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LITTLE B,'OOK OF

A U'S"ER' }S" 'M'AN" U'A'L

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by the- author of the:

New 'York Tim es be stselling ,C'onvcrsa ti 0 as wi 01 Go d'

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PU! RL 11:$1HI1 M,e: COM PA,MY, II N(. ..

Contents

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I tnroductu on i x

PART ONE

Living a.nell Intel"acdng with Others 1

·PARITW;O

Reli~.:t[[[g to Oneself an.d One,Js Personal. Experien.ce 71

PAR_TTHREE WaHdng In rhe Wnd.d.

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TIlls ]jffe ,[S such a mystery Ax least it fiels mat way. 'Iheres S"Q much 1!0 fig,ure out, so much to know about, SlO' much to understand. JUId, then, 'when you finaUly do understand. it, mere seems to be: S'O little [0 ,figuJr1e OUJt~ and theres mLO ,m.ystery at all ., . ,. '"

I'm descdhing to Y'0"u m:y own experlence before and aLfte.r my conversations wlth God. Those d;:a],ogues told me €fVery~ thing I needed to know' about lire, and helped me '[0 underst and s ..... much of whar ill;~i'd,··' ;nP,[ underscan d- . And when [ tnit

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those exchanges into a" book and p-eople aU aver the world b,~g,a1l1 reading them, nfe: changed for ,many of us, The m~sage:s in what became the nine C'onversa.tim7S with Gotllbooks. had,

'an enormous Impact on mlllions of people ].0 ,m,any cultures because rDl,ey made everydlb1Lg so. clear,

Jx

Perhaps predicta bly~ I was soon asked ro elab orate on. 'mat original rna teri al, eoaddress more extensively what I had experienced, as. well as what I had come 'Co discover th,.,o ugh'

_. I d "'d __jJ - ke t h- . t: '" ,. ~- .-~-

my expe:n.ence.. .. aecu en to ta e t . e mrormauon Ul Ute' tnree

thousand pages of Iny Of igw [[~1 dialogue and explore it more funy~ topic by topic. The book you are now holding is a resul t of that decision.

This text is a. re-issue of material that I published more 'man a decade .ago~ 'in three separate volumes, I believe rhar in£~)r.mat]on co be seminal, pivoral, and vital to any real under-

.- - d-·· - - - :C h .- - a' . I: ~l_ '!i!~ . .J - - •. - ·c·· - - - - . ott - .. 1-

stan. ]flf§, OJ!. O\V to .-:~pYJ me wisaom In .' onuersasums ~urtJ!l

Go.d to our everyday Iives, I have brough 1! the material together

und P~' '01'11"" r·O·v·PIP here b iecause '~:!:l"ih il e the .j- t, ree 0" 1'1· (!i';~ n <:111- em" ~ ~I-

. I,PlrJL . -:JI.. ~'I~ .-. PIrJI.. l[Jl'. \1I..!lj..l _-:.~~~, .• ~'!.rli ''('!t,~.lIUI. ,I. MI·: l~]'1LW.~ ... - : :~w ,.IL~ !Jl ';£Jl

U"O': .1- 11'1 rnes V''''e_I·P. h- ,p~ pi'::: ~I- 11;0 be en ·II"-;P·· '1 see on 'Ii"p:fl' p. tion tho at :Pt:II'l,D"J?l'

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.togtther they .lay out an entire course for livi ll1g wel I.; first, for :~ [v] ng harmoniously and lovlngl.y with others In our Imrnediate ci rcle, then w1-ch. oursel ves and our work, and finally, wi -_ h 'me, Wodd, Entire,

If ever there was a time f'O.[ such ,a, course '[0 be bld:, this would he it. The \-vQrld .. ~.s hovering on me brink ofits next major evolutionary convulsion-e-a glvilliiJg: birth, as nu::udsr Barbara Milia Hubbard would pu:r ].t =fl full -scale creation of 3. nevi 'Wliy of 'being human, Md. while I don't consider myself to he an .

. X

cies, I do believe the gwiddine'S o.ffeIied here ·[0 be a-mo.Dg the most useful, the most practical, and me most effective' tools that .anY''CHle could. ever find tor producing a better life, I fee! that 'iNa.)! because I am. not the' source' of these guideHne.s:,. TIle nl!es.sa.ges here erne[ge solely from the Conoersauons W.itfl GtJ'd dlaJoguesand ill consider those exchanges to have been direct ~nte'Jl'a,cdons

"'''''h th D'·;' "'" WAf. '" (j, ,e ..." ~~ne.,

V~I·'· d':"'i; not have to ;aa[-,eo<> wlrh .- - e .. 0-' rhat pol nt however, .lI!..~ u ~ 'I;,;!' fi ..... , JLL _ _ ~..... _ -,D ~.... _ = . m n lid, __ ~, "",,=0 -:J' ,HII,;!' _ "'" _ ~_

As I have said often in the past, it is, not necessary to b elieve that I spoke directly with God (we are all GQing chis every da:'h, by the way) ,~n order [0 gain, benefit from this material ,AU that ,[S required is an. open mind and. a, \vi]]ingne-ss to simpl y see if dl,e ideas here have any value, Use them, test them ou:t~ in 0]],the-ground sit uarlons.

Thars what ill i nvlte you. to! do, I encourage yO'iLU fLO take a look at whars be[ng said here about the three aspects of our

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uves=reiances ~J[pS ~ nveimooe , ann om an teraen IOns wnn tne

world at huge-and, see for yourself if anyiliing here mikes sense; if ,a'nY ·of it is workable, pracdcal, an .. d beneficial.

Of ," " '!if ~~" I,', -['I " ill] :"" ',,".. 'I ," . ild - ~ , t, -J ' ,

course, JIl eeueve I aat lit 3J, ];5. or , WOU[" J1L t ne JP .ac-

f r ]" + S· h ~~., he rl

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amoun 1[ 0 time eJ.rp ,onng 1 t, ' 0 "ere you , ave ,[!C. ~. e 1[' xree

thousand pages of dialogue In C(Jinvl!.rs~ti·(tf1S UJith GOd reduced down. to a few salient points and a few very direct observations ab CHU; how to render them 'functional ill trust that you will find this deeper excursion into Conversation: with' God spiritually en tieing, persona]! r exciting, and wonderfull y useful i

Part One

Li'ving and Interacting w'ith O,th,er:s

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.... e a!l,],OfiS.lUPS are me mos rmporrant experience 0 .0[11' nves,

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Will:th:out ir, 'We. are nothing, Literally

That is; because, In rhe absence of anything else, w« are' not. Fortunately, there is not :3. one of us who does: not have ;I,

relationship, Indeed, all of us are In. relationships wi th every~ thing and eveEyone~ all of me' time" We' have a relationship with ourselves, we have: a relationship with out fa mily, 'we have a relationship wi till. OUIlf environmen 1t~ we have a relationship with our work, we have a relationship with. each other,

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n act j' evervt lU1i.g: t at we . GlOW ~Lfli., exnenence a out

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ourselves, we understand, within the context that is created by our relationships, for '[his reason, reb.J[[ollShi,ps are sacred, AI[

relationships. And somewhere within the ([eepest reaches of our heart and soul) we' know '[his. 'That is why we' yearn so for relarionships-e-and for relationships of meaning, I t is also, no doubt, wh y we have such trouble' with them. At: OOiTI,e ,~.'evel} we

b 1· n, h· ., '11,-·' d ~

must every c ear nOW mucr is at stake. ,A~[],! so" were nervous

ab IDHJJt them, 'NonnaUy confiden t, cornpe:[ent people fumble and, fall, stumble and, stall, crumble and can for hel p.

I ndeed, n othl ng has caused more problems for ,our s pe ...

cles, created more pain, produced more suffering, or resulted in more tragedy, than that which was in tended '[0 brirrg us our greatest joy-our relarlonships wlrh each other, N'eitheF indlviduallynor ooli[ectively~ sDc~;any nor politicall y~ locally nor internationall y have 'we found a 'way to live in harmony, 'We simply :6no. it ve[y d]ffiCllh EO get a&o~g-mu;ch, less actually love each 0 rher,

Wha..rs this :a]~. abouti W.!h.ar'.s: up here? :n think l know 'No,'[ that r m some kind ofa g~nlus~ rni nd you~ but I am a good] istener, And rve been asking questions about 'th]s for a very long time. In the 19 80s ~ I began receiving answers, I believe those responses have come from, God, At me time I recei ved, them, ill was so Impacted and, so impressed that I decided tu keep a written record of what ill 'was: b eing gh'e~1L. That record became

the ,C(rl'lVe~~ations with GOt.lsedes of 'b 00 ks, which halve become bestsellers aro un d me' \iVl:nidl,

A small group' of about futty people g,atheted at a horne Just outside San .F rancisco, C-(] lifornia a few Jreru.~ ag:o to explo re with me more deeply 'what those books had [0 say on the subjeer of our relationships wi tb others, ill shared W,[ th 'the' g1f'~Up ~ ll that I' understood ab .. o ~I'~ iI the rn "'i teri ._.1 '0"'1'] 1 ..... 1"1i 1j"~O"J] -"C111" pi!:" itiIL "1'iI"'

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appears 'i n me CO,nlh!rsations Wlth Go,d d.la[ogue and, answered questions as they came up" The synergy of mat a'~teFnoon produced an electFifying experience, resulrlng ill an, open flow of wonderful wisdom thae, ~ am happy to say, 'was captured on videotape and audiocassette-e-edited versions of which. have since been made availa ble to the public.

W1tat you will find here is a rranscript of that event. ill have made a, :few d:ny edirs ln order to update ],,{ to my present m,re circurnstance, but O,() subsrantive changes have been made, Thus,

" ]a " ft h haris wri C' h ,i. d

m' - - .... ·re ~'i"im' U' '[' ;1 n g.~n:r1 e- '[' . an t~r. 'ijt . "",~" 'i ~ wn~·rejMI I~O.· r-:' 'i"1t e p:~-~ nte .

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OO'.·.!l)I,;;;A nd beca - nlo?';;; th is book :Co'-' rmat ie- nnt- 11"m" iited bv tim e ,ojll" .--~ ,r·'~[s~~· .l'1J.ll.'~ .I~ .. - ."_~"J.'~ ~ ,I ~ 1lJ'l~ .-"._. JJ .. , ~~,Il. ~ A.!V," ~. J" ~~ ~ .. _ ~AUL

prod uction constraints, '\¥le were able to include here material not found, in the original video OF.' audio versions, 'which, necesssrily had ro be shortened for producdon reasons"

5,

E8send.ffiU.y; what Cod tells us in Canversatian: wid} Gad is mat most of us enter into relationships for the wrong reasons.

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ar is, or reasons. la _ ]ng [[0.· lng [0 .. 00 ... ['[ _. QUl. o. era 1 ...

purpose; \1Uh.en our reason tor relationships is aligned 'with O'W~

" = ~ -

sours reason for 'being" not on].y are {HU relationships understood t,o be sacred, they are rendered joyful as well,

Joyful relati onshlps=-ah, yes., For mr '(00 l1J,tl]]Y people, that phrase sounds almosr li ke an. oxymoron-.a. sel f-con tcadlcnng, -c -. uuallv excluslve terr I. Somerhi -- g' A lke .milittl~-: int-elli~.ncf!

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0[' cjJicitntgovernment:; 'Yet it is possi ble 11:101 have jioyful relanon- 5J:a1 ps, and the extraordinary .ru_nsigbts in. the Conversations u.Jith' Go.d books show us how,

H hose 'gh- I h- '" d th d d

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ere are t lose ]ilS~ _ ts, asi ave recerve t. ern all! un ell

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stooc t .. em, ill snare rnem wirn you ... ere _[ n nurrnnry; Sll":alg[l t

from the Take Jr For ·Wha.'[ Irs '\Vorrh Department, wlrh the

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throws. wide .3.. d,oorway-'[o ;g[e~uer happiness, you. wi U have been served,

·6