Why do you think it’s crazy for you to be  
able to have a dialogue with God? Do you 
not believe in prayer? Yes, but that’s different. Prayer for me has 
always been one  way. I ask, and God 
remains  immutable. God has never answered a prayer? Oh yes, but never verbally, you see. Oh, 
I’ve had all kinds of things happen in my life 
that I  was convinced were an answer —a 
very direct answer —to prayer. But God has 
never  spoken to me. I see. So this God in which you believe —
this God can do anything —It jus t cannot  
speak. Of course God can speak, if God wants to. It just doesn’t seem probable that God 
would  want to speak to me. This is the root of every problem you 
experience in your life —for you do not 
consider  yourself worthy enough to be 
spoken to by God. Good heavens, how can 
you ever  expect to hear My voice if you 
don’t imagine yourself to be deserving 
enough to  even be spoken to? I tell you this: I am performing a miracle 
right now. For not only am I speaking to 
you, but to every person who has picked u p 
this book and is reading these words. To each of them am I now speaking. I know 
who every one of them is. I know now  who 
will find their way to these words —and I 
know that (just as with all My other  
communications) some will be able to 
hear—and some will  be able to only listen, 
but will hear nothing. Well, that brings up another thing. I am 
already thinking of publishing this material 
even now,  as it’s being written. Yes. What’s “wrong” with that? Can’t it be argued that I am creating this 
whole thing for  profit? Doesn’t that render 
the whole  thing suspect? Is it your motive to write something so that 
you can make a lot of money? No. That’s not why I started this. I began 
this dialogue on paper because my mind has been  plagued with questions for 30 
years —questions I’ve been hungry —
starving to have  answered. The idea that I 
would have all this made into a book came 
later. From Me. From You? Yes. You don’t think I was going to let you 
waste all these marvelous questions and  
answers, do you? I hadn’t th ought about that. At the outset, I 
just wanted the questions answered; the  
frustration to end; the search to be over. Good. So stop questioning your motives 
(you do it incessantly) and let’s get on with  
it. Chapter 3  
Well, I have a hundred questions. A 
thousand. A million. And the problem is, I 
sometimes don’t know where to begin. Just list the questions. Just start 
somewhere. Go ahead, right now. Make a 
list of the  questions that occur to you. Okay. Some of them are going to seem 
pretty simple, pretty pl ebeian. Stop making judgments against yourself. Just list them. Right. Well, here are the ones that occur to 
me now. 1. When will my life finally take off? What 
does it take to “get it together,” and achieve 
even a  modicum of success? Can the 
struggle ever end? 2. When will I learn enough about 
relationships to be able to have them go 
smoothly? Is  there any way to be happy in 
relationships? Must they always be 
constantly challenging? 3. Why can’t I ever seem to attract enough 
money in my life? Am I destined to be 
scrimping  and scraping for the rest of my 
life? What is blocking me from realizing my 
full potential in  this regard? 4. Why can’t I do what I really want to do 
with my life and still make a living? 5. How can I solve some of the health 
problems I face? I have been the victim of 
enough  chronic problems to last a lifetime. Why am I having them all now? 6. What is the karmic lesson I’m supposed 
to be learning here? What am I trying to 
master? 7. Is there such a thing as reincarnation? How m any past lives have I had? What was 
I in them? Is “karmic debt” a reality? 8. I sometimes feel very psychic. Is there 
such a thing as “being psychic”? Am I that? Are people who claim to be psychic 
“trafficking with the devil”? 9. Is it okay to take money f or doing good? If I choose to do healing work in the world —
God’s work —can I do that and become 
financially abundant, too? Or are the two 
mutually  exclusive? 10. Is sex okay? C’mon —what is the real 
story behind this human experience? Is sex 
purely  for procr eation, as some religions say? Is true holiness and enlightenment 
achieved through  denial —or 
transmutation —of the sexual energy? Is it 
okay to have sex without love? Is just  the 
physical sensation of it okay enough as a 
reason? 11. Why did you make sex so good, so 
spectacular, so powerful a human 
experience if all  we are to do is stay away 
from it as much as we can? What gives? For that matter, why are  all fun things either 
“immoral, illegal, or fattening”? 12. Is there life on other planets? Have we 
been v isited by it? Are we being observed 
now? Will we see evidence —irrevocable 
and indisputable —of extraterrestrial life in 
our lifetime? Does each form of life have its 
own God? Are you the God of It All? 13. Will utopia ever come to the planet 
Earth? Will God  ever show Himself to 
Earth’s people,  as promised? Is there such 
a thing as the Second Coming? Will there 
ever be an End of the  World —or an 
apocalypse, as prophesied in the Bible? Is 
there a one true religion? If so,  which one? These are just a few of my questions. As I 
said, I have a hundred more. Some of 
these  questions embarrass me —they 
seem so sophomoric. But answer them, 
please —one at a  time—and let’s “talk” 
about them. Good. Now we’re getting to it. Don’t 
apologize for these questions. These are 
the questions men and women have been 
asking for hundreds of years. If the 
questions  were so silly, they wouldn’t be 
asked over and over again by each succeeding  generation. So let’s go to 
question one. I have established Laws in the universe 
that make it poss ible for you to have —to 
create —exactly what you choose. These 
Laws cannot be violated, nor can they be  
ignored. You are following these Laws right 
now, even as you read this. You cannot  not 
follow the Law, for these are the ways 
things work. You cannot ste p aside from  
this; you cannot operate outside of it. Every minute of your life you have been 
operating inside of it —and everything you  
have ever experienced you have thusly 
created. You are in a partnership with God. We share an eternal covenant. My promis e 
to you is to always give you what you  ask. Your promise is to ask; to understand the 
process of the asking and the  answering. I’ve already explained this process to you 
once. I’ll do so again, so that  you clearly 
understand it. You are a three -fold being . You consist of 
body, mind, and spirit. You could also call  
these the physical, the non -physical, and 
the meta -physical. This is the Holy Trinity,  
and it has been called by many names. That which you are, I am. I am manifested 
as Three -In-One. Some of you r theologians 
have called this Father, Son, and Holy 
Spirit. Your psychiatrists have  recognized 
this triumvirate and called it conscious, 
subconscious, and  superconscious. Your philosophers have called it the id, the 
ego, and the super ego. Science calls  this 
energy, matter, and antimatter. Poets speak of mind, heart, and soul. New 
Age thinkers refer to body, mind, and  spirit. Your time is divided into past, present, and 
future. Could this not be the same as  
subconscious, conscious, and 
superconscious? Spac e is likewise divided 
into three:  here, there, and the space 
between. It is defining and describing this “space 
between” that becomes difficult, elusive. The moment you begin defining or 
describing, the space you describe 
becomes “here” or “there.” Yet we know this 
“space between” exists. It is what holds 
“here” and “there”  in place —just as the 
eternal now holds “before” and “after” in 
place. These three aspects of you are actually 
three energies. You might call them 
thought,  word, and action. All three put  
together produce a result —which in your 
language  and understanding is called a 
feeling, or experience. Your soul (subconscious, id, spirit, past, 
etc.) is the sum total of every feeling you’ve  
ever had (created). Your awareness of 
some of these is called your memory. When  you have a memory, you are said to 
re-member. That is, to put back together. To  
reassemble the parts. When you reassemble all of the parts of 
you, you will have re -membered Who You  
Really Are. The process of creation starts with 
thought —an idea, conception, visualization. Everything you see was once 
someone’s idea. Nothing exists in your 
world that did  not first exist as pure thought. This is true of the universe as well. Thought is the first level of creation. Next comes the word. Everyth ing you say 
is a thought expressed. It is creative and  
sends forth creative energy into the 
universe. Words are more dynamic (thus, 
some  might say more creative) than 
thought, because words are a different 
level of  vibration from thought. They disrupt 
(change, alter, affect) the universe with 
greater  impact. Words are the second level of creation. Next comes action. Actions are words moving. Words are 
thoughts expressed. Thoughts are ideas  formed. Ideas are energies come together. Energies are forces releas ed. Forces are  
elements existent. Elements are particles 
of God, portions of All, the stuff of  
everything. The beginning is God. The end is action. Action is God creating —or God  
experienced. Your thought about yourself is that you are 
not good enough, not wondrous enough,  
not sinless enough, to be a part of God, in 
partnership with God. You have denied  for 
so long Who You Are that you have 
forgotten Who You Are. This has not occurred by coincidence; this 
is not happenstance. It is all part of the  
divine pla n—for you could not claim, 
create, experience —Who You Are if you  already were it. It was necessary first for 
you to release (deny, forget) your  
connection to Me in order to fully 
experience it by fully creating it —by calling 
it forth. For your grandest wish —and My 
grandest desire —was for you to 
experience  yourself as the part of Me you 
are. You are therefore in the process of 
experiencing  yourself by creating yourself 
anew in every single moment. As am I. Through you. Do you see the partnership? Do you grasp 
its implications? It is a holy collaboration —
truly, a holy communion. Life will “take off” for you, then, when you 
choose for it to. You have not so chosen  as 
yet. You have procrastinated, prolonged, 
protracted, protested. Now it is time that  
you promulgated and produced what you have been promised. To do this, you must  
believe the promise, and live it. You must 
live the promise of God. The promise of God is that you are His son. Her offspring. Its likeness. His equal. Ah...here is where you g et hung up. You 
can accept “His son,” “offspring,”  
“likeness,” but you recoil at being called 
“His equal.” It is too much to accept. Too  
much bigness, too much wonderment —too 
much responsibility. For if you are God’s  
equal, that means nothing is being done  to 
you—and all things are created by you. There can be no more victims and no more 
villains —only outcomes of your thought  
about a thing. I tell you this: all you see in your world is 
the outcome of your idea about it. Do you want your life to truly “take off”? Then change your idea about it. About you. Think, speak, and act as the God You Are. Of course,  this will separate you from 
many —most —of your fellow men. They will 
call you crazy. They will say you 
blaspheme. They will eventually have 
enough of you,  and they will attempt to 
crucify you. They will do this not because they think you 
are living in a world of your own illusions  
(most men are gracious enough to allow 
you your private entertainments), but  
because, sooner or later, others will 
become attracted to your truth —for the  
promises it holds for them. Here is where your fellow men will 
interfere —for here is where you will begin to threaten them. For your simple truth, 
simply lived, will offer more beauty, more  
comfort, more peace, more joy, and  more 
love of self and others than anything your  
earthly fellows could contrive. And that truth, adopted, would mean the 
end of their ways. It would mean the end of  
hatred and fear and bigotry and war. The 
end of the condemning and killing that has  
gone on  in My name. The end of might -is- 
right. The end of purchase -through -power. The end of loyalty and homage through 
fear. The end of the world as they  know it —
and as you have created it thus far. So be ready, kind soul. For you will be 
vilified and spat upon , called names, and  
deserted, and finally they will accuse you, 
try you, and condemn you —all in their  own 
ways —from the moment you accept and adopt your holy cause —the realization  of 
Self. Why, then, do it? Because you are no longer concerned with 
the acce ptance or approval of the world. You are no longer satisfied with what that 
has brought you. You are no longer  pleased 
with what it has given others. You want the 
pain to stop, the suffering to  stop, the 
illusion to end. You have had enough of this 
world a s it presently is. You  seek a newer 
world. Seek it no longer. Now, call it forth. Can you help me to better understand how 
to do that? Yes. Go first to your Highest Thought about 
yourself. Imagine the you that you would  be 
if you lived that thought every day. Imagine what you would think, do, and say,  and how 
you would respond to what others do and 
say. Do you see any difference between that 
projection and what you think, do, and say  
now? Yes. I see a great deal of difference. Good. You should, since  we know that right 
now you are not living your highest  vision 
of yourself. Now, having seen the 
differences between where you are and  
where you want to be, begin to change —
consciously change —your thoughts,  
words, and actions to match your grandest 
vision. This will require tremendous mental and 
physical effort. It will entail constant,  
moment -to-moment monitoring of your every thought, word, and deed. It will 
involve  continued choice -making —
consciously. This whole process is a 
massive move to  consciousness . What you 
will find out if you undertake this challenge 
is that you’ve  spent half your life 
unconscious. That is to say, unaware on a 
conscious level of  what you are choosing in 
the way of thoughts, words, and deeds until 
you experience the aftermath of t hem. Then, when you experience these results, 
you deny that your thoughts, words, and 
deeds had anything to do with them. This is a call to stop such unconscious 
living. It is a challenge to which your soul 
has called you from the beginning of time. That k ind of continual mental monitoring 
seems as though it might be terribly 
exhausting — It could be, until it becomes second nature. In fact, it is your second nature. It is your  
first nature to be unconditionally loving. It is 
your second nature to choose to  express 
your first nature, your true nature, 
consciously. Excuse me, but wouldn’t this kind of non -
stop editing of everything I think, say, and 
do “make  Jack a dull boy”? Never. Different, yes. Dull, no. Was Jesus 
dull? I don’t think so. Was the Buddha  
boring to be around? People flocked, 
begged, to be in his presence. No one who  
has attained mastery is dull. Unusual, 
perhaps. Extraordinary, perhaps. But never  
dull. So—do you want your life to “take off”? Begin at once to imagine it the way you want  it to b e—and move into that. Check 
every thought, word, and action that does 
not fall into harmony with that. Move away 
from those. When you have a thought that is not in 
alignment with your higher vision, change 
to a new thought, then and there. When 
you say a t hing that is out of alignment with  
your grandest idea, make a note not to say 
something like that again. When you do  a 
thing that is misaligned with your best 
intention, decide to make that the last time. And make it right with whomever was 
involved if you  can. I’ve heard this before and I’ve always railed 
against it, because it seems so dishonest. I  
mean, if you’re sick as a dog, you’re not 
supposed to admit it. If you’re broke as a 
pauper,  you’re never supposed to say it. If you’re upset as hell, you’re not supposed 
to show it. It  reminds me of the joke about 
the three people who were sent to hell. One 
was a Catholic,  one was a Jew, one was a 
New Ager. The devil said to the Catholic, 
sneeringly, “Well, how  are you enjoying the 
heat?” And the Cathol ic sniffled, “I’m 
offering it up.” The devil then  asked the 
Jew, “And how are you enjoying the heat?” 
The Jew said, “So what else could I  expect 
but more hell?” Finally, the devil 
approached the New Ager. “Heat?” the 
New Ager  asked, perspiring. “What heat? ” 
That’s a good joke. But I’m not talking 
about ignoring the problem, or pretending it  
isn’t there. I’m talking about noticing the 
circumstance, and then telling your highest  
truth about it. If you’re broke, you’re broke. It’s pointless 
to lie about it, an d actually debilitating to  try 
to manufacture a story about it so as not to 
admit it. Yet it’s your thought about it —
“Broke is bad,” “This is horrible,” “I’m a bad 
person, because good people who  work 
hard and really try never go broke,” etc. —
that rules ho w you experience  “broke -
ness.” It’s your words about it —“I’m broke,” 
“I haven’t a dime,” “I don’t have  any 
money” —that dictates how long you stay 
broke. It’s your actions surrounding it —
feeling sorry for yourself, sitting around 
despondent, not trying to f ind a way out  
because “What’s the use, anyway?” —that 
create your long -term reality. The first thing to understand about the 
universe is that no condition is “good” or  
“bad.” It just is. So stop making value judgments. The second thing to know is 
that all conditions are temporary. Nothing 
stays the same, nothing remains static. Which  way a thing changes depends on 
you. Excuse me, but I have to interrupt you 
again here. What about the person who is 
sick, but  has the faith that will move 
mountains —and so think s, says, and 
believes he’s going to get  better...only to 
die six weeks later. How does that square 
with all this positive thinking,  affirmative 
action stuff? That’s good. You’re asking the tough 
questions. That’s good. You’re not simply  
taking My word for any of this. There is a 
place, on down the line, when you’ll have  
to take My word for this —because 
eventually you’ll find that we can discuss this thing forever, you and I —until there’s 
nothing left to do but to “try it or deny it.” But  
we’re not at th at place yet. So let’s keep the 
dialogue going; let’s keep talking —the 
person who has the “faith to move 
mountains,” and dies six weeks later, has 
moved  mountains for six weeks. That may 
have been enough for him. He may have  
decided, on the last hour of th e last day, 
“Okay, I’ve had enough. I’m ready to go on  
now to another adventure.” You may not 
have known of that decision, because he  
may not have told you. The truth is, he may 
have made that decision quite a bit  
earlier —days, weeks earlier —and not have 
told you; not have told anyone. You have created a society in which it is 
very not okay to want to die —very not okay  
to be very okay with death. Because you don’t want to die, you can’t imagine anyone  
wanting to die —no matter what their 
circumstances or con dition. But there are many situations in which 
death is preferable to life —which I know 
you can imagine if you think about it for 
even a little bit. Yet, these truths don’t occur 
to you—they are not that self -evident —
when you are looking in the face someon e 
else who is choosing to die. And the dying 
person knows this. She can feel the level of  
acceptance in the room regarding her 
decision. Have you ever noticed how many people 
wait until the room is empty before they  
die? Some even have to tell their loved 
ones —“No, really, go. Get a bite to eat.” Or  
“Go, get some sleep. I’m fine. I’ll see you in 
the morning.” And then, when the loyal  guard leaves, so does the soul from the 
body of the guarded. If they told their assembled relatives and 
friends, “I jus t want to die,” they would  
really hear it. “Oh, you don’t mean that,” or 
“Now, don’t talk that way,” or “Hang in  
there,” or “Please don’t leave me.”  
The entire medical profession is trained to 
keep people alive, rather than keeping  
people comfortable so th at they can die 
with dignity. You see, to a doctor or a nurse,  
death is failure. To a friend or relative, 
death is disaster. Only to the soul is death 
a relief —a release. The greatest gift you 
can give the dying is to let them die in 
peace —not thinking tha t they must “hang 
on,” or continue to suffer, or worry about 
you at  this most crucial passage in their life. So this is very often what has happened in 
the case of the man who says he’s going  to 
live, believes he’s going to live, even prays 
to live: that a t the soul level, he has  
“changed his mind.” It is time now to drop 
the body to free the soul for other pursuits. When the soul makes this decision, nothing 
the body does can change it. Nothing  the 
mind thinks can alter it. It is at the moment 
of death tha t we learn who, in the  body -
mind -soul triumvirate, is running things. All your life you think you are your body. Some of the time you think you are your  
mind. It is at the time of your death that you 
find out Who You Really Are. Now there are also times wh en the body 
and the mind are just not listening to the  
soul. This, too, creates the scenario you 
describe. The most difficult thing for people  to do is hear their own soul. (Notice that so 
few do ). Now it happens often that the soul makes a 
decision that i t is time to leave the body. The body and the mind —ever servants of 
the soul —hear this, and the process of  
extrication begins. Yet the mind (ego) 
doesn’t want to accept. After all, this is the  
end of its existence. So it instructs the body 
to resist death. This the body does  gladly, 
since it too does not want to die. The body 
and the mind (ego) receive great  
encouragement, great praise for this from 
the outside world —the world of its  creation. So the strategy is confirmed. Now at this point everything depen ds on 
how badly the soul wants to leave. If there  
is no great urgency here, the soul may say, 
“Alright, you win. I’ll stick around with  you a little longer.” But if the soul is very clear that 
staying does not serve its higher  agenda —
that there is no furth er way it can evolve 
through this body —the soul is  going to 
leave, and nothing will stop it —nor should 
anything try to. The soul is very clear that its purpose is 
evolution. That is its sole purpose —and its  
soul purpose. It is not concerned with the 
achievements of the body or the  
development of the mind. These are all 
meaningless to the soul. The soul is also clear that there is no great 
tragedy involved in leaving the body. In  
many ways, the tragedy is being in the 
body. So you have to understand, t he soul  
sees this whole death thing differently. It, of 
course, sees the whole “life thing”  
differently, too —and that is the source of much of the frustration and anxiety one  
feels in one’s life. The frustration and 
anxiety comes from not listening to one’ s 
soul. How can I best listen to my soul? If the soul 
is the boss, really, how can I make sure I 
get those memos from the front office? The first thing you might do is get clear 
about what the soul is after —and stop  
making judgments about it. I’m making ju dgments about my own soul? Constantly. I just showed you how you 
judge yourself for wanting to die. You also  
judge yourself for wanting to live —truly live. You judge yourself for wanting to laugh,  
wanting to cry, wanting to win, wanting to 
lose—for wanting  to experience joy and  love—especially do you judge yourself for 
that. I do? Somewhere you’ve come across the idea 
that to deny yourself joy is Godly —that not  
to celebrate life is heavenly. Denial, you 
have told yourself, is goodness. Are you saying it is bad? It is neither good nor bad, it is simply denial. If you feel good after denying yourself,  then 
in your world that is goodness. If you feel 
bad, then it’s badness. Most of the  time, 
you can’t decide. You deny yourself this or 
that because you tell your self you  are 
supposed to. Then you say that was a good 
thing to do —but wonder why you  don’t feel 
good. And so the first thing to do is to stop making 
these judgments against yourself. Learn 
what is the soul’s desire, and go with that. Go with the soul. Wha t the soul is  after is —
the highest feeling of love you can imagine. This is the soul’s desire. This is  its purpose. The soul is after the feeling. Not the 
knowledge, but the feeling. It  already has 
the knowledge, but knowledge is 
conceptual. Feeling is exp eriential. The 
soul wants to feel itself, and thus to know 
itself in its own experience. The highest feeling is the experience of 
unity with All That Is. This is the great return  
to Truth for which the soul yearns. This is 
the feeling of perfect love. Perfect love is to feeling what perfect white 
is to color. Many think that white is the  
absence of color. It is not. It is the inclusion of all color. White is every other color  that 
exists, combined. So, too, is love not the absence of an 
emotion (hatred, ang er, lust, jealousy,  
covetousness), but the summation of all 
feeling. It is the sum total. The aggregate  
amount. The everything. Thus, for the soul to experience perfect 
love, it must experience every human  
feeling. How can I have compassion on that which 
I don’t understand? How can I forgive in  
another that which I have never 
experienced in Myself? So we see both the  
simplicity and the awesome magnitude of 
the soul’s journey. We understand at last  
what it is up to:  The purpose of the human soul is to  
experience all of it —so that it can be all of 
it. How can it be up if it has never been down, 
left if it has never been right? How can it  be 
warm if it knows not cold, good if it denies 
evil? Obviously the soul cannot choose  to 
be anything if there is not hing to choose 
from. For the soul to experience its  
grandeur, it must know what grandeur is. This it cannot do if there is nothing but  
grandeur. And so the soul realizes that 
grandeur only exists in the space of that  
which is not grand. The soul, therefore , 
never condemns that which is not grand,  
but blesses —seeing in it a part of itself 
which must exist for another part of itself to  
manifest. The job of the soul, of course, is to cause 
us to choose the grandeur —to select the  
best of Who You Are —without con demning 
that which you do not select. This is a big task, taking many lifetimes, for 
you are wont to rush to judgment, to call  a 
thing “wrong” or “bad” or “not enough,” 
rather than to bless what you do not  
choose. You do worse than condemn —you actually 
seek to do harm to that which you do not  
choose. You seek to destroy it. If there is a 
person, place, or thing with which you do  
not agree, you attack it. If there is a religion 
that goes against yours, you make it  wrong. If there is a thought tha t contradicts yours, 
you ridicule it. If there is an idea  other than 
yours, you reject it. In this you err, for you 
create only half a universe. And  you cannot even understand your half when you have 
rejected out of hand the other. This is all very profoun d—and I thank you. No one has ever said these things to me. At least,  not with such simplicity. And I am 
trying to understand. Really, I am. Yet some 
of this is  difficult to grapple with. You seem 
to be saying, for instance, that we should 
love the “wrong”  so that we can know the 
“right.” Are you saying we must embrace 
the devil, so to speak? How else do you heal him? Of course, a 
real devil does not exist —but I reply to you  
in the idiom you choose. Healing is the process of accepting all, then 
choosing bes t. Do you understand that? You cannot choose to be God if there is 
nothing else to choose from. Oops, hold it! Who said anything about 
choosing to be God? The highest feeling is perfect love, is it not? Yes, I should think so. And can you find a better des cription of 
God? No, I cannot. Well, your soul seeks the highest feeling. It 
seeks to experience —to be —perfect  love. It is perfect love —and it knows this. Yet it 
wishes to do more than know it. It wishes  
to be it in its experience. Of course you are seeking to be God! What 
else did you think you were up to? I don’t know. I’m not sure. I guess I just 
never thought of it that way. There just seems to be  something vaguely 
blasphemous about that. Isn’t it interesting that you find nothing 
blasphemous abou t seeking to be like the  
devil, but seeking to be like God offends 
you— 
Now wait minute! Who’s seeking to be like 
the devil? You are! You all are! You’ve even created 
religions that tell you that you are born in  
sin—that you are sinners at birth —in order 
to convince yourselves of your own evil. Yet 
if I told you you are born of God —that you 
are pure Gods and Goddesses at  birth—
pure love —you would reject me. All your life you have spent convincing 
yourself that you are bad. Not only that you  
are bad, but tha t the things you want are bad. Sex is bad, money is bad, joy is bad,  
power is bad, having a lot is bad —a lot of 
anything. Some of your religions have  even 
got you believing that dancing is bad, music 
is bad, celebrating life is bad. Soon you’ll 
agree that smiling is bad, laughing is bad, 
loving is bad. No, no, my friend, you may not be very 
clear about many things, but about one 
thing  you are clear: you, and most of what 
you desire, are bad. Having made this  
judgment about yourself, you have decided 
that yo ur job is to get better. It’s okay, mind you. It’s the same 
destination in any event —it’s just that 
there’s a  faster way, a shorter route, a 
quicker path. Which is? Acceptance of Who and What You Are right 
now—and demonstration of that. This is what Jesus did. It is the path of the 
Buddha, the way of Krishna, the walk of  
every Master who has appeared on the 
planet. And every Master has likewise had  
the same message: What I am, you are. What I can do, you can do. These things,  
and more, shall you also do. Ye t you have 
not listened. You have chosen instead  the 
far more difficult path of one who thinks he 
is the devil, one who imagines he is  evil. You say it is difficult to walk the path of 
Christ, to follow the teachings of the  
Buddha, to hold the light of Kri shna, to be 
a Master. Yet I tell you this: it is far more  
difficult to deny Who You Are than to accept 
it. You are goodness and mercy and 
compassion and understanding. You are 
peace  and joy and light. You are 
forgiveness and patience, strength and 
courage,  a helper  in time of need, a 
comforter in time of sorrow, a healer in time 
of injury, a teacher in  times of confusion. You are the deepest wisdom and the 
highest truth; the greatest  peace and the 
grandest love. You are these things. And in 
moments of your life you  have known 
yourself as these things. Choose now to know yourself as these 
things always. Chapter 4  
Whew! You inspire me! Well, if God can’t inspire you, who in hell 
can? Are You always this flip? I meant that not as a flippancy. Read it 
again. Oh. I see. Yes. However, it would be okay if I were being 
flip, wouldn’t it? I don’t know. I’m used to my God being a 
little more serious. Well, do Me a favor, and don’t try to contain 
Me. By the way, do yourself the same  favor. It just so happens I  have a great sense of 
humor. I’d say you’d have to when you  see 
what you’ve all done with life, wouldn’t you? I mean, sometimes I have to just  laugh at 
it. It’s alright, though, because you see, I 
know it’ll all come out all right in the end. What do You mean by that? I mean you can’t lose in this game. You 
can’t go wrong. It’s not part of the plan. There’s no way not to get where you are 
going. There’s no way to miss your  
destination. If God is your target, you’re in 
luck, because God is so big, you can’t  miss. That’s the big worry, of course. The big 
worry is that somehow we’ll mess up and 
not get to ever see You, be with You. You mean “get to heaven”? Yes. We’re all afraid of going to hell. So you’ve placed yourself there to begin 
with in order to avoid going there. Hmmmmm. Interesting strategy. There You are, being flip again. I can’t help it. This whole hell thing brings 
out the worst in Me! Good grief, You’re a regular comedian. It took you this long to find that out? You 
looked at the world lately? Which brings me to another question. Why 
don’t You fix the world, instead of allowing 
it to go  to hell? Why don’t you? I don’t have the power. Nonsense. You’ve the power and the ability 
right now to end world hunger this  minute, 
to cure diseases this instant . What if I told 
you your own medical profession  holds 
back cures, refuses to approve alternative 
medicines and procedures because  they 
threaten the very structure of the “healing” 
profession? What if I told you that  the 
governments of the world do not want to 
end world hunger? Would you believe  me? I’d have a hard time with that. I know that’s 
the populist view, but I can’t believe it’s 
actually true. No doctor wants to deny a 
cure. No countryman wants to see his 
people die. No individual doctor, that’s  true. No 
particular countryman, that’s right. But 
doctoring  and politicking have become 
institutionalized, and it’s the institutions that fight these  things, sometimes very subtly, 
sometimes even unwittingly, but 
inevitably...because  to those institutions  it’s 
a matter of survival. And so, to give you just one very simple 
and obvious example, doctors in the West  
deny the healing efficacies of doctors in the 
East because to accept them, to admit  that 
certain alternate modalities might just 
provide some heal ing, would be to tear at  
the very fabric of the institution as it has 
structured itself. This is not malevolent, yet it is insidious. The profession doesn’t do this because it is  
evil. It does it because it is scared. All attack is a call for help. I read that in A Course in Miracles. I put it there. Boy, You have an answer for everything. Which reminds Me, we only just started 
getting to your questions. We were  
discussing how to get your life on track. How to get it to “take off.” I was discussing  
the process of creation. Yes, and I kept interrupting. That’s alright, but let’s just get back, 
because we don’t want to lose the thread 
of something that’s very important. Life is a creation, not a discovery. You do not live each day to discover what it 
holds for you, but to create it. You are  
creating your reality every minute, probably 
without knowing it. Here’s why that is so,  
and how that works. 1. I have created you in the image and 
likeness of God. 2. God is the creator. 3. You are three beings in one. You can call 
these three aspects of being anything  you 
want: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; mind, 
body, and spirit; superconscious,  
conscious, subconscious. 4. Creation is a process that proceeds from 
these three parts of your body. Put  another 
way, you crea te at three levels. The tools of 
creation are: thought, word, and  deed. 5. All creation begins with thought 
(“Proceeds from the Father”). All creation 
then moves to word (“Ask and you shall 
receive, speak and it shall be done unto 
you”). All  creation is fu lfilled in deed (“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt 
among us”). 6. That which you think of, but thereafter 
never speak of, creates at one level. That  
which you think of and speak of creates at 
another level. That which you think,  speak, 
and do becomes  made manifest in your 
reality. 7. To think, speak, and do something which 
you do not truly believe is impossible. Therefore, the process of creation must 
include belief, or knowing. This is absolute  
faith. This is beyond hoping. This is 
knowing of a certa inty (“By your faith shall 
ye be  healed”). Therefore, the doing part of 
creation always includes knowing. It is a 
gut-level clarity, a total certainty, a 
complete acceptance as reality of 
something. 8. This place of knowing is a place of 
intense and incred ible gratitude. It is a  
thankfulness in advance. And that, 
perhaps, is the biggest key to creation: to 
be grateful before, and for, the creation. Such taking for granted is not only 
condoned,  but encouraged. It is the sure 
sign of mastery. All Masters know  in 
advance that the  deed has been done. 9. Celebrate and enjoy all that you create, 
have created. To reject any part of it is to  
reject a part of yourself. Whatever it is that 
is now presenting itself as part of your  
creation, own it, claim it, bless it, be 
thankful for it. Seek not to condemn it (“God  
damn it!”), for to condemn it is to condemn 
yourself. 10. If there is some aspect of creation you 
find you do not enjoy, bless it and simply  change it. Choose again. Call forth a new 
reality. Think a new  thought. Say a new  
word. Do a new thing. Do this magnificently 
and the rest of the world will follow you. Ask 
it to. Call for it to. Say, “I am the Life and the 
Way, follow me.”  
This is how to manifest God’s will “on Earth 
as it is in Heaven.”  
If it is al l as simple as that, if these ten steps 
are all we need, why does it not work that 
way for more of us? It does work that way, for all of you. Some 
of you are using the “system”  consciously, 
with full awareness, and some of you are 
using it unconsciously,  without even 
knowing what you are doing. Some of you are walking in wakefulness, 
and some of you are sleepwalking. Yet all  of you are creating your reality —creating, 
not discovering —using the power I have  
given you, and the process I’ve just 
described. So, you’ve asked when your life will “take 
off,” and I’ve given you the answer. You get your life to “take off” by first 
becoming very clear in your thinking about 
it. Think about what you want to be, do, and 
have. Think about it often until you are  very 
clear  about this. Then, when you are very 
clear, think about nothing else. Imagine no 
other possibilities. Throw all negative thoughts out of your 
mental constructions. Lose all pessimism. Release all doubts. Reject all fears. Discipline your mind to hold fast to the 
original  creative thought. When your thoughts are clear and 
steadfast, begin to speak them as truths. Say them out loud. Use the great command 
that calls forth creative power: I am. Make 
I-am statements to others. “I am” is the 
strongest creative st atement in the 
universe. Whatever you think, whatever 
you say, after the words “I am” sets into 
motion those  experiences, calls them forth, 
brings them to you. There is no other way the universe knows 
how to work. There is no other route it  
knows to take. The universe responds to “I 
am” as would a genie in a bottle. You say, “Release all doubts, reject all 
fears, lose all pessimism” as if you’re 
saying “pick me up a loaf of bread.” But 
these things are easier said than done. “Throw all negative though ts out of your mental constructions” might as well read 
“climb Mt. Everest —before lunch.” It’s 
rather a large order. Harnessing your thoughts, exercising 
control over them, is not as difficult as it 
might  seem. (Neither, for that matter, is 
climbing Mt. Ev erest.) It is all a matter of 
discipline. It is a question of intent. The first step is learning to monitor your 
thoughts; to think about what you are  
thinking about. When you catch yourself thinking negative 
thoughts —thoughts that negate your  
highest idea  about a thing —think again! I 
want you to do this, literally. If you think  you 
are in a doldrum, in a pickle, and no good 
can come of this, think again. If you  think 
the world is a bad place, filled with negative events, think again. If you think  your life  is 
falling apart, and it looks as if you’ll never 
get it back together again, think  again. You can train yourself to do this. (Look how 
well you’ve trained yourself not to do it!) . Thank you. I’ve never had the process set 
out for me so clearly. I wish it  were as easily 
done as said —but now I at least 
understand it clearly —I think. Well, if you need a review, we have several 
lifetimes. Chapter 5  
What is the true path to God? Is it through 
renunciation, as some yogis believe? And 
what of this thing called suffering? Is 
suffering and service the path to God as 
many ascetics say? Do we earn our way to 
heaven by “being good,” as so many 
religions teach? Or are we free to act as we 
wish, violate or ignore any rule, set aside 
any traditional teachings, di ve into any self -
indulgences, and thus find Nirvana, as 
many New Agers say? Which is it? Strict 
moral standards, or do -as-you-please? Which is it? Traditional values, or make -it- 
up-as-you-go-along? Which is it? The Ten 
Commandments, or the Seven Steps to 
Enlightenment? You have a great need to have it be one 
way or the other, don’t you...Could it not  be 
all of these? I don’t know. I’m asking You. I will answer you, then, as you can best 
understand —though I tell you now that 
your answer is within. I say thi s to all people 
who hear My words and seek My Truth. Every heart which earnestly asks, Which is 
the path to God? is shown. Each is given  a 
heartfelt Truth. Come to Me along the path 
of your heart, not through a journey of  your 
mind. You will never find Me in your mind. In order to truly know God, you have to be 
out of your mind. Yet your question begs an answer, and I will 
not step aside from the thrust of your  
inquiry. I will begin with a statement that will startle 
you—and perhaps offend the sensitivities  
of many people. There are no such things 
as the Ten Commandments. Oh, My God, there aren’t? No, there are not. Who would I command? Myself? And why would such  
commandments be required? Whatever I 
want, is. N’est ce pas? How is it therefore  
necessary to co mmand anyone? And, if I did issue commandments, would 
they not be automatically kept? How could  
I wish something to be so so badly that I 
would command it —and then sit by and  
watch it not be so? What kind of a king would do that? What 
kind of a ruler? And yet I tell you this: I am neither a king 
nor a ruler. I am simply —and awesomely —
the Creator. Yet the Creator does not rule, 
but merely creates, creates —and keeps  on 
creating. I have created you —blessed you —in the 
image and likeness of Me. And I have  made 
certain promises and commitments to you. I have told you, in plain language,  how it will 
be with you when you become as one with 
Me. You are, as Moses was, an earnest seeker. Moses too, as do you now, stood before  
Me, begging for answers. “Oh, God of My 
Fathers,” he called. “God of my God,  deign 
to show me. Give me a sign, that I may tell 
my people! How can we know that  we are 
chosen?”  And I came to Moses, even as I have come 
to you now, with a divine covenant —an 
everlasting promise —a sure and certain 
commitment. “How can I be sure?” Moses  
asked plaintively. “Because I have told you 
so,” I said. “You have the Word of God.”  
And the Word of God was not a 
commandment, but a covenant. These, 
then, are  the... Ten Commitments  
You shall know that you have take n the 
path to God, and you shall know that you  
have found God, for there will be these 
signs, these indications, these changes in  
you: 
1. You shall love God with all your heart, all 
your mind, all your soul. And there shall  be 
no other God set before Me. N o longer will you worship human love, or success,  
money, or power, nor any symbol thereof. You will set aside these things as a child  
sets aside toys. Not because they are 
unworthy, but because you have outgrown  
them. And, you shall know you have taken the 
path to God because:  
2. You shall not use the name of God in 
vain. Nor will you call upon Me for frivolous  
things. You will understand the power of  
words, and of thoughts, and you would not  
think of invoking the name of God in an 
unGodly manner. You shall not use My  
name in vain because you cannot. For My 
name —the Great “I Am” —is never used  in 
vain (that is, without result), nor can it ever 
be. And when you have found God,  you 
shall know this. And, I shall give you these other signs as 
well: 
3. Yo u shall remember to keep a day for 
Me, and you shall call it holy. This, so that  
you do not long stay in your illusion, but 
cause yourself to remember who and what  
you are. And then shall you soon call every 
day the Sabbath, and every moment  holy. 4. You s hall honor your mother and your 
father —and you will know you are the Son  
of God when you honor your Father/Mother 
God in all that you say or do or think. And 
even as you so honor the Mother/Father 
God, and your father and mother on  Earth 
(for they have giv en you life), so, too, will 
you honor everyone. 5. You know you have found God when you 
observe that you will not murder (that is,  willfully kill, without cause). For while you 
will understand that you cannot end  
another’s life in any event (all life is 
eternal), you will not choose to terminate 
any particular incarnation, nor change any 
life energy from one form to another, 
without  the most sacred justification. Your 
new reverence for life will cause you to 
honor all  life forms —including plants, trees 
and animals —and to impact them only 
when it is  for the highest good. And these other signs will I send you also, 
that you may know you are on the path:  
6. You will not defile the purity of love with 
dishonesty or deceit, for this is  
adulterous. I promise you, when you have 
found God, you shall not commit this  
adultery. 7. You will not take a thing that is not your 
own, nor cheat, nor connive, nor harm  
another to have any thing, for this would be 
to steal. I promise you, when you have  
found God, you shall not st eal. Nor shall you...  
8. Say a thing that is not true, and thus bear 
false witness. Nor shall you...  
9. Covet your neighbor’s spouse, for why 
would you want your neighbor’s spouse  
when you know all others are your spouse? 10. Covet your neighbor’s goods, f or why 
would you want your neighbor’s goods  
when you know that all goods can be yours, 
and all your goods belong to the world? You will know that you have found the path 
to God when you see these signs. For I  
promise that no one who truly seeks God 
shall any longer do these things. It would  
be impossible to continue such behaviors. These are your freedoms, not your 
restrictions. These are my commitments, 
not my  
commandments. For God does not order 
about what God has created —God merely  
tells God’s chi ldren: this is how you will 
know that you are coming home. Moses asked in earnest —“How may I 
know? Give me a sign.” Moses asked the  
same question that you ask now. The same 
question all people everywhere have  asked since time began. My answer is 
likewise e ternal. But it has never been, and  
never will be, a commandment. For who 
shall I command? And who shall I punish  
should My commandments not be kept? There is only Me. So I don’t have to keep the Ten 
Commandments in order to get to heaven. There is no such thing as “getting to 
heaven.” There is only a knowing that you 
are already there. There is an accepting, an 
understanding, not a working for or a  
striving. You cannot go to where you already are. To 
do that, you would have to leave where  you 
are, and that would defeat the whole 
purpose of the journey. The irony is that  most people think they have to leave where 
they are to get to where they want to be. And so they leave heaven in order to get to 
heaven —and go through hell. Enlightenment is understandin g that there 
is nowhere to go, nothing to do, and  
nobody you have to be except exactly who 
you’re being right now. You are on a  
journey to nowhere. Heaven —as you call it —is nowhere. Let’s 
just put some space between the w and  the 
h in that word and you’ll see that heaven is 
now...here. Everyone says that! Everyone says that! It’s driving me crazy! If “heaven is now here,” how come I don’t 
see that? Why don’t I feel that? And why is 
the world such a mess? I understand your frustration. It’s almost as 
frustra ting trying to understand all this as  it 
is trying to get someone to understand it . Whoa! Wait a minute! Are you trying to say 
that God gets frustrated? Who do you suppose invented frustration? And do you imagine that you can  
experience something I cannot? I tell you this: every experience you have, I 
have. Do you not see I am experiencing  my 
Self through you? What else do you 
suppose all this is for? I could not know  
Myself were it not for You. I created you that 
I might know Who I Am. Now I would not shat ter all of your illusions 
about Me in one chapter —so I will tell  you 
that in My most sublime form, which you 
call God, I do not experience  frustration. Whew! That’s better. You scared me there 
for a minute. But that’s not because I can’t. It’s simply 
because I don’t choose to. You can make  
the same choice, by the way. Well, frustrated or not, I still wonder how it 
can be that heaven is right here, and I don’t 
experience it. You cannot experience what you don’t 
know. And you don’t know you are in  
“heave n” right now because you have not 
experienced it. You see, for you it is a  
vicious circle. You cannot —have not found 
a way yet to —experience what you do  not 
know, and you do not know what you have 
not experienced. What Enlightenment asks you to do is to 
know something you have not experienced  and thus experience it. Knowing opens the 
door to experience —and you imagine it  is 
the other way around. Actually, you know a great deal more than 
you have experienced. You simply don’t  
know that you know. You know tha t there is a God, for instance. But you may not know that you know  that. So you keep waiting around for the 
experience. And all the while you keep  
having it. Yet you are having it without 
knowing —which is like not having it at all. Boy, we’re going around in circles here. Yes, we are. And instead of going around in 
circles, perhaps we should be the circle  
itself. This doesn’t have to be a vicious 
circle. It can be a sublime one. Is renunciation a part of the truly spiritual 
life? Yes, because ultimat ely all Spirit 
renounces what is not real, and nothing in 
the life  you lead is real, save your 
relationship with Me. Yet renunciation in the 
classic sense  of self -denial is not required. A true Master does not “give up” 
something. A true Master simply sets  it 
aside, as he  would do with anything for 
which he no longer has any use. There are 
those who  say you must overcome your 
desires. I say you must simply change 
them. The first  practice feels like a rigorous 
discipline, the second, a joyful exercise. There  are those who say that to know God 
you must overcome all earthly passions. Yet to understand and accept them is enough. What you resist persists. What you  
look at disappears. Those who seek so earnestly to overcome 
all earthly passions often work at it so  hard 
that it might be said, this has become their 
passion. They have a “passion for  God”; a 
passion to know Him. But passion is 
passion, and to trade one for the other  does 
not eliminate it. Therefore, judge not that about which you 
feel passionate. Simpl y notice it, then see  
if it serves you, given who and what you 
wish to be. Remember, you are constantly  
in the act of creating yourself. You are in 
every moment deciding who and what you  
are. You decide this largely through the 
choices you make regarding w ho and what  
you feel passionate about. Often a person on what you call a spiritual 
path looks like he has renounced all  earthly 
passion, all human desire. What he has 
done is understand it, see the  illusion, and 
step aside from the passions that do not 
serve him —all the while loving  the illusion 
for what it has brought to him: the chance 
to be wholly free. Passion is the love of turning being into 
action. It fuels the engine of creation. It  
changes concepts to experience. Passion is the fire that drives us to express 
who we really are. Never deny passion,  for 
that is to deny Who You Are and Who You 
Truly Want to Be. The renunciate never denies passion —the 
renunciate simply denies attachment to  
results. Passion is a love of doing. Doing is being, experienced. Yet what is often  
created as part of doing? Expectation. To live your life without expectation —
without the need for specific results —that 
is freedom. That is Godliness. That is how 
I live. You are not attached to results? Absolutely not. My joy is in the creating, not 
in the aftermath. Renunciation is not a  
decision to deny action. Renunciation is a 
decision to deny a need for a particular  
result. There is a vast difference. Could you explain what You mean by the 
statement, “Passion is the love of turning 
being into action”? Beingness is the highest state of existence. It is the purest essence. It is the “now -not now,” the “all -not all,” the “always -never” 
aspect of God. Pure being is pure God -ing. Yet it has never been enough for us to 
simply be. We have a lways yearned to  
experience What We Are —and that 
requires a whole other aspect of divinity, 
called  doing. Let us say that you are, at the core of your 
wonderful Self, that aspect of divinity  called 
love. (This is, by the way, the Truth of you.) Now it is o ne thing to be love —and quite 
another thing to do something loving. The 
soul longs to do something  about what it is, 
in order that it might know itself in its own 
experience. So it will seek  to realize its 
highest idea through action. This urge to do this is called passion. Kill 
passion and you kill God. Passion is God  
wanting to say “hi.”  
But, you see, once God (or God -in-you) 
does that loving thing, God has realized  
Itself, and needs nothing more. Man, on the other hand, often feels he 
needs a return  on his investment. If we’re  
going to love somebody, fine —but we’d 
better get some love back. That sort of  
thing. This is not passion. This is expectation. This is the greatest source of man’s 
unhappiness. It is what separates man 
from God. The renunciate seeks to end this 
separation through the experience some 
Eastern  mystics have called samadhi. That is, oneness and union with God; a melding 
with and melting into divinity. The renunciate therefore renounces 
results —but never, ever renounces 
passion. Indeed, the Master knows 
intuitively that passion is the path. It is the 
way to Self -realization. Even in earthly terms it can be fairly said 
that if you have a passion for nothing, you  
have no life at all. You have said that “what you resist 
persist s, and what you look at disappears.” 
Can You explain that? You cannot resist something to which you 
grant no reality. The act of resisting a  thing 
is the act of granting it life. When you resist 
an energy, you place it there. The  more you resist, the more you make it real —whatever 
it is you are resisting. What you open your eyes and look at 
disappears. That is, it ceases to hold its  
illusory form. If you look at something —truly look at it —
you will see right through it, and right  
through any illusion it hold s for you, leaving 
nothing but ultimate reality in your sight. In the face of ultimate reality your puny 
illusion has no power. It cannot long hold 
you in its weakening grip. You see the truth 
of it, and the truth sets you free. But what if you don’t want the thing you are 
looking at to disappear? You should always want it to! There is 
nothing in your reality to hold onto. Yet if 
you do choose the illusion of your life over ultimate reality, you may simply recreate 
it—just as you created it to begin with. I n 
this way you may have in your life what you  
choose to have and eliminate from your life 
what you no longer wish to experience. Yet never resist anything. If you think that 
by your resistance you will eliminate it,  
think again. You only plant it more firm ly in 
place. Have I not told you all thought is  
creative? Even a thought that says I don’t want 
something? If you don’t want it, why think about it? Don’t give it a second thought. Yet if you  
must think about it —that is, if you cannot 
not think about it —then do not resist. Rather, look at whatever it is directly —accept the reality as your creation —then 
choose to keep it or not, as you wish. What would dictate that choice? Who and What you think you Are. And Who 
and What you choose to Be. This  dictates 
all choice —every choice you have made in 
your life. And ever will make. And so the life of a renunciate is an 
incorrect path? That is not a truth. The word “renunciate” 
holds such wrongful meaning. In truth, you  
cannot renounce anything —because what 
you resist persists. The true renunciate  
does not renounce, but simply chooses 
differently. This is an act of moving toward  
something, not away from something. You cannot move away from something, 
because it will chase you all over hell and  back. Therefore resist not temptation —but 
simply turn from it. Turn toward Me and  
away from anything unlike Me. Yet know this: there is no such thing as an 
incorrect path —for on this journey you  
cannot “not get” where you are going. It is simply a matter of speed —merely a  
question of when you will get there —yet 
even that is an illusion, for there is no 
“when,” neither is there a “before” or “after.”  
There is only now; an eternal moment of 
always in which you are experiencing  
yourself. Then what is the point? If there is no  way 
not to “get there,” what is the point of life? Why should we worry at all about anything 
we do? Well, of course, you shouldn’t. But you 
would do well to be observant. Simply 
notice  who and what you are being, doing, 
and having, and see whether it serv es you. The point of life is not to get anywhere —it 
is to notice that you are, and have always  
been, already there. You are, always and 
forever, in the moment of pure creation . The point of life is therefore to create —who 
and what you are, and then to  expe rience 
that. Chapter 6  
And what of suffering? Is suffering the way 
and the path to God? Some say it is the 
only way. I am not pleased by suffering, and whoever 
says I am does not know Me. Suffering is an unnecessary aspect of the 
human experience. It is not only  
unnecessary, it is unwise, uncomfortable, 
and hazardous to your health. Then why is there so much suffering? Why 
don’t You, if You are God, put an end to it if 
You dislike it so much? I have put an end to it. You simply refuse to  
use the tools I have given you with  which to 
realize that. You see, suffering has nothing to do with 
events, but with one’s reaction to them. What’s happening is merely what’s 
happening. How you feel about it is another  
matter. I have given you the tools with which to 
respond and react to events in a way which  
reduces —in fact, eliminates —pain, but you 
have not used them. Excuse me, but why not eliminate the 
events? A very good suggestion. Unfortunately, I 
have no control over them. You have no contro l over events? Of course not. Events are occurrences in 
time and space which you produce out of  
choice —and I will never interfere with choices. To do so would be to obviate the 
very reason I created you. But I’ve 
explained all this before. Some events you 
produce  wilfully, and some events you draw 
to you —more or less unconsciously. Some  
events —major natural disasters are among 
those you toss into this category —are 
written off to “fate.” Yet even “fate” can be 
an acronym for “from all thoughts  
everywhere.” I n other words, the 
consciousness of the planet. The “collective consciousness.”  
Precisely. Exactly. There are those who say the world is going 
to hell in a handbasket. Our ecology is 
dying. Our planet is in for a major 
geophysical disaster. Earthquakes. Volcanoes. Maybe even a tilting of the Earth on its axis. And there are others who 
say collective consciousness can change 
all that; that we can save the Earth with our 
thoughts. Thoughts put into action. If enough people 
everywhere believe something must be  
done to help the environment, you will save 
the Earth. But you must work fast. So  much 
damage has already been done, for so 
long. This will take a major attitudinal  shift. You mean if we don’t, we will see the 
Earth —and its inhabitants —destroyed? I have m ade the laws of the physical 
universe clear enough for anyone to  
understand. There are laws of cause and  
effect which have been sufficiently  outlined 
to your scientists, physicists, and, through them, to your world leaders. These laws 
don’t need to be outl ined once more here. Getting back to suffering —where did we 
ever get the idea that suffering was good? That the saintly “suffer in silence”? The saintly do “suffer in silence,” but that 
does not mean suffering is good. The  
students in the school of Mastery  suffer in 
silence because they understand that  
suffering is not the way of God, but rather a 
sure sign that there is still something to  
learn of the way of God, still something to 
remember. The true Master does not suffer in silence 
at all, but only appea rs to be suffering  
without complaint. The reason that the true 
Master does not complain is that the true  
Master is not suffering, but simply experiencing a set of circumstances that 
you would call insufferable. A practicing Master does not speak of 
sufferi ng simply because a Master 
practicing  clearly understands the power of 
the Word —and so chooses to simply not 
say a  word about it. We make real that to which we pay 
attention. The Master knows this. The 
Master  places himself at choice with regard 
to that wh ich she chooses to make real. You have all done this from time to time. There is not a one among you who has not  
made a headache disappear, or a visit to 
the dentist less painful, through your  
decision about it. A Master simply makes the same decision 
abou t larger things. But why have suffering at all? Why have 
even the possibility of suffering? You cannot know, and become, that which 
you are, in the absence of that which you  
are not, as I have already explained to you. I still don’t understand how we ever got the 
idea that suffering was good. You are wise to be insistent in questioning 
that. The original wisdom surrounding  
suffering in silence has become so 
perverted that now many believe (and 
several  religions actually teach) that 
suffering is good, a nd joy is bad. Therefore, 
you have  decided that if someone has 
cancer, but keeps it to himself, he is a saint, 
whereas if  someone has (to pick a 
dynamite topic) robust sexuality, and 
celebrates it openly,  she is a sinner. Boy, You did pick a dynamite topic . And 
You cleverly changed the pronoun, too, 
from male to female. Was that to make a 
point? It was to show you your prejudices. You 
don’t like to think of women having robust  
sexuality, much less celebrating it openly. You would rather see a man dying with out 
a whimper on the battlefield than a woman 
making love with a whimper in the street . Wouldn’t You? I have no judgment one way or the other. But you have all sorts of them —and I  
suggest that it is your judgments which 
keep you from joy, and your expectat ions 
which make you unhappy. All of this put together is what causes you 
disease, and therein begins your  suffering. How do I know that what You are saying is 
true? How do I know this is even God 
speaking, and not my overactive 
imagination? You’ve asked th at before. My answer is the 
same. What difference does it make? Even 
if everything I’ve said is “wrong,” can you 
think of a better way to live? No. Then “wrong” is right, and “right” is wrong! Yet I’ll tell you this, to help you out of your 
dilemma: believ e nothing I say. Simply  live 
it. Experience it. Then live whatever other 
paradigm you want to construct. Afterward, 
look to your experience to find your truth. One day, if you have a great deal of 
courage, you will experience a world where  making love is c onsidered better than 
making war. On that day will you rejoice. Chapter 7  
Life is so scary. And so confusing. I wish 
things could be more clear. There is nothing scary about life, if you are 
not attached to results. You mean if you don’t want anything. That’s right. Choose, but don’t want. That’s easy for people who don’t have 
anybody depending on them. What if you 
have a wife  and children? The path of the householder has always 
been a most challenging path. Perhaps the  
most challenging. As you  point out, it is 
easy to “want nothing” when you are only  
dealing with yourself. It is natural, when you 
have others you love, to want only the  best 
for them. It hurts when you can’t give them all that 
you want them to have. A nice home, some 
decent  cloth es, enough food.
Conversations_with_God_Book_1_by_Neale_Donald_Walsch.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        Why do you think it’s crazy for you to be  
able to have a dialogue with God. Do you 
not believe in prayer. Yes, but that’s different. Prayer for me has 
always been one  way. I ask, and God 
remains  immutable. God has never answered a prayer. Oh yes, but never verbally, you see. Oh, 
I’ve had all kinds of things happen in my life 
that I  was convinced were an answer —a 
very direct answer —to prayer. But God has 
never  spoken to me. I see. So this God in which you believe —
this God can do anything —It jus t cannot  
speak. Of course God can speak, if God wants to. It just doesn’t seem probable that God 
would  want to speak to me. This is the root of every problem you 
experience in your life —for you do not 
consider  yourself worthy enough to be 
spoken to by God. Good heavens, how can 
you ever  expect to hear My voice if you 
don’t imagine yourself to be deserving 
enough to  even be spoken to. I tell you this: I am performing a miracle 
right now. For not only am I speaking to 
you, but to every person who has picked u p 
this book and is reading these words. To each of them am I now speaking. I know 
who every one of them is. I know now  who 
will find their way to these words —and I 
know that (just as with all My other  
communications) some will be able to 
hear—and some will  be able to only listen, 
but will hear nothing. Well, that brings up another thing. I am 
already thinking of publishing this material 
even now,  as it’s being written. Yes. What’s “wrong” with that. Can’t it be argued that I am creating this 
whole thing for  profit. Doesn’t that render 
the whole  thing suspect. Is it your motive to write something so that 
you can make a lot of money. No. That’s not why I started this. I began 
this dialogue on paper because my mind has been  plagued with questions for 30 
years —questions I’ve been hungry —
starving to have  answered. The idea that I 
would have all this made into a book came 
later. From Me. From You.
The author believes that God does not verbally respond to prayers, but rather through the process of creation and manifestation.
What is the author's perspective on the idea of God speaking to individuals?
The author's motivation is to answer their own questions and share their hunger for knowledge, not for financial gain.
What is the author's motivation for writing this book?
The author emphasizes the importance of not judging oneself or others, and encourages readers to focus on accepting and loving themselves and others.
What is the author's view on the concept of judgment?
The author believes that people are not experiencing their true potential because they are not willing to accept and live their true nature, and instead choose to deny and condemn themselves.
Why does the author believe that people are not experiencing their true potential?
The author argues that renunciation is not about denying oneself things, but rather about choosing what is in alignment with one's true nature and desires.
What is the author's stance on the concept of renunciation?