Some of Elvis Presley’s favorite spiritual books. In the background is one of his gospel LP’s, given to me by my grandmother.

Inspired by Mitch Horowitz’s recent pilgrimage to Graceland, as my reading project for 2020 I am going to dive into the spiritual books known to have been read by Elvis Presley. Like Elvis, I was brought up in the Assemblies of God denomination of Pentecostalism and went on to develop a passion for metaphysics, as well as for other forms of spirituality very different from the paths of my childhood. Elvis was mentored on his spiritual journey by Larry Geller, who introduced Elvis to metaphysical classics like this one:

A very different gospel from the one taught in Elvis’s (and my own) Pentecostal youth.

I will be sharing my impressions here as I embark on my own journey. The vast majority of these books are ones I have never read or had even heard of before starting this project. I’ll write something about each one, with in-depth essays on the titles I find most moving or significant.

I’m starting out with the book pictured above, Levi Dowling’s “The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ,” in large part an account of Jesus’s “missing years.”

Join me, won’t you?

For now, I leave you with one of Elvis’s most cosmic songs…”Life.”

Elvis Presley - " Life " (words & music by Milete) Somewhere out in empty space, long before the human race, Something stirred, A vast and timeless source began, Intelligence was born and then, there was the world, Powers filled the universe, matter formed and broke the curse, Of nothingness,

P.S. The significance of this blog post’s title will be made clear later on in this adventure.

Neville Goddard, the “Mad Mystic of 48th Street”

"But those who heard and thought, ‘Now, he really is insane,’ and would challenge me from the audience, they became good students.”—Neville Goddard

Can you realize your objectives in life by taking a nap? That’s what Neville Goddard teaches, and yes, it does sound insane.

A spiritual belief that’s based on napping? Sign me up!

“Then relax in a comfortable arm chair, induce a state of consciousness akin to sleep and experience in imagination what you would experience in reality were you already that which you desire to be.”—Neville Goddard

Neville imagining that he’s back home in Barbados.

According to Neville, this is the secret to “changing the future.” And this is the simplest part of Neville’s theory to test. So let’s try it. Climb into your favorite chair, get sleepy, and capture the feeling of being the person you want to be. Neville says the process of creating reality isn’t complete until the world acknowledges you as being who you want to be. So it’s helpful to imagine that someone else seeing you as being successful and to hear that person congratulating you.

Martin Crane’s armchair from “Frasier.” Was Marty a student of Neville’s?

Are you back?

Now that you’ve taken your “Neville nap,” it’s important to spend the rest of the day acting like what you’ve imagined is already true. Neville promises that “if you will remain faithful to that state of consciousness, what is seen only in your imagination will objectify itself in your world.”

“After you have assumed the feeling of the wish fulfilled, do not close the experience as you would a book, but carry it around like a fragrant odor.”—Neville Goddard

Neville says that the whole process will fail if you don’t change your consciousness. In a chapter called “Failure” in his book “The Power of Awareness,” Neville maintains, “You must realize that changes are not caused by caprice, but by a change of consciousness. You may fail to achieve or sustain the particular state of consciousness necessary to produce the effect you desire.”

And so to disprove Neville, I am concentrating on the state of consciousness I would have if I were the person that I want to be. One of Neville’s influences, William Blake, once said, “A fool sees not the same tree that the wise man sees.”

How would the person that I want to be see the world?

A good question to keep asking yourself as you attempt to change your consciousness.

Throughout the day today, I will act like I’m already the one that I want to be.

I want Neville’s philosophy to be true. I want his techniques to work. As Mitch Horowitz writes in “One Simple Idea,” his classic history of the positive-thinking movement: “Any defender or detractor of positive thinking must weigh his perspective against one simple, ultimate question: Does it work?”

But if Neville Goddard’s theory isn’t true, and if his process doesn’t work, I’m going to disprove it. And, as Neville says, “completely discard it.”

But I hope his philosophy works. And if it does ( or doesn’t) I’ll let you know…in my next post, “Disproving Neville, Part III.”

If I follow Neville’s teachings, will I become an aristocrat of the spirit?

Neville Goddard in a Promethean mood.

Neville wants you…to put his philosophy to the test.

“If it is not true, you must completely discard it.” —Neville

Neville Goddard and the Time Machine

Lately, I’ve been trying to disprove the philosophy of Neville Goddard. In a nutshell, his philosophy is that you can imagine yourself into becoming the person that you want to be. But is that really true?

In his lecture, “Thinking Fourth-Dimensionally,” Neville says: “Take my challenge and put this philosophy to the test. If it does not work, you should not use it as a comforter. If it is not true, you must completely discard it. I know it is true. You will not know it is true until you try either to prove or disprove it.”

Neville Goddard and the Screen of Space

“Prove or disprove this law. I know that if you attempt to disprove it, you will prove it, and I will be the richer for your proving it, not in dollars, not in things, but because you become the living fruit of what I believe I am teaching in this world.” —Neville

Neville would not compromise his teachings.

I have been reading (and listening to) Neville’s books and lectures for years. I have drawn numerous portraits of Neville and other artworks inspired by him.

But have I proven (or disproved) his philosophy?

And so, once and for all, I am “putting it to the test” as Neville would say.

This philosophy has helped me through difficult times in my life—but has this philosophy been just a “comforter,” making me feel better until circumstances improved? In that case, this belief has just been a bowl of spiritual ice cream (a bowl? who am I kidding—I’ve been eating it straight from the carton) to console myself with. Not a philosophy that makes any concrete improvements in my life.

“If I would now assume I am what I want to be, and if I am faithful to it and walk as though I were, the very longest stretch given for its realization is three days.”—Neville

One of Neville’s inspiring quotations, with a butterfly, a symbol of Resurrection.

Starting today, I will be testing Neville’s philosophy. I’m going to give it three days.

“Too many of us have joined ‘isms’ and we are afraid to put them to the test because we feel we might fail; and, then, where are we?”—Neville

The four mystical steps to using your wonderful human imagination to become the person you want to be.

I know that if I disprove Neville’s philosophy, I will be left wondering, “Where am I ?”

But that is the chance I have to take. I will be keeping you updated on my attempt to disprove Neville’s theories.

“Neville’s Garden.” Neville says that “You are in your garden of Gethsemane or prepared mind if you can, while you are in a state akin to sleep, control your imagination and not let it wander away from its purpose. If you can do that you are definitely in the garden.”

“I hope you will be bold enough to challenge this instruction and either prove or disprove it.” —Neville

Two daredevils—Neville and Knievel.

Does the magic work?

Stay tuned and find out…

Dr. Ernest Holmes is one of my favorite writers in the positive-thinking movement. His inspiring books include his classic text “Science of Mind” as well as works like “Creative Mind” and “This Thing Called You.”

In his classic history of the New Thought movement, “One Simple Idea,” historian Mitch Horowitz writes: “Ernest Holmes was a Maine Yankee who remade himself as a California mystic—and became one of New Thought’s greatest shapers and popularizers. While never widely known, Holmes stood at the center of Hollywood’s mystical scene in the first half of the twentieth century, attracting admirers from Cecil B. DeMille to Elvis Presley.”

I completed a portrait of Dr. Holmes today. I wanted to concentrate on using fairly large areas of black so the drawing wouldn’t look washed out but instead show some bold contrast.

I hope that I was able to capture the wisdom and kindness (and humor!) of Dr. Ernest Holmes in this ink portrait.

Starting out with Graphite

Starting out with a preliminary drawing, as accurate as possible, made with a Staedtler HB graphite pencil.

“To overcome fear is the greatest adventure of the mind.” —Dr. Ernest Holmes

Inking with a Fountain Pen

Enhancing the drawing of Dr. Holmes with a fountain pen.

Adding ink with a fountain pen to my portrait of positive-thinking pioneer Dr. Ernest Holmes.

“Prepare your mind to receive the best that life has to offer.” —Dr. Ernest Holmes

The Completed Portrait

Portrait of Dr. Holmes, ink on paper.

I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into how I create a drawing and what inspires me. And if the work of Dr. Holmes intrigues you, I hope you will check it out—I think you will find it very rewarding!

“There is a power, and it does work, and it’s working right now.” —Dr. Ernest Holmes

One of my favorite quotes is by positive-thinking pioneer and author of "Think and Grow Rich" Napoleon Hill:

A digital drawing I made of Napoleon Hill with his words of wisdom.

I committed myself to being an artist during a difficult time in my life. You know those tests that assign points to stressful life events? A number of those events occurred in a short period of time so my score was pretty high. One thing that helped get me through this time was the New Thought or Positive Thinking movement, especially books by mind-power pioneers like Neville Goddard and Joseph Murphy.

Dr. Joseph Murphy taught the power of the subconscious mind.

During this time, my friend Mitch Horowitz challenged me to create a body of work featuring portraits of New Thought heroes like Neville and Dr. Murphy. And so for the past four years or so I have been creating portraits of positive-mind philosophers.

My friend Mitch Horowitz challenged me to portray the giants of positive thinking.

Emma Curtis Hopkins, the "teacher of teachers"

"The Power of Positive Thinking" author Norman Vincent Peale.

The truly heroic Helen Wilmans.

This was Neville's reply when someone urged him to compromise his message.

The legendary Dr. Holmes

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As you can see I like combining pictures and words

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"Every day in every way, I am getting better and better." Émile Coué inspired the Beatles.

Marcus Garvey was inspired by mind metaphysics.

Positive thinking goes Steampunk.

And so it was during a time of adversity that I committed myself to being an artist, and embraced the philosophy of positive, transformative thought. Once I committed myself to this project of portraying New Thought Heroes, I gained confidence and a sense of purpose. I no longer was just sketching without a sense of meaning. And I now had a Definite Chief Aim-- to become a professional artist. My sense of purpose changed all of my artwork. My drawings of cats now had the purpose not just of capturing their beauty and personality but also to help promote animal welfare and animal rescue. "Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit..." I hope that this quotation will inspire you as it has inspired me through some difficult hours. I also hope that my artwork will be a reminder (to myself as well!) that this quotation is true. It was during a season of "adversity...failure...heartache" that the seed was planted and I was taught by life to learn--the Art of Positive Thinking.

Neville Goddard as Prometheus bringing the gift of imagination to humanity.

I first learned of Neville Goddard while browsing in a mind/body/spirit bookstore in Raleigh, North Carolina. I was intrigued by the drawing on the cover of an open eye within a heart shaped tree, as well as by what I read of his background--a former dancer and actor from Barbados? And the fact that he used only his first name

A portrait of Neville with one of his favorite phrases.

A few years later, during a difficult time in my life which coincided with my decision to devote myself to my artwork, I started reading Neville again. Neville's message boils down to using your imagination not for wish-fulfillment fantasies, but to actively become the person you want to be. You do this by "assuming the feeling of the wish fulfilled." And don't try to imagine HOW it's going to happen, but instead imagine that everything has already been accomplished. He called it "living in the end" or "living from the end."

Neville says "Live from the End"

Neville said that the best time to imagine yourself as the person you want to be is in that state of feeling sleepy but not quite falling asleep. (For more information on Neville's techniques, life, and philosophy, see "The Miracle Club" by Mitch Horowitz.)

"Neville & the Magical Real-life Cat-nap."

Neville tells us to "deny the evidence of the senses" and concentrate on what we want. When I decided that I was going to commit myself to becoming an artist, I didn't concentrate on whatever weaknesses I saw in my artwork at the time. Instead, I kept before me constantly a vision of myself as creating the kind of art that I wanted to create. I also used active imagination to put myself in the emotional state of being a creative, productive artist. I continue to use these techniques as I work to improve my artwork. I also continue to "assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled" to help me achieve my Definite Chief Aim of being a professional artist.

Neville Goddard used his imagination to get to Barbados.

As "The Magician of Beautiful," Neville taught the magic of using "your wonderful human imagination" to conjure up what you most desire in life. I create pictures of Neville Goddard to remind myself how powerful my imagination can be, and also to pay tribute to Neville as an inspiration. I hope my images of Neville will help inspire you to believe that with your imagination you can become the person that you want to be!

Neville Goddard as "The Magician of the Beautiful."