The Global Conversation

Blog

  • A MOMENT FOR SHARING
    FEELINGS AND PRAYERS

    There is nothing useful or substantive to be said right now. Not right now. There will be time later for words of analysis. Now is a time for feelings. And for inner pleadings.

    We plead with the God of our understanding, each of us. We ask our God — if we believe in a God at all — please God, tell us: What do we need to know, what do we not understand? Is there anything, anything, that could change all of this?

    They will say, of course, that we are making something of it that is not there. They will say that, sad as it is, this is just another one of those cases of a deranged man (Why is it always a man? Do women ever pick up a slew of guns and head out the door to commit mass murder?) acting out his derangement. Yet I feel a nagging sensation. Do you? I have this vague sense that there is something more to it than just one more guy with guns, shooting his anger or madness out. Or at least there’s more to the conditions that create and produce such insane acting out.

    But this is not a time for analytical words or distant observations. This is a time for feelings. So go ahead. Go within. Feel what you are feeling. And, if it helps, share those feelings here. This may not be a time for analytical words, but this is a time to share feelings.

  • The first step, it’s a doosy!

    The Twelve Steps were originally written by Dr. Bob and Bill W. in 1939.  They are to this day considered the foundation of recovery for all types of addictions and compulsive disorders.  And without question, the application of the Twelve Steps into one’s life gives the best chances of long-term sobriety.  It has long been my belief that there is no human condition the Twelve Steps could not improve.  They are simply a guide to living life in an honest, open-minded, humble, intentional, and responsible manner.  What I cannot believe is that there has not been anyone who dares to expand on them, until now.

    I am going to offer an alternative to the original Twelve Steps.  I want to be very clear here, these are not meant to replace the Twelve Steps, they are not intended to imply that there is something wrong with the Twelve Steps.   There is, however, something that has troubled me — and from what I now know, this has been a huge stumbling block for others as well — and that is the idea that we are somehow powerless.  For those who do not know, the current First Step states: “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol and our lives had become unmanageable.”

    A great friend of mine laughingly says, “I don’t remember booze jumping down my throat on its own.”  I am very clear that it was my thought to go to the bar, it was my words that asked for the drink, and it was my hand that lifted the poison to my lips.  I see no powerlessness there; I see the deliberate, albeit insane, act of doing the same thing over and over, all the while expecting different results.  I will grant you that after the first one, I was compelled to continue drinking by the mind-numbing action of the alcohol, coupled with its amazing ability to make me feel like I fit in.  This is the point where I felt the most powerless.  And even then, I was able to regulate my intake enough to not overdose or get sick; that is, most of the time…. So was I truly powerless?

    The other bone of contention I have heard from people, and again I would agree with, is the labeling of oneself as an “alcoholic” or “addict.”  Anyone who has spent any time in the spiritual community or with a life-coach or a counselor knows that the word directly following “I am” is an extremely powerful word.   Taking on such a label for the rest of one’s life could, in fact, bring about a relapse or a repeat of the past.  Many in the Twelve Step programs have chosen to alter that saying with statements such as “I am a grateful recovering addict.”  This is a step in the right direction as far as I am concerned.  A truthful and extremely powerful statement would look more like the following:  “Hi.  My name is Kevin.  I am choosing sobriety.”

    Maybe the original thought when writing the Steps was based on the knowledge of the terrible guilt, shame, and remorse most of us feel when we hit the bottom and seek help.  Somehow the word “powerless” seems to take us off the hook for the horrible behavior and unthinkable selfishness that we continually expressed.  Maybe the sheer thought of taking full responsibility right off the bat would send the genetically predisposed addicts right back to their drug of choice.  Is that a good enough reason to use the word “powerless”?  I will leave that up to you.

    What I am going  to do here is create a new First Step, one that allows us to acknowledge our own divinity and at the same time gives us the opportunity to admit that our choices up to this point were not in the best interest of ourselves, our loved ones, or anyone whom our behavior damaged in any way.

    This new First Step will be the largest step, the most intensive step.  And just like the original AA First Step, it will be the most difficult step.  There will be no rushing through this or any of the new spirituality steps to recovery.  The days of someone going over to their sponsor’s house for the weekend to do all Twelve Steps are over.  This is a lifetime of work that we are about to undertake here.  After all, the reason for getting sober is to live, right?  The reason for making a drastic change to your way of life is to live a joyful and full life, right?  So how can one do that by spending a weekend working on the erroneous thoughts they have spent their whole life tending to?

    Reading words in a book and feeling them in your gut only makes them a concept with which you resonate; it does not bring about a knowing.  Experiencing those words in your own actions is what will cause you to know them as real.   There is a huge difference between thinking, believing, and knowing.  Thoughts change all the time.   New thoughts pop up by the thousands per second, not always our highest thoughts by the way!  Beliefs are also subject to change based upon things we see and how we interpret them in our mind.  Knowing is something different altogether.  When you know something to be true, you will base your life around it.

    So without further ado, I offer you the first in a series of new spirituality steps to use in the process of changing those lifelong behaviors, attitudes, addictions, compulsions, or obsessions that have alienated family, friends, and loved ones, harmed countless other people, and left your life lonely, empty, and dark.

    Step 1.  I see that the way in which I have chosen to live does not work.  I am now ready to create myself anew as a sober, responsible, and accountable member of society.

    This step will require much work be done, as it clearly states that everything we thought we knew about living life was faulty or no longer viable.  We will need tremendous support and guidance in building a new foundation for our lives.  As the original program states, “You need to change your people, places, and things.”  Having those around us who are willing to tell us when we are not being who we now say we are and reeling us back in when we fall prey to old thoughts and behaviors will be vital to sustained change.

    I once again will state that I am really clear that for 20 percent of the addicted population, the Alcoholics Anonymous Twelve Steps are working quite well.  What I find incredibly disturbing is that leaves 80 percent of the group in the grip of this continuing and progressive illness without an option.

    It is my belief that the soul brings us to the physical so that we may experience ourselves in ways never before experienced.  In honoring that belief, I feel it is my duty to offer this new solution to one of life’s biggest problems.  Stay tuned.   This is only Part One in a series of blogs that will re-write the Twelve Steps to align with the new spirituality.

    (Kevin McCormack is a Conversations with God Life Coach, a Spiritual helper on www.changingchange.net, Addictions recovery advisor.  To connect with Kevin please email him at Kevin@theglobalconversation.com)

  • 2012 – what is the hype about?

    As I sought guidance to write my first article for Global Conversation, the answer came:  Write about 2012.

    Yes, 2012! Movies have been made, Prophecies written, YouTube videos recorded, and Facebook statuses consistently updated for 2012, a year that seems to have baffled, engaged, and intrigued most of the world in one way or the other.

    Beside those who are on a conscious spiritual journey and are somehow sensitive to the energetic shifts that seem to be occurring almost in every part of the world in a subtle or not such a subtle manner, 2012 has grabbed attention of even those who are not on a spiritual journey per se, as if there was ever such a thing.  And we know there isn’t, whether our egos allow us to admit this or not.  We are all on a spiritual journey, living this dream, wanting to believe it is real, or make-believing it to be real, so that we are able to experience it as fully as possible and engage in it with all our resources and faculties.

    2012, however, for most of us has been a sudden waking up from that dream and almost rising above it a little to observe and witness the dream as one would a valley from a cliff top.

    So what is this hype about?

    What is happening here, right now?

    What are we experiencing?

    Why are we all feeling this strange-weird feeling that we are not in our bodies, as if we are walking a few inches above the ground?

    Why is it that some people have managed to attain remarkable breakthroughs with their new ventures, and some other equally spiritually minded people (or more) with great intentions have stumbled upon roadblocks?

    Why are we feeling fearful or angry as we have never felt before?

    Why are we feeling this disdain for putting up with old systems and old mindsets?

    Why do we, more than any other time, want people to hear us out, really hear us out?

    Why do we really feel like expressing ourselves in ways we have never done before, and as truthfully as ever?

    Why do some of us feel like leaving — for those who haven’t already done so — our old jobs and do something we never thought we could?  For example, setting up a rainwater harvesting plant?

    Why have some of us released old relationships, partnerships, or even switched friends to a whole new set?

    Why are some of us suddenly being drawn towards spiritual texts and mentors?

    Why are we suddenly feeling as if we know more than we would like to admit to others or ourselves?

    Why have some of us begun having visions of spiritual figures or feel spiritual presence around us, even if we have never meditated before?

    Why do some of us suddenly feel our life work has not even begun, even though we haven’t quite figured out what it is?

    Why have some of us suddenly become conscious of human rights, animal rights, and even rights of nature as if it was a living, breathing entity — which it is — something we previously paid little attention to?

    Why do some of us feel drawn towards contributing more and more towards betterment of environment and children?

    Why are we becoming more aware of the futility of the goods money can buy?

    Why are we suddenly moving away from traditional religious concepts as if it is not enough and there is more to it, as if some information has been withheld and as if we are the holders of the very information that has been withheld from us?

    Why do some people have dreams of flying?

    Why are we finding ourselves unable to put up with other people’s deceit or why are we able to see clearly through other people’s intentions and their thought process?

    Why are some of us more sensitized to crowds or certain kinds of media or even a lifestyle that we previously enjoyed?

    Why are we feeling this urge to change our diet or for some people to go fully vegetarian or vegan?

    Why are some of us feeling as if we have some special powers, something indefinable that we can’t yet place a finger upon?

    Why do some of us feel as if we want our rightful place under the sun?

    Why do some of us have this urge to enter politics or be a social activist?

    Why have some of us initiated our spiritual meeting groups without much formal training?

    Why have some of us begun to see some colors at times, colors that are mostly invisible to the physical eye, but we are still able to see them?

    Why do some of us have heightened extrasensory perceptions?

    Why do some of us feel a sense of despair, a feeling of fatigue, back pain, fever, as if our whole emotional, energetic, and physical system is undergoing a long overdue renewal?

    Why are some of us getting more emotional or are able to feel other people’s emotions?

    Why are some of us going through relationship challenges, professional and personal challenges, and are being forced to make life changes we never imagined we would have to prior to this?

    Why are some of us feeling an urge to reconnect with estranged family members or rekindle old forgotten friendships?

    So many things seem to be happening all at once.  For some it is releasing old wounds of pain and fear. For some it’s a walk of courage and realizing the power of love. But changes seem to be occurring. Almost everywhere we look, there appears to be a swift or a subtle change underway. This change is of the consciousness, of subtle knowingness inside of us, something deep within us is shifting right now, or already has, and it is reformulating our world at cellular and global structural level. Nature is making her voice heard, too.

    And where this change is being resisted, there is a breakdown that will eventually forcefully usher in the change nevertheless, sooner or later. Despondency is in the air right now, but there is also a sense of excitement, exuberance, rejuvenation, warding off old and nihilism, even if it underscored by a sense of fear, chaos, and confusion.

    Fear and struggle often precedes big change and BIG LOVE.  Fear is always present when we are moving forward and upward.  It is scary, far too scary, when we are trying to move and rise against the gravitational forces and inertia that is constantly striving to pull us down and backward, with our ego often whispering to us, we do not need to take the plunge as there is lot of hard work involved.

    It is even scarier when the inertia is caused by old systems and prevalent ways of thinking – the comfort zone.  And there comes a time when comfort zone is comfortable no more, and this is when we are forced to embrace the impending change.

    However, the heart always knows.  It knows that it is in the embracing of what it is fearful of will it ever only truly live. And this is what 2012 is all about:  Big Change and Big Love.

    2012 marks the beginning of a new era in the history of the world. It marks the beginning of a new consciousness to emerge on the planet.  Old systems will slowly begin to give way to new systems. And old ideologies will be replaced with new and refreshing thought leadership, be it in politics, economics, society or philosophy.  An age of ascension it is being called.  And this would be an ascension of consciousness, of spiritual awareness, intentions, of actions, of ideas, of ways of living, and eventually creating a New World, a world that would be inclusive, kind, compassionate, loving and finally peaceful. But this would not occur overnight or in a blink of an eye. It will take some work. And most of this work is being done right now. A lot of spiritual energy is pouring into Earth right now.

    Transformation is underway. Churning has begun at individual and, more importantly, at a collective level. Some of it might be difficult and some of it will flow naturally and seamlessly. It will involve fear and chaos, and finally, it will require courage to mitigate that fear.

    Chaos will eventually give way to clarity. It will take love, a LOT OF LOVE, and finally, it will take the POWER OF LOVE to conquer and pervade all.

    And most importantly, it will take a tacit realization on part of humanity that at end of that day we are all but a miniscule part of the same divinity. The essence of the experience is the same, while its expression might be different.  No one is more privileged than the other.  Karma (of intention, action or inaction) is the only thing that matters. Destiny is a variable. Love is everything. Nothingness is the only truth.

    2012 is the beginning of this new world.

    Hold on to your seats and grab a seat belt. We might be passing through some areas of turbulence. 

    (Mani Goel is an author, healer, artist, teacher and filmmaker who resides in India and Hong Kong. Her first book is titled “Angel’s Wisdom For Your Life- Part 1.”  A former flight attendant, Mani embarked on a conscious spiritual journey after a severe back injury and a chance and serendipitous encounter with a revered Buddhist Rinpoche. She went to set up two companies- Mani Healing and Maaya Productions, and published her first book, with many more works in progress, including the autobiography of her Buddhist Guru through his several reincarnations – to be published in Hindi.  Mani Healing is a spiritual enterprise that aims to bring and present spiritual and healing wisdom to people in a non-dogmatic and non-ritualistic manner.  She regularly teaches and holds workshops and talks. As a natural healer she specializes in intuitive readings and spiritual healings for serious ailments.)

  • Practice Your Way to Well-Being

    I’m looking for practices that support my well-being and my staying connected to who I am, besides meditation (which I’ve tried and I just can’t seem to get the hang of!).  Any good ones you know of that really work?

    Ken, Ohio

     

    Why yes, Ken, I do!  This is one of my favorite topics to speak to, as I have found in my own experience as well as the experiences of my clients that engaging in a daily practice is the single most important thing you can do for yourself, and happens to be the key to sustaining your connection and well-being.  When you show up for yourself in this way with such consistency, commitment and discipline, you are becoming aligned and present in life in such a way that positively and powerfully impacts every aspect of it.  The reason for this is because engaging consistently in practices such as meditation allows you to stay in a high-vibrating, good-feeling place, and you are able to access more clarity, truth, intuition, wisdom, inspiration, motivation, etc. than when you are feeling disconnected, negative, and vibrating low.  So I always encourage my clients (and myself) to make their daily practices as important and as high of a priority as eating, sleeping and breathing are, and I’m not exaggerating.

    So I’ll get off my soapbox now and give you 3 of my favorites:

    ~ Daily Gratitudes: Each day spend a few quiet moments writing down at least 10 things that you are truly grateful for, and consciously choose to make your first and last thoughts of the day thoughts of gratitude.  I have no doubt in my mind that if each and every one of us did this the world would be a much better place.

    ~ Incantations: Very similar to affirmations, yet waaaaayyyyyy more powerful because we are engaging your energy and physiology with the words to produce the “feeling” of what you are saying.  Let me explain.  You know how sometimes repeating an affirmation or a mantra can sometimes get frustrating because while you are saying it you are very aware that you are not feeling it?  With an incantation, we choose our statement, and repeat it with feeling, much like an actor delivering a line.  We also repeat it while engaging in a “power move” or stance, a movement or position that makes you feel powerful.  The results are quite magical.  For example, if you were to use the incantation, “I am confident and happy”, repeating it several times with emotion while moving your body powerfully (or even just standing in a yoga pose or something), you would find yourself feeling confident within minutes, sometimes seconds.  You see, incantations help us immediately manifest the emotion, which is what we’re looking for anyway.  It’s not the house, the car, the job, the relationship, etc. that we want, it’s how we think it’s going to make us feel.  Imagine being able to feel however we wanted to without the things we think we need in order to feel it first – that would mean we literally do not need anything outside of ourselves in order to feel good (see: illusion of need from “Communion with God”)!  And a lovely added benefit to this is that our very “feeling” or “being” draws those things to us (see: process of creation from “Happier Than God”)!

    ~ Meditation:  Yeah, yeah, I get it – you’re not good at it.  But I’m going to include it anyway because the benefits are endless, and I’d like to offer you a new approach/perspective on it: there is no wrong way to meditate.  Whether it’s sitting in silence with your eyes closed focusing on your breath, doing a guided meditation, or just daydreaming, you are benefiting.  Try a few different things on, without judging them, just notice which method you like best.  And start small – even 3 minutes a day every day can work wonders.

    Try these out, Ken, and see how they feel.  But give it a good two weeks of committing to practice these every day no matter what so that you can really feel the impact.  Because it doesn’t really matter what you do, it’s the fact that you take time to go within consistently that creates the experience of well-being and connection.  Enjoy!

    (Nova Wightman is a CWG Life Coach, as well as the owner and operator of Go Within Life Coaching, www.gowithincoaching.com, specializing in helping individuals blend their spirituality with their humanity in a way that makes life more enjoyable, easy, and fulfilling.  She can be reached at Nova@theglobalconversation.com. )

    (If you would like a question considered for publication, please submit your request to: Advice@TheGlobalConversation.com, where our team is waiting to hear from you.)

  • Today’s homework assignment:
    your suicide note

    It is not unusual for our children to come home with their backpacks overflowing with homework assignments to complete and projects to create.  But what would you think and how would you feel if you found this assignment in your young child’s school bag:

    “You’ve just turned 18. You’ve decided to end your life. Your decision is definitive.  In a final surge you decide to put in words the reason behind your decision. In the style of a self-portrait, you describe the disgust you have for yourself. Your text will retrace certain events in your life at the origin of these feelings.”

    In the town of Montmoreau-Saint-Cybard, Southwestern France, an unamed teacher handed out this homework note to his 13- and 14-year-old students at the collège Antoine-Delafont.

    The Telegraph reports the French teacher has been suspended after the local school authority found out about the assignment and after a group of outraged parents complained in an anonymous letter to the school, saying they were horrified their children were given the assignment.

    It was further reported in The Telegraph that the president of the FCPE parents’ union in Montmoreau, Christophe Clément, said such a subject is “practically inciting (pupils) to commit suicide.”

    “Jean-Marie Renault, the local education authority head, said the teacher had been officially notified of his suspension, adding: ‘Telling a pupil that he is about to end his life and that he must recount it appears troubling to us.’”

    “Geneviève Fioraso, France’s higher education minister, waded in, saying: ‘If the topic was launched in this way, without accompaniment, without context, it’s dangerous.’”

    However, in spite of the flurry of disapproval surrounding this unique and controversial story, a large group of parents, students, and fellow colleagues have come together in support of this teacher’s actions, asking for the reinstatement of this beloved teacher into the school system.

    One parent asks, “What do you think they talk about in the playground? The images they see on TV are far more shocking.”

    Another parent said, “Suicide is part of daily life. Perhaps the teacher wished to raise their awareness of the issue.”

    The group consensus within the circle of supporters was that the media coverage had been “over the top and inappropriate,” noting that the subject had “not shocked” pupils and it had been “well presented” by the teacher.

    Is it likely that an assignment like this could or would actually cause a young mind to contemplate suicide?

    Or could an assignment like this provide a young mind an opportunity to explore and express a part of themselves that is not touched upon in the day-to-day experiences of their lives?

    If someone truly were on the edge of ending life as we know it to be in this human experience, what insights and truth might that person feel more inclined to share in the absence of suffering the consequences of being judged or ridiculed or ignored?

    Are we limiting the fullest expressions of our children, and ourselves, by restricting what we naturally feel drawn to do – express who we are?  Even when that expression may not be what we expect or want to hear?

    Where does an assignment like this invite us to go?

    And why do we fear going there?

    In the book When Everything Changes, Change Everything, we are taught how our minds draw upon and utilize the past data of our lives to help form the basis of our current reality.  And the way we experience life – reality – will depend upon what type of data we are relying upon.  Perhaps “retracing the events in a child’s life and the origins of their feelings,” as this teacher invited these students to do, will provide to these children at a very tender age an opportunity to understand more fully what source, or data, their thoughts and beliefs are foundationed upon…which would lead them to an understanding of why they might hold any feelings of “disgust” for themselves…which would then present an opportunity to change their thoughts, change their perspectives, and change their beliefs about who they are, thus altering the way in which they experience all of life.

    This type of exploration would serve to remind us that speaking our truth about who we are is not something to be reserved for the end of our lives.  Maybe a child’s limited idea about who they are or any harsh judgments they have placed upon themselves could be transformed into a remembrance and realization of their own significance and purpose in the world within the parameters of one simple yet profound exercise.

    Why would we want to deny anyone that opportunity?

    (Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation.  She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team at www.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)

  • Do you see anything contradictory in using the Death Penalty as a Society’s means of deterring people from killing people?

  • Would we be better off without CWG?

    Well, the Civil Rights Movement for the Soul suggested on this Front Page a few days ago has already gotten underway. Many people who read about this spiritual project have already agreed to become part of the initiative. Those of you who have said “Yes!” to my invitation here will be hearing from me personally within the days ahead, with an invitation to become part of Humanity’s Team, the global spiritual activism organization that is sponsoring the project.

    Many of you have joined the conversation about this initiative here, and the Comment String has been lively indeed. I should like to react to just a few of the posts that were made in that string now, and then, in future postings here,  move into a description of what becoming involved in this outreach could entail for you.

    First, let me interact with some of you, one Comment at a time…

    Kristen wrote: “The thought of a worldwide change is great, but I feel it would be more successful without CWG attached to it to include Jews, Muslims, Christians, Athiests etc, and if there was a clear point to include stopping suffering….”

    I agree with you Kristen, in part. I absolutely agree that the Civil Rights Movement for the Soul — may we use the acronym CRMS here? — I absolutely agree that the CRMS should “include Jews, Muslims, Christians, Atheists, etc.”, and I am not sure if anything I have written or said anywhere would suggest or indicate that I do not. Nothing inherent in the CRMS eliminates participation by, or inclusion of, persons belonging to specific religious or cultural groupings.

    Quite to the contrary, the movement specifically invites members of all religious, spiritual, political, economic, and cultural groups to join together, to dialogue together, to explore together, and to examine together, with sincerity and honesty, the question: Are our present beliefs about God and about Life working? That is, are they producing the outcomes for which we had hoped — and for which they were intended?

    I also agree, Kirsten, that within this global project there must be “a clear point to include stopping suffering….” That is why I wrote, and just released, The Only Thing That Matters, which offers a detailed description of how suffering can be vastly reduced, and ultimately removed, from one’s individual experience.

    The passages and chapters in that new book about how to end one’s suffering as one moves through day-to-day encounters can change your life. They were intended to, so I hope that everyone here reads them. (The book, by the way, has been published, line by line, for free on my Facebook page, so that everyone can access it without needing to buy it. And Kirsten, if you want to avoid being “in debt” to me by reading it for free, you are welcome to “trade” me your dollars for my book, and then we will have what you feel is a fair exchange, with no subjugation intended or produced.)

    Now…going forward…I do not agree, Kirsten, that the Civil Rights Movement for the Soul would be “more successful without CWG attached to it.” CWG is offering humanity a whole New Theology, based on new principles, new understandings, new beliefs, new choices, new ideas, new clarity, new definitions, and the new behaviors that would emerge from all of this. Chief among these new ideas, Kirsten, is the firm CWG statement that CWG, in itself, is not the answer.

    Indeed, in Friendship with God the world was given A New Gospel. You have indicated that you have only looked at the CWG material in a cursory fashion. That could explain why you feel the CRMS would be better off without it. It is dangerous to criticize something of which we have deliberately caused ourselves to have limited knowledge. If one doesn’t choose to know about something in detail, that is one’s choice. But to then suggest that a spiritual/social movement would be better off without it seems ill-advised at best, since one admittedly doesn’t know what one is talking about.

    In fact, in Friendship with God we are given a brand New Gospel to spread and share with the world. This gospel was referred to again in The New Revelations.  Let me quote that second book from the CWG cosmology here, Kirsten, in case, in your cursory look at the CWG material, you missed it.

    EXCERPT…

    NEALE: It is possible that the Word of God as put down by humans in their holy books has some errors in it? Is it possible that there is something we don’t know about God and about Life, the knowing of which could change everything?

    If only there could be a New Gospel.

    GOD: There can be. It was proposed before, in the book Friendship with God. Fifteen words that could change the world. A two-sentence gospel that would turn your planet on its ear.

    NEALE: Yes, I remember now. Two sentences that would alter everything.

    GOD: They are sentences that could not be uttered from many pulpits or lecterns, by many religious or political leaders. You can dare them to say it, but they will not. You can beg them to repeat it, but they must not. You can cry out for them to declare it, but they cannot.

    NEALE: Why? Why can’t they say it?

    GOD: Because to utter this New Gospel would be to invalidate everything they have taught you, everything of which they have sought to convince you, everything on which they base their actions.

    NEALE: You’re right. It’s a New Gospel that could save the world, but the world cannot preach these two sentences. The world cannot proclaim them. They are too powerful. They are too disruptive.

    Still, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe there are some brave religious and political leaders who might take up this proposed New Gospel and repeat it. Let’s proclaim it here!

    “We Are All One.”

    “Ours is not a better way, ours is merely another way.”

    What a message that would be coming from the pulpits of the world! What a declaration that would be from the podiums of all nations!

    How powerful those words would be uttered by the Pope, or the Archbishop of Canterbury, or the leading cleric in the Baptist Church, or the world’s Islamic voices, or the president of the Mormon Church, or the head of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod!

    I invite them now—right here, right now—to say them, to declare this their truth, to include it in their next public sermon.

    Imagine the Pope saying, “God loves all God’s children, and we are all one. There are many paths to God, and God denies no one who takes a path with humility and sincerity. Ours is not a better way, ours is merely another way.”

    The world would shake. The foundations of all the world’s major religions—separation and betterness—would crumble!

    I challenge every political party spokesman, every international chief of state, to place this in their party platforms and to announce this in their speeches.

    Imagine the candidates in the next U.S. presidential election saying, “This is a complex time, and there are many approaches to the challenges we face us. I have my thoughts and my opponent has hers. My opponent is not a villain. She is not a bad person. She simply has ideas that are different from mine. Listen to our ideas carefully, and then see which one of us it is with whom you agree. But in the end, I want you all to know this: These are the United States, and we are all one. Ours is not a better way, ours is merely another way.”

    The political process would never be the same. Gone would be the demonizing. Gone would be the character assassinations and the impugning of motives and the “make-wrongs” and the belittling. Standing in every election would be two candidates presumed to be good people whose aspirations are to serve the public interest, who admittedly are seeking power because there are things they would like to get done, and who simply disagree on how to do them.

    GOD: That is a wonderful picture you paint. That is the picture of a transformed world.

    NEALE: But no major political party leader could ever say that. No major religious leader could ever declare it. Their whole message, their very credibility, is based upon just the opposite premise. The whole structure of humanity is built upon the idea of separation and betterness.

    GOD: That is the situation in your world, precisely. That is the point being made in this conversation.

    There are many humans who cannot abide the thought of living with such new ideas, and so they die instead, clinging to the Fifth Fallacy About Life as their truth. They declare:

    It is appropriate for human beings to resolve severe differences created by all their other fallacies by killing each other.

    — END OF EXCERPT —

    And so we see, Kirsten, that the very underpinning of the Conversations with God message is that the material itself is simply a starting point for larger discussion, for deeper exploration, for ongoing expansion of our ancient views about God, about Life, and about who we are in relationship to each other. And yes, CWG offers some ideas about that, some thoughts about that, some pretty firm recommendations about that. Yet it makes it clear that its ideas, thoughts, and recommendations are not to be embraced as “truth”…but merely as a beginning commentary, allowing each of us to find our own truth.

    Throughout the CWG Commentaries the point is made that we should not, should never, allow CWG to become our “new bible,” our new inviolable dogma, but rather, should always and evermore self-reference, using our inner wisdom and inner guidance to lead us to our own inner truth. How can such a point of view be deleterious to a Civil Rights Movement for the Soul, Kirsten?

    Your commentaries, ladies and gentlemen, are invited below…

  • High School in 2014: Where Information Doesn’t Meet Imagination

    Something very disturbing is happening to America’s education system. Something so disturbing that most people don’t even know that it’s going on.

    I personally just happened to see the small, stub-like article in The Telegraph that was entitled “Classic Literature to be Dropped from High Schools in Favor for More ‘Informational Texts.’”  Bothered, I further read that in 46 out of 50 states, Common Core State Standards (otherwise known as state curriculum) in 2014 will require that 70% of books used in English classes will be be purely “informational” texts to prepare students to enter the workplace. This means that classic texts, poetry, and short stories will be virtually eliminated and replaced with government manuals, plant inventories, and dated dispatches.  As Shakespeare’s plays, Emerson’s prose, and Frost’s poems will be removed for titles such as “FedViews from the San Francisco Federal Reserve” and “Executive Order 13423: Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management,” we can’t help but to feel that something very, very wrong is happening here.  But what?

    On the most basic level, this new curriculum shows that we have become too focused on our workplace “success” than on our humanistic “understanding.”  These new Common Core Standards aren’t thinking of the people, they are thinking for the people, as our society is now determining our “success” in the workplace is THE singular definition of our personal “success.”  From this viewpoint, we are being reinforced, both directly and indirectly, at young ages that if we don’t become the mighty CEO or the empowered politician, then we are considered failures. Achievement has become a truly artificial term, as it now only describes what we did with our growth, instead of what we have done to be able to grow.

    This, unfortunately, is not the only step back for Our New Cultural Story.  As a result of the new Common Core Standards, future teens are losing exposure to understanding their core. As literature throughout the ages and the pages have inspired brilliant insights on the Human Experience, we cannot help but feel our soul be moved by the first word of William Blake or the last verse of Emily Dickinson. The reason why these works are considered classics in the first place is that their message has spoken to generation after generation, sparking imagination and illumination in teens of all ages. Future teens might be more prepared for the workplace, but will they truly be more prepared for life? Some of our greatest insights on what our New Cultural Story should look like will be lost to a government pamphlet or investment guidebook. Is that really what we want for ourselves?

    We need to revise this book, and write our New Cultural Story. As Samuel Taylor Coleridge once wrote,

    “What if you slept?

    And what if,

    In your sleep,

    You dreamed?

    And what if,

    In your dream,

    You went to heaven

    And there plucked

    A strange and

    Beautiful flower?

    And what if,

    When you awoke,

    You had the flower

    In your hand?”

    The classics challenge us to use our imagination, to think beyond traditional logic, and become even more of Who We Are.  Continue to question your description of truth, to analyze you life’s deeper meaning, to interpret your motivations, and to create your ever-changing perspective of life.  Let’s not lose this valuable piece of humanity.

    There are literally volumes that could be written about this subject. If you have ever felt moved by any book, any poem, or anything period, continue to rewrite this rough draft of Our New Cultural Story. We are only our next greatest revision.

    (Lauren is a Feature Editor of The Global Conversation. She lives in Wood Dale, IL, and can be reached at Lauren@TheGlobalConversation.com.)

  • OHIO TRYING TO FIGURE OUT
    HOW TO KILL A BIG PERSON

    Ohio is trying to figure out how to kill Ronald Post.

    Mr. Post killed the desk clerk at a motel during a robbery in 1983. He has been on death row at a state prison in Ohio since 1985 and is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection on January 16. There is only one problem: executioners may not be able to find a vein into which to place the injection.

    Mr. Post weighs 450 pounds and doctors who examined him say his arms, legs, and hands are too fat to find an accessible vein.

    The state could use a backup procedure, Mr. Post’s lawyers say, but it would involve injecting the life-snuffing drugs directly into muscle, and that process could be neither easy nor rapid. It could, in fact, require several doses over several hours, or even days, Mr. Post’s lawyers say in court papers recently filed asking for a stay of execution. That could only result, they say, in a grueling and painful end to Mr. Post’s life—far surpassing the legal standards prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment.

    In fact, they say, records show that it took Ohio executioners something like two hours to insert IVs into the veins of Christopher Newton in 2007, and that condemned man weighed only 265 pounds — 200 pounds less than Mr. Post.

    Nevertheless, the State of Ohio says it feels certain that Mr. Post can be humanely executed, either using its regular procedure or the backup process, which has never been used before — meaning executioners do not know through experience how it will work.

    Still, Ohio Assistant Attorney General Charles Wille said in court papers that Mr. Post has not presented the court “sufficient evidence demonstrating that his obesity or other physical conditions will present a substantial risk that his execution cannot be conducted in a humane and dignified manner.” A hearing will be held in Columbus later this month, at which a federal judge will decide whether Ohio should kill Mr. Post on January 16.

    The United States is one of an ever-decreasing number of countries where the death penalty still exists. Most of the world’s civilized nations have decided that killing someone in order to send a signal to their society that it is not okay to kill someone is probably sending a reverse signal. Futhermore, it has been proven factually and statistically that the death penalty does not work to lower the capital crime rate. Removing guns from the streets by not making them so easily available does lower capital crime, but in a startling and striking contraction, U.S. voters don’t seem to care. So it is not reducing crimes involving death that American voters seem to be concerned with, it would appear to be revenge.

    In the State of California just last month, citizens rejected a ballot measure to repeal the death penalty and replace it with a sentence of life without parole. A majority of voters indicated that spending life in prison was not sufficient punishment for a capital crime, and that they want people killed by the state for such crimes — whether those state-sponsored killings actually deter capital crime or not.

    An impressive list of people from within the law enforcement community in that state supported repealing the death penalty, but that did not seem to matter to most voters, who apparently see simple revenge as an appropriate reason to kill someone.

    Typical of the statements supporting repeal of the death penalty was this observation offered by San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon, a former police chief: “Given my experience, I believe there are three compelling reasons why the death penalty should be replaced. (1) The criminal justice system makes mistakes and the possibility of executing innocent people is both inherently wrong and morally reprehensible; (2) My personal experience and crime data show the death penalty does not reduce crime; and (3) The death penalty wastes precious resources that could be best used to fight crime and solve thousands of unsolved homicides languishing in filing cabinets in understaffed police departments across the state.”

    Meanwhile, Cathy Lynn Henderson — who at one point had been two days away from execution after being convicted of the murder of a baby — was granted a new trial on December 5 by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, based on recent scientific developments and the alteration of testimony presented at trial by the prosecution’s star witness, who has since change his initial diagnosis as to what might have caused the baby’s death.

    Ms. Henderson insisted at her trial that the baby, who had been in her care, had squirmed and slipped from her arms, falling onto a concrete floor. But the star witness for the prosecution, former medical examiner Robert Bayardo, testified that the findings during an autopsy of the child indicated that death could not have been caused by such a fall.

    Since that 1994 autopsy, however, advancements in the understanding of pediatric head injuries now indicate that relatively short falls onto a hard surface could produce injuries similar to those he discovered, Dr. Bayardo has said. This caused a district judge to rule earlier this year that no reasonable juror would have convicted Ms. Henderson if presented with this evidence. The Texas appeals court agreed, and days ago ordered a new trial for the woman, who has been in jail for over ten years and was once just 48 hours away from being killed by the State of Texas, all for a crime she may never have committed.

    Yes, the district attorney of San Francisco is correct. Mistakes can be made by law enforcement that leads to the unwarranted and unjustified death of an innocent defendant. But American voters seem to be willing to take that risk, insisting that government should kill a person for killing a person — even if the government cannot be sure of the defendant’s guilt.

    I believe that this is another reason, a strong case, for supporting the Civil Rights Movement for the Soul, which seeks to end, at last, the oppression of our beliefs in a violent, angry, and vindictive God. For it is our belief in an “eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth” kind of God that we employ consistently and obstinately as our moral authority for our own “take that!” revenge mentality.

    And your thoughts?

    (EDITOR’S NOTE: The conversation about the Civil Rights Movement for the Soul continues on this newspaper’s front page in the space titled Interpreting Conversations with God. If you were following that conversation, please look for it there.)

  • Home for the Holidays…ho, ho, ho??

    Dear Therese,

    I am about to visit my family for the holidays, and I am very nervous about this trip.  We have a difficult history, that’s mostly okay now, but we haven’t seen each other for a long time.  How do I get through this with no drama?  

    KC in NC

    Dear KC,

    This is a difficult and stressful time of year for a lot of people, so don’t think that your situation is unique!

    The first thing I would offer you is resist projecting past data onto the present.  When you do this, you set yourself up to be the one who repeats past behavior, and triggers others to repeat past drama.  The way that works best for me is to remember we are all doing best we can.  The only thing you have control of is you, so be your best, and don’t worry about them.

    Another suggestion would be to declare who you wish to be before you leave on the trip, and each day as you awaken while you are there.  If, for instance, you declare yourself to be peaceful, your doing would come from that space…you would ask yourself, consciously or not, “What would peace do here?”  This works for any state of being.  I often choose understanding.

    If you do these things, the possibility of drama diminishes.  And if it does occur, you are not the cause of the drama.  You can sit calmly in the middle of the chaos, and let others have the path they choose to take, knowing it no longer has to be yours.

    Therese

    (Therese Wilson is a published poet, and is the administrator of the global website at www.ChangingChange.net, which offers spiritual assistance from a team of Spiritual Helpers responding to every post from readers within 24 hours or less, and offers insight, suggestions, and companionship during moments of unbidden, unexpected, unwelcome change on the journey of life. She may be contacted at Therese@TheGlobalConversation.com.)

    (If you would like a question considered for publication, please submit your request to Advice@TheGlobalConversation.com, where our team is waiting to hear from you.)