From Vanity to Inner Vision

Neville's Inner Vision

Within Ecclesiastes, the Preacher points to vanity by viewing life under the sun—the arena where outcomes and labor seem fleeting. But in Neville's reading, vanity is not a doom imposed by the world; it is a misalignment of consciousness. You are not defined by what your hands produce, but by the I AM that perceives. When you accept that your true aim is an inner state, the signs of labor lose their power to define you; the world simply mirrors your current belief about yourself. The word 'vanity' invites you to examine the focus you give to externals. Replace the automatic assumption that value comes from achievement with the assumption that value is the very awareness that experiences this moment. If you experience lack, you are imagining from lack; if you feel fullness, you are imagining from abundance. The practical discipline is to cultivate the feeling of the state you desire as already yours and to proceed from that inner conviction. The 'profit' of labor, then, emerges not from external praise but from alignment with the I AM that animates all life.