Study of every instance of "reincarnation" in the work of Neville Goddard

 

Consigned to disobedience - 1971

"Don’t blame him, as all people do. He is blind . . all right, . . blind from birth. The question would imply that the one who asked the question believed in reincarnation, but he does not accept that theory. “Who sinned?” This man? He is born, from birth, born blind. Who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind? That is the story in the 9th of John.

And he answered: “Neither this man nor his parents, but that the works of God be made manifest. Be ye perfect, as your Father in Heaven is perfect.”"

Esau and Jacob - 1959

"Take a wall in your home, or look at the fireplace stones: they will become so familiar, and then the wall will change its face. It changes with your mood. Often it is a little girl; then it changes and is something entirely different. Your senses begin to expand, for there is something in every child born of woman that is immortal. I personally have no experience to confirm reincarnation as commonly taught, but I do have many experiences concerning worlds within worlds. I cannot tell you if the popular conception of reincarnation is true or false. I know I have always been, and I know I was sent, and that world from which I was sent is real to me, yet I had to go through what this world calls birth, but I do not call that reincarnation. That is the awakening of the sons of God and there is only one and that is Jacob or Jesus Christ."

God is known by experience - 1972

"So tonight could be your call. It may be tomorrow night. I hope it is not in the distant future. But He will call all; and when you take off this garment, having been called and having seen the Son, you have taken it off for the last time. Until it actually happens to you, “death” is not death. “Death” is nothing more than simply leaving a room and entering another room, simply like the room you left . . the same terrestrial world. With all the struggles you left behind you? You’ll find them there. You are restored to life, not as a baby; no reincarnation. You are restored . . a young man, a young woman, with not a thing missing. No need of anything to be added because nothing is missing; only you are young . . about 20 years of age . . to continue your journey in this world, to be confronted with all the problems that are here. Yes, and you marry there, too. You marry, and you grow old, and you “die” there, too. And if it hasn’t yet happened, you are restored again to continue the journey until it happens. But it’s going to happen to every being in the world. Not one can fail, because then God would fail, and that’s impossible. So everyone will awaken from the Dream of Life, and it doesn’t end at that moment in time that your senses cease to register that being and we speak of him as “dead.”"

Imagination plus faith - 1971

"A Lady: …someone who has written about Gurdjieff and Ouspensky. And contrary to what you say, he talks about evolving, but from what you say, I imply it is really like a dream.

Neville: As far as I am concerned, he could mean something entirely different than I would if I used the word evolved. I do not accept evolving. I believe that God actually became as I AM, and God will awaken in me, and when He awakes, I AM He. But, now, if the book you refer to is by Nicoll, I recommend Nicoll as a great thinker. Dr. Nicoll was a great thinker and a perfectly marvelous person. He is gone now from this sphere, as Gurdjieff is gone, and all the others are gone. Ouspensky is gone. But they used a different terminology. I do not teach what some of them do, which is reincarnation for one. No . . to me, man is individualized and attains forever towards ever greater and greater individualization. I firmly believe that the true Temple of God is the individuality of man, made clearer by the indwelling of Jesus Christ. The only sepulcher in which He was ever buried is the skull of man. He actually indwells man, and one day He will awaken in man. And when He awakens in that man, that man will know he is the Lord Jesus Christ. But He will awaken in every man. He took upon Himself Humanity, so that killing man is killing God. People don’t see it. Hurting man is hurting God. He is suffering all the ills that man suffers, but everything."

Live in the end - 1968

"Question: Last night you said you didn’t believe in reincarnation. Then how do you explain the fact that . . .[? inaudible on the tape].

Neville: My dear, there is a man in this state today by the name of Krishnamurti. He was a member of the Theosophical Society when Annie Besant and Alcott and that entire crowd ran it. That book is still in print. They brought out a book without his consent. They tried to make him a Christ . . the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. He didn’t deny it. He didn’t go against it. He allowed it. And that book came out, and there are literally hundreds of full-page pictures of his so called reincarnations of the past . . one the male, female, male, female, Chinese, Indian, Oriental, Caucasian . . all these. I don’t think they included the Negro; they hadn’t quite integrated them in this setup. And here he went all the way back, but not into the Negro . . he was something different. Then when he got big enough and courageous enough to deny it, he denied it, but they had printed those books, and they are still in the library and they are still in the homes of individuals; and now he will go from the world as they have departed this world, and those who will come tomorrow will not know that it was refuted, and will go along and believe it.

I tell you, my dear, stick to the Bible. All these are simply theories . . man-made theories for one purpose, to make a buck. It’s cruel to say that, but I cannot let it go by. Ninety-nine percent of them are in it only for the dollar. It seems cruel, but I’m telling you what I know. I’ve gone through these many -isms. It hasn’t a thing to do with spirituality. You are individualized, and you tend forever towards greater and greater individualization. You will never lose your identity. You will awaken one day, and you are the Lord Jesus Christ Himself . . without loss of identity! That’s the great mystery. I will know you, and when you awaken and you are “born from above” and you behold the Fatherhood of God, you being the Father, I will know you. You will not lose your identity, and yet I will know you to be God. I will know you to be Jesus, as I know you as you are now, and it will not seem strange to you that you are Jesus. You will not bow your head in shame, and yet you will not lose your identity."

No other foundations - 1969

"Use your imagination consciously, and after a while you will stop fighting shadows. The conflict within you will cease and your world will be at peace. Let those who are still asleep dream their violence into the world. It’s perfectly all right, for in its midst you will walk knowing you are protected, for you are awake. This is your dream, too, and no dreamer can be destroyed by his dream.

You can stop dreaming violence and start dreaming peace while you are here, and share your awareness with those who will listen . . but not everyone will. Instead they will call you mad and think you have a devil, just as they did of one called Jesus in scripture.

This man is mad, for he claims he came down from heaven, yet we know his father Joseph and his mother Mary. He claims that he existed before our father Abraham. How could one living in this century say that David, one who preceded him by 2,000 years, be [sic] his son?

He doesn’t believe in reincarnation, but in two births: . . a physical one that never comes to an end until the second birth takes place. And only one death, which took place at the beginning of time, when he became embodied in a body of flesh and blood and became its slave. He claims he was reborn through the act of awakening from the dream he imposed upon himself in order to expand his power and his wisdom beyond what it was when he made the decision to make man in his image.

Right now you are living in a fabulous world you created, filled with those who agreed to dream with you in concert. Everyone is dreaming his own dream. One dreams he wants to change the world. They call him Hitler or Stalin and millions of people appear to be killed, but they do not die. Rather, they simply depart this section of time and move into another, not even knowing they departed. Others will come and dream their desire of change and create a world in their own image; yet I tell you the whole thing was done before the world began. You are seeing simply the unfoldment of a purposed end which, as God, we agreed upon before we began the adventure.

There is no other foundation. Our scientists will continue to find new hypothesis to experiment with, relative to life and its cause. That’s all right, for they are dreaming, too. This world began as a grand orgasm of God, with only this tiny little spot called earth capable of cradling life for the great experiment to take place.

Then the dream you and I are dreaming began. If you don’t think it is a dream, take some section of your life that seems beyond redemption and rearrange it in your mind’s eye. Make it as you would like it to be. Persuade yourself of its truth and wait, because its fulfillment has its own appointed hour. It ripens, it will flower. If it be long, then wait, for it is sure and it will not be late. It will come into your objective world to bear witness to the reality of your assumption. Then you, too, will know that the world is a dream and you are its dreamer, the Jesus Christ of the New Testament and the Jehovah of the Old."

Pre-existence - 1969

"Hold it in your hands . . you are holding that child that is Jesus Christ in your hands! But that child, to leave this world of “death” has to be “born again.”

The “second birth” is not reincarnation. It hasn’t a thing to do with reincarnation. We are born first “from below” . . from the womb of woman. We are born the second time from the skull of man. By “man,” I mean generic man. “Male-female made He them, and called their name Man.” Read that in Scripture: “Male-female made He them, and called their name Man” . . capitalized. I speak of generic Man. The “second birth” is out of the skull of man, not from the womb of woman. The womb of woman brings us all in slavery, forming “garments” that leave man in slavery. I am the slave of this “garment” until I take it off.

And if tonight I AM not “born from above,” I will find myself, if you call me “dead,” restored to life in a world just like this, but young . . about 20 years of age. I do not go through the womb of woman any more. I am found in a world terrestrial, just like this, where I grow older, as I do here, where I struggle to make a living as I do here; where I have friends and enemies, as I have here; where I am weaving a garment of joy and woe, as I weave it here. I will “die” there, as I die here, and be restored once more into, once more, a lovely young body resembling this, only about 20 years of age, in an environment best suited for the work yet to be done in me. And I will repeat that until that moment in time when He Who made the decision to enter “death’s door” awakens within me. And when He awakens within me, I AM He! And who then am I? Jesus Christ! There is no other. “I and my Father are one.”"

Prophetic sketches - 1968

"And I don’t mean reincarnation. The Bible does not teach reincarnation. It teaches restoration, but not reincarnation. You are restored. Everyone is restored in a body that is unaccountably new . . wonderfully new, in a world just like this; and you move on, playing the part that you must play, until that work is done in you. When the work is done in you, then He is formed in you; and so you will actually be telling the story that I am telling you now."

Redemption - 1969

"This lady’s experience is true. She is Paul and she is Jesus Christ; yet she is very much a woman here. This is not reincarnation. Paul is only the personification of everyone who has been transformed from Saul to Paul. Called “The Way,” Saul was persecuting divine history, and when he heard the words: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” he questions: “Who are you, Lord?” and the answer came: “Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”"

The book of Job - 1963

"We all believe in divine justice, in retribution. So we look upon a person like a Hitler, who lived to the very last moment in his fifteen gloating years, or a Stalin, for his thirty odd years, having slaughtered millions . . and what happened to Stalin? He died as you and I will die . . a little brain hemorrhage and in no time he was unconscious, after having slaughtered millions. Where is the retribution? Where is Stalin’s retribution, where is Hitler’s retribution, where is any tyrant’s? They live just as we live. They live on the fat of the land, murdering unnumbered millions, and then simply die as we die. Priesthoods will tell us they will have their day. God will punish them beyond the grave, or in some future embodiment if you believe in reincarnation. How could you live and how long would you have to live to repay the debt of thirteen million, when you burned them alive and slaughtered, too?"

The man within - 1968

"Now, here we are told we are destined in love to be His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will. So the office of Christ, in the Gospel, is that men may become the sons of God through grace, by union with Him who is the Son of God by nature. This is spoken of in Scripture as rebirth . . not reincarnation, rebirth . . a higher level and a still higher level."

"Now, the question was asked by the Sadducees. We are told, the Sadducees were of the ancient world what the modern agnostic or atheist, or the extreme scientist who is looking for tangible proof of the existence of God, or something in man that could survive cremation. You cremate the body, and you see it turn to dust. What on earth could survive that? So, the mind who entertains that thought is called the Sadducee in Scripture. Not believing in the resurrection, he asks the question, and this is the answer: “The sons of this age marry, and they are given in marriage, but those who are accounted worthy to attain to. That Age and to the Resurrection from the dead, they neither marry, nor are they given in marriage, for they can die no more. They are now sons of the resurrection, therefore sons of God,” . . implying until that takes place in man, man, as he appears to die isn’t really dead. He is restored to life to continue the journey, and he dies again; restored, continues the journey, and dies again; not reincarnation . . not what the world talks about reincarnation, but simply restoration, continuing in a body just like this, just as before, in a world, terrestrial just like this, aging just as we do here, making our departure from that world as we do here, but that world is part of this world. He only speaks of two ages."

The power and the wisdom - unknown date

"And I am not speaking of any reincarnation. May I tell you, you are not reincarnated; you are individualized, and you tend forever towards ever greater and greater individualization. You are now completely individualized. I’ll know that face, but the face is raised to the nth degree of beauty and majesty, and a strength of character that you could not believe that Eternity would be long enough to produce. That’s the Being that you are destined one day to encounter, and it’s you, and I’ll know you, but I will know you as the Risen Lord. I will know you as God Himself, and yet I’ll know you as my friend . . my friend that I know and love. I’ll know you as my friend, yet I will know you as God Himself."

Where are you from - 1963

"And this dual time is so difficult for man to grasp. But I am only quoting scripture. He speaks so often of time, and he separates these two times: this time which belongs here forever, and that time; this world and that world. So he speaks of two ages: this age where there is rebirth, but he doesn’t mean reincarnation, for that which had been done is that which will be done. Were you once born of your present mother? You will be. It is happening all over again, at the moment in time when the wheel turns, and we will get the same surprise that is conceived of reincarnation, being born in the same manner of the same mother. Because they can’t see these garments and they think these are themselves, and these are garments that God wears.

And so, the whole vast world will say: O yes, I believe in reincarnation. It justifies the inequalities of life. Nothing justifies the inequalities of life . . as you are told of the blind man in John 9:2, 3: And his disciples ask him: Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him. All these are the experiences through which God goes: the blind, the lame, the withered, the halt . . everything. It is not any justification, because the God of whom I am speaking is not a God of retribution. In spite of the horror of the play, he is a God of Love; because in the end, he individualizes himself, and you are he. If it took 6,000 years of horror, the end results justify the means he conceived as a play to bring it out."

Where are you from - 1933

"So I tell you: it is not reincarnation, as the world teaches to justify the inequalities of life; you can’t justify them. For man didn’t sin. He didn’t gouge his eyes out, he was born blind. And his parents didn’t sin? And this only so that the works of God may be made manifest? What a horrible God! And that is the word of God speaking? He didn’t sin and his parents didn’t sin? It is only that the works of God be made manifest. Therefore, revision . . which in scripture is called repentance (but the word is tarnished) It was taught . . the very first word used in the earliest Gospel, which is Mark . . that first word spoken by the embodiment of God is repentance. The time is fulfilled he speaks of time, the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel. (Mk.1:15)"

Who AM I? - 1968

"My other two brothers said, “How can Neville have a baby?” With this, he doesn’t argue the point; he lifts the evidence. He lifts a little child wrapped in swaddling clothes and puts it on the bed; and then I lift the little infant, and in the most endearing terms I said, “How is my sweetheart?” The child had the most heavenly smile. As it broke into this smile, the whole scene dissolved. That was the first of the major acts. Then came the other three mighty acts to complete the four sides of man. So, I know from my own personal experience . . I am not theorizing . . what is in store for every child born of woman. It doesn’t even matter if those that you know beyond the veil do not have this experience. They’re not dead! Nothing dies in God’s Kingdom. They are restored to life . . instantly restored. That I do know from my own experience. No reincarnation, . . they are restored; and they are young and new . . same bodies in a world terrestrial, just like this, and unaccountably new . . I can’t describe it.

How can someone drop at the age of 90, withered and shrunken, in pain; and when you see them, within a matter of moments, they are only 20 years old? They are not little babies. They are young . . unaccountably new. No limb is missing. If they had a limb missing, it isn’t missing. If they had hair missing, teeth missing, legs missing, it is not missing. If they were blind, they are not blind. The body is restored . . but not resurrected."