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The Most Dangerous Manifestation Teacher Who Ever Lived — Transcript

by David Bayer · 3,494 words · 554 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00There's a man behind Neville Goddard who
0:01remains something of a mystery, and his
0:03name was Abdullah. Neville wasn't the
0:06only influential thinker who learned
0:07from him. Joseph Murphy, the author of
0:09The Power of Your Subconscious Mind,
0:10also described learning from this
0:12unusual teacher. What interests me most
0:15about Abdullah is actually just one
0:17story because inside this fascinating
0:20story is a teaching that captures the
0:22heart of what Neville Goddard would
0:24spend decades explaining. Because you
0:26may be doing exactly what Neville was
0:27doing. You may be imagining something,
0:29working hard towards something, holding
0:32a vision for something, and then
0:33participating in a way of thinking that
0:35continually takes you out of it. So,
0:37that's what we're going to get into in
0:39today's episode of A Changed Mind.
0:44All right, guys. Before we jump into the
0:45story that has a distinction that has
0:47literally restructured the way I think
0:50about my own personal growth, I want to
0:51talk briefly about who this gentleman,
0:54Abdullah, was. So, most of what we know
0:57about him comes from Neville himself.
0:59Neville described a black man living in
1:01New York, raised in the Jewish faith
1:03with an extraordinary understanding of
1:05scripture. And Neville tells us that
1:07Abdullah was born in Ethiopia, although
1:09Neville himself qualified that by saying
1:11that that was what he had been told.
1:13Abdullah taught him Hebrew. He taught
1:15him to understand the Bible symbolically
1:17as something that could reveal what was
1:20happening within human consciousness.
1:22And this wasn't someone Neville met once
1:24and then built a philosophy around.
1:25Neville described studying Hebrew with
1:27him every [snorts] single day for 5
1:31years straight. But we don't have the
1:33kind of complete biography that we might
1:35expect for someone who influenced such
1:38important thinkers. We know far more
1:40about what he left in his students than
1:42we actually know about his own life, and
1:44that's part of what makes Abdullah so
1:46intriguing. You have this relatively
1:48obscure teacher, and then you have the
1:50people who learned from him carrying
1:53these ideas into the world. And one of
1:55those people was Joseph Murphy. He was
1:57an Irish-born minister and author of a
1:59really well-known book called The Power
2:01of Your Subconscious Mind. It was
2:02published in 1963 and it reached
2:04millions of readers. And Murphy's work
2:07explored the relationship between
2:08belief, the subconscious mind, and how
2:11our reality actually materializes
2:13itself. In interviews
2:16published after his death, Joseph Murphy
2:18described meeting Abdullah in New York
2:21and learning from him. So, there's some
2:24writing about this historian, Mitch
2:26Horowitz, traced that connection to the
2:28published interview account. So, there's
2:31a real relationship here, but very
2:33little information. A teacher whose own
2:35life literally remains so obscured, but
2:39connected to two major voices in the
2:41modern teaching of the power of the
2:42mind. Neville's first meeting with
2:44Abdullah is where the mystery really
2:45begins. So, according to Neville, a
2:47friend had been encouraging him to meet
2:49this teacher. He thought Neville would
2:51be interested in what Abdullah had to
2:53say, but Neville wasn't really
2:54convinced. He didn't particularly trust
2:55this friend's judgment, so he kept
2:57putting it off.
2:58For 6 months, he found reasons not to
3:01go. Eventually, he runs out of excuses.
3:02He agrees to go with his friend, and he
3:04walks into the room where Abdullah is
3:06speaking. Now, Neville has never met
3:09Abdullah, but in Neville's telling of
3:11the story, Abdullah greets him by name.
3:14And I'm going to retell these brief
3:15conversations in dialogue drawing on the
3:18accounts Neville gave over the years.
3:19So, apparently, Abdullah says, "Neville,
3:22you're 6 months late." Right? Neville's
3:24taken aback. And he goes, "6 months
3:26late? I never met you. I haven't made an
3:28appointment. How do you know who I am?"
3:30And Abdullah replies, "The brothers told
3:33me you were coming. That was 6 months
3:34ago." So, imagine that. You finally
3:36agree to meet someone and this person
3:38you've met tells you he's been expecting
3:40you. And Neville knows he's spent
3:42exactly that long putting off the
3:44meeting. Now, we don't have a clear
3:46explanation of who Abdullah meant by the
3:47brothers, right? This is Neville
3:49recounting an experience he had, but you
3:51can understand why that meeting really
3:54stayed with Neville Goddard. And you can
3:55understand why decades later he was
3:58still telling stories about this man.
3:59And one of those stories takes place in
4:011933. So, Neville's living in New York.
4:03It's during the Great Depression, before
4:05he becomes known as a spiritual teacher,
4:07he's a dancer.
4:09But, there's no work because it's the
4:11Great Depression. He's unemployed. He
4:12has no money to pay for a trip back home
4:15to Barbados. That's where he's from,
4:18that's where he's been wanting to go
4:19back to. His parents have been visiting
4:21him in New York, and when they leave he
4:24goes to see them off, and something
4:26happens as they sail away. He feels a
4:28desire to go back to Barbados. He
4:31decides he wants to be with his family
4:33for Christmas. Now, it's a really simple
4:35desire, right? He isn't asking to become
4:37famous, he isn't asking for an
4:39extraordinary fortune, he just wants to
4:40go home. But, from the perspective of
4:43his circumstances,
4:45there's no obvious way to be able to do
4:46it. Like, he doesn't have the money, he
4:48doesn't have the work that would allow
4:49him to earn the money, and there's a
4:51deadline. If he's going to be there for
4:53Christmas,
4:54he needs to figure out how to get on a
4:55ship in time. So, he goes to his teacher
4:58Abdullah, and he says, "Abdullah, that's
5:00what he called Abdullah, Abd, I want to
5:02go home to Barbados.
5:04For the first time in years I really
5:05want to go." Right? He has a desire,
5:07"but I have no money." And Abdullah
5:09asks, "Do you really want to be there?"
5:12And Neville responds, "Yes." And so,
5:15Abdullah says, "Then tonight, when you
5:16go to sleep, experience yourself in your
5:19family's home. Sleep there in your
5:22imagination. Look at the world from
5:24there, right? New York is far to the
5:27north of you, you are in Barbados." Now,
5:29think about the conversation Neville
5:31probably expected to have. Perhaps they
5:33would discuss how he might earn the
5:34money, perhaps someone could help him,
5:36perhaps his teacher would say, "Hey, I
5:37can loan you some money. Let's make this
5:39impossible trip possible." Instead,
5:41Abdullah asked him to change the place
5:43from which he's experiencing the world
5:46physically. Physically, he's still in
5:48New York, but in imagination,
5:51New York is now somewhere far to the
5:53north.
5:54And I want you to remember that detail
5:55because we're going to come back to it.
5:57So, Neville leaves.
5:59He starts this practice.
6:01He goes to bed in New York, but in his
6:02imagination, he experiences being home.
6:05So, he brings to mind the environment he
6:07knows, his family's home, the island,
6:09the feeling of being there, and then
6:11days go by.
6:13Nothing seems to change. More time
6:15passes. He still has no passage back
6:17home. He still has no money for the
6:19passage. He's got no more gigs or jobs
6:21to work. Christmas is getting closer.
6:23Now, this is where I think the story
6:24becomes very familiar because we've all
6:26had some version of this experience as
6:28we're trying to intentionally manifest
6:30something in our life. You make a
6:31decision about something you want to
6:33create. You begin imagining it. You feel
6:35inspired. You can almost experience the
6:37reality of it. But then you look around,
6:40right? And your bank account hasn't
6:42changed. The relationship hasn't
6:43arrived. The opportunity hasn't
6:45appeared. So, your mind begins doing
6:47what the mind does. It starts asking
6:49questions, right?
6:51Am I doing this thing right? Is anything
6:54actually happening? How long am I
6:55supposed to keep believing in something
6:57when there's no evidence? And the closer
6:58you get to whatever deadline you've
7:01established, the more compelling those
7:02questions become. That's what happens to
7:05Neville, right? He's practicing what
7:08Abdullah told him to practice, but his
7:10circumstances aren't giving him
7:11reassurance.
7:13So, he goes back to Abdullah, and he
7:14says, "Ab, I've been doing what you told
7:16me, but I still have no money. Christmas
7:18is getting closer. If I miss the next
7:20ship, I'm not going to be able to get
7:21there in time." And Abdullah stops him.
7:24And he says,
7:25"Who said you were going to Barbados?"
7:29Now, Neville has come to discuss how to
7:31get there, right? But Abdullah tells
7:33him,
7:34"You are in Barbados."
7:37"How can I have a conversation with you
7:38about not being in Barbados when you
7:40were already in Barbados.
7:43So, let that land for a second, right?
7:46Neville is bringing Abdullah the problem
7:49of getting there.
7:50Abdullah is holding him to the
7:52experience
7:54of already being there. Neville wants to
7:56explain his circumstances. Look, I got
7:58no money, I got no ticket, time is
8:00running out, but Abdullah literally
8:02refuses to enter not just that
8:05conversation,
8:06but that reality.
8:08Says, "How can we discuss getting you
8:10there
8:12when you were already there?"
8:15Then he apparently he turns his back, he
8:16walks into his personal room, and he
8:18slams the door on Neville. Conversation
8:20over. Now, I'm not suggesting that
8:23slamming a door is how we should respond
8:24whenever someone we love is worried.
8:26But, within that story,
8:28look at what Abdullah is doing. He will
8:31not participate in the premise Neville
8:33is bringing him. Neville wants to talk
8:35about whether this thing is going to
8:36happen, and Abdullah is insisting that
8:39Neville remain in the consciousness of
8:41its fulfillment. There's something about
8:43this that reminds me of the
8:45uncompromising Zen teacher. Alan Watts
8:48is a great example of this. The teacher
8:50who interrupts the student's familiar
8:52way of seeing,
8:53rather than helping him actually figure
8:56it out. I'm not saying Abdullah was a
8:58Zen teacher, but there's a similar
8:59quality to the interaction. The student
9:01wants an answer that makes sense within
9:04his current reality. The teacher
9:07challenges that reality itself. And
9:09Abdullah's response gives Neville
9:11nowhere to go with this argument, right?
9:13You were already in Barbados. So,
9:17shortly after the final sailing that
9:19would get Neville home for Christmas,
9:21or just short shortly before, Neville
9:23gets a letter. It's from his brother
9:25Victor, and the message is essentially
9:27this. Neville,
9:29I want you to come home. We have the
9:30chance to have the whole family together
9:32for Christmas. I've instructed the
9:33steamship company to issue you passage
9:36and charge it to me. Right, the enclosed
9:39$50 is for whatever you need before you
9:41sail, clothes, anything else. I'll take
9:43care of the expenses. So, their family
9:45is large, someone has always been away,
9:48and this time Victor wants everyone
9:50there. And inside the letter is a bank
9:53draft for $50, and the ticket has been
9:55arranged. Now, Neville goes to secure
9:58his ticket, but there's a small
9:59complication. There's no first-class
10:01left for the trip. He can sleep
10:04third-class until the ship ship reaches
10:06Saint Thomas, then he can use the
10:08first-class facilities, and after Saint
10:10Thomas, he can move into first-class
10:12accommodations. So, Neville gets his
10:14ticket, he heads home, he goes back to
10:16see Abdullah with the news. He's super
10:18excited, right? And you might expect
10:20this to be the moment when Abdullah
10:22finally congratulates him, right? And
10:25Neville says, "Ab, it worked. My brother
10:27has arranged everything. I'm going to
10:29Barbados. I have to sleep third-class
10:31for the first part, but then I can move
10:33into first-class." And Abdullah looks
10:35unwaveringly at him, and he asks, "Who
10:39told you that you traveled third-class?"
10:42Neville has just explained the
10:43accommodations he was offered, but
10:45Abdullah insists again,
10:47"You are in Barbados, Neville, and you
10:50traveled first-class." So, he is still
10:53speaking from the completed experience.
10:56And of course, cuz this wouldn't be an
10:59extraordinary story if this weren't the
11:00case, Neville arrives to board the ship,
11:02and the agent has news for him. "Mr.
11:04Goddard, there's been a cancellation. We
11:06can accommodate you in first-class for
11:07the entire journey." Now, this is
11:09Neville's account of what happened. And
11:12Neville understood this experience as a
11:13demonstration of the power of assumption
11:16and imagination. And these
11:17demonstrations of assumption are found
11:20all throughout mystic history. If you
11:23look at the scripture in the Bible,
11:25really, Jesus' gospel was a
11:27demonstration of the power of
11:28assumption. Jesus assumed someone was
11:31well, and therefore they were. It's the
11:33power of assumption.
11:35But what I want to explore with you is
11:36the distinction Abdullah was teaching
11:38him throughout the story because it's
11:41much more specific than simply having a
11:43vision. There's a difference between
11:46imagining something that you want
11:49and experiencing yourself as the person
11:53for whom it is already fulfilled. And
11:55this is why Neville's teaching on the
11:57fourth dimension is so important because
11:58it's difficult to assume
12:01that
12:02we are already in Barbados
12:04if you don't understand, as Neville
12:06teaches, that there's a third dimension
12:08and a fourth dimension. The third
12:09dimension is this manifested reality
12:11that we can detect with our five senses.
12:14But the fourth dimension exists
12:15simultaneous to this reality and in that
12:18dimension creation is finished.
12:21All possibilities already exist.
12:24We are already in Barbados.
12:28So you can imagine a beautiful
12:29relationship while still remaining
12:31identified as who doesn't have love. You
12:34can imagine financial abundance while
12:35remaining identified as someone who
12:37never has enough. You can imagine your
12:39dream home while experiencing it as
12:40something far away from you.
12:43And in that instance, you're rehearsing
12:46the separation every time you imagine
12:48it. That's why the detail about seeing
12:51New York from Barbados
12:53matters. Neville was being asked by
12:56Abdullah to change the place from which
12:59he experienced life. In Neville's
13:01teaching, the fulfilled state could be
13:04occupied in imagination before it
13:06appeared in the physical world and
13:08Abdullah was insisting that he occupy
13:11it. You are in Barbados. So the question
13:15becomes, what happens when you imagine
13:17your desire?
13:19Are you experiencing its fulfillment or
13:22are you experiencing yourself wanting
13:24it? It seems like a 2-mm distinction,
13:27but that's everything. And what happens
13:30after you've imagined it? Do you carry
13:32the feeling of that fulfillment into
13:33your day as the person who already has,
13:36or do you immediately begin arguing with
13:38your current reality?
13:40Because this is where so many of us go
13:42back to Abdullah, metaphorically
13:44speaking, and try to reopen the
13:45conversation. We've made a decision,
13:47then we look for confirmation. And when
13:49confirmation doesn't arrive on our
13:50schedule, we start negotiating with the
13:52decision that we made. We go, "Well,
13:53maybe it is impossible. Maybe it isn't
13:55for me. How come it's not on time? Maybe
13:57I should stop getting my hopes up." And
13:59I want to share an experience from my
14:00own life here, because I know what that
14:02feels like.
14:04I've told the story many times on this
14:05podcast episode where I had been single
14:08for 10 years, and I made a decision that
14:11I didn't know how, I didn't know when,
14:12but I was going to meet a beautiful,
14:14intelligent Colombian woman and make her
14:15my wife. And this was at the time that I
14:17started studying Neville and learning to
14:20assume the wish fulfilled. And for the
14:22next 2 weeks, I literally was the person
14:26who was already in a relationship with
14:27the person of their dreams. And I won't
14:29go through all the details of the story
14:31right now, but what happened or unfolded
14:33over the course of those 2 weeks were a
14:34series of synchronicities that no human
14:37being could have ever really thought
14:38through or architected that aligned me
14:41one night in a city where I didn't live,
14:44in a moment that likely should not have
14:46happened, where I met my now wife, Carol
14:49Gutierrez Bear, a beautiful Colombian
14:51woman who is one of the smartest and
14:53most talented women I've ever met. And
14:55so, this was the idea of living in the
14:58wish fulfilled. So, I want to ask you
15:01something.
15:02I want you to think about right now,
15:04what is your Barbados? What is the thing
15:06that you've already asked for, you've
15:08already envisioned, you've already
15:09decided, and you want to experience, but
15:11that there's still some doubt or
15:13resistance around? Maybe it's financial
15:15security. You've imagined having enough.
15:18You've imagined the full bank account,
15:19being able to provide for your family,
15:21feeling free to be generous. But then
15:24a bill comes and suddenly you're back in
15:26the conversation about how there's never
15:27enough. What would it feel like to
15:30experience that moment from the person
15:32who is secure?
15:34Someone who can respond, make a
15:36decision, and take care of what needs to
15:38be taken care of. Maybe your Barbados is
15:41a relationship like it was for me.
15:43You've imagined being loved and
15:44understood and connected to someone, but
15:45another date doesn't work out and you
15:47begin telling yourself that it will
15:49never happen. And then you go and you
15:51have a conversation with everybody else
15:53telling them about what happened rather
15:55than understanding that you are already
15:57in Barbados. What would it feel like to
16:00move through your day carrying the
16:02experience of being loved? How would you
16:05relate to yourself? What would you
16:06accept? What would you feel free to walk
16:08away from? Maybe your Barbados is your
16:11dream home. You can imagine waking up
16:12there. You can feel the presence of it.
16:14You can experience your family living
16:15there, and then you begin calculating
16:17every reason you can't have it.
16:19What if for a few moments you were
16:21living in Barbados? You allowed yourself
16:23to actually be there in imagination
16:26looking out from the home, experiencing
16:28an ordinary morning there, feeling the
16:30familiarity of a place that belongs to
16:33your life. That's the invitation
16:36to be able to choose your Barbados.
16:39And so I want you to think about it.
16:40Make it specific. Whatever it is that
16:42you want and ask yourself, how would I
16:44experience the world differently if this
16:46desire were already fulfilled? And let
16:48yourself enter that experience. And then
16:50notice what happens when doubt comes up
16:53because doubt did come up for Neville.
16:56Remember, he went back to Abdullah. He
16:58questioned it. He wanted reassurance.
17:00And in his account, the journey still
17:02happened. So you don't need to turn this
17:04into another reason to criticize
17:05yourself because you're not doing it
17:06perfectly or you had a doubtful thought.
17:08You can notice the doubt and return.
17:10Return to the experience that you've
17:12chosen. Return to the decision. Return
17:14to the place from which you want to
17:16live.
17:17and continuing to do what you're called
17:19to do today. Neville still went to the
17:21steamship company. He arranged the
17:22passage. He showed up to board the ship.
17:25You can participate in your life while
17:27carrying a different inward assumption
17:29about where it's headed. And when you
17:31feel yourself reopening the argument
17:33when you want to rehearse why it can't
17:35happen, why it's taking too long, why
17:38you don't see the evidence yet,
17:40remember Abdullah. Remember what he
17:42refused to discuss.
17:44Remember the door and remember the words
17:47that stayed with Neville for the rest of
17:48his life and remind yourself,
17:51I am already in Barbados.
17:54Your Barbados might be a relationship,
17:56your bank account, your home. It could
17:58be anything, but the invitation is the
17:59same. Experience yourself from there.
18:02See the world from there. And when doubt
18:04begins pulling you back into the old
18:05conversation,
18:07give yourself a simple reminder ala our
18:09friend Abdullah,
18:11I am already in Barbados. So, I hope you
18:14enjoyed this episode as much as I
18:15enjoyed sharing it with you. And by the
18:17way, if you want to go a little bit
18:19deeper and uh get a little bit of help
18:21in identifying where you might be moving
18:22back into some of that data resistance.
18:24If you haven't yet, check out the link
18:25in the show notes. We just recently
18:27released the AI-powered David Beliefs
18:30Assessment. It's a really amazing
18:323-minute process to help you identify
18:34where you might be getting in your own
18:35way and teaching you one of the most
18:37powerful tools that we've ever talked
18:38called the Decision Matrix to help you
18:40transform any resistance. If you have
18:42not yet, please, please, please
18:43subscribe to the channel. This is the
18:45way we get this work out to more and
18:46more people in the world. Hit that
18:48little bell icon and you'll get a
18:49reminder. I come out with episodes twice
18:51a week. And if someone you know needs to
18:54hear this episode because they are not
18:56yet living in their Barbados, pay it
18:58forward, share a link of the episode
19:00with them. I love you so much. Thank you
19:02for being with me here so much and I
19:04will see you in the next episode.

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