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Neville Goddard 9-25-1959

THE BREAD AND THE WINE
When we say that the supreme power that created the universe is the same power that is resident in man,
people question that statement. Possibly everyone here owns a Bible, and when you go to court as a witness -
say you are called to swear that you will tell the truth - and to swear you put your hand on the Bible, or the
Word oI God. Then you open the Bible and read: "Whatsoever things you desire, believe that you have
them.and you shall receive them. And when you stand praying, Iorgive, iI you have aught against your
brother, so that your Father in heaven may even so Iorgive you." You put your hand on the book oI truth and
swear to tell the truth, and here is this statement in this very book on which you swear, and you don't believe
it. It is true. It is based on the statement: Imagination creates reality, Ior the Bible is addressed to the real
man, Imagination. "For the Eternal body oI man is The Imagination; that is God himselI." (Blake)
Is there anything you cannot imagine? Yet many cannot believe what the Book says is true. You admit you
can imagine it, yet man does not believe that the thing imagined can be true. But I tell |you| that iI you can
imagine it and persist, your persistence will win and you will prove the truth oI that statement in Mark 11
given above. However, that is on this level oI the world. It is called in the Bible "Ieasting on the bread and
Iish," or the loaves and Iishes. We can bring about all the changes we desire in our world iI we imagine we
have it and persist in that state, Ior iI I will persist I will win. But there is another diet spoken oI in the Bible
and it is called "bread and wine." You can go and get all the things oI the world with the bread and Iish, and
you are invited to Ieast on it iI you wish, but the other diet does something to a man that not one in a billion
would believe.
We are told that they despaired, Ior they could not believe it. They were told regarding this second diet: "II
you eat it and drink it you do it in remembrance oI me." Who? The one who is called Jesus Christ in the
Bible, or the spirit oI Iorgiveness. You must Ieast on this, and it has nothing to do with a cup oI wine or a
little waIer. It is "the spirit oI Iorgiveness." It is "the mutual point oI Iorgiveness between enemies, the
birthplace oI the Lamb oI God." And throughout eternity I Iorgive you and you Iorgive me, and just as he
said: "This is the wine and this is the bread." So iI I know how to eat oI that bread and drink oI that wine I am
Iorgiving every person in the world. But I cannot do it unless I see and understand the diIIerence between an
individual and the state the individual is occupying. II I condemn a man, or a society, or a thing, |and| I do
not understand that they are only states, I am condemning |them|. Only when I begin to distinguish between
the state and the individual can I Iorgive. Then I can take the most horrible beast in the world and embrace
him. He might in this present state be my worst enemy, but iI I know he is only in a state, I can take him
mentally and embrace him and pull him out oI that state into which he has Iallen and put him into a nobler
state. And that is the "point oI mutual Iorgiveness between enemies, the birthplace |oI| the Lamb oI God." So
when man will eat this bread and drink this wine he can have anything there is, Ior there is only One, Ior the
whole is given to us, iI we know it. II any man gives you anything he gives you what is mine as well as
yours, Ior everything is given to you and to me. All is ours. We are one.
Get things iI you want them. But there is something Iar beyond the mere getting oI things. But iI you want
|to| imagine things, they are here. Do not deny yourselI anything you desire, unless you would be gaining by
another's alleged loss. That is not the way to do it. You do not take Irom anyone. You create what you desire
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only in Imagination, and iI you persist in the state it will prove itselI, and it will come to you in a way that
will not hurt another, Ior it is my Father who is giving it to me. There is only God. Nothing is lost, Ior "all
things by a law divine with one another's being mingle." So I do not have to ask you or another to play your
part in bringing to pass what I want in this world. II you are relative to my drama you will be drawn into it.
All I must do is eat oI the bread and Iish.
But there is the other diet, the bread and the wine. Then when I meet someone I call enemy I must know that
he is in a state, and I must distinguish between the individual and the state into which he has Iallen. For it is
really God in the state. There is only God to play every part. So I can embrace that being I call my enemy and
have him see in me his most interested Iriend. So I redeem him. That is the wine and the bread, and iI I eat oI
the bread and drink oI the wine I will actually give birth to the Lamb oI God. What must I do to bring about
this experience? It will not come to anyone unless he eats this bread and drinks this wine, Ior that is the
unconditional Iorgiveness oI sin. No matter what the person has ever done, iI you can distinguish between the
individual and the state into which that individual has Iallen, you can embrace him, and then you prepare the
way Ior the birth oI the Lamb oI God.
II you Ieel you cannot do it yet, then try the other diet. It is wonderIul. II you want better health, or a Iiner
job, or a larger world, then you use Imagination to create it. You hear and see and touch |as| iI your dream
were a reality, and then you persist, and |with| persistence you will win. II you will only persist in hearing
and in seeing what you want to see, you cannot Iail to realize it. It is |a| wonderIul diet, and everyone is
invited to Ieast upon it. "Whatsoever things you desire, when you pray believe that you have them, and you
shall have them." You need no other on the outside, but iI you will have anything against another Iorgive him
and your Father will Iorgive you. Some pious monk added the last part, which is now deleted Irom the newer,
more accurate version oI the Bible: "II you don't Iorgive, then your Father will not Iorgive you." That was not
the original text. There is no punishment, no retribution. It is all up to us. We are walking through this Iire
which is called Earth, but iI man only knows that these are states, he will understand that the spirit is walking
|as| God, walking as the Son oI God. Then it is the God we embrace, but man cannot believe it and he
worships another, unknown God. Everyone who walks the Iace oI this Earth is God, but there are
unnumbered states created Ior a purpose, and we can use our minds to take anyone Irom an unlovely state.
You recall the recent discussion regarding juvenile delinquents. They could all be put away, we are told. The
judge does not know that he could do something about it instead oI just corralling them and putting them on
the backs oI the taxpayers. II the judge only knew |that| this being beIore him is in a state, and that he could
create a new state and bring that being into a new state and enable him to become a noble wonderIul being in
society! But we cannot see that, so we continue to condemn the individual as the state. No one can Ieast on
the bread and wine until he can see that, and then he can reach the place oI mutual Iorgiveness oI enemies,
the birthplace oI the Lamb oI God. "So spoke the merciIul Son oI Heaven to those whose Western Gates
were open, but sleeping humanity heard him not, and slumbered on." Only those whose Western Gates were
open heard it. |And| those go Iorward to create new states Ior another and so he saves himselI, Ior man is
saved by (and only by) the saving oI his Iellow man. Finally in each the Western Gate opens and then the
Lamb oI God is born.
A good Catholic Iriend said to me: "What do you do to have this experience?" And I said, "Drink the wine
and eat the bread." He did not understand, Ior he takes Communion every Sunday. I said: "Has anything
happened to you? Has there been an expansion in |your| consciousness? You have taken it Ior these many
years." But that is not the bread or wine I mean. The wine is mutual Iorgiveness oI all enmity throughout
eternity, just as the dear Savior said. II I cannot embrace a being and Ieel myselI thrill to his good Iortune, I
have not taken the wine or the bread. But iI I do it within and not by taking something in a tangible Iorm,
then I have partaken oI the true bread and wine, and we have schoolrooms within schoolrooms. It does not
matter who you are or when you were born; that has nothing to do with the awakening oI God in man. Who
are the "right" people? Everyone is God.
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I had a long distance call yesterday Irom New York. The lady who called me is very, very rich by the
standards oI diamonds and money. She has not Iingers enough Ior all her diamonds. She has everything she
wants - except one thing: she wants to be happily married to someone in the social register who has more
money than she has, and |is| at least twenty years younger. She is seventy-Iive, but she wants more money
and bigger diamonds. She said to me: "Look what I have done Ior my son by using this law. He can now send
his Iour girls to private school. I did this Ior him when I persisted. But I cannot seem to bring this picture Ior
myselI into being." I said: "Anything you can imagine you |can| create. But you are thinking the market is
limited because there are so Iew in the register or in your social sphere. Everyone walking the Earth is God
and there is no greater background than that. These people are only in states, and iI you took them out oI that
state you might not care Ior them at all - the same being, but another state. You do not distinguish the being
Irom the state. You used this same law to put your son where he now is. You can realize your dream oI being
married to someone richer and younger than you are, iI that is your concept." It is not mine. We judge no one,
Ior when you awaken you do not see the state. You only see the individual who has Iallen into the state, and
when you see that, you do not meet anyone you could not embrace and pull out oI an unlovely state and put
him into another state. Then we can intermingle as one being.
Now, he may go back into the old state, like Lot's wiIe. "How many times must I do it, Lord?" "Seventy
times seven." That is how it is. II a child oI yours Iell downstairs, would you not pick him up seventy times
seven? God is playing all the parts. There are unnumbered schools teaching that you suIIer because oI
something you did in a previous liIe. You must do this or that. You do not awaken by sitting on a
mountaintop, or by diets, or by joining some "ism." You can only awake as you eat the bread and drink the
wine, Ior that is the mutual Iorgiveness oI enemies, and that place is the birthplace oI the Lamb oI God. You
do not say to another: "I Iorgive you." That means nothing. But you bring him beIore your mind's eye and
embrace him. You are in states that seem to oppose, but when you Ieel that touch, you are opening the
Western Gate, Ior the Western Gate is touch. The Southern Gate is sight. The Eastern Gate is scent. The
whole world remains asleep because the Western Gate is |closed| in you. And then you eat oI this bread. You
touch the one you embrace. Embrace mentally the very one who would cut oII your head. Then the Western
Gate is open in you, and then you eat this bread and drink oI this wine, and then you prepare it. It is not by
joining any orthodox church or going on some diet. You can sit on the Himalayas until you Ireeze and cannot
do it. But you walk the marketplace and mingle with God (which is man) and then you have unnumbered
opportunities every day to eat this bread and drink this wine.
Distinguish between the individual and the state he is in. |Transcriber's note: Neville tells here the previously
told story oI the} incorrigible child in the New York school who was redeemed by the wise use oI her
teacher's imagination in seeing her in a newer and lovelier state, with corresponding results. The child was
not blemished; it was a state.| You have never been tarnished. Hitler, you say? Stalin? The states were
horrible, but the individual has never been touched. We do not give birth to the Lamb oI God by
condemnation. We must reach the point oI mutual Iorgiveness oI enemies, |the| birthplace oI the Lamb oI
God. Then everything begins to unIold and you will know and understand that everything said in the Book is
being said about you. There is only the one Son, and God is begetting that Son unceasingly Irom you and
Irom me Iorever. II you want the Son to be born in you, you must practice drinking the wine; or, iI you want
to, Ieed on the bread and the Iish. Bring beIore your mind's eye your world as you want it. Hear, touch, see,
and Ieel what you would iI your desire were true, and you will change your world in harmony with that
image. You can make it conIorm to your image, but beyond that are worlds within worlds. This universe,
which seems so vast - a million light years in diameter - is only the skin oI a greater world, Ior there are
endless worlds within worlds. So when God created me and lit me, thereIore I predated the thing created. So
beIore the world was I AM. I begin then to remember who I am and I am He, Ior God and man are one. We
awaken by drinking the wine and eating the bread. You can practice it all day long. You do not leave where
you are or go anywhere to do it. You can do it standing in a bar. It has nothing to do with moral virtues.
These are only states.
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Then you will understand the words oI Paul: "Drink no |longer| water, but use a little wine Ior thy stomach's
sake." "Water" is psychological truth. Stop simply absorbing it and begin to put into practice what you know;
that is turning the water into wine. It's the Iirst great miracle in the Bible. No more just reading and not
practicing. I can absorb the water, but now I must take a little wine - or put into practice what I have heard
and so transIorm your world - and that is liIe.
The 11th |chapter| oI Mark is true: "Whatsoever you desire, when you pray believe that you have it, and you
shall receive it." "And as you stand praying iI you have aught against your brother, Iorgive him, that your
Father may Iorgive you." But you cannot Iorgive until you distinguish between the state, and the individual in
the state. You create Ior |him| that other state, where he is your Iriend, bring him out oI his Iormer state, and
embrace him. That is the opening the Western Gate - and then something happens within you. So, who spoke
this? "The merciIul Son oI Heaven to those whose Western Gate was open, but sleeping humanity heard him
not and slumbered on." |Blake.| I can speak and you may not hear. This diet may not appeal to you. It is only
a state which you are in at present, Ior you are still God, no matter what, and you are still unblemished. But
all will awaken, Ior God plays all the parts. ThereIore "disaster beyond redemption is impossible." Let no one
tell you |that you| are better than the other. You may be in a more wonderIul state than the other, but that is
all. Good and evil belong to the tree oI knowledge. We are rising up to |a| more expanding world as we
awaken. You will step into another world as real as this one, and yet behind you in this world you |will|
discover you have leIt a little garment - your body. All things exist in Imagination, and it is one with the
supreme imagining that creates and sustains the universe.
Now, you take the diet you desire. II you are not yet interested in embracing someone you think is your
opponent, and all you want is to transcend your present level, then live in the state that proves you have done
it. You may never, aIter it comes about, give credit to your wonderIul Imagination, Ior it happens so naturally
that you will think it would have happened anyway. You may discount that your Imagination did it. But the
day will come when you will want to transcend just things, and you will want that which does not have
earthly value. You will see those with great possessions and know they are actually only moments Irom the
grave, but up to the last second beIore they Ilicker out they are still only conscious |oI| possessions. But it is
all right, Ior they too will awaken in time, though they do not even know that there is someone who walks
among them who is awake. In the world beyond worlds you are completely awake and not known because oI
possessions - because then you own the world. For there you know that you and your Father are one, and he
creates all out oI nothing. Whatever you desire to create you create, and you do not need atoms to do it;
Iorever those you create out oI your Imagination.
But tonight bring a Iriend (or he may be an opponent) beIore your mind's eye and represent him to yourselI as
being in a Iiner state, or Ireer, and then be IaithIul to your mental structure. Then, in a way no one knows, it
will take on reality in your world and crystallize and become a Iact.
Now let us go into the silence.