Questions and Answers (Q&A) - Neville Goddard (1948) | Full Reading + Commentary

Neville Goddard, 1948 Questions and Answers from the Five Lessons Question 1 what is the meaning of the insignia on your book covers? It is an eye imposed upon a heart, which is in turn imposed upon a tree laden with fruit. Meaning that what you are conscious of and accept as true, you are going to realize as a man thinketh in his heart, so he is. Question two. I would like to be married, but have not found the right man. How do I imagine a husband? Answer Forever in love with ideals. It is the ideal state that captures the mind. Do not confine the state of marriage to a certain man, but a full, rich and overflowing life. You desire to experience the joy of marriage. Do not modify your dream, but enhance it by making it lovelier. Then condense your idea into a single sensation or act which implies its fulfillment. In this Western world, a woman wears a wedding ring on her third of her left hand. Motherhood. Motherhood need not imply marriage. Intimacy need not imply marriage. But a wedding ring does. Relax in a comfortable armchair or lie flat on your back and induce a state akin to sleep. Then assume the feeling of being married. Imagine a wedding band on your finger. Touch it. Turn it around the finger. Pull it off over the knuckle. Keep the action going until the ring has the distinctness and feeling of reality. Become so lost in the feeling of the ring on your finger that when you open your eyes, you will be surprised that it's not there. If you are a man who does not wear a ring, you could assume greater responsibility. How would you feel if you had a wife to care for? Assume the feeling of being happily married. A happily married man. Right? Now remember, he's talking about an imaginary ring on your imaginary finger, not an actual ring to put on your finger. I don't. I'm saying what he's talking about. But you could. I don't see why it wouldn't actually add to the impact if you had a ring to put on that finger and touched it while you fell asleep. We're going to the same destination. Question 3. What must I do to inspire creative thoughts such as those needed for writing? What must you do? Assume the story has already been written and accepted by a great publishing house. Reduce the idea of being a writer to the sensation of satisfaction. Repeat the phrase isn't it wonderful? Or thank you, thank you, thank you over and over again until you feel successful. Or imagine a friend congratulating you and that, believe me, works profoundly, imagining your friends or family members congratulating you. There are unnumbered ways of implying success, but always go to the end. Your acceptance of the end wills its fulfillment. Do not think about getting in the mood to write, but live and act as though you are now the author you desire to be. Assume you have the talent for writing. Think of the pattern you want displayed on the outside. If you write a book and no one is willing to buy it, there is no satisfaction. Act as though people are hungry. Act as though people are hungry for your work. Live as though you cannot produce stories or books fast enough to meet the demand. Live as though Persist in this assumption and all that is necessary to achieve your goal will quickly burst into bloom and you will express it. Question 4 How do I imagine larger audiences for my talks? I can answer you best by sharing the technique used by a very able teacher. I know. When this man first came to this country, he began speaking in a small hall in New York city. Although only 50 or people attended his Sunday morning meeting and they sat in front, this teacher would stand at the podium and imagine a vast audience. Then he would say to the empty space, can you hear me back there? Today this man is speaking in Carnegie hall in New York city to approximately 2,500 people. Every Sunday morning and Wednesday evening. He wanted to speak to crowds. He was not modest. He did not try to fool himself, but built a crowd in his own consciousness and crowds come. Stand before a large audience. Address this audience in your imagination. Feel you are on that stage and your feeling will provide the means. Question 5 Is it possible to imagine several things at the same time? Or should I confine my imagining to one desire? Personally, I personally, I like to confine my imaginal act to a single thought. But that does not mean I will stop there. During the course of the of a day, I may imagine many things, but instead of imagining lots of small things, I would suggest that you imagine something so big it includes all the little things. Instead of imagining wealth, health, and friends, imagine being ecstatic. You could not be ecstatic and be in pain. You could not be ecstatic and be threatened with a dispossession notice. That's an eviction notice. You could not be ecstatic if you were not enjoying a full measure of friendship and love. What would the feeling be like? Were you ecstatic without knowing what had happened to produce your ecstasy? What would the feeling be like? Were you ecstatic without knowing what had happened to produce your ecstasy? Reduce the idea of ecstasy to the single sensation. Isn't it wonderful reasoning mind to ask why? Because if it does, it'll start to look for visible causes. And then the sensation will be lost. Do not concern yourselves with how you're tearing it apart. When you go in the how direction. You're tearing apart what you're trying to do. Don't do it. Rather repeat over and over again. Isn't it wonderful? Isn't it wonderful? Isn't it wonderful? Suspend judgment as to what is wonderful. Catch the one sensation of the wonder of it all and things will happen to bear witness to the truth of this sensation. You're backing into it. You're reverse engineering it. You're happy beyond the event you wish to have happen. Marriage, wealth, health, whatever it is. Isn't it wonderful? Isn't it wonderful? You would celebrate the same way, so why not celebrate? And you're backing into it. One's causing the other as much as one's causing the other. It's the law of reversibility. And I promise you it will include all the little things. Catch the one sensation of the wonder of it all and things will happen to bear witness to the truth of this sensation. And I promise you it will include all the little things. Question 6. How often should I perform the imaginal act? A few days or several weeks? Answer. In the book of Genesis, the story is told of Jacob. It is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. The parable of the prodigal son is your answer. In spite of man's waste, when he comes to his senses and remembers who he is, he feeds on the fatted calf of abundance and wears the robe and ring of authority. There is nothing to earn. There is nothing to earn. Creation was finished in the foundation of time. Creation was finished in the foundation of time. You as man are God made visible for the purpose of displaying what is not what is to be. Very powerful sentence. I will repeat it so in case you rewind it. You'll get four times at this sentence. Oh, man. You as man are. Are God made visible for the purpose of displaying what is, not what is to be. Hmm. Drink that one in. Do not think you must work out your salvation by the sweat of your brow. It's not four months until the harvest. The fields are already white. Simply thrust in the sickle. Who cares what people say? Four months to the harvest. No, no, no, no, no. It's that. It's now. You cannot persist in wanting what you already have. If you assume you are what you desire to be to the point of ecstasy, you no longer want it. Your imaginal act is as much a creative act as a physical one. Wherein man halts, shrinks and is blessed. For as man creates his own likeness, so does your own, so does your imaginal act transform itself into the likeness of your assumption. If, however, you do not reach the point of satisfaction, repeat the action over and over again until you feel as though you touched it and virtue went out of you. Repeat the act over and over. Persist. You remember. How many different books have we read where they went? Three weeks, three nights, six weeks, 12 weeks, six months, three months. All these different times, whatever is necessary to get the impression done. Question 7 I have been taught not to ask for earthly things, only for spiritual growth. Yet money and things are what I need. Answer. You must be honest with yourself. All through Scripture the question is asked, what do you want of me? What do you want of me? Some wanted to see, some wanted to eat, still others wanted to be made straight or that my child may live. Your dimensionally larger self speaks to you through the language of desire. Do not deceive yourself knowing what you want. Claim you already have it, for it is your father's good pleasure to give it to you. And remember what you desire that you have. It's already done. Done. Question 8 when you have assumed your desire, do you keep in mind the ever presence of this greater One protecting and giving you your assumption? Answer. The acceptance of the end wills the means. Assume the feeling of your wish fulfilled and your dimensionally greater self will determine the means. My father has ways past finding out. His ways are past finding out. When you appropriate a state as though you had it, the activity of the of the day will divert your mind from all anxious thoughts so that you do not look for signs. You do not have to carry the feeling that some presence is going to do it for you. Rather you know it is already done, knowing it is already a fact. Walk as though you were, and things will happen to make it so. You do not have to be concerned about some presence doing it for you. The deeper dimensionally greater you has already done it, and all you do is move to the place where you encounter it. Remember the story of the man who left the Master and was on his way home when he met his servant who said, you son lives. And when he asked at what hour it was done, the servant replied, the seventh hour. The self same hour that he assumed his desire. It was done for him. For it was at the seventh hour that the Master said, your son lives. Your desire is already granted. Walk as though it were. And although time beats slowly in this dimension of your being, it will nevertheless bring you confirmation of your assumption. I ask you not to be impatient, though if there's one thing you already have need of, it's patience. Just a little patience. Question 9. Isn't there a law that says you cannot get something for nothing? Oh, good one. This one crossed my mind in the shower this morning. It was Brian Tracy. He has a book called Something for Nothing. If you haven't read it, it's worth a read. If you have too much to read of Neville, don't bother with it. But it is fascinating. It's a fascinating perspective. Isn't there a law that says you cannot get something for nothing? Must we not earn what we desire? That's still the question. Creation is finished. It is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. The parable of the prodigal son is your answer. In spite of man's waste, when he comes to his senses and remembers who he is, he feeds on the fatted calf of abundance and wears the robe and ring of authority. There is nothing to earn. There is nothing to earn. Creation was finished in the foundation of time. Creation was finished in the foundation of time. You as man are God made visible for the purpose of displaying what is not what is to be. Very powerful sentence. I will repeat it so in case you rewind it. You'll get four times at this sentence. Oh man. You as man of are God made visible for the purpose of displaying what is not, what is to be. Drink that one in. Do not think you must work out your salvation by the sweat of your brow. It's not four months until the harvest. The fields are already white. Simply thrust in the sickle. Who cares what people say? Four months to the harvest. No, no, no, no, no. It's that. It's now question 10. Does not the thought that creation is finished rob one of his initiative? Answer. If you observe an. If you observe an event before it occurs, then the occurring event must be predetermined from the point of view of being awake in this three dimensional world. Yet you do not have to encounter what you observe. You can, by changing your concept of self, interfere with your future and molded in harmony with your changed concept of self. Powerful 11. Does this ability change the future? Does. Excuse me? Does not this ability to change the future deny that creation is finished? No. You, by changing your concept of self, change your relationship to things. If you rearrange the words of a play to write a different one, you've not created new words, but simply had the joy of rearranging them. Your concept of self determines that order of events you encounter, they are in the foundation of the world, but not their order of arrangement. Mmm. 12. Why should one who works hard in metaphysics always seem to lack answer? Because he has not really applied metaphysics. I am not speaking of a man be pamby approach to life, but a daily application of the law of consciousness. When you appropriate your good, there's no need for a man or state to act as a medium through which your good will come. When you appropriate it, you are it. Living in a world of men. Money is needed in everyday life. If I invite you to lunch tomorrow, I must pick up the check when I leave the hotel. I must pay the bill in order to take the train back to New York. My railway. My railway fare must be paid. I need money and it has to be there. I am not going to say God knows best and he knows I need money. Rather, I will appropriate the money as though it were. We must live boldly. Exclamation point. We must go through life as though we possessed what we want to possess. We must go through life as though we possess what we want to possess. Do not think that because you helped another, someone outside of you saw your good works and will give you something to ease your burden. There is no one to do it for you. Nobody is coming to save you. Period. Remember, you yourself must go boldly on appropriating what your father has already given you. You must go boldly on appropriating what your father has already given you. It's as though you have a garage full of shelves and racking with every single desire you have ever had and are going to have on those shelves. And each one is an idea. They don't take up physical space. And as you go through those ideas and shelves, you touch one of those ideas, you apply desire. It already is. It's waiting for you to touch with your completion in mind. All those desires in the shelves, on the shelves, in your garage already exist in their completed form. All your desires, every single one, between now and when you started and now and when you finish, all of them are done waiting for you to touch them to completion. Where does it. Where does. In any place here. Has anybody said anything about driving stakes for the railroad all day? Has anybody said anything about work ever? I haven't broken a sweat once given these lectures. It isn't the height of summer yet. I did start this. December 19th, approximately. But we'll see what happens in summer. All right, question 13. Can an uneducated person educate himself by assuming the feeling of being educated? Answer yes. An aroused interest is awarded information from every side. An aroused interest is rewarded information from every side. You must sincerely desire to be well schooled. The desire to be well read, followed by the assumption that you are, makes you selective in your reading. You will read what matters. As you progress in your education, you automatically become more selective, more discriminating in all that you do. 14 My husband and I are taking the class together. Should we discuss our desires with each other? There are two spiritual sayings which permeate the Bible. One is Go tell no man and the other is I have told you before it comes to pass that when it does come to pass, you may believe it takes spiritual boldness to tell another that your desire is fulfilled before it is seen on the outside. If you do not have that kind of boldness, then you had better keep quiet. For those of you who are married, you know what that just said. For those of you who are about to be married, get that one down. I personally enjoy telling my plans to my wife because we both get such a thrill when they come into being. The first person a man wants to prove this law is to the first person a man wants to prove this law to is his wife. It is said that Muhammad is everlastingly great because his first disciple was his wife. Wonderful. 15 should my husband and I work on the same project or on separate ones? Answered that's entirely up to you. My wife and I have different interests, yet we have much in common. Do you recall the story I told of our return to the United States this spring? I feel it was my duty as a husband to get passage back to America, so I appropriated that to myself. I feel there are certain things that are on my wife's side of the contract, such as maintaining a clean, lovely home and finding the appropriate school for our daughter. So she takes care of those. Quite often my wife will ask me to imagine for her as though she has greater faith in my ability to do it than in her own. That flatters me because every man worthy of of the name wants to feel that his family has faith in him. But I see nothing wrong in the communion between two who love one another. 16 I would think that if you get too much into the sleepy state, there would be a lack of feeling. Answer When I speak of feeling, I do not mean emotion, but acceptance of the fact that the desire is fulfilled. Feeling grateful Fulfilled or thankful, it's easy to say thank you, isn't it wonderful? Or it is finished when you get into the state of thankfulness you can either awaken knowing it's done or fall asleep in the feeling of the wish fulfilled. 17. Is love a product of your own consciousness? All things exist in your consciousness, be they love or hate. Nothing comes from without nothing, but nothing comes from without. The hills to which you look for help are those of an inner range. Your feelings of love, hate or indifference all spring from your own consciousness. You are infinitely greater than you could ever conceive yourself to be. Infinitely greater than you could ever conceive yourself to be. I could stop right there and just float for an hour, man. It's so true. Never in eternity will you reach the ultimate you. Never in eternity will you reach the ultimate you. That is how wonderful you are. Love is not a product of you, you are love, for that is what God is. And God's name is I am the very name you call yourself before you make the claim after the state you are now in. 18. Suppose my wants cannot materialize. For six months to a year do I wait to imagine them. When the desire is upon you, that is the time to accept your wish in its fullness. Perhaps there are reasons why the urge is given to you at this time. Your three dimensional being may think it cannot be now, but your fourth dimensional mind knows it. It already is. So the desire should be accepted by you as a physical. As a physical fact. Now, suppose you wanted to build a house. The urge to have it is now. But it is going to take time for the trees to grow and the carpenter to build the house. Although the urge seems big, do not wait to adjust to it clean possession now. Excuse me, claim possession now and let it objectify itself in its own strange way. Do not say it'll take six months or a year. The minute you desire. The minute the desire comes upon you, assume it's already a fact. You and you alone, given your desire a time interval and the time is relative when it comes to this world. You and you alone have given your desire a time interval. And time is relative when it comes to this world. Do not wait for anything to come to pass. Accept it now as though it were, and see what happens. Amazing. It's amazing when you do this. When you have a desire, the deeper you, who men call God, is speaking. He urges you through the language of desire to accept that which is not which. To accept that which is not that which is to be. Desire is simply his communion with you, telling you that your desire is yours. Now. Your acceptance of this fact is proved by your complete adjustment to it, as though it were true. 19. Why do some of us die young? Our lives are not, in retrospect, measured by years, but by the content of those years. 20. What would you consider a full life? A variety of experiences. The more varied they are, the richer is your life. At death, you function in a dimensionally larger world and play your part on a keyboard made up of a lifetime of human experiences. Therefore, the more varied your experiences, the finer is your instrument and the richer is your life. That was a delicious answer right there. 21. What about a child who dies at birth? As I told you, my twin brother. I was born first. Esau, as it were. He was Jacob. Stillborn. That wasn't our name. I'm just using the analogy here. He's not physically visible, but you know, he is present. Wow. Blows my mind. What about a child who dies at birth? The child who is born lives forever as nothing dies. It may appear that the child who dies at birth has no keyboard of human experience. But as a poet once said. He drew a circle. He drew a circle that shut me out. Infidel, scoundrel, a thing to flout. But love and I had the wit to win. We drew a circle that took him in. The loved one has access to the sensory experiences of the lover. God is love. Therefore, ultimately everyone has an instrument, the keyboard of which is the sensory impressions of all men. 22. What is your technique of prayer? It starts with desire. For desire is the mainspring of action. You must know and define your objective. You must know and define your objective. This is step one. And it cannot be avoided. It cannot be delayed. It must be done. Now. Stop. Go in your closet. Shut the door. I am. Some deep breaths. What is it I desire? Listen to your feelings. Listen to the answer. He is speaking to you and giving you the answer in that moment. Not hard to do. I just gave you a rundown. Stop the tape. Stop the. Stop the video and go do it. Then come back. Now you're back. It starts with desire. For desire is the mainspring of action. You must know and define your objective. Then condense it into a sensation which implies fulfillment. When your desire is clearly defined, immobilize your physical body and experience in your imagination the action which implies its fulfillment. Repeat this act over and over again until it has the vividness and feeling of reality. Or condense your desire into a single phrase that implies fulfillment. Such as thank you, father. Thank you, father. Isn't it wonderful? Isn't it wonderful? Or it is finished. It is finished. Repeat this condensed phrase or action in your Imagination over and over again. Then either awaken from that state or slip off into the deep. It does not matter, for the act is done when you completely accept it as being finished. In that sleepy, drowsy state, it's finished. 23. Two people want the same position. One has it, the other had it and now wants it back. Answer your father. The greater dimensionally you. Excuse me, the dimensionally greater you. Your father has ways and means you know not of. Accept his wisdom. Feel your desire is fulfilled. Then allow your father to give it to you. Just simply allow him to give it to you. The present one may be promoted to a higher position. This happens all the time. Or marry a man of great wealth and give up her job. She may come into a great deal of money or choose to move to another state. This stuff happens all the time. Many people say they want to work, but I question that seriously. They want security and conditioned security on a job. But I really do not think the average girl truly wants to get up in the morning and go to work. 24. What is the cause of disease and pain? The physical body is an emotional filter. Many human ailments hitherto considered purely physical are now recognized as rooted in emotional disturbances. Pain comes from lack of relaxation. When you sleep, there is no pain. If you are under an anesthetic, there is no pain because you are relaxed, as it were. If you have pain, it's because you are tense and trying to force something. You cannot force an idea into embodiment. You simply appropriate is attention minus effort. Only practice will bring you to that point where you can be attentive and still be relaxed. Attention is tension toward an end, and relaxation is just the opposite. Here are two completely opposite ideas that you must blend until you learn through practice how to be attentive but not tension. The word contention means attention minus effort. In the state of contention, you are held by the idea without tension. 25. No matter how much I try to be happy, underneath I have a melancholy feeling of being left out. Why? Because you feel you are not wanted. Were I you, I would assume I am wanted. I am wanted. You know the technique. The assumption that you are wanted may seem false when first assumed. But if you will feel wanted and respected and persist in that assumption, you will be amazed how others will seek you out. They will begin to see qualities in you they had never seen before. I promise you second time so far in this questions and answers that he said, I promise you. You can take his word for it if you will, but assume you are wanted. You will be 26. If security came to me through the death of a loved one, did I bring about that death? Answer. Do not think for one second that you brought about a death by assuming security. The greater you is not going to injure anyone. It sees all and knowing the length of life of all, it can inspire the other to give you that which can fulfill your assumption. You did not kill the person who named you in his will. If a few days after you complete acceptance of the idea of security, Uncle John made his exit from this three dimensional plane and left you his estate, it is only because it was time for Uncle John to go. He did not die one second before his time. However, the greater you saw the lifespan of John and used him the way to bring about the fulfillment of your feeling of security. The acceptance of the end wills the means toward the fulfillment of that end. Do not be concerned with anything save the end. Always bear in mind that the responsibility to make it so is completely removed from your shoulders. It is yours because you accept it as so. Exclamation point 27. I have more than one objective. Would it be ineffective to concentrate on different objectives at different periods of concentration? Answer. Excuse me. I'd like to take one consuming ambition. Restrict it to a sick. To a single short phrase or act that implies fulfillment. But I do not limit my ambition. I only know that my real objective will. It will include all the little ones. Call them your daughter ambitions. You have a mother ambition and call them the daughter ambitions. They're included. Like that one. Huh? Question. I find it difficult to change my concept of self. Why? Because your desire to change has not been aroused. If you would fall in love, what you really want to be you would become. Takes an intense hunger to bring about a transformation of self. As the heart panteth over the water brooks. Excuse me. As the heart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O Lord. If you would become as thirsty for perfection as the little heart is for water that it braves the anger of the tiger in the forest, you would become perfect. Question 29. I am contemplating a business venture. It means a great deal to me, but I cannot imagine how it can come into being. Answer. You are relieved of that responsibility. You do not have to make it a reality. It already is. Exclamation point. Although your concept of self seems so far removed from the venture you now contemplate, it exists now as a reality within you. Ask yourself how you would feel and what you would be doing if your business venture were a great Success. Become identified with that character and feeling and you will be amazed how quickly you will realize your dream. The only sacrifice you are called upon to make is to give up your present concept of self and appropriate the desire you want to express. Quit being in love with your old self. Let the dead bury the dead. Is it something you desire enough to abandon your old self? That's the question. As a metaphysical student, I have been taught to believe that race beliefs and universal assumptions affect me. Do you mean that only to the degree that I give these universal beliefs power over me, am I influenced by them? Answer yes. It is only your individual viewpoint as your world is forever bearing witness to your present concept of self. If someone offends you, change your concept of self. That is the only way others change. Tonight's paper may. Tonight's paper may be read by any six people in this room. And no two will interpret the same story in the same way. One will be elated, the other depressed, another indifferent, and so on. Yet it is the same story. Universal assumptions, race beliefs, call them what you will. They are not important to you. What is important is your concept, not of another, but of yourself. For the concept you hold of yourself determines the concept you hold of others. Leave others alone. My teacher would tell me this all the time. When in my beginning days, I would go to her, complaining and pointing my finger all over the place. And she would tell me simply, leave them alone. Leave them alone. What are they to you, Father? Excuse me? What are they to you? Follow your own desires. The law is always in operation, always absolute. Your consciousness is the rock upon which all structures rest. Watch what you are aware of. You need not concern yourself with others because you need not concern yourself with others because you are sustained by the absoluteness of this law. No man comes to you out of his own accord, be he good, bad or indifferent. He did not choose you. Exclamation point. You chose him. Exclamation point. He was drawn to you because of what you are. You cannot destroy the state another represents through force. Rather, leave him alone. What is he to you? Rise to a higher level of consciousness and you will find a new world awaiting you. And as you sanctify yourself, others are sanctified. My teacher would basically tell me this whole answer over and over and over. And then we have classes, and she'd tell me on the tape. And then I'd ask a question, and she'd repeat it on the tape. And then she'd get mad after my third question of the same exact question. She'd Stop the tape and yell at me and say I. I just told you on the tape. And then you asked me again on the tape. Now it's on the tape twice now. You've heard it four times. When you play back this tape, when are you going to get this? She would yell at me. I mean, she would. It was a chastisement, if I could say lightly. It was that, man, in a metaphysical sense. My teacher basically would pick me up on my feet like a little bit, a newborn baby, literally newborn, and just smack my ass. She was trying, and she did a good job trying to wake me up. And it was difficult for me to wake up because I was not aware of anything of creation or any of this responsibility or anything of this nature. It took a long haul, but I had all the desire to wake up. There's a long story coming in that regard, but I will make a video on this specifically. But man, she did a heck of a job and I'm very, very thankful for 25 years with that teacher. And I even started a business from what I learned from her. And I went and lived in another state, Seattle, Northern California, the Bay Area, and did a lot of things, but I always, always was on the phone with her. I drove all over the Northwest we with this business and I was always on the phone. So we had a very strong relationship and it was all learning this. Question 31 who wrote the Bible? Answer. The Bible was written by intelligent men who used solar and phallic myths to reveal psychological truths. But we have mistaken their allegory for history and therefore have failed to see their true message. It is strange, but when the Bible was launched upon the world and acceptance seemed to be in sight, the great Alexandria library was burnt to the ground, leaving no record as to how the Bible came into being. Few people can read other languages, so they cannot compare their beliefs with others. Our churches do not encourage us to compare. How many of the millions who accept the Bible as fact ever question it, believing it is the word of God, they blindly accept the words and thus lose the essence they contain. Having accepted the vehicle, they do not understand what the vehicle conveys. Hmm. 32. Do you use the apocrypha? Not in my teaching. I have several volumes of them at home. They are no greater than the 66 books of our present Bible. They are simply telling the same truth in a different way. For instance, the story is told of Jesus as a young boy, watching children make birds out of mud. Holding the birds in their hands, they pretend the birds are flying. Jesus approaches and knocks the birds out of their hands as they begin to cry. He picks up one of the broken birds and remolds it. Holding it high, he breathes upon it and the bird takes wing. Here's a story of one who came to break the idols in the minds of men, then show them how to use the same substance and remold it into a beautiful form and give it life. That is what this story is trying to convey. I come not to bring peace but but a sword truth slays all the little mud hens of the mind, slays illusions and then remolds them into a new pattern which sets man free indeed. 33 if Jesus was a fictional character created by biblical writers for the purpose of illustrating certain psychological dramas, how do you account for the fact that he and his philosophy are mentioned in the non religious and non Christian history of those times? Were not Pontius Pilate and Herod real flesh and blood Roman officials in those days? Answer the story of Jesus is the identical story as that of the Hindu savior Krishna. They are the same psychological characters. Both were supposed to have been born of virgin mothers. The rulers of the time sought to destroy them when they were children. Both healed the sick, resurrected the dead, taught the gospel of love and died a martyr's death for mankind. Hindus and Christians alike believe their savior to be God made man. Today people quote Socrates, yet the only proof that Socrates is ever existed is in the works of Plato. It is said that Socrates drank hemlock. But I ask you, who is Socrates? I once quoted a line from Shakespeare and a lady said to me, but Hamlet said that. Hamlet never said it. Shakespeare wrote the lines and put the words in the mouth of a character he created and named Hamlet. St. Augustine once said that which is now called the Christian religion existed among the ancients. They began to call Christianity the true religion, yet it never existed. 34 do you use affirmations and denials? Let us leave these schools of thought that use affirmations and denials. The best affirmation and the only effective one is an assumption which if in itself implies denial of the formal state of the former state. The best affirmation and the only effective one is an assumption which in itself implies denial of the former state. The best denial is total indifference. Things wither and die through indifference. They are kept alive through attention. You do not deny a thing by saying it does not exist. Rather you put feeling into it by recognizing it. And what you recognize as true is true to you, be it good, bad or indifferent. I have an example of this, and I probably shan't put this on tape, but I'm going to my niece, my goddaughter, right? She felt indifference. I'm going to speak the story as responsible as possible for her sake. She felt indifference from her father to the point of this sentence. Things wither and die through indifference. In that intense feeling of indifference, she created cancer within her body. Had had it taken out. It was all gone. Two years later, created it again after an event that I witnessed where he was there and she wanted. In my opinion, this is all opinion here. I can't really fact check it now can I? But being there and having this 33 years of these exact stories with my teacher and I've seen it firsthand so many times. In my opinion, what my niece went through was a feeling of indifference that she did not want to accept as a conscious creation of her own to deal with. She took it the negative route. She did not want to exist if she wasn't accepted by the man known as her father. Indifference. Things wither and die through indifference. Not a fun story, not a fun experience to see at all. Affects me greatly because I love my family. These things are there. And unless we go and we imagine lovingly and support, shore up and bolster, we're not tending our garden. 35. Is it possible for one to appear dead and still not be dead? General Lee was supposed to have been born two years after his mother, believed to be dead, was buried alive. Lucky for her, she was not embalmed or buried in the earth, but in a vault where someone heard her cry and released her. Two years later, Mrs. Lee bore a son who became General Lee. That is part of this country's history. Oh my gosh. Question 36. How could one who was deprived in his youth become a success in life? We are creatures of habit forming patterns of the mind which repeat themselves over and over again. Although habits act like a compelling law which drives it's in my mind. So I better say this. The imagining leveling in the previous story about my niece, I have to get this out because it's knocking on the door in this experience and I mentioned taking care of your garden. I definitely did what I do when it comes to imagining lovingly and it's like that 70 times 7 story. What happens when it doesn't fulfill its presence as a fact as it is in here when you're imagining lovingly for others or for yourself. And it's not. There is no actual ripe fruit happening. The plant isn't growing, the seed hasn't Germinated, the ground wasn't fertile. Whatever you're 70 times 7ing, but it's not having an effect. Believe me when I tell you I did my business, I did my imagining lovingly and I did it 70 times 7. I promise you. I just want to add this little addendum to that story. When it is time, it's time. For all things there is a season. When it's time, ain't nothing you can do. When it's your time, as he just said, you can't go another minute. When it's your time, it's your time. And for me to try and be ego about this and try to say I can save. I can only imagine lovingly and be supportive and put where it. If a person wants it, then I can help that by imagining lovingly. You can help what someone wants because you know they want it. Now if you imagine lovingly for another and they don't want it, it's going to bounce back to you. You send love. You do this with the golden rule and only the golden rule in mind. Because if the person doesn't want it, you're going to receive what you sent. And I know I did my 70 times 7 in this experience. What else can you do? If a person doesn't want what you're giving or imagining, you cannot by the sake or for the sake of your ego go and trying to say you're going to will on somebody. It doesn't work like that. Stop right there. This is not the right. This is not the right lesson for you. If that's your intent. This is. You're not even listening to this. If that's your real intent. But I just want to add that concept because it's 70 times 7. That's how many times you should do it. Back to the question. Next question 36. How could one who was deprived in his youth become a success in life? We are creatures of habit forming patterns of the mind which repeat themselves over and over again. Although habit acts like a compelling law which drives one to repeat the patterns, it is not a law for you. And I can change the patterns. Many successful men such as Henry Ford, Rockefeller and Carnegie were deprived in their youth. Many of the great names in this country came from poor families. Yet they left behind them great accomplishments in the political, artistic and financial world. One evening a friend of mine attended a meeting with for young advertising executives. The speaker of the evening said to those young men, I have but one thing to say to you tonight, and that is to make yourself big and you cannot fail. Taking an ordinary fishbowl, he filled it with two bags. One of English walnuts and the other of small beans. Mixing them with his hand, he began to shake the bowl and said, this bowl is life. You cannot stop it shaking as life is a constant pulsing living rhythm. But watch. And as they watched, the big walnuts came to the top of the bowl and the little beans fell to the bottom. Looking into the bowl, the man asked, which one of you is complaining? Asking why? Then added, isn't it strange? Isn't it strange the sound is coming from the bowl and not the outside? A bean is complaining that if he had the same environment as the walnut, two would do big things. But he never had the chance. Then he took a little bean from the bottom of the bowl and placed it on the top, saying, I could move the bean through sheer force, but I cannot stop the bowl of life from shaking. And as he took the bowl, the little bean once again. As he shook the bowl, the little bean once again slid to the bottom. Hearing another voice of complaint, he asked, what's that I hear? You are saying that I should take one of those big fellows who thinks he is so big and put him on the bottom and see what happens to him? You believe he will be just as limited as you because he will be robbed of the opportunity of the big things, just as you are. Let's see. Then the speaker took one of the big walnuts and pushed them right down to the bottom of the bowl, saying, I still can't stop the bowl from shaking. Put the walnut on the bottom of the beans. And as the man watched, the big walnut came to the top again. Then the speaker added, gentlemen, if you really want to be successful in life, make yourself big. My friend took this message to heart and began to assume he was a successful businessman. Began to assume he was a successful businessman. Today he is a. He is truly a big man if you judge his success by dollars. He now employs over a thousand people in the city of New York. Each one of you can do what he did. Assume you are what you want to be. Walk in that assumption and it will harden into fact. That was the last question. Wow, those are some wonderful questions and answers. Can you imagine each week going to see Neville or two times a week even and asking questions or hearing others questions? One question represents the crowd anyway, so you'd get these wonderful answers. Or being there when he was trying to put together the law and the promise like Elmer o' Locker and also getting the extra tutelage to make a testimonial into action, literally to make it into being Incredible. Incredible. All right, that was Questions and answers from 1948. It's going to be an addendum to the five lessons. I'll put those together so you have some hours and hours of enjoyment. We'll see you in the next one.