#89: Preparing Your Place

Preparing Your Place

A Lecture in the Voice and Spirit of Neville Goddard

You cannot enter a place in this world for which you have not prepared the place in consciousness. The world does not prepare a place and then call you into it. You prepare the place by the state you assume, and the world, being only the out-picturing of that assumption, must receive you there. This is why you remain where you are when you long to be elsewhere. You have prepared only the place that corresponds to your present assumption, and as long as that assumption persists, the place persists. You look upon your circumstances as fixed and unyielding, yet they are the direct result of the preparation you have already made. There is no other cause.

The assumption you now hold is the preparation of the place you now occupy. If the assumption is one of limitation, the place prepared is limited. If the assumption is one of lack, the place prepared is one of lack. If the assumption is one of being stuck or unable to move, the place prepared is one of being stuck. You cannot blame the place, for the place has no power of its own. It is only the reflection of what you have prepared in consciousness. To remain in the place you do not desire is to continue the assumption that prepared it. To enter a new place, you must prepare that new place by assuming the state that belongs to it.

To prepare your place is to assume the feeling of already being the one who lives in that place. It is to feel the naturalness of it now. It is not a future act. It is not something you will do when circumstances improve. It is something you do now, in the present moment, by rising in consciousness to the level of the desired state and dwelling there until it feels like home. When the feeling becomes natural, when there is no longer any effort to believe, the place is prepared. The preparation is complete. Then the entering is inevitable, for you are already in the place in consciousness, and consciousness is the only reality.

You may wonder why the outer world does not change when you desire change. It does not change because you have not yet prepared the place of change. You are still assuming the state that belongs to the old place. You are trying to enter a new place while still living in the assumption that prepared the old one. This cannot be done. The old assumption sustains the old place. The new assumption prepares the new place. When you truly assume the new state, the old place begins to lose its power, for there is no longer a preparation sustaining it. The preparation of the new dissolves the old.

The feeling of being stuck is the feeling of having prepared only one place and of not realizing that you are free to prepare another. You are not bound to the place you now occupy. You are bound only to the assumption that prepared it. Change the assumption and you change the preparation. Change the preparation and you change the place you enter. This is the freedom that is yours. It is not a freedom that must be fought for in the outer world. It is a freedom that is exercised in consciousness by the simple act of assuming the desired state and feeling it to be natural.

When you assume the state of your desire, you are going before to prepare the place. The going is not a movement in space. It is a movement in consciousness. It is the rising from the assumption of what you now seem to be to the assumption of what you desire to be. You leave the old state behind by giving your attention wholly to the new. You do not argue with the old. You do not fight it. You simply prepare the new place by assuming the new state, and the old place, having no preparation to sustain it, fades away.

The world you enter is always prepared by your assumption. There is no exception. You cannot enter a place of health while assuming the state of illness. You cannot enter a place of freedom while assuming the state of bondage. You cannot enter a place of abundance while assuming the state of lack. The assumption is the preparation, and the preparation determines the place. This is why the signs follow and do not precede. The assumption comes first. The place prepared by the assumption follows. You do not wait for the place to appear before you assume. You assume, and the place appears as the inevitable result of the preparation.

Tonight you can prepare the place you desire to enter. As you lie down to sleep, you can assume the state of the fulfilled desire. You can feel yourself to be the person who already lives in that place. You can feel the naturalness of it. You can feel the relief of having prepared it. You can feel the quiet certainty that the place is ready and that you will enter it. You do not have to know how the entering will come about. You do not have to plan the steps or arrange the circumstances. The assumption itself prepares the way. The assumption itself builds the bridge. The assumption itself compels the world to receive you in the place you have prepared.

If doubts arise, if the old assumption returns and tells you that the place cannot be prepared, remember that the old assumption is only the preparation of the old place. It has no power over the new preparation. You are free to return to the new assumption again and again. Each time you return to it, you strengthen the preparation of the new place. Each time you feel the naturalness of the desired state, you add to the certainty that the place is prepared. The doubts lose their power when you persist in the assumption, for the assumption is the only preparation that matters.

You do not prepare the place by looking at the outer world and trying to force it to conform. You prepare the place by looking away from the outer world and dwelling in the inner feeling of the state desired. The outer world has no say in the preparation. It only reflects what has been prepared. When you give your attention wholly to the assumption, you are preparing the place in secret, and the open reward must follow. The reward is the world you enter, the circumstances that receive you, the events that unfold naturally because the place has been prepared.

The preparation may seem to take time when measured by the outer clock, yet in consciousness the preparation is instantaneous the moment the feeling becomes natural. Time is only the interval between the assumption and the reflection of that assumption in the world. When the assumption is weak, the interval seems long. When the assumption is natural and unshakable, the interval shortens or disappears altogether. You do not concern yourself with the length of the interval. You concern yourself only with the preparation, with the assumption of the state, with the feeling of its naturalness. The interval takes care of itself.

You are the preparer of your place. No one else can do this for you. No one else can assume the state for you. No one else can feel the naturalness for you. It is your own work, and it is the most creative work you can do. By it you determine not only where you are but where you will be. By it you determine the quality of the world you enter. There is no limitation upon what place you can prepare, for there is no limitation upon what state you can assume. Consciousness is infinite, and the assumption is the key that unlocks any place you desire.

When you truly know that your assumed state prepares the world you enter, you cease to struggle with circumstances. You cease to wait for the world to change before you change. You cease to blame conditions for your position. You simply prepare the place by assuming the state, and you rest in the knowledge that the entering is assured. This is the peace that comes with understanding. This is the quiet power that replaces the old anxiety. You know what you are doing. You are preparing your place. And because you are preparing it, the world you enter must correspond.

The old habit of looking to the world first is the habit that keeps men bound. They say, “When I see the evidence, then I will believe.” But the evidence appears only after the preparation is complete. The preparation is the belief. The preparation is the assumption felt as natural. When you wait for the evidence before you assume, you are refusing to prepare the place. You are insisting that the world prepare the place for you, which it cannot do. The world can only reflect what you have prepared. So you reverse the order. You assume first. You prepare the place first. Then the evidence appears as the natural consequence.

You prepare your place not only for great desires but for every desire. The principle is the same. Whether the desire seems small or great in the eyes of the world, the preparation is the assumption of the state in which the desire is fulfilled. You feel yourself to be the one who has it. You feel the naturalness of having it. You rest in that feeling. And the place is prepared. The world you enter then includes the fulfillment of that desire, for the desire and the place are one.

There is no need to ask how the place will be prepared in the outer world. The how is not your concern. Your concern is only the preparation in consciousness. The assumption has ways that you, as man, know not of. Its ways are past finding out. But its ways are certain. When you assume the state and feel it natural, the way is already being prepared, even though you see no evidence of it yet. The evidence will appear when the preparation is complete, and not before. This is why you are told to believe that you receive when you pray. The believing is the preparation. The receiving is the entering of the place prepared by the believing.

Tonight, as you prepare for sleep, you can prepare the place you desire to enter from this night forward. You can assume the state. You can feel it as natural. You can say within yourself, in the quiet of your own consciousness, that this is your place and that you are already in it. You can rest in that feeling without anxiety, without effort, without the need to make anything happen. The preparation is the making. The assumption is the doing. And when you wake, you will wake in a world that has begun to reflect the place you prepared.

You cannot fail when you prepare your place in this way. Failure comes only from preparing the wrong place by assuming the wrong state. Success is the inevitable result of preparing the place of your desire by assuming the state of its fulfillment. There is no other success. There is no other way. The law is simple, direct, and unfailing. Your assumed state prepares the world you enter. Accept this truth tonight. Feel its certainty. Rest in it. And know that from this moment the place you enter is the place you have prepared by the state you now assume.

The preparation is done in secret, yet its results are open and visible to all. No one sees you assume the state. No one sees you feel its naturalness. Yet everyone will see the place you enter, the world you occupy, the circumstances that now receive you. This is the open reward of the secret preparation. This is the proof that consciousness is the only reality and that your assumption is its creative act. You prepare in secret. You enter openly. And the world bears witness to the place you prepared.

So you see, the power is not in the world. The power is in the preparation. The power is in the assumption. The power is in the feeling of naturalness you give to the desired state. When you give that feeling, you have prepared the place. When you have prepared the place, you enter it. And when you enter it, the old place, having no preparation to sustain it, ceases to be. This is transformation. This is the change that comes not by force but by preparation. This is the law that sets you free from the tyranny of conditions and reveals you as the preparer of your own place in this world.

From this night on, prepare your place with the quiet certainty that the world you enter is the one prepared by your assumption. There is no need to struggle. There is no need to wait. There is only the need to assume the state and feel it natural. Do this, and the place is prepared. Do this, and the entering is assured. This is the truth. This is the law. This is the way.