Neville Goddard Decoded: The Law, The Promise, And The Link Between them

Part One

Despite Neville Goddard’s teachings evolving over time and his interest clearly skewing from “The Law,” toward “The Promise” as he aged, “The Promise,” has become something of the red-headed step-child of Neville’s content. This makes sense as “The Promise” is less actionable, more impenetrable, and straight-up weird in comparison to “The Law.” I mean, all this talk about being a little version of yourself residing in the skull and then crawling out of it inch-by-inch — what the hell does that have to do with manifestation?

But I don’t think we should be so quick to set aside “The Promise” just by virtue of its being weird. And further, I don’t think we should consider “The Promise” an entirely separate category of teachings from “The Law.” Neville considered them to be intimately connected, and there’s no reason we shouldn’t too. In fact, I think a clearer understanding of “The Promise,” can serve for many as the missing link in their understanding of, and ability to enact successfully, “The Law.”

So let’s get into it. Note that this’ll probably grow into quite an expansive series as there’s just so much to discuss — if things don’t make sense right away, don’t worry about it. Also, while I will steer things in the “practical” direction eventually, there will be quite a bit of explaining to do before we get there — so if you’re looking for clear and simple, “To manifest more effectively do X, Y, and Z,” this series may not be for you. But if you’re really interested in a deeper understanding of Neville’s teachings, you may end up enjoying all this as much as I do.

I want to begin with two quotes:

“Man, the man, can do nothing to save himself. There is not a thing that man as a man can do. It is the God who is buried within man who does it,” (Self Abandonment, June 1, 1970).

“A man — a little man — stands before you, with all the weaknesses, all the limitations of the flesh; but everything that you are heir to I AM. I am still heir to it, in spite of what has happened to me; and yet I tell you it has happened to me, and plead with you not to reject it, but accept it, for the day is not long from now when this little thing [indicating his physical body] must be shed. That which has already happened within me, which is forever, just simply escapes. That is the Imprisoned Splendor waiting — bursting to get out permanently. It gets out night after night on a certain work to be done; but it is waiting for that moment when, for the first time, it takes off this little garment, and the silver cord is snapped and the Imprisoned Splendor set free, that which is within a man. It comes when he is ‘born from above,’” (The Promise Explained, June 26, 1970).

Who is the little man standing before you? Man, the man, who can do nothing to save himself?

To even begin answering this question, I think it serves us to go back in time a bit. By Neville’s own description, the information Abdullah taught him (and the information he’d go on to share with us) came from Kabbalah — a form of Jewish mysticism. There’s also some historical evidence suggesting Abdullah was a Rosicrucian — a disciple of the Rosy Cross — which is another school of esotericism/mysticism.

To best understand “The Promise,” though, we should discuss it through the lens of Christian mysticism.

“‘Where is he who is born king of the Jews?’ Now observe, as regards this birth, where it takes place: "Where is he who is born?" Now I say as I have often said before, that this eternal birth occurs in the soul precisely as it does in eternity, no more and no less, for it is one birth, and this birth occurs in the essence and ground of the soul” (Meister Eckhart, Sermon Two).

“In this birth God streams into the soul in such abundance of light, so flooding the essence and ground of the soul that it runs over and floods into the powers and into the outward man. Thus it befell Paul when on his journey God touched him with His light and spoke to him: a reflection of the light shone outwardly so that his companions saw it surrounding Paul like the blessed (in heaven). The superfluity of light in the ground of the soul wells over into the body which is filled with radiance,” (Meister Eckhart, Sermon Two).

Meister Eckhart is to Christian Mystical teachings what Neville Goddard is to modern New Age teachings. Basically, he’s the go-to guy.

The essence of his teachings was this:

God is Being, and Being is the “ground” of the soul. All things find their existence only by virtue of their being grounded in God. Maybe more simply put: The very condition of “being” — of existing — connects all things directly to God, as God literally is “being.” God is existence itself.

When Eckhart talks about the “birth” of Christ (he who is born King of the Jews), he takes care to note that this birth occurs in the “ground of the soul.”

Another way of saying this is that Christ is born in Being — the exact same place as all other people and things are “born.” And the “soul” can be understood to be the mind, or as Neville often put it, “imagination.”

Okay. I think that’s enough metaphysical discussion for an introductory post. Let’s condense all this seemingly unrelated information and connect it back to manifestation.

In the first quote above, Neville tells us that man, the man, can do nothing to save himself. That God (who is buried in the Man) has all power. Meister Eckhart tells us that when God (Being) streams fully into the soul (Mind), God’s light “overflows” into the “powers” and into the outward man.

The “powers” of which Eckhart speaks can be understood to be the powers of creation — the power of manifestation.

When we “manifest” it appears as if man, the man, is saving himself. It appears as if you, the person (you with all your weakness, all your limitations of the flesh, as Neville says) are exercising some sort of power over creation.

This, though, is just an apparency. From a third-person perspective, it appears as if Paul is radiating light like the blessed in heaven; but he isn’t. God is radiating light through Paul. Paul doesn’t “do” anything here beyond acting as a vessel through which God can express himself. So again, while it might seem like Paul possesses the power to make miracles happen, that power isn’t actually vested in Paul; that power is vested in God.

You don’t manifest. God (being) manifests through your soul (your mind/imagination). You’re just a vessel.

I make a lot of posts where I talk about releasing or letting go of limiting beliefs/feelings. There ends up being confusion about how this applies to manifesting because most other teachings in this space are about embodying the state of your desire fulfilled.

Releasing and feeling the state of your desire fulfilled aren’t different, though. They’re both methods by which we allow God to flow through the soul (mind/imagination) and overflow out into the world (by manifesting in reality). In one case we are active in this process — we visualize, do SATS, etc — because we’re trying to get “in touch” with the flow of creation as it is born in the soul as imagination. In the other, we’re letting go of the obstacles that’ve been blocking the natural flow of God through the imagination and into the world. But again, both methods serve the same purpose; they allow man, the man, to serve as a vessel for creation.

Like I said at the beginning of this post, all this information will get more practical and actionable as the series progresses. We had a lot of background to cover here, and I’m sure I’ve done a pretty terrible job explaining things in a way that is clear and makes sense. Lol.

For the time being, my piece of practical advice will be this:

Think of manifestation as the process by which creation flows through you. Whether you allow this creation to flow by letting go of the things that’ve been blocking it, or by accessing the flow and trying to direct it through yourself more actively, doesn’t really matter. The endpoint is the same. The light is always trying to flow through you — all the things you dream of having and doing are this light. So keep working to let it flow.

As always, good luck.