesus Christ He who was in the beginning with God and was God, now dwells in us, transforming us into himself that we may become as he is We are told: “Your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name” If your maker is your husband, are you not his emanation, his wife, until the work that he began in you is brought to completion?

In Genesis, we are told: “Woman came out of Man; therefore, Man must leave father and mother and cleave to his wife until they become one flesh” The Man spoken of here is the Word, out of whom all things come Having come out of the Word, we are his emanation, his wife, which he must cleave to until we become one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one God and Father of all How can we, the made, be transformed into the maker? Through the story of the transformation.

One of our great poets said:
“There is an inmost sense in us all
Where truth abides in fullness
To know, consists of opening a way
Out of which the imprisoned splendor may escape
Which, in effect is an exit for a light that Is supposed to be without.”

If grace and truth abide in Jesus Christ in their fullness, and Jesus Christ is in you, is not truth in you in its fullness? Your splendor is imprisoned within, waiting to unfold himself in you. And when he does, you will tell it knowing not everyone will accept your story. Knowing your earthly parents as well as your educational, financial and social background, they cannot believe that God has unfolded himself in you.

But God did not just become you to the point where you are two – you and God. He left everything to become one with you. Although I am a male, what you see when you look at Neville is God’s emanation, which is made. Regardless of your sex, you are God’s emanation, yet his wife; for God is your husband, your creator, called the Word.

The same Word that was with God and was God, became you when, full of grace and truth, he clothed himself in flesh. You can test him and find out for yourself that Jesus Christ is in you. I have tested him and know from experience that this presence who created the universe, is my own wonderful human imagination.

Called Jesus in the New Testament and Jehovah in the Old, his revealed name is I am. I am is he who was with God and is God I am is an eternally abiding presence. When I am imagining, God is acting, sending Jesus; for when you imagine, you send yourself into the world to fulfill what you have imagined.

God has imagined himself as you He has taken upon himself a garment of flesh and blood for a purpose. Having sent himself, God cannot return to himself empty, but must accomplish his purpose and prosper in the thing for which he was sent God died in order to transform that which was his emanation into himself. When God awoke within me there were not two of us, only one I am.

I am he who had the experience. I am he who pushed that stone away and came out of my tomb. I am he who held the child in my arms and heard God’s son call me father. I am he who experienced the complete severance when my body was torn from top to bottom. And when the dove descended and smothered me with love, I am he who experienced it.

Jesus, your I am, is the Word that was sent to transform you into himself. He is the creator of it all, for although you seem so limited and unable to create anything here, you can see everything made perfect in your imagination. You can imagine a state, remain faithful to it and it will be made alive for you.

Now, if I am made everything and you know you imagined it before it appeared, and it appeared because you imagined it, then you have found Jesus Christ to be your own wonderful human imagination.

I am interested in sports. I do not go to the races often, but I do enjoy watching the feature race on TV every Saturday. Last week a young jockey by the name of Angel Cordova was interviewed after winning the feature race. Wearing gay colors and looking almost like a circus clown, he was asked about his riding ability, and answered: “The ability to ride has nothing to do with winning. It is all in feeling lucky.

I could ride the best horse there is, but if I do not feel lucky he won’t come in first.” This chap came to the track feeling lucky. Was he not imagining that he was lucky when – at the end of the day – he took home maybe $10,000 just for running the race? He may not know that his ability to imagine and feel “lucky” is Christ, but it is, for by him all things are made and without him is not anything made that is made.

The jockey imagined himself a lucky man. He would not have been lucky if he lost the race. Only by feeling lucky could he bring the horse in first. Anyone who has succeeded in applying this principle will have felt that same emotion, for feeling causes action, and no power can stop that action called Jesus Christ, the human imagination.

John begins his prologue in the 18th verse as: “No one has ever seen God, but his only begotten son who is in the bosom of the Father he has made known.” Our scholars claim that this Greek passage should have been translated thus: “No one has ever seen God. He (no name to it) who is in the bosom of the Father has made him known.” In the 1st verse of this first chapter of John it is established that the Word is Jesus Christ, who is one with God the Father.

So we know that Jesus Christ is not the one in the bosom of the Father; so who is this only begotten? I have searched the scriptures and found him in the form of David. In fact, he can be found all through the Psalms, as that only one who can reveal you to yourself as God the Father.

I can tell you this from now until the end of time, but you will not believe me with certainty until David stands before you and reveals you to yourself. Although, after this experience you will remain limited in your garment of flesh, you will know who you are. And you will continue to wear your garment of limitation until your ministry is over.

Scholars have tried to estimate that ministry, claiming it to be from a few months to twelve years. No one seems to go beyond 12 years, from the moment of resurrection to the end of the ministry. They are not referring to the physical birth from a woman’s womb, but to the second birth out of the skull of Man.

Now let us return to the beginning, which is the Word – the meaning behind the plan. That meaning was with God, and actually was God. By him all things were made, and without him was not anything made that was made. He was in the world. The world was made by him, yet the world knew him not.

How many people today can pinpoint their success or failure to their imagination? The average man will say: John Brown did it, or the storm, or the president. Only a few will confess that their success or failure was created in their imagination. But I tell you: Christ in you creates your life, for you are all imagination and your imagination can be used for good or for evil.

When you think of God as a man of imagination, you are recognizing the power behind the mask God wears. Rather than giving credit to the mask, praise the wearer, who is Christ. It is Christ who erupts from within us. It is Christ who comes out of the skull of the mask he wears. Christ is the one who bears the name I am, which is what the words Jesus, Joshua, and Jehovah really mean.

When union is complete there is no one else, just you, and you are all alone. Having cleaved to you – his wife – until you become one flesh, you are that one and only body; and in becoming one body there is only one Spirit, for God’s name and your name are now the same I am. When you think of another you say “we are”, but there is no other when you say “I am.”

You are all alone when you awake and you are aware, therefore you are silently saying I am. You are aware of pushing the stone away and coming out of that tomb, and your awareness is I am. Truth is within us It takes no rise from outer things what`ere you may believe. To try to effect some entry from without cannot be, for truth comes from within.

The world is blessed, but they do not know it and think they must earn salvation; however, it cannot be earned. Salvation is grace, which is God’s gift of himself to every child born of woman. God died in the most literal sense of the word by forgetting that he was the one who created the universe. He had to do it in order to become you, the created.

His love for you was so great he left all to cleave to, and become one with, you. And when his work is complete, God, now individualized, will awaken. I know, for I awoke to find myself completely entombed where the Word – called the seed of God – fell. A seed must fall into the earth and die in order to be made alive, for unless it does it remains alone; but if it does, it bears much fruit God’s fruit is to individually awaken as God Himself.

The first 18 verses of the first chapter of John is the prologue. If you will start with the first four verses, then skip a few verses which speak of John the Baptist, to the 10th verse, you will be able to weave the story together. The 10th verse begins: “He was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not”

Do you know that imagination made the entire world? Do you know that a change in imagination will change the entire world? Do you realize that if you would begin to imagine something entirely different concerning your life instead of accepting that the so-called wise people say it must be, your world would rearrange itself to reflect the change? You, all imagination are in the world which you made; yet the world does not know that imagination made it.

Now, the next couple of verses tell of the kind of birth which will be yours: “Born, not of blood or of the will of man, or of the will of the flesh but of God.” Here we see an entirely different birth, which will take place in the one who finds Imagination, believes in him, holds onto and trusts him implicitly.

To prove that imagination causes change, you must first change your imaginal structure; and when your world outpictures your thoughts, you have found him. Then you will realize the truth of that 14th verse, for you will have found the one called the Word. Having become flesh, the Word is dwelling in you full of grace and truth. Jesus Christ is not some historical being on the outside.

He became flesh and dwells in us. Ten years ago this coming July, he who so loved me – his creation – took upon himself all of my afflictions, awoke in me, and when he did he wasn’t another. Imagination is the light which is the life of every man.

In the 18th verse, the name “Father” is used for the first time: “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.” It doesn’t say who that begotten one is; but if you will wait, he will appear. And when you find David, you will know he is your son; and he – knowing you as his father – reveals you as God the Father.

Then you will perform your ministry for the allotted time, whether it be a few months or years, before you take off your garment of flesh. No longer a part of this world, you will find yourself in the world of God; for being one with God you are part of that one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one God and Father of all.

Isn’t that the most exciting story you could ever hear? That a man who, although finding it difficult to pay rent, buy food, and clothe his family, discovers he created this fabulous universe. That’s the incredible story which every child born of woman is destined to fulfill.

The creator of this world and all within it, so loved you he became you, bringing with him his plan of redemption, which will erupt to reveal you as God the Father. I am convinced that not one will fail. A warning is given in many passages of scripture that one must be watchful and not turn back, but there is no mention of an ultimate failure.

Our priests accept this story as something that happened to another. They see Jesus as a savior on the outside: but he is the eternal Word of God, full of grace and truth, who took upon himself our garments of flesh and blood. Even though he dwells in us, he is abiding forever and will continue to do so, even though we turn back, for “My Word shall not return unto me empty.

It must accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” With the Word being in you as God Himself, although you are free to turn aside, you will be brought toward your predetermined purpose, which is to make you himself, so no one can fail. I cannot conceive of anything greater than this. No mystery story or play could even begin to compare to this concept.

Here is a love so great that he died to give that love to his beloved, thereby giving it life; yet it does not even know that he exists. He is in the world, the world was made by him, yet the world knows him not. Man, walking the streets, is imagining the world around him; yet he is unable to recognize his own harvest.

Let me tell you of two ladies who came to my meetings, one here on the West Coast and the other in New York City. Both ladies were financially embarrassed. They had no money and no one to turn to. All I asked them to do was assume the feeling of financial security. One lady immediately began to search for the feeling of security.

Every day she imagined having all the money she needed to take care of her desires. Then one day she visited a friend, where she met a man she had known intimately 30-odd years ago. When he learned she was penniless, he set up a trust fund for her, providing her with more than she needed to live graciously.

When the other lady heard the story she, too, began to assume she had plenty. She told me that in the matter of one week, money began coming in. What did they do? They used their human imagination.

I tell you: all things are created by Jesus Christ. Without him there is not a thing made that is made, be it good, bad, or indifferent. It is Jesus Christ who kills, makes alive, wounds, and heals. If he could not kill or wound, he is not a creator.

If Jesus, the I am, is absolute as a creator, then he has to create everything. We are told in the 32nd [chapter] of Deuteronomy, “I kill, I make alive, I wound, I heal and none can deliver out of my hands” Who else could kill but the creator? Who else could heal or wound? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ – not as you were trained to believe, but as your very self. Pray to some statute or picture on the wall, and you are praying to that which is dead.

Nothing on the outside is alive, for life is within. The Word became flesh and dwells in you. If this is true, then you should find out where he is and how to reach him. Is he your human imagination? Test him and see.

When I was told I could not get out of the island of Barbados I said to myself: all things are possible to Christ who became me and dwells in me, so right now I believe I have the passage.

Feeling the ticket in my hand, I walked up the gangplank and onto the ship, Within a few hours the company called, and I sailed just as I imagined I would, If Jesus Christ makes all things, then he made that passage available to me, I tested him, and now I know exactly who he is, He is my own wonderful human imagination.

Now, I tell this to everyone who will listen. I do not get acceptance from many, because they still want to believe in and pray to a little Jesus on the outside. In my vaudeville days my dancing partner had a picture she called Jesus. Wearing very thick grease paint, she would kiss that picture three or four times a day for good luck.

And when she could no longer see the face she would tear the picture up and get another one just like it. That was her little Jesus Christ. She is not alone, Hundreds of millions of people believe in an external Christ, and therefore are unable to believe my words.

I urge you to commit those 18 versus of the first chapter of John to memory for everything is woven there. They are the prologue, the preface to the plan. The play begins with the 19th verse and ends with the 20th chapter, leaving the 21st chapter as the epilogue.

Read the words carefully and you will see that Jesus Christ is the Word, full of grace and truth. That Word dwells in you. You do not have to look for truth on the outside, for grace erupts suddenly from within.

The world will never see the Word through your garment of flesh; but you will know that God kept his promise when God’s plan of redemption unfolds itself from within.

Now let us go into the silence

GOD’S PROMISE TO MAN

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 2-08-1963

This is one of the most difficult subjects I have to tell. Had I not experienced it I wouldn’t dare attempt it. God’s promise is true; he who promised it is faithful, and is being fulfilled in every being in this world and the unnumbered beings to come. The first statement of it, you find in Genesis 17.

We are told on the surface that Abraham was ninety-nine and he was promised an heir, a son. If you are familiar with the story, he had a son who was described as a “wild ass” in the 16th chapter. That one was born of a servant of the household of Abraham, born of Hagar, born of a slave; and the Lord said unto her: “You will have a son and his name will be Ishmael (“God hears”).

He shall be a wild ass of a man; his hand against every man and every man’s hand against him. Abraham wanted a son born of Sarai. He was ninety-nine and she was ninety. This is all symbolism. He was told he would have a son and his name would be Isaac (“he laughs”).

Then we are told that God fulfilled his promise, and he who was ninety-nine and she ninety brought into this world a son called Isaac. That is the first suggestion of God’s promise to man. Prior to that everything was preparatory, how to prepare man. To prepare us for this moment in time that we would become receptive enough, sensitive enough, to receive this promise.

We are told in the book of Galatians that the one promised was Jesus Christ. Listen to the words carefully: “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘and to your offspring,’ which is Christ.” Here we see the one promised was Jesus Christ. Your offspring, Jesus Christ.

Now we turn to Acts 26. Here Paul is brought enchained before King Agrippa. And the king said to him: “You may plead your own case, you may defend yourself.” And he said: “Here I stand on trial for my hope in the promise God made to our fathers, to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, and eagerly, earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope I am accused by Jews, O king.

Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead.” Here is our hope: if the dead is not raised, what does it matter if you build the greatest monument in the world to yourself; if you made billions and you are not raised from the dead, what does it matter; or all the accomplishments of the world, if it wears out like a garment and that is his last moment? “And here I stand on trial for my hope in the promise, made by God to our fathers.” Why am I on trial? I believe it. So, here is Paul’s plea before the king: “Why am I on trial?”

Now let me tell you my own personal story about it. I heard it, as you have heard it. I was raised in the Christian faith, as many of you were, and I heard it as my mother and father heard it, and I didn’t understand it. No priest, no rabbi, no minister tells it. They spoke of the Bible, or you go to a medium to hear and commune with someone who is supposed to be dead, and they all bring voices back. It hasn’t a thing to do with it.

It hasn’t a thing to do with any medium and extra-sensory perception – it’s something entirely different. Here I move across space in this world, and then a moment when I least expected it – in fact I didn’t expect it, I hadn’t the slightest idea what this was all about. That is why I am so encouraged, because I did not expect it; I did not look forward to it in this life, therefore I know the promise will be kept and everyone will receive it. I did not earn it. No man is good enough to earn it. The promise is unconditional.

So, here I am, a normal man with all the limitations and weaknesses of man. If I had to go back to my fifty-eight years, all the things I would judge harshly, if I sat myself in judgment. And I, who could not conceive myself worthy to receive this fantastic gift!

One night I went to sleep quite normally in the city of San Francisco, and in the wee hours of the morning a most intense vibration was taking place in my head and I begin to awake. Instead of awakening on the bed in my hotel room, I am awakening in my skull to find my skull not a room – my skull is a sepulcher, a tomb, and I am fully awake in my skull – alone.

For the first time in eternity I really was awake. There was one moment of panic, and after that moment of panic I began to feel around, and I felt the base of my skull and I pushed and something gave, and out I came, head first, just like a child being born, and down I came, inch by inch by inch. I pulled myself out of my skull and there I lay on the floor for a few seconds.

Then I arose, and looked back at the bed and there was my body on the bed. It was ghastly pale, tossing my head from side to side. Then I heard this wind – a fantastic wind, as described in the book of Acts – and here came a sudden wind from heaven.

I looked over to the corner of the room because it came from that direction, and then I looked back to the bed where the body was and the body was gone; they removed the body, a body that was so real only a few seconds before. But here sat three witnesses, three men; they didn’t see me and I am more real than I have ever been in eternity.

I suddenly became aware of the reality of my own invisibility. I am more real than anything in eternity, and yet no one sees me. I can see them, I not only see them, I can discern their thoughts. Their thoughts are to me [as] objective as you are. They are all curious about the wind, but one is the most curious and he got off the bed and started toward the same direction that I thought the wind originated. As he started over he looked at the floor and he said: “Why it’s Neville’s baby!” And they together asked in the most incredulous manner: “How could Neville have a baby?” He doesn’t argue the point; he lifts an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and places that infant on the bed.

Then I took that infant in my hands, looked into its smiling face – it does that – and I asked it: “How is my sweetheart?” And this heavenly smile broke upon its face – and then the whole thing dissolved, and I am on my bed in the hotel in San Francisco. That is the beginning of the unfolding of God’s promise: “I will give you a son.”

Now the son is not some little son that I have, say who is now thirty-eight years old. Let us now go back to the interpretation of that son as we find it in the book of Luke, for Luke interprets this picture for us. Tradition has it that there were three men in the field, and he said to them: “This night God is born, a savior is born who is Christ the Lord.

And this will be a sign for you; you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:11) They say: “in a manger” – I tell you from experience: lying on the floor. The babe is not the thing that happened, the babe is a sign: “This shall be a sign unto you.”

An event took place this day in eternity: the fulfillment of God’s promise to man. “And this shall be a sign unto you, you will find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying on the floor.” And they went and found as they were told, the babe, wrapped in swaddling clothes.

You who know certain protocol concerning the navy or our government, who will be concerned about our President who we know as Washington, and we want to know whether he is in the White House or not. If you understood this protocol you will look to see a displaying sign, and if the presidential flag is flying you will say to your friends: “He is in residence.” If it is not flying he is not in residence. It doesn’t mean the flag is the president, it only signifies his presence.

This is a sign unto you: “You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying on the floor.” It signifies the event that took place this day in eternity; it is not the event. The event is invisible to mortal eye, for no one saw me. I saw them and read their thought but they could not see me.

They only found the sign. They came to find the sign, as they were told in the spiritual world: “You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying on the floor.” And they came and they found it exactly as they were told; but they couldn’t find the event, for the event was invisible to eyes on this level.

So here is God’s promise to man that he will bring forth, out of man, himself. He is buried in man. And here is a sign he has succeeded in bringing himself out, individualized as you. It’s a little sign, the sign is that of “a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying on the floor.”

Let us go back to the Book of Samuel. We are told that something happened in man. It is the second event of God’s promise. First, we will take Ecclesiastes 3:11, the most disputed verse in that book and possibly in the Bible: “God has put eternity into man’s mind, yet so that he shall not find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” The word translated “eternity” in the Revised Standard Version is “Olam.” In the King James Version that world is translated “world.” “He put the world into man’s mind.”

Follow me closely. Now go back to the Book of Samuel. A king – his name is Saul – turns to his lieutenant, Abner, and he sees a very handsome youth standing before him whose name is David, but he doesn’t know who he is. He said to Abner: “Abner, whose son is that youth?” and Abner replied: “As your soul liveth, O king, I cannot tell.” He said: “Inquire whose son that stripling is.” No one knows. Then David comes in from his conquering mood and he brings the Philistine’s head in his hand, Goliath. And the king turns to the youth now, he said: “Tell me, whose son are you, young man?” And he replied: “I am the son of thy servant Jesse.” (We’ll come to that in a moment, but we’ll go back.) “Abner, whose son is that young man?”

The word “young man” is “Olam” (translated “eternity”). “Inquire whose son that stripling is.” The word “stripling” is “Olam.” He turns to the boy himself: “Tell me, whose son are you, young man?” The word “young man” is “Olam.” What did God put in the mind of man? The Bible tells us, but because we can’t understand it, that God put eternity into man’s mind, but the word translated “eternity” means “young man, stripling, youth.” So, what did he put in man? I will tell you from experience what he put into man’s mind: he put David.

He put David into the mind of man. It’s the second act of the fulfillment of God’s promise; because he promised in the previous chapter (1 Samuel 17) to set the father of this youth free in eternity.

He took eternal youth (symbolized as David) and put it into the mind of man, and promised that anyone who conquered the enemy of Israel (the Philistine) that his father – not he, but the father – would be free. So he is looking for the father.

Listen to the words: “Whose son are you?” I’m not asking you about the boy. “Whose son are you?” If I ask you “Whose son are you?” I am curious about your father, not concerned about you. For the promise is: the father must be set free. So, here is the great mystery.

Now, a few months later, a similar vibration from that which preceded my own birth from above took place. This time there was an explosion, an expansion beyond the wildest dream, and when the dust settled, as it were, I am looking into the face of David. There is no doubt in my mind I am seeing David and there is no doubt in our relationship.

He is my son and he doesn’t have any doubt in his mind that I am his father, and he calls me “Father” (fulfilling scripture, the 89th Psalm): “Thou are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my Salvation.” So David has been hidden in the mind of every being in the world. At a moment in eternity when man is ripe for it, there is an explosion, and he sees David and David is his son.

No one knows who the father is except the son, and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him. Now what is the significance of this? It is God’s purpose to give us his son. There is no way in the world that he can give us his love- if God is a father – unless God be a father, unless he gives us fatherhood. I can’t be a father unless there is a child and his only begotten son is David. Psalm 2: “You are my son, this day I have begotten you.”

He looks upon David and calls David his only begotten son. He takes his only begotten son, translated in the Bible as “Olam”, buries it in the mind of man, and then gives to man himself – giving to man his son. If I am the father of God’s only begotten son, I and God are one.

In the world where I still must wear a garment of flesh, that full inheritance is denied me. It has not yet become actual, or at least not fully realized, so long as I wear this garment of flesh; but my visions reveal the fulfillment of his promise in me, complete inheritance of the world when the garment – which is the veil hiding me from my inheritance – is taken off. So here: “Whose son are you young man?” “I am the son of thy servant Jesse.”

The word “Jesse” is the root of the word “I AM.” It is any form of the verb “to be.” It is the root of the word JOD HE VAU HE [pron. yod hey vav hey] which we translate, “Jehovah.” He is telling you that his father is Jehovah, the only God. All scholars are agreed that the genealogy given to David in the Book of Ruth and Chronicles has been added. They try to give sense to the scripture, but the most [comprehensive of all the] works on scripture in existence is the Encyclopedia Biblica.

The Encyclopedia Biblica claims that in the earliest of all known manuscripts, there is no father beyond Jesse. David has the father, Jesse, and Jesse has no father. There is no genealogy of Jesse in the earliest known manuscripts in the Hebrew tongue, but men trying to give sense to this have added a genealogy. They go back from Jesse all the way to Adam, which we now have in our Book of Luke and Matthew, but the earliest known manuscripts start with Jesse.

He has – like Melchizedek – no background, because God has no father. So the father of David is Jesse, which means “I AM,” and “I AM” has nothing behind it. It has no origin of ties in itself. So when you see David, God has completed himself and has given you himself.

There is no way he could give you himself and yet not give you his son. If he restrains his son and didn’t give you his son, he didn’t give you himself, for he is a father. If I give you fatherhood, then where is my child? And then the child comes before you and reveals your fatherhood.

Eternal youth was put into the mind of man, and then comes that moment in time when men discover who he is – and it’s all God. So the promise, I tell you from experience, is true. We are told in 2 Corinthians 1:20, speaking of Christ Jesus: “In him are all the promises of God fulfilled.

All the promises of God find their affirmation, their fulfillment, in him. Well, who is Christ Jesus? Christ Jesus is God the Father. How do I arrive at that point? Scripture, plus experience. In John 14:8, the disciple Philip said to him: “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him: “Have I been with you so long and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father, how can you say, ‘Show us the Father?'” But no one asked him: “Where is your son?” Read the story.

No one dared ask him anything. A child bears witness of fatherhood. So no one asked him anything, so he brings up the question – not in the same chapter, because the Bible is a mystery, you have to dig and search. So when no one would ask him a question, he turned to them and said: “What think ye of the Christ, whose son is he?” And they, based upon tradition, began to speculate, and they asked him and made all kinds of statements. They said: “The son of David.” He said: “Then why did David in the spirit, call him ‘Lord’? If David thus calls him ‘Lord,’ how could he be David’s son?'” The word translated “Lord” is “Adoni” and every child referred to his parents as “Adoni,” (meaning “my father, my Lord”).

He tells you he fulfilled the 89th Psalm. If David thus calls him, “Father,” how could he then be David’s son? I tell you the story is all wrapped in you, unfolding in you, and in the end you are heir to the universe, because you are one with God and all of us together have the same son.

Now I am individualized and so are you, and every being in this world is destined to be Christ-like, without losing his individuality, not in eternity; and yet you and I are one because we have the same son. You are destined to be David’s son – you are destined to be David’s father. Right now you think he lived 3,000 years ago; I tell you he is buried in you.

He is raising his son, lifting up his son out of you, and when he lifts his son out of you, at the same time he resurrects you as himself. So he resurrects you and his son and gives you the relationship of father-son – you being father, and his son – his only begotten son – is your son.

Therefore, who are you, but God the Father? We are all destined to be God the Father, and yet individualized. I know I will never lose my individuality and you will never lose yours, and yet we are one. We are one because we have the same son, and the son’s name is David.

Now his power-laden work really began at the descent of the dove. Everything before that was simply preparatory. This is a true experience, the descent of the dove. All this symbolism is true; it will happen to you. I will tell you how it happened to me.

No one sees it outside of the one to whom it happens, as told us in Mark 1:10). It will come just as unexpectedly as all the others come. You go to bed quite innocently, as I did, a perfectly normal day, no excitement – and then in the wee hours of the morning this will happen.

You will suddenly see the strangest transparency – transparent beyond the wildest dreams, translucent. Then suddenly twenty or thirty feet over your head you will see a beautiful dove, a light beige like natural linen. [Lecture PROPHETIC BLUEPRINTS, p. 2, and p. 7.] The olive-skinned dark woman implied that man’s future was relative to his present large bowel – like the caterpillar, whose future is the butterfly.

Man’s future is so fantastic you can’t describe it in words. He is not the caterpillar that feeds upon the leaf; relative to it he is the winged creature, as described in the Book of Ezekiel and Isaiah; this winged seraphim, whose body is one of light; face human, yes, hands human, feet human, but the body – no. He has no need for the large bowel; he doesn’t need any food to sustain himself, for now he is a life-giving being, life within himself.

Therefore he is a being of radiant light, although he does have human features, hands, and feet. As she said that to me, I am still holding the dove; then I felt myself crystallize once more, and I am back in my bed.

All the others preceded it. It started in 1959, on the 20th day of July, in San Francisco. Then came the revelation of David in the month of December 6, 1959; then came the splitting of the temple (which is the body) on April 8, 1960. Then came that interval of a few years until the first of this year, January 1st, where the dove descended. Knowing my scripture, I knew then that his work really began. That power laden-work started at the descent of the dove, which symbolized the Holy Spirit.

What I have told you this night is true one hundred per cent. I can promise you, as you are promised in scripture – having realized it in myself – you will realize it. You do not earn it; it is a gift, it is all grace. God’s promise is unconditional; God’s law is conditional. If you want to apply God’s law toward anything in this world, it is all conditional. You can’t be in one state and not suffer the consequences of not being in another state. So, if I would be in the state of being healthy I must assume that I am. We are told: “Call upon his name.” That phrase: “Call upon his name” is not properly translated. It is: “Call with his name.”

How will I call with his name? His name is “I AM.” If I would call with his name, and his name is “I AM,” I would say: “I am healthy.” As we are told: “Let the weak man say “I am strong.” I am calling with his name. Don’t call upon his name, as you are taught in the churches. “In the name of Jesus Christ give me so and so.” It won’t work but if you will call with his name as to finances: “I am wealthy.” – His name is “I AM.”

If I stood here as a judge, and took Neville and threw him over there and sat him before me and asked him to defend himself, knowing what I know about him, I could not give him what has been given to me – which thrills me beyond measure, because I know everyone will get it. If I really felt in my heart of hearts good and clean and wholesome and all these things in the world, then I might feel sorry for the rest of the world, but I don’t feel that way.

I know what I have done, I know what I am capable of doing, and because I know these things are not me and yet I was called and given this gift, I know everyone will be given it. As you are told in scripture: “If it comes by law then it is not by grace.” It did not come by law, it came by grace. “The law was given us by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”

Everyone will be called in God’s own good time and given fatherhood, and fatherhood is given you through his son. No fatherhood – no son. Who is the son? The son is David; and Jesus Christ, as you have been taught to believe is the son – He is not the son; Jesus Christ is God the Father. “When you see me, Philip you see the father, how then can you say, ‘show us the father.'” People can’t quite understand that mystery, but he really is God, the Father.

Anyone who becomes the father of David is Jesus Christ, even though he does not lose his own individuality. And everyone in the world is destined to be the father of David, as Jesus Christ is the father of David.

He can’t be a father and not have a son. When he tells us: “I am the father,” then where is the son? So he brings it up: “What say ye of the Christ, whose son is he?” “The son of David.” “Then why does David call him father?” If David thus calls him father then how can he be David’s son? That’s the story.

Everyone is destined to be the father of David, and being the father of David they are Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ – himself the father. That is God’s promise to man. If we try to rationalize it on this level it will not make sense. The priesthoods of the world do not know the Bible, so they teach it differently.

He sent me to tell you. Either you haven’t heard it or maybe you have forgotten it. I have come to remind you, because in some peculiar way it does rest upon your hearing it and your acceptance of it. So man must first hear it and man must accept it, as told us in the Book of Hebrews.

There is quite a difference between receiving the promise and receiving what was promised to you. What promise? When you receive the promise, you are declared heir to the kingdom; when you receive what was promised, you obtain the inheritance – that is the difference.

When you write a will and the attorney records it – you hear I have written a will and so you are now heirs to my estate, but you are not yet in possession until my will is executed.

So I tell you in effect: God’s promise is faithful and true, and everyone who has received it must continue for a while. He can’t restrain it; he has to tell it in the hope that many who hear it will believe, for it is based upon the belief in the promise. So I tell you what is going to happen, in the hope you will believe it.

On the other hand, if you are wanting God’s law, and you want money, or things, or something else in this world – apply it. You’ll get it. “What would it profit a man if he gained the whole vast world and suffered the loss of his soul?” You know that story.

He had more grain than he could possibly put into the barn. “O foolish man, do you not know that your soul is required of thee?” (Luke 12:16-20) But man does not care. He does not believe God’s promises.

So, tonight, as small [an audience] as we are, may I ask you to believe. Every word I have told you this night, I have experienced. It happens to every being in the world. Believe it. Yet, I am as fragile a man as you are. But in spite of the weaknesses of the outer man, God’s promise has been fulfilled in me.

Now let us go into the silence.

QUESTION: If we do not experience the birth in this present embodiment, will we still experience it in the future?

ANSWER: It is difficult for man to believe it, but the most denied book in the Bible is Ecclesiastes. In the 1st chapter, we are told: “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, ‘See, this is new’? It has been already, in ages before us.

There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to happen….” (Ecclesiastes 1:9-11) Time is bent, curved; it is much larger than seventy years, and man cannot go back and really remember things seventy years ago. The scripture is much larger than that.

Each fulfills his destiny within that time wherein he was sitting. You will realize the part with modification, and then God, in one moment – his mightiest of all acts – will resurrect you. You are lifted out of the grave – for this (the body) is the grave where man is encased – and man is God. Golgotha means “skull.” The priesthoods of the world try to justify it by trying to find a little area in the Near East where they claim they have found it.

They tell the faithful around the world, and they believe it. “Christ in you is the hope of glory.” Christ will be resurrected, and you and he are one. “Jesus Christ is your Maker” and he is your husband, and he has to leave all and cleave to you.

GOD’S WISEST CREATURE

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 9-20-1968

We are told that because of an act of disobedience man fell, thereby separating himself from God. But scripture tells us that God consigned all men to disobedience that he may have mercy upon them. So we see: the fall was a deliberate act, a plan for expansion, for greater existence, and an ultimate birth.

Scholars consider the 82nd Psalm as one of the most difficult of all the psalms to interpret, stating that although the idea may be perennial, its meaning has vanished.

Here are a couple of verses from that psalm: The Lord speaks, saying: “I say, ‘You are gods, Sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, you shall die like men and fall as one man, O princes.’ ” These words are addressed to every child born of woman regardless of race or nationality. I say to you right now, you are gods, Sons of the Most High, all of you!

Evidently when these words were first spoken we were not men, otherwise the forecasting of our death like men would have no meaning. As a man, you know you will die; so what is being said here?

First called a son of God, you were told of the grand experiment in the statement, you shall die like men. Here is the plot for expansion and an ultimate birth. But what were we prior to the fall? I cannot describe that body, but I will use scripture in the hope that you will use your imagination, although I urge you not to come to any definite conclusions.

The fall, in symbolism, is associated with the serpent. As God’s wisest creature, he said to generic man (in the form of woman): “Did God say you would die?” and she answered: “Yes, if I ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Then he made this statement: “God knows you will not surely die, but your eyes will be opened and you will become like the gods, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3)

The serpent has now become man! This serpent is described by Isaiah as the seraphim [sic]. Describing his vision, Isaiah said: “I beheld the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up. Above him were the seraphim.” In Hebrew, the word means glorious celestial being, fiery serpent, noble one, prince.

Our friend, Marta, departed this world on the 19th of July. Within a week after Marta’s departure, her friend who was with her when she died had this vision. She saw Marta, the same dear girl we all loved. She was in a cage, heart-shaped but inverted so that the base was wider than the top, with a line of division between the two sections. Marta was on one side, with an enormous serpent on the other, with rings of color from its tail to its head. Questioning her, Marta said: “How much longer will it be until we will become one?” Picking up a book, the lady read aloud: “After six thousand years, man and the serpent become one. You can tell the age of the serpent by the number of rings.” Approaching Marta, preparing to count the serpent’s rings, she said: “If Neville says it is so, it is so” and awoke.

Now, God speaks to man through the language of dream and makes himself known in vision. Here is a vision. My friend has come to the end of the road. She has completely finished the drama and the two are now becoming one. Think about it. What would you get if you blended man and the serpent? A glorious, fiery being which Isaiah described as having six wings – two covering the face, two the feet and two used for propulsion.

You cannot describe the heavenly being you really are; yet you are gods, sons of the Most High, O princes. One being, containing all within himself, fell into division and resurrects into unity, into a holy temple of the Lord in whom you also are built in.

The act of resurrection is God’s mightiest act, for he must awaken his sons, who deliberately fell into this world of decay and death. Dwell upon your true being, for although you have forgotten it, you are a son of God. You had to forget this truth in order to assume the limitations of this cross called man.

But before this assumption, our one grand hope was for expansion and ultimate birth. Having fallen into division, we will return to a unity far greater than we knew prior to the descent.

Without defining exactly what you look like, suppose you are now the being spoken of as the son of God. You certainly are not a man, because you must fall into man and die like men. Knowing that no man takes your life, you lay it down yourself. You have the power to lay it down and the power to lift it up again.

You agreed to take upon yourself this garment of anatomy called man, which is filled to overflowing with passion. Now, believing yourself to be human, you have emptied yourself of your power and wisdom. You cannot restrain the impulse to act, even though you were told that if you entertained one concupiscent thought you would die. Can you now see that the drama is psychological and not physical?

The moment you contemplate an act, it has been committed. Whether it is pleasant and you may be inclined to do it physically, or you restrain the impulse to act upon that which you are contemplating, the act is already done!

“You have heard it said of old: ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ but I say to you that any man who looks upon a woman lustfully has already committed the act with her in his heart.” Here you see the whole drama put into a psychological frame. It is not good enough to restrain the impulse. You can’t even have it! God consigned you to disobedience by giving you a garment of passion and then telling you that if you entertained one concupiscent thought, you would die.

There is not a thing you -as man – have ever done that God has seen something to be blamed in the act. And in the end, God in his infinite mercy will step beyond and arouse you. Having tasted what it is to be man in a world of death, you – a son of the Most High – will add what you have extracted from being man, to God’s glory.

Before you fell into this world of men, you were infinitely greater than any man who ever walked the face of this earth. You have no ancestor comparable to the being you really are. Although you emptied yourself of your divine power and wisdom, it is still awaiting your return. And you will return expanded beyond the wildest dreams of what you were prior to the fall.

One Man, containing all men, fell into division, and all men are gathered one by one and redeemed into the unity of the one Man who fell. “This structure is slowly built as a holy temple of the Lord in whom you also are built in.”

Let no one tell you that you did anything wrong to cause your descent. It was because God challenged himself to literally die and overcome death. This you will know to be true when you begin to stir within yourself. Then your brain will become alive, and you will awaken in the tomb of your skull, from which you will come out.

Now we are told: “He is designated son of God with power by his resurrection from the dead.” If you read scripture carefully, you will discover that the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes is not a birth, but a sign of the birth. And when it is said that Jesus was twelve years old, I ask you: twelve from what? Not from a little garment of flesh, but Jesus Christ is a wholly supernatural being. He is the son who fell when he wasn’t man to begin with. Jesus is the someone buried in you that is you!

One day he will awaken and you will see others, but they will not see you, as you will be invisible to them. But you will know yourself to be sheer power and sheer wisdom.

So resurrection is identified with birth, for at that moment you are designated son of God, with power by your resurrection from the dead. Man is born anew through the resurrection of the son of God, who died to give life to his little body which appears in the world. Regardless of your physical age, the moment you are called you are resurrected to experience your ultimate birth, which was the hope before the fall of the one Man who fell.

Although this may seem too spiritual, I am telling you of your true background. You do not have any ancestor who is a son of God – you are! You have deliberately forgotten it for a little while, but no one here can come close to the nobility of the being you really are. You are the seraphim! A glorious flaming celestial being! The noble one! Even though our association with the serpent is one of fear, the seraphim are those who are around the throne of God.

What we are dealing with here is creativity. Having eaten of the tree of good and evil, man judges, but God sees neither right nor wrong. Allowing man to do what he wills, God knows that man will be redeemed and return more glorious, more luminous, than before his descent.

Let no one tell you that because of your disobedience you are separated from God, for your separation was both a tragedy and a triumph. A tragedy because you fell into death, and a triumph because you will rise into life everlasting.

Now, every mystic sees the journey as one of six thousand years. Blake beheld the visions of his deadly sleep of six thousand years as dancing around his skirts like a serpent of precious stones and gold – which he knew to be himself. How can I describe my vision other than to say that when my body was split from top to bottom, I did not see a form, only golden, liquid light, which I knew to be myself. Then I fused with it and rose, just like a serpent, into my skull.

Now, I know from experience that when you are born from above, you are designated son of God and given the power to raise the dead. “The dead will hear the voice of the son of God and rise. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the son also to have life in himself.” (John 5)

The son of man has the power of judgment on earth, but the son of God has the power to call his brothers out of their graves. No hydrogen bomb can raise the dead. It can kill them, but nothing can arouse them but this power. When it is applied to one who has been asleep for six thousand years, it will cause him to awake and rise from the grave of his own body, in which he has been sleeping all these years.

Now I would like to tell you a little story. As a man called Neville, I was born into a large and very poor family. We had no educational, social, or financial background, but my mother was very wise. If she saw anything she thought unbecoming in her children she would say: “Have you forgotten that you are a Goddard?” (That was our surname.) We were too young to know anything about backgrounds, but the mere fact that mother said it, made us realize that we must have forgotten we were Goddards or we would not have done what we did.

By the time we discovered that we had no background, the idea was so ingrained in us that we made the name important, with the result that the Goddards in Barbados today are the outstanding business people of the island. Year after year, our family-owned corporation does a gross of over $30 million and it grows and grows; yet it all started with mother saying: “Have you forgotten you are a Goddard?”

You can take any little thought like that and make the tree of money grow for you in this world. Then just imagine what you could do if you go beyond this world of Caesar.

You could imagine that the Elohim – a compound unity of one made up of the redeemed – has taken his place in the divine congregation. In the midst of the gods he pronounces judgment, saying: “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you: nevertheless, you shall die like men and fall as one man, O princes, O seraphim, O’ glorious celestial beings! You will empty yourself of your glory, your wisdom and your power and take upon yourself a garment of death and decay. Then, after a journey of horror for six thousand years, you will be restored having expanded your wisdom and your power by reason of your descent into decay and death.”

So let no one tell you that you did anything which was wrong to be expelled and separated from the Father. Yours was a deliberate act for your expansion and ultimate birth.

Now let us go into the silence.

GOD’S WORD

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard 11-13-1967

We are here in this world for one purpose and that is to fulfill God’s Word, which is scripture. Oh, you can accomplish miracles while you are here, but God sent you – his Word – into the world, saying: “My Word shall not return unto me void.

It must accomplish that which I purposed and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” You are that Word, and you are destined to fulfill scripture.

This past week a lady wrote me, saying: “Recently I have been having difficulty remembering my dreams, but this one was the most difficult I have ever encountered. I knew I had to surface to tell it to you, but it seemed like an endless depth of utter darkness from which I came. Holding onto the memory image of what I had experienced, I felt as though I were a diver who had plunged too deep and would never make the surface, but I did and this is my experience.

“I stood before Jerusalem’s gates. They were enormous wooden gates with high, high walls. I was so thrilled to be there, but my thrill quickly vanished when I realized that the gates were closed. Then I found myself on a high hill, clothed in a body of light, which radiated from me in all directions. In the distance I could see the whole of earth with its curvature, and felt as though I stood in some space ship and shed my light on all. I knew that if I so desired I could rearrange everything I saw, yet I also knew that everything was ordered and as it should be. Then I began this terrific struggle to return to my earthly body, for I wanted to share what I had experienced.”

In a book called, Looking at Modern Painting, there is a chapter on Max Beck, a modern symbolic artist. In it he said: “I awoke and yet continued dreaming, for I was William Blake, that noble emanation of English genius. Looking like some super-terrestrial patriarch, he waved friendly greetings and said to me, ‘Do not be intimidated by the horrors of the world. Everything is ordered and correct and must fulfill its destiny in order to attain perfection. Seek this path and you will receive from your own aid, a deeper perception of the eternal beauty of creation. And you will know an ever increasing release from that which now seems so sad and terrible.'” Just like William Blake, this lady knew that everything is ordered and perfect and as it should be for man to experience.

Now let me share an experience of mine. When I was in my twenties I found myself in the presence of the most beautiful woman I could ever perceive, and a horrible, hairy monster which resembled an ape or a gorilla. The monster looked at the heavenly being and speaking in a guttural voice, he called her “mother”. Well, I lost my temper, and as I pummeled it the monster began to grow. Thriving on violence, I realized that this was my emanation. He was the embodiment of every evil thought I had ever had and all of my violent acts, while the heavenly woman represented every noble, kind deed I had ever committed. Looking from one to the other I vowed to myself (since there was no one present with whom I could make a contract) that if it took me eternity I would redeem this monster. As I made this commitment, the monster began to melt before my eyes. And as it dissolved, all of my misspent and misused energy that went into the shaping of this monster as I traveled the path of time, returned to me. Feeling like infinite power, I watched the radiant creature begin to glow like the sun as I awoke.

Now let us take these two experiences from scripture. We are told in the 8th chapter of the Book of Mark, that when the blind man’s eye was opened, he said” “I see men as trees, walking.” And in the 4th chapter of the Book of Daniel, the king – while lying on his bed – had a vision of the tree of life, a tree which fed the world, housed the birds of the air, and sheltered the animals. Then a man appeared, saying: “Hew the tree down, cut off its branches, strip the leaves and scatter its fruit. But leave the stump of the roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron.” The pronoun is now changed to: “Let him be watered with the dew of heaven, let him make his abode with the beasts of the field. Let his mind be changed from that of a man and let the mind of a beast be given to him. Let seven times pass over him until he learns that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he wills.”

In the creation of both the wonderful being and the monstrous one, I wore the heart and the mind of the beast, as we all do while covered with this animal body of flesh. I am the tree of life that was felled to become man. This lady experienced the tree of life, as she gave life to every object she looked upon. She saw that the gates of Jerusalem were locked, and she saw correctly, for there is only one way into the city of God called Jerusalem, and that is up the water shaft. In the 5th chapter of 2 Samuel we are told that David captured the city of Zion by moving up the water shaft, which he built from the outer, inward and up at the same time. Well, the only way you can ever build from the out, in and up at the same time is to build in a spiral. The city of God is entered only up the spiral ladder of your spine into your skull.

Have you ever seen pictures of man with his skin off, exposing all of his veins, arteries, and nerves? That’s the tree of life, which is rooted in the brain and inverted. Having gone down into generation, you have taken your power there to generate sex and animate forms. The day will come when your creative power is resurrected and you enter the world of regeneration, to create without a divided image. Knowing yourself to be the creator of all life, in the resurrection you are above the organization of sex.

How many times during the history of the world have men done violence to themselves trying to bring this power about. Many of the early fathers of the Christian faith castrated themselves in the hope that they could produce it, but it happens only when you are turned around. In my own case, I felt myself being split in two from top to bottom. Then I saw that golden liquid light which had gone down into generation and knew it to be myself. Fusing with that which I beheld, I went up the water shaft in a serpentine motion and entered Jerusalem, the city of love, and no one can enter any other way. So she saw it perfectly. That was a foreshadowing of the power that is in store for her.

We are told in the Book of Revelation: “I beheld the city of God, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” Well, “Your maker is your husband, the Lord of Host is his name.” You are the maker of this beautiful creature, creating her out of every noble act that you have ever committed. She is your emanation, yet your wife, till the sleep of death is past.

And you are the maker of this monstrous thing that is unseen until that moment in time when you reach the threshold and must wake the decision to redeem your misused energy or not. He is the embodiment of every unlovely, vile thing you have ever imagined. Feeding on violence, he whispers in your ear morning, noon, and night, urging you to violate everything you love. Thoughts you think are hidden, feed this monster and make him stronger and stronger. In the 8th chapter of the Book of Ezekiel we are told that they went into their chambers, saying: “No one sees me,” and they carve every abominable beast on the walls of the temple. All right, “I am the temple of the Living God.” I carve all these thoughts on the inside saying, “No one sees what I am doing,” but I am seeing and hearing it as I am doing it, and there is no other God besides me.

Housed in you, God put upon himself the garment of an animal, the mind of an animal and the heart of an animal when the tree was felled. Man thinks the tree of life is going to be found on the outside, but it is not there. Blake said it so beautifully in his wonderful poem, “Sons of Experience, The Human Abstract”:

“The Gods of the earth and sea,
Sought thro’ Nature to find this Tree,
But their search was all in vain:
There grows one in the Human Brain.”

Fifteen or sixteen years ago, in vision, I saw these wonderful men walking like stallions. Such magistery, with antlers coming out of their heads so high they disappeared into the sky. Then I saw a man who at that time was third in the government of England. (A very controversial figure, he disliked aristocracy, wealth, or anything that he considered noble. He tried to nationalize all industry, and in the trying he nearly broke England.) This man took a tree from the outside and put it on his head, stood on the highest hill, jumped, and fell flat. Getting up again, he climbed the hill, placed the tree on his head, jumped, and fell again. He was trying to wear the tree of life on the outside, trying to change the structure of the world by spending money, and not changing self. Just like someone covered with tar offering to help you clean the house, a man with unclean hands cannot make things clean!

You cannot give another that which you do not have. As a nation we have just sent millions of dollars to nations, thinking we are going to change them, but change does not come that way. There is no power on the outside. The power that lifts you up so that you can remove mountains comes from within, and it doesn’t turn up until your spiritual body is split. Then and only then are you turned around, and the energy that went down into generation is turned up into regeneration.

Castrating yourself or signing the vow of celibacy means nothing. You can be celibate from now to the ends of time, but you will dream of sex. You will end up with a cesspool for a mind and condemn every lovely girl and boy who go to the altar in marriage, and claim their offspring is sin. Of all the nonsense in the world! If that is true, then they – the offspring of a sinful act – are the embodiment of sin are they not? I tell you: you can’t bottle this energy. Sex is natural when your energy is turned down, but one day it will be turned up, and you will know a creative power greater than anything you could ever imagine while your imagination is divided.

Believe me when I tell you: everyone must face their monster and their heavenly being, for no one is devoid of lovely thoughts. The love you felt for your mother when you were a child, or when you gave from the heart – these are the acts that go into making your lovely ideal. When a friend of mine died, Kathleen Norris wrote her husband, saying: “I have never known a more giving person. She never wrote me a letter but what she enclosed a recipe, a poem, a clipping from a paper, or a handkerchief. She never waited until Christmas to give in the hope she would receive as generous a gift (as most people do) but gave all through the year.” This lady has been feeding her heavenly being, and one day she, too, will face her monster just as you will, because you are the God who created it and what God has made he can unmake.

God is not made and therefore cannot be unmade. He is the maker. He makes his new Jerusalem, his emanation yet his wife till the sleep of death is past, and he also makes his Hell through his mistaken use of energy. One day you will stop feeding it and vow to yourself that you will redeem it, even if it takes eternity. But it doesn’t take eternity; right before your eyes he gets smaller and as all of the energy that it embodied returns to you to now use wisely and lovingly.

Any time you use your imagination lovingly on behalf of another, you are building your new Jerusalem, and one day she will descend attired as a bride. You are building her out of your noble thoughts; that’s why I say: “Live so that your mind can store a past worthy of recall, for the mind whose contents vanish suffers loss, though you yourself cannot be lost, but only as through fire will you awaken.”

So I want to thank this lady for sharing her perfectly marvelous experience with me that I may share it with you. She saw the perfect vision, the beautiful imagery of Jerusalem. But the city is a bride, an emanation of beauty that returns to you to become one, making you infinitely greater because of that union. Having emanated both, when your misspent energy returns to you, you wear it, not as two but as one. Then leaving all, you will cleave to your emanation of beauty to become one being; thereby you are enhanced in beauty, enhanced in love, enhanced in wisdom and power by reason of your journey. So do no violence to these bodies of yours in the hope of entering Jerusalem. As Blake said:

“I give you the end of a golden string,
Only wind it into a ball:
It will lead you in at Heavens gate,
Built in Jerusalem’s wall.”

The body you wear is not the gate. It is only the shadow. You must go to the center where the king dwells, for it is there that you know you are the king. Then all the blind and lame thoughts who kept you out while you struggled to find the truth, are destroyed.

Man is the tree of life. I have seen them walking. One day a friend of mine in San Francisco who is an artist was waiting for me at the Palace Hotel. As I came through the door into the three to four storied lobby, she saw my 5’11” body as a stallion with antlers reaching up to the sky and drew a picture of them, even to the same suit I wore. Now, the lady whose vision I shared tonight saw them as radiations from every part of her body, but my artist friend saw them as antlers. They both saw that which is not of this world.

Your ultimate goal is not to become a millionaire or to be famous, but to fulfill the Word of God. “My Word shall not return unto me void, but must accomplish that which I purpose and prosper in the Word who cut yourself down and left just the roots. You placed bands around you so that you would grow and reach the sky and the birds would come and nest. The tree of life is not in some little garden of God on the outside; you are that tree whose energies have gone down into generation. One day the power that you are will be regenerated, and your invested tree will stand erect and bear the fruit of life.

Now let us go into the silence.

GOOD FRIDAY – EASTER

December 22, 2013

Neville Goddard

Lecture by Neville

(Circa 1954 Edited by Jan McKee)

You know the story of Good Friday. A man is in a garden. Its night time. And one called Judas comes in search of him, seemingly to betray him. He comes into the garden, and its dark, so he asks the simple question, “Where is Jesus?” Then the voice in the dark answered, “I AM HE.” We are told in the story they all fell to the ground. When they regained their composure they asked the same question, “Where is Jesus?” Again the voice answered, “I have told you that I AM HE.” This time Judas kisses him and the voice said to him, “Now that you have found me, let all else go, but do not let Me go, and what you have to do, do quickly.” Then Judas goes out and commits suicide.

Now when you read the story you might think that that drama took place in a garden. No. That drama must TAKE place in the mind of man. For this is all about re-birth. It takes a man, a normal man, a man of sense, but hidden in that man and bound hand and foot is the second man that rebirth loosens and lifts up, and that second man is God. So the mystery is all self, and he uses the word “mystery” no less than 18 times. He asked those in the Corinthians to esteem him as a steward of mystery. Then he said, “Great is the mystery, God was manifest in the flesh.” Then he spoke of the greatest of all mysteries, the one hidden from the foundation of the world, “Christ in you is the hope of glory.” Christ IN man. Not Christ in the pages of history, but God IN man must be awakened, and this is the technique by which he is awakened.

Now come closely with me and let me take you into the garden of your own mind. Right now just imagine you are in a sick room of some wonderful hospital, a ward. You see the case history. You heard the verdict of the doctor, and the man, seemingly, is dying. What would save that man from such a verdict? What would save him? A state of health by which he would rise from that bed and become a normal, healthy person in this world; that would save him. Now, look into your minds eye and define carefully the solution of a particular problem. When you define the solution to the problem, do you know what you are actually seeing? You are seeing Jesus, for Jesus means “to save.” So the state that would save that man from what he is, is the state of health. That is his savior.

The story is, “Now that you have found ME, let all else go, but do not let ME go.” In other words, let go of everything you have ever believed, but do not let go of this concept — that the man is well in spite of the evidence of your senses to the contrary. No matter what reason dictates, you hold onto Jesus, Jesus being that the man is healthy. You hold onto it, and you touch it by becoming intensely aware of it; thats the only way to touch a thing.

Let me tell you of something that happened only last Friday. I have a friend in this City who I met recently and he gave me a very sad story. He was up against it. He had borrowed money, and he cant pay it back. Things are just going from bad to worse. While shaving you dont have to go into some church to find Him while shaving, I thought of him and I instantly, while in the act of shaving, imagined I was speaking to my wife, and I said to her, “Isnt it wonderful, the good news concerning George.” Then I allowed her, in my imagination, to say, “Yes, isnt it wonderful.” Three hours later, he called me to tell me its so good he doesnt know what, really, to take. He said that in the immediate present two, wonderful jobs are offered to him. Jobs he can do and do well. Both are great and he doesnt know which one to take. Now he has another problem. I will now assume that he has taken the right one, the best one, and I know that in the immediate future, George will again call me and tell me that, on reflection, he could not have chosen more wisely.

So, you look into your own minds eye and know exactly what you want in this world. When you know what you want in place of what you are, then you are seeing your savior, your Jesus. The story is, dont let Him go, but let all else go. Disengage yourself from the whole vast belief that you formerly entertained, and hold on in your imagination to the concept that you ARE the man that you want to be. That will lead you toward Calvary. Calvary means fixing in your own minds eye that state, and that will lead towards Easter or this wonderful day that we speak of as the Resurrection. For you will resurrect and make alive the state that began only as a concept. If you remain faithful to the concept you will be led right into the fulfillment of that state. It is called, in the Bible, re-birth.

Now here is the story. He said, “Except you be born again, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.” The wise man said, “How is it possible a man my age may once again enter my mothers womb and be born again?” He said, “You, a master of Israel and you do not know? Except you be born of water and the spirit, ye can in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven.” Then he gives this clue, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up.” As Moses lifted up the serpent do you think a man lifted up a brazen serpent as told in the story and that everyone who looked on it was instantly healed and those who would not look were not cured? Its not any serpent. A serpent is a symbol of the power of endless self-reproduction. For the serpent sheds its skin, and yet does not die. Man must be like the serpent, who grows and outgrows. So I must now learn the art of dying that I may live, rather than, I would say killing that I may survive. I die, by laying down all that I now believe, and I lift myself up to the belief that I am what I want to be. Thats how I do it.

Now this is how a man is born of water and of the spirit. If I told you now that an assumption, though false, if persisted in, will harden into fact, that is a truth, that is water. But water is not enough. You must catch the spirit of it and apply that truth. Well, if I know that if I assume that I am the man I want to be and persist in that assumption, I would gradually become that. If I have that knowledge, thats marvelous. But not to DO it is to try to bring this being to birth by water only. We are told this is the one who came by water and the blood. Not by water only, but by water and the blood. In other words, I have the knowledge, but I cannot bring to birth my ideal by bare knowledge. I must put it into action, I must DO it. Then when I DO it, I take my savior and I crystallize him by the doing. This is the story of our wonderful Easter.

Today, our churches are bursting with new finery, but not bursting with new men, and we are told in the story, “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Put on the New Man.” Well, how will I put on a New Man? Its like saying to the boy, put on manhood, or saying to the tree, put on foliage. It comes from within, out and man puts it on from the outside. You cant put it on from the outside, for He is within you. For great is the mystery. The one hidden from the foundation of the earth, Christ in YOU is the hope of glory. Not some Christ external to yourself, but the one in you, that is your hope; that is your only glory.

So, the great mystery is that at Bethlehem God became as we are that at Calvary we may become as He is. And Calvary is the opportunity that comes very day in the life of a man. When you walk the earth and you see anyone in need, ask yourself what would be the solution to that individuals problem, just what would it be? You can grant it. If you know who you REALLY are, you can grant it, just as I granted it to George. I didnt raise one finger to get George a job. I didnt send him on a job; I didnt give him anything. I simply turned in my own minds eye to my wife, who was not physically present, and simply stated, “Isnt it wonderful, the news concerning George,” and I allowed her to say, in my imagination, “Yes, isnt it wonderful,” and then I continued with my project of a simple shaving. That is simply lifting up the serpent in the wilderness. For I raised myself from the knowledge that George was unemployed and struggling to the knowledge that he is employed. I did nothing more. I shed the skin, like a serpent. I dropped off all that I formerly believed concerning George, and began to LIVE on a higher level concerning George, and I so lived it and so made it real that in three hours, he called and gave me this exciting news.

You can do the same thing with anything in this world. When you do it daily, you die daily as the prophet said, “I die daily.” Man waits for some little event called death, and he thinks that is dying. That isnt really dying for the simple reason that that kind of death does not bring about a transformation. For there is no transformation in a physical death, but there is transformation in mentally dying and dying daily. So, if you have learned the art of dying, you have learned the art of living. For man is immortal and he must die endlessly. For life was a creative idea, and it will find itself only in changing form. If I do not change and grow and outgrow, and grow and outgrow, then I know nothing of the mystery of Easter, for Easter is really the greatest of all mysteries. Its when man awakens within himself from his birth at Bethlehem and he awakens as God. Thats the story of Easter.

So, let us not perpetuate this thing by our finery, which is lovely. There is not a thing wrong with getting new clothes and new hats and all the lovely things in the world, but today it has become almost a parade of what is new rather than the new man. So, when I put on the new man, I put him on by daily exercising him in this way. By becoming intensely aware. You could at this very moment, extend your feelings and trust your touch and participate in all the flights of your imagination, and do not be afraid of your sensitivities. When I become intensely aware that I am hearing what I want to hear and am actually touching what I want to touch, virtue goes out of me, and the thing touched takes on the blessing which was determined by the mood that possessed me as I imagined that I touched it. If I now touch anything, it must become crystallized in my world, bearing witness to the mood that possessed me at the moment that I touched it.

So, unless we be born of this knowledge and the application of this knowledge, we cannot enter this eternal state called the Kingdom of Heaven. So, now you have a little of the knowledge, go out and apply it. When you apply it, this is what happens, and this is a mystical fact. It was said of this one called Judah, “Who is this one who comes with his garments dyed in the sap of wine. Who takes his vestage and bathes it in the blood of grapes and takes his colt and ties it to a choice vine, and his eye red with wine, and his teeth white with milk?” You are told in the very last act, “They placed a wine-colored robe upon Jesus.” You are told that Judah took his robe and bathed it in the blood of grapes.

Now when I took what I did for George, I was actually weaving my wine-colored robe. I must weave that robe if I would awaken. Its called, in the Bible, the wedding garment. It is called the wine-colored robe. It is called the amethyst in the New Testament, the amethyst in the Old Testament. Its not an amethyst. Its not a robe I weave on the outside, but when I live a life according to these truths, I am actually weaving a wine-colored aura around my being which then enables me to function consciously on higher levels of my own being. Without such a robe, I cannot function beyond my present physical state. But when I live this life according to these truths, you cant see it with the physical eye, but I weave my robe and those who have the eye opened will see me as one of their own, and Im not going to carry some little insignia to tell them who I am. I radiate who I am when they see my garment.

So, when we are told, “Judah comes and he takes his wonderful robe and he bathes it in the blood of grapes” its not a man who takes off a robe, for the garment in the Bible is what a man wears mentally. So, if I take my mind and I apply it, actually all day long but not confining it to one simple little thing as I did for George, but in the course of a day I have unnumbered opportunities to weave this wonderful robe by simply hearing good news for others. If I hear only good for others and trust what I hear as though I heard it, I am actually taking my robe and bathing it in the blood of grapes.

You wonder why he called himself the vine? He said, “I AM the vine and ye are the branches. Unless the branch be rooted in the vine, it has no life.” Well every man in the world is a branch, rooted in me, the vine, and he ends in me as I am rooted in and end in God. Now that can be said of every man in the world. While you look at me and can hear me, you too can say it. Although I have just made the claim, “you are rooted in me,” you can claim that I am rooted in you and I end in you as you are rooted in and end in God. If you know it, then it is your duty to lift up every man in this world. Not one must be discarded. Everyone must be redeemed and your life is the process by which this redemption is brought to pass. Discard no man. Every man can be changed. And you have the power to change him by taking the man and seeing him as he seemingly is and then asking what he would like to be instead of what he seems to be. When you know what he would like to be, then you imagine that he is that being already. Turn to a loved one and commune with the loved one concerning this man, just as though it were a fact. When you do it, trust it, touch it and believe it, and I will tell you that man will become the embodiment of what you have imagined him to be.

This is Easter, and Easter comes not once a year, Easter is a daily opportunity to simply die that you may live. For here it is said, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Any man. Well, how would I take up my cross and follow after this idea? First, I am told I must deny myself. Usually man thinks that means giving up something he loves, giving up the pleasures of the table, or giving up something of which he is especially fond. It hasnt a thing to do with giving up external things. It is: a man must deny himself, and a mans true self is made up of the sum total of all that he believes, all that he accepts as true, all that he consents to. So, if I consent to a man dying, then I must deny that concept, that self, and put in its place the embodiment of a healthy being. When I do that, I can follow after this idea. You can take this principle and apply it to everything in this world. If its not some tangible thing on earth you want, take some noble concept of a man, take a man that you would love to see in this world. Dream of that man actually walking this earth and identify yourself with that man. Associate yourself in your own imagination with that as if you were he. When you actually feel that I am he, and continue in that state, then things begin to unfold to bear witness to the truth of your assumption. You try it.

So, remember, Easter is the art of dying that you may live, and this reminds me of that wonderful poem of the death of Abdula and what he said at the end of it all. He appeared among all the mortals and they were weeping and kissing his worn-out body and he turned to them and said, “I am not the thing you kiss, cease your tears and let it lie. It was mine, it is not I.”

GRACE vs. LAW

December 22, 2013

Neville 03-12-1963

We are told in the first Chapter of John: “The Law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Unnumbered columns have been written about this grace vs. law. Tonight I am speaking not from theory, I am speaking from experience. We are called on to pass on to other generations, succeeding generations, our testimony.

We are told in the First Epistle of John 1:1-3: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes . . . that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us.”

These are the two births that take place in every individual in the world. No one brings about his own physical birth. He is born by the action of powers not his own. And so, no one brings about his own spiritual birth. He is born by the action of powers beyond his own.

The first – we admit we are here, clothed in this garment of flesh. We find ourselves here but we know we had not a thing to do about it. We simply found ourselves.

You will find yourself born spiritually in the same miraculous manner. You will be born from above, just as you were born here from below. Then there will be God’s mightiest act, and you will be begotten and born from above, by the action of powers not your own.

We turn first to the law. In the very beginning God established the law of identical harvest: “And let the earth put forth vegetation, trees yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit, in which is their seed, each according to its own kind.” Here we find that the harvest is nothing more than the multiplication of the identical seed. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows so shall he reap.” That is this world, this law. Tonight I will show you what I have found about this sowing.

Causation in our world is really mental. It was not always known as a mental state; it was believed (in the beginning) to be spiritual. And so laws were instituted and men abided by these laws. Outwardly they observed the laws. Then came the great revelation of “grace” that interpreted the law, thus bringing grace. For, says he: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them.” And then he interprets law for us and puts it on a mental plane. “You have heard it said by men of old, ‘Thou shalt not'” and then he states it.

“But I say unto you,” and then he puts it on an entirely different level and not one statement conveys it more graphically than this one: “You have heard it said of old ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery, but I say unto you, to look on a woman lustfully is to already have committed the act with her in your heart.'”

To restrain the impulse, that is not good enough; but not having the desire, for then you haven’t committed the act. But to have the desire, and because of the consequences of your act you restrain the impulse, that is still not good enough – the act was committed with the impulse.

Here, we are on an entirely different level, a mental level, and this is what I have discovered about this level. I can stand here physically, and be in any part of this world mentally by assuming that I am there, then, viewing the world from that assumption rather than thinking of that state. Standing here, if I desire to be elsewhere, though at the moment my reason tells me I can’t afford it, my senses tell me I haven’t the time – you are committed, you will be here next Friday, you couldn’t get there and be back so here you are stuck.

Well, I know from my own experience that if I dared to do it, though everything in this world would tie me here, there will be a reshuffling of the events of life and compel the journey on my part, and it worked. That assumption of mine would build a bridge of incidents across which I would move to the fulfillment of that state. No power in the world could stop it. I will walk across a series of events from the moment that I do it.

Things would happen to compel me to go, and I, physically – the man – could not resist it. That would compel the journey.

Now the same thing is true not only of a physical journey but a journey into other states, like wealth, faith, like anything in this world. Suppose at this moment I desired certain security that I do not now enjoy – I hunger for it. What would it now be like if I were in possession of security? Let me now make the same psychological motion – all in my imagination – and then view the world from that assumption, just as though it were true.

If I dare to assume that it is so – I can acquaint you with this law and then leave you to your choice and its consequences. Many a person who had nothing, who hungered for wealth, and they got it, but oh! what things happened to them when they got it! They wanted it and if you want it, take it. You can always give it up, but here is the law by which man moves in this world.

So, I will acquaint you with the law and show you how I operate it and how it works. But may I tell you: no matter how good you are in this world, no matter how wise you operate the law, it doesn’t in any way qualify you for the second radical change in your mind, which is called “grace” – that is the second birth: the twice-born man has received “grace.”

And grace is God’s gift of himself to man. That is grace. No matter how wise you are, you are on a wheel with the first birth. Play it as wisely as you can, and I hope you will play it wisely when you hear the law and how to operate it. But it cannot in way qualify you for the second birth. That is grace, that is the gift, and you cannot bring that about anymore than you brought about the first.

Now the second birth is sheer fantasy. It is called, not salvation – grace is salvation. “What must I do?” they asked. For he made the statement: “What if you own the whole vast world and lose your life?” Then he said: “It is so much easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.” And they said to him: “Well, then who can be saved?”

He said: “With men it is impossible, but nothing is impossible to God.” With man, yes, it is impossible; he can’t save himself. When man tells you he is a self-made man he is not speaking of any knowledge of this mystery. No self-made man. For this is the gift, the second is a complete gift.

And what is the secret of God’s election? I do not know, I can’t tell you. I can share with you what I have experienced and tell you how it comes. It is a process, something that happened so suddenly. It comes without warning – no one knows the moment it is going to come, and suddenly you are born. You are actually born. You are consciously born.

I have no conscious memory of being born from my mother’s womb, none whatsoever. I was born on a certain day of a certain month of a certain year, and on a certain little island in the West Indies.

I had no knowledge of it, and then gradually consciousness possessed me, and when I was four (or not quite four) I began to function consciously with memory – but memory didn’t go back to my birth. But the second birth is something as though you were actually doing it yourself, and every moment of time is conscious and so vividly alive.

The whole thing you are doing, and the very moment to the end of birth is taking place in you, and out of your own wonderful being you are coming, and until that moment you didn’t know you were dead.

You took it for granted you were alive and that one day your body would die. And so, whether you survived or not, you didn’t know, but that would be death and those who saw you put away, whether cremated or in the earth, they would speak of you as someone who was dead, but not while you walked the earth with them. And yet, there comes the moment in time when suddenly a power beyond your wildest dreams is taking place in you. And you aren’t doing it, you have no control.

It is being done to you and as the power is intensified, you awake. And you always thought prior to that moment, you were awake, you were alive and walking about the earth. And here for the first time in eternity you are awakening in a tomb, and the tomb is your skull. And you find this being completely sealed and entombed in your own skull and you are fully awake for the first time in eternity.

Then begins the work and you come out as one being self-born, truly begotten by yourself, and out you come. The entire drama as described for us in the gospel you are enacting – you are being self-born. The witnesses become present and they are here to witness this event in eternity. They can’t see you because you are invisible, but you are more real than they are, more real than anything in the world at that moment and yet, you are invisible.

Then you know what it means: “God is Spirit and those who worship Him worship in spirit and in truth.” “And as God has life in himself – God the father – so now he grants the son to have life in himself.” All of a sudden you awake, and the force – the intense power you feel coming from you that now seems to be in the corner of the room – is centered all over.

All of a sudden it comes to the end and you return once more, fully clothed, in this simple little garment out of which you have just for a moment emerged. It is the most fantastic garment in the world.

That was grace but it comes in stages. It has three fantastic parts to it. That first one is simply your birth from above to fulfill the 3rd [chapter] of John: “You must be born from above, for unless you be born from above you cannot in anywise enter the Kingdom of Heaven,” which fulfills that chapter.

Then comes the second, when God really gives you himself. Suddenly a similar power possesses you and you can’t stop it, not a thing you can do about it. Suddenly as you are tied with it, your whole being explodes, and here he presents you with his son.

Now the 17th verse of the 1st chapter [of John], after you are told: “Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (we are told how it comes through Jesus Christ), we are told: “No man has ever seen the Father; the Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.” And you didn’t know you contained within you the son of God, and suddenly there is an explosion and he is standing before you and he calls you “father.”

You don’t see yourself; he calls you “father” and you know he is your son. Here the father-son relationship is established forever. He calls you “father” to fulfill the 89th Psalm: “I have found David, my servant. . .” and he has “cried out to me ‘Thou art my Father, my God, the Rock of my salvation'” – the fulfillment of the great messianic 89th Psalm. You look at him and there is no doubt in your mind who he is and there is no doubt in his mind who you are.

In the 3rd chapter [of John], in the great gift, he explains: Out of the blue you are torn in two from top to bottom and then you are sent, a living being, something that is fire and alive, and you ascend right into Zion, which is yourself. These three parts mark the great gift. No one in this world is good enough to earn it, therefore all will get it.

God actually expresses to man a mercy with which man is incapable, with his conscience, of ever judging himself as worthy of. No man in this world with conscience and mercy could ever judge himself as mercifully as God judges him.

So what man has done – I certainly have done it, you have done it, the whole vast world has done it, and we are so fearful while we are here in this world of law, of doing it – and in spite of our limitations, in spite of our weaknesses, God’s infinite mercy brings about the second birth. And we are all taken up in this eternal place where we are put into the everlasting temple which God is making out of us, making out of himself.

For he gives himself to man before man can be free to begin the everlasting temple. No one can fill your place. No one can fill my place. Not one can be displaced. Not one in any way can be rubbed out. The temple will be unfinished. I know from my own experience not one can be unsaved, I don’t care who he is, no matter what he has done in this world, everyone will be saved. What must I do to be saved? Believe the Gospel.

Now we are told we can delay it; that is why I find it difficult to believe that. But still it is Scripture. Hebrews 4:2: “And the good news preached unto us was also preached unto them; but it did not benefit them, because it was not mixed with faith in the hearer.” Tonight some of you could reject it, and that may appear on the surface to delay your call. It may, I do not know.

I have no assurance that you can delay it; but it would appear that rejection on the part of one – because he heard it but did not accept it, because it didn’t make sense to him -though you reject it and maybe by your rejection delay your call, eventually you will be called, because he puts you through all the paces of the world until finally you have no power to reject the story when you hear it.

But while we are here in this world of law, let me now quote you the 1st Psalm. It is a marvelous benediction: “Blessed is the man who delights in the law of the Lord, who meditates on it day and night . . . for in all that he does, he prospers.” “In all that he does,” not a few things. And the law is so simple. If you go to the foundation it is mental, not physical.

Go to church, as people who practice it outwardly thought would in some way bring good for them. That wasn’t it. It’s mental. Causation is mental, so the law is mental. Find the law: “Blessed is the man who delights in the law, mediating on it day and night, for in all that he does he prospers.”

Walk now by faith, not by sight. Romans 17:4: “He calls a thing that is not seen as though it were seen and the unseen becomes seen.” “For the things that are seen,” we are told, “were made from things that do not appear.” We see a man – well what made him what he is?

He once assembled certain states and knowingly or unknowingly he fell into it, and falling into it he remained long enough to take on that initial statement of God: “All things must bring forth after their own kind.” The law of identical harvest. The harvest is only the multiplication of the identical seed.

So I fall into a state. I do it wittingly or unwittingly, but I fall into a state. Remaining in the state, suddenly the stump comes out. Someone begins to appear in my world who is instrumental in making me move forward in the direction in which I should go.

I may on reflection think he, the instrument that moved me forward by certain contacts, was the cause of my being forward. No, the cause was unseen. As you are told: “Things seen were made by things that do not appear.” He appears, so he can’t be the cause. If that is true then I will thank him for what he did but I can’t claim he was the cause of my good fortune, though he introduced me to the right people and all things added up to the thing that I was doing.

But the cause of it all was my assumption and my faithfulness to that assumption. So, I dare to assume that I am, or that you are what I would like you to be, and assuming that you are what I would like you to be, and feel that you would like to be it, I am unmoved in that assumption and you become it, without your knowledge or your consent. I don’t need your consent or knowledge if causation is mental.

So I warn you of the law and leave you to your choice…and its risk, because you can use it unwisely. But my hands are now washed of that. I cannot stop it. I can’t be like a mother over you, stating that you should not do this. As you are told in the Book of Deuteronomy: “I place before you this day good and evil, life and death, blessing and cursing; choose life.”

He suggests you choose life but he can’t take from you the right, having set you free, to choose anything you want; it is all spread before you. If you imagine something unlovely of another, he’ll come to that. It will boomerang too, but it will come to pass, for you are entirely free to imagine anything in this world, for imagining creates reality. A man imagined – if he imagines it and persists in that imaginal act, it will come to pass. And that’s the law.

If there were no other than the wise use of law – to own the whole vast world and yet not to be redeemed from that wheel of recurrence – this would become the most horrible hell in the world. Fortunately God started in the beginning a plan of redemption, and its grace, where he saved us from the wheel of recurrence.

And what is his greatest secret, where he picks you at one moment of time, picks another at another moment of time to put him into that eternal structure, the everlasting temple not made with hands? I do not know. I only know he promised us to build a temple for us, anonymous.

We are the temple, “We are the temple of the living God,” a temple in which God will dwell, and yet we are free beyond the wildest dream of man. For we are God himself in the spot we call the “New Jerusalem.”

So, here, use it wisely for yourself and for others. Every time you use your imagination lovingly on behalf of another you are literally mediating God to another. Do it.

But even if you are the most loving, the most generous, the kindest being in the world, you still cannot by your own effort be born from above. It is a gift, an unearned gift and you can’t be good enough. To me that is the most exciting thought in the world, because no man can look me in the eye and tell me he feels himself worthy of such a birth. With a memory and a conscience he couldn’t possibly do it. And yet with my memory of the past I would say: “Neville, you are unworthy of it.”

Therefore, because I know in my heart I am unworthy, I can say to every being in the world: you are going to get it. If I felt I was worthy of it, then I would have to go out and try to make everyone good, as I conceived myself to be. But I don’t conceive myself to be good, as the world calls good.

I have done unnumbered things of which I would be ashamed, and still feel I am capable under stress of doing things of which I would be ashamed. And yet, I have had the grace of God, the second birth from above. I can’t conceive of anything more encouraging in the world than to share with others your own experience and tell them that they cannot lift themselves by their own bootstraps.

This is an act of mercy, and mercy is God in expression because God is love and mercy is God in action. And the mightiest act of God is when you, the sound sleeper, he awakens and you don’t know you are asleep.

No child born of woman could cross the threshold that admits to conscious life without the death of God. He died to make me alive – the mystery of life through death, and then this mighty act of resurrecting himself as you.

Then you know the mystery of the Epistle of John: “It does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know when he appears we shall be like him.” We shall be like him, for there is no change in your identity.

All of a sudden you awaken to the full glory of your inheritance. You have inherited heaven, but the full glory of that inheritance is not fully realized in you – or for the moment is not fully grasped by you while you are still in this body.

You must then play the part of the apostle, and share it with those who will listen to you, until that moment in time when he takes off the garment. Then that which ascended is completely displayed to you and to the heavenly host, but you have played and shared with the others all that you have experienced.

It is called the apostolic testament: “That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard and seen with our eyes. That which we have seen and heard we now proclaim unto you that you may share with us this fellowship.” And then that fabulous passage that always closes the Anglican service (which in our country is the Episcopal service), Corinthians 13:14: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” What a benediction!

What a benediction to say to a gathering like this: “That may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,” (that is the second verse) “which comes from the love of God, that through whose birth you may have and share the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, and may he be with you all.”

That is how all Anglican services close, in the hope that someone, or maybe all, will in the not distant future share in that fellowship. To me it is the most inspiring just to read it and just try to feel it.

So grace vs. law is not really in conflict. For he said: “I have not come to abolish the law or the prophets but to fulfill them.” Peter, in his first Epistle, (1:10) identifies grace with salvation: “The prophets who prophesied of the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired about this salvation.” So he associates grace with salvation.

The minute it is given he is saved, he’s been redeemed. But because no one can play your part, you will be redeemed. Don’t go back in memory and try to find other things you could undo towards salvation. Do that toward this world, to make yourself happier and free in this world, but not toward salvation. Because if it was not for God’s infinite mercy to hide your past from you, you couldn’t live with yourself.

No man in this world could live with himself if he could now bring back into memory the past. He couldn’t because you’ll play all the parts. You have been a long, long time in coming and at the very end you will have played all the parts. Therefore, in the end you can say: “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”

There is a purpose to God’s play, a fabulous purpose. As Blake said: “Do not let yourself be intimidated by the horrors of the world. Everything is ordered and correct and must fulfill its destiny in order to achieve perfection.” So we have all played it. Had I not played all the horrible parts in the world I could not be merciful when I read about them in the papers.

I could not in my heart feel that some mercy should be stressed nor have the impulse for mercy had I not played it. But in the end, having played all you will forgive all. And so, everything in the world, you’ll have played all and therefore fitted yourself for God’s use in the building of His temple.

I can’t get away from a sense of predestination when I read Scripture. Romans 8:28-30: “We are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. And those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.” You cannot take these five terms: foreknowledge, predestination, called, justified, and glorified, and interpret them in any way to avoid the conclusion of predestination. I don’t see how you can.

“You were with me in the foundation of time,” you are told. He called us in the beginning before the world was. And now he calls us according to his purpose when this section of his fabulous (you can’t conceive of it) living structure is about to be completed. And only you can fit one portion of it, so he calls you. And the one he calls he has predestined, but he calls. And the one he calls he justifies.

You can’t be justified by your actions; he justifies you. And then he glorifies you. And glorification is the gift of himself as told us in John 17:5: “Father, glorify me with thine own self.” So, he glorifies the individual with himself. The entire five terms leads to one conclusion of a predestined, foreknown state. He foreknew the entire thing and is building towards it.

Now the opposite of grace is disgrace. The Bible speaks of it as the “wrath of God,” the “anger of God.” We know what it is to be in disgrace. Grace is the unearned gift, the greatest thing in the world, the gift of God himself. And the opposite would be almost the absence of God.

Jeremiah 23 makes this statement: “The anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his mind. In the latter days you will understand it clearly.” It seems that God has forsaken us when we go through a war, when we are going through some horrible disgrace where the world has collapsed upon us.

A child has gone astray and society frowns upon us because we are the parents of that child. Or maybe my husband or wife has done something to disgrace the family, the community.

God has forsaken us. So I pass through the fires of affliction, these horrible fiery ordeals, displaced (the opposite of place) where once he was with me and guided me. But “He will not turn back until he has accomplished the intents of his mind. In the latter days you will understand it clearly.” And you will forgive all and be happy that he in his infinite wisdom and mercy could put you through that fiery ordeal to bring you out qualified to fit in his eternal temple.

So no one will be condemned in the end. No one will be unsaved. When they ask you: “What must I do to be saved?” go to the Scripture and show that with man it isn’t possible. (That is the 10th chapter of Mark, 26-27.) With man, no, it isn’t possible, but with God all things are possible.

They couldn’t understand how a man could be saved after he told them what he had, about the camel and the rich man. The rich man does not necessarily mean a man with money. The 1st Beatitude tells you: “Blessed are the poor in spirit for they shall receive the kingdom.” The poor in spirit is the one who is not complacent. Not everyone who has money is complacent. You could be socially prominent and very complacent.

You could be intellectually a star, have your PhD’s or your degrees behind you, and you are above it all. You know everything because conferred upon you is the degree given by man. In this world of ours there is so much of real learned ignorance. I am not saying that all who have degrees are snobs. You cannot by these earn the kingdom, no matter what you do. For the “Wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God.” Not a thing that man knows here through his efforts will in any way function where he is destined to be. For he is rising into a world that will be completely subject to his imaginative power.

Everything in the world will be under his control. Because God, having given himself to man, God being all-wise he’ll be all-wise. God being all-powerful, all-loving, he’ll be all-powerful, all-loving, for he gives himself to man. And so, you will not be replaced by anyone and all will be equal in the eyes of God, because it is himself. He can’t be more than what he gave you. And one will not be greater because you can’t get more than what God gave you, for he gave you himself, as though there were no others in the world, just God and you. And finally only you.

Now let us go into the silence.

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