[book] Conversations With God - Neal Donald Walsh

[Echoes]

Hey,

anybody here read this series? I finished the first book and am currently reading the third. 

Walsh was at a major low in his life - a fire destroyed all his belongings, his marriage broke, a car accident that left him with a broken neck. After this he recovered but was alone and unemployed, living in a tent and collecting/recycling  aluminium cans to have something to eat. Frustrated and angry, because he couldn't understand what he had done to deserve all this, he wrote a letter to God, expressing all of his confusion and anger. To his surprise, god answered! (Atleast this is what he "claims") Of course, we can never prove this 100%. God "channeled" through him, and answered all his questions, resulting in this trilogy.  

I really liked the books so far. It contains deep wisdom in a simple language and is therefore a really easy and fast read: God is not "talking" in some abstract, metaphorical language that is hard to decipher. Quite the contrary, "he" uses a very accessible, simple language that even contains a fair amount of humour. 

The impression that the book provides of God is coherent with everything I heard and experienced so far of God on the spiritual path. God is not some father figure in the clouds, but the infinite itself. The empty womb, pregnant with all possibilities.

Has anybody here read his books? Do you think he really talked with God? In the end, it doesn't matter that much, because the wisdom is still there, even if Walsh wrote it himself, but I am still curious what you think. (Walsh repeatedly asks God this question in the conversations: "How can I be sure it is you? What if I'm just talking with myself?" God answers: "Does it really matter? Can you imagine a better way to live as it is presented our conversations?" 

Edited March 14, 2017 by Echoes

[Dizzy]

@Echoes hey! It's great to find someone else that read this series! 

In my opinion he did talk to God aka the universe. I belive that being fully present anyone is able to hear God speaking clearly. 

In my experiences with God / universe / higher consciousness I had moments where God communicate clearly with me too. And it's funny. The universe has a great sense of humour. 

I think there are also levels. More meditation and other practices will get us on a higher and higher level. But mainly,  it's all about surrendering to the present moment to fully allow God to talk to us, using that very simple language showed on the book.

 

 

 

[Shanmugam]

I didn't read the book but there is a movie about that book and the life of Neal which I watched. I liked the movie very much and it was very touching.

People can hear voices for sure and it can impact the person either negatively or positively. When the negative symptoms are predominant, it is diagnosed as Shizophrenia. But the experience of hearing voices and its impact can be positive as well and Neal Donald was a great example. This  might also have happened in the life of Mohammed.

When he says that he talked to God,I don't think he actually talked to a separate individual entity called God who rules this world with conscious thoughts, intentions and actions. God comes from his own mind. A person who never heard about God in his life may also hear such voices but the voice will probably introduce itself as somebody else but not God. (Because the word and the concept of God doesn't exist in his memory).

Any such creation of mind, such as auditory and visual hallucination can be very vivid and seem very real but the information presented through these hallucinations will be always based on the information which is already stored in the memory or subconscious. It is possible to hear voices and see visuals in deep meditation or contemplation as well. This is exactly how Ramakrishna talked to Kali.