In this lecture Neville Goddard examines the question “Where are you staying?” as a metaphor for the physical, psychological, and spiritual levels of human experience. He likens the human imagination to the Ark of God, built on three decks—physical, psychological, and spiritual—and shows that our dominant state of consciousness determines our psychological dwelling. Neville explains that Jesus Christ represents the climax of the soul’s journey through these states, and he shares a confirming anecdote of an eight-year-old girl who dreamt of meeting the Christ in various forms. He emphasizes that all individuals are one being dreaming the world and that the external reality reshapes itself according to our dominant assumptions. Finally, he outlines the process of spiritual awakening: confession of Christ within, union with the divine, and the responsible use of the creative power of imagination under the governing principle of love.
Man is the Ark of God. And like the Ark ALL things exist in the human imagination, which is the reality of man. Man’s true being is his own wonderful human imagination. ALL things exist in the human imagination. When we are told the Ark is built on 3 levels. The lower, the second and the third deck. Physical, the psychological and the spiritual. Where you live physically- that’s easy to discover; whether you tell it to me or not, I could easily find out where you live. Where you live psychologically is more difficult. But I’ll tell you where you live psychologically. That state of consciousness where you most often return constitutes your psychological dwelling. You may live in a palace physically and dwell in a cesspool psychologically.
Well, that state of consciousness- you may have a fortune- and night after night you are afraid of losing it. That’s where you live, in the state of fear. You may have nothing and yet live night after night in the state of opulence. That’s where you live psychologically. But I’ll tell you- you and I live spiritually in the same place. We live as one man; contracting our infinite senses we behold multiple. Or expanding- we behold one. As one man, ALL- the universal man. And that one Man we call Jesus. The Christ. And he in us, and we in him- live in perfect harmony in Eden. The land of light. You may not know it, but you never left it! You never left the land of light- that perfect harmony.
And yet here in this fragmented world we seem to be in conflict with each other. Here we are all of us fighting one against the other and yet we are the one man. And that one man we call in scripture Jesus- The Christ. I tell you this because I know it! I am not speculating, I am not theorizing, I am telling you what I know from experience. You and I are more one than the fingers of your body. We are truly one being. There is only one being in the world; call it Jesus The Christ, call it God, call it any name that suits you. That oneness, that’s what we are. When the poet said, “hold fast with both hands to that royal love which alone as we know certain restores fragmentation into true being”. You hold to that with all your might for in the end you will discover that you and I are one.
Without loss of identity we are one. Now I assure you how I know it. The story, as told in the gospel, is the everlastingly true story but not as the world sees it. We have mistaken the eternal states of consciousness for persons. And there are only personifications, and we have taken the personification for the person. The spiritual states of the soul are all eternal, distinguished between the man and his present state. We are the plural passing through states from the beginning to the end. The climax of the states is called in scripture Jesus Christ.
Learn to distinguish between the Man, the plural, moving through states and the state he is in at that present moment. For he is passing through these states in the form of a dream. He is dreaming the world. You and I must dream the dream of life. And it seems so solidly real and so completely independent of our perception of it, yet the whole is a dream. And we are through these states. The states are permanent. But we are the plural passing through the states. Now when I closed a month ago on the 11th day of December I told a story of a little girl. A few of you were present, not all of you, so for the benefit of you who were not present let me state it again.
She was then only 8 years old; she has recently had a birthday and undoubtedly, she is now 9, but she was then 8 when she wrote me this little letter. And she said in her letter to me if I can quote it correctly this is her letter, she said, “Dear Neville, guess what, you were in my dreams again. You took me on an airplane to France. And when we got off the airplane at the airport all the people yelled, ‘Neville, O Neville is here to see the King again’, and then when we got to the town they yelled the same thing. And I was frightened, and so I held your hand as tight as I could. And then you took me to this huge hall, and at the end of this hall there was a throne, and the throne reached to the ceiling.
And the whole thing was covered with red velvet, and seated on the throne was the King, and he wore a crown and a red cape. And do you know what? He was you! So I looked back at you to see the resemblance; and do you know what? You began to fade; and when you faded the King said to me, ‘Come, come closer’. So I went to the King and I held this hand as tight as I held yours. But of course he was you! And do you know what? He faded too. But then I got home safely and that’s how the dream ended.” Then she signed her name Maylo, Maylo McAssey.
Her mother was not here that night, but her grandmother was. So when she returned home, she called her daughter and said, “Neville told Maylo’s dream tonight”. And the mother was so overcome her mother could not resist the impulse to go to the bedroom and wake Maylo, which she did. She went to her room and shook Maylo and Maylo woke out of this deep sleep bewildered and she said, “Neville told your dream tonight, the dream about the king”. And the little girl looked at the wall as though it’s now a monologue and she said, “He has appeared to me 3 times. First as a man, then as the King and now here as Jesus Christ the Lord”. Then she turns and faces her mother and says, “He is the Son of God”.
The mother turned cold, tucked her back into bed, kissed her and said “Goodnight, go to sleep”. Then she said to me in her letter, “I retired to the living room and trembled for over an hour”. That is the confirmation I’ve been waiting for since the experience of Christ awoke within me. It’s the experience that every being in this world which it’s going to happen to and is going to have. There is only God in the world. And everyone in the world will experience the story the story of Jesus Christ and know he is the Lord Jesus Christ and there is no other.
You are told in scripture “Only one person knew he was The Christ until he departed this world”. And that one was called Peter, and now if I said Peter you would think of a man with a beard, an old man, for we have made hundreds of millions of pictures of Peter and they’re all over the walls of those who believe in the historicity of scripture and it is not secular history. But we have made it. There they are on the walls and people pray to. And they cross themselves before these pictures and hope for luck. You are told “In Christ there is no bond, no free, no Greek, no Jew, there is no male nor female.”
We are all one person in Christ. Peter is a state of consciousness. Jesus Christ is a state of consciousness. YOU are the reality moving through all these states, and the climax of all these states is Jesus Christ. We have personified it and then made a picture of it and worshipped the personification not knowing that you yourself are the reality moving through all these states. A little girl 8 years old entered the state. That state of consciousness personified in scripture as Peter, a little girl 8 years old enters it. The act was instantaneous, and she could resist the confession, recorded in scripture concerning Peter’s confession.
For the question is asked “Who do men say that the son of man is?” and they answered, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, others say Jeramiah or one of the prophets.” and then he said, “But who do you say that I am?” and Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the son of the living God” and he said “Blessed are you, son of John” For you did not learn this from mortal man but it was revealed to you by my heavenly father. It is the revelation from the depths of the soul of man, the Father. And here the little child, only 8 years old and she makes the confession, “He’s appeared to me 3 times: first as a man, then as the King and now here as Jesus Christ The Lord. He is the son of God”. Now you may be embarrassed to hear me make that claim from this platform and think “what arrogance, what blasphemy” I wouldn’t care what you think, but I’ll tell you this much- you too are going to have this same experience.
There is nothing but God in this world. In spite of all the horror that’s around us there is NOTHING but God. He conceived the play and he, and he alone, plays all the parts. His name forever and forever is I AM. Before you can say I am unwell you first say I Am- before you say unwell. I am happy, before you said happy- you said I am. That’s his name forever and forever. It’s the root, your essential being, and can’t get away from it. But you are dreaming. You are dreaming the part that you are now playing.
The day will come when you awaken. And when you awaken you will pass through all the experiences described in scripture as the experiences of Jesus Christ. And you will know from the experiences who you are. But your testimony will not be acceptable. For your witness is internal and it cannot be accepted. Scripture is external, so you have the written word in scripture. You know your own experiences parallel everything said in scripture- but can you convince anyone in this world? For we are told that no one can bring witness of himself alone. It is not acceptable- the charge cannot be sustained if only one person appears as witness. If two or more witnesses agree in testimony it is conclusive.
You say I have had these experiences but it’s an internal, and therefore it is not accepted by the world because it is invisible. You have the internal witness and you’re waiting now for the external witness. And the only one who actually saw is recorded in scripture as Peter. How do I know the state, is that the words become her words, a little child! Now the mother does not take down these lectures on tape. The little child is not here at these lectures. She knows nothing of them. The child goes to her little school; her mother is busy; she has 3 children. So it is not that she is teaching the child. She woke her out of her sound sleep and the act is instantaneous when God reveals himself. And the little child can make the confession as told in the 16th chapter, the 16th verse of Matthew. “You are the Christ, the son of the living God”.
Now flesh and blood mortal man has not taught you this. You didn’t learn it from man. It was revealed to you by my heavenly father and blessed are you Simon son of John. Now on this rock I will build my assembly. It’s not on Peter, not on the little girl. It’s on the confession. Now Paul makes that confession, “He who has been waiting for when he departs in the not distant future takes off this mortal garment for the last time then he will appear once more and first to Peter” as told to us in the 15th chapter of the first Corinthians. To Peter first and then to the twelve. It is said the twelve will be all at once, but to the twelve. And then to more than 500 at once.
The 500 you are told were not all in this world. Some had departed this world. Yet he appeared to more than 500- some on this side of the veil, the majority, and some on that side of the veil. But when he takes off the garment for the last time, he is the Father. And the Father is not only above all, but he is through all and in all. Therefore omnipresent. And imminent. And therefore throughout the entire world whether it be visible here in what we call the live world or the invisible world, it’s all the same world. That world is terrestrial just as this is. He will appear at once to his choice, 500 more. Because being omni present he simply unveils himself and the act is instantaneous. And they will know he is the one he claimed himself to be while here. And then he will appear to James. James was his brother who denied that he was the Father of the child. And then to the apostles.
And then last of all as to one untimely born, he appears to Paul. Paul is a state of consciousness. These are all states of consciousness. The last one is to that state called Paul. For in that state you are incorporated into the body of the risen lord. He will ask you to name the greatest thing in the world when you are in that state, and you stand before the risen Lord there is only one being. And you will answer in the words of Paul, “Faith, Hope, and Love. But the greatest of these is Love” At that moment the risen Lord will embrace you. And your bodies will fuse, and you will become one with the spirit of God the Father. One body, one Lord, and Father of all. He who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. There is a union that takes place and not any power in the world can separate you from that moment on. You are then sent into the world to tell the eternal story. And you will tell it as I am telling it and you will tell it from experience. You will not be speculating.
You will not be theorizing trying to setup some workable philosophy of life as all the isms of life based of theory, based off what ought to be in this world- but as it is in eternity. So now you will be sent, and you may think “I am not educated”, “I am not qualified”, “I have no intellectual, social, financial or any other background” You don’t need any background. You will speak with the authority of the one who sent you for you are the very one who sent you! He who sees me sees him who sent me. But you have never seen me.
As you are told the works that he granted me, to accomplish these very works which I am doing, bear witness that the Father has sent me. And the father who sent me himself bears witness to me but his words, his voice you have never heard. His form you have never seen- for had you seen his form you would have seen me. Had you heard his voice you would have heard me. You hear a mortal voice. You see a mortal friend. But you do not see me. If you saw me you would see him, that’s what he’s saying. And the only one who saw was the state of consciousness called Peter. After he departs this world those that I’ve just mentioned in these states they will see the truth of what I am talking about. And you will know that not one person is greater than the other.
We are all one. There is only God in the world. Let no one think for one moment that the wisdom of this world will stake any chance whatsoever in the world without. The wisest of men is like foolishness in the eyes of God. The strength of Man over the power of world will mean nothing. We speak of a nuclear age- that is like a little firecracker. We speak of this enormous power that man has discovered, the nuclear age. Can you compare that to this kind of a power: that you can stop time and everything stands still; and then you change the motivation of the frozen world, and then release the world that you froze and it executes your change command. Do you know any power comparable to that? Freeze the entire world and time stands still and you change the motivations, and then release the frozen world once more; it becomes reanimated all from within you. You don’t do it on the outside, you freeze it and you actually feel it stand still within you.
So I started off by telling you all things exist in the human imagination. One day you will stand still and the whole thing will stand still; and then having changed the motivation you simply release it. And it will move under compulsion believing it wants to do it- even the most horrible thing in the world if that’s what you did. But you will not have this power until you are first, I would say, embraced and incorporated into the body of love. Because with this power not motivated by love what horrible things you could do in this world. You will never possess this power until you’re embraced and incorporated into the body of love. You will stand before infinite love and it is Man. It is the risen Lord. And when you answer in the words of Paul, “Faith, Hope and Love. But the greatest of these is Love”, Love embraces you and Love sends you; You are still weak because you are still wearing the cross; the only cross he ever wore is the human body.
The only cross that Christ ever wore- no wooden cross- he was never crucified on any wooden cross. He was crucified at the birth of the child- that is when Christ is crucified. And he wears it to the very end when he comes into the state called the Birth of Christ. And you are born from your own skull, that’s where you are born- not on the womb of a woman, that’s crucifixion. You are born from the skull, your own skull and you come out of it and memory returns- the whole thing is returning of memory. You never left your immortal home save in your dream. But you had to dream the dream of life as your forefathers did, so must you. And in the end, we are all one. One universal family without loss of identity we are awakened from it all and we are God the Father.
So, where do you live? Well, where you live psychologically is entirely up to you. I repeat, you live in that state of consciousness to which you most often return. You could tonight determine to be, and you name it; want to be wealthy? Alright. It means nothing, it’s a shadow anyway. Put it to this what you want; you want to be secure? What would the feeling be like if you were. You assume that you are and that assumption, may be denied at the moment of the assumption, denied by your sense, denied by reason but if you dare to persist in that assumption it will harden into fact.
And the world will bear witness of that persistent assumption on your part. So that’s where you live psychologically. Tonight you go home, and you may go to a place where 12 people live, and no 2 people of the 12 live in the same psychological place. They could sleep in the same bed and physically they are under the same roof but psychologically they are in different dwelling places. So you can determine where you want to dwell psychologically. You want to be secure, what’s wrong with that? Not a thing wrong with it. You want to be known in this world? Nothing wrong with that. I only tell you it will all vanish and leave not a trace behind it. For you are moving towards the fulfillment of scripture. Hasn’t a thing to with secular history but while you are in the world of Caesar pick out what you want in this world and dwell in it psychologically.
So what would the feeling be like were I the man that I would like to be? Am I that way that I want to be known, well alright don’t ask anyone. Do I really want to be known in this world, well then assume that I am. Do I want to be secure as the world calls security well then assume that I am. And then tonight though I sleep in a house of 15 or more- I dare. as far as they are concerned, they have different selections as to where they are sleeping psychologically. I pick out the place I want to sleep, and I sleep in it. And night after night I return to that state and sleep in it and then the whole vast world reshuffles itself, and then that state where I dwell psychologically externalises itself in my world, and here I am confronted with the fulfillment of my assumption. Though at the moment that I assumed it it had no foundation in fact.
So where do I live psychologically? I alone can answer that. Maybe some psychiatrist, psychologist might in some way detect it by probing and probing. But you know or you should know where you live. That state which you most often return- that’s the place where you are living psychologically. And physically what does it matter. This night, many a miser who has a fortune is living in a horrible state. He is afraid of the loss of this fortune. There are others who, they also have in a peculiar way a sense of loss. You’ve read it in a paper here this last week, the secretary of the state of the state of Illinois. And so at the age of 68- heart attack and he is gone. He left an estate- he never got more than $30,000 a year all his life and he paid taxes and he had to live, and he lived well. But they found stashed away $800,000 cash in shoe boxes and all kinds of things in a locked place. And all the politicians if they can even be embarrassed- which I question, seriously they can be. That is you can embarrass them because if they have any concept, any sensitivity whatsoever, any ethical code to be a good politician you must put in deep storage! I don’t care what they tell us, if you want to be a good politician you take your religion you put it in deep storage while you play your part as politician. And so the worst thing next to being a defeated politician is to be a poor politician, or a broke politician. For he who is a chairman he would not be a broke one. And so he stashed away $800,000 in cash.
And it’s said, “If you cannot get a dinner take a sandwich”. In other words if they cannot or afraid of giving you $1000, take $500. And he went through life that way, well that’s his concept of life. Well, I hope that you aren’t given that way but if you are may I tell you in the end it’s all forgiven. Everything in the world is forgiven because it is only God playing all the parts. This whole vast world will fade leaving not a trace behind it. This is the dream where you live physically, where you are psychologically. But where you are moving to spiritually there are forever. These are the eternal realities and you, the immortal you, you pass through these eternal states. And you go from one to the other and you never turn back; psychologically you may go back- I can be rich one day and poor the next. I can live here one day and there the next. But in the spiritual progress he isn’t going back he is moving towards the climax, and the climax is Jesus Christ. And everyone in the world will awaken as the Lord Jesus Christ and he who awakens will know it. But he cannot present the evidence to satisfy anyone in this world. But he knows he must wait for that one confession. It has to come!
If he thinks as the world thinks that Peter is an old man, then he is waiting and looking in the wrong direction. It’s going to come. Because in Christ there is no male nor female. And there is no bond nor free. It has to come- that confession. And when it comes, he feels himself completely relieved. And he knows that any second then let the mortal garment be taken. And soon after it’s taken it again appears to Peter. First to Peter. And then he appears to the 12, then to more than 500 at once. And then to James. And then to the apostles. And last of all to one untimely born, he appears to Paul. That’s the important state. For that’s the state that when you are in that state you are embraced incorporated and then sent. And he who sees you (physical you), if he could ever see you (higher you) would see the one who sent you. But they do not hear his voice and his form they do not see. So they may think they see you and they know your mortal background, your origin, and they judge you by what they know of your physical origin and they do not see you at all. For you have left it completely as you return to the being that you were before that the world was.
So all the wisdom of the world will vanish as though it is not. There isn’t a morning’s paper that has not in some way punctured the theories of the previous day. Now we are finding more and more galaxies, we thought we had found them all. Now we have just found two more. All within our little sphere as it were. And now tonight it will tell us something else concerning how to live longer. May I tell you; you aren’t going to postpone your exit from this world by one hour. You came in on cue and you are going to depart on cue. And that you can drink all the citrus juice in the world, and that you can have all the vitamin C’s in the world you aren’t going to prolong your little physical garment. You made your entrance on cue like an actor and you’re going to depart on cue while you are playing the part you can play it. I’ve seen dozens of hamlets and no two play the same part identically. So they had their own interpretation of the part. So you will play your part in your own way. But you’re going to leave on time. There is a time to be born, a time to die, a time to laugh and a time to cry.
And all these will come to pass. So you aren’t going to postpone it one moment. I saw a little statement in the paper this past week. This little lady in England. 110 years old, well she said they talk about cigarettes- “I have been smoking them now for 90 odd years, and not a thing is wrong with me”, and of course all the industry sent her carton after carton of cigarettes. So she has so many cigarettes now she’d have to live another 10 years to really consume them. But it hasn’t affected her. Someone else you will think it affects you. Churchill died; he was 90 years old. He always smoked cigars all through the day and night. So they call it by some other name because he was 90. My father never smoked in his life, drank like a fish. A two-bottle man a day, I don’t mean water! Died 85 years old. My mother never drank in her life and she departed at 61. Here is my father this really a two-whiskey bottle drinker. Strong strapping fellow to the very last 6 months of his life then he collapsed. My niece told me the other day; she came out to spend a week with us. Said “You know what granddaddy died of?” I said “He died because his body collapsed. He went on time.” He didn’t know he had TB (tuberculosis). Daddy died of TB at 85. Of all the nonsense in the world. You’ll find anything there. I don’t care what the world will tell, and so they called that the cause of death. He came in on time and departed on time.
A friend came home to dinner last Saturday to night. Said they just came from a funeral. And mentioned this sweet little girl 24 years old with two children and her husband just 28, killed in an accident. 28. And so he was snuffed out riding his motorcycle. A pattern. Same thing happened to her own parents. She never saw her father. He was killed in the second world war. And here these little children she has, they will not remember their father. They know him now, but time will fade their memories and they won’t know him. It’s a pattern.
But may I tell you take hope you are Jesus Christ of scripture! Do you not realise that Jesus Christ is in you? You are asked that question in the last chapter of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. “Test yourselves and see, do you not realise that Jesus Christ is in you?” Well if he is in me, I shall make every effort in this world to find him, who is he. I’ll tell you who he is, he is your own wonderful imagination. That is the immortal man. That is Jesus Christ. And there never was another Jesus Christ. And he is crucified on you. Your own wonderful body of flesh. As Paul tells us in his letter to the Galatians. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not I. Christ lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself. Actually became as I am, crucified on this body, the only cross he ever wore. One day he will awaken in me. And I will know that I am him. And then all the things said of him I will experience.
Yes there is my Peter waiting for me to make the confession. For I know who I am, but I am waiting and that must come. And a little girl enters the state and makes the confession. Yes, he appeared unto me 3 times. First as a man, then as the King. Did he not say my kingdom is not of this world. She saw it in spirit. First the man took her to see the King. And you were the king. You the man faded. And then you know what? The King faded too. And now here he appears to me as Jesus Christ the Lord. He is the son of God. So I tell you I know from my own experience. This is the experience of every child born of woman. Do not despair should you drop dead now. You don’t die, you are restored to life in a world just like this, terrestrial just like this and you will be living in a world just like this with the same problems. And you will be living in a physical, psychological state and a spiritual state. The spiritual state is moving in the direction toward the fulfillment, the climax, which is Jesus Christ. So it doesn’t really matter. And you will one day awaken.
May I tell you I have awakened and I will be waiting for you. I will be waiting for you. Where? Where will you find me? Within you. Because in taking off this garment where can I go? But to the Father. And where is the father. He is not only through all; he is in all. He is omni-present and imminent. And that’s where I am; closer than I could ever be standing on this platform. For here I could be near to you but there I am not near to you, for nearness implies separation.
And I am not near when I leave this garment. I am you. Well, that aspect of your own being that is awakened. And that being is waiting eagerly for the awaking of you. And then we are one. And in the end, we are all one. So we live as one man contracting our infinite senses, we become multitude. Or expanding we behold as one. As one man, all the universal family.
In the first part of the lecture, Goddard introduces the three-level structure of human existence—physical, psychological, and spiritual—using the biblical imagery of the Ark of God. This frames the human imagination as the creative vessel that houses reality itself, and it underscores how our most frequent mental state constitutes our psychological dwelling place. By defining ‘where you live’ psychologically, he challenges listeners to become consciously aware of their habitual assumptions and to deliberately choose their mental environment.
Neville then deepens the discussion by exploring the idea of oneness in Christ as a state of consciousness rather than a historical figure. He argues that the narrative of Jesus is a personification of eternal soul-states, and that each individual passes through these states as in a dream. This metaphysical interpretation upends conventional theology, presenting scriptural events as archetypal stages of inner realization rather than secular history.
The anecdote of the little girl Maylo serves as both illustrative proof and pedagogical tool: her dream-vision confirms that the Christ-state is accessible to anyone, regardless of age or external teaching. Neville uses her instantaneous confession to demonstrate how divine revelation is self-authenticating and cannot be taught by mortal means, reinforcing his theme that spiritual truth is revealed internally through imaginative experience.
Later, Goddard connects the journey of consciousness to the law of assumption: by persisting in a chosen feeling-state, one externalizes that reality in the world. He acknowledges the immense creative power this grants but warns that it must be governed by love, lest imagination produce harm. This builds to the climax of spiritual union, modeled in Pauline theology, where the believer is fully incorporated into divine love and entrusted with the responsible use of imaginative power.
Throughout, Neville weaves together biblical exegesis, psychological insight, and mystical pedagogy to offer a concise roadmap: recognize your current dwelling, assume the desired state, confirm the Christ within, and await the ultimate awakening into oneness. The lecture functions both as a theoretical framework and as a practical guide for inner transformation.
The Bible Through Neville
Neville Bible Sparks
Neville Lecture Series
