Tag: Imagination

Law of Assumption

Neville Goddard’s Explanation of Visualization: Why Imagining From the Inside Changes Everything

Robin Oguz

Most people have heard that visualizing what you want helps you get it. Neville Goddard taught something more specific, and in some ways stricter. For him, visualization was not about picturing a goal and hoping it comes toward you. It was about stepping into the experience of already having it.

Law of Attraction or Law of Assumption?

Neville never used the phrase “law of attraction.” His message was that imagination is the creative power in every person, and that we become what we assume ourselves to be. Many people now call this the law of assumption. The difference matters. Attraction suggests that something outside you is drawn toward you. Neville taught that your inner state is the cause and your outer life is the effect, so there is nothing to chase.

Don’t Watch the Movie, Step Into It

Neville’s most important point about visualization is where you stand when you imagine. A common mistake is to picture yourself on a screen, watching a scene of your wish fulfilled from the outside, like a spectator.

Neville taught the opposite. You imagine from within the scene, as though you were really there. You see through your own eyes, hear what you would hear, and feel what you would feel. The test is whether the scene feels natural and real to you, not whether it looks impressive.

Assume the Feeling of the Wish Fulfilled

Neville taught that the feeling of the wish fulfilled is the secret. It’s not enough to imagine a scene intellectually. You need to feel the quiet satisfaction of it already being true. He asked people to think from the wish fulfilled rather than of it, which means imagining as if the thing has already happened.

That feeling is what he treated as the real assumption. The scene gives the feeling a place to live, and the feeling is what convinces you.

Use a Short, Simple Scene

Neville’s method for building the scene was to ask yourself what you would see, say, or do if your wish were already true, and then imagine one small, natural moment that implies it. Examples he gave included hearing a friend congratulate you or looking at a place you would be living in. He preferred a brief scene you can repeat easily over an elaborate one.

Imagine in a Relaxed State

Neville recommended practicing when you are calm and drowsy, such as just before sleep. In that state the mind is less likely to argue with you, and the scene feels more real. He suggested repeating it until it feels natural, then falling asleep in the feeling of it.

Live From the Assumption

Neville said imagining was only part of the work. The other part was how you carry yourself afterward. If you assume your wish is already fulfilled, you act, think, and speak consistently with that. When doubt shows up, you return to the feeling instead of arguing with the circumstances you can see.

Teachers

Abdullah: The Mysterious Teacher Behind Neville Goddard

Robin Oguz

Neville Goddard is known for teaching that imagination is the creative power behind our lives. Few people know about the man who first opened that door for him, a teacher he knew only as Abdullah.

A Meeting in New York

Neville was born in Barbados in 1905 and came to New York in the early 1920s to study drama. He worked as a dancer and actor, and he was searching for something deeper than the stage. Around 1931, he met Abdullah.

By Neville’s account, Abdullah was a black Jewish man of Ethiopian descent. He was a mystic who dressed in a turban and spoke with quiet authority. The two became close, and for several years Abdullah tutored him in Hebrew and in the deeper meaning of scripture.

What Abdullah Taught

Abdullah’s teaching was simple and radical. Neville recalled that Abdullah told him the Bible was not a record of history. It was a psychological drama playing out inside every person. He taught that God’s name, “I AM,” is the awareness within each of us, and that imagination is the means by which that awareness creates.

From this came the idea Neville later became known for: you can assume the feeling of your wish already fulfilled, and live from that assumption until it becomes real in your life. Abdullah didn’t want his students to take this on faith. He wanted them to test it for themselves, and Neville did.

Testing the Idea

Neville tells a story in which he wanted to travel home to Barbados to see his family but had no money for the trip. Abdullah told him to stop thinking about how and to assume he was already there. Neville imagined himself in his old home, and he says the way opened. That experience convinced him that Abdullah’s teaching worked, and it became the foundation of everything he taught afterward.

The Teacher Who Vanished

Abdullah’s own story is as mysterious as his lessons. He is said to have eventually returned to Ethiopia, and Neville never saw him again. No independent records of Abdullah have been found, which has led some to wonder whether he was a real person, a composite, or a symbolic figure. Neville himself always spoke of him as a real man and a genuine teacher.

Why It Matters

Whether you see Abdullah as a historical figure or a mystical one, his influence is clear. Neville spent more than forty years lecturing on this teaching, and his books are still read today, including Feeling Is the Secret and The Power of Awareness. If you’ve ever practiced assuming the feeling of your wish fulfilled, you’ve been walking a path that started with a quiet teacher in 1930s New York.

Techniques

A Simple Visualization Practice in 6 Steps (Law of Assumption)

Robin Oguz

Neville Goddard taught that imagination creates, and that the way to use it is to step inside a scene rather than watch it from a distance. Here is a simple practice you can try, based on that idea.

A Simple Practice to Try

  1. Decide what you want, and ask what you would experience if it were already yours.
  2. Choose one short scene that implies it is true.
  3. Relax your body and settle your mind.
  4. Step into the scene and experience it from your own point of view.
  5. Feel the satisfaction of it being real, and stay there until it feels natural.
  6. Go about your day as the person who already has it.

Keep the scene short and simple so it is easy to repeat. If doubt shows up during the day, return to the feeling instead of arguing with the circumstances you can see. Give it a week and notice how different it feels to imagine from the inside.