When Neville Goddard famously declared that “feeling is the secret,” he did not mean that we must anxiously chase after some fleeting emotional excitement. Rather, he spoke of a deep inner conviction — a quiet knowing — that we are already what we desire to be. This "feeling" is the seed of all creation, the state from which all manifestations flow.
Many students become conflicted here: What exactly is this feeling? How do I find it?
The Bible, read symbolically as Neville taught, offers profound guidance on this question. Far from simply being a historical or moral text, it is a psychological manual detailing how to shift consciousness — to rise from the old self into the new. It is a book of inner drama, inviting us to put off one identity and put on another, to die to the past and rise in newness.
The Bible’s continual symbolism of “lifting up”
Throughout the Bible, we see a constant theme of lifting up, rising, or ascending:
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Moses ascends Mount Sinai to receive the law — symbolising rising to a higher state of consciousness where divine instruction is received.
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Elijah is carried up in a whirlwind, representing a complete departure from a lower self-concept into divine awareness.
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Jesus ascends into heaven, marking the ultimate victory of the new man over limitation and death.
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The psalms repeatedly exhort us to “lift up your heads” (Psalm 24:7) — a poetic urging to raise one’s inner vision and self-concept.
In each case, lifting up is not physical but psychological: a conscious elevation beyond the old, habitual self — what Paul called the "old man" (Ephesians 4:22).
Putting off the old, putting on the new
The Bible describes this process clearly:
"Put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt... and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and... put on the new man which was created according to God." (Ephesians 4:22–24)
Here, the old man represents your current limiting identity — the collection of doubts, habits, and stories you tell yourself. The new man is the self you consciously choose to embody — whole, fulfilled, and free.
Symbolically, this is equivalent to stepping out of worn clothes and dressing yourself in new garments. It is a deliberate assumption of a new state, not just wishing or hoping.
The symbolism of nailing, fixing, and joining
Alongside the imagery of lifting and rising, the Bible also gives us a rich language of fixing, joining, and nailing, which is equally crucial in the creative process.
"Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." (Genesis 2:24)
This joining is not merely about physical union — it symbolises the fusion of a new concept or state with one’s identity. You leave behind the old (father and mother — representing previous self-concepts) and cleave to the new (the desired state), becoming one flesh — or one consciousness.
This theme finds its ultimate expression in the crucifixion:
Jesus is nailed to the cross — symbolising the fixing of an idea (the new self) in imagination so completely that it becomes one with your being. You "die" to the old state, and this "death" is what ensures the resurrection of the new.
The cross, therefore, is not a mere instrument of suffering but a powerful psychological image of fixing your assumption so firmly that it becomes your new reality.
The priesthood in the Bible also points to this joining. The high priest, entering the Holy of Holies, represents the act of joining the human and the divine — the conscious and the subconscious — and mediating between the old and the new. Symbolically, he is the one who "joins" heaven and earth within you, merging your desire with your awareness of I AM.
The Song of Solomon: the poetry of union
The Song of Solomon, in all its rich, lyrical imagery, beautifully embodies the essence of "feeling" as divine union. It speaks of the soul’s intimate longing and ecstatic embrace with its Beloved — a tender dance of desire and fulfilment. This is not mere romance; it is the profound internal experience of completely merging with your chosen state, so fully that separation no longer exists. When the soul cries, "I AM my beloved’s and my beloved is mine" (Song of Solomon 6:3), it symbolises the total surrender and acceptance of the wish fulfilled, the sweet certainty that you and your desire are one. In this sacred poetry, we find a living example of what it means to dwell in the feeling of the end — to inhabit love so completely that it becomes your entire world.
The role of “feeling” clarified
When Neville says "feeling," he does not mean an emotional high. He means the inner knowingness that you are already that which you desire to be.
This is why the Bible’s symbolic stories are so powerful: they give us imaginal "scripts" to help us enter this feeling.
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Crossing the Red Sea — leaving behind old limitations and moving into freedom.
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Being born again — a new identity emerges, entirely fresh.
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Putting on Christ — adopting the consciousness of divine sonship, complete and loved.
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Nailing the old self to the cross — fixing the new assumption so deeply that you can no longer return to the old state.
Using symbols to find the "position" in mind
It is precisely through these symbols and motifs that we discover and stabilise a position in the mind where possessing and living in the end becomes easy and joyful.
When we mentally dramatise these stories — stepping out of the old man, rising up the mountain, fixing ourselves to the new, joining with it completely — we find ourselves naturally lifted into the state where the wish is already fulfilled.
This is not a forced emotional state but a natural "position" of consciousness:
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You feel at home in your new identity.
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You act from it effortlessly.
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You respond to the world as if your desire were already fact.
Rather than straining to "make" the feeling happen, these inner symbols guide you into it — gently and consistently.
Visual separation: stepping out and rising
A powerful practice is to visualise yourself stepping out of the old self, as though stepping out of a shell or an old garment. See it left behind, lifeless, while you rise upward into a new, luminous identity.
Then, see yourself joined to your new state — as if nailed firmly to it, unable to slip back to the old. Let it become your new spiritual marriage, as Genesis 2:24 symbolises.
Conclusion: the secret unveiled
The Bible constantly urges us to lift up our eyes, our hearts, and our heads — to ascend in consciousness. Neville’s phrase "feeling is the secret" is simply a modern condensation of this timeless biblical principle.
By putting off the old man, lifting ourselves inwardly into the new, and fixing our consciousness to it through joining and nailing imagery, we align with the creative power of imagination — which the Bible reveals as God Himself.
In essence, the secret is not to find the “right” emotional vibration, but to accept and feel yourself to be already the one you desire to be — and to lift up your consciousness so completely, join it so firmly, that the old self fades away like a discarded garment.
Through these biblical symbols — crossing, rising, joining, fixing, being born anew — we find a stable, joyful position in the mind, from which living in the end becomes not a struggle but a delightful act of inner worship.
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