Inner Denial in the Fire

Neville's Inner Vision

This scene in John 18:17-18 is not about a man named Peter alone; it is a teaching of the inner self. The damsel at the door asks if he is a disciple, and the ego replies that he is not. The fire on the cold night is the warmth the world provides to a consciousness that doubts itself. Peter's denial is a movement of identity—the sense of separation from the Master claiming him. In Neville's terms, places and crowds are inner dispositions and states of mind; the door marks a threshold of attention, and the coal fire represents the superficial warmth of conformity. The key fact is that Peter stands with the crowd, not in quiet stillness, so his awareness contracts to the outer scene. The remedy is to reverse the assumption: return to the I AM, and revise the scene from the standpoint of one who already knows the truth. In present imagination, dwell in the feeling that the I AM is always aware of both the door and the fire and remains unmoved by them. When you assume this truth and feel it real, the old denial loses power and the inner warmth becomes the presence of God rather than a screen of fear.