In this lecture Neville Goddard presents imagination as the foundational creative power behind all phenomena, equating it with the divine presence of Jesus Christ. He illustrates this principle through two real-life examples: a woman who reclaimed her lost luggage by repeatedly imagining its return, and another who transformed a violent dream scenario by assuming loving intentions. He argues that reality is nothing more than the externalization of our inner assumptions and that faith in imagined outcomes determines their manifestation. Goddard further explores the concept of repentance or metanoia as a radical change of mind that reshapes our experiences. Ultimately, he emphasizes that by 'calling with the name' of God—actively embodying the desired state—we exercise sovereign control over our world. The lecture culminates in a call to apply these principles consistently to steer life’s course through conscious imaginal acts.
The secret of imagining is the greatest of all problems, to the solution of which every man should aspire; for supreme power, supreme wisdom, and supreme delight, lie in the solution of this great mystery.” Imagination is the Jesus Christ of scripture, and when you solve the great mystery of imagining, you will have found the cause of the phenomena of life. Imagination is called “Jehovah” in the Old Testament and “Jesus” in the New, but they are one and the same being. Divine Imagination, containing all, reproduces itself in the human imagination; therefore, all things exist in the human imagination. When you solve the problem of imagining, you will have found Jesus Christ, the secret of causation.
Let me share with you two experiences which came to me this past week. The first lady said: “Returning from a wonderful cruise recently, I checked my baggage at La Guardia Airport, bound for Chicago, where I expected to spend a few days with friends. Arriving in Chicago, I discovered that the bag which contained most of my clothes and all of the presents I had bought for my friends and relatives – as well as a locket I had had made from the engagement and wedding band my late husband had given me – was missing. I immediately reported the loss to the airline, but when I arrived in California there was still no trace of it.
” A week later I received a letter saying that the bag could not be located, and my first reaction was to curse the airline for their negligence; but then I remembered that imagining creates reality. I tried to reconstruct the letter, but when I couldn’t feel its words were true, I began to assume that the bag had arrived at the house. I lifted it up on the bed, opened it, put my clothes away, as well as the gifts which were there. I did this every night and during the day, when I would notice my thoughts going astray.
“When the grandchildren would ask about their presents, I told them that they were on their way, as I never admitted to anyone that the bag was lost. How could I, if I believe what I had imagined? Six weeks later I received a letter from the airline saying: `If you do not pick up your bag within five days, you will be charged storage.’ I picked up the bag to find everything there, and put them all away, just as I had imagined doing.” Then the lady added this thought: “Love’s labor is never lost. Everything in that bag was loved, and I knew that if this principle was true, it would prove itself in the testing – and it did.”
I can’t thank her enough for sharing this experience with me, that I, in turn, may share it with you. Everything is created by the human imagination. There is no other God. You can use your imagination wisely and create a heaven here on earth, or use it foolishly and create the world’s havoc; but there is only one power, called the Lord God Jehovah in the Old Testament, and Jesus Christ in the New.
This lady’s first impulse was to curse the person who stupidly lost the bag. Then, remembering what she had heard, she tried to revise the letter. When that didn’t seem natural, she asked herself what she would do if the bag was now in her possession. Assuming it was there, she did everything she would do if it was a physical fact – and six weeks later it was.
That is what I mean by imagining creating reality, for an assumption is faith; and without faith it is impossible to please your own wonderful human imagination. Divine Imagination, containing all, reproduces itself in human imagination; therefore, the human imagination contains all. The world is the human imagination pushed out. Not knowing this, man cheats himself, murders himself, declares war against himself, and does all sorts of evil against himself; but do not let yourself be intimidated by the horror of the world. Leave it alone, for it is only the misuse of the power exercised by sleeping mankind.
Now, another lady shared this experience with me: She found herself in a neighbour’s kitchen, filled with men and women dressed as Mennonites. (You all know what the Mennonite look like. Originating in Zurich, Switzerland in the year 1525, they moved into Germany, France, Belgium, and Holland, to finally arrive in this country in the 17th century. Now numbering around 150,000 to 200,000, they continue to dress and live in the same fashion they did when they arrived here 300 years ago. Here is a fixed belief which has perpetuated itself year after year.)
The neighbour’s second husband had mistreated her, so the Mennonites killed him. Although she tried to tell them that it was wrong to take the life of another, as far as they were concerned it was the right thing to do. He had joined their society and knew their laws, which stated that if a man mistreated a woman, he was to be killed. No matter what argument she used, she could not persuade them that what they had done was wrong.
In the 16th chapter of the Book of Proverbs you will read: “All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but God weighs the heart. God has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.” Believing in an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, they felt no remorse or guilt for their actions, for in their eyes it was perfect.
Suddenly a limousine appeared and men dressed in black and carrying machine guns entered the house. As she watched, the leader, pointing his gun at the lady, ordered the others to search the house. Then the lady awoke, not to find herself on her bed, but standing in the room of her dream. Suddenly realising that she was awake in her dream and the action was taking place within her, she stopped the activity, which allowed her to see anyone as alive and independent of her perception, and they all froze.
(As Blake said, “All that you behold, though it appears without, it is within, in your human imagination of which this world of mortality is but a shadow.”)
Turning to the leader she said: “You don’t want to kill her, you love her and she loves you.” Then turning to the woman she said, “You love him and he loves you.” Allowing them to obey her will, she stood back and watched, as the man put his gun down and – with outstretched arms – moved to embrace the woman. Turning to go into the kitchen and release the animation there, her alarm caused her to awaken to this level of her dream.
This world is just as much a dream as that one, but man is sound asleep and does not know that he is dreaming. No one will sentence a man for dreaming he killed another; rather they will try to analyse it for him, and most of our so-called experts on dreams are past masters of misinterpretation. They do not realise the great mystery surrounding us. I tell you: the whole vast world is the individual dreamer pushed out, and the conflict is within himself, and not on the outside.
This lady’s drama began as something taking place on the outside, and seemingly independent of her perception of it. Then she awoke to an activity within her, which was animating and making alive all that she perceived. Arresting it, everyone became frozen, like statues. She changed their intentions, then watched as they were reanimated once more – but now bewildered, because of the radical change in them which took place in her.
Scripture calls this repentance, or metanoia, which means “a radical change of mind.” When ideas change, so do your intentions and attitude towards life. The story is told, that at his trial, the Risen Christ said to the symbol of the authority of this world: “You have no power over me, were it not given you from above.” This world is a drama which has been set in motion based upon your attitude from above. Functioning from above, this lady is tasting of the power of the age to come.
In the 10th chapter of Luke, the story is told of seventy disciples, who – having been sent out into the world – returned thrilled beyond measure, and said: “Lord, even the demons were subject to us in your name.” Then he said: “I saw Satan fall from heaven. Nevertheless, rejoice not that the spirits are subject to you, but that your names are written in heaven.” I say to her, rejoice not that you have tasted of this power, but rejoice because your name is written in heaven. This is infinitely greater than demonstrating your power in this world.
Now, Luke does not speak of seventy individuals which were sent out, but the numerical value of the Hebrew letter ayin, whose symbolic value is the eye. This is not the outside eye, but the incurrent eye, which sees inward into the world of thought. You have the incurrent eye, nevertheless rejoice – not because the spirit was subject unto you, but because your name is written in heaven. One day when you are called into that assemblage, you will see that there is such a record, and your name is written in heaven.
This may seem stupid to the intelligent mind. That is because they are sound asleep. This Manson boy, now on trial for the murders recently committed by his group, fell into a power of which he is totally unaware. Many who became his slaves were simple people, some cultured. One had attended college for three years.
His power, exercised without love, resulted in a horrible experience; but she exercised her power in love, saying: “You don’t want to kill her. You love her and she loves you.” She released the man from his violent state by the power of love. This world is every bit as much a dream as that world, and you, its dreamer, are God learning to exercise your powerful imagination, in love.
You can take this message on either level. Use it as my friend did, when she would not accept the fact that her luggage was missing, or test your power from above. Scripture claims that: Whatever you desire, if you will believe you already have it, you will.
Refusing to believe her luggage was missing, my friend fulfilled her desire by placing it on the bed, removing its contents, and putting them away. This she did every night for five weeks, and then one day she received a notice saying that if she did not pick up her luggage within five days she would be charged storage!
I can’t thank her enough for sharing this experience with me, that I may share it with you to encourage you to control your human imagination; for if you would steer a true course toward a certain goal in life, you must ever be aware of the end that you are shaping by your imaginal activity, and not allow doubt to enter for one moment. When you know what you want, you must think from your belief in its possession, morning, noon, and night. If you do, no power can stop its appearance, because you are the dreamer of your dream, pushing yourself out, shaping your world by your imaginal activities.
Your own wonderful human imagination is the Jehovah and Jesus of scripture. The words mean: “Jehovah is salvation, or Jehovah saves.” In the 3rd chapter of Exodus, Jehovah revealed his name as I am. You are not John or Mary, but simply I am. In the 4th chapter of the Book of Genesis we are told that when Abel (the 2nd son) was killed, Eve bore Seth, a son to take Abel’s place. Seth then had a son called Enosh, “And from that day on, men began to call upon the name of God.” (Remember, in the lady’s dream the second husband was killed.)
Now, the words “call upon” literally mean “call with.” It is nonsense to say: “In the name of Jesus; in the name of God; or in the name of Jehovah.” If you say: “In the name of Jesus Christ,” you do not feel anything. But when you call with the name, you say: I am unpacking the suitcase. I am hanging the clothes in the closet. I am putting the presents away. I am arresting the activity within and silencing those who stand before me. I am saying: “You love her and she loves you.'” That’s calling with the name of God. And from that moment on, men began to call with the name of God.
If you really believe me, you will prove my words in the testing. The two ladies have proved it and shared their experiences with me. I can’t tell you my thrill when I know that you have heard me to the point of applying my words. One who is the incurrent eyewitness took it into the depth and saw into eternity. The other knows the truth, and believes it on this level of her being. From this level she brought her luggage back with all of its contents in place, while the other went into a deeper level of her being to discover that there was nothing on the outside but herself.
Neville opens by reframing biblical language to present imagination as the divine creative agent. Equating divine imagination with Jesus Christ dissolves the separation between human and cosmic agency. By identifying all phenomena as emanations of the “inward eye,” he invites a radical shift in spiritual perception.
The two anecdotal reports function as empirical demonstrations of his philosophy. The baggage story exemplifies steadfast assumption, illustrating how continuous imagining shapes external circumstances. The dream narrative highlights the fluid boundaries between inner belief and outer reality, revealing imagination’s power to arrest and reanimate experience.
At its core, the lecture posits a monistic metaphysics where the world is the “human imagination pushed out.” This radical idealism challenges conventional notions of external causation and victimhood. The conflict and calamities of history are reframed as self-inflicted misuses of creative power.
From a psychological standpoint, Goddard’s emphasis on metanoia underscores the transformative potential of intentional thought patterns. His notion of 'calling with the name' reframes affirmations as active states of being rather than passive invocations. By grounding spiritual claims in practical exercises, he offers a replicable methodology for personal empowerment.
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