Neville Goddard on Daniel 4:10-16 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Daniel 4 in context

Scripture Focus

10Thus were the visions of mine head in my bed; I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great.

11The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth:

12The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it.

13I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and, behold, a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven;

14He cried aloud, and said thus, Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit: let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches:

15Nevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth:

16Let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him.

Daniel 4:10-16

Biblical Context

Daniel 4:10-16 depicts a mighty tree that sustains all life, then a watcher commands its cutting and pruning, leaving a stump. The scene ends with a humbled heart and a promise of renewal.

Neville's Inner Vision

Viewed through the Neville lens, the vision is not about a tree outside you but about your own state of consciousness growing tall and all‑encompassing. The height reaching heaven and the abundant fruit symbolize beliefs and conditions you have allowed to rule your inner climate, supplying 'meat for all' in your life. The watcher and holy one are my higher faculties—awareness itself—that descend to awaken me to a new order of being. Their cry to Hew down the tree and shake off its leaves is my interior decision to revise the old story, to let go of identifications that keep me fixed in limitation. Yet the stump remains, bound with iron and brass, signifying the enduring I AM that cannot be destroyed but can be temporarily restrained while I learn to live from a new state. The seven times point to a disciplined period of sustained feeling and imagination until the new state becomes my automatic reality. The final clause—Let his heart be changed from man's and let a beast's heart be given unto him—speaks of shifting identification from rational, external measures to the instinctive certainty of the I AM, lived as my daily life.

Practice This Now

Assume the feeling of your wish fulfilled now: I AM consciousness, feeding all life in my world. Revise the old image by seeing the tree diminished to a stump and feeling seven cycles of dew renewing the roots until a fresh shoot of power rises.