Arise
Neville Goddard, undated
(comments by GlendaA, Feb 2025)
When our great scientist, Dr. Robert Millikan was young and very poor he set a goal for himself. Condensing his dream of greatness and security into a simple statement, he silently repeated the thought over and over again. This he did until the feeling of greatness and security crowded all other thoughts out of his consciousness. These are his words: “I have a lavish, steady, dependable income, consistent with integrity and mutual benefit”
(He repeated the phrase until it was his assumed truth.)
As I have said repeatedly, everything depends upon your attitude towards yourself! That which you will not affirm as true of yourself cannot develop in your life!
(If I cannot believe I am rich, it will never happen.)
Dr. Millikan wrote his dream of greatness and security in the first person, present tense. He did not say, “I will be great,” or “I will be secure,” implying that he was not great and secure. Instead, he made his future dream a present fact by saying, “I have a lavish, steady, dependable income, consistent with integrity and mutual benefit.”
(Wanting is also a desire that is in the future. I use "I have" or even "I had" expressing the past - and "I remember when" expressing the past to remember when I used to be something else - and now I am not.)
If you seek to realize your future dream, it must become a present fact in your mind. You must experience, in imagination, what you would experience in reality if you had achieved your goal, for the soul, imagining itself into a situation, takes on the results of that imaginary act. If it does not, the goal remains unfulfilled.
(I don't think that I am lying to myself and committing a sin. Instead I remember that everything must be created spiritually before it can be created physically. I am imagining it until is created spiritually so that it can manifest in my reality.)
The purpose of this teaching is to stir the highest in you to confidence and self assertion. The command constantly given us in scripture is to arise. If we are to understand the reason for this, we must recognize that the universe, understood internally, is an infinite series of levels, and man is what he is according to where he is in that series.
(Some people get the concept of "levels" but they don't go far enough and have created 3 or 4 levels. There are infinite levels, just as there are infinite "mansions" in my Father's kingdom. I am at a level that possibly millions are at, but I move at my own pace and therefore move "up" a level today and move "down" three levels tomorrow - depending on my attitude and my connection with God.)
As we lift up our consciousness, our world reshapes itself in harmony with the level to which we have risen. One whose prayer has been granted, rises from his prayer a better man. To change your present state you, like Dr. Millikan, must rise to a higher level of consciousness. This rise is accomplished by affirming that you already are what you want to be, and assuming the feeling of your fulfilled desire.
(Today I assume and affirm that I am abundant and my needs are met. That is a level of consciousness that I can believe. Tomorrow I may want something that exceeds my current abundance and therefor I need to adjust my consciousness and believe that my abundance can surround that desire and grow. As I grow my wants, needs and desires change, and so must I.)
The drama of life is a psychological one, brought about by your attitudes rather than by your acts. There is no escape from your present predicament other than a radical psychological transformation. Everything depends upon your attitude towards yourself, as that which you will not affirm as true of yourself, will not develop in your life.
(Time and time again I hear people say "You have a bad attitude." I think that it means I don't have the same attitude that they have, and therefore I am "wrong". But - the only attitude I need to worry about is the one I have about myself. I can fake a happy attitude. I can fake a "business as usual" attitude, but if I don't believe that I am abundant then my God within cannot and will not bless me with abundance.)
The meek men of the gospels are not the proverbial poor, groveling door mats, as a meek man is generally conceived to be, but the Dr. Millikan’s of the world who, while poor and unproven, dare to assume wealth and greatness. These are the men who inherit the earth. Any concept of self less than the best robs you, and the promise is, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
In the original text, the word translated “meek” means “tamed, as a wild animal is tamed.” A tamed mind may be likened to a pruned vine of which it is said, “Behold this vine. I found it a wild tree whose wanton strength had swollen into irregular twigs. But I pruned the plant and it grew temperate in its vain expense of useless leaves, and knotted as you see into these clean, full clusters to repay the hand that wisely wounded it.”
(I am meek means that I have control over my imagination and I do not let it run wild with speculation or worry. I have trained my mind to do as I wish, not to follow someone else's path.)
A meek man is so self-disciplined he sees only the finest and thinks only the best. He is the one who fulfills the statement, “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
(This self-discipline is an ongoing lesson. I am weak and need to bring my mind under control every day. I cannot be lax or negligent. I takes daily reminders that I am working towards a specific goal of abundance or health.)
We rise to a higher level of consciousness, not because we have curbed our passions, but because we have cultivated our virtues. In truth, a meek man is one who is in complete control of his moods. And they are the highest, for he who desires to walk with the highest, must keep a high mood.
(It doesn't matter how much I don't drink or what I don't eat - I matters what I think about and ultimately do with those thoughts. I can "say" that I am kind, but if I think unkind thoughts or act in unkind ways - then i am not kind. I can't fool God because He is within seeing and hearing everything I do. He knows who I am - before I can figure it out sometimes.)
It is my belief that all men can change the course of their lives. I believe that Dr. Millikan’s technique of making his desire a present fact is of great importance. His high purpose was to be of mutual benefit which is, inevitably the goal of us all. It is much easier to imagine the good for all, than to be purely selfish in our imagining. By our imagination we can change our future, and to the man of high purpose, this is a natural measure.
(It is easier for me to imagine good for all than to be selfish - but sometimes I am selfish. But the more times I repent and change my attitude, the more times I will succeed. I do not think that I am beyond "saving". I think that every moment I make a good habit of being selfless rather than selfish I have moved closer to God.)
If you are observant, you will notice the swift echo or response to your every mood and key it to the circumstances of your daily life. When you understand the relationship between circumstances, you will know that everyone you meet is part of yourself. In the creation of a new life, you must begin with a change of mood which opens the door to a higher level. Start now to mold your life around a community of high moods.
(I observe myself thinking unkind thoughts about the people in my neighborhood and I realize that I am manifesting fear. Fear only manifests more fear. I can change my basic low thought to a higher level with the words "bless you my friend" and as I continue in that attitude I can create a habit that blesses people rather than fears them.)
Individuals, as well as communities, grow spiritually in proportion to their higher ideals. If your ideal is low, you sink to its depths, but if it is exalted, you are elevated to heights unimagined. You must keep a high mood if you would walk with the highest.
All forms of creative imagination imply elements of feeling, for it is the ferment without which no creation is possible. There is nothing wrong with the desire to transcend your present state. The world would not progress without man’s dissatisfaction with himself.
(I like this because I learned as a child that "what you have is what you get." Now I know that it is not a sin to desire more. I can progress because of my dissatisfaction with myself and my circumstances. Even though I am "old" in my body, I am not as old as God - so therefore I am young and can continue to change and grow, forever.)
It is natural to seek a more beautiful personal life. It is right to wish for greater understanding, health and security. This is so beautifully stated in the 16th chapter of the Book of John, “Heretofore you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you shall receive that your joy may be full.”
(Ask! How many times did I listen to the authority over me and think that I had no right to even ask? I have a God-given right to ask and receive joy - and so do you!)
Accept my challenge! Embody a new and higher value of yourself as Dr. Millikan did. A nation can exhibit no greater wisdom in the mass than it generates in its units. For this reason, I have always preached self-help. Knowing that if we embody a new and higher concept of ourselves, all other help will be at our service.
(Neville was a self-help guru. He didn't want to start a new religion - he just wanted people to understand the one they professed to believe in - Christianity. I accept the challenge! I am accepting the value of myself that says I am abundant. I understand the riches of the world make wealthy-minded people wealthy. But I don't yet know how to be wealthy - so I will be abundant and have ALL my needs met, and in the future my attitude will fall into line with more and more abundance.)
The ideal you serve and hope to achieve is ready and waiting for a new incarnation, but it is incapable of birth unless you offer it human parentage. You must assume that you already are what you hope to be and live as though you were.
(I assume that I am already abundant - I live as if I am abundant. I choose what I want at the grocery store. I have a list of things that I desire and I search for those things when I go out shopping (as a retired person this gives me something to do.) I do not buy the most expensive item that I can - but I make sure the item is quality, no matter the price. I know that people are selling or giving away the exact item that I desire and I love a good bargain. My abundance is not in question just because I buy an item at a discount. It satisfies my "I am abundant" attitude as well as my "I am frugal" attitude.)
You must know, like Dr. Millikan did, that your assumption, though false to the outer world, will harden into fact by your persistence. The perfect man judges not after appearances, but judges righteously. He hears what he wants to hear and sees only the good. Knowing the truth that sets him free, he is lead to all good.
(Not a lie, but an assumption. It is only a lie to the outer world - and I don't tell them, so they don't have a chance to judge me. I only speak to God of my desires, and He agrees with me. I am learning to "judge righteously" but I am also learning to not judge at all. I leave that to the expert - God Himself. I hear what I want to hear about myself - and i see and hear only the good. I know the truth - God knows the truth. And He and I are free to assume anything we desire.)
Character is largely the result of the direction and persistence of voluntary action; therefore, think truly and your thoughts shall the world’s famine feed. Speak truly and each word shall be a fruitful seed. Live truly and your life shall be a great and noble creed.
(Think truly -- Speak truly -- Live truly!)
Now let us go into the silence.
(I have come to know that the "silence" Neville wants us to experience is the prayer conversation we are having with God at that moment. The most profound prayer is "Thank you, God for creating my reality.")
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