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.