"Bone of My Bones": Neville Goddard on Genesis 2:23 and the Birth of Manifestation

“This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” – Genesis 2:23

To the literalist, this verse describes the first woman being formed from a man's rib. But to the one who sees with the eyes of imagination—as Neville Goddard teaches—this is a profound unveiling of spiritual law. The verse is not about anatomy or gender, but about consciousness and manifestation, the inner and outer aspects of your own creative power.

Man as Awareness, Woman as Manifestation

In Neville’s teaching, the “man” symbolises your conscious awareness of being—that deep “I AM” from which all creation proceeds. The “woman,” drawn from man, symbolises the outer world, or any manifested condition in your life. She is not another being, but a reflection of the assumption you have internalised.

To say “bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh” is to declare: This thing I now see or experience in the world was born from my own consciousness. It is not separate from me—it is of me. It is my inner state made visible.

The Crucifixion: Fixing the Idea in Imagination

This inner dynamic is echoed later in the story of Jesus. Neville explains that the crucifixion is not a historical event, but the moment when a desire or idea is fixed in imagination. The “nailing” of Jesus to the cross represents the commitment to an assumption.

Once the state is fixed—“crucified”—it must be resurrected. It must rise into visibility. The outer world, like the “woman” in Genesis, will take form from the seed of your inner conviction.

So, when Adam names the woman and acknowledges her as “flesh of my flesh,” he is doing what you do when you recognise your own manifestation: owning it. Every outer circumstance is a child of your inner fixation.

The Birth of Isaac: Manifestation in Its Season

This process of inner conception and outer birth is also seen in the story of Isaac, born to Sarah after years of barrenness. Sarah represents the womb of the subconscious, and Isaac the long-awaited manifestation. Neville often quoted Paul: “These things are an allegory”—and indeed they are.

Isaac’s birth happens “in due season,” after the assumption is fully accepted and rests in faith. So too does the woman in Genesis appear after a deep sleep—a letting go—just as creation arises when you release the assumption into the subconscious and allow it to gestate.

Naming as a Creative Act

“She shall be called Woman…”—naming in Scripture is not mere labelling, but an act of creation. To name is to claim. It is to say, “This is what I know it to be.” The outer world responds to your inner naming.

Neville said, “Change your conception of yourself and you will automatically change the world in which you live.” The woman—your world—will always take her name from the state you dwell in.

Final Reflection

Genesis 2:23 is not an ancient biology lesson—it is a master key to understanding how the world you experience is your imagination externalised. The “woman” is every result, every condition, every encounter. She is your assumption made flesh. And whether the birth is immediate like Eve or delayed like Isaac, the law is the same: As within, so without.

Every crucifixion (assumption fixed) leads to resurrection (manifestation revealed). You are both the Adam who imagines and the Eve who appears. You are always meeting yourself in form.