Inner Joy, Private Bitterness

Neville's Inner Vision

Take this verse as a map of the inner man. The 'heart' is not troubled by outer appearances but moves within the stream of consciousness you accept as real. Bitterness is a stance you have welcomed through memory and image, not a fact imposed from without. When you understand that a 'stranger' cannot meddle with your joy, you are naming joy as an I AM condition—the sovereign atmosphere you maintain in awareness. In Neville’s terms, you are the assumption made visible: your I AM chooses a feeling, and you cultivate it until it becomes the air you breathe. The bitterness you call your own grows from a past image you keep replaying; you revise it by stepping into the living present of your desired state. Do not chase happiness through changing others or events; instead, close your eyes and declare, 'I AM joy now,' and rest there until that feeling is your default. The verse asks you to own sovereignty over your inner weather, and in that ownership, the stranger loses power because nothing but your belief has ever moved your heart.