THE STORM BEFORE THE CALM – Chapter 21

I recognize that it took a bit of pluck, a bit of fortitude, to look closely at all of that. There’s probably a bit of underbelly in there for all of us; some place where we feel particularly vulnerable. After all, a lot of this stuff was taught to us by some of the most venerable in our lives. Parents, grandparents, relatives, favorite teachers, the grey-haired soft-spoken priest, the wonderful and humorous minister, the wise and worldly rabbi…

But now the time for courage has really come. Now comes the part that some people of power don’t want you to read, because they know you’ll get all excited about it and that’ll be the beginning of the end of their game. Now come some specific ideas that might form the basis for a first draft of humanity’s new human story.

Chief among them is the idea that God and Life are One, that everything in life is part of a unified whole, and that our different belief systems are merely wonderfully divergent paths to the same destination—a destination the soul need not strain to reach, because it is already there: the everlasting embrace of God.

The doctrine of Oneness used as a basis for all human political, economic, social, educational, and religious decisions is the foundation of the New Cultural Story I am proposing.

Should we share this idea with enough people to create critical mass, should we succeed in shifting the resonant field, we can breathtakingly alter life as it is lived on the earth.

What kinds of changes might humanity see? What kinds of shifts could occur in your personal life? Back just a bit ago I offered you a narrative rollout of that. It was a broad, general narrative. Now have a category-by-category look at what I believe will happen. Here is one vision of what humanity’s New Cultural Story could place into our day-to-day experience…

Regarding God…humans will understand that Allah, Brahmin, Elohim, God, Jehovah, Krishna, and Yahweh are among the many names humans have given to The One Thing That Is. They’ll also understand that The One Thing That Is is all that exists. There is nothing that is not part of The One Thing That Is.

The Only Thing That Is is the Supreme Being, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, the Giver of Life, Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, and Wise Beyond Human Understanding.

The Only Thing That Is is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the Unmoved Mover, not separate from humanity, but one with it, not separate from life, but one with it, both the Creator and the Created—with the Created necessarily then being in the image of The Only Thing That Is.

The Only Thing That Is wants and needs nothing. How could it? It’s the only thing that is. It does not, therefore, sit in Judgment of anyone, nor decide at some sort of Reckoning whether a Part of Itself will be able to rejoin the Whole of Itself, since no Part was ever separated from the Whole, and could not be.

One result of this new teaching: No human beings will be afraid of God, or Allah, or Yahweh, or whatever name they choose to give to The All In All. They’ll simply love God completely and utterly as the amazing amalgam that God is.

Humans also will no longer confuse love and fear. They’ll see clearly that these are mutually exclusive, that they cannot both exist at the same time in the same space. The effort to pretend that they can, that they somehow go together, is what has turned many humans into neurotic beings, trying to live out a reality that is completely out of alignment with what they instinctively know to be so, and completely contrary to their nature.

 

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Regarding God’s word and God’s messenger…humans will understand that God’s words are found in all of the world’s Holy Scriptures, and that no scripture is more authoritative, more complete, more accurate, or more authentic than any other, but that each contains great wisdom and each leads to a greater understanding of The Only Truth There Is.

So, too, will humans understand that there are many messengers of The Only Truth There Is—indeed, that all people everywhere are messengers, and that their message is their life, lived. For life is a process by which life is informed about life through the expression of life itself. Life tells life about life through life. Humanity is what it shows itself to be. Every human being is both the Messenger and the Message.

One result of this new teaching: Human beings will stop trying to figure out which is the right text and which is the right messenger and will simply look closely to see which text and which messenger speaks to them in a way that makes it possible for them to understand the great mysteries and the great wonders of life. Humans will also stop trying to convince others that the messenger and the text that has touched their heart is the only one that people should turn to.

Wars and killing in the name of a particular text or messenger will be impossible to justify under these circumstances, and will all but disappear.

 

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Regarding heaven and hell… humans will understand that the Universe is not some outlying territory separate from Heaven, but that it’s part of The Only Territory There Is They’ll come to understand that Heaven is the experience of traveling through that territory in a state of bliss—a state that may be reached at any time, no matter where within the territory of life one happens to be.

Humans will also understand that life is not a system of reward and punishment, and that no one is sent to hell or condemned by God.

At least one major world religious leader, Pope John Paul II, has already clarified this. He made a theologically breathtaking statement before a papal audience in Rome on July 28, 1999.

“Damnation cannot be attributed to an initiative of God because in His merciful love He cannot want anything but the salvation of the beings He created,” the Pope declared to an astonished world. Eternal damnation is never the initiative of God, it’s the self-imposed punishment of those who choose to refuse God’s love and mercy, the pontiff added.

And what is this “damnation” that is referred to? Is it endless fiery torture in that place of flames called hell? No, said the Pope. Hell, he announced, does not exist as a place, but is “a situation in which one finds oneself after freely and definitively withdrawing from God, the source of life and joy.”

The pope said people must be very careful in interpreting the biblical descriptions of hell—the “inextinguishable fire” and “the burning oven”—which he said are symbolic and metaphorical. These picture phrases are meant to “indicate the complete frustration and vacuity of a life without God,” John Paul said.

So what is the truth? Are any human beings in hell? That is, Pope John Paul II said, “not something we can know.”

This is a remarkable statement from the spiritual leader of one of the largest religious organizations in the world. Asked that question ten years ago, there are very few priests, ministers, rabbis, or mullahs on the planet who would have responded with anything other than an immediate and unequivocal “Yes! What do you think we’ve been trying to tell you???”

But the pope has apparently had some new ideas on this subject that are very much in concert with the New Cultural Story, because they eliminate the fear of hell as a theological tool with which to construct an entire spiritual reality that has deeply affected humanity.

One result of this new teaching: People’s concept of life will no longer be shaped by a win-lose construction of the Afterlife. They’ll begin to formulate new ideas of what is experienced after death. Humans will then no longer structure their lives around the hope of getting to heaven or the fear of going to hell.

They’ll stop doing extraordinary, shocking or self-destructive things to produce the first outcome. They’ll find different reasons to act as they act, choose what they choose, say what they say, and think what they think. They’ll create that new measure of morality for which the world has been searching.

 

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Regarding life…humans will understand that life is not a school, neither is it a time of testing. If God wants nothing, there is no reason for a test. If humans are One with God, there is nothing to learn, there is only to remember what has been forgotten.

Humans will also understand that life is not an ordeal during which the soul struggles to get back to God, but rather, is an ongoing process by which the soul seeks to know God, then to grow, to expand, and to experience more of what it is. It will also be clear that this process, called evolution, never ends, but is experienced by the soul everlastingly, at different levels and in different life forms.

Humans will also understand that life is not limited to what can be perceived by the five senses, but is far wider in scope and deeper in dimension than humans at first imagined or have ever been told by religion.

One result of this teaching: Much more attention will be paid to what is not perceived by the five senses, and this will be the basis of a new understanding of life and how it might be most joyfully and wonderfully experienced.

Life will not be lived with an eye toward the Afterlife, but with an eye toward what is being created, expressed, and experienced at many levels of perception in the Holy Moment of Now. Humans will become increasingly aware that “now” is The Only Time There Is.

Life will not be experienced as a struggle or as an effort to “get back home” to God, but rather, as a free-flowing expression of one’s intrinsic nature, which is unlimited and divine.

“Getting to heaven” will no longer be the ultimate purpose in life. Creating heaven wherever you are will be seen as the prime objective. To experience this, people will not have to confess any sins or fast during daylight hours or travel on pilgrimages or go to places of worship weekly or tithe regularly or perform any particular ritual or act—although they may choose to do any of these things if it pleases them, or helps to remind them of who they are in relationship to God, or assists them in staying connected with their purpose.

Because of their deeper understanding and rich personal experience of life as a unified field, for people everywhere life itself will become the prime value, and the core around which all spiritual understanding and expression revolves.

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Regarding gender…humans will understand that God is not a male, nor is God a female, but that God has so gender at all.

Because the idea of God as a male being will be rejected as simplistic and inaccurate, humans will also understand that men are not superior to women in any way. The thought that God wants men and women to have limited roles in life will be abandoned in favor of a thought of complete equality for women and men. Indeed, with regard to all people everywhere, of whatever race, creed, gender, age, or sexual persuasion, the lack of superiority and the absolute equality of individuals will be The Only Thought There Is.

One result of this teaching: Discrimination and abuse of females will disappear from civil society.

 

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Regarding marriage…humans will understand marriage to be a spiritual tool, a sacred device, used by evolving beings to play out their soul’s agenda and to complete that part of their journey which involves mutuality with a particular Other for the purpose of growth and the continued recreation of Self.

They’ll also understand that all human relationships are hallowed ground, that intimate relationships with a significant other are highly impactful and important, and that holy matrimony is a contract of extraordinary meaning and consequence.

Humans will be aware that no two souls meet by chance, but that every human encounter is purposeful and laden with gifts, and that every melding of hearts and partnership of souls, however long or brief, is the playing out of a mystical agreement—God’s invitation to experience and expand in awareness, consciousness, understanding, and expression of the Divine Essence of Being.

One result of this teaching: People will not see marriage as an opportunity to complete themselves or to somehow bring to their lives “something that is missing,” but to celebrate the fact that there is nothing missing, that they are Whole, Complete, and Perfect just as they are, and to expand and grow in their experience of this through the wondrous miracle of bonded relationship.

Humans will never again enter into or stay in marriages for reasons of security, because they’ll understand that the only real security is not in owning or possessing, nor in being owned or possessed…not in demanding or expecting, and not even in hoping, that what they think they need in life will be supplied by another…but rather, in knowing that everything they desire in life…all the love, all the passion, all the wisdom, all the insight, all the power, all the knowledge, all the understanding, all the nurturing, all the compassion, and all the strength…resides within them.

Human will see marriage as a truly Holy Communion, a union between two loving people lasting as long as both choose to be united, not a union that is required by God to be everlasting, for better or for worse. Humans will understand that the success of a marriage is measured by what has been given and received, understood and remembered, shared and healed, and by what growth has been produced.

And finally, all humans will understand that marriage is about teamwork, the teamwork of two souls who have created a holy team to do the holy work of life itself, which is the work of growth and the expression of divinity through the experience of unity. To those who have a truly holy union will know that their union is a three-way union, that their team consists of each other and of God, and that this is The Only Team There Is.

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Regarding sex and sexuality…humans will understand that sexual union is a glorious and wonderful expression of the Oneness of Being, an extraordinarily powerful and deeply meaningful experience of the most intimate physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual aspects of the self that two people can share, and a celebration of love and life that has no equal in physical form.

They’ll also see clearly that sex is not laden with any taboos, do’s or don’t’s, but is meant to be experienced joyfully by two consenting adults in whatever way brings pleasure and respects the boundaries, desires and agreements of both.

Humans will also understand that the human body is sacred, not embarrassing, and that no part of the body is anything other than totally beautiful, and may therefore be shown and seen without shame.

One result of this teaching: Sexual guilt and sexual shame will virtually disappear from the human family. So will sexual assault. Sexual expression will be lifted to the level of the profound, never lowered to the level of the profane, and there will be no thought that spiritual energy and sexual energy do not mix, but rather, it will be taught that sexual energy is a beautiful expression of spiritual energy in physical form.

Many more people will become familiar with tantric sex, in which the sexual experience is expressed as sacred union. Tantra is defined as “the realization of the Oneness of the Self and the visible world,” and when sex is experienced as sacred, it is, in physical form, The Only Tantra There Is.

 

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Regarding homosexuality…humans will understand that there is no form and no manner in which the expression of a love that is pure and true is inappropriate.

One result of this teaching: Humans for whom same-gender sexual attraction feels most natural will no longer be denounced, vilified, condemned, ostracized, isolated, assaulted, and killed by people who believe they are doing God’s will. Their wholesale discrimination and oppression will end.

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Regarding love…humans will understand that love is neither quantifiable nor conditional. They’ll know that the term “conditional love” is an oxymoron, and that love cannot be parceled out in units of varying size, but is either present or not present, in any given moment and with any given person, as an experience of the Whole Heart and Mind and Soul—a full expression of the Blessed Essence of Being Itself.

While humans will understand that love cannot be quantified, they’ll see that it can be expressed in different ways, and that these different kinds of love are what they confused with different levels of love in the past.

Because it will be clear that God wants nothing from human beings and gives everything to human beings, God will be the ultimate model, at last, of what love is and means.

One result of this teaching: The veil of confusion around love will lift at last. Humans will use the term “love” to mean an entirely different thing than it now means in most human relationships. It will never again be confused or used interchangeably with the word “need.”

The term “love” will be deeply respected, as it will be clear that it carries actual energy (as do all words, but this one to a very high degree) and produces more different and powerful vibrations than perhaps any other term in humanity’s many languages, except the various names of Deity.

Indeed, it will be very clear that there is no universal term, common to all languages, that comes closer to capturing the very Essence of God. Humans will see clearly that to define God in one word, “love” is The Only Term There Is.

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Regarding money…humans will understand that money is simply energy, taking a particular form, and that, like any other energy, it has neutral value in and of itself.

They will also understand that “money” and “wealth” do not equal each other in absolute terms, and that true wealth has nothing at all to do with money.

Finally, humans will understand that God has nothing against money, and that the idea that money and spirituality do not mix is false.

One result of this teaching: Wealth will be redefined, with enormous consequences for society. What humans strive for, what humans work for, will have nothing to do with the accumulation of money, but, rather, the accumulation of value within their lives, for their families, and for humanity as a whole.

Money will be seen as being nothing more than a tool—one of many—that may be used in the creation of Mutual Value.

The redefining of wealth will also produce a new kind of currency. Equal Value Exchange Credits (“evecs”) will be a new currency denomination, and it will take the form of any exchange, not merely the exchange of paper or coins or financial accounting credits, which brings equal value to both sides in a transaction.

Because the idea that money is “bad” and that money and spirituality do not mix will be dropped, humans will be freed of the feeling of guilt around having money, making it possible for persons who do good things for the world—even for those who do “God’s work”—to earn more than modest amounts money or evecs without being made wrong.

It will become clear that for society to become maximally functional, the highest honor might most beneficially be given to persons bringing to society what society itself says it values most.

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Now, as before, a bit of the abstract

Again, let’s explore some topics that may be a bit more abstract, but that are no less a part of the human experience. And let’s see what the New Cultural Story will put into our reality, if the vision laid out in this conversation comes true…

Regarding free will…humans will understand that their will is truly free. They’ll know that God will never cause them to suffer dire consequences in the Afterlife for making one choice over the other in life.

One result of this teaching: The contradictions will be taken out of God’s promise to humans, and this will inspire humans to remove the contradictions from their own promises to each other. A new definition of “freedom” will be created, one that reflects what the word was always intended to mean—the complete and total lack of limitations of any kind.

 

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Regarding suffering…humans will understand that God does not want anyone to suffer, ever, and certainly does not require any being to suffer needlessly or endlessly in order to “stay in good standing” with God, or do “what is right.”

One result of this teaching: If they have any control over the circumstances, people will no longer require themselves or others to endure ongoing physical pain needlessly or endlessly. People will also understand the difference between suffering and pain, observing that pain is an objective experience, while suffering is a subjective decision about it.

Many mothers experience the pain of childbirth not as suffering at all, but as an intense but joyous celebration of life itself, producing life itself, through the process of life itself. Rising to this level of awareness about all pain is a matter of elevating one’s consciousness and adopting a change of perspective, which can alter an entire experience. Thus, Consciousness is used as a transformative tool, creating in the human mind an experience of the body that defies exterior evidence—and transmutes it.

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Regarding morality…humans will understand that morality is not unchanging, nor is it dictated by God’s desire, since God wants nothing at all.

One result of this teaching: People will begin to take the question of defining morality firmly into their own hands, refusing to cede authority to any organization of institution. The outcome of this will be that contemporary morals will more authentically reflect contemporary behaviors. Humans will thus be able to act the way they have routinely acted, only doing so without guilt or fear of being judged, “outed,” or condemned.

The argument that humanity’s values will drop should this occur will not be validated, because people, given higher levels of responsibility for themselves, will be found to rise to higher levels of greatness in the creation and expression of who they are.

This is the purpose and the wonder of life, they’ll see: To constantly recreate myself anew in the next grandest version of the greatest vision ever I held about Who We Are—as a species, as individuals, and as divine beings in a causal universe.

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Regarding death…humans will understand that death does not exist. The will know that our opportunity to learn and to grow is never over and that the time to be rewarded or punished for how we lived our lives will never come, because life is not a Reward & Punishment proposition, but rather, a process of continuous and unending growth, expansion, self-expression, self-creation, and self-fulfillment.

Death will be understood to be simply and only a transition—a glorious shifting in the experience of the soul, a change in our level of consciousness, a freedom-giving, pain-releasing, awareness-expanding breakthrough in the eternal process of evolution.

One result of this teaching: Many humans will know that death is not something to be feared, but a wonderful part of the wonderful experience called Life Itself.

People will talk about death freely and without undo sadness. People will not feel compelled to cling to life when they are suffering and dying, because they’ll know that there is nothing BUT life, and so there is no reason to cling to The Only Thing There Is.

Endless suffering at the conclusion of one’s time in a particular physical form will no longer be demanded or required as a matter of spiritual integrity, any more than it’s required of other life forms.

This does not mean that ending one’s own life as a means of escape from particular difficulties or sadnesses will be or is encouraged. It will be understood that life in one’s present physical form is a wondrous gift, and no one will ever wish to toss it away in order to sidestep its challenges, but will understand at the deepest level that it may be used in order to experience who we really are.

In this and in many other ways personal lives will be remarkably different when humans create a New Cultural Story.

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With apologies and an honoring of John Lennon…

Imagine…personal relationships with all others that are no longer need-based, but emerge more profoundly from an experience of personal fulfillment, personal power, and the personal expression of the highest thought about yourself and others that resides within everyone!

Imagine…romance that exudes not from the thought that you “can’t live without” someone, but from the awareness that the expression and experience of your fullest and highest and grandest Self is not dependent on any other person, but enriches every person whose life you touch immensely, allowing you to truly love from a place of giving!

Imagine…a career and work that feels more like joy and the celebration of the highest and best within you, and the happiest experience of Who You Are!

Imagine…a life without fear of God and without guilt over the tiniest infraction of what you imagine to be God’s Rules!

Imagine…the freedom of soul and mind and body that would be experienced when you understand at last that you really are One with God! Imagine the power that you would experience—the power to create the life of your dreams, and to assist others in creating theirs!

Imagine…the end to frustrations and anxieties and worries about tomorrow, to say nothing of the sadness and bad feelings that can’t seem to be shaken about things that happened yesterday, when you realize that nothing can go wrong, that all things are perfect just as they are, that God does not require anything different from you except exactly what you are being, exactly what you are doing, and exactly what you are having right now!

Finally, imagine…experiencing the awe and wonder of life, expressing through you AS you in your day-to-day moments, because of your wonderfully expanded awareness.

This is just a taste of what life could be like in the days of the New Cultural Story , and you don’t have to wait for all of humanity to create that experience collectively. All people can begin to create it individually for themselves, and in the lives of those whose lives they touch. That is, in fact, what life invites you to do! It’s what God is calling you to do right now.

You may begin this minute.

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POINTS I HOPE YOU WILL REMEMBER…

* The time for courage has really come.

* Oneness is the basis of our New Cultural Story.

* There is nothing that is not part of The One Thing That Is.

* No human beings need ever be afraid of God again.

* There is no form and no manner in which the expression of a love that is pure and true is inappropriate.

* God does not want anyone to suffer, ever.

* Death does not exist.

 

ACTION I HOPE YOU WILL TAKE…

* Share the ideas you see here about how life could be if humanity only embraced a New Cultural Story.

* Add to these ideas yourself by contributing your inspirations at www.TheGlobalConversation.com

10 Nov 2015.
© Neale Donald Walsch.

Prepared for publication by Dr. Gil Dekel www.PoeticMind.co.uk . Book published with permission from Neale Donald Walsch www.cwg.org .

The Storm Before the Calm: Book 1 in the Conversations with Humanity Series – by Neale Donald Walsch. Paperback published 1 October 2011, Emnin Books, Oregon, USA; ISBN-13: 978-1401936921