1/21/64
Tonight’s subject is “The Supreme Ideal.” But really this is a misnomer because it would have to be relative to the level on which man is placed. For what is to me today a supreme ideal would not be my ideal tomorrow after I’ve obtained it. But you can, if you have an ideal, you can realize it, and one should have an ideal. Here is a formula by which it can be realized: You sow a thought and you reap an act; you sow an act and you reap a habit; you sow a habit and you reap a character; you sow a character and you reap a destiny. So it all goes back to the thought that you sow.
Here, two stories come to mind. I think, in fact I know, you are familiar with both of them. Here is a North American Indian who had an idea, and he sowed it. I’ll show you later how to sow the idea. He wanted to be a hero, he wanted to die a hero, and he wanted to be given a hero’s funeral. To make it…to summarize it briefly…he joined the forces, went off to Korea, was killed in action, and the body was shipped back to this country. At the moment of internment a question was asked, “Is he a Caucasian?” and when it was discovered that he was not a Caucasian the minister had to execute the law by which he operated this little church, and he said, “I’m sorry, but I’m not permitted to allow it here.” Of course, the whole country went up in arms. Then-President Truman who was then in office offered the widow a plot of ground in Arlington. The entire country was made conscious of it. TV had it, radio had it, newspapers had it, all the magazines spoke about it, and it was the biggest thing of the time. So here, his destiny was to be a hero, to die a hero, and to be buried as a hero. It all started with an idea when he either wittingly or unwittingly sowed that thought. Then it simply fulfilled itself, because he lived in it, it became a habit, it became his character. He had to be killed in action.
And, of course, the most recent one of a similar nature, here is now our president, the late president. I haven’t read it in a paper, I haven’t heard anyone say it, but this is the law and the law operates regardless of individuals in this world. But we know he was a very great student of history. In fact, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his book Profiles in Courage based upon historical characters where these were to him after investigating and doing great research, they were to him the great giants in our land when it came to courage, political courage. So he must have been aware of that strange tradition in our land that goes back 120 years, beginning in 1840, when our president died in office. And then the cycle of twenty years— twenty years later when the next one also died in office, but this time he was assassinated. Then came 1880, then came 1900, 1920, 1940, and 1960, and every president elected in the cycle of twenty years died in office. Well, no one can tell me a man as great as he was, the great student of history, wasn’t aware of it and might have again, unknowingly, toyed with the idea of going down in history; for he certainly had a sense of destiny. So we go back to the idea that is planted, and then it becomes a habit of thinking, then it becomes one’s character, and finally, it fulfills itself as one’s destiny.
So here, we can take any idea…and maybe take a noble idea…but, how can I plant a thought? First of all, a thought unless it moves man into action is not creative. A thought by itself does nothing, doesn’t affect anything. So how do I take a thought and sow it that I can really make it become effective and it moves through this series from a thought, to an act, to a habit, to a character, to a destiny? Well, the Bible teaches it, and you listen to it carefully, this is from the 4th chapter of the Book of Hebrews: “Good news came to us just as it came to them; but the message they heard did not benefit them, because it did not meet with faith in the hearers” (verse 2). It did not meet with faith in the hearers. For are we not told in the same book, the 11th chapter, that “By faith we understand that the world was created by the by the word of God” —by faith—“so that what is seen was made out of things which do not appear” (verse 3). For the word created it, but without being mixed with faith it would be impossible to create anything. It had to be mixed with faith. So if I take an idea this night, say this noble concept as far as I can conceive it, I must mix it with faith. Can I persuade myself that it is so? Well, I have discovered from my own personal experience that I do it when I feel it. I must in some way persuade myself through feeling, so I captured this phrase, “Assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled.” I always start in the end; the end is where I start from. So I take an idea but the idea that I see it in my mind’s eye fulfilled. I occupy the end, the fulfilled state; there I then view the world and see that world mentally as I would see it were it true.
So I start in the end; the end is where I start from. In my end is my beginning. And then it takes me through…it becomes almost a habit of thinking. The next day it seems easier, and the next day it almost becomes my character; and finally, I find myself fulfilling it in a way I could not have devised. I didn’t know how it happened. I couldn’t have worked it out. I could not have placed myself in some state where I could just simply devise the means by which it came to pass. It seemed on reflection that it would have happened anyway. But it wouldn’t have happened anyway. It just simply happened that way. So I know exactly what I want, occupy the end, viewing the world from the end, and seeing it in bloom as it were, seeing it fulfilled. Then it becomes a habit, and finally, that’s my destiny. So on this level, anyone can be free, anyone.
There is another level, it is God’s level, and that’s God’s concern. He gives us this technique on this level—for you and I, while he’s working out our destiny, we can modify the pain, modify the blows, modify all these pressures in this world by the same technique by which he does it. For this is how he does it…and so the same five terms…but they are changed in the way he does it. In the 8th chapter of the Book of Romans, and the terms used there: “Those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Rom. 8:29). So there still are five stages, beginning with foreknowledge and ending with glorification.
Well, what is the glorification? It’s himself, as revealed in the Book of John, “O Father, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do…now glorify thou me with thine own self ” (John 17:5). He’s asking God to give him himself. That’s the story. So the end is the gift of God to man, which will be given to every being in this world because you and I can’t modify it, you and I can’t change it. We’re allowed within the framework of his plan to do all kinds of things, like dying as a martyr, dying as a great hero, going down in human history. But we are told everything that happens here will vanish, everything. “It will all simply vanish like smoke and wear out like a garment…but my salvation is forever and my deliverance will never end” (Is. 51:6). So his plan is the overall plan. But within his purpose, as he said, “As I have planned it, so shall it be. As I have purposed it, so shall stand” (Is. 14:24). And no one will change it, so be assured of salvation. Be assured of it! No one in this world could scare you out of it, because they haven’t a thing to do with it. It’s all God’s plan. God actually became man that man may become God.
Well now, it brings me to this picture of the night—that is, the plan by which it unfolds. It is a very interesting plan. I’m here to speak from experience about this plan. But it’s so difficult to change the meaning of an event once certain interpretations of that event become fixed in the public mind. So we read the plan; the plan is in scripture, it’s told in the gospels… that’s the plan. God actually played the part; it’s an acted parable. Only as the parable was acted out could man see the key to unlock scripture. Scripture was a closed book until it was acted out, the acted parable. Then we could go back into scripture and understand it. We didn’t understand it before. And having seen the key given to us by the acted parable, we then could apply it. We can’t unlock it, we just simply wait, and the thing unfolds in us.
Now we are told, the call has gone out to the world, the whole vast world, and the call is this, “Bring the next witness”; for God has taken his place in the divine circle, in the divine council, and there he stands in judgment. He doesn’t judge anyone harshly and he’s not judging anyone with retribution. He’s only asking for a witness to the truth of his word, so “Bring the next witness.” And “God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment” (Psalm 82:1,6). And so, as you have the experience, you’re brought into the divine council. And it starts in this manner. Believe it, I have experienced it. I have witnessed so far to almost all the things told in the gospels. I wouldn’t say everything but almost all. And it starts with the call. First of all, I am preordained as you are. Those whom he foreknew…we’re all locked within him, like brain cells in the mind of the great thinker. Then he brings one out, one by one; for we’re not brought in pairs, we aren’t brought in groups, we’re too precious. As we are told, “I will gather you one by one, O people of Israel.” You are too unique to be called in pairs, only one by one. But everyone will be called, and called for what purpose? Called to witness to what?—to the truth of scripture.
So, when you are called, you don’t have to say anything outside of the first confession of faith; for you are in the presence of God, and you confess that presence. What is the greatest thing in the world? It would have to be God. But you don’t use the word “God”; that’s a human name. And so, what is the greatest thing in the world? And you answer automatically from scripture, “Faith, hope and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13). At that, you are incorporated into the body of God, and there, forever; it is your body from then on. You’re one with God because he embraces you and you fuse and become one being. At that moment then you are sent—to be called is to be sent—and yet you’re not separated from the being in whom you are incorporated. So I stand here talking to you and yet I am one with God. I can’t show him to you. I’ll try in words, but I can’t show him to you; for God is spirit, God is Father. So as you are sent into the world, you’re sent to bear witness to the truth. He said, “Thy word is truth” and then starts the series of events, all based upon scripture.
Now, let me go back to a passage I’ve never touched before from this platform. It’s taken from the Book of Luke, and when you read it you think it’s an old, old man. His name is Simeon. Simeon was told, “You shall not see death until you see the Lord’s Christ, the Lord’s anointed” (Luke.2:26). Then, moved by the Holy Spirit, he was moved in Spirit into the temple. Now let me stop there for you must search scripture: “You are the temple of the living God and the Spirit of God dwells in you” (1Cor. 3:16). So you are not taken into any temple where men made it with their hands; you’re taken to the temple of your own being. So, moved by the Spirit he’s taken to a temple. Now the word Simeon means “to hear intelligently; to hear with understanding.” What do you hear with understanding? Well, we go back to Nehemiah, the 8th chapter, the 8th verse: “So they came into the temple and then they read from the book of God the law of God, and they read it clearly so that those who heard understood what was read.” They read it with understanding. So the word Simeon is “one who hears with understanding.” And he heard the word of God and God’s promise that he would not see death until he had seen the Lord’s Christ. So coming into the temple, he comes up and here is the child, the babe. He takes the babe in his hands and lifts him up and then he makes this pronouncement, “The child shall be a sign.” He states it: “It shall be a sign that is spoken against. It shall be for the fall and the rising of many in Israel. Now, O Lord, let your servant depart in peace…for my eyes have seen the Lord’s salvation” (Luke 2:27,33). So when you read it you think it’s another. It never occurred to you that it could be you. It never occurs to anyone that he’s reading about himself.
Somewhere a long time ago you heard God’s promise to you. You heard it in some way; you either read it in scripture or you heard it. For all this is done to you. And you believed it; it was mixed with faith in you. But you didn’t see it, you only heard it. “I have heard of thee with the hearing of the ear” and then you go on blind, you haven’t yet seen him. And so Simeon did not see until the final moment before his death. You think it means the death of this body? No, he’s now going to die to the wheel of recurrence. He’s reached the end, and he wants to depart quickly, like Paul: “The time of my departure has come. I have finished the race, I have fought the good fight, I have kept the faith. And now is laid up for me a crown of righteousness” (2 Tim. 4:6). Righteousness is faith. For this one, Simeon, was called a man who was devout and righteous. It was said of Abraham that Abraham was a righteous man, and his righteousness was accounted for faith.
So, to plant the idea you must mix it with faith. So I can tell you of the pattern that you will unfold. You may this night deny it, for this child shall be a sign that is going to be disputed. Some will reject it and some will accept it. But even those who reject it tonight will ultimately accept it. Because you will be prepared as time moves on to accept it, because everyone must accept it to fulfill it. You can’t fulfill God’s purpose which is to give himself to you until you first accept his promise. For his promise is to man, but man has to mix the promise with faith for it to become a saving word. And so, it’ll be done—how and when I do not know. Maybe everyone here has already accepted it, I do not know. There’s no way that I can look at you, mortally, with my mortal eyes and see. I only know that in God’s own good time it happens in the twinkle of an eye. It could be this very night that everyone here, or one here, will go through the series of events leading up to complete freedom and death to the wheel of recurrence. Why should I die to the wheel of recurrence? Well, listen to these words: “The creature was made subject unto vanity, unto futility, not willingly but by reason of the will of him who subjected him in hope that the creature would be set free from this bondage to decay, and obtain the glorious liberty of the sons of God” (Rom.8:20). That no one is free, really free, until he is set free as a son of God.
Then what is the difference between that and this? Well, I’ll show you the difference…or tell you the difference. I have had moments when I was taken in Spirit, when Spirit possessed me, and suddenly I looked upon this world, the world that I’m seeing now, and I tasted at that moment of a power this world knows nothing about. The power that belongs to that world…when you and I, being resurrected into that world, everything is subject to our imaginative power. I looked upon this world…and I stopped it. Everything froze, as though they were all made of clay; then I started it, and it moved on. I stopped it, and it stopped. I discovered then, not a thing in this world was independent of my perception of it. It all simply was dead…the world was dead. But I didn’t know it and I didn’t believe it until I tasted of the power of that world, the world to come, where man by resurrection enters that world. Then you understand scripture, “As the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself ” (John 5:26). That’s life. And then I discovered the origin of life was my own Imagination, that life is nothing more than an activity of Imagination. For when I stopped the activity people couldn’t move, and when I released that activity and allowed it to function people could walk. A bird flying, when I stopped it, the bird couldn’t fly, and it didn’t fall; and when I released it, it continued in its flight. Then, I’m not a scientist, but when I came back from that experience I knew in spite of all the wise men in this world that what we call gravity is only relative. It only is on this sphere, and it’s a grand illusion.
And now we come to that passage which to me is so difficult to explain. It’s taken from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. Bear in mind this letter was written before the gospels. The first letter in the New Testament, the first book, is Paul’s letter to the Galatians, and in this he makes the statement, “My little children, with whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you” (Gal. 4:19). My little children, with whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you. “In Christ” is “to be formed in Christ.” To be “in Christ” is formed as Christ. Is he doing it? He said, “Little children, with whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you.” Now listen to this passage from the 4th chapter of 1st Corinthians, he said, “You have many tutors”—some translators say thousands of tutors, some translations say countless tutors—“You have countless tutors in Christ…but only one father. I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel: I urge you, then, be imitators of me” (verse 15).
Now isn’t that the most arrogant, arrogant statement in the world—“Be imitators of me”! A man is speaking to you, his name is Paul, and he’s telling you that you have numberless teachers in Christ, people who are leading you concerning their concepts of Christ, but you only have one father, and he is your father. Well, that’s the height of arrogance for a man to make that bold claim…and yet, it’s a true claim, what he’s telling you. But there must be some missing book of Paul because he doesn’t spell it out in anything I’ve read of Paul. I’ve read the Bible backwards. I haven’t seen anything where Paul spells it out, so there must be some missing letter of Paul. For he tells you…or makes this bold statement…what he’s telling you is this, the time of his departure has come; he’s leaving this wheel of recurrence, and he will be turning it from above. It will be the being that is now one with Christ Jesus. For there aren’t many little Christ Jesuses; there’s only one Christ Jesus. So everyone who is incorporated into his body is Christ Jesus, and he is the creator of the universe, and therefore he’s bringing out himself from this turning wheel.
Paul is telling you, you have many instructors, numberless instructors, but only one father; and I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. He discovered the way of salvation. He went through the experiences; for these are his words, “When it pleased God to reveal his Son in me…then I conferred not with flesh and blood” (Gal. 1:16). To whom would I turn to explain what I have experienced? What man in this world could tell me what I experienced when I tell them I stopped men in their tracks, without their consent, without their knowledge, and they couldn’t move and they were dead? And then I released in me, not in them, I released an activity in me, and they continued to move. I stopped a bird in flight, and it couldn’t move and it didn’t fall. And then I released an activity in my own Imagination and it continued in its purpose, and went to the limb where it intended when I stopped it. I could have held it there forever. What scientist in this world could explain that power to me? Well, that’s the power that is your power, tomorrow, when God pulls you out of the wheel of recurrence and incorporates you into his body, which is Christ Jesus. And you, as Christ Jesus, will be turning this wheel; and therefore, you are told, I became your father. I am bringing you out, being born, and when I bring you out, you and I are one. I’ll bring you out, said Paul. And yet, when the Son comes out, that he’s bringing that glorious liberty, the Son is one with the Father. For, “As the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.”
It’s a peculiar passage, and when you read scholars’ interpretations of it, you just have to smile. The best they can get is this, that if a teacher instructs and converts someone to his way of thinking, then he became their father. That’s the best they can do with that passage. That if a man can convert someone to his way of thinking and you accept his way of thinking, then he fathered your thinking. That’s the best they can do with it. Hasn’t a thing to do with that. You become one with an entirely different world, free, free forever, because everything there is subject to your imaginative power. And you will turn the wheel. When I say the wheel, it’s the wheel of recurrence. You will allow all the freedom within your plan to bring sons out. You’re begetting sons, because you are father. He said, “I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” Then he makes this bold claim, “I urge you, be imitators of me.” For that statement is in his next letter to the Ephesians, only he calls it God. He’s telling you who he is. He said, “Be ye imitators of God as dear children.” Now he tells you in this letter, “I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel” and then he tells you, “Be imitators of me.” He’s telling you who he is: There is only God. So when you are raised up out of this wheel of recurrence, you are not some little thing flying through space, you are God. God is begetting himself, drawing himself out of this predetermined play. When you come out and you are incorporated into the body of God, you are God. There won’t be many little gods running around. Without loss of identity you are still God.
It doesn’t make sense…and on this level it certainly doesn’t make sense. You read the morning paper, you turn on the TV…this past Sunday, just in an idle moment I turned it on. Here is this brilliant philosopher speaking and he is telling us that today the majority of the people of the world do not believe in God. They have no feeling about immortality. As far as he personally goes, he said, “I don’t believe in God. Death is the end.” A brilliant mind…alright, with that mind, how could I ever explain to him that scripture is the only reality in the world? And according to this rabbinical principle that goes back for unnumbered centuries, what is not written in scripture is nonexistent. How would I tell that statement to that mind when he knows that he is living in an age that never occurred before? How could I explain to him it has always happened? That the present is not receding into the past, it’s advancing into the future? That the bygone is not bygone, it’s oncoming? And the wheel is turning and this whole vast wheel is turning, and it always has been turning. But man has so short a memory he can’t remember beyond a little, small section of time. He has no knowledge of the past.
So when I tell him, and quote from Ecclesiastes, “There is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, ‘See, this is new’? I tell you it has been already in ages past…but there is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of things to come after, among those who will come after,” well, who will believe that? We think we are living in an age no one has ever known or dreamed of before, the atomic age. And to tell men it always has happened, that everything is eternally present to God. But you and I, on the wheel of recurrence, when we were made subject to it—listen to it again, “The creature was made subject unto futility, not willingly but by reason of the will of him who subjected him in hope…that he will be set free from this bondage of decay, and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God.” So we didn’t ask for it.
I’ll tell you, I was in a world where I saw they wouldn’t believe one word I told them concerning this world. They had not yet arrived here, and they spoke of this world not as Earth, they spoke of it as Woodland, and they did not believe that anyone ever returned from Woodland. To them it was the limit, it was death. And it is death, but we don’t believe that here. So in scripture we are told, in the 5th chapter of Ephesians, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light” (verse 14). The call is to us, “Awake, O sleeper.” Now, he associates this profound sleep with death, for he said, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead.” That’s exactly what happens. When you first awake, that comes first, you find where you are, and you are where only the dead are placed, in a sepulcher. Only the dead are placed in a sepulcher and you are in a sepulcher, but it’s your skull. But you first awake; you awake in your skull to find you are completely sealed in a sepulcher, and the sepulcher is your skull.
So in that 5th chapter of Ephesians, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” Well, what is the light? Listen to the words, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4). So life in him, and he gives you light, he gives you life. And he’s the Father, so “as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself ” if you awake. But may I tell you, you will awake, for that is his most mighty action in the world. He awakens you, and you’ve never in your life felt such power when he awakens you. You awake to find yourself in a grave where only the dead were placed, and then you come out. And then comes the story of Simeon; for you do pick him up in your hands and he’s a sign. He’s a sign that this day this great event took place in eternity. Then you pass through these signs, one after the other; leading up to complete deliverance from this wheel of recurrence.
So the Bible, I tell you, is true from beginning to end. Not as people try to rationalize it…leave it just as it is. You will experience it. For every man must experience in himself scripture to understand how perfectly marvelous it really is. He does, he experiences scripture. Then when it comes to the end of this little time, you are Simeon, the one who heard. You went through hell, may I tell you, and you come to that point in time where now you see; and so you say with Job, “I have heard of thee with the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees thee.” That’s your departure from the wheel of recurrence. But while you are on it, bear in mind God’s five terms. And you cannot take these five terms and come to any other conclusion other than predestination; therefore, you are predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. You’re going to be, regardless of what you’ve done in this world. If you’ve been a murderer, if you are a murderer, if your future state is to be one; if you’ve been a thief, if you are a thief, I don’t care what you have ever done you are predestined to be conformed to the image of God.
But in the meanwhile, take this formula: Sow a thought and reap an act, sow the act and reap a habit, sow a habit and reap a character, sow a character and reap a destiny. It is my hope that you do not wish to die a hero’s death or some martyr’s death, but that you really want to live fully and graciously in this world of ours, live lovingly. If you want money, let no one tell you you shouldn’t have money. If you want to extend yourself and be a great artist in this world, let no one tell you that you shouldn’t be a great artist. You can be anything in this world that you want if you know how to sow the first thing—to sow the thought. You can’t sow a thought in itself, you have to embed it, embed the thought with faith. It must be mixed with faith, and I call that feeling. I assume the feeling of my wish fulfilled and the thought is planted. I don’t do anything beyond that. If I did it, on reflection it seems a habit now; then after a little while, it seems just my character. As my old friend Abdullah used to say, and this was his statement, “I willed it so to be, I still will it so to be, and I will will it so to be until that which I have willed is perfectly expressed.” I haven’t forgotten what I willed, said he, I willed it so to be. I still will it so to be. I will continue to will it so to be until what I have willed is perfectly expressed. So I will assume that I am that which I want to be. I’m still assuming that I am it. I will continue to assume that I am it until what I have and still am assuming is externalized and is expressed.
All that is in the framework of God’s purpose for us and his purpose is to give himself to us, not as another but as himself. He has one and only one way to reveal it. He gives us the only thing in this world that could ever prove to man that he’s God: he gives us his Son. His Son comes right into our world and he calls us “Father.” That’s the only symbol in the world that could convince a man he’s one with God. Because God, remember, as you’re told in the 18th verse of the 1st chapter of John: “No one has ever seen God; but the only Son, in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.” For God is Spirit; so suddenly the Son appears and calls you Father. You don’t see your face reflected in the mirror, you’re Spirit…but you’re real. You’re more real than the whole vast world and yet you’re Spirit. And the Son reveals you to yourself. So he who is in the bosom of the Father makes him known. But no one has ever seen God…but the Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he makes him known. So he comes out.
Well, where is that bosom? May I tell you, it’s your own wonderful human Imagination. It explodes one moment, completely explodes, and as it explodes, here stands David and he calls you “Father.” So Blake, in speaking of this wonderful thing that is man, he said, “The human Imagination”…“ever-expanding in the bosom of God, the human Imagination.” So we are in the bosom, and then it explodes one day and out comes God’s Son, and he calls me Father, as he has called or he will call you Father. And therefore we are one. All of us are one, one being, all incorporated into one body and that body is Christ Jesus. So until it happens to you, take the formula: from the thought, through the habit, through the character, up to destiny. Just take it right through and apply it.
Here in this audience tonight—and I didn’t know it until just before I took the platform—is a lady who was here about five weeks ago. No one knows her, so she need not be embarrassed. She’s been married for a long, long time, longer than most people, especially in California, in other words, forty-odd years. She has a grown family. And then, like so many men in this world, I don’t know what gets into them, I don’t know, but at a certain peculiar moment in time they seem to fly the coop, and they get going. So she came to me here in this very hall five weeks ago and told me her tale of woe. I told her, “I can’t do it now, but in my Silence, I will take you. So when I go into the Silence tonight, I will hear the good news you want me to hear. First of all, do you want him back?” And she said, “Certainly, after forty-odd years of marriage? I want no one else. He might have gone off with someone else, I’ve been told he has, but I don’t care, I want him back.” So, in my Silence…I only spent a minute in the Silence…that night when she went home he was at home, took her hand, so she tells me, kissed her hand and kissed her hand, and said, “Please come with me to Palm Springs.” That’s where he was. He went on…she didn’t ask any questions (I hope she didn’t)…leave him alone. But he came back, that very night he was home waiting. While we were in the Silence here, he just had to steer his ship right straight to that place and go there. I tell you, imagining creates reality! But an imaginal act must meet with faith to become effective in this world. And so, when I sat in the Silence and believed it, I really believed it. I heard the lady’s voice…and so five weeks later she tells me. And, may I tell you, we are neighbors, she’s next door, but she didn’t call me up and tell me. But I didn’t care, I knew it had worked. If she never told me, I still felt it had worked, and that’s all that matters.
So now let us go into the Silence and take what is to us the supreme ideal, whatever it is, relative to our present state so that we can transcend what we are by becoming what we want to be. We do it by a simple technique of sowing an idea. But the idea must have acceptance on your part, which is you must mix it with faith. For it did not help those who heard the same thing that we heard—why?—said Paul, because the message did not meet with faith in the hearers. So, “Without faith, you cannot please him.” Now let us go.
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Q: (inaudible)
A: (??) Biblical Concordance, the Biblical Concordance of James Strong. And it says…like the word Simon, Simon Peter, Simon is another form of Simeon, but they both mean “to hear, to listen, but listen with intelligence, listen with understanding.” So in that 8th chapter, the 8th verse of Nehemiah, when they came into the temple, the book of God was read to them clearly so that it was given understanding. So when they went out they understood that which was read. You must first of all hear and you must hear with understanding. A word spoken in some tongue other than your own tongue may have meaning but not for you. Therefore, it would mean nothing to you if someone spoke to you in a tongue that is not your tongue, and yet to themselves, it has meaning. So they must speak so that you can understand, and then you either respond or you don’t respond. So, “This child shall be a sign that shall be disputed.” So you tell the story of the child. And as I said earlier, it’s one of the most difficult things in the world to change the meaning of an event once certain interpretations of that event become fixed in the public mind. And so, if this is a story that happened 2,000 years ago, it’s difficult then to persuade man that it is taking place now, because, no, he can’t believe it’s related to himself. Yet the whole Bible is your story and you must experience scripture.
Q: What’s “God’s boring of the ear”?
A: The boring of the ear and the opening of the eye. Man doesn’t really hear the heavenly sphere…it is all here…the ears are not yet bored. We are really…this is a real veil that is over the being that you really are. It’s that being that is being brought out, and this is completely a seal; you’re sealed in this. Man doesn’t hear. The vision I’ve heard has always been in the depth of the soul, not with these ears, because no one around me heard it. When I’m told, “That which I have done I have done. Do nothing”—no soldier in the barracks heard it. I’m the only one who heard it; therefore, I could not have heard it with these ears. Well, when you hear it, it is so commanding it’s amazing that others didn’t hear it. It seemed that the whole world should have heard it, because a voice of real authority speaks. So the ears are not bored, here, but in the depths they are.
Q: Who are those you referred to as being in Woodland?
A: Woodland? Those not yet made subject to this vanity. This is taking place all the time, and they will be made subject to it but not willingly. When I talked with them, they did not believe me that I returned from this place, because to them this is death, and no one returns from the grave. This really is death. When you come here, you are sealed in your skull. And although you die, seemingly die, and you are buried, and I can see the thing decay and the skull decay, you still don’t die. You find yourself clothed in a skull. You don’t die. So in the 3rd chapter of Genesis and the wisest creature which is God himself clothed in that of a serpent, and he said to the woman, “Did God say to you that if you ate of the fruit of the tree of the garden that you would die? And she said, ‘If I ate of the fruit of this tree, I would die.’ He said, “You will not surely die.” He’s contradicted himself. He said, “You’ll die.” But we do die but we don’t really die. The wheel is turning, and so, the earth does not terminate at that point where my senses cease to register it. A ship starts off to sea and it has a mast, and as it recedes in the distance, it vanishes, gets lower and lower and finally it’s out of sight. But it hasn’t fallen off the earth. Space is curved, but so is time. And so, you vanish, but you don’t cease to be. And you’re coming out of this.
So the people from Woodland…that is, this is called Woodland, but those who are not yet in Woodland they’ve got to come here. God must reach the limit of contraction, the limit of opacity, which is called death, and it’s this world. When he awakes you…and the words come in the same order they do happen, “Awake, you sleeper, and arise from the dead.” And it comes that way. You are first awakened to find that you must have been dead because you are in a tomb. These are the words of the 5th chapter of Ephesians, “Awake, you sleeper.” Now, to whom is he speaking? He is speaking to himself because God became man that man may become God. Now listen to the 44th Psalm, “Rouse thyself! Why sleepest thou, O Lord?” Arouse thyself. Why sleepest thou, O Lord? It’s deep calling unto deep. And finally, at that moment in time, the most intense vibration will awaken you. You awake to find that you must have been dead because you are in a tomb. You know the tomb, and it’s called Golgotha. Golgotha is your skull…and you know you’re in your skull. You push and you come out of your skull. How long you’ve been entombed, well, that’s speculation…I don’t really know. Blake said 6,000 years. He might have been trying to do it with the biblical day, a thousand years was a day, and on the 6th day he succeeded in making man, and man was the image of himself. So he might have been using that biblical measuring rod. But he makes the statement that I walk up and down in 6,000 years. “I behold the visions of my deadly sleep of 6,000 years, circling around thy skirts like a serpent of precious stones and gold. I know it is myself.” He said of the gold, “I know it is myself ”; and then, myself is my own creator, “O my Divine Creator and Redeemer.” And then, as this you go up into a new heaven already prepared to receive you. So everyone is going to go up.
And so you’re told, listen to these words (they’re so altogether true) in the 3rd chapter of John: “As the wind blows where it wills and you hear the sound of it, but you cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (verse 8). Now when you read that you’ll say, what is he talking about? But every word then is true; you can’t displace it. As the wind blows where it wills…well, when it happens to you, you only are concerned about the unearthly wind. The wind is the most unearthly sound in the world, the wind. The word wind and Spirit are the same in both Hebrew and in Greek. But he uses the word wind, and you think in terms of wind. I can’t tell you why, but you do. You hear it, and all you can think of is wind and wondering why and where is it coming from? So you are told, “As the wind blows where it wills and you hear the sound of it, but you cannot tell where it comes from and where it’s going; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Happens in the same strange manner, you are born of the Spirit, of the wind. And so, you can’t change that verse in the 3rd chapter of John. Scholars labor with it, what is this all about? Don’t touch the Bible, leave it. You’re going to live it; you’re going to experience it.
Q: Neville, could this unfold without the experience of the skull?
A: I can’t see how one who is buried in his skull can awaken and not find himself in the skull. No one can bring you out while you are dead from the skull. You are placed in the tomb and then you escape from the tomb in which they’ve placed you. And it’s a skull, it’s a tomb. You’re told it’s called Golgotha, called Calgary, and you’re told it’s one in which a man has never yet lain. You’re unique. You’re in one prepared for you. No one was ever yet placed in that skull.
Q: What I was trying to say, I’m sure I have had the experiences, but I haven’t fulfilled the skull. The skull I haven’t discovered…
A: Well, to me, that experience of the skull is the greatest of all, for that is the birth from above. That’s the spiritual birth. As you are told in John, again, “That which is born of flesh is flesh; that which is born to the Spirit is Spirit.” One must be born of Spirit. God is begetting himself, and God is Spirit. And so I tell you I’ve shared with you what I have experienced.
Now good night.
