Many of the Psalms begin with the phrase “To the choir master,” or “To the chief musician.” At first glance, this may seem like a musical direction. But when read through the deeper symbolic understanding taught by Neville Goddard, it reveals something intimate: it is not a note to an external temple musician, but a spiritual instruction directed within.
The Bible does not introduce songs casually. Songs appear at precise psychological moments — when an inner movement has resolved and is ready to be impressed upon the deeper mind. Prose narrates struggle, questioning, and effort. Song appears when identity has stabilised.
"If I make use of the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a sounding brass, or a clashing cymbal." — 1 Corinthians 13:1
This passage clarifies the distinction. Sound without inner coherence is noise; harmony arises only when the inner state is unified. In psychological terms, song is not information — it is integration. It bypasses analysis and speaks directly to feeling, which Neville taught is the creative medium.
The choir master represents the inner conductor — the ordering principle in your mind that brings all thoughts and feelings into harmony. This inner conductor is none other than Elohim — the plural “gods,” “rulers,” “judges,” and “mighty ones” within you. According to Strong’s Concordance, Elohim is a plural noun, pointing to the many forces within consciousness: assumptions, moods, reactions, and self-concepts.
Neville taught that Elohim — God — is not an external deity, but imagination in action. You are the ruler of inner states; the judge who decides what is accepted as true. Just as a choir master gathers many voices and arranges them into a single harmony, so imagination organises the inner multiplicity into a lived reality.
This is why songs are addressed “to the choir master.” A song is not a request — it is a declaration. It marks the moment when inner argument ceases and the state is handed over to the organising power of imagination. The many inner voices no longer compete; they agree.
When Moses sings, when Hannah sings, when Mary sings, the Bible is signalling that the inner state has shifted. The song seals the assumption. Psychologically, this is the moment Neville describes as “acceptance” — when feeling has taken precedence over effort.
When a Psalm is addressed “To the choir master,” it is a call to submit the inner song — your prayer, affirmation, or felt assumption — to the ruling imagination within. It is an instruction to stop managing the voices individually and allow them to be harmonised by Elohim.
In this light, imagination is not passive reverie, but the judge and ruler shaping experience. Fear, hope, memory, desire, and belief are like voices awaiting direction. When unified under the guidance of your inner Elohim, they produce the music of a life deliberately shaped.
So when you read, “To the choir master,” hear the invitation clearly: direct your inner song to the power that orders reality itself. In doing so, you step into your true role — not as a pleading voice in the choir, but as the living Elohim who conducts it.