“Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination". — Leviticus 18:22 (KJV)
“If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination…” — Leviticus 20:13 (KJV)
These verses from Leviticus have traditionally been cited as prohibitions against homosexual behaviour, igniting debates and moral arguments. Yet, when viewed through Neville Goddard’s perspective, the Bible is a psychological document, revealing the inner workings of consciousness rather than prescribing outward conduct. In this light, the Leviticus injunctions describe improper unions of consciousness and imagination, not relationships between people.
Genesis 2:24 – Cleaving to a New Desire
“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”
— Genesis 2:24 (KJV)
Genesis 2:24 symbolises the spiritual law of assuming a new desire. Here, the “wife” represents a new and unrelated desire—a manifestation not yet assumed as part of your identity. To “cleave” to her is to fully commit your “I AM that I AM” and your feeling to this new reality, integrating identity, represented by the man, with feeling, represented by the wife. The goal of assumption is to align consciously and emotionally with something distinct from old patterns. Any attempt to manifest without leaving the old behind, or to rely on familiar, inherited identity patterns, is a misaligned union.
Why Misaligned Unions Fail
Leviticus 18:22 warns against lying with “mankind as with womankind.” Symbolically, this represents trying to manifest using only reason, intellect, or identity alone—masculine to masculine—or attempting to create with imagination untethered to a deliberate conscious choice—feminine to feminine. More deeply, it signifies returning to what is already within—the old identity, the inherited self—rather than embracing a truly new desire. In this context, “lying with men” is not a moral failure; it is a psychological one. The conscious mind attempts creation through old identities of self (men), familiar thought loops while imagination recycles old patterns, producing no genuine manifestation. The fertile union between identity and feeling is absent.
Death of Creation – The Penalty of Misalignment
Leviticus 20:13 describes death as the penalty for these misaligned unions. Psychologically, this is the death of manifestation—the failure of inner conception. Without uniting conscious intent with imaginative feeling toward a new desire, nothing is born into experience. The law of creation is violated not in morality, but in its internal mechanics. Attempts to manifest through old habits or recycled desires result in spiritual sterility, symbolised as death in the text.
The Sacred Union
The remedy is the sacred inner marriage, where consciousness chooses a new desire and imagination fully receives it. Identity affirms, “I AM this reality,” while the subconscious embraces and embodies the new experience. This alignment generates the manifestation in the outer world. Genesis 2:24 illustrates this process: leaving father and mother is leaving behind old beliefs and inherited identity, and cleaving to the wife is committing fully to a new desire. Only this union produces fertile, living creation; all other unions are sterile and ineffective.
Conclusion
Read symbolically, Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 are not about morality in human relationships, but about inner alignment for creation. They caution against relying on reason alone, imagination untethered, or repeating old identity patterns. True manifestation requires cleaving to something genuinely new, integrating consciousness and imagination into a harmonious union. When this sacred union occurs, Scripture reveals its purpose: to guide us in conscious creation, inner harmony, and the birth of new realities within.