Revision · Neville Goddard, in his own words
What is revision in Neville Goddard's teaching?
Revision is Neville Goddard's name for replaying an event in imagination the way you wish it had happened. He taught it as a nightly practice: before you fall asleep, go back over the day and relive the scenes you would change as if the new version were what took place. His own summary was that “revision results in repeal.”
His fullest account is the chapter “The Pruning Shears of Revision” in Awakened Imagination (1954). In several lectures he makes the same point with the potter of Jeremiah, who takes a spoiled vessel and reworks it into another.
In Neville's words
Verbatim from the restored lecture transcripts and his books. A lecture link plays only the quoted passage.
“Man must go back in memory, seek for and destroy the causes of evil, however far back they lie. This going into the past and replaying a scene of the past in imagination as it ought to have been played the first time, I call revision - and revision results in repeal.”
“It is a most healthy and productive exercise to daily relive the day as you wish you had lived it, revising the scenes to make them conform to your ideals.”
“Keep the same vessel and rework it now into a new shape, as it seemed good to you to do. So at the end of a day, all right, so it wasn't a good day. Explode. And then, but sin not. Don't let the sun descend upon your wrath. Stand right there and simply rework it. Rework what being? Rework yourself. You are the clay.”
“Now, if what I imagine this day is spoiled, is not what I want to make real in my world, don't discard it. Rework it into another vessel, as it seemed good to you to do.”
“I can go into these spots. I have gone into these places and the past has not passed away. And it's fixed, as you say, but I'm quite sure one could go back and revise that past and change it.”
“The word potter means imagination. It's like saying to you, go into your own imagination and see what you are doing with a friend. You just heard that he was in need. Are you now going to finish that and take him now into a greater need, or are you going to rework it into another vessel, as it seemed good to you to do?”
“You must take pleasure in revision. You can forgive others effectively only when you have a sincere desire to identify them with their ideal. Duty has no momentum.”
How he describes doing it
As he gives it in The Law and the Promise and Awakened Imagination, with a lecture story at the end.
-
Each night before sleep, pick what you would change about the day and picture the revised scene clearly enough to step into it.
“Try to revise your day every night before falling asleep. Try to visualize clearly and enter into the revised scene which would be the imaginal solution of your problem. The revised imaginal structure may have a great influence on others, but that is not your concern.”
The Law and the Promise 1961, ch. 3, Turn The Wheel Backward
-
Rewrite the event in imagination and replay the new version over and over. His example is a letter with bad news.
“For instance, suppose today’s mail brought disappointing news. Revise the letter. Mentally rewrite it and make it conform to the news you wish you had received. Then, in imagination, read the revised letter over and over again. This is the essence of revision, and revision results in repeal.”
Awakened Imagination 1954, ch. 4, The Pruning Shears Of Revision
-
Give the revised scene enough attention that you are absorbed in it.
“The one requisite is to arouse your attention in a way and to such intensity that you become wholly absorbed in the revised action.”
Awakened Imagination 1954, ch. 4, The Pruning Shears Of Revision
-
Afterwards, take your attention off the old version of the day and give it to the revised one.
“Forgiveness is a matter of deliberately withdrawing attention from the unrevised day and giving it full strength, and joyously, to the revised day.”
Awakened Imagination 1954, ch. 4, The Pruning Shears Of Revision
-
In one lecture he tells of a man hurt in a car accident who revised it the same day, lying on his bed.
“He said, "no, I'll revise it." He got on his bed and relaxed, went over the scene.”
Secret of the Sperm Q&A lecture, at 51:46 Play 8 s
Common questions
Can you really revise the past?
He taught that you can. In The Law and the Promise he says the past continues only because imagining sustains it.
“There is no inevitable permanence in anything. Both past and present continue to exist only because they are sustained by “Imagining” on some level or other; and a radical transformation of life is always possible by man revising the undesirable part of it.”
The Law and the Promise 1961, ch. 3, Turn The Wheel Backward
When should I revise?
At the end of each day, before you fall asleep.
“As each day falls, mentally revise the facts of life and make them conform to events well worthy of recall; tomorrow will take up the altered pattern and go forward until at length it is realized on the heights of attainment.”
The Law and the Promise 1961, ch. 3, Turn The Wheel Backward
Can I revise an event that involves other people?
Yes. He allowed that a revised scene may affect others, and told the reader not to make that the aim.
“The revised imaginal structure may have a great influence on others, but that is not your concern.”
The Law and the Promise 1961, ch. 3, Turn The Wheel Backward
What does revision have to do with forgiveness?
He treated them as the same act.
“Forgiveness is, in fact, experiencing in imagination the revised version of the day, experiencing in imagination what you wish you had experienced in the flesh.”
Awakened Imagination 1954, ch. 4, The Pruning Shears Of Revision
All 6 lectures on revision
Father Forgive Them
Running time 46:23Neville explains that all events, including actions others take, are driven by unseen imaginal acts. He uses a story about a woman who imagined new possessions; they later arrived through a robbery and insurance settlement. He connects this to the first cry on the cross, "Father, forgive them," as proof that everyone acts under compulsion from imaginal causes.
Feel After Him
Running time 46:33Neville Goddard identifies God with the human imagination, citing Paul's address to the Athenians in Acts 17. He explains that imagining creates reality, and that one should feel after this indwelling God by assuming the feeling of the wish fulfilled. The lecture covers the mechanics of assumption, the importance of mental diet, and the idea that all objective reality originates from what is first imagined.
Immortal Man
Running time 45:53Neville Goddard distinguishes between eternal spiritual states and the immortal self. He explains how to use imagination to create temporary states for oneself or others. He shares his personal experiences of being called to apostleship and the awakening of scripture within him.
Justified States
Running time 45:20Neville Goddard explains that God's gift of the kingdom is unearned and irrevocable. He describes how infinite states of consciousness exist, and one can move between them through imagination. He discusses the law of revision, using a story about a physicist and the positron to illustrate moving backward in time, and emphasizes that all are justified by grace.
Our Potter
Running time 45:55Neville Goddard identifies the 'potter' spoken of in scripture as one's own imagination. He discusses the process of consciously reshaping one's concept of self through imagination, using the day's experiences as clay to be reworked. The lecture also recounts a series of visions and dreams that illustrate the awakening of the Lord within, culminating in the realization of individual identity as the Father of David.
Secret of the Sperm Q&A
Running time 52:47Neville discusses the sperm as a symbol of God's creative power. He describes how imagination fertilizes states of consciousness, likening sealed rooms to eggs awaiting activation. He warns against unethical use of the law and emphasizes selective, dignified imagining. The lecture includes Q&A on playing all parts in Scripture and a revision story.
All topicsQuotes on revisionSearch every transcript
We owe the practice to Neville Goddard (1905–1972). Feelingfield is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by his estate.