Avoiding the Whimsical: Symbolism as the Language of Imagination

There’s something particularly frustrating about reading spiritual writings that float off into airy platitudes and whimsical metaphors. You know the type—pages of poetic language that sound profound but somehow never land. They leave you more lost than enlightened.

The Bible, however, is different.

It doesn’t need to dazzle with excessive language or poetic flourishes. Instead, it uses characters and stories to express the full range of conscious and subconscious states. And it does this without ever needing to spell things out or fall into vague spiritual clichés.

Characters as Conditions

Neville Goddard taught that every figure in the Bible represents a state of consciousness. David is not simply a shepherd boy—he is the embodiment of a particular inner attitude. Pharaoh is not just an Egyptian king—he is a hardened, fixed state that resists change.

The genius of the Bible lies in this: it portrays the invisible world of the mind and soul through the actions of visible characters.

You don’t need an essay on the psychology of resistance—you just need to watch Pharaoh refuse to let Israel go. You don’t need pages on the triumph of imagination—you only need to see David defeat Goliath with a stone and a slingshot.

This is symbolism in its purest form, and symbolism is the essence of imagination.

Not Wordy—Just Profound

One of the reasons the Bible has endured is because it gets straight to the point—without being simplistic. Its symbols, when read through the imaginative structure Neville offers, deliver profound truths with very few words. The stories become tools for self-reflection and transformation.

The Bible is a mystery to be solved, not a history to be studied.— Neville Goddard

It’s not there to tell you what to think—it invites you to enter the experience. The characters are your own states. The journey is your own inner movement.

The Word of God and the Return to Imagination

Neville often spoke about the Word of God not as something external or fixed in time, but as a living, psychological drama. Scripture, he said, is the unfolding of imagination in symbolic form. When used correctly, it calls you back to your creative centre—your imagination.

He taught that the Bible is written in a language “known only to the imagination,” and when scripture is read imaginatively, not literally, it brings the reader back into conscious alignment with the creative power of God within—the imagination.

The Bible is addressed to the imagination, which is spiritual sensation, and only immediately to the understanding, or reason. — Neville Goddard

So every parable, every verse is not just a story—it is an invitation to awaken. To remember that you are the operant power, and that through feeling and inner conviction, you shape your world.

Symbolism: The Bridge Between Thought and Creation

Symbolism isn’t decoration. It’s the bridge between abstract thought and lived experience. It’s how the imagination speaks.

When you read about a wilderness in scripture, you are seeing the experience of mental desolation or transition. When you read about Egypt, you are witnessing the bondage of being ruled by appearances. Every symbol, every name, every location is charged with psychological power.

This is why Neville’s approach is so refreshing—it takes the symbolism seriously. It shows how symbolic stories are not less meaningful—they are more powerful than wordy explanations.

A Quick Confession

At this point, I have to confess—even trying to express how brilliant and practical the Bible is, I know I run the risk of sounding exactly as whimsical as I’m trying to avoid. It’s a strange irony: to show how grounded and symbolic the Bible is, I still have to write about it. And writing, no matter how concise, can sometimes teeter into the very tone I want to sidestep.

But that’s why I return again and again to the Bible’s genius. Because I’m not asking anyone to believe a vague idea—I’m inviting readers to see how imagination shows up clearly and consistently in the symbolic nature of scripture.

A Language Beyond Language

The Bible, when understood symbolically, communicates the deepest truths of the human condition and the creative power of imagination. Without a trace of fluff.

So if you’ve grown tired of reading spiritual content that says everything and nothing at the same time, let the Bible remind you: the imagination doesn’t need paragraphs of justification. It needs pictures. Stories. Symbols.

Because imagination is not wordy—it’s creative.

And scripture, when rightly used, leads you back to it.