Neville Goddard affirms that human imagination is the one divine Spirit and the true source of all creation. He teaches that by daring to assume the identity or reality one desires and persisting in that assumption—even when outer evidence denies it—one brings the assumption into objective manifestation. Using the biblical parable of the midnight visitor, he illustrates that unrelenting importunity or persistence compels one’s own imagination to realize the desired outcome. He emphasizes that Christ, Blake, Shakespeare, Einstein, and every inspired individual are expressions of this singular divine imagination within each person. Listeners are urged to apply the Law of Assumption in practical areas such as wealth, creativity, relationships, and spiritual growth. Persisting in the feeling of the wish fulfilled, night and day, mobilizes the subconscious to harden the assumption into fact. Ultimately, this process reunites fragmented aspects of self into the one universal Spirit and awakens the individual to their own Godhood.
I tell you a truth: There is nothing greater than your own wonderful human imagination! It is he who inspired Blake, Shakespeare, and Einstein, for there is only one spirit in the universe! “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.” That one spirit is the human imagination! When Blake was asked what he thought of the divinity of Christ he answered: “Christ is the only God, but so am I and so are you.” Don’t think of Christ as someone greater than yourself. He is the only God, but so am I and so are you! Don’t consider yourself less than Christ, for there is only God, who is your own wonderful human imagination.
Daring to assume that all things are possible to imagine, put this one reality to the extreme test by assuming you are the person you would like to be.Your reasonable mind and outer senses may deny it; but I promise you: if you will persist, you will receive your assumption. Believe me, you are the same God who created and sustains the universe, but are keyed low; so you must be persistent if you would bring about a change.
In the Book of Luke, the story is told of a man who came to a house at the midnight hour, and said: “A friend has arrived who is hungry. Would you let me have three loaves of bread?” The man upstairs replied: “It is midnight. My children are in bed asleep and I cannot come down and give you what you want.” Then this statement is made: “But because of the man’s importunity, he was given all that he desired.” The word “importunity” means “brazen impudence.” Having a desire, the man would not take no for an answer!
When you know what you want, you don’t ask God as though he were another; you ask your individual self to bring about your desire, for you are he!And God – your own wonderful human imagination – will respond when you will not take no for an answer, as your denial is spoken from within and there is no other. It is within your own being that you persist in assuming you have received what you want. The story is, even though it was midnight and the family was asleep, the father came down and gave what was needed.
The God of a Blake, a Shakespeare, or an Einstein, does not differ from the God housed in you, as there is only one human imagination. There cannot be two. He is not a dual God. You and your imagination are not less than anyone, but you must learn to be persistent.
A friend recently shared a vision with me, in which I appeared and said:“The story of Jesus is persistent assumption.”If this is true, and we are told to imitate him as a dear child, I must dare to assume I am the being I want to be. I must continue in that assumption until that which I have assumed is objectively realised. And if I am one with everyone, how can anyone be greater than I? Do not believe that someone is greater than you because of some influx of spirit or validity. Your imagination is the only God, and there is no other being greater than He! Claim you are what you want to be. Persist in that assumption. Continue to assume that role until that which you have assumed is reflected in your world.
Although the churches teach that another, greater than yourself, said: “Unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins” – these words were spoken by the human imagination! And because imagination is one, and you can’t get away from that oneness, don’t think of another. Accept these words in the first person, present tense; for unless you believe that you already are what you want to be, you will die in your sins by leaving your desire unfulfilled. If you do not believe you are all imagination, you will continue in your former belief, worshipping a God on the outside and not within.
On this level, we are fragmented, but we are all that one imagination. The word “Elohim” is a compound unity of one made up of others. Although we seem to be many, in the most intimate manner possible, we are one!On this level, you and I are keyed low for purposes beyond our wildest dreams, yet called upon to make the effort to rise above it. This is done in a physical, scientific, and artistic sense, as we begin to discover and express our human imagination. We rise above this level through the act of assumption; for an assumption, though false, if persisted in will harden into fact. As William Blake said:“If the fool will persist in his folly he will become wise.”
There is nothing God cannot do!Do not think that one who is fabulously rich has an influx of spirit which differs from yours. He is imagining wealth, either wittingly or unwittingly; but you can do it knowingly.If he does not know what he is doing, he can lose his wealth and not know how to recover it. I am asking you, regardless of your financial situation, to assume wealth, knowingly. If, tomorrow you would again return to your former state, bring wealth back by claiming “I am wealthy,” for there is only one God. He who creates poverty also creates wealth, as there is no other creator.
The world thinks of numberless gods, but there is only one. That one is your own wonderful human imagination. Possessing only one son, when imagination awakens, God’s only begotten son will reveal you as God. The same thing will happen to another, then another – and eventually everyone will see the same son, who will reveal the individual as God the Father.
This world is a play, where divine imagination becomes human imagination by inserting himself into an olive skin, a black skin, a white skin, and a red skin. Although we appear to be different, we all will see God’s only begotten son – proving that there is only one God. The purpose behind the play is to expand imagination’s creative power. Here we are fragmented into numberless parts, destined to gather ourselves together into the one God, the one Father of all.
Begin now to actively, constantly, use your imagination; for as you prove its creative power on this level, you are awakening to a higher level and birth into the spirit world where you know yourself to be God. Prove to yourself that you are God by feeling your desire is now an accomplished fact. Listen to your friends talk about you. Are they rejoicing because of your good fortune, or are they expressing envy? Imagine their words are true. Persist in imagining they are true. Continue to imagine your desire is already an accomplished fact; and when it is objectively realised, proof will be yours.
Think of something lovely you would like to give another.Then ask yourself if you gave it to him and he wouldn’t accept it, would you want to keep it for yourself? If, for instance, you gave a friend a million dollars and he would not accept it, would you be willing to keep it? I’m sure you would. Then imagine giving the money to him, then give to others in the same way. You may not even have a bank account; but you can still give, because there is no one to give to but yourself!There is only God whose name is I am! “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” This great confession of faith is recorded in the sixth chapter, the fourth verse of the Book of Deuteronomy. The Lord is not two, not a dozen – just one. If I say “I am” that’s one, but if I say “we are” I am speaking of many.
Jesus’ name is “I am.” He is not some superior being other than yourself. He is the inspiration for everything you write, be it trivia or profound. Inspiration does not come from some other being, because there cannot be another. When you sit down to write, the thoughts come from your own being! It is nonsense to think of some other being as possessing you.
The great poets – the Shakespeare’s, the Blake’s – had no great spiritual influx moving in them that is greater than the spiritual influx in you. It cannot be, for there is no one greater than self! When someone tells me he is under the influence of some greater power, I tell him that is not possible. The inspiration is coming from the depths of his own soul. Perhaps you have an item you would like to advertise. As you think of what your customer needs, the answer will come from the depth of your own soul, and you will know what needs to be said to promote your product. You do not receive some influx of spirit outside of yourself, for there is no one greater! There is only God, and God is one!
In the Book of Psalms, you are told to; “Commune with your own self.” Sit quietly. Be at peace with yourself and suddenly thoughts will begin to flow within you, from God. In the beginning you were God! And in the end, you and I and the whole vast world of billions will be regathered into the one God. One imagination fell into this fragmented world of seeming others, yet the whole is within each one of us. A man’s enemies are those of his own household, for they are all within him. Not knowing this, man fights within himself until he realises there is no other, just himself. Then he tells others in the hope he can convince himself. And as he rises from within, he is called back into the one being he was before that the world was. The fall into division was deliberate for God’s expansion into unity.
There was no other way to expand your creative power but by falling into limitation and overcoming it. As you fell, your being fragmented. I saw this so clearly in vision. First, a rock appeared. Then it fragmented and as it gathered together it took the shape of a man sitting in the lotus posture, meditating, glowing. And I knew I was looking at myself! And as it began to glow like the sun, I awoke in my apartment in New York City.
I am telling you what I have done, what I have seen, and what I have experienced. Each one of us has a being within who is meditating us. The being in you and the being in all, form the one perfect being, who fell and fragmented himself. One day, everyone’s living being will unite into the one God, who fell and fragmented himself. Do you know what you would you like to be? Dare to assume it and, for one week, claim: “I have assumed I am the one I want to be. I am still assuming I am, and I will continue to assume I am until that which I have assumed is objectively realised.” Fall asleep assuming it is true, and let that living being in you give it life.
God the Father is dreaming in the depth of your soul. It is he who began a good work in you, and it is he who will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. On that day you will be brought to the same perfection as the Father in you, for God is dreaming himself into a greater image of himself and you, the dreamer, are dreaming yourself into the image of yourself.
While you are here, you can assume any desire for yourself and those you love. Then you can dare to believe in what you have assumed. And if you continue your assumption, you will express it. But you must believe, or you will die in your sins. Always talking to yourself, you are telling yourself that unless you believe you are the man you want to be, you will remain being the man you don’t want to be, thereby dying in your sins.
To believe in another – whether he appear as a Blake, a Shakespeare or an Einstein – you have a false God. You must believe in yourself or die in your sins! You must believe that God actually became you that you may become God – for he did. His name is I am and unless you say within yourself: “I am what I want to be” and believe it, you will remain saying within yourself: “I wish I were what I want to be” and die in your frustration (your sin). I urge to you learn how to believe in yourself. It may appear to be difficult at first, but not when you are willing to go out on a limb and try it.
I admire the great, inspired poets. Shakespeare is marvelous. Blake is altogether wonderful, and Einstein truly great in his field. These were inspired men; but they did not have any influx of spirit that made them greater than your human imagination, for their imagination and your imagination are one grand, divine imagination, imagining! Their work did not come from something outside of themselves, but from their own imagination, awakening. That same imagination is yours because there is only one spirit. The spirit of man is one with the spirit of the universe and there is no other!
Start now to capture the feeling of being this one spirit. Fall asleep in the feeling that you are God, and as you come hurtling back from the depth of unconsciousness toward this level, you will have numberless crazy little dreams based upon this person you are coming through. You will give importance to these dreams; but oh, what depths you will reach in that which is unconscious relative to this level!
Let no one frighten you, for you are an immortal being who cannot die.Although I have awakened to my Godhood before you, I am no better because I got there first, for there is no such thing as being first. Everyone is moving toward that level, and no one can fail. And when all have returned, what joy will be expressed as we form the one body, the one spirit, the one Lord, the one God and Father of all! Everyone will have the vision and prove to himself that he is God the Father.
I urge you to apply this principle and cushion yourself against the normal blows of life. If your friends and loved ones cannot believe, cushion them anyway; for no matter what you leave them here, you are not going to stop the blows given by the depth of their own being. If you left each friend one hundred thousand dollars, you would cushion them for the moment; but the depth of their being will continue to take them through experiences, in order to awaken to the knowledge that they are the father of God’s only begotten son, David.
The world is searching for the cause of the phenomena of life, not knowing he is their very self. What responsibility is yours when you discover that your awareness is the cause of everything that has happened, is happening, and will happen to you. But when you realize that you are causing all the blows, the heartaches, and pains, that happen to you, you will begin to change your thinking; and as you do, scripture will unfold in you.
Now let us go into the silence.
In “Persistent Assumption,” Goddard redefines traditional religious concepts by identifying the human imagination as the sole divine presence. He dismantles the notion of an external deity, arguing that every individual’s inner creative faculty is both God and the means by which all experiences are generated. This theological reframe shifts responsibility entirely onto the practitioner, who must recognize and wield their imaginative power consciously.
The lecture’s centerpiece is the parable from the Gospel of Luke, where persistence overcomes apparent refusal. Goddard interprets this story as a metaphor for the Law of Assumption: one’s repeated, unwavering attention to a desired state eventually compels the subconscious to produce corresponding circumstances. By labeling the required attitude as “brazen impudence,” he urges students to cultivate fearless persistence in their mental rehearsals.
Practically, Goddard extends the Law of Assumption to areas such as wealth, creativity, and interpersonal relationships. He advises listeners to assume the feeling of being wealthy, accomplished, or fulfilled, regardless of external evidence, and to persist in that inner state until it becomes an objective reality. Through concrete examples—like imagining acclaim from friends or the recovery of lost finances—he demonstrates how assumption shapes both material conditions and psychological well-being.
At a deeper level, the lecture addresses the fragmentation of consciousness and the subsequent journey toward reunification. Goddard employs the Hebrew concept of Elohim to illustrate that despite appearing as many, all individual selves are facets of one imagination. The falling into limitation and overcoming it through deliberate assumption becomes a divine drama in which each person rediscovers their original unity and creative authority.
Finally, Goddard situates the practice within a meditative framework, encouraging listeners to fall asleep with the feeling of the wish fulfilled and to use nightly visions as confirmation of progress. This cultivation of inner silence and communion with the self aligns with his view that spiritual awakening is a return to awareness of one’s own Godhood. The lecture thus functions as both metaphysical treatise and practical guide, offering a systematic method for conscious creation and ultimate reunification with the single divine imagination.
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