Neville Goddard on Ecclesiastes 12:3-6 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Ecclesiastes 12 in context

Scripture Focus

3In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened,

4And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low;

5Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:

6Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.

Ecclesiastes 12:3-6

Biblical Context

The passage describes physical decline—trembling of the house, darkness at the windows, doors shutting—as outer signals of approaching death; it invites inner reflection on how changing conditions reveal the state of consciousness.

Neville's Inner Vision

In this image, the 'house' is your body and the keepers are the faculties of awareness standing watch. When the keepers tremble, the strong men bow, the grinders fall silent, and the windows darken, this is not a calamity in nature but a shift in the inner weather. The outer sounds grow faint because the mind has begun to awaken to a higher level of consciousness—a space where time and decay are only appearances. The almond tree flourishes in the heart when you stop seeking life in the senses and begin seeking life in the I AM that nothing can touch. The grasshopper becomes a burden only when your attention leaves the eternal now; your 'long home' is the direct recognition of your own being, the unassailable presence that forgets nothing. The breaking of cords and bowls speaks of the release from the old stories of limitation. You are not waiting for death; you are inviting a shift in perception, from the world of change to the changeless witness.

Practice This Now

Assume the witness I AM now; revise the scene by feeling, 'I am beyond decay.' Visualize the almond tree blooming in the heart while the body grows quiet, and let awareness remain bright.