LETTER FROM NEVILLE
This book contains the very essence of the Principle of Expression. Had I cared to, I could have expanded it into a book of several hundred pages but such expansion would have defeated the purpose of this book.
Commands, to be effective, must be short and to the point: the greatest command ever recorded is found in the few simple words, “And God said, ‘Let there be light.’”
In keeping with this principle I now give to you, the reader, in these few pages, the truth as it was revealed to me.
—Neville
AT YOUR COMMAND
Can man decree a thing and have it come to pass? Most decidedly he can! Man has always decreed that which has appeared in his world and is today decreeing that which is appearing in his world and shall continue to do so as long as man is conscious of being man. Not one thing has ever appeared in man’s world but what man decreed that it should. This you may deny, but try as you will you cannot disprove it, for this decreeing is based upon a changeless principle. You do not command things to appear by your words or loud affirmations. Such vain repetition is more often than not confirmation of the opposite. Decreeing is ever done in consciousness. That is; every man is conscious of being that which he has decreed himself to be. The dumb man without using words is conscious of being dumb. Therefore he is decreeing himself to be dumb.
When the Bible is read in this light you will find it to be the greatest scientific book ever written. Instead of looking upon the Bible as the historical record of an ancient civilization or the biography of the unusual life of Jesus, see it as a great psychological drama taking place in the consciousness of man.
Claim it as your own and you will suddenly transform your world from the barren deserts of Egypt to the promised land of Canaan.
Every one will agree with the statement that all things were made by God, and without him there is nothing made that is made, but what man does not agree upon is the identity of God. All the churches and priesthoods of the world disagree as to the identity and true nature of God. The Bible proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that Moses and the prophets were in one hundred per cent accord as to the identity and nature of God. And Jesus’ life and teachings are in agreement with the findings of the prophets of old. Moses discovered God to be man’s awareness of being, when he declared these little understood words, “I AM hath sent me unto you.” David sang in his psalms, “Be still and know that I AM God.” Isaiah declared, “I AM the Lord and there is none else. There is no God beside me. I girded thee, though thou hast not known me. I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil. I the Lord do all these things.”
The awareness of being as God is stated hundreds of times in the New Testament. To name but a few: “I AM the shepherd, I AM the door; I AM the resurrection and the life; I AM the way; I AM the Alpha and Omega; I AM the beginning and the end”; and again, “Whom do you say that I AM?”
It is not stated, “I, Jesus, am the door. I, Jesus, am the way,” nor is it said, “Whom do you say that I, Jesus, am?” It is clearly stated, “I AM the way.” The awareness of being is the door through which the manifestations of life pass into the world of form.
Consciousness is the resurrecting power—resurrecting that which man is conscious of being. Man is ever out-picturing that which he is conscious of being. This is the truth that makes man free, for man is always self-imprisoned or self-freed.
If you, the reader, will give up all of your former beliefs in a God apart from yourself, and claim God as your awareness of being—as Jesus and the prophets did—you will transform your world with the realization that, “I and my father are one.” This statement, “I and my father are one, but my father is greater than I,” seems very confusing—but if interpreted in the light of what we have just said concerning the identity of God, you will find it very revealing. Consciousness, being God, is as “father.” The thing that you are conscious of being is the “son” bearing witness of his “father.” It is like the conceiver and its conceptions. The conceiver is ever greater than his conceptions yet ever remains one with his conception. For instance; before you are conscious of being man, you are first conscious of being. Then you become conscious of being man. Yet you remain as conceiver, greater than your conception—man.
Jesus discovered this glorious truth and declared himself to be one with God—not a God that man had fashioned. For he never recognized such a God. He said, “If any man should ever come, saying, ‘Look here or look there,’ believe them not, for the kingdom of God is within you.” Heaven is within you. Therefore, when it is recorded that “He went unto his father,” it is telling you that he rose in consciousness to the point where he was just conscious of being, thus transcending the limitations of his present conception of himself, called “Jesus.”
In the awareness of being all things are possible, he said, “You shall decree a thing and it shall come to pass.” This is his decreeing—rising in consciousness to the naturalness of being the thing desired. As he expressed it, “And I, if I be lifted up, I shall draw all men unto me.” If I be lifted up in consciousness to the naturalness of the thing desired I will draw the manifestation of that desire unto me. For he states, “No man comes unto me save the father within me draws him, and I and my father are one.” Therefore, consciousness is the father that is drawing the manifestations of life unto you.
You are, at this very moment, drawing into your world that which you are now conscious of being. Now you can see what is meant by, “You must be born again.” If you are dissatisfied with your present expression in life the only way to change it, is to take your attention away from that which seems so real to you and rise in consciousness to that which you desire to be. You cannot serve two masters, therefore to take your attention from one state of consciousness and place it upon another is to die to one and live to the other.
The question, “Whom do you say that I AM?” is not addressed to a man called “Peter” by one called “Jesus.” This is the eternal question addressed to one’s self by one’s true being. In other words, “Whom do you say that you are?” For your conviction of yourself—your opinion of yourself will determine your expression in life. He states, “You believe in God—believe also in me.” In other words, it is the me within you that is this God.
Praying, then, is seen to be recognizing yourself to be that which you now desire, rather than its accepting form of petitioning a God that does not exist for that which you now desire.
So can’t you see why the millions of prayers are unanswered? Men pray to a God that does not exist. For instance: To be conscious of being poor and to pray to a God for riches is to be rewarded with that which you are conscious of being—which is poverty. Prayers to be successful must be claiming rather than begging—so if you would pray for riches turn from your picture of poverty by denying the very evidence of your senses and assume the nature of being wealthy.
We are told, “When you pray go within in secret and shut the door. And that which your father sees in secret, with that will he reward you openly.” We have identified the “father” to be the awareness of being. We have also identified the “door” to be the awareness of being. So “shutting the door” is shutting out that which “I” am now aware of being and claiming myself to be that which “I” desire to be. The very moment my claim is established to the point of conviction, that moment I begin to draw unto myself the evidence of my claim.
Do not question the how of these things appearing, for no man knows that way. That is, no manifestation knows how the things desired will appear.
Consciousness is the way or door through which things appear. He said, “I AM the way”—not “I,” John Smith, am the way, but “I AM,” the awareness of being, is the way through which the thing shall come. The signs always follow. They never precede. Things have no reality other than in consciousness. Therefore, get the consciousness first and the thing is compelled to appear.
You are told, “Seek ye first the kingdom of Heaven and all things shall be added unto you.” Get first the consciousness of the things that you are seeking and leave the things alone. This is what is meant by “Ye shall decree a thing and it shall come to pass.” Apply this principle and you will know what it is to “prove me and see.” The story of Mary is the story of every man. Mary was not a woman—giving birth in some miraculous way to one called ‘Jesus.’ Mary is the awareness of being that ever remains virgin, no matter how many desires it gives birth to. Right now look upon yourself as this virgin Mary—being impregnated by yourself through the medium of desire—becoming one with your desire to the point of embodying or giving birth to your desire.
For instance: It is said of Mary (whom you now know to be yourself) that she know not a man. Yet she conceived. That is, you, John Smith, have no reason to believe that that which you now desire is possible, but having discovered your awareness of being to be God, you make this awareness your husband and conceive a man child (manifestation) of the Lord, “For thy maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; the Lord God of the whole earth shall he be called.” Your ideal or ambition is this conception—the first command to her, which is now to yourself, is “Go, tell no man.” That is, do not discuss your ambitions or desires with another for the other will only echo your present fears. Secrecy is the first law to be observed in realizing your desire.
The second, as we are told in the story of Mary, is to “Magnify the Lord.” We have identified the Lord as your awareness of being. Therefore, to “magnify the Lord” is to revalue or expand one’s present conception of one’s self to the point where this revaluation becomes natural. When this naturalness is attained you give birth by becoming that which you are one with in consciousness.
The story of creation is given us in digest form in the first chapter of John.
“In the beginning was the word.” Now, this very second, is the “beginning” spoken of. It is the beginning of an urge—a desire. “The word” is the desire swimming around in your consciousness—seeking embodiment. The urge of itself has no reality, for “I AM” or the awareness of being is the only reality. Things live only as long as I AM aware of being them; so to realize one’s desire, the second line of this first verse of John must be applied. That is, “And the word was with God.” The word, or desire, must be fixed or united with consciousness to give it reality. The awareness becomes aware of being the thing desired, thereby nailing itself upon the form or conception—and giving life unto its conception—or resurrecting that which was heretofore a dead or unfulfilled desire. “Two shall agree as touching anything and it shall be established on earth.”
This agreement is never made between two persons. It is between the awareness and the thing desired. You are now conscious of being, so you are actually saying to yourself, without using words, “I AM.” Now, if it is a state of health that you are desirous of attaining, before you have any evidence of health in your world, you begin to FEEL yourself to be healthy. And the very second the feeling “I AM healthy” is attained the two have agreed. That is, I AM and health have agreed to be one and this agreement ever results in the birth of a child which is the thing agreed upon—in this case, health. And because I made the agreement I express the thing agreed. So you can see why Moses stated, “I AM hath sent me.” For what being, other than I AM could send you into expression? None—for “I AM the way—Beside me there is no other.” If you take the wings of the morning and fly into the uttermost parts of the world or if you make your bed in Hell, you will still be aware of being. You are ever sent into expression by your awareness and your expression is ever that which you are aware of being.
Again, Moses stated, “I AM that I AM.” Now here is something to always bear in mind. You cannot put new wine in old bottles or new patches upon old garments. That is; you cannot take with you into the new consciousness any part of the old man. All of your present beliefs, fears and limitations are weights that bind you to your present level of consciousness. If you would transcend this level you must leave behind all that is now your present self, or conception of yourself. To do this you take your attention away from all that is now your problem or limitation and dwell upon just being. That is; you say silently but feeling to yourself, “I AM.” Do not condition this “awareness” as yet. Just declare yourself to be, and continue to do so, until you are lost in the feeling of just being—faceless and formless. When this expansion of consciousness is attained, then, within this formless deep of yourself give form to the new conception by FEELING yourself to be THAT which you desire to be.
You will find within this deep of yourself all things to be divinely possible. Everything in the world which you can conceive of being, is to you, within this present formless awareness, a most natural attainment.
The invitation given us in the Scriptures is—“to be absent from the body and be present with the Lord.” The “body” being your former conception of yourself and “the Lord”—your awareness of being. This is what is meant when Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Ye must be born again for except ye be born again ye cannot enter the kingdom of Heaven.” That is; except you leave behind you your present conception of yourself and assume the nature of the new birth, you will continue to out-picture your present limitations.
The only way to change your expressions of life is to change your consciousness. For consciousness is the reality that eternally solidifies itself in the things round about you. Man’s world in its every detail is his consciousness out-pictured. You can no more change your environment, or world, by destroying things than you can your reflection by destroying the mirror. Your environment, and all within it, reflects that which you are in consciousness. As long as you continue to be that in consciousness so long will you continue to out-picture it in your world.
Knowing this, begin to revalue yourself. Man has placed too little value upon himself. In the Book of Numbers you will read, “In that day there were giants in the land; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers. And we were in their sight as grasshoppers.” This does not mean a time in the dim past when man had the stature of giants. Today is the day—the eternal now—when conditions round about you have attained the appearance of giants (such as unemployed, the armies of your enemy, your problems and all things that seem to threaten you) those are the giants that make you feel yourself to be a grasshopper. But, you are told, you were first, in your own sight a grasshopper and because of this you were to the giants—a grasshopper. In other words, you can only be to others what you are first to yourself. Therefore, to revalue yourself and begin to feel yourself to be the giant, a center of power, is to dwarf these former giants and make of them grasshoppers. “All the inhabitants of the earth are as nothing, and he doeth according to his will in the armies of Heaven and among all the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, nor say unto him, ‘What doest thou’?” This being spoken of is not the orthodox God sitting in space but the one and only God—the everlasting father, your awareness of being. So awake to the power that you are, not as man, but as your true self, a faceless, formless awareness, and free yourself from your self-imposed prison.
“I am the good shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they will follow me.” Awareness is the good shepherd. What I am aware of being, is the “sheep” that follow me. So a good “shepherd” is your awareness that it has never lost one of the “sheep” that you are aware of being.
I am a voice calling in the wilderness of human confusion for such as I am aware of being, and never shall there come a time when that which I am convinced that I am shall fail to find me. “I AM” is an open door for all that I am to enter. Your awareness of being is lord and shepherd of your life. So, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want” is seen in its true light now to be your consciousness. You could never be in want of proof or lack the evidence of that which you are aware of being.
This being true, why not become aware of being great; God-loving; wealthy; healthy; and all attributes that you admire?
It is just as easy to possess the consciousness of these qualities as it is to possess their opposites for you have not your present consciousness because of your world. On the contrary, your world is what it is because of your present consciousness. Simple, is it not? Too simple in fact for the wisdom of man that tries to complicate everything.
Paul said of this principle, “It is to the Greeks” (or wisdom of this world) “foolishness.” “And to the Jews” (or those who look for signs) “a stumbling block”; with the result, that man continues to walk in darkness rather than awake to the being that he is. Man has so long worshipped the images of his own making that at first he finds this revelation blasphemous, since it spells death to all his previous beliefs in a God apart from himself. This revelation will bring the knowledge that “I and my father are one but my father is greater than I.” You are one with your present conception of yourself. But you are greater than that which you are at present aware of being.
Before man can attempt to transform his world he must first lay the foundation—“I AM the Lord.” That is, man’s awareness, his consciousness of being is God. Until this is firmly established so that no suggestion or argument put forward by others can shake it, he will find himself returning to the slavery of his former beliefs. “If ye believe not that I AM he, ye shall die in your sins.” That is, you shall continue to be confused and thwarted until you find the cause of your confusion. When you have lifted up the son of man then shall you know that I AM he, that is, that I, John Smith, do nothing of myself, but my father, or that state of consciousness which I am now one with does the works.
When this is realized every urge and desire that springs within you shall find expression in your world. “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me.” The “I” knocking at the door is the urge.
The door is your consciousness. To open the door is to become one with that which is knocking by FEELING oneself to be the thing desired. To feel one’s desire as impossible is to shut the door or deny this urge expression. To rise in consciousness to the naturalness of the thing felt is to swing wide the door and invite this one into embodiment.
That is why it is constantly recorded that Jesus left the world of manifestation and ascended unto his father. Jesus, as you and I, found all things impossible to Jesus, as man. But having discovered his father to be the state of consciousness of the thing desired, he but left behind him the “Jesus consciousness” and rose in consciousness to that state desired and stood upon it until he became one with it. As he made himself one with that, he became that in expression.
This is Jesus’ simple message to man: Men are but garments that the impersonal being, I AM—the presence that men call God—dwells in. Each garment has certain limitations. In order to transcend these limitations and give expression to that which, as man—John Smith—you find yourself incapable of doing, you take your attention away from your present limitations, or John Smith conception of yourself, and merge yourself in the feeling of being that which you desire. Just how this desire or newly attained consciousness will embody itself, no man knows. For I, or the newly attained consciousness, has ways that ye know not of; its ways are past finding out. Do not speculate as to the HOW of this consciousness embodying itself, for no man is wise enough to know the how. Speculation is proof that you have not attained to the naturalness of being the thing desired and so are filled with doubts.
You are told, “He who lacks wisdom let him ask of God, that gives to all liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given unto him. But let him ask not doubting for he who doubts is as a wave of the sea that is tossed and battered by the winds. And let not such a one think that he shall receive anything from the Lord.” You can see why this statement is made, for only upon the rock of faith can anything be established. If you have not the consciousness of the thing you have not the cause or foundation upon which the thing is erected.
A proof of this established consciousness is given you in the words, “Thank you, father.” When you come into the joy of thanksgiving so that you actually feel grateful for having received that which is not yet apparent to the senses, you have definitely become one in consciousness with the thing for which you gave thanks. God (your awareness) is not mocked. You are ever receiving that which you are aware of being and no man gives thanks for something which he has not received. “Thank you father” is not, as it is used by many today, a sort of magical formula. You need never utter aloud the words, “Thank you, father.” In applying this principle as you rise in consciousness to the point where you are really grateful and happy for having received the thing desired, you automatically rejoice and give thanks inwardly. You have already accepted the gift which was but a desire before you rose in consciousness, and your faith is now the substance that shall clothe your desire.
This rising in consciousness is the spiritual marriage where two shall agree upon being one and their likeness or image is established on earth.
“For whatsoever ye ask in my name the same give I unto you.” “Whatsoever” is quite a large measure. It is the unconditional. It does not state if society deems it right or wrong that you should ask it, it rests with you. Do you really want it? Do you desire it? That is all that is necessary. Life will give it to you if you ask “in his name.”
His name is not a name that you pronounce with the lips. You can ask forever in the name of God or Jehovah or Christ Jesus and you will ask in vain. “Name” means nature; so, when you ask in the nature of a thing, results ever follow. To ask in the name is to rise in consciousness and become one in nature with the thing desired, rise in consciousness to the nature of the thing, and you will become that thing in expression. Therefore, “what things so ever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them and ye shall receive them.”
Praying, as we have shown you before, is recognition—the injunction to believe that ye receive is first person, present tense. This means that you must be in the nature of the things asked for before you can receive them.
Copyright © 2019 by Mitch Horowitz
