Neville Goddard (October 24, 1966)
Tonight’s subject is “The Primal Wish”. I am so thrilled that you are here tonight. Listen carefully to what I will tell you concerning this primal wish.
In the very first chapter of Genesis, God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” That’s the primal wish. And Shakespeare said, “It has been taught us from the primal state that he which is was wished until he were.” This is tonight’s subject. We are making an image.
Paul tells us in his letter to the Colossians, “Christ, the image of the invisible God” and in his letter to the Corinthians he speaks of Christ as the likeness of God, completing the primal wish. Then Paul goes on to say, “My little children who I am again in labor, until Christ be formed in you.” The image and likeness of God must be formed in you, for God is invisible. You will never know who you are until God’s Son identifies you as his Father, and he can’t identify that which is invisible; he must see his Father’s face. So when the image is formed, in you, God’s only son appears and calls you Father.
Now let me share with you a letter that was given to me a few days ago by a dear friend of mine. Listen carefully, for the dream is filled with symbolism. I’ll bring it out from scripture. This is his dream.
“The war was on and I found myself in a dilapidated farmhouse somewhere in Europe . Through the window I could see a huge cliff covered with mines from which came the bullets of guns. They were shooting at me and I at them. They intended to kill me and I intended to kill them. Then I went into the front room and there, to my surprise, were all of the soldiers of my squadron ready to go out the front door. I mentioned that they would be shot, but they told me that the enemy was gone. Then I said, “My God, did I shoot them all?’
“As they walked through the door they were transformed and fused into a single being who was you, and you led me to the back of the house. Then I saw that the cliff filled with mines had vanished and in its place was an enormous field of wheat being harvested by men and women. There was already a mountain of wheat to my right.
“Then I asked, ‘What are they doing?’ And you replied, ‘They are doing the same thing today that they did this time last year.’ Sensing a lapse of memory I said, ‘How long have I been here?’ and you replied, ‘Two years.’ In this I sensed symbolism, so I asked, ‘Did I learn anything?’ and nodding you said, ‘Yes, you learned how to move’ and disappeared. Then I walked back into the house which had now turned into a palace and I was led to my quarters.”
We are told in the book of Numbers, “God speaks to man through the medium of dreams.” I tell you, you are not here by accident, not one of you, for tonight I will lead you toward the fulfillment of that primal wish, “Let us make man in our image.” I will lead you toward getting dominion over everything in the world, things on the earth, below the earth, under water, below the water, in the heavens and beyond. Infinite power is yours after the image of the invisible God is formed in you, for there is nothing but God.
Now, he had been there two years. Two is conflict; it is energy. The wall of hostility must be turned down between God and his emanation that they may become one, for God cleaves to his emanation, his wife until the sleep of death is past and the wall of hostility has disappeared. The number two is the important thing. It’s not two years of 365 days per year, but conflict, and while it lasted he had enemies, all within him. Then the wall is broken down and he goes to the front room to see all of the soldiers who formed his squadron transform themselves into me. Then I took him to the back of the house.
The 10th chapter of John tells the story of the door. In it he says, “I am the door. Those who come through in any other way are thieves and robbers.” There is no other way, no other door but that which I have told you from experience. Listen carefully to my testimony, for it’s the only way in. My sheep hear my voice and they know me. He knew me when his soldiers were transformed into me. He heard my voice and asked me questions, knowing I could answer them. “I am the door, and I will lead you into an abundant life.” When the conflict is over, I who am speaking to you from within, will call my sheep by name and bring you into a more abundant life.
Now the harvest is on and a mountain of wheat has been harvested. Blake said, “Great things happen when men and mountains meet”, and the only mountain Blake ever climbed was the mountain of his own skull.
What are they doing now? The same thing they did this time last year. It goes on and on forever and ever until the wall is broken down and the division between you and He who is forming you into his image is no more. Having formed you into his image, then his Son can see you, for to look into the face of Christ is to see God, as Christ is the image of the invisible God. God, being invisible, cannot be seen unless his image is formed. And his Son cannot find him unless he has an image, a face and a form. We must make man in our image so we may be seen by our son. Jesus, the invisible God, is forming Christ as his image so that Jesus, who is the Lord God Jehovah, can be seen by his Son. This image is being formed in you.
As my friend walked through the door the shepherd led him to fields ripe with harvest, as well as a mountain of harvested wheat. It took a long, long time to harvest that much, but it was all done in the conflict. He wondered what they were doing, for he knew the war was still on. He could hear the heavy guns in the distance, but they seemed so very far away. Then he asked three questions and the answers were quite simple.
“What are they doing?”
“The same thing they did this time last year.”
Sensing amnesia he said, “How long have I been here?”
“Two years.”
“Have I learned anything?”
“Yes, you have learned how to move.”
The first creative act in the Bible, “God moved upon the face of the water.” We are here to learn now to move from state to state, from a state of conflict to the state of fulfilled desire. God moved and then proclaimed, “Let there be light.” Everything exists, but must be illuminated from within, for I am the light.
Imitate your heavenly Father and learn the art of moving. Learn how to move from a warring state into a state of peace. Then rest in it saying, “Let it be” and watch it come into being. When he asked, “Have I learned anything?” I nodded and said, “Yes, you learned how to move and discipline.” Discipline is simply becoming discriminating. It does not matter what your desire may be; it is only a state. When you learn how to move you can enter any state and say, “Let it be” and the state will become luminous; it will become real in your world.
I can’t tell you my thrill when I received his letter, because I know who I am. I know I have been sent to lead my sheep, and I know them all by name. They know me and will follow no other shepherd as told us in the 10th chapter of John.
In the same letter my friend said, “This morning I dreamed I was lying on my bed as I felt the top of my head. The left side was normal, but the right side was at least one inch higher. Then I remembered that my skull had been split. Calling to my wife I said, “Now I know why I have been feeling this way. I cracked my skull.” As I wondered how long I would be in the hospital, I awoke.” Then he added, “I have never felt more peaceful. It started the moment I felt the cracked skull. It is a peculiar reversal of feeling. Instead of being a three-dimensional sense man, using a fourth dimensional power, I am now identified with a fourth dimensional power using a three-dimensional sense man as an instrument. I know that Blake expressed it more beautifully, but after all it does seem to me that you can’t quite say, “At length for hatching ripe, he cracked his skull.” If you are not familiar with Blake, in his “Gates of Paradise” he says, “At length for hatching ripe, he breaks the shell.” The shell is the skull. But, like the awakened brothers, my friend always finishes his letters in a humorous note.
Whenever the brothers, this infinite body of awakened men, speak to me, they are always humorous. A few weeks ago my publisher suggested taking several of my hard cover books and placing them in a soft cover book. I agreed and decided to write a last chapter to be incorporated into the new book. While dwelling upon it, this night, I was one with the brothers, the Elohim, and they said, quite humorously yet in a very serious manner, “Go write your condensed concentrated paper.” They said it in the same intimate, kidding tone my earthly brothers use when they speak of anything I do. So I finished about six thousand words and called it “Resurrection, A Confession of Faith in Terms of Experience.” In it I, like those who spoke to me, related my own experiences.
Then early this Sunday morning I found myself explaining the word of God, not from a platform, but in a more intimate manner, when I had occasion to look at my watch. It wasn’t on my arm, but on a table. It’s the same watch I am now wearing, for I recognized it, and it registered 4:10. I continued talking for at least an hour and when I looked again the watch still read 4:10. Deciding the watch must have stopped, I went into a deeper sleep and awoke this morning on my bed. In that experience God spoke to me through the medium of dream. And the outstanding thing in that experience was not what I told them, but 4:10.
Now in the Hebrew tongue every letter has a numerical as well as a symbolic value. The fourth letter is “daleth” with a symbolic value of a door. The tenth letter is “Yod” and its symbolic value is the creative hand of God, the hand of the director, the hand of the creator. It is the first letter in the sacred name of YOD HE VAV HE, which is pronounced Jehovah, which is Jesus. In this vision it’s the last watch, it’s 4:10 a.m. The 90th Psalm tells us, “A thousand years in thy sight is as a watch in the night.” There are six watches to a 24-hour day. Starting at 6:00 a.m. a watch runs to ten, then ten to two and two to six, and repeats itself during the night. I knew this was morning because of the atmosphere and the darkness. This was my last watch. It was 4:10, and I had reached the point of being the door and the creative hand of God. It can’t be long delayed before my garment is removed permanently. Then I will join those who now, humorously tell me to “Go write your condensed, concentrated paper.” And I will join that same body who contemplates on death, which is this world.
You are told in the works of Blake, “I behold the visions of my deadly sleep of 6000 years dancing round my skirts like a serpent of precious stones and gold. I know it is myself, O my divine creator and redeemer.” If a thousand years is a watch in the night, and there are six watches in a 24-hour day, a watch is a thousand years. And if this was the first watch of the day it would not be the door, but it’s my last watch, it’s 4:10 in the morning. I am now playing the part of the creative power and wisdom of God, for I must bring those that he gave me into the fold of an abundant life. They will come one by one. Called by name they will be brought into the fold. Brought from a conflict of confusion to a field of golden harvest. All will come through that one door, for there is no other door.
The primal wish, “Let us make man in our image” is simply forming, in man a self-illumination. “My little children in whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you.” It must be formed. And he will remain in labor until everyone that was given him is brought out with the image competed and perfect. Then he will bring them through the door into an abundant life.
The dream of my friend revealed an important fact, that he had learned how to move. If, during conflict, man could only move, the conflict would cease to be. God’s first creative act was to move upon the face of the water and let it be. Knowing that he illuminates and reveals the state in which he has placed himself, God moves upon the face of the water. If, tonight, you have a desire, it can be yours if you learn how to move. Through the years I have been trying to show you how to move, by bringing into your mind’s eye a scene, which would imply that you are where you want to be. If you were already there would you see the world differently? If you wouldn’t, then you have not moved. Motion can be detected only by a change of position relative to another state. If you move at the speed of light and everything moves with you, you haven’t moved. But if you let it be, and move relative to it, then by looking you can see a change in position relative to it and know you have moved.
Start here, in this auditorium. Look at the pictures on the walls, the speaker and the audience around you. Then feel you are moving toward the back of the room and you will see everything at a different angle. Now, your friends know your weaknesses and limitations. You share your fears with them and they share their doubts with you. The desire to move and the movement itself is an inward motion. Using the same frame of reference, move inwardly by seeing them differently, and allowing them to see you, not as they formerly did, but as you would like them to see you. If they are friends they will rejoice, and if they are not they will show envy. Whatever they are relative to you, they will express. They are your fixed frame of reference and confirmation of your motion.
Now, there are infinite states in this world, and man moves from one state to another either consciously or unconsciously. He falls into them knowingly or unknowingly, but regardless, he must reap the fruit of the state into which he has entered. That’s the law.
My friend had a fantastic experience. It began with conflict, but when it was over he walked through the one and only door as his squadron became one man, one he could not see while in conflict. Led to the rear of the house he discovers everything transformed into an infinite field of wheat in harvest because he has formed the image. Now, instead of seeing conflict, he sees only ripe wheat, baked in a golden glow.
He learned how to move and I ask you here, tonight, to do the same. Motion is not difficult, but don’t go from place to place. “Whatever house (state of consciousness) into which you go, there remain until I come.” If you know how to move, and remain faithful to that motion, your world will reflect it and no power in the world can stop it.
You are set free by learning how to move, and you will learn discipline at the same time.
Now let us go into the silence.
Questions & Answers
Question: Does two always mean conflict?
Answer: You are told in scripture, if two different persons agree in testimony it is conclusive. If I want to be healthy I am confessing I am not, so we are in conflict. We must now agree to be one. Assuming health, I hear my relatives and friends tell me they have never seen me looking better. Now the state called health, and I who didn’t feel well, have agreed in testimony. This is true for any state. If I am impoverished and would like to be secure, there is conflict. Assuming wealth I resolve the conflict, for the two states have agreed in testimony, and as I persist it is conclusive. When you enter a state say, “Let there be light.” Let it become luminous so you can see it, that you may manifest it in your world, and it will be so.