Part 3 Introduction

This is an extraordinary book. I say that as someone who has had very little to do with writing it. All I did, really, was “show up,” ask a few questions, then take dictation.

That is all I have done since 1992, when this conversation with God began. It was in that year that, deeply depressed¹, I called out in anguish²: What does it take to make life work? And what have I done to deserve a life of such continuing struggle?

I wrote these questions out on a yellow legal pad, in an an-gry letter to God. To my shock and surprise, God answered. The reply came in the form of words whispered in my mind by a Voiceless Voice. I was fortunate enough to have written those words down.

I have done so now for over six years. And since I was told that this private dialogue would one day become a book, I sent the first batch³ of those words to a publisher late in 1994. They were on store shelves seven months later. At this writing that book has been on the New York Times bestseller list for 91 weeks.

The second installment⁴ in the dialogue became a bestseller as well, also making the Times list for multiple months. And now, here is the third and final portion of this extraordinary conversation.

This book took four years to write. It did not come easily. The gaps between the moments of inspiration were enormous, more than once stretching across half-a-year canyons⁵. The words in the first book were dictated⁶ over the course of one year. The second book came through in just a little over that much time. But this final segment has had to be written with me in the public spotlight⁷. Everywhere I’ve gone since 1996 all I’ve heard has been, “When’s Book 3 coming out?”, “Where’s Book 3?”, “When can we expect Book 3?”

You can imagine what this did to me, and what impact this had on the process of bringing it through. I might as well have been making love on the pitcher’s mound⁸ in Yankee Stadium.

Actually, that act would have afforded me more privacy. In the writing of Book 3, every time I picked up a pen I felt I had five million people watching, waiting, hanging on every word.

All of this is not to congratulate myself on completing this work, but rather, to simply explain why it has taken so long. My moments of mental, spiritual, and physical solitude⁹ have been, over these most recent years, very few and far between.

I began this book in the spring of 1994, and all of the early narrative¹⁰ was written in that time period. It then leaps across many months, ultimately jumping forward a full year, and fi-nally culminating with closing chapters written in the spring and summer of 1998.

On this much you can depend: this book was not forced out, by any means. The inspiration either came cleanly, or I simply put the pen down and refused to write—in one case for well over 14 months. I was determined¹¹ to produce no book at all, if it was to be a choice between that and a book I had to produce because I said I would. While this made my publisher a bit nerv-ous, it went a long way toward giving me confidence in what was coming through, however long it was taking. I present it now, with confidence, to you. This book sums up the teachings in the first two installments¹² of this trilogy. It then carries them forward to their logical, and breathtaking, conclusion.

If you’ve read the Foreword to either of the first two install-ments, you know that in each case I was a little bit apprehensive¹³. Scared, actually, of what the response to those writings might be. I am not scared now. I have no fear whatsoever¹⁴ about Book 3. I know that it will touch many of those who read it with its insight and its truth, its warmth and its love.

I believe this to be sacred spiritual material. I see now that this is true of the entire trilogy, and that these books will be read and studied for decades, even for generations. Perhaps, for centuries. Because, taken together, the trilogy covers an amazing range of topics, from how to make relationships work to the nature of ultimate reality and the cosmology of the uni-verse, and includes observations on life, death, romance, mar-riage, sex, parenting, health, education, economics, politics, spirituality and religion, life work and right livelihood¹⁵, physics, time, social mores¹⁶ and customs, the process of creation, our re-lationship with God, ecology, crime and punishment, life in

highly evolved societies of the cosmos¹⁷, right and wrong, cul-tural myths and cultural ethics¹⁸, the soul, soul partners, the na-ture of genuine love, and the way to glorious expression of the part of ourselves that knows Divinity as our natural heritage.

My prayer is that you will receive benefit from this work. Blessed be.

 

Neale Donald Walsch

September, 1998

1 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

2 anguish   

n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼

参考例句：

• She cried out for anguish at parting.分手时，她由于痛苦而失声大哭。
• The unspeakable anguish wrung his heart.难言的痛苦折磨着他的心。

3 batch   

n.一批(组，群)；一批生产量

参考例句：

• The first batch of cakes was burnt.第一炉蛋糕烤焦了。
• I have a batch of letters to answer.我有一批信要回复。

4 installment   

n.(instalment)分期付款；(连载的)一期

参考例句：

• I shall soon pay the last installment of my debt.不久我将偿付我的最后一期债款。
• He likes to buy things on the installment plan.他喜欢用分期付款法购买货物。

5 canyons   

n.峡谷( canyon的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This mountain range has many high peaks and deep canyons. 这条山脉有许多高峰和深谷。 来自辞典例句
• Do you use canyons or do we preserve them all? 是使用峡谷呢还是全封闭保存？ 来自互联网

6 dictated   

v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 )；口授；支配；摆布

参考例句：

• He dictated a letter to his secretary. 他向秘书口授信稿。
• No person of a strong character likes to be dictated to. 没有一个个性强的人愿受人使唤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

8 mound   

n.土墩，堤，小山；v.筑堤，用土堆防卫

参考例句：

• The explorers climbed a mound to survey the land around them.勘探者爬上土丘去勘测周围的土地。
• The mound can be used as our screen.这个土丘可做我们的掩蔽物。

9 solitude   

n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方

参考例句：

• People need a chance to reflect on spiritual matters in solitude. 人们需要独处的机会来反思精神上的事情。
• They searched for a place where they could live in solitude. 他们寻找一个可以过隐居生活的地方。

10 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

11 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

12 installments   

部分( installment的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The first two installments were pretty close together in 1980. 第一次和节二次提款隔得很近，都是在1980年提的。
• You have an installments sales contract. 你已经订立了一份分期付款的买卖契约了。

13 apprehensive   

adj.担心的，恐惧的，善于领会的

参考例句：

• She was deeply apprehensive about her future.她对未来感到非常担心。
• He was rather apprehensive of failure.他相当害怕失败。

14 whatsoever   

adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么

参考例句：

• There's no reason whatsoever to turn down this suggestion.没有任何理由拒绝这个建议。
• All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,do ye even so to them.你想别人对你怎样，你就怎样对人。

15 livelihood   

n.生计，谋生之道

参考例句：

• Appropriate arrangements will be made for their work and livelihood.他们的工作和生活会得到妥善安排。
• My father gained a bare livelihood of family by his own hands.父亲靠自己的双手勉强维持家计。

16 mores   

n.风俗，习惯，民德，道德观念

参考例句：

• The mores of that village are hard to believe.那村子的习俗让人难以置信。
• We advocate a harmonious society where corruption is swept away,and social mores are cleared.我们提倡弊绝风清，建设一个和谐社会。

17 cosmos   

n.宇宙；秩序，和谐

参考例句：

• Our world is but a small part of the cosmos.我们的世界仅仅是宇宙的一小部分而已。
• Is there any other intelligent life elsewhere in the cosmos?在宇宙的其他星球上还存在别的有智慧的生物吗？

18 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。