Neville Goddard – Out if This World: A Brief Summary

A Quick Look at Out of this World by Neville Goddard

Overview: Out of this world aims to help the reader break free of the ‘truths’ of this world that simply serve to keep us from embracing the possibility of more. The goal is to teach the reader to embrace the power that is deeply ingrained in every one of us. Neville Goddard was a “new-thought” author who wrote on the Bible, mysticism, and self-help.

The central theme of this book is that assumption creates a fulfillment of the life we desire for ourselves and those around us, and to understand it is to have a better life, different from what we believe to be our predestined future.

Thinking fourth-dimensionally in a three-dimensional world

If the occurring events were not of this world, then they must have been out of this world. Neville expresses the idea that we are in a three-dimensional world, but there exists a fourth-dimensional world where the measurement includes time. Time, length, height, and width.

A dimension is not a line. Instead, it is any way a thing can be measured that is very different from any other mode of measurement. 

Are we able to alter our future? A question asked by Neville Goddard which he goes on to answer. He points out that man’s future is remarkable because it is flexible, and very much affected by man’s concept of self. When man experiences a realization of the concept of self, of his ideologies and feelings about himself, of his boundaries and limitations, and gets a deep longing to change these ideas and push these boundaries, he is in effect changing his concept of self and the more he pushes these limitations and realizes that these boundaries are nothing but our mind acting against us, the more these boundaries are expanded until they fully disappear.

Our assumptions which we regard as facts are the boundaries we need to get rid of. There is not much that can be acknowledged as certainty. Our estimate of assumption hinders our creative power. If you can assume the state of something, then you can create the reality for that thing. In that way, you become what you assume you are, as our reality is only hindered by our doubts and fears in assuming ourselves to be greater than the level we think we can go.

Neville mentioned that the future has several outcomes instead of one definitive one and when we make one choice instead of another we are either choosing the most likely future to occur or we are choosing another from the vast options set before us. The choice is ours to make.

The idea that we have one predestined path, where no matter what we do, we cannot change anything about our future is a wrong theory that has been propagated over time, and we have come to accept it as facts. The future is ours to control and change if we can just tap into the power of assumption and understand what exactly the concept of self is.

Neville opined that everyone possesses two outlooks on the world. There is the natural outlook and the spiritual outlook, which the preachers of old describe as the carnal mind (the natural or physical outlook) and the mind of Christ (the spiritual outlook). The physical outlook restricts our view and thinking to that which we see around us and discards that which we cannot see or understand, while the spiritual outlook opens our eyes to more than what we can grasp from the view of physicality.

“The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them for they are spiritually discerned” [1Corinthians 2:14].

The natural view is fixed only in the ‘now’ reality, where the past and the future do not matter. It seeks only to take care of the present, a disability that renders man blind to the beauty of that which he would have seen. The spiritual view sees the past and the present in the very fabric of time. The past and the future are not discarded but are regarded as important. This ability opens the eyes of man to what he could be if he chooses to cultivate this faculty of seeing the invisible.

“The habit of withdrawing attention from the region of sensation and concentrating it on the invisible develops our spiritual outlook and enables us to penetrate beyond the world of sense and to see that which is invisible.”

To see the invisible is to disentangle out minds and senses from the evidence and facts of only the present and focus our attention on that invisible state, feeling with our spiritual and mental sense of being, until the impossible and invisible becomes our reality. To become one with this new reality, we have to fully concentrate on the state which we desire to see until we are able to shut out the sensations and doubts that tie us to the physical plane and make them disappear.

An important tool to possess in order to reshape the future is desire. Without desire, nothing can get done and everything will simply be wishful thinking. Desire has always dominated the human mind and until that deep longing to control the imagination is deeply rooted, nothing can be done. In order to desire it, one must think of the benefits that come with this ability to see beyond the physical, as desire cannot manifest into action when there is nothing to gain.

“To desire a state is to have it… Man, by assuming the feeling of his wish fulfilled, and then living and acting on this conviction, alters the future in harmony with his assumption.”

The moment a man desires a state and assumes the feeling of attaining that state, he begins to search for ways to make that wish into reality. When our mind becomes open to our four-dimensional self, the means necessary to create the accepted end that we desire becomes possible to construct.

“I know of no clearer definition of the means by which we realize our desires than to experience in imagination what we would experience in the flesh were we to achieve our goal.”

Human life is built on imagination, but there are certain imaginations that may be difficult to piece together. A mind which is not disciplined will find it difficult to assume a state which is denied by the senses. Neville provided a simple formula that can help change the future with a few steps.

1. Desire: in order to desire something, there has to be a never straying and innate longing for it. Know what you want.
2. Construct: to construct an event you believe you will encounter after your desires have been fulfilled. A likely effect that can only happen after achieving that which you sought after.
3. Picture: lie on a bed or a chair in a very relaxing position and imagine that you are sleepy until your eyelids close, and you feel as though you are close to falling asleep. Picture the action you intend to experience, then imagine performing it. Do not just think of doing it, but imagine actively participating in this imaginary action instead of passively looking on. Feel the sensation your participation brings you until it feels very real, as though you have done it physically.

These are important factors necessary for altering the future and projecting the spiritual self with no hindrance from the natural self. 

What happens when assumptions become facts?

The power of assumption is not as commonly known as it ought to be. If men understood it, it will be applied to every aspect of life and will change how we have come to view the world.

Simply assuming things makes no difference whatsoever, but assumption coupled with the knowledge of the law governing it grants you the ability to see beyond the boundaries that have been set by the physical or natural view. 

Men believe in the reality of the physical world because they do not know how to channel the power the mind holds, into that thin crust that divides the physical from the spiritual. It is this disability that cripples man’s ability to grow to unimaginable heights. Concentrating on our desires helps us to question that veil that has dulled our senses, helping us to achieve the first step of growth.

Meditating on our desire broadens the mind’s search for truth. 

In your meditation, allow others to see you as you imagine yourself to be. You must propagate this new idea of yourself to them mentally in the way that you want them to view you physically.

Assuming that you are what you want to be, leads to the fulfillment of your desire, and when it is fulfilled, you no longer have that longing anymore. Understand that desire is not something to be labored for but the realization that it is something you already possess, but have not activated in yourself yet.

Define your ideal and concentrate your attention on the idea of identifying yourself with your ideal. Assume the feeling of being it, the feeling that would be yours were you already the embodiment of your ideal. Then live and act upon this conviction.

Although the human senses find it difficult to accept the power of assumption, with utter persistence, assumption becomes fact.

So when does assumption become fact? Simply when you succeed in fulfilling the desired state. When you look mentally at the people you know, instead of physically, and instead of seeing them as they once were, you see the newness in them then you have changed your concept of self and your relationship with the world. It comes from learning to see others in relation to your assumption, and never separating yourself from that which you conceive yourself to be.

[Hebrew 11:1] – Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Do not wait to see the manifestation in the physical, when you can live it in the spiritual. Learning to control the movement of our attention in the four-dimensional world will make it possible to manifest our desires in a three-dimensional world. Through controlled waking dreams, it is easier to control with efforts, to create the event we desire to manifest and experience in the three-dimensional world.

The Power of Imagination is immense.

I am there in my imagination and my imagination is my real self, and where I go in my imagination to make it real, there I shall go in the flesh also.

“Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” – John 8:32

The ability to comprehend the hidden truth of things, without doubt, is an ability every man should strive to possess. As a race, man has been made to deny the evidence of our senses and instead, imagine that which may not hold true, to be the truth because it fits with the natural view.

To know the truth, we must assume that someone is already the way they desire to be. Any concept we hold of another that is short of his fulfilled desire will not make him free and therefore cannot be the truth.

When applied right, the power of imagination creates a relationship between you and those around you. Their behaviors become fashioned in line with the fantasies or desires you have created in your imagination. Man’s imagination is the man himself, and the imagined world he pictures becomes the real world.

“As a man thinketh in his heart so is he” [Proverbs 23:7]. 

Whatever imagination you create is the person you are. The life you want and create for yourself is fueled by your desire. Desire good, and you will be good and beneficial to those around you. Make it a routine to imagine yourself in that place you want to be or as that person you see yourself as. Imagine it as how it would be in reality, the feeling it will give you, what people would say about it, etc. Imagine every minute detail that makes it real and live in that moment… in that space you have created and nothing will stop it from being a reality.

In the four-dimensional world, assumptions are immediately realized as soon as you create the event you want to see, unlike in the three-dimensional world where the fulfillment does not come immediately after the assumption.

We can, by the power of imagination, mold our world in harmony with our desire. Look as though you saw; listen as though you heard; stretch forth your imaginary hand as though you touched…. And your assumptions will harden into facts.

Neville Goddard believed that the reason we hold this much power to control our circumstances and the world is that we are the God the Bible and ancient teachers taught about. Our consciousness is the kingdom of heaven that lives within us. While this theory might bring questions to the mind of many, leading to confusion as to who we really are, the answer to that dwells solely on what role we play in the world. Our concept of self should not have to bear any similarities to the reality of the three-dimensional world we live in, but in who we imagine ourselves to be, separate from that world and its blindness to ‘something more’ than itself.

When we have planted the seed of assumption, it is important to nurture it and make certain that it is not severed from the root, and we do this by remaining faithful to the assumption we have created in our consciousness, choosing not to stray because of the seed of doubt the world may sow with its external truth.

Embrace ‘the change’ for no one but yourself.

There is nothing more important than our conception of ourselves. What we think of ourselves either frees us from that which has bound us or keeps us forever in our constraint.

In order to attain that perfection or that imagined life we seek, we must first look into our consciousness as the only true judge of what is our reality. If what we find as our true self does not appeal to us, then we must seek the change within ourselves.

”As within, so without.”

We must look into our inner being where our true nature lies and seek to change that which does not bring happiness to us before we can manifest it on the outside When we succeed in changing ourselves, the world rearranges itself to match that change, creating a perfect balance and harmony.

Conclusion

Inner reflection helps us understand our true nature and how to harness the power that lies dormant within us. Create desires and meditate constantly on them, picturing exactly what you want, to the smallest detail, and watch the change take place immediately. Change is necessary for growth, so learn to look within for that which needs to be altered for your good and change it.