IX

The doors to most of the workshops opened about a half hour before the session was to start. I made sure I got to Neale's meeting about 40 minutes prior to ensure a good seat. My excitement was growing. A small group of us were led into the room at just after 2. A few seats had been reserved, but thankfully, I was able to get a front row seat which was just a few feet from where Neale would be speaking. There was a vase of flowers sitting right next to the microphone. The lady sitting next to me said that she had just seen this dude named Alberto Villoldo. She said they had done some past-life exercises. Fascinating, I thought. I missed seeing Many Lives, Many Masters author Brian Weiss the year before when plans for my wife and I to attend Celebrate 07 fell through. About 15 minutes before go time, a guy went up to the podium and removed the flowers. Interesting, I thought.

Shortly before 2:30, Neale entered the room with a female technician and a lady dressed in Hindu-type clothes that looked quite a lot like Alanis Morrisette. I overheard the tech say that she was sorry there had been flowers there. Neale said, "Yes, I am allergic to them". At 2:30, he introduced the lady who entered the room with him a few minutes prior as m. Claire. She did a short poetry reading and then it was time to hear from the man.

Many people in the audience weren't too familiar with him, so were quite surprised at his incredible sense of humor. He was very soft-spoken wearing a blue shirt and dark jeans. He mentioned that we're "making it all up", everything in life; that the world is an illusion as expressed in Michael Talbot's book, The Holographic Universe. He discussed being happy even if gas is $5 a gallon, to be happy even when outer circumstances aren't to our liking; that's it's much easier to change our own perspective than to try to change others.

He also brought up some experiences from his past such as the time when as a young child, he accidently ate meat on Friday (he was an altar boy at the time and very serious about his faith). He told his mother about it and she said, "I'm sure God will understand". Then Neale said, "What she should have told me was that God doesn't care". He did a short meditation with us as the workshop came to a close. Many had tears in their eyes when they opened them again. We were all moved by the message of unconditional love that Neale had given us that bright summer afternoon. As the meeting concluded, a tech told us that Neale would be signing books out in the main lobby. I took the following pic of Neale and m. Claire as he was visiting with people after the workshop: