Conversations with God

Conversations with God (CWG) is a series of books written by Neale Donald Walsch. The books are written like a conversation in which God answers the questions Walsch asks.  Conversations with God, Book 1: An Uncommon Dialogue, the first book in the Conversations with God series, was released in 1995. It became a major publishing success and stayed on The New York Times Best Seller list for 137 weeks.

In an interview with Larry King, Walsch explained how the books started. During a difficult time in his life, he wrote a furious letter to God, asking why his life was failing. After writing all of his questions, he heard a voice above his right shoulder say, "Do you really want an answer to all these questions or are you just venting?"Neale Donald Walsch on CNS's Larry King Live (April 7th, 2000) When he turned around, he did not see anyone. Still, Walsch chose to write down the answers to his enquiries. The Conversations with God series came from the automatic writing that followed. In a 2010 interview, Neale explained how he communicates with God. He said, "I am reaching out to touch others with this information. When I reach out and touch others with this information, I reconnect immediately with the divine presence."'Being at One': Neale Donald Walsch Interview with Gil Dekel, PhD (Part 1 of 3), Paragraph 16
 Basis of the dialogue 
There are around 3,000 pages in the series. The trilogy's second and third books address social and political themes.

 Themes 
According to Walsch, God offers four ideas in Friendship with God that are essential to the conversation as a whole.:

 We are all one.
 There's enough.
 There's nothing we have to do.
 Ours is not a better way, ours is merely another way.

As per the books, in essence, existence is non-dual in nature. Everything is God, there is no distinction between anything and we are all one at the highest level. The second point, which follows from the first, is that we appear to have nothing and, if we choose to acknowledge it, we have plenty of whatever we believe we need (or the means to make it) within ourselves.  The third point integrates the prior two to conclude that God has no need for anything and, as a result, has no needs for humans. This is because God is all that exists and is therefore always adequate on its own.  Our constant need to be right is eliminated by the final idea.  There are countless ways to experience this, not just the one we may have selected thus far, since we have and are everything and there is nothing we need to do.

God recommends many economic and social changes if people want to make a more functional, adaptable, and sustainable world. The books recommend that more attention should focus on the environment. The conversations also speak of reincarnation and the existence of life on other planets.

 God's motive for creation 
God makes the distinction between "knowing" and "experiencing" oneself in Walsch's first discourse.  There was only That-Which-Is before to creation, which is incapable of completely experiencing or knowing itself without what it is not.  Since love is the only thing that exists, it cannot recognise itself as love.  Since there is nobody else to offer to, it is unable to recognise itself as giving.  Since everything is one, it cannot experience itself in a variety of ways.

According to Walsch, this current world was created by and within God in order for sentience—which does not immediately recall its actual nature as God—to exist.  Rather than "knowing" itself as the creator in theory, every life, divided into infinite forms, can live, experience, and renew its nature as God.  In essence, it is a game that we have agreed to play in order to remember who and what we are, enjoy, and create, knowing that in the end, there is no finish line that some will not reach, no insight that is not valuable, and no action that does not give the future or others significance.  According to Walsch, God says that we have a shared interest in continuing the game. To discover more profound levels of truth and comprehension, there is nothing more to do than simply experience our existence and then experience it again.  Since every experience is decided and subjective, there are no external rules.  However, there are ways in which people will eventually realise whether or not their words, thoughts, and behaviours are effective.  Instead of being right or wrong, something is either functional or dysfunctional.  These memories occur over "time" and may span hundreds or thousands of lifetimes.

 Nature of the dialogue 

 According to Book 1 (PG. 4), words are symbols that can be interpreted, not the ultimate truth.  As a result, whether reading this book or any other book, readers are encouraged to use their intuition or inner knowledge to discover the truth. The discourse is stated to be between God and all people at all times, even though the books are titled Conversations with God and the author claims in book one that he is "taking dictation" from God. Walsch argues that the question is not who God speaks to, but rather who hears.  The idea that God can communicate with individuals in a variety of ways—such as the next song you hear, the next sunset you witness, the next time you hear laughing, or the next film that touches you—rather than just through words "spoken" by God to a person, clarifies this.  "I own all of these gadgets.  I have access to all of these options.  If you invite me, I'll talk to you."  (Book 1, PG 58).
  According to legend, Jesus declared, "I am the way and the life, follow me" because he wanted to set an example for others.  "Follow me" suggested that instead of becoming disciples of Jesus, we should emulate him and unite with God. Everything is happening right now without regard to space or time, hence, Jesus and other living things are not currently one with God.  "The Father (God) and I are one, and you are my brethren" is claimed to have been stated by Jesus.  Accordingly, all living things are one (particles of the collective God) (Book 3, Chapter 20, PG. 329-330).
 Jesus is said to have said, "without the Father (God), I am nothing". The Father of all is pure thought, the energy of life (Book 3, Chapter 11, PG. 180).
 In Book 3 of Conversations with God (1998) by Neale Donald Walsch, it is stated that Mahavatar Babaji may have once resurrected himself from the dead, like Lazarus, Jesus, and other individuals.Walsch, Neale Donald, Conversations with God: an uncommon dialog (Book #3), page 95. When Walsch enquires, God replies that reincarnation is not a false doctrine. Walsch continues by asking why some religions fail to recognise these basic realities.  In response, God says that we have to acknowledge that people practise a variety of fear-based religions, all of which are predicated on the notion that there is a God to be feared and adored. Fear caused the entire Earth society to shift from matriarchal to patriarchal.
 The holy priests used fear to persuade people to repent of their immoral behaviour and follow the Lord's teachings.  The churches acquired and maintained control over their membership through fear.  Churches even said that if you didn't attend church every Sunday, God would punish you.  It was deemed a sin to skip church, and it had to be a specific church.
 There was only one church that was to be attended.  Attending a different denomination's church was also a sin.  That was an attempt to use fear to maintain control.  It was successful.  As long as we think that God is like man, cruel, self-centred, unforgiving, and vindictive, people will always believe in hell and a God who would send them there.

 References

Other websites
 Official website

 Conversations with God movie Web site

Category:Spiritual books