Neville Goddard on Jonah 1:3 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Jonah 1 in context

Scripture Focus

3But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

Jonah 1:3

Biblical Context

Jonah rises to flee from the LORD and goes down to Joppa, boarding a ship toward Tarshish to escape the presence of God.

Neville's Inner Vision

Jonah's flight is not a travel itinerary but a mood of consciousness. The LORD here is the I AM that you are; Tarshish represents a desire to escape the immediate call of your true self. When Jonah descends to Joppa and pays the fare, he yields to fear and to the habit of thinking you are separate from the divine presence. The ship is the stream of thoughts that transports you away from awareness, and the act of paying the fare is the willingness to invest your attention in a story of separation. Your inner task in this moment is not to condemn Jonah but to notice your own stance: am I listening to fear or to the still, small voice within? The law of imagination here reveals that you go away only in consciousness; wherever you are, God is present. By reclaiming your I AM, you can revise this scene, choosing to remain in awareness rather than flee, and observe how obedience to your inner call reshapes your experience from the inside out.

Practice This Now

Practice: settle into a moment of stillness and declare, 'I am in the presence of the LORD now.' Then revise the scene: imagine Jonah staying on deck, and feel the truth of your own unceasing presence shaping reality.