Neville Goddard explores the figure of Paul not as a historical person but as a state of consciousness that reveals Jesus Christ as the creative power of human imagination. He reinterprets scriptural passages to show that the ‘Father’ is the I AM within each person and that Christ is the wisdom and power of that creative self. Through allegory and practical examples—such as revising a phone conversation to manifest a design contract or healing an illness by affirming perfect health—he demonstrates the Law of Assumption at work. Neville emphasizes that all external experience originates from one’s own imaginal acts and that true causation is invisible. He urges listeners to trust and fall in love with their own human imagination, testing it through faith and thanksgiving. The lecture culminates in an invitation to awaken from the dream of life by using imagination as the only foundation for creation and spiritual awakening.
Tonight’s subject is very, very practical, yet profoundly spiritual, for we are going to search for the cause of the phenomena of life called in scripture, “the Father”. So come with me and let me show you Jesus Christ, the father of life, through the eyes of Paul. Now, there is no mention of Paul in any contemporary work of the first century, nor is there any historical record of a man named Paul. He is mentioned in the last part of the Book of Acts and in his thirteen letters – but who is he? Paul, like Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus Christ is a state of consciousness.
The Bible speaks of a fundamental state of consciousness from which other states derive. That fundamental state is the Father, the creative power in you. This world is made up of God and the extension of himself called “you”. Say “I am” and you have said God’s name.Now let us look at Jesus Christ through the eyes of the state of Paul. Schooled in the traditions of his father, Paul knew Hebrew backwards. He knew the law of Moses and protected these traditions with his life, opposing anyone who was in conflict with his belief.Then he saw the spirit behind the letter. Just as you – believing what you were taught by your mother and father and Sunday school teacher – when you enter the state called Paul you will understand the meaning behind the allegory; and – like Paul – you will be just as ardent in promoting it as you were in defending your belief in a physical Jesus Christ.
Paul makes the statement: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who has faith. That power is Christ.” And it is Paul who confesses: “Even though I once regarded Christ from a human point of view, I regard him thus no longer.” Having learned from the traditions of his earthly father that he was to “Make no graven image unto me” Paul believed that Jesus Christ was an individual like himself. But when he realised who Jesus Christ really was, he defined him in his letter to the Corinthians as the power of God and the wisdom of God saying: “I preach only Jesus Christ crucified and raised from the dead.”
Paul teaches that the power of God and the wisdom of God is crucified and buried in Man, and from that state of death will he rise. Now seeing Christ as his human imagination Paul confesses: “I once regarded Christ from a human point of view; I regard him thus no longer.” Who is this creative power who was once regarded as human? In the 10th chapter of Matthew it is made to say: “Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven. Think not that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. To set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Anyone who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.”
Claiming that he came into the world not to abolish the law of Moses but to fulfill it (and the 5th commandment is “Honour your father and mother”) how can he ask us to love him more than our father and mother? When I was a child I heard these stories in my Sunday school class, and I knew that if I had to love Jesus more than my mother and father I was not worthy of him. To ask me to love some invisible power more than I loved my sweet, kind, loving mother and the giant of a man who was my father was to ask the impossible of me. So what is being said here?
Father and mother are the obvious physical causes of the birth of a child in this world. Whether it is human, bird, or animal, we all have fathers and mothers. They are the physical cause of the phenomena of life, as you are now an objective fact. Then comes an invisible cause saying you must love it more than visible causation. No one is setting you against your father or mother, daughter or daughter-in-law – how could they!
Man sets up physical causation, saying you must join the “right” club, live in the “right” neighborhood, know the “right” people. That your place of birth or the colour of your skin is the cause of your experiences. Now you are told that the cause is invisible and you must love this cause more than any earthly thing. You are urged to fall in love with it! To make it yourself and have no other god besides it! And may I tell you: when you do you will love your father and mother, daughter, and son more than ever before, as you will no longer see them as physical causation.
You will know that nothing physical is the cause of the phenomena of life. You will see them as aspects of your invisible body that has awakened. There is no character in scripture that has a physical history. They are there to depict divine history. Paul was trained in the Jewish faith and knew Judaism backwards. He said: “I am a son of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin.” And when he was told: “Your great learning is turning you mad,” he replied: “I am not mad. I am speaking the sober truth.” Paul is telling you of the resurrection of a creative power of which you have been totally unaware.
This creative power is buried in everyone, and that power is God himself. There is no intermediary between you and God. Jesus Christ is the creative power of your own wonderful human imagination!
That is Jesus Christ and there is no other! God the Father is buried in you as your I am, and your human I amness is Jesus Christ. This is the being Paul speaks of when he says: “Test yourself; Do you not realise that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless, of course, you fail to meet the test.”
Now let me share a letter from a friend. She said: “I am a freelance designer. I never seek work, but as I sit at home and imagine I am working, they call. In the past six months I have received very few orders from a company that kept me very busy in the past, so I called them to discover that they had employed a full-time art director and would no longer require my services. After hanging up the phone I revised this conversation. I heard them tell me they had lots of work for me, and I felt the thrill in their words. One week later they called, asking me to design a 26-page book of institutional advertising, plus four ads for Harper’s Bazaar.
This was more then they had given me in the past at any one time. Now I am busier, happier, and making more money than ever before, and my technique is simple. Sitting in my chair I quietly listen for the phone to ring, answer it in my imagination and hear the orders I desire to create – and they come.”
Now, who is Jesus Christ? Scripture tells you he is the creative power of God and the wisdom of God, and by him all things are made, and without him is not anything made that is made. Tell me, how are you using God’s creative power? How are you using Christ? By thinking someone doesn’t like you? That’s Christ in action! It is he who is causing the other not to like you. And when that seeming other slaps you in the face or spits on you, you may wonder why – but it’s because you did it. There is no power but Christ!
No one can do anything to you unless you first do it to yourself by the use of Christ, God’s creative power, whose name is I am. Paul gave us the foundation from which everything is built and claimed that no other foundation can anyone lay other than Christ, the creative power of God. Then he warns us that there will be those who will come, claiming to have apostolic descent. They will dress themselves in jewels and robes and make you think they are in some holy state, but they are foolish.
There is only one foundation, and that is your own wonderful human imagination, and there is no other. Now, let me tell you of another lady who is here tonight. She said: “Ten days ago I heard from my mother that she believed she was afflicted with the same problem she had experienced a year ago. When I received the letter I sat right down and wrote her saying: ‘The God in me is speaking to the God in you, telling me that you do not have this affliction and that you are perfect.’ I wrote so convincingly that when she received the letter she believed me, and when the tests were made they came out negative. I have never been able to use the word `imagination’ to my family, so I use the word `God’ and they understand.”
May I now quote the 10th chapter of Mathew to her? “He who dares not acknowledge me before men, I will not acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven. He who denies me, I will deny to my Father who is in heaven. For I have come not to bring peace, but a sword to set a man against his Father, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, for the enemies of a man are those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.”
I will urge her, tonight, to tell her family the truth. Even though they fly into space, tell them who Jesus Christ really is. Don’t beat around the bush and leave them sound asleep. This is the conflict. When truth comes into the world, it is in conflict with everything that was formerly believed. The Father is always the new against the old, the Son against the Father. Even though you once considered Christ as human, when he is quickened in you, you will regard him thus no longer and speak out. You will be bold and tell everyone that their human imagination is the only creative power in the world. That God is imagination. He is the Father of all life. Imagining is his son, his creative power, and that is Jesus Christ.
Now, what must you do, to be doing the work of God? Believe in him whom he has sent. And whom did he send? I am! If the evidence comes as it did to these two ladies, what does it matter what the world thinks? Denying the evidence that there was no work, my friend revised the phone conversation. She heard them tell her they liked her work and would have many jobs for her in the future. She believes in him who he has sent, for she now believes in herself!
Our President is a man with a great deal of authority and power, wealth and fame, but if he does not know who he really is, when he departs this period of time he will find himself in a world just like this one. May I tell you: there is no other world until you escape this world of death. This I know from experience. I have sat in a chair with my eyes shut and stepped into a world of people just as solid and real as we are right now – yet I know I am in an entirely different world. When you die you are only dying to this time and space, for you simply step into another time and space to continue your dream.
This you will continue to do as long as you remain as sound asleep as you are now. Possessing the same identity, you will not occupy the same position. You may be in the state of great wealth when you make your exit from this world, to find yourself in the state of one who shines shoes, if that is necessary to awaken you to who Jesus Christ really is. Perhaps while shining shoes you begin to imagine you have so many customers you must hire others to work for you, and as your business grows, you begin to understand how it happened and realise who Jesus Christ really is.
One has to find Christ as his human imagination, and the only God as his I am, operating through his creative power, before he can leave this world. So it is, as you consciously use your imaginative power, you begin to awaken and experience scripture by being born from above and discovering God’s creative power, called David, to be your son. And when you have fulfilled scripture you will vanish from this world, leaving behind all that you have experienced.
So, you either believe in your own wonderful human imagination or you do not, for that is Christ. An event took place 2,000 years ago, but it didn’t take place once, never to take place again. His birth is taking place in the lives of everyone who hears and believes. So what must you do? Believe in him whom he has sent. I did not come into the world to make you think I am a holy man, but to tell you that I have awakened from the dream of life. I have finished the race. I have fought the good fight, and I have kept the faith. It doesn’t really matter when I drop this garment, for this world is over for me. I will tell you of my experiences while I am here, in the hope that you will believe – not in Neville, but in your own wonderful human imagination whom you sent!
Your true name is I am, and your creative power is called Jesus Christ. Because all things are made by your imagination, test yourself and see. Put your powerful imagination to the test. When my friend revised her telephone conversation, she used her powerful imagination to create an even better job for the person who had been hired as the art director. Confirmation came when she received the order for the magazine advertisement, therefore no one was hurt. Knowing exactly what she wanted, she simply assumed she had it, and no one was hurt. Always use your imagination lovingly for yourself and others, for everyone in the world is yourself anyway, as there is nothing but self!
You are predestined to experience everything spoken of in scripture concerning Jesus Christ and then you will know who you really are, but before it happens you can see him if you look through the eyes of Paul. Having been crucified with the creative power of God, Paul was not ashamed of the gospel, for he knew it was the power of salvation if all who heard believed! Now, I know faith is not the easiest thing in the world to develop, but may I appeal to you to not turn back like the rebels under Moses and search for other gods. Do not look for any physical causation, for causation is invisible.
The world is all imagination, as you imagine you are Jesus Christ. Do you believe in your imaginal act? On this level the made reveals the mistakes of the maker. Learn from your mistakes. In a moment of anxiety perhaps you made that which you do not want. Learn from that which you made, where you made your mistake. Don’t deny your harvest. Reap it, then plow and plant again, this time in the moment of joy and thanksgiving. Learn to believe in your own wonderful human imagination. There is nothing in the world but God and his creative power. God needs no intermediary between you and himself because he is buried in you. Learn to trust this creative power in you and then God will reveal himself to you through his son and your drama will be over.
Your father and mother are the visible cause of life, while Jesus Christ is its invisible cause. Fall in love with Christ and learn to trust him with all your might. Believe in this invisible causation in you, for without him was not anything made that was made. God, the only God, is your own wonderful human awareness. Jesus Christ is your power to create that which you are aware of! Having found God and his creative power, believe in him, for everyone who believes will be sent as I am sent. This is truly a very practical night, yet at the same time profoundly spiritual. Every word that I have said is true. Imagination will never fail you if you believe. Be like the lady who changed the telephone conversation to hear what she wanted to hear, even though it was completely opposite.
It is said that Jesus was opposed by Satan. Do you know who is Satan is? The word means “opponent; opposite”. The world, reflecting the opposite of what you want to see, is your opponent, your Satan or the devil. That’s all the word means. “Turn this stone into bread if you think you are the creative power of the universe. Fall off this mountain if you think you are the creative power of the world, for did he not say he would give his angels power to lift you up if you dashed your foot against a stone?” Then, turning from the doubting mind, Satan vanished. Everyone has a Satan. Allow reason to tell you something cannot be done and Satan dwells in that doubting thought. The moment you accept Christ as the reality and creative power of the world, Satan is present, and to that degree Satan is taking advantage of salvation.
Having imagined what you want in the world, if doubt appears in thought or personified by another, say to yourself: “Get thee behind me Satan (get out of my sight) – I will have nothing to do with you.”
My friend said that after she heard the good news from her mother, she went into the kitchen, and as she was making herself a cup of coffee she heard my voice say: “That’s the spirit” and almost dropped the coffee. That’s exactly what Paul in me speaks to her, for I am all over now. I am no longer confined to the platform, but I am speaking every night to everyone who has heard and believed. Awake, I am now one with the Risen Christ, wearing the body of God.
There is only one body. Everyone who awakes is incorporated into that universal body to know you are it. And while your physical body sleeps, you will be all over the world. Your voice will be heard and you will be seen. That is the being you become after you have awakened from the dream of life. Tonight I urge you all to use the word imagination, for I have come to set this new idea against the old. Although people may rebel, when you get the results you want, it doesn’t matter how they object. The term to be used now is your own wonderful human imagination!
Now let us go into the silence.
In this lecture Neville Goddard reconceives Paul as a symbolic state of consciousness rather than a mere apostle, using him to illustrate how scriptural figures embody psychological and spiritual principles. By asserting that Paul, like Moses or Abraham, represents a state of awareness, Neville encourages listeners to shift focus from outer historicity to inner experience. This exegesis invites a radically allegorical reading of the Bible, where every character and event symbolizes dynamics within the self.
A central theme is the distinction between physical causation and invisible causation. Neville argues that fathers and mothers are visible causes of our birth, but the invisible cause—our imagination—must be loved more profoundly. He identifies the divine Father as the I AM within and Christ as the creative power of imagination. Quotations from Matthew and Paul serve to underscore that true obedience to scriptural law lies in realizing and enacting one’s own divine identity.
Neville’s use of everyday examples demonstrates the Law of Assumption in practice. The freelance designer who imagines a positive phone call and then receives a real contract, or the daughter who heals her mother through written affirmations, are presented as proof that imaginal acts produce tangible results. These anecdotes function as both demonstration and encouragement, reinforcing the principle that all experience is self-created and that no mediator is required between the individual and the divine.
Esoterically, the lecture offers a blueprint for inner awakening: by consciously employing imagination and releasing attachment to physical causation, one can ‘die’ to the old world and ‘rise’ in a higher state of consciousness. Neville describes this process as stepping into a new time-space, where awareness of oneself as the I AM and one’s own imagination as Christ culminates in liberation from the dream of life. The final invitation is to test the imagination through faith, thanksgiving, and the refusal of doubt, thereby incarnating the risen Christ within.
Stylistically, Neville blends scriptural exegesis, metaphoric language, and direct application to everyday life, striking a balance between mysticism and practicality. His pedagogical method relies on vivid imagery, personal testimony, and rhetorical questions that engage listeners in self-inquiry. The lecture exemplifies Neville’s broader teaching: that spiritual truth is not an external doctrine but a living reality to be experienced and verified through the power of imagination.
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