CREATIVE IMAGINATION
This section explores the creative imagination and is based on selected quotes from The Law and the Promise by Neville Goddard.
Quotes
The world in which we live is a world of imagination and every human being—through [the power of] his imaginal activities—creates the reality and circumstances of life; this he does either knowingly or unknowingly.
People pay too little attention to this priceless gift—the Human Imagination [the creative power of their own consciousness]. And a gift is practically nonexistent unless there is a conscious possession of it and a readiness to use it. All people possess the power to create reality but this power sleeps as though dead when not consciously exercised. Human beings live in the very heart of creation—which is the Human Imagination—yet are no wiser for what takes place therein. The future will not be fundamentally different from one’s own imaginal activities; therefore, the individual who can summon, at will, whatever imaginal activity he pleases and to whom the visions of his imagination are as real as the forms of nature is master of his fate.
(The Law, p. 3)
What makes a present sense impression so objectively real is the individual’s imagination functioning in it and thinking from it; whereas in a memory image or a wish the individual’s imagination is not functioning in it, and thinking from it, but is functioning out of it and thinking of [or about] it.
If you would enter into the image in your imagination [fully embracing it as real] then you would know what it is to be creatively transformative; then you would realize your wish; then you would be happy. Every image can be embodied but unless you, yourself, enter the image, and think from it, it is incapable of birth. Therefore, it is the height of folly to expect the wish to be realized by the mere passage of time. That which requires imaginative occupancy to produce its effect cannot be affected without such occupancy.
"Imagination" is spiritual sensation. Enter the image of the wish fulfilled; then give it sensory vividness and tones of reality by mentally acting as you would act were it a physical fact. (The Law, p. 5)
Comments
Spirit creates this universe by becoming it. With Spirit, there is always a total surrender or self-abandonment to its creation. Without this self-abandonment, without fully giving itself (and holding nothing of itself back) creation cannot take place. The creative act of Spirit is singular, undivided, certain, and without any counter-current of doubt or disbelief. Likewise, a human being, through the creative power of his own consciousness, cannot create anything without entering it, without fully occupying his creation; and he cannot consciously direct creation so long as he remains separate from his creation, so long as his consciousness (composed of his conscious and subconscious minds) is divided.
We must bear in mind the difference between “present” human consciousness—which is full of flux, doubt, hesitancy, and undermined by fear, lack of direction, and limiting concepts (of what is possible)—from the state of single-minded certainty. Both states are available to us as human beings. The creative act requires a state of certainty. It requires clear direction, doubtlessness, and full occupancy by the creator. The “present” human state lacks power and creative potency (and is largely moved by subconscious rather than conscious direction); the state we are aspiring to is one of certainty, in likeness with Spirit, wherein true co-creation can take place.
Our own consciousness is the creative power. Thus, our sense of “I Am,” or “Me” must be present in our imaginative creation in order for our imagined creation to manifest, in order for it to have life. We cannot create when the source of our creative power is not present in our creation; we cannot have our sense of “I Am,” be somewhere outside of our creation and then expect it to have manifesting power. This is what we mean by “imaginal occupancy”—we, who we are, our consciousness, must fully occupy and be present in what we imagine in order for it to manifest.
Quote
Self-abandonment! That is the secret. You must abandon yourself mentally to your wish fulfilled—in your love for that state—and in so doing live in the new state (and no more in the old state). You can’t commit yourself to what you do not love; so the secret of self-commission [entering one’s imaginal reality in such a way that it takes on the tone and feeling of reality] is faith plus love. Faith is to believe in [and be sure of] what is unbelievable [and not available to the outer senses]. Commit yourself to the feeling of the wish fulfilled, and in faith this act of self-commission will become a reality.
(The Law, p. 4)
Comments
Most human beings are already living in, and through, an imagined version of themselves—they are presently occupying a conditioned and limited self-image; they are continually affirming this self-image as their reality, and they are imaginatively living their life through that imagined version of themselves. (What this means, basically, is that most people “see” themselves from an imagined outer perspective, as if being seen by some imaginary other. Thus, they are always imagining what they look like, and what they feel like, and “buying into” their commentary on everything, rather than actually feeling what they feel.) Most people are not really living their life right now—they are imagining it. And they do this by wholeheartedly believing in this mental version of self that they have created (and which has evolved through many years of parental and societal conditioning). They have been conditioned into believing in, and occupying, this imagined version of self; they fully believe that they are this person, with this body and mind, who lives in this place, does this kind of thing, has this kind of ability, etc. That story, that imagined version of self, is who they believe themselves to be—and it is the single-pointed, doubtless belief in this version of themselves that imparts it with a seeming reality. We, as human beings, through our unlimited creative consciousness, are continually creating and living our lives through a limited version of self—and we are experiencing the pain and suffering of this ersatz creation. This is the truest and most fundamental of all addictions—the addiction to our imagined version of ourselves. So, we don’t want to keep on doing this; we don’t want to keep on imagining ourselves—we want to be ourselves, we want to feel the fullness of our true, one-with-Spirit nature.
We are prisoners of our own limited imagination; through our own creative power we are unwittingly creating bondage and limitation for ourselves—and we are feeling the pain of our misdirected creation. Now, the two ways out of this unfortunate but temporarily necessary suffering, are a) to direct our creative power in a true and beneficial way and creatively imagine, and occupy, a truer and more expanded version of our selves, or b) to simply be ourselves, without imagining ourselves as being this or that. The first approach involves various teachings on creative imagination, affirmations, “power of mind,” “law of attraction,” etc. The second approach involves getting beyond the mind altogether, reaching a state of pure presence or being though meditation. In this state we don’t seek after anything, we don’t strive to create anything new or better for ourselves, because the aliveness, joy, and fullness of our own nature—a nature in oneness with the nature of Infinite Spirit—contains the wholeness of everything that we, as human beings, seek. Nothing is lacking in this one-with-Spirit state.
Quotes
A human being and his past are one continuous structure. This structure contains all of the facts which have been conserved and still operate below the threshold of his surface mind. For him it is merely history. For him it seems unalterable—a dead and firmly fixed past. But for itself, it is living; it is part of the living age. A person cannot leave behind the mistakes of the past, for nothing disappears. Everything that has been is still in existence. The past still exists, and it gives—and still gives—its results. We must go back in memory, seek for and destroy the causes of suffering, however far back they lie. This going back into the past and replaying a scene of the past in the imagination, as it ought to have been played the first time, is what I call “revision”—and revision results in repeal [and a change in our present and future conditions].
Changing your life means changing your past; the causes of any present suffering [or limitation] are the unrevised scenes of the past. The past and present carry the whole structure of a human being; they carry all of their contents with it. Any alteration of content will result in an alteration of the present and future. (The Law, p. 6)
Comments
The practice here is to imaginatively recreate an earlier event as you would wish it to be and not as you previously experienced it. It appeared as a physical manifestation in the past, and you experienced it, but it has absolutely no power in the present. It is merely a memory, an imagined event, just like any other event you might imagine. And this past event, this memory of this past event, only has power if you give it power, if you impart it with the power of your own consciousness. If you view it as real and continue reacting to it (and thinking about it) then you continue to give it power over you, and you continue to reap the negative effects of the memory that you are empowering. Your continued acceptance of the event as being real—when, at this point, it is only imagined—is what perpetuates its negative effect. The practice, then, is to recall the previous event, re-enter it with absolute vividness and reality, and in that state of “present and total occupancy,” re-imagine the event as you want it to be; have your re-imagination of the event be exactly as you want it to be with the same tones of reality as the original event. (As stated several times, your subconscious mind does not hold any difference between a physical event and an imagined event. It relies upon the way you react to the event, and your occupancy of the event, to determine if it is real or not real.)
Neville recommends doing this revision as a daily practice: each night before going to bed, recall the events of your day (that can be seen as “first drafts,” or “past-based drafts”) and revise them, in your imagination, so they have the form and the outcome you want. Keep re-imagining the event until it becomes real, until you can “taste” it, until the imagined event (with your ideal outcome) has the same immediacy and feeling as the original event. Realize, or make real, the new scene by fully occupying it; react to the new scene with the same import as you would had the original event been exactly as you imagine it now. Imagine reality into your imagined scene by fully embracing it; and imagine the reality out of the original scene by refusing to enter it or accept is as real.
Quotes
We must BE the state to experience the state. (The Law, p.66)
My mystical experiences have brought me to accept literally, the saying that all the world's a stage. And to believe that God plays all the parts. The purpose of the play? To transform man, the created, into God, the creator. (The Law, p. 114)
This ability to move [one’s consciousness] from things as they are [or appear to be] to things as they ought to be [as one wants them to be] is one of the most important discoveries that a person can make. It reveals the individual as a center of imagining, with powers of intervention which enables him to alter the course of observed events, moving from success to success, through a series of mental transformation of nature, of others, and of himself. (The Law, p. 9)
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This section explores the creative imagination and is based on selected quotes from The Law and the Promise by Neville Goddard.
Quotes
The world in which we live is a world of imagination and every human being—through [the power of] his imaginal activities—creates the reality and circumstances of life; this he does either knowingly or unknowingly.
People pay too little attention to this priceless gift—the Human Imagination [the creative power of their own consciousness]. And a gift is practically nonexistent unless there is a conscious possession of it and a readiness to use it. All people possess the power to create reality but this power sleeps as though dead when not consciously exercised. Human beings live in the very heart of creation—which is the Human Imagination—yet are no wiser for what takes place therein. The future will not be fundamentally different from one’s own imaginal activities; therefore, the individual who can summon, at will, whatever imaginal activity he pleases and to whom the visions of his imagination are as real as the forms of nature is master of his fate.
(The Law, p. 3)
What makes a present sense impression so objectively real is the individual’s imagination functioning in it and thinking from it; whereas in a memory image or a wish the individual’s imagination is not functioning in it, and thinking from it, but is functioning out of it and thinking of [or about] it.
If you would enter into the image in your imagination [fully embracing it as real] then you would know what it is to be creatively transformative; then you would realize your wish; then you would be happy. Every image can be embodied but unless you, yourself, enter the image, and think from it, it is incapable of birth. Therefore, it is the height of folly to expect the wish to be realized by the mere passage of time. That which requires imaginative occupancy to produce its effect cannot be affected without such occupancy.
"Imagination" is spiritual sensation. Enter the image of the wish fulfilled; then give it sensory vividness and tones of reality by mentally acting as you would act were it a physical fact. (The Law, p. 5)
Comments
Spirit creates this universe by becoming it. With Spirit, there is always a total surrender or self-abandonment to its creation. Without this self-abandonment, without fully giving itself (and holding nothing of itself back) creation cannot take place. The creative act of Spirit is singular, undivided, certain, and without any counter-current of doubt or disbelief. Likewise, a human being, through the creative power of his own consciousness, cannot create anything without entering it, without fully occupying his creation; and he cannot consciously direct creation so long as he remains separate from his creation, so long as his consciousness (composed of his conscious and subconscious minds) is divided.
We must bear in mind the difference between “present” human consciousness—which is full of flux, doubt, hesitancy, and undermined by fear, lack of direction, and limiting concepts (of what is possible)—from the state of single-minded certainty. Both states are available to us as human beings. The creative act requires a state of certainty. It requires clear direction, doubtlessness, and full occupancy by the creator. The “present” human state lacks power and creative potency (and is largely moved by subconscious rather than conscious direction); the state we are aspiring to is one of certainty, in likeness with Spirit, wherein true co-creation can take place.
Our own consciousness is the creative power. Thus, our sense of “I Am,” or “Me” must be present in our imaginative creation in order for our imagined creation to manifest, in order for it to have life. We cannot create when the source of our creative power is not present in our creation; we cannot have our sense of “I Am,” be somewhere outside of our creation and then expect it to have manifesting power. This is what we mean by “imaginal occupancy”—we, who we are, our consciousness, must fully occupy and be present in what we imagine in order for it to manifest.
Quote
Self-abandonment! That is the secret. You must abandon yourself mentally to your wish fulfilled—in your love for that state—and in so doing live in the new state (and no more in the old state). You can’t commit yourself to what you do not love; so the secret of self-commission [entering one’s imaginal reality in such a way that it takes on the tone and feeling of reality] is faith plus love. Faith is to believe in [and be sure of] what is unbelievable [and not available to the outer senses]. Commit yourself to the feeling of the wish fulfilled, and in faith this act of self-commission will become a reality.
(The Law, p. 4)
Comments
Most human beings are already living in, and through, an imagined version of themselves—they are presently occupying a conditioned and limited self-image; they are continually affirming this self-image as their reality, and they are imaginatively living their life through that imagined version of themselves. (What this means, basically, is that most people “see” themselves from an imagined outer perspective, as if being seen by some imaginary other. Thus, they are always imagining what they look like, and what they feel like, and “buying into” their commentary on everything, rather than actually feeling what they feel.) Most people are not really living their life right now—they are imagining it. And they do this by wholeheartedly believing in this mental version of self that they have created (and which has evolved through many years of parental and societal conditioning). They have been conditioned into believing in, and occupying, this imagined version of self; they fully believe that they are this person, with this body and mind, who lives in this place, does this kind of thing, has this kind of ability, etc. That story, that imagined version of self, is who they believe themselves to be—and it is the single-pointed, doubtless belief in this version of themselves that imparts it with a seeming reality. We, as human beings, through our unlimited creative consciousness, are continually creating and living our lives through a limited version of self—and we are experiencing the pain and suffering of this ersatz creation. This is the truest and most fundamental of all addictions—the addiction to our imagined version of ourselves. So, we don’t want to keep on doing this; we don’t want to keep on imagining ourselves—we want to be ourselves, we want to feel the fullness of our true, one-with-Spirit nature.
We are prisoners of our own limited imagination; through our own creative power we are unwittingly creating bondage and limitation for ourselves—and we are feeling the pain of our misdirected creation. Now, the two ways out of this unfortunate but temporarily necessary suffering, are a) to direct our creative power in a true and beneficial way and creatively imagine, and occupy, a truer and more expanded version of our selves, or b) to simply be ourselves, without imagining ourselves as being this or that. The first approach involves various teachings on creative imagination, affirmations, “power of mind,” “law of attraction,” etc. The second approach involves getting beyond the mind altogether, reaching a state of pure presence or being though meditation. In this state we don’t seek after anything, we don’t strive to create anything new or better for ourselves, because the aliveness, joy, and fullness of our own nature—a nature in oneness with the nature of Infinite Spirit—contains the wholeness of everything that we, as human beings, seek. Nothing is lacking in this one-with-Spirit state.
Quotes
A human being and his past are one continuous structure. This structure contains all of the facts which have been conserved and still operate below the threshold of his surface mind. For him it is merely history. For him it seems unalterable—a dead and firmly fixed past. But for itself, it is living; it is part of the living age. A person cannot leave behind the mistakes of the past, for nothing disappears. Everything that has been is still in existence. The past still exists, and it gives—and still gives—its results. We must go back in memory, seek for and destroy the causes of suffering, however far back they lie. This going back into the past and replaying a scene of the past in the imagination, as it ought to have been played the first time, is what I call “revision”—and revision results in repeal [and a change in our present and future conditions].
Changing your life means changing your past; the causes of any present suffering [or limitation] are the unrevised scenes of the past. The past and present carry the whole structure of a human being; they carry all of their contents with it. Any alteration of content will result in an alteration of the present and future. (The Law, p. 6)
Comments
The practice here is to imaginatively recreate an earlier event as you would wish it to be and not as you previously experienced it. It appeared as a physical manifestation in the past, and you experienced it, but it has absolutely no power in the present. It is merely a memory, an imagined event, just like any other event you might imagine. And this past event, this memory of this past event, only has power if you give it power, if you impart it with the power of your own consciousness. If you view it as real and continue reacting to it (and thinking about it) then you continue to give it power over you, and you continue to reap the negative effects of the memory that you are empowering. Your continued acceptance of the event as being real—when, at this point, it is only imagined—is what perpetuates its negative effect. The practice, then, is to recall the previous event, re-enter it with absolute vividness and reality, and in that state of “present and total occupancy,” re-imagine the event as you want it to be; have your re-imagination of the event be exactly as you want it to be with the same tones of reality as the original event. (As stated several times, your subconscious mind does not hold any difference between a physical event and an imagined event. It relies upon the way you react to the event, and your occupancy of the event, to determine if it is real or not real.)
Neville recommends doing this revision as a daily practice: each night before going to bed, recall the events of your day (that can be seen as “first drafts,” or “past-based drafts”) and revise them, in your imagination, so they have the form and the outcome you want. Keep re-imagining the event until it becomes real, until you can “taste” it, until the imagined event (with your ideal outcome) has the same immediacy and feeling as the original event. Realize, or make real, the new scene by fully occupying it; react to the new scene with the same import as you would had the original event been exactly as you imagine it now. Imagine reality into your imagined scene by fully embracing it; and imagine the reality out of the original scene by refusing to enter it or accept is as real.
Quotes
We must BE the state to experience the state. (The Law, p.66)
My mystical experiences have brought me to accept literally, the saying that all the world's a stage. And to believe that God plays all the parts. The purpose of the play? To transform man, the created, into God, the creator. (The Law, p. 114)
This ability to move [one’s consciousness] from things as they are [or appear to be] to things as they ought to be [as one wants them to be] is one of the most important discoveries that a person can make. It reveals the individual as a center of imagining, with powers of intervention which enables him to alter the course of observed events, moving from success to success, through a series of mental transformation of nature, of others, and of himself. (The Law, p. 9)
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