I’ve been wanting to write about Conversations with God : An Uncommon Dialogue by Neale Donald Walsch for a while, such a great subject, so here it is:
I found this book in a dusty little corner of my local used bookstore (yes, they do still exist) and was intrigued by the title and premise. A few months later I have now read the entire trilogy and must say it really speaks directly to the soul, bypassing all the mental gatekeeping we humans come up with to deny ourselves direct contact with the source of our being.
I’m not one of those folks who think that all religions are only in the business of building their own power by feeding gullible minds with fear and judgment — there are certainly very enlightened folks with open hearts and minds within organized religion. Yet, I’ve always been skeptical of the ones who try to tell you that their views are absolute and threaten you if you choose a different vehicle to find love and meaning in life. It’s just too obvious that anyone who tries to tell you that God is vengeful or would exclude some of us is just insecure in themselves. As Michael Franti says: “God is too big for just one nation, and God is too big for just one religion.”
What tells me that Neale Donald Walsch has really tapped into the essence of God is that the books read as refreshingly and truthfully in 2009 as they must have when they first came out in the mid-90s. This phenomenon in itself is discussed in the book — the fact that God really is timeless and nameless. Too often we’re stuck in the dualistic mechanisms of our mind that tells us to divide everything — yesterday versus tomorrow, us versus them, believers vs non-believers.
In that very same mindset we also like to look at “God” as a particular thing or person, something we can imagine or portray with our thoughts. And too often, religious texts create the same kind of hierarchy of spirit that we assign to our social structures on earth. For example, looking at God as “The Father” is a very common image conjured by a patriarchic mindset, as if there’s some sort of a guy sitting somewhere up there wagging his imaginary finger at us.
It really doesn’t make any sense, and worse, since the people who look at God in that way usually scream the loudest they get to frame the debate and pose as representatives of spirituality. It’s like the the Republican noise machine that constantly trumpets about the good guys vs bad guys and how we all should just look out for ourselves while the silent majority is really comprised of people who want to help each other, be kind and share with one another.
Conversations with God is really a challenge to all of us to expand ourselves beyond our little brains and FEEL the much larger context within which we dwell. And even if you do use your brain you can easily arrive at the understanding that God is a timeless, nameless and all-encompassing energy that we are all part of. Just think of our planet’s ecology and how everything is connected, how water doesn’t stop at political borders and the air spreads around pollution indiscriminately. Then think of how the moon’s cycles affect the earth and how the earth is so dependent on the sun. And in between we’re all connected through atoms. There is no empty space, we’re really all just part of the same limitless field of energy.
So whatever idea we have of God, it really cannot be separate from ourselves. If we are part of everything, then God is part of everything, and consequently, God is all of us and we are all God. But really, I recommend reading these books, for Mr. Walsch (or God) explains this and many more questions relating to our existence quite beautifully and concisely. Of course, a lot of the keepers of the God gate are screaming “blasphemy” but that in itself really is a good sign that he is speaking truth to power. Just the way God would.
