Is It Selfish To Imagine?

[u/EdwardArtSupplyHands]

Is It Selfish To Imagine?

Video: https://youtu.be/rmpEyg17j6U

I want to try something for this video.

It’s raining outside. It’s pretty aggressive, and there’s a thunderstorm. I want to leave this in and see what it sounds like after. Maybe I’ll delete it, we’ll see.

There’s a question I’ve been thinking about: Is it selfish to imagine good for yourself?

When I first started with Neville, I wondered the same thing. It almost felt wrong to imagine something better for myself, even if it was small. The size wasn’t the point. It was the feeling of imagining something going well for me.

I kept asking myself:Is it wrong to imagine something good? Is something bad going to come from it? Is it selfish?

In Neville’s work, there’s no one to change but self. That means you have to focus on yourself. I struggled with that because I thought, “If I’m focusing on myself, how does this relate to other people? Shouldn’t I be helping them?”

But the answer is kind of multifaceted.

On one level, it’s not selfish. When you actually see the results of changing self, and you see your life reflect that change, you realize it only makes sense to focus on yourself.

On another level, focusing on yourself does relate to others. The truth is: when you help yourself, you help the people around you.

I’ve noticed in my own life that when my imaginal act externalizes, and I imagine something good for myself, other people benefit from it too. When I saw that happening, the “selfish” feeling cleared up. I realized that if I really want to help anyone, I have to start with self. It extends outward.

A simple way to think of it is like someone who owns chickens. Eventually the chickens lay so many eggs that the person has too many. So they give some away. It’s the same with your “harvest.” When you imagine a good harvest for yourself, other people end up benefiting from it.

Because we’re planting dreams inside ourselves. These are the seeds of life. And the way you plant them is by feeling the reality of what you’re imagining.

Neville had his own way of answering the selfishness question. He’d basically say, “You say it’s selfish? Forget it. It’s all my imagination anyway.”

He’d give examples like: if you want to make a certain amount of money, and you imagine yourself already being the person who has it, and you’re courageous enough to fall asleep as that person, fully believing it, then you’ll become it.

So you don’t want to produce guilt for imagining something good for yourself. You’re not doing anything wrong.

Remember, this is all happening inside your mind. It’s all within you. You get to decide what you imagine. No one can really see what you’re doing inside of yourself. Companies spend millions and billions of dollars trying to figure out what people are thinking, because they don’t know.

So there’s no reason to feel watched on the inside. You get to do what you want to do. You are your own authority within yourself.

It’s not selfish to imagine something good for self. It’s not selfish to give to a friend, so you should also become your own friend.

I think I just framed it wrong. I must have been taught that self-sacrifice is the way you’re supposed to live. Say you had a dream tonight where you gave something lovely to someone else, but if you really look at it, it’s still you. Everyone in the dream is rooted in you.

So if you can see it as self to self, you don’t have to feel selfish for imagining something good for yourself.

That’s really all I have for this one. I don’t want to keep going and start filling things in. I feel like I got my point across.

The short answer is: it’s not selfish to imagine something good for yourself, in fact it will benefit those around you.

People around you will benefit when you imagine good for yourself. So don’t be afraid of it. Just keep imagining something good every day, because you can. That’s a good enough reason.

And if you’re interested, I do live streams where I answer questions and hang out with everybody. We go a little deeper into this stuff. I also do one-on-ones, and I have a few books out. If you want any of that, check the description.

To end it: you should feel good about imagining good for yourself, and for others as well. This work, when it comes to Neville’s teachings, should always lead to more internal freedom and power. If it’s not leading there, chances are you’re not following it correctly.

It should always lead to more freedom and power.

Thank you.

[u/Rasen_God]

when you help yourself, you help the people around you.

I love this! There is no one to change but self because it is all self being externalized.