Beware Hypocrisy's Leaven Within

Neville's Inner Vision

Verse 12:1 teaches that the condition that matters is your inner state, not the noise of the multitude. The ‘leaven’ of the Pharisees is not bread, but a mentality: appearances, self-justification, and the habit of saying one thing while conceiving another. In Neville's terms, the crowd and the external show reflect a state of consciousness. The moment you interpret life as an outer event controlling you, you partake of that leaven. Instead, awaken to the I AM within, the unconditioned awareness that births reality. Hypocrisy dies when the inner speech aligns with truth in your heart; when imagination is not playing at pious performances but tender, accurate self-knowledge. Do not seek to change others; recognize you are the perceiver who fashions each scene by your inner state. If you catch yourself in a habitual half-truth, revise it in the imagination: declare you are already pure, transparent, and obedient to your inner God. The real Pharisee is the wandering thought that you are separate from your own divine self. Return to the inner sanctuary where all values are rooted in conscious life.