#19: Assumptions Become Facts

Assumptions Become Facts

A Lecture in the Voice and Spirit of Neville Goddard

My friends, listen closely tonight. Whatever you assume to be true—persistently—hardens into fact. This is the law. It is not a theory, not a hope, not a possibility among others. It is the law by which your world is formed and reformed every moment. You are living it now, whether you know it or not. Every condition you see about you, every experience you encounter, is nothing more than the outpicturing of assumptions you have held in consciousness. And because you have held them, they have hardened into fact.

You may look upon your life and feel trapped by circumstances that appear solid and unyielding. You may say, “This is reality.” But I tell you, that so-called reality is only the frozen form of yesterday’s assumptions. It has no power in itself. It is plastic to the assumption you choose to hold this very night. Change the assumption, persist in it, and the outer world must rearrange itself to reflect the new inner conviction. Assumptions become facts. This is the great secret revealed.

The world and all within it is man’s consciousness objectified. Your assumption is your consciousness of being a certain way. When you assume you are something, when you feel the truth of it in the depths of your being, you have entered a state. And every state in consciousness must express itself. It cannot do otherwise. The assumption, though it may seem false to the senses at first, if persisted in, will harden into fact. It will take on the tones of reality. It will clothe itself in the garments of your outer world until you can no longer deny it.

This is not magic. This is the operation of the only creative power there is—your own awareness of being. You are the operant power. Nothing else operates. The outer world is passive. It waits upon your assumption. It has no choice but to reflect what you have accepted as true within. Therefore, assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled. Persist in that assumption until it becomes natural to you, until it feels real, until you live and move and have your being in it as though it were already so. Then watch the world conform.

You do not have to struggle or force or plead. The law is simple and absolute. Assume it is done. Feel it as true. Remain faithful to that inner conviction no matter what the eyes see or the ears hear. The senses will shout the old story for a time, but their testimony is not final. Their testimony is the echo of an assumption you have already outgrown. Stand firm in the new assumption. Persist. And that which you have assumed will harden into fact.

Let this truth sink deep into your being tonight. Assumptions become facts. It is not that they might become facts if you are worthy or lucky or clever enough. No. They become facts by the very nature of consciousness itself. Consciousness is the only reality. What you are conscious of being, you express. What you assume to be true of yourself, of others, of the world, must come to pass. There is no escape from this law. It operates with mathematical precision. The only question is which assumption you will choose to hold.

You who feel stuck in lack, in limitation, in illness, in conflict—hear this. The condition you now face was born of an assumption you once accepted, perhaps unconsciously. But you are not bound by it. You can assume a new state this moment. You can feel yourself to be free of that condition. You can feel the relief, the joy, the naturalness of the new state. And if you persist in that assumption, if you return to it again and again until it becomes your habitual feeling, it will harden into fact. The old condition will dissolve as though it had never been, because it never had any reality apart from your former assumption.

This is the way of creation. It has always been so. Man has always been creating his world by assumption, but most often in ignorance. He has assumed the worst, assumed limitation, assumed defeat, and then wondered why life seemed so hard. Tonight I invite you to become conscious of the creative act. Become deliberate. Choose your assumption with care. Assume the best. Assume the fulfilled desire. Assume the wish as already realized. Persist in that assumption, and you will see the law operate with the same certainty that night follows day.

How do you make the assumption real? You do it by feeling. Feeling is the secret. Not mere intellectual assent, but the deep, quiet feeling of the thing being true. You close your eyes to the evidence of the senses for a moment and you enter the state desired. You feel yourself to be the man or woman you want to be. You feel the circumstances you want to experience as natural, as normal, as already so. You live in that feeling. You move in it. You breathe it. You make it your home in consciousness. And because you have made it your home, because you have persisted in it, it must objectify itself. Assumptions become facts.

You may say, “But the facts contradict me.” I tell you, the facts you see are not the final facts. They are the outpicturing of yesterday. They have no power to prevent the new assumption from hardening into new facts. Ignore the seeming contradiction. It is only temporary. It is the last echo of the old state. Turn your attention resolutely to the new assumption. Dwell in it. Feel it to the exclusion of all else. Let no doubt enter. Persist, and the new assumption will crowd out the old and take its place as the new reality.

This law is impartial. It works for the saint and the sinner alike. It works whether you understand it or not. It is operating in your life right now. The only difference between the man who suffers and the man who rejoices is the difference in their assumptions. One assumes limitation and sees it confirmed. The other assumes freedom and sees freedom confirmed. Both are right according to their assumption. Both are creating their world by the same law. Assumptions become facts.

Therefore, tonight, choose wisely. Assume the noblest, the most desirable state you can conceive. Assume it with conviction. Assume it with feeling. Assume it persistently. Do not waver. Do not look back. Do not ask how it will happen. The how is not your concern. The law knows the way. Your only concern is to assume the end and to persist in that assumption until it feels natural. When it feels natural, when you can rest in it as a man rests in his own home, then the outer world will be transformed to match the inner conviction. It cannot fail. Assumptions become facts.

Let me impress this upon you again and again, because repetition is the mother of learning in these matters. Whatever you assume to be true, persistently, hardens into fact. It is not a matter of time. It is a matter of persistence in the assumption. Some assumptions harden quickly. Others require more sustained attention. But all will harden if you persist. The time it takes is determined only by the degree to which you remain faithful to the new feeling. Remain faithful. Return to the assumption again and again throughout the day and especially in the quiet moments before sleep. Let it be the last impression on your mind at night and the first upon awakening. Persist, and it will harden into fact.

You are not at the mercy of conditions. Conditions are at the mercy of your assumptions. You are the lord of your assumptions. You decide what shall be assumed. You decide what shall be felt as true. And what you feel as true must come to pass. This is your birthright. This is your heritage as a son of the Most High. You were given this power from the beginning. It is the power to assume any state and to have that state objectified. Use it consciously tonight. Assume the state of your desire fulfilled. Persist in it. And watch the miracle of the law unfold.

The senses will test you. They will present the old picture. They will try to convince you that nothing has changed. Do not believe them. They are only reporting the old assumption. They have no creative power. Your assumption is the creative power. Stand firm in the new assumption. Laugh at the testimony of the senses if you must, but do not abandon the inner conviction. The inner must prevail. The outer must conform. Assumptions become facts.

This truth liberates you completely. It frees you from blame, from regret, from fear of the future. The past is nothing but a former assumption that has already hardened. Let it go. It has served its purpose. The future is waiting to be molded by the assumption you hold now. You are not bound by any chain except the chain of your own assumptions. Break that chain by assuming the new state. Persist in the new assumption, and every chain dissolves.

You who have struggled long and hard in the outer world, who have tried to change things by changing actions alone, hear this. Actions follow assumptions. Change the assumption first, and the actions will change of themselves. You need not force the outer self to behave differently. When the assumption is changed and persisted in, the outer self will automatically express the new state. It cannot do otherwise. The inner change is the only change that matters. All else follows.

Assume tonight that you are the man or woman you long to be. Feel it. Live in it. Persist in it. Do not let the day’s events pull you back into the old assumption. Whenever you catch yourself slipping into the old feeling, gently return to the new one. Assume it again. Feel it again. Persist. The law is faithful. It will not fail you. Assumptions become facts.

This is the gospel of creation. It has been hidden in plain sight throughout the ages. The prophets knew it. The wise ones of every tradition pointed to it. But it is so simple that man has overlooked it. He has looked outside himself for the cause of his world when the cause was always within—his own assumption. Tonight the scales fall from your eyes. You see clearly. The power is in your hands. The law is in your consciousness. Assume the desired state. Persist in it. And it will harden into fact.

You need no special talent, no special training, no special conditions. The law works for all alike. The only requirement is persistence in the assumption. Feel the wish fulfilled. Remain in that feeling. Walk in it. Sleep in it. Awaken in it. Let it become your natural state of being. Then the outer world, which is only a reflection, must change to match the new inner reality. It has no choice. Assumptions become facts.

Let this truth burn itself into your mind tonight. Carry it with you as you leave this place. Let it be your constant companion. Whenever doubt arises, return to the assumption. Whenever fear knocks at the door, assume the state of courage and fulfillment. Whenever lack appears, assume the state of abundance. Persist, and the law will prove itself. It always does. It cannot fail.

My friends, you are the makers of your world. You have always been. Now you know it consciously. Now you can use the law deliberately. Assume the highest and the best. Assume it with all the feeling you can muster. Persist in that assumption until it feels true, until it feels real, until you can rest in it as naturally as you rest in your own name. Then relax. Let the law operate. It will not disappoint you. The assumption will harden into fact.

This is the end of struggle. This is the beginning of conscious creation. This is the freedom that has always been yours. Claim it tonight. Assume the state desired. Persist. And live in the joy of the realization that whatever you assume to be true—persistently—hardens into fact.

You are now that which you have assumed. Feel it. Know it. Persist in it. And the world will bear witness to the truth of your assumption. It cannot do otherwise. For assumptions become facts. This is the law. This is the truth. This is the way.