#44: Acceptance Is The Door

Acceptance Is the Door

A Lecture in the Voice and Spirit of Neville Goddard

You have longed for change. You have reached out again and again for the health, the abundance, the harmony, the love that your heart insists must be yours. Yet the world you see remains unchanged, and the door to fulfillment seems forever closed. Tonight I tell you the door has never been locked. Nothing, nothing at all, is yours until it is inwardly accepted as true. Acceptance is the quiet inner “yes” that opens the way.

This acceptance is not a loud declaration shouted into the air. It is not a desperate effort to persuade yourself against the evidence of the senses. It is the calm, unarguable recognition in consciousness that the thing desired is already so. When you accept it as true within yourself, the outer world has no choice but to reflect that acceptance. For consciousness is the only reality, and what you accept in consciousness must appear in your world.

Look at your present life. Every condition you now experience, pleasant or unpleasant, is there because at some point you accepted it as true. You may not have done so consciously, yet the acceptance was made. The poor man accepts poverty as his lot and therefore remains poor. The sick man accepts illness as inevitable and therefore remains ill. The lonely man accepts isolation as his natural state and therefore remains alone. Each one has said an unconscious “yes” to his present condition, and that quiet inner agreement has kept the door firmly shut to anything else. But the same power that locked the door can open it. The moment you withdraw your acceptance from the unwanted and give it wholly to the desired, the change begins.

Acceptance is the door because it is the act by which you become one with your desire. You do not coax it toward you. You do not struggle to pull it into being. You simply accept it as already yours in consciousness, and in that acceptance the fusion is complete. Imagination and the state become one. The state you accept as true of yourself is the state you will express. There is no other law. The rich man is rich because he accepts richness as his natural expression. The healthy man is healthy because he accepts health as his normal condition. The loved man is loved because he accepts love as his rightful atmosphere. Acceptance determines everything.

You may ask, how do I accept a thing that the senses deny? The answer is simple. You accept it by feeling it to be true. Feeling is the secret of acceptance. When you feel the wish fulfilled, you have accepted it. Not with the surface mind that still sees the opposite, but with the deeper mind that knows no opposition. In that feeling the inner “yes” is spoken, and the door swings open. The subconscious, which is the womb of creation, receives the impression and begins at once to unfold the means necessary for its fulfillment. The acceptance of the end automatically wills the means. You need never concern yourself with how it will come to pass. The how is not your concern. Your concern is the acceptance.

Tonight, right now, choose one desire that has seemed impossible. Do not look at the present facts. Close your eyes to the evidence that would deny it. Turn your attention inward and feel yourself to be the one who already possesses what you want. Feel the joy of it, the relief of it, the naturalness of it. Let that feeling become so real that you could not possibly doubt it. In that moment you have accepted it as true. In that moment the door has opened. Nothing can close it again except your own withdrawal of acceptance.

This acceptance must be complete. Half-acceptance is no acceptance at all. You cannot say “yes” to your desire while still saying “yes” to its opposite. You cannot serve two masters. You must release the old state completely and give your whole attention to the new. The old state will fade only as you withdraw your acceptance from it. The new state will appear only as you give your full acceptance to it. This is the law, and it never fails.

Many have come close to this door but turned away at the last moment. They have felt the first stirrings of acceptance, only to let doubt creep in and withdraw the “yes.” They have said, “It feels true, but…” That “but” is the closing of the door. There is no “but” in acceptance. There is only the quiet, unwavering “yes.” When that “yes” is spoken in the depths of your being, doubt cannot enter. Fear cannot enter. The evidence of the senses cannot enter. You stand in the acceptance, and the world rearranges itself to match.

Acceptance is not hoping. Hope looks to the future. Acceptance knows it is already done. Acceptance is not wishing. Wishing implies lack. Acceptance knows possession. Acceptance is not trying. Trying implies effort and separation. Acceptance is rest. It is the Sabbath of the soul, the complete letting go into the fulfillment that already is. In that rest the creative power works without hindrance. The acceptance of the wish fulfilled is the Sabbath, and on that Sabbath the work is finished.

You are the door. You are the acceptance. There is no power outside of your own consciousness that can accept or reject for you. The whole drama is played within you. When you accept the state desired as true of yourself, you have opened the door for God to express through you. God is your own awareness of being. When you accept a new state, you are accepting a new awareness of being. That new awareness becomes your new “I am.” And whatever you are conscious of being, that you express.

The Bible speaks of this acceptance in many ways, yet always with the same meaning. “Believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” Belief here is not mere opinion. It is acceptance. It is the inner “yes” spoken so completely that the thing is felt as already received. “According to your faith be it unto you.” Faith is acceptance. It is the quiet knowing that it is so. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” The heart is the place of acceptance. What you accept in your heart becomes your world.

You need not wait for external confirmation before you accept. The confirmation comes after the acceptance, never before. The senses will always testify to the old state until the new state is accepted so fully that the old can no longer maintain itself. Then the new appears, and the senses confirm what you have already accepted in consciousness. This is the order of creation. First the inner acceptance, then the outer expression. First the invisible, then the visible. First the feeling, then the fact.

Tonight I ask you to test this. Take one desire, however great or small. Bring it before your mind’s eye. See yourself in the situation that would naturally exist if the desire were already fulfilled. Feel the reality of it. Let the feeling deepen until it becomes natural, until you could not possibly feel otherwise. In that naturalness you have accepted it. In that acceptance the door is open. Go to sleep in that acceptance. Let that be the last impression on your mind before sleep claims you. And in the morning, awaken in the same acceptance. Carry it with you through the day, not as something you are trying to get, but as something you already have. Live from it. Speak from it. Act from it. The acceptance will do the rest.

You may find at first that the old thoughts try to return. They will whisper that it cannot be, that the evidence is against you. Do not fight them. Do not argue with them. Simply return gently to the acceptance. Withdraw your attention from the denial and place it once more upon the fulfilled desire. Each time you do this you strengthen the acceptance. Each time you do this the inner “yes” becomes more natural, more certain, more alive. Soon the old thoughts lose their power. Soon the new acceptance becomes your natural state of mind. And when it does, the outer world must conform.

This is the great secret that has been hidden in plain sight through all the ages. The door to every good is acceptance. The key that opens every door is acceptance. The power that creates every reality is acceptance. Nothing stands between you and your desire except your own refusal to accept it as true. Remove that refusal. Give the quiet inner “yes.” And the door opens wide.

Acceptance is effortless. It requires no strain, no struggle, no sacrifice. It is the most natural thing in the world once you know what it is. It is simply resting in the feeling of the wish fulfilled. It is simply knowing that what you desire is already yours in consciousness, and therefore must be yours in expression. The moment you accept it, the creative power that is your own awareness begins to move. It moves in ways you cannot predict and through channels you cannot foresee. But it moves unfailingly toward the fulfillment of that which you have accepted.

You are not the victim of circumstance. You are not bound by the past. You are not limited by the present appearance. You are the operant power, and that power is your ability to accept as true whatever you choose to accept. Choose wisely. Choose boldly. Choose the highest you can conceive. Then accept it completely. Let no reservation remain. Let the inner “yes” be total. In that totality the miracle is already accomplished.

Many will hear these words and still hesitate. They will say, “It seems too simple. There must be more.” There is nothing more. Acceptance is the door, and acceptance is all. The simplicity of it is its glory. The childlike quality of it is its power. The pure acceptance of the heart is the very presence of God in action. When you accept your desire as true, you are accepting the gift of God. You are opening the door to the infinite power that is your own being.

Tonight, as you leave this place in consciousness, take with you this one truth. Nothing is yours until it is inwardly accepted as true. Acceptance is the quiet inner “yes” that opens the way. Speak that “yes” now. Feel it now. Live in it now. And tomorrow, when you open your eyes, you will begin to see the evidence of what you have accepted. The world will change because you have changed. The conditions will rearrange because your acceptance has rearranged your consciousness. This is the law, and it cannot be broken.

You are the door. You are the acceptance. You are the fulfillment. In the silence of your own being, accept it completely. Let the quiet inner “yes” be your constant companion. Let it be the atmosphere in which you live and move and have your being. In that atmosphere every desire will blossom into fact. In that atmosphere every limitation will dissolve. In that atmosphere you will know yourself as the operant power, the creator of your world.

Go now in that acceptance. Sleep in that acceptance. Awaken in that acceptance. And watch as the door that once seemed closed forever swings wide open before you. For acceptance is the door, and you have said yes.

The fulfillment you seek is not somewhere else. It is not in the future. It is not dependent upon any person or any condition. It is right where you are, waiting only for your acceptance. Accept it now. Accept it fully. Accept it joyfully. Accept it as the most natural thing in the world. And in that acceptance you will discover that it was always yours. The door was never closed. You simply had not yet said the inner “yes.”

This is the great revelation. This is the pearl of great price. This is the kingdom of heaven within you. Acceptance is the key that unlocks it. Use it tonight. Use it tomorrow. Use it every moment of every day. Accept the best. Accept the highest. Accept the most glorious vision you can hold of yourself and your world. Then rest in that acceptance, and the world will reshape itself in harmony with your inner “yes.”

You are not separate from your desire. You are not apart from your fulfillment. In the moment of acceptance you become one with it. In that oneness the expression is inevitable. The door opens. The way is made clear. The fulfillment appears. This is the eternal truth, and it is operating in you right now.

Let no one persuade you otherwise. Let no appearance dissuade you. Let no doubt disturb you. Stand firm in the acceptance, and you stand firm in God. For God is your awareness of being, and when you accept a new state as true, you accept a new awareness of being. That new awareness is the God who does the work. That new awareness is the power that moves all things. That new awareness is the door through which every good enters your world.

Tonight you have heard the truth. Tonight you have been shown the door. Walk through it. Accept the state you desire. Say the quiet inner “yes” with all your heart. And tomorrow you will begin to live in the fulfillment that acceptance has already made real.

The change is not coming. The change is here the moment you accept it. The abundance is not coming. The abundance is here the moment you accept it. The health is not coming. The health is here the moment you accept it. The love is not coming. The love is here the moment you accept it. Acceptance is the door, and the door is open to you now.

Go in peace. Go in certainty. Go in the full acceptance of your heart’s desire. For nothing is yours until it is inwardly accepted as true, and acceptance is the quiet inner “yes” that opens the way. That “yes” is speaking in you now. Listen to it. Trust it. Live by it. And your world will never be the same again.