The Creative Use Of Imagination - CHAPTER 6 ALL IS CONSCIOUSNESS

The Creative Use Of Imagination - CHAPTER 6 ALL IS CONSCIOUSNESS

CHAPTER 6 ALL IS CONSCIOUSNESS 

Blessed are you when your mental comprehension has been enlarged by the removal of the trees of traditional wrong thinking, for only then will you know that all is consciousness and consciousness is all. You will know that any secondary cause is a tyrant, and if you believe in an outside power, you are fighting a losing battle. 

Emerson once said, "Man surrounds himself with the true image of himself, as every spirit builds for itself a house beyond its house, a world beyond its world." What you are, that only can you see. Therefore, build yourself a world as you would like it to be — a world beyond the world now visible to you. The world you desire exists and will unfold itself in great proportions when you, all spirit, surround yourself with the true image of yourself as you would like to be. Think of your world as a canvas with the pictures painted there by the arrangement of your mind. Your I AMness (consciousness) has already arranged as many patterns for your canvas as there are people walking the earth. Turn to yourself and, claiming that your desire exists, feel yourself move right into its center. Then paint your canvas of consciousness. Everything is there at your disposal. Its reality is up to you and the intensity of your desire. Always look to self, for your consciousness is the sole cause of the phenomena of your individual life. 

Perhaps you have imagined something which never came to pass and you feel that you failed, but I tell you there is only one cause for failure and that is absence of the feeling of naturalness. It takes time for an assumption to become a fact, and a desire is fulfilled proportionate to the degree of naturalness of the feeling of possession. If something does not feel natural to you, it is not your nature. To ask in my name is to ask in my nature or character; therefore, when you ask, you must feel you already are that which you are seeking. 

"Whatsoever you desire, when you pray, believe that you have received it, and you will." It is important to feel yourself right into your wish fulfilled, for consciousness is the only reality, and everything you see is nothing more than an outpicturing of a state of consciousness. It is stupid to seek a thing before you establish its cause. An effect depends upon a state of consciousness, and you cannot find the effect without being its cause. And if you do not feel the naturalness of the desired state, you cannot externalize it, for consciousness is very observable. 

Ask yourself how long you have been conscious of being what you want to be. To what extent do you feel its reality now? Matthew tells us, "0, you faithless and perverse generation. How long shall I be with you?" Do you have faith in what you are conscious of? I hope so, for without faith it is impossible to achieve anything. It is the substance of the thing hoped for and the cause of all phenomena. The word "perverse" means "to turn the wrong way; without aim, fixity or one-pointedness of purpose." When the latest headline or news bulletin can turn you from your desire, you are perverse and fail. But if success is your goal, its mood must be worn until the feeling of being successful is so natural you cannot turn away from it. 

On the other hand, "importunity" means "brazen impudence." If you will so persist in your assumption, your brazen impudence will not allow you to accept the evidence of your senses when they deny your assumption, but will rearrange the substance called life into the pattern of your assumption. This world moves with the necessity of molding and manifesting the arrangement of the individual's mind. It is important to persist until fulfillment becomes your nature. Changes begin to occur at their moment of naturalness. Jacob told the Lord, "I will not let you go until you bless me." As Jacob, you may wrestle through the night with an idea (and all ideas come down from heaven to take flesh). If you will not take no for an answer but persist in the feeling of your wish fulfilled, you will be blessed with its externalization . 

Scripture tells of a man whose child was dead, yet when he went to the man of God and asked that the child be made alive once more, it was done unto him. Your ideal, be it for success, health, romance, money or fame, is your child who is dead. But if you will believe in its life and walk in the assumption that you are successful, healthy or wealthy (if that is your desire), your child which sleepeth will rise from the dead state and be made alive in your world. 

The parable is told of a judge who it is said, "feared not God nor regarded man." Within you there is such a judge who will give you anything you ask for if you will be just as persistent as the widow in the story. Coming at the midnight hour, she persisted in her request until the judge granted her wishes saying, "Because this widow bothers me, I will vindicate her or she will wear me out by her continual coming." When the light of consciousness is not shining on your fulfilled desire, it is the midnight hour. But if you will fill your desire with your light of awareness and persist, then that which you are aware of, you will become. 

You are forever surrounding yourself with the true image of yourself and what you are, that only can you see, whether it be good, bad or indifferent. Observe your reactions to life and you are observing the being you want to separate yourself from. And, as you begin to identify yourself with your chosen state, the separation takes place. But your assumption must be a maintained attitude and, if for a moment you lose the mood, recapture it. And if you lose it again, feel yourself back into the feeling until the mood becomes so natural your thinking from that mood is normal. 

The great failure of most truth students is that they areperpetually constructing but deferring their occupancy. When entering your desired state, feel its presence surround you like an answered prayer. Then become so one with the state that your thoughts flow from it. Persist in viewing your world from that state, and it will harden into fact. You and you alone determine the time for the state to externalize itself. If your mind is so disciplined that it cannot be turned or diverted, your heart's desire will be outpictured on your screen of space. But, if you believe in any secondary power, your belief will cause its delay. 

Your awareness is the power of the Word. It is divine, not divisional. There are not two I AM's but one I AM standing on many levels. Desire, claiming fulfillment now, wrestles as Jacob. But when the fight is over desire, as Israel, is born. You may think your name is John Brown or Mary Smith, but your real name is I AM and your dominant mood is your nature. Divorce a mood and assume a new nature. Persist in your new relationship and you will bear its children as new phenomena appear to bear witness to your creative inner I AMness. Only if you lack "importunity" and constantly return to the mood you are attempting to divorce yourself from, will failure occur. Desire is hidden identity. What you want, you already have! If you acknowledge, as fact, that you are already what you desire to be and will not be diverted but maintain your importunity by* walking in the mood of fulfillment which now dominates you, no power on earth can keep you from expressing it. But you must feel yourself right into the situation of the answered prayer, for only by believing that you already have it, will it appear. 

Anyone who prays successfully is, himself, the springboard of action and the one who grants the prayer. There is no other being to grant it. The one who receives the answered prayer is the one who grants it through the act of rearranging the mind. Learn to rearrange your mind and, if you find yourself walking in the field of unanswered prayers, turn around and walk in the field (mood) of fulfillment. And, remember, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." The only reality and the only substance is consciousness from which all prayer has its beginning and its end. 

The entire Book of Hebrews is devoted to faith: "Faith is enduring as seeing him who is invisible." And "Faith is the substance of things hoped for." "Unto us was this good news preached, as well as unto them, but it did not profit them because it was not mixed with faith." Good news is desire fulfilled. If desire is not mixed with faith, it is of no avail, for faith is the awareness of the reality of the desire's fulfillment. You see, creation is finished, and we only become aware of increasing portions of it. The absence of faith would be to deny the reality of the state assumed. If you limit yourself to your physical senses which contradict everything you desire, then faith will be unknown to you. But faith will make real that which is invisible. 

The being you would like to be, though invisible, will unveil itself and become visible for all to see when you walk in the faith of its reality. 

The Creative Use Of Imagination - CHAPTER 5 SEEING GOD

The Creative Use Of Imagination - CHAPTER 5 SEEING GOD

CHAPTER 5 SEEING GOD 

St. Augustine once said, "O, my God, let me see thee, and if to die is to see thee, then let me die that I may behold thy face." Yet, when we fell God told us, "You cannot see my face and live. But I will cause my glory to pass by and when I pass by, you shall see my back, but my face you will not see." That God is your wonderful I AMness, your awareness who is forever claiming, "I AM that is who I AM." 

Imagination's power is the only power. It is your power to kill, to make alive, to wound and to heal. It is your imagination which forms the light, makes the good, and creates the evil, and there is no other God. Man is inclined to believe in two powers, one for good and the other for evil, but I tell you there is only one. The "I" in man is he who kills and makes alive, who curses and creates. Your consciousness of being is the only reality. The self- definition of an absolute state is "I am divine." And this absolute state is God. It is your I AM which cannot be seen. 

Matthew tells us, "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God." The word "pure" in the above statement comes from the Greek word "katharos" which also means, "clean; clear." To be pure, the mind must be cleared of all obstructions created by traditional wrong thinking. The heart must be cleared of the belief in a secondary power. Only when this is done will you be blessed, for you will know the one and only God to be your true self. 

There is no power outside of you. The same power in you that makes the good, creates the evil. Start now to free yourself from the belief in two powers, for only then will you be pure in heart and see God. 

The whole vast universe is nothing more than the response to the consciousness of men. If you believe that the "I" in another is the cause of your displeasure and not your own "I," then you have planted a tree in your mind which is obstructing your view and must be uprooted. We are told, "No man shall imagine evil in his heart." I am not speaking of a physical organ, but of the mind, the center or heart of the matter. When your heart is pure, you become a member of the order of Melchizedek. Read the story carefully and you will see that when Abraham slaughtered the kings (all of his negative and unlovely ideas), he returned to find Melchizedek, the symbol of the I AM, the being you really are. 

Learn to discipline your mind, for only the disciplined mind can maintain the feeling of the wish fulfilled. If, what you had imagined has not come into being, it is because you have not severed the ties that bind you to the level where you now stand. You must break your mechanical reaction to life in order to change your life-track. 

The only reason for this teaching is to encourage you and push you up the vertical line of the cross. It is very important for you to learn to be uncritical of yourself, for if you are not, you will justify your behavior which will cause you to remain in your present state. But if you will stop being critical, you will stop the negative thoughts that bind you to your present state and move out of it into another. 

There are three ways to clear your mind of the trees of traditional wrong thinking and allow you to see God. They are: uncritical observation; non-identification; and sacrifice of the state you formerly believed yourself to be. Man tries to see God by means of little pictures, but God can only be seen through belief in one power. Through uncritical observation, you will encounter your particular state. If you don't like the role the state requires you to play as it unfolds, stop reacting to it. Until you reach the point where you no longer react, you are not pure enough to see God. When you see Him, you will know Him, as you will be like Him. 

Where "I" AM is always what "I" AM. Establish one "I" within yourself, not a number of "I's." The "I" roots out all secondary causes and clears the mind of the power to enslave. Your belief in powers external to you is a tree which must be rooted out of your mind. 

Begin now to use this technique and you will realize your every dream. But first you must have a dream, a desire for something, as desire is your springboard of action. Define your objective. If it were fulfilled now, where would you be physically? What would the world look like? Would your wife, husband, mother, father, or friends see you differently? Feel their presence: see the joy expressed on their faces, and hear their congratulations. Repeat this act until you have the feeling of accomplishment. Then, having assumed the feeling of completion, remain faithful to it, for your assumption contains within itself all of the plans and power necessary for externalization. You need do nothing on the outside, for by your assumption, your mind is being rearranged, and what it confirms, it externalizes. Your desire may be for an improvement in your financial position, your social circle, or a deeper understanding of the mystery. The desire is up to you, but when put into practice, this technique will never fail you. 

The kingdom of heaven, with its many states (some lovely and some not so lovely) is within you. The state capable of wounding or healing, killing or making alive, is within you. They are all psychological states, completely furnished and ready to externalize themselves in your world. And, if having entered a particular mansion (state), you do not care to remain there, you may leave it by the same technique it was entered - through the act of assumption. 

It is so easy to feel sorry for yourself and so very difficult to give up this feeling. But you cannot enter another state until you do. No one can uproot the weeds of self-pity or the trees of so-called second causes for you. You must uproot them yourself. God put Adam in the garden to tend and keep it. As Adam you fell asleep, but when you awake, you are Christ, the power and the wisdom of God. Start now to observe your reactions to life and do not allow yourself to become identified with any unlovely state. Sacrifice your little hurts, your grievances, and belief in secondary causes. Then you will be blessed, for you will be pure in heart and see God. 

Awake! Test yourself and you will discover that the fault you see in the other exists in you. Turn to self, and you will find the Christ in you who is your hope of glory. 

The Creative Use Of Imagination - CHAPTER 4 ARE YOU MAKING WINE?

The Creative Use Of Imagination - CHAPTER 4 ARE YOU MAKING WINE?

CHAPTER 4 ARE YOU MAKING WINE? 

The Bible's purpose is to lift the individual up to a higher level of being. This begins in the state of Moses and the discovery of I AM. Then, in the Book of Isaiah, we are told to "Turn back your foot from the sabbath and take delight in the Lord." Let us examine this thought to find its deeper meaning. Now, in order to keep the sabbath, you must cease from having any mental doubt, as the mental foot you stand upon is your belief. When your mental foot touches the earth, its action is automatic and mechanical. Using your powerful consciousness, begin now to break the mechanical hold it has on your life by turning your thoughts to your fulfilled desire and observe the sabbath. 

The twins spoken of in scripture symbolize your duality: Abel, the inner you, and Cain, the outer you. A reversal of order must now occur, for in the New Testament your true identity is revealed as Christ (the inner you) your hope of glory. 

As you walk the earth, see people as they want to be seen, and you are pouring oil on their wounds. But if you do not, you are as the scribes and the Pharisees described in the 23rd Chapter of Matthew, doing their deeds to be seen by men; they preach but do not practice. 

In the 3rd Chapter of the Book of John, the story is told of Nicodemus, an intellectual man who believed that if he kept the law of Moses he could enter the kingdom of heaven, yet he was told, "You must be born again, born of water and spirit." Here we see the difference between the intellect and wisdom. Keeping the law of Moses is not enough. You must experience a change in the level of your being, thereby giving you wisdom in order for you to know rebirth. 

Your inner talking is the breeding ground of your future, be it lovely or unlovely. This is told us so vividly in the Book of Deuteronomy: "I set before you this day blessings and cursings." Every time you tell someone off, even though it is done in your mind, you curse him. And every time you do unto others what you would like done unto you, they are blessed in the doing. 

Water is the symbol of psychological truth. To know the truth is not enough. It must be acted upon, at which time the psychological water turns into wine. 

Start now to observe all of your unpleasant, negative thoughts and change them, for until you separate yourself from the state from which these thoughts flow, they will continue to cause you to have the same experiences in life. 

The Creative Use Of Imagination - CHAPTER 3 DESIRE

The Creative Use Of Imagination - CHAPTER 3 DESIRE

CHAPTER 3 DESIRE 

As you are, so shall God appear to be to you. The priest will see God as the head of all celestial and terrestrial records. To a judge, he is the great judge forever meting out punishment. To the Hottentot, God is the kind of chief he, himself, would like to be. So, you see, men are forever creating God in their own image. 

"God is God from the creation. 

Truth alone is man's salvation. 

But the God that now you worship Soon shall be your God no more. 

For the soul in its unfolding Evermore its thoughts 

remolding And it learns more truly in its progress Whom to 

love and how to adore." 

Through this teaching, you will learn to outgrow your concept of God, for God changes not, only your ideas of Him change. 

Desire is your mainspring of action, for you cannot move without desire. Ask yourself, "What wantest thou of me?" and then formulate your desire. Feel its presence and you have granted yourself the desire's fulfillment. Human life is nothing more than the appeasement of hunger, and the infinite series of levels of awareness is the means to satisfy that hunger. Health is a desire, a hunger which can be appeased when the idea is formulated in the mind that I am healthy. The same is true for wealth, peace, harmony or fame, for all of these are states of awareness. Identify yourself with the state desired. Persist in this identification and, because you and God are one consciousness, what you are conscious of, you outpicture. 

The cross is the symbol of suffering. There is no physical cross upon which a man was nailed, but a body of beliefs which a man wears. "Except you deny yourself and lift up your cross and follow me, you are unworthy of me." Lift up your cross by raising your awareness, for your I AMness is the creator of your world. 

As an individual, you move and live in time, but your true being is in eternity. Think of the vertical line of the cross as the line of being upon which there are unnumbered levels of awareness. Now, time cannot make you better or wiser. In fact, time cannot do a thing towards changing your level of being, for change is all on the vertical line where you move to higher or lower levels of your own being. Because change is imminent, we speak of it as infinite imminence; as nearer than near and sooner than now. The man you would like to be is imminent. He is nearer than near. The ideal you dream of being is sooner than now and is brought into being by a change in your reactions to life. 

In the Book of Revelations, we are told, "I will give to every being according to his work." The only work you are called upon to do is work on yourself. Start this work by observing your reactions to life. Remember, your future is not being developed, it already is. The time track is complete as well as all of the events you can encounter. As you move up or down the level of your being, changes will occur in your life. You are now resting at a certain level. "Arise, take up your couch and walk," by breaking the threads of life that bind you to the state you are now in. Break these threads by changing your thoughts, for only as you rise within, will you find a corresponding change without. 

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you were of too pure eyes to behold iniquity? If you were all tenderness? All love? All generosity? Aim for those feelings and then watch your relationship to them. It is here, in the midst of the storms of life, that you work this law. If you identify yourself with an unlovely state, you will find yourself sinking into it. But you can lift up your cross by breaking your automatic, mechanical reactions to life and sacrificing your present level of being. 

This message comes, not to bring peace, but a sword. It comes to set a man at variance against his brother, father, mother and all the members of his household, for I bring the sword of truth which is the word of God. This word is sharper than any two-edged sword, for it is capable of piercing the soul and spirit. I am not suggesting that you turn against your earthly relatives, but that you turn against the psychological ideas that govern your behavior and the dominant mood which governs your actions and reactions to life. If, at this moment your feelings are not noble, turn against them, for they are your psychological mother. This is done by putting new feeling in their place. You cannot change your thinking until you change your feeling, and all feelings come from ideas. A man's enemies are those of his own household which is everything he accepts as true. 

This sword can pierce, even to the severing of soul and spirit. Your Father (your I AM) is Spirit, and when you worship Him, you must do so in spirit and in truth. Be still and say to yourself, with feeling "I AM He." 

All that you consent to, all that you believe and accept as true (be it wise or foolish) forms the clothing you wear. But you can be reclothed and ascend to a higher level of being when you take up your cross and follow your imagination. 

Most of us are aimless. We want more than we presently have. We want the other fellow to change, but we don't want to do the one thing that will bring the change about, for we don't want to change self. In Revelations, John tells us, "I will give to everyone according to his work." The gift is not given according to the work of another, but according to the work you do on yourself, and that work is to uncritically observe your reactions to life, as they bind you to a certain level. Disassociate yourself from your unpleasant thoughts and associate yourself with your aim, thereby rising to its level, for your ideal is on that vertical line you stand upon. 

Scripture tells us to "Seek and you shall find: and when you find him, you will be like him." I tell you, you will never find your fulfilled desire until you are the desire! Those who go searching for love only make manifest their lovelessness, for you never have to search for what you are! 

I am Mary and you are Mary too, for we are forever conceiving of ourselves. The whole of human life is the appeasement of desire, and desire, conceived as fulfilled, will externalize itself. If you are not hungry enough to transcend your present level of consciousness, you will not conceive of anything greater. As long as you are in love with the state you are in, you cannot and will not rise from it. 

Without the vertical line of states, life would have no meaning. The ancients called this infinite series, Jacob's ladder. You do not build this ladder, rather you climb it through self-discovery. 

When you think of another, you are seeing only your opinion of him. If you think he is kind, he is kind. If you think he is stupid, he is stupid as he is playing the part you have assigned him because of your opinion. Therefore, if your desire is for him to change, you must change your opinion of yourself, for "he" is only your opinion pushed out. 

Where you are psychologically is what you are; therefore, only associate with the feeling that leads you to the fulfillment of your dreams. And may all of your dreams be noble ones. 

The Creative Use Of Imagination - CHAPTER 2 TAKE NOT THE NAME IN VAIN

The Creative Use Of Imagination - CHAPTER 2 TAKE NOT THE NAME IN VAIN

The Creative Use Of Imagination - CHAPTER 2 TAKE NOT THE NAME IN VAIN

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Your individual state of consciousness is your level of being and attracts all of the events you encounter in life. Since your reactions determine what you are, any change in your outer world must be produced by your inner level of being. 

In the 7th Chapter of the Book of Mark, we are told, "Hear and understand: there is nothing outside which can defile man; but what comes out of a man's mind is what defiles him. He who has ears, let him hear." Now, thoughts are things. When you identify yourself with a thought, it outpictures itself as an act. If the thought is unlovely, it defiles you. Awaken and select only thoughts that contribute to the birth of your desire. You must constantly observe your dwelling place, for where you are psychologically is what you are. Your mood indicates your state, and you are always externalizing the state upon which you stand. 

The Upanishads, one of a class of Vedic treatises dealing with broad philosophic problems, states: "The soul, imagining itself into a state, takes upon itself the results of that state. Not imagining itself into the state, it is free from its results." Your soul is what you consent to. As you feel yourself into the situation of your answered prayer, you have entered a state and your soul has taken upon itself the results of that state. If you do not enter the state, you are free of its lovely results. Accept an idea as true. Identify yourself with it and it will outpicture itself in your world. But if you do not accept the thought and identify yourself with it through feeling, you are free from its results. You must become very selective and learn not to associate yourself with unlovely thoughts. 

In the Book of Kings, we are told how those who entered the temple brought something alive with them such as an ox or bullock. These were used as burnt offerings. These sacrifice offerings are your body of suffering. They are the animals you must offer called grievances. No matter what the grievance may be, you have no right to carry it around with you and you cannot ascend in consciousness until all of your grievances are tossed on the altar and sacrificed. Only as you give them up will you find the holy water. 

Now, this holy water is not the church variety but the symbol of the twelve aspects of the mind. When your mind is cleared of all of its cobwebs (grievances), the bowl of holy water is placed on the backs of oxen, and your disciplined mind serves you rather than you serving it. The bull symbolizes the mind in its wild state and must be tamed (washed in holy water and clothed in soft raiment). When you enter the Holy of holies alone and bathe in its waters, your mind is washed of all mean thoughts and cleansed. Begin now to associate your thoughts only with the good; then that which proceeds out of your mouth (mind) will never defile you. 

I AM is the self-definition of the infinite. "Go and tell them that I AM has sent me unto you. Awareness (I AMness) is the only power of the universe. Its power makes you alive. If you say, "I am sick," you are! If you say, "I am secure," you are! Feeling yourself into the situation of a given state, you must take upon yourself the results of that state of mind. All things are made alive from a state of mind and without the state nothing can be made, as you only resurrect the state from which you are identified. Where you are psychologically is what you are in reality. Therefore, if you catch yourself feeling sorry for yourself, stop it and start feeling happy. If you don't, you will identify yourself with the state of self-pity and outpicture it. 

"Let the weak man say, 'I am strong'." Don't wait until you become strong before saying this. If you feel weak in any sense, affirm "I am strong," and if you persist in that assumption it will harden into fact. No one should evertake the name of the Lord in vain, for that name is I AM. 

The righteous man is already conscious of being the person he wants to be. He never sins, but runs into the name, for sinning is missing his desired state, and righteousness is hitting it. "I will set him on high because he knows my name." Assume the consciousness of being the one you want to be and you will be saved from your present state. Your individual hunger can and will be satisfied when you run righteously into the state desired. This is done through the act of feeling. Feel happy and you are conscious of happiness. Feel married and you have consciously moved into the state of marriage. The thing desired must be felt before you are conscious of possessing it. 

Learn to say "no" to unlovely thoughts rather than accepting them with passive indifference, for a soul must imagine himself into the act to taste the fruit of the state acted upon. Remember, consciousness alone is the cause of the fruit you reap and the only explanation for its existence. 

There is no one to blame but self for all of the things that have happened, are happening and will happen to you, as they could not come into your world unless you consented to them. Start now to consent only to lovely thoughts of fulfilled desires prior to their confirmation by your senses, and give up the animal instinct of suffering and bathing yourself in the feelings of hurt and self-pity. 

The psychological tongue is much like the physical one. If someone annoys you, turn aside and keep the tongue of your mind away from the sore spots of dislike, for your little mental conversations are the producers of your future. Sacrifice your body of suffering by giving it up and tame your mind, for we are told, "Blessed are the meek (tame), for they shall inherit the earth." Clothe yourself with joy and good news and you will walk into your holy of holies clothed in your immortal garment of love. 

There is a rhythm in your world which you cannot hear or see, and your aura is like no one else's. A bloodhound knows. If two odors were alike, no bloodhound could find you. But you are unique, one of a kind with your own special aura radiating your level of being. Don't judge auras for the simple reason that you have to see the aura of another through your own, and what you are seeing is only your assumption of the man. 

Complacency is a curse. "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness." Control your imagination with steady attention and dare to stand and be heard. Andrew is the disciple who symbolizes this aspect of mind. Pay attention to your thoughts and discipline them so that they flow from the feeling of your wish fulfilled, for you are not awake until the outer you becomes placid and the inner you dynamic. 

Don't try to argue someone out of their misery. We are told to, "Let the filthy be filthy still; what is that to thee? Follow thou me." Man is given the power of the "I" to think, and everyone is allowed to think for himself. 

All things, when admitted to consciousness, are made manifest, be they good, bad or indifferent. Dare to stand on your own by this teaching and you will never again feel the need to justify failure. 

The Creative Use Of Imagination - CHAPTER 1 YOUR INFINITE WORTH

The Creative Use Of Imagination - CHAPTER 1 YOUR INFINITE WORTH

CHAPTER 1 YOUR INFINITE WORTH 

The purpose of these talks is to bring about a psychological  change in you, the individual. Humanity, understood  psychologically, is an infinite series of levels of awareness and you, individually, are what you are according to where you are in the series. Consciousness is the only reality, and where you are conscious of being psychologically, determines the circumstances of your life. The ancients knew this great truth, but our modern teachers have yet to discover it. There is only one substance in the world. Our scientists call it energy while scripture defines it as consciousness. We are told that the universe was caused by water, but if this is true, then it could not evolve into anything but water. But if the basic substance is energy (or consciousness), it can be made to manifest itself as iron, steel and wood, to name but a few. Man, seeing a variety of forms, thinks of numberless substances, but what is seen is only a change in the arrangement of the same basic substance — consciousness. 

Ephesians tells us that, "All things, when admitted, are made manifest by light." The word "light" recorded here means awareness; consciousness." The state the individual admits into his consciousness is the cause of one man being rich and another poor. The poor man admits to being in the state of poverty by saying, "I am poor," just as the rich man admits wealth by saying, "I am rich." Anything you, an individual, claim yourself to be (be it good, bad or indifferent, right or wrong) must be made manifest in your world, for by claiming the state, you have consented to its life. 

There is only one cause, and that is consciousness. Your consciousness is the center from which your world mirrors and echoes the state you presently occupy. Now, a state can be defined as all that you believe and consent to as being true. So, if you want your world to change, you must determine what you want to accept and consent to as true before you can change it. To arrive at a certain definition of self, you must begin by uncritically observing your automatic reaction to an event, for your reaction defines your state. And you can, without getting out of your chair, rebuild your world by changing your level (or state) of being. This is done by observing yourself uncritically as you react to life. If you do not like the circumstances of your life, acknowledge its cause. Be willing to admit that the circumstances are only objectifying what you are conscious of, then change your consciousness and your world will change. If you react to that which is being objectified, you bind yourself to a certain, level of awareness, but if you refuse to react, the thread is broken. Stop being conscious of something unlovely, for every unlovely thought causes you to walk in psychological mud. Rather, identify yourself with beauty, with love (the Christ in you) and you will ascend the infinite level of your own being and change the circumstances of your life. 

Your state of awareness, like a magnet, attracts life. Steel, in its demagnetized state is a whirling mass of electrons, but when the electrons are faced in one direction, the steel is magnetized. You do not add to the steel to make it magnetic or take anything away to demagnetize it. This same principle is true for you. You can change your world by rearranging your thoughts and having them travel only in one direction, and that is toward the fulfillment of your desire. 

Watch your reactions to life, for any change in the arrangement of your mind which can be detected by self- observation, will cause a change in your outer world. It is important to learn to be passive to that which is unlovely and unacceptable to you. In that way, you are awakening the dynamic one within. And when you find your inner being, you will discover that the qualities you condemn in others are really in yourself. Then you will know the secret of forgiveness, for as you forgive yourself, the others are forgiven. 

All things (not just a few) are made manifest by the light, and everything manifested is light. The moment you consent to a thought, it is made manifest. It could not come into being unless you consented to its expression by being aware of it. The universe moves with motiveless necessity as it has no motive of its own. Rather, it moves under the necessity of manifesting the arrangements of the minds of men. This teaching is to awaken you to your light, and the awakening begins by self-observation. 

If you have a secret affection for living in the mud of self- pity and condemnation, your world will mirror those feelings. But if you will rearrange your mind and live in the heavenly feeling of harmony and love, your manifested world will change. If, today, you would spend five minutes in uncritical observation of yourself, you would be surprised to discover how deceitful you are. It is a terrible shock, I know, but every shock of this type will let in the light of awareness, and life is an ever-increasing illumination. As the light comes in, you become more and more conscious of who you really are. 

There is only one cause for the phenomena of life. Only by observing your own consciousness can you discover the cause of what is happening to you. There is no greater tyrant than the belief in a secondary cause. Let that tyrant go by remembering the one and only substance; the only cause which is awareness and immediately change what you are aware of. Only by observing your reactions to life can you find yourself. And remember, as long as you react as you do, the same things must confront you, for all that you admit to is made manifest by your consciousness, and everything you manifest is your consciousness. 

Stop walking through the world in the mud and living in its basement. Your soul is made up of all that you consent to. Lose your soul on one level and you will find it on a higher level, defined differently. Always examine yourself uncritically, for the moment you become critical, you automatically justify your reactions and associate yourself with the thing observed. Everything is individual. Collective security and collective salvation are terms approached individually. Learn to stand on your own feet and not on the feet of a group. You must free yourself, and the only way to do that is to awaken the Christ in you who is sound asleep. Think noble thoughts based on noble concepts and they will pay great dividends, for you will rise in consciousness and transform your world. Give yourself your daily bread by giving yourself the opportunity to remember who you are! Never envy the good fortune of another, simply appropriate your own. "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind" by changing the ideas planted there, for you cannot change your thinking until you change the ideas from which your thoughts flow. 

The Creative Use Of Imagination - Introduction

The Creative Use Of Imagination

 The Creative Use Of Imagination 

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From A Lecture Series 

by Neville Goddard 

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Contents 

PREFACE 

CHAPTER 1 - Your Infinite Worth 

CHAPTER 2 - Take Not The Name In Vain 

CHAPTER 3 - DESIRE 

CHAPTER 4 - Are You Makine Wine? 

CHAPTER 5 - Seeing God 

CHAPTER 6 - All Is Conciousness 

CHAPTER 7 - RIGHTEOUSNESS 

CHAPTER 8 - The Perfect Will Of God 

CHAPTER 9 - Be Ye Doers Of The Word 

CHAPTER 10 - The Pearl Of Great Price 

CHAPTER 1 1 - Self-Remembering 

CHAPTER 12 - Your Destiny 

CHAPTER 13 - Your Personal Autobiography 

CHAPTER 14 - The Human Spirit 

CHAPTER 15 - The Feeling Of "I" 

CHAPTER 16 - The Wine Of Eternity 

CHAPTER 17 - Awake, O Sleeper 

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This book, as all things, came into being because of a thought acted upon. Neville left us  October 1, 1972 and, since that time, I have invested many hours transcribing the hundreds of  tapes I have of his lectures. Neville explained that the ark of life contained and could be  understood on three levels: the literal, psychological and spiritual. The lectures which are  available deal mainly with the spiritual. However, because those who are now hearing his  words on tapes and reading his lectures, did not hear him speak on the second (or  psychological) level, I realized the need to provide that psychological plane as a foundation for  the higher, spiritual level. And so, the thought was planted in my mind. What if there were  some lectures that taught this principle on a practical level? Wouldn't it be wonderful if such a  series could be found and made available for those who would desire it. And then one day I  received a letter from a lovely lady in San Francisco who said she was moving into a retirement  home and wanted to send me some notes she had from Neville's lecture series in San Francisco  in 1952. These notes constitute this book. 

I had a thought. Wouldn't it be wonderful if... and acted upon it by feeling the thrill of the  thought's completion. I have never met the lady or heard from her since receiving the notes,  but I have proved, once again, that imagination (thought) fulfills itself. The living proof is in your  hands. 

Now, let me tell you a bit about me. Born and raised in a small town in Kansas, I moved to  California in 1942 as a good Protestant. But I had a hunger that no organized religion could fill,  so I drifted from one belief to another, seeking yet not finding what I was searching for, possibly  because I did not know what it was. Then one day I heard a man called Neville, and I knew that,  although the outer me did not understand his words, the inner me was singing the Hallelujah  Chorus, for I had found the cause of all life.., that my very thought, mixed with feeling, was an  imaginal act which created the facts in my world. 

I remember the first night I lay in my bed and dared to claim, "I AM God." Afraid that the ceiling  would crash down on me, I quickly covered my head - just in case. And when nothing  happened, I gathered more courage and set out to prove for myself that imagination could  create reality. I did not believe it could, and I wanted to prove Neville wrong. That was back in  1964, and I haven't succeeded yet. Not all of my imaginal acts have come to fruition, but I now  know that the fault does not lie in the teaching, but in my belief in myself. And, as I have grown  in my belief and trust and faith in what I have imagined, I have gained confidence in my own  wonderful human imagination. 

Several years ago, I put together a group of lectures of Neville's and called the book "Immortal  Man." At the time, I was afraid to change his words even though felt I could make the message  clearer if I did. 

Shortly after its publication, I turned to self one night and asked, "Is it all right to change the  words as long as I do not change the meaning? I know that if truth were told so that it could be  understood, it would be believed. I know your words are true, Neville, but think I can make  them clearer." I fell asleep questioning myself and, in the night, I had this dream: I am on my  way to work. As I enter the building I see, directly before me, a beautiful restaurant whose  tables are filled with diners, enjoying their meal. Neville is standing next to a fireplace, speaking  to a group nearby. Thrilled to find him there, I am eager to show him the book of his lectures I had just published and question him regarding the change of words. But as I turn to take the  case I am carrying into my office, get the book and return, he glances up and catches my eye.  Instantly changing my mind, I turn and go directly into the restaurant to join him. But when I  arrive, I discover that he has vanished, leaving the ladies to tell me that he is gone and will  never return again. 

Heartsick, I return to the lobby with its hard, tile floor when, suddenly the case I had been  carrying fell from its handle. The moment it hit the floor, the case opened, my book fell out and  lay open at its center seam. As I looked down in horror, I saw that I had been carrying a brief  ease which contained a tape recorder that had turned on due to the fall, and Neville's voice was  ringing out loud and clear. Embarrassed, I stooped down to turn off the volume, only to  discover that all the knobs had fallen off the machine and there was no way for me to turn him  off. As I tried to push the case over to the far wall in order to pick it up, I awoke with these  words ringing in my ears, "I am IN you, AS you." From that moment on, my fears have vanished  and, since that time, I have gained confidence in my writing. These are Neville's words -  Neville's thoughts - yet we are so closely woven in the tapestry of thought that the words are  now mine. 

The lectures you will read are Neville's words. Yet they may not have been the exact words he  spoke back in 1952. The material I had to work with were notes someone had taken in  shorthand, transcribed, and duplicated. I have taken the notes and elaborated on them. The  words are true and, hopefully understandable enough so you can test them and discover for  yourself that when the truth is applied, it is made alive by a spiritual experience. 

Always bear in mind that when Neville speaks of "man," he is speaking of generic man  (man/woman). Man is the external world, the natural man; while imagination is the internal  world, the man of spirit. God (imagination) became the natural man that the man of nature  may become God who is Spirit. 

Always think of yourself as two beings, one who sees through the organs of sense and the other  who sees through the mind of imagination. And always remember God's name as he revealed it  to Moses. "I AM. That is who I AM. And by this name, I shall be known throughout all  generations. I AM that I AM." I the trinity, in unthinkable origin, AM God the Father. And I in  creative expression AM the Son, for imagination is born of consciousness. Therefore I, in  universal interpretation, in infinite imminence, in eternal procession AM God, the Holy Spirit. 

Margaret Ruth Broome