“I AM the light of the world.” — John 8:12
The story of Moses descending Sinai with a shining face (Exodus 34:29–35) and Paul’s reflection on that moment in 2 Corinthians 3 form a single thread of symbolism. Through Neville Goddard’s teaching, they reveal the shift from law to spirit, from veiled glimpses of imagination to unveiled ownership of the divine “I AM.”
The Mountain: Rising in Consciousness
When Moses ascends Sinai, he is not climbing rock but rising in consciousness. The mountain is the symbol of lifting awareness above the senses into the feeling of the wish fulfilled. Meeting “God” is recognising imagination as the only creative power.
The Shining Face: Outer Sign of Inner Assumption
Moses’ shining face represents the light of an inner shift. To receive the “law” is to receive a higher state — a new assumption of self. The glow is imagination’s radiance, the outward effect of an inward identification. Neville would say: man glows when he accepts the reality of his chosen state.
The Veil: Hiding Inner Transformation
Yet Moses veils his face when speaking to Israel. This conceals the glory, showing that the people were not ready to perceive it. Symbolically, the veil is how we hide our inner transformations. Even when other aspects of mind cannot yet perceive the change, persistence in assumption will bring it into visible fact.
Paul interprets this veil in 2 Corinthians 3 as blindness of the heart.
“Even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart” (2 Corinthians 3:15).
Outward law without inner spirit keeps man in shadow. The law is external, engraved in stone, and its glory fades because it is not owned by the individual.
The Letter and the Spirit
Paul contrasts the two: “The letter kills, but the spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6). The “letter” is external conformity, dependence on appearances and borrowed rules. The “spirit” is the living recognition of “I AM” within — imagination as the creative cause.
Neville emphasised this as the great shift: to stop believing in outside causes and recognise that consciousness itself is the only cause. The veil drops when man sees that every state of imagination writes its own law.
From Glory to Glory
Both Moses’ glow and Paul’s words point to transformation:
“We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
This is the principle of assumption. With unveiled face — meaning direct recognition of “I AM” — you behold in imagination the image of your desire, and by persistence you are changed into it. The movement from “glory to glory” is the continual shift from one state to a higher, the unfolding of imagination’s power.
The Fulfilment of the Veil
Exodus gives us the symbol: Moses glowing yet veiled. 2 Corinthians gives us the fulfilment: the veil torn and removed in Christ.
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In Exodus, imagination is glimpsed but concealed beneath outward law.
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In Corinthians, the veil is taken away; man sees directly that the law is inward, written not on stone but in the heart.
When you accept imagination as God, you live unveiled. No longer do you borrow light or hide transformation — your world mirrors your assumption.
Conclusion: The Unveiled Light
The veil of Moses is the veil of our own misunderstanding, the hiding of imagination behind tradition, ritual, or external authority. Paul’s message is that the veil is removed when the heart turns inward to “I AM”
Moses’ shining face shows the first recognition of imagination’s glory; Paul’s words show the final unveiling. Together they declare: You are the light of the world. When you live from the awareness of imagination as God, you shine with a light that cannot be hidden.