Tonight’s subject is “Who are the Condemned?” We’re told in the Book of John that “God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.” And then it goes on to tell us, “He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe in him is condemned already, because he does not believe in the name of the only Son of God.” So here we see it starts, the whole thing starts with believing in him. Everything follows that, just believing in him. Well, who is this presence that I must believe in? There are a billion Christians in the world and they all will claim if you ask the question, “Do you believe in him?” and you told them you meant by “him” Jesus Christ, they would say yes. One billion would say yes. But I am quite sure they do not really believe in him—not the “him” of the one I speak, not Christ. And I am speaking with a certain authority, because I’ve been sent to tell you. No man gave it to me; I’m not ordained; no man gave me anything to tell you. God himself sent me, and tell it I must and will even at the risk of many thinking that I am mad. But I’ll tell you who this presence is, and if you believe in him you’ll be saved from any situation in this world…if you believe in him.205 ¶1

Well, let us now see who is this presence? Can we get it from scripture? In the Book of John, one is supposed to be speaking, and this is the one speaking, and you might think it’s a man outside of yourself speaking to you if you were addressed. He said, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he.”205 ¶2

When you read it, to get the depth from it, this must take place in you. It’s a conversation between the rational mind, addressed as “you are from below,” and that which is above the conceptual mind, the presence defined as I AM. It’s something entirely beyond the reasoning mind that is controlled by the senses, the conceptual mind. So this drama takes place; this dialogue is within man. And so, “I told you, you will die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he.” Well, do you believe in that presence? Do you really believe that the Christ of scripture is your own wonderful human Imagination, your own wonderful I-am-ness? If you don’t, you are already self-condemned. No one condemns you. He said, “Who condemns you?” “No one, Lord, no man, Lord.” He said, “Neither do I condemn you.” If no man is condemning you, then I can’t condemn you, for the simple reason man only bears witness of your own self-condemnation or your freedom. When men point the finger, it is because you have pointed the finger at yourself. And you do not know who he is, and so one is sent to tell you who he really is.205 ¶3

When you read these words “I am he” at the end of that sentence—“unless you believe that I am he”—here we have a cryptic formula that recalls Exodus 3:14, “When you go to them, just say to them I AM has sent you.” Then we turn over to Deuteronomy, the 32nd of Deuteronomy: “See now, I, even I, am he, and there is no God beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal;” I do all these things, “and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.” Read it in the 32nd of Deuteronomy, the 39th verse. No one can deliver out of my hand and I do all things. And then we turn to the 43rd and 45th of Isaiah: “I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel” and “Beside me there is no God.” There is no savior besides this I AM.205 ¶4

So you must be the judge, I can’t judge you, do you believe in him now? Or do you have a mental picture of a being on the outside, who lived 2,000 years ago, who addressed the Pharisees and the Jews of the day and told them, as something external to himself, that if you don’t believe that I am he, well then, you will die in your sins? You can’t see the mystery that way. It’s either you see it in the depths of your soul between your own being; it’s a dialogue between the outer man and the inner man. And when you really believe in this inner man, your own wonderful I-am-ness, nothing is impossible, and then things are revealed to you that startle the reasoning mind.205 ¶5

Let me share with you an experience. I’ve told you in the past that you’re only wearing a garment. This is a garment whether it be a so-called white garment, a black garment, a yellow garment, a red garment. They’re only garments, but I am not white, pink, yellow or red. I am Spirit, I AM.205 ¶6

Now I have told you in the past my closest intimate in this field of mine was Abdullah. He and I studied…I studied with Abdullah for seven years in New York City, seven days a week. We were inseparable. Ab was an old man when I met him, he was then about ninety. He was born in Ethiopia of the Negro race in the Hebraic faith. That was his background. I was born as you see this garment (I’ve worn this from birth) in the Christian faith. And we were inseparable. He taught me scripture as I never heard it from my mother’s knee or from my minister or from anyone who taught me the Bible before. It became a book that was alive to me under the guidance of Abdullah.205 ¶7

Well, here is a man, you look at him, here is a Negro, this brilliant, wonderful gentleman. Never once for one moment made any other claim, he would only say to me, “I picked up this garment ninety-odd years ago in Ethiopia.” He always described it as a garment that he wore, just a garment. As William Blake, the great mystic poet has said that when he first…“when once he did descry the immortal man that cannot die.” And then he addresses in the form of an epilogue to what he calls the ruler of this world, Satan, the ruler of this world, the doubt of this world; and then as he put these words into the mouth of one addressing Satan (this doubt) that he does not know the garment from the man: “Thou really art a dunce,” said he, “and dost not know the garment from the man.” A man looking at a man sees a man as the thing he’s wearing and doesn’t for one moment discriminate between the wearer and the thing worn.205 ¶8

Well, this morning, in my usual ventures in the mind, here I found Abdullah. Ab is gone from this world now. Here stands before me—and Ab was my height, I’m 5’11”—Abdullah stands before me a man not over fifty years old, about 6’5”, in a Caucasian body. And here is Abdullah before me, no loss of identity, no change of identity, but this majestic figure, and he and I were discussing this theme of tonight. Then he showed me a little instrument with a tape, and then he said, “Now as you know, Neville, it only echoes; that’s all that it can do. That’s the world, the world is only mechanism, it’s just mechanical. The whole vast world, the eternal structure of God’s eternal world, all these garments they’re just as mechanical as that. And now, you’re not going to speak into it, you’re only going to hear, you’re going to listen, and what you listen to will play back there. What you listen to and hear from within you, as you actually hear it you’ll play it back there.” I thought of this party, that party, that party, and whatever I thought of and the very things I heard as I thought of it, and then he played it back coming from that tape. Not a word voiced from my vocal chords, just inwardly imagining that I am hearing the sound of a certain friend’s voice, and here comes this mechanical echo playing back.205 ¶9

Well, here was this majestic creature, Abdullah, 6’5” at the least towering in this sheer majesty, and here, what he never wore on earth. So I say I saw him in his primal form. He could have presented himself to me in an Oriental form; he could have presented himself to me any form, because all races are at his disposal. For when one rises into the spiritual world all things are subject to his imaginative power.205 ¶10

And when I first met Ab and came into the place, he said to me, “You are late, Neville.” Called me by my name; never saw the man before. He said, “You are late, Neville, six months late.” I said, “I am late? I never saw you before, how do you know that I am late?” He said, “The brothers told me you were coming, and so you are six months late. For six months ago they told me to expect Neville, Neville’s coming, and you mustn’t leave the city until Neville has received all that you must give him. When you go, he must carry on.” And here was this man…I never saw him before…I couldn’t remember him. Then he said, “You have no memory, but it’ll come back, it’ll all come back.”205 ¶11

And then for seven years, as I told you earlier, we were inseparable. For he taught me Hebrew, and taught me the scriptures, both ancient and modern, or rather, the Old and the New; and I began to experiment with this strange, peculiar power in man, which he taught me was Christ Jesus, nothing but Christ Jesus, the power and the wisdom of God. God is your own wonderful I-am-ness, and Christ was that in action. I-am-ness in action is Christ; God in Christ reconciling the world to himself. And so, unless one believes in him he is condemned, completely condemned. Why is he condemned? Because he can’t get out of what he is.205 ¶12

And now we come to Blake. And then, Blake in his wonderful thought to his friend, Crabb Robinson, Blake said to Robinson one day, “There is nothing like death. Death is the best thing that can happen in life, but most people die so late and take such an unmerciful time in dying, God knows their neighbors never see them rise from the dead.” You see, Blake had this strange use of words, and he gave an enlarged meaning to words. So, you say something died; you think, well, now we put it in the grave. No, we’re in the grave, and we are in the grave of what is now our problem. And so we won’t believe in him to get out of it. For he is the resurrecting power, he can pull us out of every problem in the world. And so, if I now believe that I am poor, unwanted, this, that and the other, if I believe in him I am pulled out of the grave, and my neighbors will see me rise from the dead. But if I don’t know this, I take such a long time disengaging myself from the state that I seem never to rise from the dead.205 ¶13

Well, how would I rise from the dead? By this simple little technique that I’ve told you over the years now: When I know what I want to be, I simply assume that I am it. But I’m not dumb, and so if I were it I would share my good fortune with others and I would tell them, and they, in turn, would talk to me and tell me, as a friend, how they rejoice because of my good fortune. So now I carry on a mental conversation from the premise of my wish fulfilled, carry it on with them, and listen carefully until I actually hear the sound of their voice within me. Physically they may be in Timbuktu—I don’t care where they are physically—the fact that I bring them in my mind’s eye and carry on with them this mental conversation. Then, in a way that I do not know in my conceptual mind, the thing happens, and I’m resurrected from my former state, which was a dead state, into this now new living state.205 ¶14

So Blake was quite right. But he said, “There is nothing more wonderful than death”; then he observed that man trying so hard to get out of poverty and getting all the more into it like quicksand. He’s trying to get out of something but going all the more into it, because he doesn’t believe in Christ Jesus. He’ll go to a church and pray to some saint on the wall, and light a candle, and do all these things on the outside. But he doesn’t believe in Christ Jesus. If he really believed in Christ Jesus he wouldn’t go any place. Wherever he stands…it could be at a bar with a drink before him and maybe two in him…and simply shut out the bar completely, and carry on a mental conversation with a friend who is not physically present from the premise of fulfilled desire; and that is believing in Christ Jesus. Because wherever such a man stands is holy ground. He’s actually standing on holy ground because he’s one with Christ Jesus. He is walking in the company of Jesus, and no matter where he goes in this world he is actually one with him. And this is believing in him.205 ¶15

Now, the question is asked: “How can men call upon him in whom they do not believe, and how can they believe in him of whom they’ve never heard? And how can they hear of him without a preacher? And how can there be a preacher unless he is sent?” So “Faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ.” There’s nothing else to preach, the preaching of Christ.205 ¶16

You have a problem? You don’t know what…it’s a mechanical problem, so it’s a problem. He is the solution of all problems. So you carry on a mental conversation with a friend that it’s solved. And maybe tomorrow you’ll have an accident in your lab, a seeming accident, and the solution is the result of the accident. It has happened all over the world. I am told that vulcanization is the result of an accident. Something spilled on the stove and whoever was there at the moment discovered vulcanization. That most of our so-called grand inventions are simply the results of a seeming accident in the lab. But either knowingly or unknowingly one believed in the solution of its problem. And so, he was believing in the solution to the problem, and he believed it. He didn’t go to some other party or some outside thing; inwardly he believed it could be found and he found it.205 ¶17

Well, you now actually take it and test it. You’re called upon to test Christ, test him and see . You test him in this simple, simple way. I saw it so clearly—of course, I’ve been teaching it for years since I met Ab—but last night he came into my world, just as real as you are now, in fact, more so. And may I tell you, in eternity you will never lose your identity, not in eternity. Though God became you and that’s the stamp of identity, and when you awake you are God, and yet you do not lose your identity. But in this world into which you go you are God and all things are subject to your imaginative power. And you can clothe yourself at will in any sex. He could have presented himself without loss of identity in the female form, in that form of the Oriental, in the form, as he did last night, of the Caucasian, in the form of a Negro, in any form based upon what he wanted to reveal to me. But he came in that form to confirm what I’ve been telling you, that you do not lose identity and that you’re not black, white, yellow, pink or any other color, you’re God.205 ¶18

God became man and God is man. God really is man. God is human. People think he’s a big light and force and power. Yes, he’s all that, he’s infinite power, almightiness, yet he’s man. To stand in the presence of God as almightiness, and to know it, it is almightiness, and it’s man. And to stand in the presence of God and it’s infinite love and it’s man. Then to read The Divine Image of the mystic Blake where “God appears and God is light to those poor souls who dwell in night; but does the human form display to those who dwell in realms of day.” Then he goes on to take it apart for us: “And mercy has the human heart, pity the human face, and love the human form divine, and peace the human dress.” And to stand to confirm that, to stand right in the presence of infinite love and know it is the human form; it’s the human form, and he looks you right in the face, and then embraces you, and you are fused with the body of God. You become one with the body of God, without loss of identity. So all of us, the three billion and more of us, will not lose any identity only raised to the nth degree of majesty, with no loss of identity. With a power at your command where you can clothe yourself at will in any sex, in any racial form, or even without form if you so desire. But your face is still pity, infinite compassion on that face, and the heart, infinite mercy, and the form itself, love divine.205 ¶19

So, you be the judge of yourself, let no man judge you. Who are the condemned? Tonight, do not leave this room condemning self. Be like the woman taken in adultery. The law says (the law of the world, the law of Caesar) condemn her by stoning her to death. And so he rose within himself—for we are told he is bent and down on the sand when condemnation took place, and he was writing on the sand—and then when he rose, what are the words? They said, “Who are you?” He said, “Even what I have told you from the beginning. And when you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am he”. When you have lifted up the Son of man, you’ll know I am he. And that’s a true story. The day will come you’ll have that experience, and you will find yourself looking at living, living golden light, and it’s alive, very much alive. As you look at it, from the depths of your soul you will know, I am it; and then, at that very moment of the knowledge you are it, you fuse with it, and then you are lifted up. Then you will know the words, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up”. In the same manner in which the serpent, which always means the departure of Israel from Egypt, when man is departing from this age and leaving it forever behind him, but still leaving it in its present frame. He departs, the spirit that is now God, for he became one with God. So he’s lifted up in the same manner that the symbol was lifted up in the darkness of Egypt, the departure of Israel from Egypt. So when the individual is called out of this age into that age, where he’s completely free, but completely set free, then he’s lifted up, just like the serpent. And you’re told, “In that day, you will know that I am he.” And you do, you look at it, and you know I am he; and fusion takes place; and then I AM goes up right up into Zion, into the skull.205 ¶20

So tonight, don’t condemn yourself. If you don’t condemn yourself, no man in this world can condemn you, they can’t do it. If you don’t want to share with them at the moment what you’re inwardly desiring and planning to accomplish, well, don’t share it. But don’t waver. You carry on these inner conversations, always from premises of fulfilled desire, and do not waver in the outcome. Be adamant about it! And no power can stop it from coming to pass; they can’t stop it. You try it and you will know from your own personal experience that it can’t be stopped. Because all things are possible to God, and God is in Christ Jesus reconciling the world to himself. So I am in Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus is God in action; imagining is Imagination in action…same thing, same thing. You read the scripture carefully, you come to certain words and take your time to look up the word in the Concordance, you see it means Imagination. The active part of Imagination is imagining, and therefore that is God in action.205 ¶21

Now, like the speaker, if you were raised in the Christian faith as I was raised, you too held a man on the outside and thought him to be Christ Jesus, didn’t you? Well, now you can say this to almost every person in the world. They’re startled when they hear it. It comes straight from scripture, from the New Testament, but if they’ve never heard it in this manner they’re really startled: “From now on I will regard no one from the human point of view; even though I once regarded Christ from the human point of view, I regard him thus no longer.” You know who said it?—Paul. You will read it in his 2nd letter to the Corinthians, the 5th chapter, the 16th verse. “I once regarded Christ from the human point of view; I regard him thus no longer.” He saw the light; and then he died.205 ¶22

And so, in this wonderful letter of his, the previous letter, the 1st letter to the Corinthians, he said, “I die daily”. He discovered the art of dying. So he didn’t die once in the lifetime, he died daily. “I die every day” he said. So today I have a problem, and as long as I have that problem, well then, I’m alive to that problem, and the problem is alive to me, and I’m keeping it alive, for life is in me, not in it. And I, by occupancy of that problem, I animate it and make it alive. Now I must detach myself from that state which is now a problem and attach myself to the solution of that problem. And doing so, I die to one and live to the other. So he said, “I die every day.” Every day he’s faced with a problem, and now he knows how to die by giving up one state and entering another state. And he makes the state that he enters alive. Why?—because life is in himself.205 ¶23

Here, this past week, you must have seen a daily paper, our scientists…there are two schools of thought: Some believe that there is no life outside of earth, and others believe there’s a possibility of some life, maybe on the moon, maybe on Mars, maybe some other place. But they are equally divided. Some believe there is no life outside of earth, as we understand biological life; others believe that there is life and let us go and seek it, even if it takes $50 billion to prove or disprove. I’ll tell you from my own revelation—I didn’t know it before it was revealed to me—life is an activity of imagining. Everything is dead, and were it not that he who occupies this garment has life in himself nothing here would live, everything would be dead. Just like garments are dead, but they seem to be animated when you put them on and start walking. And so, these physical garments are just as dead, and you put them on and start walking, and so they appear to be something alive in themselves. They’re not alive in themselves. They are alive only because you, the occupant, you are alive; you have life in yourself. And they can start from now to the end of time and they aren’t going to find life outside of an activity of imagining. I don’t care what they do. They aren’t going to find it. “As the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself”; but nothing else is alive, it’s all dead, the whole vast world is dead. And this is the cradle of God’s grand experiment to actually bring himself out and to give life to that which he brings out, life in itself. It’s all here.205 ¶24

So in one little book called Man and the Stars by Sir James Jeans, and someone asked him that similar question: Why do you think, as an astrophysicist, that little earth, this tiny little speck—you couldn’t even see it; were you on the sun you couldn’t see the earth it’s so small. You could see the sun, because it’s so vast from the earth, but were you on the sun you couldn’t see the earth; it’s such a tiny little speck—what makes you so arrogant to believe that you, because you’re a man, that this thing called earth is so unique in this fabulous universe of God? If there is a God, said the scientist. You know what Jeans said to him? He said, “Have you ever seen the attempt of man to reproduce himself under a microscope? There are just as many potential sons in that one explosion of a man in the attempt to reproduce his image as there are in this fabulous display of light in the universe, just as many, and only one comes out. All the billions that are present under that microscope, they cease to be, and one comes out. Well, this is God’s grand creative explosion, and only one comes out. It’s the earth: the only thing that has all that it takes for this biological experiment, this wonderful creative darkness that is the earth, for a divine purpose.” That was Sir James Jeans.205 ¶25

Well, he has a vast following today, and this chap at Harvard who’s been bringing up this recently, he denies we will find anything outside of earth that you would call life, as we understand life. But I’ll tell him, if he’d only listen to me, he’s not going to find it any place outside of his own Imagination. And the day will come he’ll walk this earth, as I have done it, and then at that moment stop it within him, and everything stops. Not a man could move, not a bird could fly though they were in flight when I stopped it, not a leaf could continue falling though it was falling when I stopped it, and looked at it and it was all dead, but I mean dead. Not suspended animation; no, dead, no breath in it, for the breath wasn’t there. That was an animated body and the animation was within me in my own Imagination. And then I released that activity in me and it all continued moving once more again.205 ¶26

A great drama, which you will hear enacted but not understood when the great trial rolls around this month. For 2,000 years they’ve been reenacting this drama, and the words are asked, “Do you not know that I have the power to release you and the power to crucify you?” And he answered, “You have no power over me unless it were given to you from above; therefore he who has delivered me into your hand has the greater sin”. Now, what is the “above”? He just got through telling him, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.” So from that grand presence within, this is animated, and so, I’m playing a drama. Alright, no one can take me and arrest me were it not within me. I allowed it, and that something in the depth of myself allowed it, and it takes place. If you know this and believe in him, you’re free. So, you know the truth and then the truth will set you free .205 ¶27

So, who now is the condemned? God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through him. “He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe in him is already condemned, because he does not believe in the name of the only Son of God.” The name is not Jesus. Name means “nature.” The nature of this Son of God, he doesn’t believe in it; because Jesus is the Father. The world doesn’t know that; they can’t believe that. They speak of Jesus, Jesus being Jehovah, the grand I AM, that’s Jesus. If you spell it in French, you might get onto it: Je Suis. Spell Je Suis and you get Jesus—a little “i,” drop the “i”—Je Suis is “I am” in French. And so you spell it out in the Latin form, you’re going to get I AM. So that is God. “Go and tell them I AM has sent you.” Who is speaking?—the Lord of the universe! So he said, “Where is your Father?” He said, “If you really knew me you would not ask that, because you could not really know me, in the true sense of that word, and not know God, for he and I are inseparable”—that’s what he’s telling them. And so, “When you see me you see him…when you see me you see the Father.” So don’t ask me to show you the Father, for I and the Father are one, that’s what he’s saying. In the depths of the soul, one; he is the Father. So that is not the name of the Son. The name, in this case, is the nature of the Son of God, which is an inner livingness, an activity of your own wonderful human Imagination.205 ¶28

So, my plea to you, if you were trained as I was trained, listened as I had to…first I had to die to all of these beliefs and so completely die to them, I did not know how to explain that to my mother. I didn’t want to hurt her, didn’t want to hurt my father; they were trained as I was trained. And then to confront those that you love dearly! And you cannot enter into the conversation that formerly would be a normal part of an evening’s discussion, for you took for granted the historicity of the Bible, and now you can’t take it at all. It’s a mystery. It’s not secular history at all, it’s divine history.205 ¶29

The whole thing is unfolding in the soul of man, and everyone is destined to play all the things claimed of Christ Jesus: To be supernaturally born as he was supernaturally born; and to be one who discovers his own Fatherhood, one with God the Father; one who is lifted up in the same manner that he said, “When you lift me up, then you’ll know that I am he.” And it will have everything recorded about him actually transpire in the soul of yourself, and the whole thing then becomes something very personal. And you know it is true of every being in the world. When it begins to unfold, the end is in sight, and then you are departing from this age into that age already prepared for those who are being lifted from this age. But all will be lifted from this age.205 ¶30

Therefore take the story…nothing is more important than that the story of Christ Jesus should be heard and responded to. In the Book of John it is underlined that necessity of hearing; one has to hear it. So go and preach Jesus Christ not as secular history. Go and try to the best of your ability to unfold for anyone who will hear you the mystery of that story, because everyone is going to have it.205 ¶31

And so, you will be supernaturally born, not through the womb of woman; that’s a natural birth. You will discover that you have no father to this birth, no mother: You’re self-begotten. And then you’re a father. And then comes the tangible proof of your fatherhood because a son appears. Now you know exactly who he is and he calls you, Father. All the generations of humanity plus all of their accomplishments, their experiences, but everything, fused into a single youth; and that youth is eternity. But yet it’s human, his name is David, and he calls you, Father. Then you know—then, but not before—who you really are. So the question is then asked of you in the depth of your soul, “Where is your Father?” and you answer, If you knew me you wouldn’t ask because you’d know who I am, if you really knew me. Then who are you? Even what I’ve told you from the beginning, that’s what he answers. Even what I’ve told you from the beginning, and now you don’t know me, said he, but I’ll tell you just what I was from the beginning.205 ¶32

And then, everyone will then meet in this eternity, all fused into one body, without loss of identity. And that body is the most radiant body that you could ever conceive, and it’s God the Father, and you are he. All one, and not one lost in all God’s holy mountain. Not one condemned ever by God. He is not a God of retribution; he’s a God of infinite love. And so none will be lost and all will be raised to the nth degree of beauty, of perfection, majesty and every attribute of the world you can think of raised to the nth degree, and that’s you.205 ¶33

Now tonight, put this to the test. You put it to the test tonight in the things of life, like a better job and more money on it, a better home, more security, everything in this world that you want. Don’t ask anyone if it’s possible. You do it just by inwardly carrying on the conversation with yourself from the premise that it’s done, and see it happen in your world. But don’t forget how it happened. You take this discussion with someone, they may say to you, “Well, you know, it would have happened anyway.”205 ¶34

And then comes the great accuser of the world, the great doubter of the world, but he knows nothing, the doubter of the world, because he doesn’t know that you’re not the garment that you wear. The doubter of the world and he thinks that your exit from this world through the gate of death is your final departure for all time. But he doesn’t know who you are. He thinks that when you came into this world you began for the first time. He doesn’t know who you are: you came from God and you return to God. And while you came into this world, it didn’t really matter what was the nature of the garment that you picked out, it didn’t really. Because, wherever you picked it up, regardless of the race, the nation, you only picked it up for educative purposes, to hear of Christ Jesus while you walked the earth and of the real Christ Jesus, and then test it. And then while you’re walking this earth, then without notice to you a sudden unfolding within you of a series of mystical experiences which [...] you to leave it. And you’re leaving this world forever, but still leave it behind you for those who are being woven into it for the same educative purpose.205 ¶35

Now let us go into the Silence. And let us imagine that someone is talking to us and telling us either of their own good fortune, which we want for them, or else they are aware of our good fortune, and as a friend they are present to congratulate us. What would they say if they really were your friend and they heard of your good fortune? How would they express it? Well now, let them express it and you listen carefully as though you heard them. They are compelled to meet you as that being and express what inwardly you have heard them say. When they express it, it’s because the thing has already happened, and they are fully conscious of it, and as a friend they simply joy in congratulating you. Now let us go.205 ¶36

* * * [...] they are all marvelous stories. I hope you will keep it up.205 ¶37

So now he has the technique perfectly because he heard. First of all, he gave us three decided techniques. The first was feeling, when he felt the policy in his hand, and although no one else could get a policy in the area where he lived, he got the policy. Out of the blue it came, without any increase in any surcharge. Although it was a friend it was all resolved.205 ¶38

Then came the visual concept. He used it to see the green where there was no green, only mauve decayed marble. When he saw green, out of the nowhere a total stranger became the means to move away the little fence and then put it where he had mentally seen it. So he had the sense of touch; he had the visual sense aroused.205 ¶39

And then with his producer, where he could take a man who could never express himself in the superlative, could only express his joy by saying “It is good,” and how he raised it from that limited state that a thing is “good” to “Great!”, “Very great!” or “Just great!”, and then “Terrific!”, and then finally to “Absolutely sensational!” So he took a man who could not go beyond the expression of “good” when he approved of something and raised that man’s ability to express himself more generously…all by hearing.205 ¶40

So again he confirmed Blake’s definition of Imagination: It is spiritual sensation. For he distinctly heard the man’s voice—not just a man but that man—very definite about the man he wanted to hear and what he wanted the man to say. So he heard it, and the man repeated it in the next breath really. So all these things he shared with us were exciting stories. I want to thank him from the platform, and hope that he will continue to favor us with more of these wonderful stories. And everyone present, you’re invited to experiment and then write me a letter, and give me the permission to tell it. If you want me to know it but there is something in it you would rather not be broadcast, just state it. That you want me to know that it worked but you would rather not have the thing told, I won’t tell it, I promise you, only with your permission. So you write me. But first of all, experiment. Now are there any questions, please?205 ¶41

Now are there any questions, please…any other questions?205 ¶44

According to a rabbical principle, that which is not written in scripture is non-existent. The story of Jesus Christ follows this principle. The unknown author of the Book of Luke (like all the others) wrote only of his own experiences. Turning to his disciplined mind in self contemplation, he is Jesus turning to his disciples and saying: “‘Scripture must be fulfilled in me. All that is written about me must be fulfilled.’ Beginning with Moses and the prophets, and the psalms he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. And they said to one another, ‘Did not our hearts burn while he opened to us the scriptures?’ Then he said to them, ‘Everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.”199 ¶1

Luke is speaking of the Christ in you, for any Christ coming from without is a false Christ, taught by false teachers. Peter tells us: “Scoffers will come in the last days scoffing and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? Forever since the fathers fell asleep, all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation.”’ Certainly they do. Graft, war, dirty politics, poverty - you name it, everything will continue forever in this age; so do not look for signs of his coming in the outer world, as this age will continue producing poverty, graft, war, and unlovely things.199 ¶2

But when Christ comes it is like a thief in the night. When you least expect it, Christ awakens within you to reveal yourself to yourself. “In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son,” for when the Son appears he reveals God as his Father. Until God’s son reveals himself in Man, Man searches on the outside to discover how things are made, but he cannot find the Maker.199 ¶3

Our world is God’s handiwork, as told us in the 19th Psalm: “The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows forth his handiwork.” Our scientists have discovered how to go to the moon, from which they returned with earth. Then they analyzed it and discovered it to be dead. No matter where man goes he will discover that everything is dead, for God’s handiwork is here and here alone. But, no matter how much his handiwork is analyzed, it will not reveal its maker. Today three of our citizens received the Nobel Prize for their great work in trying to analyze this wonderful land of ours. They will find many wonderful things about it, but they will never find its maker. He comes only when the individual finds the Son, for it is God’s Son who reveals his maker.199 ¶4

I tell you: the Bible is all about you. It is your own personal, spiritual biography. Every child born of woman is recorded in the Bible - not as John Brown or Mary Smith - but as Jesus Christ; for he is the child’s true being, and the Old Testament is a prophetic blueprint of his life. When you read the 9th chapter of Isaiah, you may wonder what it is all about, but may I tell you, nothing could be truer. Listen carefully: “To us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called ‘Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.’”199 ¶5

These revelations do not come in the order the prophets recorded them (or some scribe changed); but the names are true and are revealed in perfect order. The first name given to you when you fell asleep was “El Shaddai” which means “God Almighty, or Mighty God”. But one day you will awaken! Now completely individualized, you will feel a vibration so great you will think you are going to die; but far from dying, the vibration will awaken you from your long, long sleep. You will awaken within yourself to discover that you have been entombed there for unnumbered centuries. You may not know how you got there and why, but I’ll tell you: you went voluntarily. No one took your life. You laid it down yourself. You have the power to lay it down and the power to lift it up again. You deliberately entered the human skull and laid yourself down to dream the dream of life. Mystics claim you have been dreaming there for 6000 years. I have had no vision to support such a time interval, but I can say that when it happened to me I felt as though I had been entombed for unnumbered ages. For a moment I wondered how I got there, and then I remembered scripture: “He is not dead, but sleepeth, I go to awaken him.” One day you, too, will hear the voice of the Son of God and awaken from your sleep of death, for when God sends his Son into your heart crying, “Father,” you will hear it and awaken from your long, self-imposed sleep.199 ¶6

It takes an enormous power for Mighty God to stir himself and awaken to find the symbol of his birth as that of a child. You may think the child that is born and the son which is given are one and the same, but they are not. The son appears 139 days later. It is he who reveals you as God, the Maker and creator of it all. Prior to that moment in time you - like a scientist - look outside of yourself for the cause of all life; but when David - God’s only begotten son - comes from within and calls you Father, you have found the cause. And when your son reveals you as the Father, the cause of all life, you will bear the name Everlasting Father.199 ¶7

Now, the third great revelation is that of Wonderful Counselor. And in scripture the Wonderful Counselor is associated with a serpent. Referred to as the wisest of all of God’s creations, it was the serpent who suggested eating of the tree of knowledge. And when told he would die, the serpent said: “No, you will not truly die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The Wonderful Counselor did not lie, for believing himself to be you, he experienced death but did not really die. Even though we depart this world and seem to die, we don’t. Instead we are restored to life in a world just like this, to continue our journey for unnumbered centuries.199 ¶8

Now, in the same 3rd chapter of Genesis, the Lord said to the gods: “Behold the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil,” just as the serpent said he would. Only by coming down into this world of experience can you eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and become as the gods. So we see the 3rd title, Wonderful Counselor, has much to do with the serpent.199 ¶9

We are told that: “No one ascends into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the son of man; and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up.” When you read these words they do not make sense, but when you experience them - and you will - the third title of Wonderful Counselor is conferred upon you. Your eyes will be opened then, and you will know good and evil from experience. You will know that you will not die, but will return to the heavenly state from which you - the son of man - descended. And you will ascend like a fiery serpent.199 ¶10

Now, the serpent of scripture is described in the 6th chapter of the Book of Isaiah as the seraphim which surround the throne of God. The seraphim is, by definition, a fiery being with human face, human voice, and human hands. Isaiah gives him six wings: two to cover his face, to cover his feet (which is a euphemism for his creative organs) and he flies with two; but beyond that, this heavenly being, the wisest of all God’s creations, is not described.199 ¶11

This is your true identity, for you are the gods who came down. You are not some little amoeba which came out of the mud; you came down from heaven and emptied yourself of all that you were in order to assume the limitations and weaknesses of the human flesh. You are not pretending that you are man; you became man by assuming poverty, though you were rich. You assumed weakness, though you were strong. You - an infinite being - assumed all these things for their experience. The whole vast world declares your glory, but only here on this little earth is this wonderful work revealed. Before we came here we were brothers, and one day we will awaken and return to our brotherhood as God the Father, of which it takes all of the brothers to form.199 ¶12

Now the 4th title, Prince of Peace, is sent in the form of a dove. This does not physically happen to you, and when it happens you are the only one who knows it. Read the first chapter, the 10th verse of the Gospel of Mark carefully, and you will see that only the one upon whom the dove descended was aware of it: “When he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens open and the Spirit descended upon him like a dove.”199 ¶13

You are destined to have this experience as the fourth title, the Prince of Peace, is conferred upon you. You will bear the four titles, and in so doing you will fulfill scripture. Having foretold it, you came down to fulfill it within yourself.199 ¶14

The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God. He is God’s word which cannot return to God empty, but must accomplish that which he purposed and prosper in the thing for which it was sent. You are God’s word which was in the beginning. You were not only with God, you were God. Then you fragmented into many sons, and it takes all of the sons to form the Father.199 ¶15

You came into this world to experience its horrors, not to change them. Our politicians promise to eliminate war and poverty, yet admit that they have sold over 13 billion dollars in conventional arms to poverty-ridden nations, as have the communist world. Our politicians have forced nations who can’t afford to feed themselves, to buy what we are manufacturing. Then, with a pious look, ask people to sign papers to stop war. But you can’t stop it. This world was never intended to be other than what it is: a world of poverty, a world of war, a world of dirty politics, a world of graft. Just read the papers and you will see what is taking place in high places. You aren’t going to change it; it will go on and on because the story of Christ is one of redemption. He redeems himself by lifting himself out of this world in a spiral motion. This world is based upon a circular principle which repeats itself over and over again, whereas redemption is based upon a spiral principle. Breaking away from the wheel of recurrence, one moves up in a spiral motion - like the seraphim - and is redeemed.199 ¶16

We are told that: “As the lightening shines from the east to the west so will the coming of the son of man.” People are looking for lightening to strike on the outside, but it strikes within. Your head is the Mount of Olives, and your body is that which is split from east to west. One half moves north as one half moves south, leaving a great valley. At the base of your spine you will see a pool of golden, liquid, pulsing light which is the blood of God. Fusing with it, you ascend into your skull like a fiery serpent and your skull reverberates like thunder.199 ¶17

I am telling you what you are going to experience, whether you can accept it or not, and I know that you will never disprove it. I have awakened you, momentarily, but you may fall back to sleep again and continue your dream, of which you are its sole author.199 ¶18

It’s very easy to be caught up in the reality that you, yourself, are making, even though what you see may frighten you. You may have many horrors in your dream and believe what you are seeing is a reality outside of yourself and beyond your control, but you alone are writing the script. Haven’t you had a dream where you were scared to death, not knowing you were its cause? The same thing is happening in the waking dream, but man does not know that this, too, is a dream, until he awakes from it in the manner of which I have told you.199 ¶19

One night as you sleep, something will arouse you and you will awaken to find yourself in your skull. You know it is your grave, where only the dead are placed; but you know yourself to be very much alive. Someone must have thought you dead to have placed you there, or you may have entered the place voluntarily and fell asleep to such depth that others thought you were dead. But when the time was fulfilled you heard the cry of the son of God which awakened you, and as you come out of that tomb you are born from above. This is essential, for unless you are born from above you cannot enter the kingdom of God. Everyone is in this world because he is born from below (from the womb of woman), but while here he must be born from above (from the skull). That which comes out has no mother, no father, no beginning of days, or ending of days; for that which is born from the skull is aware of being the Maker of all. You will discover this great truth only when God’s son stands before you and reveals you to yourself.199 ¶20

This tiny planet appears as only a speck when viewed from outer space, yet it is so important; for only here can this biological experiment which expands the power of God and the wisdom of God be cradled. Without this world, God could not grow in wisdom. He would be stagnant if he could not expand beyond what he is. God is an ever increasing illumination, an ever increasing creative power, an ever increasing wisdom and - by reason of this one little speck called earth, where he wears these little garments of mortality - God is holding to the promise he made himself: to awaken within himself and fulfill the play recorded in scripture.199 ¶21

The story of Christ is not what the world is talking about. He isn’t going to change the world. Tomorrow’s generation may think it will be different, but poverty will exist then as it does now. There will be changes in passion and eventually they will return to what they were. It’s like a wheel. It’s a circular principle where nothing changes. The individual changes only when he leaves the wheel in a spiral motion, and that is when he is redeemed. He returns to the world from which he came, enhanced by reason of his experience of death in this world called earth.199 ¶22

The principle of the rabbis is true, so let me repeat it: What is not written in scripture is non-existent. The presidents, kings, and dictators of the world are not recorded in scripture; therefore they are nonexistent. They are merely parts God is playing as he passes through states. The part of a president, a king, or a dictator is a state, and when entered it is animated. It seems so real to its occupant and to those who observe it, but it is only a state.199 ¶23

You can play any part - be it a rich man or a poor man, a beggar or a thief, the known or unknown - once you know they are only parts, only states of consciousness. But if you don’t know this, and are not willing to give up your present state, you will remain there, looking at your desire and not from it.199 ¶24

You can become what you would like to be in the twinkle of an eye by the simple act of assumption. And the day you dare to remain faithful to your assumption, it will begin to externalize itself. And when it does you may return to sleep, just as you do in your night dreams.199 ¶25

Becoming possessed by the dream you created in your sleep, you observe your own creation; and if it is a noble dream, you can become so puffed up in your own concept that you forget its creator. Or you can create something ignoble and become so immersed in it you believe in its reality. Anything can be created by a mere assumption.199 ¶26

When I dared to assume I was the man I wanted to be, I did not discuss it with others; I simply persisted in my assumption and watched it harden into fact. That persistent act taught me that this world was a dream.199 ¶27

My oldest brother at the age of 18 had no money and no prospects of getting any. But he had a dream. He dreamed of owning a building which housed the family business. Twice a day, on his way to work and return, he would stop opposite a building which occupied an entire block at the widest area of the main street, and there he would imagine seeing the words: “Goddard and Sons” on its marquee. He persisted in this act for two years, when one day a total stranger bought the building for the family, trusting them to pay him back over a period of ten years. That building, which became the foundation of our family’s growth, started in my brother’s imagination. Having nothing on the outside to turn to, my brother had the guts to imagine and believe that his imagination would create his reality. Today I don’t think you could buy the family out for multiple millions, because their gross business last year exceeded $30 million.199 ¶28

Do as my brother did and discover the depth of God in you. Test your imagination, for there is no other God. If you test him and discover that it is he who creates all things by producing tangible proof of his reality in what you did, then no one will be able to persuade you that what happened was a coincidence.199 ¶29

My brother lived by and built his fortune on imagination’s foundation. Of course, having created such a vast enterprise he may go to sleep and believe his one thousand employees are the cause of his incredible wealth. We are all inclined to forget that we are the makers of all that is happening, and - forgetting - we blame our dream. The world is yourself pushed out; but it is so easy to place the blame on an aspect of self rather than on you, the dream’s maker.199 ¶30

Learn to use your imagination consciously, for it will not fail you on this level or on the higher level.199 ¶31

But you cannot depart this world by changing your thoughts. It will happen in the fullness of time, when the Father in you who fell asleep begins to stir. Then he awakens you, and when he does, you - Mighty God - will receive the name and carry the special powers of Everlasting Father, Wonderful Counselor, and Prince of Peace. And of your reign there shall be no end, for you will know yourself to be the Jesus Christ men worship outwardly.199 ¶32

The ministers of this world are talking about His coming, trying to interpret signs on the outside. But I tell you, Jesus does not come at the end of human history, for he comes individually. Tonight one of you could experience his coming. No one knows but the Father in you. Ever since that Father fell asleep all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation. So don’t look for any change on the outside. When the politicians promise change, don’t argue; smile as you have through the centuries, knowing they aren’t going to change anything.199 ¶33

The world is made up of infinite states which man falls into unwittingly - or deliberately, as my brother did. He was a poor boy who deliberately moved into the state of wealth. Not knowing how it was going to come about, he simply persisted in his assumption and it hardened into fact.199 ¶34

Do you like what the mirror reflects back to you and your background tells you? If it is not what you would like to live with, don’t accept it. Rather, look into the mirror of your mind and assume that you are what you would like to be. Declaring that you are now it, don’t look away and forget the image reflected there, but persist in your assumption. Live in that awareness morning, noon and night as though it were true, and no power can stop you from experiencing its truth.199 ¶35

This is a world of effects, as told us in the Book of James. If you look into the mirror and, seeing yourself, you turn away and forget what manner of man you look like, you will continue to perpetuate your unlovely state. But if you look into the mirror of your mind and - seeing what you desire to see - continue thinking from that state, you will see it reflect itself in your world. Then one day you will depart the world and return to the world from which you descended, for you are the Elohim, the God spoken of in the scriptures.199 ¶36

Do not be afraid to claim your birthright. An outside God never existed; therefore, don’t make little images of him and stick them on your wall to worship. Is there any cross or image of Jesus Christ in the world that wasn’t made by a man? There is no description of a person called Jesus Christ, yet there are unnumbered pictures of him throughout the Christian world and people bow before that which is made by human hands. Read the 115th Psalm and see what the psalmist said about any image bowed to as some power that can help or hinder: “They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound out of their throat. Those who make them are like them; so are all who trust in them.”199 ¶37

If anyone should say: “Look, there he is, or here he is,” believe him not; for when the Father of all life appears, you shall know him because you will be one with him! The Bible is all about you, and you are here in the final picture to fulfill that which you dictated before you came down. The prophets you inspired were only organs of revelation. And God’s son, by his very nature reveals God as his father. So when God’s only begotten son stands before you and reveals you as his father, are you not God the Father?199 ¶38

This I know from personal experience. I am not speculating. I am not theorizing. I did not hear it from a man, nor was I taught it. Like Paul, it came through a revelation of the true meaning of Jesus Christ.199 ¶39

It’s all in scripture and everyone will experience it. And when we take off these garments and rise, you and I - as the brothers who have returned - will be in a state of ecstasy, for we will all have the same son. If your son is my son, and our son is his son, are we not one father? There aren’t multiple sons - only one. We are all individualized. We will never lose our individuality, yet we are one in spirit because we have the one son; therefore we are brothers who collectively form God the Father.199 ¶40

Scripture is based upon the principle that the True Man comes here to fulfill. All that is said about the True you in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms, must and will be fulfilled. It is my pleasure and my privilege to open your mind that you may understand scripture. That is all I am here to tell you. But you will never really understand my words until you experience them, and you will.199 ¶41

There is no aristocracy of privilege in this story. We are all one! One is no better than the other. I have awakened from the dream of life. Now I only wait for others to awaken. There is nothing I want more than the awakening of all, because without all, the Father is not complete. So I tell my story over and over until everyone hears it and sets their hope fully upon this wonderful story that one day must erupt within them. Now let us go into the silence.199 ¶42

Tonight’s subject is “The Power of Faith.” The most important Hebrew term for the word faith is “Amen,” which signifies firmness, stability; but its precise meaning is “hold God trustworthy,” to hold God trustworthy. And tonight I hope to be able to share with you what I have discovered about this fabulous power that is faith.194 ¶1

First, let us define faith as defined for us in the Book of Hebrews. This unknown author—-some claim that Paul wrote it, but the majority of the scholars are not convinced; they feel it is not quite his terminology, unless he radically changed when he wrote this book—so it’s an unknown author, one of the most profound books in the Bible. In the 11th chapter it is stated: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. By it men of old received divine approval. We understand that by faith the world was created by the word of God, so that things that are seen were made out of things which do not appear”. Then comes the assemblage of witnesses. He first assembles seven, beginning with Abel, and then he summarizes this compound witness, and then he mentions another eleven. Then he summarizes it again. But here in this statement speaking now of God—-for when we speak of faith it’s simply to hold God trustworthy—God becomes the object of one’s faith. So here, “Without faith it is impossible to please him. Anyone who would draw near to God must believe that he exists and rewards those who seek him.”194 ¶2

Now, the best way to understand this is through a little story. A minister was calling at a home to make arrangements for the funeral of an elderly man. Although he was not a professing Christian he was highly regarded in his community. His widow, trying to persuade the clergyman of her husband’s goodness, said to him, “Henry was a believer. He believed that God is. He’s a believer; he believed that there is a God.” Now she herself would never accept this definition of faith if it was applied by Henry to her. Suppose, for instance, during their married life she had asked Henry, “Henry, do you believe in me?” and suppose he answered, “Yes, Mary, I believe that you exist,” would she be satisfied with that? So it’s more than believing that God exists.194 ¶3

So listen to the sentence carefully. People read just a little portion of it and they cut off the important part of that verse. This is the 11th chapter, the 6th verse of Hebrews: “You not only must believe that God exists, but that he rewards those who seek him.” The existence in itself is not enough; there must be an activity. How could I know? I believe this exists but I expect nothing more from it than to hold paper and pencils and anything I should put on it. That’s not what I expect of God. So I believe that God exists, but I must also believe that he rewards me if I seek him.194 ¶4

So God acts; I must react. God speaks and I must say “Amen” to that.194 ¶5

Well now, tonight I want something for myself or for a friend. How would I go about seeking God, having God act and I react?194 ¶6

So I think of my friend and I see on my friend’s face an expression which implies that they have what I want them to have. I see it right on their face. I listen as though we spoke to each other, and he or she, they are telling me what I want to hear. You may say, “Well, that’s not God acting, that’s Neville acting.” I say to you, “I am doing it,” and you will say, “Yes, I know you were doing it.” I say, “No, I am doing it.” What is his name?—-I AM. Has he any other name? Oh, many names, his name is Father, call him Lord, call him God, call him by every name; but the name he revealed to man which must be a name forever and forever for all generations is I AM. So I am bringing before my mind’s eye the face of a friend, and I put on that face an expression implying the fulfillment of my desire for them. And so God is acting. I’m not separating God from myself, for his name is I AM. And so I bring it so.194 ¶7

Am I going to react now? I must now react to God’s action. God acted, I’m quite familiar with the action, but it’s God that is acting. “For God only acts and is in all existing beings and men.” So he dwells in me as my own wonderful human Imagination. I know what I imagined…well, that’s God. To believe in God is one thing, but to believe that he rewards me if I seek him is another thing, and that’s where men stop, like Henry stopped. For Henry was a good man, Henry believed that there is a God and she thought that would pacify the minister, and maybe it did. For you could get from some Communist this night his belief, his confession of faith. And he said, “I believe there is a God.” If you want all people to believe in God, you may be satisfied. That’s not good enough.194 ¶8

I must not only believe there’s a God, I must believe that he rewards me if I seek him; and then put him to the test. Now, I ask everyone here to put him to the test. I put him to the test; I put him to the test daily. He does not fail.194 ¶9

If it seems long as far as I’m concerned, I know it is not long for what I’ve asked. At that moment that was the beginning of an action, and the action will fulfill itself in its own good time. I’m called upon to be patient, to be faithful, and simply await God’s production. He’s going to produce it. All I’m asked to do is to simply let God act. Well, God acted. I sit here tonight for the next half an hour, three-quarters of an hour…I will sit in the Silence and bring before my mind’s eye some friend who is here, and carry on a simple conversation with him. God acted. So when I rise from there, did I react in confidence, in absolute faith?194 ¶10

The opposite of faith is worry. Am I going to be concerned about results? Am I going to ask myself how is it going to happen? Well, then I’m worrying. Now listen to these words from the 4th chapter, the 6th verse of Philippians: “Have no anxiety whatever.” The words are, “Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving make your requests known to God” or “Let all your requests be made known to God.” Have no anxiety about anything.194 ¶11

So you ask something…you say, “Well, the doctor said so and so.” Well, I don’t care what the doctor said. Well, the boss said so and so. I don’t care what he said. I am told, “Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let all of your requests be made known to God.”194 ¶12

So you sit quietly and now you’re going to commune with God. Wait for God to tell you something? Don’t you know who God is? How must I wait for God to tell me something? God is speaking to me every time I use my Imagination; for God is all Imagination and dwells in me as my Imagination. So I think of a friend. As I conjure him before my mind’s eye I represent him to myself as I want to see him. That’s God’s action. Now I must react. I’ve come to him and God would now reward me if I seek him. Well, I sought him and I found exactly what he’s going to give me; for the expression on the face of a friend implies the fulfillment of what I want for them. Or, if the expression is not enough, I listen as though I heard words that I would hear and could only hear if things were as they want them to be. And so, I listen just as though it were true. And then I must not worry, for that is then the opposite of faith; and by faith all things were made; without it he didn’t make anything.194 ¶13

And how did he make it? He made all the visible things that I see out of invisible states. Now listen to these words from the 4th chapter, the 17th verse of Romans: “And he calls a thing that is not seen as though it were seen and the unseen becomes seen.” He calls a thing that is not seen as though it were seen, and then the unseen becomes seen.194 ¶14

So I bring your face before me. Alright, I can see your face; then I put the expression on it. I see that, but I don’t see what it is implying. No one sees that. I can see your face, but what does it imply? It implies the fulfillment of your dream come true, all come true. But I don’t see it; I only see that which it implies. Now I get the secret of God’s creativity; he acts in this manner. I have found him…by him all things are made; without him was not made anything that is made, and I just did it.194 ¶15

Alright, a lady comes to see me—-I do not know her from a hole in the wall—-she said, “I had been recommended to you and I do not understand what you do.” Well, I said, I just do nothing. You sit right there and I will sit here and you imagine that you are telling me you have found the lady that you are seeking. This was her request: “I haven’t seen a friend of mine in over a year, and I’m anxious to see her, now what must I do?” I said, you sit there and you tell me mentally—-don’t scream at me—just simply tell me mentally that you have found her. I will sit just where I am, I will imagine that you are talking to me, and you’re telling me you’ve found her. So when I say, that’s enough or that’s okay, we’ll break the little mental conversation, and that’s all that I will do. So she sat quietly for five minutes, I sat quietly for five minutes; I imagined she is talking to me and she is telling me she’s found her. At the end of five minutes I got up and said, “Thank you so much.” She said, “Is that all?” I said, that’s all. Well, she wasn’t at all convinced. She walked through the door, she’d never seen me before, and so that was all. She could have told me within the week that she found her. But she didn’t, she waited.194 ¶16

And this is what happened. She inquired where her friend last was seen and they said to her she went off to Hartford, Connecticut. So she took a train to Hartford. She was having no faith whatsoever in what we did, because to her that was the height of stupidity. Off she went to Hartford. When she got there they said, yes, we know her, but she left for Boston. So off to Boston she goes. At the address in Boston, yes, they knew her, she lived here, this was her address, but she left here without leaving any forwarding address, and that’s several months ago. So she returns to New York City. One day on 14th Street, shopping at Hearn’s Department Store, she’s walking by on the south side of the street. You come out of Hearn’s on 14th Street, Union Square. Had she been five seconds early or late they would have missed each other. Because she was right on the button, they ran right into each other on 14th Street right opposite coming out of Hearn’s Department Store. How could you possibly have arranged it? She could not possibly have arranged it. She went to Hartford to spend her good money and time, Boston, her money and time, and returned disappointed. But we had planted the seed. I did not know how she would ever know that this person…alright, so she found her. She’s walking down 14th Street and all of a sudden they bump right into each other in front of Hearn’s Department Store. That’s how it works.194 ¶17

I could sit down and burst all the blood vessels of my brain trying to figure out for her what she should do. You don’t do anything. God acts and man reacts; God speaks and we say “Amen.” Amen is holding God trustworthy. That was his action. You act…I know I acted, well, that’s God. Is it arrogant? It’s your own wonderful human Imagination, that’s God.194 ¶18

God actually became man that man may become God. And how did he become man? By sinking himself in man as man’s own wonderful human Imagination, that’s God. He so loved man he became man. And in man, can’t you say “I am”? Well, that’s his name. He has no other name, really. He does have fatherhood—that’s the greatest name in the world—but that comes at the very end. Long before the Son appears and calls you Father you will use the name called “I am.” Only in the very end are you called “Father.” I tell you that you’re Father, but it has to be revealed to you personally for you to know it. You must experience fatherhood, and only the Son can make you experience it. Until that day comes, use the name he gave us. For that same name will be forever and forever: “This is my name for all generations, forever and forever,” and the name is I AM.194 ¶19

So I sit down quietly and I think of someone. At that very moment they may not respond, I may not hear from them. But do you know that at that moment, in some strange way, they thought of me. They may never sit down and write a letter and tell me, “At this very moment I was thinking about you.” But they had to. They’re all in me. So you bring someone up and you simply bring them before your mind’s eye and you bless them. In what way? God blesses them because God acts. You bring them into your mind’s eye and you see them as you want to see them, one who is happy, gainfully employed, things are just right. He could not ask at this moment in time for something lovelier. So you ask it for him, and then you see his face reflecting the fulfillment of that request. “Make all of your requests known to God.” Well, God knows it. Don’t I know it? Well, that’s he. My own Imagination knows it; well, that’s God. God is my Imagination, he’s your Imagination. So when you know that, you do it wisely from morning to night.194 ¶20

Let me paraphrase that wonderful 13th chapter of Corinthians for you. It’s the one on love. But now we’ll take it and paraphrase it on faith. For you know the very last verse (which was asked me) and you’ve read it: “What is the greatest thing in the world?” and you answer, “Faith, hope and love; but the greatest of these is love” . With that I agree, love is the greatest in the world. But in that trio faith is mentioned—-faith, hope and love. Love is the greatest, but faith is there…and these three abide.194 ¶21

So we now paraphrase it: Though I speak in the tongues of men and angels, though I have all the prophetic powers of the world so that I know all the mysteries and understand all knowledge, though I give all that I have away, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not faith, I cannot please him. I said love—-I should say I am as nothing; without love you are as nothing—-but faith, without faith I cannot please him. Those who come to him must know that he exists, but before that is stated, “Without faith it is impossible to please him.” So if I gave all that I had…suppose that I had all the wealth of the world and I gave it to the poor. Suppose I offered my body to be burned while still living in it, as many Buddhists have done recently. Suppose I was so wise that I had all the prophetic powers of the world, that I could see tomorrow and play the game today based upon tomorrow, and knowing tomorrow’s quotation on the market. If I knew exactly every horse that would win tomorrow…I was so prophetic I know every horse that’s going to come in, and I knew it today. All I’d have to do is call my bookie (if I had one), have him go out and just simply bring the money back, I know it all. But suppose I knew all these things, and had not faith, I could not please him. He can’t be pleased in any way save through faith. So he calls upon man, who is completely shut out from the next second—-he can’t know exactly what’s going to happen five minutes from now—because this body is a veil that blinds the being that he really is. For man is really God awakening. So God blinds himself with the garment of flesh, and with this blind upon him he has to live by faith. So we walk by faith not by sight, we’re told.194 ¶22

Now, can I walk by faith? Alright, I think of someone…I don’t have to sit down and really work it out. I don’t consider the ways and means. You’re told, “I have ways and means you know not of. My ways are past finding out” . If they’re past finding out what am I doing trying to unravel the ways by which I will realize my objective? So when this lady left my room, she thought, well now, this is the height of insanity. They told me to go and see this man, he seemed a normal person, but that isn’t normal. So she goes through the door and the whole thing seemed to her a complete waste of her time. Yet a week later after her visit to one place, another city and back disappointed, she runs into her. How could you ever have arranged it?194 ¶23

A lady came to see me after completely exhausting all the things in New York City. She went to the police department first, then she went to the detective agency, and paid a goodly price, to find the furniture that had disappeared while she was in Europe for almost a year with her children. She left her furniture and her apartment. She was paying the rent every month and yet when she came back there was no furniture. So she sought the help of the police department, she sought the help of the private agency, and they couldn’t locate it in all of the things that they did in New York City. They went to the five boroughs, going to all the great storehouses, and they couldn’t find any evidence of it.194 ¶24

Then she came to me. She knew me well. She could have come first and saved herself time and money. No, she’s going to take Caesar’s way first. When Caesar failed, she came. She and I sat in the Silence and simply saw the furniture, and sat on it, and saw the lovely family pictures on the piano, and all the things where they would be were it true. So one day she’s coming out of a bank on Madison Avenue and there were rails—on Madison Avenue all things, sort of an old atmosphere—coming out of this bank and she sees these rails; and it reminded her of a very strange experience of hers years ago when she had a mental breakdown and they committed her. They thought she was violent so she was committed in a violent ward. So when she saw these rails it disturbed her. At that moment of being disturbed she turned south instead of turning north to her hotel. She went one block, she discovered her mistake. At the very end of the block, having discovered she was going south instead of north, she stopped, and as she was turning around to go north she sees a familiar pair of ankles. There they are. And just before the light turned green for her to cross the street, she sees, she looks at the face, it’s her maid. And she goes and she holds the maid, and the maid begins to scream. She said, “I’m not going to hurt you. I only want my furniture, and I’m not leaving you, I’m not letting you go until you take me right this very moment to my furniture.” So she hailed a cab and together they got into the cab and the maid took her to her furniture.194 ¶25

The maid, in that interval, thought, well, this lady is always a little bit off, she will not know, so she’ll disappear with the furniture. And it all happened after all the police gave up and the private agency gave up; but not until they took her money, because she paid for that help, and then they couldn’t deliver the goods. It was not contingent on finding it; it’s simply putting in time. They put in x-number of weeks or months. If you want to pay for it, we’ll try to find it for you. When you feel you can’t give us any more, you can stop us, but we’ll make the great effort. In that interval, we hope to find it. Well, they didn’t find it.194 ¶26

And how did she find it? By stripes coming down through the window…and so it reminded her of a most unpleasant past and it disturbed her. She comes out on Madison Avenue and turns south instead of turning north, and one block, because she was disturbed, there is the maid. See how God works?194 ¶27

So what happened? God acted. We sat on the furniture and there was no furniture. “He calls a thing that is not seen as though it were, and the unseen becomes seen” . You’ve got to learn to believe that God and you are one: “I and my Father are one…although my Father is greater than I.” Believe it. If I and my Father are one, my Father can never be so far off as even to be near, for nearness implies separation. We either are one or we aren’t one. So I and my Father are one, how can he be near? He can’t be near; for God acts, well, how does he act? By putting my hand out? No, that’s only compulsion. God acts in an imaginal manner, so my imaginal act is God in action. So I imagine a friend telling me good news, now can I say “Amen” to that? Can I, as he acted, can I react in confidence? For I must hold God trustworthy; that’s the meaning of the word. Hold God trustworthy is Amen.194 ¶28

Another word used, which is not often used, but it’s always translated truth, and that is Emeth—Aleph, Mem, Toph—that’s translated truth. Well, what is a true judgment? Now this is called faith. A true judgment, said the world of Caesar, must conform to the external reality to which it relates, that’s what Caesar said. I say, “Isn’t that a wonderful plant!” and you say, “What plant? Now he’s really gone.” So there’s a marvelous plant…and not one sees a plant…but I am seeing a plant, a lovely plant. And so, that’s a false judgment, for it does not conform to the external fact to which my judgment relates. There is no plant, so that’s a lie. So the word faith which is Emeth in another way is truth. So that’s not true…but I still say I see a plant; and I live in the assumption that that was an act, God acted. All things are possible to God. And so, in my Imagination I saw a plant. Who saw it? Well, God acted. Can I accept it? Can I react? For God acts and I’m called upon to react; God speaks and I’m called upon to say “Amen” to what he said. So can I say “Amen” to that…that there’s a plant there? If I can say “Amen” to it, well, then it’s done. And in no time, and in a way I do not know and could not devise, someone’s going to bring a plant. But they will say, “But someone brought it, it didn’t grow out of the piano.” Did I tell you it’s coming out of the piano? They want me to bring it out of something.194 ¶29

Back in New York City I said, “Imagining creates reality.” This professor, he teaches in some eastern college, and he said to me, “Imagining creates reality? Well, here is pencil, Neville, it’s a yellow pencil. Make it red.” I said, go and paint it, paint the pencil. Go in the back room and paint it red. You can make it red. “No, you make it red.” “Did I tell you I’m going to make anything?” I said, everything is possible to Imagination. I can imagine it red. “But it isn’t red.” To you it isn’t, I said, but it’s red to me. I say it’s red, and tomorrow maybe you’ll lose this pencil and find one just like it, and you’re going to find a red one. You go back to your college and teach them all your little things that you know concerning what Aristotle said, what Plato said, what all the others who are blind said. I am telling you only about the Bible, and the Bible tells me whatever I believe comes to pass…if I can believe it. Whatever I ask in prayer believing, the same comes to pass . Well, can I believe it when reason denies it and my senses deny it? Can I give my belief sensory vividness and give it all the tones of reality? Well, certainly I can, I do it. I’ve gone all over this world when they told me I couldn’t go, when I had no permission even to travel, no permission to travel from this country, or permission to get back into this country. I went out of the country and came back into the country by putting myself just where I wanted to be if it were true that I am there. And so, what’s his name?—-I AM. Well, can’t I say “I am”? Well, is there anything impossible to God? Nothing! But man has to make that answer. Man may say, “Oh yeah? He can’t grow a second foot if one is severed.” So right away they think God can’t do that. He can make me…he’s already made four billion pairs walking the earth now, but he can’t make another one. So he’s made billions of pairs of eyes, but he can’t make another one, not one single eye that you gouge out. He’s done all these things but he can’t make another one.194 ¶30

And may I tell you, he can. I had that experience. I was lifted up on high and saw this fabulous world of imperfection, blind, lame, halt, withered, shrunken, and just as I was lifted up—-and I did nothing—-as I walked by everything was molded into perfection, as I walked by. Eyes that were missing came out of some strange place and molded themselves in the empty sockets. Arms that were missing came out of some strange reservoir and they came back and molded themselves into the empty sockets. And everyone was made perfect. When I got to the very last, this heavenly chorus sang out, “It is finished!” Then I came back to this limitation where I must live by faith. But I saw it.194 ¶31

Now, having seen another aspect of the power which will be yours and mine tomorrow, for I tasted of the power of the age to be. Where this whole vast world…if you took the human body with its billions of atoms and then fragmented it and each becomes a man…so if this whole vast world…just as God in this lady could take mankind and rearrange it to bring about the maid at the corner, rearrange the entire structure to produce the maid who knows where the furniture is. Well, someone is ill, can’t he also rearrange the structure of the body in the twinkle of an eye? He arranged the structure of the macrocosm; can he not rearrange the structure of the microcosm?194 ¶32

And so, who did it? All you do is simply act in your Imagination. You imagine that things are as you would like them to be, and they will react. The imaginal act was God. Don’t say it was Bob doing it and John doing it and Mary doing it. Alright, it was God doing it; now let John and Mary and Bob react. And so, I react with pleasure.194 ¶33

So you are told, let me quote for you again, the 4th chapter, the 6th verse of Philippians, “Have no anxiety about anything”—-what a statement!—-“but in everything by prayer with supplication and with thanksgiving let all your requests be made known to God.” No anxiety about anything! Now comes letting your request be known to God. Well, my request is that John has a wonderful job, gainfully employed and moving up, expanding, month after month. So I meet John in my mind’s eye now, and John tells me he has the most wonderful job in the world. Well, that action was God. And so, he tells me; I react; I say “Amen” to that; the whole thing is done.194 ¶34

I go to the end and then I don’t raise a finger to get John the job. I don’t call a friend and say, “You know John is in need of a job, can you help him out and steer him in the right direction?” I do nothing. I can’t put my hand upon that ark and steer at all. Let it be steered properly by the imaginal act, for the imaginal act contains within itself the power and the wisdom to externalize itself. So I can’t do a thing about it. All I’m called upon to do is simply to react to God’s action.194 ¶35

But I know who God is. I have found him. Because, if by him all things were made and without him was not anything made that was made, I know exactly what I did. I recall exactly sitting with that lady in her imaginary wonderful room, sitting on her own furniture. That’s all that I did. If she found it in this strange, unique manner, I know that I didn’t aid her in the finding; I only sat on the furniture. If I’m sitting in her place on the furniture, and then it happens that the furniture comes in that place, and I’m invited there for tea and I do go and sit on that furniture, I know what I did. Now I’m told, “By him all things were made and without him was not anything made that was made.” Well, I know what I did, so I’ve found him. I’ve found exactly who he is: He’s my Imagination. My Imagination in action is God creating, and when I can react to that imaginal act and say “Amen” to it, well then, I know exactly what is meant in the Bible: “He is the yea to everything.” He simply said yes to every imaginal act that takes place within him, confident that his Father who is himself can externalize it. On this level, when I’m veiled I am shut out. When the veil is taken off, I am one with the Father in the true sense of the word; we aren’t then two. And then you’ll understand this fabulous mystery. I came out of this, and therefore that which comes out of this is its son, and this is its father. But that which comes out has been promised to be the father of this. Well, that’s a fantastic thing! You mean I mature and I awake when I become my own father’s father? Yes, I come out of this and therefore this is its father. I awoke in this and this is David. David is the sum total of all the generations of humanity fused into a single being that is a youth, called David. But every being is David. When fused, it’s David. But individually, it’s David. So that body is David. So I awoke in this body and I know who I am.194 ¶36

To you who may not understand it, when I say I awoke in my skull, don’t think I was a little tiny thing this big, you know. I’m just as big as I am, and my skull, if I drew a straight line here, the skull is equal to the size of this area here. Because I stood up and walked around in my skull. The skull was just as big as this area here. All things being relative, I wasn’t any little, tiny thing this big. I was the man that I am now, feeling myself just as I am now. So I stood up and walked around in the skull, the skull the size of this room. Then I came out. I woke in my own being, for this is David. I come out of David; and then five months later, David, the sum total of all humanity, stands before me and calls me Father. So man matures when he becomes his own father’s father. For this gave birth to it. I slept in it and woke in it. And then you’ll understand the words: “When your days are fulfilled”—which means when you’re dead; that’s a lovely way of putting it—“When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers”—-that means when you’re buried with the rest of them—-“then I will raise up your son after you, who shall come forth from your body”—out from your body—“I will be his father”—-who is speaking? God is speaking—-“and he shall be my son.” So I’m raising up out of David (the body) my own son. But he comes out of the body, therefore the body is its father; so he comes out of David.194 ¶37

Now listen to these words, Jesus Christ:—this is from the Book of Timothy, 2nd Timothy—Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descended from David. “Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descended from David, blessed forever” . Descended from David—-you come out of this body, and therefore this that gave birth to it must be your father. And in spite of that, suddenly he appears before you and calls you Father. So I say, maturity comes to man when man, born of David, becomes David’s father. So you’re actually matured when you become your own father’s father, and the father’s father is God.194 ¶38

But while you are here in this world wearing this garment of flesh, you must walk by faith, and understand why you must walk by faith, and why you must react to God’s action. God’s action is your own wonderful imaginal act…that’s God’s action. So learn to discriminate and only act in noble manners. So you want to be successful? Why not! You want your friends to be successful? Why not! You want all the fellows that you know to be happy and successful? Why not! Well, then act in that way and say “Amen” to it. Learn to say “Amen” to your imaginal acts, and then don’t raise a finger to make it so; let it be so. And don’t justify failure…but wait patiently. Simply let it be known to God, let all your requests be known to God. And you’re known to God, because I know what I did—-that’s being known to God. How could I know something, and the presence men call God not know it if he’s God? Well, is he all-knowing? Well, he knows what I imagined because he imagined it…because he is my Imagination. God became man that man may become God.194 ¶39

So now, this very moment, without any bursting of blood vessels, you simply think of someone and see them as you would like to see them; gainfully employed if that’s the problem of the moment. If it’s health, that you’ve never seen them look better, and they’ll say, “Never felt better.” Alright, that’s all that you do. Say yes, say “Amen” to that imaginal act. Don’t go home and call them up to see if it’s working, just leave it alone, and in a wonderful manner that you do not know they will make it visible for you. They’ll either call you, write you or some third party will say, “You know what? I read it in so and so, and you should see them” and then they will bring the good news. So it doesn’t matter how it happens, it will happen. So don’t go into any palaver.194 ¶40

I went to New York City two years ago, as I go year after year. I called a friend I hadn’t seen in quite a while. And so I went up and I said, “Is Mr. so-and-so in, Mr. x?” and she corrected me, “Oh, you mean Dr. so-and-so.” Alright, Dr. so-and-so. When I knew him he was not Dr. so-and-so, but now he has a little degree, not a medical doctor. She said, “He’s busy.” I said, “Well, I’ll wait.” “Well, he’s giving a treatment and there are others waiting for treatments when he’s through.” Alright, I’ll wait. Then I heard a voice coming through the door, “Infinite Mind is healthy, Infinite Mind is wealthy, Infinite Mind is so and so,” and pouring word after word after word into this one sitting there getting all these words. And then the words came to my mind, if this man would only read the Bible, and go back and read, “Who by his many words hopes to gain the ear of God.” They hope to gain the ear of God by empty words that he himself does not believe and the one who is paying him for that half-hour does not believe either. Just empty words, driving it into someone who is so anxious about tomorrow’s job or tomorrow’s rent, and sitting there all anxious, and this one, just words, empty words. Hasn’t a thing to do with this simple approach to God. He’s not out there and he’s not dead. You don’t have to scream at him. And so he’s just simply bawling out someone about God being infinite in power, infinite in health, and infinite in wealth; and she came out of that simply minus whatever she gave him, and there was not a thing from the words. It doesn’t work that way.194 ¶41

You sit down quietly, imagine the loveliest thing in this world and say “Amen” to that. And then leave it. Now let us go. [...] a section wherever recorded. You read it in the 11th chapter in the Book of John, the raising of Lazarus, and the words are “Thank you, Father,” that’s all that he says. He saw the end and could say “Amen” to that and the words recorded are, “Thank you, Father. You always hear me”… but I said it that they may know you sent me. The most effective words…you see something clearly in your mind’s eye as you want to see it for a friend and then say “Thank you, Father!” with complete confidence that this is true [...] and then let it work. Now are there any questions, please? Yes sir?194 ¶42

Tonight’s subject “In a Vision of the Night,” this title is taken from the 33rd chapter of the Book of Job: “In a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon man, while he slumbers on the bed, then he opens the ear of man and seals his instruction” . Throughout the Bible, beginning in Genesis and going right through to Revelation, there are stories of the dream. It’s man’s contact with God. We’re told in Numbers: “If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and I will speak with him in a dream” . In the beginning, the great dreamer who was sold into Egypt, one who was called Joseph—and they spoke of him as the dreamer: “Behold, this dreamer cometh” . It was his dream that saved the world from starvation, for he interpreted the dream. Most of us are past masters at misinterpreting the dream, but he understood the symbolism of the dream; and because he interpreted wisely, and Pharaoh acted upon it, then they could put aside in their fat years enough to save them from their lean years, when everything simply turned to dust. And so, we mustn’t discount the dream.191 ¶1

But may I tell you, the night dream where you have no control over it is a parable. The earthly story of that parable is secondary to its meaning no matter how simple the dream is…if it is a dream. Not the waking dream; we’ll touch that afterwards. The waking dream is the most wonderful thing for the control and the change of the circumstances of life…that’s the waking dream. But the night dream where you’re not in control and you simply are recording an unfolding drama, God is simply speaking to you through the medium of the night dream.191 ¶2

Here we find that when Jesus was on trial just as Pilate took his seat to judge him, a message arrived from Pilate’s wife which read: “Have you nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have been much troubled today in a dream because of him” . Now, the dream is not related, in other words, it’s not told, I wish it were. But it’s not recorded what she dreamt, only “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have been much troubled about him today in a dream.” Then we find in the Book of Daniel when the king wondered what was the nature of the dream and he said to him, There is a God in heaven who makes known mysteries, and he has spoken unto you, O king . And then he tells him how God spoke to him. He said, he’s told you of the latter things. And the latter things are these, in a dream, in a vision of the night, that’s how God speaks to man. When you put your head on that bed and you slumber and lose consciousness here, if you can recall it, God has told you something that really is important, if you can recall it. And the most simple thing in the world has meaning, deep meaning.191 ¶3

So, when I opened here last November, on my way back from New York I decided to give you a subject that—I knew I’d get the majority on opening night whether you ever came again or not, at least I could tell you what I found—and the subject was “We Have Found Him,” the very one for whom the whole vast world is seeking. I found him, and he’s true and he is risen; and he’s rising in all of us. And so I tried that night to explain the great mystery of Christ. On the way out, I greeted many at the door, and one gentleman in particular—I knew exactly what he meant when he said it—he said, “I’ll be seeing you sometime.” But I knew in the depth of my soul what he really meant to convey: “If you ever see me again, you’re lucky.” That’s what he meant. Well, I haven’t seen him so far.191 ¶4

I knew exactly what he meant: he was not going to allow me to interfere with his preconceived misconception of Christ. No, I could not disturb that misconception. He’d come for the law. For from this platform he heard the law, and through the hearing of the law and applying it he came from behind the eight ball where he owed a thousand dollars into eighty-odd thousand dollars with no investment, but no investment. Before he did it, his mother and his brother told him, “You mustn’t go to that man; that isn’t Christian.” Because they go to their church, some denomination of the Christian faith twice or three times a week, and they sing all the lovely old hymns, and so, they’re trying to persuade him not to go, not to go here, come with them. But he was desperate, needed money, so he came here, which in the eyes of the mother and the brother was simply coming to the devil. When he won the eighty-odd thousand dollars, then they forgave him, and all joined in rejoicing that because of their constant visits to their church, God was merciful and therefore sent it through him, even though it came from the voice of the devil.191 ¶5

However, since then I have been trying, as much as I can, to reveal to you the mystery of Christ. So let me share with you one of last night.191 ¶6

It was a very quiet evening. I broke the pattern and looked at TV, a thing I rarely do, but I looked at that wonderful story of Abraham Lincoln and thoroughly enjoyed it. It ran ninety minutes, and then my wife and I discussed for another three-quarters of an hour; and then I turned in. So I must have been sound asleep before ten…it was a very quiet evening.191 ¶7

And during the night, this is what God said to me. I found myself in an enormous ocean liner, huge ocean liner, and looking out to sea I saw an enormous fish the size of a dolphin. It didn’t jump out of the water as dolphins do—if you’ve ever seen them, they simply play, they jump and go back into the water like the porpoise—but it did what the flying fish does. It jumped out of the water and sailed as it were for about a hundred yards, and then dove in again. Up it would come and then fly off for about a hundred yards, and dive in again. I noticed this behavior of this fish, it was a marvelous fish. So I turned to the passengers, I tried to show them the fish, but no one could see it. I pointed out the fish, I said, “Can’t you see it?” No, they couldn’t see it. Then I turned to my wife, I said to her, “Don’t you see it, dear?” She said, “No I can’t see it.” I said, “Watch my finger, I’ll point it” and so I said, “Watch where I point it, at the very angle, and see if you can’t see it.” Then she said, “Oh, yes, now I can see it” and the minute she said, “I can now see it, yes” then I woke.191 ¶8

Well, Jesus Christ has always been symbolized as a fish, the big fish. In fact, the letters in Greek for fish gives us the initials of the sentence: “Jesus Christ, Son of man, Savior.” That’s exactly how it’s spelled. The initials of the word in Greek give us the sentence: “Jesus Christ, Son of man, Savior.” I knew that I have found him…tried to tell…God confirmed it in the depths. No one could see it. I was showing the fish and no one could see it. I wanted my wife so much to see it, so I turned to her, “Don’t you see it, dear?” “No, I don’t see it.” And so, until she saw it I did not stop watching that fish as it came out, started, and then go down; he came out and started, playing all over on the horizon as it were; and finally, she said, “Oh yes, now I see it,” and then I woke.191 ¶9

So he revealed to me the truth of what I tell you concerning the mystery of Christ, for in all the books it is the great fish. The very last act, when he comes onto the shore and they are cooking fish, it is a symbol: he offers himself as the big fish to feed the whole vast world. He is the fish.191 ¶10

And so, I tell you what I’ve told you about the mystery of Christ is true. I certainly wouldn’t fool you on so deep and tender a thing in the hearts of all of us. But I have found the true Christ, not the false Christ where hundreds of millions worship him. I found that Christ that made you alive, that Christ dreams with you, and will be with you until the very last moment when he awakens you as himself. That’s the Christ of whom I speak.191 ¶11

So I tell you, in the depths of your soul when it comes up in the form of a dream, you may not be able to interpret it but don’t discount it. It’s a story from God in the depths of your soul to you. And the day will come, it will get more and more clear to you, and you’ll be able to interpret the symbolism of the dream.191 ¶12

But throughout…there’s a little couplet, a little English couplet: “The fish fried was Christ that died.” It’s always meant much to me, “The fish fried was Christ that died.” You find this all through the great poems and the great works of the masters, the story of the fish. They say that of all the symbols in the Catacombs the most numerous is that of a fish. On the Pope’s crown you find the symbol of the Pisces, you find two tied together, so they understand the symbol. But whether they understand the significance of Christ or not that I don’t know.191 ¶13

But now, we’ll take tonight in a more practical form where you can control it. It’s the same Christ…if you control it on the surface of your being. Still you may go to bed, but don’t go to sleep if you control it. Let me share with you now the story told by a man that is respected the world over. He’s gone now a few years, his name is Carl Jung. Well, Jung is among the great giants of the mind. If you name three, you could not omit the name of Jung in any list of three names when it comes to the understanding of the workings of the human mind, as a great analyst, a great psychiatrist.191 ¶14

Well, he said, “One night I lay awake thinking of the sudden death of a friend whose funeral took place yesterday.” He said, “I was deeply concerned, and suddenly I felt that he was in the room. It seemed to me he was standing at the foot of the bed, not as an apparition rather it seemed like an inner vision of him. And then, as I felt his presence there and saw him inwardly as it were, because of my work I had to do something about it, and so I explained it to myself as a fantasy. But then I said to myself, suppose it’s not fantasy? You have no proof that it is or is not fantasy, why not give him the benefit of the doubt and credit him with reality?” He said, “No sooner had I made the decision to credit him with reality than he turned and walked towards the door. I am watching him walk towards the door; then he beckoned me to follow him. So I in my Imagination followed him, and he led me through the garden onto the road, and then he led me to his home, several hundred yards away. “When we got to his house he led me in, into his study. Then he went forward, stood on a stool and reached up and pointed out a volume, a second book of a set of five. They were all bound in red. But he pointed to the second one on the second shelf from the top. He’s standing on a stool. As he pointed to the second book, all bound in red, then the vision came to an end, and I remained pondering on this strange experience.191 ¶15

It was so strange and exciting to me that the next morning I thought I must investigate, so I walked up to my neighbor’s home and asked the widow whether she would allow me to go into the library and look up something, which she willingly granted. I got into the library and there under the book shelf is the stool, the very stool that I saw in my vision. I stood on the stool to reach the second shelf, and there were the five books bound in red, translations of the novels by Emile Zola. I picked the second one out to read its title, and its title was on death, The Legacy of Death was the title.”191 ¶16

Now, he said, the contents didn’t mean much to me, but the title was most significant in connection with my experience, The Legacy of Death. But in the entire story, as he tells it, the important thing for us, trying to control this power of the mind, our wonderful human Imagination which is Christ, was that sentence in it: “The minute I decided to credit him with reality then, and no longer fantasy, he turned and walked to the door, and he beckoned me to follow him.”191 ¶17

But he could not move while he entertained the thought of fantasy. But the minute that he credited that with reality then reality took shape, walked to the door, and beckoned him to come. He, in Imagination—the body is still on the bed—he, in Imagination, follows and he leads him through the garden, onto the road, and several hundred yards away up to his friend’s home, his own home which he had just vacated through death. And then pulled out…by his finger pointed out the second volume. It was the second volume, it was on the second shelf from the top, and it was bound in red. And the stool was there. Well, that cannot be coincidence. A stool, the second shelf from the top, the second book in, in a series of five, and the title of the second to be The Legacy of Death. How can you brush it off as mere coincidence? You can’t do it. So he assured himself of survival.191 ¶18

But in reading that, what impressed me…because I’ve always known survival, nothing dies as far as I’m concerned. So I know that nothing dies, so I’m not looking for assurance of survival. I’m not looking for someone to encourage me that those I love do not cease to be because they’ve gone through the experience that men call death. I am so confident of all surviving. God is a God of the living, not the dead. “I am the God of the living” said he, “not of the dead” . So everything lives in its form where it was at the moment of the transition. No transforming power in death.191 ¶19

But, what impressed me was, it did not move. He entertained the thought “It’s not an apparition, but in my work I must treat it and explain it to myself as a fantasy; and here I’m seeing it on the inner side of my being. It’s not on the outside, but its objective to me from within; it’s an inner vision of him. And then I said, No, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, and so I will credit him with reality.” He had no sooner said, I will credit him on the inside, I’ll credit him with reality, than his friend turned, walked to the door and beckoned him to follow him. And he said, Alright, I’ll explore, so in his Imagination he followed him. You can do it. You can go with it, and actually move from where you are right upon this floor, through the garden path, onto the road, and up the street. You can do it. Anyone can do it if you are willing to credit the thing with reality.191 ¶20

Now, it brings me to this. You sit down to change your world, you want something better than you have, and so you begin to conjure a certain scene that would imply the fulfillment of your dream. You begin to conjure it. The average person cannot control their mind long enough to go from A to B. If, for instance, I assume that I am what reason denies and my senses deny, and at that very moment of assumption I think of all the debts and what people know me to be…I take it off. That doesn’t fit, it’s like a tight shoe, it just doesn’t fit me; so I take off the assumption. If I could only put on the assumption! Now what’s the next step? I assume that I am the one that I want to be. If it were true, my friends would know it. I wouldn’t hide it from them. In fact, it should be so obvious if it were true that they should see it. Well, the next step, the B step, would be to bring them into my mind’s eye and let them see me as they would see me were it true. Now, what’s the next step? Well, C…could they keep that secret? No, they would have to discuss it with friends. I would eavesdrop and listen to their discussion of the good fortune that befell me. And so I would listen…“Have you heard the good news?” one would say to the other. “You know what has happened to him? Who would have thought that he could ever get that?” Well, listen to it…then they tell a story.191 ¶21

I’m conjuring the whole thing, I know I am, but can I endow it with reality and not say it’s a fantasy? It’s not an apparition, because not a person is before me, not a thing is before me, it’s not an apparition. So, I would say it is fantasy, sheer fantasy, all conjured in my Imagination. But if I could say what Jung said, I will give it now the benefit of the doubt and credit it with reality; and the minute I credit it with reality, I’m believing. “Whatever you ask in faith, believe that you receive it, and you will” . That’s the story.191 ¶22

So man, if he can only control his Imagination between A and B, doesn’t have to go to C, just from A to B. Take the first step: You assume the end. The end is where we begin: “In my end is my beginning.” So I assume the end, I am the man that I want to be. And were it true, I would be known by my friends first, so I bring them into my mind’s eye and they see me. I let them see me. If I want to talk with them, accept their congratulations and not duck but really hold my head high and proud of what has happened to me; alright, accept the congratulations. And then I turn from that to the third step, and let them talk between themselves, and I’m listening. All of that is making it real to me. And then I go on in my wonderful state that it is true.191 ¶23

I begin to make plans of the things I would do and am going to do now. And then, in this simple little drama I now credit it, I give it reality. And then see and test God: “Come test me and see if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing so great you haven’t room on earth to receive it” . Come test me, test the Lord and see. As we’re told, “Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in thee?—unless, of course, you fail to meet the test” . I hope you realize that we have not failed. And so, we must test it, and test it by giving it reality. I try to give it all the tones of reality, all the sensory vividness that I can muster. And when I do it, it works.191 ¶24

If I never hear from one who has asked help from me, it would make no difference to me. They may never come back. Because I’m told—I try to believe implicitly in my scripture—“Were there not ten of you? And where are the other nine? Only one has returned. Where are the other nine?” . So if the nine do not come back, that’s part of scripture. They will accept it; it’s going to happen so naturally in the lives of the ones who received it that they’re going to say, “Well, it would have happened anyway.” And so they do not come back to say thank you. And so I know that scripture is true and, therefore, one in ten will say thank you and the nine will not. Therefore, why look for them to ask…I never ask if it has happened, because to me it happened at the moment I did it. As far as I am concerned that’s when it happened and I’m not looking to see confirmation. That’s how it works.191 ¶25

So this is a controlled dream when you haven’t lost it into the depths of the soul. So I teach the law in the controlling of one’s Imagination, by simply conceiving a scene which if true would imply the fulfillment of the dream…if true. Now, you conceive it, enact it in your Imagination, then credit it with reality, and then let it go. Don’t raise a finger to make it so, just let it go. I see faces here this night in the audience, many of you have proved it 100%, many of you. If you have failed in one little thing, you are not doubtful of the law because you have already proved it. You know that in some strange way you haven’t in this peculiar incident done the thing that you should do; you haven’t given it the reality that you should.191 ¶26

Act upon it, see it vividly, enact it naturally, give it the tones of reality, and let it go. You can do it in the most detailed manner…and I do like detail. Don’t say, “Well, he knows best, therefore, if he knows I should get it then let him be the judge.” That’s passing the buck.191 ¶27

Someone said to me, “Can I ask for a certain sum of money?” I said, “Certainly…for a definite sum of money.” Well, she said, “My take-home pay would be so much and I want a hundred dollars net.” Now this goes back many years ago, today, undoubtedly, she’s making two hundred or more…I hope so. This goes back many years ago. She was in my Bible class in New York City, and she said, “Alright, what I will do, I’ll conceive a scene” and this is what she did. She was a seamstress and a part-time designer, but mostly a seamstress—but she was sometimes called upon to do a little design work. And she averaged in the sixties, sixty-five, sixty-six dollars a week. But she wants to take home a hundred dollars a week, not sixty-six; and then have them deduct her taxes, she wanted to take home a hundred net. So she took up the envelope, and she could feel the envelope, she could hear it tear, she tore it, she shook the contents out, she could smell money, and she counted off the money, just counted it off. And to her that was real.191 ¶28

This is on a Friday. On a Saturday, the phone rang—she lived at a hotel—and the phone rang and a lady called from the lobby asking her to come down and see her. She asked her, “What is it all about?” Well, she said, “I would like to see you. Your name has been recommended”. So she came downstairs and it was sealed that day to start working for her the following Monday. And she said, “I want a hundred dollars to take home net.” She said, “Alright, you’ll take home a hundred dollars net” and she started at the figure that she had predetermined. It should have taught her a lesson now that she knows it, that she cannot anchor herself there. She can go up and up as far as she wants to if she knows it’s a law. Because, “By him all things are made, and without him there is nothing made that is made” .191 ¶29

Not a thing in this world is made save God made it; and therefore if God did it in this way, she knows who God is now. She tested him and found out who he is. He’s not something in the sky. She knows the whole vast world is contained within man; it’s not in the sky. As we told you this past week, quoting this lovely magazine, The [...] on Space, that only the Imagination of man is vast enough to contain the immensity of space. So the whole vast world that you behold, though it appears without, it is within, in your Imagination, of which this world of mortality is but a shadow . So the whole vast world is contained within you. So give reality to anything that you imagine, for that’s Christ in action. Your own wonderful human Imagination is Christ in action. Therefore, don’t debase him, don’t hurt him. You hurt him every time you use your Imagination unlovingly on behalf of anyone in this world or told of another what is unlovely. But every time you use it lovingly you’re feeding him, actually feeding him.191 ¶30

So I say to you, you have a dream this night and you can’t quite interpret it, alright. Still know that God so loved you that he talked to you. He talked with the medium of a dream. Sometimes it’s so simple it needs no interpretation, but other times it comes in the form of a symbol. But if it comes in the form of a symbol, always bear in mind that the earthly story is secondary to the meaning of that dream. The dream is always a parable, always a parable, and a parable has one central jet of truth, only one.191 ¶31

So, like last night, here comes the fish, this enormous beautiful dolphin. And I’ve eaten so many of them in my life, but you can’t eat a whole dolphin. But if I took all of the dolphins that I’ve eaten in my life, it would be a school of dolphins. And so, I would eat…really, he said, “Eat my flesh”…so I did, I ate dolphin. But it’s only the symbol of Christ. But it’s a perfect symbol of him: He comes from the depth. What is a greater symbol of the depth than the ocean? My first mystical experiences were with the ocean. When I was a child, a boy of maybe five or six, I would find myself at night…I knew exactly when it was going to happen, and it scared me to death. I would sit up in bed and hope not to go to sleep, but sleep would come regardless of my efforts. And so, my brothers luckily were with me in the same big bed. So I would get near one of them as I fell into the pillow. But then I would become the ocean, an infinite ocean; and then, not only was I the ocean but I was the wave on the ocean’s back. The ocean would toss me, the wave. I was the ocean tossing myself, the wave, and catching myself on my own back, the ocean. It scared me to death. But I could tell the day it was going to happen. I could feel the feeling building within me, a mood taking possession of me, and that night I knew it was going to happen tonight. Well, this lasted all through the years until puberty, and then it vanished. But from my childhood, six or so, right through to puberty, and then the whole thing vanished.191 ¶32

My next mood when [...] was not an ocean, it was an ocean of light. That was when I turned twenty. I found myself this night…I was reading a book on the life of Buddha, and suddenly I woke and it was sunup, about eight in the morning. The light was still on and the book was on my chest. So I did a thing I never do, really—that was the first time I can recall ever having done it—read in bed. I go to bed to sleep. But this night, something was going on at the club. I was not allowed to participate because I was a guest of the manager, so I couldn’t join the guests of the club because we discriminate in club life as we do in army life. You can’t entertain the private with an officer…that’s breaking protocol. And so, I was not allowed to dance among those who were members. So having not a thing to do, I took the book, went to bed quite early, and started to read. Next thing I knew it was eight, nine in the morning, and I hadn’t turned in the course of the night because the book was still open flat on my chest. So I could not have turned and the light was burning. So, then I threw myself into a deep trance—I didn’t purposely do it—but in that deep, deep trance I became an infinite ocean of liquid light. There was nothing but myself. There was no buoyancy in the sense of a wave, just living light. The whole thing was alive and I am it. It had no circumference and yet I am it. And then when I came to, I remembered vividly the experience of the night. How long it lasted, I don’t know. When I actually fell into the deep, I don’t know. But I only know what happened in that interval.191 ¶33

So what greater symbol of that depth of man than the liquid state, the water? Let it come down to the liquid state of golden, liquid, living light. But then in water what lives?—the fish. What could go deeper than the fish? So right in the very depth he symbolizes the Great God, and he’s called the Great Fish, Jesus Christ. And when you think of the word fish in Greek and how the letters that spell the word yield for us the initials that when you take the initials it spells out “Jesus Christ, Son of man, Savior,” that’s no accident.191 ¶34

And so last night, from the depths of my soul came this revelation. Not that I had any doubt in my mind as to the truth of what I told you, for I have experienced it, but for those who may still have a question mark, who cannot quite see it. And what could drive it home to me? For my wife discusses these things with me all of the time; and in my vision of last night, I turned to her as a very last resort because no one could see the fish. In other words, no one could see the mystery that is the fish. And so I said, “Don’t you see it, dear?” She said, “No, I don’t.” Then I said, “Follow my finger.” I took the index finger and “Wherever I’m pointing it, that’s the fish. You watch it now.” Then I saw the fish come up, “There he goes,” I pointed and she said, “Oh yes, now I see. Now I see.” So she sees the mystery as explained. But you can explain it and explain it and hope that one sees it, and then you’re not quite sure. Not quite sure if they say yes, but did they really see it?191 ¶35

Like the story we told you last Tuesday, the story that “he took eternity and put it into the mind of man” . How do you take eternity and put it into the mind of man? And then we took…so here’s exactly how he does it. First of all, in the Hebraic world, history to them consists of the entire experiences of man, and all the generations of man, but fused into a single being. And that being, being eternity, has to be youth, for youth is eternity, not an old man; and that single being is David. The same word called eternity is called youth, called the lad, called the young man. And so, you turn to the Bible and you find these questions being asked: Who are you, young man? Inquire who is the lad? Whose son is that lad? . The whole question is asked about the father by asking “Whose son is the lad?” Therefore, if I’m asking about whose son it is, I’m really trying to find out who is the father, because I have promised the father freedom. So I must find the father.191 ¶36

And so, I hoped when I left here that those who attended understood what I meant by David. David is the sum total of humanity. God’s love is humanity. God loves man. And take all the generations of men, and all of their accomplishments, all of their experiences, and fuse them into a single man, you have David. So when you’ve overcome to the point where David appears and you are set free, you have actually played the parts; and so you now fall in love with humanity. For humanity fused together into a single being is David. And you are the father of David; therefore, you are the father of humanity; and humanity gave you birth. Through all of these troubles you came out of man, for he’s born of man…and the very first verse, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David” . So Jesus Christ is born of man, as told you in the 3rd chapter, the 16th verse of Galatians: “And your offspring, which is Christ.” He’s speaking to man: Your offspring is Christ. Yet, when I bring him forward, because he actually begot me, and then comes a reversal of order, and he who seemingly was my father now calls me Father and he’s my son. So humanity now calls me Father. That’s the story.191 ¶37

But, it’s a mystery, something that is not an easy thing to grasp. As I’ve said earlier that it’s one of the most difficult things in this world to change the meaning of the event once certain interpretations of that event become fixed in the human mind. So, hundreds of millions who call themselves Christians have fixed in their minds the event called Christmas, the event called Easter…and that’s the event. Well, now when you have the real meaning of it because it’s unfolded within you and you experienced it, it’s so difficult to change the meaning of that event after an interpretation, a certain interpretation, has been fixed upon that event. And so, they come clouded, like this man that I spoke of earlier. He’s not to be disturbed. That is a fixed thing in his mind’s eye. He wants no disturbance, because he might wake up tomorrow to find himself on the other side of the veil, and then I misled him. So he doesn’t want to take any chances now because a man my age knows that he’s nearer that side than he is this side, and so, he’s taking no chances.191 ¶38

But I’ll tell you, what I’ve told you so far is true because I am speaking not from theory, I’m speaking from experience. And so, if you know anything in this world from experience because you’ve experienced it, doesn’t really matter what the world will say, you know. Why?—because you’ve experienced it. So I know Christ is real, he’s true. I know he’s risen. I also know he’s rising in the whole vast body of humanity; but he rises individually. And so, when he speaks to you this night, should he speak this night, record it simply.191 ¶39

A friend of mine gave me a letter last Tuesday night. I have it with my other precious mail at home. When I went home before I retired I read it, and I was thrilled beyond measure. He said, “I quit the job yesterday”—that was the day before he wrote this letter—“so having no way to go for a job today…I had no desire for a job. I quit first, I wasn’t fired; I just left the job. But I always rise early from habit, so at 5:30 I awoke, but I didn’t get out of bed. There was no reason for getting out of bed, so I remained in bed in that sort of drowsy, dreamy state, not awake, not asleep, and then I heard a voice. It wasn’t a deep sonorous voice but a lovely voice speaking to me, and the voice said to me, ‘God knows the depth of your soul, and you will receive the promise within, that is, from 100 days to a year.’ Then I wrote it down in a half dream state, and when I did wake I remembered writing something down. I picked it up and I read it: ‘God knows what is in the depth of your soul and from 100 days to a year you will receive the promise.’”191 ¶40

Well, he said, I haven’t been able to think of anything but since! I don’t blame him. I don’t blame him! What could you ask for in this world comparable to that? And he has no desire to take the platform and teach. He said to me tonight, “But I have no desire to teach.” I said, well, you’ll teach. So you want to be a musician? Tell the boys in the band…as they’re dancing around you can whisper in their ear the message. Well, he’d tell it differently, we’re all different, and so you can tell it in a thousand different ways. Blake had no audience; Blake told it in poetry. And so, he told the glorious story in his paintings, in his etchings, he told it in poetry. And he has grown bigger and bigger through the years. After 200 years since his birth to today, he is so big today he dwarfs all the people who lived in his age, and yet he was completely unknown when he made his exit from this world. And so, he told his story through the medium of the pen. I am trying to tell it through the medium of words from the platform and trying to leave a slight record in a written form. But you can tell it in your own wonderful way.191 ¶41

Another lovely vision was given to me, a different kind of a vision, last Tuesday night. This lady writes a letter, she said, “You know how doting grandparents are over their grand-children.” She said, “My little boy”—whom I know quite well, I saw him this past summer, the previous summer, and he’s just a tot, three years old— “you know they have playmates and they’re very real to them. Well, he has two elephants and he tells me they’re gray, and he talks to them, Mumbo and Jumbo, I think are their names.” Well, she said, “one day, it’s raining, a very hard rain, so the mother said, ‘C’mon, let’s run to the car.’ As he got into the car she slammed the door; he began to cry in a forceful manner, almost hysterics. She said, ‘What have I done?’ He said, ‘You’ve closed the door on Mumbo and Jumbo; they can’t get in.’ So, she said, “I had to open the door and let the two elephants in, and then he placed them in the back of the car, and got them all nice and comfortable.” So she said, “I don’t want this again, so I better explain to him, in the future if the car is locked and it’s raining they can get through the car, we don’t have to open the door, so that the next time it happens this way at least they will understand and he will understand that they can make it.” But they’re so real to him until the little mind is closed around with the flesh. Hasn’t yet closed, and so the minute it closes he will laugh at his own stupidity and others will laugh with him. Yet we are living in a fabulous world…and this little boy, only three.191 ¶42

Then she said, “I took him into the place that they rented for him.” This lady, the grandmother, went to Hawaii and brought back some lovely Hawaiian music, and he wanted to hear the record. So she brought the records out and among the records she had among them my record, and she said, “It’s Neville’s record.” He said, “I want to hear Neville’s record. I know Neville.” Well, he does know me, met me last summer. So she said, “But it’s all talking and I have some lovely music here from Hawaii. Let us play the music.” He said, “No, I want to hear Neville’s record.” So she puts on the record, and it came to a certain passage, he said, “Neville had a baby,” just the most natural thing in the world for him that Neville, a man, should have a baby. And then, a few bars further on, where I held the child in my arms and called it by some endearing term, “How is my sweetheart?” he said to his grandmother, “Neville loves his baby.” At the end of the record, he said, “Play it again.” She said, “But no, you’ve heard the record.” “I want to hear that record again.” So he sits on the floor in a lotus posture like some little Buddha listening to the record, not really grasping it. And so, she had heard the record many times and she knows the record backwards. She got busy about the house when he said, “Shhh,” with his hand on his mouth, “Neville’s talking.” So she had to stop what she had intended to do and come back and listen for the umpteenth time to the record.191 ¶43

So these little children living in an entirely different world, but as they grow and the flesh closes around them they’re completely shut out. And he has the Imagination to invite these two elephants right in. Maybe tomorrow’s Republican, who knows?191 ¶44

But may I tell you, the story of Christ is true, the truest thing in the world. In fact, it is the only thing that is real. There is nothing but Christ, and Christ so loved humanity he actually became humanity, and he’s crucified on the cross of man. He rose to fulfill the promise and he’s rising in every one in the world. When he rises out of you, because he came out of you to fulfill the promise—“I will raise up your son after you, who shall come forth from your body. I will be his father and he shall be my son” . But you’re told, you will be his father because he’s coming out of you. And then God speaks, “But I will be his father and he shall be my son.” So he draws his son, himself, out of man, therefore, man gave birth to him. But when he comes out, man calls him “my Lord,” “my God, my Father, the rock of my salvation” . He comes right out of man and then the whole reversal of order takes place, and he calls what came out of him his own creator, which it is.191 ¶45

And so, you take the whole vast world, all the generations of men, all their experiences, and fuse it into a single man and you get David. Take all the gods that said “Let us make man in our image”—the Elohim, for that’s a plural word meaning “gods”—take them all, the unnumbered gods, and fuse them into a single God, and you get Jehovah who is Jesus Christ. People don’t believe it, Jehovah is Jesus Christ. They’re one, and all of the gods are contained in the one God. These are all humanity, and fused into one man, it’s David. All the gods fused into one God, you get Jehovah who is Jesus Christ.191 ¶46

You dwell upon it. Last night it was shown to me so vividly, so clearly, all those who traveled with me in that boat, they couldn’t see him, couldn’t see the fish. But I was determined that at least one should see him, so I turned to my wife, “Can’t you see him, dear?” “No.” “Now you watch my finger and you watch it. I’m pointing at him. There he is.” And finally she said, “Oh, yes, now I see him.” When she saw him then I could awake. Now let us go into the Silence.191 ¶47

Now first let me call your attention to the book table. The only books that stayed tonight are mine. I was waiting for my friend’s book I Do, that’s Freedom Barry’s book, but it hasn’t yet arrived. But on the way out, look them over and see if you would like a book.191 ¶48

Above all tonight, don’t forget the importance of giving vision reality. For when he gave it reality and credited the thing with reality, things began to move. That is a man who is honored the world over. His books are translated into unnumbered different languages. You can buy them in any town. His works are in Chinese, Japanese, Russian, German, all tongues, that’s how honored he is all over the world. And he’s giving you his own personal experience.191 ¶49

Now are there any questions, please?191 ¶50

Any other questions, please?191 ¶53

Tonight’s thought is taken from the Book of Ecclesiastes, the 3rd chapter, 11th verse. This is considered the most disputed verse in the book. Man refuses to accept it because it doesn’t make sense and man is a rational being. But those who wrote the Bible, or took it down I should say, were not writing rational thoughts. They were inspired and they were writing their vision. This entire book does injury to man’s rational side, for to him everything is vanity, vanity of vanities, all is vanity.190 ¶1

`No one knows who Qoheleth is, but he hints at it—and bear in mind this is a mystery—so the book opens with a certain claim, “The words of Qoheleth, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.” The last chapter invites us all to leave everything and follow just the collected works of one shepherd, for the Bible tells us who that shepherd is. He is telling you who he is when he tells you “son of David,” but it’s a mystery, for in the scriptures there is no son of David whose name is Qoheleth. So in spite of certain scholars who try to say Solomon, there is no Solomon hinted in it.190 ¶2

But the verse that we are taking tonight, we have to go all over the Bible to support it. It is, “God has made everything beautiful in its time.” That is denied by our reason: a child comes in deformed, mentally retarded, injured and, here, “God has made everything beautiful in its time.” May I tell you, it’s a true story; it’s right in its time. Now we’ll go on, “God has put eternity into man’s mind yet so that man cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” He’s put eternity in man’s mind. Well, again, man claims it can’t be done. To understand what he means by eternity we must understand the meaning of the word Olem, for that’s the word. Its interpretation can only be given if we know the real meaning of the word Olem. You pass a cemetery, Beth Olem (the same word Olem) and Beth means “a home, a house, one’s eternal home” when one goes through that cemetery. But he doesn’t mean that. The cemetery is earth. This world here is the cemetery called Beth Olem. He enters eternity here, that is, in his mind; everything here is in his Imagination, everything.190 ¶3

To understand it you must go back to the Hebraic mind who wrote it, who took it down. In Hebrew thought history consists of all the generations of men and their experiences fused into a whole. This concentrated time in which all the generations of man are fused and from which all things come is called eternity. Just think of it, a complete compression of every conceivable thing that man could ever do, all in just one compressed section of time.190 ¶4

The Old Testament is that block. Every frightening thing in the world is openly described in the Bible. There isn’t a crime that you read about in the daily press, not a war, that isn’t openly described in the Bible. Talk about rubbing out a whole race, that’s described in the Bible; a whole country, that’s described in the Bible.190 ¶5

And so, Blake made the statement: “Eternity exists, and all things in eternity, independent of creation which was an act of mercy.” So here, in man’s mind are all the things that it takes for man to be anything in the world that he wants to be.190 ¶6

Now, he tells us there is nothing new under the sun. He makes the statement: “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, ‘See, this is new?’ It has been already in ages past. But there is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of things to come later among those who will come after,” no remembrance whatsoever.190 ¶7

Now he paints a word picture of what he himself has accomplished: great wealth. He amassed great wealth through his own toil and he knows he will die and leave it to one who did not toil for it. He says, “That is vanity of vanity.” He built great buildings and he knows that they will crumble or go into the hands of one who did not toil. He sought out wisdom and became the wisest of men, but the end was like the fool, both turned to dust. He mentions all these things and then concludes it’s all vanity.190 ¶8

Now bear in mind, the New Testament interprets the Old—it’s not the other way around. These were inspired men. As we are told, “No prophecy of scripture ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” So they aren’t his words; he’s recorded them. He’s not trying to set up some workable philosophy of life. He has simply recorded it on a certain level where this block exists…all in the mind of man.190 ¶9

Now, let me define for you the word Olem. It does mean eternity if you remember what I’ve said concerning the Hebrew’s mind and what history means to it. It contains all the generations of men and all their experiences, and that is called eternity. But the word is also translated “the world.” It’s translated “something hidden, something concealed, something out of sight, a secret; a youth, a lad, a stripling, a young man.” These are all definitions of the word Olem. They’re all right. Every one can be used in that statement. He did put eternity into the mind of man. As we quoted last Thursday a passage from this strange magazine: “Only the Imagination of man is vast enough to contain the immensity of space.” Only the Imagination of man is vast enough to contain eternity and all that you could ever, all these combinations, bring out, and be anything that you want in this world.190 ¶10

Yet he speaks of recurrence, and you might think that it’s going to be a peculiar, monotonous recurrence. No, he means everything taking place took place and is going to take place, because you draw it out of this one block of eternity. But everything is in it, and you call the combinations and play them; but the end, as he sees it, is vanity.190 ¶11

What are we waiting for, he’s asking? We’re waiting for something, because here is complete recurrence. No matter how rich you are you leave it behind to one who didn’t toil for it. No matter how wise you are you leave it behind and join the fool in the same grave; and you join all the weak people if you’re strong, all in the same grave. That all seems so vain and so fruitless! So we must be waiting for something, and that was concealed. For the word Olem means “something hidden.” What was hidden that he couldn’t see? What was hidden from the prophets? Well, now listen to the words: “The prophets who prophesied of the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired about this salvation. They inquired what person or time was indicated by the spirit of Christ within them when predicting the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glory.” It was revealed to them they were serving not themselves but you. All these characters of the Old Testament were all in you. They were serving not themselves; they were serving you when the fullness of time arrived. No one knew when, so he asked, “What person or time was indicated by the spirit of Christ within them when prophesying this state?” Well, when the fullness of time had come, only when it came, could it be revealed that which was hidden in the minds of man.190 ¶12

Now, here is what is hidden. Think of Jesus Christ as the personification of God; just think of him that on his face you see the glory of God. So when you are told in scripture, God said, “Let us make man…” think of the Elohim, the gods, and together they form one who personifies all, that’s Christ Jesus, think of that. Now, think of humanity, God’s love, and one personifies humanity and that is David. When you see humanity, God’s love, God’s beloved—he’s in love with mankind, with humanity—it’s personified as a single youth. For eternity is youth, it’s not an old man with a scythe. So when you meet eternity personified, you see David. When you meet God personified, you see him reflected in the face of Christ Jesus. So think of these two.190 ¶13

So the one now speaking—the son of David—why the son of David when in the New Testament he tells you that David calls you Father? We’ll come to that. Yet he claims in this that he is the son of David, son of humanity. He is buried in man, in humanity; therefore, he has to come forth from humanity, and cannot deny he is the Son of man. But Son of man that comes forth, we’re told, shall be Son of God. The words are: I will raise up from you (humanity) when you sleep with your fathers…I will bring forth from you a son. He shall be my son and I his Father. So here, he’s bringing forth from humanity which is David, a son. But the son that comes forth is going to produce the reversal of order that you find all through scripture: For man matures when he becomes his own father’s father. So, who comes forth from David? Jesus Christ. “Christ in you, the hope of glory” . He cannot emerge from me were he not now in me. Christ could not come forth from you were he not now in you.190 ¶14

For you’re told he’s son of David—not a little boy called David that personifies humanity. When you meet David you’re seeing the personification of the whole vast history that you have gone through, which is humanity. You’re then his father when you meet him.190 ¶15

Now listen to the words as given us in the Book of Samuel, and three words are used in three verses, one after the other, and each word is Olem, translated differently. But first, a promise is made that the man who conquers the enemy of Israel will be set free—the father will be set free. So here comes the man who has conquered the enemy of Israel, the giant Goliath. The king said to his lieutenant Abner, “Abner, whose son is that youth?” and Abner replied, “As your soul liveth, O king, I cannot tell.” He said, “Enquire whose son the stripling is.” No one knows. So he’s brought before the king with the head in his hands of the giant, and he said, “Whose son are you, young man?” and he replied, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.” And now the king’s order must be given and the promise fulfilled: The father must be set free. He confesses who his father is. His father, he tells you, is Jesse. Jesse means “I am.” That’s all that it means. The word “Jesse” is “any form of the verb to be”… I am .190 ¶16

The day will come you will know why it is true God put eternity into the mind of man and man can’t find it. He has put eternity in such a way that man can’t find out what God has done from the beginning until the end. In the end you will; for as the end comes, there’s going to be explosion after explosion after explosion in that wonderful head of yours, and the thing that was hidden in the beginning will come forward to confront you. Every one will confront you. An entirely different drama begins to unfold within you and the end of this world is at an end for you. The world remains…people think the world is coming to an end…it comes to an end for the individual. It doesn’t come to an end for a group of people, like coming to the end of this world, burning it up. No, your world comes to an end when the final drama begins to unfold within you.190 ¶17

So, it was not given to the prophets to know, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that was to be yours. Grace is an unmerited gift, an unmerited good. In other words, it is God’s gift of himself to you; you can’t earn it. So they heard of this grace. For grace is mentioned in the Old Testament, too. You read it in Zechariah—in fact all through the Bible—but in Zechariah, they were about to put on the very top of the stone of the temple—the 4th chapter, 7th verse of Zechariah—and they do it amidst shouts of “Grace, grace to it.” So the temple cannot be finished until Christ is brought forth from humanity.190 ¶18

He comes forth singly, one after the other, the same Christ. And he only knows he is Christ when David appears to the individual from whom he comes, and David calls that individual Father. For in the Bible David calls him “Adonay,” which means “my Father, my Lord, my God, the Rock of my salvation.” So David comes out and he is youth. One of the definitions of Olem is “eternal youth,” and when you see him he is an eternally young, beautiful, handsome fellow. It’s David, a single man. One night you’re going to have this wonderful joy. You will see David in the distance, this radiant being, and when you approach, he is a multitude of nations. And then you know he summarizes and personifies humanity. You will see Jesus Christ and you will know he personifies the gods, the Elohim, all of us.190 ¶19

Therefore, who are you when he personifies all? We are the Elohim who fell asleep for a purpose. We emptied ourselves of our primal form; and took upon ourselves the limitation of this that was hidden in the mind of man, in our eternal sleep having passed through this eternal death to awaken to eternal life; expanded beyond what we were when we emptied ourselves of the eternal form, and then took upon ourselves the limitation of the human form.190 ¶20

He is not concerned with John Brown, Neville Goddard—these are parts of the eternal structure of this time-block. They are all parts of it, the whole vast world.190 ¶21

Have you ever had the experience of looking up and seeing on your mind’s eye, on the screen of your face, inwardly, the block? There isn’t a thing you can think of that isn’t there and it comes out, it actually comes out and takes on a three-dimensional quality. You might be lost in it if you don’t know what you’re doing. You can become completely lost, like an insane person. But if you know what you’re doing, you are in control of all as to bring them out of this concentrated block. And everyone mentioned in scripture is in that block, and you can bring them out in different combinations, different relationships, different, well, father-son relationships, man-wife relationships, any relationship. All the enemies in the world you can bring out. If you don’t know what you are doing, it will scare you to death, because they become alive the minute you detach them from the block. They take on a three-dimensional reality, and become alive, and then they start.190 ¶22

But if you know what you’re doing, then you know these words also from Qoheleth in the 4th chapter, 15th verse: “I have seen all the living that move about under the sun, as well as that second youth, who is going to stand in his place; there was no end to the people; and he was over all of them. Yet those who will come after will not rejoice in him. This too is vanity and a chasing of the wind” .190 ¶23

Now, this is what I mean “he is over all of us.” Take the block and fragment it—as we are fragmented now, this is the fragmented block—and he is over all, animating all. The day will come you will have the experience and taste of the power of the age to come. You will take a section of that animated block and stop it; and it can’t move—men can’t move, birds can’t fly, leaves can’t fall—everything is frozen as though made of marble. And then you will release it from within you and it will move and continue to fulfill its purpose.190 ¶24

After that, the faith you had before, which you would argue to support, you know now that faith is not justified through an argument but only through an experience.190 ¶25

Now you know, you know what it means now to have life in yourself. For the purpose of it all, when the time is fulfilled and then you come forward from this block, you have now life in yourself. Until then you thought you had life in yourself. And your friends died and you buried them. You knew the day would come that you would die and they would bury you. You thought we were living beings independent of something on the outside. We had no idea that we were being animated from without until this moment in time as you begin to awake, you, too, taste of the power of the age to come. And tomorrow, you’ll know that 15th verse of that 4thchapter of Ecclesiastes: “I saw all the living that move about under the sun, and that second youth who will stand in his place” and control. “Then I saw no end to the people; and he was over all of them. Yet those who will come after will not rejoice in him”—because they won’t believe it. They will not for one moment believe that we are all being animated from without.190 ¶26

And yet, while we’re animated we can choose and select if we know of these states. Without seeing the state you can still choose. You can choose the state of health, the state of wealth, the state of fame, the state of anything; and that state is personified in you when you see it. You can choose the state of poverty.190 ¶27

So when Blake saw the block, he said to himself, now you know why “I do not consider either the just or the wicked to be in a supreme state, but to be states of the sleep which the soul may fall into in its deadly dreams of good and evil.” So you have a deadly dream of being taken advantage of? You’re right in a state. Someone doesn’t like you? You’re in another state. Someone likes you? You’re in another state. And all of these are states and they’re personified on the inside. If your eye would only open you would see it. But until the eye is open, you don’t even know they are states and they’re all hidden within you. So he has hidden eternity in the mind of man.190 ¶28

But the day will come that second youth…the second youth is Jesus Christ. David is collective humanity. Out of it, comes Jesus Christ and knows that he came out of man; but man is his offspring; man is his father. And man is forced by the personification called David to call him “Father.” And he knows now that he is the Lord; yet no way of knowing he was the Lord until David appeared and called him Lord. For David is God’s beloved: “This is my son, today I have begotten thee” . That’s humanity. He’s in love with humanity. And now the gods are buried in humanity: “God became man that man may become God.” Not the reverse, man didn’t become God that God may become man; God became man that man may become God.190 ¶29

He is pulling himself out of humanity, but individually when he pulls himself out. He pulls himself out of humanity and humanity is personified as David, so David appears before him, right out of his skull. It explodes like a real explosion and he stands right before you and calls you “Adonay,” calls you “my Father.” And only then do you know who you really are. Everyone is going to have this experience, for the very simple reason God planned it as it would come out and as it would be consummated. For the very simple reason you can’t earn it. No man can earn it. That’s why we have today among our theologians the argument: Surely man can do something to earn it. You can’t earn it. It was God’s predetermined plan to actually sink himself in death.190 ¶30

The mystery of life through death: “Unless a seed falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. If it falls into the ground and dies, it brings forth much.” And so God actually entered death’s door, the human skull, and laid down in the grave of man, and shared [...] with man from within all of his visions of eternity, all of his nightmares, until the time is fulfilled. It must be fulfilled like a pregnancy. The child is conceived, but there must be an interval to fill time. And when that time is fulfilled, out will come Christ Jesus, for “Christ in man is the hope of glory.” Were he not in man he could not emerge from man, and he has to emerge from David. So the Bible begins in the New Testament: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David,” because that is prophecy. He comes out of humanity, but because humanity is the beloved son of God, it can’t be the father of God. So, comes the reversal, and David automatically makes the statement, “My Father.”190 ¶31

And so, out of man comes God. And know “ye are gods”? Then bring my beloved Son before me and let me call him “Son” and let him call me “Father.” And it happens exactly like that.190 ¶32

So, I hope you know what God placed in the mind of man. Buried in you is really eternity, but put in such a way that you cannot find out from the beginning to the end what God has done. Only in the end you will know. But God isn’t taken by surprise. To God all events are present, including the end of all things, as told us in 1st Peter. The end of all things is before him now: He sees you as Christ Jesus. He isn’t waiting for it; he knows the end. But you are immersed in the body of death for that purpose. So he sees not only all things coexisting, he sees the end of all things, and the end of all is Christ Jesus. “I am the Alpha and the Omega; I am the beginning and the end; the first and the last” .190 ¶33

So here, Paul tells us and Peter tells us, in fact, they all, if you read the Epistles: “Set your hope fully on the grace that is coming to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” . Revelation to Paul meant the unveiling of God, an act of God in self-revealing: he unveils himself in you as you. He set up a series of events, mystical events by which he unveils himself in you. So I cannot conceive of any hope that man should dwell upon more than that moment in time when the time is fulfilled and Jesus Christ unveils himself within you.190 ¶34

Because Qoheleth said, I made money; I amassed more money than anyone in the world; I was the wisest of all men, and yet my end was like the poor man. My end, the wise man, was like the fool’s and all these things were vanity of vanities, all is vanity. He knew tomorrow someone would come and build up much from the same block of time buried in the mind of man.190 ¶35

So tonight, if you believe me that everything is within you, you can single out the state of success. Well, how would you be successful? You wear it as you would this suit of clothes. You put it on and feel natural in the mood of being successful, just put it on. Just as God wears man, you wear the state and you can put it on. So you single out anything you want in this world and dare to assume that you are already that which you desire to be until the desire has been appeased. You don’t long any more. You feel it, you feel natural.190 ¶36

Now the time will fulfill itself in that too. All things take time. Time is a facility for change in experience; space is a facility for experience. But a change in experience takes time, so all changes take time. So you wear a change of mood and it’s going to take its time. It may take a day, it may take a week, it may take a month. But that mood I now call the vision. You visualize yourself by seeing yourself reflected in the faces of friends. They see you as the man you want them to see. Now, “that vision has its own appointed hour: it ripens, it will flower. If to you it seems long, wait, for it is sure and it will not be late”…not for its own appointed hour .190 ¶37

And so the feeling of success has its appointed hour. For you change from not being successful into that which is successful. Alright, that shows you that time is a facility for changes in experience. But that now has its own little appointed hour. Don’t you try to aid it. It’s like a pregnancy. You don’t aid a pregnancy after you discover that you are pregnant. In other words, one thing bear in mind, in spite of all the good men in the world who try to convince you that you’ve got to do something about it—all you do is make your selection and wear it. You were born physically by the action of powers not your own; you will be born spiritually by the action of powers beyond your own. You didn’t have a thing to do with your physical birth. And you aren’t going to have anything to do with your spiritual birth when the time is fulfilled, because God in you has impregnated you; he’s one with you, and that pregnancy is taking place.190 ¶38

But the prophets didn’t know it and they were confused. So this is what they said: “In the last days scoffers will come scoffing…and they will say, ‘Where is the promise of his coming?’ For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things have continued as they were from the beginning of time” . They didn’t know how near they were to the fullness of time.190 ¶39

And so, they will say, “Where is the coming?” They are looking for a man to come on the outside. No man comes on the outside. Resurrection is an event happening in this earthly experience of man the individual; it’s right here. So when he comes, he comes in the individual. He doesn’t come out of the clouds trying to conquer the world; he comes in the individual.190 ¶40

And the drama as I have described it is true, just as I have told you, and it’s all related to things told in the Bible. It’s a true story, and the day will come you will be called to testify to the truth of God’s word. That’s all that you are going to testify to: Is it true? You will have the experience. You will go into the world and testify to the truth of his word. It’s all true.190 ¶41

So this that is buried in you sets you free, really, even though it turns to ash. The greatest success in the world turns to ash, because he has to leave it into the hands of one who didn’t earn it. But it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. Why not select the best, even though you’re going to leave it anyway? I know that I must leave behind me my library, but I’m enjoying it while I am here. And I hope I can name the ones that I would think would enjoy it the most when I turn my eyes from this sphere, and let them have the library. That it cost me a fortune and it’s a lovely hand-picked library, yes, I know that. But someone tomorrow will enjoy the library. And any stocks and bonds that I may have, I have a daughter, a son, and wife, so they will get them. I don’t regret that.190 ¶42

And so, what does it matter if you have to leave your toil and the amassed fortune to someone else who didn’t toil for it? But he regretted that, because he couldn’t see the end. He saw only recurrence—this whole thing is going over and over and over—and when is it going to come to an end? Let it come to an end even though there is no real determined end. But there was an end hidden and he didn’t see it.190 ¶43

He knew by the words that he had received that he had put Olem in man’s mind, he knew that; and Olem meant something hidden, something hidden away out of sight, something veiled, a youth. Well, what would a youth do in my mind? He didn’t know that David was the collective humanity. He didn’t know David would one day explode out of his Imagination and stand before him and call him Father. No one knew it until it first happened.190 ¶44

And so, we are told: He is the first witness, the first who came from the dead, Jesus Christ. He rose from the dead, and came out of humanity, who, may I tell you, is dead.190 ¶45

Someday you’ll see it and you’ll stop them. You’ll walk the street and you’ll be able to arrest anything in motion and you’ll know the words: “He was over all of them. I saw all living that move about under the sun, and then I saw that second youth who came to stand in his place, and he is over all of them.” So then that second youth is born in you…because you are the Father of collective humanity, that’s the second youth.190 ¶46

For the choice of God is always the second. First of all, you had Cain. He rejected Cain and took Abel. Then you came down and you had Isaac. He was the second, Ishmael was the first. He rejected Ishmael, took Isaac. Then you had Esau and Jacob. He rejected Esau and took Jacob. Manasseh and Ephraim…rejected Manasseh, took Ephraim. And all the way down there is a reversal of order.190 ¶47

So here comes humanity out of which Christ Jesus comes, and humanity is his father because he came out of him. For the words are: “I will raise up your son after you who will come forth from your body. I will be his father and he shall be my son” . That’s humanity, David. When the son comes out, David calls him Father. So who did God bring out? He brought out himself, so the son could then say, “I and my father are one” . He brings himself out of humanity and he does it individually.190 ¶48

So you bear in mind, think of David as humanity. God is in love with humanity, and so in love with it he went in unto humanity and buried himself, laid himself down in humanity, in all the unnumbered Elohim. Then he comes out of humanity bearing the fruit of that long sleep of death. And now he returns to eternal life, expanded beyond that which he was when he emptied himself and buried himself in humanity.190 ¶49

So tonight, you single out a dream, a noble dream, for yourself or a friend. And trust it. Assume that your friend is telling you that he is, or she is, what they want to be…something that is lovely. Just assume it and feel natural in that assumption and see how it works.190 ¶50

Because that block is completely interwoven and related. When you see it, it’s completely interwoven: “All things by a law divine in one another’s being mingle.” But here they are completely congealed and you gather them one by one. Blake called this the house of Los, because he fragmented it; he saw them all in lovely objective forms like statues. You can too.190 ¶51

The other day my wife said in a vision of hers she saw panels at the back of the room. She didn’t count them, but there were many, many panels and she was glued to just observing the panels. As she became lost in observation—just the panels—forms detached themselves from the panels and they came out into the room. Every one gave forth a form. At first it seemed to be a delightful thing, a very happy occurrence, something wonderful. The more it moved into the dancing form, the more it began to dance, the more she realized this is horror, this is sheer hell. And then for a moment…maybe she panicked for a moment…and then they all went right back into their panels and there they remained.190 ¶52

You know what the word “panel” is in Hebrew? The same word as that which we translate “rib”: “And he took a rib and made something out of it.” The word “rib,” Zella, is panel. And so he draws out a rib and it becomes a living form. But it went back in when she lost control of her Imagination. She completely forgot how these things came out of sheer dead panels and became alive. Then she panicked, and they all went right back and assumed their previous patterns of that panel. And the day will come you’ll do it. Until that moment in time when you leave this age and leave it forever because it has accomplished its purpose: You wore it, you went through hell with it, and you came out of it expanded in consciousness.190 ¶53

For God is truth and truth is an ever-increasing illumination. There is no limit to expansion; there’s only a limit to contraction. There’s no limit to translucency; there’s only a limit to opacity. So when you come out of this opaque state, you’ll be more luminous than you were when you entered it and more expanded than you were when you entered it. And then tomorrow, we, together as one being, yet without loss of identity, we will map the fifth act for a still greater luminosity and expansion of being.190 ¶54

Now let us go into the Silence. * *190 ¶55

When purpose is revealed, all falls into place. The revelation of purpose gives meaning to everything, and there is a purpose in this wonderful, vast creation of God. Paul said: “He has made known unto us . . . . the mystery of His will, according to His purpose which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time.” There is a plan behind it all.188 ¶1

Now let us turn to the most disputed verse in Ecclesiastes: “God has put Eternity into man’s mind, yet so that man cannot find out what Cod has done from the beginning to the end.” The Revised Standard Version translates it as “eternity.” The meaning of the word translated “eternity” will determine what meaning you would give to that verse. The word is “olam.” The King James Version translates it as “the world.” “He put the world into man’s mind.” But the word is “olam.” It really means — in a sense — “history”; but history to the one who wrote it, the Teacher, consists of all the generations of man, including their experiences, and all fused into one grand whole; and this concentrated time into which all things are fused, they call “eternity.” It is from this that all things spring.188 ¶2

Now that is in your mind. All the generations that ever walked the face of this earth, all of their experiences, all that are walking today, all that ever will walk, God placed in your mind. You are not limited to this small, little section of time — threescore and ten years. He took Eternity! Therefore, He gave you Himself! But He hid the gift from the beginning of time to the end. The gift is God Himself! Believe it, and the whole incredible story of the Gospel will become to you possible. And the day will come, you will experience the gift, and you will know how true it is.188 ¶3

God’s purpose is to give Himself to you individually, as though there were no others in the world — just you, for the gift is so complete, it is not you and God; it’s you as God. God became as you are, that you may be as He is. So in the end, you will not see another as God. It is you as God! This is the story.188 ¶4

Now, in the 4th Chapter of Ecclesiastes, at the very end of the 4th Chapter, he said, “I saw all the living that move about under the sun, as well as that second youth, who was to stand in his place; there was no end to all the people; he was above all of them. Yet those who will come later will take no joy in him. Isn’t that also vanity and the striving after wind?”188 ¶5

This “second one” spoken of in Scripture is the Lord from Heaven. It begins in the very beginning of Genesis. The “second one” was Abel, the slaughtered, the murdered. As we move through, the “second one” was Isaac, — not Ishmael, the first. We come on through, and it was Jacob, not Esau. A strange reversal of order takes place in all of these adumbrations in Scripture. They are all a foreshadowing of what God has planned for us. There is that “second youth” in us that has to be awakened, and that is God Himself! He is reproducing in us His own image, and that is called the “second man” or the “Lord from Heaven.”188 ¶6

I will share with you, as I’ve done night after night, my own personal experience of Scripture. The story is the only true story in the world. God’s eternal purpose is taking place in time; but it is an eternal state. It’s something that is continuous. It is permanent, in contrast to this fragmented state in time where we seem to begin, and all things that begin here end. But there is something that does not begin. It is continuous. It is in man. It is buried in man, and that that cannot begin or end is God-in-man.188 ¶7

Paul asked the question: “Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?” Well, the answer to that, if you are honest with yourself, if you have not had the experience, — you would say, “No, I do not. I could believe it, and I will believe it; but I do not know it. For, to experience it would be to know it. Not to experience it and only to believe it would be hearsay, but I want to actually experience it, that I may know it.”188 ¶8

Your purpose in this world is not what the world thinks it is. Therefore they said you do not rejoice. “Those who come later will not rejoice in Him”, because they will think their purpose is to make a fortune, to get a bigger house or more houses, to get a name among those who are departing this world, for all these appear, they wax, they vane, they disappear. No matter how long they prolong it, or they think they do, they all vanish; and they want to have some name among the shadows that are vanishing. There is a purpose, and the purpose is to awaken as God — God Himself!188 ¶9

The plan is definite in Scripture. He said, “I have come into the world only to fulfill Scripture.” That’s my purpose. “He who began a good work in me will bring it to completion at the unveiling in me of His plan, which is Christ Jesus”. He will unveil Christ Jesus in me. Well, when he does, “I am He.” I have been taught that He dwells in me, but I have also been taught that He came from without. When one experiences the story, he realizes He is not from without at all. He was always buried in me — that Universal Christ, the Cosmic Christ. The whole of Him, riot a little piece of Him; but the whole is buried in the seeming part; and that individual, speaking of you now individually, will one day have the experience recorded in Scripture of Jesus Christ!188 ¶10

He said, “I am not of this world. I am from above. You are from below.” He isn’t speaking to the crowd on the outside. It’s taking place within the individual. I am speaking now to this conscious, reasoning mind “below” — this garment of flesh and blood, — you are from below. I am from above. I must be born from above. You, Neville, — the flesh-and-blood Neville — you were born from below — from the womb of a woman. I am being born from above — from that place where they laid me when I “died.” I died as God, to awake in man as man, and then to take that man in whom I am buried and raise him to the level of my Self as God.188 ¶11

He is buried in your skull. That is Golgotha. There is no other burial place for Jesus Christ. You can go all over the world looking for his so-called “holy sepulchre”; and you will not find it outside of your own skull. That’s where He is buried. And the day will come that you will find yourself awakening. You will awaken in your own skull, and you will be alone — all alone, and the skull will be sealed — completely sealed; but you now, having awakened within your skull, you have an innate wisdom as to what you should do. You have one consuming desire, and that is to get out. You are completely sealed in your skull, and you are standing up alone; but you know if you push the base of your skull, something will “give.” And you do; you push it from within, and something rolls away, as described in Scripture: “And the stone was rolled away”. You do it. And then you put your head through that little opening, and you squeeze, and you come out like a child being born, inch by inch by inch. And when you are almost out, you pull the remaining portion of your body out of your skull. And after a few seconds on the ground, you rise again and look back at that body out of which you came. It’s ghastly pale, tossing its head from side to side just like one in recovery from some great or major operation. Then you hear the wind that actually preceded the entire drama — a peculiar, unearthly wind. Now, “wind” and “spirit” are the same word in both Greek and Hebrew. But you hear the wind; it’s a storm wind. You feel it in your head, and yet you seem to feel it’s coming from the corner of the room where you find yourself. You look over to that corner, not more than a few seconds; and as you look back, the body out of which you emerged has been removed, as told in Scripture: “They have taken away his body, and we do not know where they have laid it.” The body is gone; it has been removed.188 ¶12

But in its place now are seated three witnesses to the event. In my own case, they were my three older brothers. As tradition has it, — it is not in Scripture; but tradition has it, the three who came to witness the birth were brothers: the king of Arabia, king of Persia, king of India; and they were brothers. In my case, they are not earthly kings in my family; they were simply my own wonderful, loving brothers. And there they sat, one at the head, one at one foot, and one at the other. The body was gone, but that’s where it would have been had it remained there: the head and the two feet. They are equally disturbed because of the wind. My brother Lawrence was the most disturbed; and he rose and started towards the same direction that I started. He hadn’t gone more than a step when something attracted his attention, and he looked down on the floor, and he announced to my other two brothers, “Why, it is Neville’s baby!” They, in the most incredulous voices, asked, “How can Neville have a baby?” He does not argue the point. He lifts the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and brings it over and places it on the bed. He didn’t see because I am now Spirit. I cannot be seen by mortal eye. They saw it, and they came and saw the sign that was foretold by the angels. “Go, and you shall find this as a sign, an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes”, — and that’s the sign that God Himself was born. “For a Saviour is born this day to you.” The only “saviour” in Scripture is the Lord God Jehovah. “I am the Lord God, your Saviour,” you are told in the 43d and 45th Chapters of Isaiah, “and beside me there is no saviour.” So, the Saviour is being born. That’s exactly what is going to happen to you individually.188 ¶13

I took the infant up, arid then I looked into its face, and I said, “How is my sweetheart?” Then it broke into the most glorious, heavenly smile. As told you, “the name was called Isaac”, which simply means: “He smiles.” The smile is a heavenly smile. While he is looking into my face and smiling, the whole thing dissolves.188 ¶14

Now we come to that “second youth”; and he comes (in my case) a hundred and twenty-nine (129) days after the “birth from above.” An explosion in my head -— the whole drama takes place in your skull. That’s where you were buried, and that’s where the whole drama is going to unfold. A hundred and twenty—nine days later my head began — there’s a vibration, and when it reached the limit — what I thought was the limit, it exploded; and then when the whole thing settled, I am seated at an ordinary table. Before me is a table; on it an enormous head severed from the body. Leaning against the side of an open door and looking out on a pastoral scene is my son David of Biblical fame. Yes, David of Biblical fame!188 ¶15

That’s why I say the drama is permanent and continuous. It’s not something that took place, once and for all, two thousand years ago or four thousand years ago; it is taking Place now, and it will continue to take place until His purpose is fulfilled. It cannot he fulfilled until everyone experiences that predetermined drama — for the awakening of God in man as God, — that man in whom He awakes is God! So, here is David leaning against the side of an open door and looking at me. I have never seen such beauty in my life. David has an unearthly beauty. You can’t describe the beauty of that lad of about 12 or 13. And while I drink him in and feast upon his beauty, the whole thing dissolves; and I know I am his father, and he knows that he is my son. Until that moment in time, I had no idea there was any relationship between a Biblical character and the one talking to you now. It came as a complete surprise to me that the story told in the Bible is eternally true, and it’s all about us.188 ¶16

That David is your “son,” but you do not know it. He put that in your mind in the beginning, “but so that you cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” That is the 11th verse of the 3d Chapter of Ecclesiastes. That is what He put in your mind. That is that “second youth” who is over all of them. As you are told, “He is prince forever. If he is “prince,” his father is “king.” “And the Lord will be king in that day, and his name shall be One; and all will be one.” He is king! The king has a son; the son is a prince. And David is the “prince” forever and forever. So, here is the unfolding drama of God-in-you, and God is king. But He’s a father. Well, if He’s a father, there must be a son, and the son is David.188 ¶17

Now we read in the story of David: I will tell of the decree of the Lord: He said unto me: “Thou art my son. Today I have begotten thee.” And now the Lord speaks: “I have found David, . . . . . He has cried unto me, ‘Thou art my Father, my God, and the Rock of my Salvation.’” You will find David, and only when you find him will you really know that you are God. You will not in eternity be persuaded by someone other than yourself. You can only know it — actually know it — by finding David, and David will reveal to you Who-You-Are. That was God’s plan in the beginning. That’s His purpose. So He set it forth in Christ. Well, the word “Christ” is the Hebrew word “Messiah.”188 ¶18

That wonderful poem of Browning, when he tried in his wonderful manner, through the use of words, to reveal the coming of Messiah, — he called the poem “Saul.” If you are not familiar with the story, Saul was insane — King Saul; and David plays the lyre — plays the harp and soothed him when he was demented. Now the story as Browning tells it is this: David stands before Saul, and he said to Saul: “Oh, Saul, . . . . A face like my face . . . shall receive thee; a man like to me Thou shalt love and be loved by forever: A Hand like this hand Shall throw open the gates of new life to thee!” Then standing before him, he said: “See the Christ stand!” He is telling you who he is; he is the “Anointed One.” “Christ” means the “anointed one.” “Rise and anoints him. This is he,” said the Lord to His prophet Samuel. “This is he.” Who are they speaking to? To Samuel. Of whom? He spoke of David. So Samuel took the ointment, — that is, the oil — the precious oil, and anointed David in the presence of his brothers; “and from that day forward the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David.”188 ¶19

Now you are told, “Those who come later will find no joy in Him.” They are so eager to make money, so eager to get a name among shadows, so eager to build monuments to themselves, that they have no time for the story, — they are all about the shadow world.188 ¶20

Now, what does he mean, he was above all of them? Well, if you can take it, may I tell you? All these “garments” are shadows. They are part of the eternal structure of the universe. You are “wearing” these garments, and they are you only for a temporary part of your time. They became a part of you when you penetrated them and annexed the brains of them; and so for a little while they are a temporary portion of the soul — but only for a temporary part of your journey. It is not You. These garments — you burn them up — put them into the oven and reduce them to ash, but that’s not You. Throw it into the furnace, and that Fourth One comes out, the Fourth One being your Eternal Being as you. You are told in the Book of Daniel: “Throw them into the furnace,” — reduce them to ashes; but here is the Immortal You that cannot die. But while you are here and you are a part of that little world in which you live, you think it is you, and you’ll die to protect it and do anything to save it while you go about your business trying to make more and more of this shadow world. He said, “Those who will come later will not rejoice in Him. Is that not a striving after wind?” It’s just like “striving after wind” to build up more and more of the same shadows.188 ¶21

So here, I am sharing with you what I personally have experienced. All the adumbrations of the Old Testament, which are put into the form of a story told as if it were true, — for that’s what is told; it is told as if it were true, and you were taught to believe that it was physically true, and it’s not physically true. It takes place in man. It is more true than any physical story ever could be, for this is eternally true.188 ¶22

Now the third one, you will find yourself, — and this is a marvelous one; the day will come, you will be split in two from top to bottom, and you will see at the base of your spine golden, liquid, pulsing, living light. Although it’s liquid, pulsing light, you know it is your Self; and you fuse with it; and then like a fiery serpent, you rise into your skull. And when you enter, it is just like thunder. You reverberate; your whole head begins one grand, marvelous reverberation. You think it’s going to split; but no, — it subsides, and you have gone hack into Heaven! That’s how you take Heaven, and you take it violently, as told you in Scripture.188 ¶23

And then comes the climax; and the climax is when the Spirit descends upon you in bodily form as a dove and smothers you with affection, kissing you all over your face, your head, your neck. He remains on you when the vision begins to fade.188 ¶24

Then the drama has been brought to its climax. You then tell it to the best of your ability, either in the spoken word as I am, or you can write it if you can write. But you tell it to anyone who will listen. It’s not very encouraging if you read the end of Acts because he told it “from morning to evening . . . . some believed him, and some disbelieved him.188 ¶25

Well, the same thing is true here, because man has been taught to believe it is a physical story — a secular story. When I tell them the true meaning of it, then they turn their ears — that is, they clasp their hands over their ears, for they can’t believe that what they were told is not true secularly. But I tell you, it is not historically true, if by “history” I mean things that took place here on earth. It is eternally true in the Spirit world.188 ¶26

And that is what is going to happen to you; and when it happens to you, you will leave this world. And the next time you close your eyes and men call you “dead,” you will be one of those who look down from Eternity upon this world and see all this taking place, and it’s all under you. That is what he meant: “I saw all those who go about under the sun, and he was over all of them.” All these things are simply under his control. Everything here is taking place by those who contemplate it above.188 ¶27

So when we are told the story: He stood before the judge, and the judge said, “Who are you?” he said, “For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to bear witness to the truth.” He said, “Are you a king?” He said, “You say that I am, but my kingdom is not of this world.” It hasn’t a thing to do with this world; he came only to bear witness to the truth, and the truth was the Word of God. So, he cane to express that Word, and the Word had to find expression in him; then he tells it to the world. “Some believed, and some disbelieved.”188 ¶28

There is no personal description of Jesus in the Scriptures. So, forget all the pictures that you have seen, no matter how good the artist. No personal description of Jesus in the Bible because you are the Lord Jesus Christ.188 ¶29

And the day will come, they will know you to be Jesus Christ, regardless of your sex. And they will know you, identified as you are, — you are Mary, you are John, you are Jim, you are Stanley, you are Benny; and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. They will know you as their friend, and still know that you are the Lord.188 ¶30

So, everyone will be the Lord Jesus Christ. They all form “one Body, one spirit, . . . one God and Father of all,” — without loss of identity. You are individualized; and you tend forever and forever towards an ever greater individualization. You reach that climax of it all as what you are individually but as the Lord!188 ¶31

And they will see you and know that you are the Lord, while you are walking this earth, may I tell you? Not in some after-death state. When this thing happens to you, there are those in your circle of friends who will see you, and they can’t believe their own eyes, but they can’t deny what they saw. They will know you are the Lord. They will dine with you the next night, have a drink with you, tell you a joke; you tell them one, and still they can’t get it out of their heads that they saw you and you were the Lord. They know that you are the Lord, and yet you are the same friend they have always known. But they saw you as you really are after you have been born from above.188 ¶32

So, man must be born from above or he cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Everyone will be born from above, for that One to be born is already in man dreaming. The Dreamer-in-man is Jesus Christ. You are dreaming this world.188 ¶33

Now dream it nobly. Dream noble dreams. All can come to pass. In your dreams dare to assume that you are the man that you want to be. Assume that you are it, and persist in that assumption; and that assumption, in a way you do not consciously know, will harden into fact. All assumptions if persisted in become what the world calls “reality.” So, do not give up. The most fantastic dream can become true if you assume it and walk in the assumption as though it were true. Night after night, sleep as though you are the man — the woman — that you would be or that you would like to be. And then, if tomorrow does not bring it to pass, it doesn’t matter. There are intervals of time between the assumption and its fulfillment. It’s like generation. So, if you dare to assume it, give it time. And then some bridge of incidents will be built for you without your conscious knowledge of it, and it will lead you across that bridge to the fulfillment of your assumption in a way that you do not know. So, dare to assume a noble concept of yourself. Live in it as though it were true; and may I tell you? It will become true.188 ¶34

Now a lady wrote me this week and asked me if I could throw some light on this. She said, “I found myself in a dormitory. I recall the dormitory, for I was in that school from the age of 12 to 18. But here you are as an instructor, and you are teaching all of us how to solve puzzles. You did not actually do it for us; you allowed us to use our own talents, but you are instructing. You were the instructor teaching us how to solve puzzles, leaving us full freedom to make our own efforts. Then you sat next to me, and you asked me this, — and this puzzled me because I do not understand what it means. You asked me, ‘Do you know what twenty-seven is?’” Do you know what twenty-seven is? Now she said, “I do not, and I cannot throw any light on it whatsoever. If you can throw some light on it, please do.”188 ¶35

Well, there are twenty-two letters to the Hebrew alphabet; but really they are twenty-seven, for there are five finals. Twenty-two originals, but five are repeated and called “finals.” So, there are twenty-seven letters.188 ¶36

I would suggest to this lady to read the 27th Psalm tonight. Take the 8th verse. It’s a glorious Psalm. It is not long — a very short one. Thou hast said to me, “Seek ye my face.” My heart says to thee, “Thy face, Lord, I seek. Hide not Thy face from me.” That’s the whole drama, the Father and the Son, for no one can reveal the Father but the Son. And this is the Son — David — speaking. He is speaking to his Father: “Hide not Thy face from me.” Yet you told me to seek your face. My heart says to you, “Thy face, Oh, Lord, I seek. Hide not Thy face from me.” That’s the drama.188 ¶37

Now in her letter she said, “Recently I have been having these dreams where I know I am dreaming. I am trying so hard to see what I am seeing, but I know I can open my eyes and see differently; but I am struggling to open the eyes and they won’t open.”188 ¶38

They are actually on the verge of it, my Dear. You must open the in-current eye, because you are going to see inwards into the world of thought — into Eternity — that which is ever expanding in the bosom of God, — what is it? The human imagination.188 ¶39

As someone wrote, they had their ears pierced — not the lobes of the ear, but the very center of the ear. Yes, they must be pierced, too, as told you in the 40th Psalm: “Ears Thou hast pierced for me.” You have made holes in them, that I may hear the heavenly sphere; we only hear the sounds out here — the noises. But there are ears to be pierced, and there are eyes to be opened. Then in-current eyes open up into the world of Eternity, into the world of thought, and forever expand; and that eye is the human imagination, which is one with God. For: “Man is all imagination; and God is man, and exists in us and we in Him.” “The eternal body of man is the imagination, and that is God Himself.”188 ¶40

So, be careful what you imagine. I don’t care how trivial it is, it will come to pass. The whole vast world is nothing more than the confused imaginations of men and women. So, if it seems confused, it is because man is not in control of his imaginal acts. He thinks he can imagine anything with impunity, but he cannot. It all comes into the world to confront him, and to show him what his harvest is. He planted it somewhere along the way; and now here comes his harvest, and he doesn’t recognize his own harvest.188 ¶41

Now, this being my last night, — I have no plans for the future, — I am going to give you a full opportunity to ask questions. First of all, let us go into the Silence.188 ¶42

: Now are there any questions? Don’t be embarrassed. This is my last night here; so take full advantage of it.188 ¶43

Are there any other questions, please?188 ¶46

Tonight’s subject is “No Other Foundation,” and this we take from the 3rd chapter of 1st Corinthians: “No other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid.” Then it names the foundation and calls that foundation Jesus Christ. So when you hear the word you might think of a man, something outside of yourself. The whole vast world does. I know the Christian world does, and the Jewish world does. The Christian world accepts this outside leadership, called Jesus Christ; and the Jewish world cannot accept Jesus Christ as the savior of the world. So here we have one billion people in the world who will, when they hear the word Jesus Christ, think in terms of an external leader. And yet this is the foundation of the world. Now, what is this foundation? “No other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” May I tell you that this foundation, Jesus Christ, is your own wonderful human Imagination, that that is Jesus Christ.182 ¶1

Let me now turn to a chapter that is not read, not very often, really. It’s from the 1st Book of Samuel, the 8th chapter. The people of Israel demand a king to rule over them, and so the prophet turned to the Lord and made Israel’s request. The Lord said, Give them what they want. They want a king to rule over them? Give it to them; for they have rejected not you, they have rejected me. Give them what they want; they have rejected me, they have not rejected you. But warn them solemnly what is going to happen to them by their choice of a king to rule over them. And then this is what the prophet was told by God to tell them.182 ¶2

First of all, he will take your sons for the army, your daughters to become the cooks and the servants of the king, he’ll take your property, he’ll take your money, he’ll take everything that you possess, and when he’s taken everything, then he’ll take you. And in that day you will cry out to be saved from a king of your own choosing, but then I will have no ears to hear you. After he’s taken everything, you will cry to be saved from what you yourself decided on and I will have no ears to hear you.182 ¶3

Look into the world today and men want some external leadership, someone to lead them into paradise on earth. Then dictators rise, and here is the [...] save the world. The first thing he does gets them all into the army. They had no desire to be in an army. Then he appropriates and confiscates all property. Then he takes their money. He takes everything and reduces them to slavery. And then they cry…and there’s no one to hear their cry. This is eternally true as long as man thinks in terms of some external leader that is God.182 ¶4

The only God is I AM; there is no other God. “When I go to the people of Israel and they ask me, ‘Who sent you?’ what should I say?” The voice came back, “Say unto them I AM sent you.” Just I AM…I sent you. “When I say to them I am the one sent by the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Jacob, the God of Isaac, what then must I say?” “Just say I AM has sent you.”182 ¶5

There is no other foundation in this world for anything. I don’t care what it is. If you think some leader outside of yourself can save you, then you think in vain. You’re simply building up a picture in your mind’s eye which will lead you into a certain group that will one day want some dictator or something outside of self to lead you into some comfortable world. There is no being outside of self that could ever lead you into what you want. The only God in this world is your own wonderful human Imagination. When you say “I am,” that’s God.182 ¶6

Well now, how will I go about proving this “there’s nothing but God”? Well, you can prove it. Dare to assume that you are now the man, the woman that you want to be. Having assumed it, look at the world mentally and see that world reflect your assumption. For if I am now the man that I want to be, I have a frame of reference, you, and others that I know across this country and in other parts of the world. And if I am the man that I want to be, and dare to assume that I am it, they would know it. They would know it by the grapevine, things would get around, and they will become aware that Neville became the man that no one would ever dream that he ever could become. All right, so they would gradually become aware of the man that I am. So now, not waiting for them to become aware of it, I let them see it now. I dare to assume that I am now that man that I want to be and if in time I become it and they become aware of it, haven’t I found the foundation stone?182 ¶7

Are we not told, “All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made?” Well, I think now of something not here. I think of it. The very act of thinking of it, isn’t that an action that is creative? Well, the Bible recognizes only one source of a dream, whether that dream be a day dream or the dream of the night, all dreams and all visions proceed only from God. They have no other source of a dream. Well, I now think of something that is not here, and I enact in my mind’s eye a lovely drama implying the fulfillment of a dream. Well, that’s a dream, and the Bible recognizes only one source of any dream, be it a daydream or a night dream, well, haven’t I found God? If God is the only foundation stone out of which all things come, and I have just discovered the source out of which my dream came, haven’t I found him? Well, God is your own wonderful human Imagination.182 ¶8

If you’re not willing to accept it, and like the children of Israel in that 8th chapter of 1st Samuel you insist on an external leadership, alright, that’s your privilege. But I must warn you, so he said to the prophet Samuel, warn them solemnly of the consequences of their choice, but grant them exactly what they want. They want a leader outside of themselves? Give it to them. You can’t take it from them, but warn them of the consequences of their choice. They will become slaves. Everything in this world will be taken from them. And then when everything is taken, they’ll cry out to be saved from the king of their own choosing, but I will have no ears to hear them. They’ll go through the furnace of furnaces after they’ve made their choice to be led by something external to God. And so he said to the prophet, “They did not reject you, they rejected me to be king over them.”182 ¶9

Like a man rejecting his own consciousness as king over himself. I want to be and I name it, and I think if I could only meet the right people… something outside of myself. I am rejecting the king over my own being which is the true God. And then, haven’t you heard it said, someone will come home and say, “Who do you think I met today?” and they mention some person, to them a very important person. He will know so and so, who will introduce me to so and so, and then I will definitely get the job that I want. They’re rejecting God. They’re rejecting the only God in the world which is their own wonderful human Imagination. There is no other God. And so I think I’m going to become rich because I know rich people, or that some rich person met me at a party and he’s going to introduce me to someone else, who in turn will introduce me to someone else, and through this contact I will really get what I want. I have rejected God, the only God.182 ¶10

There is no other foundation in this world but God, and God is your own wonderful human Imagination. And by him—it’s personified, it’s called “him” not “it”—by him all things are made and without him there is not anything made that is made. In him is life, and that life is the light of men. Well, I know from my own personal experience that I have assumed, when reason denied it, when my senses denied it, that I was the man that I wanted to be. I assumed it. I had no reason in this world to believe I could ever become it; I simply assumed it. I believed it. Then I rested in my assumption just as though it were true.182 ¶11

Then things happened. And I can’t tell you how they happened. On reflection you will say to yourself, “Well, it would have happened anyway.” It always happens so naturally that you would think if you didn’t do what you did, it would have happened anyway. And so you’re misled to believe, well, maybe that isn’t causation after all. Maybe this thing really would have happened and the whole thing would have moved like a river flowing. But it isn’t. Had you not assumed that you were the man, the woman that you wanted to be, not a thing would have happened in the direction that it did happen.182 ¶12

I find it time and time and time again, and it always works that way; not only for myself the being speaking to you but for myself in the form of the seeming other; for there is no other. And so, I take anyone’s request, and it seems to be another, but he, really, and she, is not another. There isn’t “another” in this world; there’s only I AM and you can’t divide it. So when you say “I am,” you’re including every being in this world. There is not a being but God, and God is I AM. So when you say “I am,” you’re calling upon God’s name, the only name, the only foundation stone, the only rock, and there is no other rock.182 ¶13

So tonight you could assume that you are the being that you want to be, and assume it to the point where it’s reflected in your mind, where you can see reflected on the screen of the mind confirmation of your assumption. You see people seeing you as they would see you were it true, and then fall asleep. That’s all that you do. You desire, and God gave me the hunger to be other than what I seemingly am at the moment, and he who gives me that hunger can satisfy the hunger. So the whole thing begins with knowing God.182 ¶14

So the whole vast world teaches man that God is something outside of himself, and he isn’t. God became man that man may become God. And because there’s only God, “All that I behold, though it appears without, it is within, in my Imagination” and my Imagination is God. Divine Imagination is sunk in man as human Imagination. Because the only source of all phenomena is God, and God is Divine Imagination sunk in me as my Imagination, then it still is only Divine Imagination. The only difference between the two is when I am keyed low on this level it seems to take a little bit longer between my assumption and the fulfillment of that assumption. If I were now functioning on high levels, my assumption would be externalized immediately. Man is rising gradually into that world where everything is subject to his imaginative power and instantaneously. On this level, it’s a limit of time, a little interval of time between the assumption and its fulfillment.182 ¶15

So I don’t care what has happened to you this day and how dark the day looks, believe in God. And the only God, and I mean this, the only God is your own wonderful human Imagination. There is no other God.182 ¶16

But may I tell you, when you meet your Imagination, you’re going to see it personified as yourself, the most glorious being you’ve ever seen. You’re going to meet yourself one day. When you meet him, you’ve never seen such beauty, such joy, such radiated strength in your life as yourself made visible. Because God is a person, and you’ll meet him, and it’s just like you, raised to the nth degree of beauty, majesty, strength, courage, character, all the pronouns in the world you can think of that are great. Like mercy, pity, peace, love, all embodied in one being, and it’s just like you. You’ll meet him…but it’s all your own wonderful I-am-ness.182 ¶17

So you can start this night, start tonight and test it. It will not fail you, but you’ve got to test it. If when you leave here this night you think, well now, that was alright, but I still am not going to take any chances, because I do believe there must be something other than myself, some other God, and so, I’ll try it, but I don’t want to blaspheme against God. I was taught to believe in some God other than my own consciousness, and that man tells me that God is my Imagination. That is difficult to grasp. It’s so much easier to believe that God is something outside as the priests and the rabbis and the ministers of the world talk about. It’s so much easier to believe in that kind of a God, and hope that he will look upon me and see me in a good light; and then have compassion upon my weakness, and then grant me what I want. It’s much easier to believe in that kind of a God.182 ¶18

But I tell you there were those who believed in that God…and you read it when you go home, it’s a very short chapter, the 8th chapter of 1st Samuel. Oh, do read it, not more than a few verses: Go and tell them, Samuel, the consequences of their request but grant it. They have not rejected you; they have rejected me to rule over them as king.182 ¶19

They will not accept the God which was revealed to them in the very second book of the Bible, for Samuel comes afterwards. In the second book of the Bible he said: “When I go to the people of Israel and I say to them, ‘The God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, sent me unto you’ and they say to me, ‘What is his name?’ what should I say?” “Just say unto them, ‘I AM has sent you’,” that’s all. When they ask for the name of the God who sent you and you claim that that God is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, just say “I AM has sent you.”182 ¶20

Man finds it difficult to keep the tense. He always speaks of thou art or he is, but never I am. So one comes into the world bringing I-am-ness, and they said of him, he speaks not like the scribes, he speaks as one having authority. No one can speak with authority unless he speaks from experience. And so, he comes saying, I say unto you…for I testify to the things that I have seen and things that I have heard. If you would not believe the things that I have seen and heard on this level, how would you believe the things that I have seen and heard from heaven? How can I tell you of heavenly things if you will not believe me when I speak of earthly things?182 ¶21

And so, the being speaking is your own wonderful I-am-ness.182 ¶22

And may I tell you as I stand before you, every character in scripture, from the beginning to the end, is buried in you. That is where the fathers are buried and every one you are going to resurrect. When you resurrect them, one after the other, you’ll know them more intimately than you know any being in this world. Every one will rise. And who resurrects any being in this world?—only God. Jehovah is the resurrecting power of the world. So when he resurrects, and Jehovah’s name is I AM, you will know who you really are. For you’ll lift up one after the other. And may I tell you when you lift them up and you see them, and you know them forever, you’ve always known them, but they’ve died. All these are the fathers who died and were buried in Egypt, and Egypt is your own wonderful, wonderful being. That’s where they’re all buried. One day the tree begins to bloom and out comes this one.182 ¶23

Out comes Joseph, and Joseph is the last of the seed plot, the Book of Genesis. The book begins, “In the beginning God…” and it ends “…in a coffin in Egypt.” That’s how the book begins and ends. In the beginning is God, I AM, and then the last one, in a coffin in Egypt. Who was the coffin? Joseph. Well, he is the prototype of Imagination. That’s the first symbol that appears in the world of Imagination; for he was the dreamer. He interpreted all the dreams; he knew exactly what the meaning of a dream was. He saved, by his dreams, his brothers who sold him into Egypt. He saved his father. He saved the world from starvation by his dream. Then he died and was buried in Egypt, but he made all those who came with him pledge they would not leave him in Egypt. They would raise him out, take his body out and take it into the land that was promised.182 ¶24

May I tell you the day will come…and I know, tonight, one. I have been waiting for someone to meet him, for confirmation of those that I have seen. And one could tell me this past week, “I saw Joseph.”182 ¶25

When you see him, you don’t have to ask one word, “Who are you?” you know who he is. There are millions of Josephs in the world, but there is only one Joseph. There are millions of Davids; there’s only one David. There are millions of Abrahams but only one Abraham. These are distinct characters that live forever, not in some past but in some imaginative eternity, all buried in man. When you look into his eyes and you see Joseph, he is not as the world thinks him to be at all. This radiant being of youth and strength; not what the world thinks he ought to be, an old man. Yet, there is no doubt in your mind who you’re looking at. You don’t have to ask one question concerning, “Who are you?”182 ¶26

So the entire Old Testament is buried in man, and it lifts itself up in man as man begins to awake. So the New Testament is only the fulfillment of the Old. The New interprets the Old, not vice versa. Not until it begins to awake in man can the Old be understood. All of a sudden the whole thing begins to appear, and every character of the Old Testament unfolds in the mind of man. Then you meet them one after one after one, and you stand thrilled beyond the wildest dream as they begin to appear within you. They all appear…and it’s God awakening in you.182 ¶27

So I tell you, believe it, they will appear. But until they begin to break forward and appear in you, believe what I tell you concerning this foundation stone. The foundation stone is your own wonderful human Imagination, and that is God.182 ¶28

Tonight you can assume that you are now the lady, now the gentleman that you want to be. And name…if it’s money, you want money…alright, name it. Everything can be dreamed into this world. It’s all a dream anyway. If you want fame, name it. I don’t care what you want in this world, dare to assume it, and wear it as God wears you.182 ¶29

You say, “How can God wear me?” well, his name is I AM. If I ask you, “Who are you?” before you put the little tag on it you are going to precede it by saying “I am” and then you’re going to name it. You’ll say “I am John, I am Mary” so before you say John, before you say Mary, you said “I am.” That’s God’s name. So God is wearing you. You said you are Mary, but before you said Mary you said “I am.” So God is wearing Mary. Get back and feel yourself “I am.” That is God. There’s nothing but God in this world and God wears all in this world. And because all things are possible to God you can by assuming that you are what you want to be bring it into being.182 ¶30

Believe me when I tell you, you can search the scripture from beginning to end and you cannot find any reference in scripture where a dream was associated in any way other than with God. Listen to these words in the Book of Numbers, “I will speak to you in a dream (the Lord is speaking) and I will make myself known unto you in a vision.” You can go through the entire scripture…go through the Book of Job…”In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon man, then I open the ears of man and speak to him in a dream.” He opens the ear and speaks to man in a dream, unstops him, but he speaks to man in a dream. So if the only source of dream in scripture is God, the only source, well, you and I know how we can dream.182 ¶31

Many a time I’ve asked myself, “What do you want?” and then dared to assume it, and then fell asleep in the assumption that I had it, and then in the day, or the week, or the month, or the year, it happened. That assumption on my part built a dream into a fact. It built some little bridge of incident across which I moved, not knowing why, and I moved across this little bridge of incident, and when I got to the end of the bridge there was the fulfillment of my dream. I realized it.182 ¶32

So tonight, you take a dream and you wear it as God wears this dream. You say this is not his dream. Now listen to this carefully…it is said in the beginning that he brought forth from a man a woman, and then he told man to cleave to her and do not leave her until you become one. He brought forth woman out of man and then said to cleave to her. Leave everything, but don’t leave her, cleave to her, and then you’ll become one. Do you know what it means? Well, you think of the man, of the woman you would like to be, just think of it. I don’t care what it is, the most noble concept of the world, think of it. Did it come out of you? Didn’t you think of it? Isn’t it your emanation? Well now, you out of whom it came must cleave to it, wear it as though you were it until you adhere and you become it. Then you’ll crystallize it in this world.182 ¶33

You are God’s dream; you are God’s desire. God so desired you, you came out from God, and then God wore you. To fulfill his own command, he cleaves to you; he doesn’t let you go, for no matter where you go you are always saying “I am.” No matter where you go in this world you say “I am.” You never point to something other than yourself and speak of it as “I am.” Wherever you are, whatever you’re feeling, you say, “I am poor, I am rich, I am known, I am unknown, I am wanted, I am unwanted, I am weak, I am strong.” No matter what you are saying you’re saying, “I am.” And that is God, and he’s wearing it.182 ¶34

Well now, you think of someone or think of some thing that you want to be in this world and wear it as God wears you. Cleave to it as God cleaves to you. Just as God has made himself one with you and the whole story unfolds within you, then the story in the outside world will unfold in the outer world. Whether it be health or wealth or being known or being unknown, it all unfolds in the same way that you will unfold based upon God’s eternal plan. You can’t fail if you try it…but you’ve got to operate it. We are the operant power; it doesn’t operate itself. We and we alone operate it.182 ¶35

And so, there is no other foundation but God, and that foundation is your own wonderful human Imagination, when you say “I am.” The day will come—and I’ve experienced it so I’m not theorizing, I’m telling you what I’ve experienced—all the characters of the Old Testament, they all appeared before me, and I know the relationship between us, every one.182 ¶36

The great one that comes at the very end is David. When David comes, God’s only begotten Son reveals me as God. It takes the Son to reveal you as God the creator. So God’s purpose is to give himself to you, but so give himself to you that you have no doubt of that gift. God so loved you he gave his only begotten Son to you as your Son, and so the Son appears and calls you Father. When you see him you have no doubt as to who he is.182 ¶37

But all the others come; every one will be resurrected. For you must resurrect every being; and the only power in the world that resurrects is God. Listen to these words carefully, “Man is reborn by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” He is reborn by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Well, who is Jesus Christ? It’s God, and Jesus Christ is your own wonderful I-am-ness, that’s Jesus Christ. “Christ in you is the hope of glory.”182 ¶38

So when you are told in the Book of Jeremiah, the very first chapter, he said unto Jeremiah and Jeremiah replied, how can this be, seeing that I know nothing and I’m only a child? The word Jeremiah means “Jehovah will rise.” If Jehovah will rise, Jehovah must have fallen. So who fell? The word Yod He Vau He, the verb He Vau He, meant in its original form “to fall”—that’s what it really meant—or “to cause to fall; to blow, or to cause the wind to blow.” That’s what the word Yod He Vau meant; that’s the original form of it, which we translate today as I AM.182 ¶39

So who fell? Speak to Jeremiah. Jeremiah simply means, “Jehovah will rise.” If he will rise, he must have fallen. And he did: God became man that man may become God. He sunk himself in us, and divine imagining is one with human imagining. But he will rise, and when he rises, everything that he foretold will rise in us. And you will see why these characters are as they are in scripture. They are eternally true; they didn’t live in some long past, they are now alive in the most marvelous imaginative eternity buried in man, and they rise in man, and then you meet one after the other.182 ¶40

They all know you, because you resurrect them. When you meet Abraham, he knows who you are. You are the God who told of the story to Abraham. When you meet Joseph, you know who he is and he knows who you are. You’re the God of them all, God of all the fathers. Then you meet David, and David knows you and calls you “Father.” And that’s the end of it. But every one of them you meet. They are eternally true.182 ¶41

And this play goes on and on, because in every child born of woman God’s eternal play is buried, and then it takes root and it grows. Then comes that moment in time when the fullness of time has come and it begins to take flower, and the beings appear and the flowers appear. These are these eternal characters that appear, and you meet them one after the other. When the last has come, you depart from this wheel of recurrence.182 ¶42

I would not deceive you. I would not for one moment mislead you. I am speaking from experience. I’m telling you what I, personally, have experienced. I did not hear it from a man; I didn’t read it in a book. I am telling you what I know, and I tell you what I experienced and share it with you.182 ¶43

Buried in everyone is the Old Testament, and the New Testament only explains it. Because every one will awaken in you, in the Old Testament; then you’ll understand the key given to us in the New. And it’s not some being, one unique being of unnumbered centuries ago, no, it’s you: you are Christ Jesus. And you unlock the scriptures.182 ¶44

Scripture must be experienced in me. He said, scripture…I’ve come only to fulfill it: “Scripture must be fulfilled in me,” and they didn’t understand it. There was only an Old Testament, and he said, The Old Testament must be fulfilled in me. How could the Old Testament be fulfilled in you when you came after the Old Testament? For we are told there were 400 years between the last book of the Old Testament and the first book of the New. That’s a perfect number, 400 years, and 400 is the cross, it’s the tau, the 22nd letter of the Hebrew alphabet. And there must be between the last book of the Old and the first book of the New 400 years.182 ¶45

So I’ve come…I’ve borne the cross…I have come then to interpret the Old. The Old interprets itself: it awakens in me. And you tell it to everyone who has ears to hear. Some will hear it and believe it, and some will hear it and reject it; but, nevertheless, you tell it. So between the two books there’s the interval of 400 years, which is symbolized by the cross, the tau.182 ¶46

As the whole thing unfolds you know you are on the end. But you also know don’t judge anyone who rejects it. Everyone will eventually accept it, so don’t judge them. Leave them alone, because you were just where they are at one time in your life. Every person who would now cut your head off for saying what you say, you were in that same state once upon a time.182 ¶47

Only I plead with you this night to read that 8th chapter of the 1st Book of Samuel, and do not…if the whole vast country wants an external leader and centralized government where they’re going to give you everything and you do nothing, they will finally take you. That’s life.182 ¶48

Take a simple little thing like here in Cuba…they all say to the world…don’t you recall Ed Sullivan’s picture? He brought him on the stage on a Sunday night. Ed Sullivan still goes on because people have very short memories. But I saw it vividly and recall it, he brought him on and put his arms around him and embraced him as “the George Washington of Cuba.” He embraced him, and there he hugged him before the whole vast country because Sullivan has a huge rating…and here is the George Washington of the country. He went off to Washington and he rode with Mr. Eisenhower, and he met all of the powers of our country, and here was this grand George Washington.182 ¶49

It was Christ embodied, and all Cuba hailed him as their savior; they wanted some external savior. First thing he did, took them all in and made them soldiers, without their consent. Then appropriated all the money…American property, $2 billion, all the money…and then he took everything and took more and more and completely enslaved them. Now they can’t…they’re crying out to another god to save them from a god of their own choosing, and there’s no God to hear them.182 ¶50

So I ask you not to let yourself be led into that blind alley. The only God in this world is your own wonderful human Imagination. And when you turn it over to another to lead you into what you consider security, what you consider some wonderful state in this world, you are simply giving yourself over into anti-Christ, for Christ is your own I-am-ness. To turn from your own wonderful Imagination and give it to something else is to serve anti-Christ.182 ¶51

Now let us go into the Silence.182 ¶52

Now are there any questions? None? Well, when you go home…182 ¶53

So may I invite you all this night, when you go home, that you may be encouraged to believe only in God, read that 8th chapter of the 1st Book of Samuel. Don’t turn to any God outside of yourself. I don’t care what he looks like. He may come as a tall, majestic being. And so, when even the prophet Samuel was over taken by the height of the first one, “Surely he is the Lord’s anointed,” and the voice said to Samuel, “I have rejected him. God sees not what man sees. Man sees the outward appearance of things and God sees only the heart.”182 ¶56

So don’t judge by any outward appearance. Who knew the motive behind this takeover in Cuba…the takeover in so many parts of Africa today? In one week a Democracy is taken over. Who knows the motive behind this façade?182 ¶57

So I tell you don’t trust anything outside of God, and God is your own wonderful human Imagination. If you are faithful to God, God will use every being in this world to fulfill your assumption…because there’s only God. But the minute you turn from God to another, then you’re going to pay the price and he warned you solemnly the price you’re going to pay. He’s going to make you a slave the minute you turn on him. So he said to the prophet Samuel, “They did not reject you, they have rejected me as king over them.” And the only one that should be king should be God, and God’s name is I AM.182 ¶58

See, the day is coming when the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day his name will be one…only one, on that day. When you say “I am,” are they two? On that day the Lord will be one and his name one…when he is king over all the earth. So you make God king over all the earth and the God that you would make is I AM. Goodnight.182 ¶59

The subject tonight is “The Larger Venture.” Sir Winston Churchill made the statement that “The destiny of mankind is not determined by material computation. But when great causes are on the move in the world, then we realize that we are spirits, not animals, and that something is going on in space and time and beyond space and time, which, whether you believe it or not, spells duty.” Now you and I, today, we have a certain duty. If you are not satisfied with the being that you are, then you have a definite responsibility to be the being that you want to be. That’s scripture. And so, causes are moving in the world…and you and I can be the being that we want to be.178 ¶1

Let me turn now to the 20th chapter of 1st Kings. It’s a fantastic chapter. Read the entire thing when you go home tonight, I’ll only just cover it lightly. But a prophet, an unknown prophet, said to a fellow, “Strike me, at the command of God,” and he didn’t. He said, “Because you did not obey the command of the Lord, as you depart from me you will be killed by a lion.” And so, as he departed he was killed by a lion. Then he said to another fellow, “Strike me, at the command of the Lord,” and he struck him and wounded him. Then he disguised himself with a napkin over his eyes and waited for the coming of the king of Israel. Then he said to the king as he came by, “I went into the midst of the battle; and a soldier turned and brought me a man and said to me, ‘Keep him; if by any means he disappears, your life shall be for his life, or else you will give a talent of silver.’ And as your servant was busy here and there, he was gone.” And the king said to him, “So shall your judgment be; you yourself have decided it.”178 ¶2

And so, here is a story of man too busy, so busy he substitutes physical action for sustained thought. I give you a man to keep, what man? You tell me what you want to be…that’s the man. I would like to be and you name it—I would like to be this, that or the other man. By man I mean generic man. So the ladies now are in the same boat as it were…the lady that you would like to be, the man that you would like to be. And so, here is a man to keep, but you’re so busy with the thousand and one things—I was here and there, and he was gone. And so, he escaped out of your consciousness. You don’t remain faithful to the man that you want to be, and so the judgment is upon you, and you yourself pass judgment upon yourself. We’re so busy we can’t remain faithful to the assumption that I am that which I want to be, and remain faithful to it. You read it carefully, it’s the 20th chapter of 1st Kings. It’s a fantastic story, because he succeeded and succeeded, and then in the very end he was unfaithful. He did not remain faithful to that which he really wanted to be in this world.178 ¶3

Now let me share with you a story. I’ve told it time and again, but after all, the same stories are told over and over again in scripture. They are only in the gospel of John six signs—not called miracles—six signs, six stories. And they’re repeated after 2,000 years because they came from the Lord. Now let me share with you a story I’ve told you unnumbered times. But there are those this night who never heard it before and they should hear it, and you should hear it again. How one remains faithful to that which the Lord proclaims.178 ¶4

I was in the army, I was thirty-eight, eligible for discharge; made my application; within four hours it came back “disapproved.” That night I applied God’s principle, his law, and this is his principle—read it in the 37th chapter of the Book of Psalms: “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit yourself, your way, to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.” Read it carefully, the 37th chapter of the Book of Psalms. Take delight in the Lord…just delight in the Lord. Well, the word Lord is Yod He Vau He which defined is I AM. Take delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord—the Lord, I AM, Yod He Vau He—trust in him, trust in I AM, and he will act.178 ¶5

So I went to bed. That day I saw the piece of paper, and my captain said, “I’m awfully sorry for you, Neville, but I am very happy that I have a man just like you going through this war with me.” Alright, so he wanted me to go through the war with him, but I didn’t. I wanted to go back to New York City and live a lovely normal life with my wife and my child. So that night I said nothing to my captain, I applied the law; I delighted in the law of the Lord. “Take delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” My desire was to be in New York City, honorably discharged. That was my desire. How would I now delight in the Lord and the Lord is I AM? So, I assumed that I am in New York City. To prove that I really am in New York City I viewed the world, and I saw it as I would see it were I in New York City, but just as I would see it. Not as vividly as I’m seeing this room now, but I gave it as much of the tones of reality, as much of the sensory vividness as I possibly could muster. I felt it natural as far as I’m concerned, and saw it so clearly in my mind’s eye, and then I slept in my Imagination in New York City.178 ¶6

That very night as I was sound asleep—as you’re told, “He will act.” Listen to the words, “Delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act”—well, that night as I did this he acted. Suddenly before my eyes came a piece of paper, just like the paper I saw that day that I had signed and it came back “Disapproved” and signed by my colonel. Then a hand came out of the nowhere and a hand scratched out the word “Disapproved.” It did not scratch out my colonel’s name; it left the authority of my colonel just as it was. It simply revoked his decision, and a greater authority which was the hand of God wrote in “APPROVED” and wrote it in a bold, bold script above the statement “Disapproved.” Then the voice said to me from the depths of my soul, “That which I have done I have done”—that was his statement. Now he addresses me, “Do nothing.” “Do nothing” he said to me. May I tell you, there are times in this world of ours when the most difficult thing in the world is to do nothing; and yet there are times when the only thing to do is do nothing.178 ¶7

And so I woke with the words ringing in my mind. I saw the revision… I saw the whole thing revised. Instead of “Disapproved” I saw it scratched out—“APPROVED.” Then the voice said, “That which I have done I have done.” Now, “Do nothing.” So I walked for the next nine days in the assumption that it was done. If there was any goldbricker in this world, I was it. Every morning early I would get up…my friends, I wrote their letters for them. I had a Chinese next to me who made my bed for me, and for that I wrote his letter. I had about four or five men in my company that they couldn’t read or write, and they would say to me, “You tell her I love her. You tell her I’m very lonely.” I said, “Alright. You [...]” and I would write these letters every week to girls back wherever they were. For that they would do all kinds of things for me. And so for the next nine days I didn’t really appear when they called reveille. Or when they got out and they all called names, they would say Neville Goddard or Goddard, and someone would say, “Here.” I wasn’t there. I was so completely lost in this belief that I am out I didn’t attend any one of these early morning calls, not one. I mean it; I tell you I didn’t attend one. I was out, completely out, because I heard the voice of God, and God said to me, “That which I have done I have done. Do nothing.” And I did nothing, literally.178 ¶8

Nine days later, the very colonel who disapproved my request called me in. I didn’t seek him, and here he called me in and then wrote the very word “Approved,” and that day I was on a train for New York City. But I lived in New York City nine days before in this way.178 ¶9

Listen to the words, the 37th chapter of the Book of Psalms, the 3rd and 4th verses: “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart,” all your desires. “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.” Well, didn’t he act that night? Well, who is the Lord? The Lord is I AM; there is no other God in this world, but none. When you meet him it is yourself personified. There is only God in this world, and God is your own wonderful I-am-ness. One day you will meet him, the most majestic being in the world; it’s yourself personified. He personifies himself as you here and puts him through the paces in hope that you’ll remember who projected himself here, and that you will believe in him, and it will come to pass.178 ¶10

So here, this is the greater venture. They were so busy…this king of Israel, so busy he could not keep what was entrusted to him. And the prophet said to him at the very end, “You have passed judgment on yourself.” He thought he was really judging the prophet. Then the prophet took the cloth from his eyes, and this king saw the prophet and realized it was his own judgment: That he had allowed the king of Syria to go free when he was condemned by the Lord. So he had removed this little cloth and said, Alright, so once you pass it on me, you pass it on yourself. Listen to it carefully. “I was in the field in the midst of the battle; and suddenly a soldier came to me and said, ‘Keep this man; you keep him and if by any means he escapes, your life shall be for his life…if by any means.’ And as I was busy here and there, he was gone.” And that is the life of man.178 ¶11

I tell you this night you can be the man, the woman, you want to be. Keep it; but if by any means he escapes you, then your life shall be for his life. So I tell you, you name it. You want to be this lady, this man, this person, you name it, but you must keep him. But if by any means he escapes, his life, your life shall be for his life: You remain just as you are. But if you keep him by assuming that you are—as God assumed that he is this being, your being. Every being in this world to become alive God had to assume that he is that being. And he wears me just like an outward garment; he wears you like an outward garment. And so, we are told to wear our assumption just like an outward garment as God wears us like an outward garment.178 ¶12

Here was a lady in New York City…and to show you how this thing works…this lady went into the hospital, many years before, and I met the nurse who took care of her. She was violent. I mean they considered her the incurable case…violent to the point where she could never be let out of this mental hospital. But she was let out. I was not then in her world. She came to my meetings. A lady of means—she had all the money that it took to travel all over the world—and she went off to Europe with her children, leaving behind her a lovely home and her maid. When she returned nine months later, having spent nine months in Paris, there was no furniture. She went to everything in this world that you could call the right thing to do—the police, private detectives, everything—and at the end of quite a long search, no furniture. Then she came to me. Now she knew my teaching, she came to me before. It never occurred to her to come to me first; she went to the authorities first. And then, we sat in the Silence and she and I agreed that she had her furniture. I asked her to assume that she was sitting in her own place where she had paid the rent, and here, lovely pictures of her children on the piano, and all the things were there, as they ought to be there. She did it.178 ¶13

And then she went down to her bank on Madison Avenue, and coming out of the bank she turned in the wrong direction. When she realized her mistake, only one block away, there were these familiar ankles, and it was her maid. She looked up and here’s the maid. She held the maid, no scene. She took the maid into a taxicab and made the maid take her to the place where she had stored the furniture. The maid was waiting for this wealthy woman not to come back. At the end of a year she would dispose of it. She knew the woman’s eccentricity, she’d been in a mental institution, and the maid knew all these things, and simply moved it out after the lady went off to Paris. And out of the nowhere she finds her, when the entire police department and her private detectives in New York City could not find where this furniture was. And she found it, because suddenly she found a man, and I said, “Hold onto this man; don’t let him go.”178 ¶14

Now you are told in the end of the Book of John: So they come into the garden and they’re looking for a savior, one called The Lord Jesus of Nazareth. He said to them, “Whom do you seek?” and they answered, “Jesus of Nazareth.” He answered, “I am he.” When they heard it they all fell to the ground, as the world falls to the ground when they discover that the savior of their world is their own I-am-ness. They can’t believe it. They’ve been taught to believe that some God in space, something outside of himself, is his God. And one day he discovers my own consciousness is God, the only savior in the world; and when he hears it, all that he believes in falls to the ground as it were. When he regains his composure, he can’t believe it, so he asks the same question. So the one asked the question, “Whom do you seek?” Again they make the same answer, “We seek Jesus of Nazareth,” and he replies, “I told you that I am he; now that you’ve found me, let these go, but do not let me go.” Don’t let me go after you have found me, but let everything in this world go that you thought could be your protector. Don’t let me go.178 ¶15

So man finds his own wonderful I-am-ness, called in scripture, “The Lord.” So, “Take delight in the Lord”—take delight in the I AM—“and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord (to I AM); trust in the Lord (I AM), and he will act.” And so, man comes and he finds the being that saves him, and it’s his own wonderful human Imagination. So he loses himself in his own wonderful Imagination. But he acts: He creates the scene which would imply the fulfillment of his dream. Then God acts; your own wonderful I-am-ness goes into action after you prepare the scene for him to execute in this world. “By him all things were made; without him there was nothing made that is made.” So I create the scene implying the fulfillment of my dream. And so I’m in New York City and honorably discharged. And that night the grand I AM acts.178 ¶16

So some psychiatrist would tell me, “That was your own imagination.” And when I say no, I wouldn’t say that. “And when you saw the paper come before your eyes and a hand out of the nowhere scratched out the word disapproved and then write in approved, that’s your own imagination.” I said yes it was. “And then the voice said, ‘That which I have done I have done. Do nothing,’ that’s your own imagination.” I said yes…but it worked! So if I have evidence for a thing, what the world thinks about it, it’s no matter.178 ¶17

So people tell me, “My own Imagination”…while he remains in the army for the next four years. I had that experience. A very close friend of mine (I haven’t seen him in years), but he was in the army until the other seventeen million were discharged. And I wrote him what I did, but he was a Freudian, and he knew exactly how this thing should not work, so he never applied it. So he remained for the next four years in the army. And to this day he will still not believe it. But he told me himself, “When I come to your meetings, I like it, but I put my feet into the carpet and I stick my hands on the chair and I hold on firmly to keep my sense of the profoundness and the reality of things.” So for the next four years he was still holding onto the chair in his barracks, and he wanted out as much as I did. I told him exactly how to do it, to believe in the Lord, actually believe in the Lord, and the Lord is my own wonderful I-am-ness.178 ¶18

So tonight, if you could believe in the Lord, the Lord being your own wonderful Imagination. So when you go to bed, “I am” and you name it; and then to prove that you are in that state you see the world, and you see the world as it would be seen were you now the being that you want to be. You see it exactly as you would see it. And seeing it, you may not hear the words. When I told this story, I wrote it down in detail, and a friend of mine, being very, very practical, and he read my manuscript for me, he said, “Neville, may I delete the mystical aspects of this story, because someone reading it not knowing of you would think unless they had the experience, the mystical experience, it wouldn’t work.” I was persuaded by him not to incorporate it when I really should have incorporated it.178 ¶19

You don’t have to hear the voice. If you believe in him, he acts anyway. In my case, my belief was so intense that I heard the voice and saw the paper and saw the hand and saw everything. It was God’s hand. It was God’s voice. And his voice is my voice. My own I-am-ness was speaking to myself. That’s God. There is no other God. God became man that man may become God. So he sunk himself in me as my own wonderful human Imagination. But he is still I AM. Go to them and tell them I AM that I AM. I AM has sent you unto them. Go and tell them. But if you hear the words or see the pictures, it doesn’t mean that he is more active in this case than he is if you do not hear his words or see the pictures. I tell you, you will bring about everything in this world if you believe in God. And God is your own wonderful human Imagination, and his name is I AM. That’s his name.178 ¶20

So this is the greater venture. One turned the fields…I am in the field of the battle, I went into the midst of the battle (this is the battle); and someone said to me, “Keep this man; but if by any means he is gone, then your life shall be for his life.” “And, O king, as I was busy here and there, he was gone.” Then the king said, “So shall it be unto you. You, yourself, have pronounced the judgment, the decision.” And so he was gone. I was so busy…maybe the morning’s paper, maybe the news on the radio or the TV, maybe some little rumor persuaded me that things aren’t as they ought to be—I’m going to lose my job when I get my Social Security—and I let the man go. I let him go…and then the judgment is upon myself.178 ¶21

I tell you it is true—“Do not let me go.” Who is speaking? “I AM he,” said he. I want Jesus; I want the savior of the world. “I am he. Let these men go, but don’t let me go.” And the world thinks it’s some little being that dramatized this picture 2,000 years ago. This is the [...] drama. God actually sunk himself in humanity, became every child born of woman. God is in man as man’s own wonderful human Imagination. When he says, “I am,” that’s God. But he’s been taught to believe that there’s another God outside in space to whom he bows; and all orthodoxies the world over speak of another God, and worship the false God, and have built up fantastic things around some God that does not exist. The only God that exists dwells in man as man’s own wonderful human Imagination, that’s God.178 ¶22

And the day will come, may I tell you, every story told in scripture you will experience. Man must experience scripture for himself to know how wonderful it really is. In the depths of his soul he goes through this experience. On the next level it is this, the psychological level. On the level man simply goes through all the outer things that mean nothing, all the outer rituals and doctrines that mean absolutely nothing…not really to change his world. But below it, where we’re talking this night, it changes every thing in this world. As I stand before you, that’s exactly how I got out of the army. It was the year 1943 and the month was March. My friend was my age and he could have gotten out that very month, but he would not believe me. He did not believe in God. He thought he believed in God. And he wrote a book, and in this book he wrote a chapter on me, and he said, “Neville is an atheist.”178 ¶23

Well, an atheist is one who does not believe in God. An agnostic is one who is on the verge, he doesn’t know whether he believes in God or not. He’s not against God, but he’s not yet convinced. But an atheist is a Khrushchev, one who does not believe in God. I do not know of anyone who walks the face of this earth who believes more in God than I do. Because I stood in the presence of God and God is man: It is yourself personified. You meet yourself, and you can’t conceive of the beauty and the majesty and the glory of the being that you meet when you are brought into the presence of the [...], and you meet yourself: It is God. You’re embraced and incorporated into your very being.178 ¶24

He went astray into a world for educative purposes. It’s an ever-expanding illumination that is God. So he simply assumed a limitation and projected himself in this limitation, emptied himself of his original form and took upon himself the form of man, this limitation, and became obedient unto death, even death upon this cross. Finding himself in this form, he became obedient to all the limitations of the flesh. And one day he calls you back. You have gone through all of the hell of the world, all the fires he could ever conceive, and he brings you back. He brings you into his presence, and you stand in the presence of yourself. There’s nothing but God, only God. Every being in this world is God.178 ¶25

So I tell you, believe. Listen to the words, “Those who believe will not make haste.” I didn’t know it, I tell you. For those nine days in the army I walked as I walked on air, really I did. And when the world would say…well, as I told you earlier, one of the most difficult things in this world when one is anxious, has a wife, has a child he hasn’t seen in three months, a little child two months old, and you’re hungry to kiss and smell that little child, and the hunger for that embrace of a baby. For I do not know of any odor in this world comparable to the odor of a child, I do not know it. I can’t conceive of any odor—perfumes, flowers, all these things are lovely—but the odor of a baby. I personally know of no odor in the world more desirable than the odor of a baby. And here was this baby and I’m denied it, a thousand miles away. So, I simply lost myself and I performed the act.178 ¶26

So, listen to the words, “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you all the desires of your heart. Commit your way (that is, your action) to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.” So I did it. I assumed that I am in New York City. I am looking out on the world proving that I am in New York City, for were I in New York City I would see the world from New York City. So I saw it from New York City. I didn’t think of New York, I thought from New York, and slept in it. And that very night he acted. My intensity was so great, suddenly the paper comes before my face, he scratches out “Disapproved,” he writes in “APPROVED,” and then he speaks to me directly. Having said to me, “That which I have done I have done,” now believe it. “Do nothing.” And if you have ever gone through this you’ll know that it is the most difficult thing in this world when you are so anxious, to do nothing. And yet, there are moments as it was in my case when it was the only thing to do, to do nothing. And so I did nothing. And then, I didn’t appeal. He calls me nine days later, and here I am that very day on a train to New York City.178 ¶27

So I tell you it will not fail you if you believe in God. If you think God is hanging on the wall, or if you think he is in some other place, you don’t know God. Listen to these words, the 3rd chapter of 1st Corinthians, the16th verse, it is that “the Spirit of God dwells in you…you are the temple of the living God.” The Spirit of God dwells in you…you are the temple of the living God. So the Spirit of God dwells in me and his name is I AM, then I know who he is. I’m not going to walk down the street and tell people when I meet them, “Look at God.” No. He is not this garment; he dwells in this garment. He’s Spirit. He is not this thing that you see, he dwells in this that you see, and he’s my own wonderful human Imagination. When I meet him he’s myself…as I have met him…as you will one day.178 ¶28

So begin this night to believe in God. Believe in him more than anything else in this world; and not a thing can fail you if you believe in God. Try it. I could tell you unnumbered stories, but you try it. It’s far better if you had the story yourself. I could go on telling stories and you might say, well, he is more mystically inclined, maybe he is more so and so. Don’t let anyone persuade you that Neville is more God than you are. You can’t find a better God, a more God or less God than the God that is in you as I AM. Only one God: “So on that day the Lord will be one and his name one.” If he’s one and his name one, not one is better than the other. No one is better than the other. But we do not believe the same [...] in God, and billions of us don’t believe in the God; we believe in some little totem pole, something on the outside.178 ¶29

So you read carefully this night when you go home the passages that I have mentioned. Read the 28th of Isaiah, the 16th verse; the 37th Psalms, rather, the 4th and 5th verses; read the 20th chapter of the Book of 1st Kings; and something that I quoted earlier from the 18th chapter of John. “Whom do you seek?” “Whom do I seek? I seek Jesus.” “I am he.”178 ¶30

And standing before you now the name is Neville. But the first one to discover the fatherhood of God was Jesus Christ. Its discovery came by the discovery of the Son. And so, the Son called him…called what…called Jesus Christ “Adonay.” May I tell you that in the end there is only Jesus Christ; and everyone who finds the Son and the Son calls him, as he will, “my Father” is Jesus Christ. So in that day the Lord will be one and his name one. There will be nothing but Jesus Christ, for Jesus means “Jehovah saves.” Nothing but Jehovah…and he saves himself. He sent himself fragmented into this world for a greater expansion of the being that he is. He brings it all back… and the name is Jesus Christ. It’s a mystery, but you dwell upon it.178 ¶31

Jesus Christ is the father of David. “What think ye of the Christ? Whose son is he?” and they said, “The son of David.” “Why then did David in the Spirit call him Lord? If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be David’s son?” So David calls him Father, and David is God’s only begotten son. You must spiritualize the mission of David. So we see David—and we spiritualize the mission—who calls everyone who is awake Father. The one he first calls is Jesus Christ, and everyone thereafter though he’s called by other names is Jesus Christ.178 ¶32

Now let us go into the Silence.178 ¶33