TLDR;
This video presents Neville Goddard's "The Power of Awareness," read by Adam Hannon, originally published in 1952. The core message revolves around the idea that consciousness is the only reality, and our assumptions shape our world. By controlling our imagination and focusing our attention on the feeling of our wishes fulfilled, we can transform our lives and achieve our desires.
- Consciousness is the only reality and the foundation of all existence.
- Our assumptions, not external factors, determine our experiences.
- Imagination, controlled and focused, is the key to changing our reality.
- Persistence in assuming the feeling of the wish fulfilled is essential for manifestation.
- Reverence for the power within us, the "I AM," is the ultimate realization.
1. I Am [0:28]
This chapter introduces the concept of "I AM" as the self-definition of the absolute, the foundation of all existence, and the very center of consciousness. It emphasizes that "I AM" is a feeling of permanent awareness that cannot be divided, regardless of the concepts we hold of ourselves. Our concept of ourselves determines the world we live in, and by assuming a new concept, we can rearrange the cause substance of "I AM" to manifest that which its rearrangement affirms. This principle governs every aspect of life, and by understanding that consciousness is the only reality, we are freed from the tyranny of second causes.
2. Consciousness [6:34]
This chapter explains that changing our concept of ourselves is the only way to build more stately mansions, or higher concepts, and that consciousness is the one and only reality, the first and only cause substance of the phenomena of life. All that exists for us is through the consciousness we have of it, and what appears as circumstances, conditions, and material objects are products of our own consciousness. The world manifests our concept, arranged in the image of what we believe to be true. Health, wealth, beauty, and genius are not created but manifested by the arrangement of our mind, our concept of ourselves.
3. Power of Assumption [11:25]
This chapter discusses that man's chief delusion is believing in causes other than his own state of consciousness. A change of consciousness is necessary to change our outer world, and this begins with an intense desire to be transformed. By assuming the feeling of our wish fulfilled, we make our future dream a present fact. To know something spiritually, we must become it, willing to die to our present self to embody a new person. Imagination is the instrument by which we create our world and is the only redemptive power in the universe.
4. Desire [18:09]
This chapter explains that changes in life, resulting from a changed concept of self, appear to be chance or coincidence to the unenlightened, but the only fate governing life is determined by our own concepts. The ideal we seek will not manifest until we imagine we are already that ideal. Transformation is based on suggestion, requiring complete abandonment to the ideal, like a woman abandons herself to love. We must assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled until it has the sensory vividness of reality, crowding out all other ideas.
5. The Truth That Sets You Free [21:41]
This chapter reveals that the drama of life is psychological, shaped by our assumptions, making us either slaves or masters of them. Mastery comes from deliberate control of our imagination, forming a mental image of the desired state and concentrating on the feeling of already being that person. By identifying with the ideal, we transform ourselves into its image, a process the ancients called subjection to the will of God. Imagination is the key to solving all problems, and determined imagination is the means of progress and fulfilling dreams.
6. Attention [26:20]
This chapter emphasizes that attention is forceful when narrowly focused on a single idea or sensation. The desire that realizes itself is one upon which attention is exclusively concentrated. Concentrated observation is the attentive attitude directed towards a specific end, involving selection and focus. The power of attention is the measure of inner force, and the great secret of success is focusing on the feeling of the wish fulfilled without distraction. Mastering attention requires practice, such as reviewing the day's activities in reverse order before sleep, to develop the muscle of attention.
7. Attitude [31:42]
This chapter discusses that what we see depends on the assumptions we make when we look, as proven by experiments. Our assumptions govern our conscious and subconscious movements towards their fulfillment. Our assumption is the hand of God molding the firmament into the image of what we assume. The assumption of the wish fulfilled lifts us off the bar of the senses and into prophecy. The chapter includes a case history of a costume designer who changed her attitude towards a theatrical producer, resulting in a reversal of his behavior towards her.
8. Renunciation [40:16]
This chapter explains the difference between resisting evil and renouncing it, stating that resisting evil gives it attention, while renouncing it shifts attention to what we want. It encourages controlling imagination and giving beauty for ashes, joy for mourning, and praise for the spirit of heaviness. We become a tree of righteousness when these mental states are permanent, and "I AM" is glorified when our highest concept of self is manifested. Just as a vine is pruned, we must prune our imagination by withdrawing attention from unlovely ideas and concentrating on the ideal we wish to attain.
9. Preparing Your Place [43:57]
This chapter emphasizes that all is ours, and we should appropriate it, claim it, and assume it. Everything depends on our concept of ourselves, and what we do not claim as true cannot be realized. We should hold fast to all that is lovely and of good report, imagining that we already are what we want to be and have what we want to have. Despite the appearance of freedom, we obey the law of assumption, and our experiences are determined by our assumptions, conscious or unconscious. Imagination goes into the future, into the state desired, and feeling ourselves into that state gives it the tone of reality.
10. Creation [48:24]
This chapter reveals that creation is finished, and creativeness is only a deeper receptiveness, as all time and space coexist in an infinite and eternal now. All that we ever have been or ever will be exists now, and what is called creation is only becoming aware of what already is. Our concept of ourselves determines our time track, the events we encounter, and concepts determine the route that attention follows. By assuming the feeling of our wish fulfilled, our attention is confronted with images related to that assumption, leading to its actual experience.
11. Interference [52:17]
This chapter discusses that we are free to choose the concept we will accept of ourselves, possessing the power of intervention to alter the course of our future. Rising from our present concept to a higher one is the means of all true progress. Imagination is able to do more than we can ask or think, and attention is the power by which we create our world. We can build our ideal world by imagining ourselves to be the ideal we dream of and desire, remaining attentive to this imagined state until it manifests as reality.
12. Subjective Control [55:25]
This chapter explains that imagination is able to do all that we ask in proportion to the degree of our attention, and all progress depends on the control and concentration of our attention. Attention can be attracted from without or directed from within, and the capacity to change our future depends on the latter. By controlling the movements of our attention in the subjective world, we can modify or alter our life as we please. Each day, we should deliberately withdraw our attention from the objective world and focus it subjectively, concentrating on thoughts or moods we deliberately determine.
13. Acceptance [58:10]
This chapter reveals that we are living in a world of imagination, and the outer physical events of life are the fruit of forgotten imaginative origins. Whenever we become completely absorbed in an emotional state, we are assuming the feeling of the state fulfilled. These periods of concentrated attention are the beginnings of the things we harvest, and at the end of these moments, we speed from these imaginative states to where we were physically an instant ago. The keys to the kingdom of heaven are desire, imagination, and a steadily focused attention on the feeling of the wish fulfilled.
14. The Effortless Way [1:02:46]
This chapter discusses that the principle of least action governs everything, and in moving from our present state to the state desired, we must use the minimum of energy and take the shortest possible time. The psychological equivalent of least action is mere assumption, working by means of attention minus effort. Because creation is finished, what we desire already exists, and it is the function of an assumption to call back the excluded view and restore full vision. Assumptions determine our experience, and we must watch our assumption with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.
15. The Crown of the Mysteries [1:06:08]
This chapter reveals that the assumption of the wish fulfilled is the ship that carries us over the unknown seas to the fulfillment of our dream. The assumption is everything, and realization is subconscious and effortless. The assumption is the crown of the mysteries because it is the highest use of consciousness. When we assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled, we are mentally lifted up to a higher level, and through persistence, this assumption becomes actual fact.
16. Personal Impotence [1:08:21]
This chapter emphasizes that self-surrender is essential, confessing personal impotence, as it is impossible to force anything into being since creation is finished. We cannot make magnetism, it can only be displayed, and we cannot change the law of assumption. We can only yield or conform, and since all our experiences are the result of our assumptions, consciously using the power of assumption is valuable. We must willingly identify with what we most desire, knowing it will find expression through us, yielding to the feeling of the wish fulfilled.
17. All Things Are Possible [1:10:04]
This chapter discusses that the principles outlined in the book have been proven by the author's personal experiences, attributing every success to an unwavering assumption of his wish already being fulfilled. We must live in a sublime spirit of confidence and determination, disregarding appearances and resting in the assumption that we are already what we want to be. In that determined assumption, we and our infinite being are merged in creative unity, and with our infinite being, all things are possible.
18. Be Ye Doers [1:13:27]
This chapter explains that we must be doers of the word, or idea, and not hearers only, deceiving ourselves. The perfect law of liberty is the law of assumption, and to continue in it is to persist in the assumption that our desire is already fulfilled. We must keep the feeling of our wish fulfilled constantly alive in our consciousness, making us doers of the work. The talent entrusted to us is the power to consciously determine our assumption, and we must strive after being in order to do.
19. Essentials [1:17:30]
This chapter outlines the essential points in the successful use of the law of assumption: intense burning desire, cultivation of physical immobility, and experiencing in imagination what we would experience in reality had we achieved our goal. We must surrender completely to this feeling until our whole being is possessed by it, resulting from a controlled imagination and a steadied, concentrated attention. The application of these points is the way to at-one-ment or union with our objective.
20. Righteousness [1:21:59]
This chapter defines righteousness as the consciousness of already being what we want to be, not adherence to moral codes or religious precepts. It emphasizes the importance of being righteous, as only by righteousness can we be saved from sinning. Sin means to miss the mark, not to attain our desire, while righteousness is the consciousness of already being what we want to be. We must seek first the kingdom of God, our "I AM" within, and his righteousness, the awareness that we already possess it all.
21. Free Will [1:26:30]
This chapter addresses the question of what should be done between the assumption of the wish fulfilled and its realization, stating that nothing needs to be done. The illusion of free will to do is ignorance of the law of assumption, upon which all action is based. Free will means freedom to select any idea we desire, and by assuming the idea to be a fact, it is converted into reality. We must be in order to do, and if we had a different concept of ourselves, everything would be different.
22. Persistence [1:33:42]
This chapter emphasizes the necessity of persistence, stating that we must persist in rising to assume the consciousness of our wish already being fulfilled. The promise is definite that if we are shameless in our impudence in assuming that we already have what our senses deny, it shall be given unto us. The Bible teaches the necessity of persistence through many stories, and desire springs from the awareness of ultimate attainment. We must persist in maintaining the consciousness of the desire already being fulfilled, as only persistency can cause those subtle changes in our mind which result in the desired change in our life.
23. Case Histories [1:38:49]
This chapter provides specific examples of the successful application of the law of assumption through actual case histories. These stories illustrate how individuals used imagination to attain their desired states of consciousness, whether it was a soldier getting an honorable discharge, a family owning a large business, a boy getting a puppy, or a woman securing a new job. Each case demonstrates the power of persistent assumption and the transformation of desires into reality.
24. Failure [2:12:51]
This chapter discusses failure in the attempted use of the law of assumption, stating that the time it takes for our assumption to become fact is directly proportionate to the naturalness of our feeling of already being what we want to be. The fact that it does not feel natural to us is the secret of our failure. This feeling of naturalness can be achieved by persistently filling our consciousness with imagination, imagining ourselves being what we want to be or having what we desire.
25. Faith [2:18:49]
This chapter defines faith as the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, and the awareness of the reality of that which we assume. A lack of faith means disbelief in the existence of that which we desire, leading to perpetual failure in the conscious use of the law of assumption. The efficacy of faith is not due to any outside agency but is an activity of our own consciousness. By persisting in the assumption that we already are the person we want to be, we rise above all doubt, fear, and belief in the power of outside conditions.
26. Destiny [2:24:09]
This chapter reveals that our destiny is that which we must inevitably experience, an infinite number of individual destinies. Since consciousness is the only reality, it is the creator of our destiny, and we are creating our destiny every moment. By understanding the causes of our experience and the knowledge that we are the sole creator of the contents of our life, we intensify our appreciation of the richness and grandeur of life. We are destined to rise to higher states of consciousness and to bring into manifestation more and more of creation's infinite wonders.
27. Reverence [2:26:27]
This chapter concludes that in all creation, the most wonderful fact is that we are God, the "I AM," consciousness, and the creator. This is the mystery known by seers, prophets, and mystics throughout the ages, a truth that can never be known intellectually but only felt. Becoming aware of it, one great emotion permeates our being, and we live with a perpetual feeling of reverence. The knowledge that our creator is the very self of ourselves must fill our heart with devotion and adoration.
