Neville Goddard was a Barbados-born teacher and author who lectured in the United States from the late 1930s until his death in 1972. He taught that human imagination is the creative power the scriptures call God, and that a person can change their life by changing what they assume to be true. He is the main source of what is now called the Law of Assumption.

His life in brief

  • Born in 1905 in Barbados, one of a large family.
  • Moved to New York as a young man to study drama, and worked for a time as a dancer and actor.
  • Studied under a teacher he called Abdullah, who taught him Hebrew, scripture and the practice of living in the wish fulfilled.
  • Began lecturing in New York in the late 1930s, later moving to Los Angeles, where he spoke to large audiences and appeared on radio and television.
  • Died in Los Angeles in 1972.

He published under his first name only, which is why you will usually see him called simply Neville.

His main ideas

  • Imagination creates reality. What you imagine with feeling and accept as true shapes your experience.
  • The Law of Assumption. An assumption, persisted in, becomes fact. See What Is the Law of Assumption?.
  • Feeling is the secret. It is the feeling of the wish fulfilled, not the words or the pictures, that impresses the subconscious.
  • Living from the end. Think from your fulfilled desire, not of it. See How to Live From the End.
  • Revision. Replaying the day in imagination as you wish it had gone, so that you do not carry the old version forward.
  • Everyone is you pushed out. Other people reflect the assumptions you hold about them and about yourself.

Which Neville book should I read first?

  • Feeling Is the Secret (1944). Short and practical. The best starting point.
  • The Power of Awareness (1952). His clearest full statement of the Law of Assumption.
  • Awakened Imagination (1954). Goes deeper into imagination and inner conversation.
  • The Law and the Promise (1961). Full of accounts from people who applied the teaching.

Many of his lectures were also recorded and transcribed, and are widely available.

Why his work is popular again

Neville's teaching is simple to state and asks for no equipment, no ritual and no belief in anything outside yourself. In an age of short videos, his instruction to "assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled" travels well. It is also demanding in a quiet way: it asks you to take full responsibility for your inner life.

How we use his teaching in coaching

In sessions we do not study Neville as history. We use his method on what is in front of you: the job, the relationship, the money worry, the sense of being stuck. You can read about that approach on the About page, or see the sessions.