Binding And Loosing by Neville Goddard (01-14-1964)

Neville Goddard, 1964 Lectures binding and loosing. January 14, 1964. Tonight's subject is Binding and Loosing. It may be an odd title, but you'll find it a very practical one. When we open the Bible, we are in the midst of mystery. But I promise you, every one of you, everyone in the world, will one day experience Scripture for himself. And then, and only then, will he know how truly wonderful it really is. It's all true. Don't change it. Don't attempt to change it. It's altogether true when you experience Scripture for yourself. This segment is taken from the Gospels. That is, not the Gospels, but in the Book of John we are told, if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained. 20, 23. That is true. And one day you will experience that in depth. But tonight, on this level, we'll show you how altogether marvelous it really is. Here, before you experience that in depth. But I mean, every sin is forgiven in depth. Everything. But on this level, you and I can forgive it. But now we must search the Scriptures. We're told this is said to the disciples. And you might think you are not a disciple. May I tell you that you are, if you are willing to accept the story of Jesus Christ as told you. In the ninth chapter of the Book of Acts, that Saul went out to find all the disciples of the Way. The early Christians were not called Christians, they were called People of the Way. Those who believed in a certain way of salvation. Excuse me. And he went out, determined to find anyone that he could find of the Way, whether they be male or female, and bring them bound into Jerusalem to be condemned. Now here in the Scriptures, if you read the story, on the surface, there was no woman and made a disciple. But in the ninth chapter of the Book of Acts, they are. Anyone, regardless of sex, who accepts this way of life is a disciple. So I say to you, if you believe this story, the story of salvation, you are a disciple. And to you it is said, if you forgive a sin, it's forgiven. If you retain a sin, it's retained. What a responsibility. Exclamation point. Huge. But in the same book, the wonderful Bible we are told, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. You'll read that in the ninth chapter of the book of Hebrews, verse 22. Now, these words are true. True. Then what does it mean? To this very day, in the year 1964, there are those who Believe on a certain day called the day of atonement, that some living being must be destroyed for the salvation of those who will adhere to the law. And they keep it literally. I'm not taking it on that level. That's the most external of all levels, where we do everything on the outside in the hope of appeasing some God. I take it on the next level, the psychological level, where you and I tonight can prove beyond all doubt the truth of this law. And it is true. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. If you take it literally, it would be the 24th chapter of the book of Exodus where something alive was slain and then the blood was sprinkled on the altar and. And then sprinkled on those who were present. And then came the atonement. And you wonder, what is this atonement? The English word atone originally meant at one, and it's an at one. I must perform a certain act to become attuned, or at one with a state. But how could I do it? I do it only by the shedding of blood. Now we are told when man really discovers it, it is the blood of Christ Jesus that must be shed. Well, how could I shed the blood of Christ Jesus? Yet I am told, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. Therefore, what is sin now? Sin is missing the mark. If I have a goal in life and I do not realize it, I. I am sinning. I don't care what the world will tell me. It's the one sin of Scripture. If I have a goal. And I am told if I had not come unto them and spoken unto them, they would not have sin. But now that I have spoken unto them, they have no excuse for their sin. John 15:22. If someone did not come into my world and tell me that I am not adjusted to the environment into which I am born, I could. I could transcend it. I am not the being that seemingly appeared in this world, and that is it. I could transcend it. If I am told I could transcend my environment, and then I desire to transcend it and don't. I am sinning. If someone didn't come into my world and tell me I could transcend my environment, I wouldn't know sin. If you don't know it, you don't know it. If you're told it and you don't do something about it, you're sinning because you're missing the mark, because you're aware of it. But someone comes into my world and tells me I can transcend the being I am. And at that moment he stirs me and disturbs me and makes me ambitious to transcend that which I am. And if I don't realize the being that I would like to be, then he made me a sinner. So to whom did he come? He said, I did not come to the righteous. I came to the sinners. I came to make them sinners and then to redeem them, those who are complacent, who are satisfied with what they are. I did not come to the righteous. I came not to the righteous, but to the sinners. So he comes into the world and tells man a story. But now what is the blood of Christ that I have to shed? I'll tell you. Christ is your own wonderful human imagination. Christ in you is the hope of glory. Colossians 1:27. It is Christ in you that must be awakened from this death. So if I would now shed his blood, how would I shed my own imagination's blood? Now, I already know how I think. I got a good feeling where this is going, but we'll see. Well, now I am in a certain state. I am aware that I am a certain man and I desire to transcend it. I want to be other than the man that I am. I have to die to that man. Therefore blood is shed. Now, where I was going, it was exactly the same spot. Because I always go back to the idea Neville talks about is self persuasion. Once you persuade yourself of anything different of another or yourself, the old you has to die for the new you to be born. So that's shedding blood. You're sacrificing a self of old. Kill the old man to become the new man. That's the shedding of the blood which he just said. I have to die to that man. Therefore blood is shed. I detach myself mentally from the man that I am now keeping alive. And I become at one with that state of consciousness, the new man that I want to make real in this world. There it is. So we are told in Ephesians that be imitators of God as dear children. 5:1. And we are told in the same book, Ephesians. He creates in himself one new man in place of the two. So making peace 2, 15. He creates in himself one new man in place of the two. And this way he makes peace. So if I am now disturbed because I am not the man I want to be, there's conflict, there's war. The only way I can find peace is to create in myself the one new man I must become the man that I want to be a very able. In fact the greatest writer in the English language put it into the character called Hamlet and tried through this story to instruct on it. We think because he's a playwright. Well, that was simply written for entertainment. That was written simply to entertain the world. Don't believe it, exclamation point. One of the greatest educators of all time you'll find in Shakespeare. And don't forget, and I haven't mentioned this yet, but e Haleakala hu len One of the greatest healers of our modern time, who used hooponopono as a healing medium, loved Shakespeare. Everything he found in Shakespeare he found to be true. As all get out. He was constantly quoting and talking about Shakespeare all the time. If you can find any videos you can on on Dr. Hugh Lynn and you'll find he's always talking about Shakespeare very fascinating. All this comes together sooner or later. Here we have Neville, we think because he's a playwright. Well, that was simply written for entertainment. That was written simply to entertain the world. Don't believe it. One of the greatest educators of all time you'll find in Shakespeare. So here he takes Hamlet. And Hamlet is now made to tell his mother how to transcend herself. He said to her, assume a virtue if you have it not. Refrain tonight and that shall lend a kind of easiness to the next abstinence, the next more easy for use, can almost change the stamp of nature. Act three, scene four. And you try it. You can take it tonight and restrain tonight. Restrain what? The impulse to sleep in the consciousness of being thwarted, of being the man that you don't want to be. And just this one night, restrain the impulse to fall asleep in that state. But don't fall asleep in a vacuum. Fall asleep now by assuming a virtue that you have not. For she didn't have the virtue of mercy when she actually aided in the destruction and death of her husband through a passion that she wanted to, I would say appease. And so she certainly was not merciful. She was not one of pity, she was not one of love. And so he asked her to assume a virtue if she had it not. What virtue? Well, he did not name it for her. He allowed her to select a virtue that she would like to assume, which currently she did not possess and told her if tonight you would refrain the impulse to fall asleep in your last night's concept and this night fall asleep in the assumed virtue just once, tomorrow night you'll find it easier and the next night still more easy. That's exactly the key. And that's exactly the key of revision. Each night, just revise one thing and you'll see the. You do revision one night, it's the same thing as what he said, that what Hamlet's character saying here Shakespeare said in the writing of that Neville saying, all day, every day, revise. And it changes everything. And then when the next time you go to revise, everything's been changed already. So now you're revising with less effort. I don't know if it's coming through on the microphone or not. I doubt it. But boy, oh, boy, there's some kids playing outside this wall, screaming at the top of their lungs. They want to emphasize what we're talking about. Every action changes. Every other action you do a revision, it changes what's left to revise. So the next night when you go to revise that one thing again, it's left to revise. Then the next night, when you go to revise that one thing again, it's less to revise. Because each time it's changing. It's the same thing of assuming a virtue which you have not. You assume that you are the man or woman you want to be. The next night it's easier. It's less to revise, it's less to assume because your toe is in, your foot is in, your leg is in, your body is in. You will eventually embody what it is you're assuming yourself to be. It is the truth of it. For I tell you that even if it doesn't happen the next day, the next day, you can always change the stamp of nature. So if you came into this world stamped with the venom that is yours, the horror that is yours, the unmerciful picture that is yours, it can. Excuse me, it can still change that stamp of nature if you'll try it tonight. So he tried to persuade her to assume it. So I will say to you tonight, if you want to be successful, if you want to be, I don't care what it is, but you name it. I hope it is something lovely, something marvelous. If the whole vast world tells you that you could not do it, I have been sent to tell you that you can transcend your environment. You can transcend anything in this world that you seem to have at birth or you seem to have today. You can transcend it by assuming the feeling of the wish fulfilled. I will tell you that imagination will do nothing for us, nothing that we wish until we have assumed the wish fulfilled. It will do nothing until we have assumed the wish fulfilled and imagination is Christ. And so if I now give up my present concept of myself and dare to assume that I am the man that I want to be, have I not died to my former state? Yes. And that was the shedding of blood. That is the shedding of blood. On the psychological state. I don't go out and buy a turtle dove or buy a bullock or kill some little animal in this world in the hope of appeasing God. I shed the blood of Christ. And the blood of Christ is my own wonderful human imagination. For God became man, that man may become God. He actually became us. Exclamation point. So if I am told when I started the dream that whatever, anything in this world, no matter what it is, if you forgive it, it is forgiven. It doesn't matter what it is. Remember, forgive means to imagine lovingly. That's all the word forgive means. If you retained it, it is retained. All that all these two things are saying is whatever you concentrate upon, you get it's the Seth, it's the set communication throughout, you get what you concentrate upon. There is no other main rule that's sest in his entirety. You create your own reality. Five words, Y C Y O R. And Seth's other statement, constantly you get what you concentrate upon. There is no other main rule. Says it right there. If you forgive it, it is forgiven. In the Neville language, forgiving is imagining. So if you imagine it forgiven, it is imagined new. If you retain it, it's retained because you're consistently focusing back on it. So you're going to recreate it, whatever it is. But am I not told to. Excuse me, but am I not told I must not ask for your consent. I don't ask for your permission to do it and I need not tell you I am doing it. Maybe you are totally unaware that I am doing it. Therefore, if you are unaware that I am doing it and I am doing it without your knowledge or your permission, then it is not true that all that I behold, though it appears without it, is within in my imagination in which of which this world of mortality is but a shadow. If I don't need your permission to forgive you, and I need not tell you that I am actually forgiving you and I perform an inner act which results in an outer change in your world. Are you not within me? If I do it well, it is done. Excuse me, that was my statement. His writing says. Well, is it done? May I tell you I. I could tell you unnumbered stories to support that claim. It is true. Same result. A lady called me yesterday morning to thank me for something she'd asked of me. On the morning of 29 December, when I spoke to Dr. Palmer, she asked me for a certain something and it was, would I please release her from this problem. And so in my imagination I simply assumed that she had called and told me of the good fortune or the good news which she called yesterday morning. Now listen how simple it is when Neville imagines lovingly for another. Look how simple it is the way he does it. I say present tense. That's just the way I am. Everything's Now I'm not going to say did it, I'm saying on purpose the way he does it. Because it's happening right now. It's an eternal story. Here we go. And so in my imagination I simply assumed that she had called and told me of the good fortune or the good news which she called yesterday morning. But then she shared with me a lovely piece of good news. She said, you know I can't come to you at night anymore. I don't like to go out at night. But I do put into practice what I heard from you over the years. And a friend of mine called me up. She goes to Santa Barbara in the summer and goes to New Mexico in the winter. In New Mexico she lives in a trailer. She called me and told me that they told her that the trailer had changed hands. That is the place where they're all parked and that she wanted to sell. So I said, alright, it's done, you have to, you have the check in your hand and it's all done. Then she called me back and told me that she had just heard from the people who were living there that that there are 17 trailers for sale and because of the change in management all things are going to pot and that no one can get anything for a trailer today. I said, I'm not asking you why you're going to sell it, you want to sell it and you sold it for the sum of money that you want. She's given her the Abdullah business. She went off to New Mexico and within one hour after she arrived, in spite of the 17 trailers for sale, she sold her trailer at the price she had stated. Not one penny less, not one penny more. Someone within one hour bought her trailer in that trailer camp. And if that works once and you can repeat it and then repeat it and repeat it, we have found the law of the forgiveness of sin. For sin is only missing the mark. And if no sin can be forgiven without the shedding of blood. I have found what the shedding of blood is. The shedding of blood is the Christ blood. Well, Christ is my imagination. And I gave up that which I made alive. It's the same thing over and over if I believed. My friend was unemployed and not doing well in his world, and I all of a sudden persuaded myself how wonderfully, gainfully employed he is. And I hear the good news. He comes and tells me about it, and I hear it and I shake his hand and I pat him on the back and. And we hug and we. And this, that, and the other. I have now shed the blood. I shed the blood of my own making. I made alive that which before I believed in, which I no longer believe. I kill that self. I have a new, persuaded self. It's a new, alive self. Therefore, blood was shed. I sacrificed the self. I was. If I gave up something and. And I. Excuse me. Well, Christ is my imagination. And I gave up that which I made alive. That's the old belief. If I gave up something I made alive, I shed its blood. I took myself out of one state and put it in another state. So I put it in one state called the check is in your hand. Therefore, I took it from the state where you are trying to sell and put it into the state where you have sold. I take it from one state where you are not the man you want to be and put it in the state where you are the man you want to be. So in making this transformation, I die to one state, and in dying to this state, I then fulfill the book of Ephesians. He creates in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace. And so he makes peace. Delicious. In the depths of yourself, you'll see that's done. That's another depth. But on this level, it's done here. One day you will know how he does that in depth. That is when he becomes you and not you. And another, not you. And God. God actually becomes you. Hmm. And you will know then what it means to be one with God and what it means for the whole vast world to be God. He has one wonderful symbol of which he reveals it, and that is his Son. That no one knows who the Father is except the Son. And no one knows who the Son is except the Father. Matthew 11:27. And so when the Son appears and reveals you as Father, and you know he's going to reveal everyone as Father, then you know we are all one. We aren't really two. For if I am the Father of your Son. And you know that son, and I know that Son, and we are both the Father of the same Son, then we are one. Although seemingly we are fragmented into numberless parts. If all are the Father of the one Son, then we are one God, one Father. So that day will come when you will know that it will fill you up. You will know it. But before it comes to you individually, you can take this marvelous revelation and try it on this level. So you are commissioned to go into the world and forgive sin. If you retain it, it's retained. That means if you continue it, if you consent to it, if you reflect it, that's retaining it. If you retain it, it's retained. If you forgive it, it's forgiven. That means, imagine lovingly and whatever you forgive is forgiven. So try it. Start this very night trying to forgive sin by starting with yourself first. Look at yourself in this very night. Look at yourself this very night and ask yourself if you really are the man, the woman that you really want to be. If you're satisfied, perfectly alright. But I doubt that anyone is really satisfied. For when he comes into the world, he comes and he brings disturbance. If I had not come unto them and spoken unto them, they would not have had sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin. John 15:22. So when Christ coming. When Christ comes into the world of man, he disturbs them. Prior to the coming, they were quite satisfied to adjust to the environment in which they were born, perform the external act of sacrifice, so that once a year they could perform some little sacrificial act. But then one who heard them clearly said, I see as I pass by that you are observing days and weeks and seasons and years. I am afraid I have labored over you in vain. Galatians 4:10. So when one thinks that only one day of the year, atonement comes, I have labored. I have labored over you in vain. Atonement comes at every moment in time. There it is. Listen to that. That's the truth. Atonement comes at every moment in time, because every moment's the only moment. It's the eternal moment. It's now. Every Moment is the at 1. One can attune or atone, and so create in himself one man in place of the two. And so the two are always the man that I am and the man that I want to be. If the man that I want to be is in conflict with the man that I am, and it must be, if I want to be it, I am confessing I am not it. The minute I want to be something, I'm confessing I'm not. That therefore there's war, there's conflict. And so I must now create in myself one new man in that place of the two. In the place of the two. So when I go to bed this night, I must dare to assume that I am the man that at the moment my reason denies, my senses deny. And how do I know that I'm in it? Just how would I know that I'm really in this state and I brought about this one new man in myself? Question mark. By looking at the world. If I don't see the world as I would see it were I the man that I want to be, then I'm not in that state. I haven't yet created in myself the one new man. But if tonight I assume blank space, assume the virtue if you have it. Not that virtue may be any kind of virtue. So I assume that I'm. And I name it. And then I look at the. And I look at my world, my frame of reference to reflect confirmation of the man that I want to be. I will see then on the faces of my friends, expressions implying that they see in me the man that I want the world to see. So I will hear them speak about me. I will see them and just see that face reflecting what I am, then I am in it. And so I tried to tell this in a strange way, saying, thinking from what you want instead of thinking of what you want. If I think of what I want, I'm in conflict because I'm not there. If I think of and really want it, then the being thinking from and thinking of what he wants, these two are in conflict. I must solve it so that when I think of and it's really something that I want to realize, I must resolve it and create in myself the one new man. So it becomes a state from which I think and then I think from it instead of thinking of it. If you do it this way, it works. But how it works, no one knows. It doesn't matter. Just do it. Just do it. No one could devise the means employed by that state from which you think to bring it to pass. I could not, on reflection, have devised the means employed to bring about the state that I had realized in my world. I couldn't. I would not be wise enough as a normal person to actually devise the means. But man, not knowing this, he goes out trying to work out the means instead of applying God's law. God's law is, you cannot do it. Unless you do it by the shedding of blood. So you give up what you are to become what you want to be. And that's dying. So you die to one state and you live to another state. So without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. And yet I'm invited to remit sin, to forgive it. The more we go over this, the more real and the more real and the more real it becomes. Just keep on keeping on. Just keep on keeping with it. Keep on trying, keep on revising, keep on imagining. You got to remember, wherever you are in this wonderful wheel of recurrence, whatever amount of times you've been around the wheel, wherever you are in the one life you are in right now, it doesn't matter if you're in your teens, great. If you're in your 20s, great 30s, 40s, 50s, great 60s, 70s, 80s, great, 90s, hundreds, great. It took so many lives to get right here. It doesn't matter your age. That has nothing to do with nothing. Nothing to do with anything. Just get on with it. Just do it. Imagine. Understand your. Imagine your imagination is him. Put it to the test. So I take the words. Excuse me. So I can take the words now. Atonement, forgiveness, remission, all these things and put them and call them really synonyms. That's atonement, forgiveness, remission. They're all one. If I forgive, what is the challenge to a man to forgive? It challenges a man's ability to enter into and partake of the nature of the opposite state of consciousness. I'll forgive you. Forgive myself. So I take myself. I'll forgive myself for being today and I'll name it. Then what would be the solution of my present problem? Alright, can I assume that I am now It. It challenges my ability to enter into that state to the point where I. Where. When I view the former state, it's something away behind me. It's something that was. Now revision will get you there fast. But it's simple. He's doing it directly by just imagining the new state. I can say today, I remember when. Remember when what? When I was not that. Another wonderful way of attacking. I remember when someone told me, you will never in a. In a. Excuse me. I remember when someone told me, you will never in eternity earn a dollar using your voice. I knew he was going there. The teacher, remember the teacher made him get up in front of the classroom and said, speak. And he spoke. And then all of a sudden, the teacher would just chastise him, his voice to the class Saying that this is the kind of voice that is no good. I remember when someone told me, you will never in eternity earn a dollar using your voice. That's a fact. That was in my school. I'm sorry for taking his thunder. I went to school and she told me. And she said to me, you know, you'll never. You're the one in the class of 40. And listen to Neville. He will never be able to earn a dollar using his voice. So use him as an example and see what you should avoid. A teacher said that, but that's sometimes a kick. He's probably going to say it. And so they all are really using their voices to order a meal or to sell a shirt at Macy's. They are using their voices. But she was wrong there, too. But they're not using their voices. In the theatrical world where we all hoped one day to use it. It was a little theatrical school in New York City called the Blank Space. Blank Space School. And I was singled out as the horrible example of things that one should not do. Well, then I began to apply this law, to assume that I am the man that I want to be and then let things happen. I could not have devised it. I took no more lessons. I assure you, when I left there, that was the end of my schooling. And so I never once took a lesson in the use of the voice. It just happened that I had something to say and then I said it. That's all that matters. Whether I said it correctly. I mean, in the proper use of words. It made no difference to me once I said it. But I said it with feeling because I had experienced it. So I wasn't trying to become a church in the use of words. I wasn't trying to become some great user of words, just to be normal and to tell it as clearly and with all the feeling I possibly could muster. For I knew that I had experienced it. And if I could tell it with feeling, I would persuade others to try it. And so I tell you, you don't have to have anything more than you have now. Just a dream. A dream of something other than what you are. Some noble dream. You want to be married? Great. You want to be in love. You're single now, but you want to be happily married in love. Great. Awesome. Do it. Dream it. You will be it. You want to be wealthy because you're not. Great. Awesome. You're already there. It's done. You want to be healthy. Wow. I've never seen you look so good. It's amazing, isn't it? Then this night, believe the great bard, assume a virtue if you have it not. Refrain tonight. And that shall lend a kind of easiness to the next abstinence. And the next, more easy for use, almost can change the stamp of nature. And in my own case, I completely changed the scene. It changed my stamp of nature. See, there's an aspect to that teacher, using him as an example of what not to be, that gives you a kick in the butt. Especially when you're young like that. You're like, oh, I'll prove you wrong. I'll show you. So you can tell that that might have been that kick in the butt that he needed. And in my own case, I completely changed the scene. It changed my stamp of nature. For I certainly was not stamped with this. But I desired to tell it and then went out to tell it. The first time I started, six people came, all through sympathy. One was his wife. That's five more. I sent out 50 penny postal cards. In those days, there was such a thing as a penny card. And I sent out the large amount of 50 cents worth. Out of the 50, my friends, all of the theatrical world, six came. And six came just because they were all sympathetic. And they came almost to pay their respects. Because There were only six in the place that could have taken care of 50. They either were embarrassed, but whether embarrassed or not, these were embarrassed out of dollar bill. Because I didn't change, didn't have the courage to charge. Excuse me. Because I didn't charge, didn't have the courage to charge. And so you passed the basket among the six. When they saw only six, they each gave a dollar. And so that paid the rent. And I started that way and never turned back. Every night dreaming my dream of telling this story. Then six months later, a man was in the same building speaking to an enormous crowd. All things being relative, I spoke to six. And when he invited me, oh, six months later, I had grown to 20. And so he had an enormous audience of about 600 people. And he thought that he would simply snuff me out by inviting me to take the platform. So I took the platform. And he paid me the large amount of $25 for that night to take his platform and talk to his 600. I learned afterwards he invited me for one purpose. That when I faced this audience, I would be so nervous they would see that he's not the one to visit anymore. And so he'd rub me out completely. But may I tell you what happened? The very next night I spoke upstairs in my little place of 50. And I got 200 of his. They were all down the hallway. And then they kept on coming, night after night. I spoke twice a week then. And so they came. I had no place for them. And the management in Steinway hall said, you can't continue this way. I'm getting all kinds of complaints because they're all in the hallway. I must rent you a bigger place. I said, all right. Rent me a bigger place. He rent me a bigger. And it still overflowed and overflowed and overflowed until finally we had to move out of Steinway Hall. So it all started by my dream. I simply went to bed assuming a virtue that I did not possess. I assumed it and assumed it and assumed it. So I tell you that imagination will not do a thing for us until we have imagined the wish fulfilled. Just like a little child, it cannot be compelled. It must be persuaded. The child must be persuaded. You can't compel resents it. Well, imagination is just like that. And in all the stories of Christ, he's always depicted as a little child. And a little child shall lead them. And just like a child, it must be persuaded, not compelled. And so this night, I can't compel myself to believe something. I must persuade. Pretend it's true. Hmm. And play the game of pretending. And assume it. And assume it. You have to trick yourself. I must pretend it's true. And play the game of pretending. And assume it. And assume it. You see what's going on here? If I dare to assume that I am what at the moment reason denies and my senses deny and fall asleep in that assumption just as though it were true, may I tell you from experience, it becomes true on reflection when you look back and see how it worked. You could never have devised the means employed.