Neville Goddard Lectures: “What is Truth?”

29 Dec Neville Goddard Lectures: “What is Truth?”

By Neville Goddard December 8, 1963

___(??) the 18th chapter of John, “It is for this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth” (verse 37). And Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” Well, he did not answer. Then Pilate went out and he said to the crowd, “I find no crime in him. But you have a custom that I should release a man for you at the Passover; will you have me release the King of the Jews?” And they cried out, “Not this man, but Barabbas.” Now Barabbas was a robber. That’s what they said, “Now Barabbas was a robber.” Well, what are they trying to tell us? For the story is eternal, it’s forever. Here is one who bears witness to the truth. But truth is an ever-increasing illumination, so how could it answer one level to the satisfaction of a true definition of truth? On the level of Pilate, which is reason, it could not really answer “What is truth?” For he said, “I am the truth.” You are asking me, Who are you? Define yourself. Tell me, what is the truth that you bear witness to in the world? And he said not a word.

Well, on this level, a true judgment must conform to the external reality to which it relates. I ___(??) the facts. And then if you discover that it is a ___(??), you say, My judgment is true. Then I say “I am” and then I define it—“I am rich, I am known, I am this.” Then you investigate the facts of life concerning me and you discover that I am not rich, I am not known, I am not the things I claim, so my judgment is false. That’s what on this level one would say. But here comes one who bears witness to the truth, and it isn’t confined to this level, where a true judgment must conform to the external reality to which it relates.

For we are told, every word of God proves true. Well, what word now in scripture, which is the word of God, will allow me to claim that I am which at the moment my reason denies, my senses deny, and those who would investigate my claim will prove false? I turn to the Book of Mark, and here we find the word, “Whatever you desire”—no restraint to your desire—“Whatever you desire, when you pray, believe you have received, and you will” (11:24). That’s an entirely different level of truth. Is it true? Well, I’m called upon to test it, just test it. Dare to assume that you are what you want to be, and then try to remain to the best of your ability faithful to that assumption, and see if it doesn’t prove itself in performance. If it proves itself in performance, you have risen beyond this level of Caesar, where things must be confirmed by external facts to prove that judgment.

Now, tonight, just before I took the platform, a lady saw me and told me of a vision of hers. She’s never had one before. And it happened within a matter of, well, twenty-four hours or so. She heard a voice speaking to her in the ___(??) and the voice said to her, “Most people can’t part with what they don’t want long enough to get what they do want.” She got up in the middle of the night and wrote it down. It was most startling… a voice is speaking to her, “Most people can’t part with what they don’t want long enough to get what they do want.” So she wrote it down. The next morning when she got up she knew that she had written in the night and she had written down something. Before she looked to see what she’d written down, she tried to recall it and couldn’t. She tried to remember what she had written down and couldn’t bring one word back, but she knew she had done it. Luckily, on the paper is what she had written down.