How To Believe It, When Reason Denies It - NEVILLE GODDARD Motivation

How do you believe in something when every physical sense, every rational thought, and every logical conclusion screams that it is impossible? This is the greatest mystery and yet holds the key to mastering your world. Imagine, if you will, standing before a massive wall of facts—cold hard facts—that tell you what you desire cannot be.

Perhaps it's a medical report with undeniable statistics, a bank statement showing insufficient funds, or circumstances that appear permanently fixed against your desires. Your reason says this is impossible, yet I tell you this very moment that the impossible is the unrecognized expression of a higher law. Let me share with you a story of one of my students.

She came to me with tears in her eyes, clutching medical reports that stated she would never bear children. Three specialists had confirmed it, and her rational mind accepted this as her reality. But she dared to do something remarkable.

She dared to live in the end. Every night, as she drifted off to sleep, she felt the weight of a baby in her arms. She heard the soft coos, felt the gentle breathing, and experienced the warmth of holding her child.

Her senses denied it, her doctors denied it, the world denied it, but she persisted in her assumption. Today, she is not an imaginary child but her flesh-and-blood daughter. How?

By understanding that what we call reality is simply the outer picture of accepted beliefs. You see, your logical mind is both your greatest ally and your most formidable opponent. It's designed to keep you safe, to process what it knows, to rely on past experiences and current evidence.

But I tell you this: your logical mind deals only with shadows, with reflections of past beliefs. It knows nothing of the creative power that dwells within you. Consider this: everything in your world, from the chair you're sitting on to the most advanced technology, was once deemed impossible.

It was once merely a thought, an idea that reason denied could ever be manifested. The Wright brothers were told human flight was impossible. The concept of instantaneous global communication was once considered madness.

Every medical breakthrough, every technological advancement, every human achievement began as something reason denied. The secret lies in understanding that your consciousness, your awareness of being, precedes all evidence. Think of it this way: when you enter a dark room and flip the switch, you doubt that light will flood the space?

No, you have absolute confidence in this outcome based on countless experiences. Yet, if you had never seen electricity or its effects, such an expectation would seem foolish, impossible. Your current desires, your goals, your aspirations, they are no different from that light switch.

The only difference is your level of conviction. Now, let me share with you the fundamental principles that will enable you to believe despite all contrary evidence. First, understand that your consciousness is the only reality.

Everything you see in your world is simply consciousness pushed out. Every person, every circumstance, every condition is simply your consciousness objectified. This means that your current situation, no matter how seemingly solid, is nothing more than a shadow of past beliefs.

The second principle is this: the future is created twice—first in your consciousness and then in your world of effects. Most people wait for circumstances to change before they believe in the desire's fulfillment. This is like waiting for a reflection in the mirror to smile before you do—backward thinking, and it keeps you bound to current circumstances.

Instead, you must dare to assume the feeling of your wish fulfilled, regardless of apparent contradictions. If you desire financial abundance, you must capture and maintain the feeling of wealth, security, and generosity, even as your bank account shows otherwise. If you seek perfect health, you must live from the assumption of vibrant well-being, even as current symptoms persist.

This is not denial; this is a correct use of your creative power. But how, you might ask, can one maintain such a belief in the face of contrary evidence? The secret lies in your ability to lose yourself in the feeling of the wish fulfilled.

When you go to sleep at night, do you doubt that the sun will rise tomorrow? Of course not. You have absolute faith in this natural law.

Similarly, you must cultivate that same level of certainty in your desired end. Let me share with you a profound technique that I've seen transform countless lives. When you lie down to sleep tonight, instead of rehearsing your problems or reviewing your day, create a simple scene that would imply your desire is already fulfilled.

Make it short, make it clear, make it natural. Perhaps it's a friend congratulating you on your achievement. Maybe it's looking at your bank statement with a sense of satisfaction.

Whatever your desire, create a scene that would naturally occur if your wish were realized. Now here's the crucial part that most miss: you must enter the scene fully. Don't watch it like a movie; be the protagonist in your own drama.

Feel the handshake, hear the words, experience the emotions that would accompany your fulfilled desire. Your rational mind will protest, will present evidence of impossibility, will remind you of past failures. But remember this: your present circumstances are nothing more than the harvest of seeds planted in your past.

They have no power to determine your future unless you give them that power through your attention and belief. I recall a gentleman who attended my lectures years ago. He was facing bankruptcy, his business crumbling around him.

Every financial advisor, every market indicator, every rational assessment predicted his complete ruin. But he grasped this principle, and every night in his imagination, he would sit at his desk looking at his books, feeling the relief and satisfaction of his business thriving. His accountant thought him delusional; his partners thought him in denial.

But he persisted in his. . .

Assumption: within 6 months, a series of coincidences—though I tell you there are no coincidences—transformed his business completely. You see, the world is not operating the way your senses suggest. Your senses show you effects, while your imagination deals with causes.

When you change the cause—your conscious assumption—the effects must follow; for this is law. It's not hope, it's not positive thinking, it's not mere wishful thinking; it's the deliberate use of the creative power within you. Think of it this way: your consciousness is like a garden, and your assumptions are the seeds you plant.

Your current circumstances are merely the harvest of past planting. If you don't like what you're harvesting, you must change what you're planting. But here's the vital point: you don't wait until you see the new crop before you believe in it.

The farmer plants with absolute faith in the harvest, even though no evidence of that harvest exists at the time of planting. The key to maintaining your belief in the face of contrary evidence lies in understanding time. Your physical senses are bound by time; they can only report what is.

But your imagination is not bound by time; in your imagination, you can be, do, and have any hidden desire. When you live from the end, when you consistently occupy the state of your wish fulfilled, you're actually experiencing your future now. This is why I tell you that what you desire already exists in what I call the fourth-dimensional world of consciousness.

Let me give you a practical example: suppose you desire a promotion at work, but all evidence suggests it's impossible—there are no openings, you lack certain qualifications, others have more seniority. Instead of accepting these facts, you create a scene implying the promotion is yours. Perhaps it's as simple as hearing a colleague congratulate you or signing documents with your new title.

You enter this scene every night, feeling its naturalness, experiencing the satisfaction and pride that would be yours. Now, your rational mind will present all the reasons this cannot be. It will remind you of your lack of qualifications, the competition, the economic climate.

This is where most people falter; they give power to these facts and abandon their assumption. But I tell you this: those very facts that seem so solid, so unchangeable, are nothing more than shadows of past beliefs. They have no power to create or prevent, except that which you give them through your attention and belief.

Consider for a moment the nature of your own faults and beliefs. Every limitation you currently experience, every obstacle you face, was first accepted in your consciousness before it became a physical fact. The outer world is dead, passive, and purely mechanical; it has no power to create, to alter, or to sustain itself.

It merely reflects with mathematical precision the beliefs held in consciousness. Let me share another extraordinary example that illustrates this principle perfectly. A woman in my audience once approached me, devastated by a relationship that had ended.

Every attempt at reconciliation had failed, and all external evidence suggested it was truly over. Instead of accepting this reality, she began to sleep in the assumption that they were happily together. In her imagination, she felt his presence beside her, heard his breathing, and experienced the warmth of their connection.

Her friends called her delusional; her family urged her to face reality. But she persisted in her assumption. Now watch this carefully: she didn't try to make it happen in the external world.

She didn't pursue him, didn't scheme or plan; she simply lived in the end, feeling the naturalness of being with him. Within weeks, through a series of events that no one could have predicted or orchestrated, they were reunited. The external circumstances rearranged themselves to match her internal assumption.

This is the law I'm revealing to you tonight: the external world must conform to your sustained internal assumptions. But remember, these must be assumptions, not mere wishes or hopes. When you assume something, you live from it; you think from it; you act naturally from it.

If you want a million dollars, you wouldn't constantly think about having won it; you would simply lie from that state of abundance. This is how you must treat your desire: live from it, not toward it. The question then becomes: how do you maintain this assumption when your senses free otherwise?

The secret lies in understanding that your senses can only show you what is, never what can be. They are limited to reporting the effects of past assumptions. But you, the conscious being that you are, operate in the realm of infinite possibilities.

Think of it like this: imagine you're in a dark room with a flashlight. Wherever you point the beam, that's what becomes visible to you. Your attention is like that flashlight beam; whatever you focus on expands in your experience.

When you consistently focus your attention on the feeling of your wish fulfilled, you're literally illuminating that reality into existence. But here's where most people stumble: they try to believe in their desire while simply looking for evidence of its fulfillment. This divided mind—this double vision—prevents the manifestation of their desire.

You must be bold enough to completely ignore the evidence of your senses when it contradicts your desire. This doesn't mean denying current circumstances; it means knowing they are transitory, knowing they must change to conform to your new assumption. Remember, the feeling is the secret—not the physical sensation, but the feeling of naturalness.

The feeling of already being what you want to be. When something is natural to you, you don't think about it constantly; you don't wonder if it's possible. You simply are.

This is the state you must capture and maintain regarding your desire. Let me give you a practical technique for this tonight. As you prepare for sleep, ask yourself this question: How would I feel if my desire were ready for fulfillment?

Then capture that feeling. Don't just think about it; feel it. Feel the relief, the satisfaction, the joy, the naturalness of having what you desire.

Fall asleep in this feeling. Your logical mind may protest and present all the reasons why this is impossible. Thank it for its concern, but persist in your assumption.

What you're doing in these moments before sleep is accessing the most powerful creative state available to you—in that drowsy state between waking and sleeping, your rational mind's resistance is lowest and your subconscious mind is most receptive. This is why I emphasize the importance of your last five minutes of consciousness before sleep. These moments are golden opportunities to impress your desire upon the subconscious mind.

Now, let me address something that many struggle with: the interval of time between planting your seed and seeing its manifestation. This is where your faith will be tested most severely. The temptation will be to check constantly for signs of manifestation, to dig up your seed to see if it's growing.

But just as a farmer doesn't dig up his seeds to check their progress, you must not constantly check for evidence of your desire's fulfillment. Instead, rest in the absolute knowing that what you have assumed must materialize. The how and when are not your concern; your only task is to maintain the feeling of the wish fulfilled.

The external world will rearrange itself to match your assumption through bridges of incidents that you could not possibly orchestrate or predict. Consider this profound truth: everything in your current experience was once only imagined. The clothes you're wearing, the chair you're sitting in, the building you're in—all once lived as ideas in someone's mind.

They became real through the same law I'm sharing with you tonight. The only difference between those manifestations and your current desire is your level of belief in their possibility. Let me share one final example that demonstrates the power of this law.

A man came to me totally paralyzed on his left side. Medical science had declared his condition permanent, but he grasped this principle and began to live in his imagination as a fully functioning person. Every night, he would feel himself walking normally, moving his arms freely, living without limitation.

His doctors called him in denial; his family feared he was losing touch with reality. But he persisted. Gradually, movement returned to his limbs, defying all medical prognoses.

The impossible became possible because he dared to assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled, despite all contrary evidence. The power I'm describing is not outside of you; it is you. It is your own wonderful human imagination, the very essence of your being.

When you truly grasp this, you'll understand that nothing is impossible to you. The only limits are those you accept in your consciousness. As we conclude tonight, I want you to understand this fundamental truth: your present circumstances are nothing more than the three-dimensional projection of your past assumptions.

They have no power to persist unless you continue to give them life through your attention and belief. The moment you shift your assumption, maintaining the feeling of your wish fulfilled, the entire universe must reorganize itself to match your new assumption. Tonight, as you return to your homes, I challenge you to put this law to the test.

Choose something you desire—something reason says is impossible. Create a simple scene implying its fulfillment. Enter that scene fully, feeling its reality, experiencing its naturalness.

Fall asleep in this assumption. Do this night after night and watch as the seemingly solid world of facts begins to reshape itself to match your assumption. Remember, the world is yourself pushed out.

Everything you see, everything you experience, is simply your consciousness objectified. Change your consciousness, your assumption of what is true, and you change your world. This is not theory, not philosophy, but law—as exact as mathematics, as reliable as gravity.

You are the operant power in your world. No circumstance, no condition, no person has power over you unless you give it through your assumption. Dare to assume your desires are already fulfilled.

Persist in this assumption and watch as the impossible becomes possible, as your defined assumption becomes your reality. For in the end, what you believe is what you will experience. And when your belief is anchored in the feeling of the wish fulfilled, no power on Earth can prevent its manifestation.

This is the law; this is the promise; and this is your power. Thank you, and good night.