A Letter to Neale

Dear Neale...

I read your CwG books last summer. I bought Friendship with God about 2 months ago. I am looking forward to reading WHAT GOD WANTS .

I was thinking about the question regarding animals - pets when they pass away. I had a cat for almost 15 yrs. He had to be put to sleep almost 2 years ago. I think about him so much. I also had a dog that had to be put to sleep 2 months after the cat. Then last April another cat of mine was killed by a dog that shook him to death.

I believe we will be united with our pets after we die.   They gave us so much love in their lifetime, & since love is all there is, we will be united with them. I just can't help thinking - how many animals & people we will see when we pass away!

Today I attended the funeral of my ex-husband's mother. She was an ok mother-in-law, but I wish we could have had a better relationship.

There were times that we had disagreements. I didn't feel accepted by the whole family, lots of gossiping & separation going on in the family.

I was married to my husband almost 29 years, but we just didn't get along. I think I will have a hard time with forgiveness for a while.   I know I'm supposed to forgive - it's something I want to do - but the family was big, & there are lots of issues.

Thank you for allowing me to share.  

Linda   

Neale Responds

Dear Linda...

You are welcome. I think I agree with you, Linda, about pets. I do think that there is only love, and I do think that the essence of our pets can be called to us instantly at any moment, now or after our own departure from the physical body.

I am sorry about the death of your former mother-in-law, and even sorrier that you did not become as close to her as you would have liked during her lifetime.

My observation is that most people have very little idea of what is "going on" here--on the earth, I mean--and that they live their lives that way.   I hope what you have learned as a result of your relationship with your mother-in-law is never to miss a moment or an opportunity to get as close to another human being as you possibly can.

There are huge reasons for this, enough to fill a book, but take it from me in this letter that every one of those reasons is a good one.

I am sad to hear that you and your husband did not get along for most of your 29 years together, but I do hope that you will find your present circumstance a wonderful opportunity to work on comprehending forgiveness as a completely unnecessary experience. When you begin to understand Who You Really Are you will understand as well that you cannot be hurt or damaged or destroyed, and that all that you think that you have to forgive in another is nothing more than an illusion, having nothing to do with ultimate reality.

I do not mean to make light of the trials and travails that many people go through in this lifetime. The lives of all of us are filled with events that can be hurtful and deeply damaging, and, indeed, that in some cases (such as the tsunami) kill us.

Yet if we die in such an event we find out soon enough that we have not died at all, and cannot die if we wanted to, and that life is an extraordinary adventure that just goes on and on, happily and joyfully when we know who we really are and what is true about us. If we do not die as a result of life's events, but just suffer terribly, we can use that suffering to teach us that suffering itself is not necessary.

There are many ways to learn this, and more ways to practice it, but the fastest way I am aware of to "get there" to that place of wise knowing about all of this is to bring others to a place of comfort even as we are experiencing pain.             

CwG says that "pain" and "suffer-ing" are not the same thing, and the teaching behind that in the CwG books is profound. You may wish to look up those references in the material.

Thanks, again, for writing, Linda.    I hold for you the thought that the best part of your life is just beginning, that all you have experienced in your past will serve you extraordinarily in the times ahead, and that you will one day see this so clearly that you will be thank-ful to God for every event and moment--even those that you might call the really "bad" ones.

My love goes out to you today in great abundance.