Power of Awareness (1952) Chpt. I - X by Neville Goddard

Publisher's Note:

Forty years ago, Neville added notes in his own hand to his personal copy of Power of Awareness. Neville's daughter, Victoria Goddard, has authenticated the handwriting as her father's and authorized the publication of a new edition incorporating his notes. The reader will find these printed in the body of the text, surrounded by [brackets], since in every case it was clear precisely where they fell. A word of appreciation and gratitude is due to Vicki Goddard for her generous assistance.

"Leave the mirror and change your face."

"Leave the world alone and change your conceptions of yourself." --Neville Goddard

Chapter I

I AM

All things when they are admitted are made manifest by the light: for everything that is made manifest is light. Eph. 5:13

The 'light' is consciousness. Consciousness is one, manifesting in legions of forms or levels of consciousness. There is no one that is not all that is, for consciousness, though expressed in an infinite series of levels, is not divisional. There is no real separation or gap in consciousness. I AM canNOT be divided. I may conceive myself to be a rich man, a poor man, a beggar man or a thief, but the center of my being remains the same regardless of the concept I hold of myself.

At the center of manifestation there is ONLY ONE I AM manifesting in legions of forms or concepts of itself and

I AM THAT I AM.

I AM is the self-definition of the absolute, the foundation on which everything rests. 

I AM is the first cause-substance.

I AM is the self-definition of God.

I AM hath sent me unto you. I AM THAT I AM. 

"Be still and KNOW that I AM God." Psalms 46:10

I AM is a feeling of permanent awareness. 

The very center of consciousness is the feeling of I AM. I may forget who I AM, where I AM, what I AM; but I cannot forget that I AM. I AM the awareness of BEING remains, regardless of the degree of forgetfulness of who, where, and what I AM.

I AM is that which, amid unnumbered forms, is ever the same. This great discovery of cause reveals that, good or bad, man is actually the arbiter of his own fate. That it is his concept of himself that determines the world in which he lives [and his concept of himself is his reactions to life].

In other words, if you are experiencing ill health, knowing the TRUTH about CAUSE, you cannot attribute the illness to ANYTHING other than to the particular arrangement of the basic cause-substance, an arrangement which [was produced by your reactions to life, and] is defined by your concept 

"I AM unwell."

This is why you are told, 

"Let the weak man say, 'I AM strong.'" Joel 3:10

for by his assumption, the cause-substance--I AM--is rearranged and MUST, therefore, manifest that which its rearrangement affirms. This principle governs EVERY aspect of your life, be it social, financial, intellectual or spiritual.

I AM is that reality to which, whatever happens, we MUST turn for an explanation of the phenomena of life. It is I AM's concept of itself that determines the form and scenery of its existence.

EVERYTHING depends upon its attitude towards itself; that which it will not affirm as true of itself CANNOT awaken it its world. That is, your concept of yourself, such as

I AM strong

I AM secure

I AM loved

determines the world in which you live.

In other words, when you say,

I AM a man.

I AM a father. 

I AM an American.

You are NOT defining different I AMs; you are defining different concepts or arrangements of the ONE cause-substance--the ONE I AM.

Even in the phenomena of nature, if the tree were articulate it would say,

"I am a tree, an apple tree, a fruitful tree."

When you know that consciousness is the one and only reality-conceiving itself to be something good, bad, or indifferent, and becoming that which it conceived itself to be--

You are free from the tyranny of second causes, free from the belief that there are causes outside of your own mind that can affect your life.

In the state of consciousness of the individual is found the explanation of the phenomena of life. If man's concept of himself were different, EVERYTHING in his world would be different. His concept of himself being what it is, EVERYTHING in his world MUST be as it is.

Thus, it is abundantly clear that there is ONLY ONE

I AM

and you are that I AM.

And while I AM is infinite, you, by your concept of yourself, are displaying ONLY a limited aspect of the infinite I AM.

"Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul. As the swift seasons roll!

Leave thy low-vaulted past!

Let each new temple, nobler than the last. Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast 'til thou at length art free,

Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!"

Chapter II

Consciousness

It is ONLY by a change of consciousness, by actually changing your concept of yourself, that you can 'build more stately mansions'--the manifestations of higher and higher concepts. (By manifesting is meant experiencing the results of these concepts in your world.) It is of VITAL IMPORTANCE to understand clearly just what consciousness is.

The reasons lie in the fact that consciousness is the ONE and ONLY reality. It is the FIRST and ONLY cause-substance of the phenomena of life. NOTHING has existence for man save through the consciousness he has of it.

Therefore, it is to consciousness you MUST turn, for it is the ONLY foundation on which the phenomena of life can be explained.

If we accept the idea of a first cause, it follows that the evolution of that cause could NEVER result in ANYTHING foreign to itself. That is, if the FIRST CAUSE-substance is light, ALL its evolutions, fruits, and manifestations would remain light.

The FIRST CAUSE-substance being CONSCIOUSNESS, all its evolutions, fruits and phenomena MUST remain consciousness.

ALL that could be observed would be a higher or lower form or variation of the same thing. In other words, if your consciousness is the ONLY reality, it MUST also be the ONLY substance.

Consequently, what appears to you as circumstances, conditions and even material objects are really ONLY the products of your own consciousness.

Nature, then, as a thing or a complex of things external to your mind, MUST be rejected. You and your environment cannot be regarded as existing separately. You and your world are ONE.

Therefore, you MUST turn from the objective* appearance of things to the subjective* center of things, your consciousness, if you truly desire to know the cause of the phenomena of life, and how to use this knowledge to realize your fondest dreams.

In the midst of the apparent contradictions, antagonisms and contrasts of your life, there is ONLY ONE principle at work, ONLY your CONSCIOUSNESS operating. Difference does not consist in variety of substance, but in variety of arrangement of the same cause-substance, your consciousness.

The world moves with motiveless necessity. By this is meant that it has no motive of its own, but is under the necessity of manifesting your concept, the arrangement of your mind, and your mind is always arranged in the image of all you believe and consent to as true.

The rich man, poor man, beggar man or thief are NOT different minds, but different arrangements of the same mind, in the same sense that a piece of steel when magnetized differs not in substance from its demagnetized state but in the arrangement and order of its molecules. 

A single electron revolving in a specified orbit constitutes the unit of magnetism. When a piece of steel or anything else is demagnetized, the revolving electrons have not stopped. Therefore, the magnetism has not gone out of existence. There is ONLY a rearrangement of the particles, so that they produce no outside or perceptible effect. When particles are arranged at random, mixed up in ALL directions, the substance is said to be demagnetized. Yet, when particles are marshalled in ranks so that a number of them face in one direction, the substance is a magnet. Magnetism is NOT generated; it is displayed.

Health, wealth, beauty and genius are not created; they are only manifested by the arrangement of your mind. That is, by your concept of yourself [and your concept of yourself is all that you accept and consent to as true. What you consent to can only be discovered by an uncritical observation of your reactions to life. Your reactions reveal where you live psychologically; and where you live psychologically, determines how you live here in the outer visible world.] The importance of this in your daily life should be immediately apparent.

The basic nature of primal cause is consciousness. Therefore, the ultimate substance of all things is consciousness.

*NOTE: for whatever reason, I, Lori Bjork, seem to have a black hole remembering the difference between objective and subjective. In case I AM not the only one... Objective is not influenced by personal feelings. Subjective is based or influenced by personal feelings, tastes or opinions.

Chapter III

Power of Assumption

Man's chief delusion is his conviction that there are causes other than his own state of consciousness. 

ALL that befalls a man--ALL that is done by him--ALL that comes from him--happens as a result of his state of consciousness. 

A man's consciousness is ALL that he thinks and desires and loves, all that he believes is true and consents to.

That is why a change of consciousness is necessary before you can change your outer world.

Rain falls as a result of a change in the temperature in the higher regions of the atmosphere, so, in like manner, a change of circumstance happens as a result of a change in your state of consciousness.

Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.

To be transformed, the whole basis of your thoughts MUST change. Yet, your thoughts cannot change unless you have new ideas, for you think from your ideas.

ALL transformation begins with an intense, burning desire to be transformed.

The first step in the 'renewing of the mind' is desire.

You MUST desire to be different [and intend to be] before you can begin to change yourself.

Then, second step, you MUST make your future dream a present FACT.

You do this by assuming the feeling of your wish fulfilled.

By desiring to be other than what you are, you can create an ideal of the person you want to be and assume that you are already that person NOW. 

If (when) this assumption is persisted in until it becomes your dominant feeling, the attainment of your ideal is inevitable.

The ideal you hope to achieve is ALWAYS ready for an incarnation, but unless you, yourself, offer it human parentage, it is incapable of birth. Therefore, your attitude should be one in which--having desired to express a higher state--YOU ALONE ACCEPT THE TASK of incarnating this new and greater value of yourself.

In giving birth to your ideal, you MUST bear in mind that the methods of mental and spiritual knowledge are entirely different. This is a point that IS truly understood by probably not more than one person in a million.

You KNOW a thing mentally by looking at it from the outside, by comparing it with other things, by analyzing it and defining it [by thinking of it]. Whereas, you can know a thing spiritually only by becoming it [ONLY thinking FROM it].

You MUST be the thing itself and not merely TALK about it or look at it. You MUST be like the moth in search of his idol, the flame, who spurred with true desire, plunging at once into the sacred fire, folded his wings within, 'til he became ONE color and one substance with the flame. 

"He ONLY KNEW the flame who in it burned, and ONLY he could tell who ne'er to tell returned."

Just as the moth in his desire to KNOW the flame was willing to destroy himself, so MUST you in becoming a new person be willing to die to your present self.

You MUST be conscious of being healthy if you are to KNOW what health is.

You MUST be conscious of being secure if you are to KNOW what security is.

Therefore, to incarnate a new and greater value of yourself, you MUST ASSUME you ALREADY ARE what you want to be and then live by FAITH in this ASSUMPTION--which is not yet incarnate in the body of your life--in confidence that this new value or state of consciousness will become incarnated through your ABSOLUTE FIDELITY to the ASSUMPTION that you are that which you desire to be.

When?

NOW

When?

NOW

How long MUST I have absolute faith and fidelity with my assumption?

70X7

This is what wholeness means, what integrity means. They mean the submission of the whole self to the FEELING of the wish fulfilled in CERTAINTY that the new state of consciousness is the renewing of mind which transforms.

There is NO order in Nature corresponding to this willing submission of the self to the ideal beyond the self. Therefore, it is the height of folly to expect the incarnation of a new and greater concept of self to come about by natural evolutionary process. That which requires a state of consciousness to produce its effect obviously cannot be effected without such a state of consciousness. AND in your ability to assume the FEELING of a greater life, to ASSUME a NEW CONCEPT of yourself, you possess what the rest of Nature does not possess--IMAGINATION--the instrument by which you create your world.

Your imagination is the instrument, the means, whereby your redemption from slavery, sickness, and poverty is affected. If you refuse to assume the responsibility of the incarnation of a new and higher concept of yourself, then you reject the means, the ONLY Means, whereby your redemption--that is, the attainment of YOUR ideal--can be affected.

Imagination is the ONLY redemptive power in the Universe. 

However, your nature is such that it is optional to you whether you remain in your present concept of yourself (a hungry being longing for freedom, health and security) or CHOOSE to become the INSTRUMENT OF YOUR OWN REDEMPTION, imagining yourself as that which you want to be, and thereby satisfying your hunger and redeeming yourself.

O be strong then, and brave, pure, patient and true;

The work that is yours let no other hand do.

For the strength

From the fountain within you--the Kingdom of Heaven.

Chapter IV

Desire

The changes which take place in your life, as a result of your changed concept of yourself ALWAYS appear to the unenlightened to be the result, not of a change of your own consciousness, but of chance, outer cause, or coincidence.

However, the ONLY fate governing your life is the fate determined by your own concepts, your own assumptions; for an assumption, though false, if persisted in will harden into fact.

The ideal you seek and hope to attain will not manifest itself, will not be realized by you, until you have imagined that you are already that ideal now.

There is no escape for you except by a radical psychological transformation of yourself, except by your assumption of the FEELING of your wish fulfilled.

Therefore, make results or accomplishments the crucial test of your ability to use your imagination.

EVERYTHING depends on your attitude towards yourself.

That which you will not affirm as true of yourself can never be realized by you, for that attitude alone is the necessary condition by which you realize your goal.

ALL transformation is based upon suggestion, and this can work ONLY where you lay yourself completely open to an influence. You MUST abandon yourself to your ideal as a woman abandons herself to love, for complete abandonment of self to it is the way to union with your ideal.

You MUST ASSUME the FEELING of the wish fulfilled until your assumption has ALL the sensory vividness of reality. You MUST imagine that you are ALREADY experiencing what you desire now. That is, you MUST ASSUME the FEELING of the fulfillment of your desire UNTIL you are possessed by it and this FEELING crowds ALL other ideas out of your consciousness.

The man who is not prepared for the conscious plunge into the assumption of the wish fulfilled in the FAITH it is the ONLY way to the realization of his dream is not yet ready to live consciously by the Law of Assumption, although there is NO DOUBT that he does live by the Law of ASSUMPTION unconsciously.

For you who accept this principle and are ready to live by consciously assuming that your wish is already fulfilled now, the adventure of life begins. 

To reach a higher level of being, YOU MUST ASSUME a HIGHER CONCEPT of yourself.

If you will not imagine yourself as other than what you are, then you remain as you are. For if ye believe not that I AM He, ye shall die in your sins.

If you do not believe that you are HE (the person you want to be), then you remain as you are.

Through the faithful, systematic cultivation of the feeling of the wish fulfilled, desire becomes the promise of its own fulfillment.

The ASSUMPTION of the FEELING of the wish fulfilled makes the future dream a present fact.

Chapter V

The TRUTH that Sets You Free

The drama (comedy?) of life is a psychological one in which ALL the conditions, circumstances and events of your life are brought to pass by your ASSUMPTIONS.

Since your life is determined by your assumptions, you are forced to recognize the fact you are either a slave to your assumptions or their master.

To become the master of your assumptions is the key to undreamed of freedom and happiness.

You can obtain this mastery by deliberate conscious control of your imagination.

You determine your assumptions in this way: 

• form a mental image, a picture of the state desired, of the person you want to be. 
• Concentrate your attention upon the feeling that you are already that person.

• First, visualize the picture in your consciousness. 
• Second, then feel yourself to be in that state, as though it actually formed your surrounding world. 

By your imagination that which was a mere mental image is changed into a seemingly solid reality.

The great secret is a controlled imagination and a well-sustained attention firmly and repeatedly focused on the object to be accomplished. It cannot be emphasized too much that,

by creating an ideal within your mental sphere, by assuming that you are ALREADY that IDEAL,

you IDENTIFY yourself with it and thereby transform*** yourself into its image.

[thinking from the ideal instead of thinking of the ideal. Every state is already there as 'mere possibilities' as long as we think of them, but as overpoweringly real when we think from them].

This was called by the ancient teachers 'subjection to the will of God' or 'resting in the Lord' and the ONLY true test of 'resting in the lord' is that ALL who do rest are inevitably transformed into the image of that in which they rest [thinking FROM the wish fulfilled]. 

You become according to your resigned will, and your resigned will is your concept of yourself and ALL that you consent to and accept as true. You, assuming the FEELING of your wish fulfilled and continuing therein, take upon yourself (undertake) the results of that state; NOT assuming the feeling of your wish fulfilled, you are ever free of the results.

When you understand the redemptive function of imagination, you hold in your hands the KEY to the solution of ALL your problems. EVERY phase of your life is made by the exercise of your imagination. Determined imagination alone is the means of your progress, of the fulfilling of your dreams. It is the beginning and end of ALL creating. 

THE GREAT SECRET is a controlled imagination and a well-sustained attention firmly and repeatedly focused on the FEELING of the wish fulfilled until it fills the mind and crowds ALL OTHER IDEAS out of consciousness.

What greater gifts could be given you than to be told

THE TRUTH

that will set you free?

The TRUTH that sets you free is that you can experience in imagination what you desire to experience in reality AND by maintaining this experience in imagination, your desire will become an actuality.

You are limited ONLY by your uncontrolled imagination and lack of attention to the FEELING of your wish fulfilled.

When the imagination is not controlled and the attention not steadied on the FEELING of the wish fulfilled, then NO amount of prayer or piety or invocation will produce the desired effect. When you can call up at will whatsoever image you please, when the forms of your imagination are vivid to you as the forms of nature:

YOU ARE MASTER of your FATE.

[You MUST STOP SPENDING your thoughts, your time and your money. EVERYTHING in life MUST be an INVESTMENT.]

"Visions of beauty and splendor, forms of long-lost race, sounds and faces and voices.

From the fourth dimension of space--and on through the universe boundless,

our thoughts go lightning shod--some call it imagination,

And others call it God."

Note: Neville follows this with the date April 12, 1953. "On the morning of April 12, 1953, my wife was awakened by the sound of a great voice of authority speaking within her and saying, 'You must stop spending your thoughts, time and money. EVERYTHING in life MUST be an investment.' To spend is to waste, to squander, to layout without return. To invest is to layout for a purpose from which a profit is expected. This revelation of my wife is about the importance of the moment. It is about the transformation of the moment... It is only what is DONE NOW that counts. Whenever we ASSUME THE FEELING of being what we want to be, we are investing." (ch. 5)--Ed.

***NOTE: This is from Lori Bjork. To me it's sort of like metabolism in reverse. When you metabolize you transform...for instance, food into energy your body functions with. With assumption one transforms consciousness into manifested reality. There is a Law of Reversibility.

Chapter VI

Attention

"A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways." James 1:8

Attention is forceful in proportion to the narrowness of its focus, that is, when it is obsessed with a single idea or sensation. It is steadied and powerfully focused ONLY by such an adjustment of the mind as permits you to see ONE thing ONLY, for you steady the ATTENTION and INCREASE its POWER by confining it. The desire which realizes itself is ALWAYS a desire upon which ATTENTION  is exclusively concentrated, for an idea is endowed with the power only in proportion to the degree of attention fixed on it.

Concentrated observation is the attentive attitude directed [from*] some specific end. The attentive attitude involves selection, for when you pay attention, it signifies that you have decided to FOCUS your ATTENTION on ONE object or state rather than another.

Therefore, when you KNOW what you want, you MUST deliberately FOCUS your ATTENTION on the FEELING of your wish FULFILLED until that FEELING FILLS the MIND*** and crowds ALL other ideas out of consciousness.

The POWER of ATTENTION is the measure of your inner force. Concentrated observation of ONE thing shuts out other things and causes them to disappear. 

The GREAT SECRET of SUCCESS is to FOCUS the ATTENTION on the FEELING of the wish fulfilled without permitting any distraction.

ALL PROGRESS depends upon an INCREASE of ATTENTION.

The ideas which impel you to action are those which dominate the consciousness, those which possess the attention. [The idea which excludes ALL others from the field of ATTENTION discharges in action.] This ONE thing I do, forgetting those things that are behind, I press toward the mark.

This means you, this ONE thing you can do, 'forgetting those things that are behind'. You can press toward the mark of filling your mind with the feeling of the wish fulfilled.

To the unenlightened man this will seem to be all fantasy, yet ALL PROGRESS comes from those who do not take the accepted view, nor accept the world as it is. As was stated heretofore, if (when) YOU can IMAGINE WHAT YOU PLEASE, and if (when) the forms of your thought are as vivid as the forms of nature, YOU ARE by virtue of the POWER of YOUR IMAGINATION MASTER of YOUR FATE.

Your imagination is you, yourself, and the world as your imagination sees it is the real world.

When you set out to master the movements of attention, which MUST be done if you would successfully ALTER the course of observed events, 

it is then you realize how little control you exercise over your imagination 

and how much it is dominated by sensory impressions and by a drifting of the tides of idle moods.

To aid in mastering the control of your attention, practice this exercise:  night after night, just before you drift off to sleep, strive to hold your attention on the activities of the day in reverse order. Focus your attention on the last thing you did, that is, getting into bed, and then move it backward in time over the events until you reach the first evet of the day, getting out of bed. This is no easy exercise, but just as specific exercises greatly help in developing specific muscles, this will greatly help in developing the 'muscle' of your attention. Your ATTENTION MUST be developed, controlled, and concentrated in order to change your concept of yourself successfully and thereby change your future. Imagination is able to do anything, but ONLY according to the internal direction of your attention. If you PERSIST night after night, sooner or later you will awaken in yourself a CENTRE of POWER and become conscious of your greater self, THE REAL YOU. Attention is developed by repeated exercise or habit. Through habit an action becomes easier, and so in course of time gives rise to a facility or faculty, which can then be put to higher uses.

When you attain control of the internal direction of your ATTENTION, you will no longer stand in the shallow water but will launch out into the deep of life.

You will walk in the assumption of the wish fulfilled as on a foundation more solid even than earth.

*Neville substitutes from for towards, the reading in the original. --Ed.

***NOTE: This is from Lori Bjork, not Neville, 'where is the mind located?' I love that Neville is great at defining for clarity. I realized recently (at the 'time' 29Jan2023, I write this) I was using 'brain' and 'mind' interchangeably. I no longer perceive that as accurate. I also perceive to do so is extremely limiting, especially after truly ingesting, digesting and metabolizing what W.C. Lanyon shares in the Abd Allah book: 'As a man thinketh in his heart...' As long as I AM interjecting myself into this amazing, powerful book; what if I stop using 'man' and 'being' interchangeably? To me, one of the things Neville seeks to teach with this book is that we are not bodies that think and feel. We are awareness with bodies: Awareness being. 

Chapter VII 

Attitude

Experiments recently conducted by Merle Lawrence (Princeton) and Adelbert Ames (Dartmouth) in the latter's psychology laboratory at Hanover, NH, prove that what you see when you look at something depends not so much on what IS there as on the ASSUMPTION you make when you look. Since what we believe to be the 'real' physical world is actually ONLY an 'assumptive' world, it is not surprising that these experiments prove that what appears to be solid reality is actually the result of 'expectations' or 'assumptions'. Your assumptions determine not only what you see but also what you do, for they govern ALL your conscious and subconscious movements towards the fulfillment of themselves.

Over a century ago this truth was stated by Emerson as follows:

"As the world was plastic and fluid in the hands of God, so it is ever to so much of his attributes as we bring to it. To ignorance and sin, it is flint. They adapt themselves to it as they may, but in proportion as a man has anything in him divine, the firmament flows before him and takes his signet and form."

Your assumption is the hand of God molding the firmament into the image of that which you assume. The assumption of the wish fulfilled is the high tide which lifts you easily off the bar of the senses where you have so long lain stranded. It lifts the mind into prophecy in the full, right sense of the word; and if (when, as) you have that controlled imagination and absorbed attention which it is possible to attain, you may be sure that ALL your assumption implies will come to pass.

When William Blake wrote,

'What seems to be, is, to those to whom it seems to be'

He was only repeating 

the eternal truth, "There is nothing unclean of itself; but to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean." Romans 14:14

Because there is nothing unclean of itself (or clean of itself), you should assume the BEST and think ONLY of that which is lovely and of good report.

It is NOT superior insight but IGNORANCE of this Law of Assumption, if you read into the greatness of men some littleness with which you may be familiar--or into some situation or circumstance an unfavorable conviction.

Your particular relationship to another influences your assumption with respect to that other and makes you see in him that which you do see.

If you can change your opinion of another, then what you NOW BELIEVE of him cannot be absolutely true, but is ONLY relatively true.***

The following is an actual case history illustrating how the Law of Assumption works:

One day a costume designer described to me her difficulties in working with a prominent theatrical producer. She was convinced that he unjustly criticized and rejected her best work and that often he was deliberately rude and unfair to her. Upon hearing her story, I explained that if she found the other rude and unfair, it was a sure sign that she, herself, was wanting and that it was not the producer, but herself that was in need of a new attitude. I told her that the POWER of this Law of Assumption and its practical application could be discovered only through experience, and that ONLY by ASSUMING that the situation was already what she wanted it to be could she prove that she could bring about the change desired. Her employer was merely bearing witness, telling her by his behavior what her concept of him was. 

I suggested that it was quite probable that she was carrying on conversations with him in her mind, which were filled with criticism and recriminations. There was no doubt but that she was mentally arguing with the producer, for others only echo that which we whisper to them in secret. 

I asked her if it was not true that she talked to him mentally, and, if so, what those conversations were like. She confessed that every morning on her way to the theatre she told him just what she thought of him in a way she would never have dared address him in person. The intensity and force of her mental arguments with him automatically established his behavior towards her.

She began to realize ALL of us carry on mental conversations, but, unfortunately, on most occasions these conversations are argumentative... that we have ONLY to observe the passerby on the street to prove this assertion... that so many people are mentally engrossed in conversation and few appear to be happy about it, but the very intensity of their feeling MUST lead them quickly to the unpleasant incident they themselves have mentally created and therefore must now encounter. 

When she realized what she had been doing, she agreed to change her attitude and to live this law faithfully by assuming that her job was highly satisfactory and her relationship with the producer as a very happy one.

To DO THIS: she agreed that before going to sleep at night, on her way to work, and at other intervals during the day she would imagine that he had congratulated her on her fine designs and that she, in turn, had thanked him for his praise and kindness. To her GREAT delight, she soon discovered for herself that her own attitude was the cause of all that befell her.

The behavior of her employer miraculously reversed itself. His attitude, echoing, as it had always done, that which she had assumed, now reflected her changed concept of him. 

What she did was by the POWER of HER IMAGINATION.

Her persistent assumption influenced his behavior and determined his attitude toward her. With the passport of desire on the wings of a controlled imagination she traveled into the future of her own predetermined experience.

Thus, we see it is not FACTS, but that which we create in our imagination, which shapes our lives, for most of the conflicts of the day are due to the want of a little imagination to cast the beam out of our own eye. It is the exact and literal-minded who live in a fictitious world.

As this designer, by her CONTROLLED IMAGINATION, started the subtle change in her employer's mind, so can we, by the control of our own imagination and wisely directed feeling, solve our problems.

By the intensity of her imagination and feeling, the designer cast a kind of ENCHANTMENT on her producer's mind and caused him to think that his generous praise originated with him. Often our most elaborate and original thoughts are determined by another.

"We should never be certain that it was not some woman treading in the wine-press who began that subtle change in men's mind, or that the passion did not begin in the mind of some shepherd boy, lighting up his eyes for a moment before it ran upon its way." --William Butler Yeats

***NOTE: Lori Bjork again. One of my first readings of the Power of Awareness, I was like, 'say what? DANG! This is a game changer.' I started a list that I referred to as Neville Nuggets: consciousness gold and referred to the passage as NN#39. I also included, even if it seems glaringly obvious, for my own reference the following: 'If I can change MY opinion of SELF, then what I NOW BELIEVE of SELF cannot be absolutely true, but is ONLY relatively true.' In other words, of course, through the years of living am I unchanged? Of course NOT! Then what I have determined (fancy 'd' word for assumed) TRUE and unchangeable about ME...sound the buzzer. WRONG! It's ONLY relatively true and not absolutely true. This helped me be more effective with affirming, especially affirmations that most would refer to as LIES based on physical reality and their senses.

Chapter VIII

Renunciation

"There is no coal of character so dead that it will not glow and flame, if but slightly turned."

Resist not evil.

Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

There is a GREAT difference between resisting evil and renouncing it. 

When you RESIST evil, you give it your attention, you continue to make it REAL.

When you RENOUNCE evil, you take your attention from it and give your attention to what you want.

NOW is the time to CONTROL YOUR IMAGINATION and give beauty for ashes, joy for mourning, praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called 

TREES of RIGHTEOUSNESS

the planting of the Lord that HE might be glorified.

You give beauty for ashes when you concentrate your attention on things as 

YOU WOULD LIKE THEM TO BE

rather than on things as they are.

You give JOY for mourning when you maintain a JOYOUS attitude regardless of unfavorable circumstances.

You give praise for the spirit of heaviness when you maintain a confident attitude instead of succumbing to despondency.

In this quotation the BIBLE uses the word TREE as a synonym for man.

You become a TREE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS when the above mental states are a permanent part of your consciousness. You are a planting of the Lord when ALL your thoughts are TRUE thoughts.

HE is I AM as described in Chapter One.

I AM is glorified when your Highest Concept of Yourself is manifested.

When you have discovered your OWN controlled imagination to be your savior, your attitude will be completely altered without any diminution of religious feeling, and you will say of your controlled imagination,

"Behold this vine. I found it a wild tree, whose wanton strength had swollen into irregular twigs. But I pruned the plant and it grew temperate in its vain expense of useless leaves, and knotted as you see into these clean, full clusters to repay the hand that wisely wounded it."

By vine is meant your imagination, which in its uncontrolled state, expends its energy in useless or destructive thoughts and feelings.

But you, just as the vine is pruned by cutting away its useless branches and roots, prune your imagination by withdrawing your attention from all unlovely and destructive ideas and concentrating on the ideal you wish to attain.

The happier, more noble life you will experience will be the result of wisely pruning your own imagination. YES, be pruned of ALL unlovely thoughts and feelings that you may think truly, and thy thoughts shall the world's famine feed. Speak truly, and each word of thine shall be a fruitful seed. Live truly, and thy life shall be a great and noble creed.

Chapter IX

Preparing Your Place

"And all mine are thine, and thine are mine." John 17:10

"Thrust in thy sickle and reap; for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe." Revelations 14:15

ALL IS YOURS. Do not go seeking for that which you are. 

• Appropriate it.
• Claim it.
• Assume it.

EVERYTHING depends upon your concept of yourself.

That which you do not claim as true of yourself cannot be realized by you.

The PROMISE IS:

'Whosoever hath, to him it shall be given, and he shall have more abundance; but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that which he seemeth to have.'

Hold fast, in your imagination, to ALL that is lovely and of good report, for the lovely and the good are essential in your life if it is to be worthwhile.

ASSUME IT.

You do this by imagining that

• you already are what you want to be, and
• you already have what you want to have.

As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.

As a BEING thinketh in his HE-ART, so is HE.***

Be still and know that you are that which you desire to be, and you will NEVER have to search for it.

In spite of YOUR appearance of freedom of action, you obey, as EVERYTHING else does, the LAW of Assumption.

Whatever you may think of the question of free will, the TRUTH is your experiences throughout your life are determined by your assumptions--whether conscious or unconscious. An assumption builds a BRIDGE of INCIDENTS that lead inevitably to the fulfillment of itself.

Man believes the future to be the natural development of the past. Yet, the LAW of ASSUMPTION clearly shows that this is NOT the case. Your assumption places you psychologically where you are NOT physically; then your senses pull you back from where you were psychologically to where you are physically. 

It is these psychological forward motions that produce your physical forward motions in time. Precognition permeates ALL the scriptures of the world.

"In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I AM, there ye may be also... And now I have told you before it came to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe." John 14:2, 3, 29

The 'I' in this quotation is your imagination which goes into the future, into one of the many mansions. 

Mansion is the state desired...telling of an event before it occurs physically is simply feeling yourself into the state desired until it has the TONE OF REALITY. You go and prepare a place for yourself by imagining yourself into the feeling of your wish fulfilled. Then, you speed from this state of the wish fulfilled--where you have not been physically--back to where you were physically a moment ago. Then, with an irresistible forward movement, you move forward across a series of events to the physical realization of your wish, that where you have been in imagination, there you will be in the flesh also.

"Unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again." Ecclesiastics 1:7

NOTE: ***This is from me, again, Lori Bjork. WC Lanyon also included this in his book, Abd Allah. As I read it, had me pondering because I was functioning from the assumption I think with my brain. What if that is not even close to the TRUTH? So, obviously, the brain and MIND are not synonymous. As I write this 30January2023, thinking and MIND are synonymous, while feeling and HEART are synonymous, for me. This led me to wonder, 'where da MIND at?' I did a search. Many responses seemed to concur that the location of the MIND is a mystery. Which had me wondering if the MIND is located in a PLACE or is it NON-LOCAL, meaning the mystery is that it is actually located EVERYWHERE? And does all this wondering actually assist me with assuming 'I already AM what I desire to be AND having all I desire to have?' Which also, was an interesting, seeming-light-bulb moment when I had the song, "My Lovin'" show up in my awareness. Why? In the song, they sing, 'never gonna get it! My lovin'' And in a way, how would one get what they already have? Just sayin'! Again, 'C'mon, Lori! How does this help me with anything?' If the SECRET is to function from the 'wish' fulfilled...meaning ALREADY being it and/or ALREADY having it, TRUTH, do I function differently when I imagine/believe I already AM something an/or I already HAVE something than I do if I AM not it yet or have it yet? And for that matter, do I function differently even when I know I AM going to GET something than when I have it? Neville's message did not change over the years. It is NOT about the FEELING of getting the wish. It is the FEELING of the wish ALREADY fulfilled. The BEING it NOW. The HAVING it already.

Chapter X

Creation

"I AM God, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done." Isaiah 46:9, 10.

Creation is finished. Creativeness is ONLY a deeper receptiveness, for the entire contents of all time and all space, while experienced in a time sequence, actually coexist in an infinite and eternal now. In other words, ALL that you ever have been or ever will be--in fact, all that mankind ever was or ever will be--exists NOW. This is what is meant by creation, and the statement that creation is finished means nothing is ever to be created, it is only to be manifested. What is called creativeness is ONLY becoming AWARE of what already is. You simply become aware of increasing portions of that which already exists. The fact that you can NEVER be anything that you are NOT already or experience anything NOT already existing explains the experience of having an acute FEELING of having heard before what is being said, or having met before the person being met for the first time, or having seen before a place or thing being seen for the first time.

The whole of creation exists in you, and it is your destiny to become increasingly aware of its infinite wonders and to experience ever greater and grander portions of it.

If creation is finished, and all events are taking place now, the question that springs naturally to mind is 'what determines your time track?' That is,

• Q: What determines the events which you encounter?
• A: Your concept of yourself. Concepts determine the route that attention follows. 

Here is a good test to prove this fact. Assume the feeling of your wish fulfilled and observe the route that your attention follows.

You will observe that as long as you remain faithful to your assumption, so long will your attention be confronted with images clearly related to that assumption. 

For example: if you assume that you have a wonderful business, you will notice how in your imagination your attention is focused on incident after incident relating to that assumption. Friends congratulate you, tell you how lucky you are.

Others are envious and critical. From there your attention goes to larger offices, bigger bank balances and many other similarly related events.

Persistence in this assumption will result in actually experiencing in fact that which you assumed.

The same is true regarding ANY concept. If your concept of yourself is that you are a failure, you would encounter in your imagination a whole series of incidents in conformance to that concept.

Thus, it is clearly seen how you, by your concept of yourself, determine your present, that is, the particular portion of creation which you now experience, and your future, that is, the particular portion of creation which you will experience.