Conversations With Myself

Search For Conversations With Myself at Amazon

I do not forget the year 2001 like it was yesterday. I was receiving answers from God each day in my writings, answers that were so profound, they were altering my life. My basi book had already been written ‘through’ me from God. It felt precisely like taking dictation.

I was petrified to tell persons that I was receiving answers from God because I thought they would have put me in an insane asylum. I had never heard of a humane being in our current times who was receiving answers from God. I employed to walk around my house saying to myself, “I must be insane. I’m in all probability just a harmless psychopath. How may I tell this to anyone? They’ll think I’m crazy.”

Then, a relative whom I had confided in suggested that I get a book that I had never heard of, by an author whom I had never heard of. The book was Conversations With God, Book 1, and the author was Neale Donald Walsch.

I sat and read that book with my mouth dropped open in sheer shock. The words, the tone, numerous of the messages in that book, and the identical routine that Neale described in his basi book in regards to receiving answers from God in writing was identical to my own.

I without delay phoned Neale’s office and spoke with a woman named Nancy. I had to ask her if Neale also went through the same fears that I did. She assured me that he, in fact, did. She snail mailed me a sheet of paper with inspirational quotes, and hand wrote a message at the top to keep going. I was more thankful than I may describe for this.

Finally, I had ran into another humane being whose procedure was identical to mine. I felt the deepest relief, because I realized that day that I wasn’t insane after all.

I was still petrified of exposing this to other people, in fear of being viewed as a good deal of kind of New Age fruitcake. However, God helped me dissolve the fears in my writings in regards to letting people know the truth. A person who was very dear to me in my life had said, “People aren’t observing Neale as a New Age Fruitcake, why would they with you?” That was the clincher! My fear was transformed into a smile filled with relief.

So I started out to fetch through more books, messages and help for persons that all flowed into my mind when I asked God for the data and answers that were needed.

There were a lot of times when I was going through a lot of difficulty. The books that were all written through me from God were the books I necessitated to read the most. They helped me more than I may describe.

Then one night while I was lying down in bed, just when it comes to to fall asleep, God’s words came into my mind. They were, “Barbara, your next book title is If God Hears Me, I Want an Answer!” I thought to myself, “Wow, that’s a great title.” Then, I brought through the book by taking dictation as God’s words flowed into my mind.

What was astounding to me was that Neale’s initial book, Conversations With God was being made into a movie, directed and formulated by Stephen Simon while I was bringing through If God Hears Me, I Want an Answer! I felt that there was something more to this coincidence than I was competent to figure out. I was exceedingly consecrated to helping Stephen Simon disseminate the word with regards to Spiritual Cinema Circle when it original began. I felt that bringing humans spiritual movies that answer the big questions in life was so needed. I promoted it with a pure heart to every one I knew, just because it felt good to disseminate the word.

When I sent Stephen chapters of my book, I received one of the biggest gifts from him, and that was an endorsement for it. I felt like a kid on Christmas morning who just received in regards to a thousand presents. Because of the connection with Conversations With God, and the Stephen Simon’s pure motivatings in co-founding Spiritual Cinema Circle, his endorsement went on the front cover.

Now, the movie Conversations With God is being released, and after observing the trailer, I had chills the whole time, and got chocked up. It all came full circle, and it’s all going to aid humanity know that any person in truth may receive answers from God. They only need a deep desire for those answers and ask with a pure heart.

To watch this all unfold is an awful experience. It almost feels like a real life movie. And yet, I know this is actually just the beginning. It’s like a spiral that will disseminate and disseminate in the most positive manner to all of humanity.

What is so terrifi with regards to this whole experience is that it may have come full circle, but now I recognise it will never end.

Nelson Mandela is widely considered to be one of the most inspiring and iconic figures of our age. Now, after a lifetime of taking pen to paper to record thoughts and events, hardships and victories, he has bestowed his entire extant personal papers, which offer an unexampled clear or deep perception into his remarkable life.

A singular international publishing event, Conversations with Myself draws on Mandela’s personal archive of never-before-seen materials to offer distinguishable access to the private world of an incomparable world leader. Journals kept on the run for the duration of the anti-apartheid struggle of the early 1960s; diaries and draft letters written in Robben Island and other South African prisons for the duration of his twenty-seven years of incarceration; notebooks from the postapartheid transition; private recorded conversations; speeches and communication exchange written for the duration of his presidency—a historic collection of documents archived at the Nelson Mandela Foundation is brought together into a sweeping narrative of great immediacy and stunning power. An intimate traveling from Mandela’s initial stirrings of political knowingness to his galvanizing role on the world stage, Conversations with Myself illuminates a heroic life forged on the front lines of the struggle for freedom and justice.

While other books have recounted Mandela’s life from the vantage of the present, Conversations with Myself allows, for the primary time, unhindered clear or deep perception into the humane side of the icon.

From Publishers WeeklyThe South African statesman and former political prisoner bares his mind and soul in this inspiring collection of writings and interviews. Culled from Mandela’s letters, notebooks, taped conversations, prison diaries, calendars, and an not finished autobiography, the material includes reminiscences of the antiapartheid movement, lessons in revolutionary theory gleaned from his guerrilla training, vignettes of prison life, seething protests to authorities, tender missives to loved ones, canny political strategizing and quiet philosophical reflections. The entries recall moments of high drama, days of dreary procedure and interludes of random strangeness, including a prison screening of Revenge of the Nerds. Mandela registers his anger at the humiliations and hardships enforced on him by apartheid, and his anguish over his long separation from his family (officials even refused his requests to attend his mother’s and son’s funerals). But what comes through most strongly is his steadfast resolve–”the noesis that in your day you did your responsibility and lived up to the expected values of your fellow man is in itself a reward”–and a shrewd, ebullient humanity that finds and embraces the good even in his prison guards. The result is a moving account of Mandela’s struggle and a testament to his triumph. Photos. (Oct.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

From BooklistHe has been called the most widely known and esteemed person in the world. Certainly for 27 years he was the most widely known and esteemed prisoner until his release in 1990 and then his election in 1994 as the firstborn president of a democratic South Africa. He was welcomed by the pope, the queen, and world leaders everywhere. But even with the shelves of books by and in regards to him, this volume of personal papers, published global in 21 editions and languages, adds much that has never been said before in regards to Nelson Mandela, including diary entries from his time in the underground, argues when it comes to passive resistance and guerrilla warfare, letters from prison, and recorded reminiscences with former fellow prisoners. Mandela knew that his letters, even those to his young daughters, might not get past the prison censors, so he kept copies in a diary that was always with him. Now official archivists have arranged this material chronologically, including a good deal of facsimiles in Mandela’s own handwriting. Yes, readers will skip a great deal of of the bits and pieces, but not much. He is as eloquent with regards to the personal, such as his two-year “honeymoon” with his wife, Winnie (“We held warning each other we were living on borrowed time”), as he is with regards to the universal (his letter from Robben Island to the authorities regarding the rights of prisoners). Sure to spark debate is Mandela’s answer to the famous criticism that he injure his family to support the nation: he had to do it because “hundreds, millions, in our country are suffering.” With a foreword by Barack Obama, this perceptive volume includes a time line, map, and elaborate notes on affiliated people, places, and events. –Hazel Rochman

Review

“What emerges from these extraordinary fragments is a sort of scrapbook that offers a rare portrait of the real man behind the legend and visionary leader … John Kani, whose voice and deliverance is uncannily close to Mandela’s own, reads, making this Mandela mosaic come alive.” – BookPage

“…Kani reads with accented English that sounds similar to Mandela’s own voice (heard in bonus interviews). Kani efficaciously makes transcribed consultations seem spontaneous as he appropriately interjects pauses and inflections…Choral and instrumental music from the Soweto region distinguished sections” –Booklist

“…the writings disclose a man thinking himself into the great statesman he became. His intellect, humor, and drive shine from his words.” – AudioFile

Most helpful customer reviews

49 of 49 people found the following review helpful.
Mandela The Man
By Cory Geurts
“Conversations With Myself” is a unique book. It is an intuitively organized compilation of excerpts from the notebooks and diaries Mandela kept while imprisoned for 27 years, personal files, correspondence, presidential speeches, interview transcripts, and the unpublished sequel to his autobiography. It is a snapshot in time, beginning before his incarceration in 1963 and ending after the post-apartheid transition period of the 1990′s.

The intimacy provided by these most personal of documents is truly special. Readers will connect with Mandela not only on an intellectual basis but also on a deeply emotional level. This is Mandela the prisoner, the parent, the husband, and the president.

It is important to keep in mind that this book is an archive. It may seem somewhat disjointed if compared to narrative books. There are some draft letters, incomplete outlines, thought fragments, and journal snippets. This is the nature of an archive, and though it is well-edited, this book may take some getting used to.

Instead of one or two sections of photos in the middle of the book, readers will find copies of some of the actual source documents, mostly written in Mandela’s own hand, every few pages. Several useful appendices are included: a timeline, maps, a list of abbreviations, and list of “People, Places, and Events” which I found to be indispensable.

The publisher, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, offers a brief reading group guide on their website at fsgbooks (dot com). Even readers who are unable to participate in a group discussion like myself are likely to find this resource to be quite helpful.

“Conversations With Myself” is the perfect companion volume to Mandela’s critically-acclaimed 1994 autobiography, “Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela : With Connections (HRW Library)” Those studying Mandela may want to start with “Long Walk To Freedom” since it begins with his childhood and covers his life up until the time he became president.

For casual readers, no prerequisite reading is necessary to enjoy this book. This is a story born out of confinement but never lonely; a tale of some sorrow but not despair; a message not of apathy but of hope. Mandela’s amazing resiliency is one of the constant factors in this story.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful.
“Nelson Mandela Declares He Is No Saint”.
By M. Mariba
This is a rather very interesting & personal book, composed of Nelson Mandela’s vast archive material in the form of letters, papers, conversations, interviews & speeches/recordings he made/written while in Robben Island as a prisoner, after his release from prison & when he was the first democratic elected President of South Africa and the book is titled “Conversations With Myself”. It has been put together by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, dedicated to his grand-daughter who died in a car accident in June this year during Fifa Soccer World Cup 2010 & is foreworded by President Barack Obama.

The book outlines Nelson Mandela’s views among others on leadership & as well as his fallability as a human being : he was quite ‘anxious/uncomfortable’ while in Robben Island that he was being regarded/portrayed as a Saint by some followers/quarters. He does not however regard himself as a Saint even though his definition of a “Saint is a sinner who keeps on trying/repenting”!

This book is an excellent read because of a diversity of material contained : it’s not like a story with a plot or narrative thread. Thus this book can be studied in bits/chunks as you wish with ease without loosing ‘the flow’ of the book. Some of his letters/speeches reflected/presented in this book are in Nelson Mandela’s own handwriting, making this book rather very personal & special (collectable). This book, “Nelson Mandela : Conversations With Myself”, is a highly recommended reading from one of the most famous prisoners in the world, known for his fight for human rights (Nobel Peace Prize Winner), reconciliation & a humble personality (and hence his declaration as no Saint).

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful.
Different but well put together
By Wayne Chan
I have never read an autobiography before but is not one.It is put together by notes he made,letters he wrote and interviews.From all these bits and pieces there is a great flow and easy to read.It brings to the reader his great thoughts and views on specific events that happened to him during his life.

If you cant meet the man,see the man or get close to the man this is an alternative to get a chance to reach out to him though this book of personal letters and notes.

I recommend this to anyone to sit back and change from the trash that is pumped out from authors every day and think and feel what this great man is feeling.

See all 15 customer reviews…