As you know if you are a regular reader, we have been exploring here something that I call The Holy Experience. And I said here last week that in this present issue I would see if I could even more closely describe that Experience, by more broadly defining it. So, here goes…

The Holy Experience is as varied and as infinite as Life. It is a particular aspect of Life that explains life TO life through the process of life itself.

The Holy Experience is the experience of knowing, and of knowing that you know. It is the experience of being, and of being what you are being. It is the experience of having, and of having what you have.

I know that all of this may sound like just so much gobbledegook– circular talk getting nowhere–but if you will have a little patience, I think you will be well rewarded.

When I speak of the experience not only of “knowing,” but of “knowing that you know,” I am speaking of two distinctly different encounters with life. A wonderful teacher once opened me to the awareness that there are those who…

…do not know, and do not know that they do not know.

…do not know, and know that they do not know.

…do not know, but think that they know.

…know, but do not know that they know.

…know, but pretend that they do not know.

…know, and know that they know.

All of us fall into one of these six categories. So it is one thing to know, and another thing to know that you know.

Now the truth is that all of us know all that there is to know. Yet not all of us remember this, and so we have the experience of not knowing, or of knowing, but of not knowing that we know. In the moment that we know, and know that we know, we have had the Holy Experience.

Because this experience is so vast, it is almost more difficult not to have it than to have it. Yet most people still manage to not have it–even though half the world is yearning for it. That is because half the world does not understand that it is yearning for that which it already has.

For instance, peace.

The world’s people yearn for peace, yet they do not experience it, nor do they demonstrate it. That is because they do not understand that they are peace. And in denying that which they intrinsically are, they deny themselves the experience of it.

This is what I meant when I said, just a bit ago, that the Holy Experience is being, and the experience of being what you are being.

To give you an example of what this means, or of how this could “show up” in real life, I can remember my father raising his voice at me in frustration when I was in high school because of the poor grades I kept bringing home.

“You’re smarter than this,” he would say, waving my report card at me. He was right. It was one thing for me to “be” smart (I was), but quite another for me to be being smart in my daily life–that is, to be acting like that. I was not demonstrating what I was, I was not demonstrating what my father knew me to be. I was IT, but I was not being IT.

To be, or not to be…that is the question.

Similarly, it is one thing to have everything in life, but if you are “having none of it” (that is, if you do not believe that you have it, or cannot acknowledge that you have it, or do not appreciate that you have it), then you may as well not have it at all.

You will not experience having it because you are not willing to “have” what you have. You are not willing to hold what you have been given.

That is why the marriage vow says “to have and to hold.” You can have something, but if you do not hold it, it is just the same as not having it at all.

It is as if someone had given you a great gift, but you dropped it the moment you got your hands on it. You let go of it. You still have it. It is still in your possession. The person who gave it to you has long since disappeared. But you will not pick it up and hold it. And so it lies there at your feet, as useless as if you did not have it at all.

I cannot tell you how many people I have seen ignoring their talents in exactly this way. They have been given great gifts, but they will not pick them up, they will not use them.

And so the Holy Experience is knowing that you know, being what you are being, and having what you have. It is a large experience. It is a huge experience. It is the experience of who you are, writ large.

P.S. The thoughts above come from The Holy Experience, a full-length book that you may download for free at www.nealedonaldwalsch.com. Simply click on the Free Resources icon.

Dear Neale….I do not know my “purpose” in life, and it is driving me crazy. What am I “supposed” to be doing here? What is the point of all this? I’ve been trying to figure this out since I was 21. Now I’m 36 and am no closer than I was before. I mean, I know it can’t just be about “work” (I have a pretty decent job), so what is it about?

Thanks for giving me your (and CWG’s) “take” on this…Love, Janette G.

Well, my friend, your question could not have come at a better time–although I would like you to know that I receive this exact question probably three or four times a month in some form or another.

Everyone wants to know the answers to the fundamental questions of life. Who are we? Where are we? What is this place in which we find ourselves? Why are we here? What is the purpose of this entire adventure? Is there a God? If there is, what do we owe God in thanks for our existence? What happens after we die? What does what we are doing during our life have to do with what happens after we die… if anything?

There’s not enough space in this Weekly Bulletin for me to answer all those questions here. In truth, that is why I have written 27 books. If you have time, I would strongly urge you to read at least the nine of those books that make up the Conversations with God cosmology.

As well, you may wish to take note of the information just below this Letters to the Editor section, which talks about the special seven-day program that I offer once a year, focused on this precise dilemma.

Having said all of that, let me see if I can provide at least a short answer to your very big question…

Conversations with God says that the purpose of life is to re-create yourself anew in the grandest version of the greatest vision ever you held about Who You Are. Every aspect of life is a manifestation of Divinity, demonstrating its identity in a particular form. This is what you, as a human being, are. You are a manifestation of Divinity. It is your desire to express and experience your True Identity. You are using your physical life as a way and a means with which to do that.

The secret is to know and to understand that what you are doing has very little direct connection with this purpose. The “doingness” of your life is simply a tool with which to achieve a state of “beingness.” It is “beingness” that your soul is after.

The term “beingness” refers to a state of being. For instance, right now you are perhaps “being” happy. Or, you could be “being” tired. Or bored. Or excited. There are as many individuated states of being as there are hairs on your head. Some of them are states that you would call “positive,” and some of them are states that you would call “negative.” You are using this lifetime to achieve, to express, and to experience the highest state of being of all: God Itself.

You are using your life occupation, as well as every other aspect of your experience here on earth, as the tools with which you seek to fashion this Divine expression. And so, in a sense, it really doesn’t matter what you “do” for a living. What matters is how you are in the doing of it.

The trick is to translate what I would call “are-ness” into “doingness.” That is, to find a work in the world that demonstrates and expresses the highest state of Who You Are.

That is what we teach in the spiritual renewal retreat that I present once a year. I’ve also written a little booklet on this subject called Bringers of the Light. It explains one way to achieve what I call Right Livelihood.

For now I can offer you this shorthand hint: how do you feel when you go to work? How do you feel when you come home? Do you feel excited when you leave the house for your job? Do you feel fulfilled and deeply grateful for what you are being allowed to do when you leave your workplace and head back to your living space?

Remember, feelings are the language of the soul. You will know if you are engaged in Right Likelihood if you look at how you are feeling about your present job, and the way you are living your life. If you’re not feeling good about it, stop doing it. Find something else to do. Find something that ignites your soul. You will know exactly how that feels when it happens.

I know that you will say, “But how can I make a living doing that?” To which I would reply: i>Seek to make a life rather than a living.

I hope this is a help. The subject is very large. Read the CWG series in its completion. Also try Neale Donald Walsch’s Little Book of Life. It has lots of helpful hints. And do check out the little announcement below.

Finally, check out the newest CWG book, The Storm Before the Calm. It contains a deep explanation of the greatest secret of all: most people are “after” the wrong stuff!

What most people are wanting in their life is not what spiritual masters want or seek. Most people are looking for safety, security, peace, prosperity, opportunity, health, love, and happiness. The human race collectively has been seeking these things for thousands and thousands of years. And yet, as involved as we imagine ourselves to be, we have been singularly unable to achieve these goals. Is it possible that there is something we do not fully understand, the understanding of which would change everything? Of course it is. Yet all of that, too, is far too much to get into in a short Weekly Bulletin. May I humbly suggest that you find the latest CWG book, The Storm Before the Calm, and read it from cover to cover? There you will find a far more detailed answer to your question.

I fear that this all may be starting to sound like nothing more than a big “commercial” for my workshops and books. I hope you don’t think this is my intention. It is simply that this is, as I have noted, a very large question, and I have had to create large formats in which to provide the fullest answer. Thanks for understanding.

Sending Love and light,

Neale.