Neville Goddard Lecture, The Lord Our Potter

The Lord Our Potter

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THE LORD, OUR POTTER

In the 64th chapter of the Book of Isaiah we read: “O Lord, thou art our Father; we are the clay. Thou art our potter; we are the work of thy hand.” When you hear the words Lord, Father, and potter, do you think of another? I certainly hope not. The word “Lord” is Jod He Vau He [pron. "Yod Hey Vav Hey"] which is defined as “I AM”. Your own wonderful I AMness is the Lord, your Father. And the word “potter” means “imagination” that which is shaping your world. Imagination is the Lord, the potter, the shaper of your world, molding it into its present form. “God is Man and exists in us and we in Him. The Eternal Body of Man is the Imagination which is God Himself.” (William. Blake) Let me share a story I read in the October 26th magazine section of the New York Times. It was a letter written by one while in prison on an island in the Asian Sea. This gentleman was under house arrest, watched 24-hours a day, and only allowed to go for a short walk before dinner. Every morning at 9:00 and every evening at 6:00 he had to sign in at the police station before returning to his room. Now, these are his words: “I began to imagine the tree in the village of Paula the day after my escape. I watched the man whose job it is to sit in the square and watch me as he drank his coffee. I smelled the fresh baked bread coming from the bakery and heard the cobbler opening his shop, and knew it was now 9:00. At 9:30 I would imagine an official speak to the man seated in the square, look up at my apartment intently as the man told him he had not seen me on my balcony that day. At 10:00 the police would come to investigate and knock down the door.

By 10:30 the news would scatter abroad and all would know that I had escaped. Throughout the day the villagers would pass in their silent way, secretly casting a knowing glance at each other, rejoicing in my freedom. Then I would imagine my friends gathering around their little short-wave radio, hearing the news of my escape. It seemed I felt the greatest thrill when I reached the scene where they all knew that I was free.” At first this was only a day-dream, and then he began to believe in its reality. Oh yes, there were physical means by which he escaped, but they came into being as a result of his imaginal activity. I tell you, to attempt to change the circumstances of your life before you change your imaginal activity relative to it, is to struggle against the very nature of things; for this is a world of imagination, created by God – your reality and all imagination. All things exist in Divine Imagination who is reproducing Himself in you, the human imagination; therefore, all things exist in you.Now, you don’t have to be a prisoner physically to use this law. You could be imprisoned financially, socially, or intellectually. All you need is a keen desire to change. And you can, by doing the same thing this gentlemen did; by imagining the scene that would take place the day after your wedding; the day after you received your promotion; the day after you were financially set free to live graciously. Choose your day-after, and then imagine the scene that would take place. This gentleman started by letting the villagers know of his escape imaginatively. Now, you have friends. They know your present position and the conditions that surround you. If they are not as you would like them to be, let your friends know – not verbally or outwardly – but in your imagination. See them seeing you as they would have to see you, the day after they know things are just as you want them to be.

Then wait in confidence for ways to open that you could not devise. No one knows how or when it will happen, but it will. You will find yourself walking across some bridge of incident that you did not consciously devise, which takes you to your freedom – whatever that end may be. I tell you, “Man is all Imagination and God is Man and exists in us and we in Him. The Eternal Body of Man is the Imagination and that is God Himself.” When this God awakes within you, His birth clothes you with everything said of Him in scripture. It is said that He is the light of the world; that He is love; that He is the power and the wisdom of the universe. May I tell you, when He awakes in you, you will be clothed with power, with wisdom, with light, and with love. And those whose eyes are opened into the inner, eternal world of thought will see you clothed as God. But if the eye is not opened, they will see you only as the little garment that you wear, with all of its weaknesses and limitations. This you will continue to wear until that silver cord which ties you to it, is released. Only then will your heavenly inheritance be fully realized. But at night, while your garment of flesh sleeps here, you are detached, and move into the world of eternity where you are fully conscious of what you are doing. Then a quick series of events will pull you back to this waking surface of the mind, and you will tell your story in the hope that all who hear it will believe you. One day they will believe, for they will have an identical experience. No one can fail, for grace cannot be earned. It is a gift, given to all when God awakens in all, individualized as the one in whom he awakens. This man started by simply imagining what the villagers would do if they knew he was free. Being a general under the leadership of the king, the legitimate ruler of the island of Greece, he was imprisoned when the opposition took over, as were many intelligent, brilliant minds of the day. If they could only see the secret of his story, they too would be set free. Not by the same means I am sure, because God is infinite in his creative power. He has ways and means we know not of. It’s not the story of the means that is important, but the principle; for the means follow the principle.

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