Dinner with Neale and 7 G1K members on the 11th of August
Food for Thought

We began to gather around 6 p.m. in the lobby of the Novotel in Bristol. Our potential numbers had dwindled to a smaller final group due to various difficulties having to do partly with the news about terrorist activities that were thwarted concerning UK airlines flying to the USA. This had an effect on Neale’s trip from the west coast of the US and when he arrived we had already started to order. By the time we were finally all together we had Neale, Penny, Sallie, Anne, Helen, Gavin, Linda, and Anthony (who arrived when we were having dessert) gathered around the table.

Throughout the delicious meal, we had an intense discussion centring around the God books and various experiences of the group.

We agreed with Neale that the news about potential terrorist threats gave us even more impetus as the G1K to DO things to help create a different world. We are needed more than ever before. Neale announced that the G1K would soon begin the specific activity of regular Thursday evening sessions from 7:30 to 9 p.m. wherever in the world we are, to bring the energy of the G1K into the open. Secondly, Neale announced that the School of the New Spirituality will open its first school while the retreat is going on; it begins the 14th of August in Georgia and we all agreed to send our love, energy, and good wishes to the launch of this exciting new venture.

By this time the first course of the meal had arrived and there was clearly a mix-up in Neale’s meal as he had tried to order the Summer Vegetable Broth as a starter when in fact it was the ‘au jus’ that came on the Pave of Salmon (main course) he was given when the rest of us got our starters! When he asked for the ‘soup’ he was again confused when he got the carrot and coriander soup rather than the broth he was expecting. Being jet lagged, he didn’t mind having it all at once and when we got our main course he was happy to be able to talk while we ate.

The message that was brought to all of us was put very succinctly – we are going to come to a deeper awareness of what it is to be HUMAN at the core of our beings. It is clearly NOT just about getting new coping mechanisms! Neale said that humanity has been at this juncture in the past – when technology brought us to the brink and we went over the edge and were destroyed as a civilisation. The opportunity has presented itself again and we CAN make a difference

There are about 120 G1K members around the world and the group is growing bigger every week. We hope to have more than 1000 after another year and then grow even more quickly as others hear about the work and join with us.

Someone asked Neale how much editing was done on the books and then followed a lovely description about how Neale wrote. As the number of books grew, Neale finally had to give up his yellow tablets and pen, taking up the computer, and then he could write them faster and faster. He said the Home with God book only took three and a half weeks, and later when he read it he found it amazing what was in there – as he does not really make the books up as he goes but it just comes to him quickly and he moves along to get it all written down.

The only ‘editing’ he ever did was when the subject of dying had come up when he was writing Conversations with God book 3, but when he was proof-reading it, it became clear that death and dying needed its own book rather than a quick mention, so he took 8 paragraphs out and promised the topic would come up again later. Then he said he was trying to write book 6, provisionally entitled ‘Dying with God’ when the 9/11 tragedy struck, and he just could not get past the first paragraph. He phoned his publisher and said he was having a little trouble, as another book seemed to be coming through and his publisher said ‘please write anything!’ as he continued to get requests all the time for more! So Neale wrote the New Revelations book instead, and the first 10 chapters came out in 6 days! He said he wrote non-stop while people would come and put food in the room so he could just keep on writing. Then later after other important books in the series were written, he could finally get back to Home with God in a Life that Never Ends about death and dying.

We also asked Neale about the Little Soul books and he told us how after the first one his publisher asked him over and over again for 6 years to write a second one, but he does not just ‘make them up’ so one day after another plea, he was in his shower and the plots for a series of Little Soul books came to him and he wrote the 2nd one and has several more waiting to be written!

He is also going to be writing about other wonderful topics, but we don’t want to spoil it for you with information about those just yet…do we Neale?

We each shared some of our own experiences how the wonderful messages in the books had affected us. We also mentioned about the difficulty of bringing up the topic of spirituality, especially with the current climate of religious fervour that has divided the world, and Neale said that our work is not to try to convert people. Instead we can only talk to those who already have taken on board the ideas. With over 7 million books in print (most read by more than one person) and them being translated into 37 languages, it was clear that we already have an audience. Our role is to bring the message of the new spirituality, of a God who loves us rather than the one who is portrayed by so many religions in such negative ways. To have a God of Love in our lives will help us to change the world before it is too late.

Now is the moment. We are all part of the change.

After Neale finally excused himself, being totally jet lagged, we remembered the camera so we took photos of all of us at the dinner without Neale, so you will have to look at the photo as if Neale was taking it, since he is not in any of the photos!

The retreat begins tomorrow morning and we are all very excited about what is to come.

Read a previous update here!