Cosmology of the Universe, Recap

I’d like to first, take the time to thank my readers.  Especially those of you who have subscribed and get regular deliveries of my words.  It means so much to me there are souls out there listening.  Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

In posting on the first module of the book that never was, I have seen it more clearly.  If you will allow a bit of a repeat, I’d like to share my renewed thoughts.

This first class in the Smart Module, “The Cosmology of the Universe,” will take the reader into the planetarium to see how the Universe works.

Section one is “Getting to Know the Loving Universe.”  I now believe this is the most important piece. The place to start is with an overview of the ways this Universe is here for us, working on our behalf.  On Twitter, recently, Neale Donald Walsch said, “There is nothing that happens in life that is not for our benefit, nor can there be, for it would not be happening.”  This section tells of how we come equipped with everything we need, such as curiosity, courage, and imagination.. We find that we are loved constantly and unconditionally.  All we have to do to prove it is look for it.

From there we go to “Tuning into the Twin Constellations of Acceptance and Allowance.”  These powerful twins offer the portal to making our life work.  When we understand how life moves through acceptance and allowance, we see it is the only sane way to live.  If it’s happening, there really is nothing else worth doing than accepting what’s going on. Knowing that it is a Loving Universe helps us to rest into allowing life. Together, Acceptance and Allowance open us to possibilities.

In “Discovering the Vastness of the Now,” the true powers of Acceptance and Allowance come into play. They take us to where everything’s happening.  All things happen in the now.  It’s where all the knowledge, wisdom and awareness that we will ever need resides.

What’s In It For Me?

I’ve been reading Neale Donald Walsch’s “Conversations with God for Teens.” Teens are my latest passion since I’m writing a book for teenage girls. 

In Neale’s book, the teens get to ask God questions. One of them wondered why he had to do things like watch his younger sibling.  “Yuck,” the teen said. “Who wants to do that?”  God asked the teen to figure out what’s in it for him.

What an amazing concept!  What’s in it for me?  You’d think that’s a recipe for disaster. Especially with a teenager.  But God played it out so it made sense.

God asked if there was something the kid wanted to do, like go on a trip or be able to participate in something special.  If he was to babysit for the younger brother, he would show his parents how responsible he could be.  This would come in handy when he needed to negotiate for what he wanted later.

 Wow!  All of a sudden the teen had a compelling reason to do what’s asked of him. Old school might say he needs to do it simply because he was asked to.  My mother would say I needed to do it because she “said so.”  That doesn’t put me in a very receptive mood.  “Okay, I’ll babysit my younger brother,” I say, “but only because I have to.”  The whole time I’m likely to be resenting it and getting angry at my little brother and my mother for forcing me into it.  I might even be distracted and let my brother get into trouble.

But the boy in the book found a Reason to do it, a spot in his heart where he was willing. He could see what was in it for him. He’ll probably have a much nicer time babysitting and do a far better job.

What’s in it for me does not preclude what’s in it for you. It only gives me that juicy center which offers energy and motivation. Rather than getting bogged down with resentment and anger, I can move forward with joy, excitement and a willing heart.

First Thought

In “Conversations with God,” by Neale Donald Walsch, they talk about The Sponsoring Thought.

Prayer, God says is merely a “fervent statement of what is so.”  Most of our prayers are for things we want.  That means, “behind every supplication is a thought that you do not have now what you wish.”  That is the fervent thought: That something is missing from your life. 

God says the only thought that will override this is, “The thought held in faith that God will give you what you want, without fail.”  Holding that thought means you don’t have to ask for it.  So prayer becomes just gratitude. Saying thanks for what you have (and all you know is coming.)

But what I find particularly interesting in this is that the Sponsoring Thought doesn’t need to changed. You can just stop it in its tracks.  If generating that kind of faith is a big leap for you, there is a simpler method: Act before you Think.

Yes, we are all told over and over to Think before we Act.  I don’t know about you, but I can easily pile up thoughts in a matter of seconds.  To wit: I was sitting, on Saturday morning, at the table by the door, enjoying the fresh air.  I don’t know where you live, but here between the geographical location and climate change, there aren’t a lot of beautiful days.  Here was one of them.  On one of the breezes came the notion to call my neighbor and take a walk.  It might be my only chance that day as there were plans afoot to go to a party later in the afternoon.  But then they started: Do I really want to do this?  I’m having a fine time sitting here.  My tea will get cold.  Will I have time to do all I need to do before the party?  Maybe I should just stay put.

Before I could take another sip of tea, I had demolished the idea of going for a walk.  Being an aware person, I noticed this and decided to go ahead and take the walk anyway.  It was a lovely time, visiting with my friend, getting more of that perfect air and getting in some movement. My tea was fine, my plans were fine.  I was following my first thought

“You must act quickly,” God says,” as your mind will kill the idea before you know it.” As I almost did. Squashed the thought right out of existence.

Act before you think.  Following your joyful impulses.  A radical concept. And, you say, not always practical in most lives.  But I venture to guess that everyone can find moments of following it, practicing it.  And if you can replace some of your supplications with prayers of gratitude you may just find there is more time and space to act before you think.  You will come to trust those first thoughts.

That one simple thought, that isn’t attached to fifty more, is usually the right thought, the higher self-directed thought.  That guidance will never force itself on you.  You have to slow down the pile up of thoughts so you can listen and make the choice to follow it.  The more you follow it, the louder it will become and the quieter the Sponsoring Thought of Lack will be.

My God Epiphany

Recently, I had the opportunity to hear about how a good friend came to find God.  A “new birth,” he called it.  It was powerful and intense and led him to the pulpit.  Where he remains to this day, a faithful spiritual warrior. 

It was a moving story.  And it made me stop and think about my own “new birth.”  Surely, my conversion was not as grand as his.  If I’ve had an Epiphany of God, it must have come when I read “Conversations with God I, II and III.”

I was raised a Catholic.  Church every Sunday, along with a visit to the priest’s home next to the church.  I often think my mother did it only to have a nip of the Holy Wine.  But though I was not present for or old enough to partake in any spiritual discussions that might have gone on, I was still in the presence of that deep, abiding faith.

As any good Catholic, I was dutifully Confirmed and Communion-ed.  I nearly attended Catholic School, too.  It seemed appealing to me at the time; I liked the uniform idea and the gray socks.  But, gratefully I was saved from that.  Heaven knows what would have become of me!  I was never suited to be a Catholic School Girl.

I grew up with a feeling of connection to God, but more so like a parent watching over me. In Conversations with God, Book 1, God said, “You have projected the role of ‘parent’ onto God, and have thus come up with a God Who judges and rewards or punishes, based on how good He feels about what you’ve been up to.” I had a genuine love for God, along with a healthy dose of respect, with a twinge of fear if I didn’t behave.  It kept me well within the lines, despite my rebellious nature.  I never denied God, not even, I should say, in a moment of doubt.  I always knew He was there.  But as my life wore on, I began to wonder what that meant.

It was about that time (you’ll pardon me if I don’t want to tell my age) – when I first discovered I had no clue what role God played in my life – that I had, perhaps, a fleeting moment of doubt. That must have been what inspired both my beloved teachers, Paulette and Cherie, to recommend, in the same week, that I read “Conversations with God.”  My Special FBI Agent Cooper Rule: (I believe his Rule is “When two things happen simultaneously, pertaining to the same line of inquiry, we must pay strict attention.”  Mine is slightly different.)  When I hear the same message twice in a short span of time, I  pay strict attention.

I did.  I was completely blown away by it!  I couldn’t get enough of it.  It resonated with every beat of my heart.  I heard God speaking to me.  It was a God I could fall in love with, I could have a friendship and relationship with.  It was the God, the Parent, I had always wanted.  Super-Sized Parent.  The completely whole parent. 

The first book is like a God-sized hug.  Whenever I need to feel well-loved, I read a passage from it.  “Must you speak in hushed tones when you speak to Me?  Are slang words or tough language outside My ken?  I tell you, you can speak to Me as you would speak with your best friend.”

God doesn’t often make definitive statements about How Life Is.  But when He does, it’s like you’ve been waiting your whole life to hear it.  It feels so right.  And He encourages us to not take all this right away, but run it through our heart and see how it feels.

I refer to God as He, as a rule, but She is just as likely to show up.  God is not caught in that either/or construction that we live with.  God explains that we live in a world of relativity that comes down to Love or Fear: Up/Down, In/Out, Male/Female, Here/There.  In God’s world, it’s more about Here, There, and what’s in between. There are not the polar opposites that serve us on the journey we’ve undertaken. “In matters of gross relationship (in this world – A), you recognize no ‘in-between’.  That is because gross relationships are dyads, whereas relationships of the higher realm are invariably triads.  Hence, there is left-right, up-down, big-small, fast-slow, hot-cold, and the greatest dyad ever created: male-female.  There is no in-between in these dyads.  A thing is either one thing or the other, or some greater or lesser version in relationship to one of these polarities.”  May I let Him speak a little more: “Within the realm of sublime relationship nothing which exists has an opposite.  All is One, and everything progresses from one to the other in a never-ending cycle.”

She unveils, in the first book, simple but profound concepts like the purpose of life: To remember who you really are (who we all really are: the manifestation, the individuation of God) and choose who you wish to be.  Big Stuff!  Want some more?

In “CWG II,” God talks at length about the paradigm shift the world needs if it is to become the world we say we all want it to be.  Peaceful, for one.  God talks about education, politics, the environment.  She makes no pronouncements about what we have to do.  In fact, He stresses the fact there’s nothing we have to do to please Him.  He cares not which toys we choose to play with.  He knows that God is a huge target, so we can’t miss Him.  When Neale presses Her on something, She answers with the caveat that whatever suggestions She gives are within the context of what we say we want.  Not what She wants us to do.  I have read it again, through the last year or so, looking for hints of what has transpired since the writing and publishing of the book.  I find no specific predictions, but the concepts still hold true, perhaps even more so.

The third book, “Conversations with God III,” takes you to such far places and such huge concepts it’s somewhat jarring to return to something like what’s for dinner or if your socks match.  You must open yourself to such wide vistas, it almost hurts to shrink your mind again.  You will not believe the things God has to say in this book!

There are other books in the series – check out the web site here for more information. I feel these three books are the core of the philosophy that God wanted to bring to the world now, “. . . in terms so plain, you cannot misunderstand. In language so simple, you cannot be confused.  In vocabulary so common, you cannot get lost in the verbiage.”

Thank You, God (and Neale Donald Walsch) for delivering these amazing books to us!

The Secret, The Movie

I’ve known about all this for a long time. I read Esther and Jerry Hick’s beautiful book, the “Law of Attraction.” And I’ve read “The Secret,” the book. The concept has been around for thousands of years.

The speakers in the movie version were so well-informed and appeared to have reached some level of achievement in this technique. Some of them were Jack Canfield, Michael Beckwith, Marci Shimoff, Neale Donald Walsch, to name a few. I enjoyed the interviewing of the current teachers interspersed with quotes from teachers and visionaries who have gone before. I was engaged by every one. It did have the ring of an infomercial, but with lots of wise and well-spoken people speaking honestly and genuinely about their own experiences with The Secret, it had far more credibility.

I have to say, I wasn’t impressed with the production quality. Some of the edits were distracting and the fonts used to identify people were sometimes difficult to read. But I heard the story that Rhonda Byrne, the author of The Secret, used the Law of Attraction to get this film made. Many people came together to make it happen. My concerns aside, the film clearly had more impact than the book.

It’s really so deliciously simple: 1) Ask for what you want; 2) Believe, with unwavering faith – even if you don’t know how; 3) Receive.

The “secret” in my mind, if I’m not revealing too much, is to generate the feeling of having what you want. They tell us our job is just to listen for and heed guidance. Trust that even if you can only see 20 feet in front of you, you are still getting there. Simple, yes. Easy? Not really. You need to flush out of your system all thoughts of lack and doubt.

If you have a powerful imagination and can rest in that volume of faith, The Secret can work wonders in your life. The movie is a delightful way to spend your time and come out of it feeling empowered to have what you desire!