In this lecture Neville Goddard presents life as a dream conceived and sustained by human imagination, equating imagination with the divine. He distinguishes between night visions and waking reality, arguing both are equally real and both speak to man when he remembers the source of his dreaming. Using biblical imagery, especially the metaphor of the Rock, he shows that the foundation of our experiences is the creative power within us. Through anecdotal dreams and visions, he illustrates how remembering and feeling one’s true identity returns one to the spiritual foundation. Ultimately, Goddard teaches that the human imagination is Christ, the source of all creation and transformation, and that by assuming the feeling of the wish fulfilled one can shape reality. He concludes with the promise of an instantaneous mutation or awakening at the end of the dream, when love conquers all and reveals our eternal divine nature.
In a vision of the night when deep sleep falls upon men, while they slumber on their beds, he opens their ears and seals their instructions.” (Job 33)
Tonight you may find yourself in a terrestrial world like this one, and you feel just as real to yourself as you do here. And when you return with its memory you may think it was a dream, but it was a vision. You are dreaming right now, for this world is the dream you and I agreed to complete. Its end will appear when we turn around through a series of visions.
The Old Testament outlines the dream, interspersed with vision, while the New Testament tells of the awakening. The trinity which the churches refer to as God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, can be taken in a simple way as Mighty Father, the proceeding Son, and the returning Holy Spirit – for they are all one.
The dreamer in you is God. Tonight as you dream ask yourself where you are. Many times while lying on my bed I have left this body I know so well, to enter a world just as real as this. Remembering where my body was when I started my journey, when I desired to return I had to feel myself in the body – now cataleptic – on the bed. I could not move it or open its eyes. The body felt dead, yet I was very much alive. Gradually I was able to move a finger, then the toes. But only as I opened my eyes and saw the familiar objects on the wall and dresser did I know I was back. But was I really? Am I not dreaming this world just as much as I was dreaming that one? If so then where am I right now?
Man cannot remember where he laid himself down to dream this dream of life. If he could, he would return through the secret of feeling. Finding myself in a world like this, I remembered where I left my body and felt myself back into it. I returned with the memory of people who were there. They were clothed and real and the world was terrestrial, just as it is here. I talked to them and they answered. Now if that world was a vision then this one is also, for one world does not differ from the other. So God has two ways of speaking to man, but man does not perceive it.
A dream contains one central thought. Like a thank you note. You don’t try to interpret every word in it, just the message it is trying to convey.
I have a friend who dreamed it was his birthday and many people had arrived to attend his party. There were two large cakes, with one lady very adamant about the design she had placed on hers. (This is not significant to the dream, but only part of getting the story started.) Leaving to find candles for the table, my friend returned to discover one cake was missing, as well as all of the guests. Disappointed because he had not seen or heard me speak, the dream ended. Suddenly he finds himself on a beach with a friend. Asking where everyone was, his friend points to a rock in the middle of the water, and said: “There they are, away out to sea.” Seeing another rock near it supporting a child, afraid and alone, he said: “How did they get there?” and his friend answered: “Mentally.” Then he mentally went to the child, took her by the hand, and placed her on the big rock. Now the dream changes and my friend finds himself in a lecture hall with a stairway in the center of the stage. Coming down the stairs, I place his hands in mine and say: “I’m glad you have made it, chosen one.” Then he awoke.
This is a very significant dream, whose single jet of truth is the rock. It’s not the birthday, the party, or the cake, but the language of scripture that will reveal the truth of any dream. The journey of life is a mental one, which is taking place in the sea of illusion. And only when you find yourself on the Rock will your journey be at its end.
We are told: “You are unmindful of the Rock that begot you and have forgotten the God who gave you birth.” (Deuteronomy 32) This passage of scripture tells us that the Rock is equated with God. And in the New Testament it is said: “They drank from the supernatural Rock that followed them and the Rock was Christ.”
This gentleman is now standing on that Rock. Since all dreams are egocentric, he conjured me from within himself containing the whole vast world within him, he called forth those he chose to play a part he wrote for himself. This he did without our knowledge or consent. My friend has now reached that foundation stone upon which he will build his house. No longer will he build on shifting sands, where the winds and storms destroy the structures, but upon the Rock who is Christ; and Christ is God who is the Human Imagination.
The central figure of Christianity is the Human Imagination. When you accept this as the first principle of religion, then all governments, rituals, and external worship will have heard the trumpets of Joshua. All of the buildings that are of any structure than that Rock – which is your own wonderful Human Imagination – will fall. This gentleman had a wonderful experience. He is on the Rock, but he may move from it. He may turn his back and forget that the cause of all of the phenomena of his life is the Human Imagination. It is my hope that he will not.
There is only one source of all creation. “By him all things were made, and without him was not anything made that was made.” If anything or anyone comes into your world, remember the cause is your Human Imagination, who is the God of scripture and the dreamer in you.
Stand upon that Rock, knowing you are God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as these three are the chosen One. In the 1st Epistle of John, the 5th chapter, these three are called the Spirit, the water, and the blood.
Knowing that God is spirit and there is life in the blood, the Risen Christ calls himself the Living Water, saying: “If you had asked, I would have given you living water that you would never thirst again.” Living water is the truth. Once truth has been experienced, you will hunger and thirst no more. “I will send a famine upon the land. It will not be a hunger for bread or a thirst for water, but for the hearing of the word of God.” This gentleman has found the word of God, for he has found the Rock.
Another friend shared this vision with me. (I call this a vision rather than a dream, for it was her own back door.) Although it was early in the day, my friend became so sleepy, she lay down on the couch and closed her eyes. Suddenly she heard a knock at the back door. Upon opening it she found a pleasant looking young man there, obviously hungry. She invited him in and as she was preparing his food, she realised it was 5:30 P.M. and her husband would be home shortly. Wondering how she was going to explain the stranger’s presence, her little daughter woke her, to discover that it was only 11:00 a.m. in the morning. Lying there she remembered she had not fed the man, so she did so in her Imagination.
That’s what I mean when I tell you to carry Imagination to the extreme point and feed the world. Although my friend did not feed the man in her vision, she did so in her Imagination, knowing she was feeding Christ. She knows that when she does this to the least of one of these, she is doing it to Christ. And when she does not do it, she is not doing it to Christ – who is her very self. My friend has learned her lesson, and is at the end of her journey. Having a vivid memory of what had transpired, she carried through her intention and fed the man in her Imagination.
All of this may seem insane to the world, because they do not understand this great mystery. In 1946 I wrote a little booklet calledThe Search. I ended it on this note: “The universe which we study with such care is a dream and we the dreamers, dreaming non-eternal dreams. One day, like Nebuchadnezzar, we shall awaken from our nightmare in which we fought with demons, to discover that we have never really left our eternal home; that we were never born and have never died – save in our dream.”
Since that time nothing has happened to cause me to change one word in that little book for, like Nebuchadnezzar, I have awakened from this dream of life. Now when I close my eyes in meditation, I sometimes have a little dream; or other times I enter a world just like this, where I am totally awake and aware of what is happening.
You see, one day the being that is really dreaming your life will awaken, and you will be enhanced beyond your wildest dreams because of your experiences.
You never descended in body, but in consciousness. Descending in your dream, you entered this world called eternal death to see things appear, wax, wane, and vanish. They appear to die, yet you are dreaming their death. One day you will discover that you have never gone anywhere, save in your dream.
This past weekend I was visiting with a doctor, who told me that he was fascinated with anthropology, and if he ever came back again, he was going to be an anthropologist. He said: “Neville, in spite of what you say, we go back millions and millions of years.” And I asked: “Are you proud of the fact that your ancestor was an ape? If all ends run true to origin, and your ancestor was an ape, no matter how wise you are, you are still only a wise ape. Well, my origin is God. I assumed this limitation for a purpose, and when that purpose is revealed, my end is God.”
I cannot see any relationship between the physical body and the ape, as there are still apes with us. Did it ever occur to you that change does not need to be gradual, but can be a combination in a sudden mutation? Think about it. God is a dreamer. He could take a root or a branch, and by forcing mutation among members of a certain colony of apes, when they multiply the new feature is transferred, and man suddenly appears.
Man thinks in terms of millions and millions of years; yet one generation could be more instantaneous than the nth part of a second, if you are going to measure life in terms of time.
I’m not saying this is true. I am only giving you something to think about. If you do, you will change your mind about having an ape for an ancestor.
As God, you started your dream by coming down in consciousness to the level called man. You died in order for humanity to be made a living soul. Now, bound by what you took upon yourself, you are dreaming a predetermined, horrible dream; yet the results of these experiences will transcend your wildest dreams. The story of Jesus Christ is your story, which you will fulfill – in vision – in a three-dimensional world.
Now, I used the word mutation for a purpose. We are told that at the end: “In the twinkle of an eye, our lowly bodies will be changed to be one form with His glorious body.” This does not take time. The moment you are embraced by the Risen Lord, your lowly body is transformed to be one form with His glorious body of light, of love, and wisdom. These bodies of flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. You need an entirely different body to function in that age. That body is a mutation, as it comes suddenly.
When I stood in the presence of the Risen Christ I was asked to define the greatest thing in the world. I answered with the words of Paul, “Faith, hope, and love, these three, but the greatest of these is love.” Then Infinite Love embraced me. We fused and I became one with the Risen Lord.
There is no creative power comparable to love! I know, for I am one with that body; and when this aspect of myself is called dead, I will wear that body, for my dream is over. Then you can say of me what Shelley said of one who had departed: “He has awakened from the dream of life. `Tis we who, lost in stormy vision, fight with phantoms, an unprofitable strife.”
Everyone will awaken from this dream to know he is love; for there is nothing but God and God is love. The most horrible being is God, as the most glorious. In the end, when the curtain comes down, we will collectively form the one Man, the one Spirit, the one Body. Then we will understand why we conceived the dream and played it, as we will have expanded into a further existence as a result of this experience of coming down into the world of eternal death.
I know that when I have entered other sections of time, in vision, the experience was real, just as this is now. The world may say my experience was just a dream. But if this is reality and that just as real as this, then this is a dream. The difference is that when I was there, I remembered where my body was and was able to return to it.
Could you remember the being you were before you started this dream of life, and use the same technique, you would feel yourself there and vanish from sight to awaken in that body.
For myself, I have worn that wakened body since 1929, when I was embraced by the Risen Lord. At that time we became the one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one God and Father of all, who is above all, through all, and in all. I have heard Him say: “I laid myself down within you to sleep, and as I slept I dreamed a dream. I dreamed . . .” and I knew exactly what He was saying: “I am dreaming I am Neville.”
One day you will know that the visions of the day are no more real than those of the night, for you will know you are their reality. You will realise that you cannot encounter strangers, regardless of whether they be harmful or helpful, as they came out of you to play the part you had already played from within.
The world and all of its conflicts appear to show us that Imagination can and does run amok. Imagination is the only foundation. It is the Rock upon which one builds his house. No matter what happens, blame no one, but remain on that Rock; for Christ (your own wonderful Human Imagination) is He, and the only cause of the phenomena of life. Accept this truth and you will have a firm foundation upon which to build.
As you dwell upon this power vested in you, you will discover it will help you far beyond your wildest dreams. You will realise that you do not need the help of anyone. All you need do is assume you have what you want. Then dare to walk in that assumption; and if it takes a thousand people to aid its birth, they will appear and play their parts, not knowing why or what they do. They will do it without their permission or consent, just as I did in my friend’s dream.
Man prays to an outside Jesus and believes in an outside God, because he has forgotten the God who gave him birth. Scripture tells us that when Moses revealed the true God as I AM, he hadn’t been gone more than moments when the people once more turned and worshipped the golden cow as the cause of their fortunes, good or bad. They started worshipping things made with the human hand in violation of the eighth commandment: “Make no graven image unto me,” either with your hands or in your mind!
If you see a Jesus Christ as other than your own wonderful Human Imagination, you have made a graven image. But when you find the true Christ – called the Rock – and start building on it, no rumors or arguments can knock your house down. Build on the sand and your house will slip away, but if you create your world believing in your own wonderful Human Imagination – called Jesus Christ – nothing will destroy it.
Your Imagination is Christ, dreaming in you and creating your world. Feed him noble thoughts. Become selective and dare to assume something wonderful for yourself. Our newspapers are telling us how to transcend death and live to be one hundred, adding years to life – yet no one thinks of adding life to years!
Schubert lived only thirty-one years, yet he gave us a thousand pieces of music. Keats died at twenty-six. So many of the great poets died young but look what they gave us! They didn’t add years to their life, but crowded a lifetime into a few years. Now there are those who are trying to have transplants in order to live to be one hundred, and vegetate.
Well, that’s not what we are here for. We’re here to fulfill scripture, and no matter what appears on the outside I promise you: you will not die. You cannot go to eternal death in that which cannot die. You are the God of the living, not the dead – dreaming of death, of birth, health and illness, poverty and wealth. You have never left your eternal home. Your descent was in consciousness and it is in consciousness that you will ascend.
Now let us go into the silence.
Neville Goddard’s lecture opens with a profound metaphysical assertion: the world we perceive is a consensual dream shaped by our imagination. By comparing biblical passages about visions and dreams, he collapses the distinction between waking life and nighttime dream, suggesting that both are constructed within the same divine creative faculty. This perspective invites listeners to question the solidity of reality and to recognize their own imagination as the true actor behind all experiences.
Central to his argument is the scriptural symbol of the Rock, drawn from both Old and New Testaments. Goddard interprets the Rock as the unchanging foundation of human imagination—Christ—and uses illustrative dreams to show how one’s inner vision leads to tangible transformations. When individuals “stand on the Rock,” they align with their creative essence, building a life that withstands external storms of circumstance and doubt.
Goddard further explores the practical application of this teaching through vivid dream anecdotes. In each story, he highlights the importance of feeling oneself back into the body or the world where the dream originates, demonstrating the law of feeling as the bridge between mental conception and material manifestation. These narratives underscore his central tenet: all external phenomena are ultimately subjective projections of the dreamer within.
Toward the close, the lecturer offers an eschatological vision of instantaneous mutation—an awakening in which the dreamer realizes his divine origin. By invoking Paul’s words on faith, hope, and love, Goddard affirms love as the supreme creative force that fuses the individual with the Risen Christ. This finale not only reinforces the teaching’s spiritual dimension but also frames our earthly journey as a purposeful descent and anticipated ascent in consciousness.
Overall, the lecture weaves theology, psychology, and mysticism into a cohesive philosophy of inner autonomy. By reclaiming Scripture to reveal the omnipotence of imagination, Neville Goddard empowers his audience to cease praying to an external deity and instead to live as the God in their own dream. His message resonates with modern seekers who look for self‐authoring paths to transformation, making this talk both timeless and intensely practical.
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