Neville Goddard Decoded: Faith

Part Three

“Faith does not give reality to things that are not seen. It is loyalty to reality that makes things appear. Can I see the facts the world sees and still believe in the unseen state? If I can remain loyal to the unseen state, in some way I will get confirmation of it.” — Neville Goddard, Faith, 1968

What’s the difference between a “fact the world sees” and an “unseen state?” If you’re anything like most people (yes, even people well-versed in manifestation) there’s a very clear distinction between the two. The distinction is so clear to most people, in fact, that it’s almost self-obvious.

The unseen state is imaginative, and the facts of the world are actual. Right? What already happened already happened; I can imagine things happened differently, sure, but that process is imaginal. What’s happening now is actually happening now; I can close my eyes and imagine something different is happening, yes, but that doesn’t change what’s happening in reality. And, finally, what is going to happen is what’s going to happen; I can imagine what’s going to happen, but that imaginal act may or may not align with what actually ends up happening.

I take the time to lay this out because it needs to be addressed. People are quick to parrot Neville’s statement that “consciousness is the only reality,” but the statement isn’t actually worth anything if, on a visceral level, you feel your experience contradicts it. And more than likely, on a visceral level, you feel your experience contradicts it. Like, way more than likely.

99.9% of people who study Neville’s teachings don’t actually believe that consciousness is the only reality — the staunchest adherents to his ideology included. They might really want to believe that it is, but, because they conflate consciousness with “imagination,” their experience screams at them, “There’s a difference between what’s actually happening and what I imagine is happening!”

And there’s good reason for this.

What happens in imagination is not the same as what happens in reality.

Before you scream at me, give me a second to explain myself — and note, I haven’t said that consciousness is not the only reality. All I’ve said is that imagination is not the same as reality. And that’s something that should be incredibly obvious. If there were no difference between what takes place in imagination and what takes place in the world, we wouldn’t differentiate between the two. There wouldn’t need to be two words — imaginal and actual. Everything would just be actual. And if this were the case, you wouldn’t be here reading about manifestation, which is the process of turning the imaginal into the actual. But we’re going to clear up the confusion.

Imagine a blank canvas, on which you sketch a design in pencil. When you’re finished with the drawing, you pick up a paintbrush and add color to your drawing. Are the pencil outline and the painted color the same thing? No, they’re not. Does what you draw with your pencil have any power to control what you paint with the paintbrush? And vice versa: Does the paint have any influence over the pencil? The answer to these questions is also no. You could draw and not paint, or you could paint without drawing. The two things are not co-dependent.

But what would happen if you snapped your fingers and the canvas disappeared? What would happen to the pencil, and to the paint simultaneously?

They’d both disappear too. Why is this the case? Because the canvas is the fundamental reality of both the pencil and the paint. Its existence is a necessary prerequisite of their existence.

And thus it is with consciousness: Consciousness is the canvas on which imaginal acts and actual acts are drawn. If there’s no consciousness, there’s no physical reality. If there’s no consciousness, there’s no imaginal or mental reality. Consciousness is the only reality, but that doesn’t mean imagined experiences and actual experiences are equals.

This brings us back around to Neville, who tells us that “God is your very own human imagination.” We know Neville filtered most of his teachings through references to scripture, so it’s important to address that scripture describes “God” as a trinity: The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. So how is it that these three parts of the same whole “God” apply to our actual experience? Time to go back to our metaphor for the day.

The Father is the artist; The Son is the brushstroke; the Holy Spirit is the artistic inspiration. All three parts are necessary for creation. The artist, his inspiration, and his brushstrokes come together as the art. The art is incomplete without all three parts of the trinity present, and yet, all three parts of the trinity are themselves the art. Without an artist, there can be no art. Without inspiration, the artist can’t be moved to create any art. Without the brushstrokes, there is obviously no art. But, the art is the brushstroke itself, the inspiration itself, and the artist himself.

As it pertains to us, God the Father is the “creator” — the bearded man in the sky, the men and women on the heavenly mountain, the universe, the unknowable energy that keeps the universe, etc. The Father is whatever you think of as the higher power that makes things happen; the Holy Spirit is the drive toward creation; the imaginal and actual happenings that occur are the “Son(s) of God.” Your person — your body/mind — is part of the artwork; part of the Son. Your imagination (the potential for creation that inspires more imaginal and actual happenings) is the Holy Spirit. The unseen hand that actually keeps creation happening — that puts the brush to the canvas, so to speak — is the Father.

Having fun yet? Apologies for getting so metaphysical — but it’s been a while since we went here, and it only felt right. Now I’ll explain the point of all this.

Consciousness is the only reality in the same way that the canvas is the only reality of the artwork; because its existence precedes the creation process. The canvas is the medium on which the Artist, his inspiration, and his actual brush strokes find their expression. This artistic trinity cannot exist without the existence of a canvas — when there’s no medium on which to express art, artists cannot arise, nor can inspiration, nor can art itself.

Without a foundational background of consciousness — the medium that allows for existence to actually exist — there cannot be any creation, there cannot be any potential for creation, and there cannot be any force that makes creation happen.

And that’s all well and good. But what the hell does it have to do with faith? And what does it have to do with the quote we started off with?

I AM. What I call “I” is consciousness — it’s the foundation on which all reality is built. I (as consciousness) am the canvas on which the artist, his inspiration, and his brushstrokes meet to form the art.

I (as consciousness) need not deny the artist’s inspiration solely for it not having appeared in expression yet. I, consciousness, know that the brushstrokes on the canvas have no bearing on the brushstrokes yet to come. I know that imaginal and actual acts are downstream of imagination (the potential for creation) itself and that whatever is on the canvas right now has nothing to do with the artist who will (through his inspiration) make the next mark.

What is faith, then? Faith is knowing what I AM. Faith is knowing that I AM. Faith is knowing that whatever exists in consciousness right now (be it imaginal or actual) has no bearing on what could exist via imagination. Faith is knowing that through imagination all things find their expression, and thus, by harnassing imagination, one can call forth any act, imaginal or actual. Faith, too, is knowing that where there’s smoke there’s fire — if there’s a sketch of a rose on the canvas, the paint that follows will be red (i.e. if consciousness is filled with wonderful imaginings, wonderful happenings are bound to occur). And lastly, faith is knowing so long that there’s a canvas and inspiration, the artist will take care of the rest.

So long as I AM, and the Holy Spirit that is my imagination is, God the Father will find a way to turn inspiration into art; He’ll grace the world with the presence of his son. If you have faith in anything, have faith in that.

As always, good luck.