Neville 10-19-1969
I AM THE CAUSE
Neville Goddard
According to a rabbical principle, that which is not written in scripture is non-existent. The story of Jesus
Christ follows this principle.
The unknown author of the Book of Luke (like all the others) wrote only of his own experiences. Turning to
his disciplined mind in self contemplation, he is Jesus turning to his disciples and saying: “`Scripture must be
fulfilled in me. All that is written about me must be fulfilled.’ Beginning with Moses and the prophets, and the
psalms he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. And they said to one another,
`Did not our hearts burn while he opened to us the scriptures?’ Then he said to them, `Everything written
about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds
to understand the scriptures.” Luke is speaking of the Christ in you, for any Christ coming from without is a
false Christ, taught by false teachers.
Peter tells us: “Scoffers will come in the last days scoffing and saying, ‘Where is the promise of his coming?
Forever since the fathers fell asleep, all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation.”‘
Certainly they do. Graft, war, dirty politics, poverty – you name it, everything will continue forever in this age;
so do not look for signs of his coming in the outer world, as this age will continue producing poverty, graft,
war, and unlovely things. But when Christ comes it is like a thief in the night. When you least expect it, Christ
awakens within you to reveal yourself to yourself.
“In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has
spoken to us by his Son,” for when the Son appears he reveals God as his Father. Until God’s son reveals
himself in Man, Man searches on the outside to discover how things are made, but he cannot find the Maker.
Our world is God’s handiwork, as told us in the 19th Psalm: “The heavens declare the glory of God and the
firmament shows forth his handiwork.” Our scientists have discovered how to go to the moon, from which
they returned with earth. Then they analyzed it and discovered it to be dead. No matter where man goes he
will discover that everything is dead, for God’s handiwork is here and here alone. But, no matter how much
his handiwork is analyzed, it will not reveal its maker.
Today three of our citizens received the Nobel Prize for their great work in trying to analyze this wonderful
land of ours. They will find many wonderful things about it, but they will never find its maker. He comes only
when the individual finds the Son, for it is God’s Son who reveals his maker. I tell you: the Bible is all about
you. It is your own personal, spiritual biography. Every child born of woman is recorded in the Bible – not as
John Brown or Mary Smith – but as Jesus Christ; for he is the child’s true being, and the Old Testament is a
prophetic blueprint of his life.
When you read the 9th chapter of Isaiah, you may wonder what it is all about, but may I tell you nothing
could be truer. Listen carefully: “To us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon
his shoulder, and his name shall be called `Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of
Peace.” These revelations do not come in the order the prophets recorded them (or some scribe changed);
but the names are true and are revealed in perfect order.
The first name given to you when you fell asleep was “El Shaddai” which means “God Almighty, or Mighty
God”. But one day you will awaken! Now completely individualized, you will feel a vibration so great you will
think you are going to die; but far from dying, the vibration will awaken you from your long, long sleep. You
will awaken within yourself to discover that you have been entombed there for unnumbered centuries. You
may not know how you got there and why, but I’ll tell you: you went voluntarily. No one took your life, you
laid it down yourself.
You have the power to lay it down and the power to lift it up again. You deliberately entered the human skull
and laid yourself down to dream the dream of life. Mystics claim you have been dreaming there for 6000
years. I have had no vision to support such a time interval, but I can say that when it happened to me I felt as
though I had been entombed for unnumbered ages. For a moment I wondered how I got there, and then I
remembered scripture: “He is not dead, but sleepeth, I go to awaken him.” One day you, too, will hear the
voice of the Son of God and awaken from your sleep of death, for when God sends his Son into your heart
crying, “Father,” you will hear it and awaken from your long, self-imposed sleep.
It takes an enormous power for Mighty God to stir himself and awaken to find the symbol of his birth as that
of a child. You may think the child that is born and the son which is given are one and the same, but they are
not. The son appears 139 days later. It is he who reveals you as God, the Maker and creator of it all. Prior
to that moment in time you – like a scientist – look outside of yourself for the cause of all life; but when David
- God’s only begotten son – comes from within and calls you Father, you have found the cause. And when
your son reveals you as the Father, the cause of all life, you will bear the name Everlasting Father.
Now, the third great revelation is that of Wonderful Counselor. And in scripture the Wonderful Counselor is
associated with a serpent. Referred to as the wisest of all of God’s creations, it was the serpent who
suggested eating of the tree of knowledge. And when told he would die, the serpent said; “No, you will not
truly die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing
good and evil.” The Wonderful Counselor did not lie, for believing himself to be you, he experienced death
but did not really die.
Even though we depart this world and seem to die, we don’t. Instead we are restored to life in a world just
like this, to continue our journey for unnumbered centuries.
Now, in the same 3rd chapter of Genesis, the Lord said to the gods: “Behold the man has become like one of
us, knowing good and evil,” just as the serpent said he would. Only by coming down into this world of
experience can you eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and become as the gods. So we see the
3rd title, Wonderful Counselor, has much to do with the serpent. We are told that: “No one ascends into
heaven but he who descended from heaven, the son of man; and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up.”When you read these words they do not make sense, but
when you experience them- and you will – the third title of Wonderful Counselor is conferred upon you.
Your eyes will be opened then, and you will know good and evil from experience. You will know that you
will not die, but will return to the heavenly state from which you – the son of man – descended. And you will
ascend like a fiery serpent.
Now, the serpent of scripture is described in the 6th chapter of the Book of Isaiah as the seraphim which
surround the throne of God. The seraphim is [sic], by definition, a fiery being with human face, human voice,
and human hands. Isaiah gives him six wings: two to cover his face, to cover his feet (which is a euphemism
for his creative organs) and he flies with two; but beyond that, this heavenly being, the wisest of all God’s
creations, is not described. This is your true identity, for you are the gods who came down.
You are not some little amoeba which came out of the mud; you came down from heaven and emptied
yourself of all that you were in order to assume the limitations and weaknesses of the human flesh. You are
not pretending that you are man; you became man by assuming poverty, though you were rich. You assumed
weakness, though you were strong. You – an infinite being – assumed all these things for their experience. The
whole vast world declares your glory, but only here on this little earth is this wonderful work revealed.
Before we came here we were brothers, and one day we will awaken and return to our brotherhood as God
the Father, of which it takes all of the brothers to form.
Now the 4th title, Prince of Peace, is sent in the form of a dove. This does not physically happen to you, and
when it happens you are the only one who knows it. Read the first chapter, the 10th verse of the Gospel of
Mark carefully, and you will see that only the one upon whom the dove descended was aware of it: “When
he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens open and the Spirit descended upon him like a
dove.” You are destined to have this experience as the fourth title, the Prince of Peace, is conferred upon
you. You will bear the four titles, and in so doing you will fulfill scripture. Having foretold it you came down to
fulfill it within yourself.
The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God. He
is God’s word which cannot return to God empty, but must accomplish that which he purposed and prosper
in the thing for which it was sent. You are God’s word which was in the beginning. You were not only with
God, you were God. Then you fragmented into many sons, and it takes all of the sons to form the Father.
You came into this world to experience its horrors, not to change them. Our politicians promise to eliminate
war and poverty, yet admit that they have sold over 13 billion dollars in conventional arms to poverty-ridden
nations, as have the communist world. Our politicians have forced nations who can’t afford to feed
themselves, to buy what we are manufacturing.
Then, with a pious look, ask people to sign papers to stop war. But you can’t stop it. This world was never
intended to be other than what it is: a world of poverty, a world of war, a world of dirty politics, a world of
graft. Just read the papers and you will see what is taking place in high places. You aren’t going to change it;
it will go on and on because the story of Christ is one of redemption. He redeems himself by lifting himself out
of this world in a spiral motion.
This world is based upon a circular principle which repeats itself over and over again, whereas redemption is
based upon a spiral principle. Breaking away from the wheel of recurrence, one moves up in a spiral motion -
like the seraphim – and is redeemed. We are told that: “As the lightening shines from the east to the west so
will the coming of the son of man.”
People are looking for lightening to strike on the outside, but it strikes within. Your head is the Mount of
Olives, and your body is that which is split from east to west. One half moves north as one half moves south,
leaving a great valley. At the base of your spine you will see a pool of golden, liquid, pulsing light which is the
blood of God. Fusing with it, you ascend into your skull like a fiery serpent and your skull reverberates like
thunder.
I am telling you what you are going to experience, whether you can accept it or not and I know that you will
never disprove it. I have awakened you, momentarily, but you may fall back to sleep again and continue your
dream, of which you are its sole author. It’s very easy to be caught up in the reality that you, yourself, are
making, even though what you see may frighten you.
You may have many horrors in your dream and believe what you are seeing is a reality outside of yourself
and beyond your control, but you alone are writing the script. Haven’t you had a dream where you were
scared to death, not knowing you were its cause? The same thing is happening in the waking dream, but man
does not know that this, too, is a dream, until he awakes from it in the manner of which I have told you.
One night as you sleep, something will arouse you and you will awaken to find yourself in your skull. You
know it is your grave, where only the dead are placed; but you know yourself to be very much alive.
Someone must have thought you dead to have placed you there, or you may have entered the place
voluntarily and fell asleep to such depth that others thought you were dead. But when the time was fulfilled
you heard the cry of the son of God which awakened you, and as you come out of that tomb you are born
from above. This is essential, for unless you are born from above you cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Everyone is in this world because he is born from below (from the womb of woman), but while here he must
be born from above (from the skull). That which comes out has no mother, no father, no beginning of days,
or ending of days; for that which is born from the skull is aware of being the Maker of all. You will discover
this great truth only when God’s son stands before you and reveals you to yourself.
This tiny planet appears as only a speck when viewed from outer space, yet it is so important; for only here
can this biological experiment which expands the power of God and the wisdom of God be cradled. Without
this world, God could not grow in wisdom. He would be stagnant if he could not expand beyond what he is.
God is an ever increasing illumination, an ever increasing creative power, an ever increasing wisdom and – by
reason of this one little speck called earth, where he wears these little garments of mortality – God is holding
to the promise he made himself: to awaken within himself and fulfill the play recorded in scripture.
The story of Christ is not what the world is talking about. He isn’t going to change the world. Tomorrow’s
generation may think it will be different, but poverty will exist then as it does now. There will be changes in
passion and eventually they will return to what they were. It’s like a wheel. It’s a circular principle where
nothing changes. The individual changes only when he leaves the wheel in a spiral motion, and that is when he
is redeemed. He returns to the world from which he came, enhanced by reason of his experience of death in
this world called earth.
The principle of the rabbis is true, so let me repeat it:What is not written in scripture is non-existent. The
presidents, kings, and dictators of the world are not recorded in scripture; therefore they are nonexistent.
They are merely parts God is playing as he passes through states. The part of a president, a king, or a
dictator is a state, and when entered it is animated. It seems so real to its occupant and to those who observe
it, but it is only a state.
You can play any part – be it a rich man or a poor man, a beggar or a thief, the known or unknown – once
you know they are only parts, only states of consciousness. But if you don’t know this, and are not willing to
give up your present state, you will remain there, looking at your desire and not from it. You can become
what you would like to be in the twinkle of an eye by the simple act of assumption.
And the day you dare to remain faithful to your assumption, it will begin to externalize itself. And when it does
you may return to sleep, just as you do in your night dreams. Becoming possessed by the dream you created
in your sleep, you observe your own creation; and if it is a noble dream, you can become so puffed up in
your own concept that you forget its creator. Or you can create something ignoble and become so immersed
in it you believe in its reality. Anything can be created by a mere assumption. When I dared to assume I was
the man I wanted to be, I did not discuss it with others; I simply persisted in my assumption and watched it
harden into fact. That persistent act taught me that this world was a dream.
My oldest brother at the age of 18 had no money and no prospects of getting any. But he had a dream. He
dreamed of owning a building which housed the family business. Twice a day, on his way to work and return,
he would stop opposite a building which occupied an entire block at the widest area of the main street, and
there he would imagine seeing the words:Goddard and Sons” on its marquee.
He persisted in this act for two years, when one day a total stranger bought the building for the family, trusting
them to pay him back over a period of ten years. That building, which became the foundation of our family’s
growth, started in my brother’s imagination. Having nothing on the outside to turn to, my brother had the guts
to imagine and believe that his imagination would create his reality. Today I don’t think you could buy the
family out for multiple millions, because their gross business last year exceeded $30 million.
Do as my brother did and discover the depth of God in you. Test your imagination, for there is no other God.
If you test him and discover that it is he who creates all things by producing tangible proof of his reality in
what you did, then no one will be able to persuade you that what happened was a coincidence.
My brother lived by and built his fortune on imagination’s foundation. Of course, having created such a vast
enterprise he may go to sleep and believe his one thousand employees are the cause of his incredible wealth.
We are all inclined to forget that we are the makers of all that is happening, and – forgetting – we blame our
dream. The world is yourself pushed out; but it is so easy to place the blame on an aspect of self rather than
on you, the dream’s maker.
Learn to use your imagination consciously, for it will not fail you on this level or on the higher level. But you
cannot depart this world by changing your thoughts. It will happen in the fullness of time, when the Father in
you who fell asleep begins to stir. Then he awakens you, and when he does, you – Mighty God – will receive
the name and carry the special powers of Everlasting Father, Wonderful Counselor, and Prince of Peace.
And of your reign there shall be no end, for you will know yourself to be the Jesus Christ men worship
outwardly.
The ministers of this world are talking about His coming, trying to interpret signs on the outside. But I tell you,
Jesus does not come at the end of human history, for he comes individually. Tonight one of you could
experience his coming. No one knows but the Father in you. Ever since that Father fell asleep all things have
continued as they were from the beginning of creation. So don’t look for any change on the outside.
When the politicians promise change, don’t argue; smile as you have through the centuries, knowing they
aren’t going to change anything. The world is made up of infinite states which man falls into unwittingly – or
deliberately, as my brother did. He was a poor boy who deliberately moved into the state of wealth. Not
knowing how it was going to come about, he simply persisted in his assumption and it hardened into fact.
Do you like what the mirror reflects back to you and your background tells you? If it is not what you would
like to live with, don’t accept it. Rather, look into the mirror of your mind and assume that you are what you
would like to be. Declaring that you are now it, don’t look away and forget the image reflected there, but
persist in your assumption. Live in that awareness morning, noon and night as though it were true, and no
power can stop you from experiencing its truth.
This is a world of effects, as told us in the Book of James. If you look into the mirror and, seeing yourself,
you turn away and forget what manner of man you look like, you will continue to perpetuate your unlovely
state. But if you look into the minor of your mind and – seeing what you desire to see, continue thinking from
that state, you will see it reflect itself in your world. Then one day you will depart the world and return to the
world from which you descended, for you are the Elohim, the God spoken of in the scriptures.
Do not be afraid to claim your birthright. An outside God never existed; therefore, don’t make little images of
him and stick them on your wall to worship. Is there any cross or image of Jesus Christ in the world that
wasn’t made by a man?
There is no description of a person called Jesus Christ, yet there are unnumbered pictures of him throughout
the Christian world and people bow before that which is made by human hands. Read the 115th Psalm and
see what the psalmist said about any image bowed to as some power that can help or hinder: “They have
mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell.
They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound out of their throat.
Those who make them are like them; so are all who trust in them.” If anyone should say: “Look, there he is,
or here he is,” believe him not; for when the Father of all life appears, you shall know him because you will be
one with him!
The Bible is all about you, and you are here in the final picture to fulfill that which you dictated before you
came down. The prophets you inspired were only organs of revelation. And God’s son, by his very nature
reveals God as his father. So when God’s only begotten son stands before you and reveals you as his father,
are you not God the Father? This I know from personal experience. I am not speculating. I am not theorizing.
I did not hear it from a man, nor was I taught it.
Like Paul, it came through a revelation of the true meaning of Jesus Christ. It’s all in scripture and everyone
will experience it. And when we take off these garments and rise, you and I – as the brothers who have
returned – will be in a state of ecstasy, for we will all have the same son. If your son is my son, and our son is
his son, are we not one father? There aren’t multiple sons – only one. We are all individualized. We will never
lose our individuality, yet we are one in spirit because we have the one son; therefore we are brothers who
collectively form God the Father.
Scripture is based upon the principle that the True Man comes here to fulfill. All that is said about the True
you in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms, must and will be fulfilled. It is my pleasure and my
privilege to open your mind that you may understand scripture. That is all I am here to tell you. But you will
never really understand my words until you experience them, and you will.
There is no aristocracy of privilege in this story. We are all one! One is no better than the other. I have
awakened from the dream of life. Now I only wait for others to awaken. There is nothing I want more than
the awakening of all, because without all, the Father is not complete. So I tell my story over and over until
everyone hears it and sets their hope fully upon this wonderful story that one day must erupt within them.
Now let us go into the silence.
Neville Goddard, Summa Theologica, Manly P Hall, A Course In Miracles
