The Law of Identical Harvest
“Your every imaginal act is the planting of a seed, and the harvest is nothing more than the multiplication of the identical seed. You cannot change it.”
Neville Goddard
”The Identical Harvest”
July 1970
Today I’m using myself as an example of what happens when we plant negative seeds in consciousness. Although everything turned out fine in the end, I had to jump some unnecessary — and as always, self-created — hurdles to get here.
The negative seeds I’m talking about are those of Self-Doubt. We all deal with these from time to time, but this week, they planted themselves deep in my consciousness, took root, and just wouldn’t let go. My Self-Doubt looked like this: “I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t understand how this system works. Maybe I shouldn’t have made that awful poem public.” Echoes of Stephen King’s Carrie floated through my head: “They’re all gonna laugh at you! Moohahahaha!”
So, I’m openly admitting that even as a seasoned manifestor, a self-proclaimed Neville expert, I still have my good days and bad days. Yet, there’s a difference now: I am unwavering in my understanding that all seeds we plant in consciousness, all imaginal acts — good, bad, or ugly — produce an identical harvest in our lives.
This time, my identical harvest was paralyzing writer’s block, compounded by frequent distractions and general computer and Internet weirdness.
What IS the identical harvest?
Let’s put it in plain terms. To borrow a phrase from Joshua Tongol, a YouTuber I greatly admire: “You don’t get what you want. You get what you believe, yeh.” (Josh always says “yeh” at the end of that phrase, which I love.)
“What you believe” is another way of describing the seeds you plant in consciousness. “I’m having a hard time with this” is a belief and a seed. “I don’t know what to say, or what my readers want to hear” is another.
Thankfully, there’s also: “I know what I’m doing. I can overcome whatever life throws at me.” Or even better: “At the perfect moment, things always fall into place for me.” And even better than that: “I’m a great artist and writer, and I love sharing what I do.”
If you believe things are hard, struggle will be your harvest. But if you believe things are easy — or at least that you have what it takes to succeed — a clear path to your goal will be your harvest.
A sunflower seed can only grow a sunflower.
The lady in my drawing, who has unconsciously grown a different variety of flower, specifically wants to see sunflowers in her life. So what is she planting? Sunflower seeds. It works the same with anything in life.
The imaginal act is whatever you imagine, whether in passing or deliberately. Love is harvested when we enter a state of love in Imagination. On the other hand, entering a state of anger — having imaginary arguments with another — can only produce circumstances that reflect our anger.
“For my imaginal acts, whether they be in love or in fear, they are seeds, and must reap them.”
Neville
I wasn’t surprised when my seeds of Self-Doubt blossomed into writer’s block and delays. I’m grateful now to have the wisdom to connect the dots between my imaginal acts and the circumstances of my life. I’m moving forward in my life committed to uprooting those negative seeds before they take root and planting new ones in their place:
I CAN do this. My writing might not win a Pulitzer, but it’s authentic to me, and that counts for something. It comes from my heart, and that counts for even more. And sharing all this is what I’m on earth to do. I like to think that counts for everything. So there’s my seed: “I am doing the thing I’m called to do, and nurturing that calling every step of the way.”
And I want the same for you. What seeds are you planting in consciousness today? What can you sow in Imagination? Whatever it is, if you give that seed your unwavering belief and tend it lovingly, it will become a harvest in your life. Yeh. (Thanks, Joshua!)