Psalm 137: Neville Goddard and the Longing to Return

“By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.”

— Psalm 137:1

Psalm 137 speaks to a deep inner ache — not just homesickness, but a spiritual forgetting. In Neville Goddard’s teachings, this isn’t about history; it’s about states of consciousness.

• Babylon symbolises separation — the outer world of facts, fear, and limitation.

• Zion is remembrance — the state of unity with the “I AM”, where desire and imagination are one.

To be in Babylon is to feel powerless. To remember Zion is to begin the journey back to your creative centre.

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What the Symbols Mean

• “By the rivers of Babylon…”
  The rivers represent emotional overwhelm — being carried by feelings instead of directing them.

• “We wept when we remembered Zion.”
  Deep within, we know there’s a higher state — one where imagination rules. Remembering it brings both pain and hope.

• “We hanged our harps upon the willows.”
  The harp is imagination. To hang it up means giving up, letting the outer world silence the inner one.

• “How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?”
  This is the challenge of all manifestation: how to live from the wish fulfilled in the middle of opposite facts.

• “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem…”
  Jerusalem is inner clarity. To forget it is to lose conscious control — to let imagination be shaped by the world, instead of the other way round.

• “Happy shall he be… that dasheth thy little ones…”
  Spiritually, this is about stopping negative thoughts at birth — refusing to entertain ideas rooted in separation and fear.

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The Takeaway

Psalm 137 isn’t just a lament. It’s a reminder. Even in Babylon, you can remember Zion.
Even when imagination feels buried, you can take it up again.

Your power was never lost — only forgotten.

So sing. Imagine. Return.