(This weblog creates, for us all, a chance to meet at the interaction of Life and the New Spirituality. It is written by the author of Conversations with God, the worldwide best-selling series of books. The “New Spirituality” is defined by the author as “a new way to experience and express our natural impulse toward the Divine without making others wrong for the way in which they are doing it.”)

HIGHLIGHTS OF TODAY’S BLOG…
* Have we missed the point?
* The opportunity of Katrina
* Pulling out the best of a tragic situation
* And now, the fires in Greece

Every moment is a spiritual moment. Every event is a spiritual event. All of life is in the hands of God, fashioned BY God to bring each of us a golden opportunity to do exactly what we came here to do.
We would not see this, of course, unless we knew what we came here to do. We would have to be clear about that, because it is our clarity that places the events of life into a context that begins to make sense.
This week marks the anniversary of Katrina, one of the worst natural disasters ever to befall the United States of America — if not the worst. And on this very day fires continue to rage across the land in Greece. Now if you believe in a God, and in a God who has a hand in all things and not one who simply sits back and watches life “happen,” then you have to ask yourself, What was God’s plan in all this? What is the invitation here?
There IS an invitation, of course. There is a spiritual invitation in every moment. Each nonno-second of life invites us to explore the Only Question There Is. Who Am I? And who are We, as a species?
Life is a process that informs life about life through the process of Life Itself. We are in the business of telling ourselves about ourselves by being ourselves in every moment of Now. We are also in the process of deciding who we are next going to be. The decisions we make today create the “we” that we are tomorrow. So life is a constant process of creation and recreation of the Self.
Now, to the central question today: What did God have in mind when God created (allowed?) Katrina? And the fires of Greece?

Before we can answer that question clearly, we must have a clear idea of who this “God” IS that we are talking about. Is this “God” a super-duper Being in the Sky, an all-powerful Being who stands apart from us and who bestows upon us the events and experiences of our lives — both good and bad? Is it a Separate God, who looks to see how we are managing things, how we are doing with what God has given us, and who, if we respond one way, rewards us, or, if we respond in another way, punishes us?
Or is this God the Essential Element of the Universe, an Essence that lives inside of each of us, AS us, forever united and One with us? An Essence that would and could never judge us or punish us for anything, because what WE do, IT is doing?
The basic question that all this breaks down to is: Can human beings do anything that God does not want? Is it possible for human beings to act independent of God?
In my own view, shaped by the Conversations with God experience that now informs my life, God and we are One. We are — all things in existence are — individuations of Divinity. We are God, “godding.” We are That Which Is Divine, in the act of demonstrating that.

If this is so, then the question of What God Wants with regard to the events of our lives, the question of What was God’s ‘Plan’ in creating Katrina, comes down squarely on OUR shoulders. It begins to look like: Why did WE ‘create’ Katrina? And what do WE choose now to extract from this experience, as we move through the process of our own evolution as a species and as aspects of Divinity?
There is no question that “we” created Katrina. I already spoke to this point last week when we explored in this space this season’s first major storm, Hurricane Dean. We created the conditions that produced the outcome called Katrina, and we did so over a period of many earth-years, not knowing (at a conscious level) what we were doing. That is how most things get created in our lives. Unconsciously. Years in advance. Little by little. Tiny step by tiny step. Until all the pieces are in place, and the outcome begins to emerge.
Smoking is like that. Each time smokers pick up a cigarette they are creating, one puff by one puff, the outcome that awaits them. Johnny Carson, that wonderful entertainer, was reported to have said as he was suffering prior to his very unpleasant and sadly premature death… “Those damned cigarettes.”
We have been collectively doing the same thing here, creating the perfect conditions for the Global Warming effect, even while (to this day) denying that we are having anything to do with it — or, in the case of some people — that it is even happening!
So perhaps the question of “why” we created Katrina is too long-range to address, since so many of us have been responsible for it through our actions over so long a period of time. But there is a question that is not too big to explore: What do we now want to create as a result of our earlier creation of Katrina? What shall be the aftermath of all this? Who are we now, as a species, and who do we wish to be, given the invitation that Katrina has sent us?
And, even more immediately, what about the fires in Greece? What possible plan can there be? What possible positive effect can this event produce?
I received a letter today by e-mail from a worldwide leader of Humanity’s Team, a friend of mine named Dimitra, who lives in Greece. I know this makes today’s entry a pretty long blog, but I should like to share, with her permission, our exchange today…
My dear friends…
The pain I feel at this moment cannot be described.
Our beautiful country is on fire almost all over. We are facing a biblical catastrophe.
The fires are almost certainly man made as if there is a plan for the country to go out of the map.
As the old fires calm down after they have burned out new are breaking up every hour and in all parts of the country at all hours of day and night.
The situation is worse in Peloponnesus the southern part of the mainland where almost 40 % is under fire . Ancient Olympia is now burning. How can we ever recapture something like this ?
The village where my mother was born which is on Peloponese mountains is burned as well as the area for hundreds of miles around it .It was filled and surrounded by trees and now there is not a green leaf left. My house there is not burned but I would prefer it if this was gone and not the place.
I honestly would have preferred to have gone myself if I could exchange my life for this catastrophe
It is very difficult to keep myself together. To find an answer to the question why? Why have we created this? What is the good that can come out of this and what is the use for it if there will be no living ground to apply it? And if still there is no living ground left here, what is the good for the humanity at large?
How can I see those putting the fires as the sister souls co- creating conditions that support our evolution ?
It is so hard to face something that is man made and you cannot possibly understand why? It is like war only that you don’t know the enemy to fight. It is worse than a natural catastrophe like an earthquake or a flood because there is not space to breathe left .
What can we do? Please pray or help us in any way you can imagine. My heart can feel nothing but pain now.
Your pal,
Dimitra
My Dear Dimitra…
I realize today that nothing that I can say — no number of condolences, no words of sympathy or support — can begin to be adequate in the face of the catastrophe that has befallen your beautiful country. You have asked, why? Why has this happened? And what good can come from this disaster, which many believe almost certainly is man-made?
When I move into my interior for answers to these questions I am reminded that from the earliest days of human civilization it has been your country and its people who have opened the door of greater understanding and led the way to humanity’s highest achievements.
Greeks have also led the struggle for human freedoms and tolerance and fairness and for what is philosophically of highest regard and import. It is fair to say, from the standpoint of history, that your country has, from ancient times, provided the moral compass for an entire species.
Greeks have also endured untold suffering through the centuries and millennia. Its cities have been burned before. It’s countryside has been scourged, its people have been ravaged by man-made catastrophe more than once. Yet always it has survived, always it has rebuilt itself, always it has refused to abandon its philosophical and moral leadership in a world which is begging for such guidance and clarity.
In the end, it is the Greeks — Greek bravery and courage, Greek insight and understanding, Greek determination and steadfastness — which has more than once saved humanity itself, both actually and symbolically.
From its earliest contributions of thought and moral conviction, to its ingenious and never-ending creativity in philosophy, art, culture, education, and governance, it is the Greeks who have taught us, and who have shown us the best of what it means to be human. From the alphabet itself that we use to this very day, to virtually every other stepping stone that has been laid on our path, it is Greece which has paved the way. In your beautiful country was born humanity’s first knowledge explosion.
Virtually everything we understand today about economics, sociology, psychology and especially ethical philosophy, is based on Greek wisdom and Greek insight. In Greece was born the first philosopher and the very first scientist. And to this day in Greece is born the spirit of independence and freedom and expansiveness of thought that marks a truly advanced civilization.
Of course, Dimitra, I know that you are aware of all this. But you have asked, why is this latest disaster occurring? What is happening here? And I want you to know that I am clear that if humanity is ever to even hope to be “awakened” to the downfall of our species…if the human race around the globe is ever to hope to be encouraged to stop the damage that we are inflicting upon ourselves…it will be — as it has always been — the Greeks whose suffering and whose modeling of human greatness in the face of tragedy will create a way for us to see that we can yet accomplish our entire planet’s salvation.
For as Greece goes, so goes the world.
You have asked, Why has this latest catastrophe happened? Because once again the Greek gods have called upon a noble and courageous people to use Greek tragedy to boldly declare, and it has declared before…”We shall not have this be the end, but only the beginning, of our greatest day.”
Dimitra, like the phoenix rising from the ashes, Greece will once again show the world how to emerge from a darkest hour into the light of its native brilliance, giving dawn to a new day for all of humanity — even as Greeks have done for centuries and millennia.
This current event will mark the day that humanity, shaken to its core once again by Greek tragedy, will begin its awakening, say “no more” to terrorism — and to the terror of its humanity’s unhealed heart. All of this will not occur within a few days, nor within weeks or months. But the new play has begun. In the tradition of the land in which the Olympics were born, Greeks say once again, “Let the Games begin!”
This “game” is called the Human Race — and Greece once more will lead us to victory over all that is not noble and good.
I love you, Dimitra. And I am inspired by your courage on this day.
Neale.