Conversations with God (sometimes abbreviated as "CwG") is a sequence of nine books written by Neale Donald Walsch. Each book is written as a dialogue in which Walsch asks questions and "God" answers. Walsch claims that these dialogues are truly inspired by God.^[1] Neale Donald Walsch Neale Donald Walsch was born in Milwaukee September 10, 1943, USA, and brought up as a Roman Catholic by a family who encouraged his quest for spiritual truth. ...

The first book of the Conversations with God series, "Conversations with God, Book 1: An Uncommon Dialogue," appeared on bookshelves in 1995, and quickly became a publishing phenomenon. Publishers Weekly reported this first book staying on the New York Times Best-Sellers List for 137 weeks[1] (over two and a half years). The succeeding volumes in the trilogy also appeared prominently on the New York Times Best-Sellers List. 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Publishers Weekly is a weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ...

The author describes the inception of the books as follows: at a low period in his life, Walsch wrote an angry, imaginary letter to God asking questions about why his life wasn't working. After writing down all of his questions, the author claimed in his interview with Larry King he heard a voice over his right shoulder say: "Do you really want an answer to all these questions or are you just venting?"[2] Though when he turned around he saw no one there, Walsch felt answers to his questions filling his mind and decided to write them down. The ensuing "dialogue" became the Conversations with God books. Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger on November 19, 1933) is an award-winning American broadcaster. ...

Basis of the dialog

Containing nearly 3000 pages of material in total, the series presents a vast number of ideas. The second and third books in the original trilogy deal with political and social issues.

CwG's basic messages

In Friendship with God (page 373), "God" presents four concepts which are central to the entire dialogue:

1. We are all One.
2. There's Enough.
3. There's Nothing We Have [an obligation] to Do.
4. Ours Is Not A Better Way, Ours Is Merely Another Way.

The first statement is understood to mean that existence is essentially nondual in nature. At the highest level there is no separation between anything and there is only one of us; there is only God, and everything is God. The second statement, following from the first, means that we, in this seeming existence, lack nothing and if we choose to realize it, we have enough of whatever we think we need (or the means to create it) within us. The third statement combines the first two to conclude that God, being all there is and is thus always sufficient unto Itself, has no need of anything and therefore has no requirements of humanity. The final concept puts an end to our need to always be right. Given that we have and are everything, and there's nothing we have to do, there are an infinite number of ways to experience this, not just the one way we may have chosen so far. A nondual philosophical or religious perspective or theory maintains that there is no fundamental distinction between mind and matter. ...

According to the books, God recommends many economic and social changes if people want to make a more functional, adaptable, and sustainable world, recommends that more attention should focus on the environment. The conversations also teach that reincarnation and life on other planets exists.

God's motive for creation

In Walsch's first dialogue, God notes that "knowing" and "experiencing" oneself are different things. That-which-Is, cannot know itself fully, as it stands. It cannot know itself as love, since no other object exists to love. It cannot know itself as giving since nothing else exists to give to. It cannot experience itself in myriad ways.

This present creation then, in Walsch's viewpoint, is established by and within God, so that sentience can exist which does not directly remember its true nature as God. Split into a billion billion forms of life can live, experience, and recreate its nature as God, rather than just "know" itself as the creator in theory. It is essentially a game, entered into by agreement, to remember who and what we are and enjoy and create, knowing that ultimately there is no finish line that some will not reach, no understanding that is not without value, no act that does not add meaning to the future or for others. In Walsch's view we have a common interest in keeping the game going, for there is nothing else to do except to experience our existence and then experience more of it, to uncover deeper layers of truth and understanding. There are no external rules, because all experience is subjective, and is chosen. But within this, there are ways that (it is stated and implied) people will gradually come to see their thoughts, words, actions are either working or they are not working. A thing is either functional or disfunctional. These rememberings take place over "time," and over hundreds and thousands of lifetimes.

Nature of the dialogue

The voice of God states in Book 1 that words are not the truth, and thus readers must ultimately take what is being said and consult their own feelings to determine if they are in agreement with it. The voice says this is true of any other book or words we come across. Though the books bear the title "Conversations with God" and the author introduces the first book by stating he is "taking dictation" from God, the voice of God in the trilogy explains that the dialogue God is speaking to everyone all the time. The question is not to whom does God talk, but who listens. This is clarified by the statement that God can communicate with you in the next song you hear, the next breeze that carresses your ear, the next conversation you overhear. All these devises are mine. All these avenues are open to me. I will speak to you if you invite me.

at the deepest level consciousness is and that there is only one 'voice' regardless whether it is thought to belong to God, or an individual, or imagination. This leads to a statement of the Divine Dichotomy: that two contradictory truths can exist, neither making the other untrue. This is possible only in the realm of the relative, because, as was stated above, in the absolute all things are one thing, and there is nothing else.

Parallels in other belief systems

In the dialogue many philosophical ideas are presented that had already been advanced earlier by major Eastern and Western thinkers, but Walsch presents the information in language for modern readers and does not specifically cite any of these philosophers. In fact, Walsch claims that he had never known most of these ideas before his revelatory experiences. Since the beginning of the series, and especially in the latter volumes, Walsch and "God" acknowledge that most of the concepts presented are previously known to humanity, but are profound enough to warrant being explored repeatedly, and put into this cohesive unified form. Since humanity is still mired in strife and conflict, there is value in their restatement. Fundamental parts of Walsch's writings are also mirrored within other well known spiritual writings and traditions:

• Souls reincarnate to eventually experience God-realization (Bhagavad-Gita/Hinduism).
• Feelings are more important as a source of guidance than intellect (Rousseau).
• We are not here to learn anything new but to remember what we already know (Plato).
• Physical reality is an illusion (Hinduism/Buddhism's concept of maya).
• God is everything. (Spinoza / Brahman)
• God is self-experiential, i.e. it is the nature of the Universe to experience itself. (Hegel, and process theology as first outlined by Alfred North Whitehead)
• Good and evil do not exist (as absolutes, but can exist in a different context and for different reasons as Nietzsche).
• Reality is a representation created by will. (Schopenhauer)
• Nobody knowingly desires evil, even individuals such as Hitler. (Socrates)
• Humans are composed of mind, body and spirit (again, in a different context as the Catholic belief of Trinity)

Krishna to Arjuna: Behold My mystic opulence! Artwork © courtesy of The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust The Bhagavad Gita (Sanskrit: भगवद्‌गीता - Bhagavad GÄ«tā, Song of God or Divine Song[1]) is an ancient Sanskrit text comprised of 700 verses (or 701 in some recensions) from the Mahabharata (Bhishma Parva chapters 25 – 42... Hinduism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Rousseau is a French surname. ... For other uses, see Plato (disambiguation). ... Buddhism is a dharmic, non-theistic religion, which is also a philosophy and a system of psychology. ... Maya (illusion) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Baruch Spinoza Benedictus de Spinoza (November 24, 1632 - February 21, 1677), named Baruch Spinoza by his synagogue elders and known as Bento de Spinoza or Bento dEspiñoza in the community in which he grew up. ... Brahman (Devanagari: ब्रह्म ) in the Vedantic schools of Hindu philosophy, is the signifying name given to the concept of the unchanging, infinite, immanent and transcendent reality of all things in this universe. ... Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (August 27, 1770 - November 14, 1831) was a German philosopher born in Stuttgart, Württemberg, in present-day southwest Germany. ... Alfred North Whitehead, OM (February 15, 1861 Ramsgate, Kent, England – December 30, 1947 Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA) was an English-born mathematician who became a philosopher. ... Friedrich Nietzsche, 1882 Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 - August 25, 1900) was a highly influential German philosopher. ... Arthur Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer (February 22, 1788 – September 21, 1860) was a German philosopher born in Gdańsk (Danzig), Poland. ... Socrates (Greek: , invariably anglicized as , SÇ’cratÄ“s; circa 470–399 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher who is widely credited for laying the foundation for Western philosophy. ... For other uses, see Trinity (disambiguation). ...

Contemporary parallels

Contemporary writers whose philosophies agree with much of CwG include Richard Bach (author of "Jonathan Livingston Seagull"), Jane Roberts (author of the "Seth" material), Wayne Dyer (popular psychologist), Eckhart Tolle (author of "The Power of Now") (Tolle refers to much of this work in his reference sections in The Power of Now). Richard David Bach (b. ... An illustration for the main theme of Jonathan Livingston Seagull. ... Photographs of Jane Roberts on the cover of her biography by Susan Watkins Jane Roberts (1929-1984) was an American author, poet and psychic. ... For the Montserratian footballer, see Wayne Dyer (footballer) Wayne W. Dyer (born May 10, 1940) is a popular American self-help advocate. ... Eckhart Tolle, (born Germany, 1948 as Ulrich Tolle) is a contemporary spiritual teacher and writer on spirituality. ...

Prophecies and predictions

The CwG books sometimes make hints and suggestions about future events. An example of this is The Impeachment of Bill Clinton in book 2 of the trilogy. This account was first published in May of 1997, "God" told Walsch in Chapter 19 (p.226) that there were going to be "tremendous powers attempting to remove President Bill Clinton from office." Less than a year later, in 1998, the Lewinsky scandal broke and eventually resulted in a call for Clinton's impeachment and possible eviction from his position. Though the President was officially impeached, a later vote to convict and remove him from office failed to win sufficient votes. The impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton in 1998, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist presiding. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Order: 42nd President Vice President: Al Gore Term of office: January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001 Preceded by: George H. W. Bush Succeeded by: George W. Bush Date of birth: August 19, 1946 Place of birth: Hope, Arkansas First Lady: Hillary Rodham Clinton Political party: Democratic William Jefferson Clinton (born... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean [1]. // Coated in ice, power and telephone lines sag and often break, resulting in power outages. ... The Monica Lewinsky scandal was a political sex scandal emerging from a short-term sexual relationship between United States President Bill Clinton and a then 22-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. ... Depiction of the impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson, then President of the United States, in 1868. ...

Bibliography and movies

The CwG series

The following are the nine books in the Conversations with God series. Each of these books is a conversation between Neale Donald Walsch and "God" with the following two exceptions: "Communion with God" is written only by "God", and "Conversations with God for Teens" compiles questions for God written by teens.

1. Conversations with God Book 1 (1995)
2. Conversations with God Book 2 (1997)
3. Conversations with God Book 3 (1998)
4. Friendship with God (1999)
5. Communion with God (2000)
6. Conversations with God for Teens (2001)
7. The New Revelations (2002)
8. Tomorrow's God: Our Greatest Spiritual Challenge (2003)
9. Home with God: In a Life That Never Ends (2006)

The first three books in the series are often called the CwG trilogy. Home with God tells us that it is the final book in the series.

Other CwG books

In addition to the nine books of the CwG series, there are also a number of guidebooks, meditation books, and other books adapted from the CwG series. The following books do not have any new information from the voice of God, but were written by Neale Donald Walsch to assist with understanding and applying the messages: Neale Donald Walsch Neale Donald Walsch was born in Milwaukee September 10, 1943, USA, and brought up as a Roman Catholic by a family who encouraged his quest for spiritual truth. ...

• Guidebook: Conversations with God Book 1 (1997)
• Meditations from Conversations with God Book 1 (1997)
• Meditations from Conversations with God Book 2 (1997)
• Re-Minder Cards: Conversations with God Book 1 (1998)
• The Little Soul and the Sun (illustrated parable) (1998)
• Questions and Answers on Conversations with God (1999)
• The Wedding Vows from Conversations with God (2000)
• The Little Soul and the Earth (illustrated parable) (2005)
• The Complete Conversations with God (first 3 books, Gift Edition) (2006)

Neale Donald Walsch has written a number of other books as well, (on his own), including What God Wants, and Applications for Living. Neale Donald Walsch Neale Donald Walsch was born in Milwaukee September 10, 1943, USA, and brought up as a Roman Catholic by a family who encouraged his quest for spiritual truth. ...

2006 movie

A Conversations with God movie dramatizing the author's experience opened in theatres across USA on October 27, 2006. Neale Donald Walsch is played by Henry Czerny (Mission: Impossible, The Pink Panther) in the film. October 27 is the 300th day of the year (301st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 65 days remaining. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... Neale Donald Walsch Neale Donald Walsch was born in Milwaukee September 10, 1943, USA, and brought up as a Roman Catholic by a family who encouraged his quest for spiritual truth. ... Henry Czerny(Chur-nee) (born February 1959) is an actor, born to Polish parents in Toronto, Canada. ... Mission: Impossible is the name of an American television series which aired on the CBS network from September 1966 to September 1973. ... The Pink Panther is a series of comedy films featuring the bumbling French police detective Jacques Clouseau. ...

The DVD version of the film will be available starting February 27, 2007. February 27 is the 58th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the Anno Domini (common) era. ...

References

1. ^ Walsch, Neale Donald [1995]. Conversations with God (Paperback). ISBN 0399142789. 

Neale Donald Walsch Neale Donald Walsch was born in Milwaukee September 10, 1943, USA, and brought up as a Roman Catholic by a family who encouraged his quest for spiritual truth. ...

External links

• Official website
• Transcript of Larry King's 2000 interview with Neale Donald Walsch
• Conversations with God at the Internet Movie Database
• Quotes/Messages/Books and more at SpotlightEarth.com
• Conversations with God movie Web site