If you’ve ever read any of Neville Goddard’s material, you’ve probably heard him mention “self concept.” Your self concept is the main thing that dictates the manifestations you experience in your life. Changing your self concept is the key to manifesting better things.
So, what does self concept mean in relation to manifesting?
Your self concept is the sum total of the assumptions you have about yourself. According to Neville Goddard, your world manifests in accordance with your “concept of self.” If you have negative assumptions about yourself, these assumptions manifest themselves as negative situations and circumstances in your life.
First, let’s look a bit deeper into what self concept really is and how it affects what you manifest. Changing your self concept is crucial, so we will also look at how to change it a bit later on.
What Is Self Concept in the Law of Assumption?
Your self concept is constructed by the beliefs and assumptions you have about yourself.
It is beliefs about yourself socially, financially, emotionally, physically, and so on that determine how much you’re succeeding in these areas. According to the principle of manifestation (particularly the Law of Assumption), your self concept does not only influence your own internal and external behavior but also manifests directly as external events and circumstances in the “real” world.
People with a self concept where they feel they are lovable and feel that they “deserve” and are “meant” to have love will manifest love in their life.
People who have a self concept of being rich will manifest richness. People who believe that their life is good, will manifest good things.
It is often said the world is a mirror. It reflects back to you your self concept.
Your self concept basically becomes your identity. It is the false “self” that you think you are. But since it can be changed, it is not who you truly are.
For example, do you think you are outgoing, or do you think you are shy? Do you think you are a likable person? Do you think you are lazy or disciplined? Do you think you are capable? These are the sorts of questions that reveal your self concept, the assumptions you hold about yourself. They can be changed and are, therefore, not the “true self.”
According to manifesting, your self concept determines what you experience in life, and it is, therefore, crucial to develop a better one in order to get better results.
The idea of self concept was popularized by Neville Goddard. Neville Goddard’s teachings on manifesting are often referred to as the Law of Assumption. You can read more about the Law of Assumption in my comparison of the Law of Assumption and the Law of Attraction.
Why Is Self Concept Important In Manifestation?
If your self concept, or the assumptions about yourself, is mostly negative, you will experience negative external events that reinforce the negative assumption you hold about yourself.
This also applies when manifesting specific things. You need a self concept that allows for the specific desire you have in mind to manifest.
Developing a constructive self concept is therefore very important.
As an example, many people believe that they are “not good enough.” They believe that they are not worthy enough to enjoy certain things. Following the rules of manifestation, negative self-assumptions manifest as negative circumstances. They encounter events in their life that deny them the good that they could otherwise have just as easily attained. This sort of assumption makes it very difficult to manifest anything, as you are “not good enough” to be able to manifest anything good.
As a further example of this, many people have some strange belief that they are not allowed or in some way do not deserve to have any money. If you have known nothing but poverty throughout your entire life, it is very natural that you would think in this manner. But this sort of self concept is exactly what keeps you stuck. You need to change the assumptions in order to change your external world.
Self Concept And “Everyone Is You Pushed Out”
The idea of self concept ties together with another idea by Neville Goddard, namely, the idea that “everyone is you pushed out,” or, in short, “EIYPO.”
EIYPO basically means that exactly as the phrase itself suggests. Every person, everything, every situation, is nothing but the manifestation of your inner world.
The assumption you have about yourself not only affect yourself but other people as well.
I also have an article on EIYPO where I look at how it works and why it matters.
What Does Neville Goddard Say About Self Concept?
“Change your conception of yourself and you will automatically change the world in which you live.”
Neville Goddard, Your Faith is Your Fortune
Neville Goddard often reinforced his students to look to the “self” to find true causation. According to him, there is nothing to change but self, and the external world will automatically mirror it. The only way to manifest something new is to develop new assumptions. Focusing on the self is a thread that runs through nearly all of Neville Goddard’s books and lectures.
Neville believed the true self to be the I AM, or the awareness of being. It is not the awareness of being something. Awareness is the “knower,” the thing that experiences but cannot be experienced. Your self concept is what you are aware of being. It is a concept developed by pure awareness. To change your experiences in life, you “must assume a higher concept of yourself.”
How Do You Change Your Self Concept?
To change your self concept you first need to understand that your self concept is not what you truly are. As stated before, you are simply just aware without concepts.
Make a self concept that makes you powerful, a self concept that allows you to live a life of freedom and progress, a life as you truly want it to be. Believe yourself to be strong, happy, confident, free, powerful, etc. It will not only manifest in your own behavior and mental state but also in your external world. Understand that the self goes far deeper and is far more powerful than the “you” on the surface.
Here is a list of things to do that will help you with developing a new self concept.
- Meditation
- Visualizing scenes
- Making Affirmations
- Deconstructing old assumptions
The things on the list are, of course, only suggestions. I will now expand on why I they are important.
Meditation
A good exercise is to do a meditation in which you completely let go of any concepts. Just be completely silent. Doing this consistently, part of you will begin to understand that you are not your self concept, but that you are the thing that is aware of the self concept. This makes it easier to assume a new self concept.
Visualizing Scenes
a great way to develop a new self concept, is to imagine that you are what you want to be with the use of imaginal scenes. This is a technique Neville referred to often.
For example, if you want to be rich, conjure up a scene that could potentially take place after you have gotten rich. It could be a scene where someone congratulates you or a scene where you have moved into a new home. It doesn’t really matter. The key is to feel it real as if you were actually there. You also need to see the world through your own eyes. The scene needs to imply to you that your goal have been attained.
This technique is often referred to as SATS. I have a detailed article on SATS which I highly recommend.
Affirmations
Affirmations, or positive statements, are always great. Simply make any sort of affirmation that, in some way or another, affirms that you now possess your new assumption about yourself. For example, “I am rich,” “I always have enough,” or whatever it may be. A way to make affirmations more effective is to say them in a deep meditative state.
I also encourage you to read my article on affirmations.
Deconstructing Old Assumptions
You can weaken your current self concept by losing the ground in which it is rooted. The simple act of becoming aware of a negative assumption you have about yourself makes it weaker. This is because you will most often find that the particular assumption doesn’t have any logical reason to be correct. The simple act of recognizing this makes the assumption a lot weaker.
Final Thoughts
Self concept is very important when it comes to manifesting. It is perhaps the most important thing to focus on, as there, as Neville said, is nothing to change but the self.
Your self concept determines the events which occur in your life. It not only affects you and your behavior but also literally creates your external world. Changing your self concept is necessary for manifesting new results.
You can change your self concept by changing the assumptions you hold of yourself. Imagine that you are what you desire to be will take root as an assumption that gradually begins to manifest if you only persist in it.
I hope you found this article helpful. Thanks for reading!
