The Talent

Neville Goddard 02-02-1970

A talent is a gift entrusted to one for his use. And when one is given the greatest talent of them all, its use gives meaning to existence.

In the 25th chapter of the Book of Matthew, a parable is told comparing this gift to the kingdom of heaven as: “A man going on a long journey called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another, one. Then he went away. When he returned, the servants explained their use of the talents. The one who had received five had increased it to ten, for which he was highly commended and invited to enter into the joy of his master. The one who received two had doubled his and he, too, was highly commended and invited to enter into the joy of his master. But he who had received one, being afraid to test it, had buried his talent. He was condemned, the talent taken from him, and given to the one who had ten.

You may wonder when you read this story how the Lord of the universe could be so cruel to one who did not use his talent. But I tell you: every individual in this world has been given the greatest talent imaginable, which is the gift of God Himself as their human imagination. How is this gift being used? Some bury it by worshipping little icons on the wall and things round about them, but the worship of God is the use of His gift – the use of the human imagination.

Now, the parable tells us that those to whom the gifts were given were asked for an accounting, and those who had multiplied them were highly commended and invited into the joy of expansion. Blake, in his preface to the 4th fourth chapter of his wonderful poem, “Jerusalem,” addresses the Christians saying: “I know of no other Christianity and of no other Gospel other than the liberty, both of body and mind to exercise the Divine Arts of Imagination. Imagination, the real and eternal World of which this Vegetable Universe is but a faint shadow, and into which we shall go in our Eternal, or Imaginative Bodies when these Vegetable, Mortal Bodies are no more.” Then he adds this thought: “The Apostles knew of no other Gospel.”

Jesus Christ is your own wonderful human imagination! Crucified on humanity, Jesus is buried in you and will rise in you to the degree that you exercise your talent – your Human Imagination!

Christianity is a mystery. When speaking of Christ, Paul uses the word “mystery” no less than twenty times. The secret of imagining is the greatest of all problems, to the solution of which everyone should aspire, for supreme power, supreme wisdom, and supreme delight lie in the solution of this great mystery. When you unravel the mystery of imagining, you have conquered death.

Now let me tell you the story of a lady I knew in New York City about twenty years ago. I started lecturing on February 2, 1938, sharing my experiences based upon my use of the talent. Shortly after my opening, a lady – very prominent in our country, both politically and socially – began to attend my meetings. She was the daughter-in-law of one who was governor of New York, [later] Vice President, and then President of our country.

One day this lady came to our apartment and told me that she and her husband owned a home in Long Island where they spent their summers, and lease an apartment in New York City where they live during the winter, and always sublet during the summer. Needing the money obtained from renting the apartment to open their home in Long Island, this lady asked for my help.

Although this lady was a pillar of the Episcopal church in New York City and Long Island, she did not go to her ministers, but to me for help. I asked her: “If you sublet your apartment today, where would you sleep tonight?” And she replied, “In Long Island.” Then I told her to go home and sleep in Long Island tonight in her imagination. As she is falling asleep, I asked her to think of her New York apartment across the East River and tell herself that she is here in Long Island now because her apartment has been rented. Admitting that, although the idea did not make sense, she [said she] would try it, and promised to call me if it worked. I told her the only “if” to it is “if” she does it!