Literary Insights

Neville is a young, charming, and dynamic speaker who draws large crowds to his lectures on metaphysics and truth in New York City.
He was born in 1905 in Barbados and immigrated to the US at age 17 to study drama. He had a successful early career as an actor.
In 1925, he became interested in the occult and mysticism. He joined a Rosicrucian group and practiced spiritual disciplines like fasting and celibacy, which damaged his health. He had some psychic experiences during this time.
Despite his theatrical success, he lost interest in acting as his mystical pursuits took over. He left the theater completely to devote himself to metaphysics.
He spent many years studying with a Rosicrucian group but eventually found it too limiting and dogmatic. He left to study Qabalah and other mystical traditions with a rabbi named Abdullah.
Neville’s background in drama informs his dynamic speaking style and public lectures. A winding path led him from acting to his eventual calling as a metaphysical teacher.

Here are the key points I found in the summary:

Neville is a Jewish mystic who gained insights into the Bible through a new interpretive approach. He sees the Bible as a psychological rather than historical document, representing the consciousness of man.
Neville was influenced by an Ethiopian rabbi named Abdullah, who taught him to see God and man as entirely one. The core of man’s being is God, though man is unaware of this.
Neville interprets biblical stories psychologically. For example, he sees the story of Edmond Dantes in The Count of Monte Cristo as representing Everyman trying to find security and refuge in life.
Neville uses the phrase “I AM” to refer to the unconditioned godlike essence within man. He is essentially an atheist, denying an external God and seeing God as existing within man’s inner consciousness.
Like Buddha, Neville rejects relying on an external God or church for help. He believes that by realizing the “I AM” within, one can tap into inner resources to solve life’s problems. Man must look within to find God, not to an external deity.
Neville aims to help people realize their inner divinity in order to become psychologically and spiritually liberated, overcoming life’s difficulties. His interpretive approach to the Bible is a means to reveal man’s innate God-nature.
Neville teaches that sickness, sorrow, and need arise from the denial of the divine nature within us. By accepting our divinity and creative power, we can transform our lives.
Neville’s teachings are not new, but they are new to some people. He presents the principles in a compelling way.
Some people struggle to apply Neville’s teachings successfully. The author suggests this is because his system requires an artistic, passionate temperament to work. The average person lacks the intensity of feeling and imaginative ability that Neville possesses naturally.
Neville draws on people’s early religious training and associations to evoke the emotional intensity needed. This can stimulate the unconscious powers necessary for manifestation.
The author believes auto-suggestion is a key factor in all metaphysical systems like Neville’s. Neville agrees his teachings involve self-suggestion, but he doesn’t see this as contradictory to his views.
Overall, the author is sympathetic to those who struggle with Neville’s system, recognizing it requires training the emotions and imagination in ways that don’t come naturally to most people. The author sees value in Neville’s teachings but believes more systematic instruction is needed.
Neville’s teachings center around the idea that humans are God-like in nature, but this knowledge has been lost due to defective early training.
He advocates using suggestion and autosuggestion to awaken the God-like nature that is dormant within people. This involves relaxing completely to become aware of the deeper levels of the mind and dropping desires into the unconscious so they will manifest.
Neville sees desire as holy and creative - the engine that drives life. Intense desire reinforced by feeling can manifest itself objectively if the techniques are properly followed.
His teachings align with modern psychology regarding the power of suggestion and the role of the unconscious. Faith and belief are not critical inherently, but help provide the emotional intensity to impress desires on the unconscious mind.
Neville sees God as the primal unconditioned awareness of being. This awareness imagined itself to be the created world, so creation sprang from God’s desire. Man is also this primal awareness at his core, so man is God in his true nature.
In our ordinary state, man is limited and impotent compared to the unconditioned God-state within. By silencing the superficial mind, man can realize “I AM is God” and see that his consciousness is God, witnessing the manifested world.
Neville’s use of the term “consciousness” is unclear. It would be better to use more specific terms like “unconscious” or “subconscious” mind.
We are not God in our normal waking state. But there is an unconscious part of us that can be called God or “I AM”. This avoids the implication that we are insane like people who claim to be God.
The unconscious “I AM” is the source of our being. We are highly dependent on the proper functioning of the unconscious, even if we don’t realize it.
The unconscious is equivalent to God. It creates our world through our imaginative concepts, just as God created the world.
To change our world, we must change our inner conceptions. The unconscious will then rearrange the outer world to match.
The unconscious has immense wisdom and experience. It can fulfill our wishes in ways beyond our conscious understanding.
To use the power of the unconscious, we must turn our attention away from outer problems and focus inward, affirming our divine nature. This will initiate changes in our outer world.
The author believes Neville’s idea of “out of mind, out of sight” is illogical and unscientific. Simply removing one’s attention from a problem does not make it disappear.
Repressed thoughts and memories are still real and potent, even when unconscious. The unconscious will turn any ideas into reality, good or bad.
There is danger in turning away from problems. We can learn about ourselves by studying the problems confronting us.
We should not ignore or deny outer projections of our inner state, but inquire as to their meaning and significance.
Neville’s interpretation of the Bible story about giants is not fully accurate. People can feel small inside while appearing great to others.
It is not always true that we appear to others as we see ourselves. We may have a poor self-image yet be valued by others.
Merely believing oneself to be great does not necessarily make it so.

In summary, the author thinks Neville’s approach is overly simplistic and does not align with psychological evidence. Problems should be examined, not ignored. Self-perception does not always match external perceptions.

Neville teaches that we can manifest our desires by assuming the feeling and consciousness of already having what we want.
To do this, get relaxed, close your eyes, and repeat “I AM” to connect with your unconditioned awareness of being.
Then condition this awareness by affirming and feeling that you already have the money, abundance, solution you desire. Feel the joy and gratitude of having it now.
Persist in this state and an event will occur to materialize your inner vision. Don’t worry about how, just know it will come through natural means.
To collapse time, vividly imagine and feel yourself in the future moment when your desire is fulfilled, then return to the present. This creates a vacuum that nature rushes to fill.
Neville’s technique can be applied to any problem or desire. The key is shifting your inner state to one of already having your wish fulfilled. This attracts the manifestation.
Limitations are self-imposed. You are the master magician conjuring your reality through the consciousness you cultivate. Assume the feeling of your wish fulfilled and external conditions will rearrange to reflect it.

The main points are to use imagination and feeling to shift into the state of the wish fulfilled, maintain this new consciousness, and allow the law of attraction to materialize the desire into physical form. The inner creates the outer.

The main idea is that man has the power to decree or determine his reality through his consciousness.
This decreeing power comes from man being made in the image of God, who conceived of and spoke all of creation into being.
Man is always decreeing his reality through his beliefs, assumptions and what he is conscious of being, whether consciously or unconsciously.
This unchanging principle of expression is portrayed through psychological dramas in sacred texts like the Bible.
The writers personified this principle of consciousness creating reality into stories and characters.
The priesthoods have forgotten these are psychological dramas and now teach them as literal histories.
Man should remember the Bible stories are dramas of consciousness and use decreeing power consciously.
To decree consciously, feel and live from the desired state until it is embodied.

In summary, the decreeing power of man’s consciousness to determine reality is illustrated in Biblical stories, and man should use this power consciously rather than living unconsciously.

The Bible is a psychological drama depicting the qualities and attributes of human consciousness.
God represents man’s awareness of being.
“I AM” statements in the Bible reveal God as our unconditioned awareness of being.
Man can transform his world by recognizing his awareness of being as God rather than believing in a God outside himself.
Consciousness is the only law of expression - we become and express what we are conscious of being.
To change our expression, we must change our state of consciousness.
Jesus demonstrated this by ascending in consciousness to claim his oneness with the Father (universal consciousness).
To rise to a new state of consciousness, we must drop our current limited identity and be reborn.
Through practice we can enter an expanded state of just “being” to crystallize new states of consciousness and expression.
The key is to claim and feel ourselves to be that which we desire to express, and it will take form through the law of consciousness.

In summary, the truth that sets us free is recognizing our own awareness of being as the creative power of consciousness, which allows us to reshape our expression and experience.

Man has long believed he is born of sorrow and must work hard for salvation. But God is impersonal and not a respecter of persons. As long as man believes in sorrow, he will experience sorrow.
We feel like helpless grasshoppers in the face of giants (unemployment, enemies, competition, etc). But this is because we first saw ourselves as grasshoppers.
We can be to others only what we are to ourselves. When we revalue ourselves and see ourselves as giants, we reduce the giants to grasshoppers.
Man searches for God aided by human wisdom, but is shocked to realize his own I AM or awareness is the savior. Man cannot serve two Gods - his own awareness and an external deity.
Man must lay the foundation that his awareness of being is God before he can transform his world. Unless he realizes his consciousness causes his expressions, he will die fruitlessly searching effects for the cause.
There are no Ascended Masters, only rising levels of consciousness manifested. The only Master is the I AM within. Seek not outside yourself.
You are the Master Magician conjuring what you are conscious of being. Your awareness of being is the only ascension. Turn from the mirage of masters and find the Master within yourself.
Jesus taught that salvation comes from within, not from external masters or saviors. The Kingdom of Heaven is within you.
Jesus refused titles like “Good Master” and told people not to recognize any authority other than God.
Jesus equated God with man’s awareness of being (“I AM”). Man is the creator, greater than his creations.
To do the works of Jesus, one must claim his true identity as Christ rather than see himself as a lowly worm.
You accomplish these works not through struggle and sacrifice but by claiming your desired state: “I AM that.”
Leave behind limitations by focusing on your desired state. Do not look back.
The “I AM” within you is God, the only reality behind all manifestations. Identify with this presence.
Your awareness is the only door through which your desires can be fulfilled. Believe and you will see.
Feel yourself to be that which you desire first, then it will be resurrected into the world.
Your world is your consciousness made visible. Change your inner state and your outer world follows.
The “I AM” urges you to claim a new expression of yourself rather than remain a victim of your old state.
My words are true and will accomplish what they are sent to do. They are the garments your formless self wears. Recognize me as your savior and open the door of your consciousness to let me in.
Do not worry about how my words will be fulfilled, they have ways beyond your understanding. Just believe and accept life’s gifts.
When you pray, believe you have already received and it will be. Have faith in yourself to make the impossible possible.
Your faith in yourself is your faith in God, as you and God are one. Be still and know the I AM within you is God.
Feel yourself to be that which you desire without anxious thought. Intensely feel your new state and it will be reflected in your world. Appropriate the new consciousness by becoming one with it.
You can receive nothing unless given from Heaven, which is your own consciousness. Do not look to others for permission to express, your world originates within you.
Ask by feeling yourself to be your desire. To feel is to ask the nameless I AM to express that nature. Appropriate the consciousness of your desire and it will be given unto you.
Consciousness is the creator. To be conscious of one thing yet express another is a violation of the law of being. Man always expresses what he is conscious of being, whether good, bad or indifferent.
All things are made of God. God commands Himself to be the seeming other, since there is no actual other. Effective commands must be to oneself.
Do not repeat “I AM” like a parrot. It is the consciousness, not the words, that matters. Be still and know you are. Then define yourself as your desire by feeling you are it.
Do not try to change others, only yourself. Stop condemning yourself and asking if you are worthy.
Take your attention away from problems and limitations. Focus on your ideal self. Claim it as present, not future. Your present world will dissolve as you claim your ideal.
You do not need to fight battles. Your consciousness is the Lord of any situation. Have confidence the ideal is done. Stand still in that knowing.
Imagine the happy ending. Have faith it is done. Sustain yourself with this knowledge as the picture unfolds. Ask no help of man, just feel “It is done.”
God’s will is recognizing what is, not what will be. The works are finished. Consciousness does the work, not the ego-self. Be conscious of being that which you seek.
Everything we experience is a reflection of our consciousness. The outer world is just a mirror showing us our current state of mind.
To change our reality, we must change our consciousness. Trying to change the outer conditions directly is futile.
We must deny the evidence of our senses and persist in claiming ourselves to be that which we wish to be.
Holding the feeling and knowing of our desired state will automatically change our consciousness and thus our reality.
There is only one power - our I AM (consciousness). We must remove all false gods (external beliefs) and claim ourselves to be the power we seek.
Forgiving others is seeing they are only expressing their state of consciousness. We can only change ourselves.
Ask yourself “How would I feel if I were free?” - feeling that is the key to embodying the new state.
Consciousness automatically objectifies itself. Trust the Father state and it will find expression in ways you know not of.

Here’s a summary of the key points:

The story of the virgin birth of Jesus is meant to be interpreted psychologically rather than literally. It represents the birth of new manifestations through applying psychological laws.
The dates of Christmas and Easter were chosen to coincide with certain astronomical phenomena that have earthly benefits.
December 25th marks the date when the sun begins moving northward again, bringing renewal of life after the symbolic “death” of winter.
In the story, the constellation Virgo rising in the east represents the virgin mother giving birth. The zodiac animals represent the location of the birth.
Psychologically, the virgin birth happens when one achieves new states of consciousness by detaching from limiting beliefs and assuming the feeling of already having one’s desires.
This law of assumption allows one to fulfill their desires if they discipline themselves to persist in the assumption.
The story serves as a symbolic drama of this psychological process of birth of manifestation through assumption of the desired state.
Man’s consciousness or “I AM” is like the sun that radiates images upon the space of his world. These images are projections of his inner light or consciousness.
Man’s unrealized hopes and ambitions are like seeds buried in the womb of his consciousness, waiting to be awakened when he remembers his true divine nature as “I AM the light of the world.”
When man realizes his I AM is God, his hidden desires will be stimulated into expression. He will define and claim himself to be that which he wishes to express.
Man will realize this drama of creation happens within his own consciousness. His I AM or unconditioned consciousness is like the Virgin Mary, desiring to express. He defines himself as what he wants to express, and without help, expresses it.
The crucifixion and resurrection allegorically refer to the sun crossing the equator at spring, marking the death of winter and rebirth of life.
These events symbolize the death of the old sense of self or conception of “I AM” and resurrection of the new desired state of being.
Consciousness detaches from what it was, allowing it to resurrect as what it desires. I AM agrees with and feels itself to be the desired state, resulting in the manifestation of this new conception of self.
The mystical union of consciousness and desired state results in the birth of the new expression. Man must see visible confirmation of what he is conscious of being.
Jesus bore our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did not esteem him.
He was wounded and bruised for our transgressions and iniquities, and by his stripes we are healed.
We have all gone astray like sheep but the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and afflicted yet he did not resist or complain. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
Our inner awareness is impersonal and universal. It expresses whatever impressions are placed upon it.
To impress is to be impressed. Our expressions come from our impressions.
We must claim ourselves to be what we desire to be in order to express those desires.
Our awareness magnifies all consciousness. Claiming “I AM” the thing desired allows our inner savior in.
Every desire is a knock of the savior at our door. We open when we claim “I AM He.”
Circumcision represents removing the veil that hides our true being - the awareness of “I AM.”
We must detach from identifications with race, nationality etc. to know ourselves just as being.
The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit represent three aspects or conditions of unconditioned awareness (God/I AM).
The receptive attitude of mind is like the Mother or womb that receives impressions. This is the Holy Spirit aspect.
That which makes the impression is the Father or pressing aspect.
The impression in time becomes an expression or objectified reality, which is the Son bearing witness of the Father-Mother.
By assuming a receptive attitude and imagining yourself to already have your desire, you conceive an ‘immaculate impression’ without aid of man.
Doubt can disturb this spiritual impression, so have confidence it will become expressed reality.
The trinity refers to the three aspects of your own consciousness - you are the trinity that fashions your world through impressed desires.

Here is a summary of the key points about prayer and the twelve disciples from the passage:

Prayer is communing with God, assuming the nature of what you desire. Go within, shut out distractions, feel and claim yourself to be and have what you desire.
Your receptive attitude is like a bride. The thing desired is the groom. Agreeing together impregnates you with the consciousness of your desire.
Pray from the consciousness of already having your desire, not begging for it.
The twelve disciples represent twelve qualities of the mind that can be disciplined: hearing, courage, justice, love, wisdom, will, imagination, understanding, zeal, life, strength, and feeling.
Disciplining these qualities allows one to control the mind and achieve desires. They become friends rather than uncontrolled forces.
Key disciples include Simon Peter (hearing), Andrew (courage), James (justice), John (love), Thomas (imagination), and Judas (feeling).
Disciplining the mind brings true faith, courage, justice, love and other qualities. This leads to mastery over oneself and consciousness of one’s desires.
Disciplined judgment withholds condemnation and criticism, allowing others to be as they are while remaining faithful to hearing the Good. The awakened man sees God expressed in all.
Disciplined imagination, doubt, discernment, praise, and detachment are qualities that separate man from the masses. Developing these faculties leads to awakening.
Man’s desires are gifts from God containing the means for their realization. Thankfulness opens one to receiving more gifts.
Hearing only good news indicates one has become conscious of the abundant life.
To become that which one desires, one must detach from what one currently is. This is the sacrifice of Judas.
When one has called these twelve qualities into discipleship, finishing the work given by God, one reclaims the glory that existed before the world was.

Here are a few key points about the passages:

The disciples fished all night and caught nothing. This symbolizes fruitless human efforts.
Jesus then told them to cast their nets on the right side. This represents turning to the divine/spiritual for guidance and power.
When they followed Jesus’ instruction, their nets were filled to overflowing. This symbolizes that following spiritual guidance leads to abundance and success.
The right side is often seen as the spiritual side, while the left is the material. Casting the nets to the right means focusing on spiritual realities rather than only material efforts.
The story illustrates the importance of relying on spiritual power and wisdom, rather than only human efforts and intellect. When we follow divine guidance, we gain access to the realm of infinite possibility and abundance.

In summary, the passage uses the metaphor of fishing to demonstrate that spiritual power and wisdom can accomplish what human efforts alone cannot. It encourages turning to God/Christ/the spiritual side rather than relying solely on the material side of life.

True clairvoyance is not about seeing things beyond normal perception, but rather about understanding the deeper meaning behind what is seen.
Everything in the world, whether animate or inanimate, is surrounded by an energetic aura. But the ability to see auras is not as important as the ability to understand the meaning behind physical appearances.
The example is given of a financial statement - anyone can see it, but few can properly interpret and understand it.
Likewise, the ability to see energetic auras around people and things is useless unless it comes with the ability to properly understand the deeper significance of what is being perceived.
True clear seeing, or clairvoyance, rests on penetrating beyond surface appearances to grasp the inner essence and meaning. Mere clairvoyant vision without understanding is pointless.
The passage emphasizes that developing true clairvoyance involves cultivating the capacity for deeper understanding, not just psychic abilities to see beyond the physical senses. The goal is insight into the hidden meanings surrounding us.
The story of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane is a mystical allegory depicting the act of creation.
Gethsemane symbolically represents the garden of creation - the place in consciousness where one goes to realize desired objectives.
The name Gethsemane means “to press out an oily substance,” referring to the pressing out of the oily substance within oneself to create a likeness of oneself.
Just as humans contain an oily substance that is pressed out in the act of procreation, we also contain a divine consciousness that can be pressed out to form desired states of being.
Jesus’s pleading in the garden represents impressing a state of consciousness upon oneself until it is realized, just as an oily substance is pressed out to create a child.
Agony and sweating blood symbolize the intensity of impressing a desired state upon consciousness until it is actualized.
Mystically understood, Gethsemane illustrates the process of deliberately defining an objective in consciousness and impressing that conception upon oneself until it becomes one’s reality.
A garden represents the cultivated inner state where we plant the seeds of our desires. Through contemplating and feeling oneself to already be what one desires, the seed is “pressed out” into the mind’s fertile ground.
The conscious state in which we dwell is like a chosen spouse that gives birth to our world. We must be selective in the mental states we entertain, as they will be reflected in our outer world.
Jesus exemplifies disciplining the mind by fixing attention on the desired state, ignoring contrary thoughts, until filled with the joy and conviction of being and having what is sought.
There is a period of rest between impressing the subconscious and the manifestation of the desire. We must remain faithful to the new state of consciousness until it is fully embodied.
Our desire will only be resurrected or realized once we have filled our consciousness completely with the state of already having and being what we want. Most fail to achieve their goals because they do not persist in the consciousness of success.
The story of Joshua and the walls of Jericho contains the formula for manifesting desires. We must hold the promise of victory firmly in mind and send forth our fixed conception, ignoring obstacles, until the walls crumble and we enter the city victorious.
Consciousness is the one and only reality. Everything else is a conditioned state of the unconditioned consciousness, which is God.
Man and God are one; we are God conditioned as man. We are the creator and the creation.
Unconditioned consciousness is a sense of awareness, of knowing “I AM” apart from knowing who I am. It is eternal awareness of being.
As the conditioned state (man), I may forget who or where I am, but I cannot forget that I AM. This knowing that I AM is the only reality.
The world is my conditioned consciousness objectified. My inner state is projected outward as my reality.
There is no chance or accident responsible for what happens to me. My outer world reflects my inner state of consciousness.
Man forgets that his inner state causes his outer manifestation. He wrongly believes an outside God determines his fate.
Man’s own I Amness is the God he has sought. His own consciousness of being is the one reality he can be sure of.
Statements like “I am the resurrection and the life” are statements of fact about my unconditioned consciousness, which is God.

The main point is that our consciousness is the only reality and it conditions our outer world. Changing consciousness is key to producing outer change.

Here is a summary of the main points:

Consciousness is the one true reality that creates our experience of the world.
The Bible contains symbolic stories aimed at revealing the secret of creation and how to escape one’s own creations.
The name of God in the Bible, Jehovah, is composed of four Hebrew letters that represent the process of creation: JOD represents unconditioned consciousness or “I AM”, HE represents a desire or imagined state, VAU represents the act of unifying the conceiver with the conception, and the final HE represents the physical manifestation.
The world is the visible manifestation of subjective states of consciousness.
The story of Noah and his three sons contains the same formula of creation as Jehovah: Noah represents unconditioned consciousness (JOD), Shem represents desire/name (HE), Ham represents feeling that binds desire and object (VAU), Japheth represents the extended, physical manifestation (HE).
We are creators shaping reality through our consciousness. We must carefully define ourselves and become that which we desire to be. The world is the image and likeness of our subjective conception of ourselves.
The story of Isaac blessing Jacob instead of Esau contains a hidden message about the power of feeling to manifest desires.
Isaac symbolizes your consciousness, Esau your present reality, and Jacob your desire.
You must remove your attention from the present reality (Esau) and instead feel and sense your desire (Jacob) as if it were already real.
Through feeling, you impress your desire on your subconscious mind, allowing it to become objectified.
Agreeing in consciousness between your awareness (Isaac) and desire (Jacob) through feeling is what allows your desire to be fulfilled.
The time and place for fulfillment of your desire should be fixed in your mind through associating conscious impressions with them.
Persisting in your assumption through feeling, regardless of outward appearances, is key to manifestation.

The main points are the power of feeling and inner assumptions to shape outer reality, the importance of defining your desire clearly, and persisting in your inner state to allow the invisible to become visible. Feeling and faith bridge the inner and outer worlds.

Here is a summary of the key points about the Sabbath:

The six days of work symbolize the time it takes to fix a definite psychological state through conscious effort. It is not measured by clock time but by the actual accomplishment of making a subjective adjustment.
The seventh day or Sabbath represents the period of mental rest and gestation after successfully impressing the desired state upon oneself. It allows the manifestation to incubate.
Keeping the Sabbath means entering God’s rest by fully convincing yourself you have what you previously desired. If you fail to make this complete mental adjustment, you will not experience the Sabbath rest and peace of mind.
Sin is missing the mark and failing to achieve your desired state. Man is now aware he can achieve infinite capacities through conscious effort in six days, so will be unsatisfied until he does.
Observance of one physical day of rest is not truly keeping the Sabbath. The psychological state must be fixed first before the mental calm and fulfillment of the Sabbath can be felt.

In summary, the Sabbath represents the mental gestation period after consciously identifying with your desire which allows its manifestation. Successfully keeping the Sabbath by entering God’s rest requires completing the psychological work first.

The formula for curing leprosy in Leviticus 14 can be interpreted psychologically to cure any problem or disease.
The two birds represent your current problem/limitation (first bird) and the desired solution (second bird).
Killing the first bird symbolizes removing your attention from the problem.
Dipping the living bird in the blood represents feeling/claiming the reality of the solution.
Sprinkling yourself seven times means dwelling in the new desired state until it feels natural.
Releasing the living bird denotes embodying this new state.
You play all the roles: the high priest, the leper, and the birds. Your consciousness is the high priest that transforms the leper (you with the problem) by switching focus from the dead bird (problem) to the living bird (solution).
This process allows you to psychologically rise above any limitation or problem through the power of your imagination and attention.
God speaks to you through your basic desires, which are like prophecies containing the plan for their fulfillment. Do not add conditions or compromise your desires, or you risk failure and frustration.
Your desires reflect your conception of yourself. They are neutral in themselves; it is your state of consciousness that gives them meaning.
Make sure the desires you have for others are things you would accept for yourself. What you wish for another will return to you if not accepted.
The wise see no barriers to their desires; the undisciplined see only obstacles. Maintain the fixed attitude that your desire is already fulfilled.
The Golden Rule encourages you to desire for others what you would want for yourself. Your world reflects your self-concept plus unaccepted “gifts” you’ve offered others.
The Passover story represents leaving behind present limitations and assuming the state of your desire. Follow the disciplined mindset that sees only the good to experience heaven on earth.
Faith is not about the size of the desire, but the conviction it is fulfilled. Have faith your desire is granted and it will be.

The key is to maintain unwavering faith that your desire is fulfilled, as this conviction will externalize it. The size of the desire is irrelevant; only the certainty it is realized matters.

Faith is believing in and feeling that you already have what you desire, even before it has physically manifested. It is a seal impressing your consciousness with the reality of your desire.
The parable of the mustard seed illustrates that faith starts small but grows powerfully. A tiny mustard seed knows only its own identity and fulfills its innate purpose. Likewise, even a small amount of focused faith can accomplish great things.
The story of the immaculate conception is an allegory for self-impregnation of an idea. You plant a seed of desire, select the right messenger or means to deliver it, and let it grow within the womb of your consciousness.
To impress an idea on your consciousness, clearly define your desire, assume a receptive state, and imagine hearing a friend tell you that you already have achieved your goal. Feel the thrill of this news to conceive and seal the impression.
Persist in this impressed state with faith like a mustard seed, unmoved by appearances, knowing the external will in time conform to the internal. With faith, you can self-impregnate the perfect idea and bring it to birth in your reality.
The world is a manifestation of man’s conditioned consciousness. By understanding the law of consciousness, we can achieve our desires.
Consciousness has two aspects: the conscious mind which is selective, and the subconscious which is impersonal and non-selective. The conscious generates ideas that are impressed on the subconscious, which then gives them form.
Control of the subconscious is accomplished through control of your ideas and feelings. Feelings impress ideas on the subconscious.
Never entertain negative feelings or thoughts. What you feel to be true, the subconscious accepts as true and manifests.
Your feelings create the pattern from which your world is fashioned. A change of feeling is a change of destiny.
To impress the subconscious, assume the feeling of your wish already fulfilled. Do not consider difficulties - this impresses the subconscious with obstacles.
The subconscious faithfully manifests the feelings and beliefs impressed upon it. Persuade rather than command the subconscious.
Consciousness appears divided into conscious and subconscious, but is one. The conscious mind dominates the subconscious, as the lover, not the tyrant.
The subconscious mind accepts as true what you feel to be true. Your feelings and beliefs shape your reality through the impressions made on the subconscious.
To change your outer world, you must change your inner world. Seek within, not without. You can only receive what you already possess in consciousness.
Sleep is a doorway to the subconscious. Before sleep, assume the feeling of your wish fulfilled to impress the subconscious and allow it to manifest the desire.
Maintain an attitude of success, satisfaction and gratitude before falling asleep. The subconscious will conform to this inner state.
You are the eternal dreamer dreaming your world into being. Imagine the best and expect it. Limitation is only in your mind.
Change yourself and you change the world. Convince yourself of the truth of what you wish to see. Persist in this assumption and your inner world will be reflected without.

The main points are: Impress the subconscious through feeling. Change inner consciousness and outer world follows. Use sleep and prayer to reprogram the subconscious mind.

Here are the key points I gathered from the text:

Man is not a victim of fate, but has free will and the ability to change his circumstances through imagination and feeling. Focus not on past mistakes but on imagining and feeling the desired end result.
Sleep is an entrance to the subconscious. Before sleep, consciously feel yourself into the state of your desired outcome to impress the subconscious.
Prayer is similar to sleep in that it allows ideas enveloped in feeling to penetrate the subconscious. Feel and assume the wish fulfilled, rather than forcing the wish.
Spirit is feeling. Assume the feeling that would be yours if your wish was realized to attract your desired outcome. Believe you already are what you want to be.
Prayer requires yielding to the wish fulfilled and creating a passive, relaxed state. Vividly imagine the end result and feel it as already achieved. Maintain faith by capturing the feeling associated with your realized desire.

The key message is to use imagination, feeling, and faith to impress the subconscious and align with the desired outcome, rather than employing force or effort. By assuming the feeling and attitude of already having your wish, you set law of reversibility and thought transmission into motion.

Here is a summary of the key points about prayer from the passage:

Prayer is a powerful tool that can help solve problems if used properly. It requires a controlled imagination and should not involve vain repetition.
The law of reversibility states that every force is reversible. If a certain feeling or state produces the desired result, then inversely, assuming that feeling or state will produce the desired result.
The subconscious mind is more powerful than the conscious mind and can turn beliefs into reality. Prayer modifies the subconscious assumptions.
Imagination and faith are key to effective prayer. Imagination allows one to vividly experience the wish fulfilled. Faith means assuming the feeling of the wish fulfilled until it objectifies.
There should be no conflict or doubt when praying. Focus on the desired outcome with belief it is fulfilled. The subconscious then actualizes it.

In summary, prayer utilizes imagination and faith to impress the subconscious in order to manifest the desired outcome. Controlling the imagination is key, as is assuming the feeling of the wish fulfilled.

Imagination and faith are the only faculties needed to create objective conditions. Believe in the state affirmed as true, even if the senses deny it.
Telepathy allows immediate communion with another. Mentally call them, imagine hearing their voice answering, and represent them inwardly in the desired state.
The subconscious mind is controlled by suggestion. The most effective method is the “silent treatment” where the person is unaware of the suggestion.
The subconscious powers are exposed in hypnotism, so an unaware person is in a hypnotic state relative to you. Suggestions powerfully affect them.
In controlled reverie, boldly assert and visualize the person telling you what you want to hear. Imagining the conversation makes it real to their subconscious.
Fix your belief in the imagined conversation. Doubt transmits nothing. Only fixed ideas awaken vibratory correlates in others. Carefully control ideas suggested.
Your imagination controls your subconscious mind. What you confidently imagine and affirm will become your reality.
Controlling your subconscious gives you dominion over your reality. Your beliefs shape your world. Imagination and faith allow creation.
To transmit thought, you must have a conductor. Your consciousness is the light, your mind the mirror that projects your thoughts to others. By mentally speaking, you make your mind mirror vibrate, modifying the reflected light of consciousness, transmitting your thoughts.
Your fixed attitudes constantly modify your reflected consciousness, objectifying in your conditions. To change the world or others, change your conception of them. Believe them to be as you desire.
Subjective words (assumptions) awaken what they affirm in the subconscious. Words persist until fulfilled. Distance is not an obstacle subjectively. You can mentally live in any place. Consciousness is the only reality.
Prayers work by your attitude, not the subject’s. If not accepted by the subject, rebounds back to you. You cannot be harmed unless you harbor harmful thoughts. What you wish for another can be wished for you. You only have power to reject by being incapable of wishing it.
Imagination is the starting point of creation. You imagine what you want, and then believe it to be true. With enough self-discipline, any dream can be made real through belief.
People are what you choose to perceive them to be. A person changes when you look at them differently.
The quote “Two men looked from prison bars, one saw mud and the other saw stars” illustrates how perspective shapes what we see.
Centuries ago, Isaiah asked who is blind except for God’s servant - implying that the “perfect man” sees past superficial appearances.
The passage emphasizes using imagination and changing perceptions to transform outer reality. Believing deeply in a vision, rather than judging by appearances, allows it to materialize. Self-discipline to persist in assumed beliefs is key.
The author describes a mystical experience where he felt lifted into a state of pure being and oneness. He heard voices proclaiming his spiritual awakening.
He then had a vision where he came upon disabled people waiting to be healed. As he approached, they were magically transformed into perfection. A chorus proclaimed “It is finished.”
The author realized this vision arose from his intense meditation on the idea of perfection. Our meditations bring about union with the state contemplated.
He discovered as a child that his expectant mood worked as a magnet to unite him with a mysterious Greater Self, which initially felt frightening.
He later conceived of this Self as love and felt enfolded by it. We unite with aspects of this Self based on how we conceive of it.
Other visions confirmed that by intensely loving or hating, we become what we contemplate. Our inner state shapes outer forms.
The author believes that to bring outer perfection we must transform ourselves. As we do, the world will reshape itself accordingly.
He is convinced from his experiences that we have an inner subtle body that can detach from the physical and access higher realms. Our mystic visions are more than just fantasy.
Many people have observed events before they occurred in the three-dimensional world, indicating that life proceeds according to a predetermined plan that exists in another dimension.
If events can be seen before they occur here, they must have been “out of this world” in another dimension. This raises the question of whether we can alter our future.
Man can alter his future, but the altered future forms a new deterministic sequence starting from the point of interference.
The most remarkable thing about man’s future is its flexibility - it is determined by his attitudes rather than his acts.
The cornerstone on which all things are based is man’s concept of himself. He acts and experiences according to his self-concept.
Changing one’s concept of self automatically alters the future.
All changes take place in consciousness. At every moment we have a choice between several possible futures.
Everyone has two outlooks - a natural focus governed by the senses, and a spiritual focus governed by imagination/desire.
To see the invisible, we must disentangle from the senses and focus attention on an invisible state until it feels real. Concentrated thought on a desired state shuts out other sensations.
We must withdraw attention from the sensory world and concentrate it on the desired state to make it real.

Here is a summary of the main points:

Controlling our imagination allows us to reshape our future according to our desires. Desire motivates action.
To change the future, we must assume the feeling of our wish fulfilled. Living from that conviction alters the future to match our assumption.
The spiritual self speaks through desire. Obeying desire is key to fulfillment.
Use imagination to experience what you would experience if your desire was fulfilled. Feel as if you are doing it now. This experience constructs the means to realize your goal.
Define your desire clearly. Imagine a related event that implies fulfillment. Feel yourself into that event until it is vividly real. This conditions the future.
Restrict your imagery to the specific action to avoid distraction. Repeat a phrase that affirms the fulfilled desire.
To consciously visit higher dimensions, maintain the imaginary act until falling asleep.
Assumptions harden into facts if we persist in them. We shift reality by changing conditions first in four-dimensional space.
The fourth dimension is not spatial but an entirely different measurement - time. Our greater four-dimensional self has already accomplished our desire.
Time is a fourth dimension beyond the three dimensions of space. It adds changeability and a new quality to objects.
Just as a line becomes a plane and a plane becomes a solid through added dimensions, a solid gains new properties by having time as a fourth dimension.
By moving through time’s length we can see and change the future.
The physical world is just a shadow or abstraction of a more fundamental four-dimensional world.
We can prove the existence of this higher dimensional world by focusing our attention on an invisible state and imagining we see and feel it.
To change the future, imagine and feel you already have your desire. Others will see you expressing and being what you want to be.
The world is not predetermined - we can rearrange “sensory impressions” like words on a page to create new futures.
Dreams do this uncontrolled - they fuse past and future sensory impressions.
Believing and being are one. Assume you are what you want to be and you will see it reflected.
The ancient teachers said we should not judge by appearances, but believe in things beyond our experience. We should imagine good for others, as this frees them.
The author has learned to use the power of imagination - to imagine states vividly until they become real. Imagination dictates reality.
In meditation, the author’s imagination gains magnetic power to attract desired things. Desire then imagination creates reality.
The prophet advised imagining only good and lovely things, as imagination responds equally to good and evil.
The author gives examples of how imagining unreal states made them physically real.
We can mold the future through desire then imagination. Imagine experiencing what you desire.
Desire and imagination have creative power, drawing their own fulfillment. Meditative, sleep-like states enhance this power.
In dreams we can grasp objects and command ourselves awake, bringing the dream object into waking reality.
In this conscious state, we can imagine and assume wish fulfillment, and instantly realize it externally.
Neville emphasizes that the ideal we strive for is latent within us, so we must transform ourselves rather than trying to change the outer world directly.
He recounts a mystical vision he had while meditating deeply on the idea of perfection, where he saw himself as a being of fire healing and transforming a crowd of impotent people. This showed him the power of imagination and intense focus on an ideal.
He argues we cannot lose anything except by descending from the sphere where it has its natural life. There is no transforming power in death. We shape our world by the concepts we hold of ourselves.
Our inner conception of ourselves is most important, especially the greater One within us. Those who help or hinder us are servants of the law that shapes circumstances to our inner nature.
To change the world we must first change ourselves. Outer change follows inner change. We can only receive what our assumptions affirm.
By intensely imagining ourselves as already what we want to be, we can ascend to that ideal. Violent emotions like war evoke descent in consciousness instead.
We grow into the likeness of what we contemplate. By imagining beauty and joy rather than attacking unlovely states directly, we can transform ourselves.
The key message is there is nothing to change but our concept of self. When we transform self, our world dissolves and reshapes to match our new state of awareness.

Here is a summary of the key points from the book excerpt:

Consciousness is the one ultimate reality and first cause of all phenomena. Everything we experience is a manifestation of consciousness.
Our concept and awareness of self determines how consciousness is arranged and therefore what manifests in our reality.
To change our outer world, we must change our state of consciousness by changing our concept of self.
Desire initiates transformation by setting the ideal of what we want to achieve. Assuming and feeling we already are our ideal causes consciousness to rearrange and align with that concept, leading to manifestation of the ideal in our outer world.
Our mind must be renewed through new ideas and assumptions about ourselves in order to transform consciousness and our lives. Persisting in and focusing on the desired assumption is key to realization.
We have the power through imagination and assumption to determine our experience of life by directing our consciousness. We are limited only by our accepted ideas and concepts about ourselves.

The main points are that consciousness is the sole reality that manifests as our outer world according to our conception of self, and we can purposefully rearrange consciousness by assuming and persisting in new concepts about ourselves, thus transforming our lives.

To attain your ideal self, you must assume the feeling and attitude of already being that ideal self. Mere thinking or analysis is not enough.
Completely abandon yourself to your ideal self like one abandons to love. Imagine and feel that you already are experiencing what you desire. Let this feeling crowd out all other thoughts.
Your assumptions determine your life circumstances. Master your assumptions through deliberate control of your imagination.
Visualize and feel yourself as the ideal person you want to be. This transforms you into that image.
Sustained attention focused on feeling the wish fulfilled brings it into reality. Lack of focus scatters your forces.
Imagination is the key to solving all your problems and fulfilling your dreams. Controlled imagination and focused attention on the feeling of the wish fulfilled is the secret.
You are limited only by lack of control of your imagination and attention. Master them, and you master your fate.
Free yourself by experiencing in imagination what you want to experience in reality. Maintaining this imagined experience brings your desire into actuality.

The main points are using controlled imagination and sustained attention on feeling the wish fulfilled to transform yourself and make your ideals real. Mastering your imagination and focus is the key to self-mastery.

What you perceive depends more on your assumptions than on objective reality. Your assumptions shape how you see the world and determine your actions.
You can change your experience of reality by changing your assumptions. Assume the best about a situation or person to see positive changes.
Control your inner conversations and don’t mentally argue. Others echo what you assume about them.
Persistently imagine the reality you desire. Your assumptions if vivid enough will reshape your experience.
Don’t be overly literal minded. Use your imagination to solve problems and improve situations.
You can subtly influence others by controlled imagination and feeling. Your assumptions may make others think certain ideas are their own.
With desire and controlled imagination you can travel into your chosen future experience. Your assumptions determine your reality.

The original passage argues that our thoughts and ideas are not entirely our own, but are influenced by others and the culture around us. It uses examples of how the thoughts of obscure individuals can subtly influence and change society over time.

The later passages assert that we have the power to choose our thoughts and concepts of ourselves. By focusing our imagination and attention, we can manifest our ideal reality. We are to assume the feeling of our wish fulfilled, persist in this assumption, and it will become our physical experience. Our consciousness determines the events we encounter. We have the power of intervention to alter the course of the future with our imagination.

In essence, the original passage proposes our thoughts come from external sources while the later passages counter that we have the internal power to direct our thoughts and shape our reality as we wish. The Commonwealth writer sees original thoughts as not self-derived, while the later passages see thoughts as willfully chosen and imaginatively self-created.

Your imagination is the creative power that forms consciousness into concepts and manifests them as conditions and circumstances. It made your world, though most are not conscious of this.
Christ, the mystery and hope of glory, refers to your imagination which molds your world. Finding Christ means becoming aware of your imagination as the only redemptive power.
You can modify your life by controlling your attention and focusing it inward on desired thoughts and moods rather than being distracted by the external world.
Acceptance and absorbing yourself emotionally in a desired state allows it to manifest physically. Intense absorption in an imagined state makes the return to normal reality a shock.
Moving from your present state to a desired one simply requires extending your imagination and fully accepting the wish fulfilled. Windows of heaven open and gifts come when acceptance reaches complete absorption.
Assuming the feeling of the wish fulfilled is effortless, uses the least action or energy, and is the shortest path to your goal. Assumptions determine experience. Control them in the present moment.
The Assumption is the crown of mysteries, like the Immaculate Conception is the foundation. Assuming the wish fulfilled carries you to its realization. Act as if you already possess what you seek.
Yearning, longing, and intense burning desire are essential. You must intensely want to be different from what you are now.
Cultivate physical immobility and incapacity, like an numb, drowsy state. This increases mental force and power of concentration.
Experience in your imagination what you would experience in reality if your goal was achieved. Surrender completely to this feeling until possessed by it. This controlled state differs from daydreaming.
With minimum effort, keep consciousness filled with the feeling of the wish fulfilled. The physical and mental immobility will aid this.
When the single sensation of the wish fulfilled dominates, the burning desire will be satisfied.
The three essentials are: intense desire, physical immobility, and experience in imagination of wish fulfilled. Mastering this will lead to mastery of life.
Immobility of body and mind is a powerful aid to focusing attention and minimizing effort.
Applying the three points of desire, physical immobility, and assuming the wish fulfilled is the way to unite with your goal.
This law works for any objective, not just religious ones. It can be used for selfish or noble purposes but ignoble actions have unhappy consequences.
Righteousness means embodying the state of already being what you want to be. It is necessary for manifestation.
Sin means missing the mark or not attaining your desire. Righteousness saves you from sinning by becoming your desire.
Focus on states of being, not physical things. Seek righteousness first, not things, and all will be added.
You have free will to choose assumptions but no power to determine conditions. Assume the wish fulfilled to shape your future.
Make only loving assumptions about yourself and others. This creates a harmonious atmosphere.
Persist in the feeling of the wish fulfilled. Assumptions harden into facts if persisted in, regardless of outer conditions.
The number three symbolizes wholeness and completion. Loaves symbolize substance. The shut door represents separating the physical senses from the spiritual realm. Children sleeping represents dormant ideas. Inability to rise means desired consciousness cannot come to you, you must rise to it. Importunity means demanding persistence. Ask, seek, and knock mean assuming you already have what you desire.
The Bible teaches the necessity of persistence through stories like Jacob wrestling the angel, the Shunammite woman seeking Elisha’s help, and the parable of the persistent widow and the judge.
The message is that you must persistently rise to (assume) the consciousness of your wish fulfilled. Desire springs from awareness of attainment. Only persistent assumption of the wish fulfilled can manifest desired changes.
People not acting as you wish reflects lack of persistence in assuming your desired life, not their reluctance. Your assumption must be a maintained attitude, not an isolated act.
A young man persistently imagined his family’s name on the sign of a business he wanted them to own. After two years of doing this daily, the business failed and went up for sale. Despite not having the money to buy it, a stranger offered to provide the capital so the family could purchase the business. Through the power of the young man’s imagination and persistence, his dream became reality.
A 9-year old boy intensely desired a puppy but was told he could never have one. After learning about the law of assumption, he imagined having a dog every night before bed. Weeks later he won a city-wide “Why I Want a Dog” essay contest and was awarded a collie puppy. His dream was fulfilled.
A woman wanted her niece and husband to be transferred to Florida instead of Europe. She advised the niece to use the law of assumption - feel physically being in Florida. Within 48 hours the husband received orders to report to Florida as an instructor.
A woman needed to rent her apartment to spend summer in the country. After imagining it rented and feeling she was in the country home instead, the apartment was rented suddenly that week to a person wanting immediate occupancy.
The key points are using imagination and persistently assuming the feeling of your wish fulfilled to manifest desires.

A woman successfully used the law of assumption to manifest a new tenant for her previously vacant apartment. She vividly imagined the apartment rented to a desirable tenant who wanted to move in immediately. This came true the next day.
A man with a rare heart disease was expected to die. He was guided to use the law of assumption to imagine himself recovered and hearing the doctor express amazement. He made a full recovery and credited this technique.
A banker wanted a better job managing investments but was told no advancement was possible at his bank. He was guided to vividly imagine each night that he had been offered his dream job. Two months later he was offered precisely this role at a major foundation.
A devoted couple wanted to manifest a New York City penthouse apartment. They both imagined living there every night. First one apartment fell through, but persistently imagining led them to easily secure the penthouse in their own desirable building instead.
In each case, successfully using the law of assumption involved vividly and persistently imagining the desired outcome as already real. This produced rapid, dramatic results in unlikely or seemingly impossible situations.

Here are the key points about destiny from the passage:

Destiny is the inevitable experiences you must have. It is really an infinite number of individual destinies, each leading to the next.
Since life is infinite, there is no ultimate final destiny.
Your consciousness is the creator of your destiny, whether you know it or not. You are creating your destiny every moment.
Much good has come into your life without you realizing you created it.
Understanding you are the sole creator of your experiences, good and bad, makes you a keen observer of phenomena and intensifies your appreciation of life.
It is your destiny to rise to higher states of consciousness and transcend present environments. Focusing on positive consciousness and disregarding negativity leads to fulfillment.
You have infinite capacity for higher attainment. Fulfilling one ideal state will lead to longing for a higher one.
Assume the feeling of your wish fulfilled and be determined about it; this is the way to realize your chosen destiny.
Imagination is a word with varied and contradictory meanings. Neville identifies imagination with the central figure of the Gospels, the power that makes the forgiveness of sins and achievement of goals inevitable.
Imagination is the gateway to reality and the Divine Body. It allows us to be anything we desire and transform the world.
Imagining is how we truly live. We must function imaginatively to open our “Immortal Eyes inwards into the Worlds of Thought.”
Christ in us is our imagination. Realizing this allows us to experience the abundant life Christ promised.
Imagination is our redeemer, born of us but not begotten of us. We awaken Christ by lifting our imagination to heaven.
We must imagine better than our present reality. Forgiving sin by identifying ourselves with our ideal or aim is the supreme test of imagination.
Imagination enables us to partake of the nature of our opposites, like weakness becoming strength.
Imagination is capable of executing an idea and incarnating desires, independent of current circumstances. It comprehends reason and recognizes the external world while being a complete guide to behavior if we act with continuous imagination.
Imagination is a powerful force that can transform our lives if properly directed. Abdullah taught the author to imagine himself already in the state of his fulfilled desire rather than simply wishing for it.
Identifying oneself with the desired aim and imagining it as already completed is key. This is how one forgives sin or overcomes limitations.
Jesus represents the coming of imagination to man. Awakening imagination within is akin to the birth of Christ in man.
The world presents itself according to our state of consciousness. By changing our inner state through imagination, our outer world transforms.
We must detach from limiting states and imagine from the end result we desire. This fuses us with that reality and devises the means for it to manifest.
Imagining from the wish fulfilled is not just fancy, but a powerful truth that can be proven by experience. We must live and view the world from the state of our fulfilled desire if we wish to realize it.

The main points emphasize the importance of imagination over passive observation, detaching from undesired states, and uniting with the version of reality we wish to experience by assuming the feeling and viewpoint of our realized desire now. Mastering and properly directing imagination is key to manifesting our goals.

Neville emphasizes the power of imagination and thinking from the end. He shares an experience where he imagined himself in Barbados and then received a ticket from his brother to go there.
He explains that man can experience any state he desires if he makes it habitual in his imagination and thinks from the feeling of the wish fulfilled.
Neville stresses that imagining and feeling oneself in the desired state is the way to “fuse imagination with that state” and be compelled to experience it physically too.
He advocates for determinedly thinking from the end as the beginning of miracles, as it allows one to cooperate with the creative principle and transcend limitations.
Neville discusses the importance of passionate desire and imagination in achievement, as simply thinking “of” a desire is not enough, one must think and feel “from” the end.
He emphasizes dwelling in the feeling of the fulfilled desire with faith it will harden into fact, regardless of outer circumstances or probabilities.
Neville asserts that life can be controlled through realizing one is God’s son and that states arise from consciousness. By imagining and committing to the desired state, it will be experienced.

The key message is that consciously fusing imagination with any desired state through thinking and feeling from the end, rather than just thinking of the desire, is what allows it to be realized physically and miraculously.

The Bible speaks of two distinct centers of thought or outlooks on the world possessed by every man: the natural and the spiritual.
The natural man cannot receive or understand spiritual things, which are foolishness to him. The spiritual man can discern spiritual truths.
Man has an inner subjective body attuned to the inner world of thought and feeling, as well as an outer objective body attuned to the external world.
There are two kinds of movement - inner causal movement and outer compelled movement. Inner movement determines and brings about the outer.
When inner movement matches the actions needed to fulfill a desire, that desire will be realized.
Construct mentally a scene implying your desire is fulfilled, immobilize your body, and act in your imagination as if the scene is real. Carry this imaginary act into sleep.
Emotional continuity of fulfilled desire must be sustained in inner journeys to raise imagination to full potency. Expectancy and desire join to produce physical results.
The inner self moves best when emotions collaborate and it is fired by thoughts of great deeds and personal gain. We must take pleasure in our imaginary acts.
The objects of imagination are the realities that produce physical results. Inner action orders outer manifestations.
Self-motivation drives inner movement, while compulsion drives outer movement. The inner journey brings results, not mere outer action.
Daily revise scenes and events in imagination to conform to your ideals. This inner revision results in outer change.
Revision involves reimagining events and interactions of the day as you wish they had happened. Through repeatedly revising negatively experienced events, you can change your beliefs and responses to them.
Revision allows you to forgive others and yourself. Forgiveness is essential for inner freedom and transformation.
You must take pleasure in revision and approach it with sincere desire to see others in their ideal state. Duty and obligation will not motivate you.
By revising troublesome events, you begin working practically on yourself and overcoming the enemies within your own mind.
Revision allows you to withdraw attention from the unrevised day and redirect it joyfully to the revised version. This brings victory over yourself.
You change your future as you revise your past. Even small revisions can lead to radical changes.
Approach revision as an artist, seeing events through the eye of imagination rather than just the physical eye. Imaginative vision reveals ideal truths.
Persist in revision despite difficulty or initial failure. Your effectiveness will increase with practice. Eventually you will live more directly from your ideals.

The passage emphasizes the practical power of revision and imaginative forgiveness to transform one’s experiences and beliefs about self and others. Consistent practice leads to inner freedom and a life guided by love.

Inner speech, our mental conversations with ourselves, shapes our reality and circumstances. By changing our inner speech to match our desires and imagination, we can change our lives.
Our inner speech reveals our state of consciousness and the ideas from which we view the world. Observing it shows us where we are in the inner world.
We must stop negative mechanical inner talking and consciously initiate new positive, constructive inner speech from the premise of fulfilled desires. Match inner speech to your ideal.
Inner speech starts the seeds of future action. The right inner speech makes a straight path from within to without. Outer reflects inner.
Persistently assume the wish fulfilled in inner talking. Circumstances conform to persistent inner assumptions.
Control inner speech, imagine wish fulfilled, and carry on mental conversations from that premise to achieve seeming miracles.
Frequent occupancy in the feeling of the wish fulfilled through inner speech is the secret of success. Continuous imagination fuses.
Inner speech is essential, the greatest art, for moving from limitation to freedom. Consciously direct it to consciously create circumstances.
Blake believed the inner imaginative world was as real as the outer physical world. He saw his dreams and visions as reflecting the true forms of nature.
The outer world is a manifestation of the inner mental activity of the observer. When one realizes this, they seek to reshape their outer world to match their ideal inner vision.
But reshaping the outer world is not easy, as imagination follows ingrained habits. To realize an ideal, one must change their habitual inner speech and actions to match their desired outer speech and actions.
Inner speech and action are channels for manifestation. God/the universe cannot respond unless we offer these paths.
To change and rise to a higher state, the mystic must detach their old imagination and fuse it with a new higher conception of themselves.
The inner self determines the outer. As inner speech and action change, so will outer conditions.
Death is seen as the dissolution of the old state so a new one can form. We must ‘die’ to our old self to rise renewed.
The story exemplifies how a change of inner state spontaneously alters outer conditions.
Blake saw human situations as pre-existing “states” that we bring to life by fusing our imagination with them.
The day the author realized the world is a manifestation of his own mental activity was a pivotal moment. He discovered he could freeze reality by stilling his mind.
Creation is finished - the infinite world already exists within us. We resurrect portions of it by matching our mental state to the state we wish to experience.
To enter a state, we must consent to its ideas and feelings. Changing states requires changing beliefs.
We were given biological limitations to train us in image-making and prepare us for awakening imagination.
Christ in us is our imagination. By fusing imagination with desired states, we determine the appearance of our world.
The central message is that reality is imagined into being. The outer world takes shape according to our inner mental state. By directing imagination, we create our circumstances.
The Bible is written in symbolic language and can be understood as revealing psychological truths about the mind. To grasp its meaning, one must read it with an imagination that is awake.
The Bible recounts humanity’s collective dream experience while asleep in Adam. We wake up individually in Christ, realizing the inner meaning.
The purpose of this book is to point to ways of using imagination consciously to realize one’s desires, in line with biblical principles. There is a feeling within imagination that, if tapped into, brings success.
The “Four Mighty Ones” refer to four aspects of the mind that together constitute the selfhood of humanity. Though distinct in function and character, they are not separate beings but four dimensions of one being.
The four mighty ones can be related to the four Hebrew letters of the sacred name of God, combining past, present and future. The text encourages awakening these dimensions of mind in harmony to realize one’s desires.
The overall message is that the Bible can guide us in developing imagination and consciousness to manifest our dreams, if we can grasp its symbolic language. Conscious use of imagination is key.
The “Four Mighty Ones” refer to the four functions of man’s creative imagination: the producer, author, director, and actor.
The producer suggests the theme or desire, the author dramatizes and visualizes the fulfillment of the theme, the director focuses attention on the dramatized vision through mental repetition, and the actor enacts the drama in imagination until it feels real.
These four functions working together are what bring our desires from an inner vision to outer manifestation.
We are all playing these four parts, consciously or unconsciously, in the drama of our lives. We must become conscious of these functions within ourselves in order to rewrite the play and produce the changes we wish to see.
The story of booking passage back from Barbados illustrates how the author used these four functions consciously - deciding on the ship, visualizing in detail walking up its gangplank, mentally repeating this scene until it felt natural - to manifest the outer circumstances he desired.
By recognizing that we are the producer, author, director, and actor of our life’s drama, we can gain greater self-determination and consciously create our desired experiences.
The story illustrates the difference between the limited perception of the senses (Cain) and the expansive perspective of imagination (Abel).
Cain represents passively accepting life as it appears, while Abel represents using imagination to envision and attain your desires.
Consciousness (the Lord) is pleased with Abel’s gift of faith - imagining and believing in that which is not yet seen. This act of faith is what allows invisible states to become visible reality.
The story provides an example of faith in action: a woman envisions her nephew without his birthmark, despite contrary evidence, and it disappears by his 8-month birthday.
Walking by faith rather than sight means persisting in your desired assumption rather than accepting sensory evidence or reason. This offering pleases the Lord (consciousness).
Man robs God when he accepts facts and reason over imagination and faith. Assuming the feeling of the wish fulfilled is the gift that pleases God.
The story about the couple with the watch illustrates persisting in faith despite evidence of loss. Their persistence results in the miraculous restoration of the valuable watch.

In summary, the gift of faith pleases God (consciousness) and allows us to realize our desires through the persistent assumption of our wish fulfilled, despite contrary evidence of the senses.

One morning, a couple noticed the husband’s watch was missing. They recalled their usual routine of the wife taking the watch off the husband each night and giving it back each morning.
Rather than accept it was really gone, they decided to imagine enacting their normal ritual each day as if the watch was still there.
After two weeks of imagining this, the watch turned up - a thief who stole it was arrested after trying to pawn stolen jewelry.
Through imagining having the watch, the couple manifested their desire and got the watch back, while also helping catch the thief.
This shows the power of living “by faith, not by sight” and imagining having what you wish, even if it currently seems lost.
The story illustrates that we can attain our desires through imagination and faith rather than accepting surface appearances.
In the game of life, the rules cannot be changed, only played within their framework. The chief aims are increasing awareness and achieving goals.
Thinking follows the tracks laid down in inner conversations. Words have power and we are responsible for them. Inner conversations shape outer experiences.
To succeed, focus on the goal itself, not the competition. Control inner talking to determine where you will go. Construct imagined scenes of your goal fulfilled.
A change of attitude is a change of position on the field of life. The real moves happen in the mind. Time allowing, strategically revise inner talking.
Awaken inner conversations and make them conform to your ideal. Imagining creates reality. Let go of how it will happen; just imagine the end.
Life is imagination crystallized. We imagine better than we know. Limitations are self-imposed from limited thoughts. Reject them.
Imagine often, in living detail, the end desired. Make inner conversations match the hopeful end. Persist and what you wish will occur.

The key overall message is that by controlling our inner conversations through imagination, we shape our outer world and determine our position on the field of life. Repeatedly imagining the desired end result is how we make progress toward our goals.

The serpent sheds its skin to grow, representing endless growth and self-reproduction. Similarly, man must learn to “shed his skin” - his environment and old self - to grow.
Imagination is more subtle than any created thing. Man must use his imagination to envision and “feel into” his desired new state, like a serpent growing a new skin.
The outer man is interlocked with his environment, but the inner spiritual man of imagination can withdraw attention from the senses to imagine a new state.
One must construct a vivid representation of the desired state, experience it imaginatively until it feels natural, and the inner spiritual body will then build the new environment for the outer self.
How it is realized physically is not the concern of the outer self. By imagining and feeling into the new state, the inner spiritual body makes it so.
Man must be wise like the serpent - shed old environments/selves and grow new ones through the creative power of imagination. Die to the old yet know you shall not die, as new life springs forth.
The Bible uses images like water and blood to symbolize spiritual truth and transformation.
Outward rituals like baptism and communion cannot produce inner spiritual rebirth on their own. The symbols point to deeper meanings.
On a literal level, stone symbolizes truth. Rolling away the stone means moving past the literal to the symbolic meaning.
Water symbolizes psychological truth which can cleanse the mind. Blood symbolizes acceptance of spiritual truth which can transform the individual.
To be “born again” requires both inner cleansing from false beliefs (water) and acceptance of spiritual truth (blood). This transforms the mind.
Imagination is needed to move past literal stones to the living water and blood. We must imagine ourselves cleansed and transformed.
The goal is to wake the sleeping imagination to experience spiritual rebirth and see the kingdom of heaven, the ideal reality within.

The story illustrates the mystical meaning behind the Biblical phrase “water and blood” as representing spiritual truth (water) that must be actively applied (blood) to transform lives. It tells of a school teacher who was challenged to test this principle. She chose to radically change her attitude and perception of a problem student who was to be expelled. By imagining and acting as if the student was friendly and well-behaved, the teacher effected an actual transformation in the student’s behavior. This demonstrates the power of changing one’s consciousness to transform outer conditions, fulfilling the esoteric meaning of being born again by “water and blood.” The story emphasizes applying spiritual truths in action, not just knowing them intellectually. It shows how changing our perception of others can transform them, based on the esoteric truth that we see in others what we have the capacity to see within ourselves.

The purpose of the first part of the book is to demonstrate through real-life examples how imagining creates reality. Neville claims that imagining creating reality needs no more proof than what science requires through testing hypotheses.
Imagination is the key creative force - life itself originates from divine imagination. Events happen because of relatively stable imaginal activities that support their continued existence.
Solving the mystery of imagining means discovering the secret of causation - that imagining creates reality. An awakened imagination works purposefully to create the desirable and transform the undesirable.
Divine and human imagining are the same, just operating at different levels of intensity. Imaginal acts at high tension immediately materialize, while those at low tension take time. But all objects arise from imagination.
Most people pay too little attention to the power of imagination, which sleeps untapped within them. Those who can consciously and wilfully imagine have mastery over creating their reality. The future will simply reflect man’s imaginal activities.
Neville aims to show through real examples in this book how imagination when consciously harnessed can create reality and make circumstances in life.
George Herbert argues that one should only build a great house if they intend to live in it. Man is God’s greatest creation, yet fails to fully realize his potential.
We should not just dream but actually live out and occupy our dreams. Imagining and feeling our wish fulfilled leads to its manifestation.
Man is pure imagination and can move beyond physical restrictions by changing his awareness and imagining new scenes. We can remove obstacles by imagining things as they ought to be.
The doctor and his wife dreamed of their stately home for years but only managed to manifest it once they imaginatively lived in it, occupying it in their minds.
We must make our dreams realistic by imagining them vividly with full sensory richness. Things objectively real are made so by our imagination acting in and thinking from them.
To escape sense fixations and transform life, we must imagine and feel as if we already are what we wish to be. Like a child remaking the world, we create from fancy and dreams.
The past determines the present; to change present evils we must mentally remake unfortunate past scenes as they ought to have been. Revision results in repeal.
We build our lives through imagination; we must occupy our mental creations to manifest them. This is the secret of those who dream things true.
The author and his wife desired to build an apartment building on their property for many years but lacked the finances to do so. Despite having savings, they didn’t want to risk their business security by using it.
After learning about imagining and living in the end result, they decided to visualize having the completed apartment building as if it already existed. They drew up plans, imagined walking through the finished building, and rented units to imaginary tenants.
A contractor they had never met approached them wanting to build the apartment building, worked out financing, and ended up requiring little money down to start construction. The building was completed just as they had imagined, with nearly all units rented upon completion.
This demonstrated the power of living in the imagination as if the desire is already fulfilled. Their persistent mental imagery led to the manifestation of the apartment building with seemingly synchronistic events and assistance despite their lack of action or finances. Their desire was fulfilled through the controlled use of imagination.
The writer describes purchasing a beautiful large house that she fell in love with, despite being told it was unlikely the owner would split the 2-acre property to sell just the house.
Through persistently imagining herself living there with her husband, and mentally picturing him in the home’s magnificent living room, the owner surprisingly agreed to split the property and sell them the house alone.
The writer argues that imagining creates reality. By living and feeling as though your wish is fulfilled, you can make it come true.
She gives examples of using your imagination to rewrite letters, revise past scenes, or mentally falsify facts to alter your world.
She advocates imagining better than your present circumstances to improve your future. Daily revise the past in your imagination to make it conform to your ideals.
An example is shared of someone rewriting a real estate agent’s pessimistic letter and vividly imagining the scenario they wished to unfold. Within days, the agent called with the desired outcome.
The key message is to use your imagination to turn your wishes into reality by believing and feeling as though they have already happened.
F.B. was able to manifest a real estate sale by vividly imagining the scene playing out exactly as he desired. This showed him the power of imagination to create reality.
By imagining novel solutions to problems, we can break free from passive reaction and move towards active creation. Conflict arises when we are not faithful to our visions.
L.S.E. manifested her dream husband by persistently imagining herself married to him every night before sleep. Her dream became fact.
We must live wholly on the level of imagination, deliberately undertaking the work of revision. Like the lovers and madmen from the quote, we must apprehend more than reason comprehends.
Mrs. R.S. resolved an issue with a neglected rental property by persistently revising her imagination of it as a well-cared for home. Without direct action, her imaginal work influenced the situation to a positive resolution.
L.H. resolved her lifelong back pain by revising the original childhood injury that started it. Her imaginal act completely healed the 39-year condition.
The past can be recreated and revised in imagination. This alters the present and future. Revision is the first act of correction. By testing imagination against results, confidence grows in its creative power.

The passage illustrates the idea that imagination creates reality through several examples. It starts by recounting how in 1898 author Morgan Robertson wrote a novel about a fictional luxury ocean liner named the Titan that sank after hitting an iceberg. This closely matched the real-life story of the Titanic 14 years later. This demonstrates that Robertson’s imaginary story became fact.

The passage argues that causation originates in the human imagination, not in physical facts. It claims that people falsely believe events spring from physical antecedents, when actually the drama of life originates in the human imagination.

It shares a quote from Katherine Mansfield stating that by changing our attitudes, we change our perception of life, and life itself changes. It suggests imaginative writers communicate attitudes that shape their vision of the world.

It concludes with a story of a dancer who doubted the idea that imagining creates reality. To disprove it, he imagined owning his own dance studio, which seemed unlikely. But three weeks later, an opportunity arose that allowed him to achieve this goal. This reinforced to the dancer the principle that imagination determines reality.

Imagining creates reality. Stories show how people have used imagination to manifest desired outcomes. One man went from $25 a week to a Presidential salary by revising his imagination.
Another broke man imagined winning a horse race pool. He felt it realistically in his imagination until he got “goose bumps”. Then he visualized collecting his winnings. Soon after, he won over $8,000 in the same pool he had imagined.
Imagination sets subtle threads in motion that eventually materialize events. One woman wrote a story about a heroine vacationing in Vermont who left her companion and got engaged upon returning. Months later, the same events happened in the author’s own life.
Imagination is real, more real than the physical world which is but a shadow. Forgetful is the earth, but the gods (our imagination) remember and create reality from imaginal acts. We should imagine better than our present circumstances.
There is no fiction, only imaginal activities unfolding. Yeats said we must be casting forth enchantments and glamour from our imagination, shaping our most elaborate thoughts and purposes. We are free to imagine whatever we want and create our reality.
F.B. was determined to get a rare recording of Wagner’s opera Tristan and Isolde as a Christmas gift. Despite being told it was unavailable in numerous record stores, he imagined a conversation where the salesman said he did have it in stock.
After visually imagining this scene, F.B. went to the record shop to physically enact it. Though the conversation didn’t unfold exactly as imagined, F.B. persisted in his assumption and a copy of the recording was found.
F.B.’s experience demonstrates that persisting in an assumption, even if initially false, can harden into fact. Imagining creates reality.
Similarly, Mrs. G.R. imagined hearing that her home sale was approved, despite obstacles. This sale then came to fruition.
The stories illustrate that imaginatively hearing what you want to physically hear can make it come true. Controlling the direction of your attention through imagination shapes outer events.
The author describes two examples (Mrs. G.R. and R.O.) where individuals used their imagination to overcome difficult legal/criminal situations and get the outcome they desired.
Both imagined clearly and vividly the outcome they wanted - Mrs. G.R. imagined hearing the jury foreman say “not guilty” and R.O. imagined herself back in her furnished apartment.
Through repeatedly imagining the desired outcome, they were able to bring it to fruition in reality.
The author emphasizes that imagination is creative and powerful in manifesting desires when we imagine things as we wish them to be.
Another example is given of F.G. who, while hospitalized, vividly imagined herself on a Caribbean cruise she desired. She later won a contest prize of the exact cruise she had imagined.
The author states that imagining creates reality and that vividly feeling the wish fulfilled is key to the creative power of imagination. By controlling our imagination and moods, we can shape our lives and fortunes.
The story illustrates how sustaining a positive, imaginative mood can lead to desired results. The mother plays a “game” with her son, pretending to buy his warts. Though a fanciful idea, the boy’s faith and willing participation seems to contribute to the warts disappearing within a month.
The passage cites the wisdom of not fixating solely on outward sensory appearances, but learning to shift focus inward to conceptual awareness and imagination. Man has the ability to “pass through” surface perceptions and construct imagined scenarios that can then shape subsequent events.
Several anecdotes are shared about people imagining desired conditions like wealth, healing, etc. and then having related events mysteriously unfold in accord with what was imagined. The implication is that imaginative belief helps attract the realized outcome.
The passage advocates imagining and sustaining mental states of the wish fulfilled, of having already obtained one’s desire. Living and feeling “as if” it is realized is viewed as a powerful approach.
Overall, the passage promotes imagination and sustained conceptual awareness as central to shaping one’s experienced reality and bringing desires to fruition in sometimes surprising ways. Consciousness and belief are seen as creative forces.
To move from perceiving the world as it seems to how it ought to be, we must imagine as vividly as possible what we would see, hear, and do if our desire was fulfilled, and immerse ourselves in that imagined scene.
The story illustrates this by telling of a woman bound by illness who imagined herself vividly running free on a beach she loved. After a week of this imagination, her illness vanished instantly.
We must use the “Eye of Imagination” to see realities beyond the senses and facts. This eye frees us while the senses bind us.
We must abandon ourselves to the imagined state, live its life, and commit ourselves to what we love in faith, as God committed to us.
The boundary of the senses is subjective. We must let go of the senses to access deeper truths via imagination.
The story shows it’s possible to shift the center of imagining to another location and be visible to others there.
The outer world is automatic sight, but imagining what we desire takes effort. Imagination, not facts, shapes our lives.
A mother had an amazing experience where she was able to visit and interact with her daughter who lived far away, without physically traveling there. She was able to do this through the power of her imagination.
Her husband insisted she write about this experience to prove that one’s real self is not confined to the physical body, but is pure imagination which can transcend space.
This story demonstrates that the imagination can shift our awareness and allow us to mentally travel to other places. Many mystics and visionaries have practiced this kind of mental traveling.
To understand this, we need to think in imaginal, not mechanical, terms. The mother imagined ‘elsewhere’ as being ‘here.’
Sir Arthur Eddington said reality is “shared experience.” Since the mother and daughter shared this experience, it was just as real as physical reality.
The key to creation is imagining the fulfillment of desires. We must enter into the image in imagination to make it real, like a womb.
The story about the woman renting her apartment demonstrates how imagining from the end result brings it to physical realization.
We must imagine being in the reality we desire to shift our viewpoint and bring the wish fulfilled into being. This is the secret of creation.
Imagination is creative power. What we imagine tends to become reality.
By imagining desired outcomes vividly and persistently, we can bring them into being. Many examples are given of people manifesting things through the power of imagination.
We must persist in our ideal imaginal activity and not let lesser satisfactions suffice if we want to achieve our goals.
The world we perceive depends on our imaginal activity. By changing our imaginal activity, we can change our circumstances.
Imagining creates, sustains and transforms all things. There is no form in nature not produced by imaginal activity.
God/Divine Imagination has descended to the level of human imagination, so that human imagination may ascend to Divine Imagination.
We are called to use our imagination responsibly, refashioning the useless into the useful, just as a potter reforms spoiled clay into something good.
The key is to persist in imagination, assemble images of the desired outcome, and allow it to happen without forcing it. Imagination is the creative power shaping reality.
Imagination is the real man and is one with God. It creates, conserves, and transforms.
Imagination is creative when not relying on memory, conservative when using images from memory, and transformative when altering or omitting facts.
An artist made her dream of having a successful art career come true through the use of her imagination.
We should test ourselves to see that our imagination is the creative power of God within us.
The purpose of life is the creative realization of desire. We must imagine scenes and feel the wish fulfilled to attain our desires.
An example is given of a woman who desired to see a performance but lacked funds, yet through imagining she obtained a ticket and saw the show.
We must be aware of and direct our imaginal activity to shape the outcomes we wish to see.
What is done flows from what is imagined. We are the shuttle and God ordained motion but no rest.
In summary, imagination is God’s creative power within us, and we fulfill our desires by consciously directing our imagination.
The author was deeply in debt and desperately needed $3,000. His auditors advised closing his business, but instead he turned to his imagination.
He imagined receiving $4,000 unexpectedly through new orders, despite no prospects. After 3 days, a customer called wanting to prepay $4,000 for an order. His imaginal act had manifested the money.
Another man refused to give money to a panhandler due to a past negative experience. Later he imagined giving the man $5 which dissolved his guilt. Months later the same man approached, got a job, and confirmed the reality of the imaginal act.
Imagining can transform people. The author’s husband wished his mother would remarry and move away. The author imagined her happy in a new relationship. Weeks later she introduced a new partner, and soon after they married and moved away.
The key points are that imagining creates reality, can transform attitudes about others, and forgive past memories by reshaping them. With imaginal acts we can lift and change others.
The author provides several examples of people using their imagination to obtain specific material things (“toys”) such as a hat, birdseed, and a painting.
In each story, the person imagines having or experiencing the desired object in vivid detail. They do this repeatedly, with full belief and feeling that they already have what they want.
Soon after, through seemingly random events or “miracles”, they obtain the exact object they had been imagining.
The author emphasizes that to manifest desires, we must define goals clearly and imagine the fulfillment of them intensely and repetitively, truly believing and feeling that we already have what we want.
The stories show that this process works equally well for minor goals (“toys”) as for major life changes, if we devote ourselves fully to imagining the end result vividly and in detail.
The author concludes that precise, vivid imagination is key to moving dreams into reality and that we must live at the level of imagination to achieve our goals. Consistent, focused imagination leads to manifestation.
A woman’s husband notices a picture on the wall while conducting an interview. The client gives him the picture as payment for an incorrect $10 charge.
A woman named R.L. needs bread but can’t go to the store. She imagines having bread and finds a loaf left on the bus seat when she boards.
The author reflects that imagining and feeling wish fulfilled can accomplish anything without normal means.
The “creative moment” is when we imagine things as they should be rather than as they seem. This is when spiritual work is done.
J.R.B. imagines helping an elderly woman who missed her bus. Minutes later the exact scenario plays out in reality.
The author quotes Blake saying there is a moment Satan cannot find that renovates the day if used properly. Spiritual gifts seem foolish to the natural man.
The key points are the power of imagining wish fulfilled and finding the creative moment to manifest imagined scenes. Faith in oneness with God protects from harm.
The author describes four mystical experiences which revealed the process of being “born from above” and realizing one’s divine nature.
In the first experience, the author entered a Divine Society and met embodiments of infinite Might and Love. He was told it was time to act and preach Christ.
The second experience involved realizing the deep mystical meaning of being crucified with Christ and resurrected with him. This is the process of God dying to give man life and raise him up.
The third experience showed that God completely forgets he is God when he becomes man, so that man can eventually rise as God. Man must also completely identify with God to live as God imaginatively.
The fourth experience revealed how the Bible documents God’s promise to transform man into God through the birth of the mystical child from within one’s own skull. This child represents the Christ nature being born within.
The author aims to show through these experiences that the promise of being “born from above” is an inner mystical revelation of one’s own divine nature, not just an allegorical story. It is the central promise and theme of the Bible.
The passage describes the author’s mystical experiences of being “born from above” as foretold in the Bible. This involved intense vibrations and visions where he was resurrected out of his own skull.
He saw visions of his three brothers and the birth of his own divine child, confirming for him the mystical truth of Biblical events.
The child is a sign and portent signaling the resurrection of David, the Lord’s anointed. The author realized he is the Father of David, which means he is God the Father.
The purpose of life is to find the Father of David and recognize oneself as God. The Son is not meant to be an idol but a sign pointing to the Father.
The author awakened to the mystical understanding that he is the Father, one with God, as promised in the Bible. The Biblical story is not history but a mystery to be experienced within.
Neville Goddard uses figurative language to emphasize the literal meaning of biblical passages. He describes his own mystical experiences to show how Scripture is fulfilled “in” us.
God’s promise to give Abraham a son (Christ) is literal, though the phrasing “your offspring, which is Christ” is figurative.
Neville describes a vision where he was spiritually cleft like a tree struck by lightning. This fulfills the biblical passage about the temple curtain tearing.
Neville sees his vision of serpentine light moving up his spine as fulfilling Jesus’ words about being “lifted up.”
Neville believes these mystical experiences will help restore the spiritual meaning of Scripture, rescuing it from externals like history and events.
He sees his role as helping fulfill the widening mission described in Acts - from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the world.
Neville is committed to revealing that God’s promise of a son (David/Christ) is still maturing and will be fulfilled without fail.

#book-summary

The Power of Imagination - Neville