Ruth 3: Strength & Weakness as States of Consciousness

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Quick Insights

Ruth 3 stages a delicate psychological negotiation between desire, dignity, and deliberate imagining, showing how an inner posture invites outer change.
The threshing floor is a theater of consciousness where deliberate assumption and patient trust prepare the mind to receive its intended outcome.
Naomi’s counsel and Ruth’s courageous submission represent the meeting of practical strategy and bold inner conviction that turns longing into realized relationship.
The chapter teaches that imagination allied with right timing and integrity can create the impression that reality then must fulfill.

What is the Main Point of Ruth 3?

At the heart of this chapter is a simple consciousness principle: assume the reality you seek with calm confidence and act as if it has already been arranged, while holding integrity and patience; doing so reshapes the inner field and invites outer circumstances to align. Ruth moves deliberately from longing to a settled state of expectancy, guided by wise counsel, and the narrative dramatizes how the inner act of laying claim in imagination becomes the catalyst for a changed future.

What is the Spiritual Meaning of Ruth 3?

The spiritual movement here begins with an inner restlessness that seeks resolution and safety. Naomi’s voice functions as the reflective mind urging a different posture: stop striving in small ways and prepare to inhabit the desired state fully. Washing, anointing, and putting on garments are inner rites of purification and reorientation; they stand for cleansing old assumptions, dressing the psyche in a new identity, and aligning feeling with the chosen end. This is the work of imagination made intentional, a rehearsal of the self in the consciousness of fulfillment. When Ruth goes to the threshing floor, the scene becomes a psychological drama of projection and reception. The threshing floor is not merely a place but a concentrated state of attention where grain — the seed of promise — is separated and gathered. Lying at the feet symbolizes humility combined with bold claim: it is an act that both surrenders and assumes. In the midnight moment, fear and surprise give way to recognition, and the man’s response models the world’s reply when inner assumptions are clear and unambiguous. He perceives and honors the posture he finds; the outer person is merely responding to the inner statement already made. The exchange about a nearer kinsman illustrates a higher law of orderly unfolding. It shows that imagined outcomes may require intermediary steps and that patience and strategic waiting are part of the imaginative process. The promise is not dashed by a delay; rather, delay serves to align practical conditions with the inner act. The gift of barley given to Ruth is the tangible confirmation that an inner shift has already begun to bear fruit; it demonstrates how imagination can precipitate tokens and signs that reinforce the new state until full manifestation arrives.

Key Symbols Decoded

The threshing floor is a concentrated field of consciousness where attention separates the durable grain of desire from chaff of doubt; it is where focused imagination does its refining work. Washing, anointing, and garmented appearance represent inner preparation — a ritual of feeling as if, in which the self assumes its rightful role before any external validation occurs. Lying at the feet is a posture of deliberate humility that paradoxically claims protection and participation; it is not passive weakness but a specific symbolic act of placing one’s intention in direct contact with the power that can actualize it. The nearer kinsman is the practical obstacle or condition that must be acknowledged and aligned with; his presence reminds us that imagination works in concert with external arrangements, sometimes requiring negotiation, sometimes simply patience until conditions are right.

Practical Application

Begin by identifying the single outcome you truly desire and translate it into a felt state before sleep or in quiet moments, as if the resolution is already true. Prepare yourself as Ruth did: cleanse the mind of contradicting thoughts, dress your imagination in the emotions and behaviors of the fulfilled self, and rehearse the scene inwardly with sensory detail until it feels settled and inevitable. When you act, do so from that settled state rather than from anxiety or pleading; let your outer behavior reflect the inner assumption with dignity and clarity. If practical obstacles appear, treat them as the nearer kinsman — real but negotiable factors that require wise timing and sometimes a patient strategy. Hold the inner assumption while engaging the world with integrity, allowing signs and small confirmations to accumulate and reinforce your inner state. Over time, the interplay of vivid imagination, right conduct, and patient waiting will transform the probabilities around you into an enacted reality, with the inner assumption becoming the seed from which the new life grows.

Threshing-Floor Courage: The Psychology of Seeking Redemption

Ruth 3 reads as a compact psychological drama about how a new identity is claimed in consciousness and how imagination effects that claim. Read not as a sequence of outer events but as an inner technique: a planning mind (Naomi), a receptive faculty (Ruth), and the redeeming power in the self (Boaz) meet at the threshing floor — the place of inner separation where the essential grain is winnowed from the chaff. Every concrete detail is a symbol of states of mind and the imaginal acts that bring them into manifestation.

Naomi speaks first. Her voice is the directive of waking awareness that remembers method: do you wish rest for yourself? The question is practical and spiritual at once. Naomi represents the conscious strategist who knows that reality answers to the law of assumption. She points Ruth to a specific site and moment: the threshing floor at night. This is important. The threshing floor is the inward workshop where what has been sown is tested and separated. Night is the liminal hour of sleep and the unconscious, the hour when imagination works free from the tyranny of the senses. Naomi instructs preparation: wash, anoint, put on raiment. These are mental acts of purification and re-embodiment of a new state. Washing is removal of former identifications; anointing is acceptance of the new intent; raiment is the psychological garment one must wear — an imagining of self that fits the desired outcome.

She then counsels secrecy: make not thyself known. This is the rule of the subjective technique. The power behind manifestation is an imaginal act that must be privately assumed, not shouted to the senses. If one tells the outer mind too soon, the senses will contradict and the current will be broken. Naomi instructs Ruth to go when the man lies down and to 'mark the place where he shall lie.' To mark is to locate within the unconscious the point of contact with the redeeming power. Boaz lies at the end of the heap of corn — he is resting among the harvest. Psychologically, this is the self-concept that already contains plenty: a relaxed inner state that knows abundance. The instruction to uncover his feet and lay down is not erotic ritual but a symbolic approach to the active principle's vulnerable root. The 'feet' signify the foundation of identity, the point of entry where a new assumption can be lodged. To uncover them and lie down is to surrender in faith, to assume the state as already accomplished and to wait in that assumption.

Ruth's compliance is the receptive faculty obeying direction. She is loyal to Naomi; loyalty here is fidelity to the method. She goes 'softly' and 'layeth her down.' The narrative emphasizes gentleness and humility — the imaginary act of taking a posture of rest rather than striving. That posture is essential. When Boaz's heart is merry because he has eaten and drunk, his mind is light and open; he is not straining. This indicates that the creative power is responsive when the mind is relaxed and not driven by sensory need. At midnight the man turns and finds a woman at his feet. Midnight is the moment when doubt and sleep mix — the point when the imaginal act is most potent because the barrier of critical reason is low.

Ruth declares 'I am Ruth thine handmaid; spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman.' This is a conscious claim. 'I am' is the psychological name of God in the soul: the statement of being. To call yourself 'handmaid' is to adopt the posture of dependence upon the redeemer-principle within. Asking Boaz to 'spread his skirt' is to demand acknowledgement and protection: it is a request that the self-concept accept responsibility for the new identity. Boaz's blessing — that she has shown more kindness in the latter end — acknowledges the value of persistence and the change of internal conduct. He promises to do to her all that she requires but immediately names a condition: there is a kinsman nearer than I. This is the psychological truth that within the theatre of mind there are competing claimants to identity. The nearer kinsman represents a closer, more immediate habit or belief that could redeem or block the claim. Laws and obstacles in the manifest life correspond to such nearer claimants in the psyche.

Boaz's insistence that Ruth tarry that night and await morning is a counsel to persistence. The imaginal act cannot be broken by impatience. If the nearer kinsman will perform, so be it; but if he will not, Boaz will. That is the intelligence of creative consciousness: if one route is barred, another will be used. In practical psychological terms this means to persist in the assumed state and allow inner logistics to unfold. Ruth rising before one could know another and leaving without exposing the encounter to public knowledge models discretion. The gift of six measures of barley is a concrete symbol of sustenance and confirmation. The inner world always sends confirmations: a change in feeling, a new idea, an opportunity — these are the barley. Boaz instructs, 'Go not empty unto thy mother in law,' which means the imaginal act will provide evidence; do not return to doubt empty-handed.

When Ruth reports what happened, Naomi says sit still until you know how the matter will fall: the city will not rest until the matter is done. The city represents the outward life and social reality that will conspire to confirm the inner change. Naomi knows the unseen process; she knows that the world will rearrange itself to conform with the new assumption. Her instruction is the final instruction of faith: remain steady in your new state even when the world seems to contradict. The fact that the nearer kinsman exists and that Boaz must negotiate with him illustrates a principle: the outer manifestation requires the removal or transmutation of nearer beliefs. Sometimes another belief must be altered before the claim can be fully redeemed.

Read psychologically, the chapter models a technique: - Decide upon the end (rest, security, recognition). Naomi names the end for Ruth. - Prepare the self (wash, anoint, raiment): clear old identifications; dress yourself mentally in the new role. - Choose a liminal moment (night, sleep, the threshing floor): engage imagination at the threshold of consciousness, where reason sleeps and the subconscious receives impressions. - Approach the active principle where it rests (mark the place where he lies): locate the inner image of the redeemer — an idea of provision already at rest in you. - Assume the posture of having the wished-for state (uncover feet, lie down): act inwardly as if it is already true; surrender into the experience. - Keep the act private and persistent: do not broadcast; do not become double-minded. - Receive confirmation (barley): notice and accept the gifts the inner act produces. - Remain until outer evidence aligns: trust the unfolding process.

The drama also clarifies what redemption means here. Redemption is not a distant transaction with an external agent but an exchange of identity in the mind. To be 'redeemed' by a kinsman is for an aspect of self to claim responsibility for another aspect, to make whole what was left bereft. Naomi's ability to instruct and Boaz's willingness to act show how inner faculties cooperate: memory and wisdom guide; imagination claims; the higher self executes. The nearer kinsman warns that other inner loyalties may try to protect old scripts. A wise mind will persist and allow the appropriate redeemer — sometimes that redeemer is the very strain of self that enacts new behavior; sometimes circumstances serve as instruments.

Finally, Ruth 3 is an admonition against relying upon outer sight. The technique is inward. The harvest is within, but it must be willed, prepared for, and assumed. The barley is not merely food; it is evidence that the imaginal act provided supply. The moral is practical: transformation requires a specific imaginal act, a fixed assumption, discretion, and persistence through the nighttime of doubt until morning reveals the reality. When the I AM of your consciousness takes the posture of the desired state and holds it steadily, the external world rearranges to reflect that state. This chapter is a manual of inner operation disguised as narrative. Read it, practice it, and observe how the threshing floors of your own nights yield grain.

Common Questions About Ruth 3

What are practical steps to meditate on Ruth 3 for manifestation?

Begin by preparing outwardly and inwardly: wash and anoint are metaphors for quieting and cleansing the mind, so breathe deeply and release distracting thoughts; picture yourself dressed and confident as Ruth, move to the threshing floor of imagination where your desire waits, perform the imaginal act in first person — lie at the feet of the desired outcome and feel gratitude and acceptance as if it is already done — then hold that state until it feels normal; sleep from that state; upon waking watch for small confirmations like Boaz’s barley, then persist until full evidence arrives (Ruth 3).

How can I use Neville's imaginal act with the Boaz scene in Ruth 3?

Neville Goddard taught that an imaginal act must be done in the first person and with feeling; use the Boaz scene as a vivid evening rehearsal: imagine yourself as Ruth, washed, anointed, clothed and moving softly to the threshing floor, feel the heart of the kinsman merry, lay at his feet and hear his blessing, accept his covering and the measure of barley, and embrace the peace of provision. Hold that scene until it feels settled, insist on its reality, then let it go in faith. Repeat before sleep until inner conviction produces outer evidence, treating the scene as your personal assumed reality (Ruth 3).

Does Neville interpret Naomi's role as inner consciousness in Ruth 3?

Yes; Neville often identifies figures in Scripture with states of consciousness, and Naomi naturally reads as the inward guide advising the imagination how to act. Naomi’s counsel to prepare, conceal and wait is the voice of inner wisdom instructing you to assume the desired state privately and persistently; Ruth’s obedience represents the will applying imagination, while Boaz is the external kinsman responding to that inner state. Naomi’s urging to stay until morning teaches persistence in that assumed state until external proof comes. Seen this way, Ruth 3 becomes a dramatized method for inner work and manifestation.

What does Ruth 3 teach about assuming the feeling of the wish fulfilled?

Ruth 3 illustrates the spiritual principle that to bring an outcome into experience you must assume the state in which it already exists; Naomi’s instructions are an inner strategy for feeling as if the desire is accomplished. Ruth obediently prepares, goes to the threshing floor, lies at the kinsman’s feet and waits until morning — a symbolic act of entering and persisting in the wished-for state until outward evidence appears. The morning’s barley and Boaz’s pledge are the external confirmations that follow a sustained inner assumption. Read as inner scripture (Ruth 3), the story teaches entering the feeling of the wish fulfilled and remaining there until manifestation.

Can reading or visualizing Ruth 3 before sleep help manifest a loving relationship?

Yes; reading or visualizing Ruth 3 before sleep places you in the receptive state where imagination most impresses the subconscious. Use the scene as a bedtime imaginal act: see yourself prepared, go to the threshing floor, feel the presence and blessing of the loving kinsman, accept the covering and the provision, and fall asleep in that fulfilled feeling. Sleep from the end-state without analyzing means the state writes itself into your life; morning evidence, like Boaz’s barley, will follow. Make it a nightly practice of heartfelt assumption and gratitude until the visible relationship aligns with your inner reality (Ruth 3).