12 Mar Neville Goddard in Prologue to William Walker Atkinson’s The Arcane Teaching with Formulas By JT Thayer
Found this intro would be a good recap for readers new to Neville’s teachings it is a kind of chronology in a nutshell.
It is the prologue to William Walker Atkinson’s The Arcane Teaching with Formulas By JT Thayer (see resources below)
In resources and here is a different copy of the book without JT Thayer’s intro William Walker Atkinson’s The Arcane Teaching with Formulas
(excuse the formatting below but no time)
Prologue By JT Thayer
Man, by assuming the feeling of his wish fulfilled, alters his
future in harmony with bis assumption, for, assumptions
though false, if sustained, will harden into fact.
New Thought Movement
The Arcane Teaching is one of the watershed books of the New Thought
authors of the late 1800’s to easly 1900s. New Thought as a movement
had no single origin, but was rather propelled along by a number of
spiritual thinkers and philosophers. It was a movement where_most of
its teachers and students were women; notable among the founders of the
movement were Emma Curtis Hopkins, known as the “teacher of
teachers”, Myrtle Fillmore, Malinda Cramer, and Nona L. Brooks
The earliest identifiable proponent of what came to be known as New
Thought was Phineas Parkhurst Quimby (1802-66), an American
philosopher, mesmerist, healer, and inventor. Quimby developed a belief
system that included the tenet that illness originated in the mind as a
consequence of erroneous beliefs and that a mind open to God’s wisdom
could overcome any illness. During the late 19th century the metaphysical
healing practices of Quimby mingled with the “Mental Science” of Warren
Felt Evans, a Swedenborgian minister.
Notable pioneers in the movement also included Charles Fillmore,
William Walker Atkinson and Ernest Holmes.
New Thought was also largely a movement of the printed word, The
1890s and the first decades of the 20th century saw an explosion of what
would become known as self help books, including the financial success
and will-training books of Napoleon Hill, Wallace Wattles, Frank
Channing Haddock, and Thomas Troward
In 1906, William Walker Atkinson (1862-1932) wrote and published
Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World. Atkinson was
the editor of New Thought magazine and the author of more than 100
books on an assortment of religious, spiritual, and occult topics. In 1909
he wrote and had The Arcane Teaching published
In 1907, Elizabeth Towne, the editor of The Nautilus Magazine, a Journal of
New Thought, published Bruce MacLelland’s book Prosperity Through Thought
Force, in which he summarized the “Law of Attration” as a New Thought
principle, stating “You are what you think, not what you think you are.”
These magazines were used to teach a large audience.
Nautilus magazine for example, had 45,000 subscribers and a total
circulation of 150,000. One Unity Church Magazine, Wee Wisdom, was the longest-
lived children’s magazine in the United States, published from
1893 until 1991.
Man’s chief delusion is his conviction that there are causes other than his own state of consciousness. All that befalls a man — all that is done by him — all that comes from him — happens as a result of his state of consciousness. A man’s consciousness is all that he thinks and desires and loves, all that he believes is true and consents to. That is why a change of consciousness is necessary before you can change your outer world. Rain falls as a result of a change in the temperature in the higher regions of the atmosphere, so, in like manner, a change of circumstance happens as a result of a change in your state of consciousness.Chapter III Power of Assumption The Power of Awareness
It is uncertain, but highly probable that William Walker Atkinson and
Neville Goddard met at some point. The instructions in the prolific
writings of Atkinson and Neville Goddard some 40 years later are
remarkably similar.
In the late 1940’s through late 1960’s Goddard, better known as just
Neville, was one of the quietly dramatic and supremely influential teachers,
in the New Thought field. In a simple, yet somehow elegant one-hour
lecture, Neville was able to clarify the nature of God and God’s
relationship to every person. He spoke of God in intimate terms as
though he knew God very well, which he did.
Joseph Murphy, a writer and lecturer, who studied with Neville in New
York City, said of him: “Neville may eventually be recognized as one of
the world’s great mystics.” There are currently over a 1,000 hours of
Neville’ lectures on-line and in the public domain.
Born on Barbados in the British West Indies, Neville was the fourth Child
in family of nine boys and one girl. One day some of them were playing
near an old wind-swept hut by the sea. A seer lived in the hut and told
them their fortunes, The older sons would go into the professions, into
medicine, into business. The predictions for them came true. The
Goddard family is one of the most prominent and influential families on
the island.
“Do not touch the fourth one,” the seer said, pointing to Neville, “he has
a special mission to perform in the world — from God.” And to Neville,
“You will journey to a distant land and spend your life there” This
prediction also came true- As a young man he went to America and
worked in some of the department stores in New York City. Later, he
worked in the theatre with the Schubert’s.
“Raise Imagination to the state of vision and the thing is
done.” William Blake
Under unusual circumstances, he met a black named Abdullah. who
lectured on Christianity, Neville went to hear somewhat under
protest, to satisfy the constant urging of a friend, ” Whose judgment I did
not respect” Neville said, “because he made such poor financial investments.”
Neville said he was seated in the auditorium waiting for the lecture to
begin, when the speaker – who had never met Neville came down the aisle
from the rear of the auditorium to the stage.
“You are late, Neville!” Abdullah said, “six months’ late! I have been told
to expect you.” From this introduction, Neville studied with Abdullah
seven days a week for seven years.
“Abdullah taught me Hebrew, he taught me The Kabbalah, and he taught
me more about real Christianity than anyone I ever met,” Neville declared.
Neville originally came to the United Stares to study drama at the age of
seventeen. In 1932 he gave up the theater to devote his attention to his
studies in mysticism when he began his lecture career tn New York City.
After traveling throughout the country, he eventually made his home in
Los Angeles where, in the late 1950’s, he gave a screes of talks on
television, and for many years, lectured regularly to capacity audiences at
the Wilshire Ebell Theater. In the 1960’s and early 70s, he confined most
of his lectures to Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco.
‘Neville once said that if he was stranded on an island and was allowed one
book, he would choose, The Bible, without hesitation. If he could
squeeze in more, he would add Charles Fillmore’s Metaphysical
Dictionary of Bible names, William Blake, (“.. Why stand we here
trembling around, Calling on God for help, and not ourselves, in whom
God dwells”) and Nicolls Commentaries. These were the books he
recommended at his lectures.
In his lectures and books, Neville dealt solely with The Law until the year
1959, “For I did not know of The Promise until I began to experience it
and have it unfold within me beginning that summer and continuing
during the next three-and-one-half years. And this is Scriptural,”he would say,
“read it in the Book of Daniel where it is referred to as ‘a time, times, and a half.’
It comes to 1260 days in your experience of it.”
In his use of The Law, he related how he made a sea voyage from New
York to see his family in Barbados during the Depression, without any
money of his own. He related how, by the use of imaginal power, he was
honorably discharged from military service to continue his lectures
during World War II. He gave his audiences in San Francisco in the 1950’s
and ’60s accounts of how others had made use of The Law. He discussed
it on television in the Los Angeles area, “Learn how to use your imaginal power,
lovingly, on behalf of others, for Man is moving into a world where
everything is subject to his imaginal power,” he taught.
In the latter part of the 1960’s and early “70’s Neville gave more emphasis
to The Promise after he had experienced it, The use of imaginal power
can change circumstances, but it is all temporary, “and will vanish like
smoke,” he asserted with another sweep of his hand. “Oh. — you can use
it to make a fortune, to become known in the world ~all these things are
done — but your true purpose here is to fulfill Scripture,” so he
subordinated it and became as eager to hear accounts by those who had
experienced The Promise, and sharing such accounts, as he had of those
with The Law.
In the last years of his life he said, “I know my time is short. I have
finished the work I have been sent to do and I am now eager to depart. I
know I will not appear in this three-dimensional world again for The
Promise has been fulfilled in me. As for where I go, I will know you there
as I have known you here, for we are all brothers, infinitely in love with
each other.”
This discovery Neville called God’s “Promise.” There is nothing any person
can do to earn it. It is sheer Grace and comes in its own good time.
If you do not experience it in this life, then what?
‘You pass through a door – that’s all that death is,” Neville said, “and
you are restored to life instantly in a world like this ~ just this world,” he
‘was fond of saying to his audiences with a sweep of his hand, “and you go
from there with the same problems you had here with no loss of identity-
not old, not blind, not crippled, if you depart this life tat way, but young.
They grow, and they marry, and they die there, too, with all the fear of death that we have here.
And if they die there without experiencing The Promise, they are restored to life again
and again in a place best suited to the work yet to be done on them. And it continues
until “Christ be formed in you’ and as ‘sons of The Resurrection’ you leave this
world of death never to enter it again.”
“You are born once through the womb of woman, once from above,
Neville insists you don’t go through any womb again.
What about the fear many have of eternal hell and damnation? In
response to this often asked question, Neville replied with a quote from
Scriptures, “Not one shall be lost in all my holy mountain” You are God
and how could God eternally condemn Himself?
Until we awaken and make this discovery, we are privileged to use a Law
_given by God, to “cushion the blows of life” ‘The Law, stated succinctly
is this, In Neville’s words: “Imagining creates reality.”
Neville spoke without notes and followed his lectures with questions and
answers. When he was asked if he had tapes of his lectures for sale, he
replied, “I have no tapes. Others here are making tapes for their own use,
Perfectly all right. But I have no tapes.
There ace many tapes of his lectures in Los Angeles and San Francisco
circulating, thanks to the loyalty and dedication of many of Neville’s
students and friends who have preserved much of what he said. His
books are also in print.
Neville departed from the Earth plane on October 1, 1972, in Los
Angeles.
Although Neville’s career peaked in the late 1950’s and early 60s his message continues to find a place in the hearts of spiritual readers throughout the world today.
The rest of the prologue follows with Neville’s lecture Consciousness is the only reality
Much thought was given to what might be an appropriate Prologue for The Arcane Teaching. Having read Neville’s lecture, I would not be surprised William Walker Atkinson would have chosen this had it been available. – JT
Resources:
1. William Walker Atkinson The Arcane Teaching with Formulas JT Thayer on Google Books
2. New Thought scoop on this great historical and exceptionally well researched blog (with some “scandalous” discoveries in the New Thought Movement – Chasing Down Emma by Marc Demarest
3. William Walker Atkinson (December 5, 1862 – November 22, 1932) was an attorney, merchant, publisher, and author, as well as an occultist and an American pioneer of the New Thought movement. He is the author of the pseudonymous works attributed to Magus Incognito, Theodore Sheldon, Theron Q. Dumont, Swami Panchadasi, Yogi Ramacharaka, Swami Bhakta Vishita. Edward E. Beals. He wrote an estimated 100 books, all in the last 30 years of his life. He was mentioned in past editions of Who’s Who in America, in Religious Leaders of America, and in similar publications. His works have remained in print more or less continuously since 1900.
4. As per reference to Swedenborgians it is good to note Neville was more like Blake – in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell-Swedenborg is directly cited and criticized by Blake in several places in the Marriage. Though Blake was influenced by his grand and mystical cosmic conception, Swedenborg’s conventional moral strictures and his Manichaean view of good and evil led Blake to express a deliberately depolarized and unified vision of the cosmos in which the material world and physical desire are equally part of the divine order; hence, a marriage of heaven and hell.
5. William Walker Atkinson’s The Arcane Teaching with Formulas PDF