Neville recounts that back in 1939, while contemplating the story of Jacob and Esau in Genesis 27 -- where Isaac's blessing, once given to the disguised Jacob, could not be revoked even after Esau's belated arrival -- he received an inner interpretation: the world perceived through the senses is 'Esau,' the disfavored first-born, while the imagined and more desired state is 'Jacob,' which can supplant it if one learns to become imaginatively blind to the evidence of the senses. He tried the technique and found that it worked, and began teaching it at a small Baptist church on 48th Street near Times Square in New York City, where his congregation met three nights a week.