(This weblog creates, for us all, a chance to meet at the interaction of Life and the New Spirituality. It is written by the author of Conversations with God, the worldwide best-selling series of books. The “New Spirituality” is defined by the author as “a new way to experience and express our natural impulse toward the Divine without making others wrong for the way in which they are doing it.”)
HIGHLIGHTS OF TODAY’S BLOG…
* The function and the process of Life
* Action is the highest form of prayer
* The road to Self Realization is from Knowing to Experiencing to Being
* This is how the Soul evolves
I was waking from a deep sleep early one morning recently when I kept hearing words in my head. Over and over the same words. There were seven of them, and they repeated themselves softly, without urgency or insistence, but also without ceasing.
I knew that I would not “get it out of my head” until I wrote the words down, because it was clear that I was not to forget them.
Here they are…
Action is the highest form of prayer.
Hmmmm, I thought as I scribbled them on a piece of paper from the nightstand, where is that coming from?
Of course, I knew where it was coming from. That is, I knew what the source/ was. What I didn’t know was, From what Larger Idea is this thought emerging? Where is this coming from… ?
I decided to put my hands on a keyboard and see what showed up on my computer screen. Here’s what I received…
It has been said that Beingness is the highest form of existence. And this is true. But what leads to Beingness? Action. That is why You have been placed into the Physical. For it is in moving around the energy that you would call “physical” that Beingness is most profoundly demonstrated.
It is the purpose of Life to BE Who You Really Are.
It is the function of Life to provide You with opportunities to experience that. It is the process of Life to move you into that expression and experience.
Here is how the process works. First, you decide Who You Are Next Going to Be. This is a spiritual undertaking and a spiritual function. It is an invitation to the soul from The Soul; to the Little Self from the Big Self; to the Individuation from the Unification. It is the next idea from the Divine. It is what creates Growth. It is the fuel of Evolution.
Once you “get” this Idea, you can never let it go, and it will not “let go of you”, until it is fully expressed. This may take many lifetimes. But it does not have to.
What You are “up to”, what You are engaged in, is a process by which you seek to make this new idea of the Self “real” This is called Self Realization.
The mechanism by which you produce Self Realization is called Experience. Experience is the device, or the tool, through which you turn Knowing into Being. This is a physical undertaking and a physical function. It is why physicality exists.
Once you Experience who you Know your Self to Be, you move into Beingness. The State of Being into which you move is neither physical nor spiritual, but a third state altogether which is both, and therefore neither. It is when you Know and Experience simultaneously. In this state there is no Time, only simultaneosity. Everything occurs sequentaneously.
This Third State is the apex of the Holy Triangle. It is Complete Awareness and Total Expression of the Pure Essence of Who You Are. It is bliss. It is nirvana. It is heaven. It is Unification. It is Self Realization.
This Complete Awareness and Total Expression can occur at any “moment” during the process that you call Life. Indeed, it is occurring at every “moment,” because there is no such thing as Time. It is occurring sequentaneously. It is Always Occurring, and you simply do not Know it. Because you do not Know it, you do not Experience it.
Therefore, Self Realization is not a process of accomplishing, it is a process of awakening to what has already been accomplished. It is not something You achieve, it is something you become aware that you have already achieved. Indeed, at the highest level it is clear that this is not even something that you have “achieved,” for achievement implies that there was something you had to “do” to Become this — and there is not. You ARE this, and always were this, for the Idea and the Expression of it is and always will be Simultaneous. It is Full Awareness which reveals this to You.
When you pray, you are asking God for this Full Awareness. You may not think of it this way consciously, but that is what you are doing, whether you know it or not, whether you call it that or not.
Yet your life as you live it is the process by which you turn what you Know of your Self into what you Experience of your Self, thus producing what you are Being Now. Therefore, all the words that you put into your fervent prayer do not have half the power of what you do when you get up off your knees. How you behave between visits to the Temple is how you Be-Have the Experience of what you Know about your Self.
Action is the highest form of prayer.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
If you would like to discuss these and other
important spiritual and temporal matters with
Neale Donald Walsch, and, indeed,
if you would like to become a messenger of
the New Spirituality, join Neale in the
Messengers’ Circle, a subscription-based
area of the author’s website at www.nealedonaldwalsch.com
Occasionally Neale personally responds
in that location on his website to the Comments
posted here.
posted September 18, 2007 at 2:14 am
* The function and the process of Life
* Action is the highest form of prayer
* The road to Self Realization is from Knowing to Experiencing to Being
* This is how the Soul evolves
Hello Neale – this is probably one source of some of my confusion as to what part of us is evolving. If it is our Soul, how is it possible given that our soul is the individuation of God and therefore perfect, always. If it is our consciousness, where does that get “held” when we return to the Core of our Being and we Re-Member who we are.
Does the Core of our Being equate to the third state of Being. Are we Self-Realised and Know it, at this point. If so, how do we get back on the ladder of evolution at the appropriate point (somewhere just above where we left it, may be?) in our next physical journey.
As you have said, what we choose to BE, leads to what we will DO and creates what we will HAVE. Take ACTION based on what YOU choose to BE, not what someone else has choosen for you.
John at
posted September 18, 2007 at 4:57 am
John,
I have been reading Neale’s book Home With God in the last week.
I am finding that it addresses the very question(s) you ask about “what is evolving”?
If you have not already read this book, it may be helpful.
Best regards,
Greg Allen
http://www.gregallenmusic.net
posted September 18, 2007 at 10:28 am
My thoughts have long been that information is data, knowledge is experienced.
Blessings,
Linda
posted September 18, 2007 at 11:18 am
I’m confused! I thought that there was nothing you have to do. Now Action is the highest form of prayer! Isn’t Action ‘Doing’!?!
WHAT THE HECK!!!
This is what I gather: If you keep the vision of you who choose to ‘BE’ then the ‘ACTION’ that you take (CONSCIOUSLY/FULLY AWARE) will be a result of what you choose to ‘BE’. And because your ‘Action’ brings you ‘Being’ into ‘Experience’ it is the highest form of prayer because you have acheived the purpose of life which is to Be who you chose to Be.
Is this what your post is about because I thought I was confused about all of this before I read your post and now I’m more confused!
posted September 18, 2007 at 2:44 pm
So Neale what is on youre mind today
posted September 18, 2007 at 2:49 pm
We are so ………. Like to be you And we do not like to be ourselves. So we follow again My new company starts to run like hell, so I will end this conversation. Would be nice to see you We live at
FAMILIE RENSSEN
SIJSJESHAAG 11
3993 AE
HOUTEN
Netherlands
posted September 18, 2007 at 3:41 pm
First I think prayer itself is of course action and sometimes it’s all that’s needed. This is especially true when we are more action without beingness.
Thus prayer brings us (or should bring us) back into the alignment and inspiration to proper action. Prayer is also action when physical action is not possible. Can’t help someone on the other side of the world when you can not be physically or financially there for them in a practical way. Yet invisible Prayer is energy that can heal, in some cases way better than any physical action.
When we are very inspired and enthusiastic about something, action is easier, more effortless and almost or can even be spontaneous/ inevitable. Isn’t that what we want/desire? Should this then not be our first priority of consideration?
So prayer, meditation etc. that leads to action is, an expanded and enlarged version of that prayer/meditation. It can be an even stronger degree of prayer/meditation brought forth.
The problem is that we move in and out of inspired effortless spontaneous action to what is less or non inspired effortfull and struggle requirement feeling action.
This is less in line with our fuller potential and joyous feeling we desire, but still useful, but without and lack of the fun and effortlessness of joyous enthusiastic spontaneous feeling action.
Most of us want/desire action that is inspired, enthusiastic and effortless or at minimum effort that is fun and worthy of the energy we put forth. It makes things work/play more efficiently. We often are action oriented but lacking the good energy that makes it easier to bring forth. Or we are working and being that which we desire to be, like peace, but with less action.
The trick is to be peace or what ever we decide to be and activate that beingness in a creative, intelligent, beneficial joyous manner. Action with this energy is most desirable and most beneficial don’t you think?
So to align our beingness with feeling inspired action rather that requirement non inspired action is the balance we are really seeking.
So when we are truely being that which we desire, action should be a natural result and consequence of the being state.
If it’s not, we may well choose to move into the feeling state that will move us to the good feeling that will then lead to appropriate good feeling action. Action doesn’t have to be good feeling, but isn’t it way more fun and desirable/effective to live this way?
Taking the time to practice and move into, step into the feeling space that feels good right and joyous to us is the primary. Action is secondary, and will naturally follow when we are in allignment. That is the trick isn’t it? Make sense?
posted September 18, 2007 at 6:31 pm
Before reading Conversations with God, I thought I knew how to pray, now I’m not sure. Can someone help me?
posted September 18, 2007 at 7:12 pm
To Mose on prayer from one of Neale’s newsletters.
Our Life Experience is Answered Prayer
A statement from Conversations with God that could change your life is the almost off-handed comment in the dialogue that everything you think, say and do is a prayer.
Praying is not something we do at certain times, like when we are on our knees in church, or holding hands at the dinner table. It is something we are doing always.
Let me repeat that. We are always praying.
Everything we think is a prayer. Everything we say is a prayer. Everything we do is a prayer. The problem is, we just don’t know it. We think we are praying only when we are actually, consciously engaging in the activity we call “prayer.” But here is a great secret. God calls everything prayer.
How can this be so? Why is it the way it is?
CwG says that we are all creative beings, made in the image and likeness of God. Since God is the creator, so, too, are we. God has given us tools of creation, and they are three: thought, word and deed.
What you think, you create. What you say, you produce. What you do, you call forth more of. This is perhaps the most important single remembrance in Conversations with God. We’ve all heard this before, so it is certainly nothing new. But the way it is explained in CwG brings it home with new emphasis.
What the dialogue is telling us is that there is no time when the creation machine is “off.” The process of creation goes on forever, and there is no time when it is not engaged. Think of God as a great big Xerox machine. Whatever you put in is duplicated. And you are never NOT putting something in.
That’s the key. That’s the real revelation. There is no time when you are not creating. There is no time when you are not praying.
If “prayer” is the message you are sending to God, you are praying every minute of the day, for your message to God is your life, lived. And that message, that prayer, will be sent back to you, just as you send it out. God doesn’t make any changes. God sends back to you, enlarged and multiplied, what you send God. Isn’t that incredible?
Well, it is if you’re sending “good stuff,” and it’s not if you’re sending “bad stuff.” So stop sending bad stuff! Rid yourself of your negative thoughts, speak not again a single negative word, and don’t do, ever, that which you do not wish done to you. For what you do unto others will be done unto you—you can count on it.
So from now on, don’t imagine that you are limiting your praying to those few moments during the day or week when you actually intend to talk to God. Notice that your whole life is a conversation with God.
If that doesn’t change the thoughts you allow yourself to entertain, the words you allow to escape from your lips, and the things you allow yourself to do, nothing will.
Yet if you do change these things, you will find that your entire life will have changed, for the very prayers you have sent out will have produced the answers for which you have waited. – Neale Donald Walsch
posted September 18, 2007 at 7:28 pm
For all of you who are getting ‘confused’ and asking for ‘help’ my advice is :
Stop reading….Neale doesn’t have some sort of ‘special’ relationship with God, he just has ‘A REALATIONSHIP’. God wants to have a relationship with ALL of us. If you are reading and appreciating Neale’s work, that’s great, it shows that you are longing after God. Close your eyes, pray to God, ask him for a relationship.
Then, go and find a friend or mentor, someone who has a relationship with God and share with them. Neale’s story is slightly exceptional because his walk with God has been a ‘journey of self discovery’. Your journey will be easier if you have a guide, books are good but people are better. Put your trust in someone. If you seek them by starting with a prayer to God for a relationship, He will send the right person or people into your life to guide you. As scary as this may sound to some people, why don’t you try going to church ?
I respect Neale and appreciate him for bringing his message to so many people but nearly everything he has had as revelation is already in the bible. I was very ‘anti religion’ and still am to a degree. It is not religion that we need, it is relaitonship. Relationship with God and relationship with each other. Although the church has had a pretty rocky past, that is what churches are supposed to be. A place where people can share relationship with each other and develop their relationship with God, together.
I wish you all well on your journey. Keep reading Neale’s books but don’t try to understand every word like there is a key hidden there and if you can just find the key, everything will be alright. The key is wanting to know God and seeking Him. Do that and all else will come to you.
posted September 18, 2007 at 10:50 pm
hi
I recently found your book “Conversations with God” and in reading it I am realizing a lot of questions I have for YOU. I find it troubling that you ask for money to join your circle…..if this is God’s word isn’t it to be given to any and everyone….without payment….who should have to pay for something they had all along? Going on…why do we have to buy your book….if God wanted it to be given to people, why isn’t it just that…given to people. Instead of only being available to people who can pay for it or know someone who would buy it for them. I was just wondering how this all fits into God’s plan. I know this sounds rude but I really mean it in the best way possible. I have always had faith and always will but lately I’ve been struggling with fear and in effort to fight for every last bit of belief I have in God, I’m searching. I would love to hear from you, though I understand that you are busy.
Sincerely,
Katianne
posted September 19, 2007 at 12:15 am
Hello Katianne
Neale hit-on a sentence that might help:
The question of paying for spiritual guidance is one of those topics that always crops up and Neale asked God about it in his books. You can find the answer in the library for free. I recommend the audio CDs, they are great.
Hello Greg
First, I enjoyed your poetry on Saturday “Grasshopper”
My post about evolution was as a result of reading Home with God – several times. I facilitate a discussion group on it. I asked Neale on a conference call about what “part of us” was doing the evolving, when there are so many references to the souls evolution. The soul IS God and is in no need of evolving. It is the consciousness that evolves. It gets “better” at remembering who it really is and experiencing it. After a lengthy reply
“Consciousness is the degree to which you are aware of what you understand”
Given that Everyone Understands Everything at the soul level.
Blessings
John
ActionForAttraction.com
posted September 19, 2007 at 12:21 am
Hi Gef
Your assessment is very true.
I believe that Neale’s work is to help people realize that they have a personal relationship with God, nay! They ARE God. Once you re-Member that you are God (along with everyone else, even the “bad” guys), you should be able to relax and enjoy LIFE.
Blessings
John