Imagine

This morning I have been listening to Neville Goddard. He was a prolific speaker, in the New Thought movement, throughout the 50’s, 60’s, and at least one year in the 70’s.

The CD I am listening to is called the “Power of Imagining” and it was recorded in 1960. I have not transcribed Neville’s words, but here is text from another lecture of his, which states his position:

“The creator of the world works in the depth of your soul, underlying all of your faculties, including perception, and streams into your surface mind least disguised in the form of creative fancy. Watch your thoughts, and you will catch Him in the act of creating, for He is your very Self! Every moment of time you are imagining what you are conscious of, and if you do not forget what you are imagining and it comes to pass, you have found the creative cause of your world.

Because God is pure imagination and the only creator, if you imagine a state and bring it to pass, you have found Him. Remember: God is your consciousness, your I AM; so when you are imagining, God is doing it. If you imagine and forget what you imagine, you may not recognize your harvest when it appears. It may be good, bad, or indifferent, but if you forget how it came into being, you have not found God.

You do not have to be rich to be happy but you must be imaginative! You could have great wealth and be afraid of tomorrow's needs, or have nothing and travel the world over, for all things exist in your own wonderful human imagination.”

Recently, I had a revelation, which I wrote about one evening after my ministerial training program.

It became clear to me that whom I pray to is not as important as how I pray. Let me try to explain.

Jesus, quoted in Matthew 21:22 said, “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”

What became obvious to me is that it is the belief, held within the praying individual, which gives the power to the prayer.

In “New Thought” circles, we often see a type of spiritual arrogance which implies, “We know the truth. The others do not.” Actually, one can find this type of ego-based belief in almost any tradition.

I am here to say that what you believe is not as important as the quality of your belief. It is the “believing” which causes the prayer to come to pass. It is not the deity to whom the prayer is offered that creates the “miracle”. It is the strength of belief in the miracle, which brings it into reality.

This is why creative visualization works. This is why Neville is right about his theories on imagining.

If we can truly “own” that which we imagine, the universe has no choice but to conspire towards its manifestation.

I am going to imagine myself really owning this truth, and opening to creative, healing ways to utilize this knowledge.