【「意識」擴展 → 「Being狀態」改變 → 「行為」改變】
人類到底該如何做，才能夠帶來真正——由內產生，而非因外在因素造成的暫時——的「改變」？
此篇，神提醒我們：從「做」的層面只能夠達到一時的改變，那並非真正的改變(true change)。雖然有許多人認為那是真的改變。在意識高度擴展下你會發覺：「行為」的改變是源自「Being狀態」的改變。這只是覺知的問題。
從了解這篇與其相關文章的內容開始，一旦你領會和覺知這些道理，此生你能體驗和創造的領域——增加了因為你能擴大觀察而能直接去being的狀態和領域——將大大地倍增擴展。而你的「意識覺知」也將隨之加速擴展，只要你願意讓自己跨出頭腦的領域，不再固守舊觀念。不妨讓我們靜心片刻，再次反芻這篇的內容：
【「意識」擴展 → 「Being狀態」改變 → 「行為」改變】
尼爾：…但是我們每砍一棵樹，就種兩棵。
沒錯。可是要它們長到像你們砍倒的老樹那麼壯大，而能產生出等量的氧氣的話，至少要等三百年。
地球的氧氣製造廠——你們稱為亞馬遜熱帶雨林的地方——平衡大氣的能力至少要兩三千年，才有辦法被你們種植的樹木取代。不是要來引發擔心。你們還在每年砍掉數萬英畝的森林，但不要擔心。
尼爾：為什麼？為什麼我們要做這種事？
因為你們要開墾土地來養牛，然後再殺來吃。養牛據說對雨林當地的人們提供了更多的收入。所以，做這種事的人便口口聲聲說是在讓土地更具生產力…
尼爾：天啊，這真是再明顯不過。明顯得讓人痛心。
這些地球上「顯而易見的摧殘破壞」還會更令人痛心，如果未來幾年你們所謂的優勢物種（人類）仍不醒悟的話。
尼爾：我明白。我非常明白。而且我很想做點什麼的。可是我覺得好無助。有時候我覺得好無助。我能夠做什麼，才能帶來改變？
沒有什麼是你必須去「做」才能改變的，但有許多是你們可以「成為(be)」的。(There’s nothing you have to do, but there’s a great deal you can be.)
尼爾：請幫助我們了解這點。
長久以來人類一直都在「做」的層次試圖想解決問題，卻不怎麼成功。這是因為：真正的改變永遠是從「being」的層面，而非從「做」的層面被達成的。(That’s because true change is always made at the level of “being”, not “doing”. 註：神的意思是，從「做」的層面只能達到一時的改變，那並非真正的改變 true chenge。但是許多人認為那是真的改變。)
喔，當然，你們有了一些發現，在科技上有了一些進展，在某些方面，你們讓生活容易了些——但是否比以前好一點，卻很難說。而在較重大議題的原則方面，你們的進步卻非常緩慢。你們至今仍然面對著多少世紀以來你們星球上都一直在面對的原則問題。
「地球的存在是為了讓優勢物種（人類）利用」的這個觀念，就是一個明顯的例子。
如果你們不去改變你們「如何being」，很顯然你們就不會去改變你們「如何做」。(You clearly will not change what you are doing around that until you change how you are being.)
除非你們改變你們對「在你們與環境之間，以及與其中的一切之間的關係中，你們是誰」的觀念(change your idea about who you are in relationship to your environment and everything in it)，否則你們不可能有不同的做法。
這是個意識(consciousness)的問題。而在你們能夠改變意識之前，你們必須先提升意識。
摘自《與神對話 III》第18章
Neale: Oh, come on. We plant two trees for every one we cut down.
Yes, and it will take only 300 years for those trees to grow to the strength and size which will allow them to produce as much oxygen as many of the old-growth trees you are chopping down.
The oxygen manufacturing plant which you call the Amazon rain forest can be replaced in its capacity to balance your planet’s atmosphere in, say, two or three thousand years. Not to worry. You’re clearing thousands of acres every year, but not to worry.
Neale: Why? Why are we doing that?
You clear the land so that you can raise cattle to slaughter and eat. Raising cattle is said to provide more income for the indigenous peoples of the rain forest country. So all this is proclaimed to be about making the land productive.
In highly evolved civilizations, however, eroding the speciesystem is not looked at as productive, but rather, destructive. So HEBs have found a way to balance the total needs of the speciesystem. They choose to do this, rather than serve the desires of one small portion of the system, for they realize that no species within the system can survive if the system itself is destroyed.
Neale:Man, that seems so obvious. That seems so painfully obvious.
The “obviousness” of it may be even more painful on Earth in the years ahead if your so-called dominant species doesn’t wake up.
Neale: I get that. I get it big. And I want to do something about it. But I feel so helpless. I sometimes feel so helpless. What can I do to bring about change?
There’s nothing you have to do, but there’s a great deal you can be.
Neale:Help me with that.
Human beings have been trying to solve problems at the “doingness” level for a long time, without much success. That’s because true change is always made at the level of “being,” not “doing.”
Oh, you’ve made certain discoveries, all right, and you’ve advanced your technologies, and so, in some ways, you’ve made your lives easier—but it’s not clear whether you’ve made them better. And on the larger issues of principle, you have made very slow progress.You are facing many of the same problems of principle that you’ve faced for centuries on your planet.
Your idea that Earth exists for the exploitation of the dominant species is a good example.
You clearly will not change what you are doing around that until you change how you are being.
You have to change your idea about who you are in relationship to your environment and everything in it before you will ever act differently.
It is a matter of consciousness. And you have to raise consciousness before you can change consciousness.
