The Bible begins and ends with a river. It opens in Eden with a single river that parts into four streams and closes in Revelation with the radiant river of life flowing from the throne of God. These are not separate waters—they are expressions of the same divine source. Through the structure of the Bible and the symbolism of Neville Goddard's teachings, we can trace a profound spiritual narrative: the journey of divine imagination as it descends into manifestation and returns to conscious unity.
The River in Eden: One Becomes Four
“And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.”
— Genesis 2:10
This first river originates in Eden—a symbol not of a physical location, but of the unconditioned state of consciousness, the origin point of the divine "I AM."
The four rivers—Pishon, Gihon, Hiddekel, and Euphrates—represent the branching out of imagination into the various channels of life experience. Neville Goddard saw the garden of Eden as a metaphor for the mind, and the river as the creative flow of imagination. As this flow divides, it represents the birth of the world of form—the many expressions that stem from one spiritual source.
Each river can be seen as a symbolic faculty:
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Pishon: Overflowing; linked to abundance and expansion.
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Gihon: Gushing; tied to vitality and emotional movement.
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Hiddekel (Tigris): Rapid; symbolic of swift spiritual clarity.
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Euphrates: Fruitfulness; connected to completion and fulfilment.
These four are not just rivers but states of being, expressions of imagination, and the means through which the I AM waters the soul’s garden.
The Symbolism of Four: Divine Expression in the World
The pattern of "four" continues across the Bible’s landscape as a marker of divine expression made manifest:
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The Four Living Creatures (Ezekiel 1, Revelation 4): Each with a face—lion, ox, man, eagle—representing the fullness of divine awareness in action. Neville might interpret them as archetypes of developed states of consciousness.
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Jesus’ Garment Divided into Four Parts (John 19:23–24): His seamless inner garment (symbol of unity and inner being) is kept whole, while the outer garment is divided—just like the river in Eden. This shows the split between inner wholeness and outer diversity. The divine is expressed outwardly in four, but inwardly remains one.
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The Four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John each present different aspects of Jesus, just as the rivers symbolise different channels of the same source.
In Neville’s teaching, this is the breaking of the One into the Many, necessary for experience, but always pointing back to its unified origin in consciousness.
Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them - John 7:38
The River in Revelation: Unity Restored
“And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.”
— Revelation 22:1
By the final chapter of the Bible, the fourfold division has collapsed into a single River of Life. Flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb, it passes through the centre of the New Jerusalem. This river is no longer divided, no longer symbolic of expression alone—it is clarity, restoration, and unbroken divine flow.
It waters the Tree of Life, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. This river is the return to unity—the awakened realisation of our source, the reunion of the fragmented self with the I AM.
This is the ultimate end of the journey Neville describes: where imagination, having passed through expression and crucifixion (the fixing of belief), reawakens as God.
The Spiritual Arc: From Source, Through Expression, Back to Source
Through Neville’s framework, we see:
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Genesis: The divine river (imagination) begins in undivided potential and flows into the fourfold world of manifestation.
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The Bible’s Centre: The drama of human consciousness unfolds, filled with symbols of four—creatures, garments, winds, gospels—all pointing to expression and variety.
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Revelation: The return to the One. Imagination realises itself as God, and the flow is no longer parted—it is whole, pure, and eternal.
Conclusion: The Living River Within
You are the garden. The river is within you.
When you awaken to your own imagination as God, you discover that the river has always flowed from your own being. You are both Eden and the New Jerusalem. The division into four was never a fracture but an expansion—necessary for experience, for desire, for the knowledge of creation.
And in the end, as Neville taught, you remember your origin—not as separate, but as the one river flowing through all the stories of Scripture, expressing itself as life, and returning home as love.
Who went up to heaven, and cometh down?
Who hath gathered the wind in his fists?
Who hath bound waters in a garment? Who established all ends of the earth? What is His name? and what His son's name?
Surely thou knowest!
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