An Introduction to the Symbolic Landscape of the Bible

The Bible is not a historical document or religious text—it is a coded psychological drama, a spiritual map detailing the evolution of human consciousness, dressed up as history. Through stories, genealogies, architecture, and names, the Bible reveals how “I AM”—the divine sense of self—unfolds across inner states of being. In this guide, we’ll walk through the core features of that symbolic terrain, especially as interpreted through the mystical teachings of Neville Goddard.

1. The Bible as a Spiritual Allegory

Neville Goddard taught that the Bible is not secular history but divine psychology. Every character, city, nation, and object symbolises states within you. The Bible describes not events that happened thousands of years ago, but eternal processes happening within the soul.

“The Bible is your autobiography, written symbolically.” – Neville Goddard

2. The Central Narrative: From Forgetfulness to Fulfilment

The Biblical arc begins with man forgetting his divine origin—symbolised in Adam’s deep sleep (from which he never awakens)—and ends with the realisation of divine selfhood, shown in the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. From Genesis to Revelation, we witness the gradual awakening of ‘I AM’ through layered stories of descent and return, death and rebirth, bondage and deliverance.

3. Old Testament vs New Testament: Shadow and Fulfilment

The Old Testament offers symbols, shadows, and seed-forms—states of consciousness still grappling with separation, law, and struggle. The New Testament offers the fruition and fulfilment of these shadows: the law is transformed into love, sacrifice into self-offering, and external worship into internal awakening.

Moses leads out of bondage (external escape);
Jesus resurrects from within (internal freedom).

The temple in Jerusalem is built with hands; the body becomes the temple in the New Testament.

Old names and laws pointed forward; the New names and acts reveal their inner meaning.

Each New Testament revelation is the flowering of an Old Testament seed. The God “out there” becomes “I AM” within.

4. The Evolution of Sacred Space: Tent to Temple to Body

Sacred architecture reflects the evolving perception of where God dwells:

The Tent (Tabernacle): Portable awareness. God moves with you in the wilderness—an early, fluctuating recognition of imaginative presence.
The Temple: Fixed location. The divine, precise and carefully selected name of God (your assumption) is housed in a grand structure..
The Body: “Know you not that you are the temple of God?” (1 Cor 3:16). The climax of architectural symbolism—the body is the house of God. God no longer visits; God is.

Each structure represents a different stage in consciousness, moving from external dependence to inner embodiment.

5. Key Characters as States of Being

Biblical figures are not merely people—they are personified qualities or states:

Abraham: Faith in the unseen.
Jacob: Persistence and struggle with self.
Joseph: Controlled imagination, governing Egypt (the subconscious).
Moses: The birth of moral awareness, yet unable to enter the promised land of realisation.
David: The anointed identity, chosen by inner awareness not outer stature. The ideal man or fulfilled desire, “the man after God’s own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14 ESV, Acts 13:22 ESV).
Jesus: The full awakening of “I AM” (Exodus 3:14). The embodiment of realised being.

Each “man” in Scripture is a developmental threshold, a phase in the journey from ignorance to illumination.

6. Women as Receptive Powers and the Womb of Transformation

Women in the Bible represent the receptive aspect of consciousness into which the rivers of Eden flow—the womb where states are conceived and birthed. Sarah, Rachel, Mary—they are the symbolic matrices where new identities gestate.

Sarah births Isaac (laughter) when faith is fulfilled.
Rachel weeps and dies in childbirth, symbolising the pain of inner transformation.
Mary is the immaculate conception—pure imagination, untouched by external facts.

The feminine is not passive, but the power of receptivity that allows the Word to become flesh.

7. Cities and Landscapes: Symbolic Geographies of the Mind

Biblical geographies mirror inner conditions:

Egypt: The subconscious mind—powerful but often misused or unaware.
Babylon: Confusion, the divided mind.
Jerusalem: Vision of peace; the harmonious state.
The Wilderness: The space between identity-death and rebirth.
Mountains: High places of consciousness or revelation.

Crossing rivers, ascending hills, or journeying to foreign lands are all inner transitions of awareness.

8. Numbers as Codes of Process

Numbers in Scripture are not arbitrary—they are symbolic markers, revealing inner processes and stages of spiritual development:

Number	Meaning
2	Division and Agreement
3	Completion and Resurrection
4	Foundation and Structure
7	Spiritual Perfection
10	Manifested Wholeness
12	Divine Government
40	Trial and Transition

These numbers mark cycles of inner gestation, agreement of conscious and subconscious, and stages of awakening.

9. Names and Genealogies: The Stakes of Evolving Consciousness

Names are never casual in Scripture. They serve as stakes in the development of “I AM”. Each name points to a function of consciousness.

Abram → Abraham: From exalted potential to fruitful faith.
Jacob → Israel: From grasping to divine rulership.
Judah: Praise—essential to spiritual momentum.
Perez: Breakthrough—born of praise.
Jesus: “Yahweh saves”—the awakening of I AM within as salvation itself.

Genealogies are not records of DNA, but of mental and spiritual inheritance. They map how one inner state gives birth to another, as consciousness evolves from shadow into substance.

“These are the generations of the heaven and the earth when they were made.” – Genesis 2:4

As Neville said, “These names are not persons but eternal states of consciousness through which the soul passes.” When you read a genealogy, you are watching your own development described in symbolic DNA.

10. Symbolism Behind Names, Numbers, and Actions

Everything—names, ages, gestures, and even items—is charged with meaning:

A staff = authority or inner direction.
A well = revelation or deep imaginative insight.
Loaves and fishes = sustenance and activity of the imagination.
A fig tree = a state of spiritual barrenness or fruitfulness, a good symbol of Eden meaning 'pleasure_ and 'delight'

Reading literally will blind you. Reading symbolically will unlock the hidden manna.

11. Jesus: The Pattern of Awakening, Not Just the Person

Jesus represents the pattern of fulfilled consciousness. His life—from virgin birth to crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension—symbolises the stages of awakening from sleep to realisation of oneness.

The cross is not tragedy—it is fixing an idea in imagination, the burial of assumption. The resurrection is feeling it real, the flowering of the seed. The ascension is the return to full awareness of “I AM.”

12. The Twelve Tribes and Twelve Disciples: Symbolic Structure of Wholeness

The number twelve recurs with deep significance throughout Scripture, representing divine order and the full spectrum of spiritual faculties within the individual. It appears most strikingly in the twelve sons of Jacob, who become the twelve tribes of Israel, and in the twelve disciples chosen by Jesus. These are not random groupings, but symbolic patterns that speak to the governance of the self and the full expression of awakened identity.

The Twelve Tribes of Israel

Each son of Jacob symbolises a distinct quality or aspect of inner consciousness, and together they represent the soul’s journey through its many evolving states. Reuben (seeing), Simeon (hearing), Levi (joining), Judah (praise), and so forth—each name encodes an energetic pattern. These “tribes” are psychological constituents of the self, and the land allotted to them symbolises inner territory gained or transformed.

The Twelve Disciples

Likewise, Jesus selects twelve disciples not as historical figures, but as an echo of that inner architecture. Each disciple corresponds to a purified and active aspect of awareness:

Peter (faith)
Andrew (strength)
James (wisdom)
John (love)
Philip (imagination)
Bartholomew (honesty)
Thomas (understanding)
Matthew (will)
James the Less (order)
Thaddeus (enthusiasm)
Simon (zeal)
Judas (elimination or betrayal of the old)

Just as the twelve tribes constitute the organised framework of the Old Covenant—representing divided states of consciousness—the twelve disciples embody the fully awakened “I AM” conscious activity, functioning as the inner aspects who govern and manifest the Christ (awakened imagination) within. Their imagery, as an encompassing circle of conscious activity, is symbolised as 'wheels within wheels' in Ezekiel.

13. The Garden of Eden and Solomon’s Symbolism of Fruits, Vines, and Spices

The Garden of Eden introduces us to the original paradise of the soul—a state of pure, unified consciousness flowing with rivers of life. It is the fertile ground of imagination, the inner sanctuary where “I AM” first knows itself in peace and abundance.

This theme of inner fruitfulness and sacred nourishment continues vividly in Solomon’s writings, especially in the Song of Solomon and Proverbs. Solomon’s frequent references to fruits, vines, perfumes, and spices are not just poetry but symbolic markers of the richness and delight of awakened consciousness.

Fruits and Vines: The vine represents the soul’s nourishment and connection to divine life, echoing Jesus’ declaration, “I am the vine, you are the branches” (John 15:5). Fruits symbolize the manifest blessings that come from inner spiritual cultivation. The flourishing vineyard is the metaphor for a mind in harmony with imagination and faith.
Perfumes and Spices: These evoke the fragrance of spiritual states—sweetness, refinement, and the subtle power of praise. They represent the aroma of the soul when aligned with divine presence, as well as the precious qualities that imagination brings forth in manifestation.

The Bible repeatedly uses these natural images to illustrate the internal landscape of spiritual awakening. From the rivers watering Eden to the fragrant oils of Solomon’s temple, the language invites us to perceive spiritual transformation as a harvest of inner delights and breakthroughs.

Milk and honey, too, recur as the promise of the “land flowing with abundance,” symbolising the richness of living fully realised in “I AM”—a theme Solomon’s kingdom embodies.

Final Thought: The Bible is About You

From the tent in the wilderness to the cross on the hill, from Adam’s sleep to Jesus’ awakening, the Bible is a map of your own unfolding identity. Through the power of imagination, faith, and inner transformation, the hidden “I AM” moves through stories, numbers, names, and characters—all designed to help you awaken to your own divine presence.

The Way

Search This Blog