The Angel & The Monster

One night, many, many years ago, I suddenly became aware of two beings. I am the one perceiving them so there are three, but I am the perceiver. Here above me stands the most beautiful woman imaginable, an angel—an angel of beauty and of everything. She was lovely! And below me was the most monstrous thing that man could ever conceive, covered with hair like an ape, but it could speak. It spoke gutturally. I looked at it, and then it looked at me and pointed to this beautiful, angelic being, and it called this woman, “Mother.”

Well, I was so annoyed with this monstrous thing that I pummeled it. It gloated. It loved violence; it fed on violence. Every time I was violent, it became stronger. And this beautiful thing, glowing—but this one is calling it “mother.” And suddenly, as I was beating this thing, I realized: why, this is the embodiment of all my misspent energy, as this other one is the embodiment and personification of every noble thought I’ve ever entertained. I looked at this thing; I had no one with whom I could swear. I felt a compassion I have never known before.

I looked at this monstrous thing and realized it is but the result of my own misused energy. It never should have been given birth. And I said to myself, “I’ll redeem you, if it takes me eternity.” I pledged myself to redeem it, and do you know what happened? At that very moment, before my eyes, the whole thing withered. The monstrous thing, the embodiment of power—horrible-looking thing—it all got smaller and smaller and smaller, and left no trace of ever having been present. But as it got smaller and smaller and disappeared, the energy returned to me! I felt infinite power. I felt like I would have done anything for the power to return to me. It wasn’t wasted; it was misused, but not lost. “Nothing is lost in all my holy mountain.”

So, you can’t lose the power. You can misuse the power, but you can’t lose it. But you are confronted one day with a monstrous thing like that. I knew exactly what I did. You won’t wait to redeem him. At the very moment that you pledge yourself and you mean it, “I’ll redeem you if it takes me eternity”—at that moment that monstrous thing withers. It gets smaller and smaller, and this other one glows; it becomes radiant like a star. She is the embodiment and the permanent personification—the getting ever greater—of your own wonderful thoughts. Every lovely act of yours feeds her. Every ignoble act of yours feeds him, and they walk with you. This one whispers the lovely things, encouraging you to be noble, and this other one whispers the violent things.

If you are at the crossroads as to what you should do, this one wants to be fed. He can only feed on violence, and this other one can only feed on the lovely, noble thoughts of man. And man creates them! You see your own creation, and it’s all the same power of your own wonderful human imagination. From then on, you know who you are. You are a creative power, and you go out to change everything in your world to make it conform to something lovelier. And you don’t do it on the outside; you do it on the inside. You do it all in your imagination.

Neville Goddard Lecture: “Power” (1968)

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