See my reviews of Books 1 and 2 for the full context of this excellent work. The set replaces the Bible and other convoluted religious “rule sets” and anecdotes, with a single sensible dialog with God that all of us can achieve. Religions of hate and division are part of the problem and the opposite of spiritual communion of man, one with God in community. Conversations with God : An Uncommon Dialogue (Book 1) Conversations With God : An Uncommon Dialogue (Book 2)
Book 3 was harder for me, in part because it deals with the afterlife, rising from the dead, and psychic powers, while I am more focused on the practical challenge of eradicating the ten high-level threats to humanity in the next 20 years.
Still, plenty of food for thought here, and I will probably come back to Book 3 for a second reading at some point.
Key points:
Society that marginalizes the elderly is destined for collapse.
Young should bear children, but they should be raised and taught by the elders.
Highly evolved civilizations understand that sharing is the key to plentitude and peace, and that no actions are shameful, competition is divisive and harmful.
Paradigm IS shifting.
Two basic principles: 1) We are all one; 2) There is Enough for All.
The trinity of body (emotion), mind (logic), and spirit (intuition) is repeatedly stressed. I am constantly reminded by this book of Gandhi's phrase, “be the change you wish to see in the world.”
More on sex, God is sex, sex is love, sex is sharing, sex is union.
Past 100 years has taken Humanity from the 6 yard line to the 12 yard line in relation to a notional 100-year field of possibilities.
Buy Three Individual Books Instead of This One, October 16, 2007
Neale Donald Walsch
I bought this book, thinking that price and consolidation would be better, but in retrospect I wish I had bought the three individual books for their color covers and ease of carrying one at a time on trips, which is when I do most of my reading.
I'd like to thank the two guys in the Middle East that recommended this book to me. I have provided a detailed review for each of the three books at the links below.
I regret not paying better attention to the reviewer of the collected set (one book with three parts and no covers). Do buy the books individually for a more distributed appreciation.
This will sound like sacrilege to many, but in my view these three books in combination replace the Bible as the foundation work for the future of Humanity as God in Community on Earth. There is so much common sense in all three books that I am just blown away.
Although I am 10-15 years late in appreciating the cultural creatives, integral consciousness, one from many, I sense an imminent renaissance of humanity, aided by the amoral wickedness of Dick Cheney and those foolish enough to obey his unconstitutional orders. These three books are our manual for re-establishing Humanity in Community.
Book 1 introduces a God who loves us unconditionally, whom we can have faith in, and who does not need to bloated religious bureaucracies of fear-mongering, hate-mongering, sexually-inhibited priests, imams, and rabbis (some exceptions not withstanding).
The bottom line is this: you can live in fear or live in love–unconditional love. Fear is exclusive, love in inclusive.
Here are the notes I kept:
* Core values are truth, patience, open mind, open heart.
* Arts are inspiration and help spirituality grow and be shared
* Feelings are the language of the soul
* God is found in the highest thought, clearest word, grandest feeling
* Receive and embrace God directly, not via false intermediaries
* Knowing, experiencing, being
* Point of life is to remember the One and rewind back from fragmentation
* You, not God, determines outcomes–live the change you wish to see (Gandhi)
* We choose heaven or hell on earth
* Only by accepting responsibility for ALL poverty and other high-level threats to humanity can we resolve them.
* Judgment fragments and lessens community
* There are no coincidences
* You attract what you fear through emotions
* Choose love, end war–Humanity is losing patience (see Blessed Unrest)
* Sex with joy and sympathy is the ultimate form of love
* Money is the ultimate divider, irrelevant to achieving peace & prosperity
* Stop accepting “original sin” and start remembering you are one with God.
* Passion is in the doing
* Freedom is living life without expectations
* When you are so good you no longer need God, this is God's greatest moment.
* Religions that stress damnation are flat out WRONG. Not possible to offend God, whose love is unconditional.
* Priests and others are a major part of the schism of demanding religions.
* Purpose of relationships is to have another with whom you can share your completeness.
* Love is BEING, not fulfilling a NEED.
* God asks that you love yourself and always make the highest choice.
* Act before thinking; emphasize being, follow a calling in life.
* Gratitude in advance–reciprocal altruism, is the highest path.
* Worry can be fatal. Stop worrying.
I normally shy away from the platitudes and punditry of self-help and business “rules, tools, & tips”, but I saw this book in the uniform sales shop that serves the US Special Operations Command,right next to War of the Flea: The Classic Study of Guerrilla Warfare, and I could not resist.
This little volume will join The Astonished Universe, a French-English side by side poetry book that celebrates life, in my travel briefcase.
I write this sitting by the window of an old estate in Provance, France, while attending a retreat with four others active in the Collective Intelligence movement. I bought it primarily because it was on sale in the bookstore that serves the U.S. Special Operations Command.
Written by a sports writer and producer in partnership with a pastor, it provides the reader with 52 segments, each consisting of a quotation from scripture, and then a two page double-spaced discussion. I found this book over-all to be thoughtful and practical and not at all “preachy.”
The authors immediately drew me in, non-practicing believer that I am, by stating up front that this little guide was a means of discovering and/or reintroducing Jesus to your life. That did it for me, I'm ready.
The book opens with an emphasis on truth as the most important element of both faith and performance, then surprised me by emphasizing that how a leader is perceived is something the leader can never hear too much of.
The authors are at one with Peter Drucker is saying that the best lives are those in which the person is deeply enmeshed in a “calling” and striving to please and serve God while being faithful to their own talents and visions, accountable to others, but never subservient to others.
They distinguish between management, which pays people to follow orders, and leadership, which inspires others to work selflessly in harmony with others. They emphasize that leadership is personal, not at all removed or elitist. One segment stresses the importance of breaking bread with those you seek to lead. At this retreat that I am on, the food–vegetarian and the basics–bread, oil, fruit–is being treated as a spiritual celebration in its own right, so I would add that it is not just breaking bread, but doing so in communion with the Earth that gave us the food, and with one another who seek to save the Earth for future generations.
Among the many bullets that I noted:
* Leaders are disciplined in time management
* Leaders use prayer as reflection
* Leaders are teachers, and can teach under all circumstances including hostile
* Enduring leaders are compassionate
* Diversity is good for team building
* Core values are enduring, but in practice adaptation is essential
* Speak to the masses but nurture an inner core of future leaders
* Understand the importance of strategic withdrawals and pauses
* Setting for major announcements or intense dialogs are important–airport hotels are pedestrian, retreats with memorable environments enhance and nurture the intentions and goals
* Chapter 23 was special for me, after 20 years of dealing with opponents who refused to acknowledge the importance of open sources of information that could be shared: the chapter tells us that visionaries *will* be considered lunatic, even within their own families. This is precisely what happened to me in 1992 when I published an article in Whole Earth Review on the need to create a new national intelligence paradigm that was ethical, ecological, evolutionary, and based on open sources of information instead of stolen secrets. The chapter tells us that the price of leadership (whether direct, of men, or indirect, of ideas) is the willingness to bear with persistent pain and rejection in the face of disbelief and constant attack.
* In a separate chapter, the authors tell us that many will know *of* the leader, but very few will really know who the leader truly is.
* Expect to be unappreciated, but avoid sharing too much too soon.
* Know when to move on, and prepare your successors, encouraging them to move into the world “two by two” so they can reinforce one another and learn from one another.
The book ends with the observation that to be strong is to be in faith, and that in praising God, we should be all we can be within his larger framework.
There are many other lessons and anecdotes in this volume, and I recommend it highly.
Harder Read But Most Worthy, Start with the Other Book
September 3, 2007
Paul Findley
This book is a perfect counter-point to The Power of Israel in the United States. I review that book also, and recommend both books to every American, just as I also recommend the books that document how the Saudis have bought the Bush Family and the Republican and Democratic parties, neither of which represents We the People. Completely apart from the venal immorality of Dick Cheney (see my review of Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency in which I itemized the 23 high crimes and misdemeanors documented by that book), the fact is that Congress has been bought by multiple parties, and no longer represents We the People.
This book is a harder, longer read, so I recommend you start with the other book. As with the other book, this book is a strongly documented and very lengthy catalog of the sins of the Zionists and the Israeli Government, not at all against the moderate Jews and their legitimate concerns. I have seen Gaza and Beirut, and what Israel has done to the Palestinians, to the former “Paris” of the Middle East, combined with their Assault on the Liberty, is unforgivable.
This book logically catalogs how the Zionists intimidate even such a person as Ted Turner, who was forced to back down when he said both sides were committing terrorism (there is in fact a UN Resolution that finds Israel guilty of genocide and racism, but then that is one of those “fog facts” that our totalitarian monsters choose to ignore.
The author organizes the book around how Zionists silence the small and the weak, while buying out the Oval Office, the Congress, the media, while also subverting academic freedon.
I especially like the author's conclusion, “What Price Israel?” The US taxpayer is subsidizing Israeli genocide and Israeli idiocy, and the US and Israel appear to be the last two countries to continue to believe in the value of force that is both unaffordable and unsustainable in an unconquerable world.
Congressman Tom Moran, who represents my district, has personally said that Zionish have too much influence on Congress, and I agree. Tom Moran has been a very good representative, and he speaks the truth.
Here are some books and a DVD that can put the totally unacceptable Zionist influence on the USA in a larger context:
Above Average with a Good Point, Generally Low Rent
August 27, 2007
Carol Alt
I watched this movie tonight, and I must admit, I started it expecting to hate it, and instead found the patience to watch it to the end.
It's a B movie at best, with limited script, acting cast, set sophistication. Certainly worthwhile as a source of reflections, but I'd like to see a much more skilled cinematography community spreading the Christian message.
By the by, Revelation is not in the index, and the Gospel of St. Thomas continues to be community-oriented interpretation of God on Earth in community.
When I first read and reviewed this book I left only a cryptic notation, “downside of Islam” but I neglected the opportunity to point out that the book also captures the downside of poverty as well as the enormous cultural and emotionial indignities toward women that are sanctioned by Islam and not only practiced in Islamic countries but also exported to Europe and the USA, where women are treated behind closed doors in a manner that would put any normal American behind bars for years.
Buy the Individual Books–Replaces the Bible
