Neville Goddard – Feeling Is the Secret: A Brief Summary.

Title: Feeling is the Secret

Author: Neville Goddard

Overview: Feeling is the Secret aims to help you as a reader “realize your desire.” The goal is to open your mind to new possibilities and the concept of consciousness and subconsciousness and how they help to make man’s dreams and wishes a reality.

Neville Goddard was a “new-thought” author who wrote on the Bible, mysticism, and self-help.

The central theme of this book is that the subconscious is the womb of creation. It expresses that which has been impressed upon it by the conscious without alterations, so in order to get the desired life we want, our feelings must be positive.

Understanding the laws of the mind and how it operates is the key to controlling your life.

“The world, and all within it, is man’s conditioned consciousness objectified.”

Man is governed by the relationship between his subconscious which is the cause, and his conscious which bears the effect. The conscious mind impresses the ideas it has upon the subconscious, which takes it and gives us a manifestation in our daily life. As we are not aware of the mystery surrounding the two, all we see is the result bearing down upon us. Since our conscious mind is what processes these results, it bears the effects. However, all we are getting is what we consciously believed in the first place.

To be equipped with the knowledge of consciousness and its operating counterpart, subconsciousness, is to have the answers to life at one’s fingertips, not just for the betterment of one’s life alone, but for the effect it could have on the world.

When ideas are given to the subconscious, no matter what the world’s view is, it becomes truth to the subconscious. Once it is accepted without any doubt or question, that truth is created.

Since power has been given to man to imagine, feel, and have the freedom to choose the ideas that he conceives or entertains, it means he has power over creation, since the ability to control your ideas and feelings is what gives you control of the subconscious, which creates.

Neville Goddard describes the subconscious in the easiest way to best understand their workings, as the conscious being male, and the subconscious, female.

“The mechanism of creation is hidden in the very depth of the subconscious, the female aspect or the womb of creation.”

Although certain events seem to happen at random, it is not exactly so. Everything that happens to a man is a result of how he is feeling and how that feeling translates into the subconscious. A few things you must do to make a better life for yourself are;

• Taking control of your feelings: As we have come to understand that the life we live is controlled solely by our conscious, the first thing to do to attain our goal of a better life is to take control of our feelings. When we create thoughts of happiness, we live a full and happy life but when we entertain sad and undesirable thoughts, the subconscious works with that feeling and gives us just that, a life of sadness.
  
• Letting go of imperfections: To let go of imperfections is to be on the road to perfection. Thinking imperfect thoughts about ourselves or others only makes the consciousness aware of our limitations, which are then impressed on the subconscious.
  
• Counteracting the negatives: It has been established that every feeling makes a subconscious impression that is then birthed into our existence, but a more powerful feeling can be expressed to make sure the negatives do not manifest. Confessing that you are healthy, is better than confessing that you will be healthy. “I am healthy” is a positive statement, filled with the belief of health, but “I will be healthy” means that you are not in fact healthy at the time.
  
• Understanding the difference between wanting and being: Our feelings about what we think of ourselves will constantly dominate what we want for ourselves. In order to get what we want, we must embrace the wanting as though we have already gotten it. We must live and feel the way we would if our wishes had already come true.
  

Your feelings create the pattern from which your world is fashioned, and a change of feeling is a change of pattern.

A look into neurological studies suggests that people remember things more and for longer when there are profound feelings attached to them. Feelings/sensation is the core on which manifestation rests. You cannot manifest a better life if you do not already feel and accept that you are living a better life.

Neville described the body as an emotional filter. He explained that when we feel wronged but fail to voice it out or express that feeling immediately, it begins to feel like a disease. This disease continues to grow and fester until it manifests in the physical and pollutes both the body and the environment.

You have to realize the importance of feeling before you can grow. A man who feels like a failure will constantly manifest failures, and experience detachment from his objectives.

“A change of feeling is a change of destiny.”

The events that occur in life are not caused by chance or by accident, nor are they caused by a predestined fate. Instead, all events are determined by the impressions imprinted on us by the feelings we allow our consciousness to carry. The most important thing for a man to have in this case is control. Control will make a man experience ‘miracles’ in every aspect of his life.

When we have control, we can choose what to feel and what our subconscious will declare as the truth. It is this quality of control that makes it possible for a man to do anything and have everything.

Neville stated that although the subconscious faithfully serves man, the notion that it is a relationship like that of a servant and a master is ill-conceived. The subconscious responds better to compulsion than command, meaning that it can be persuaded to believe that a notion is true, but if it does not believe it because the man doesn’t, then it cannot be forced.

The mystery of consciousness and subconscious is that, although they are perceived to be divided into two, they are in fact one and undivided.

We must all come to the knowledge that the outside mirrors the inside, that is, the actions or feelings we show are a representation of what we believe and who we are on the inside.

Neville likened our consciousness to heaven using two verses.

[John 3:27]- “A man can receive nothing unless it is given to him from heaven” and

[Luke 17:21]- “The kingdom of heaven is within you”

He used these verses to show that all that we need is given to us by our consciousness if we simply impress good feelings, which are then expressed by our subconsciousness. And he believed that when we only exude or exhibit negativity then we have ourselves t blame, as that is what we have fed into our subconscious.

We are already what we want to be, but our inability to see this is based on our refusal to believe this. We cannot seek on the outside that which we do not feel we are, otherwise, we seek in vain, for we will never find what we want.

According to Neville, until we achieve perfect self-control, there are two gateways into the subconscious through which we can feel what we want to feel without doubt creeping in. These are sleep and prayer.

There is a world of untapped power in our sleep and harnessing it can take you to untouched heights.

Neville defined sleep to be the bridge through which the conscious, waking mind crosses to be creatively joined to the subconscious. Sleep conceals the creative act, while the world reveals it. it is in sleep that the conception of a man is impressed on his subconscious.

We spend one-third of our lifetime sleeping, on average, and while that time may seem like just an unconscious state of being where nothing is going on, the time we spend asleep is the time when the man communicates with his subconscious and passes all that he has felt that day, especially the time before he goes to bed to his subconscious where it is visualized and formed into a reality.

“In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumbering upon the bed; then he openeth the ears of men and sealeth their instruction” – Job 33:13-14

Make a habit of giving specific instructions to your subconscious mind because your subconscious mind is a lot more powerful than you believe it to be. Take time to communicate that which you want to see in your life with yourself in clear and specific terms. You can have whatever you want as long as you are intense about it.

The words we speak to our subconscious should be words of affirmation we have given to ourselves before going to bed. A simple exercise that will leave you feeling energized and happy for days to come.

In sleep, the conscious and subconscious which appear to be separate states, are joined to become one which is their natural state. The male (conscious) and the female (subconscious) become one flesh. It is during sleep that the conscious turns away from the world of sense and seeks to be joined with its subconscious self.

The subconscious, during sleep, takes that which has been given by the conscious and produces its likeness, not changing a thing about it, but embracing all of it for what it is. The events which occur after sleep are formed from the molds of the subconscious impressions in sleep, made from the exact image of our innermost feelings that may have not even revealed themselves to us yet.

The one-third of our lives we spend asleep becomes the most important part of life, despite how unaware we are at the time because it affects how the remaining two-thirds of our life will be.

Before going to sleep, spend time asking yourself a question, “How would I feel if my wish were to be realized?” Envision the feeling you would get and instead of waiting for your wish to come through before feeling that way, choose to live with that feeling, as though your wish has already come through. Let that feeling monopolize your thoughts as you relax into sleep, and close your eyes while holding tight to it as though your life depends on it, because it does.

The time spent sleeping is the only time man has no illusion of the freedom of choice. His entire slumber is dominated by his last waking thoughts and feelings, which is why it is important for his feelings before sleep to be of satisfaction and accomplishment no matter how his day may have gone.

In sleep, man cannot lie or pretend to be what he is not, or feel what he does not feel. We are seen as exactly who we are and what we feel. Neville opined that if we prepared for sleep by assuming the feeling that comes with being successful, then we would, without fail be successful.

“By night on the bed I sought him whom my soul loveth… I found him whom my soul loveth; I held him and I don’t let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me” Songs of Solomon Chapter 3

As you prepare to sleep, you feel happy as you think about your answered wish and then relax into unconsciousness. Your realized wish is the one you sought, and the chamber of the one that conceived you are the subconscious that gives form to your feelings, emotions, and ideas.

Night after night, practice going to bed with the feeling of being, having, or witnessing that which you seek, and you will be sure to have it and make sure to never go to bed feeling dissatisfied or discouraged. Never consider yourself a failure before you sleep. Clear away every terrible feeling from your mind and feel yourself with light and love for yourself.

Live with the consciousness that “signs follow, they do not precede”. Proof that you are what you want to be will come when you allow yourself to believe it, not before you do. Let go of the limitations of the past and assume a future that is what you have always wanted.

Try to change your perception of yourself and of the world. Nothing will change until your perceptions change in accordance with what you want to see. It may seem impossible, but convincing yourself that you are who you want to see is all you have to do to get the life you want. Do not let the doubts creep in and beat you down or stop you from reaching your goal.

Feeling a state produces that state, so do not live in regret of the past, rather embrace a state of new beginnings and better days, better life ahead.

By feeling your wish fulfilled and quietly relaxed into sleep, you cast yourself in a star role to be played on earth tomorrow, and while asleep you are rehearsed and instructed in your part. Define the attitude of your mind and watch your life evolve into that which you always thought was only possible in dreams.

Sleep is the door into heaven so be mindful of what you take in with you on your unconscious journey as that is what you will bring out.

Call your desire into being by imagining and feeling your wish fulfilled through prayer.

Prayer, just like sleep, is an entrance into the subconscious. The mind in a state of prayer diminishes the impression of the outer world and increases our receptivity to that which comes from within us.

Prayer is more about how you prepare to receive what you have asked for than the asking itself.

“Whatsoever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye have received them and ye shall have them.” [Mark 11:24].

From the passage above, we can see that the only condition attached to receiving what we ask for is to believe. It is impossible for your prayer to go unanswered if you believe and assume the feeling that comes from receiving. It is very necessary to shut down all senses before you ask, so that you can without a doubt, implement the feeling of receiving immediately after you pray.

One must assume a passive state to enable you to shut off your senses without interruption, and when it is achieved, you ask for whatever you want, and it will be given to you as long as you believe that you have realized your wish. The technicalities of how it will happen should be no cause for concern.

Notice that whenever you pray, when you emerge from the moment of prayer, it feels as though you have been shown the happy and successful end to a play despite not knowing how the time that would lead to that end would achieve.

The relationship between your spirit and feelings

“Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts” [Zechariah 4:6]

When you fully assume the feeling of your wish, it relieves you of the effort to make it so, because it has already been achieved. The spirit–feeling relationship is a beautiful one built on the premise of trust that all you want is already yours, and you have no cause to bother yourself anymore.

Conclusion

The ability to be in tune with our feelings is one that will help us on the road to achieving whatever it is we want for ourselves. Implement the conscious-subconscious relationship and notice the world of difference it will make in your life.