Going Deeper:
Neale Donald Walsch takes Conversations to the next levelby Kate Rose Jacksonphoto by Roger Holden
Imagine a world where creativity and well being flourish, where the concepts of war and competition no longer exist. Imagine a society in which joyful, prosperous survival is taken for granted, freeing time and resources and energy for the pursuit of those grander concepts that make the soul truly sing.
Then imagine that they exist now, in societies throughout our galaxy.
It's been five years since Neale Donald Walsch first found himself deep in a conversation with God — yes, he says, God.
Life wasn't going well for Walsch in 1992. He had just lost his job, his relationships at home were hurtful, and his health was deteriorating. Everywhere he turned, he saw failure. He had tried hard, he cried out to the universe. How could it be that he would have to start all over — again? Then late one night Walsch, in anguish, sat down to write out his fear and bitterness in an angry letter to "the greatest victimizer of all," God.
He had written such letters many times before. This time, though, he inexplicably (and incredulously!) began to receive answers — clear, accessible answers. Words, he says, began to bubble up in his mind, words he felt compelled to capture on the same yellow legal pad he had used to write his letter.
Thus began a dialog that, Walsch says, continues to this day.
Walsch's account of that first year became the best-selling Conversations with God: Book I. Book I presented startlingly commonsense answers to questions common to most of us: how to make relationships work, how to find fulfilling work, why life so often seems difficult or unfair, or why prayers so often go unanswered.
The questions and answers were largely personal, directly addressing concerns and frustrations that fill our lives. Now, with the release of Book II, the second in the Conversations trilogy, Walsch — and God — take on larger themes. While Book I offered wisdom "to make our lives work better," Book II tackles issues of time and space, love and war, and "planetary geopolitical considerations of the highest order."
While Book I "felt like a hug" from God, Walsch says, Book II is more a shake to the shoulders. Because, frankly, if we as a group want to create the world we say we do, one of prosperity and peace and creativity, we need to change direction.
Few will disagree with that, yet many will find fodder for discussion in the suggestions given for a more productive path. Make whatever choices you want, God tells Walsch and us. We all are one in this together, no matter what. If, however, you do want to reach your idea of a grand civilization, here is how others have succeeded.
"Virtually the entire book surprised me," Walsch says. "Just about everything. Not that the ideas are all new, but the collection of those ideas in this form...
"Book II catches my breath a lot. It has a different tone."
While Book I had millions of people nodding in agreement, Book II "is a real challenge," he acknowledges. "The information on time and on human sexuality had some surprising twists," he says, "and our educational system and what would work there if we wanted it to."
The value of Book II is in the discussions it will generate, Walsch believes. "The point of Book II is, your salvation is not in the answers, it is in the asking, in the questions. We have stopped asking the questions."
For example, while we focus on how to reduce violence in our society, God suggests we consider a society structured without violence. While our government develops programs designed to help us compete in a global marketplace, God asks why we choose a system of economy based on competition. While we look for ways to cut social programs and make the Internal Revenue Service more user-friendly, God suggests that we ensure everyone in the world a basic level of survival and voluntarily contribute a portion of our income to the collective good.
It is possible for one to come away from Book II slightly depressed by how far we have to go as a civilization — but not Walsch. "Depressed," he exclaimed with a laugh. "Oh no! I don't want to depress everybody! What if the book comes out and everybody gets depressed?"
Instead, Walsch offers a larger perspective. Reaction to Book I has been swift and strong. The book is being translated into twenty languages. Walsch now routinely hears from leaders in the worlds of government, culture, politics, and entertainment.
"I hold out great hope, great hope," he says. "I assure you its messages are being heard in the highest levels. I see now this book will have an enormous planetary impact. If nothing else, it will create a new dialog."
Book III, due out in 1998, is to contain even larger concepts, "the largest truths you are now capable of understanding, and address universal matters and issues, matters being dealt with by all the beings of the universe." The Book III dialog, about one-third completed, has been slowed by Walsch's formidable travel and lecture schedule, he says.
Yet already he can tell that it contains "remarkably detailed summaries of highly evolved societies in the galaxy." It tells of "beings who live and exist and have their beings in places and dimensions beyond our understanding&ldots;I have come to realize that our present understanding of God is much too limited."
The Conversations trilogy is "one of many messages given to this planet by many messengers," Walsch says. "The messengers are gathering, and they are showing up all over the place."
In fact, Walsch says he has just learned that the Conversations trilogy is to be followed by another "on how to use the trilogy in a way that renders it totally usable." It is to include "how we can move closer into friendship with God," he says. He now foresees Conversations with God being followed by others: Friendship with God and Communion with God.
"It's like my wife," he says. "First we meet and have a conversation, then a friendship, and then I move into communion with her." Walsch and his "other" wife, Nancy, have spent thirty weeks of the last year on the road. At the end of May, they completed their schedule, and are planning a number of ways to continue to stimulate conversations about the concepts contained in the books. The foundation founded by Walsch and others to support the books' work, ReCreation, is making plans for a Washington, D.C. symposium. Here, they will gather opinion makers in the fields of government, politics, popular culture and education "to see if there isn't some way to take the highest thoughts of mankind and overlay them forever onto our systems of governance."
Contact Walsch through ReCreation, (514) 734-7222; e-mail: recreating@aol.com web site: www.conversationswithgod.org
Kate Rose Jackson is a writer, editor and teacher specializing in topics related to spiritual growth and metaphysical business development. A teaching Reiki Master and certified hypnotherapist, she is a member of the faculty of Threshold University of Body/Mind Science in Seattle. To learn more about her work and the university's programs, contact her at (360) 855-2681 or at the school, (206) 524-0070.
