We were let in a few minutes after 10. I noticed that members of the crew were taking all the plants that were placed near the podium into the corner of the room (most likely due to Neale's allergies). For the second day in a row, I ended up sitting next to the Alberto lady, but this time instead of being in the first row, we were in the second. Oh well. What can you do? I saved a seat for the misses while the room began to fill up. The lady from Ohio that I had talked to for a bit before Dannion's presentation was also nearby.
As it got closer to 10:30, my wife still hadn't shown. I figured she must've decided to wait in line for a signature from Mr. Z. People asked about the open seat, but I told them it was saved. Neale came out shortly before 10:30 accompanied once again by his life partner. A man up front presented him with a necklace. The man put it around Neale's neck. Neale then addressed the assembled by saying, "Let's set the tone" and music started playing. He mentioned how important it was to set the tone in all things that one does. He did something then that he said is not typical of his workshops. He went up to a number of people and touched them in a healing way. This brought many smiles.
Neale headed to the back of the room and greeted a few people there. It was then that my beloved entered the room. It was quite a sight to see Neale heading back up to the front of the room with my girl right behind her. Two of my very favorite people in the world walking one after the other (I met my wife in '96 and was introduced to CWG in '97). My wife sat down and whispered that she had bought Zukav's newest book and had him sign it. I told her that was great, but to keep it down or the Christed one might smite us.
One of the first things Neale asked us was if we enjoyed Van Praagh's lecture the night before. Most all of us answered in the affirmative. He said he wanted to take issue with something Van Praagh had said the night before. Neale said he doesn't believe life is a school where we are meant to learn lessons. He said the reason we're here is to remember who we are and to experience ourselves as that.
Neale said he woke up that morning and felt that talking about Right Work and Relationship just wasn't gonna do the trick that day. He apologized to those who had been looking forward to that particular discussion, but said that he (or was it God?) had something else planned. He said that if any of us were gravely disappointed in him not discussing the planned topic, he'd be happy to allow us to go to one of his 1-day workshops at no cost. Course we'd still have to pay for transportation and lodging, but "such is life", he said.
I was a bit stunned when he said this would be the first workshop he'd ever given in which he would show how it is that he converses with God. He told us he gets that question all the time, so felt it was time for people to actually see it for themselves. He also said that by morning's end, we'd get to have our very own conversation with God. He then jokingly stated that this could be "our first time" and winked a bit at the crowd.
He next talked about all the ways that people don't believe in conversations with God. Some don't believe that God talks to people anymore. Some that he talks to some, but not all. Some that he wouldn't want to talk to them because they're not worthy, still others don't believe the answer they're getting is from God, and so on. He also said that some people disregard what they hear because it's not what they want to hear and some because it IS what they want to hear! He wanted to make it clear that God talks to everyone. It's only a case of who listens. He then stated, "What better time to talk to God than on Sunday morning".
Next he had everyone get out a piece of paper and pen and requested that we write down any question that we had for God, anything at all. I honestly couldn't think of anything, so had my wife pose a question for herself (later I realized I should've asked if there is such a thing as Bigfoot, but...too late now). This one guy near the back wasn't writing a question down for the Big Guy, so Neale gave him a little guff, saying, "Don't worry. It's just God we're talking about here". I think Neale guilted him into writing some kind of query.
Below is a pic of Neale from that morning's workshop:
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