One Creative Moment

 "There is a moment in each day that Satan cannot find nor can his watch fiends find it; but the industrious find this moment and multiply it... And when it once is found, it renovates every moment of the day if rightly placed."

(William Blake)

Whenever we imagine things as they ought to be, rather than as they seem to be... that is
"The Moment" Blake is referring to and the moment that will be illuminated in this writing. For in that moment the spiritual man's work is done and all the great events of time start forth to mould a world in harmony with that moment's altered pattern. 

Satan, Blake writes, is a "reactor". He never acts, he only reacts. And if our attitude to the happenings of the day is  "reactionary", are we not playing Satan's part? Man is only "reacting" when in his natural or Satan state... he never acts or creates, he only reacts or re-creates. 

One real creative moment... one real feeling of the wish full-filled... is worth more than the whole natural life of your reaction to facts. In such a moment you could say, "God's work is done".Once more we may say with Blake:

"God only acts and Is, in existing beings or men."

There is an imaginal past and an imaginal future. When you are reacting, the past is re-created into the present. When you act out your dreams of fancy, with your Imagination, you bring the future into the present.

 "I feel NOW the future in the instant."  

The spiritual man acts: for him, anything that he wants to do, he can do and do immediately in his imagination, and his motto is always, "The Moment is Now".

"Behold, now is the acceptable time , behold, now is the day of salvation."

 Nothing stands between man and the fulfillment of his dream but facts: and facts are the creations of imagining. If man changes his imagining he will change the facts.

"The natural man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God for they are folly to him and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned."

 The following story tells of a young woman who found The Moment and, by acting out her dream of fancy, brought the future into the instant, not realizing what she had done until the final scene.

(This post and story are circa 1950,  and is edited for clarity and educational purposes from Neville's book, The Law and the Promise)

A woman writes:  "The incident related below must appear to be coincidence to those who were never exposed to your teaching, but I know I observed an imaginative act take solid form in, perhaps, 4 minutes. I believe you will be interested in reading this account, written down, exactly as it happened, a few minutes after the actual occurrence, yesterday morning. I was driving my car east on Sunset Boulevard, in the center lane of traffic breaking slowly to stop for a red signal and a 3 Way intersection, when my attention was caught by the site of an elderly lady, dressed all in gray, running across the street in front of my car. Forearm was raised, signaling to the driver of a bus which was beginning to pull away from the curb. She was obviously attempting to cross in front of the bus to delay it. 

The driver slowed his vehicle and I thought would allow her to enter. Instead, she jumped on the curb, the bus pulled away leaving her standing just in the act of lowering her arm. She turned and walked swiftly towards a nearby phone booth. As my signal changed to green and I put my car in motion, I wished I had been behind the bus and I had been able to offer her a ride. Her extreme agitation was obvious even from the distance I was away from her. 

My wish instantly fulfilled itself in a mental drama and as I drove away, the fancy played itself out in the following scene. In my Imagination... I open the car door and a lady dressed in gray stepped in smilingly relieved and thanking me profusely. She was out of breath from running and said, 'I only have a few blocks to go. I'm meeting friends and I was so afraid they would leave without me when I missed my bus.'  I left my imaginary lady out a few blocks farther on and she was delighted to observe her friends still waiting for her. She thanked me again and walked away. 

The entire mental scene I played in my Imagination,  in the time it takes to drive one block at a normal rate of speed. The fancy satisfied my feelings regarding the real incident, and I immediately forgot it. 4 blocks farther, I was still in the center lane and again I had to stop for a red signal. My attention at this time was turned inward on something I have now forgotten, when suddenly someone tapped on the closed window of my car and I looked up to see a lovely-appearing elderly lady with gray hair, dressed all in gray. Smiling, she asked if she might ride a few blocks with me as she had missed her bus.

She was out of breath, as though from running, and I was so stunned by her sudden appearance in the middle of a busy street at my window that for a moment I could only react physically, and without answering, leaned over and opened my car door. She got in and said, 'It's so annoying to rush and then miss a bus. I wouldn't have imposed on you like this, but I am supposed to meet some friends a few blocks down the street and if I had to walk now, I would miss them.' 6 blocks farther on, she exclaimed, 'Oh good! They're still waiting for me! I let her out and she thanked me again and walked away. 

I am afraid I drove to my own destination by automatic reflex, for I had fully recognized that I had just observed a waking dream take form in physical action. I recognized what was happening while it was happening. As soon as I could, I wrote down each part of the incident and found a startling consistency between the waking dream and the subsequent reality. 

Both women were elderly, gracious in Manor, dressed all in grey, and out of breath from hurrying to catch a bus and missing it. Both wished to meet friends, who for some reason could not wait for them much longer, and both left my car within the space of a few blocks after successfully completing their contact with their friends. I am amazed, confounded and elated!  I witnessed imagination become reality almost instantaneously." 

"There is a moment in each day that Satan cannot find, nor can his watch fiends find it: but the industrious find this moment and multiply it... And when it once is found, it renovates every moment of the day if rightly placed."