CHAPTER 16 THE WINE OF ETERNITY

CHAPTER 16

THE WINE OF ETERNITY

The human imagination and Divine Imagination are one and the same. They are not two. Your human imagination has the power to turn your water of life into the wine of eternity. This you will do when you release your imagination from its bonds of limitation, for when imagination is truly free, it can accomplish miracles.

The Bible calls imagination man’s savior and identifies this wonderful benefactor as Christ. When Christ is awakened and born in you, your human imagination becomes divine vision. Called Christ, your individual imagination is the mediator between the father of all life and the external world called Man. Having imagined wealth, it is the human imagination who walks on the water of life and denies the evidence of his senses by claiming, “I am wealthy.” His persistence mediates God to Man.

Every character in scripture lives in the mind. When you read the Bible, turn to self and ask, “What state would I be in if I were doing this?” When reading the story of Moses, claim you are he. Assume the state of faith when you read of Abraham. You are Joseph, the dreamer, and Thomas, the doubter; and you are destined to be Jesus Christ, the awakened, Risen Imagination.

Skin is the most external thing a man can wear. When you read of one who wears camel’s hair or leather, you are reading of one whose mind is tied to the outside. His philosophy of life is external and dependent entirely on others. In the 5th Chapter of Mark, the story is told of an innocent man who, being unclothed, lived among the dead and cut himself on the stones. When Awakened Imagination passed by, the innocent one cried out, “Do not cast me out,” and when asked his name, he answered, “My name is Legion, for we are many.”

A being not yet individualized in a spiritual sense is innocent for he knows not what he is doing. He is Legion because he has innumerable “I’s” in him, i.e., “I am ill,” “I am poor,” “I am tired,” “I am weak,” and “I am mistreated,” to name but a few. Living among the dead and sleeping the sleep of death, his literal understanding of life and its cause are stones which cut and bruise. But the spiritual man has a personal self-determined history, a predetermined self. In the realm of the spirit, he becomes what he wills. When consciousness turns within, the spirit awakens to his true identity. Then, casting out all belief in any external cause, he is clothed in his right mind and sits at the foot of the one who cast them out.

A miracle is only the name given by those who have no faith in the works of faith. The story is told of a man named Jairus whose daughter was believed to be dead. But Awakened Imagination ignored the thought and said, “Do not fear, only believe.” Arriving at the house, he questioned, “Why do you weep? The child is not dead, but sleeping.” Then he touched the child and said, “I say to you, -rise.” Immediately, she got up and walked. Then Jesus turned to the parents and said, “Give her something to eat.”

Every state, every desire, every idea is your child. Looking at the desire, it appears to be dead to you, the natural man. But your spiritual “I” knows the desire is not dead but sleeping, waiting to be touched for its resurrection. With your desire, (child) made alive within you through the power of touch, it must be fed in order to bring about its birth. This is done by turning your attention to it.

Now let us turn to the 5th Chapter of the Book of John where he speaks of the pool of Bethesda and its five porches. The story is told of a sick man who waits for the moving of the water by an angel, believing that whoever steps into the pool first, after the movement, will be healed. After asking him if he wanted to be healed, Awakened Imagination said, “Rise, take up your pallet and walk,” and at once the man was healed and, taking up his pallet, he walked away.

The word “Bethesda” means “house of mercy.” And the pool spoken of here is consciousness which must be stirred by an angel (a messenger of God). Any idea you entertain is that angel, disturbing your consciousness. The pool is entered by a mere assumption, and stirred as you bathe in it. “I am” is always first person, present tense. No one can put you in the pool by affirmation. Although seemingly impotent, you rest on the five porches, or senses when you accept their evidence and refuse to change your consciousness. No one need help you. Who could be first in the pool other than self which is your “I.” Knowing what you want, rise in the assumption that your desire is already satisfied (healed) and it will be.

In his 17th Chapter, John rejoices saying, “I have finished the work thou gayest me to do. Father, glorify thou me in thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before that the world was. I have kept them in thy name which thou hast given me and none is lost but the son of perdition. For their sake, I consecrate myself that they also may be consecrated in the truth, for I dwell in them and they dwell in me and we are one.”

The work you gave yourself to do is to awaken from this dream of life. Having assumed the limitations of the flesh, you will awaken to your true identity and become your own glory when the outer you is made passive and the inner you, dynamic. Now, the son of perdition is the belief in loss. Knowing that all things exist in the human imagination, nothing can be lost. When you realize this truth, you will no longer believe in loss, thereby fulfilling scripture.

The most difficult thing to grasp is that there is no one outside of self. Believing others needed to change, I worked on them, thinking that the world would be so much better if they would be different. Then I awoke and sanctified myself, and in so doing, they were sanctified, for I dwell in them and they dwell in me and we are one. There is no one to change but self. As you control your thoughts and allow only those which conform to your ideal to flow from you, your world will reshape itself in harmony with them. Remember, you cannot be aware of a fault or greatness in another were that fault or greatness not present in you. Remove the fault from your own “I”. Place the greatness there and watch your world change as it reflects your change in consciousness.

In the 16th Chapter of Matthew, the disciples were questioned, “Who do men say the son of man is?” They said, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” Then he asked, “But who do you say that

I AM?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

At the present time, you may be concerned as to what others think of you, but when you have awakened to your true divinity, it will not matter to you what others think. You will know from experience that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Flesh and blood will not reveal this to you, but your Father who is in heaven reveals it. Through this knowledge, you will have been given the keys to the kingdom, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Having found the answer to the everlasting question, “Who am I,” no man can ever take this knowledge from you. This wisdom comes from within.

Completely abandon yourself to a psychological experience. If you become one with a state in your imagination, you will rise to e compass it in the flesh. This being true, yours is a journey from innocence to imagination to experience.

You are already the person you want to be. Claim it and tomorrow y u will display it by being it. By your fruits you shall be known.

If today your life is not what you want it to be, stop blaming anyone; just keep working on changing your feeling of “I” and abide in your desired state. Persist., .persist. . .persist, for at the moment of non-reaction, circumstances change. We rise by an energy others call effort, for it takes energy to act and react. All through the day, remember your aim by constantly identifying yourself with it. Let your reactions flow into your aim. Ask for deeper and deeper understanding of that which you think you now understand. I trust everyone has an aim to be greater. Do not limit yourself to any textbook. Stop believing that any one man can write a book that is final regarding truth. Start to dig. No one can grow without outgrowing. A different attitude is the solution to every problem. By your new direction (attitude) you escape that which has been wrapped around you. There is no one to change but self, so start changing yourself today!

Luke was speaking of you when he made this statement, “When their eyes were opened, they recognized him and he vanished from their sight.”

When your “I” is awakened, you will find that which you have been searching for, and the belief in a power outside of self will disappear. In Francis Thompson’s poem, The Hound Of Heaven, he tells of how:

“I fled Him, down the nights and down the days; I fled Him, down the arches of the years; I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways Of my own mind…”

only to discover at the end that “He was my very self.”

Man’s eyes are blind, though hounded constantly by the Hound of Heaven. He cannot believe in the non-historicity of the Bible but continues to hold onto his little beliefs even though he does not know what to do with them. People do not seek truth; they seek only supports for their opinions of it. But I say to you, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. I have come to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, for a man’s foes are those of his own household.” When truth comes, it sets a man at war with himself, for he will discover that he can no longer consent to what he formerly believed in.

Start now and quietly listen to the words you want to hear. By a new direction, internally, you can change the course of your life and free yourself from the prisons of your mind. You can see yourself best by looking into the face of another, but you cannot judge one who has not awakened from the dream of life. Living in his physical, animal world, he reacts mechanically and automatically just like a machine.

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Source

https://coolwisdombooks.com/neville/neville-goddard-the-creative-use-of-imagination-edited-by-margaret-ruth-broome-1952/