Together in the Inner Shadow

Neville's Inner Vision

Viewed through the Neville lens, the scene is not a geographical descent but a descent of consciousness. The 'they' and the 'he' are states of mind; the 'hell' is the stark awareness of external conflict when you have chosen allegiance to a central idea or I AM. The phrase 'unto them that be slain with the sword' speaks to fears and apparent losses that attend a determined act of imagination. The ones 'that were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen' represent the faculties of support, loyalty, and protection that accompany your dominant idea even in an alien environment. In consciousness you can feel yourself walking into exile, yet your inner government—the I AM—casts a shadow of safety, a sheltering presence within. The message is that you are not separate from your feared world; you and your companions are one inner state. When you accept that you are already in unity with your larger self, the appearance of exile loses power; it becomes a stage for demonstration of your inner unity. Your imagination, rightly directed, can revise the allegiance, transmute fear into courage, and confirm that Providence guides every step.