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Neale Talks About the Circle of Life... As I grew older I began to divorce myself from the feelings of those around me because I could see the impact that they were having on their lives and I did not want to have that same impact on my life. I found myself disowning the experience of others in place of my own experience. This transformation of my personal experience of life took a quantum leap after I had my conversations with God. In those conversations I was told that all of my experience of life proceeds from one of two places: love or fear. I decided to see if this could possibly be true. I undertook to make a great experiment. I decided to see if I could shift my feeling from fear to love arbitrarily. I chose as my subject a woman of whom I was very much afraid. I wasn't afraid of her in the physical sense, I was afraid of her psychologically. She held a position of power in the community in which I lived and in the space in which I interacted daily, and it seemed to me that she had great power over my life. She had the ability to control outcomes in my life, or at least to impact them in negative ways. I was afraid of her opinion of me. I was afraid of her thoughts about me. I was afraid of her decisions about me. I was afraid of what she would tell others about me. I decided to see if I could shift my feeling about this person from fear to love. As a result of my decision to do this I found myself listening much more carefully to what this person was saying in her everyday conversations. I found myself observing much more closely what this person was doing with her everyday actions. I found myself experiencing this person in a new way, looking at her through new eyes. I realized as I undertook this experiment that I had been cloaking her naked beauty with the garment of my illusions about her. Once I saw her as who she really was rather than what I imagined her to be in my own limited view, she transformed magically right before my eyes. Of course, nothing about her had changed, only the viewpoint that I held about her had shifted. I began to change the way I interacted with her. My own vibe shifted around her. The result was miraculous. She, in turn, shifted her vibe around me. She began to sense that my wariness about her had somehow disappeared. Her wariness around me had, therefore, melted away as well. We began to see each other in a way that we had not seen each other before. I found this experience to be transformative. We two are now the best of friends. We see ourselves as colleagues and collaborators. We are no longer afraid of each other. There was nothing to be afraid of in the first place, but I had imagined that there was, and by my imagination had placed it there. This was an astonishing experiment for me because it gave me a direct experience of the power of the truth that all outcomes in my life proceed from a place of love or fear. I thought, what if I shifted my outlook from fear to love with regard to everything in my life? I decided to expand my experiment. But first I had to look at how I could shift from fear to love with regard to any particular person, place or thing. As I explored this question I realized that the first step in changing my place of being from a space of fear to a space of love was to see that both spaces were one and the same space, simply experienced at different levels of vibration. Let me explain. Consider hot and cold. If we are not careful we could imagine that hot and cold are two different things. We could speak of them as being opposites. And, in normal relative human terms, one would suppose that that definition is correct. But in truth, cold and hot are simply the same thing experienced at different degrees . We are talking about a condition called temperature . This condition can be experienced in many different ways depending upon its vibration. "Cold" is the condition called temperature at a certain vibe. "Hot" is an experience of temperature at an altogether different vibe. Nothing has changed except the vibration itself. The higher the vibration, the warmer the experience of the thing called temperature. So, too, is it with the thing called Life. Experienced at a certain level of vibration, Life shows up in fearful ways. Experienced at a higher level of vibration, Life shows up as love. Life itself is one thing. It is not two separate things, but one thing only. Yet we experience this one thing quite differently from moment to moment depending upon the degree at which we express it. Now the wonderful thing about life is that we are in control of the mechanism by which we decide which degree we experience. We can turn the dial "as it were" at our own discretion. We can select an "emotional temperature" quite arbitrarily. We do this through the mechanism of thought, word and deed - the three tools of creation. When I think in loving ways and say loving things and do that which love would do, I literally shift the vibe around a particular person, place or thing. I alter my perception and therefore alter my experience of that person, place or thing. Hence, it has been said that everyone is lovable. And if everyone loved everyone and did loving things to everyone - that is, if we all simply loved each other - every negative condition on this planet would be healed. No person would murder another. No person would damage, hurt or seek to destroy another. No person would withhold from another. And no person would stand in fear of another, nor do the things that fear sponsors. All we need do, then, is place ourselves in a different space on the continuum of life. Life is a continuum. It is a circle, not a straight line with a beginning and an end. The circle of life moves from what we call fear to what we call love in one continuous flow. It is not a straight line with fear at one end and love at the other. It is a circular reality that flows from one to the other in a continuous movement and it is all the same thing. When we see that fear and love are the same thing expressed at different levels of awareness, or vibration, we then understand that good and evil are also the same thing experienced at different levels of awareness, or vibration. This allows us to more deeply understand the statement made in Conversations with God that "Hitler went to heaven." When we first hear such a statement, we wonder how such a thing could possibly be true. Only when we see that all of life is a continuum, and that no one thing is separate from any other thing, could we understand this deep statement about Ultimate Reality. Masters are those who understand such things. Therefore they judge not, and neither condemn. To a Master, the statement "Hitler went to heaven" would be self-evident. Of course Hitler would go to heaven, a Master would say. Where else could Hitler have gone? Where else is there? Yet even heaven can be experienced in a hellish way. It would all depend upon the perception of the individuated essence of life as it moved through the experience. Nowhere is this understanding more clearly explained in simple terms than in the wonderful motion picture What Dreams May Come , produced by Stephen Simon and Barnet Bain and starring Robin Williams. This movie, released a number of years ago, has become a classic. If you have not seen it, make it your intention to do so. It reveals a great truth. That truth is that hell does not exist, except as a function and a creation of our own mind. It is a place from which we may remove ourselves the instant that we shift our perception and alter our point of view. In other words, when we change our sponsoring thought, hell becomes heaven and heaven becomes all there is. In the human experience there are only two sponsoring thoughts: love and fear. In my own life, this revelation as brought to me in conversations with God, has been transformative. It has changed everything. And I owe to this simple truth the shift that has occurred within me. Only when I fall back into the vibration of fear does my exterior and interior reality become smaller once again, reducing me to a shadow of my true self. ~ NDW Personal Letter From Neale My Dear Friends, I want to talk today about living in absolute transparency. Do you think you could do that? I think you'd better start thinking about it. I think you'd better start getting prepared. The world is moving so rapidly forward on this Total Transparency track that soon, if you have any thing to hide...you won't.  Message from Marion Hello friends: I will be back with you soon. Love to you all, Marion Black, CEO PS: My email is marion@CwG.org or my cell number is (541) 301-0365
The 5 Fallacies about Life in my own life Starting with the first fallacy, I have often- and quite unconsciously- bought into the illusion that human beings are separate. I may not have vocalized that specific belief, but the actions in my life have expressed it. Last year, in my relationship to my wife LaToya, I recall a couple of experiences where I acted with less than patience towards her actions. While picking her up from school or work, she kept me waiting longer than I expected. I ended up expressing my frustration in a less than compassionate way. Afterwards, I experienced the ramifications of treating another person with judgment and lack of understanding, acceptance, and patience. I literally felt the pain that LaToya was experiencing as a result of my actions. It hurt. Those experiences for me last year were a wakeup call. While the experiences themselves were difficult to feel at the time, I know now that they were also a blessing. These experiences helped me to see some of my own "shadows." Since last year, I have begun to work more consciously on my "shadows," and move towards healing. My experiences with LaToya helped me to realize how truly one all of us are. My actions causing pain to LaToya were not apart from my own feelings and emotions. The pain I had caused another pained my own insides. It was a painful feeling to know that my words had been less than sensitive to another, and caused that other to feel bad. I am grateful that I did not suppress that pain, which contained an important message to me from my feelings- "this is not how we want to act! This is not how we want to be!" My relationship with LaToya is the most intimate one I have had in all my life- physically, emotionally, and spiritually. My own little quirks- both positive and negative- come out as we spend each day together. In this sense, my relationship with LaToya has been a horizon for new and expanded growth. It has helped me truly see how one I am with everyone around me, and how intricately my every thought, word, and action affects everyone. Throughout my life, I have often lived from a scarcity mentality. That is, I have perceived there to be "not enough." Sometimes, in an effort to conserve the money which I have perceived there to be not enough of, I have been overly cautious, if not stingy, with spending. For the majority of my life experience, I was provided for by my parents. When I began living more independently, I went from feeling secure to experiencing greater insecurity. I had to make my own money! Money didn't seem to flow as effortlessly as it used to. I unconsciously decided to be very careful about how I spent it. I saw the scarcity of money in my bank account and said: "better watch out! There may not be enough!'' When backpacking around Europe, Australia, and Thailand in college, I stayed at the cheapest places for backpackers. I didn't treat myself to elaborate stuff. To join the LEP was a drastically different decision for me than my previous life decisions. I used to spend my money very carefully. When deciding whether or not to join the LEP, I had to factor in that both LaToya and I were in school. We didn't have a whole lot of savings. Was I now going to add on a big expense in addition to our school tuition and expenses? Making the decision to join the LEP was a big step for me in learning to trust that there was enough in the Universe. It was a decision that I made in following my heart towards something that I really wanted. It was a decision I made to trust there would be enough to provide for me, even when appearances seemed to suggest otherwise. Now that I have almost completed the LEP, I have no regrets. Every dollar was well spent. The entire program was well worth the money I invested. I put value into something that I saw as valuable, and received much value in return. I am still careful with my money. I'm not a big spender, partly because I enjoy living simply. But there are some things that make my heart sing when I think about buying them: spiritual books, retreats, etc. Increasingly, I have learned to trust that there will be enough. I have also learned to balance organization with trust. That is, I seek to keep some savings available for just such moments when I feel called to buy something. I know that abundance is more of a state of mind than something that I possess. Abundance is something that I attract to myself by my attitude and beingness. Therefore, I seek to prioritize my beingness above the things I am doing in life. I choose to be in a state of joy that allows the abundance of the Universe to flow to and through me. I know that from a place of gratitude, joy, and peace, I will continue to attract more than enough of what I need to survive. While I know this truth on a personal level, another part of me struggles with the concept that there is enough. Having spent several years in Belize and Haiti, there are still times when I look at the world and it seems as if there is not enough. With so many people going hungry every day, how can I say there is enough? I can say that there is enough because I know that there is. And I know that some people not having enough is not because there is not enough, but because of the way that the resources in the world are distributed. But of course, such an interpretation is superficial. Why do some people in the world have so much, and others in the world have so little? The answer lies at the level of consciousness. Yes, there are rich people who are selfish. Yes, there are poor people that are oppressed. But there are also rich people- such as Oprah Winfrey and Bill Gates- who are doing an incredible amount of good in the world. And there are poor people who have broken free of oppression and empowered themselves and those around them. Rich people are successful at allowing the abundance of the Universe into their lives. They are often good at making money. They allow material resources to flow to them, but not always through them. Abundance may flow to you temporarily, but unless that abundance also flows through you to others, the flow of abundance will halt. That is because life is a cycle of giving and receiving. If one only receives, and stops the process there, then the flow stops. Materially poor people have often been oppressed by others. They have often had little or no opportunity for advancement or education. Therefore, who can fault anyone for not empowering themselves, or learning to receive the abundance of the Universe? Rather than faulting the poor- or anybody- for being where they are, it is our task to ask: "who am I in relation to them?" I choose to be someone who helps to facilitate empowerment among the poor at all levels- physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I know that such empowerment will not only happen through material resources, but through intellectual, emotional, and spiritual education and advancement. In order to demonstrate that there is enough in this world, I have decided to start with myself. I seek to let my own life demonstrate the affirmation that "yes, there is enough." As I continually live into this demonstration of who I choose to be and of what life is, I will continue to allow the abundance of the Universe- at all levels: financially, relationally, mentally, physically, and spiritually- to flow through me to others. In that way, I will be the change I wish to see by living at a healthy balance in the give and receive flow of the Universe. I have often lived out the third fallacy of life with respect to competition. Often times, when I am told that there is not enough of something, I seek to compete with others to have it. In my life as a seminary student, there are times when courses are offered that are very popular and have a class limit for the number of students. When I hear of such courses that I want to take- which are difficult to get into- I will often seek to get my application for the semester's courses in as soon as possible. I want to take that course! Yet, am I competing with others? In a popular course that I am taking this semester, the professor decided to take over 30 people into the course, even though there was a limit of 20 students. Last year, when I really wanted to take a course with one professor that had a limit of 60, and I was late in applying, the school decided to offer two sections of the same course (to be held at different times of the week). These results show me that the spirit of competition arose not so much from my outer environment, but from my inner consciousness. I perceived that there would not be enough, and acted out of that belief. The evidence pointed to the contrary, however- that the school wanted to make sure there were enough offerings for everybody! Where has my spirit of competition come from? Growing up playing many sports, I was raised in a spirit of competition. In both running and basketball, I sought to compete to be the best. Not only did I compete with the other teams I played against, but I also competed against the people on my own team- so that I might be the best player on the team! I carried this spirit over into high school, where I played cross-country, basketball, and outdoor track. While there was definitely an element of cooperation and togetherness that we learned while playing together, there was always a spirit of competition too. In order to get the prize- of which there was only one - we had to win. In order for me to get praise from my coach, I had to perform at a certain level. Reflecting now, I wonder: is competition really bad? Isn't there a healthy level of competition? After all, if we didn't have anyone to compete against, how would we play our sports? I wonder the same about our economic market system. Is competition bad? Isn't it good that companies are competing with each other so that customers can get the best price? What comes to me is not that competition itself is unhealthy. What is unhealthy is the spirit of separateness that lies behind it. Yes, we need other teams to play a basketball game against each other. But when does it turn from a game into a competition? Yes, we want to have different companies to supply our desires, so that we can secure the goods we want. But do companies or individuals see themselves as superior to others? Do teams compete for a prize, or enjoy the process? Is there sportsmanship and fun, as in a game, or judgment and anger, as in a nasty competition? Do companies seek to undermine each other so that they can get the biggest profit, or seek to work with other companies so that they can all prosper in the market? At this point in my life, I feel that the competitive spirit has died down in me. I feel that I live more at a level of enjoyment and trust. I know that all of my needs will be provided for. Knowing this, I do not seek to have fierce competition with others to secure money, classes, jobs, praise, or whatever it is that I want more of. I am happy to receive what I receive. I enjoy playing the game, and I enjoy the whole process of the game. I seek to live into a lifestyle that chooses abundance for myself, and spreads that abundance to others. In that spirit, I desire to live more in cooperation with others and the Universe than in competition. When I came back from Belize and Haiti, I had had a transformative experience. I had had a spiritual awakening of sorts. In the transition I had back to living in the States, I acted as if I were "better than" some of my old friends- who were still at the same place they had been when I left- preoccupied with drinking, girls, swearing, and the like. I don't know if I ever would have said that I was "better" than my friends. But my actions- to my friends- certainly conveyed that feeling of superiority. Several of my old friends felt judged by me when I came back from Belize and Haiti. They were probably right. I judged my behavior and character as "better than" theirs. I was not doing this consciously, but in hindsight, I can see how my friends got this message. In the past year and a half, I have finally apologized to my friends for the judgment I meted out to them. What I have learned since that experience is that superiority must not only be dissolved from my mind, but from my entire being. I may know at a mind level that I am not superior to anyone, and yet I may still act that way. To really act affirming equality amidst diversity, I must value and honor each person for where they are on life's journey. It is one thing to observe that an acorn is not yet a full grown oak tree. It is another thing to judge that an acorn is "inferior" to an oak tree. How could one possibly say that the acorn is inferior to the oak tree? Could the oak tree have ever existed without the acorn first existing? Though they are at different points on life's journey, are not both the acorn and the oak tree sacred and integral parts of the process of life? Just as the acorn and the oak tree are not superior or inferior, but at different stages on the journey of life, so I have learned to bless and honor every person and life form for where they are on life's journey. Sometimes, the people who I am tempted to condemn most (for insecurity, drinking, or being preoccupied with women, etc.), are the same people who display behaviors I once judged myself most harshly for. Who am I to judge myself in a different incarnation? To judge that other, in reality, is to judge myself. Diversity is the flavor of life. Seeing diversity as what colors life and makes it exciting, I choose to honor all the diversity around me, rather than judge it, condemn it, or call it inferior. Though some life forms are more advanced than others on the path of life, we are all where we ought to be. And all of us have been at every level. Therefore, we are called to "judge not, and neither condemn." There is equality amidst the many layers of diversity. I have never physically killed anybody, or even thought about physically killing anybody. From the outset, I knew that I would not join the armed services as my father and brother did. I could never take a human life, no matter what the context. War turned me off and always has. Still, while I say this, I know that killing is not just an outward manifestation that people do, but first an inner consciousness that people have. Killing is not just killing of the body. It can also be the killing of a person's emotional or spiritual self. I have always been a more gentle, introverted person. I was never the kind of person who picked on others, or sought to build up my own character by taking away the character of others. I was always turned off by one friend in high school who constantly picked on the people around him. I didn't feel good when he acted like that, and did not join in his actions. I recall having thoughts in recent years about situations where I might physically harm a person in the heat of an emotional moment. If I came home, and someone was trying to harm my wife LaToya, I think my adrenalin might kick in and I would seek to overtake the person who was harming LaToya. I find it important to make a distinction between force and violence. While I might seek to tie up an intruder who was hurting my wife or another person (provided that the intruder was not threatening my life with a gun or knife), I would not consciously choose to act violently towards that intruder. I would take the steps necessary- if I could- to make sure that the intruder did not hurt anybody. But I myself would not hurt him or her. I might use force, but I would not use violence. While in some situations I might choose to overtake an intruder by force, in other situations, I might not. Our society is quite fixated on hero figures that fight back in response to violence (in movies and the like), such that we have often unconsciously learned to do the same thing- not always with good effect. To fight violence with violence is often destructive, only fueling the flames that sparked violence to begin with. That is why the great spiritual masters have often told us to "resist not evil." What we resist, persists. To act with kindness and compassion in the face of violence is to disarm those who would do violence to us. The power of nonviolent action was demonstrated in the 20 th century by Martin Luther King and by Mahatma Gandhi. These individuals and others have demonstrated the power of not fighting back against one's oppressor with violence. They have showed that creatively responding in a nonviolent way- though it may appear "cowardly-" actually takes more bravery and courage than fighting back with violence. Jesus of Nazareth, in the gospels, advocated such an approach. Though many have interpreted his "turn the other cheek" statement as passive pacifism, his real intention was creative and active nonviolence. While I sometimes notice violent tendencies inside, I have committed myself to responding nonviolently to persons who would do violence to me or others. END PART 3 *(Matt Carriker is a current participant in our 2nd Level LEP. We are blessed with several wonderful writers in this 2nd Level and FasTrak classes and we are pleased to be able to share their writing with you from time to time. This article is the third part of a 3-part paper that Matt has written for the LEP. If you would like to respond to Matt: matt@cwg.org )
Humanity's Team and School of the New Spirituality Children's Spiritual Retreat concurrently run with Neale Donald Walsch's "God and Me - A Journey To Holy Ground" Retreat Victoria, British Columbia CHILDREN'S PROGRAM - Integrating New Spirituality into LIFE! Introduction: HT Kids is an initiative of Humanity's Team Canada to create a spiritual program for children. In May 2006, in Canmore, Alberta, HT ' s Wilma Lagerwerf and Lynne Cox delivered the 1 st Children ' s Retreat program which ran concurrently with Neale ' s Faith in the Rockies Retreat . This year Mary Ann Swan joined the team in Wilma ' s absence to work with Lynne and three facilitators from The School of the New Spirituality , Linda Lee Ratto, (SNS Executive Director), and facilitators Eileen Kostolni and Rita Siems. We were also joined by a wonderful team of volunteers from the Victoria and surrounding areas who came in shifts over the 4 days sharing their time and talents with the children and who were such a helpful and wonderful support to us.
SNS is a world-wide non-profit organization, created by Neale Donald Walsch and formerly named Heart Light Education. HT Kids and SNS are sister organizations in that both are leading new spirituality "Civil Rights for the Soul" programs. SNS specifically co-develops programs for youth and their adult leaders. For more information on The School of the New Spirituality and how you can get involved, please visit www.schoolofthenewspirituality.com Overall Theme : Love of Self and You Can Lead Your Life! Activity Themes: We went in with the following outline and ended up choosing suitable activities from this list: • Circle times began each day/session, initially to help introduce each other in a fun and interactive way, afterwards to simply create the space to express and connect with each child each time we came together, and set the tone for activities to follow • Meditation was introduced though circle/nature/music or simply quiet time with guided visualization(s) • Introduction of Soul/Light and God through selected stories that emphasized chosen lifetimes, the complete spirits/souls that all of us are, that God is all Loving, Everywhere and in All Things • Explored "We are all One" and what it meant, in many ways throughout the program • Loving Your Self - in as many ways as possible, not just through the program material, but also through the nurturing support of guides, with children and each other • The power of caring, what you give is what you receive (life mirroring back) Laws of Attraction • Relationships • Communication skills • Intuition as a skill and tool to develop in each of us. To know without knowing how you know - and trusting it • Intention and Focus - what we place our attention on grows • Diversity and differences in people - acceptance of self and others • Dreams and wishes • Creativity - what it is and how each of us show this individually • Feeling and Emotions, and recognizing their importance in self • Modeling the importance and value of service to others • Laughter Yoga as a tool to altering emotional state and perceptions thereafter • Imagery and Power of Visualization to heal and create • Awareness, honesty and responsibility • Importance of the "Now" or present moment in our lives • The power of story and mythology in imparting key spiritual messages. Program Format: Wednesday beginning with dinner at 5:30pm, program introduction at 7-10pm. Thursday/Friday/Saturday all day (9am until 9pm - minus breakfast and dinner with parents), Sunday 9am until 6pm. Program location and set up: A large dedicated room with natural lighting, and washroom was requested for the program. We were very fortunate to have two suites on the top floor of the Harbour Towers Hotel located in beautiful downtown Victoria. Both rooms had wall-to-wall windows in their main rooms with spectacular views of the harbour, distant mountains and the ocean. Each suite had two levels, two washrooms in each and one had a kitchenette. Healthy snacks were provided mid- morning and mid-afternoon. Over the course of the program we were able to acquire a CD player, DVD/Video player and TV, pillows, blankets, tables, chairs, a whiteboard and some chart-paper. Several of us brought art/craft supplies which we used as needed. We also brought a myriad of self-directed activity support material. We were within walking distance of a small outdoor play area, as well as the ocean front. Show and Tell -- some of our materials What Happened: We were working throughout the weekend with thirteen amazing children registered -- siblings from five fabulous families. We had a 3-year old, a 5-year old, two 7-year olds, four 8-year olds, a 9-year old, three 11-year olds and a soon to be 12 year old. There were four girls and nine boys. After the introductory games designed to get to know each other on the Wed. evening, we spent the time having the children make life-size outlines of their bodies by tracing around them onto large pieces of chart-paper. The children then decorated them. We used them later in the program as a form of expressing how each was feeling that day. They would create a new face expression and attach it to their picture-body which hung on the windows of one of the rooms we were using.
Bodies - " just hangin ' around " Rather than give a formal litany of each day, what follows are some of the specific activities chosen for this particular group. Each day began with a " Trickle-in Time " (which became shorter and shorter as the weekend progressed and participants wanted the time to sleep in). As the children arrived they could finish their activities from the previous evening or read a book, do a craft, while waiting for the Circle Time at 9am once everyone had arrived. Linda began Thursday morning by asking the children the " BIG " questions: What do you love? Why are you here on the planet? What are your dreams? Responses were recorded for each child and remained posted throughout the weekend. Insights and new dreams were added to these posters as the weekend progressed and Linda spent one-on-one time with each child on Sat. and Sun. helping them to clarify a plan for manifesting the dreams and wishes that were being revealed throughout this weekend process. After snack and a story from Lynne, we were joined by Master Young Hee, who travels with Neale ' s group and gives yoga sessions for the adult participants during Neale ' s workshops. For us she gave a wonderful Dahn Hak yoga session which really got our bodies moving and energized. In fact, Young Hee joined us again at this time on Saturday and Sunday for more invigorating Yoga sessions.
Master Young Hee " I Love My Toes " Yoga was followed this day by a workshop from Lynne, titled " I Can Bee " which emphasized belief in oneself and belief in the seemingly impossible based on the life of bees. The children created their own reminder " Bee " from various materials. Each " Bee " became a vessel for them to place their own wishes and dreams into. After lunch, Mary Ann lead the children in a " Cosmic Zoom " meditation which was designed to encourage relaxation and unleash their creative imaginations as they " traveled " out into space to the sounds of the music " Tocatta Wood " from Mannheim Steamroller ' s Fresh Aire III CD. This was followed by having the children draw a depiction of their meditation which became a springboard for sharing stories. Several times during the rest of the weekend they requested the " Cosmic Zoom " meditation to continue their travels. Eileen then took over, to direct the children in creating Heart Boxes, which were lovingly decorated and filled with " touchstones " representing their dreams and wishes. Later, gratitude rocks collected on a walk were added to the boxes.
Eileen explains and then we create Heart Boxes Next, In preparation for a visit Neale made to the group on the Friday, Rita lead the children through a workshop entitled " I Am " which began with the reading of Neale ' s book, " The Little Soul and the Earth " and focused on helping the children think about their true nature, their personality traits and talents and abilities they each possessed. This was followed with having each one create a small poster identifying " I Am " statements for themselves. Rita directs the " I Am " workshop. Each day the children spent time expending their energy at the hotel pool between 4pm and 5pm. We had several volunteer lifeguards who supervised during this time. Unfortunately, none of us brought our cameras to the pool! We were also able to do two walks outside, when the weather cooperated, which gave the children time to play at a nearby park or to take in the beautiful ocean view while looking for gratitude stones to place in their Heart Boxes. Following swimming, children were picked up to enjoy dinner with their parents and the program resumed around 7pm each evening for a couple of hours. One night they were shown a lovely short DVD film; " Dance Lexie Dance " from the Spiritual Cinema Circle collection which reinforced ideas around making one ' s dreams happen. This was followed by the feature film " Brother Bear " which was about reincarnation, learning to love and understand an " enemy " and the concept that all living creatures are one family on this earth. On the Friday evening, the children were entertained by the wonderful volunteer Shannon who brought a collection of drums and percussion instruments to share, including a demonstration of her dijeri-doo. The children spent a wonderful time dancing and drumming the evening away. By Saturday evening we had been able to manifest a VCR and the children were entertained by the feature " A Bug ' s Life " with it ' s themes of self-acceptance and using one ' s talents for the good of all, despite social pressures and perceived limitations.
Shannon and her dijeree-doo. Another highlight on Friday was a visit from Neale Donald Walsch. He came to talk about his work, in particular as it related to his two children ' s books: " The Little Soul and the Sun " and " The Little Soul and the Earth " . This was very well received by the children who asked many wonderful questions about the writing process and who were able to have their own books and artwork signed by Neale. Aeron was pleased to be able to share his own writing talent with Neale when he read a poem he had written for the occasion.
Our Visit With Neale While Thursday and Friday were more facilitator-lead and structured to accommodate various visitors, Saturday and Sunday were more free-flowing once we became aware of the interests of the group. As well, in order to incorporate more themes and address the age range, we decided on a centered approach to our morning programs on the Saturday and Sunday. The children were introduced to centers run by each of us and which ranged from story writing, energy work, arts and crafts, reading, sensory exploration, and games. This format also allowed Linda the opportunity to pull individuals for the one-on-one time needed to assist them with a plan for fulfilling the dreams set out on the first day. We also used some of the time Saturday to put the finishing touches on a little presentation that the children made to the parents just before the evening program of Saturday night got underway.
Saturday Night Presentation to the Parents We were entertained on Saturday afternoon by another musical guest. Seventeen year-old Taylor Ashton (son of HT ' s Tanya Dixon) joined us with his guitar. We certainly enjoyed this talented young man and Taylor ' s volunteer efforts were recognized as part of SNS ' s Young Leader ' s Program and will count toward the requirement for his high school volunteer hours.
On our final day, Sunday, the morning was spent finishing up the center activities and completing dream making plans. Dan - another awesome volunteer - joined us after lunch to create a massive tent under which the children enjoyed their afternoon snack - they wished for and we manifested ICE CREAM for all!! After the daily swim, we reconvened to have a closing ceremony which included telling each other what we had enjoyed about each individual over the course of the program and giving out participation and appreciation certificates to each child. The appreciation certificates were created from an activity presented to them the day before where, in a circle a person ' s name was called and the group then called out positive attributes and things they loved about the other. These were scribed onto a separate sheet for each child. The sheets were then left out for the rest of the morning and children could go and add any additional comments and encouragements as they wished. Later these were transcribed on to a more formal template by one of the facilitators to be given out at the closing ceremony. We asked each child for some " feed forward " which was recorded on videotape where they answered each of the following questions: What was awesome about your time this weekend? What did you manifest? What has changed about you? What would you like to see if you came to another children ' s retreat? As lengthy as this summary seems to be, I feel my words do not do justice to the amazing experience that this children ' s program was. The atmosphere was full of loving, healing energy. I was proud of the " safe container " we created to allow the participants - both children and adults - to express their divine loving natures so easily. It really didn ' t take long for each child to feel close to each other and to us and for all to demonstrate their talents and share their wisdoms. There were many breakthrough moments for each person and many opportunities to connect with each other in deep and meaningful ways. The fact that the children ' s parents were jointly going through a similar process with Neale ' s team, makes it all the more powerful. Once back into their everyday routines, what a powerful creative force these families will be for each other and their communities, and even on the world stage if they so desire. In making loving acceptance of self and each other a priority and focusing our thoughts on only seeing love and beauty in each other, we were witness on an intense level to moment-by-moment manifestation of divine purpose in action. It is no accident that we all brought ourselves together from varied places and walks of life for these four days in March. There is no doubt in my mind that our world is going to be just fine if these young people are representative of the type of child coming into the world today. Thank you to The School of the New Spirituality and Humanity ' s Team Canada for such a joyous opportunity. In Perfect Love with All That Is, Mary Ann Swan
Dear Mr. Walsch, Thank you for the gift of your book to the world. I recently borrowed a copy of The New Revelations from my local public library. I have found your philosophies to be both insightful and challenging. I find much within it with which my heart concurs. I would, however, seek to take issue with you on a fundamental point. You state that it is not necessary to reject old beliefs in order to transcend them. I find this difficult to accept. From a Christian perspective, did Jesus Christ speak with Divine authority about himself? Was his testimony inaccurate or misreported by those who bore witness to it? Furthermore, if mankind were not separated from God by his/her sinful nature, was Christ's sacrifice not futile, rather than the fulfillment of God's covenant with his people? If I accept your philosophy, which has much to commend it, I can no longer in good conscience describe myself as a Christian. I therefore address my remarks as one child of God to another. I would be interested to know your point of view on the issues I have raised, so I hope that you might find time in your schedule to respond to this letter. Yours sincerely, Daniel Dear Daniel, Thank you for your interesting letter. I will try to answer you as directly as I can and as briefly as possible since I have limited space here in this newsletter. I hear you when you say it is difficult to accept the message of Conversations with God that it is not necessary to reject old beliefs in order to transcend them. Nevertheless, this statement is profoundly true in my experience. I don't think that transcending and rejecting are the same action at all. Transcending is the act of becoming larger. Rejecting is the act of pushing oneself away from something. The book The New Revelations discusses the process of transcending our present beliefs--that is, becoming larger than they are. We can still hold onto what is best in our belief system without rejecting that belief system in its totality. This is called transcending. For instance, in my own life I was born and raised a Roman Catholic. I have decided not to reject the Roman Catholic faith but to transcend it. That is, to become larger than the Catholic faith. This allows me to hold onto the best of what Catholicism has taught me while embracing new ideas, new concepts, new thoughts and new truths about God which are not contained in Roman Catholic teaching. So transcending means to become larger, whereas rejecting means to abandon and to disengage completely from something. I do not wish to disengage completely from any of my old beliefs, but I do wish to transcend most of them. You ask if Jesus spoke with Divine authority about himself, and my answer is yes, he did. Then you ask if his testimony was inaccurate or misreported by those who bore witness to it, and my answer is that it was simply misreported. Not everything that has been written by the authors of the Gospels is literally true. Those authors were human beings like you and me and many times wrote what they thought they understood or what they wanted to understand as opposed to what was inherently true. In addition, the writings of the Bible authors, all of them, have been interpreted, translated and reinterpreted many, many times through the centuries. In some cases those writings have been completely changed or edited to meet the needs of the moment. So for us to fail to realize that the testimony of Christ as recorded in the Bible may very well have been misreported or misinterpreted through the years would be for us to walk blindly down an alley that leads us to a place of faith in that which could not possibly be completely accurate. You ask if mankind were not separated from God by his sinful nature, would not Christ's sacrifice have been futile. I am here to tell you that the answer is, profoundly, no. Christ did not die to save us from our sins, however. Christ died on the cross to demonstrate who he was in relationship to the experience called life and death, to demonstrate God's unconditional love for all of humanity, and to demonstrate the awesome truth about who we are as brothers in Christ. This is the message that has been lost in the teaching of the crucifixion. If we accept the teaching of Christ, that he is the son of God and that we are his brothers, if we hear his words when he says "These things and more shall you do also," we may indeed no longer be able to describe ourselves as "Christians" in the traditional or classic sense, but we may always describe ourselves as Christians in the larger sense of one who believes in the message of Christ as saving us from our own misguided and misplaced thoughts about ourselves, about God, and about all of life. I, for one, am a Christian. I am also a Jew. I am also a Muslim. I am also a Hindu. I am also a Buddhist. I am also a Mormon. And indeed I belong to every religion on the earth, even those I don't know about. I belong to all religions because I am a product of all religions, because I am a human being and religions teach in a higher power and I am in agreement with that basic teaching. Whether I agree with every single doctrine or every single statement proposed by a particular religion does not mean that I cannot practice as a member of all religions, for every religion teaches that love is the answer and I agree with that profoundly I don't think, therefore, that it is important, Daniel, whether you are a Christian or whether you are not a Christian in the classic sense. What is important is whether you count God among your best friends, whether you live life filled with love and joy, charity and compassion, goodness and kindness, mercy and justice, peace and joy and live your highest choice to live in harmony with all of life and with all people to the extent that it is humanly possible. That is what is important, Daniel, and nothing else matters. This you will understand deeply on the last day of your life. I understand this deeply now. If indeed all of us lived each day as if it were the last day of our lives, we would understand this immediately. Thanks, Daniel, for your question. Blessings, Neale If you would like to send a comment or a question to Neale here at the Weekly Bulletin, you may do so by addressing an email to: weeklybulletinresponse@CwG.org
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The CwG Weekly Bulletin is written by Neale Donald Walsch. It is produced by Joanna Gabriel and edited by Rose Wolfenbarger with technical contributions from Marion K. Black and Roger Mellon. If you would like to connect with us with any comment, question, or sharing, please visit http://www.cwg.org/main.php?p=About&sub=Contact If you would like to be removed from this list, please visit http://www.cwg.org/main.php?p=Connect&sub=Bulletin If someone passed this on to you and you would like to subscribe to the list yourself visit http://www.cwg.org/main.php?p=Connect&sub=Bulletin |
