Neville Goddard "Three Propositions" Lecture Excerpts (1954)

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Well, my first proposition is this one. The individual state of consciousness determines the conditions and the circumstances of his life. The second proposition is that man can select the state of consciousness with which he desires to be identified; and the third follows naturally--therefore, man can be what he wants to be. If the first proposition is true that the individual's state of consciousness is the sole cause of the phenomena of his life, then the normal, natural question that is asked "Why doesn't he change it to a more desirable state if he could change it?" Well, that is not as easy as it appears. Today we hope to give you a technique to make it easier but man finds it very hard to leave the things to which he has grown accustomed. We are all grown stuck in the habitual. Now here is a technique I have found most helpful and I find that it works like a miracle; anyone can do it: I can sit in that chair, or stand here, or walk the streets and I can't stop talking. Man does not realize that he is talking, because he is never still enough to listen to the voice speaking within himself, but inwardly he is whispering what outwardly is taking place as conditions and circumstances. Most of the things he whispers are negative in justifying his behavior. There is no need to justify. He is excusing delay or excusing failure, or he is arguing, or he is judging harshly or he is condemning. Many of us have secret affection for hurts: we don't want to be liked by certain people; we just wouldn't like it if they liked us. We just don't want certain things to take place in our world even though they may bring a greater comfort and a greater satisfaction. Man has a peculiar, strange feeling, a little affection for the feeling of being unwanted or the feeling of being hurt, and he likes to talk about it. Now, if I sincerely desire to change my world there is no one in my world I need change but myself, so that I don't need to change you as an individual but I do need to change my attitude towards you. If you dislike me or 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 my search, I will find it and I will find that inwardly when I think of you it is never a pleasant conversation that I carry on with you. So let me sit down now and bring you before my mind's eye, and as I bring you before the mind's eye let me imagine a conversation which would imply a radical change in my world; let me bring you up and change my attitude toward you by laying new tracks relative to you. Now, if I repeat the conversations and do it more often, then it becomes a habit and I will find that when I am about my Father's business in the outer world I am inwardly through habit carrying on these changed and lovelier conversations. Now, a transformation of consciousness will definitely result in a change of environment and conditions. But I mean transformation of consciousness, I do not mean a slight alteration of consciousness like a change of mood. It is nice to change a mood from some unlovely to a lovely, but I want a transformation and by transformation I mean that when one state into which I have moved and move so often that it becomes a habit and that state grows stable, so that it expels from my consciousness all of its rivals, then that central habitual state defines my character and really constitutes my new world. It spells out a transformation, but if I only do it a little bit and return to my former state, then I might have had a temporary lift but I will not notice radical changes in my outer world. I will notice these changes in my outer world if inwardly I have truly changed. Then without effort on my part I will find the outer world changing to correspond to the changes that took place within me. That is truly entering the kingdom of heaven, for you enter the kingdom and the kingdom is within you, it's not without, and you always enter the kingdom by a loving, knowing communion. You can enter the kingdom at every moment of time, ride the street car, ride the busses, and with all the talking and gossiping, you can enter the kingdom and bless a friend by just imagining the friend is with you and you are putting your hand into his and congratulating him on the good news you've heard concerning him, and listen as though he answered in kind, and in that moment you have actually blessed him. He may be a thousand miles away but from that moment on things begin to stir within his world for you have brought about a change within the structure of his mind and every modification of the structure of a man's mind must result in corresponding outer changes.