A Letter to Neale

Dear Neale,

At the completion of your second book, you state that some of us may be uncomfortable with the ideas presented, and that they should not be accepted as “gospel." I have a real serious problem with that statement! If you cannot believe the word of God, what else is there? Doesn't that one sentence contradict everything you have written? God says one of our problems is that we don’t believe Him…HELP! I am confused!

Also, I took everything I read very seriously until I came upon page 42 of CwG, Book 2, where God says, "The mistakes Hitler made did no harm or damage to those whose deaths he caused." Excuse me? After all, Hitler did cause many thousands to be unmercifully tortured, used for incredibly painful medical experiments, separated young children from their mothers. To me, that would be unbearable mental anguish. Perhaps had he chosen to immediately shoot everyone, one might be able to make an argument that it was merciful, but as we know, that most certainly was not the case.

And what about those who have lived after such suffering? Not to mention the fact that he significantly reduced specific populations (e.g., Jewish). Please help me to understand, because this has presented a barrier for me in continuing with the trilogy. I am obviously missing a very important lesson. I very much look forward to your response.

T.

Neale Responds

Thank you, T, for your heartfelt and sensitive letter. I deeply appreciate your willingness to engage the question, and to stick with the process of inquiry, rather than turning from it and running, as so many do, when something is encountered with which we disagree, or which we do not understand. So I want to honor you, because you are one of the spiritual warriors.

T, I have stated in all of my books that I am an imperfect filter. I do not pretend to be able to bring through the wisdom of God in perfect form. I hope only to be able to add to the discussion—to the "conversation," if you will—about God by sharing what I have come to understand about God through my own process, which I have described in my first book. This is important to understand, T. If you believe that I imagine myself to be a prophet of God, a man who speaks the Word of God without flaw or error, then you believe erroneously, my friend. I wish that my books were flawless, but it is not. I wish that the Bible was flawless, but it is not. I wish that the Talmud was flawless, but it is not. I wish that the Bhagavad Gita was flawless, but it is not. Here we go again, you see? There have been many books claiming to contain "the word of God." And they do, T, they do. But this "word" has been brought through the imperfect filters, the not fully developed minds, of men and women. We should not take any of it as "gospel," T. That is, we should not assume that any of it is infallible.

Oh, T, don't you see? The moment I make a claim that my book is infallible is the moment that I become dangerous. So don’t do it, T. And don’t even have a need to do it. Don’t try to make CwG the infallible Word of God. Yet, on the other hand, don’t lose faith in every single word of the book, simply because I acknowledge that some of the words may be imperfect. Rather, take from the text whatever feels good and valuable and true and real to you, T. And bless it for bringing you that.

Now, as to your comments on Hitler, T, I, of course, deeply understand your difficulty with the passage you have quoted. This is the most challenging passage in the entire CwG trilogy, and I, myself, have struggled to understand its deepest meaning.

I do not believe that God meant to say or to imply, T, that in the human sense the actions of Hitler caused no damage or hurt to anyone. I believe that God was speaking in the spiritual sense of all those souls involved. The trilogy makes the point elsewhere that there is not such a thing as death, and that, as divine beings, we cannot, any of us, be damaged or destroyed. It is within this context, T, that the statement which you have quoted should be considered.

I am very sensitive to the fact that many people have been offended by certain other statements in the Conversations with God trilogy surrounding this subject, particularly the assertion that "Hitler went to heaven."
I certainly understand why this comment, too, taken on its surface, could be deeply wounding. I believe that only those who have had the opportunity to study the trilogy thoroughly and to examine the entire cosmology from which the statement emerges could find it non-offensive. They may still disagree with its theology, but they would see clearly that no trivializing of the Holocaust takes place in the Conversations with God books.

While Conversations with God does say that Hitler went to heaven, it does not say that he, or anyone else, ever escapes the consequences of actions while on Earth. Indeed, the books make exactly the opposite point. They indicate clearly that all souls, after death, undergo a process in which they are allowed to experience every moment of the life they have just lived, but from the point of view of every person who was impacted by their decisions. In other words, they experience what they have caused others to experience.

The point of this, however, is not to bring a soul to "justice," but to bring it to awareness; not to provide punishment, but to provide insight. Thus, the experience does not last forever. It is not about eternal damnation, it is about the soul's evolution.

CwG makes the statement that there is no such thing in God's kingdom as eternal damnation. Hell, it says, does not exist as a place where we are sent to endure everlasting torture. Thus, Hitler could not have gone there. Yet one thing is very certain. It is a universal law, and CwG states it very succinctly: "Whatever you cause another to experience, you will one day experience."

In the CwG dialogue, it is made clear that this is part of a process by which souls become fully evolved—or, as we might put it, "go to Heaven."

The most important point the dialogue makes on this topic, however, is that the Hitler experience was only possible because of group consciousness. "Hitler could do nothing without the cooperation and support and willing submission of millions of people," the books say. "Hitler seized the moment, but he did not create it."

The dialogue says that "it is important to understand the lesson here. A group consciousness which speaks constantly of separation and superiority produces loss of compassion on a massive scale, and loss of compassion is inevitably followed by loss of conscience. A collective concept rooted in strict nationalism ignores the plights of others, yet makes everyone else responsible for yours, thus justifying retaliation, ‘rectification,’ and war."

The book goes on: "The horror of the Hitler experience was not only that he perpetuated it on the human race, but that the human race allowed him to. The astonishment is not only that a Hitler came along, but also that so many others went along. The shame is not only that Hitler killed millions of Jews, but also that millions of Jews had to be killed before Hitler was stopped."

Finally, Conversations with God says that "the purpose of the Hitler experience was to show humanity to itself." The dialogue makes the point that there is a little bit of Hitler in all of us, and it is only a matter of degree. It argues that "wiping out a people is wiping out a people, whether at Auschwitz or Wounded Knee." And, I might add here, Kosovo.

“Hitler was not sent to us, he was created by us. That is the lesson. The consciousness of separation, segregation, superiority—of 'we' versus 'they,' of 'us' and 'them'--is what creates the Hitler experience.”

The dialogue concludes: “Hitler thought he was doing good for his people. And his people thought so, too! That was the insanity of it. The largest part of the nation agreed with him." It observes, "If you float out a crazy idea, and ten million people agree with you, you might not think you're so crazy," and asks us, "who, then, to condemn?”

Some critics of Conversations with God have said that the books portray Jews as simply having been "liberated from their Earthly troubles" by the Holocaust, and that since return to the Creator is a joyful experience, there is nothing to complain about. This alludes somewhat to your earlier point, T, and I have heard this comment from others. Yet while the books do state that life is eternal, that death is nothing to fear, and that returning to God is joyful, I do not believe that any reasonable interpretation of the material could fairly portray God as condoning the killing of human beings—or brushing it off as if it were of no importance or consequence.The trilogy does not make light of the acts of Hitler, or seek to justify them. It seeks only to explain those acts, and the lessons that we can all learn—must all learn—if we are to create a better world.

I hope this helps you, T, understand some of the most difficult material in this trilogy. And I want to emphasize again, my friend, that I have only done my best to bring through some very challenging and complex truths. I am sure, I am certain, that I have failed to convey in every case the highest meaning, the deepest wisdom, the grandest truth. But I have never failed to try.

And so, my good friend, the exploring goes on. The questioning continues. The conversation with God never ends. Always we seek clarification. Always we seek correction when we have set the wrong course. Always we seek guidance in taking us all to where we say we want to go. And always God is there to guide us, to nurture us, to love us. Always.

And all ways.