Neville Goddard
03-17-1969
The
Bible is the most practical book in the world. In it we are told that
one named Simon carried the cross behind Jesus. The word “Simon”
means “to hear with understanding and consent to what is
heard.” And Jesus is your own wonderful human
imagination.
The gospel tells what happens in the soul
of Jesus. The events recorded there are seen and heard by none save
but Him. Through these experiences He gains the certainty that He is
not only the Son of God, but also God Himself. But when he tells his
story few will accept it, as his experience of scripture differs
greatly from its interpretation by the priests and rabbis. Simon,
however, understands what he hears and, consenting to it, he carries
the cross.
We are told to “Bear ye one another’s
burden and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Now, the law of
Christ is described in the Sermon on the Mount. It is a psychological
law, as Christ tells you in the 5th chapter of Matthew, saying: “You
heard it said of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’
But I tell you, anyone who looks lustfully upon a woman has already
committed the act with her in his heart.'” (The word “heart”
and “soul” are synonymous in scripture.)
When
you are told in the 4th chapter of Psalms to “Commune with your
own heart upon your bed,” are you not communing with yourself?
And in that communion are you not told that the act is committed? I
tell you: the law of Christ is imaginal and you carry His burden, for
“Inasmuch as we do it to one of the least of these, we do it
unto Him.”
Paul, seeing the meaning of Christ,
said: “From now on 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 realized that Christ
was the pattern of salvation buried in every child born of woman, and
did not seek a little Christ, but the universal Cosmic Christ buried
in all.
There is only one Christ, so when you imagine,
you are imagining Christ. Now, one who hears and believes this is
called Simon. It is he who goes out and carries the cross by lifting
the burden from the back of the one being who is carrying the entire
cross; for every human is a cross, who collectively form the cross
the Cosmic Christ bears.
When one hears the story and believes
it, he goes out to lift the weight of every cross. Seeing someone
struggle to pay rent or buy food because he is financially
embarrassed, Simon lifts his cross by seeing the man gainfully
employed. He does this because he knows he is doing it only to
himself, as there cannot be another. As a psychological act, he
represents the other to himself as he would like to see that other,
and to the degree he is self-persuaded that what he imagined is true,
it will become true.
Simon does not move a cross from
one little point in space to another. He goes through life following
Christ, as he bears the cross and lifts the weight of mankind. Many a
man remains behind the 8-ball because no one ever thought he could be
anything other than what he appears to be. Fortunately I had a mother
who, at a tender age took me aside and persuaded me that I was her
favorite. She would say: “You will make mother very proud of
you, won’t you?” and naturally I said: “Yes,
mother.” I wore long white curls at the time, and she would
curl my hair, run her finger up my curl, kiss me, and send me on my
way - then call the next one to have his hair curled. Mother told the
same story to each of us. It was only after we had all grown to
manhood that we discovered what mother had done, but by that time she
had accomplished her purpose. She didn’t expect us to make a
fortune but to be one in whom she would be proud, and in our own
separate spheres we all became successful in her eyes.
Many
a man is a failure today because no one ever believed he could be
otherwise. So I say to you: if you believe that there is only one
being and only one cross, you will lift the cross from a seeming
other, and - as Simon - follow your imagination to its
fulfillment.
Every child born of woman is a cross,
animated by Christ Jesus; so when you lift the burden from an infant
or one of many years, you are doing it unto yourself. As you bear one
another’s burdens you fulfill the law of Christ; for inasmuch
as you do it to one of the least of these, you have done it unto me.
If you believe me and put your belief into practice, you are bearing
the cross. But if you are so engrossed in your own little world that
you cannot see another as a projection of yourself, you do not
believe me and will not become a Simon. Only as you believe and act,
will you bear the cross as Simon, enter the temple in the Spirit, and
- finding the child - take him up in your arms and say: “Lord,
let now thy servant depart in peace according to thy Word, for my
eyes have seen the salvation of God.”
Called a
little child in the Book of Luke, God’s creative power is
symbolized as the unveiled arm in the Book of Isaiah. In this
wonderful 53rd chapter of Isaiah, the prophet speaks of the unveiling
of the arm of God as the salvation of the world. And when the
prophecy is fulfilled it appears as though you are betrayed, but I
ask you: what did Judas betray? He betrayed the messianic secret of
Jesus and the place where he might be found.
A secret
must first be heard before it can be told. I have betrayed the
messianic secret in my book called Resurrection, so I have played the
part of Judas. Having experienced the part of Jesus, I have recorded
my experiences so that anyone coming after I have gone from this
sphere will know the secret.
The messianic secret is
unlike that which the priesthoods of the world believe. Jesus is not
a little man who comes from without to save mankind. Jesus comes from
within, for He is a pattern, which unfolds in and reveals the
individual as the Son of God who is God. Knowing my scripture, when
the visions came upon me I searched and found they dovetailed one
another. I have shared my experiences with everyone who will listen;
and those who hear them with understanding and accept them become
Simon, who picks up the cross and eases the burden from the back of
the Cosmic Christ.
When you meet someone who is
unemployed and take a moment to imagine him gainfully employed, you
are Simon. Practice this art daily. Pick up your cross and set
everyone free from what he seems to be. That is how you bear one
another’s burden and so fulfill the law of Christ, which is all
imaginal.
If you hear this message with understanding
you will go out and fulfill the law of Christ. If you do not
understand me you may not agree, but I tell you: this is the most
incredible story that can ever be told. You need not have a brilliant
mind to accept it. In fact, the more brilliant your mind is, the less
chance this concept will be believed, yet I tell you it is true.
Everyone who accepts it will one day experience scripture within
himself, for the gospel is nothing more than that which happened
within the soul of Jesus, who is Jehovah, who is the Lord, in
you.
Jesus is your awareness of being, your I AM. It is
He who hears the story and either accepts or rejects it. If you think
of a man who lived two thousand years ago when I use the word
“Jesus,” you will not see the Jesus in everyone; for
Jesus is awareness, sound asleep and carrying a tremendous burden as
His dream. If you will accept my story, Jesus will begin to awaken as
you lift his burden and carry the cross behind your imagination.
Simon is first seized, and then the cross is placed upon him as the
individual who hears and understands and consents to what he has
heard.
If you really believe me you will not pass anyone
without doing something to lift his burden. Taking up his cross, you
will represent him to yourself as you would like to see him; and to
the degree that you are self-persuaded, he will become it, even
though he may never know what you did. Things will happen in his
world and he will become what you conceived him to be, not knowing
who did it…but who did it? Christ, for there is only Christ in
the world. You can take no credit in the doing, because you are only
doing it to yourself.
As you represent another to
yourself as you would like to see him, you are lifting his burden and
fulfilling God’s law. And when your time is fulfilled you will
enter the temple and find the sign of the birth of your creative
power as a child wrapped in swaddling clothes. Then the arm of God,
who creates everything, is unveiled in you and from that day on
whatever you imagine will come to pass - I don’t care what it
is. I ask you to dwell upon this thought and follow the pattern of
Simon. Lift the burden of someone today, and maybe tomorrow you will
be able to do it to two. Don’t let another remain carrying his
burden, because there is no other. Lift his burden from yourself and
follow Jesus Christ, your own wonderful human imagination.
The
dream of life begins with the call of Abraham, and comes to its
climax and fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Everyone must and will
experience that climax. Then the curtain will come down and you will
leave this sphere to join the heavenly brotherhood, who contemplates
this world of death saying: “What seems to be, is - to those to
whom it seems to be.” Take that one little statement: what
seems to be is to those to whom it seems to be. You can assume any
state and persuade yourself that it is so, and it will become so.
Torments, despair, and eternal death will also seem to be, “But
Divine mercy steps beyond and redeems Man in the body of Jesus”;
for in the end there is only one body, only one Lord, and you are
that one Jesus Christ. You will wear that one Risen Body as your own
and be the one Spirit that inhabits it. And you will know yourself to
be that one Spirit who is the Lord of all.
Today you are
not aware of your true identity, but Paul made it very, very clear in
his 2nd letter to the Corinthians, when he said: “If we have
been united with Christ in a death like his, we certainly shall be
united with him in a resurrection like his.” Do you see the
difference in tense? We have already died with Christ, and we will
live with him when God’s pattern of salvation erupts and the
gospel unfolds within us individually.
Now, whenever I
tell my story there are always those who - knowing me by my physical
origin - do not know me by reason of my spiritual birth. Seeing
only the outside man called Neville, they judge from appearances and
claim I am blaspheming by making these bold claims. But a few will
believe me and become Simon by lifting the burden and transforming
the lives of those he meets, no matter that it may seem to be.
If
you want more money, better health, or the state of marriage, Simon
simply hears your desire as granted, then goes his way believing that
what he has heard is now a physical fact which will confront you in
the near future. He never seeks your thanks, but knows your desire
must come into being; for he has lifted your burden upon his shoulder
and believes in his own wonderful human imagination.
When
you hear and believe in God’s pattern of salvation, you are
believing in Jesus. Everyone contains that pattern - therefore
everyone is Jesus. Leave no one distressed. Do not give from your
pocket, but give them every desire of their heart from your
imagination. You could give money from now until the ends of time,
and not give of yourself! Only when you imagine for another are you
truly giving of yourself; and as you believe in the reality of what
you have imagined, are you lifting the burden you are called upon to
do, thereby fulfilling the law of God.
When you feel the
joy of having done it, don’t wait for the phone to ring; simply
go your way and lift the burden from another, and then another. An
artist friend recently told me about some work he had done for a
friend, but had not been paid according to their verbal agreement.
After our discussion I heard my friend tell me the debt was paid.
That was all I did. Last night he told me that, seemingly out of the
blue, the man came to his house and gave him a check for the full
amount agreed upon. Now I will say to him that check will be
multiplied over and over again, for there are many artists needing
your talent to improve theirs.
Don’t say something
cannot be done, for the minute you do, you are placing a limit upon
yourself. And don’t limit your friend because of his financial,
social, or intellectual background. That’s a heavy cross for
him to bear. Rather, lift his cross and set him free. We live in a
world of horrors, but as Blake said: “Don’t be
intimidated by the horrors of the world. All is ordered and correct
and must fulfill its destiny in order to attain perfection. Follow
this pattern and you will receive from your own ego a deeper insight
into the eternal beauties of reality. You will also receive an even
deeper release from all that now seems so sad and terrible.”
When
you know this truth, you will lift the burden of all those you meet,
for you will know that regardless of the pigment of his skin, the
tongue in which he speaks, his belief, or nationality - you and he
are one, for God is one. The great Sh'ma of the Hebrew confession of
faith “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one,”
will take on new meaning.
If God is one, there cannot be
another; so in the end you and I will be the same father of the same
son. I have been sent to convey that one thought to the world. I have
taught it through the spoken word and recorded it in my book,
Resurrection, that God’s true son is David. I have now
completed the work I was sent to do.
The priests do not
know the mystery. They are men without vision, reading a book they do
not understand. To my mother, a priest was a wise man who could not
be contradicted. I never argued with my mother about that, but I knew
she was wrong. As a boy I had visions and knew the priests did not
know what they were talking about; but mother could not understand
how her little, uneducated boy could challenge that which she
considered the wise men, because they could speak Latin and read
Greek. But I knew their knowledge came from study, while my wisdom
came from vision.
Having matured, I have been called and
sent to reveal the true Son of God who unifies humanity. We will all
know that one son to be our own son, for he will reveal each one of
us as God the Father. Jesus Christ in you is God the Father, and
David (in you) is His son. The day will come when David will awaken
in you, rise in you, and call you Father, giving you a certainty
which cannot be denied. Maybe from what you have heard tonight you
may change your belief, but you will never know the certainty of
Fatherhood until you see David as your son. And when everyone sees
David as his son, are we not the one Father?
Tonight I urge
you to play the part of Simon. If you do, you will not be neglecting
but helping yourself; for as told us in the story of Job, as he
prayed for his friends his own captivity was lifted. While locked in
his own desire to free himself of his physical, social, and financial
problems, Job forgot himself and prayed for his friends, and in so
doing all that he had lost returned to him one hundred fold. As you
pray for your friends you will discover your own captivity is lifted;
your cross becomes lighter and lighter until finally you are light
itself. So take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for my yoke is
easy and my burden is light. Ask for no thanks or financial gain in
the doing; just know the joy of lifting the cross, for it is being
lifted from your own shoulders. When I hear that a man’s needs
have been provided for and he has become self-persuaded, it is true
and it becomes true. I never tell him what I did. I simply revel in
the joy and satisfaction of seeing this law of Christ fulfill itself.
It never fails when put into practice.
Believe in the
reality of your own imaginal acts, for faith is loyalty to unseen
reality. Have faith in your imaginal act. Although unseen by the
outer world as an external fact, your loyalty to its unseen reality
will cause the unseen to become seen by the world. This is the
practical side of this night. You and I can lift the cross from our
own shoulders; for as I lift your cross I am lifting mine, and in a
way I do not know the burden is lifted from me. Everyone you meet is
yourself made visible, for there is nothing but yourself in the
world.
As you read these passages I have quoted tonight,
pull them together and you will have a beautiful mosaic. Remember,
when you do it to one of the least of these you have done it unto me,
the one the world is seeking. You may see me as an insignificant
little man, but I am Christ, the Lord God Jehovah. Lift my burden for
even the most insignificant other, and go your way. You may not
recognize your harvest, as you may not remember the favor you granted
another many years ago. Seeing him healthy and financially secure
today you may forget what you did, and maybe even he will have
forgotten he ever asked your help - but what does it matter? The
burden has been lifted. Go forward and play the part of Simon, and
the day when you least expect it you will find the symbol of your
creative power as a child wrapped in swaddling clothes. And then the
53rd chapter of Isaiah will be fulfilled, as your arm of God is
revealed.
When scripture unfolds within you, you will
know a thrill that is beyond ecstasy. Then you will no longer see
scripture as secular history. You will know from experience that the
story is supernatural, and has nothing to do with history as we
understand it. The events spoken of by the apostles did not take
place on earth, but in the soul of man as he walks the earth.
I
have shared with you that which took place in my soul in the hope
that I will find a few who will believe me to the point of putting my
words into practice. I have unveiled myself to those who believe, and
now they are beginning to be unveiled - while the rabbis and the
priests who see me as an impostor remain veiled. Even to this day,
when Moses is read the veil is on their minds. I pray for all of them
because they are blinded to the truth by their refusal to accept any
change in their fixed belief. I have come to do one thing: to make
clear to the entire world who the true Son of God is who will unify
the world.
Jesus Christ is God the Father and his son is
David. When David calls you Father, you will know you are Jesus
Christ, the Lord. If I am God the Father, who is my son? David. I
tell you, David is not a physical being. It is in Spirit that he
calls you Father, and scripture is fulfilled. Everyone will be called
Father by the one being who is David, and if he calls you Father and
he calls me Father, are we not the same being? Are we not the one God
and Father of all? I tell you, without loss of your individual
identity, you will know that you and I are one.
Now let
us go into the silence.