Hope Deferred

We’re closing tonight for a month. We’ll be back on the 11th of January. If you’re on the mailing list, you’ll receive a notice. We also take a small ad the Sunday before we open, so that’s about all we do as far as advertising goes. So we close tonight and reopen on the 11th of January. Tonight, I hope I can get over this. I hope I can quote what I’ve been trying to say over the years: “Hope deferred,” we are told, “makes the heart sick; but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” How to eat of this tree of life? For that’s how man realizes his desires. You’ll read that in the 13th chapter of the Book of Proverbs. “Hope deferred makes the heart sick; but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.”924 ¶1

First of all, we must find out who grants the desire. We are told: “All things were made by God. Without Him was not anything made that was made.” Who is God? If the word “God,” the word “Lord,” the word “Jesus Christ,” conveys to anyone the sense of an existence—something outside of man—it is delusive. Therefore, where is God, and who is God, and what is God? If in any way the word conveys this “something outside of man,” then what is He? It is in man that is God. It is in man that is God, for we are told in Scripture that we are the temple of the living God, and the Spirit of God dwells in us. And God is spiritual. What in us is God that creates everything in this world. I tell you that “man is all imagination, and God is man and exists in us and we in Him.” And the eternal body of man is just human imagination. And the eternal body of man is just human imagination. That is God Himself. Because it is God Himself, man must be wherever he is in imagination.924 ¶2

Now, the whole of life is only the achievement of consciousness. And the infinite states of consciousness from which man can imaginably view the world are purely the means by which he satisfies that consciousness. Must I always view the world from my present state of consciousness? Must I accept the evidence of my senses forever and forever? What reason dictates the limitations of my birth? All these things—must I go through life, from the cradle to the grave, viewing the world from that state of consciousness? If I know who God really is, I need not. If I really believe that God is my own wonderful human imagination, I need not allow this within me, which is infinite, to be dictated by the evidence of my senses forever and forever. Can I stand here now and select that state of consciousness from which I would like to view the world? And in spite of my body that holds me here, do it from that state? Yes, you can do it. Everyone can do it.924 ¶3

I can stand here right now, know exactly what I am in this world concerning all the normal things in Caesar’s world—my income, my obligations to life—and suppose they’re not adequate. Suppose I would like to change something—change something radically—but reason tells me I can’t. My senses tell me that, well, you can’t possibly do it. But could I do it? If I really know who God is—if I really believe that God is my own wonderful human imagination, and all things are possible through God—can I do it? Well, I could stand here, decide where I would like to be and all the things concerning that state, and then in my imagination, assume that I am in that state and view the world from that state of consciousness.924 ¶4

So you would say then, “So what? What does that do?” Well, try it. Try it. You’re told, “Examine yourself to see whether you are keeping the faith.” Well, what faith? It’s faith in God. And God is my own wonderful human imagination. You’re told, “Our God—He’s a God in heaven.” But we are also told, “And heaven is within you.” “And He does as He pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, made by men’s hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak. They have ears, but they do not hear. They have eyes, but they do not see. They have feet, but they do not walk. They have hands, but they do not feel. And no sound comes from their throat. Those who make them are like them, and those who trust in them are like them.” Read it in the 115th Psalm.924 ¶5

Now, what is the God spoken of who dwells in heaven? “And heaven is within us.” As told us in the 17th chapter of the Book of Luke: “The kingdom of God is within you.” We are told in Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, in his third chapter, the 16th verse of his first letter: “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you?” If the Spirit of God dwells in me, and all things are made by Him, I must find out who He is in me that makes everything in my world. Well, I have found Him. I have found Him as my own wonderful human imagination.924 ¶6

But if I feed Him morning, noon, and night on what my reason dictates and what my senses dictate, I never allow Him to move out of that limitation. I only perpetuate that state in my world. Am I confined to that state? I know from experience I am not. No one in the world is confined to any state. He can determine the state into which he would go. So you ask yourself, “What would I like to be?” And you name the state. Now, if it were true that you are really such a person as the state you’ve just named, how would you see the world? If I dare to assume that I am now the man that I want to be, though at the moment of my assumption, reason denies it—everything denies it—what would I see? How would I see the world? Will I dare to assume that I am it, and then view the world, allowing myself to see it as I must see it if it were true?924 ¶7

And if I dare to believe in God, knowing that God is the one acting in me, for “God only acts and is in existing beings or men”—so I just act it. I assume that I am what I would like to be, and then I view the world for confirmation. And in my mind’s eye, I see a world that I would have to see if my assumption is true. What else do I do? Nothing. That is an act. That was a creative, imaginal act. And there is an interval of time between the planting of a seed and the growing of that seed. “The vision has its own appointed hour. It ripens; it will flower. If it be long, wait; for it is sure, and it will not be late.”924 ¶8

If I actually dare to assume a state, believing in the reality of that assumption, which is God’s act… [...] I am He. God is man and exists in us and we in God. We are actually one. God is man, believe it or not. There is a reality in you that cannot die. It’s an immortal being—and it’s man. The thing on the outside—it dies, it matures, it withers, and vanishes. But that immortal you, which is man, cannot die. It simply reproduces a garment, just like this—young—through the seed of contemplated thought. It contemplates itself as what it knows itself to be, or knew itself to be, and has appeared once more in your clothes—in a garment—in a world just like this. And what is it all about then? The whole vast world is waiting for the awakening of this inner man that is God. This inner man is your own wonderful human imagination. And the whole world aches for the awakening of the imagination, which I may tell you is a spiritual event—which event crowns and redeems the experiences of man in this world of death. Everything here dies. But you will be crowned in the most blissful sense of the word when man awakens from this dream.924 ¶9

Let me share with you a letter of a little girl. She’s only eight. Her mother isn’t here tonight. She gave me the letter last Monday night, which I read when I went home. She starts the letter—and she dated it last Monday, December the 7th. She said, “Dear Neville, guess what? I had another dream about you. You took me on an airplane to France. When we got off at the airport, the people yelled, ‘Neville! Oh, Neville, has come to see the King again!’ And so as we went through the tunnel, they yelled the same thing again: ‘Neville has come to see the King!’ And I was frightened, so I held you by the hand, and I held it so tightly. And you led me up to a huge, big hall. At the end of the hall, there is the King, seated on his throne. So we went up to the King. As we got up to the King, it was you, Neville, seated on the throne. Yes, you were holding my hand,” she said. “As I looked at the King, you were on the throne, a red cape. And the back of the throne reached to the ceiling, and the whole thing was covered in great light. I looked back at you to see the resemblance between you and the King. And as I looked back to see you, you began to fade. And you faded. And as you faded, the King said to me, ‘Come. Come nearer.’ And so I went up, and I held his hand just as tight as I held yours. But of course, he was you. And then you know what? He faded too. And as he faded, I found myself safely at home. And that’s how the dream went. Love”—and then she signs her name.924 ¶10

What a heavenly vision for the child of eight, and how beautifully expressed. I have not added one word to her letter. I have memorized it. I have told you exactly how she wrote it in her own wonderful child’s hand in the script. She’s a beautiful child. She too has the incurrent eyes that her mother has—eyes that are turned inward into the world of thought, into eternity, ever expanding in the bosom of God, this human imagination.924 ¶11

So I led her up to where the King was seated on his throne, and she saw me. I led her mother up to where the King was sleeping. And then the mother saw her face—which was my face—become translucent. And then she saw her own face, for that’s what the King is wearing. He wears every face in the world. There’s only one God. There’s only one God dreaming every being in the world, and He wears the face of everyone in the world. I’ve had the experience. So I have told you, I have taken you to the king. In the beginning, you will see me. But she’s only a child of eight. You know why? “I held his hand just as tight as yours. But of course,” said she, “he was you.” Her mother saw me in the reclining state, but then the face became translucent. And then the mother saw her own face was the face of the dreamer. He is dreaming in you. And the being dreaming in you is God, the immortal man. God is man and dwells in us and we in Him. The eternal body of God is the human imagination, and that is God Himself—named in Scripture, when awake, as Jesus Christ.924 ¶12

So when we are told in Scripture, “Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?” Answer honestly to yourself. Do you really realize it? If He is in me, then who is He? I’m telling you who He is. He is your imagination. That is the immortal man that cannot die. That’s the immortal man that is crucified on this, and on this crucifixion, which is man here now. Crucifixion leads to exaltation to God. By the crucifixion, by wearing this garment of flesh and blood, man is exalted to God the Father. He actually awakens, and he is God the Father.924 ¶13

But now tonight, we are going to show you how we go about turning the hope that, if it is deferred, makes the heart sad, and how to turn it now into a desire fulfilled. And this is how I do it. I stand here, and without the aid of anyone—without the consent of anyone—I first formulate in my own mind’s eye what I would like in my world. What would I like? I ask no one if it’s good for me. I trust my own judgment. It’s what I want. Now, if I had it, how would I see the world? How would I see it? Well, that’s how I would see it. How? Well, my wife would know it first of all the people who know me. I would share with her any good fortune that befell me. I would tell her so she would know it. And through my wife, my daughter would know it, and eventually, my friends would know it. I don’t have to go too far. I can make a small circle. Take my wife, my daughter, a few friends, and then discuss the good fortune that has befallen me. And mostly I see them as I would have to see them if it were true.924 ¶14

I listen to them just as though I am hearing them. “They have mouths, but they do not speak.” My mouths are going to speak. “They have eyes, but they do not see.” My eyes are going to see. “They have hands, but they do not feel.” Mine are going to feel. “They have feet, but they do not walk.” Mine are going to walk. So I take all these things in the 115th Psalm, and then I make my God alive—not a dead idol. So I hear my wife’s voice; I hear my daughter’s voice; I hear my friend’s voice, so they do speak. And then I hear them and see them move. They are hearing me because they can respond to what I’m saying. They couldn’t respond if they hadn’t heard me, so now they’re hearing me. And everything becomes alive in my mind’s eye. That’s all in my imagination. And then when I see the entire thing, and it’s done—as far as I’m concerned, the whole thing is done—I drop it in absolute confidence that it must come to pass.924 ¶15

The vision now has its own appointed hour; and it ripens, and it will flower. If to me, in this world of Caesar, it seems long, then you wait; “for it is sure, and it will not be late.” That is the story of Scripture as you will read it in the second chapter of Habakkuk. It’s a translation that you will not find in the King James or Revised Standard Version. But Moffatt has it; James Moffatt has it in his wonderful translation of the Bible. That’s the most literal translation of the original Hebrew: “The vision will ripen—just wait.”924 ¶16

So here, what would I do were I you? Well, first of all, I’d ask myself, “What do I want to be?” Today, there are millions unemployed, but they do not know who God is. They’ll go to church and pray. They’ll light a candle. They’ll do all kinds of things. So when I am asked to examine myself in Scripture—in the 13th chapter, 2nd Corinthians: “Examine yourself to see whether you are keeping to the faith”—doesn’t mean, “Am I being faithful as a Roman Catholic? A Protestant?” With the many, many denominations, as you know, have nothing to do with any external religious organization. Are you holding to the faith? Well, the only faith in the Scripture is faith in God. Well, I have to find out who He is before I can question myself and examine myself as to my faith in God. Do I really believe that He is my imagination? Or do I still have a little doubt that maybe I’m wrong, and He’s up there some place in space, looking at me and laughing? Do I really believe that my imagination is that internal being spoken of in Scripture as God? Do you not realize at all that Jesus Christ is in you? Do you not know that God the Father is through you and in you? Well, if He is through me and in me, I must find Him. I’m telling you: I have found Him. I have found Him as my imagination, and you will not find another God. You will have another idol—all kinds of idols—but you won’t find the true God other than your own wonderful human imagination. There is no other God. He is in you—alive in you—as your own wonderful human imagination.924 ¶17

Now, examine yourself to see whether you really believe it. Or are you going to trust in something on the outside? When you hear the word “God,” the word “Lord Jesus Christ,” does the mind jump outside? To something outside of man? Or are you seeing man—the real man, which is that imaginative man—clothed in a garment of flesh and blood? That man—yes, you see, that man is limited by the five senses. No question about it. He is crucified on that body of five senses, but He need not remain that way. Long before He awakens—long before He stirs Himself and becomes completely awake within you, you can start to test yourself whether you still believe in that God.924 ¶18

Now, get yourself a marvelous goal, a wonderful goal. Don’t limit it to what you think is possible. If you limit it to what is possible, you can’t test it. Take something far, far greater than what you think is possible—a far, far better job than you’ve ever known, a far greater income than you’ve ever dreamed you could ever make, a far more noble place to live in this world than you’ve ever dreamed of. Just imagine it. What would it be like if it were true? Dare to assume that it is true. And now view the world from that assumption, and let the world confirm it by being what it would have to be if that assumption were true. See people as they would have to see you if it were true. All your present friends would still be your friends—I trust they would be—but they’d have to see you in a different light. Let them see you in a different light. You have risen in the world, and they see a friend that they formerly knew on a lower level. But you’re still a friend, and they will see you on that higher level. Don’t be embarrassed. Make no excuses for it. You are now occupying that level—that’s all there is to it.924 ¶19

Assume it, believe it, trust it, and then listen to these words: “If we know that He hears whatever we ask,”—not accusing, whatever we ask—“we know that we have obtained the request made of Him.” Read that in John’s first epistle—the fifth chapter, the 15th verse: “If we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the request made of Him.” No restrictions placed upon it whatsoever.924 ¶20

Well, who is listening? Well, can I deny that I know what I am entertaining in my imagination? If a man believes in some other God, he may question whether God ever listened to him. He might think, as most people think, “He was too busy to hear my little prayer.” But can anyone deny that he himself knows what he is imagining? He may forget what he is imagining—completely forget it—and even deny the harvest when it appears in this world, for not a thing appears in my world by accident. It comes because, at one moment in my life, I planted it. As we are told, “Be not concerned; God is not mocked: as a man sows, so shall he reap.” When I see the harvest, I may deny that I ever really planted that, because of my fading memory. But everything in my world has a physical effect, has a spiritual cause. And that spiritual cause is an imaginal act. And if I don’t recognize it, I can’t relate it to when I once imagined it. It’s only because of my fading, vegetable memory. But I can’t deny the harvest if I had a good memory.924 ¶21

So may I tell you: Everything in your world, you’re harvesting, because at some moment in time, you reacted. That reaction was an imaginal act. That’s when you planted the seed; it has its own appointed hour. You watch. It’s going to come up; it’s going to flower. When it flowers, you may deny it. You may deny any part of this harvest. But it’s all your harvest. Start planting all the lovely things in the world now. You may not reap them tomorrow, but plant them today. There’s an interval of time between every planted seed and its appearance in the world bearing fruit. A little sheep takes five months; the horse takes twelve months; how long the elephant takes, I don’t know. The human body takes nine months, and little things flower quicker—sometimes overnight, sometimes a week, sometimes a month. I do not know the interval of time of all the seeds of the world. We only know certain seeds, like the sheep, the man, the goat, the horse, and so on. Well, I could not tell you what every little imaginal act has as a time interval before it appears in the world. But it all has an appointed hour.924 ¶22

Start planting now, all the lovely things in the world, in his own way, because there’s no other being to plant it. The sower is your own imagination, and that sower is God. That’s the one spoken of as Jesus Christ. Are you embarrassed to know that you are Jesus Christ, even though this day, you might have done the most unlovely thing in the world? I still tell you, “Look here. What you did today—you, the real you—is Jesus Christ.” That is God—the only God. That is the immortal you that cannot die. No matter what happens to you, it cannot die, and that’s your eternal being.924 ¶23

But it will still be asleep. If, when you depart from this little garment, you haven’t awakened, it will still be asleep. But through that seed of contemplated thought, it will clothe itself once more in a garment just like this—in a world just like this—and you will continue the journey (as you are now continuing the journey) until that moment in time when you awake. And the whole story is laid out in Scripture for you. Everything said of Jesus Christ in the Gospel, you will experience, and you will know you are Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ is God the Father. It’s God the Father completely awake, and man is God asleep. Really, the real you, who is God made man, awakes. You’re Jesus Christ.924 ¶24

And how do I know it? Because in the Spirit, the very one that called him “my Lord” calls you “my Lord.” And who is he who calls Jesus Christ “my Lord”? David. And David in the Spirit called me “my Lord.” Now, David in the Spirit will call everyone in this world, when he awakes, “my Lord.” And then who is David? The Son of God. As told you in the second Psalm: “And I will tell of the decree of the Lord. He said unto me, ‘Thou art my Son; today I have begotten thee.’” So he calls the Lord “my Father.” He called me “Father.” And I knew it as though I’ve always known it. It’s only a returning of memory.924 ¶25

I blocked out everything, as you did, to come into this world and be crucified upon this garment called “man.” And that interior you is God the Father. And one day, He will awake from His self-imposed dream, self-imposed death. “For no one takes away my life; I lay it down myself. I have the power to lay it down and the power to take it up again.” So when that time comes, which I have predetermined, I will awake from the dream of life, and I will be victorious over death. The very last enemy that I will conquer is death. And I will come out of the world of death, and be the one I was prior to my entrance into it, but enhanced by the experience of passing through this world of death. And everyone is going to have this experience.924 ¶26

Now, tonight, you take a noble, noble objective. By noble, I mean do not deny yourself the pleasures of this world, the comforts of this world. Let no one tell you that you’re not entitled to the comforts of this world. Let no one tell you you aren’t entitled to a better way of living than you are now enjoying. Let them keep their own opinions to themselves. You simply know what you would like. Now, do not be limited by what reason tells you may be possible. Do not be limited by what your senses tell you may be possible. Go outside completely. Take what you would like. Dare to assume it. See the world as you would have to see it if that assumption were true. Feel the thrill that it is true, and leave it alone. And in a way that no one knows—there are ways and means you know not of. “My ways are past finding out.” So don’t be concerned as to how it’s going to be possible. You simply dare to assume it, and see it happen in your world. It will happen.924 ¶27

Those who are out touring because they’re so big in the world—ask them how they started. They may not even know that they had dreams and dared to sleep in their dreams as though they were true. They’ll forget how it started. And they’ll give all credit to the means employed to have brought it to pass. And they’ll give credit to Mr. Brown, Mr. Jones, Mr. So-and-so, who introduced me to So-and-so. And then they’ll say, “Now, the breaks came. It was luck.” And now they have a fortune, so they think the fortune is their security. It could go like this if they do not know who got it. Take it from them tonight. Can they reproduce it? Can they actually make it come back into their world if they do not know the creative power behind the effect that they now enjoy? So they enjoy an effect. The effect is money, nice living. But if you took it from them tonight, could they reproduce it? They can’t unless they know how it was produced. It was produced in the beginning, whether they know it or not, by their own wonderful human imagination. Whether they know it or not.924 ¶28

There is the only God in the world. If you ever hear the word “Lord” mentioned, the word “God” mentioned, the word “Jesus Christ,” and your mind turns outside to some existence—something outside of man—may I tell you, that word to you is elusive. You have a false God, a false concept of Jesus Christ. Until—when you hear the word, and it rings a bell in you: “They’re talking about me, and I am all imagination”—you haven’t found Him. When you hear it, and you know, “He’s talking about me. He’s talking about my own wonderful reality, which is all imagination,” then you have found Jesus Christ.924 ¶29

And I am telling you from my own personal experience—and I’m not speculating; I’m not theorizing. I’ve experienced everything said of Jesus Christ in the Gospel. And yet here I am, a mortal man, tonight, feeling a little bit choky with a cold—very, very mortal with all the weaknesses of human flesh, all the restrictions and limitations of this cross—and yet I can’t deny what I have experienced. There is no assurance, no promise that I would not have to bear the burden of the cross. If it catches a cold, oh, it catches a cold. I must bear it. No one ever told me that because I would have had these experiences of the Lord Jesus Christ that I would be exempt from the weaknesses and limitations of the garment that I wear. I must wear the cross too. But I’m also told in Scripture: “I do not consider the sufferings of the present time worthwhile compared with the glory that is to be received and be revealed here.”924 ¶30

And I can’t compare any suffering that I’ve ever had. I’ve had it. Like everyone else, I’ve had it. Not only physical suffering, but the emotional suffering—the loss of a friend, the loss of a certain state in the world, and the loss of physical parts of the body of the world through operation. You go to a dentist; he takes out your teeth, and he can’t give you a new set. All right. So you’ve lost something. And it’s there as long as you wear the garment. So something one night, and there’s a pain—you’ve never felt a pain like it before. Next thing you know, you’re in a hospital, and they take out your gallbladder. And you bear the scar as long as you wear the cross. So you’re not exempt from all these things where the cross is. And this is the cross.924 ¶31

And I’ve worn it; I’m wearing it now for the last time. So the day you hear that “Neville is dead,” rejoice. The cross is off forever and forever. But I will still be wearing it in you, because there’s no place for me to go but back to the Father; and there’s only one Father—only one God and Father of all. And so I will be buried in every one of you, but I will be awake. I will be awake, still wearing the garment that you wear. But I will be awake within you. So, as this garment goes, I am taking it off for the last time.924 ¶32

So whenever you hear, “He didn’t wake this morning, and they just cremated the body,” rejoice, for I have worn the garment now up to the very end, and I’ve reached the climax. And the climax is to awaken as the Lord Jesus Christ. And the only way you’ll ever know you are the Lord Jesus Christ is when the same one who called him “my Lord” calls you “my Father.” For my Lord is my Father; for the Lord is Father.924 ¶33

So tonight, take out a glorious future for yourself and for a friend—or friends. Don’t limit it to any single one. Make it as many as you want. Bring them before your mind’s eye and hear their voice tell you that they have what they want—what you want them to have in this world. Listen to their voice, and the voice speaks for you. You heard it. What did you hear? You heard what would confirm your desire for them. Now you’re eating of a tree of life—no longer hope deferred. Desire fulfilled is a tree of life. So you bring your child before your mind’s eye and see your child radiantly happy because things are as you—the mother or father—would like them to be for that child. Don’t raise a finger to make it so. Just let it be so. Don’t crow. Don’t tell them what you did. And even when it happened, don’t even say for one moment, “I did it.” Forget self altogether. Just rejoice in the effect that you see in that child’s life now.924 ¶34

Do it for your friends, and tell them, “Luck.” And when it happens, they may think, “Well, it is luck.” And I tell you, luck is only a name given by those who have no faith to the works of faith. And the only faith in which I speak is faith in God; and the only God of whom I speak is your own wonderful human imagination. That’s God. So believe in your imaginal act, and they’ll come to pass. But they’ll come to pass for everything you do—for yourself, for your child, for your friends, for everyone. And in this way, you bless all.924 ¶35

It doesn’t cost you anything. “Come eat and drink without price,” you’re told, “without money. Come and take it.” It doesn’t cost you anything to imagine lovely things about people. But believe in the reality of your imaginal act, and then that one comes to pass. It all comes to pass.924 ¶36

Now, because this is our last night, let us give a bit more time to questions. But if I haven’t made it clear, you can, by your questions, make me make it clear. But first, let us go into the silence. [Break]924 ¶37

Good. So are there any questions? No questions? It’s the last chance for a month. Well, if there aren’t any questions, [...] just a wish on my part: I do hope that you experience Scripture. I hope the birth takes place in you. You have an interval of a month. I cannot say to anyone, “You should have it tonight, tomorrow, or any other time.” No one knows. It comes suddenly; it comes unexpectedly, like a thief in the night. But it will come. Everyone is going to have it. Not one will fail. But I can’t tell anyone how close they are to that moment. No one but the Father in them knows the hour. No one knows the hour but the Father in men. And then it comes so suddenly, so unexpectedly. And then you realize you are the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you. Good night.924 ¶38