#41: Do This Until It Feels Real

Do This Until It Feels Real

A Lecture in the Voice and Spirit of Neville Goddard

You have imagined a new state of being. You have seen yourself in the very scene that would imply the fulfillment of your desire. You have felt the joy of it, the relief of it, the naturalness of it for one brief moment, and then the old familiar world has rushed back upon you with all its seeming solidity. You wonder why nothing has changed. The reason is simple and eternal: you have not yet done it over and over and over again until it takes on the tones of reality.

The secret is not in the single act of imagination. The secret is in the repetition of that act until the feeling becomes so natural, so convincingly real within you, that you are no longer conscious of trying to feel it. You are simply that. You have entered the state and you dwell there. This is the one thing required of you. Do this until it feels real.

Consciousness is the only reality. What you are conscious of being, you express. Yet that consciousness must be impressed deeply, vividly, repeatedly, until the new state is your natural assumption. You do not persuade yourself once and then forget. You return again and again to the same imaginal scene. You perform the imaginary action that implies the fulfillment of your wish. You see it, you hear it, you feel it, and you do it over and over until the whole drama lives in you as living fact. When it feels natural, the outer world must conform. It has no choice.

You must rise in consciousness to the naturalness of being the thing desired. Most men imagine for a moment and then fall back into the old consciousness. They touch the new state lightly and withdraw. But you are called to remain. You are called to repeat the act until the feeling of the new state is as natural to you as breathing. Feel yourself to be that which you desire to be. Feel it intensely, feel it lovingly, feel it repeatedly, until the conviction is born within you that it is so. Then, and only then, will the thing desired objectify itself in your world.

Look at your present life. Whatever you are now experiencing is the out-picturing of what you have been conscious of being. If you would change it, you must change your consciousness. And the way to change your consciousness is to perform the imaginary action that would be natural to you if the desire were already realized, and to do that action over and over and over again until it takes on the tones of reality. Do not be content with a fleeting vision. Return. Return again. Return until the scene is so vivid, so alive, so real to you that you could swear it has already happened.

This is the meaning of the command to pray without ceasing. It is not the repetition of words. It is the repetition of the feeling, the repetition of the imaginal act, until the feeling is natural. When the feeling is natural, the two have agreed. You and your desire have become one. And what you have agreed upon in consciousness must appear in your world.

You are the man clothed in linen standing upon the waters. You are the one who knows that time, times, and an half is the formula of creation. A time is to perform the imaginary action which implies the fulfillment of the wish. Times is to repeat that imaginary action over and over again. And an half is the moment when you fall asleep in the act, when the feeling is so complete that you slip into it as into sleep. Do this until it feels real. Do this until the new state is your home.

Tonight, before you retire, create in imagination the scene that would indicate that your desire is already fulfilled. Make it as simple and as natural as possible. See yourself in that scene. Hear the words you would hear. Feel the emotions you would feel. Then repeat that scene over and over again until the whole thing takes on the tones of reality. Do not force it. Do not strain. Simply return gently, lovingly, persistently, until the feeling is so natural that you could not possibly doubt it. When it feels natural, you may release it. The work is done. The place has been prepared in consciousness, and where you have been in imagination, there you shall be in the body also.

You are not to concern yourself with how it will come to pass. That is not your responsibility. Your responsibility is only to do the imaginal act over and over until it feels real. When it feels real, the spiritual body has already created the bridge of events that will lead the outer man inevitably to the fulfillment. You will move across that bridge without knowing how or why. You will simply find yourself in the situation you have imagined, because you have impressed your consciousness so deeply that the outer world must reflect it.

This is the law. Consciousness is the cause. The world is the effect. You change the effect by changing the cause. You change the cause by repeating the new cause in imagination until the new cause feels natural. There is no other way. Every desire that has ever been realized in this world was realized by someone who persisted in the feeling of the wish fulfilled until that feeling became natural. They may not have known the law in words, but they obeyed it in practice. They did it over and over until it took on the tones of reality.

You may think that one vivid imaginal act should be enough. But consciousness is like a garden. A single seed planted and then forgotten will not grow if the soil is not prepared and tended. You must return to the seed. You must water it with attention. You must warm it with feeling. You must repeat the act of planting until the seed has taken root so deeply that it becomes the natural expression of the soil itself. Then the outer world, like the visible plant, must appear.

Feel yourself to be the man or woman you desire to be. Do not merely wish to be. Be. In imagination, be. And be it over and over until the being is so natural that the old being feels foreign. When the new state feels natural, the old state dissolves. It has no power to remain because you are no longer conscious of being it. You are conscious of being the new man, and that is all that matters.

This repetition is not mechanical. It is living, loving, creative. Each time you return to the scene you add depth, you add reality, you add conviction. At first it may seem vague or forced. But you continue. You do not judge the feeling. You simply return and do it again. And again. And again. Until suddenly, without warning, the whole thing becomes alive. The scene glows. The feeling is effortless. You are there. That is the moment it has taken on the tones of reality. That is the moment you have succeeded.

You are told to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. The Lord is your awareness of being. To be present with the Lord is to be present in the new state of awareness. To be absent from the body is to withdraw your attention from the old state. You do this by performing the imaginal act that belongs to the new state, and you remain there by repeating that act until the new state feels more real than the old. When the new state feels more real, you are absent from the body of the old man and present with the Lord in the new.

The doubter will say, “But I have tried this and nothing happened.” The doubter tried it once or twice and then returned to the consciousness of lack. He never did it over and over until it felt real. He never stayed in the new state long enough for the impression to become natural. He touched the state lightly and then measured it by the senses, which still reported the old condition. But the senses report only what you are conscious of being. Change your consciousness by persistent imagination, and the senses will one day report the new condition.

You are the operant power. You are the one who must decide to do this until it feels real. No one else can do it for you. You must enter the scene. You must live in it. You must repeat it until the tones of reality ring clear and unmistakable within you. When those tones are clear, doubt is impossible. When those tones are clear, the outer world rearranges itself with perfect ease. It has always done so. It always will.

Tonight, choose one clear, simple scene that implies the fulfillment of your desire. Make it as concrete as possible. Enter it. Live it. Feel it fully. Then leave it for a moment and return. Repeat the return again and again. Do not count the times. Do not watch the clock. Simply persist in the loving repetition until the feeling is natural. Fall asleep in that feeling if you can. If sleep comes before the feeling is complete, awaken and begin again. Do this every night until the new state is your natural dwelling place.

This is the way of the awakened. This is the way of the man who knows that imagination is God. He does not hope. He does not wish. He imagines, and he persists in the imagination until the imagined becomes the real. He knows that what is imagined with conviction must be expressed. He knows that conviction comes only through repetition until the tones of reality are heard.

You are not at the mercy of conditions. Conditions are at the mercy of your consciousness. Change your consciousness by doing this one thing until it feels real, and conditions will change as surely as day follows night. The change may not be immediate in the outer world, but it is immediate in consciousness. And consciousness is the only reality. When consciousness has been changed, the outer world must follow. It cannot do otherwise.

Feel the naturalness of the new state. Dwell in that naturalness. Return to it over and over until naturalness is your only awareness. When naturalness is your only awareness, the bridge of incidents is already being built. The events that will lead you from where you are to where you have been in imagination are already in motion. You will move across that bridge without effort, because the inner man has prepared the way.

This is the mystery and the majesty of creation. Man is the image of God because man possesses the same creative power. God imagined the world and it was. You imagine your new world and, when you have done it over and over until it feels real, it will be. The same law operates for the small as for the great. There is no difference in principle. The only difference is in the persistence of the one who applies the principle.

You have within you right now the power to transform any condition. You have only to decide upon the end, construct the scene that implies its fulfillment, and then do that scene over and over again until it takes on the tones of reality. When it takes on the tones of reality, the end is yours. It cannot be otherwise.

Let no one tell you that this is difficult. It is the simplest thing in the world once you understand it. The difficulty lies only in the old habit of measuring everything by the outer senses before the inner conviction has been established. Break that habit. Ignore the senses. Return again and again to the imaginal act. Give it your full attention. Give it your full feeling. Give it your full love. Do this until the inner conviction is so strong that the senses no longer have power to disturb you.

When the inner conviction is established, you will walk in the world as one who knows. You will move among conditions as one who is not touched by them. You will speak and act from the new state because the new state is now your natural consciousness. And because it is natural, it must express itself.

This is the promise. This is the law. This is the eternal truth. You are the operant power. You and you alone determine what you will be conscious of being. Determine it tonight by entering the desired state and remaining there through repeated imaginal acts until the state feels real. Do this until it feels real, and the world will bear witness to your new reality.

You are not the victim of circumstance. You are the creator of circumstance. You create it in consciousness, and you establish it in consciousness by repetition until the consciousness is changed. When consciousness is changed, circumstance is changed. It is as simple as that. It is as profound as that.

Go now into this night and do what you have been told. Choose your scene. Enter it. Repeat it. Repeat it with feeling. Repeat it with faith. Repeat it until the tones of reality sound within you like a clear bell. When those tones sound, rest. Sleep in them. Awaken in them. Live in them. The outer world will then move in perfect obedience to the new consciousness you have established.

This is the way. There is no other. Do this until it feels real, and you will know the truth that sets you free. You will know it not as theory but as living experience. You will know that imagination, when persisted in until it feels natural, is the creator of the world.

You are that imagination. You are that creator. Awaken now to your true being. Do this one thing until it feels real, and every desire of your heart will be fulfilled in perfect order and in perfect time. The kingdom is within you, and the key to the kingdom is this persistent imaginal act performed over and over until the feeling is natural and the conviction is absolute.

Tonight, you stand at the threshold. Cross it. Enter the new state. Remain there through repetition until the new state is you. When the new state is you, the world you see will be the world you have created. It can be no other way.

This is the gospel. This is the good news. This is the truth that has always been and will always be. You have heard it. Now live it. Do this until it feels real, and you will never again doubt the creative power that is your very being.

You are the man clothed in linen. You walk upon the waters of psychological truth. You know the meaning of time, times, and an half. You perform the act. You repeat the act. You fall asleep in the act. And the wonders that you have dreamed become your living reality.

Do this until it feels real. Do it tonight. Do it tomorrow night. Do it every night until the feeling is natural. Then open your eyes upon a world that has already been transformed by the power of your persistent imagination.

The promise is sure. The law is exact. The result is certain. You have only to do this until it feels real, and all things will be added unto you.

This is the end of the matter. This is the beginning of your new life. Begin it now. Begin it with the quiet, loving, persistent repetition of the imaginal act that implies your desire is already fulfilled. Continue until the act is no longer an act but a natural state of being. When it is a natural state of being, the outer world must and will reflect it perfectly.

You are the cause. The world is the effect. Change the cause by doing this until it feels real, and the effect will change of its own accord. There is no power in the universe that can prevent it. There never has been. There never will be.

Go in peace. Go in certainty. Go in the quiet knowledge that you have discovered the secret of creation. Do this until it feels real, and you will have done all that is required. The rest is the inevitable out-picturing of your changed consciousness.

The kingdom of heaven is at hand. It has always been at hand. Enter it tonight through the repeated imaginal act performed until it takes on the tones of reality. Enter it and never leave it. Live there. Dwell there. Be there. And the glory of the Lord will be your light, and the new world will be your home.

This is the truth. This is the way. This is the life. Do this until it feels real, and you will know that I and my Father are one, and that the Father and you are one, and that the one you have become in imagination is the one you will become in expression.

Sleep now in that knowledge. Awaken tomorrow in that knowledge. Live every moment in that knowledge. The knowledge that by doing this one thing until it feels real, you have already changed everything.

The principle is yours. Use it. Persist in it. Do this until it feels real, and the world will bow before the majesty of your awakened imagination.