Neville Goddard opens by recounting Dr. Robert Millikan’s practice of silently affirming a present-tense statement of wealth and integrity until it dominated his consciousness, illustrating the power of assumption. He argues that to materialize a future desire, one must vividly imagine and feel its reality now, enabling the soul to take on that experience. Goddard describes the universe as a hierarchy of consciousness levels, with each elevation reshaping external circumstances in harmony with one’s inner state. He redefines meekness as self-discipline and mastery of mood, likening a tamed mind to a pruned vine that yields fruitful clusters of virtue. The lecturer emphasizes that true change arises from psychological transformation rather than external action alone. Concluding, Goddard challenges listeners to assume high ideals, persist in present-tense affirmations, and live as though their aspirations are already fulfilled to bring new realities into being.
When our great scientist, Dr. Robert Millikan was young and very poor he set a goal for himself. Condensing his dream of greatness and security into a simple statement, he silently repeated the thought over and over again. This he did until the feeling of greatness and security crowded all other thoughts out of his consciousness. These are his words: “I have a lavish, steady, dependable income, consistent with integrity and mutual benefit”
As I have said repeatedly, everything depends upon your attitude towards yourself! That which you will not affirm as true of yourself cannot develop in your life!
Dr. Millikan wrote his dream of greatness and security in the first person, present tense. He did not say, “I will be great,” or “I will be secure,” implying that he was not great and secure. Instead, he made his future dream a present fact by saying, “I have a lavish, steady, dependable income, consistent with integrity and mutual benefit.”
If you seek to realize your future dream, it must become a present fact in your mind. You must experience, in imagination, what you would experience in reality if you had achieved your goal, for the soul, imagining itself into a situation, takes on the results of that imaginary act. If it does not, the goal remains unfulfilled.
The purpose of this teaching is to stir the highest in you to confidence and self assertion. The command constantly given us in scripture is to arise. If we are to understand the reason for this, we must recognize that the universe, understood internally, is an infinite series of levels, and man is what he is according to where he is in that series.
As we lift up our consciousness, our world reshapes itself in harmony with the level to which we have risen. One whose prayer has been granted, rises from his prayer a better man.
To change your present state you, like Dr. Millikan, must rise to a higher level of consciousness. This rise is accomplished by affirming that you already are what you want to be, and assuming the feeling of your fulfilled desire.
The drama of life is a psychological one, brought about by your attitudes rather than by your acts. There is no escape from your present predicament other than a radical psychological transformation. Everything depends upon your attitude towards yourself, as that which you will not affirm as true of yourself, will not develop in your life.
The meek men of the gospels are not the proverbial poor, groveling door mats, as a meek man is generally conceived to be, but the Dr. Millikan’s of the world who, while poor and unproven, dare to assume wealth and greatness.
These are the men who inherit the earth. Any concept of self less than the best robs you, and the promise is, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
In the original text, the word translated “meek” means “tamed, as a wild animal is tamed.” A tamed mind may be likened to a pruned vine of which it is said, “Behold this vine. I found it a wild tree whose wanton strength had swollen into irregular twigs. But I pruned the plant and it grew temperate in its vain expense of useless leaves, and knotted as you see into these clean, full clusters to repay the hand that wisely wounded it.”
A meek man is so self-disciplined he sees only the finest and thinks only the best. He is the one who fulfills the statement, “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
We rise to a higher level of consciousness, not because we have curbed our passions, but because we have cultivated our virtues. In truth, a meek man is one who is in complete control of his moods. And they are the highest, for he who desires to walk with the highest, must keep a high mood.
It is my belief that all men can change the course of their lives. I believe that Dr. Millikan’s technique of making his desire a present fact is of great importance. His high purpose was to be of mutual benefit which is, inevitably the goal of us all. It is much easier to imagine the good for all, than to be purely selfish in our imagining. By our imagination we can change our future, and to the man of high purpose, this is a natural measure.
If you are observant, you will notice the swift echo or response to your every mood and key it to the circumstances of your daily life. When you understand the relationship between circumstances, you will know that everyone you meet is part of yourself.
In the creation of a new life, you must begin with a change of mood which opens the door to a higher level. Start now to mold your life around a community of high moods.
Individuals, as well as communities, grow spiritually in proportion to their higher ideals. If your ideal is low, you sink to its depths, but if it is exalted, you are elevated to heights unimagined. You must keep a high mood if you would walk with the highest.
All forms of creative imagination imply elements of feeling, for it is the ferment without which no creation is possible. There is nothing wrong with the desire to transcend your present state. The world would not progress without man’s dissatisfaction with himself.
It is natural to seek a more beautiful personal life. It is right to wish for greater understanding, health and security. This is so beautifully stated in the 16th chapter of the Book of John, “Heretofore you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you shall receive that your joy may be full.”
Accept my challenge! Embody a new and higher value of yourself as Dr. Millikan did. A nation can exhibit no greater wisdom in the mass than it generates in its units. For this reason, I have always preached self-help. Knowing that if we embody a new and higher concept of ourselves, all other help will be at our service.
The ideal you serve and hope to achieve is ready and waiting for a new incarnation, but it is incapable of birth unless you offer it human parentage. You must assume that you already are what you hope to be and live as though you were.
You must know, like Dr. Millikan did, that your assumption, though false to the outer world, will harden into fact by your persistence. The perfect man judges not after appearances, but judges righteously. He hears what he wants to hear and sees only the good. Knowing the truth that sets him free, he is lead to all good.
Character is largely the result of the direction and persistence of voluntary action; therefore, think truly and your thoughts shall the world’s famine feed. Speak truly and each word shall be a fruitful seed. Live truly and your life shall be a great and noble creed.
Let us go into the Silence
At its core, this lecture presents the “law of assumption,” the principle that what one assumes and lives as true becomes the seed of material manifestation. By using Dr. Millikan’s real-world example—repeating “I have a lavish, steady, dependable income…”—Goddard underscores how present-tense affirmations reshape inner consciousness and set the stage for external results.
Goddard’s model of consciousness as an infinite series of levels highlights the creative role of imagination. He teaches that when you lift your mental state, you ascend to higher realms, and your external world responds accordingly. This metaphysical hierarchy reframes every circumstance as an echo of an inner mood.
The lecture also offers a radical redefinition of meekness. Instead of weakness, meekness becomes the disciplined mastery of one’s thoughts and feelings, akin to a wild vine pruned into fruitful clusters. This discipline enables one to dwell only on what is true, honest, just, and lovely, thus sustaining a high vibrational mood.
Psychological transformation, Goddard insists, is the sole means of altering one’s present state. External acts without inner change are fruitless. Persistence in the chosen assumption, despite outer appearances, hardens the imagined state into unshakeable fact, demonstrating the power of voluntary action in character formation.
Finally, Goddard extends a practical challenge: embody a new and higher self-concept to generate collective benefit. By incubating ideals in the silent realms of imagination and feeling them real, each individual contributes to a wiser and more harmonious community. His call to live “as though” serves as both a spiritual practice and a practical strategy for lasting change.
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