Spiritual growth is a gradual transition from a God of tradition to a God of experience. In Blake’s works . . one of his letters, rather (23 August 1799) . . he had this little difference of opinion with the Dr. Reverend Trusler; and Trusler said to him, “You need someone to elucidate your ideas.”
Blake wrote him a letter saying, “You ought to know that what can be made explicit to the idiot is not worth my care. The wisest of the Ancients discovered that that which was not too explicit was fittest for instruction, because it rouses the faculties to act.” Then he asked the Reverend, “Why is it that the Bible is the most instructive work in this world?” Then he answered the Reverend himself, “Is it not because it is addressed to the Imagination, and only immediately to the understanding or reason?”
Well, the Bible is addressed to the Reality of man, for the true identity of man is Jesus Christ; and Jesus Christ is the human imagination! That is the Lord Jesus Christ. “By him all things were made and without Him was not anything made that is made.” [John 1:3] And that is the Creator of the world.
Now we will turn to the 17th chapter of the Book of Acts, and you will find a story that is not spelled out because, as Blake said, it is addressed to the imagination. Dig it out. So, Paul addresses the Athenians, and he said, “O men of Athens,” . . and then he compliments them on their religious devotions; but then he added, “But as I passed by, I observed over one of your altars this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.” Then said he to the Athenians, “What, therefore, you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you: The God who created the world and everything within it is not far off from each one of us. It is in Him that we live, and move, and have our being.” [Acts 17:22, 23, 27, 28]
Now you’ve got to dig it. Start asking questions. I live in Him. I move in Him, and I have my being in Him, and He created the world and everything within it. Blake said,
“I AM not a God afar off. I AM a brother and Friend; Within your own bosoms I reside, and you reside in me,” But the perturbed Man, away turned down the valleys dark,”
[from “Jerusalem”]
. . couldn’t take it. . . Well, I am going to go a little bit beyond that. I will say that God is not far off; in fact, He is never so far off as even to be near, because nearness implies separation. So, He’s not even so far off as even to be near. He became . . actually became . . as we are. His name is I AM. Can you speak of yourself when you say, “I AM,” and point elsewhere?
In a dream. who is dreaming? I AM. In a vision, who is having the vision? I AM. In the prison, who is imprisoned? I AM. And who is set free? I AM.
You can’t get away from it. So He can never be so far off as even to be near, for nearness implies separation.
This is the God of Whom Paul spoke when he addressed the Athenians, “O men of Athens,” . . he praised them, yes, for all their wonderful devotions . . religious devotions. Then he brought up the point, “But as I passed by, I observed this inscription over one of your altars, TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. What, therefore, you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to thee…. The God who created the world and everything within it is not so far off from each one of us, for in Him we live and move and have our being.”
That God is your own wonderful human imagination. That’s the God of the Universe. One day you will know it. But you are keyed low for Divine purposes, so you don’t know it, and you are having this strange, strange, wonderful dream. And this is the dream, but who is dreaming? I am dreaming. One day you will awaken in that immortal head of yours, where the whole drama started and where it comes to an end; and you will discover that you really are the God who created the universe and all within it! But while you are on this level, you can test it and see if this thing is really true.
You mean, my own wonderful human imagination is God! And He, and He alone, creates everything in this world?
I answer, yes. I can’t persuade you, I can only suggest that you try it. For, we are told that, “Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you? Test Him and see.”
Well, how would I test him? Well, tell me Who-He-Is. He is your own wonderful human imagination.
So what? And He created everything in the world, and creates all that is being created, and will continue to create everything that will ever come into the world. And there is no other Creator! And He is in you . . not near, He is your very Being, your own wonderful human imagination!
Well, how do I go about testing this? Well, I simply ignore all the facts of life . . all that reason dictates all that my senses dictate, and I dare to assume that I am the man . . or the woman . . that I want to be. So, I no longer want to be it. I AM it! And I walk in the assumption that I AM it. Then I command, by that assumption, the whole vast world to obey my will.
“I have found . . “What have you found? “I have found in David, the son of Jesse,” . . the word “Jesse” is “I AM” . . “I have found in David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do all my will.”
Now, who is this being? David is the symbol of humanity. Humanity must obey my will. I don’t have to ask them anything. Ask no man, no woman, ask no one. You dare to assume that you are that which you want to be, and David, which is the symbol of humanity, will execute your will.
In the end, when you come to the very end of the drama . . but not before, humanity is gathered together into a single being . . one single unit, and he stands before you, and his name is David. And he calls you “Father.”
“I will tell of the decree of the Lord. He said unto me, Thou art my son. Today I have begotten thee.” Read that in the Second Psalm. This is David speaking.
Now David says, in the 40th Psalm, “I delight to do Thy will, my God.”
If you know Who-You-Are, humanity delights to do your will. So, you dare to assume . . I don’t care what it is, it’s your privilege to assume good, bad, or indifferent. For He said, “I kill, and I make alive, I wound and I heal. And there is none that can deliver out of my hands.” [Deuteronomy 32:39]
If there is only one Creator, don’t tell me that He does not also kill! Because who is it then killing? Well, that’s a creative act! And who heals? Who wounds, that it may be healed? There is only one God.
“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.”
Find out Who-He-Is. I tell you Who-He-Is. He is your own wonderful human imagination. There is no other God. But God lowered Himself down to the limit of man . . the limit of contraction, the limit of opacity . . that he may, in this state of complete oblivion to Who he really is, burst it and start expanding beyond what He was prior to the decision to come down into this state. This is how God expands. He expands and expands and expands. So, He comes down into this state by assuming the limit that is man.
You are man. Well, He never left His name, for He and His name are one! And His name forever is I AM. “This is my name forever and forever, and by this name I shall be known throughout all generations. Go tell them this is my name. I AM hath sent you.”
So I say, I AM has sent you. Well, does it make sense? You dwell upon it. It does make sense! And the day will come, you will find the one who has had the experience before you yourself have the experience and you will see him radiating the Glory of God. No questions about it . . you will!
But he could never explain it to anyone who does not have the eyes to see it. Many of you will see it. I have told you what I know from my own experience; and when my time is up and I depart this life, those who have eyes to see it will see and know the quality of the message that I am giving to the world.
I am telling you, there is no other God. Don’t look at the speaker. Look at yourself! We are one. I dwell in you, and you dwell in me; and we are one.
I know Who-I-Am. For I have experienced it; but I am not greater than any being in this world. They are only now asleep to the Being that they really are. In the end, we are all one grand brotherhood. And the brotherhood of God forms God, for the God of the Scripture is a compound unity . . one made up of others. We are the “gods,” we are the brothers. All came down and assumed these limitations; and the day will come, these woven “garments” that we “wear” we will split from top to bottom; and we who are trapped within them will be set free.
So they said to him, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? And do we not know his father and mother? And how is it that he now says, I have come down from heaven?”
Here is the perfect example of what happens in everyone when he follows the pattern as described in Scripture. He has everything and experiences everything within himself that is called the “events of the Lord Jesus Christ.” And because there is only one Lord Jesus Christ, when he experiences that within himself, he is the Lord Jesus Christ!
But how can he tell it to any one? They will turn their backs upon him as arrogant, as insane, as mad. But he simply tells it, and he knows that everyone who has the eyes to see it can see it now or when he departs this world; and soon after he departs the world, they will have eyes. Eyes will open, and they will see it. There is only one Being, there’s only one God, there’s only one Lord in the world! Nothing but God!
But here, in the world of Caesar, we can test it. So you want more money? You want a better job? You want an increase in position? Well, assume that you are it now. Don’t wait for it. Don’t read the papers and have them deny that these things are possible, for today everything is denied.
A little thing that just happened in England: They were so complacent, so sure, they didn’t even go to the polls to vote; so Mr. Heath got in. I wondered who was pulling and “treading in the wine press.” I wondered who was pulling and “treading in the wine press.” I wondered who started the rumor in England that they were so “in” you didn’t have to vote. It could be Mr. Heath himself! But it’s all imagination.
You suggest, and they accept the suggestions; and then you, knowing they are going to act upon it, go out and then you do exactly what you have to do: work under compulsion to meet everyone you can and get them out. And then he sits back with his pipe, and he is so stunned! He can’t believe for one moment they would throw him out, any more than Churchill could believe they would throw him out after the victorious campaign in Europe. But they did!
Everything in this world is possible. Do not say “No” to anything if you want it to be “Yes.” Don’t give up. Everything is possible, because David does your will, and David is the symbol of humanity. Humanity does your will.
In the end, when you have played all the parts, then David stands before you, not as a group . . as a single youth: this heavenly, heavenly, beautiful being; and you look at him, and he calls you “Father,” and you know it. Your memory has returned!
It’s all the returning of memory. It was your glory “before that the world” started. And you will say these words in the 17 chapter of the Book of John: “I have accomplished the work you sent me to do. Now return unto me the glory that was mine, the glory that I had with Thee before that the world was.” [John 17:5]
He seems to be speaking of another, but the Being “sent” and the Sender are one. And the Being “sent” is not inferior in his Essential Being, but only as to the office of the One that is “sent.” So, he is sent into the world. So while he is in the world as the one who is “sent,” his office is inferior to the Sender who does not leave that stable state. But he, the “sent,” and the Sender are one!
So “He who sees me sees Him who sent me.”
So you will see me with your incurrent eyes, and see me playing the part described in Scripture. I don’t have to pretend. Neville . . yes . . a little, tiny man, meaning nothing in the world socially, financially, intellectually, or in any other manner . . nothing, but it doesn’t matter. I willed to play this part. Only through this part could I tell the story, and tell it so that unnumbered generations from now it will be told and retold, but magnified. For those now living will be eye witnesses to the event before the departure of the little garment. They will be eye witnesses to the story. For all you have to do is to go into the Bible, and there you will see the story. And if within current eyes you see him playing the parts recorded in Scripture two thousand years ago, then you know Who-He-Is. But I am not alone! Everyone is going to play this part, for there is only God. He is not playing the part as one little being set aside . . no, He is not far off. He is not even near, for nearness implies separation. “God actually became as we are, that we maybe as He is.” [Blake, from “There Is No Natural Religion”]
So when you imagine something, remember: It is God Acting! And God’s actions are His words. “And His word cannot return unto Him void but it must accomplish that which He purposed, and prosper in the thing for which He sent it.”
Well, what are you imagining? Whatever you are imagining, you are actually sending into being to be confronted with it. So if you really want a lovely life, be careful what you are imagining, because imagination is God. Imagining is God-in-action! So what are you imagining? That everything is going down? That the whole world is collapsing? Well then, if that is what you imagine, may I tell you? You will have the experience of a collapsed world, but others won’t.
There are people today making fortunes out of the seeming collapsed market . . fortunes, they are making! They held their cash. I read in the New York Times of last Sunday [June 14 ] . . I get the Sunday issue every week, and it came a little late this week. In the financial section this house . . not one of the biggest houses, but a good house . . and they are in the “black,” they never once went into the “red.” And the man’s name is Gardener, and they are quoting him. He said, “In 1968, in the summer of ’68, we knew this was coming, and we prepared for the recession. So we were not caught in it. We knew and prepared for it, for it had to come.”
Well, that was an imaginal act. He was bringing it about within himself because he knew it had to come. It wasn’t going to come in spite of someone imagining that it had to come. And so, he planned it within his own mind’s eye. So then came 1970 and then came the radical, radical decline. They had cash; they could pick up all these things at the bottom. They’ve got to go back. This is a powerful land, for you and I are imaginative people.
Americans went to the moon. That’s imagination. They will go to everything in this world that they want to go to, for this is a fabulous land. Well, you can’t stop men imagining, and we do imagine in this country! We build the tallest . . build all kinds of things because man here . . you can’t stop it. He is so constructed, he imagines all the time.
Well, you can’t stop it going back; so he started the decline in his own mind’s eye in the summer of ’68, and waited patiently . . waited and waited, and then came the inevitable crash. It will go back. But he had cash; waiting for what he knew was inevitable. So instead of buying it at 900, he now buys it in the 600’s. It served him to wait a year and a half or two years, for what would he make now coming in at this bottom, when it starts moving again?
It’s all within the imagination of man. But I am not an economist; I know nothing about economy. I am not interested in it. I get calls all the time saying, “Will you go into a business with me?” I am not interested. I got one yesterday. He cried on the phone when I would not come forward to buy a huge, large area of land for him because he wants to be a grower of trees. I said, “I’m not interested. I am not in business. I am telling you a principle and you don’t have to turn to anyone in this world to ask their assistance.”
The whole vast world will rush to serve you if you assume a certain state and remain faithful to that assumption. If I dare to assume that I am the man that I want to be, the world has to come to my assistance and express it, for the world is David, and David is “a man after my heart who will do all my will.”
And in the end, you will see him standing before you, not as humanity, but a single being . . a glorified, glorious boy . . a boy of about 12 or 13 at the most. And, oh! What a beauty he is. The sum total of all of humanity who did your will. So when you played all the parts, then you will know: “I came down from Heaven.” . . And they will say, “But I know your parents. I know your father and your mother.”
Yes, they know my parents of the “garment” that I “wear,” and they know my brothers and my sister, who are brothers and sisters of the “garment” that I “wear.” But the wearer of the garment, they do not know. They do not know the Occupant of that garment. For that garment only serves the occupant for a purpose. And in this very moment he has completed the task.
I can say tonight, “I have accomplished the work which Thou sent me to do. Now return the glory that was mine, the glory that I had with Thee before that the world was.” And may I tell you? He has, He has! I am not waiting for the return. But the mask hides it from those who have not incurrent eyes to see it. But everyone will see it. Everyone will experience it. But while we are here, you play your part perfectly, not only for yourself; play it for everyone in the world, for they are all “yourself pushed out” anyway.
So someone wants this, that or the other? As I said to my friend . . he cried on the phone. I said, “I am speaking of a principle. I will ‘hear’ you tell me that you have your whatever acreage you want to plant your avocado pears, if you want to do that for a living, for they grow without effort on your part.”
What he really wants . . he doesn’t want to do anything. He wants to have something planted that simply produces, like people buying stock. He is not interested in the Company, only in the little piece of paper, not the Company, what it is doing or the management of the Company. So he wants an area of avocado pears. Even though he doesn’t want to work, I will still “hear” that he has it. I am not here to judge anyone in the world. So he wants that? I will “hear” that he has it, and assume that he has it;’ and may I tell you? He will have it. For the world will wait on him and the world will see that he has it; and he will never know, as told us in the very first chapter and the second chapter of Isaiah, that it was I who pray for him, because he cried and hung up, he could not wait. But I did not. When he hung up crying, I did not until I had “heard” that he has what he wants.
But I need not be the medium through which he has whatever it takes to buy his “X” number of acres for his plants, because I am not in business. I am simply telling a story . . an eternal story that is true. And the story is all for us in Scripture.
Jesus Christ is the true identity of every child born of woman. And Jesus Christ is the human imagination. “Through Him, all things were made, and without Him was not anything made that was made.”
“He is in the world, and the world knows Him not” [John 1:10]
So no one knows Him. He sits, and no one knows He is the Cause of the phenomena of life. And they turn to this place, that place, the other place; and here is one “treading out the wine press,” knowing exactly what he is doing, allowing his will to express through humanity . . humanity being David, the son of Jesse. And Jesse is I AM. It is any form of the verb “to be.” “I AM” . . that’s the name of Jesse.
So, “Whose son are you?” “I AM the son of your servant.” “Jesse.”
And “Now I have found in David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do all my will.”
So humanity will do it. Everyone will do it. And in the end, you will awaken, and you will discover that the whole drama started in your immortal head, and in that immortal head you dreamed the Dream of Life. And one day you heard a Voice, it was a wind . . a strange wind, and you awoke from the Dream of Life to discover that you had dreamed it all. You were a dreamer and then you came out, and all the imagery of Scripture surrounds you. Everything about it surrounds you, and you are the One of whom it spoke in Scripture “born not of blood, nor of the will of man, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God.” It was God reborn. You are the one destined to be reborn.
Don’t let anyone tell you that you began in your mother’s womb or that you even began. There never was a time that you and I were not . . never. Nor will there come a time when you and I shall cease to be. Before this whole vast world appeared to be, you and I were the creators of it. I know our scientists will question that and think me mad. It’s perfectly all right. I will go along with Blake, based upon my visions.
“Eternity exists, and all things in Eternity,
Independent of Creation, which was an act of mercy.”
[From “A Vision of the Last Judgment”]
And then what is that creation? All things exist. Humanity, the animal world, the plant world . . everything exists in Eternity, and Eternity is in your own wonderful human imagination. That’s Eternity!
All things exist now in the human imagination. Well now, what is the act of creation that I would bury myself in that which exists and return? That I could “die” . . actually die . . and return? For a seed must fall into the ground and die before it is made alive. If it does not fall into the ground and “die,” it remains alone; but if it falls and dies, it brings forth much. So I “died,” I fell into my own wonderful world that is . . it exists, and the world is “dead” . . completely dead. And I could not pretend. I had to actually become this world of the “dead.” So I became it, and then I passed through all the horrors of the world. For what purpose? To remember the glory that I saw before, that I gave up to come into this world.
“How long, how vast, how severe the anguish ‘ere I find that glory were long to tell.” [Daniel 12:6]
But having gone through it all, then I remembered. And the only one that could actually bring me back to my memory of the glory that was mine was my “son,” for “No one knows who the Father is except the Son, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father.”
And so here the son stands before me and the memory . . ancient, ancient memory returned. And I was the one who decided without any persuasion to lay myself down.
He said, “No one takes away my life. I lay it down myself. I have the power to lay it down, and the power to lift it up again.” But while I lay it down:
“Then those in Great Eternity who contemplate on death Said thus: What seems to be, is to those to whom It seems to Be.” [From “Jerusalem”]
Here I AM in a world. It seems that he is going to attack me. I am assuming that? Well then, he will attack me.
I assume that things are going to be bad, they will be bad.
I assume that things are going to break, and I am going to wait for it. So . . “What seems to Be, is, To those to whom It seems to Be, and is productive of the most dreadful Consequences to those to whom it seems to Be, even of Torments, Despair and Eternal Death; but the Divine Mercy Steps beyond and Redeems Man in the Body of Jesus.”
So that act of mercy is the act of Creation, when I . . the Eternal Being . . gave up my Eternal Self and came down into a finite world and “died.” And the act of creation is the redemptive act when I am brought back, because I am lost in a world where “what seems to be is, to those to whom it seems to be.”
And when I have gone through the entire gamut of all the experiences of man, then I hear the Voice. The Voice is the wind . . an unearthly wind; and you hear it within the immortal head where the drama started. And then you find yourself waking, and you awake within yourself, and then you come out of the tomb in which you were entombed. As you come out, the imagery of the birth of God surrounds you, and you are the star in the drama.
And from then on, three great events take place, and it’s all over. The Descent of the Dove upon . . the symbol of the Holy Spirit is completely satisfied with the journey, for the journey is now over; and “this is my beloved Son, in whom I AM well pleased.” [Matthew 3:17]
One of my sons has returned. When all the sons return, all the sons together from God the Father. We are the Elohim, and together we form Jehovah. But we are the gods . . all of us.
By the way, we got our contract today from the club. They finally came through with a contract. So will be returning the last week of September . . same place, same time.
Now are there any questions, please?
QUESTIONS BY A LADY: Do you have any more understanding as to why we have to leave before some people experience the Power from on high?
NEVILLE: Well, we are told in Scripture: “Remain just where you are until you are clothed with Power from on high.” All will be clothed in Power. But not very many . . strangely enough, only the women saw him. All saw him after that, but the women saw him. Why, I do not know. They saw him in his transfigured state. He did take three into the state, but that is “before that the world was.” He is not talking of anything in this world.
Everything that is said from the lips of the one called Jesus Christ is of another world . . a world which is his true home, from which he came and to which he will return. But men misunderstood him. For they knew the early man, and they would say, “We know his father. His name is Joseph. We know his father and his mother and his brother and his sisters. How can he tell us, I have come down from heaven?” That’s an insane statement for any man to make, but he was never speaking of anything of this world.
After you have the experiences, you will have the same social gathering that you’ve always had; but in the midst of the most intimate relationships, you know they are only brothers of your body that you “wear.” Behind the garments that they wear, they are your eternal brothers; but they do not know that as yet. They know only the physical descent, but they do not know the spiritual beings that they are. So if you told them that you are the father of David of Biblical fame, they would be concerned and think, “We had better take good care of him, because he’s not all here.” So you don’t tell them.
But in the midst of the gathering, you know Who-You-Are, and they don’t know Who. . You-Are; and so as you walk the street, you walk in the consciousness of being the Father of the Son of God.
Humanity seems so vast. Three and a half billion, and they are growing; and yet all this did you will through the centuries, that you dreamed the Dream of Life. And in the end, it formed itself into a single youth who called you “Father.” So you walk in that consciousness.
If you could only get the accustomed aspect of things out of your eyes and drop in on yourselves as strangers, just like some visitor from Heaven! Here I drop in on myself, but Neville belongs to a certain family physically in this world; and then after the experience you get the accustomed aspect of things out of your eyes; and you walk not as the brother of this large, wonderful family of physical descent but you walk in the consciousness of being the Father of the Son of God!
Let us go into the Silence.
