Neville Lancelot Goddard

Neville Lancelot Goddard (February 19, 1905 – October 1, 1972), who used a solitary pen name Neville, was a Barbadian-American author and mystic who wrote on the true meaning of the Bible as non-secular history, not historicity, but rather strictly and simply parables teaching humanity the pathway to spiritual awakening and true salvation. His essential teaching was one's imagination is God, that we are all God incarnated as man, re-awakening to our God consciousness through the Christ (the power and wisdom of God) within us.

Early life

Goddard was born in Fontabelle, Saint Michael, Barbados on February 19, 1905, to Joseph Nathaniel Goddard, a merchant and Wilhelmina Goddard, (née Hinkson). Neville was the fourth of ten children. He was also the older brother to cricketer and businessman John Goddard.[1] At age 17, Goddard emigrated to New York City in 1922 to study drama and began his theatrical career as a dancer at the Hippodrome in New York in 1925.[2][3]

Between 1929 and 1936, he was mentored by an Ethiopian rabbi named Abdullah in New York. During this time, Abdullah introduced him to the Kabbalah and taught him the Hebrew.[3] New Thought author Joseph Murphy also acknowledged Abdullah as his teacher.[4]

In 1942, at the age of 38, he was drafted into the army and stationed at Camp Polk, Louisiana in the 11th Armoured Division. After serving just 9 months he was granted an honorable discharge from his Battalion Commanding Officer Colonel Theodore Bilbough Jr. It was after this brief stint in the Army[5] that he was naturalized as a United States citizen, having been a British citizen up to this point.

Career

Goddard's earliest known career was as a professional dancer. While touring with his dance company in England, he developed an interest in metaphysics after he met Scotsman, Arthur Begbie who introduced him to the world of psychical research, giving Neville his first taste of the spiritualistic seance. When he returned to New York he became associated with a Rosicrucian body.[2] In February 1938, he began lecturing in Old Actor’s Church in New York.[2]

After traveling extensively throughout the United States, Neville eventually made his home in Los Angeles in 1952. In early 1950s, Goddard lectured at The Town Hall on religious topics.[5] In his 1931 lecture "Imagination plus Faith", he spoke of his brief career in television, “I did just what I am doing now, they gave me a lectern, I simply sat at a desk and spoke”. It was during the mid-1950’s that he began his short stint on television. Broadcast in L.A. on channel 11 he had 26 half hour shows which went on air between 2pm and 2.30pm every Sunday. The shows were simple in production, consisting of Goddard speaking extemporaneously to the television audience on biblical esotericism. The program averaged viewing audiences in excess of 300,000 on a weekly basis. The show was eventually cancelled when Channel 11 Studios were unable to secure advertisers suitable to the audience. In 1954, Goddard was reportedly planning a "metaphysical telefilm show", though it is unclear if the project came to fruition.[6] In the 1960s and early 1970s, he confined most of his lectures in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York.

Legacy

Jonathan L. Walton has contended that Frederick Eikerenkoetter, best known as Reverend Ike, in particular adopted theories and teachings rooted in Goddard's ideas.[7] Rhonda Byrne and Wayne Dyer have noted that Goddard shaped their views.[8] Margaret Runyan Castaneda, ex-wife and later biographer of Carlos Castaneda, was interested in Goddard's work and introduced Castaneda to Goddard's ideas.[9]

Personal Life

Goddard married Mildrid Mary Hughes in 1923. Hughes was born on March 29, 1901, in Lancaster & Blackburn, England, and passed away on November 09, 1979, in New York City. The couple had one child, Joseph Neville Goddard, born on May 19, 1924, in New York City, who later died on March 01, 1986, in the same city. In 1942, Goddard married Catherine Willa Van Schmus. Van Schmus was born on February 02, 1907, in New Jersey, USA, and died on January 01, 1975, in Los Angeles, California, USA. From this union, they had a daughter, Victoria Goddard, born on June 28, 1942.[10]

Death

Goddard died on October 1, 1972, aged 67, from an esophageal rupture. He had been a resident of Los Angeles for roughly 20 years.[11]

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neville_Lancelot_Goddard