How to Really Use Affirmations

Neville On Fire

Neville Goddard recommends affirmations (as a form of prayer), as do other schools of thought. Too often, the practice becomes frustrating when it remains on the surface, as “vain repetition”. Let’s look into Neville’s advice and explain nuances of technique. The goal is to inject fresh energy, conviction and effectiveness into our affirmations.

1. Premise: we are awakening. We are self-regulating, self-developing, self-teaching.
2. Neville’s discussion of the sub-conscious mind is most helpful.

• engage in an exchange, create a rapport, with oneself
• the subjective mind is the sub-conscious: it is 100% susceptible to or subject to suggestion
• it is deductive in its thinking process, as opposed to inductive
• it admits unconditionally the suggestion presented to it

The entire basis of affirmation is a reversal of mind, where we switch the polarity or the vector, so to speak, to stop being programmed by suggestion and instead provide the suggestion.

Another reference to validate the premise: Claude Bristol, The Magic of Believing.

3. Mind and speech. Two principles referred to by Neville from the Hermetica.

4. Speech. Its nature and origin; its creative function.

5. What is vain repetition? Speech without mind.

6. Goal: speech with conscious intention. Shall not return unto me void.

7. Goal: feeling of the wish fulfilled. (Word = logos = meaning). Go straight to the meaning -- the only thing worth having -- the state itself.

8. Exception: use vain repetition as a means to get started, to pull oneself out of difficulty.

9. Techniques:

• short form
• long form
• elaborate description
• channels or forms of speech: thought, physically spoken, read silently, read aloud, recorded, listened to.

10. Psychological instructions from Book of James: ship’s rudder; horse’s bit. Persistence. Do not fall into the trap of continually listening to new ideas without putting them into practice.

KEY QUOTE

“Stop all of the old mechanical negative inner talking and start a new positive and constructive inner speech from premises of fulfilled desire.” (Neville, Awakened Imagination and The Search, Chapter 5)

RESOURCES
Repeated
by Neville; text and audio by Barry Peterson:
Prayer, The Art of Believing

Essential
by Neville; text and audio by Barry Peterson:

Awakened Imagination and The Search

Mentioned
Claude Bristol, The Magic of Believing