#83: The State of Health

The State of Health

A Lecture in the Voice and Spirit of Neville Goddard

You have sought the state of health by fighting the symptoms that appear in your body. You have believed that if you could only remove those symptoms, health would be yours. But the symptoms are not the enemy. They are the messengers. They tell you the state you have assumed in consciousness. They are the faithful out-picturing of your inner feeling. To fight them is to fight the messenger while leaving the message unchanged. The message is the assumption. The assumption is the feeling. Change the feeling and the message changes. The symptoms then have no reason to remain.

The state of health is not found in the absence of symptoms. It is found in the presence of a feeling. The feeling of wholeness. When you feel yourself to be whole, you have assumed the state of health. The body, which is always the faithful servant of consciousness, will then express that state. It will express it in perfect functioning. It will express it in ease and vitality. It will express it in the natural harmony that is the body's true nature when left to the consciousness of wholeness.

You do not have to make the body healthy. You have to assume the consciousness that is health. The consciousness is the feeling. The feeling is the assumption. The assumption is the cause. The body is the effect. When the cause is wholeness, the effect is health. It cannot be otherwise. The law is exact. It is the law of consciousness. It is the law that says you are ever out-picturing that which you are conscious of being.

To be conscious of being whole is to feel whole. It is not to think about wholeness. It is not to hope for wholeness. It is to feel it as the very ground of your being. This feeling is not dependent on the body. It is independent of the body. It is the feeling of the spirit. The spirit is whole. The spirit is perfect. The spirit is the I AM. When you feel the I AM as whole, you are in the state of health. The body then reflects the I AM.

The I AM is your awareness of being. It is not the body. The body is the form the I AM has taken. When the I AM assumes the form of wholeness, the body takes that form. When the I AM assumes the form of illness, the body takes that form. The I AM is the potter. The body is the clay. The clay takes the shape the potter gives it. You are the potter. You give the shape by your feeling. Feel the shape of wholeness and the clay is shaped accordingly.

This is why fighting the symptom is useless. The symptom is the clay already shaped by the old feeling. To fight it is to try to reshape the clay while leaving the potter's hand in the old position. The hand must change. The feeling must change. The assumption must change. Then the clay is reshaped naturally. There is no fight. There is only the new shaping.

The new shaping is gentle. It is the gentle pressure of the new feeling. The new feeling presses upon the consciousness. The consciousness presses upon the body. The body yields. It yields because it must. It is the nature of the body to yield to consciousness. It has no other nature. It is the perfect reflector.

So you see, the way is not to battle the reflector. It is to change what is reflected. The reflection is the symptom. The what is reflected is the feeling. Change the feeling and the reflection changes. It is as simple as that. Man has made it complex by his belief in the power of the symptom. The symptom has no power. It is the feeling that has the power. Give the power to the feeling of wholeness and the symptom has none.

This giving is done in secret. It is done within. It is done by turning the attention from the outer to the inner. The outer is the symptom. The inner is the feeling. The inner is the kingdom. The kingdom is within you. Seek it there. Find it there. Assume it there. The outer will then reflect the inner. The body will reflect the kingdom.

The kingdom is the state of wholeness. It is the state in which all is well. It is the state in which there is no lack, no division, no imperfection. It is the state of the I AM. The I AM is whole. You are the I AM. You are whole. You have only to feel it to know it. You have only to assume it to express it.

The expression is the healthy body. It is the body that functions perfectly. It is the body that is at ease. It is the body that is the perfect servant of the perfect state. You do not have to tell the body what to do. You have to feel the state. The body knows what to do. It knows how to express wholeness. It knows how to be healthy. It is its nature when the consciousness is whole.

The consciousness becomes whole by the feeling. The feeling is the key. The feeling is the door. The feeling is the way. Walk in the feeling. Live in the feeling. Rest in the feeling. The body will walk with you. It will live with you. It will rest with you. In the health that is the expression of the feeling.

This is the teaching that can set you free from the endless battle with symptoms. The battle ends when the assumption changes. The assumption changes when the feeling changes. The feeling changes when you choose to feel wholeness rather than the lack of it. The choice is yours. It is always yours. In every moment you can choose. Choose now. Choose wholeness. Choose health. Choose the state that is your true nature.

The true nature is wholeness. It is not something you earn. It is something you are. You are whole in consciousness. You have assumed a state that is less than whole. Return to the true state by feeling it. The return is the healing. The healing is the return.

Tonight you can return. As you lay your body down, feel the wholeness. Feel it in every part. Feel it as the whole. Feel it as the I AM. Feel it as the now. Let the now be the feeling. Let the feeling be the now. In that now you are healed. For the healing is the assumption made visible. The visible comes after the invisible. The invisible is the feeling. The visible is the body.

Do not look for the visible before you have the invisible. Have the invisible first. Have the feeling first. Then the visible will come. It will come as surely as the law is sure. The law is the law of assumption. The assumption is the feeling. The feeling is the health.

You are health when you feel health. You are whole when you feel whole. There is no other way. There is no other law. This is the law that was known to the ancient ones. It is the law that is known to you now. Use it. Use it for your body. Use it for your life. Use it for the expression of the perfection that is your birthright.

The birthright is wholeness. Claim it by feeling it. Claim it now. Claim it in the quiet of your own consciousness. Claim it in the feeling. The claim is the assumption. The assumption is the creation. The creation is the healthy body.

This is the end of the fighting. This is the beginning of the rest. The rest is the Sabbath. Enter the Sabbath by the feeling. Rest in the feeling. The body will rest in the health.

You have heard the teaching. Now live the teaching. Feel the wholeness. Be the wholeness. Express the wholeness. The body will be the witness. The witness will be the proof. The proof will be the health that you have assumed in feeling.

The health is yours. It is already so. Feel it and know it. Know it and be it. Be it and express it. Express it in the body that is now the perfect expression of the perfect state.

This is the word. It is the word made flesh. The word is the feeling. The flesh is the body. The body is made whole by the word felt. Feel the word. Feel the wholeness. And the body is whole.

The feeling of wholeness is not something you add to your day. It is something you let be the atmosphere of your day. It is the quiet background against which all things move. When the symptom arises in thought or sensation, you do not meet it with battle. You meet it with the background of wholeness. The symptom finds no soil in that background. It passes as a shadow passes when the light is steady. The light is the feeling. The feeling is steady when it is natural.

To make it natural you return to it often. Not with effort. With gentle persistence. The persistence is the return. Each return strengthens the feeling. Each strengthening makes the next return easier. Soon the feeling is there without return. It is simply present. It is the natural state. The natural state is health made visible in the body.

You will notice that your reactions to the body change. Where once you watched every sensation with anxiety, now you watch with quiet interest. The interest is not fear. It is the knowledge that the body is expressing the state assumed. When the state is wholeness, the expression must become wholeness. The watching is no longer the watching of an enemy. It is the watching of a faithful servant bringing news of the inner state.

The news may still speak of the old for a time. The old expression lingers until the new is fully established. But the news no longer disturbs. You know the cause. The cause is the feeling. The feeling is wholeness. The news will change when the feeling is complete. The completeness is the naturalness. When the feeling is natural, the news is health.

This change in reaction is itself part of the healing. For the old reaction was the assumption of danger. The new reaction is the assumption of peace. Peace is wholeness. Wholeness is health. The body feels the peace and responds with health.

You do not have to force the peace. You assume it by feeling wholeness. The feeling carries the peace within it. The peace is not the absence of sensation. It is the presence of the certainty that all is well. The certainty is not in the body. It is in the consciousness. The body catches the certainty and expresses it as health.

As you live in this certainty, you find that the days are different. You move without the constant watchfulness that once exhausted you. You trust the body because you trust the feeling. The trust is the rest. The rest is the Sabbath that you carry with you through the day. In the Sabbath you are free from the labor of fighting. The labor was never necessary. It was the product of the old assumption. The new assumption brings its own rest.

The rest is not inactivity. It is the activity of the feeling. The feeling works without effort. It shapes the body without strain. It brings the health without battle. This is the effortless way. The way that was always available but seldom used. Now you use it. You use it by feeling. You use it by assuming. You use it by resting in the knowledge that the state is set.

The knowledge is not intellectual. It is felt. It is the feeling itself. When you feel whole, you know that health is inevitable. The inevitability is the law. The law does not require your understanding. It requires only your assumption. Assume in feeling and the law fulfills itself.

You may wonder what will happen if the symptom returns in strength. But the return of the symptom is the return of the old assumption trying to reestablish itself. It has no power unless you give it power by returning to the old feeling. You do not give it power. You return to the new feeling. The new feeling is stronger because it is the truth. The truth is that you are whole. The old assumption was the lie. The lie fades when the truth is felt.

The fading may take time in the body. But the time is not your concern. Your concern is the feeling. Keep the feeling and the time takes care of itself. The body cannot resist the feeling when the feeling is natural. Resistance requires attention. Attention is withdrawn from the old and given to the new. The old has no support. It fades.

This fading is the healing you have sought. It comes not by your battle but by your assumption. It comes not by your effort but by your feeling. It comes because consciousness is faithful. It brings forth what is assumed in feeling. Assume wholeness and wholeness appears. The appearance is the healthy body.

You have tried the other way long enough. You have fought and you have feared. The symptoms have remained or changed their form. Now try this way. Feel wholeness. Feel it tonight. Feel it as you close your eyes. Feel it as the very self you are. Let the feeling be the last thing you know before sleep claims you. In that feeling the deeps of yourself are impressed. The deeps bring forth the expression. The expression is health.

When you rise in the morning, carry the feeling with you. It is not a burden. It is a light. The light lights the day. The day is lived from the feeling. The body expresses the day lived from the feeling. Health is the expression.

You do not have to speak of this to anyone. It is done in secret. The secret is the feeling. The feeling is between you and your own consciousness. No one else need know. The body will know. The body will show. The showing is the proof. The proof is the health.

This is the state of health. It is not a state you reach by fighting. It is a state you enter by feeling. Enter it now. Feel it now. Be it now. The body will follow. It always follows. It follows the feeling. The feeling is wholeness. Wholeness is health. Health is yours.

You are the awareness that can assume this state. You are the awareness that can live in this state. You are the awareness that can express this state in the body. Assume it. Live it. Express it. The symptoms lose their meaning. The wholeness becomes the meaning. The meaning becomes the body.

Tonight the choice is before you. You can continue the fight or you can assume the feeling. The fight has not brought the health. The feeling will bring it. Choose the feeling. Choose wholeness. Choose the state that is already yours in consciousness. Make it yours in expression by feeling it now.

The feeling is simple. It is the quiet certainty that you are whole. It is the quiet trust that the body knows its way when the consciousness is whole. It is the quiet refusal to give the symptom the power of your assumption. This quiet is the power. It is the power that creates. It is the power that heals. It is the power that is you when you feel whole.

Feel it. Be it. Express it. The body will be the living witness that the state of health is entered by feeling wholeness rather than by fighting symptoms. This is the truth. It is the truth that sets you free. You are free when you assume the state of freedom. Health is that state. Assume it in feeling and be free.