Is it a 'sin' to know God?
In This Issue...
Notes from Neale
The CwG Reader
The Calendar
Notes from Neale...
My dear friends...
We have been discussing here A New Theology, and last week we said that The New Theology tells us that it is possible to "know God." This is a departure from most present-day theologies on the earth, which teach just the opposite. It is not possible to truly or fully know God, they say --- and, indeed, some even assert that it is against the Will of God that we do so...and so, we ought not even try, but simply accept what we have been taught and told about God on faith.
Yet is it a "sin" to seek to know God? Is it an offense against God to question what we have been told about God? Is it blasphemy, heresy, apostasy to offer a new understanding of God...simply to offer it, as an invitation to explore what we might now fully understand?
No. The answer is no, it is not a sin, it is not an offense against God, to question what we think we understand about God, or to even offer a new understanding. Yet from where would a new understanding come? If knowledge of God is possible, from where would such knowledge arise?
Well, as it turns out, it would arise from the most surprising place: You.
This is, at least, what The New Theology teaches. Its foundational premise is that God is not in any way separate from anything that Is. God is, according to this idea, the Creator and the Created. The Alpha and the Omega. The Beginning and the End.
God exists in, as, and through All Things. Life is the expression of God Itself. All of physicality is an expression of Divinity. This would include You. Therefore, to know God, know yourself.
And then, once having come to know yourself, recreate your Self anew in every golden moment of Now, in the next grandest version of the greatest vision ever you held about who you are. This is said to be the purpose of all of Life.
Life exists for God to know Itself. And God comes to know Itself through You, knowing Your Self --- and then expressing Your Self as Who You Really Are.
Let's explore that a bit further. God, it has been said by nearly every religion, is Divine Love, personified. If that is true (and it is), and if it is also true that You and God are One (and it is), then YOU are Divine Love, personified. The only difference is, you may not know it. When you know it, you become Divine. You become Divinity Expressed.
So, the fastest way to know God is to know Love, and the fastest way to know Love is to BE Love. If you want to know something, BE it. It is from a state of Pure Being that Knowing and Experiencing arises.
Often, we think that we must experience something before we can "be" it. Yet in life it is really just the other way around. What you decide to be, you experience. And "being" is an arbitrary decision.
To illustrate: you can decide to "be" the thing called "happy" no matter what is going on around you. Happiness is not dependent on outer events, but on inner. This is something that every Master knows --- and that every student seeks to experience.
Yet what the Master knows, the Master experiences, and what the student seeks to experience, the student cannot know, for knowing must come before experiencing, not after, and being must come before knowing.
That may be, right there, the most important statement and the most clear cut explanation of The New Theology. What I said was:
What the Master knows, the Master experiences, and what the student seeks to experience, the student cannot know, for knowing must come before experiencing, not after, and being must come before knowing.
Seek, therefore, a State of Being, first, and all ways, and Knowing and Experiencing will inevitably follow. Yet how to seek a State of Being?
Ah, yes...a good question for another week. We will see you here in seven days
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.
This week's offering: Big Self/Little Self.
The Daily Decision
Who are you and who do you choose to be?
Who do I want to be today? Who do I want to be right now? Do I want to be Big Neale or Little Neale? Do I want to experience myself in the space of Creation or Reaction? Do I choose this moment to be about the Dance or the Drama?
I don't want to simplify things here, because this is a very complex experience we are having, this thing we call our "life", but when one gets right down to it, that is the question. Who do I want to be right now?
Conversations with God says that every act is an act of self definition. That puts things rather simply, and even a little bluntly. It makes it very clear that every single thing we think, do, and say defines and recreates who we are. Now the only question is, do we want to decide who we are beforehand, or do we want to find out who we are afterward?
I mean, in the space of any event or moment, do we want to experience our Selves as an Afterthought, or a Forethought? As a Creation, or a Reaction? Which?
Then, following the making of that choice, what do we wish to experience of ourselves? Do we wish to experience ourselves being Big or Little? We can make either selection, whether we are coming from Creation OR Reaction. We can CREATE ourselves as the Big Us, or we can REACT in a way that demonstrates our Big Us. And the same for the Little Us.
The Big Us has no attachments, no fears, no needs, no requirements of anyone or anything, and no thought but love, peace, joy, forgiveness, compassion, and caring. (Yes, you can have "caring" without "attachment.") The Little Us lives in doubt, hesitation, fear, nervousness, sadness, disappointment, anger, and self-absorbtion.
The Big Us is not concerned about the Self at all, because it knows that the Self does not even exist. Not as a Separate Entity with separate needs and a worry about its survival and happiness. The Little Us is only concerned about the Self because it thinks that the Self actually exists as a thing apart and separate from the Whole. It believes that the Self has needs and requirements and that it somehow might not survive.
Not surviving is not possible, but this is something that the Little Self does not know. Every day is a journey, and the difference is that the Big Self knows where it is going and the Little Self does not. It has no idea where it is headed or what it is doing, and so it goes around in circles, facing the same problems and encountering the same feelings every day -- usually sadness and disapppointment, followed by resignation and then, even bitterness and rage.
The Big Self has a Larger Agenda and the Little Self thinks that life is about this afternoon's appointment or tomorrow's deadline or the weekend's opportunity for at least a tiny bit of fun in this life...
The Big Self wants to do nothing but dance and the Little Self seeks only the drama. When the problem is solved, the Little Self does not know what to do. So it goes out and creates another problem. The Big Self sees nothing as a problem, and cannot get into a "drama" if it wanted to.
The movement from Little Self to Big Self can be made in the blink of an eye -- and, the trick is staying there.
I want to explore this business of Big Self/Little Self this week, examining the whole concept further, and much more deeply. I'll enjoy being with you in the discussion.
Oh, and remind me to tell you about Farfur.
Holiday Retreat Special Offer
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:
Kisslegg, Lake Constance, Germany Contact: +49 (0) 84 32.94 90 61 - tickets@cultusanimi.de |
Animi |
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Seeboden, Austria Contact: + 49 (0) 8432.949061 - tickets@cultusanimi.de |
Animi |
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Paris, France Contact: +33 688 86 94 55 - info@humanitysteam.fr |
Team France |
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Amsterdam, The Netherlands Contact: +31306771664 - info@heartevents.nl |
Events |
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A one-day spiritual enrichment Intensive- New York, NY - Courtyard by Marriott - LGA Contact: support@nealedonaldwalsch.com |
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St. Lucia, West Indies Contact: (758) 468 4520 or (758) 456 0155 - gate503@yahoo.com |
George-Lebrun |
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Phoenix, AZ Contact: 877-300-7352 - www.MishkaProductions.com |
Productions |
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Ashland, OR Contact: 352-442-2244 - willemail@aol.com |
Foundation |
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Changing Ideas About God, Religion and Humanity: Creating Global Coherence UMC Lake Merritt, Oakland, CA Contact: 208-344-2682 - linda@schoolofthenewspirituality.com |
University |
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A Retreat with Neale Donald Walsch and Mary O'Malley Molokai, Hawaii Contact: 206-550-2524 - sumara1@verizon.net |
O'Malley |
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Kailua-Kona, Hawaii Contact: 808/447-9228 - willemail@aol.com |
Being Expo |
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