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.