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The New Christology

1967-09-22LectureFull transcript
The "new Christology" is the teaching that Jesus Christ is not an external historical figure to be worshipped, but is your own wonderful human imagination. This understanding reveals that you are the source of all life and the creative power in your world.
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Executive Summary

This lecture argues that the world's greatest need is a "new Christology"—a radical reinterpretation of Christ as the human imagination. Neville asserts that traditional religion has failed by teaching an external savior, leading people to look outside themselves for solutions to problems like poverty. The true solution is to recognize that one's own imagination is the creative power of God, the cause of all life's phenomena, and the only means by which desire is fulfilled.

Key Concepts

  • Christ is not a historical person but is your own wonderful human imagination.
  • This new understanding, or "new Christology," is the key to solving all personal and worldly problems.
  • The Bible's "many mansions" are infinite states of consciousness that you can enter and occupy through imagination.
  • To create your reality, you must assume the feeling of your wish fulfilled, entering the desired state until it feels real.
  • Worry is a confession of a lack of faith in the power of your own imagination (God).
  • External aid, such as anti-poverty programs, is ultimately ineffective because it fails to teach the individual their own creative power.

Detailed Explanation

The central premise of "The New Christology" is a redefinition of Christ. Instead of a historical figure who lived 2,000 years ago, Christ is identified as the human imagination itself. Neville argues that as long as humanity looks for a savior on the outside, problems like poverty will persist regardless of external efforts like financial aid. The only true solution is for each individual to be taught that they are the source of all life and that their own imagination is the Christ who creates their reality.

The lecture interprets the biblical statement, "In my Father's house are many mansions," as a reference to the infinite states of consciousness available to every person. To achieve a desire, one must use imagination to "go and prepare a place." This is accomplished by entering the specific state of consciousness where the desire is already a fact. The process involves assuming the feeling of the wish fulfilled and remaining in that state until it takes on the tones of reality. This inner act is the true prayer, and it is the cause that produces the external effect.

Neville provides a personal example of this principle in action. Needing to secure passage on a fully booked ship from Barbados, he did not pray to an external God. Instead, he sat in a chair and, in his imagination, enacted the entire scene of boarding the ship. He felt the rhythm of the small boat taking him out, walked up the gangplank, and looked back at the island until the scene felt completely real. Shortly after this imaginal act, he received a phone call confirming his passage due to a sudden cancellation. This, he explains, is proof that the human imagination is the creative power described in scripture as Christ, by whom all things are made.

This teaching identifies desires as the "sheep" and the imagination as the "Good Shepherd." The shepherd's job is to lead the sheep into the fold of fulfillment by assuming the desired state. Once the imaginal act is performed in faith, one should not be concerned with the means or the interval of time required for it to manifest. Worry is seen as a direct contradiction of faith in this creative power. By trusting implicitly in your imagination as the one and only cause, you can bring any desire to pass.

Important Quotes

The one consuming thing we need (which will not cost one nickel) is a new Christology, a new way of thinking of Christ as the human imagination!

The New Christology

In my Father’s house are unnumbered mansions. Unnumbered states of consciousness.

The New Christology

If there is evidence for a thing, does it matter what anyone thinks? If this can be proved in performance, what does it matter what the world thinks?

The New Christology

The habit of worry confesses ones lack of faith in the sovereignty of God. If you worry, you don’t believe in Christ!

The New Christology

Common Misunderstandings

  • Misunderstanding: Christ is an external being to whom you must pray.
    Correction: This lecture teaches that Christ is your own human imagination. Prayer is not petitioning an outside power but is the act of assuming the feeling of your wish fulfilled within yourself.
  • Misunderstanding: Solving poverty requires more money and government programs.
    Correction: Neville argues that external aid creates dependency and resentment. The only lasting solution is to teach the poor that they are the source of all phenomena and can change their circumstances through the correct use of their own imagination.
  • Misunderstanding: You must figure out the means by which your desire will be fulfilled.
    Correction: The lecture states that imagination's ways are "past finding out." You are only to assume the end, and the means will follow automatically. The man who was transferred to California failed to see that his company's action was the natural means that followed his imaginal act.

Practical Applications

To apply this teaching, you must first identify a clear desire. Then, instead of working for it or praying to an external God, you must construct a scene in your imagination which implies the desire is already fulfilled. The key is to make this inner scene as vivid and real as possible, engaging your senses until you feel the naturalness of the state.

For example, as Neville did when seeking passage from Barbados, you can sit quietly and physically feel yourself performing the actions of your fulfilled desire. Persist in this imaginal act until it takes on the tones of reality. Once this feeling of reality is achieved, you give thanks to your Father (your imagination) and drop the subject, confident that what you have done in imagination will come to pass in your world. You must not worry or look for signs, but trust that the seed has been planted and will sprout in its own time.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Neville Goddard mean by a 'new Christology'?

It is the understanding that Jesus Christ is not a historical person outside of you, but is your own wonderful human imagination. This imagination is the creative power of God and the source of everything in your life.

How does this teaching explain the biblical phrase 'many mansions'?

The 'many mansions' in the Father's house are the unnumbered states of consciousness you can choose to occupy. To 'prepare a place' means to enter the state of your fulfilled desire in imagination.

Why does Neville claim that anti-poverty programs are ineffective?

He argues they are ineffective because they only provide external aid, which creates dependency and does not address the root cause. The only true way to end poverty is to teach individuals that they are the creative source in their own lives through their imagination.

What is the practical method for creating something using imagination?

You must assume the feeling of your wish already being fulfilled. Construct a scene implying it is done, and mentally live in that scene until it feels real and natural. Then, drop it in faith without worrying about how it will happen.

Full Lecture Transcript

Read Neville Goddard's complete lecture below — the actual transcript this study guide is drawn from. Highlight any passage and ask the AI to explain it.

≈ 20 min read · 4,062 words

Neville 9-22-1967

THE NEW CHRISTOLOGY

You will find this a very practical night, for I feel that the truth of the working of God’s law should be looked upon as intensely as anything in this world. So tonight I want to show you quite clearly how God’s law operates. We are told in the 14th chapter of John: “Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? When I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am there you may be also.” You may think some man is speaking to a group of men as I am here; but these words were spoken by the human Imagination, who - having come out from the Father, came into the world. Now leaving the world, human imagination is going to the Father’s house. He is returning to discover the source, the cause, of the phenomena of life. Jesus Christ, your own wonderful human imagination, is the way to everything in the world - but specifically to the Father. Tonight we will take this thought on a practical level so that everyone will know how to bring into this world everything he wants, no matter what it is. Today billions of dollars are being spent on anti-poverty programs; yet the one consuming thing we need (which will not cost one nickel) is a new Christology, a new way of thinking of Christ as the human imagination! Christ is the cause of everything, but as long as the churches mislead the world - by teaching he is on the outside as one who lived and died 2000 years ago to whom you should turn and pray - you will never find him. Poverty can never be overcome on the outside, no matter how much money is given to the poor. Only when the poor man is told that he is the source of all life and taught how to turn and pray to himself, will he overcome poverty. So the outstanding need is to teach this new Christology, to tell everyone you meet that Christ is the human imagination, for without this knowledge - I don’t care what you do - you will never bring your desires into fulfillment. In my Father’s house are unnumbered mansions. Unnumbered states of consciousness. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am you may be also. In this statement Imagination is telling you he is the Father for “No one comes to the Father but by me.” Only when you come to the awareness that your human imagination is the phenomenon, the source of all life, will you find the Father. In the 60th plate of his poem, “Jerusalem,” Blake speaks of the tower of Babel. I am sure you are all familiar with the story of how the tower contained multiple voices so that no one understood the other. Today, even though we and those in Romania, Bulgaria, and Czechoslovakia live in what is referred to as democratic

countries, we do not mean the same kind of democracy. To us democracy is based upon the principle of compromise, but not the compromise of principle as they do. So the world is Babel and Blake makes this statement: “Babel mocks saying, there is no God or Son of God. That thou O Human Imagination, O Divine Body, art all a delusion. But I know thee, O Lord.” (Here Blake calls his own human imagination, “Lord”) saying: “when thou ariseth upon.” In the morning when Imagination ariseth and the eye awakens, you see the familiar objects about as life itself arises. The world is animated by your human imagination. If it did not return in the morning you would be called dead, for life is nothing more than an activity of imagining. So Blake continues, saying: “when thou ariseth upon my eyes, even in this dungeon, this iron mill.” You see, Blake saw the physical garment as a dungeon, a mill of iron. But your Imagination knows all, is all, and is all powerful! If you should forget something, knowing that your own imagination is Jesus Christ, say: “Thank you Father that you always hear me.” Do that and in the matter of moments the thought will return. Recognize your own wonderful human imagination as the only God, the only Lord Christ Jesus, for besides him there is no other. So the outstanding need this day is for a new Christology, a new knowledge of Christ, a completely new thinking of the human imagination. Until this is done unnumbered billions will be appropriated to fight poverty to no avail. You can never give a poor man enough to satisfy him, and the day you stop giving he will cut your throat. In our little island of Barbados we had a neighbor who had a cow. (Now, when I was young if you wanted milk you either kept a cow or a goat.) His cow had a calf and produced more milk than the neighbor could use, so the maid was sent to offer the excess milk - at no charge - to Mr. Seeon, a neighbor. He was delighted to receive it and was given his quart of milk every day until the cow was once more with calf and was dried up for the oncoming delivery. When Mr. Seeon was told that there would be no milk for about four weeks, he said: “If you knew you couldn’t keep me supplied with milk all of the time, you should have never given it to me in the first place. You have conditioned me to a quart of milk a day and now I have none.” May I tell you: Mr. Seeon is simply representative of the world to whom you give. Try giving someone something on a monthly or yearly basis, then stop it, and you will find yourself his enemy. Knowing what you did in the past, he will hate you because you are not continuing to provide for him. But you can give him a new Christology by telling him that he doesn’t need you. That the source of all the phenomena of life is in him; that source is his own wonderful human imagination who is Jesus Christ. Instead of teaching the true Christ, the churches tell of a Christ Jesus who lived and died two thousand years ago. They teach that he is still suffering for them even though they, themselves, are suffering. They do it because the priests do not know who Christ is. But if you who know who he is will put him to the test tonight, you will influence the world and bring about a new Christology, a new thinking about the human imagination; for the human imagination is Christ and there never was or never will be another. In the 14th chapter of John, Imagination is speaking, saying: “Let not your hearts be troubled; you believe in God believe also in me.” I say the habit of worry discloses the lack of faith in the sovereignty of God. You believe in God? Believe also in imagination! If you worry you don’t believe in your imagination, for worry is your confession of your lack of faith in the sovereignty of God. Now imagination continues, saying: “In my Father’s house are many mansions, were it not so would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am

there you may be also.” Right after the Second World War, I went to Barbados with my wife and daughter after purchasing only a one-way ticket there. Four months later I decided to arrange for my return passage, as I was scheduled to lecture on the first day of May. At that time there were only two ships servicing the dozens of islands, and, although my brother had tremendous power in the islands, he could not do anything toward getting us passage back to the United States. Hundreds of people were waiting on the list and I was informed that I could not get passage until the end of September. When I heard this I said to myself: “All right, I’ll get out.” That afternoon I went to my hotel room, and sitting in an easy chair I allowed it to become a little boat. (You see, in those days there was no deep water harbor and little boats took us to ships which were anchored in the bay a mile or so away.) Assuming my chair was a boat taking me to the harbor, I felt the rhythm of the water, and when we were latched onto the big ship I allowed my brother Victor to carry my little daughter onto the ship. Then I helped my wife and followed her, feeling every step up the gangplank. When I got to the top my mind wandered, so I brought it back to the base of the steps and repeated the action. Each time my mind wandered I brought it back again until I reached the top, turned, and holding the side of the ship I looked back nostalgically at the island of Barbados, for now we were sailing. In a matter of moments the phone rang and the agent told me that because of a cancellation they had just received from America my passage was available, and I could leave the end of April, the date I had just envisioned. On that day my brother carried my daughter up the gangplank, my sister-in-law followed, then my wife, and finally myself. They acted, but the source of their action was my imaginary act! Scripture tells us that Jesus Christ is the source of all phenomena. That by him all things were made and without him was not anything made that was made. If Jesus Christ makes everything, and I know what I did, is he not my wonderful human imagination? He is described in Corinthians as the power of God and the wisdom of God, and isn’t that imagination? I didn’t pray to anyone. I simply sat in a chair and enacted a scene that, if true, would imply I am sailing. As I allowed the scene to take on the tones of reality by giving it all of the sense of vividness of naturalness, the phone rang, and I had confirmation of my trip to New York. So where is the creative power of the universe if not within man? Paul tells us: “He loved you and gave himself for you.” Loving you, Imagination gave himself to you by becoming you that you may become Imagination, who is Christ. There never was another Christ and never will be another. Put your imagination to the test and see if it is Christ. If it is, do you need anyone to support you? Do you need any anti-poverty campaign? If those on relief could only believe in Christ, what a change they could make in their life! Instead, they go to church and give it a portion of what is given to them through relief. They support emotionalism because they do not know that source of the phenomena of life. Those on relief think their income is coming from Uncle Sam, not knowing he does not exist. No government has any money! The money it has is first taken from you before it can be given to another. In this world the money we earn is taken from us to give to the Mr. Seeons of the world, and if it is stopped, the so-called government will be criticized for stopping the gift. The churches haven’t failed, except in not telling the true story of Christ. Rather than giving to the poor, they should tell the poor who Christ really is! If I tell you who Christ is and testing, you find him as your human imagination, does it matter what the world thinks? If there is evidence for a thing, does it matter what anyone thinks? If this can be proved in performance, what does it matter what the world thinks? You do not need to ask any minister, rabbi, or

priest what he thinks, if you can test your imagination and prove its creative power! So, in the Father’s house are many states of consciousness. Pick a state, enter and occupy it. Your Father is the good shepherd and your desires are his sheep. When the good shepherd comes, he gathers all of your desires for yourself and others together and brings them into the field. How is this done? In your imagination! A friend’s desire may not be your desire for him, but if it is not in conflict with your ethical code and you are a good shepherd, you will represent your friend to yourself as telling you that he (or she) has it. That way your sheep, having heard your voice, will follow you into the fold. In the 10th chapter of John we are told that the good shepherd goes first and his sheep follow. Signs follow, they do not precede. Take your desire into the fold by putting yourself into the desired state. Remain there until you feel its reality. Knowing that imagining creates reality, thank your Father and drop it. Now, do nothing on the outside to make it so, only know your desire is yours the moment you do it! Do not expect immediate birth! There are always intervals of time between pregnancy and its fulfillment. One seed may take 21 days, another five months, nine months, a year, or even more. Do not be concerned with the interval of time between the fertilization of the seed and its hatching; only know the seed of desire has been planted in the mind. And if at times you find your sheep have gone astray, bring them back into your fold when you know who the good shepherd is. But if you don’t, you will find many shepherds who will fleece you! So I say: the greatest need today is not for a different church, but for a new Christology, a new thinking of the human imagination! There was never another Christ and there never will be another, no matter what the world teaches. “I go, to prepare a place for you.” Taking all of your requests, imagination’s power goes and prepares a place for you to receive them. Going to the state of health, imagination prepares a place of health for one, of wealth for another, fame for another. You might not want to be famous, but if fame is their desire go and prepare a place of fame for them. They may not know that fame is simply a sketch in the sands of time. They may think their face can be engraved in granite and it will remain forever, but it is all an illusion. Their name can be forgotten as quickly as the next generation, but they want fame now and you - being the good shepherd - give it to them. Knowing the source of the phenomena of life you will realize nothing really matters. If you know how a thing is made and it is taken from you, you can remake it again. So you see: knowledge is far more important than that which knowledge has made, but man is lost in that which is made and has forgotten the maker. Everyone should be completely consumed with the desire to know how a thing is made. I’ll tell you how I make it. Knowing what I want, reason may tell me I can’t get it and my senses may deny that I have it; but believing that my own wonderful human imagination is Christ and trusting myself, I assume I have it and drop it right there. I do not concern myself with what means will be employed for me to get it, I simply believe I already have it! I believe that my own wonderful human imagination is Jesus Christ and all things are possible to him, even the recording of something that I have struggled all day to remember and cannot. Like Blake I turn to my human imagination, my divine body, for I know thee O Lord, when thou ariseth upon my eyes, even in this dungeon. So when I awake in the morning and imagination returns to make me alive, I trust it implicitly. Perhaps I can’t remember something, but would like to, so I say: “Thank you Father, you always hear me.” Then as I walk the earth memory appears out of the nowhere. Perhaps it is a poem, a saying, or an article I have misplaced; but when I turn to Him and in thankfulness request its memory, my Heavenly Father always gives it to me.

This I know from experience. You turn to yourself, and yet you address him as though he were another, because imagination is another until this garment is taken off for the last time. Clothed in this garment of flesh you are limited, but when you take it off for the last time, you and He are one. Night after night Christ withdraws, as it were, and returning, he ariseth upon your weary eyes and you can see. If your human imagination did not return you would have no knowledge of this world. So learn to trust Him implicitly, for He will not fail you. You can attain any goal if you believe that your own wonderful human imagination is the Lord Jesus Christ. Imagine something, accept it in gratitude and watch it come to pass. May I tell you: you have always been doing it, but your memory is so short you do not recognize your own harvest. If your memory awoke you would see that everything happens because you at one time imagined it, (mostly in fear) and then dropped it. You planted the seeds of the tares and the wheat, the events and circumstances of your world, but have forgotten the planting. So I tell you: you are as free as you want to be if you will believe in Christ. He is not on the outside but in you, as your own wonderful human imagination! Now let me repeat a thought I said earlier. The habit of worry confesses ones lack of faith in the sovereignty of God. If you worry, you don’t believe in Christ! He said: “Let not your heart be troubled (worried), you believe in God, believe also in me.” If you really believe this you will not worry, but will believe that He and He alone has ways no one knows of bringing to pass that which you have imagined. There is no limit placed upon your human imagination save that which you place upon yourself. Your financial, social and intellectual pictures are as limited as you make them. All within you, you and you alone have the ability to enlarge your concept of causality, plant and reap your every desire. Desires are the sheep of your pasture and the shepherd is your own wonderful human imagination. If your desires have gone astray bring them back into the fold where they really belong. When you go home tonight read the 14th chapter of the Gospel of John. It’s such a glorious chapter. The whole Bible is, really. Just to read every verse so thrills me it becomes alive to me. In this chapter, when they asked him to show them the Father, he said: “I have been with you all these years and yet you do not know the Father? When you see me you have seen the Father, how then can you say, ‘Show me the Father?’” Then he tells us: “I dwell in you and you dwell in me, we are one and I am the Father.” Man can’t quite see it and you can’t blame him for that. So I still say: the greatest need is for a new thinking of the human imagination. If man sees his own imagination as Christ, then all the so-called problems of the world will dissolve, leaving only harmony. There will be no barriers when one sees his own imagination as Christ. If tonight you believe your imagination is Christ and you desire to be elsewhere, sleep there in your imagination just as though it were true. Forget the fact that you can’t afford it or do not have the time. “I am” infinity, and all thine are mine and mine are thine. If you really believe in Christ as your own wonderful human imagination, then sleep as the person you want to be. Don’t ask me how it is going to come about, for my ways and means are past finding out! A man called me three weeks ago, saying: “Many years ago in New York City you told me that if I wanted to go to California all I had to do was assume I was there. Well, my wife and I are here now, but I want you to know that I’m not sold on what you teach. I did what you said, but the reason I came here is because the

company I worked for opened a factory and transferred me here.” He didn’t find himself flying through space, but was transferred by his company, so he doesn’t believe that feeling is the secret! Well, you take your pearls and throw them before the swine of the world and they pick your wisdom up and drop it down, but you throw it just the same. I know you are warned not to do it, but I have never been able to discriminate as to who will take it and who will not, so I tell it to all who will listen. When our late President Hoover addressed the GOP convention in San Francisco, he said: “The rise and fall of nations could be traced to the rise and fall of ideas implanted in the mine of man.” Here is a man who rose from the very bottom. He had no money, put himself through college, yet left millions to his family and various charities. Time will prove that Mr. Hoover was a truly great man. He didn’t cause the depression but tells us that it can be traced to the rise and fall of ideas implanted in the mind of man. He sent me an autographed copy of his address and asked for a copy of my book, Awakened Imagination, which I am quite sure he had in his library at his death. His was a truly great mind, one that saw how things worked. Men that you and I admire, if they were honest, would admit to implanting in our mind that which would belittle us and ennoble them. Many know what they are doing but they don’t know Christ. If they did, they would know they do not have to belittle us to ennoble themselves. If you want to rise, you don’t have to put another down in order to feel you have risen. Your reality is I AM. Raise your consciousness and you raise yourself, but you haven’t risen when you feel the need to push another down by claiming “I AM better than.” Tonight take this law and apply it. I promise you it will not fail. When you go to bed dwell in your own wonderful human imagination and say: “Thank you, Father” as though you were addressing another. You know you are thanking your human imagination, but while assuming you have what you want, thank your Father. You came out from the Father and came into the world. Now you are leaving the world and going to the Father. Eventually you will reach him, and when you do he is yourself. There is no other Father. There is no other God! Now let us go into the silence.

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Source-checked against Neville Goddard's lectures & books · 2026-06-01.