Neville Goddard on Ecclesiastes 1:3-7 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Ecclesiastes 1 in context

Scripture Focus

3What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?

4One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.

5The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.

6The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.

7All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.

Ecclesiastes 1:3-7

Biblical Context

The passage asks what profit a man has from all his labor under the sun. It points to ongoing cycles—generations, seasons, rivers—that endure while individuals come and go.

Neville's Inner Vision

To Neville's ear, Ecclesiastes speaks not of external histories but of your inner weather. What profit has a man of all his labor under the sun? The sun, wind, and rivers are metaphors for thoughts, feelings, and drift of attention within you. The first verse whispers: your outer world is a yearly procession; your true wealth lies in the steadiness of awareness that witnesses it. The earth endures because your I AM consciousness remains; the sun rises and sets because attention moves from one thought to another; the wind circles through opposite moods and returns to its circuits; rivers pour into the sea, yet the sea remains full only in your inner awareness. When you realize you are the perceiver behind these cycles, you discover that "profit" is the shift from focusing on labor to resting in the knowing of your own unchanging I AM. By assuming a different state of consciousness—feeling it real that you are the unchanging watcher of change—you alter the very conditions the cycles reveal. The outer world then follows the rhythm of your inward clarity.

Practice This Now

Imaginative Act: In a moment of quiet, assume the state 'I AM the unchanging watcher' and feel it settle in your chest; let the sense of permanence be your default state.