#176: The State That Remains

The State That Remains

A Lecture in the Voice and Spirit of Neville Goddard

Man believes that by rising for a little while into the feeling of his desire he can alter the course of his life. He visits that feeling in prayer or in the quiet of his room and then returns to what he calls the real world, supposing that the visit has left some mark upon it. But this is not so. The state that remains is the state that governs. The state to which consciousness returns when the deliberate effort has ceased, when the mind is no longer directed toward any particular end, that is the state that molds the world without your consent and without your understanding.

Consciousness is never without a state. There is no neutral ground on which you stand. At every moment you are conscious of being something, and that something is a state. It may shift from hour to hour, yet a state there always is. The question is not whether you occupy a state but which state you allow to remain when the effort of conscious assumption is relaxed. That remaining state is the one that expresses itself in every detail of your days.

You may, for a little while, feel yourself to be the person you desire to be. You may feel the relief of health or the satisfaction of abundance or the quiet joy of being loved. But if, when that feeling has passed, you return to the old feeling of illness or lack or loneliness, then it is the old feeling that remains. It is the old state that claims you when you are not watching, and it is the old state that continues to out-picture itself in your world.

The occasional assumption has no power because it does not remain. It is a visitor. The state that remains is the resident. It lives with you when you are alone. It sleeps with you. It wakes with you. It colors your reactions before you have time to think. And because it is always present, it is always expressing itself, whether you know it or not.

To discover the state that remains, you have only to observe yourself when no effort is being made to be anything in particular. Let the mind be still. What feeling arises of itself? What do you assume yourself to be when you are not trying to assume anything else? That feeling, that silent assumption that comes without your bidding, is the state that remains. It is the state that is truly yours at this moment, and it is the state that is shaping your life.

Do not condemn what you find in this observation. Simply see it clearly. For in the clear seeing you have already begun to separate yourself from it. You have recognized that it is a state and not the truth of your being. You are the awareness that can enter a state and can depart from it. The state has no power except the power you give it by returning to it again and again.

Your world is the faithful reproduction of the state that remains in you. There is no injustice in your circumstances. There is only perfect correspondence. If the state that remains is one of anxiety, then anxiety meets you in the faces of those you encounter and in the events that arise. If the state that remains is one of lack, then lack appears in your purse and in your opportunities. The state that remains is the potter, and your life is the clay it shapes without ceasing.

You may say that you have tried to change. You have assumed the opposite state for a time. You have felt yourself to be what you desire to be. Yet nothing has altered. The reason is simple. You visited the new state, but you did not cause it to remain. You returned to the old state as soon as the feeling of effort relaxed. The old state was still the one that felt natural, and so it continued to govern.

To cause a new state to remain, you must persist in the assumption of it until it becomes natural. Naturalness is the sign that the state has taken up its abode in you. When you no longer have to summon the feeling, when it arises of itself and seems the most ordinary thing in the world, then the new state has become the state that remains. Then your world begins to change without your conscious direction, for the cause has been altered at its root.

This persistence is not a battle. It is a quiet and repeated returning to the feeling of the wish fulfilled. Each time you find yourself in the old state, you gently assume the new one. You do not fight the old. You simply withdraw your attention from it and place your attention upon the new. In time the new claims more and more of your consciousness until it becomes the one to which you naturally return.

The inner feeling is everything. It is not the words you speak or the thoughts you entertain that matter most. It is the feeling of being that you accept as true. When you feel yourself to be already the one you desire to be, and when this feeling is allowed to remain even after you have opened your eyes and moved through your affairs, then the state is taking root. The state that remains is always a feeling, a conviction of “I am.”

As you persist in this way, you will notice a change in your reactions to life. Things that once disturbed you will lose their power to move you. Events that once seemed to confirm the old state will no longer affect you in the same manner. For you are no longer living in that state. You are living in the new one, and the new one does not respond to the old provocations. The world begins to lose its grip upon you because you have changed the state from which you view it.

This is the secret of true transformation. It is not in the occasional lifting of consciousness but in the permanent change of the state that remains. When the state of your desire has become the state that remains, you will find that your life arranges itself accordingly without strain. Opportunities appear where none seemed to exist. People treat you differently because you are different in consciousness. The outer world is always conforming to the inner state that has claimed you.

The state that remains is not changed by effort in the outer world. No amount of struggling with conditions can alter the state that produces them. The only change that matters is the change in the state to which you return. When that change is made, the conditions change of themselves, for they have no life except the life you give them by your consciousness of them.

You are told that with God all things are possible. But God is your awareness of being, and all things are possible to the state that remains in that awareness. If the state of limitation remains, then limitation is what is possible to you. If the state of freedom remains, then freedom is what is possible. The power is not in the desire alone but in the state that embodies the desire and remains to express it.

Many have felt the truth of this and have wondered why their lives have not changed. They have assumed correctly but have not persisted until the assumption became the state that remains. They have treated the assumption as a temporary exercise rather than as the establishment of a new home for their consciousness. The assumption must become the natural feeling, the one that arises without bidding, the one that claims you when you are off guard.

This is why the feeling is stressed. The state is a feeling. It is the feeling of “I am” this or “I am” that. When that feeling is fixed and remains, the state is fixed and remains. Words may help to fix the feeling, but it is the feeling itself that matters. Feel yourself into the state and let it remain there.

In your daily life this will show itself in small ways at first. You will find yourself reacting differently to the same old stimuli. A remark that once hurt will no longer reach you in the same way. A situation that once filled you with fear will find you calm. These small changes are the signs that the new state is beginning to remain. They are the first fruits of your persistence.

Do not despise these small changes. They are the evidence that the cause is being altered. As the state remains more firmly, the changes will become larger until the whole of your life is transformed. But the beginning is always in the small, in the unnoticed reactions of your days.

The state that remains also determines what you notice in your world. You see only what your state allows you to see. In a state of poverty you notice only the evidences of lack. In a state of wealth you notice the evidences of abundance. The same world is there, but your state selects what you perceive. To change what you perceive, change the state that remains.

This selection is not done by the outer man but by the inner feeling. You do not decide what to notice. Your state decides for you. That is why it is so important to make the desired state the one that remains. Then you will notice the things that confirm the new state, and the old evidences will fade from your attention.

You are always assuming. The question is not whether you assume but which state you assume and whether that state remains. Every reaction is an assumption. Every mood is an assumption. Every silent thought about yourself is an assumption. Become aware of these silent assumptions and you will know the state that remains.

Then deliberately assume the opposite if the old is not what you desire. Assume it with the same naturalness that the old once had. Persist until the new assumption feels as natural as the old once did. This is the work. This is the labor that is no labor when it is done in love of the new state.

For the new state, when it remains, brings with it a peace that the old state could never give. It is the peace of knowing that you are what you have assumed yourself to be. It is the peace of resting in a consciousness that no longer fights itself. It is the peace of the finished work, the state in which the desire has been embodied and no further effort is needed to maintain it.

The outer world then does the work, for it is compelled to conform to the inner state that remains. You do not have to make things happen. You have only to let the state remain, and the things happen of themselves. This is the effortless way. This is the way that feels like rest even while life moves forward.

The state that remains is your true conviction, whether you know it or not. It is what you really believe yourself to be. It is what you really believe life to be. And life will always prove you right. If your state is one of limitation, life will prove that limitation is true. If your state is one of fulfillment, life will prove that fulfillment is true. Life has no preference. It simply expresses the state that remains.

Therefore, the most important work you can do is the work of watching the state that remains and of deliberately changing it when it is not the state you desire. This watching is not morbid introspection. It is clear and calm observation. It is the observation of one who knows that he is the awareness and not the state. From this position of knowing you can choose what state you will allow to remain.

When you have chosen, assume it with feeling. Feel it to be true. And then persist in that feeling until it becomes the feeling that arises of itself. This is the labor. This is the art. And this is the way to the life you desire.

Tonight you can begin. As you lie down to sleep, assume the state you desire to remain. Feel yourself to be what you long to be. Let that feeling be the state in which you fall asleep. And in the morning, see what state greets you. If it is the old state, assume the new one again. And again the next night. And again. Until the new state has become the state that remains.

For in the end, it is not what you visit that matters. It is what remains. And what remains is what you have made your home in consciousness. Make your home in the state of your fulfilled desire, and your world will become the expression of that state. This is the promise. This is the law. And this is the truth that sets you free.

You are not at the mercy of the state that has remained until now. You are the awareness that can cause a new state to remain in its stead. From this night forward, watch the state that remains. Choose it consciously. Assume it feelingly. Persist in it lovingly. And let it become the state that remains. Then your life will be the life you have always desired, for the state that remains will be the state of your fulfilled desire.