#21: The Law of Reversibility

The Law of Reversibility

A Lecture in the Voice and Spirit of Neville Goddard

You who sit here tonight, burdened by the seeming hardness of your world, by the conditions that appear fixed and unyielding—listen. You have prayed, you have hoped, you have struggled, yet the thing desired has not appeared. Why? Because you have approached the throne of creation from the wrong direction. You have looked upon the outer world as cause and your inner state as effect. But I tell you, the law works both ways. The law of reversibility declares that if a state would produce a feeling, then that feeling can and must produce the state. This is the basis of all manifestation. This is the secret that unlocks every door.

All transformations of force are reversible. That which heat can do, mechanical motion can do in return. That which electricity can produce in magnetism, magnetism can produce in electricity. The voice sets up undulatory currents, and those currents can reproduce the voice. Cause and effect are one; they are interchangeable. You have seen this in the outer world of science, yet you have never applied it to the inner world of your own being. You have accepted that the outer condition creates your mood, your feeling, your state of consciousness. But the law is reversible. The feeling you would have if your desire were now realized can, by the same law, bring that realization into being.

If you knew how you would feel were you to realize your objective, then, inversely, you would know what state you could realize were you to awaken in yourself such feeling. The injunction to pray believing that you already possess what you pray for rests upon this very knowledge of the law of inverse transformation. Your realized prayer produces in you a definite feeling or state of consciousness. Therefore, that particular feeling or state of consciousness must produce your realized prayer. Because all transformations of force are reversible, you should always assume the feeling of your fulfilled wish.

You awaken within yourself the feeling that you are and have that which heretofore you desired to be and to possess. This is easily done by contemplating the joy that would be yours were your objective an accomplished fact, so that you live and move and have your being in the feeling that your wish is realized. The feeling of the wish fulfilled, if assumed and sustained, must objectify the state that would have created it.

If a physical fact can produce a psychological state, a psychological state can produce a physical fact. If the effect A can be produced by the cause B, then inversely, the effect B can be produced by the cause A. Therefore, what things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you have received them, and you shall have them. This is not a mere hopeful wish. This is the operation of an eternal law.

You see, the world you walk in is but the out-picturing of your own consciousness. The conditions that surround you are the solidified feelings you have entertained. You have lived in the feeling of lack, and lack has appeared. You have lived in the feeling of limitation, and limitation has closed every door. But the law works both ways. The very feeling you would entertain if limitation were gone, if lack had vanished, if the health, the wealth, the harmony you seek were already yours—that feeling, sustained, will reverse the entire movement and bring the outer world into conformity with it.

You do not need to coerce the outer world. You do not need to fight against conditions. You simply enter the feeling that would be yours if the conditions were already as you desire them to be. And because the law of reversibility is absolute, the feeling must reproduce its cause. It must externalize itself. It cannot do otherwise. The energy awakened within you transforms itself into the very state you have felt.

Tonight, right now, choose any desire that haunts you. Do not look at the present evidence of the senses. Turn from what is to what ought to be. Assume the mood of the fulfilled desire. Feel it so completely that the outer world fades, and in its place stands the living reality of that which you have felt. Live in that feeling. Walk in it. Sleep in it. Let it become the natural state of your being. And by the universal law of reversibility, that which you feel must appear.

You may say, “But how can I feel it when the evidence denies it?” My friend, the evidence is only the out-picturing of your former feeling. It has no power to hold you once you change the feeling. The outer world is plastic to your inner state. It is forever molding itself to the feeling you sustain. Change the feeling, and the mold changes. The law knows no other way.

Consider the simplicity of it. If the realization of your desire would bring you a deep, quiet joy, then enter that joy now. Do not wait for the outer confirmation. The joy itself is the cause. The joy itself is the creative power. Sustain it, and the outer world must rearrange itself to match the joy you have claimed as your own. If health would bring you ease and freedom of movement, then feel that ease now. Move in your imagination as one who is already whole. The feeling of wholeness will reverse the currents and produce the state of health. If abundance would bring you peace and generosity of spirit, then feel that peace and that generosity now. The feeling of abundance, sustained, will objectify itself in your world as the very riches you once sought.

This is not theory. This is law. It is as inexorable as the law that turns night into day or summer into autumn. You cannot break it. You can only use it or ignore it. Most of you have ignored it. You have lived as though the outer world were the master and your feeling the slave. But I declare to you tonight that your feeling is the master, and the outer world is the obedient servant. Reverse the order in your own consciousness, and you reverse the order in your world.

You who are burdened with problems, who feel the weight of responsibilities that seem too heavy to bear—know this: the problem exists only because you have accepted the feeling of the problem. Release that feeling. Enter the feeling that the problem is solved. How would you feel if the solution were already yours? Feel it. Dwell in it. Let that feeling become so real that the problem loses all reality in your consciousness. And by the law of reversibility, the feeling of solution will produce the solution. It cannot fail.

You who long for harmony in your home, for love in your relationships—do not look to the other person to change. Change your feeling. Feel the joy and the peace that would be yours if harmony already reigned. Assume that feeling, sustain it, and the outer relationships must conform. The law is impartial. It works for the one who applies it, whether he knows its name or not. But when you know it consciously, you become master of your world.

Every night as you retire, practice this. Before sleep claims you, enter the feeling of the wish fulfilled. Contemplate the joy that would be yours were your desire already realized. Fall asleep in that feeling. Let it be the last conscious impression upon your mind. And in the morning, awaken in that same feeling. Carry it with you through the day. Whenever the senses would tempt you to accept the old state, gently return to the feeling of fulfillment. Do this persistently, and you will see the law in operation. You will watch the outer world reshape itself to match the inner state you have assumed.

Do not be concerned with how it will happen. The how is not your concern. Your concern is to assume the feeling. The law of reversibility will take care of the rest. It will find the means. It will open the doors. It will arrange the circumstances. All you need do is live in the end. Feel it as already accomplished. And because feeling and state are interchangeable, the state must appear.

You have perhaps prayed in the past with little result. Why? Because your prayer was a petition born of lack. You prayed from the consciousness of not having. But true prayer is not supplication; it is assumption. It is the feeling of the wish fulfilled. When you pray, you do not beg. You claim. You enter the state desired. You feel it as natural. And the law, being reversible, must bring that state into outer expression.

This is the art of prayer. This is the science of manifestation. It rests upon the simple, majestic truth that all transformations are reversible. Your world is the out-picturing of your consciousness. Change the consciousness by changing the feeling, and the world changes. There is no other way.

You who feel stuck, who believe the door is closed forever—hear me. There is no closed door in the kingdom of your own being. The door is your feeling. Open it by assuming the feeling of the fulfilled desire. Walk through it in imagination. Live there. And the outer world will swing wide to match the inner reality you have claimed.

Tonight, as you sit here, choose one desire. Do not scatter your attention. Take one clear objective. Know how you would feel if it were now accomplished. Enter that feeling. Let it permeate your entire being. Let it become so real that the present condition seems the dream and the new state the reality. Sustain it. Return to it again and again. And watch. By the law of reversibility, that which you feel must come to pass.

The feeling of the wish fulfilled is the creative act. It is the very substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Assume it. Live in it. And it will objectify itself. This is the promise. This is the law. And the law never fails.

You are the operant power. You are the one who decides which feeling shall reign in your consciousness. Choose the feeling of fulfillment. Choose it now. Choose it tonight. Choose it every moment of every day. And your world will be transformed. The conditions that seemed fixed will dissolve. The limitations that appeared insurmountable will vanish. For you have applied the law of reversibility, and the feeling you have sustained has become the state you now express.

This is the great secret. This is the key that turns every lock. Not by effort, not by struggle, but by the simple, natural assumption of the feeling of the wish fulfilled. The law is perfect. It is operating now, this very instant, in your life. Use it consciously. Use it with understanding. And you will prove to yourself, beyond all doubt, that if a state would produce a feeling, then the feeling can and does produce the state.

Go now into this night knowing that you are the master of your world. The power is within you. The law is within you. Awaken the feeling of your desire fulfilled, and watch your world conform. It must. It cannot do otherwise. For the law of reversibility is the law of your being, and you are its perfect expression.

You are not the victim of circumstance. You are the creator of circumstance. Through the feeling you sustain, you create. Sustain the feeling of the wish fulfilled, and the wish is fulfilled. This is the truth. This is the way. This is the life.

And now, as you leave this place, carry with you this one mighty realization: the feeling you would have if your prayer were answered is the answer itself. Enter it. Live in it. Be it. And by the eternal law of reversibility, it shall be done unto you exactly as you have felt.

You are free. You have always been free. Tonight you have remembered your freedom. Use it. And the world will bear witness to the glory of your awakened imagination.

This is the law. This is the promise. And it is yours—now.