#85: The State of Success

The State of Success

A Lecture in the Voice and Spirit of Neville Goddard

You seek success in the world and you wait for recognition to come to you from without. You have been taught that you must first achieve, first prove, first labor in the sight of men, and only then may you receive the acknowledgment that would allow you to rest. This belief has kept you forever in the state of the unrecognized, for the recognition you desire cannot enter your world until it has first been accepted in the only place where creation begins—in your own consciousness. The state of success is not a prize awarded by others after long effort. It is an inner state which you must occupy now, before any outer sign appears, if you would ever know success in form.

The recognition you long for must be felt as already given within yourself. You must feel the quiet satisfaction of one who is already seen, already valued, already honored for what he is. This inner acceptance is not a future event. It is the present act of assuming that you are the man or woman upon whom recognition has been bestowed. When you do this, you cease to be the seeker who waits and you become the possessor who already has. The world, which is nothing more than your consciousness out-pictured, has no choice but to conform to the state you have accepted.

You cannot occupy two states at the same time. You cannot be conscious of being overlooked and at the same time enjoy the fruits of recognition. One state must give way to the other. The old state of seeking acknowledgment must be abandoned, and the new state of having received it inwardly must be assumed. This abandonment is not a loss. It is the necessary death of the former concept of yourself. The birth that follows is the rising into the consciousness of success and recognition. In this new state you no longer approach life as one who must earn his place. You move as one who already occupies his place, and the world adjusts itself to your new position.

The awareness of being is the creative power. It is the I AM that forms all things. When this awareness becomes aware of being successful and recognized, it can only express success and recognition. There is no other law operating. You are always expressing what you are conscious of being, whether you know it or not. The circumstances of your life are the faithful reflection of the state you now occupy. If recognition has not appeared, it is only because you have not yet accepted it as your inner reality. The moment you accept it, the reflection must begin to change.

Do not wait for the outer evidence before you feel the recognition. If the evidence were already present, assumption would not be necessary. Assumption is made in the face of the contrary evidence of the senses. This is faith—the substance of the thing hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. When you feel yourself recognized even though the senses deny it, you have planted the seed. The harvest is inevitable, for consciousness is faithful to the state it is allowed to occupy.

The feeling of recognition is a quiet, dignified satisfaction. It is not excitement. It is not the loud assertion that you are important. It is the calm, inner knowing that you are already seen and valued. In this feeling there is no strain, no anxiety, no need to impress. You simply rest in the conviction that your contribution is already acknowledged, that your presence is already welcomed, that your work already carries weight. This rest is the creative act. From this rest flows every outer expression of success.

You may be tempted to believe that your present circumstances make such a feeling impossible. The promotion has not come. The praise has not been spoken. The doors remain closed. These very facts are the reason you must assume the state now. The circumstances are the out-picturing of your former state. They have no power to prevent the new state from expressing itself once you have accepted it. Persist in the inner feeling, and the circumstances must yield. They are not the cause. They are only the shadow, and shadows change when the light that casts them is altered.

When you accept recognition inwardly, a profound change occurs in your sense of self. You no longer feel the fatigue of striving for approval. You no longer feel the bitterness of being overlooked. You move through your day with a quiet authority that requires no announcement. Your words carry weight because they proceed from a consciousness that already knows itself as recognized. Your actions become natural and effortless because they are the expression of one who no longer doubts his place. People sense this change, for every man is yourself pushed out, and they can only reflect the state you have established within.

The acceptance of recognition frees you from the need to compete. Competition belongs to the old state—the state of the one who believes he must fight for his place. In the state of success and recognition there is no competition, for there is nothing to compete for. You already possess the recognition in consciousness, and what you possess inwardly cannot be taken from you. The world may appear to withhold it for a time, but this is only the interval required for the inner state to become visible. The interval is not a denial. It is the process of solidification.

You do not need to tell anyone of this inner work. In fact, it is wiser that you remain silent about it. The other can only respond from his own state, and if he is still in the state of seeking, he will echo your former doubts rather than confirm your new assumption. Keep the secret within yourself. Live from the feeling of recognition, and let the world discover the change in you. They will notice the new light in your eyes, the new ease in your bearing, the new confidence in your presence. They will wonder what has happened, and you will know that the recognition has begun its journey from the inner to the outer.

The state of success is not dependent upon any particular form. It may appear as advancement in your work, as honor among your associates, as appreciation in your relationships. The form is not your concern. Your only concern is the state itself. Occupy the state of being recognized, and the form will appear in whatever manner is natural to your consciousness. You do not dictate the manner. You simply assume the state, and consciousness finds its own way of expression. Its ways are past finding out, yet they are always perfect.

If doubt arises—and it will arise in the beginning—do not argue with it. Do not try to convince the doubt that your assumption is reasonable. Simply return to the feeling of recognition. Feel again the quiet satisfaction of one who is already acknowledged. This feeling is stronger than any doubt, for it is the feeling of the accomplished fact. The doubt belongs to the old state. The feeling of recognition belongs to the new state. You cannot serve both. Choose the new state and persist in it, and the doubt will lose its power over you.

The naturalness of the assumption grows with persistence. At first the feeling of recognition may seem strange, as though you were assuming something foreign to you. Continue to feel it, and it becomes natural. You begin to feel at home in the consciousness of success. It ceases to be something you must remember to assume and becomes simply who you are. When the state is natural, the manifestation is swift, for there is no longer any inner resistance to the outer expression. The resistance was only the lingering attachment to the old concept of yourself.

You are told that you must be born again if you would enter the kingdom. The kingdom is the state of consciousness where you reign as king over your own inner world. To be born again is to leave behind the consciousness of the unrecognized seeker and to assume the consciousness of the recognized possessor. This birth is not something that happens to you. It is something you do by accepting the state now. The moment you accept it, the old man begins to die and the new man begins to live. The process may seem gradual in the outer, but it is instantaneous in the inner. The outer simply takes time to catch up with the inner change.

When you accept recognition inwardly, you discover a great peace. This peace is not the peace of indifference. It is the peace of one who no longer needs the world to tell him what he already knows within himself. In this peace there is dignity without arrogance, confidence without noise, authority without force. You walk through the world as one who is already successful, and the world begins to treat you as such. Not because you have demanded it, but because you have assumed it.

The old striving falls away because it has no place in the new state. Striving belongs to the consciousness of lack. In the consciousness of recognition there is nothing to strive for. You already have the recognition in the only place that matters. The outer confirmation is merely the echo of what you have already established. When the echo comes, you receive it with quiet gratitude, but you do not depend upon it for your sense of completion. Your completion was already present in the inner acceptance.

This is the great reversal that sets man free. Instead of looking to the world for recognition and then trying to feel successful, you feel successful and recognized first, and the world is compelled to confirm it. The order is not from without to within. It is from within to without. Consciousness is the cause. The world is the effect. Change the cause and the effect must follow. There is no power that can prevent it, for the law is changeless.

You are not here to prove your worth to the world. You are here to assume the consciousness of worthiness, of success, of recognition, and to let the world prove it to you. This assumption is not an act of will. It is an act of acceptance. You simply permit yourself to feel what it would feel like if the recognition were already yours. You rest in that feeling. You live from that feeling. And the feeling, being the substance, clothes itself in form.

Tonight you can accept this recognition. In the quiet of your own mind, turn from every evidence that seems to deny it and feel the inner acknowledgment. Feel the dignity of one who is already seen. Feel the satisfaction of one whose work is already valued. Feel the peace of one who no longer waits to be confirmed. This feeling is the state of success. Occupy it now, and you have already succeeded, for the outer is but the shadow that must follow the substance you have accepted within.

The recognition you sought was never far away. It was waiting only for your inner acceptance. Accept it now, and the long search ends. The state of success is your true state when you cease to deny it. You are that state when you feel yourself recognized. Rest in this truth. Live from it. And the world will have no choice but to agree with what you have already established in the only reality there is—your own consciousness of being.