The Second Vision: The Death of the Old Self and the Birth of the Divine – A Neville Goddard Lecture on Spiritual Awakening

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Neville Goddard continues his personal revelations, sharing a second mystical vision that took place 24 days after his first vision of the birth of Christ within. He emphasizes that the Bible is not a historical record but a series of spiritual visions unfolding within each individual. The stories of scripture are not about events that happened thousands of years ago, but experiences that take place inside the human imagination as part of the process of awakening to God-consciousness.

His second vision parallels the biblical account of the death of Herod, which symbolizes the death of the ego-self—the old identity rooted in form and external reality. In his vision, Neville sees himself seated at a table with friends. As he rises, his physical body collapses, lifeless. A manservant then ties up his body like a piece of meat, confirming that he has died to the old self.

This marks the necessary death of form, the surrender of the false identity that clings to the external world. Only after Herod dies does the Christ child return from Egypt—meaning that once the old self dissolves, the spiritual self emerges.

However, the vision warns that another challenge arises: Herod’s son, Archelaus, takes his place. This represents the temptation to replace one illusion with another—seeking power, recognition, or attaching oneself to institutions, beliefs, or systems for security. Instead, the Christ child is taken to Nazareth, meaning he is “separated.” This is not about physical separation from others but a detachment from reliance on external forms and worldly identities.

Blake’s poem The Lamb is referenced to illustrate that the true Christ is not a physical person but a state of consciousness. The lamb symbolizes the innocence and faith required to let go of the visible world and trust the unseen reality within. Neville stresses that faith is the key to preparing for spiritual birth—living by inner conviction rather than external appearances.

Neville also reminds us that everything we experience in life is a reflection of imagination. He shares the story of a young lawyer who attended his lectures and used this principle to imagine himself in control of a multimillion-dollar corporation. Within six months, he had achieved his goal. However, Neville warns that many forget how they manifested their success, returning to a state of forgetfulness and attachment to external things.

The real awakening begins when one realizes that they are not just shaping their personal world but that the entire world is within them. As the second vision unfolds, it reveals that all of life is taking place inside imagination—the world of effects is merely a shadow of the unseen.

The journey continues beyond this second vision. Herod must die, but other challenges will follow. The process of spiritual awakening unfolds in stages, each vision leading to the next. Ultimately, Christ is born from within and recognized as the self. This is the path of dying to the old identity and awakening as God.

Key Takeaways

• The Bible is not historical, but a series of visions that unfold within every individual.
• Herod’s death symbolizes the death of the ego-self—the false identity attached to external forms.
• The Christ child is taken to Nazareth, meaning separation from worldly attachments and faith in the unseen.
• Faith is the key to spiritual awakening—living as if the unseen reality is true.
• Imagination creates reality—everything in the external world is a projection of inner consciousness.
• Success comes from inner conviction, not external effort—but many forget the power of imagination once they achieve their desires.
• The journey does not end with the birth of Christ—the ego resists surrender, and new challenges arise before full awakening.
• Spiritual awakening happens in stages, moving from form to formlessness, from illusion to truth, from separation to unity.
• You are not in the world—the world is within you.

This lecture is a powerful reminder that the journey of awakening is ongoing. It is not enough to recognize the Christ within once—we must continue to live by faith, detach from illusions, and trust the unseen reality that is forming within us.

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ABOUT NEVILLE GODDARD:

Neville Goddard (1905-1972), was an English writer, speaker and mystic. He grew up in Barbados and moved to the United States of America as a young adult. 

Neville Goddard was perhaps the last century’s most intellectually substantive and charismatic purveyor of the philosophy generally called New Thought. He wrote more than ten books under the solitary pen name Neville, and was a popular speaker on metaphysical themes from the late 1930s until his death in 1972.

Possessed of a self-educated and uncommonly sharp intellect, Neville espoused a spiritual vision that was bold and total: Everything you see and experience, including other people, is the result of your own thoughts and emotional states. Each of us dreams into existence an infinitude of realities and outcomes. When you realize this, Neville taught, you will discover yourself to be a slumbering branch of the Creator clothed in human form, and at the helm of limitless possibilities.