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Neville Goddard (1905-1972) offered a compelling explanation of the human condition and an intriguing and empowering path of self-discovery. Join your host Ed to explore from the ground up this most essential mystery: the human imagination.
Neville on Fire Podcast - Transcript - Season 01 Episode 03
Welcome to episode three of Neville on Fire, where we are exploring the system of thought of Neville Goddard and applying his ideas. So far in this series we covered the idea of awareness of being and included an exercise by Dr. Rolf Alexander. And we examined the idea that the world without, although it appears without, is within. And we referred to an exercise based on Neville's article called Fundamentals.
Today I want to discuss how to deal with difficulties and what happens when we start trying to apply, on a consistent basis, self remembering [i.e., self awareness, self consciousness] and when we start to do visualization and try to appropriate the state of the desired end, as Neville recommends. After the initial enthusiasm, appreciation and thankfulness we experience at having encountered this philosophy, we soon realize that it's not quite as easy as it looked at first blush. And there seems to be some resistance or difficulty that is thrown up, by our own minds. So these difficulties of various kinds I've experienced and I want to try to categorize them into four broad types, and that way maybe get a handle on them. In each case going to offer solutions.
The first type of difficulty is being unable to focus because it just seems that we have too many claims on our time and energy. The second problem is the incessant internal chatter or what people call monkey mind. The third difficulty is the experience of seemingly more and more extreme ups and downs or vicissitudes. We go from a state of elation, appreciation and understanding to sinking down into doubt or fear. And as Neville puts it, we sort of, return to the slavery of our former beliefs. The fourth category of difficulty that I want to discuss today is the detrimental effects of what I might call institutions. And I will explain that.
Well, let's turn our attention to the first category of difficulty, which is focus. How can we focus our minds on a consistent basis and do the work required when it seems that life is just too busy and demands too much of our time and attention?
I think the answer lies in your conception of what life is really all about and what its purpose is. In this regard, author Maurice Nicoll had an interesting comment. He said life cannot be solved in terms of itself. This is not to say that life is meaningless. It's just that there doesn't seem to be a readily evident purpose. It seems to be rather chaotic and almost arbitrary in nature. That's a strong clue that we have to bring something to it. Now, if imagining creates reality, as Neville is proposing, whether that imagining is deliberate or simply unconscious and mechanical, then right away we've got an explanation, for the seeming arbitrary and chaotic nature of life. Notice how Neville's view actually provides a very effective explanation. The seeming chaos and random muddle of life actually has an identifiable source, and that is the unconscious and irresponsible imaginative activity of Man (generic man, man and woman).
So in one masterful stroke, this is the answer to all the literature that we might have contemplated on the existential angst - you know, the supposed meaninglessness of life, nihilism and so forth. So if the nature of life is not simply absurd and random, but actually is responsive to our own states, then we are much more motivated to bring something to it that is meaningful.
Well, that's our first answer. That's our solution to this problem of focus. It's to bring an internal motive, an unrelenting drive to stay committed to a conduct of life that has a deliberate intention. It is your personally defined aim.
So the question then arises, are we talking about sort of a life aim or about some sort of so called spiritual aim? And I think that Neville does not really distinguish between them; I think in his conception an aim is simply a means to understand yourself, to understand your own being, your own desires, and to be honest with yourself about it.
Now, in this regard, I suggest that you do not judge yourself harshly. Go along with Neville's idea with regard to your desires. He says something quite interesting that I haven't heard before. And that is that our desires arise naturally from our general state,
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that is, from what we take to be ourselves. And therefore whatever desires show up should be honoured in order to lead us forward. Now, getting clarity on our true desire is a big step forward. If you're questioning the conflict of desires, and people's activity [interaction] in the world and in society, I think the golden rule is the principle that keeps the intentions and the activity of yourself and others in harmony.
In the literature of Napoleon Hill, the aim is called the definite chief aim. And following on Napoleon Hill's advice and also that of Nicoll, by the way, the imperative is really that we do not drift -- do not drift in life. We have to use life for some consciously and deliberately conceived ideal. I mean, beyond the ordinary requirements. And the thing is, if you don't do that, if you don't sort take life, in an active sense and get something out of it, it will [so to speak] do that to you. It will use you up. It will consume you. Neville's expression of this idea is: you must control your imagination or it will control you.
Now it takes a sort of reversal of mind to take mental effort towards an aim, as opposed to just fulfilling daily necessities. And beyond that, it's taking the aim as a vehicle, as a means to discovering yourself as opposed to simply holding the aim itself in the highest regard, or making that an absolute.
Neville's wife had a vision or a dream wherein she was instructed not to waste time, not to waste moments, but to use every moment as an investment to work towards your aim. This leads me to [another] solution on this first problem of focus.
Notice what information sources and forms of entertainment you rely upon and the company you keep. The reason for that is the ideas and emotions upon which you feed. That is what you perhaps unwittingly consent to and accept feelingly as true. These will impress themselves upon your imagination. Your subconscious will accept them [as] your desired end, whether they are desirable or not, and they'll deliver them all back to you. So it is possible to undo positive efforts by maintaining detrimental habits.
Now I've got yet another solution [see summary at the end] on this first problem. The practical approach to staying on track consists in creating beneficial habits. You could of course set aside a regular time, let's say for meditation, study or contemplation of your aim. But even if you don't do that, there are three distinct times in every 24 hour period that everyone, without fail, will encounter. And that is waking, going to sleep, and then odd moments during the course of the day.
At each of those times, use it to immerse yourself in the feeling of the wish fulfilled according to your aim. And this is what we discussed with the exercise in E02. So take advantage of those three times, waking, sleeping and odd moments during the day to work on your chief aim. Following on Neville's advice, it is most important to start the day consciously, which will affect the rest of the day, and then end the day consciously, which will affect the state in which you enter into sleep and [determine] the conditions that the subconscious starts to entertain and work on.
Let's turn our attention now to the second category of difficulty, which is the incessant internal chatter. This is the constant complaint of people learning meditation. And you know the answers given by gurus on this question all seem to be pretty much the same. I remember attending a lecture by Ram Dass back in the day, in Ontario. He answered the question: how do you make the mind shut up? And he said, well, you know, you have to be the witness. Just observe the chatter and let it die away of its own accord, and so on.
But Neville has a most original and startling answer to this problem of the chatter of the mind. And that is to direct the internal chatter towards inner conversations of your own creation, that are aligned with your aim, that reflect the aim already achieved. So at a single stroke Neville converts what we thought was a mental nuisance into actually a great internal tool. I'm putting a link in the show notes to Neville's lecture called Mental Diets which addresses this problem, precisely.
We come down to the third category of difficulty which is the ups and downs, the vicissitudes. The problem seems to be that after gaining new understanding by contemplating new ideas, we are somehow assailed by extraordinary doubt, negative states and even indifference towards our new found ideas -- just when we
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thought we were making progress. Its very frustrating these ups and downs. For example you experience first elation, and then you compare that to a subsequent despondency. Well, these seem to have extremes that we hadn't encountered before. Now I think this is partially a result of simply being more aware of your habitual states, but also it is I believe a direct result of having consciously engaged with our deeper selves. In other words, by starting to self remember and live life more consciously we've started some sort of an exchange within ourselves, some sort of an internal activity.
So the first solution is to look into the nature of the subconscious and be aware of this problem and try to approach it in a knowing way, instead of just being at the mercy of it.
You know I think we've all heard quite a lot about the subconscious but I must say I haven't seen a discussion of the subconscious that is quite so ingenious as the one that Neville gives. So as an example of that I'm going to refer you to chapter 2 of [Prayer, the Art of Believing] the book that I had already linked to. I'll just put a note in the show notes for that. The whole book is actually is only 30 pages. But he gives you an explanation of the nature and operation of the subconscious. It's not a separate submerged entity. Rather, the subconscious and the conscious are actually the same mind. The result of taking that view is that you stop fighting yourself, you start working with yourself. So here is our solution to this difficulty of the ups and downs.
When encountering the difficulty in then forms of, doubt, negative states, and so on: first of all, remember your practice of detachment of self awareness. Locate some part of yourself, however feeble it might seem to be in the moment, in the face of the emotion, the anger, or the, despondency or whatever it is. Try to locate some part of yourself that is witnessing. So already that's a qualitative shift in your mental economy. You're already aware. That's a good thing.
Now, here's the second point. Understand that this undesirable state is actually your subconscious trying to communicate with you. It's trying to cooperate with you. It's saying, "You know, I'm on board with this new program, but what do you want me to do with this? This is something that I [the subconscious] learned and it has been inculcated into me for so many years."
So what should we do with this at that moment? Your answer is simply to remove from the negative thing your attention, remove your consent, remove your belief. In other words, observe the state or detach from it and realize that it's not you, it's something that is being thrown up [into awareness] by your own subconscious. Once you have that realization, then start to focus right away on what you do want. So this is not running away. It's not repression. It's conscious acknowledgement of a difficulty, and then immediately following on that, deliberately turning your attention to your aim.
You know, quite a lot is said in the work of CG Jung to bring the dark side to light, to face your negative states, to bring everything to consciousness, and so on. Much easier said than done. But start slowly. Just do it with small things. And try to be a friend to yourself. Remember, your subconscious is going to be working with you. It's all one mind, it's not a separate entity. And when it presents something, undesirable and difficult, that's its only way to present the thing [from which you need to remove your belief, attention and identity]. Then, as I say, immediately turn your attention to the desirable thing. And this deprives the negative state from its motive force (that is, your own consciousness, your own attention).
Well, this brings us to our last category of difficulty, which is the detrimental effect of institutions. Now, what do I mean by institutions? Don't take it too literally. It's simply a term, a technical term to denote a power structure that we all encounter in life in one form or another. It could manifest in a large organization, or even a small group of people, or even a single individual. Now, this is not an easy thing to look at, but I'm convinced that it's very important because it's probably one of the most insidious difficulties that we have while we're trying to do this work. And the detrimental effects on our subconscious can be profound.
So [the problem is] precisely the harmful effects of suggestions that we have accepted, usually from childhood, with regard to ourselves, delivered from these so called institutions.
They remain undetected within us, and yet they limit our possibilities, to learn new ideas, to master mental assumptions -- this is what we want to do! -- to create positive inner conversations, and to call to mind beneficial internal states. There's something in us that's fighting against all that!
Now, if [by contrast] the organizations and the people with whom you deal in life engage in noble things like voluntary associations, mutual benefit and consensual exchange, well,
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these are all, of course, highly beneficial and desirable. What we must do, though, is gradually, incrementally notice where these various authorities and power structures have made us somehow feel small.
Be very wary of the messages that you might have instilled in your own subconscious. unwittingly; things like 1. you are nothing, you are powerless; 2. you are guilty, you are shameful, unworthy, you are a menace causing harm to others; 3. you are under a constant dire threat that is wielded by the authority in question [the institution itself]... and this holds you in permanent fear. I think those are the three basic detrimental beliefs that are instilled in individuals by various kinds of institutions.
As we unwittingly confer power to the institution, we realize at the same time that the institution is nothing other than other individuals acting in sleep. So there's no need to spend a lot of time in blame.
We can actually reclaim that power that we had given up.
Therefore, here's my solution to this insidious problem of beliefs that we have instilled in our own subconscious that are undermining our very being:
(Now, at this point, I'm going to reiterate the warning and the disclaimer that I mentioned in E01, which is that an exercise such as this could well release unconscious contents with which you might need professional help -- when it has to do with trauma or something of that nature.)
In my own experience, it's perfectly feasible simply to contemplate the issue calmly and deal with it incrementally and gradually. In this way, first identify the authority figures who had a profound effect upon you, and then contemplate how all of this affected your psyche. How did it affect your valuation of yourself?
Now, bring all of this to light, but do not dwell upon the shortcomings of others, on blame, and so on. We're taking responsibility for what happened to us. The solution is to redeem the whole picture and heal yourself by reversing the effects of these social forces with counter affirmations.
Therefore, compose counter affirmations -- statements in the first person present tense to reclaim what you've lost. Rebuild your self valuation; your self esteem; your confidence; your sense of security rooted in your divine nature; your capacity for independent thought and reason judgment independent of authority figures; your creativity; your sense of self worth.
What you can do is make these affirmations in written form, and then make audio recordings of them and play them back to yourself, always with an attitude of careful attention and self care, going slowly and gradually.
Well, let's summarize what we covered today. We took the topic of difficulties and thought that perhaps we could actually categorize them in four broad headings. In response to these difficulties, we stated and elaborated on at least eight specific solutions [summarized here]:
Difficulty: Lack of Focus.
Solution 1: Formulate intelligent view of life and consequent worthwhile aim; do not drift.
Solution 2: Use discernment in information sources, entertainment, and company you keep.
Solution 3: Create beneficial habits.
Difficulty: Incessant internal chatter.
Solution 4. Direct internal conversations to align with beneficial purposes, especially aim.
Difficulty: Ups and downs (vicissitudes).
Solution 5: Understand how the subconscious works; Prayer, the Art of Believing Ch.2
Solution 6: Observe. That's already a qualitative shift in your mental economy.
Solution 7. Remove your consent and belief from the negative thing. Turn attention to aim.
Difficulty: Harmful suggestions unwittingly accepted from social authorities.
Solution 8: Identify the "institutions"; realize their effects. Compose counter-affirmations.
There's no need to do it all at once. I suggest that you just follow up on any solution that resonates with you now, and then come back and revisit this episode at a later date.