HJ: This is such a wonderful and profound article by Neale, which manages to simplify a concept that many struggle with both consciously and unconsciously. The fact is, taking responsibility for creating our own lives with all the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ (these are perceptions, not necessarily reality) is a major step on the path to self realization and therefore many struggle with it. It is the first major step in breaking through the various illusions that plague souls existing in the realms of duality. Life is not exactly what it seems at first glance. Indeed there are many layers of understanding, or as Neale puts it, levels of mastery.
Although taking responsibility for creating our lives in their entirety is indeed a big shift, the truth is, it is liberating. Many fear the responsibility, when again, this term is misleading. Making this internal shift is rewarded with great freedom and deeper understanding of reality and ones true nature, which far outweighs and additional responsibility that is incurred, which in fact, is no more than you have now. What has changed is your awareness and perception of the said responsibility. The blame for events and circumstances in your life can no longer be shifted away from yourself. This accountability, however, tends to help one progress spiritually much faster due to the fact that one can now see the relationship between internal thoughts and external actions and the resultant reality it creates and use this feedback to refine their vision and creations much quicker. What an incredible gift!
Your responsibility is only to yourself, as was always the case, but now you truly understand this and can begin to consciously work with it.
– Truth
By Neale Donald Walsch | CWG.org
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My dear friends…
I made the point here last week that in the world of Duality Thinking (which is the world in which most of us live), you could imagine that somebody else is “doing something” to you, or that some seemingly uncontrollable outward condition has been encountered by you, without you having had anything to do with it. Let me go on this week to say that such a thing is impossible, given that Duality is not the Reality, yet in the world of our illusion such impossibilities can seem very real.
The world of Duality Thinking says that there is YOU and IT, or YOU and THEM. In the world of Non-Duality Thinking (which is the world as it is, and the world in which Masters live) there is only YOU and US. There is nothing else but US, in differing form.
If there is only US, then nothing can be happening TO us, and everything must be happening THROUGH us. Nevertheless, an event could have the appearance of happening TO us—in which case “us” changes to “you” very quickly in our thinking. Especially if what is happening is what one would call a negative event, it will be nearly impossible (depending upon one’s level of mastery) to stop from thinking of oneself as the victim, rather than the co-creator, of a present situation.
This is what occurs when, in your thinking, you separate your Self from the Us that is the Only Thing There Is.
It is this “victim consciousness” that prevents you from having the Holy Experience. Remember that it has been said: The Holy Experience is nothing more than the immediate experience of Who You Really Are.
Who You Really Are is The Co-Creator. That is your True Identity.
When you are choosing to experience yourself as the victim of any condition, circumstance, or event you, in effect, deny your True Identity and prevent yourself from having the Holy Experience—much less changing the condition, circumstance, or event that is occurring outside of you.
You can only change the condition, circumstance, or event that is occurring outside of you when you take full responsibility for having co-created it to begin with. This is something that even you know at a very deep level. The limited understanding of humans does not prevent us from seeing this. You know intuitively that you cannot easily change what you consider to be the sole creation of others, but you see just as clearly that you can change what you and others have put into place together.
(“I may not be able to do much about what you have done, but I can do something about what I have done.”)
Herein lies the key to all physical manifestation. It is the acceptance of responsibility for all the events of your life as co-creations. To take such collaborative responsibility is a sign of spiritual awareness. You have become conscious of the role that you and others are jointly playing in the process by which humanity is expressing and experiencing itself, individually and collectively, so that God may know Itself wholly and completely.
[smartads]
We’ll explore more about all this here next week. Until then, I wish you well on your journey.
Hugs and love,
Neale
Neale Donald Walsch is a modern day spiritual messenger whose words continue to touch the world in profound ways. His With God series of books has been translated into 27 languages, touching millions of lives and inspiring important changes in their day-to-day lives.