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Neville Goddard 1954THREE PROPOSITIONSWell, myfirst propositionis this one. The individual state of consciousness determines the conditions and thecircumstances of his life. The second proposition is that mancanselect the state ofconsciousness withwhichhe desires to be identified; and the third follows naturally--therefore, mancanbe what he wants to be.Ifthe first propositionis true that the individual's state ofconsciousness is the sole cause ofthe phenomena of his life, then the normal, naturalquestion that is asked "Why doesn't he change it to a more desirable state if he could change it?"Well, that is not as easyas it appears.Today we hope to give you a technique to make it easier but man finds it very hard to leave the things towhich he has grown accustomed. We are all grown stuck in the habitual. It may seem strange but a verysordid cartoon appeared years ago, that is during the last war; you might have seen it, it came out in the"New Yorker" and it was one byGeorge Price. In it is one single little room, a sink piled high withunwasheddishes, plaster fallingfrom the walls, and these two middle-aged people, she sittingona chair readinga letter,disheveled, matted hair, and he withtornclothes and feet stuck uponthe table and socks exposingholes, andthe captionof the picture is this. She is readinga letter fromher soldier sonabroad:"He says he's homesick."Now youshould see the interior ofthis house--one room, completelydisheveled-but the lad was homesick!Now manfinds it difficult to detachhimselffromthe habitual; so this morningwe have brought youthese threepropositions, and I hope I canmake it clear that youcan withthis knowledge apply it so that you canrealizeyour every objective. It is the height of folly to expect changes to come about by the mere passage of time,for that which requires a state of consciousness to produce its effect could not be effective without such astate ofconsciousness. So ifI must be inthe consciousness ofthe thingthat I amseekingbefore I find it, thenthe onlything to do is to acquire that state ofconsciousness. Most ofus do not evenknow what we meanbystate of consciousness. To those who are here for the first time it is simply meant by state of consciousnessthe sumtotalofallthat a manbelieves and accepts and consents to as true.Now it need not be true; it may be, but it need not be true, it could be false, it could be a half truth, it couldbe a lie, it could be a superstition, it could be a prejudice, but the sum total of all that a man believesconstitutes his state of consciousness. It is the house in which he abides, and as long as he remains in thathouse similar problems will confront him, the circumstances of life will remain the same. He may movephysically across the ends of the earth but he will encounter similar conditions; he can't get away from thehouse in which he abides. The Bible speaks of these houses as mansions of the Lord, it speaks of them ascities, it speaks ofthemas rooms, as upper rooms, allkinds ofwords are used to describe individualstates of awareness. And the appeal inthe Bible is always to move out and occupy the upper story, meaningto moveup to a higher levelwithinone's self.Now, if you do not know the state in which you abide, it's a very simple technique you may employ to
 
discover that state: for the man dwelling in a state, and we alldwell in states, could easily discover the statebylistening within himselfand observinghis owninternal mentalconversations, for the state is singingits ownsong and it reveals itself in man's inner speech. If you will listen attentively and uncritically to what inwardlyyouare saying, you willdiscover the state. And it willnot surprise you that things are as theyare for you willhear within yourselfthe cause ofthe phenomena oflife. So that what you are inwardlysaying and doing is farmore important thanwhat you outwardlyknow or seeminglyoutwardly express; so when a man knows whatinwardlyhe is doingthenhe canchange it. Ifyouhave never uncriticallyobserved your reactions to life; ifyouare totally unaware of your subjective behavior, then you are unaware of the cause of the things in yourworld. But ifyoubecome aware ofthe state, thenyousimplygo about changingit.Now here is a technique I have found most helpfuland I find that it works like a miracle; anyone can do it. Iknow that some of you here possiblycome from extreme orthodox walks of life and it mayseem strange toyou evento be here, but I assure you youare not alone, many ofyour leaders in the orthodoxfield seek anaudience with the speaker; manya rabbihas beenin myhome, manya priest, and many a Protestant leader.Many of them. They come to my home for interpretations of the book that publicly they wouldn't dare giveany interpretation other than the most extreme literal interpretation. So don't be surprised if you hear thingshere that might startle you; your leaders are startled; but this is a technique I have found most helpful.First of all, man stands forever in the presence of an infinite and eternal energy, fromwhich energy all thingsproceed but it follows definite patterns: it just doesn't move out of man and crystallize in things in somestrange haphazard manner. It follows a definite track and the track it follows is laid downby the man himself inhis owninternal conversations. So though manis called uponto change his thinkingthat he may change hisworld, for we are told "Be ye transformed by the renewalof your mind", man can't change his thinkingunlesshe changes his ideas for he thinks from his ideas. So if I would change and become transformed, I must laynew tracks and the tracks I lay are always laid down in my own internal conversation. So what am I sayingnow when seemingly I am alone? I can sit in that chair, or stand here, or walk the streets and I can't stoptalking. Man does not realize that he is talking, because he is never still enoughto listen to the voice speakingwithinhimself, but inwardlyhe is whisperingwhat outwardlyis takingplace as conditions and circumstances.Most of the things he whispers are negative in justifying his behavior. There is no need to justify. He isexcusing delayor excusingfailure, or he is arguing, or he is judgingharshly or he is condemning. Manyof ushave secret affection for hurts: we don't want to be liked by certain people; we just wouldn't like it if theyliked us. We just don't want certain things to take place in our world even though they may bring a greatercomfort and a greater satisfaction. Manhas a peculiar, strange feeling, a little affection for the feeling ofbeingunwanted or the feeling of being hurt, and he likes to talk about it. Well, try to pull that man out of thathabitual state: it would be just as difficult as to keep that soldier boy away from that sordid room; he goesback into the sordid rooms within himself. You don't see dishes unwashed within your self, but if you couldonly see the internal psychological state in which most of us abide, we would see a roomfar dirtier than theone that George Price illustrated in the "New Yorker" magazine. They are all unwashed plates within us: onthe outside we washthembut we are told in the Bible, we leave the inside unwashed and we become whitedsepulchers.Now, ifI sincerelydesire to change my world there is no one inmyworld I need change but myself, so that Idon't need to change you as anindividual but I do need to change myattitude towards you. Ifyou dislike meor if I think you dislike me, or if your behavior offends me, the cause of my offense is not in you and your
 
behavior but I must look for that cause within myself. Now if I seriously and I am honest about mysearch, Iwill find it and I will find that inwardly when I think ofyou it is never a pleasant conversationthat I carry onwith you. So let me sit downnow and bring you before my mind's eye, and as I bring you before the mind'seye let me imagine a conversation which would imply a radicalchange in my world; let me bring youup andchange myattitude toward youbylayingnew tracks relative to you.These tracks will then become the tracks across which this eternalenergy will pour, an energywhich is onlythinking; moving across the tracks laid down inmy owninner conversations will result in changes in myouterworld. Now, if I repeat the conversations and do it more often, then it becomes a habit and I will find thatwhen I am about my Father's business in the outer world I am inwardly through habit carrying on thesechanged and lovelier conversations. Now, a transformation of consciousness will definitely result ina changeof environment and conditions. But I mean transformationof consciousness, I do not mean a slight alterationofconsciousness like a change ofmood.It is nice to change a mood from some unlovelyto a lovely, but I want a transformationand bytransformationI mean that whenone state into whichI have moved and move so oftenthat it becomes a habit and that stategrows stable, so that it expels from my consciousness all of its rivals, then that central habitual state definesmy character and really constitutes mynew world. It spells out a transformation, but if I only do it a little bitand return to my former state, then I might have had a temporary lift but I will not notice radical changes inmy outer world. I willnotice these changes in my outer world if inwardlyI have truly changed. Then withouteffort onmypart I willfind the outer world changingto correspond to the changes that took place withinme.So you bear it in mind, I can't stress it too often, I can't give it too great importance, this wonderful thingcalled man's abilityto talk within himselfand without the aid ofanyone inthe world, sittingalone at home youcan construct a sentence which would imply the fulfillment of the ideal; you can construct a sentence whichwould imply that a friend I blessed that she has realized her objective, that the thingyou know she wants shehas. So what would she say to you had she realized it? Well, you listen attentively as though you heard andyouwillreally hear ifyouare still enoughyouwillhear as comingfromwithout what really youare whisperingfromwithinyourself.Manis this wonderfultemple inwhichall the work takes place and the outer world is onlya projection ofthework done within himself. This, called present man, unfortunately is asleep. It is told us so beautifully in theBible that Adam slept, inthe second chapter ofGenesis. He was placed into a profound sleep from whichhehas not beenawakened. There is no reference in the Bible where Adam was ever awakened from his sleepbut there is a reference where he awoke but not as Adam; he awoke as a second mancalled Christ Jesus. Soin Christ they awake: inAdam all sleep, but a manwho is totallyunaware of the mental activity that goes onwithinhim is the one who sleeps as Adam: he doesn't know it. He walks withhis eyes wide open, he maybea veryimportant person inthe world, he may be wealthy, he may be famous, he may have all the things thatyouadmire, but if he is totallyunaware ofthat mentalactivity whichis the cause of the phenomena ofhis life,that manis sound asleep and he is personified as Adam.And he willread his Bible and think it is a literal story; he will read where Adam was put to sleep and fromAdama rib was takenand a womanwas formed called Eve, but whena manbegins to awake he realizes thatthis symbolicalEve ofthe Bible is onlyhis ownemanationnow called by the name ofnature. And nature is hisslave, and must fashion life about him as he fashions it within himself. But if he is asleep, he fashions it in
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