Should it cost a fortune to hear from God? Should a person have to pay hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars to listen to God’s message? Of course not.
Recently I received a letter from a person who wanted to know why I present, every year, a spiritual retreat “at sea,” on a cruise ship. Part of her letter said…
“If you are a spiritual messenger, as you claim to be, why do people have to pay two thousand dollars or more to hear you share God’s message on a cruise ship to Alaska? I think God’s message should be free, and I think you’ve just found a way to make money off of ‘God’. Please explain this to me.”
That’s a fair question. That’s a very fair and reasonable inquiry. And I’m happy to answer it.
First, let me comment on your statement, “If you are a spiritual messenger, as you claim to be…”
It is my “claim” that we are ALL “spiritual messengers.” Every one of us. Our message is our life, lived. Every moment of every day we send a message to all those around us (not the least of whom are our children), telling them everything that we think about life and how it is, God and who that is, us and who we are.
Conversations with God says that “Life informs Life about Life through the process of Life Itself.” When I say that I am a spiritual messenger, I mean it in exactly that context. I do not mean to assert or imply that I, above all others, am some sort of special envoy from God. So I would just like to get clear on that, because I don’t want anyone to get the wrong impression about what I think of myself. I am just a regular person, and I have had an experience that everyone is having all the time. I call that experience my “conversation with God,” and it is my awareness that God is speaking to every single person every single moment–and all we have to do to hear that Voice is…listen.
Okay, so having said that, let’s discuss this business of people “paying” to hear God’s message…and other people “making money off of God.”
You must all surely know that there are publishing companies that publish the Bible. These companies make money doing that. That is, they make a profit. Is this ‘wrong’? I don’t believe so. Unless we consider that money itself is somehow tainted or tarnished; that it is somehow ‘bad’ and ‘not okay’. If we consider that money is another form of life’s goodness and life’s reward, just like any other good part of life, then we see clearly that there is nothing ‘wrong’ with money coming to us if we do any good thing.
Ministers, preachers, and rabbis receive salaries. And, of course, rightly they should. Many members of the clergy, of all faiths, have written books. Many have received royalties from these books. And rightly they should.
I think it would do us well to rid ourselves of the notion that God Loves Poverty, or that ‘God’ and ‘Money’ exist in juxtaposition to each other. The idea that to receive income from doing ‘God’s work’ or carrying ‘God’s message’ into the world is ‘against the rules’ and somehow besmirches the effort is a sad thought that has nothing to do with spiritual truth or sacred reality.
But now, let me tell you why I spend a week on a cruise ship every year, and why I invite people to come along with me if they wish…

I take a cruise to Alaska each year as my personal vacation.
One month spent with me would make it very clear to you that I work 12 hours a day, seven days a week. I am always writing, writing, writing. And when I am not writing, I am presenting, presenting, presenting. Or doing a media interview.
Now I am not complaining about this. I love this. This is the life I have chosen…because I AM excited about sharing the message of Conversations with God.
BUT…since I am working all the time–and don’t choose to stop — there is only one way that I can get anything close to a vacation…and that is to vacation and play while I am working!
A week aboard a cruise ship is one great way to do this.
Sooo…each year I schedule just that! (I love the Alaska cruise because I love that part of our world. It’s exciting and spectacular and I can’t get to see if too often, There’s always something new to experience.) I have so much fun on that cruise! And when I come back, I feel rested and wonderful!
Now, I could just take the cruise alone, and not work at all…but for me part of the fun of being on the ship is being surrounded by friends, new and old, who love the CwG material as much as I do and just enjoy the heck out of exploring it more deeply, talking about it for hours, looking at it from every angle, and seeing how it can be more impactfully applied to our daily lives.
SO…each year I extend an open invitation to anyone who would like to join me on the cruise to do so. It’s just that simple. Want to vacation in Alaska with Neale and talk about CwG for a week? Good! Let’s do it! Sounds like a great time to ME!
And you know what? People show up! People just decide to go along and have some fun and experience some wonderful intellectual stimulation and some inspiring spiritual exploration and, by golly, every year we just have a fabulous time.
This cruise to Alaska also gives people a chance to spend personal time with me — more so than at any other event that I do all year long.
It’s always hard to find time to break away from what I am doing at a land-based retreat or workshop, because it’s usually packed into a shorter time, and every minute of every hour is scheduled…but on board this cruise ship free time is plentiful.
Retreat sessions are not crunched in, all in a day or two, but stretched out across seven glorious days at sea. All the days are enjoyable, with dancing and fun-filled entertainment in the Show Lounge and sing-alongs at the piano, or fun in the casino, or whatever you want to do — from bingo to swimming to massage. I mean, you name it…because those cruise ships are like cities on wheels.
The food is always terrific and the supply of it is unending, and we’ve not even mentioned the shore trips, which are always fabulous in Alaska. So people just have a good old fashioned wonderful time. (Some tell us at week’s end that it’s been the best vacation of their lives.)
AND…there is always a moment for me to sit down in the Game Rom or the Library or the Cafeteria for personal visits and quiet chats with those who are traveling with me. It’s almost impossible for me to have that kind of personal one-on-one time with people at any other event during the year.
Okay, so now you know why I schedule a cruise every year and invite people along! For me, it’s a wonderful working vacation!
(By the way…if you’d like to come along this summer on a journey through Alaska’s breathtaking Inner Passageway…just follow this link and you’ll have all the information you need to get on board for this fabulous “spiritual vacation”…
http://www.nealedonaldwalsch.com/cruise.cfm)
Having said all of this, you should know that I make sure that scholarships are available to people who request them at the land-based retreats and workshops that I present for the Conversation with God Foundation. Fully 20% of those seated at these events are attending on full scholarship. In addition, I make sure that the fee for participation in those programs is one third what is being asked for similar programs offered by other teachers and messengers. I check these other offerings on the Internet regularly, to make sure that we have stayed 66% lower in our costs. I want to make sure that anyone who truly desires to have a larger experience of this message from CwG can get to it easily.
Finally, I am writing an entire book on how to bring God into your life that I offer for free on the Internet. The book is titled The Holy Experience, and it is available for downloading at www.nealedonaldwalsch.com. As I said, there is no cost. This is a book in progress, and people are downloading it chapter by chapter as I am writing it!