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What Some Have Been Taught About God
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About Neale
Hello Dear Friends,
Today Neale and others dear to us are in flying home after an amazing several months in Europe. On their journey, they've encountered hundreds, if not thousands, of people using the messages of CwG to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. I've only heard a few of the stories, but from all reports, it's been an incredible and fulfilling tour. Since I'm unable to make contact with Neale and get his copy for this week's bulletin, I took the following article off one of his recent blogs. I think you'll find it interesting and revealing.
Marion Black
Executive Director |
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What Some Have Been Taught About God
 Here is a quick survey of some of the things many people have been told by their ancestors, by their parents, by their teachers and by other authority figures in their lives, about What God Wants.
It may be tough for some of you to get through this survey. Please do it anyway.
These passed-on messages have created the here-and-now views, ideas and experiences of millions of people who at least loosely adhere to, or live in cultures which have been deeply affected by, the doctrines of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the big three of the world's organized religions. Some of these teachings also became a part of other religions. The result of this is that a huge portion of the world's people have been exposed to these ideas and deeply affected by them.
Let's take the most obvious topics first.
GOD
Many humans have been told that What God Wants is for humans to understand that God is the Supreme Being, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, the Giver of Life, Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, and Wise beyond Human Understanding.
God is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the Unmoved Mover, separate from humanity, but the creator of it in His own image--separate from life, but the Creator of it, as His gift to humanity.
Most humans have been told that God is a single God, a unified God, the Only God there is. The word Allah means, literally, the God. Some humans have been told that this One God is divided into Three Parts, one of which became human. Some humans have been told that there is more than one God. And some humans have been told that there is no God at all. The majority of humans in the Twenty-First Century believe in a God of some sort.
Most of those who do believe in God have been told that What God Wants is Love and Justice.
To fulfill the first mandate, God has granted each human being ample and repeated opportunity to be reconciled with Him.
To fulfill the second mandate, God, at the end of each human life, sits in Judgment of every human soul, deciding at this Reckoning whether the soul has earned everlasting reward in Heaven or everlasting damnation in Hell.
Most humans have been told that God is a jealous God, God is a vengeful God, God is an angry God who can be filled with wrath and who uses violence directly on human beings--and who invites and even commands human beings to do so on each other.
They've also been told that God is a caring God, a compassionate God, a merciful God, a loving God who wants nothing but the best for human beings. All that humans have to do is obey Him. It's easy for humans to know how to obey God because God has told humans exactly what to do and what not to do. It's all there in Sacred Scripture. It can be found also in the words and in the teaching of God's personal representative on earth.
These are the beliefs of much of humanity.
One result of this teaching: Many human beings are afraid of God. They also love God. So, many humans confuse fear and love, seeing them as connected in some way. Where God is concerned, we love to be afraid (we have made it a virtue to be "God fearing"), and we are afraid not to love (we are commanded to "Love the Lord thy God with all thy mind, all thy heart, and all thy soul").
Humans fear what God will do to them if they do not obey Him. They have been told He will punish them with everlasting torment. Many human beings therefore rely heavily on their understanding of God's word and God's desires and what meets God's approval when regulating their lives, interpreting situations or events, and making decisions.
When U.S. President George W. Bush was asked if he ever sought the advice of his father, the first President Bush, he replied that he sought counsel from "a higher Father." When the then new spiritual leader of Hamas, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, delivered a speech at Gaza's Islamic University in March, 2004, he told those assembled that "God declared war" against America, Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Rantisi added, "The war of God continues against them and I can see the victory coming up from the land of Palestine by the hand of Hamas."
Two weeks later Rantisi was dead, killed by an Israeli rocket attack on his car.
Earlier it was said, "Humanity's ideas about God produce humanity's ideas about life and about people."
This is painfully clear. This is painfully obvious.
GOD'S WORD AND GOD'S MESSENGER
 Many humans have been told that What God Wants is for God's Word to be recognized as being contained in the Holy Scriptures and Sacred Texts, and for God's Messenger to be honored and listened to and followed.
There are many Holy Scriptures and Sacred Texts, including the Adi Granth, the Bhagavad-gita, the Book of Mormon, the Hadith, the I Ching, the Kojiki, the Lun-yü, the Mahabharata, the Mathnawi, the New Testament, the Pali  Canon, the Qur'an, the Tao-te Ching, the Talmud, the Torah, the Upanishad, the Veda, and the Yoga-sutras, to name a few. Many humans have been told that only one of these texts is the right one. The rest are wrong. If you choose the teachings of the "wrong" one, you'll go to Hell.
There are many Messengers, including...
 ...Noah, Abraham, Moses, Confucius, Siddartha Gautama (who has been called The Buddha), Jesus of Nazareth (who has been called The Savior), Muhammad (who has been called The Greatest Prophet), Patanjai (who has been called The Enlightened One), Baha'u'llah (who has been called the Blessed One), Jalal al-Din Rumi, (who has been called the Mystic),  Paramahansa Yogananda (who has been called the Master), Joseph Smith (who has been called many things), and others. Many humans have been told that only one of these messengers is the right one. The rest are wrong. If you choose the message of the "wrong" one, you'll go to Hell.
One result of this teaching: Human beings have been trying to figure out which is the right text and who is the right messenger for thousands of years. The followers of certain messengers and the believers in certain texts have sought to convince the rest of the world that the messenger and text of their persuasion is the only one to which people should turn.
On many occasions throughout history these attempts at conversion have turned violent. There has scarcely been a day on this planet when a battle has not been fought or a human being not killed in the name of God, or for God's Cause.
The Holy Scriptures of all major religions indicate that vanquishing, punishing and killing is something that God Himself has repeatedly done, and so vanquishing, punishing and killing in God's name and in the name of God's Messenger is acceptable and, in some circumstances, required.
This is, many of the world's people believe, What God Wants.
HEAVEN AND HELL
 Many humans have been told that What God Wants is for people to live good lives, and for good people to go to Heaven or Paradise after their deaths, while bad people go to Hell, Gehenna, or Hades. Those in Heaven will live in unending bliss in reunion with God and those in Hell will live with other evildoers who have been damned to eternal torture. Where each individual soul goes will be decided at the Reckoning on Judgment Day.
Some humans have been told that Hell is a temporary experience during which sinners are tormented by demons until the debt created by the evil of their lives has been paid, while others have been informed that Hell is but a phase in a soul's journey as it passes through many experiences of reincarnation.
One result of this teaching: Millions of people have structured their entire lives around the struggle to avoid "going to Hell" and around the hope of "getting to heaven." They have done extraordinary and sometimes shocking things to produce this outcome.
The concept of Heaven and Hell has shaped not only their behavior, but their entire understanding of life itself. It has also shaped human history.
LIFE
Many humans have been told that What God Wants is for life to be a school, a place of learning, a time of testing, a brief and precious opportunity to migrate the soul back to Heaven, back to God, whence it came.
Many humans have also been told that it's when life ends that the real joy begins. All of life should be considered a prelude, a forerunner, a platform upon which is built the soul's experience of eternity. Life should therefore be led with an eye toward the Afterlife, for what is earned now will be experienced forever.
Most humans also believe that What God Wants is for people to understand that life consists of what people can see, hear, taste, touch and smell--and nothing more.
 One result of this teaching: Humans believe that life is not easy, nor is it supposed to be. It's a constant struggle. In this struggle, anything other than what is perceived by the five senses is considered "supernatural" or "occult" and falls, therefore, into the category of "trafficking with the Devil" and "the work of Satan."
Humans are struggling to get back to God, and into God's good graces. They are struggling to get back home. This is what life is about. It's about the struggle of the soul, living within the body, to get back home, to return to God, from Whom it has been separated.
Most people of religious persuasion focus heavily on Heaven and Hell. Those who believe that "getting to Heaven" is the ultimate Purpose of Life, and who truly and fervently believe that they can guarantee their entrance into Heaven by doing certain things while on earth, will, of course, seek to do those things.
They'll make sure that their sins are confessed regularly, and that their absolutions are up to date, so that if they die suddenly their soul will be ready for Judgment Day. They'll fast for hours, days, or weeks at a time, travel on pilgrimages to distant holy places, go to church or temple or mosque or synagogue every week without fail, tithe 10% of their income, eat or not eat certain foods, wear or not wear certain clothing, say or not say certain words, and engage in all manner of rites and rituals.
They'll obey the rules of their religion, honor the customs of their faith tradition, and follow the instructions of their spiritual leaders in order to demonstrate to God that they are a worthy person, so that a place will be reserved for them in Paradise.
If they are distressed enough and oppressed enough and unhappy enough, some humans will even end their own lives and kill other people--including the totally innocent and the absolutely unsuspecting--for the promise of a reward in heaven.
(If that promised reward happens to be 72 black-eyed virgins with whom to spend all of eternity, and if the humans in question happen to be 18 to 30-year-old men with little future and a dust-laden, poverty stricken, injustice-filled present, the chances of their making such an extraordinarily destructive decision will increase tenfold.)
They'll do this because they believe this is What God Wants.
But is it?
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What's Happening
We have graduates of our Life Education Program who are out in the world committed to giving people back to themselves through the New Spirituality and the messages of CwG. We want to let you know about these opportunities around the world that are available to you.
 FEAR VS.LOVE
AND
THE WAY OF THE DOLPHIN
By Andrew Eric Parker
I'd like to take this opportunity to share a few thoughts with you all on the topic of fear and love in direct relationship to the work I love to do--the inspirational work of bringing people to joy through the magic of whales and dolphins!
F.E.A.R- false evidence appearing real! Have you ever been in a state of fear where your body sweats and your heart pounds and your thoughts race around your head looking for a way out? The thing about fear is that there is no escape. It is a vicious cycle of chemical reaction and hormonal rush that feeds your racing mind, creating scenario after scenario of what "might" happen. Have you ever really looked at what makes you scared? Have you ever thought about your own process around fear?
Fear is a past-based learned response to perceived threat and it has immense value for us in certain circumstances. It is also a tool used by us to control. We allow it to be used by our governments and media outlets to sell us on a concept. We allow certain levels to be present in our lives and to create the context for our lives and our society. Fear robs us of our power. Once in fear, we are generally at the mercy of the situation, acting on instinct and survival.
Fear, my friends, is an illusion created by the mind. Threats, of course, can be real, but how we re-act is the key. Fear is a contraction of our energetic being; it closes us down and limits our innate potential. The presence of fear often puts us in a state that is easily manipulated and controlled. In fact, it is our choice what state we choose to be in. Once in fear, we are often at the mercy of the perpetrators and the illusion. Thus fear is a disempowering state.
Love is an energetic, expansive state of divine creation. In essence there are only two sponsoring thoughts from which all thought forms spring--Fear or Love--the two hemispheres of thought and two hemispheres of the brain, the yin and the yang of all creation, the black and the white, the here and the there. Love is characterized by our feelings and we say that often love is centered in the heart, as in "I love you with all my heart." The heart is the barometer of our divine creative tool. Our ability to create what we want in our lives is a heart and feeling centered philosophy. The science of HeartMath for example. When we are in love, not just with the beings we are passionate with, the wives, girl/boy friends or lovers, but whenever we are in love, we are in the moment. We can in fact, be in love with our fears.
How does that work? Simply what we resist persists and what we look at disappears. Therefore for us, each fear holds a world of self growth when we stop resisting the feelings and embrace all experiences for the gifts they hold. It is then we are in love. We can even be in love when we experience deep and profound loss like the loss of a loved one. I say this not to offend another who may have lost and has not yet seen the gift, but as a sharing from one who has lost and has seen the gift. (see 5th Remembrance "death is never a tragedy, always a gift" in Conversations With God, Home with God - Neale Donald Walsh). Love sets us free. Love is the space of divine creation, at one with the laws of attraction, and the truth of experiential abundance. It is expansive and the feeling we experience when we are in love can be described as pure joy.
 The way of the dolphin is one of pure joy. I found my passion and a path to fulfilling my purpose by sharing the joy and excitement of meeting these amazingly free beings in the open ocean over 10 years ago. When I first gathered a small group on a freezing June day, two mothers with children with autism and a good mate dying of motor neuron disease, we swam with dolphins. In that moment I understood something about myself and joy in a way I hadn't before. When I saw the faces of the children and heard their squeals of delight as a large female bottlenose brought her young baby to meet the children, I fell in love and that experience lives with me to this very day.
I now take people from all over the world to meet and share space with whales and dolphins. I believe they have a message for us in this world of fear-based control. That message is one of love. Through their mere presence on this earth we can experience the magic of joy. Through a photo or film clip, or through a chance sighting at the beach as they dance with the surfers or play amongst the waves, we know joy. When we hear the haunting sounds of a Humpback whale's song, a song of creation containing a million tonal changes, a million frequency changes and 100 million bytes of information, we feel a wondrous sense of possibility. We feel a sense of love. I take people during the summer months overnight to an offshore island in the blue water wonderland of Port Stephens NSW Australia, where we swim, play and act like dolphins, often enjoying extremely close encounters with our dolphin friends in the deep blue of the Pacific Ocean. The magic of these encounters always brings the same result--laughter, joy, connection, sharing and LOVE.
 Getting an opportunity to share briefly about this topic is a pure joy for me. I can see you and feel you touching experiences through the words on this page. For these brief moments I am in deep gratitude to you for your listening. Today I give you the opportunity to be like a dolphin. Dolphins love to ride the bow wave, they love to surf. Our fears are energy; sometimes they seem like a massive battleship that is sailing to crush us. Even the deepest fear is energy! It is our choice what we do with that energy. Spin around and ride the bow wave of that energy. Sail with that energy, leaping and spinning for joy at your ability to change your thoughts and direct what you think to whatever you choose. You are now a dolphin riding the bow wave of creation. You are in control of the direction of your life. You are living the way of the dolphin...
Andrew Parker can be found during the southern hemisphere summer months at Port Stephens New South Wales Australia on the 50 foot Catamaran Imagine, taking groups on amazing cetacean journeys. All details on www.dolphcom.com.au
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From M. Claire Our Beloved Poet
While You Were Out
While You were
out,
many things transpired.
A sky was born.
Love & Laughter married.
Ten Thousand suns were birthed.
I awoke, a Butterfly.
My wings burst into song.
And I even changed my name,
While You were out.
Planets began to dance, my Love,
And all colors traded hues.
Stars turned themselves into ocean bottoms;
Grasshoppers, into Gazelles,
And I left the earth
and returned
Courageous
All, while You were out.
While You
Were Out - m. claire
(© copyright 2007
- all rights reserved) |
Message from Marion
 Hello My Friends,
Since last week when I took over the bulletin, we've had an amazing turnout of those who wish to contribute. It is my sincerest hope that the changes you will see coming out over the next few months will enhance your experience of the Foundation and of the CwG material. Many of our old friends and supporters, as well as our readers and LEP graduates, have come to the plate and willingly volunteered their time and support of this effort. I hope to make all of us more real to you through these articles and our pictures.
I frequently encounter readers and others on the periphery of the Foundation who have very strong ideas of who all of us that make up the Foundation are. There's such a common underlying theme that we should be this or that: that somehow by virtue of our work we should be better than others at practicing the CwG material in everything we do. The idea seems to be that the Foundation should be more "spiritual," whatever that means. What I've come to understand from my unique vantage point is that we who have the opportunity to put this message into the world and share it with all of you are just as human and normal as every one else.
In my own vision of myself, I've come to appreciate that I'm not any more able to practice these ideas and principles in my life than any one of you. Often, I find the contact from our readers, or the generous words they share with us, far more profound and impactful than words I could come up with. What my perspective gives me is a deep appreciation for the idea that everyone is exactly where they are supposed to be, and I am humbled by our humanity and our capacity as human beings having this incredible experience of life. Each and every one of us is just amazing in whatever we do and how we go about it - no matter what that looks like from one person to the next. Furthermore, it doesn't make anyone better or worse at which ever level of visibility we chose to live our lives.
My life and what goes on in it are what I share with the world because I've found that it seems to help some folks now and then and because it's what I know-therefore I'm able to share it in a way I feel safe and comfortable with, and at the same time be of service. There are others whose lives touch ours and whose work makes our worlds better and more manageable, but to whom there is little recognition and even less acknowledgement for all they do. They do not seek the credit nor do they rock the boat or bang their highchair for attention from those of us that are less observant.
Just last week I came to understand this in a very deep way. There is a woman here at the Foundation who's a vital part of all we do. She's actually the person that opened the doors to the Foundation to me years ago and paved the way to my first position here. She's been in Neale's world since before the very first book was published, and there are fond tales told to this day about her and a handful of others sitting around Neale's kitchen table in the very beginning of what was to become the world's experience of CwG, The Foundation, Humanity's Team, The School of the  New Spirituality and The Group of 1,000. Her name is Patty Hammett and I'd like to share with you this amazing gentle woman, because she has been part and parcel of all that CwG has become.
Patty and I have become dear friends over the years. Don't get me wrong. We've certainly had our "stuff" but we've trudged through every muddy rut and come to the other side better than we were before.
Patty has taught me so much about what CwG looks like when all that one does is centered around an attempt to practice these messages in their daily lives. She, as all of us, has her own challenges, but I swear I've never seen anyone with as fierce a loyalty to Neale and this work, no matter what. Of course there are others who exemplify these qualities too, but Patty does it with a willingness and tenacity that I just haven't experienced very often.
Patty has handled almost every position in the Foundation at one time or another, whether she had the title to go with the job or not. She is the glue that runs a beaded line through all the years the Foundation has been in existence. Today she acts as a consultant to the Board of Directors and to me - she is vital in that she holds the historical record of all of it in her head. This makes her incredibly valuable to us as an organization. If there is a question about something from a long time ago - you go to Patty. If there is a new idea and I don't know whether it's been tried before or not - or if it might or might not work - I go to Patty because she can give me every shred of information about what has happened and the outcomes, good or bad.
Lastly, Patty is a dear personal friend of a very special variety. To me she is the friend who walks with me through the crazy times, the wonderful times, and the times of heartbreak and bliss with the same level of love and compassion, no matter what the situation. She's the friend that forgives me when I've wronged her. She's the friend who thanks me through her actions. She's the friend that always loves me even when I'm not acting very lovable. Through it all she never finds the need for me to show up any different. She never seems to want or need to fix me. She loves me and accepts me wherever I am and however I am, no matter which way the winds of my life are blowing.
It is my deepest wish that I am half the friend to her that she's been to me. It is my strongest desire that I may serve the messages of CwG and the Foundation with half the level of loyalty and dedication that this often unnoticed and unrecognized amazing individual has demonstrated over these many long and arduous years.
Patty is one of those people that operate in vital roles in our personal and/or professional lives who often aren't acknowledged and recognized for their substantial contribution. I urge you each to look around you and notice those who go unnoticed, and recognize those who you otherwise might not. They are so very vital to all of us. Pay attention and take a moment to let them know how important they are to you and what you do.
Have a great week!
Blessings,
Marion Black
Executive Director
ReCreation Foundation, Inc.
Cell 541-301-0365
Email: marion@CwG.org
Always feel free to contact me!
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On the Path to Happiness - Choose Happy Thoughts
 by Bonnie Starr Mandell-Rice - LEP Graduate
Things happen. What happens is "what is." All of our thoughts about "what is" are simply that: thoughts. We do not have to believe our thoughts. The less we believe our thoughts, particularly the disempowering, judgmental, unhappy ones, the happier we become.
This morning the "what is" was, for me, that for the third day in a row I awoke with my neck and upper back in total spasm. One choice I could have made as I groaned and struggled to get out of bed was to suffer, to think "poor me," and to wonder why this happened to "poor me." I tend not to make that choice, ever. I prefer to think happy thoughts, look on the bright side, find the positive or the potentially positive, in whatever is. So, this morning, I decided that the spasms were a "healing crisis," one in which my body was unwinding and releasing all the trauma that my upper body had endured 35 years ago, this very month, in a car accident. That right away got me excited: What a blessing to finally heal that!
When the pain and spasms started, I decided to give myself a day or two of rest to let my body heal itself. This morning the two days I had allotted were up, so I went to my yoga class. When I arrived, I told my teacher that I might not do well in the postures today because of the spasms and pain, and that I was there to do what I could, in the hope and with the intent that the yoga would help.
In yoga (as in life), there often is resistance to completely letting go - to allowing your body to bend backwards or forward or extend fully. So in yoga, much of the practice is about letting go of the resistance to letting go. Every time a limiting thought entered my head during yoga class, I chose to acknowledge it but not believe it. I chose instead to simply relax and allow my body to open as much as it was able in each moment. By the end of the 90 minute class, only a slight amount of stiffness remained in my neck and upper back.
This is not about ignoring or denying "what is." It is about acknowledging "what is" and then choosing your thoughts about "what is." It is about letting go of the old disempowering and limiting thoughts and deciding for yourself what "what is" means and, if you find yourself still clinging to them, letting go of your resistance to letting go. Finally, if your wish is to be happy, you will make choices and decisions about "what is" that empower, expand and inspire you. It is about holding the knowing that in every challenge there is a gift waiting to be revealed. And if some cynical person says: "You are dreaming," thank them. As the song, Happy Talk (from the musical, South Pacific), goes:
If you don't talk happy,
And you never have a dream
Then how you gonna have a dream come true?
* * *
So you gotta talk happy,
And you gotta have a dream,
Or you'll never have a dream come true.
So, if you want to be happy, think happy thoughts, talk happy to yourself and to others, and have a dream (which is a happy thought). May all your dreams come true.
COPYRIGHT: @ Bonnie Starr Mandell-Rice 2007. This article may be forwarded provided that the complete article is included and this copyright information is included.) This article will be archived at www.transformativecoaching.net
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