Scientific context and criticism
Neville's methods belong to the New Thought and 'manifestation' tradition. Their central claim, that imagined states change outer events, has not been tested or supported by scientific research; psychology does study related effects such as visualisation, expectation and goal-setting, but those are much narrower. The teacher 'Abdullah' is known only from Neville's own accounts. His books are best read as spiritual and psychological teaching, not as guarantees of results.
Life
Neville Goddard was born in Barbados and moved to New York in 1922, where he worked as a dancer and actor. In his own account he studied for several years with a teacher he called Abdullah, who taught him Hebrew and Kabbalah and a mystical reading of the Bible. From the late 1930s he lectured in New York and later in Los Angeles, became one of the best-known speakers of the New Thought movement, and wrote about a dozen short books, among them Your Faith Is Your Fortune (1941), Feeling Is the Secret (1944) and The Power of Awareness (1952). Many of his lectures were recorded. He died in Los Angeles in 1972; his work regained a wide readership in the 2000s.
The system
- Imagination as the creative power: 'imagining creates reality'.
- 'Living in the end': rest in the feeling of the wish already fulfilled, especially before sleep.
- The Bible read as a psychological drama happening inside the person.
Key works
- Your Faith Is Your Fortune (1941)
- Feeling Is the Secret (1944) Amazon
- The Power of Awareness (1952) Amazon
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Where to start
- Feeling Is the Secret is very short and gives the core method; The Power of Awareness expands it.
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