In the symbolic language of Scripture, the fig tree appears at key moments — not as a mere plant, but as a revelation of spiritual state. To read the Bible psychologically, as Neville Goddard urged, is to discover that these trees speak to the inner conditions that either nourish manifestation — or prevent it.
Nowhere is this contrast sharper than between the tender fig of the Song of Solomon and the barren fig tree cursed by Jesus. One is the sign of awakening union. The other, of illusion without substance. And both are branches rooted in Eden.
The Song of Solomon: The Green Fig of Union and Awakening
“The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.”
(Song of Solomon 2:13)
The Song of Solomon is not a love poem in the earthly sense, but an allegory of inner union — the mystical marriage of soul and spirit, of desire and belief, of the seeker and their imagined fulfilment. In Neville’s terms, it is the fusion of imagination and faith that produces the child of manifestation.
Here, the fig tree putting forth green figs symbolises the stirring of fertile imagination. The figs are not yet ripe, but they are real. This is the moment when a state is entered — when desire is felt and believed as already fulfilled. Even before the outer result appears, something has already quickened.
The fig tree doesn’t need to be fully mature. The important thing is that it is alive and honest — a sign that the season has changed, and that something is now growing within. This is the beginning of creation, when the soul hears the call, “Arise… and come away.”
The Cursed Fig Tree: A State Without Substance
“And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came… and found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.”
(Mark 11:13)“And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever.”
(Mark 11:14)
At first glance, Jesus’ reaction seems unreasonable. Why curse a fig tree for not bearing fruit out of season? But read symbolically, this is not about agriculture. This is about consciousness.
This fig tree is full of leaves — a show of life and readiness — but has no fruit. It is the state of mind that appears spiritual, but lacks union. It prays, recites, fasts, or affirms — but the inner marriage has not taken place. Desire and faith are not one. Imagination has not been felt as real.
In Neville’s teaching, this fig tree represents vain religion or outer show — a person appearing spiritual or pious, but internally disconnected from the creative act of imagining and believing. It is a self that performs, but does not conceive. And such a state, no matter how leafy, must be withered. It cannot bring forth life.
Eden: The Trees, the Fall, and the First Fig Leaves
To understand these fig trees, we must return to Eden — where the story of inner separation begins.
“And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.”
(Genesis 3:7)
The moment Adam and Eve eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, they fall into judgment — the belief in separation, duality, and shame. Their first act is to cover themselves with fig leaves.
These fig leaves represent the beginning of appearances — the covering over of selfhood, the illusion that one must hide from God, from imagination, from creative power. It is the mind that believes it is unworthy, incomplete, or guilty. And it is here that manifestation becomes blocked — because imagination is no longer trusted, and desire is no longer felt as innocent or divine.
In contrast, the Tree of Life — hidden from them after the fall — symbolises the state of perfect union. It is the knowing that imagination and God are one, and that to feel a thing as true within is to bring it to pass without. It is the very state described in the Song of Solomon, where the fig tree gives off its first fruit and the beloved is invited to rise.
Three Fig Trees: One Story
When seen together, these fig trees tell one story — the progression from illusion, through barrenness, into true creation:
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Eden’s fig leaves show the mind falling into shame, hiding its creative power behind appearances.
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The cursed fig tree represents the false self — all appearance, no inner union, cut off from manifestation.
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The Song of Solomon’s fig tree is the return of divine union — the first sign of inner conception, when the soul becomes one with the state it desires to manifest.
Neville Goddard taught that everything in Scripture happens in the imagination — and that the whole Bible is a psychological drama unfolding within each of us. These fig trees are not botanical curiosities. They are symbols of your inner condition.
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