Inner Discernment of Proverbs 20:1

Neville's Inner Vision

Wine is a mocker, not merely a cup but a voice of the imagination that pretends pleasure while nudging you from awareness. Strong drink is raging, the wild energy of craving that seems to surge when you forget you are the I AM. In Neville’s terms, God is the I AM—the constant awareness through which all images arise. When you identify with the craving, you mistake a fleeting sensation for reality and give power to an illusion. The wise state does not fight the craving with force; it returns to the sovereign seat of consciousness and watches the scene from the I AM. You imagine a scene where you are led by awareness, not by appetite; you feel the wish fulfilled as already present and let that feeling govern your life. Imagination creates reality, so by choosing to inhabit a steadier inner state, you dissolve the hypnotic spell of wine and its mockery. The shift is not outward but inward: you alter the inner atmosphere, and the outer world follows your new, lucid state.