Neville Goddard 12/16/1968
In his poem called "Europe," which is a
prophecy about you, William Blake said: "Then Enitharmon woke,
nor knew that she had slept, and eighteen hundred years were fled as
if they had not been."
Told in the form of a story,
Blake used the name "Enitharmon" to express any emanating
desire or image. Enitharmon is the emanation of Los, who - in the
story - had the similitude of the Lord and all imagination. Entering
into his image (his Enitharmon), Los dreams it into reality; and when
he awoke he knew not that he had slept, yet eighteen hundred years
had fled.
In my case, 1,959 years had fled as though
they had not been. And I had no idea I had entered into an image
called Neville and made it real. But I, all imagination, so loved the
shadow I had cast, I entered into it and made it alive.
To
those in immortality I seemed to be as one sleeping on a couch of
gold, but to myself I was a wanderer. Although lost in dreary night,
I kept the divine vision in time of trouble. I kept on dreaming I was
Neville until I awoke, not knowing I had slept; yet 1,959 years had
fled as though they had not been.
Blake tells us that in
the beginning we were all united with God in a death like his. Then
we heard the story and entered into our shadows. Now, a shadow is a
representation, either in painting or drama, in distinction from the
reality portrayed. Paul recognized the shadow when he asked the
Galatians: "Who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus
Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this:
did you receive the spirit by works of the law or by hearing with
faith? Are you so foolish, having begun with the spirit are you now
ending with the flesh, by seeing Jesus Christ as someone on the
outside?"
Having heard the story of Jesus Christ, you are
called upon to enter into it as the central character and remain
there until the story externalizes itself.
God destined
us, in love, to be his sons through Jesus Christ according to the
purpose of his will. Falling in love with his image, God entered it
and became his son. Having declared what he was going to do, God does
it through his pattern called Jesus Christ.
Knowing what you
want, when you conceive a scene that implies you have it, that
objective becomes the pattern for your desire to unfold. Jesus Christ
is God's pattern, his purpose which he set forth for the fullness of
time. Christ is the plan, the image God entered and made so real he
claims he is the image.
God’s plan has completely
unfolded in me. When I awoke I knew not that I had slept, and 1,959
years were fled as though they had not been. This is true for every
child born of woman, for we were all gathered together and united
with him in a death like his; therefore, we shall certainly be united
with him in a resurrection like his.
Blake, writing in 1794,
knew that 1,800 years had fled when he – Enitharmon - awoke.
Blake knew he was the emanation, the shadow God entered and
identified himself with. Blake tells us it was the image that awoke,
knowing not that she had slept.
The emanation is always
feminine. Eve came out of Adam. Every desire is feminine, regardless
of what it is, be it a house, money, or a new car. Imagination is the
male, which must leave every doubt, every thought of impossibility
behind, and cleave to the desired emanation until they are one. To do
this, imagination must enter into the shadow and remain there until
there is only the awareness of being or possessing the fulfilled
desire.
In this world of Caesar it could take an hour, a day,
a week, or a month, to awaken the desire within and project it on the
screen of space. But you must enter into the image and remain there,
just as God did in the foundation of time, in order to make you,
himself. God so became me, that when He awoke in the tomb, I did not
know I had slept. In fact, I did not know I had been placed there, as
I had become so one with it.
In his book of Milton,
Blake tells us that when he entered into his shadow, he appeared to
those in immortality as one asleep on a couch of gold. But to himself
he was a wanderer, lost in dreary night. Is that not the story of
everyone? Lost and confused, imagination is faithful to the image he
has assumed, saying: I am John, I am Ray, or I am Natalie.
Now
in the image of the being I fell in love with, Neville is my
emanation, my shadow, and the image I have been faithful to. Many a
time I have thought myself a wanderer in dreary night, confused and
not knowing where to turn for a dollar. But those who contemplate on
death saw me as one asleep on a couch of gold. They knew the purpose
behind my entering into the state of sleep, but they did not know
what I was experiencing.
You are in this world because
you are in love with the being you believe yourself to be. You may
say that is not true, but I say it is impossible for thought greater
than itself to know. Do not believe anyone who claims to know. Do not
believe anyone who claims to love someone else more than they do
themselves, for they do not. It is impossible for thought to be
greater than the image it believes itself to be. Yes, you want
companionship, security, and health, for these are all part of the
image you fell in love with and entered.
You are now alive
because you - a living being - have given the image called by your
earthly name, life. And you will transform it into a life-giving
spirit, because that is what you really are. Before this drama called
life began, you predetermined a perfect pattern called Jesus Christ,
which would lead you back to where you were prior to entering into
the image.
Now, in this world a man who wants to be a success
in business can sit down and map out a pattern (a scene) which would
imply he has the success he desires. Then if he enters the scene and
believes its truth, the pattern of success will unfold and the world
will confirm it. But he must persist in the image of success, just as
God has persisted, for the day will come when God will awaken and
express the success he believes himself to be.
God
enters into the image of every child born of woman to give it life.
At that moment God's real and immortal self is - to those who dwell
in immortality - as one sleeping on a couch of gold; but to himself
he seems a wanderer, lost in dreary night. The day will come when he
will awake and - unknown to him, 1800 or 2000 years will have fled as
if they had not been.
Use the same technique God used to
become you. As one whose name forever is I AM, God fell in love with
you, his image, and entered it. Now knowing you are, you say I am; so
God is occupying his image and now answers to the name you were given
at birth.
Intrigued by the idea of expressing himself in a
body of flesh and blood, God entered this body by dreaming he is
Neville. God laid himself down within me to sleep, and as he slept he
dreamed he was I; for 1,959 years later, when God awoke, I knew not
that I had slept. And, upon reflection, it was as though it had not
been; for when God achieved his objective (which was to awake) and
was conscious of the fact that he was the one he loved, all time
vanished.
Before awakening there are barriers that
separate God and his image, but once his objective is achieved, God
awakes to the awareness that He and his image are one. This is the
story the world celebrates and calls Christmas.
Christmas
is not the incarnation of God, but the awakening of man as God.
Having fallen asleep and entering his image, God made it a living
being. In Blake's case it took 1800 years. Why does it take one 2,000
and another 1,000 years to awaken? It depends upon the degree God is
lost in the dream.
To what degree are you lost in your
dream of success? Your world is your dream pushed out. When you can
persuade yourself 100% that you are successful, success is yours! You
must become so intense that you completely forget it was only a
desire. You must tame the wild, new state you have entered until its
naturalness causes you to forget all else. That is how God became
you.
Jesus Christ, God's pattern of salvation begins to
unfold as you awake and resurrect from the tomb God entered. Being
life itself, God entered you - his shadow, which has no life of its
own - and made it alive. Entering death's door, his image – God
- lay down in the grave of that image, in visions of eternity until
he awakes.
In the Old Testament, the question is asked:
"Rouse thyself, O Lord, awake. Why cast us off forever?"
And in the New Testament, the Lord awakens to discover he is one with
the image he fell in love with. Having fallen in love with being you,
individually, when God awakes, you are He. That is Christmas.
When
God incarnated himself in the image he so fell in love with, time was
divided between BC and AD. Blake tells us that for him, it took 1800
years for God to move from BC to AD. In my case it was 1,959 years.
Each case is different, as we are told: "Each in his own order."
I do not know whether this order was predetermined or not, for the
Book of Ephesians tells us that he destined us in love to be his sons
through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will.
The
God that dreamed in me is the same God that dreams in you. Was it
really an order that I could not have awakened before 1959? I do not
know. I only know that was the year in which God awoke in me, yet I
did not know I had fallen asleep in that skull. But when I emerged,
the symbolism recorded as revealing the birth of God surrounded me.
That was the moment God awoke and was born into a higher region of
his being. Having identified himself with the one he loved, that one
was raised and born as God.
God is in love with his image, his
shadow, which - like a reflection on oil or water - is dead. Having
no life in itself, God so loves his shadow he enters it and dreams he
is it. Being a life-giving spirit, God first animates the shadow and
it becomes solid and real in his world. He walks and talks, knows
sorrow and joy, sickness and health, until the dream is complete.
Then God awakens a pattern by which he will know he has arrived at
the end.
This pattern was predetermined. The first segment is
to awaken and rise from his sleep of death, to be designated Son of
God in power. Then he discovers his fatherhood when his son calls him
father. A short interval later he cuts himself in two. This is his
sacrifice for this wonderful accomplishment. Fusing with his blood,
which he finds at the base of his spine, God ascends as a fiery
serpent. Then the final sanctification comes in the form of a dove,
which descends and smothers him with love, for God has now
accomplished what he set out to do.
You can imitate God
while here in this world. If, for example you desire to be a great
artist, acclaimed throughout the country, map out a plan of success,
just as God mapped out a plan of fulfillment which he called Jesus
Christ. There are multiple ways to imagine success. Choose a scene
which would imply you already have achieved success and when it
unfolds, you will know how it came about. Do this, and you are
testing the infinite power that you really are.
Having
entered the shadow that I conceive myself to be, I walk the earth
wondering where the next dollar is coming from; yet those in great
eternity see me as dreaming on a golden couch. But I am still
faithful and keep the divine vision in time of trouble. Then, like a
woman in labor who bears its pains, after the child is born the pain
is forgotten in the job of fulfillment, so it is when Christmas comes
and you – individualized - become God.
The same
technique God used to make you real can be used to bring your desire
into being. Blake said: "If the spectator could only enter into
the image in his imagination, approaching it on the fiery chariot of
contemplative thought; if he could only make a friend and companion
of one of these images, he would rise from the grave and meet his
Lord in the air and then he would be happy."
God
entered into his image, therein giving us life. Being a life-giving
spirit, God wants us to be just as he is, so he mapped out the
pattern that through it we may be God. When we completely fulfill his
predetermined pattern, the barrier will be torn down and we will be
one with infinity.
Christmas as celebrated by the
Christian world is not Christmas. It is not something that takes
place on the outside. Christmas consists of a series of events which
begin when God awakens within the shadow He entered. Rising, God
desires to come out; and since all things are possible to God, He
pushes, and a seemingly unbreakable seal falls away and infinite
power comes out.
The predetermined symbolism must be
there. If it isn't, then the vision is an adumbration indicating
nearness. It is a shadow cast before coinciding with the actual
vision.
These visions are recorded in the four gospels,
of which three were written in or about 150 AD. Scholars believe the
Book of John was written at the end of the first century, however,
making it possible for him to draw on the source material of all the
others.
John eliminates the story of a genealogy, or
virgin birth, but emphasizes the need of rebirth. He doesn't tell you
how it is done, but using the word anothin, he tells you the birth is
from above.
There are two births: The first is from the womb
of woman and the second from the tomb above, and each birth is
essential. Also, you must rise in the same manner as Moses raised the
serpent in the desert.
John claims that God Himself became
you, saying: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. The Word became flesh and dwells in
us." Here we see that God became flesh - as you are - and says,
"I am". So God is incarnated as an animated being, but that
is not enough. He wants you to be as He is, and God is a life-giving
spirit. In order to do this his pattern must be fulfilled. And when
it is, you enter an entirely different sphere, called the kingdom of
heaven.
Having fallen in love with your image, God
entered that shadow and made it alive by falling asleep. Now dreaming
he is human, he loves you - the being you identify with today. You
may not be in love with being poor, but that is not you! You could be
rich if that is your desire, but you are in love with being yourself!
You would not give up your individuality for any other being. You may
desire to have what someone else has, but not if you have to give up
your identity.
At one time, that which you have so
identified yourself with was only a shadow, an image God entered. It
was dead, and by God's entry, He made it a living being. And when God
awakes, that living being becomes a life-giving spirit.
If
it is a true awakening, and not just a fore-shadowing, the drama
called Jesus Christ will unfold in 1,260 days, as foretold in
scripture. Do not be discouraged if your visions are fore-shadowings;
the promise will be fulfilled, for you are keeping the vision in time
of trouble. At times, like Peter you may have denied that you are
God, but you are still keeping the divine vision.
I fell
in love with being Neville, as you fell in love with the being you
are now. You have dreamed poverty into being, health, being loved,
being ignored, but you have never lost your vision of individuality
You will never lose it, for that is the one you fell in love with.
And in the end you will awaken as God, individualized. You will know
yourself to be a life-giving spirit as you move towards ever greater
and greater individualization. That is the purpose of the entire
drama, and that is what Christmas means.
When it will
happen I do not know. Blake certainly was not 1800 years old judged
by the world of Caesar. He was born in 1757 and wrote his poem,
"Europe" in 1794. Blake was speaking of that second birth,
believing that if we have been united with Christ in a death like
his, we shall be united with him in a resurrection like his. Blake
looked upon this division of time between BC and AD as the beginning,
claiming he was one with God when, falling in love with his image, he
became universally diffused individuality. Starting as we did, the
God in him took 1800 years to complete the drama and awaken.
In
his poem, "Europe," Blake speaks of the cavern man and his
five openings. His eyes, which see only a small section of infinity.
His ears, which will hear the music of the heavens. His breath and
mouth, totaling four; but Blake does not tell us where the fifth one
is. He does, however, tell us that through this opening man may leave
at any time and return, but man does not choose to do so. What is
that one but imagination? Standing here, I can imagine myself
elsewhere. What opening do I use to imagine myself there? The fifth
one of the five openings of the cavern man.
Soon the Christian
world will celebrate this wonderful mystery, which is completely
misunderstood. But one day you, individuality, will experience
scripture and know the true mystery of Christmas. Then you, too, will
say I woke and knew not that I had slept.
The sensation is one
of waking, not resurrection. You know you are in your tomb, yet your
skull. Because of an innate knowledge, you will push from within, and
the stone will roll away as you are born from above.
Three
witnesses will be there; two will deny your birth, and one will
confirm it, for you are fulfilling scripture: "Where two or more
persons agree in testimony, it is conclusive." One witness
declares you as the father of the sign, the child wrapped in
swaddling clothes. You - the father - witness the event, and
scripture - the written word of God - bears you out; so you have
three witnesses, all agreeing in testimony: the Bible, you, and a
third.
This is the story of Christmas, the time when the
prophecy made to you before that the world was, is fulfilled.
Now
let us go into the silence.