CWG stands for "Conversations With God", and is shorthand for a series of around ten books written by Neale Donald Walsch. They constitute one of the most remarkable series of books ever written, IMHO. Back in the 70s, Walsch was going through a rough patch and he asked God, basically, what the fuck is going on. To his surprise, God answered, saying "Do you really want some answers, or are you just venting?" Walsch proceeded to channel God for most of the series, although "What God Wants" was written by Walsch alone.

None of the metaphysics are really new, as God points out, but the way they are presented makes them, I dunno, very accessible. Many statements I make prefaced with "As I have been taught" originate in CWG, as some of you know. Throughout the series, God points out many shortcomings of conventional religion, and espouses a more gnostic approach to spirituality. And most of the first 60 pages or so consists of a lengthy, and accurate, indictment of conventional religion.

But given that Walsch refers to these ideas as "the new gospel," and has started a non-profit corporation to promulgate these ideas, I wonder if the whole CWG thing is becoming a religion itself, not that there's anything wrong with that.

I hope you know that the bourgeoisie created God as a tool in their battle of dialectical materialism with the proletariats.


Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.
-Bonaparte

Yeah. The CWG books have been the most fascinating books I've ever read. They probably explain any worthwhile question you have regarding religion/spirituality and all the answers make a hella lot of sense.

Although I have never read the books and they may be beneficial information to a persons personal spirituality, I cannot as of now see anything positive resulting from using the series as a basis for a religion. I could see it becoming corrupted and manipulated to control society in the future, as humanity runs the course of cultural collapse and rebirth and the world changes, as it tends to.

If organized religion is ever not going to have a negative impact on the world, it would have to remain something to be mulled over by the people participating in it, and not preached to people as just the way things are. Religion is not overall beneficial to humanity if it is treated and organized like a dictatorship. But if it were more like a forum, a discussion of personal spirituality, or run more like a social democracy, it may be able to avoid corruption.

Maybe I'm pessimistic, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. It is better to think for yourself and have personal spirituality, then to be led by the hand without question.

Maybe I'm pessimistic, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. It is better to think for yourself and have personal spirituality, then to be led by the hand without question.

While I'm not a spiritualist (or a pessimist, for that matter) - I totally agree with that.

The bulk of my skepticism on CWG is that the author supposedly "channeled" a God ... that actually speaks to him! With a voice! How special is he? Because I spent a good twenty years of my life communicating with a God, and damn it, he never gave me the courtesy of a reply.

Luckily I realized that most of the questions I was praying to God about, I could find from within myself, if I looked hard enough. It never dawned on me to publish those results to help people learn to do that on their own, while convincing them that I somehow had a direct line to God himself and was "channeling" him.

Throughout the series, God points out many shortcomings of conventional religion, and espouses a more gnostic approach to spirituality.

Actually, it's Neal Walsch who points these things out, for we have to assume that as a third-person author, he is speaking for his main character, which is God.

See, he calls them "ideas" - which is something he surely manifested on his own, even if he does truly believe that God and him are on a two-way radio:

But given that Walsch refers to these ideas as "the new gospel," and has started a non-profit corporation to promulgate these ideas, I wonder if the whole CWG thing is becoming a religion itself, not that there's anything wrong with that.

Apparently there truly is nothing wrong with that, since the criteria for becoming a religion these days is very, very loosely structured. (Look at Scientology in the U.S. & U.K.)

Since his conversations with God is something he wants to share with the world - he should just keep to publishing books about it. No need to turn it into yet another pop-religion, is there?

While I'm not a spiritualist (or a pessimist, for that matter) - I totally agree with that.

Amazing. I'm shocked I wasn't accused of hijacking the thread for drawing it away from the OP's interests.

Literally.

Obbe, I hate it that you feel so persecuted. I truly do. I doubt that you'll take my sincerity as anything but sarcasm, but I'm putting it out there anyway.

And you must admit, there have been threads in the past that went completely off-kilter due to extremely long-winded debates regarding your concepts, though I'm sure you'll contend that it takes two (or three, or four, or five) to argue, so you weren't the only one responsible. And retrospect allows me to agree with you there, too - knowing that I once participated in those multi-post/derailing debates with you myself.

But pretending as though you have to tip-toe around here in fear of being pounced on is just kind of silly... especially considering that it is not at ALL unusual for other posters to not share a particular sentiment with an OP. In case you haven't noticed, unshared sentiments are numerous on this web forum. People come to expect to be challenged.

Besides, it's not like this topic was derailed with your comment. It's just another opinion, is all. No need to play The Accused. Nothing here has been hijacked, no one is being accused of anything. Now, if you and I were to continue to debate this point for the next two dozen consecutive posts, it could be considered a hijack. But let's not, and say we did :)

Obbe, I hate it that you feel so persecuted. I truly do ... pretending as though you have to tip-toe around here in fear of being pounced on is just kind of silly... especially considering that it is not at ALL unusual for other posters to not share a particular sentiment with an OP. In case you haven't noticed, unshared sentiments are numerous on this web forum. People come to expect to be challenged.

Well feel better, I don't feel so persecuted. I may have sounded exaggerated there, but I had just finished replying to you in the thread which I did get pounced on in. It was a reference to that.

Now, if you and I were to continue to debate this point for the next two dozen consecutive posts, it could be considered a hijack. But let's not, and say we did :)

I completely agree. Lets keep this discussion to BrokeProphets hijacked thread.

I hope you know that the bourgeoisie created God as a tool in their battle of dialectical materialism with the proletariats.

yes ORGANIZED religion is a capitalist invention deism however is not

I hope you know that the bourgeoisie created God as a tool in their battle of dialectical materialism with the proletariats.

:rolleyes: The satanic Illuminati created Communism as a means of increasing their power, wealth, and ability to lead you away from God.

He says his books are not channelled, but rather that they are inspired by God and that they can help a person relate to Him from a modern perspective. The God in his books, for example, says that "there is nothing you have to do." Walsch believes in a pantheistic God, who tries to communicate Himself as being unselfish

But given that Walsch refers to these ideas as "the new gospel," and has started a non-profit corporation to promulgate these ideas, I wonder if the whole CWG thing is becoming a religion itself, not that there's anything wrong with that.

CWG is a remarkable series and IMHO a must read for everyone. In my opinion Walsch tapped into the "Higher Self", that 'aggregate of sentient consciousness' that permeates all of life, available to one and all, and it is the resonance with my own thought that made the CWG series so inspiring. But on following up with other books and a whole foundation, it appears as though Walsch is making a career out of this thing, and whilst that is not necessarily a bad thing, it's the constant appeals for money that is so off putting!

Cheers:)

I used the tem "channeled"loosely, and since the term does impkly that one is tapping into an "outside" souce, it was perhaps ill-advised--I couldn't think of a more accurate term when I stared the thread, and still can't.

One of the interesting things you obseve as you read the books is how Walsch himself evolves. As the series progresses, he shows less of a Christian bias, and becaome a clearer "channel."

And in the later books--I think it first came up in book three--"God" acknowledges that Walsch is in fact drawing on what is deep within himself. Other places in the series, Heinlein is quoted -- "I am God, thou art God, all that groks is God." This is pretty much what most of the other New Age writers and thinkers are saying, from Deepak Chopra to Wayne Dywer and a host of others.

Again, none of this is new--Jesus said much the same thing in the Gospel of Thomas.

But I think one does a grave disservice to the series by calling it "pop-religion." If anything, it is "anti-pop"--that is, it flies in the face of convention theology and is in fact directly contrary to what is taught in many churches--which is, IMHO, why it is all the more vital that its message be spread.