Neville Goddard 1953
YOUR SUPREME DOMINION
As you have been told, this morning’s subject is “Your Supreme Dominion”. As a man does not possess it or
he does not know that he possesses it for he certainly is not exercising it. As we read in the very first chapter
of the Book of Genesis, “And God made man in His own image, in the image of God made He him. He made
them male and female, and God blessed them.” And God said unto them, “Be fruitful and multiply and
replenish the earth, and subdue it and have dominion over all the fish of the sea and all the fowls of the air,
and every moving thing that moves upon the earth. And God saw all that He had done, all that He had done,
all that He had made, and they were very good.”
Now, you and I reading the Bible, not knowing it to be a psychological truth and seeing it as historical fact,
we cannot understand the word. But when man knows the Bible is the greatest collection of psychological
truths and was never intended to be seen as history or cosmology, then he gets a glimpse into this great
wonderful book. For man himself is the great psychological earth that must be subdued. In man move all the
passions, all the great emotions symbolized as creeping things and animals. In the deep of man actually live
the invisible states symbolized as fish. In the deep of man actually live all the unnumbered infinite ideas
symbolized as the fowls of the air. It is this man that must be self subdued, for subdue it, then comes the
promise and have dominion over this vast wonderful country that is man. If man does not know that he
himself is the earth spoken of, he thinks he must go out into the world and conquer it. The world reflects the
work done on man. And so when he looks upon this wonderful world round about him, he thinks himself so
little.
The Bible also tells us he calls himself a grasshopper, and referring to himself as a grasshopper, he sees giants
in the land, the giants of industry, the giants of economics, the giants all round about him, and he feels smaller
and smaller because he does not know how to go about actually subduing the earth, which is himself. When
man knows it, he will realize that man as an individual is supreme within the circle of his own consciousness,
for within the circle of his consciousness the entire drama of life is re-enacted over and over again. He has to
start with self and then he will see this outer wonderful world, this visible world, is not what he thinks it to be,
a place of exile from God; it is the living garment of the Father, and although to many of us its discordant
harmony needs some interpretation, to the wise it has a voice and the voice speaks of hidden things behind
the veil hidden things behind the veil of man’s mind, for this whole vast wonderful world is a response to the
arrangement of man’s mind. For when he knows it he will look within for the hidden causes, look into the
deep to see the fish and how they swim and how they are related, for this arrangement of the deep is going to
project itself as circumstances and conditions of life.
And so today, if you haven’t started, today is the time to start to really put into practice this teaching, and
make of this violence a garden of God. It is called Eden and man was placed within it to keep it and to care
it, for the garden of God is man. It is the mind of man. You never find a garden unless a man is present, for
without a man there would be a forest of wilderness. But when a man is placed in it he begins to cut the trees
or the seeds of wrong thinking; he clears the ground and he cultivates the ground, and then plants wisely.
Then you will have dominion, for you will select the seed you will plant, the ideas you will entertain, and you
will cultivate them. Knowing the outer world constantly bears witness of the inner arrangement of mind, you
will only select the things you want to project into the living garment of your Father. For the whole vast world
round about you is a living garment worn by your Father.
So how did he reap? He said He made man in His own image; well, the methods of mental and spiritual
knowledge are entirely different. You and I can know a thing mentally by looking at it from the outside, by
comparing it with other things, by analyzing it, by defining it, by even giving a description of it, but we can
know a thing spiritually only by becoming it. We must be the thing itself if we would know that thing
spiritually. We must be in love if we would know love. We must be God like if we would know what God is.
For God made me, not out of something other than Himself; He made me perfect, so He made me by
becoming me. There was no other way in the world that God could have made me unless He became me. So
God became man that He may know man in the only way that He could know anything, for He knows all
things spiritually and He calls them very good.
So He made me by becoming me, and now I am called upon to go and take care of the earth, and to subdue
it, and take dominion. And I am the earth – I must learn to plant as He planted, and He planted the world by
becoming the world. I must now plant as man, by becoming the man I want to be. So I will itemize all the
things, name them, give a name to everything I want to express as a man, and then know it spiritually by
becoming and I become it as He became me. I identify myself with it and live in that identity and I clothe it in
flesh, I clothe it in fact. Not one thing in the world that is mine can be taken from me save by detachment
from the state where that thing I love has its natural life. If I live in a world of beauty, if I live in a world of
friendship, of comfort and all the lovely things that men enjoy, no power in the world can take one of them
from me save I, who live among them, detach myself from the state where these lovely things have their
natural life. When you and I know it, we begin to cultivate the earth, we actually weed the mind of all negative
states, all unlovely emotions, and we bring into subjection not the outer but the inner, and then the outer
reflects that cultivation on self.
Now, how is it done? You are told in the first book of the Bible how it’s done. For the promise is to the man
who does it and the promise is a complete expansion beyond his wildest dreams of the state he plants. The
one who first did it was called Jacob; well, I am Jacob. You are Jacob if you start to plant; every man is the
potential Jacob, and Jacob did it by righteousness. As you are told, he did it through righteousness and he
multiplied exceedingly, so that he increased a thousand fold his flocks, his cattle; he increased and grew
beyond the measure of man in having all the maid servants and men servants and the camels. And this is what
he said, “My righteousness shall speak for me in time to come.”
Righteousness is right consciousness. The only right consciousness is the consciousness of already being the
man you want to be, for that attaches you with an invisible state. You can’t see it yet but you become
attached to the state that you dare to assume you are, and you go fishing in the deep, you are beginning now
to subdue the deep. You enter a state through the medium of feeling , through feeling that you are already
what you want to be. And that is how you grow exceedingly great in your world, for you will be the Jacob
expanding in your world.
The next one we come upon is Job. Here in the midst of all the trials and tribulations of a man, Job says, “I
will hold fast to my righteousness and then my heart shall never judge me harshly as long as I live.” He will
hold fast to righteousness in the midst of storm, in the midst of all the problems of the world he will assume
that he is free and hold fast to that right consciousness knowing that not in eternity could his heart ever judge
him harshly.
Then we are told, “The meek of the earth seek righteousness and it is to the meek of the earth that the earth is
given. As you are told the meek shall inherit the earth. You might have been taught to believe it meant the
beaten man, the man who falls and grovels like the grasshopper; it doesn’t. The word “meek” if translated
actually means to be tamed as a wild animal is tamed. To the man who tames the mind, the man who tames
his being that he can set it any task and have it execute that task, that man is meek and the meek inherit the
earth. And the meek always seek righteousness, so if I today began to subdue this earth, I must make
righteousness my watchword, and so if I were righteous I would now single out the nature of the trees I
would plant, the nature of the flowers I would plant, the nature of the animals I would cultivate, the nature of
the fish that I would catch, and I would name them as desirable states, called in the Bible beauty instead of
ashes, called in the Bible the spirit of joy instead of mourning, called by all these lovely things. As you are
told, all the things that are good, dwell on these things. To every good thing, for He called it very good. Every
thing that I would call the good, which is a righteous judgment, will be the right judgment. I, in spite of the
evidence of my senses that would deny it, in spite of reason that would tell me that it was impossible of
realization, having discovered that I am the one planting my garden, that this is the only garden to cultivate,
that this is the only earth to subdue, I would start now and boldly assume the good, first for myself – always
start with Jerusalem- then go into the world and preach the goodness by knowing the goodness.
When you meet someone, regardless of what the appearance would reveal, know the truth for that one and
set him free. Know that knowing as he ought to be known first by himself, but if he hasn’t known it as true of
himself, you at least know it for him. And though you never meet him in the flesh again keep on knowing the
truth that sets man free by knowing he is already free, and you are cultivating your garden. You are bringing it
into subjection, you are subduing it and then you shall have dominion. So you are supreme in your world if
you only know the world that you really are; so man is the psychological earth on which this wonderful whirl
of events takes place. Man is the psychological earth on which all the animals move; every emotion is
symbolized as the animal. Every fowl of the air is truly the idea you entertain. Every fish of the deep is the
invisible state that you could catch if you only knew how to cast your net on the right side. For you fish all
night and catch nothing, but then comes one who knows, who is righteous, and he casts it on the right side,
always that right side, and the right side is righteousness or right consciousness. And I will catch it; I may not
see them, I don’t have to see them. I don’t have to wait for the evidence of my senses to confirm, for I am
told, “And faith was accounted unto him for righteousness.” So I will have faith in the reality of the deep; I will
have faith in the reality of invisible states. So it’s now invisible, I know it, it’s a fish, but I have faith in the
existence and the reality of the invisible state I want to externalize, knowing I can externalize it, for every time
I externalize it I add to this wonderful garment of my Father, and that is my job, my duty.
So here, everyone of us, begin to believe that you are the only earth spoken of in the Bible. You are the one
chosen to live in the center of the garden, but make it a garden, for the words are, “Keep it, keep it and plant
it well”. You have dominion over every idea in your mind. You say you haven’t. Well, some may be to you
disturbing, but you do have the choice of rejecting it or accepting it.
If you accept it, you identify with it and the state with which you are identified must, by the very law of your
being, objectify itself within your world, that you may see by it how you plant that garden. Now, don’t wait
one second beyond the time that you observe weeds instead of flowers. Start right at the moment of
observation, and start to replant the garden. Start really to subdue it. Become the meek and the meek is the
bold. The meek is the bold of heart who does not ask assistance. He walks knowing he can do it. He can
fish. He can actually bring into subjection every bird of the air, every idea of the mind. He will begin to know
these things spiritually. He will know them in the only way that you and I should know anything, by becoming
it, not to have a world of information concerning objective things, and knowing these things only mentally. I
must learn to know things spiritually; I must learn to know what love is spiritually by being in love. I must learn
to know what security is spiritually be becoming conscious of already being secure. I must learn to know
what health is by becoming conscious of already being healthy, and sustain these states in the name of
righteousness, knowing that my righteousness shall answer for me in time to come.
Make me no promise for when the father-in-law said to Jacob, “What promise should I make you? ” “Just tell
me that the offspring born in a certain manner shall be mine and no other promise, and no wages and no
salary, all the spotted ones are mine. There isn’t a spotted one among the parents but every offspring that is
spotted.. though the parents are not, that is mine. That’s my wage and my righteousness shall know it for me
in time to come.” And he begins to assume that his world is peopled with the spotted calves, and everyone
born that was healthy was born spotted. And he increased beyond the wildest dream of a man.
Well, become that man, and start from the simple beginning as he started. There wasn’t one thing in the world
to encourage him that one calf could ever be born from parents that were not spotted and be a spotted calf.
Yet he knew and he assumed that they had given birth to such things in numbers, they would come and they
came a thousand fold. So in your case, maybe it’s business, maybe the doctors have given you a final, final
verdict and it’s fatal. Well, I say in spite of this, and the doctor in his own way is doing his best, he would not
have said it to hurt you or to frighten you. He firmly believed it, but you have another law and your law is that
you can assume, in spite of that verdict, that you are well. And then, though tomorrow and the next day the
tree doesn’t appear, know that in time your righteousness shall speak for you, and like Job in the midst of all
the storms, when he should have gone to the grave, he held fast to the consciousness of already being what
he wanted to be, that his heart may not in time speak harshly against him. Well, it didn’t – you know the story.
And so, all through we are told, “Break off the sins, break off missing marks by righteousness. Blessed are
they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”
Now you are told, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all things shall be added unto
you.”Well, the kingdom of God is within you. You have been told that a number of times. The Bible affirms it
over and over – “The Kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven are within you.” They aren’t without. You
see them seemingly without; that is the response to the within-ness where they are. Now, seek it and His
righteousness. So assume within the mood that would be yours were you already the man that you want to
be. Sustain that mood, occupy it as often as you can, and see how that righteousness shall draw things unto
itself, and the things it draws are always in harmony with its nature. It never draws anything foreign to itself. If
I assume that I am the man I want to be, I cannot then encounter events that are in conflict with my
assumption. For my world mirrors the being I am.
So, here, today when you return read the whole chapter. It’s beautiful. But I started with the 27th verse, “And
God made man in his own image, in the image of God made He him. Male and female made He them.” Then
comes what is to be done. Then comes the promise if you do it. Then comes the judgment, “It is good and
very good.” So you start knowing that you are the earth on which you now start to labor. If you do it, you
shall be fruitful, and you will multiply, and you actually replenish this world, though it seemingly is barren you
replenish it, if you subdue it. And the earth is self to be subdued, not by beating self as some people have
misunderstood, not by isolating the self in some little secluded spot, not by running away from life, but in the
midst of life is the opportunity to become meek: to take the violence that is man, it is individual man, and then
bring it into the state of the meek, to transcend the violence by not fighting against conditions; know that
conditions can only reflect what is within the one who observes that condition. So don’t rage against it; leave
it just as it is. If conditions remain the same, that is a sure, sure sign that you have not been faithful to
righteousness.
Had you been faithful to the consciousness of already being the man you want to be, conditions would have
to change in harmony with that righteousness. So don’t rage against it; leave it as it is, and start today to take
this wonderful earth, which is the foot stool of the Lord, which really is the mind of man, and start really to
work upon it. Then you will not turn from left to right; you will keep the narrow path. You will go out
knowing you can do it.
I know from experience it will not take long to see shoots appear; it will not take long to see the flowers
appear. They will all appear, if you will take yourself in hand and by an uncritical observation of self watch the
being you are; see the condition of the earth as it is now by the uncritical observation of your reactions to life.
When you see who you are that is showing you the state of the earth as it is now. Don’t condemn it, just start
to subdue it, and know that you do have dominion over all the fish of the sea, the fowls of the air, and all the
animals that move upon the earth. Knowing them to be the moods of thought, the desires, the passions that
move in you, start to entertain only the good and the very good.
Dwell upon them and you will re-people your earth for you are supreme within the circle of your own
consciousness. Now you may say it’s a very little one; may I tell you that though you have a body and a life of
your own, you are rooted in me, and you end in me, as I am rooted in God and end in God.
So every man can say the same thing no matter if you look into a world of 2,500,000,000 of them and every
year they slip through the gates into the invisible state relative to this world, but as they come and go every
man in the world is actually rooted in you and ends in you, and you are rooted in the ultimate that we call
God, the Father. So the whole vast (world) is simply centered in you; start now to rearrange it that it may
reflect the beauty that you want to live about and live in in this world. You do it by assuming the best. Always
imagine the best of self; always imagine first with Jerusalem and then go out and radiate what you have given
to self. If you live in that wonderful state yourself, you will only have the good to shower upon others, for you
have one gift that is truly yours to give and that is yourself. You have no other gift. If you are good, you can
give only the good. If you are not – well, whatever you are – that you give.
So the story is you may find today when you observe yourself, by observing your reactions, that it’s not a
very pleasant land but it is still a fertile land; it can be cleared of all these trees of traditional wrong thinking
and can be replanted in harmony with the beauty that you desire. And in the immediate present it will bear
fruit in harmony with the seeds you plant.
So let us go out determined to bring about a better arrangement of our mind that we may produce more
noble garments for our Father to wear. For this wonderful, visible, objective universe is only the living
garment of my Father, it’s not a place of exile, as so many believe, talking about home and their going home,
as though they are not now in the very midst of their Father. When you see me, you see my Father.
Whenever you see me, you see the state of my mind, for you will see the world in which I live and the state of
my mind, that inner arrangement, that’s my Father. When you see me projected, you then call it the Son, and
my world round about me tells me where I am. All these inner states are places in this fabulous psychological
consciousness. Inner state is equal to place and where I stand within myself determines what I see when I
look outside the self. So, when I look out upon the world, that area of my Father’s garment, whether it be
torn by reason of the inner place where I stand or whether it be lovely, I see only the inner arrangement of
myself. I am forever surrounding myself with the true image of myself, and what I am in consciousness that
only can I see. Knowing that, let me be determined today to seek righteousness, or right consciousness, that I
may reap in the immediate present all the lovely things that I desire.
Now in summary, single out some noble aim in life. Having defined it clearly to yourself as a desirable state.
the state you would like to externalize, ask yourself this very simple question, “What would the feeling be like
were it true if I already embodied that noble state?” In response to your question will come a feeling; assume
that feeling; it has reality outside of the present moment. Its being is in complete independence of present
objective fact. It has real structure; it has reality in the deep of it. It came in response to your call when you
said, “What would the feeling be like were it true?” And you named what you were thinking of – if it was
security, if it was health, if it was any state, that fish came from the deep; it’s located and you took the “I” and
placed it in that feeling. You were actually standing upon it though it is invisible. Now remain on it.
If you remain in that state, you are told in the Bible three days, you will be “spewed out on dry land.” “Three”
doesn’t mean three days; “three” means fullness, “three” means complete. So if I will live within that fish for
three days until the whole thing seems natural and seems real, and it has the sensory vividness of reality. I will
then be spewed out as something objective, and something that is commonly called in the Bible “land” or “dry
land.” But it does have reality, as you feel it, only people get away from it because it doesn’t have immediate
objective fact to confirm it. But you ride it for your three days and you will know what it was to enter that fish
and remain in it until fullness was attained, until reality was attained within. In that state you were righteous
and your righteousness will speak for you in time to come. It will not fail you; it cannot fail you.
Neville Goddard, Summa Theologica, Manly P Hall, A Course In Miracles
