Neville Goddard on Luke 18:9-13 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Luke 18 in context

Scripture Focus

9And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:

10Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.

11The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.

12I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.

13And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.

Luke 18:9-13

Biblical Context

Two figures stand in the temple: a self-assured Pharisee who counts his merits, and a humble publican who pleads for mercy. The parable teaches that true righteousness arises from inner humility, not outward works.

Neville's Inner Vision

Two inner states contend for attention in the temple of consciousness. The Pharisee embodies a mind convinced of its own separateness, counting merits and judging others; this is separative awareness, imagining God as distant and the self as judge. The Publican speaks from the place where awareness turns inward, naming what is real: God be merciful to me a sinner. In Neville's psychology this is not a ledger of sins but the erasure of the false self by recognizing the I AM as the only true self. When you accept mercy as your natural condition, you revise the sense of self from 'I am not as others' to 'I am the mercy now present as the I AM.' The decisive moment is the shift of attention from external performance to inward recognition that the divine presence dwells within and is unconditional.

Practice This Now

Sit quietly, imagine yourself in the temple of your mind, and release the Pharisee's boasting. Then assume the posture of the Publican, saying, 'God be merciful to me a sinner,' but understand it as, 'I am the mercy within me now' and feel that truth as present reality.