When I read the book "Conversations With God" by Neale Donald Walsch, the main effect it had on me was mostly comforting and reassuring, even though it was also amazing. I do believe that God, Angels, and the Inner Counselor communicate with all of us, all the time. But many of us don’t listen, or if we hear, we doubt the truth – or actually wonder if we might be crazy. I don’t see any signs of insanity in Mr. Walsch; what I see is a remarkable courage in coming out with it. He has written other books, and I read some of them, but nothing else hit me as powerfully as the first one. It was like hearing the same story from another eyewitness of an event I recognized. I had seen something like it myself.

He isn’t crazy, neither am I, and neither are you. It would certainly be crazy and very unnatural if God did not communicate with us on a personal, individual level. Yet for thousands of years, human beings have mostly depended on prophets and priests and Master Teachers to listen to God for us, and then tell us what God said.

I believe human beings have always had the ability to talk directly to God ourselves, not just in a one-way, beseeching manner, but in two-way “conversations” of all kinds, all levels and forms. It is said that God always speaks to us in a way that we can personally understand: in events, in gut-feelings, in intuitions, and yes, sometimes in words.

All of us have the inborn capacity for intimate communication with our own souls, and with the God of our Being which is never separated from us. It could not be otherwise. I can't speak about angels, because I haven't personally experienced them; but many people have attested to meaningful and deep communication with a loving Being, a Guide, Counselor, or Comforter that "speaks" or connects with us from within. Indeed the essence of Religious Science and most established New Thought faiths is the absolute belief that every human being has direct access to God at all times, and is in fact a manifestation of the spirit of God on earth.

People have been talking with God for thousands of years, although not everyone chooses to. Mostly we hear of this deep and intimate relationship with God from saints and master teachers like Jesus and Buddha and St. Francis, but not ordinary people like you and me.

That is changing now. Human consciousness is evolving, and spirituality is the new frontier. Of course, not every one of us is at the same place on the path at the same time, and not every one is ready or willing to acknowledge such a great gift and responsibility. Obviously in the physical world there are many paths and vast differences between people’s lives. Yet it’s undeniably true that more and more ordinary people are having extraordinary experiences of faith and phenomenal soul-growth, right here in this lifetime.

All of us are receivers, and God/the universe/Spirit is the transmitter of all truths, capable of transmitting to an unlimited number of channels and wavelengths individually, without missing any. God never disconnects, and we can never disconnect from God. But if we choose, we can tune out. Or we can keep the volume down so low, or our life-noise turned up so high, that we don’t have to hear the messages consciously. But whenever we choose to listen, we hear. We all hear.

So the big question is, What do we do with what we hear fromSpirit? hen it speaks through our soul? Once we know it, somehow we must try to live it, and try to share it. In our hearts we know this, but somehow, there are so many good reasons to hide our truth instead. Like "People might think I'm arrogant." Or "People might think I am blasphemous." Or "People will think I'm crazy." This is not totally an unrealistic fear, because indeed, symptoms of some forms of mental illness include things like illusions and “hearing voices.” But I assure you, those are not the voices we are talking about here, and communicating with the soul or spirit usually is not an actual voice that speaks aloud, although it can be, and can also take other physical forms.

When we look into our inner self, our private heart, and truly wait and listen, we hear the truth. We know that hurting and killing each other is not okay, and surely is not what God wants, even though countless wars have claimed Him as their reason. We know, even as children, that some things are wrong, because we can feel it. But when we grow up, we rationalize many of the the things we do because “Everybody does it.” Or because "They did it first." Or because "it was necessary" to our bottom line.

The world tends to hold onto its established habits and illusions, because we have so heavily invested in them. If they turn out to be wrong, then what? What would happen if all the world were willing to look honestly and courageously into our own hearts? Then everything in the world would change.

The world probably couldn’t handle it, all at once. But in fact, little by little, heart by heart, we are realizing that waging wars in order to bring peace is an insane idea that has never been a solution. We begin, one by one, heart by heart, to realize that love of any kind that's sincere, cannot be a bad thing. Heart by heart we will realize that condemning any kind of love, or accepting any kind of war are unacceptable ideas and practices. Sooner or later each one of us will come to the point in our lives when we start trusting our own inner knowing, and then we will begin to choose differently. As we change what we choose to accept and support in the world, the world will change.

Of course, some of us will choose to live and die and never really know why we came. But for more and more of us, somewhere within this lifetime, we will realize that we have something to do that is unrelated to fame, success, making money, or any other commercial yardstick of a good life. Whether we recognize our calling or not, each of our lives, and even the smallest acts have purpose and meaning. God does not measure by size. No one is here by accident, and no life is unimportant.

Heart by heart the human race has begun facing the truth we turned away from before: that every one of us is a soul and spirit expressing God in the world for some purpose, whether known or unknown to the personality we wear in this lifetime.

Seek to know. Each human mind is connected to the Greater Mind of God. When you meditate, when you pray, when you sit in sacred silence, ask and listen to the truth in your own heart. This is “the still small voice of God.”