Feeling is the secret
Neville Goddard | Summary | The Power of Feeling
Unlock the power of imagination and the Law of Attraction with Neville Goddard's "Feeling is the Secret".
Read now the book summary and learn to transform your reality.
The Feeling is the Secret by Neville Goddard, explores the concept of feeling as the primary force in manifestation, arguing that by assuming the feeling of having already achieved a desired state, individuals can influence their subconscious minds to create it in reality. The book delves into the relationship between the conscious and subconscious and proposes methods like sleep and prayer as gateways for influencing the subconscious. The author emphasizes the power of feeling over thinking, highlighting the importance of choosing to focus on desirable feelings and emotions to attract positive outcomes. Through controlling one's feelings, it is believed that one can transform their subjective reality, ultimately impacting their objective world.
Main Themes
Consciousness as the Ultimate Reality: The world is a manifestation of our consciousness. By changing our consciousness, we change our reality.
The Power of Feeling: Feeling is the key to impressing the subconscious mind, which is the creative force responsible for manifesting our desires.
Assuming the Feeling of the Wish Fulfilled: To manifest a desire, we must feel as if it is already accomplished.
Sleep and Prayer as Gateways to the Subconscious: These states provide access to the subconscious mind, allowing us to plant the seeds of our desires.
Self-Mastery: Controlling our thoughts and feelings is essential for creating the life we want.
The core idea is that your feelings create your reality. Consciousness is the fundamental reality, and your feelings impress upon the subconscious mind, which then manifests those feelings as experiences in your life. By controlling your feelings and assuming the feeling of your desires already fulfilled, you can shape your world according to your wishes.
Most Important Ideas/Facts
- Consciousness is divided into two parts: The conscious mind is personal, selective, and deals with effects.
- The subconscious mind is impersonal, non-selective, and deals with causes.
- The subconscious mind does not originate ideas: It accepts the ideas impressed upon it by the conscious mind through feelings.
- Dominant feelings are expressed: "The dominant of two feelings is the one expressed. I am healthy is a stronger feeling than I will be healthy."
- The subconscious mind is non-selective: It does not judge the truth or falsity of our feelings; it simply expresses them.
- Our feelings create our reality: "Your feelings create the pattern from which your world is fashioned, and a change of feeling is a change of pattern."
- We are already that which we want to be: Our refusal to believe this is the only thing preventing us from seeing it.
- Sleep is the natural door to the subconscious: Our last waking concept of self dominates our subconscious impressions during sleep.
- Prayer is an entrance into the subconscious: It allows us to impress the subconscious with the feeling of the wish fulfilled.
- Faith is feeling: "According to your faith (feeling) be it unto you."
- We attract what we are: "You never attract that which you want, but always attract that which you are conscious of being."
Guide to The Law of Consciousness
Foreword
Neville Goddard challenges readers to apply the principles outlined in "Feeling is the Secret" to experience personal success, emphasizing the power of practice over reasoned arguments.
Chapter 1: Law and Its Operation
The Nature of Consciousness: Explains consciousness as the fundamental reality, divided into conscious and subconscious aspects likened to male and female divisions. The conscious generates ideas, while the subconscious manifests them into reality.
The Power of Feeling: Emphasizes feeling as the crucial link between conscious desires and subconscious creation. It delves into how controlling and directing feelings can shape our reality, highlighting the negative impact of dwelling on undesirable emotions.
The Subconscious as the Womb of Creation: Explores the non-selective nature of the subconscious and its role in expressing all impressed feelings, urging readers to focus on desired states rather than difficulties.
The Importance of Feeling the Wish Fulfilled: Stresses the need to assume the feeling of having already achieved the desired state, highlighting this as the key to influencing the subconscious and manifesting desires.
The Inner World Reflects in the Outer: Reinforces the idea that our outer world is a mirror of our inner consciousness, stating that a change in feeling leads to a change in destiny.
Chapter 2: Sleep
Sleep as the Gateway to the Subconscious: Describes sleep as the natural entrance to the subconscious, comparing it to a romantic rendezvous with a lover who faithfully reproduces our inner beliefs in the outer world.
The Impact of Our Last Waking Concept: Explains how the last waking concept of self dominates our subconscious impressions during sleep, shaping the conditions and events of our waking lives.
The Importance of Feeling the Wish Fulfilled Before Sleep: Advocates for consciously assuming the feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction before sleep, as this directly influences the subconscious creative process.
Directing Desires into the Subconscious: Provides a practical technique of feeling oneself into the state of the realized wish before sleep, drawing a parallel with the biblical "Song of Solomon" to illustrate the union of conscious and subconscious.
The Power of Imagination and Belief: Encourages readers to imagine states beyond past experiences, emphasizing that all objective states were first subjective, brought into existence by feeling their reality.
The Need for Inner Change: Acknowledges the deterministic nature of subconscious impressions, advising readers to change their thoughts and feelings to change their world, and to focus on the present rather than dwelling on past regrets.
Choosing Reactions in a Predetermined Drama: Explains that while the day's events are predetermined by our subconscious impressions, we retain the freedom to choose our reactions and feelings throughout the day.
Chapter 3: Prayer
Prayer as Another Gateway to the Subconscious: Presents prayer as an alternative entrance to the subconscious, akin to the relaxed and receptive state experienced before sleep.
The Importance of Belief in Prayer: Emphasizes the necessity of believing that prayers are already answered, highlighting that feeling the wish fulfilled is the key condition for successful prayer.
Yielding to the Wish, Not Forcing It: Contrasts the disciplined mind's alignment with the fulfilled wish with the undisciplined mind's reliance on sensory evidence, stressing that prayer requires yielding to the wish, not forceful exertion.
Creating a Passive State for Prayer: Provides a technique for achieving a passive state of mind, similar to the feeling before sleep, in order to shut out sensory distractions and focus on the desired feeling.
Visualizing and Feeling the Wish Fulfilled: Instructs readers to visualize their desires in picture form and feel the associated emotions of having already achieved them during this passive state.
Chapter 4: Feeling
- Believing as Being: Links the concept of feeling to being, urging readers to believe they are God or Jesus, rather than just believing in them, drawing from biblical references to support the idea of achieving God-like abilities through belief.
- Establishing Success Through Applied Advice: Concludes by highlighting that believing in and applying valuable advice reinforces the reality of success within oneself.
Conclusion
"Feeling is the Secret" provides a concise and powerful guide to understanding and utilizing the law of consciousness to create the life we desire. The central message is that our reality is a reflection of our internal state, and that by mastering our feelings, we can master our destiny.
Key Quotes
"Feeling is the one and only medium through which ideas are conveyed to the subconscious."
"Control of your feeling is all important to a full and happy life."
"The subconscious never fails to express that which has been impressed upon it."
"To impress the subconscious with the desirable state, you must assume the feeling that would be yours had you already realized your wish."
"Nothing stops you from realizing your objective save your failure to feel that you are already that which you wish to be."
"As in the subconscious, so on earth."
"Your mood prior to sleep defines your state of consciousness as you enter into the presence of your everlasting lover, the subconscious."
"The moment you accept the wish as an accomplished fact, the subconscious finds means for its realization."
"Prayer is the art of yielding to the wish and not the forcing of the wish."
"Feel yourself in the state of the realized wish and quietly drop off to sleep."
Glossary of Key Terms
Conscious Mind: The aspect of consciousness responsible for awareness, reasoning, and decision-making. It is personal, selective, and operates in the realm of effect.
Subconscious Mind: The aspect of consciousness responsible for storing beliefs, emotions, and habits. It is impersonal, non-selective, and operates in the realm of cause. It gives form and expression to the ideas impressed upon it by the conscious mind.
Feeling: The emotional state associated with an idea. It is the medium through which the conscious mind communicates with the subconscious mind.
Manifestation: The process of bringing an idea or desire from the realm of thought into the physical world.
Sensation: The inner feeling or experience of a desired state before it is realized in the outer world.
Impression: An idea or belief implanted in the subconscious mind through repeated thoughts and feelings.
Sleep: A natural gateway into the subconscious mind. The last waking concept of self dominates the subconscious during sleep, shaping our experiences upon waking.
Prayer: A conscious act of focusing attention and intention, similar to the state preceding sleep, allowing access to the subconscious mind. Successful prayer involves feeling the desired outcome as already achieved.
Faith: In Goddard's teachings, synonymous with feeling. It is the unwavering belief and feeling that the desired outcome is already a reality.
Dominant Feeling: The strongest feeling held in consciousness, which ultimately determines the subconscious impressions and subsequent manifestations.