The True Knowledge Of God

Neville Goddard 11-14-1969

The attitude of the world towards the great mystery of Christ is due to their ignorance of who he really is. And only to the degree that the individual experiences the mystery, will he know that he is the heavenly being who came down and assumed the body of death to rise as Jesus Christ.

Follow me closely into the drama, as recorded in the 18th chapter of the Book of John, where Jesus is being questioned by Pilate. Now, the word “Pilate” means “closely pressed like a contracted form; the limit of contradiction; of opacity.” To see the characters of scripture as historical is to see truth tempered to the weakness of the human soul. They are not people such as you and I, but eternal states, attributes, and qualities of the individual. Pilate is the state of contraction the Father entered, and the story is taking place in you.

Questioning self, Pilate asked: “Are you the King of the Jews?” and Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others tell you about me?” (Do you know this from experience, or it is hearsay?) He doesn’t deny that he is, but wonders if this contracted state has reached the point where the shell of it breaks, and knows from experience who he is. Then Pilate asked: “You are a king?” and Jesus answered: “You say that I am. For this I was born and for this I came into the world to bear witness to the truth.” Then the contracted form asked: “What is truth?”

Based upon this level, it is true that I am standing at a podium and you are seated on chairs facing me; but I am not speaking of this truth, I am speaking of the true knowledge of God. I am not concerned with the world of science. Today we are on our way to the moon for the second time, but that is not the story of the Bible. I am speaking of the being who created Man, the heavens, and the earth, and sustains them. I am trying to tell everyone that the being who did this is now individualized, housed in his creation, and has forgotten who he really is.

Having come down into this limit of contraction and opacity, you now ask yourself the question: “Do I know this truth by my own accord, or was I told it by another? If it is hearsay, then I do not really know it; for the only way I can know God is through experience.” So to the degree that you experience scripture, will you understand it. The terms Pope, minister, or layman, mean nothing. You could be washing floors tonight and know, from experience, that you are the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now let us turn to the poet Robert Browning, who said:

“Truth is within ourselves. It takes no rise from outward things what’ere you may believe. There is an inmost center in us all where truth abides in fullness, And to know, rather consists in opening out a way whence the imprisoned splendor may escape, than an effective entry for a light supposed to be without.”

Here Browning took three of the mighty I AM statements from the Book of John: “I AM the truth; I AM the way, and I AM the light,” and incorporated them into this very short statement.

There is an inmost center in us all where truth abides, not just a little bit, but in fullness. He likens it to an imprisoned splendor, radiating from within. To think of some human Christ as coming from without is to completely misunderstand the great mystery of scripture.

Sitting here now in this little room, you may seem so small and the universe so enormous. But it is here, in this contracted state called Pilate that you begin to stir and ask yourself these questions. The questioning within the individual causes the effluence within to roust itself and come out as the creator of the universe. This I know from experience. No matter what the world tells you, you are not some little tiny being. You have gone through hell and maybe will go through more in your search to find your true self, who is God the Father.