Book summary “The Power of Awareness”: summary

Introduction

You often struggle with stubborn external circumstances, believing that the world must be forced, persuaded, or managed to achieve your desires. This approach leaves you trapped in a cycle of endless effort and frustration because you treat the outer reflection as the primary cause.

Neville Goddard argues that consciousness is the sole reality and the true foundation of all phenomena. Your external life is simply an outpicturing of your internal assumptions and conception of yourself.

The book guides you from these fundamental metaphysical principles to practical internal techniques. You learn how to think beyond ordinary physical limitations and use controlled imagination to reshape your destiny.

• How does human consciousness create physical reality?
• Why do assumptions inevitably harden into actual facts?
• How can you operate within the fourth dimension of time and space?
• What mental methods transform desire into immediate experience?

1. Consciousness Is the Only Reality

Man's outer world is entirely an outpicturing of his individual consciousness and conception of himself.

Orthodox religions mistakenly teach that the world exists independently. Jesus discovered that consciousness is the sole reality and cause. Because God is absolute and one, all things are made of God and by God, acting as projections of the observer. Therefore, changing your conception of self automatically alters the surrounding world without needing to change other people.

The Oneness of God

Unconditioned consciousness, known as I AM, is the one and only reality and the true being of man. Man and the world are conditioned states of the unconditioned consciousness. The sense of awareness of being, divorced from any specific form or identity, is the ultimate reality and the creator of all outer manifestations.

The Principle of Truth

Consciousness is the one and only reality and the sole first cause-substance of all life phenomena. All circumstances, conditions, and material objects are merely varied arrangements of the same cause-substance, which is consciousness. Just as magnetized and demagnetized steel differ only in molecular arrangement rather than substance, different life outcomes stem from varied arrangements of mind.

Effective mental commands rely on the internal realization and feeling of being the desired state rather than empty verbal repetition. You can apply this creative power directly through specific mental actions:

• Be still by observing the observer.
• Repeat quietly but with feeling 'I AM—I AM' until you lose all consciousness of the world.
• Define yourself as that which you desire by feeling yourself to be the thing desired ('I AM that').
• Utter the second 'I AM' as a cry of victory when the conviction is established.

2. The Power of Assumption

An assumption, though false, if persisted in will harden into fact and serve as the sole redemptive instrument.

Nature does not evolve higher concepts automatically. You must use imagination to incarnate new values. Mental knowledge views a thing from the outside. Spiritual knowledge requires becoming the thing by thinking from it rather than about it.

Assumptions Harden into Fact

Wanting something while feeling its lack means you are entertaining Barabbas. To pass from one state of consciousness to another, you must release your current limiting concept of self and embrace your ideal.

You can apply this method through specific actions:

• Define your ideal.
• Relax in a comfortable armchair and induce a state of consciousness akin to sleep.
• Experience in imagination what you would experience in reality were you already that which you desire to be.

You can mentally place yourself anywhere and appropriate any desired state. Impassable walls like Jericho are overcome by employing Rahab. Her professions as a spy and a harlot signify moving silently and invisibly in consciousness to another place and granting oneself the fulfillment of a desire without questioning means.

The Secret of Feeling

Isaac represents consciousness, blind to the objective world. Esau represents the present objective environment, while Jacob represents the unexpressed desire.

Jacob placed animal skins on his smooth body to feel like his hairy brother Esau, deceiving his blind father Isaac into blessing him and granting him lordship.

By operating solely through the sense of feeling, the blind father Isaac mistakes Jacob for Esau. This illustrates how subjective feeling replaces the objective world.

3. Thinking Fourth-Dimensionally

Human beings possess a natural focus governed by physical senses and a spiritual focus governed by a controlled imagination that views past, present, and future as a whole.

Every person possesses two distinct outlooks. The carnal natural mind is bound strictly to the present moment, treating the past merely as memory and the future as nonexistent. In contrast, the mind of Christ utilizes a fourth-dimensional focus. This spiritual view takes in the entire array of sensory impressions encountered across time.

Time is the fourth dimension of an object. It provides the quality of changeability and allows all moments from birth to death to co-exist as a living, animated whole. You can alter your future by moving along time's length.

The Carnal Mind and the Mind of Christ

You can alter your future by following a specific technique. The future is predetermined in a dimensionally larger world, but its most remarkable feature is flexibility. You can shift future events through a controlled waking dream in a sleepy state.

A friend waiting for a streetcar for a wedding imagined being in the church instead. A driver stopped immediately and offered him a ride, getting him there on time.

You can apply this method directly to your own objectives:

• Define your objective, know definitely what you want.
• Construct an event which you believe you would encounter FOLLOWING the fulfillment of your desire, having the action of Self predominant.
• Immobilize the physical body and induce a condition akin to sleep by imagining that you are sleepy.
• Mentally feel yourself right into the proposed action, imagining all the while that you are actually performing the action here and now.

Time as the Fourth Dimension

To overcome the doubt caused by waiting for a desired state to manifest, you can consciously travel in time to a future point. Man is a slave to time and loses faith if a desired state does not immediately appear. By selecting a natural interval of time and moving mentally to that future point, you create a vacuum in consciousness.

If today is Wednesday and you decide your desire can be realized by Sunday, you shut out Wednesday and step into Sunday by feeling its distinct atmosphere. You experience the thrill of receiving your desire before returning to Wednesday.

You can execute this temporal shift through a structured mental exercise:

• Decide what would be a natural, rational interval of time in which the desire could be realized.
• Shut out the present day and let in the future point in time by actively feeling its atmosphere, such as hearing church bells for Sunday.
• Feel the complete thrill and joy of having received that which was previously only a desire.
• Return to the present point in time, carrying the unalterable conviction that the state is established.

4. No One to Change but Self

Consciousness is the sole foundation of all phenomena, meaning all changes in life require changing oneself rather than trying to force changes in others.

Attempting to change the world or other people through direct effort, argument, or force is a struggle against the nature of things. You are incapable of seeing anything other than the contents of your own consciousness. To change another person or external circumstances, you must first change your own concept of self. Holding a noble and dignified concept of self makes it impossible to see the unlovely in others.

The Law of Contemplation

It is the nature of both love and hate to transform people into the likeness of that which they contemplate. When you try to destroy what you consider evil by fighting or condemning it, conquest results in an exchange of characteristics. Hatred betrays you in victory and condemns you to become what you condemn.

Attempting to alter outer circumstances without transforming your inner consciousness is a futile readjustment of surfaces. The outer world dissolves and reshapes itself automatically in precise harmony with inner changes of consciousness.

During an idle interval at sea, the author meditated on the perfect state of being pure and without condemnation. This lifted him into a fiery consciousness and projected a vision where a multitude of impotent folk at the Pool of Bethesda were instantly molded into perfection by his presence.

Reflecting the Inner Concept

Consciousness is an impersonal law that multiplies whatever state you are aware of being. Wealth and success gravitate toward the consciousness tuned to them, just as poverty gravitates to lack.

To manifest a desire, you must immobilize your physical body and use imagination to experience a single simple event or repeat a condensed phrase that implies fulfillment. You can follow specific steps to achieve this state:

• Know exactly what you want and ensure you will still desire it tomorrow.
• Construct in your mind's eye a single, simple event which implies fulfillment where you are the actor rather than an observer.
• Alternatively, condense your desire into a single phrase implying fulfillment, such as "Isn't it wonderful?" or "Thank you."
• Sit quietly, relax, and immobilize your physical body.
• Experience the sensation in imagination, using a more subtle imaginary hand to feel a handshake or repeating your condensed phrase like a lullaby with feeling until it dominates your mind.

There is no one to change in the outer world except the self, because circumstances and other people strictly reflect your inner concept of self.

5. Techniques of Prayer and Manifestation

Effective prayer requires relaxing into a state akin to sleep, assuming the feeling of the wish fulfilled, and letting go of personal effort.

To manifest a desire successfully, you must assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled with a minimum of effort, avoiding willpower.

People often fail because they violate the law of reverse effort, using force and willpower to compel results, which yields the opposite effect. Creation happens in a profound sleep or a state akin to sleep where effort is reduced to a minimum. You do not force yourself to be your ideal; you simply imagine and hold your attention within the feeling without force.

Thirty-five out of a class of 135 people realized their desired objectives within two weeks of receiving this prayer technique.

The State Akin to Sleep

A specific three-step technique of prayer allows you to change your future by experiencing an action that follows fulfillment. By immobilizing the physical body, inducing a drowsy state, and mentally participating in an action that implies fulfillment, you force the objective world to conform without personal responsibility for the how.

Follow this practice to define and secure your objective:

• Define your objective and know definitely what you want.
• Construct an event which you believe you would encounter following the fulfillment of your desire, an event which implies fulfillment.
• Immobilize the physical body and induce a state akin to sleep, a drowsy state.
• Mentally feel yourself right into the proposed action, imagining all the while that you are actually performing the action here and now.
• Condense the idea into a single act and re-enact it over and over again until it has the feeling of reality.

Methods of Mental Action

The second prayer method uses a drowsy state combined with a single imaginary action that implies the fulfillment of a desire. Prayer requires defining a clear objective and constructing a single little event that implies the realization of the desire, such as shaking a hand, embracing someone, or writing a check. By inducing a drowsy, relaxed state akin to sleep where the body is immobilized, you imagine performing the action from within rather than visualizing yourself from the outside.

Apply these physical steps during your mental exercise:

• Know what you want and construct in your mind's eye one single little event which implies that you have realized your desire.
• Sit in a comfortable armchair or lie flat on your back in a position of complete physical ease.
• Close your eyes to induce a lovely drowsy state or the feeling of gathered togetherness.
• Imagine that your greater imaginary body is coming out of the physical body and actually performing the proposed action, feeling it rather than visualizing it.

The first method of prayer involves bringing distant objects or locations into the present by standing still and mentally assuming you are already there. To bring a desired place or physical presence into reality, you do not need physical movement. You stand still, close your eyes, and assume you are actually standing where you desire to be, remaining in that state until it feels completely real. This utilizes the dimensionally greater self to inspire the necessary ideas and actions for physical contact.

The third method of prayer is to immobilize the physical body, enter a drowsy state, and assume the feeling of thankfulness for a wish fulfilled. A simple and effective method for realizing a desire for yourself or another is to induce a state akin to sleep while the physical body is immobilized. In that relaxed state, you simply feel happy and thankful, knowing that thankfulness inherently implies the realization of the wish, and fall asleep dominated by this single sensation.

Maintaining a high mood without wavering requires mental discipline, symbolized by riding an unbridled colt into Jerusalem. The biblical story of Jesus riding an unridden colt into Jerusalem illustrates the challenge of sustaining a new mood or assumption. A new feeling or desire is like a young colt that is difficult to ride unless managed with a disciplined mind. Remaining faithful to a high mood causes others to automatically cushion the journey and brings about the fulfillment without struggle.

6. Persistence and Daily Practice

An assumption must be maintained as a frequent state of occupancy through disciplined attention and regular revision of past events.

An assumption must be a maintained mental attitude and a frequent state of occupancy, rather than a single isolated act, to manifest.

Importunity or shameless, demanding persistence is mandatory. You make an assumption natural by returning to the feeling of the wish fulfilled with frequency.

The Pruning Shears of Revision

Daily revision of past events reshapes personal character, resolves discord, and constitutes the true mechanism of forgiveness. You alter future outcomes and achieve inner freedom by withdrawing attention from unrevised vexations and pouring emotional energy into a revised scenario.

An art teacher struck her right foot painfully with a heavy chair left on a desk by the janitor, resulting in severe swelling and an inability to walk. That night, she used revision to mentally replay an awkward encounter with an unfriendly acquaintance, replacing his cold silence with a friendly greeting. She then mentally attended a friend's successful concert, and the next morning her foot was completely healed and normal.

You can apply this practice immediately:

• Relive the day as you wish you had lived it, revising scenes to conform to your ideals.
• Mentally rewrite disappointing news or events and read the revised version repeatedly.
• Absorb your attention completely in the revised action until your senses are expanded.

The Necessity of Persistence

You must frequently return to the feeling of your wish fulfilled to make it your truest self. Treat assumption as a maintained persistent attitude rather than a single isolated act.

• Frequently return to the feeling of the wish fulfilled to make it your truest self.
• Maintain a persistent attitude of the wish fulfilled rather than treating assumption as a single isolated act.

Conclusion

Consciousness and assumption form a unified system where your inner states dictate your outer reality. You create your experiences not through physical struggle, but through disciplined mental focus, fourth-dimensional thinking, and the consistent assumption of your wish fulfilled.

To apply these principles daily, follow these rules.

1. Control your attention and accept only states that reflect your desired reality.
2. Assume the feeling of your wish fulfilled in a relaxed state akin to sleep.
3. Review your day each evening and revise any negative events to align with your ideal outcome.
4. Refuse to blame others or external conditions, recognizing that you are the sole cause of your experience.
5. Persist in your new assumption until it hardens into physical fact.

10 Key Ideas

1. Human consciousness serves as the sole reality and the foundational first cause of all outer life phenomena and material circumstances.
2. An assumption, even if initially false, will inevitably harden into an actual physical fact when persisted in with feeling.
3. Operating within the fourth dimension allows you to view past, present, and future as a co-existing whole and flexible reality.
4. Because outer circumstances strictly reflect your inner concept of self, there is no one else to change in the world.
5. True prayer requires relaxing into a state akin to sleep and assuming the feeling of the wish fulfilled without using willpower.
6. The law of reverse effort dictates that using force and struggle yields the opposite of your desired outcome.
7. You can mentally travel to a future point in time to create a vacuum in consciousness and experience the thrill of your desire immediately.
8. Maintaining a disciplined mental attitude and returning frequently to the feeling of your desire makes it a natural state of occupancy.
9. Daily revision of past events reshapes your character, resolves discord, and constitutes the true mechanism of forgiveness.
10. Your external world dissolves and reshapes itself automatically in precise harmony with inner changes of your consciousness.