Common questions
Neville Goddard: common questions, answered in his own words
Each answer is a short note from us, then the passages it rests on, quoted word for word from the restored lecture transcripts and his books. A lecture link plays only the quoted words. Where he never said something, we say so.
What is Neville Goddard’s “3 day rule”?
No lecture in this archive uses the phrase “3 day rule”, and none of his books does either. The nearest source is Lesson 3 of his 1948 class, published as Five Lessons. There he says he found no time interval in the Bible longer than three days, and in the same lesson he adds that you yourself determine the interval. In a recorded lecture he says plainly that he does not know how long it takes.
“Begin now to mentally see and feel yourself as that which you want to be, and feast upon that sensation morning, noon, and night. I have scoured the Bible for a time interval that is longer than three days and I have not found it.”
How long does it take to manifest, according to Neville?
He gave no fixed time. He compared an imaginal act to a planted seed or a pregnancy, each with its own interval, quoted Habakkuk on the vision having “its own appointed hour”, and said he could not tell what that interval would be.
“Be patient. The vision has its own appointed hour. It ripens. It will flower. If it be long, you wait, for it is sure, and it will not be late.”
“But every little planted seed has a different interval of time between the planting and its fulfillment.”
“I do not know the schedule of time of all the seeds of the world. We only know certain seeds, like the seed, the man, the goat, the horse, and so on. But I could not tell you what every little imaginal act has as a time schedule before it appears in the world. But it all has an appointed hour.”
What is Neville Goddard’s golden rule?
It is the ordinary golden rule, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, used as a test for what to imagine. Before imagining something for yourself or for another, he asked whether you would want it done to you.
“Do you wish for another what you would not want done to you? Then it's not right. Always be guided by the Golden Rule. And the Golden Rule is a simple thing. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. So whenever in doubt, do the loving thing.”
“Instantly, it comes within the frame of my golden rule. It's something I would like myself. If I were in their present state of consciousness, I would like that. It doesn't violate my rule. It doesn't injure someone. It doesn't take from anyone.”
“You will realize why you should “do unto others that which you would have them do unto you.” You will know why you should live by this Golden Rule because you will discover that it is just good common sense to do so, since the rule is based upon life’s changeless law and is no respecter of persons.”
Was Neville Goddard a millionaire?
Nothing in this archive says he was. In one lecture he says he had no desire to be a millionaire, and that he used what he taught for a steady income to pay for rent, food and clothes.
“I must meet my obligations to life here in the world of Caesar. Rent must be paid. Clothes must be bought. Food must be bought. Transportation. All these things I must find Caesar's coin to pay for it. So I use the law for that purpose. I have no desire to be a millionaire but I do desire the comfort that a nice steady flow of income allows without the anxiety that must come to everyone when he can't meet his obligations to life”
“When you meet people of great wealth in this world, and you'll judge them because they have money, just talk to them for a little while. Money hasn't altered their other states.”
What is Neville Goddard’s most famous quote?
There is no official ranking. The line quoted most often is “an assumption, though false, if persisted in, will harden into fact.” He says it in his lectures, he wrote it in Awakened Imagination, and in The Law and the Promise he credits the sentence to Anthony Eden. Two shorter lines travel with it: “feeling is the secret”, the title of his 1944 book, and “imagining creates reality”, which he says in the lectures.
“Even though at the moment of the assumption it was denied by reason, an assumption though false, if persisted in will harden into fact.”
Which Neville Goddard book should I read first?
Most readers start with Feeling Is the Secret (1944), his shortest book. For the method in full, read Five Lessons, the 1948 class, or The Power of Awareness. Our reading guide sets out five ways in, by the time you have and the kind of reader you are.
Did Neville Goddard believe in Jesus?
He spoke of Jesus often, but not as a man outside you. He taught that Jesus is your own imagination, buried in you, and a pattern that unfolds in each person.
“All things exist in the human imagination. for the human imagination is the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ and God are one. I and my Father are one. So God is Jesus. And Jesus is your own wonderful human imagination. He is actually buried in you.”
“Now do not think of Jesus as a man. Think of Jesus as a pattern. A pattern that was predetermined before that the world was. A pattern that is buried in man.”
“I WAS FIRST made conscious of the power, nature, and redemptive function of imagination through the teachings of my friend Abdullah; and through subsequent experiences, I learned that Jesus was a symbol of the coming of imagination to man, that the test of His birth in man was the individual’s ability to forgive sin; that is, his ability to identify himself or another with his aim in life.”
Did Neville Goddard believe in God?
Yes, though not in a God outside you. His recurring line is that God is your own wonderful human imagination, and that God’s name is I AM.
“I am telling you who I know to be God. I tell you over and over again, God is your own wonderful human imagination. And all things are possible to God. Therefore, all things are possible to your imagination.”
“The only God is your own wonderful human imagination. The only name forever and forever that is his name is I Am.”
“There is nothing in this world but God, and God is your own wonderful human imagination, and everything in this world is God pushed out”
Is Neville Goddard legit?
Neville Goddard (1905–1972) was a real lecturer and author, born in Barbados, who taught on scripture and imagination; his first book appeared in 1939. What he claimed about imagining is his own teaching, and the stories he told are anecdotes, not tested evidence. This archive gives his words as he said and wrote them, and makes no promises on his behalf.
Does Neville’s method actually work?
We don’t claim that it does, and this archive makes no promise about outcomes. Neville’s own position was that you should test it for yourself rather than take his word, and tell him what happened. The case letters he published in The Law and the Promise are his students’ accounts, not controlled studies.
“You're invited to test it. When you get the results, share it with me. Tell me about it. Tell me about it. Explain what you did and how it worked.”
“Don't say no to it before you test it. And if there is evidence for a thing, it doesn't really matter how stupid it seems to be.”
What are Neville Goddard’s main principles?
He did not publish a numbered list; lists such as “12 principles” are later summaries. The ideas he returns to most are the law of assumption, feeling is the secret, living in the end, the state akin to sleep (SATS), revision, states, everyone is you pushed out, and the Promise. Each has its own page, built from his words.
Where can I listen to Neville Goddard’s lectures for free?
Here. This archive has his restored lecture recordings with word-synced transcripts, free and without signup, and his books to read online or download as PDF and EPUB. The same lectures are also a podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Who was Abdullah, Neville Goddard’s teacher?
Abdullah was Neville’s teacher in New York. Neville describes him as a black man, born in Ethiopia as he was told, raised in the Jewish faith, who lived on West 72nd Street, and says he studied Hebrew with him for five years. He credits Abdullah with first making him conscious of the power of imagination, and tells how Abdullah answered his wish to go to Barbados: “You are in Barbados.”
“Then from the boat I went to my old friend Abdullah. He was born, so I am told, in Ethiopia. He was a black man, raised in the Jewish faith, but really understood Christianity as few men that I ever met understood it. He understood the law, not the promise.”
Looking for something else? Search every transcript and chapter, or start with the reading guide.
We owe the practice to Neville Goddard (1905–1972). Feelingfield is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by his estate.