December 2007 Archives

And so, we move into yet another year. Another cycle in the Grand Cycle that is Life Itself.

They go so fast, these cycles. They go so fast. Have you noticed? Barely has one begun than it seems over. It was only yesterday, wasn’t it, that we celebrated the New Millennium on New Year’s Eve 2000? Now we celebrate New Year’s Eve 2007, and the new era is old hat.

What happened to these last seven years?

At the end of our lives, we will ask the same question about the whole of our existence. My wonderful friend Dennis Weaver, in his book All the World’s a Stage, talks about the death of his father, when he was at bedside, and one of the last things his dad ever said to him. Frail and dying, the older man whispered to his son…

“...it all goes so fast…”

Dennis said those words never left him. His father’s last lesson had an enormous impact on his life. He chose from that point on to live it to the fullest, to never step back from risk, to take the chances it was necessary to take to create a rich and full experience. Now Dennis, too, is gone from his physical expression. But his memory lingers on, and all the wonderful lessons he taught all of us who knew him.

Perhaps the greatest risk, the biggest chance, any of us will ever take is the risk of recreating ourselves anew in the next grandest version of the greatest vision ever we held about Who We Are. This, of course, is the purpose of all of life, if Conversations with God is to be believed. And yet, this is the very thing that most people never do.

For years — for decades — I was stuck in my Old Self, and I had no thought about moving to a new place or creating a New Me. I may not have liked everything there was to experience about the Old Me, but I knew who that was, I’d become comfortable with it, and I was not going to change.

Yet we are not our yesterdays, we are not our mistakes of the past, we are not our so-called failures and limitations. We are born again in every moment, and it is at times like the present moment — when we begin yet another year, another life cycle — that we can be especially empowered to step away from our old ideas, our old concepts, and our own experience of ourselves, and produce new ones. This is achieved simply though a decision to do so.

Yet that decision takes courage. It takes an enormous willingness to shed our Old Selves and to reveal the New.

Every time I think, yes, well, I’ll get to that tomorrow, I’m reminded of the words of Dennis’ father.

“...it all goes so fast…”

Happy New Year everyone. And let us all make 2008 the year that we rise to our highest self so far...a living, breathing representation of the Divine, an Individuation of Divinity in human form, as Aspect of Godliness, walking upon the earth and blessing it with every word, with every thought, with everything that we do.

If we want a healed planet we must heal ourselves. Yet this need not be an arduous task. This need not be a difficult undertaking. This can be an experience of joy and of wonder, a moment, and a whole series of moments, in which we delight in ourselves...and in each other.

God bless you all today, whoever and wherever you are. Let us move forward together into this New Year, happily creating a new day for humanity.

Sunday is Message Day on the blog. Monday through Friday we look at contemporary events and day-to-day occurrences at the intersection of Life and the New Spirituality…but on Sunday, we reserve this space for a specific teaching derived from the material in Conversations with God

Through the years I have given hundreds of talks and written scores of articles revolving around this material. Every seven days we will present in this space a transcript or reprint of one 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: In this last week of the year, as one cycle ends and another begins, we encore my lead-off letter from the January 05 monthly newsletter of the ReCreation Foundation.

= = = = = = = = = = = = =
= = = = = = = = = = = = =

This is a very special time of year because it is the Time of New Beginnings. For me, January signifies the wonder and the excitement and the liberation of “starting over.” The Old Year is behind me and the New Year has just begun; the blackboard has been erased, I’ve got a clean slate.

There’s something metaphysical about all that; there’s a message in the folds of that experience that comes directly from God. The message is: no matter how badly things may have gone, no matter how bad I may have been, that was ‘Then’ and this is ‘Now.’ A New Day has dawned, a New Moment has arrived. It is the Golden Moment of Now, wherein which all things are possible, all things are forgiven, all things are made new.

They say that February is the Month of Love. If so, then for me January is the Month of Hope. Hope is the first step on the road to Mastery. There are three in all. They are: Hoping, Believing, Knowing.

Hoping starts the process, and January starts the year. Hoping begins the cycle and so does January. The cycle completes itself in December with the ultimate conclusion: the finding within each of us of the Eternal Flame of Chanukah—the light of God that can never and will never be extinguished, because it is Who We Are. The Knowing of this, and thus, the birthing of the Christ within every human soul.

This cycle from Hoping to Knowing can complete itself in one year, in one lifetime, or in one moment. It is really all the same to God, who knows nothing of Time because God is Timeless, as is Life, except within our imagination.

And so we are born and we die and we are born again, all in the self-same instant, the Holy Instant, the glorious and ever present Moment of Now, which we stretch out across...

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
NOTE: Saturday is Prose & Poetry Day here on the blog, a time to take a moment once a week to relax the mind, open the heart, and access the soul through the gift of prose from one of the many books of The New Spirituality, and through the poetry of m. Claire, author of the forthcoming volume, Openings.

This week's prose...the first in a series of excerpts from the newest CWG book, Happier Than God, to be released in nine weeks by Hampton Roads Publishing Company.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Life was meant to be happy.

Do you believe that?

It’s true. I know it doesn’t seem like it when you look around, but it’s true. Life was meant to be happy.

You were meant to be happy. And if you are happy, you were meant to be happier. Even if you’re very happy, you can be even happier.

How happy? Just how happy can you be? Well…you can be happier than God.

I once heard a lady describing a gentleman who was very wealthy. She said, “He’s got more money than God!” That’s how I mean this. I mean to use the ultimate superlative.

I also mean the words I have used literally. I mean just what the words say. Which brings up a lot of questions. Does this mean that God even experiences the thing called “happiness”? (Yes.) Does that mean that God experiences unhappiness? (No.) If we can be happier than God, does that mean that we are separate from God? (No.) Then how is this possible?

Well, as it happens there is a formula by which you can be happier than God. All mystics have known it, most teachers of mystical wisdom have known it, some contemporary spiritual messengers know it, but it’s become, through the centuries, sort of a “mystery formula”…because it’s not talked about very much. Not very much at all.

Why? Simple. Very few of the folks to whom spiritual teachers and messengers might be talking have been able to believe what the “mystery formula” is said to be able to produce. And when you talk about things that no one believes, you can become very unpopular.

So even today, in what is supposed to be a time of intellectual and spiritual enlightenment, not many teachers and spiritual messengers reveal this formula, even if they know it. Or if they are talking about it, they are talking about only half of it. Most of them are keeping the other half, the most breathtaking part of this formula, under wraps. So what we have here is an amazing truth, but you don’t know the half of it.

What good is a truth if it’s not fully revealed? None at all, of course. In fact, only half a truth can be misleading. It can even be dangerous. So we’re going to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth here. We’ll start with a look at...

Friday is Book Day on the blog, but for the second week in a row I'm going to preempt that. Today I want to post on this blogsite a letter that I received in my email box recently from Jack Kornfield, Ram Dass, and Sharon Salzberg. Please read it, and let it take you where it does...

Please read the whole thing -- and then you will understand why I posted it here.

Thanks....Neale.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Dear Friends,

We are writing to ask your support for two beloved friends of ours, Stephen and Ondrea Levine. (Stephen Levine is the author of many excellent books on conscious dying and caring for hospice clients).

They are currently facing significant difficulty. After a life-time of giving, they are now at a time to receive from those of us whose lives have been touched by their presence and teaching.

Their greatest needs are financial. Ondrea has Leukemia and the costs of her insurance and treatment have used up their savings. Stephen's health is not good either, and he is too frail to travel or teach. When we heard about this, we felt moved to contribute to a fund set up for them, and to encourage others to do the same.

Stephen and Ondrea have been among our generation's most important teachers, demonstrating and encouraging others to embrace the power of love and generosity. For three years, they ran a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week free phone line for those dying or in need of support. When the phone bills got too high, they sold their house to keep the project going. For decades they regularly corresponded with thousands people who were seeking spiritual guidance, giving freely to those in need, many of whom were sick or in the final years of their life.

The circle has now come around, allowing us the opportunity to give to these two life-long givers. We hope to raise several hundred thousand dollars in small and large donations to help them through this time.

Caring for friends and teachers is an essential part of any spiritual life. As we age, spiritual friends are more important than ever. Stephen and Ondrea have been dear spiritual friends to us and to thousands of others through their books, workshops, and correspondence.

If you are one of these people (or even if you are not, but feel nonetheless moved to give), below are three ways to donate to the Levine Fund at Bread for the Journey. Bread for the Journey informs us that donations are tax deductible.

With gratitude and love,

Jack Kornfield, Ram Dass, and Sharon Salzberg

Mail: Send to Bread for the Journey, 267 Miller Ave., Mill Valley, California 94941. In the letter, please enclose a note indicating that your gift is for the Stephen and Ondrea Levine Fund and in the note section of your check write "Levine Fund." In honor of the immeasurable gifts Stephen and Ondrea have given to the family of the earth, Bread for the Journey has generously offered to manage the fund with 100% of your donation going to the Levine Fund.

Phone: call 415-383-4600 with a credit card number.

Online: Designate the donation to the Levine Fund at:
JustGive.org

For questions and other means of giving, contact SorenGordhamer@gmail.com.

* Please feel free to post this letter on blogs or forward it to individuals or groups you know who may wish to hear news of Stephen and Ondrea.

(NOTE: 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.”)

MASS GRAVES FOUND IN IRAQ

A mass grave and torture chamber have been discovered in Iraq by coalition forces there. Some 26 bodies were discovered there, and a room, stained with blood, was also found, containing chains hanging from walls and ceilings, and a bed connected to an electrical system. The death chamber was located in an area believed to be a base for al Qaeda terrorists operating in Iraq.

When I hear about such things, I am, as we all are, repulsed. The thought that any human being could deliberately and slowly torture another human being is beyond my ability to comprehend. Causing another person to die by such means is unimaginable by me. And yet, we know that this happens in our world -- and it may not always be the "bad guys" who are doing it...

Such behaviors could only be exhibited by a race of beings believing absolutely in the separation of all things. Conversations with God says that most of the world’s people adhere to a Separation Theology. I have named the God of this theology Iohayot. That is an acronym for I’m Over Here And You’re Over There.

This is as valid a name as any of the others that humanity has come up with, including Allah, Brahmin, God, Jehovah, Krishna, or Yahweh, and it’s far more descriptive of the actual concept of God held by most humans. Religion is not noted for producing widespread agreement among people, yet whatever else the fervently religious may disagree on, most concur that God says: “I’m Over Here And You’re Over There.”

God then adds, “You may come over here if you wish, but there are certain things that you have to do.” God then gives us the list of those things. That list has been read by many people in many different ways, and those different ways are sometimes called religions.

There is only One List, each of our religions assert, and we must not be confused into thinking that there are many, nor so perplexed by the False Lists put out by others that we pick the wrong one.

This description of human theologies is simplistic in the extreme, yet it is not that far from being an accurate, if very basic, summary of our beliefs. And these beliefs are killing us.

Separation Theology—worship of the God Iohayot—could, if it continues much longer on our planet, bring an end to life as we know it on the earth. It has already begun to do so.

Many people believe that this is because, while God is, indeed, “over there” and we are “over here,” God has to sometimes come “over here” to teach us a lesson. And so God comes down to punish us for our sins, make us pay for our offenses, or do whatever else is necessary to reestablish the natural order of things and bring Right into proper balance with that which is Not Right.

Under this philosophy the AIDS epidemic, the increasing violence on the earth, the degradation of our social systems, the erosion and destruction of our collective morals, the pestilence and rampant poverty afflicting millions, are all signs of God’s anger, punishments from on high brought on by humanity’s increasingly evil behavior.

This belief in a God who is “over there” and who wants and needs or desires or demands something from those of us “over here” is what allows humans to grant themselves the moral authority to inflict punishments of their own upon those who ignore God’s Word and disobey God’s Commandments. We imagine and understand and declare ourselves to be acting in God’s name as we throw the switch on the electric chair, or throw people behind bars for 20 years, or throw our weight around in whatever other way we have bestowed it upon ourselves to do in retribution for the sins that others have committed.

This idea is what allows humans to fly airplanes into buildings, killing thousands of innocent civilians all the while shouting, “Allah is great!” It is what allows humans to preemptively strike a nation that they imagine is going to strike them if they don’t do it first, killing thousands of innocent civilians with bombs paid for by coins on which it is written, “In God We Trust.”

If we thought we were doing these things to God, we would, of course, never do them. Yet there is nothing could make us think that we are doing these things to God except the thought that We And God Are One, and that is a thought a majority of us have summarily rejected.

Separation Theology produces a Separation Cosmology. That is, a cosmological way of looking at all of Life which holds that everything is separate from everything else. Separation Cosmology produces a Separation Sociology. That is, a way of socializing the human species that separates every person from every other person by declaring their interests to be separate. Separation Sociology produces a Separation Pathology. That is, pathological behaviors of self-destruction/

This is exactly what we are seeing on the earth today.