In my metaphysical journey, I have encountered many influential purveyors of the philosophy commonly known as New Thought, so to even begin articulating how much Neville Goddard’s teachings (He usually went by his first name) have impacted me would be extremely difficult. Nevertheless, I will try to highlight some aspects of Neville’s teachings, hoping that his work would stimulate someone’s interest.
I recently revisited Awakened Imagination (1954), which I feel is the perfect introduction to Neville’s teachings. I also just finished reading The Search (1946), which is considered one of his most famous literature pieces.
Neville wrote: “There is only one thing in the world, Imagination, and all deformations of it.” (AWAKENED IMAGINATION, 1954)
This is such a powerful statement because if we take a step back and analyze its meaning correctly, we can quickly come to the conclusion that everything we see around us, what we consider to be our reality, is the direct byproduct of our imagination and the creative power of our thoughts. Neville went a step further; he defined imagination as GOD, meaning that we can experience GOD through our imagination. By this unique interpretation of the gospels, Neville suggested that through the power of our imagination, we can be anything we desire to be or to obtain whatever is that we wish to achieve. He referred to it as an awakening, an awakening to “the mystery hid from the ages.”
The mystery hid from the ages…. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1:26, 27
Many of us go through life not really understanding the meaning of the so-called word of God from the Bible, we read/hear passages from the old and new testament, but our understanding of their meaning is very vague. I can interpret the gospels in many different ways, especially since there are numerous versions of the Bible, which are continually being mistranslated, and misinterpreted, mostly by church leaders whose agenda is better served by providing their unique perspective of the gospels. Perhaps that is why Neville’s interpretation of the doctrines has such a profound effect on me. His teachings seem to make more sense when viewed with an open mind.
Neville wrote, “Duality is an inherent condition of life. Everything that exists is double. Man is a dual creature with contrary principles embedded in his nature.”
That is a powerful concept, a concept that I fully agree with. I have always subscribed myself to the notion that what truly makes us human is the duality in our existence, the good and the bad. The balance between those two energies defines our humanity and separates us from all the living creatures on our planet. It is of extreme importance to learn how to balance the light and dark within all of us. We must learn to balance it all; despite all of the good in the world, there is plenty of darkness and evilness residing within this realm. We must learn to embrace even the darkness within us and learn to tame it, to control it, and thus, we will find the balance of the human experience.
“The universe which we study with such care is a dream, and we are dreamers of the dream, eternal dreamers dreaming non-eternal dreams. One day like Nebuchadnezzar, we shall awaken from that dream, from the nightmare in which we fought with demons, to find that we never really left our eternal home; that we were never born and have never died saved in our dream.”
In The Search, Neville firmly suggested that our perceived reality is a dream, similar to how many modern scientists and thinkers of our time believe that our reality could be some type of simulation like we are living in a Matrix-type of reality. I’m glad to see Neville’s teachings encountering a new audience; his work should be studied carefully. I feel the best thing I can do is shed some light on his work and to include a series of quotes from Awakened Imagination and The Search. Hopefully, they will inspire anyone reading this blog to explore Neville’s work further.
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Ideas only act if they are felt if they awaken inner movement. Inner movement is conditioned by self-motivation, outer movement by compulsion. (Awakened Imagination)
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The journey is in yourself. You travel along the highways of the inner world. (Awakened Imagination)
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It is a most healthy and productive exercise to daily relive the day as you wish you had lived it, revising the scenes to make them conform to your ideals. (Awakened Imagination)
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If a man begins to revise even a little of the vexations and troubles of the day, then he begins to work practically on himself. Every revision is a victory over himself and, therefore, a victory over his enemy. (Awakened Imagination)
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Don’t blame; only resolve. (Awakened Imagination)
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You must stop spending your thoughts, time, and money. Everything in life must be an investment. (Awakened Imagination)
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It is possible to resolve every situation by the proper use of imagination. Our task is to get the right sentence, the one which implies that our desire is realized, and fire the imagination with it. (Awakened Imagination)
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The present moment does not recede into the past. It advances into the future. (Awakened Imagination)
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As soon as we succeed in transforming ourselves, the world will melt magically before our eyes and reshape itself in harmony with that which our transformation affirms. (The Search)
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By intensity of love and hate, become what we contemplate. (The Search)
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To attempt to change the world before we change ourselves is to struggle against the nature of things. (The Search)
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By our imagination, we have created this dream of life, and by our imagination, we will re-enter that eternal world of light, becoming that which we were before we imagined the world. (The Search)
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Everything we do, unaccompanied by a change of consciousness, is but futile readjustment of surfaces. (The Search)
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Nothing is more important to us than our conception of ourselves, and especially is this true of our concept of the deep, hidden ONE within us. (The Search)
Rod Rioja 