Neville Goddard's Mistake Regarding Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey -- And the Meaning I give to Aleph-Hey-Yod-Hey

I have another meaning for "I AM."

If you read or listen to Neville Goddard's books, lectures and records, you know he frequently repeats that the name of God in Hebrew is yod-hey-vav-hey (YHWH), which means "I AM." And if you know a bit of Hebrew, you know it isn't, and doesn't.  YHWH means "HE BECOMES." It is third person.

Neville is right, though (well, at least more right), about Exodus 3: 14, where God says that his name (nature!) is "I BECOME." That is the first-person personal pronoun "I," -- aleph-hey-yod-hey (AHYH). (Of course, Hebrew reads from right to left.)

I believe both "words" refer to the pattern of the Eternal's life becoming manifest: the Eternal life-force (Y/A) . . . through its focused, intense desire to manifest (H) . . . its strength/capability to manifest (V) . . . and its receptiveness and reciprocation to manifesting (H). YHWH and AHYH really aren't words; they are pictures, illustrations in the mystical, symbolic forms of the Hebrew alphabet.

The discernability of the pattern indicates the existence of the Eternal. We know he is there because we can see things happening -- the pattern indicates his presence. Neville said of the harvest that comes after planting the seed of prayer (imagining!), "If it works, then you have found him (God). He is your own wonderful human imagination."

What is important is that there is no separation in the flow -- the pattern is a whole. The aleph, if you would, becomes, and is, the last hey. The "flow" is an emanation: everything in the flow is in the single unit. This, I believe, was Moses' realization: he and the "God" speaking to him in his imagination were one. The Bible says that he said, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord, your God, the Lord is one,” and it sounds like God is someone else, separate from us. I think that what he really said was, “Listen! O Divine Strength-ruling-as-a-human, the flow of Divine Life into manifestation, your Strength, the flow of Divine Life into manifestation is one, conglomerate whole (that is, it includes you -- you are that Strength -- AHYH!)" (Deuteronomy 6: 4, as I see it).

My insight today is that aleph-hey-yod-hey means "THE WORLD I HAVE BECOME." Neither "I AM" nor "I BECOME" is separate from its manifestation! As Moses said, "I become in reality that which I become in imagination!" (Exodus 3: 14).

We can take our imaginal world "to the bank," as it were, in prayer and meditation, positive confession and affirmation -- "THIS is the world I have become."

Neville's teacher, Abdullah, said when Neville desired to go to Barbados, "You are in Barbados." And later, when Neville despaired of getting there, "You can not talk about how you are going to get to Barbados if you are in Barbados!" In other words, "Get your head into the world you have become, and it will come to pass naturally." Neville changed his imaginal view of the world to being in Barbados, and then means to get there came.

AHYH: "This is the world I have become -- it is ME, my flow and emanation!" "Ye believe in the Strength, believe also in ME."

So what? Write it! Compose the world you have become. Have become, not going to become, else you'll be waiting for it eternally. What you want to come to pass you must HAVE in your world now, else how can you have faith for it? "THIS is my world. I HAVE it." Then you can sleep on it, and in it, trust it, feel it, see and hear and taste and smell it. You are not waiting for it -- you HAVE it. What you desire, AHYH: "I AM THAT. I AM! This is my world! It exists here, within me. This is the kingdom of God."

Write what happened. Write what your friends and family said. Hear them speaking to you. Write how you feel and felt. Remember how things were (the present should seem like a distant past!). "Your faith is your fortune," Neville said, "is," not going to be. Your fortune is the world you ARE, even though it hasn't manifested yet. Believe it in.

And, if you are still operating under your own lordship, doing whatever you want, repent and turn the lordship of your life over to the righteous Strength. It isn't separate, and it won't do you wrong. 'Israel' means the Strength ruling as man, and that shining, burning light in you needs for you to have a conscience, to recognize what is right and good and mature. You can only get that by seeing God's holiness. You and I are, after all, Its -- the Eternal's -- manifestation. This is his show (quite literally!), and that show is us!