Several months ago, I travelled to Montreal to speak at the 44th international conference of the International Institute of Integral Human Sciences. This is an organization whose mission is to unite science and spirituality. My topic was ‘Embracing the Unknown,’ but that’s not what I want to talk about.
As part of this conference, I had the pleasure of taking part in a day long workshop with the famous author and spiritual teacher Neale Donald Walsch who is the author of 28 books at last count. I have read the vast majority of his books and they have been life changing for me and I consider him one of my greatest mentors. His workshop was transformational on several levels.
In his workshop Neale talked about the greatest problem facing the world today. Before I get to that, he discussed the result of the problem which is alienation. People feel more disconnected from each other than ever before and this has resulted in the majority of our global problems.
The result of alienation is feeling that we need something from other people whether it be money, recognition, attention, sex or any number of things. Neale discussed how we do not need anything from anyone because we are the source of everything we could possibly have or want in this life.
The leads us into the greatest problem facing humanity today which is that we do not know who we are and why we are here. You see, we think we are physical bodies with minds and are here to get the degree, get the job, get the house, get the car, get the spouse, get the vacations, grow old and then get the hell out. This is absolutely untrue.
Neale went on to explain something that I have always known as a deeper level. We are not just physical bodies with minds but are individuations or expressions of the Divine and are here to rediscover our true nature and to express it in the world. Once we are able to realize and do this we can transform, not only our own lives, but the lives of everyone who we touch.
Once a certain threshold of the global population realizes this and starts living accordingly we would be able to resolve all of our global problems including the effects of climate change, destruction of our ecosystems, economic disparity and poverty, global regional conflict and political unrest and the threat of nuclear annihilation. All it would take is 1% of the world’s population to start living in this way to effect dramatic global change.
The question then arises if we are individuations of the Divine why were we brought into physical form on this planet? Neale did not have a clear answer to this question but he did hint that once we are able to live in accordance with our true nature, we would be open to greater truths and realizations about life and the universe that we live in. This is what Shakespeare meant by his quote, ‘There are far more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.’
For me to go into how to realize our true nature as expressions of the Divine is beyond the scope of this article, however, I encourage you to read Neale Donald Walsch’s books which go into greater detail and depth into this question. I recommend starting with Conversations with God, book 1. Don’t let the title fool you because it has nothing to do with religion.
Needless to say, his workshop is an experience which I will be processing for sometime. The gift of hearing him teach about the most important topic there is, is something that I will always treasure and never forget.
Nauman Naeem MD