~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Weekly Bulletin #313 October 18, 2008 Just the most perfect Christmas gift ever NOTE: The Weekly Bulletin is sent free of charge to anyone who asks for it. It is a publication of the ReCreation Foundation, a non-profit organization undertaking the work of sharing the message of Conversations with God with the world. That message is that the purpose of life is to recreate ourselves anew in the next grandest version of the greatest vision ever we held about Who We Are.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In This Issue... Notes from Neale Q&A on CwG... Best of the Blogs The Calendar

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Notes from Neale... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My dear friends... If you're reading this Bulletin you must be one of the millions of people who feel that they have benefited from having read the Conversations with God material. If that true, you may know others who feel the same way. A life partner, perhaps, or a friend. And if THAT is true, I've got the most wonderful Christmas gift ever to suggest for you to give them this year (and yourself, too, for that matter!). I am going to be sitting down with a small group of people just like you just a few days after Christmas for an extraordinary five days, on each of which I am going to engage with members of that group in a conversation ABOUT Conversations WITH God. I'm going to be talking all about how to more effectively apply the messages of CWG in one's every day life. I'll be looking closely at what we can all do to make 2009 just the very best year yet – no matter what kinds of changes occur in our lives...in the financial situation or anything else. Of course, we're living in a very tumultuous time. Everybody knows that. And I don't see the tumult ending soon. I don't think it has to bring disaster, mind you...but I don't see all the upheaval ending soon. And I'm not talking about all the money stuff only. Many of the people I have been talking to these past four weeks are experiencing all kinds of upheaval in their every day lives. Partnerships are dissolving. Jobs are changing...or disappearing. People are finding themselves moving to new towns and even to new countries. Circumstances of every kind and sort are shifting right in front of our eyes. Entire systems are being changed. Whatever happens in the U.S. election on November 4, the whole world is going to be affected in a way that will change everything. How to deal with all this change...that is the question... On December 28 I'm going to be sitting down with a group of CWG readers from around the world and looking at that very question, seeing if we can fashion an answer from a CWG perspective. Of course I know we can. So it's going to be a very exciting time for the hundred or so people in the room. I love these extended programs (we do only two retreats like this a year) because, unlike my lectures, where there are often 800 to 1,000 people in the room, these spiritual renewal retreats offer me an opportunity to work one-on-one in a group setting with individuals who have come to the space with a powerful determination to take a real look at what's going on for them in their life right now -- and change things for the better, beginning then and there. And I can think of no better Christmas present to give to someone whose life has been touched in a positive way by Conversations with God than a gift-enrollment to this year-end program, which runs from Dec. 28 to New Year's Day. This very special event includes a powerful New Year's Eve Resolutions Ritual, in which everyone in the room gets up, one at a time, and makes a New Year's Resolution that could change their lives. It is not too early to put all this in place. In fact, the time is perfect, as spaces are going pretty fast...what with all the upheaval in the world, people are turning to their spiritual source of strength and insight for guidance and a clear way forward. Please hold a space or two now, before they are all gone. This is our most popular program every year, and I don't want you to be shut out. Just pick up the phone right now and call our wonderful Will Richardson, who has been our retreat enrollment coordinator for nearly 13 years. He'll make sure you have a space, and he'll help you find terrific lodging in town as well, within walking distance of our program site. Here's Will's number: 352-442-2244 Give him a call right now, even before you continue reading this Bulletin. You are going to be incredibly and wonderfully surprised at how little it costs to attend this program that stretches over five days at the end of this year...about one third the cost of similar programs offered by other spiritual organizations. Will's number again: 352-442-2244 I so look forward to seeing you in a few weeks in beautiful Christmas Card Town USA, Ashland, Oregon! Love and hugs... Neale.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Q&A on CwG... Here is a Question and Answer on Conversations with God – an interaction between Neale and a CwG reader about the extraordinary material in this series of books. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dear Neale: There has been something rolling around in my thoughts for some time. Maybe you can help me with some direction. I know prayer is wonderful. I often put myself in a prayer mode just to capture that Love feeling. I do pray. However, if things happen perfectly in our "perfect universe" then what are we praying for? I mean, does prayer change "what is?" Please help me to understand more about prayer! I wish you love, and I give you thanks. Sincerely, heart felt, Stacey, AZ. Dear Stacey: You asked an intriguing question, one that has occupied the mind of man from the beginning of time, I suspect. The answer is contained in Conversations with God, so let me refer back to my own memory of the text. A prayer of supplication is not the most effective prayer, because a prayer containing a request actually pushes the result away from us. That is because when you ask for something, you are making a statement that you do not now have it. It is this statement which appears in your reality. And so, if we continue to pray for world peace, and more love on the planet, we will continue to experience that we do not have world peace and more love, because if we did, we wouldn't be asking for it. Therefore the most effective prayer is a prayer of thanksgiving. God tells us that "gratitude is the attitude." When we are thankful for the result which we would like to perceive in our lives, that results come closer and closer into our realities. Prayer does not change "what is"; prayer changes our perception of what is. I will give you simple example. If you are going out on a picnic, and head for the pasture to be with your loved one on a nice sunny Sunday afternoon, and if it begins to rain cats and dogs, and you are soaked to the skin with your beautiful hairdo totally messed up, and your wonderful romantic picnic washed out, you may think that this was somewhat less than perfect. On the other hand, if you are the farmer living in the big farmhouse over the rolling hill on the other side of the pasture, you may consider that the very same exterior experience of the downpour is absolutely perfect. So we see, that not only in this simple example, but in every instance, all of life-and the question of perfection itself-is merely a question of perspective. One of the most effective prayers I ever came across I discovered in A Course In Miracles. That prayer is: "Thank you, God, for helping me to understand that this problem has already been solved for me." So, Stacey, in our "perfect universe" what we are praying for is for a grander understanding and a larger ability to experience the perfection of things exactly as they are now showing up. We are also offering a prayer of thanks to God for whatever other specific outcome we would choose, at the same time stepping away from any expectation or requirement that this outcome be produced. This is how all masters pray, and it is why all masters are always happy, at peace, and unperturbed. To understand all of this more deeply, may I suggest that you read Conversations with God again?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Best of the Blogs... Each week we present in this space the best from past entries on the worldwide CwG Blog. The blog may be accessed daily on the home page at www.beliefnet.com. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Posted on Beliefnet on Oct 13, 2008 Today I would like you to consider the possibility that most of the world's people hold an inaccurate belief about God. Consider the possibility that the truth about God is something that most people can't even imagine. For instance, wouldn't it be interesting if there was no such thing as the Will of God? Wouldn't that change a lot of things? Do you think that it's God's Will that the world is the way it is? And if it's not God's Will, is God powerless to do anything about it? And if God is not powerless to do anything about it, why isn't God doing something about it? And if God is doing something about it, why isn't God succeeding? Some say it's because humanity isn't letting Him. Humanity is standing in the way of God getting What God Wants. Actually, more than a few people believe this. According to this doctrine, God is unable to achieve What God Wants, and humanity is at fault. Yet unless there is something that humans don't understand about who and what God is, isn't there a breakdown in logic somewhere? Perhaps here is where Satan comes in. It's as good a place as any, and it's a convenient place for sure. Perhaps this whole business is all part of God's battle with Satan for men's souls. Perhaps it's God Himself who allows things to happen that are against God's Will, in order for the struggle with Satan to be played out. Yet if that is true, then it's God's Will that God's Will be violated...in which case God's Will is not being violated at all. Could it be that God's Will is always being expressed, simply in differing form? So what, then, IS God's Will? And how can we know it? Here we go again. How can human beings know What God Wants? Perhaps it's time for a more pointed question. Do you think it's possible that we're simply making this all up? At the very least, do you think it's possible that there's something we don't understand about God, the understanding of which could change everything? I believe the answer to both questions is yes. And here is what most humans and most religions are afraid to look at: Perhaps what it is that humans don't understand about God is that God is not at all what people have thought. Perhaps God is not an old man in the sky with needs and desires, a personal will and personal fears, and all the inner conflicts, contradictions, turmoil and emotional turbulence of humans. Perhaps God is the Sum Total of Everything--truly, the "All in All," the "Alpha and the Omega", "That Which IS"--and perhaps nothing stands outside of this. If that is true, then YOU do not stand outside of This, and This does not stand outside of you. This means that what you want, God wants. It means that your will for you is God's will for you. Yet what happens when we are of the consciousness "...not as I will, but Thy will be done?" What happens when we make a choice to make God choose for us, and God is saying, "You may do as you wish"? What happens to the will, to the idea, to the request then, if we say to God, you choose for us, but God is saying, you choose for you? When you make a choice to have God choose for you, you have essentially taken down the sail, let go of the rudder, and set your boat adrift on a stormy sea. This is because God really and truly does choose for you what you choose for you. Or, to put this all another way, if God did have a preference, this, in fact, would be it: that you get to choose. Now if you do not want to choose, if you want someone else to do the choosing for you, we have a small problem here. You can, of course, give up your future to fate, but the winds of fate, as you must surely have learned, can take you in either of two directions: into safe harbor, or into a shoal, and certain shipwreck. That is because "fate" is a marvelous acronym for "From All Thoughts Everywhere." And that includes all of your own previous thoughts, as well as all of the thoughts of others. First will come your own. The first thing that will happen is that your personal creative Self will turn for direction to your own most powerful thought--which is often found in your subconscious. That is, you are not consciously aware of it. You will then produce an outcome. You simply won't do it consciously. You'll do it unconsciously, then claim that what happened was "fate," or "God's will." In addition to your own thought, your future will also be impacted by the collective consciousness of the world around you; that is, the other human beings who people your life, with whom you travel on your journey, and, to some degree, all the people of the earth, whose combined attitudes too often create the collective experience of the lot of us. Now, since many of the thoughts belonging to these other people may be strikingly different from each other, you may find yourself battered a bit. This will manifest itself as your feeling "torn" over what to do. In life, indecision only breeds more indecision--and then, ultimately, a decision that is made for you. That is because, as you will soon discover, not to decide is to decide. The truth is, you are always deciding, it is just a matter of how you are doing it. You are always creating. It is merely a question of what method you use. My recommendation: make a conscious personal choice about everything. If you leave the choices about where the world at large is headed to the world at large, the collective consciousness of humanity will set the course and direction of your planet's future. You can either follow the collective consciousness, or help direct it. If you are looking to God for direction in all this, you may want to consider the powerful questions raised here. What if your will for you is God's will for you? And what if the same is true for the collective will of humanity? What if God will empower humanity's collective will, but will not alter it? Think about this. This idea has enormous implications. (This posting is an excerpt from What God Wants, from Atria Books.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Calendar ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A look at events at which Neale Donald Walsch will share the message of Conversations with God in the weeks ahead. You can learn more about the work of the ReCreation Foundation at these events...and on its official website, www.cwg.org, as well. NOTE: Not all events are sponsored by the ReCreation Foundation, but because all of the events move forward the message of Conversations with God, which is the mission of the Foundation, the Foundation is pleased to inform you of them. October 17 - 19, 2008 Venice, Italy Workshop Stefano - Tel: +39 338 7180315 Email: stefrusso@yahoo.it October 24 - 26, 2008 Cabourg, Normandy, France Workshop: Another Way of Loving Tel: 00331 5375 3535 Email: info@recreer.net www.grandfestival.fr October 31 - November 2, 2008 Copenhagen, Denmark Workshop Email: svend.trier@get2net.dk November 5, 2009 New York City, New York Free evening program: Have Your Own Conversation with God East West Living Book Store 6:30 to 9 pm Tel: 352-442-2244 Email: support@nealedonaldwalsch.com November 6, 2008 Happier Than God: The One Day Experience A spiritual renewal event New York City Tel: 352-442-2244 Email: support@nealedonaldwalsch.com November 8 - 11, 2008 Phoenix, AZ Celebrate Your Life Contact +1-480-970-8447 www.celebrateyourlife.org November 12, 2008 Dallas, Texas Benefit Lecture for Free2BU program "Peace begins at home" Unity Church of Dallas Tel: (214) 717-1310 Email: Angel@Free2BU.com December 28, 2008 - January 1, 2009 Ashland, OR Your Conversation with God The Holiday Retreat - The 5-Day Experience Will: +1-352-442-2244 Email: will@cwg.org www.cwg.org/main.php?p=Retreats&sub=RSchedule January 22 - 25, 2009 Los Angeles, CA The Freedom Formula Experience Contact: +1-800-930-3713 Email: Info@thefreedomfoformula.com March 10 - 12, 2009 Ashland, OR Deep Study CwG Intensive Contact Will 352-442-2244 email: will@cwg.org March 20 - 21, 2009 Denver, CO Weekend Workshop Mile Hi Church Contact: +1 303-232-4079 June 19 - 22, 2009 Golden, B.C. Canada Quantum Leap Retreat Quantum Leaps Lodge Email: info@quantumleaps.ca quantumleaps.ca/neale_donald_walsch.php

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