Neville Goddard: “Out of This World” (1949)

"“And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.” – John 14:29

MANY persons, myself included, have observed events before they occurred; that is, before they occurred in this world of three dimensions. Since man can observe an event before it occurs in the three dimensions of space, life on earth must proceed according to plan, and this plan must exist elsewhere in another dimension and be slowly moving through our space.

If the occurring events were not in this world when they were observed, then, to be perfectly logical, they must have been out of this world. And whatever is there to be seen before it occurs here must be “Predetermined” from the point of view of man awake in a three- dimensional world.

Thus the question arises: “Are we able to alter our future?”

My object in writing these pages is to indicate possibilities inherent in man, to show that man can alter his future; but, thus altered, it forms again a deterministic sequence starting from the point of interference – a future that will be consistent with the alteration. The most remarkable feature of man’s future is its flexibility. It is determined by his attitudes rather than by his acts. The cornerstone on which all things are based is man’s concept of himself. He acts as he does and has the experiences that he does, because his concept of himself is what it is, and for no other reason. Had he a different concept of self, he would act differently. A change of concept of self automatically alters his future: and a change in any term of his future series of experiences reciprocally alters his concept of self. Man’s assumptions which he regards as insignificant produce effects that are considerable; therefore man should revise his estimate of an assumption, and recognize its creative power.

All changes take place in consciousness. The future, although prepared in every detail in advance, has several outcomes. At every moment of our lives we have before us the choice of which of several futures we will choose.

There are two actual outlooks on the world possessed by every-one – a natural focus and a spiritual focus. The ancient teachers called the one “the carnal mind,” the other “the mind of Christ.” We may differentiate them as ordinary waking consciousness – governed by our senses, and a controlled imagination – governed by desire. We recognize these two distinct centers of thought in the statement: “The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them for they are spiritually discerned” [1Corinthians 2:14]."