A Note from Neale...

My dear friends... 

I have a lot to say about Fear, and this may take up more than one blog, but let me begin by saying that Fear is Need, announced. 

When I do not need anything, I do not feel fear about anything. So for me, Fear and Need are intrinsically connected. The more I need something from some person or situation, the more I fear that I may not get it. So the trick is to not need anything; to move into the State of No-Need. 

I have always had trouble with this, because I think I have been a fairly needy person all of my life. Until my Conversations with God experience — and especially my experience of Communion with God. As most of you know, that was the fifth book in the CwG series, and it is one of the most profound spiritual books ever written. (I can say that because, first, I believe it, and, second, I did not write it.) 

Communion with God says that Need is an illusion. Indeed, it is the First Illusion of Humans. In reality, Need does not exist. It exists only in the world of our illusion. God needs nothing, and we are God, therefore, we need nothing. It is as simple as that. 

I'm not going to try to get through this whole topic today — way too much to say — but let me just add this here: A wonderful teacher of mine gave me, several years ago, a terrific acronym for FEAR. The one that we all know is: 

"False Evidence Appearing Real" 

That's not the one I'm talking about, though. The acronym my teacher offered me was: 

"Feeling Excited And Ready" 

Don't you just love that? When you think of fear as excitement, everything about the experience changes. The fact is that it CAN be "exciting to be scared." 

My teacher added another line to this teaching that I will never forget: 

Call your fears Adventure. 

Wow. I never thought of it that way. 

Now this does not mean throw caution to the wind. But it does mean that you don't have to be afraid of everything that scares you. That's MY little wisdom for the day...so let me repeat it: 

You don't have to be afraid of everything that scares you. 

A lot of things have scared me through the years, but I decided not to be afraid of them. Now I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I have eliminated all fear from my life. That simply is not true. But I have eliminated most of it. 

Honestly. Really. It's true. There is not very much I am afraid of any more. Certainly none of the things that bothered me years ago. We'll talk more about this next week….. 

Until then...go to your copy of Communion with God and read the chapter on Fear. It's really quite amazing. (If you have not read this extraordinary first-person dialogue from God, grab a copy and dive into it! It really is quite a remarkable book.) 

...love and hugs,