EXAMINE YOURSELVES

Neville Lecture #79                              Neville Goddard                                       Date: 11/18/1968

252 Neville Lectures to Change Your World

In the 13th chapter of 2 Corinthians, Paul urged his people to "Examine yourselves to see whether you are holding to your faith. Test yourself! Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you? - unless indeed you fail to meet the test!" Tonight we will discuss this test.

I will start with a true story. One day a nurse and her little eight-year old charge were on the beach watching the waves - the breakers and the beautiful sea gulls - when she said: "It's time to go now." The little boy, gazing over the water, replied: "You see what I see, but you do not see what I see." Together they saw the ocean and the waves but each saw them through their own eyes!

Many years ago my wife, in vision, found herself in a grove of trees. In a clearing straight ahead she saw a podium with people on either side. As she watched, a woman approached the podium, opened and read from a book entitled: The Credence of Faith and the Forgiveness of Sin According to Judaism. Then another woman appeared with a book entitled: The Credence of Faith and the Forgiveness of Sin According to Christianity, from which she read. As my wife heard the words she suddenly realized how much more difficult it was to be a Christian than to be a Jew. Now let me show you the difference.

Benjamin Disraeli, one of the truly great men in the world of Caesar, said: "Christianity is the fulfillment to Judaism." Christianity as practiced today, whether it be called Catholicism, Protestantism, or by any other name, is still Judaism because of its eternal worship. Paul said: "I notice that you observe days, months, weeks, seasons, and years. I am afraid I have labored over you in vain." They all keep their so-called "Holy Days," observe certain functions and dietary rules. Recently the Catholics have relaxed a bit and are now allowing their people to eat meat on Friday, but any observance of a specific day, month, or year is worshiping externally.

Judaism practiced by the Jew, the Mohammedan, or the Christian is an external observation, and all of the Christians practice it. They go to church, take a little wafer and think they are eating the body of Christ. Then they follow this with a little glass of wine and believe that because they are drinking his blood they are now perfect, regardless of what they do during the day. All those who practice this nonsense are part of the faith of Judaism. If the Mohammedan turns toward Mecca in the course of a day, bends and prostrates himself a half-dozen times believing he has fulfilled the law, yet thinking that in the interval he can do anything, or think any kind of thoughts, he is part of the faith of Judaism.

In the Sermon on the Mount we are shown the difference between the two: "You have heard it said of old, 'You shall not commit adultery' but I tell you, any man who looks lustfully on a woman has already committed the act in his heart.'" Here is a movement from the external observation of things, to living psychologically. That's the difference.

My wife said to herself in the vision: "I didn't realize how difficult it was to be a Christian." And Browning began his poem, "Easterday" with these words: "How very hard it is to be a Christian." Undoubtedly Browning had the vision, for he knew that one must live mentally. He knew that man could not imagine what he wanted and expect to get it by going to mass, eating a little piece of cracker, and drinking a little wine. Life is a mental journey, which a true Christian lives psychologically. So Disraeli was right when he said, "Christianity is the fulfillment of Judaism."

In the very first act of God, we are told: "The Spirit of God moved and all things began." Tonight I will try to show you how the Spirit of God moves. God's name forever and ever is I AM, and He is buried in you as your own wonderful I AMness. That I AMness must move to produce any change in your world! If, in the course of a day you continue to see what you saw yesterday, the day before, and the day before that, you have not moved and your world has not changed. But if in the course of a day you move psychologically - like the little boy on the beach - and see what you want to see rather than that which appears as the facts of life, your world will change, for you will be moving psychologically. I am sure the little boy had a dream which was beyond the concept of the nurse to understand.

I remember even now the sound of the ship's horn as it called the captain back to the ship in little Barbados. My father provided food for the ships. Many times he would entertain the captain and chief stewards at our home. We were only a quarter of a mile from the harbor and I can still hear the huge blast as the captain was called back to the ship. I would lie in my bed and the sound would beckon me to imagine the next port and mentally I would go there. Now I understand so clearly. How could I remain in Barbados while dreaming of ports unknown? I could not. I had to take that ship and go. My destination was always America, so at the age of seventeen my father, knowing that if he would not let me go I would run away, allowed me to come to America on one of the ships which had been calling me.

So I say to everyone: the Jew lives in the outer world while the true Christian lives in his imagination, seeing the outer world psychologically. A Christian, desiring to express a state, enters into it as though it were. As he does he is putting into practice the fulfillment of Judaism on this level, for everything is promised to man - but everything!

Could you this night dream of the man (or woman) you would like to be? If you can you must enter into that state by moving, by expressing the creative act psychologically. As Blake said: "If the Spectator would enter into these Images in his Imagination, approaching them on the fiery chariot of his contemplative thought, he would rise from the grave and meet the Lord in the air and be happy." Day after day living in the same state, you are in your grave. If you would enter into the images of your imagination - approach them on the fiery chariot of your contemplative thought - you would rise from your present state to meet the Lord of the new, desired state in the air and be happy, for you would completely change your world. "If it is not now" said Shakespeare, "yet it will come. Readiness is all." You are ready the minute you enter into the thought, feel its reality, and accept the state as fact. And it will come. If it be long in the coming, wait in that feeling of factual acceptance, for I know from personal experience that it will come and will not be late.

Locked in the little island of Barbados with no means of getting out for months and months, I ignored the facts as given me by the travel agent, and like the little boy on the beach, saw what she did not see. When I was told that rather than leaving immediately to arrive in New York City by the first of May, I would be placed on the bottom of a long list of people desiring passage, I did not argue with the lady. Instead I thanked her, hung up the phone, and sitting in my chair I closed my eyes and saw what I wanted to see. In my imagination I walked up the gangplank. Feeling the step under my feet I touched the rail with my hands. I used every one of my five senses, thereby fulfilling Judaism: "Wherever the sole of your foot will tread upon, that I have given unto you." (You will find this statement in the 1st chapter of the Book of Joshua.) He didn't say: "I will give it" but "I have given it unto you."

I took this verse literally, yet psychologically. I couldn't possibly board a ship physically since there was no ship there. But I could walk up the gangplank of a ship that I imagined. I could smell the rawness of the ocean and feel the rail with its salt gathered there. And I could view the little island with a feeling of nostalgia. This I did. I felt the reality of the ship and saw the island as I must see it from the ship. Then I relaxed in that state and in a matter of moments the agent called to say they had received a cancellation in New York City and, in spite of the long list of people waiting in Barbados alone plus all the other islands, she had singled me out. Because our little girl was only three years old at the time, she could sleep with one of us, so they could sell three tickets rather than two. They looked upon it as a commercial venture, yet it was the answer to what I was doing in my imagination, for I - the Spirit of God - had moved.

I had accepted the fact that I was on the ship. I knew it psychologically. That's Christianity. "You have heard it said, 'You must not commit adultery' but I tell you, any man who looks lustfully upon a woman has already committed the act." How? Psychologically. I may restrain the impulse and believe that because I didn't perform the act I kept the law, but no one is justified by law in the presence of God. "Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by hearing with faith?" It is not the law on this level that allows man to transcend this world. The law, operated psychologically, works perfectly on this level, and as I operate it I am preparing the way for the promise to fulfill itself in me, for the promise comes after the law.

It is difficult to be a Christian, I know, for a Christian lives by Jewish law, psychologically. Judaism is the foundation of the world. Every ism that has ever existed, exists today, or will exist in the future, comes from that solid rock called Judaism. But that rock must be turned into water, which is a psychological action. Then the water must be converted into wine through application, as man makes himself ready for the promise - at which time God gives himself to that individual.

I urge you to learn the art of moving. Now, motion can be detected only by a change of position relative to another object. If I moved to the end of this room and everything went with me I would not know that I had moved. Objects must remain permanent relative to my motion so that when I move I can see them differently. This is true not only in space, but in states. Perhaps I want to move relative to my present business position. Blake urges us to enter into the images in our imagination. In other words, I must move. I must penetrate my new image of myself psychologically. If I have been promoted, the people who work in the office now will see me differently. Having moved, I remain there until they all see me fulfilling that state, and there I remain. I have entered the state and germinated it. I, the creative power of the state, have now fertilized it and know that if it is not now it will come; for if I remain aware of my new status those who formerly may have disliked me must see me as I saw myself, and if they have the power to promote me they will. Just as the lady in little Barbados was compelled to place me on the top of her list because I went into that state, walked up the gangplank, felt the reality, and saw a world as I would see it if it were true, so will the outer world be compelled to see me as I see myself.

I am a psychological being. I move from going to church on Sunday morning and eating a little piece of bread and drinking the little glass of wine, to staying at home and moving into states those who attend the churches would like to occupy, but their fears will not permit it. Year after year they light their candles and pray to an unknown God, while nothing happens. They give a fortune to their churches and even buy holy ground for their cemeteries and still nothing happens. As far as I am concerned, any group can cut up my body and use its parts if they like, for I know I am not this little body of flesh and blood, for I have found myself.

Everything in this world means nothing, yet this world will continue to be until man learns to be a Christian and fulfill Judaism. Judaism is the foundation rock which must be turned into water. It is said that when Jacob came into the field he rolled the stone - the literal observation of the outside things of life - away, and from it he drew out the water. This same story is told in a psychological manner as the first miracle performed in the Book of John. When the wedding was complete the stone jar was filled with water from which wine was drawn.

The Spirit of God moves and something happens! If God's name forever and ever is I AM, and if I assume I am here when I go to bed tonight, I will wake up tomorrow morning still here and not a thing will have happened to move me elsewhere. But if tonight I fall asleep assuming I am elsewhere, even though I awake tomorrow to discover I am still here, I know I will move to where I have assumed I am. If it be not now it will come, the readiness is all. Having put myself into the state I desire to express, I will wait physically in this city to find that the phone will ring, a letter will come and things will happen to compel me to go to where I have placed myself mentally.

I have discovered what the words, "The Spirit of the Lord moved" really mean, and I know that each time I, who bear His name, move, the Lord moves. I move into a state and remain there until it seems natural. Resting in that state I produce a corresponding state in my outer world to bear witness to the fact that I can create. The state was created by motion. The Spirit of the Lord moved and as He did, corresponding states were produced in this world.

Man goes to bed and sleeps in the same state night after night, and all through the day he hungers to change his world, but he cannot because he has not yet become a Christian. The hundreds of millions of people who call themselves Christians are not yet Christians because Christianity is but the fulfillment of Judaism. The story is the rock which must be turned into water and then into wine by application. We are told to "Drink no more water, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake." You have heard it, you know it - now apply that knowledge. The minute you do the water has been turned into wine.

I give you water by telling you how the law operates. Now you must turn it into wine by application. You must examine yourself to see whether you are holding to your faith. You must test yourself to see if you believe that Jesus Christ is in you. If Jesus Christ is the creative power of God and he is in you, who can you test but yourself? Desiring to be wedded to a new state, turn the water of desire into the wine of fulfillment through application. Sleep this night in the consciousness of being in the state you want to express. Drink the wine of fulfillment and you have moved and things will happen. Your world will change from what it was because you have moved psychologically.

Now motion can be detected only by a change of position relative to another object. If I move from here to there, while the objects of the room stand still, I know I have moved. The same is true with states. This is how the law works. It is absolute and will not fail, but you are its operant power as it will not operate itself.

This foundation is the first thing presented to man. Solid and the only reality, this foundation stone is Judaism. Christianity is not a new religion, but the fulfillment of that which is as old as the faith of Abraham. But as Browning said: "How difficult it is to be a Christian," and my wife saw the two women reading from the same book, only differently, as she became aware of how difficult it is to be a Christian when she had always thought it was more difficult to be a Jew.

If in the course of a day you hear a story you do not want to hear, and you are a Christian, you hear what you want to hear and not what the others are saying. Like the little boy who didn't see what his nurse saw, even though they were looking at the same scene on the outside. The newspaper tells a story. The television news shows events, but if they are in conflict with what you want to see and hear, don't see and hear them. Be a Christian by seeing and hearing only what you want to see and hear.

We have just had an election. Last Sunday on television, they had a panel of three newsmen who had followed the three candidates. The one who had followed Nixon said: "The one thing that disturbed us all was that Nixon always spoke as though he already was the president." You see, Nixon was not seeking the office, for in his mind's eye he already was the president. While the others appealed for votes, expressing their desire to become president, Nixon spoke as though he were. Living in the state of the presidency he spoke from it.

You can reach the status of a Pope multiplied by any number and still not be a Christian. Claiming yourself to be infallible means nothing. Infallible what? Infallible nonsense. All of these stupid concepts of life haven't a thing to do with Christianity. Christianity is Judaism, the fundamental rock turned into its water form by giving the stories their psychological interpretation. Then turning the water into wine by application, which is the first miracle described in the Book of John. A man did not enter a wedding party, fill stone jars with water and magically turn the water into wine. The story is a great allegory [in] which man must discover its mystery.

Tonight, have a noble dream. Knowing exactly what you want, feel its reality, for it is feeling that moves you into the state. That first grand creative act was committed through feeling. The Spirit of the Lord moved and things began to happen. The Lord's name is I AM. If I am not seeing the same thing I saw prior to the moving, then God moved, for God became me that I may become God. This I know form experience.

During World War II, I was drafted in the army, not for six months or one year but for the duration, and I didn't want any part of it. Knowing exactly what I did want I simply assumed I was in New York City in my own apartment, honorably discharged. So in my imagination I moved two thousand miles from Camp Polk, Louisiana to my apartment on Washington Square in New York City. I looked through the window and saw the Holly Apartments across the street and the sign on the corner reading 6th Avenue. Then I walked through the entire apartment, returned to my bed, and fell asleep there. That night I had a wonderful vision, when my discharge paper appeared before me and a hand scratched out the word "disapproved"' and wrote in the word "'approved," as a voice said: "That which I have done, I have done. Do nothing." Imagining as I did, I had moved, and my motion produced a corresponding external state. Nine days later I was honorably discharged by the same man who had formerly disapproved my application.

When you learn the art of psychological motion and practice it you are a Christian even though you go to the synagogue on Friday night or Saturday morning. Paul was the first grand Christian. He said: "I am of the tribe of Benjamin, of the seed of Abraham." He never once denied that he was a Jew but explained how Christianity fulfilled Judaism, and his namesake Benjamin Disraeli said: "Christianity is but the fulfillment of Judaism." Those who remained could not see it however, and continued observing the story as something that happened on the outside - and it isn't that at all. You can observe things forever and never get off the rock. You must turn the rock into water and the water into wine in order to be free.

This is my story. On this level you cannot hear anything more practical. You don't have to know the right people, have the right education or be at the right place at the right time to fulfill your desire. Onassis did not accumulate his billions through some great intellectual power. He is no Einstein. He either knowingly or unknowingly knew how to dream, and dreaming correctly he has his billions. I hope you don't want a billion. To have enough to live comfortably and enjoy life, but not this sort of nonsense. It is my hope that everyone here would have an intense longing for the fulfillment of the promise, for that is all that really matters.

In the meanwhile you must live in the world of Caesar, so take all that I told you this night. It's the most practical thing I could tell you. This is how you achieve anything you want, I don't care what it is. In the 5th chapter, the second scene of "Hamlet," as he waits for the others to arrive and drink the poison, Hamlet says, "If it be not now, yet it will come, the readiness is all." He knew it had to happen because everything was ready.

So I say to everyone: take what I have told you. It will not fail you, but remember: you are the operant power. It does not operate itself. You have to move from where you are to where you would be. Fall asleep in that awareness and you are ready.

The promise, which is God's gift of himself to you, will come at its own appointed hour. You will be given eyes by one who was sent, that you may see who he really is. No one in this world will know him by words, so he gives you eyes that you may see his true identity. Then one day you, too, will give eyes to others that they may see the true you, and it goes on this way until the end when there is only one body, one Lord, one God and Father of all.

But don't forget what I have told you this night concerning the use of God's law. Examine yourselves to see whether you are holding to the faith. If you believe what I have told you this night, examine yourself in the course of the day. Ask yourself if you are holding to the faith. Test yourself. Did you read the paper and accept the tragedy written there? Did you receive a distressing letter and accept it? Or did you hold to the faith, psychologically? You don't have to accept anything that comes to you from the outside unless it conforms to your desire. Examine yourself! If what you are hearing, seeing and feeling is not to your liking, change it. Learn the art of living psychologically and be a Christian in the true sense of the word by fulfilling Judaism.

Now let us go into the silence.

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