Mercy From the Publican Within
Luke 18:13 - A Neville Goddard interpretation
Read Luke 18 in context
Scripture Focus
Biblical Context
The publican stands distant, beats his breast, and asks God for mercy, acknowledging his sin rather than claiming righteousness. His posture reveals a turning inward toward mercy rather than outward self-justification.
Neville's Inner Vision
Luke 18:13 calls us to see that true religion is a state of consciousness, not a ritual worn on the outer skin. The publican’s posture—standing afar off, eyes lowered, hand pressed to the breast—speaks of a mind aware of distance from the divine immediacy and willing to turn inward. In this Goddardian reading, mercy begins as an inner recognition: I am the I AM, the awareness that can forgive and be forgiven. When he cries, God be merciful to me a sinner, he does not petition a distant power but awakens the memory that mercy is the very texture of consciousness. The sinner becomes a symbol for mistaken identifications, which you can revise by an act of imagination: claim the truth that you are mercy in expression, that mercy is your natural state, not an external gift contingent on penance. As you dwell in that realization, your life rearranges itself to reflect forgiveness, the sense of separation dissolves, and gratitude replaces judgment. The present moment is the birth of a new self—mercy realized, forgiveness flowing, and heaven opened within.
Practice This Now
Assume the feeling of being merciful now. Close your eyes, say I am mercy itself, and feel forgiveness flowing through you as a present reality.
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