The Bible is not condemning creativity or imagination. It is revealing a subtler truth: how the human mind forgets its own creative power and bows to what it has made. Neville Goddard taught that Scripture is a psychological drama, not a record of external events. Isaiah 44 is a perfect example of this.
Isaiah 44:13
“The workman stretches out his line; he marks it with a pencil; he makes it level with planes, he draws it with a compass, and makes it in the shape of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house.”
On the surface, this describes a skilled tradesman. But in context, Isaiah is showing how idols are formed — not from stone or wood, but from thought and assumption.
The Carpenter as the Imagining Mind
The carpenter represents imagination working unconsciously. The mind measures, outlines, smooths, and shapes an idea until it takes form. This is how assumptions are built. The tools listed in the verse are stages of inner construction:
- The rule — the initial assumption or concept.
- The line — the boundaries placed around what you believe is possible.
- The planes — the repeated refinement and reinforcement of the idea.
- The compass — the scope of imagination, how far the assumption can extend.
Through repetition and feeling, the idea is shaped “after the figure of a man,” recalling Genesis 1:26: “And God said, Let us make man in our image”. The same principle appears in Solomon’s temple: precise measurements, careful proportions, and intentional structure symbolise the “I AM” — consciousness building itself into a stable, harmonised reality. The carpenter’s tools echo this pattern: imagination is not random; it is the architect of identity and experience.
Isaiah mentions the use of fine cedars and cypress, echoing the rich imagery of the trees in Genesis 1:11. These trees are symbols of abundant choice and fertile imagination. Just as the seed produces the tree within itself, the mind shapes patterns that can bear life—or, if misused, produce idols. The carpenter’s wood is living substance — a seed in itself — ready to grow into reality.
This Is the Law of Assumption in Action
You do not manifest what you wish for; you live out what you assume yourself to be. Imagination is the workshop, thought is the tool, and feeling is the fire that brings it to form.
When Imagination Becomes an Idol
The problem arises when the carpenter mistakes the product for the source. The same inner material that could give warmth, life, and guidance is shaped into a fixed form and worshipped as if it were external truth. This is idolatry — a belief system so rigid it dominates consciousness. “This is how I am,” “This is how the world works,” “This is what I can expect.”
Isaiah makes the absurdity clear: the same material is used for fuel, warmth, and worship. Consciousness consumes its own creation and bows to it.
The Ironsmith and Rigid Thought
Earlier in Isaiah 44, the ironsmith appears. Iron is hard, resistant, and unyielding — a symbol of thought that is externalised, fixed, and dominated by fear or effort. Like Tubal-Cain, such reasoning produces tools that can enslave the mind itself. The carpenter deceives himself, the ironsmith grows weary, and both show how the mind forgets its source — awareness itself.
“That It May Remain in the House”
The “house” is lived experience, while the Bible uses house-as-the-head allegory throughout. What is built inwardly, if assumed as true, settles into everyday life. Assumptions furnish the house of consciousness. Repeatedly imagined ideas become fixed and unquestionable — the idols of the mind.
The Quiet Contrast
Jesus, also called a carpenter, shows the inversion. He does not worship the form; he speaks as the source. Awareness, not the pattern, is honoured. He replaces assumptions, not with new idols, but with conscious recognition of the creative power already within.
The Bible teaches that imagination is God — the source of all creation within you. When the product of imagination is mistaken for the source, the assumption becomes an idol. When you remember that imagination itself is the power, it becomes creative freedom.
This is the meaning of idols — and the law of assumption Isaiah quietly unveils, linking the patterns of Genesis 1:11, the measurement of Solomon’s temple, and the living wood of imagination into one coherent psychological principle.