A tsunami warning has sounded
In This Issue...
Notes from Neale
The CwG Reader
Making a Difference
The Calendar
Notes from Neale...
My dear friends...
It has been an interesting week, and as you receive this I am still on the Big Island in Hawai`i, preparing to deliver the keynote speech at a major inter-island event here on Saturday night.
We have been in this astonishingly beautiful state since February 18, and last Saturday were awakened at 6 a.m. with civil defense sirens blaring and the hotel p.a. system carrying this ominous words: "This is the duty manager speaking. A tsunami warning has sounded and all guests are asked to evacuate the hotel immediately and move to higher ground. Please leave your luggage behind and take only a few personal possessions. This is not a test. This is an actual alert. Please evacuate the hotel NOW. Do not panic or become alarmed. We have been informed that the first wave is not going to hit until 11 a.m. There is plenty of time to move to higher ground. If you do not have transportation, transportation will be provided."
We were never in any immediate danger, and I don't want to paint a picture that suggests we were, but it was an eerie feeling to be aroused out of a deep sleep like that, and there were some faster heartbeats as Em and I jumped up, dressed an quickly as we could, gathered our few things ("Make sure you have cash!" "Got it! Did you fill the water bottle?" etc.), and made our way to the lobby.
Most of the people there were waiting for buses, which eventually carried them to safe holding places, like church halls and school gymnasiums. We were among the lucky ones who got picked up by "locals" and taken to private homes high in the hills. In our case, the sponsors of this weekend's event sent a representative, who took us to his home, 700 feet above sea level, where he and his wonderful wife graciously offered us shelter, breakfast, lunch, and good conversation while we awaited the first wave, predicted to be anywhere between 8 and 12 feet.
As you must know by now from news reports, Hawai`i sidestepped any real incident, the waves dissipating before they got here, with the highest being about 3 feet, and actually being greater in Japan---although even there the effect was relatively minor.
All of this was because of the massive 8.8 earthquake in Chili, of course---one of the biggest quakes ever recorded in the history of such records. And so again we see tremendous loss of life (although not nearly as devastating as in Haiti in January) and the deep anguish that accompanies that...and we see, again, a planet in geophysical turmoil.
Some experts are telling us that we are going to be seeing more and more of these kinds of environmental disruptions in the months and years ahead, leading me to think that the wonderful information in the latest book in the Conversations with God cosmology---When Everything Changes, Change Everything---has come to us not a moment too soon.
If you have not had a chance to see this book, have not yet read it, I do hope that you will do so now. It observes that if we are to get through this time of turmoil---political and economical and well as geophysical---we are going to have to "change everything" about the way we hold life, about the way we think about God, and about how we see ourselves in relationship to each other and even to ourselves.
The book explains in detail the Mechanics of the Mind and the System of the Soul, and offers a remarkable combination of modern psychology and contemporary spirituality in what it calls The WECCE Technology. ("WECCE" is an acronym for When Everything Changes, Change Everything) This is, essentially, a new way of approaching life that can dramatically change the way change is affecting you.
In my April Changing Everything spiritual renewal retreat, to be presented in Medford, Oregon, we will be sharing this technology with those participating, and we already have 44 people signed up for this event. If you have been moving through some major changes in your own life, this may be just exactly the help you have been looking for, so I hope you will give yourself permission to reserve your space today and get yourself over here. I really want to be able to share this with you personally. To learn more about this, go to: http://www.nealedonaldwalsch.com/index.php?p=Classes
As for my experience with the tsunami-that-never-was, I want to share with you that it placed before me, up close and personal, the truth of our own mortality. Life can be taken away from us on a moment's notice, and I hold with deep sadness in my heart the news of those who died, suddenly and without warning, as a result of the earthquake in Chili. I also hold each new moment that my own life brings me as an incredible and continuing Gift from this Universe; a pure treasure from God. I am grateful beyond words, and I truly hope to use every new minute I am given in this life to give a gift back to the people in my life and the people in our world.
Thank you, God, thank you, God, thank you, God for this wonderful day, this wonderful hour, this wonderful experience that I am calling my life! Grant that I may offer in each nano-second a gift to life itself through the way I am living it.
Love and Hugs,
Neale.
The CwG Reader
Further explorations of the Conversations with God material from the author
Neale Donald Walsch through the years has given hundreds of talks and written scores of articles revolving around the messages he received in his Conversations with God. Now, every seven days, we will present in this space a transcript or reprint of those presentations. We invite you to Copy and Save each one of them, creating a personal a collection of contemporary and uplifting spiritual thought which you may reference at any time. We hope you will find this a constant source of insight and inspiration.
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This week's offering: Through the years Neale has received many comments and questions regarding the message in CwG that tells us, "Hitler went to heaven." Below is a teleclass given by Neale on this topic on January 5, 2005
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In January 2005 I presented a telephone class, the purpose of which was to help those who would seek to become messengers of the New Spirituality in sharing an extraordinary message with others.
Here is an edited transcript of that teleclass:
Sharing this message
A TELECLASS BY NEALE DONALD WALSCH
January 2005
(with later edits in November, 2006)
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This is, I think, the single most controversial and certainly the single most delicate and sensitive subject that has been put into the marketplace of ideas by Conversations with God-and it may therefore be the most difficult to explain or to address.
It obviously must be addressed and explained with enormous sensitivity, and when I talk about this topic to audiences everywhere I make certain that I begin by noticing that what I have just said is true. I usually say something along the lines of what I have just said to you.
"We are going to talk tonight...", or, "We now are going to look at...probably the single most controversial topic raised in the Conversations with God dialogues." One can even go so far as to say "The single most inflammatory...", when seen from particular points of view.
And I think it's important to notice at the onset that, as with any spiritual literature really, or any spiritual information that comes to us from any source, statements from within that literature that are taken out of context are always open to vast misunderstanding and misinterpretation. Certainly that's true of the statement "Hitler went to Heaven." I can tell you this. In all of the press commentaries or letters-to-the-editor or print media critiques of the CwG material that I have seen, this inevitably shows up in the first paragraph or two.
We should know that if the CwG message is vulnerable at any point to criticism and attack from the outside, this is one area of certain vulnerability (assuming we subscribe to the thought that we can be negatively affected, hurt, or damaged in any way).
The idea of damage is a thought that many people hold if they have not elevated their consciousness to the point where such an experience becomes impossible in their reality.
What I just said is a mouthful...so if you are still holding the reality - and many people are - that you, or anything else for that matter, including this message, can be damaged, hurt, or destroyed in some way, then you need to be aware that this is one of those places where that vulnerability will show up for you, especially if you are in front of an audience and someone begins to raise these questions.
If someone raises questions about the "Hitler went to Heaven" comment in the material, you need to be fully ready to respond.
Now, the first response that I give to any critique of the message that Hitler went to Heaven, the first comment that I make (even if I am not responding to an incoming piece of energy from the audience but rather raising the question myself) is: "If you think this is a spiritually difficult or challenging concept, you are correct."
If a person begins to criticize this message even before I have begun to explain it, I immediately agree with them. I say, "I agree with you! On its surface, the statement is outrageous.
"Given what we imagine ourselves to know and understand about the world and the larger reality within our Universe, and specifically our relationship with God, it is not only outrageous, it could also, if it not deeply understood, be construed to be deeply insensitive and hurtful.
"I mean really, how can anybody say that `Hitler went to Heaven'...unless there was some extraordinary piece of data that we don't understand about how the Universe works..."
...and, of course, there is. And that's the whole point.
These are the kinds of opening comments I make. Often I shape my commentary in the form of a question. I might ask my audience's permission...
"Can we discuss this statement?
"Can we make an agreement between ourselves here tonight, in this lecture-audience (or in this workshop or wherever you are presenting)...Can those of us who are here tonight sign onto an informal agreement that we will allow ourselves and permit ourselves to explore and to examine this statement, knowing ahead of time that it is an extremely sensitive topic and that many people, including some in this very audience, have been deeply wounded by the Hitler experience?"
I tell my listeners: "For us to venture into this topic, into this subject matter, without being aware of that deep sensitivity would be outrageous, an outrageous offense really, against the people in this room. Yet there may be something for us to learn here. There may be something for us to more fully understand, and that fuller understanding can only be achieved if we are willing to suspend our judgment and, for the moment at least, give ourselves permission to speak of the unspeakable.
"In fact, it is only in speaking of the unspeakable that humanity has ever made any serious movement in exploring, expanding, and enhancing the moral or theological underpinnings or understandings of its Cultural Story.
"So may we have permission from the room tonight to move forward and explore this extraordinary statement that "Hitler went to Heaven" and see what might have been meant by that?"
Generally, your room would give you that permission. And then you can move ahead with the meat of your discussion. But, you understand, I think, that without asking permission, if you just plow ahead, I think you are going to be in trouble with your audience. So I think you need to honor how sensitive this topic is, and let your listeners know that you know that.
All right, having done that, and presuming you get the room's permission, then move into the meat of the discussion itself and start where I suggested that you start: indicate that to take this statement out of context and allow it to be viewed as a stand-alone commentary on how things are would be a huge mistake and could only lead to enormous misunderstanding.
Only if we bring the statement back within the context of the full message of Conversations with God- which stretches across 22 books, 9 of which are what I would call major dialogue books - only within that context can the statement gather its original and full meaning.
So let's take a look then at what that larger context produces...
NEXT WEEK: A new understanding of Heaven
Making a Difference...
Programs of the CwG Foundation include the Books For Friends and Prison Outreach Programs. The Books for Friends Program is reaching thousands of people, many of which are incarcerated, by sending books, audio books, CwG Newsletters, Freedom Inside Newsletters and study group information to those who desire to be enriched by this material. Our Prison Outreach Program Coordinator corresponds with prisoners via US mail and email daily. We receive many letters from prisoners telling us how CwG has touched their lives and changed their awareness and their life on the inside. YOUR contributions make this possible. People's lives are changing. You are making a difference!
Donate Now
In the last year the Books for Friends Program sent 214 books, 133 of those directly to prisoners. If you know someone who would benefit from this program please contact our office at 541-482-8806 or send an email to prisonoutreach@cwg.org
My name is Janine Cantin. In January I moved to Oregon and am now coordinating the Prison Outreach program for the Foundation.
I was born in Quebec, Canada, I lived in Verdun for the first 21 years of my life. I then married and lived alternately in Canada, the United States, and Mexico.
I searched for years and finally found answers to many of my questions when I first read Conversations with God, book 1. From then on, I started making different choices in my life. I became more conscious of the choices I was making. I chose who I wanted to be in this life, how I wanted to show up. One of my jobs in the United States was to teach English as a Second Language to adults. This was my entry into the incarcerated world, where I found that, contrary to my expectations, I could identify with prisoners.
One of my choices was to share this new knowledge with prisoners. I know We Are All One. I stopped teaching English as a Second Language and started volunteering to facilitate a Cognitive Intervention class where people worked on how to re-think their lives; learned that thoughts control actions; that we can choose to think differently. I am continuing to keep in contact with many inmates through a newsletter I created called Freedom Inside. It is a newsletter with the mission to continue and extend the beautiful gift that I receive on a daily basis when I connect with prisoners. It is based on the CwG material and is written for and by prisoners. It is a medium through which people can exchange stories, comments, questions and answers about how to apply the new spirituality in their everyday lives whether in or out of prison. It is sent free of charge to any prisoner interested in receiving it.
Freedom Inside is now sent to over 500 people, most from the United States, but some also from El Salvador, Central Africa, Thailand, and Portugal.
My purpose is to shine a light in the very dark places where they find themselves, in order to help them see Who They Really Are.
In peace,
Janine Cantin
Your support through your contributions to the CwG Foundation is making a difference in the lives of many...........
Donate Now
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.
Click on each event for more information:
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Kailua-Kona, Hawaii Contact: 808/447-9228 - willemail@aol.com |
Being Expo |
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A 3 Day Intensive Medford, Oregon Contact: 352-442-2244 - ndwsupport@gmail.com |
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Three days of intense study of the major points of CwG Ashland Oregon Contact: Will at 352-442-2244 - will@cwg.org |
Foundation |
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Tokyo, Japan Contact: +81 3 5272 3113 - naoki@sunmark.co.jp |
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Post-Conference Workshop Chicago, IL |
Productions |
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London, England |
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