The
life of Neale Donald Walsch reveals that a profound spiritual
transformation can affect your personality in
revolutionary ways. Such a spiritual transformation is always a break
with the past. Something totally new and unpremeditated emerges. Life
will never be again what it used to be, once a first connection between
the soul and its divine ground is established. A total change of
personality is the result.
Most of the time the transformation is the spontaneous outcome of a
natural growing process. Most people experience one way or the other
such a transformation of their personality in the process of growing
older and it is only in retrospect that they notice the difference.
After midlife the higher potentialities of their psyche start to
develop. In the end they become more loving, more sharing, more
compassionate and more centered in their being. With most human beings
this is the natural result of their development. It is like it says in
the saying ´wisdom comes with the years´.
But the intensity and scope of such a transformation varies with every
individual. Most people are not well aware of the fact that their life
has changed over the years. They would not call the change, even if
they had noticed it, religious or spiritual. They would simply say
´I´ve grown older´ without paying much attention to
the deeper implications of such an utterance. They would simply say
´life had taught me a few lessons´, without noticing that
also change from the inside has effected the way they view things. And
if the person has no religious background whatsoever and cannot
interpret the signals of her consciousness within a spiritual context,
then in most cases the change in personality will not be diagnosed as
a spiritual transformation.
But some people have the mystical vein. They are aware of the
transformation being spiritual in essence. They cherish it. They foster
and aid its development. They have the insight that some way or the
other the meaning of life is revealed in this inner transformation. So
they do everything they can to promote what is already happening in a
natural way. With meditation and other spiritual tools and aids they
try to bring down the blockades that stand in the way of this natural
development to occur.
The life of Neale Donald Walsch shows that the real mystical
transformation (the most profound transformation that can happen to
human consciousness) virtually always happens after a devastating
crisis. Walsch´ crisis was not only a psychological crisis, as it
is in most cases. It was also physical, social and financial. It was
initiated by a severe car accident that broke his neck and made him
spend all of his money on medical therapy. The car accident was the end
of a series of misfortunes that happened to Walsch in his forties. He
already was divorced by then. Unable to work because of his severe neck
pains and unable to pay the rent because of all of his medical bills,
he was forced to leave his house. As a final succour he tried to stay
with one of his ex-wives, but she refused. So he was forced to live out
on the street and spend the night in a tent. He paid for the place
where he could stay by way of collecting tins and bottles. They earned
him a small livelihood.
How low can you go? He had always been a successful journalist and
broadcast associate, but now he was forced to live like a clochard on
the streets. Can you imagine that his spirits were low? Who would not
feel resentful towards life and God, when life has proved to be such an
utter failure? But in these cases something extraordinary can
happen. Mystics know about it. They start to smile when they hear
stories like these. For something very mystical can happen in such a
situation.
Let´s try to understand what can happen. When everything goes
wrong and life is against all odds, then for the first time in life a
person is forced to abandon all hope and give it all up. Walsch
literally had to go down on his knees and say to himself ´I
don´t know anymore´. Then, maybe for the first time in
life, the ego of a person steps back. For what is the use of ego by
then? It has only brought you misery, so you are not confident with it
no more. You give in. And at the same time thinking stops. For you have
thought about solutions so very often, but it has not brought you the
results you hoped for. You know by now: there is and never will be any
solution.
So eventually, and it may happen for only a split second, a moment of
no-ego and no-mind ensues in consciousness. In this case it is brought
about by a total and deep despair. But this total breakdown of body,
mind and soul opens up the higher layers of consciousness. For the
first time in life a connection with Emptiness is established. When
this connection is accepted (for what can you do? you have tried
everything but nothing works) then for the first time a higher energy
comes to aid and transforms you. But the thing you must do, is to
accept
this Emptiness. Then the higher energies will not be resisted.
Walsch started to write an angry letter to God, that God had let him
down in so many ways. But because of his deep despair the tone of
the letter soon changed to ´Thy will be done´. For what
could he possibly do? And then the mystical explosion happened, which I
have described elsewhere as the spiritual atomic bomb, that is
always
ready to detonate in Emptiness. For then, in that lonesome night,
abandoned by everybody and everything, also by Sister Hope, finally the
great mystical transformation happened. Walsh had had his Dark Night of
the Soul. By now the time had arrived for his soul to fuse with
Godliness.
This type of mysticism we call deity mysticism and it presents itself
at the psychic/subtle level, at soul level. By accepting Emptiness the
soul fuses together with its final Ground. But though a fusion has
taken place, there still remains a distinction between the soul and its
Divine Source. There is not yet a complete identity between the soul
and its Ground. But the blending together has already happened.
Bernadette Roberts describes this fusion in her famous image of the
mystical coin. Soul and God have fused into one coin, so to speak, but
they still have two different sides, that are not completely identical
yet. Like a coin has two different sides, but is in its base melted
together. The soul is now uplifted by its partner God and is completely
infused with divine energy.
Christian mysticism is virtually always deity mysticism, because it is
difficult for someone raised in a Christian culture to transcend the
distinction between the soul and God. It is almost impossible for a
Westerner to grow to Eckhart´s formless mysticism, let alone to
the non-duality of Buddhism. In Walsch we already find traces of a
higher formless mysticism, but his whole approach to the subject shows
that the soul and God are not completely identical, as the form of his
books beautifully shows. For in his books we find a lower self (Walsch
himself) talking with a higher Self, God.
The talks Walsch has with his higher Self in his ´Conversations
with God´ books are very transformative. God is reassuring him
that he is a friend and that he can be trusted as a friend. His love
and support are unconditional. He is not an angry and revengeful God,
like most holy scriptures have presented him in the past. He is not
even a him. God is non-personal. He is not only saving every individual
who will open her self up to him, but he is also the final solution for
all the major world problems. He will give the world community ever
lasting peace and happiness, once they´ll accept him as he really
is, which is goodness and Love, unlimited joy and the All-in-All. But
it needs a restating of old beliefs. The old concept of God is
outdated. A New Spirituality is what the world is in need of today.
criticism: Walsch knows that
the majority of mankind believes one way
or the other in some form of God. In personal religion this idea of a
God has done a lot of good. It has consoled, comforted, strengthened
and
uplifted the soul of many individual, in all sorts of difficult
circumstances. It has in many ways relinked the individual back to his
source of being. But in an organized form, in the organized religion of
all creeds, the concept of God has done a lot of harm also. It has
divided the world. It has set up one nation against another. It has
even set up one spiritual brother or sister against the other. It has
created a ´better-than-thou´ mentality. It has not only
created differences, but divisions and schisms as well, between nations
and individuals alike.
The beauty of the Walsch´ books lies precisely in this purgation,
this cleansing of the concept of God. What Walsch does is to globalize
God in a modern globalized world community. I totally agree on this: if
we could somehow change people their belief of God and enlighten it,
then world peace would be greatly benefited. But from the standpoint
of higher mysticism it has to be understood that changing one
belief for the other doesn´t do much in bringing about deep
transformative changes. You remain just as angry, violent, intolerant
and hostile, even with an enlightened view of God in your head. It
surely would be more difficult, I agree. It would not be possible
anymore to lay the blame and responsibility on God. So in that case
mankind would only have itself to blame.
But God for most people is a concept, not a living reality. That is its
greatest difficulty. It is filled with all sorts of old fashioned and
out dated connotations, that instantly present itself to the mind on
hearing the word being uttered. It is very difficult to get rid of the
old beliefs one is brought up with. The word God is always filled with
all kind of childhood memories, how hard you try to give it a more
enlightened fill. Walsch himself gives ample example of these childhood
conceptualizations. They are always filled with projections of filial
fear and submission. A child is always raised with reward and
punishment. She sees her whole internal life, and with it her concept
of God, revolving round these two concepts. Her whole morality and
conscience is formed by the idea that God somehow punishes her wrong
doing, like her father does.
My question as a mystic is: can we not dismantle every concept we have
had engraved in our mind? Can we not get rid of the concept of God
altogether, even if it be as enlightened and sophisticated as Walsch
presents it? Can we not as a global community grow to a formless
religion? Now Walsch as a mystic would probably agree on this. But he
would object that this is too much asked for the majority of people who
still believe and want to believe in God. He would say that we have to
take one step at a time. Jumping to a formless religion or even to
non-duality is pushing the pace of history too much. Maybe these
developments will present themselves in a farther future.
He would say that most people need a higher object for their spiritual
love and devotion. This higher idea of God will stir up everything good
in their hearts and bring them to noble deeds. They will be filled with
love and wonder about the sheer beauty of their lives and the universe
they live in. And this love and wonder want to be expressed in
gratitude. Most people need to thank God. This saying grace ennobles
their lives.
But the Buddha would probably reply to these words with the objection
that holding on to the concept of God leaves the duality of an I and a
Thou unquestioned. It keeps alive the illusion that there is a separate
I that needs in some way or the other come to terms and come to union
with life and God. The Buddha would say that keeping the concept of God
alive is an impediment for a real religion to spread. For God is
nothing but a concept. However hard you try to idealize this concept it
will always keep on creating divisions. For a concept has boundaries in
the mind. Everything with a boundary sets itself off against other
boundaries. But true religion has no boundaries.
I think the Buddha is right. Look at the deep controversy Walsch´
new concept of God has provoked in religious circles. Now religious
people have a new God to fight with, the God of Walsch. They fight it
with every zealous fiber they have in their body. His God is laughed at
as the new God of New Age spirituality. Who does this Walsch think that
he is? Most Christians in the West don´t like the words New Age.
So Walsch has created a lot of controversy and I love the man for it.
But the question must be asked whether controversies are helping
religion.
Another point of criticism can, I think, be raised against his
postmodern relativism and pluralism of values. He has embraced the
functionalist notion that something only has meaning and value if it
works. When a value doesn´t support and benefit the life of an
individual or a society anymore, it can and must be laid aside. A new
value, that succeeds more in adapting the individual or his society to
a changing environment and to changing circumstances, that succeeds
more in sustaining its well being, must be supplanted for it. But does
the same hold true for the values Walsch promotes in his CwG books? I
do get the impression that he believes that there is somewhere some
absolute value expressed. Some ideas present themselves as being true,
not only for a limited time, only when they have some sort of
functionality for the world of today, but for all times and for all
places. For this is one of the arguments Walsch himself uses to
convince us.
For Walsch is so influenced by American postmodern pluralism that he
tends to forget that his books make a claim to presenting better values
than other books do. He is at this point being self contradictory. For
there is nowhere in the world a spirituality that is better than
another spirituality, except this New Spirituality that embraces all
spiritualities and favors no one as being better than another. But what
about this New Spirituality itself? It does present itself as being
better than the old religions, doesn´t it? And rightly so it
does.
But we must be honest about it. Mystical religion is better than
mythological religion. Let´s not beat around the bush. But
let´s not fight or kill for it either. That would not be in line
with our New Spirituality.
I do think that some values are better than other values and that there
is a hierarchy of meaning. But it cannot be decided a priori and we
always have to remain open to the changing dynamics of the next moment.
But to say that no value is better than another amounts to saying that
there is no value at all, for the whole idea of something having some
sort of value is precisely this: it is better than something else. Love
is better than hate, forgiveness is better than resentment etc.
Yes, not absolutely so, I agree, and depending on the situation. But
the intrinsic and external value of the one is certainly better than
the other. It presents a higher transcendence.
Approval: but apart from these
more theoretical objections, the books
of Walsch are very beautiful. His religious feelings and convictions
are very much in line with the mystical experience. Everything is
indeed already been given by ´God´ to mankind. In the core
of our being we do not have any psychological need whatsoever. The only
thing we can do is to be grateful for the wonderful life that´s
been
given to us. It is like Eckhart said, our only prayer in life can be:
´thank you´ and our life will not have been in vain. It is
the illusion that we are in need of
something that has created all the misery around the world. Walsch
tries to liberate us from this illusion.
His endeavors to create a global spirituality that wants to embrace all
people on an equal basis, also deserves our support. It is what the
world is in need of today. In this modern world, facing the threat of
large scale terrorism and large scale enviromental damage, it is
precisely such a New Spirituality that can
make the difference and prevent any further destruction taking place.
For it is not primarily a clash of cultures that is threatening us, but
foremost a clash of religious and spiritual ideas. It´s these
religious ideas that must be addressed, debated and improved upon.
In his endeavors Walsch has the support of all the mystics of the world
religions, also the independent ones, like this one. For mysticism has
always tried to transcend the differences. Mysticism has always tried
to show that the religious experience may be differently voiced,
according to different cultural paradigmata, but that way down deep,
man
is the same religious and mystical beast wherever he or she may live.
The profound and transformative experience of being one with the
All-in-All is a possibility that lives in every human being,
wheresoever she may dwell. Every person, from Greenland to the southern
tip of Chili, from Ashland, Oregon to Wladiwostok and all the way
round the world, every person is a mystic by nature. This simple fact
will in the end save mankind.
break
with the past. Something totally new and unpremeditated emerges. Life
will never be again what it used to be, once a first connection between
the soul and its divine ground is established. A total change of
personality is the result.
spiritual atomic bomb, that is
always
ready to detonate in Emptiness. For then, in that lonesome night,
abandoned by everybody and everything, also by Sister Hope, finally the
great mystical transformation happened. Walsh had had his Dark Night of
the Soul. By now the time had arrived for his soul to fuse with
Godliness.
large scale terrorism and large scale enviromental damage, it is
precisely such a New Spirituality that can
make the difference and prevent any further destruction taking place.
For it is not primarily a clash of cultures that is threatening us, but
foremost a clash of religious and spiritual ideas. It´s these
religious ideas that must be addressed, debated and improved upon.
