【如何終止用不適當的人在養育子女的惡性循環？】
你們年輕的時候並不是要去教導真相(truth-teaching)，而是要去收集真相(truth-gathering)。你如何能在你還沒有收集到真相時，去教導孩子呢？
你當然沒有辦法。因此你們也就只能把別人教你們的真相——來自你們父親的、母親的、社會的、宗教的——去教導孩子。任何事情、所有事情的真相，只是沒有你自己的。因為你們自己還在找尋那些真相。
而你們會一直找尋，一直實驗，一直發現，一直失敗，形成又再形成「你們的真相(your truth 你們認為的真理)和你們對自己的看法」，直到你們在這星球上有半個世紀，或近半個世紀的體驗。然後，你們才終於開始在自己的真相中安定下來，並妥協於你的真相(begin at last to settle down, and settle in, with your truth)。
養育後代應該是長者做的事——而他們也有意於如此。懂得人生與真相的是長者。他們懂得什麼是重要的，什麼是不重要的。他們知道什麼是正直、誠實、忠誠、友誼與愛真正的意義。
尼爾：我明白你在此一直指出的重點。那不容易接受，我們有許多人真的只在有了自己的孩子以後，自己才開始剛剛從「孩子」變成「學生」，而覺得我們必須開始教孩子。所以我們就想，那好吧，就用我們父母教我們的教孩子吧。
於是，父親的罪就會落到兒子身上，甚至要落到第七代。(Thus, the sins of the father are visited upon the son, even unto the seventh generation.)
尼爾：我們能如何改變它？如何才能終止這迴圈(惡性循環)？
把養育孩子的工作交給可敬的長者們。父母可在任何想看孩子的時候去看他們，選擇去跟孩子住在一起，但不是獨自負起養育和照顧孩子的責任。孩子們在生理、社會和心靈方面的需求，是由整個社區供應，以社區長者提供教育和價值觀的方式在運作。
在我們這對話後面談論宇宙中的其他文明時，我們會來談一些新的生活模式(new models for living)。但那些模式在你們目前所建構的生活方式裡，尚無法運作。
尼爾：你的意思是…？
我的意思是，你們不僅是以一種無效的方式在做養育子女的工作，你們的整個生活方式都是如此(not just parenting you are doing with an ineffective model, but your whole way of living)。
摘自《與神對話III》第1章
Your younger years were never meant to be for truth- teaching, but for truth-gathering. How can you teach children a truth you haven’t yet gathered?
You can’t, of course. So you’ll wind up telling them the only truth you know—the truth of others. Your father’s, your mother’s, your culture’s, your religion’s.
Anything, everything, but your own truth. You are still searching for that.
And you will be searching, and experimenting, and finding, and failing, and forming and reforming your truth, your idea about yourself, until you are half a century on this planet, or near to it.Then, you may begin at last to settle down, and settle in, with your truth.
It is the elders who should raise the offspring—and who were intended to.
It is the elders who know of truth, and life. Of what is important and what is not. Of what is really meant by such terms as integrity, honesty, loyalty, friendship, and love.
Neale: I see the point You have been making here. It is difficult to accept, but many of us have barely moved from “child” to “student” when we have children of our own, and feel we have to start teaching them. So we figure, well, I’ll teach them what my parents taught me.
Thus, the sins of the father are visited upon the son, even unto the seventh generation.
Neale: How can we change that? How can we end the cycle?
Place the raising of children in the hands of your respected Old Ones. Parents see the children whenever they wish, live with them if they choose, but are not solely responsible for their care and upbringing. The physical, social, and spiritual needs of the children are met by the entire community, with education and values offered by the elders.
Later in our dialogue, when we talk about those other cultures in the universe, we’ll look at some new models for living. But these models won’t work the way you’ve currently structured your lives.
Neale: What do You mean?
I mean it’s not just parenting you’re doing with an ineffective model, but your whole way of living.
